11:00 AM by Bob Russell in Miscellaneous | Lounge

Well, it's only a few more days till Sunday morning, when I fly to San Jose for the PalmSource Developer's Conference. I can't remember the last time I was so excited about attending any conference or event. And as you may have seen noted on various Palm-related web sites, there will be an opportunity for conference attendees to purchase Palm devices at a discount of up to 40%. While quantities are limited, it's likely to be an opportunity for me to get a Palm device once more. I bet they have a few LifeDrives in stock also!

So with this decision point fast arriving, it puts me in quite a quandry. What to do? I'd like to upgrade my under-$200 Toshiba e405 PPC, primarily to get a better screen. But I'm reasonably happy with the device. It's well-designed, solidly built, small, zippy, has long battery life, holds plenty with external SD cards, etc. I'd like HiRes+ or VGA, but I can wait if I need to. And, additionally, if I stick with my Toshiba, I already have all the accessories and software also.

But if I do upgrade to a "luxurious" screen resolution, what are my basic options?

As far as VGA PPCs, I'm not convinced that VGA is well-enough integrated into PPC software to make my happy. Plus WinMobile5 didn't impress me as much as I expected it to. I don't know that I like the soft key concept and the focus on integrating it with the smartphone OS. Next generation models may take a while to come onto the market anyway.

With regard to the LifeDrive, it's a little heavy, and there are reports of limited battery life, and sluggishness or hesistation due to hard drive spinup. Those issues are a concern, both for general usage and for media playback. But, hey, it still looks really nice, and the "just right" PDA model doesn't exist anywhere yet. I'm frequently drooling over all the LifeDrive pictures and spec sheets, because it's got a lot to offer. Even the smaller touches are nice, like the mic. And how about that hardware button for instant landscape/portrait switching? Not to mention that awesome optional metal case? Doesn't seem to add any bulk and makes it like a flip cover top. Very nice.

Which brings up the following quick aside... Why doesn't PalmOne use a flip cover in the first place, like my wonderful old Sony Clie SJ33 did?! Or at least supply us with one of those fitted plastic sleeves like what evolved in the calculator world, which can be slid onto the device as a cover, or slid onto the device upside down to leave the top open. It can easily be removed completely if not wanted.

And, finally, there's the T5. It's no slouch itself, despite rumors of instability, so it makes another nice alternative with a great screen. No integrated WiFi, but I don't absolutely have to have either 4gig or WiFi. It's a bit cheaper than the LifeDrive, probably has better battery life, and I suspect that most of the reported bugginess may be manageable with the right choice of software kept to the most up-to-date versions.

What to do? What to do?... Your suggestions and thoughts, please!

06:24 AM by Colin Dunstan in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

And here is the second and concluding part of Tom's network's step-by-step guide (print) explaining how even non-hackers can break the WEP encryption that is still so commonly used in WiFi networks.

While the first part focused on sniffing and attacking computers, this part shows you how to actually capture and crack the WEP key. It also describes how to use deauthentication and packet replay attacks to stimulate the generation of wireless traffic that is a key element of reducing the time it takes to perform a WEP key crack.

I cannot repeat often enough: make sure to upgrade your WiFi network at home and in your office to use WPA encryption. WEP is dead!

05:50 AM by Colin Dunstan in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

PalmOne's LifeDrive Mobile Manager is now available on Amazon for $499.00 with free shipping.

Do you want to know the name of the culprit who leaked the specs and pictures of the LifeDrive on Amazon's pages days before the official announcement? Say Hi from us to NYC-based J&R

05:27 AM by Colin Dunstan in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

Make sure not to miss the PalmSource DevCon 2005 next week. Thanks to Mike for pointing out that PalmSource is keeping track of all bloggers who will provide coverage.

MobileRead's resident savant, Bob Russell, is going to be in San Jose next week and will guarantee that you won't miss the best parts of the summit!

05:03 AM by Colin Dunstan in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

Shaun from PDA247 is raving in a review about Resco Photo Viewer, the popular image viewer for the Windows Mobile platform. In his own words,

NOTHING touches Resco Photo Viewer for image viewing and manipulation, NOTHING touches Resco Photo Viewer for programming efficiency and thoughful implementation and NOTHING touches Resco Photo Viewer for value for money. I simply cannot think of a way in which it could be improved.

I second that. If you are looking for a decent photo app to view your images while on the go, Resco is the right choice.

04:40 AM by Colin Dunstan in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

There is finally some movement in the browser development for Windows Mobile devices. Sick of Pocket Internet Explorer? Then try Mini-Mozilla aka Minimo, which is the trimmed down version of the Mozilla web browser. Thanks to Zach for informing me that an ARM binary of 0.005 is now available for download.

Useful links:
Minimo Project site
MozillaZine Minimo forum
Minimo Bug list

02:25 PM by Alexander Turcic in Miscellaneous | Announcements

We've added support for del.icio.us bookmarks. On our frontpage, simply click on the del.icio.us icon right to an article title to bookmark the article to your del.icio.us account (see attached screenshot).

Feel free to discuss del.icio.us in this thread!

09:55 AM by Alexander Turcic in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

Imagination Technologies, a developer of graphics processing intellectual property, announced in a press release that Intel has licensed its next-generation PowerVR graphic and video chip, codenamed 'Eurasia', along with an upcoming multi-format video codec core.

In 2004 Intel licensed the PowerVR MBX technology and used it for its Intel 2700G accelerator, which offers 30fps MPEG 4 and Windows Media playback at 640x480 and MPEG 2 at the same framerate at 720x480. One device that integrates the chip is the Dell Axim X50v.

The Eurasia-based chips will not supersede but supplement existing PowerVR MBX products.