09:21 AM by sUnShInE in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

A U.S. company that claims it owns rights to some of the key technology used in the BlackBerry e-mail products announced yesterday that it has reached a licence agreement with cellphone manufacturer Nokia.

NTP Inc., a Virginia company that won a jury decision last year against Research In Motion Ltd. (RIM), maker of the BlackBerry, said its licence agreement with Nokia covers five U.S. patents at the centre of the legal dispute.

As you may well imagine, this is huge news in the cellphone market. Nokia had been waiting patiently since late 2002 for RIM to settle its patent disputes with NTP before offering the BlackBerry service on its cellphones. But now it seems that Nokia is tired of waiting. To cover its legal butt, Nokia has licensed patents directly from NTP. According to The Globe and Mail, a source familiar with the litigation between RIM and NTP suggested Nokia had "secured an insurance policy pending the outcome of the appeal", which is expected within the next few months.

More importantly, the move gives Nokia legal footing to begin the introduction of the BlackBerry service into its cellphones. Nokia's 6820 will be the first phone to ship with the BlackBerry service, expected to hit the U.S. in two to three months. Devices with the service have already been available outside the U.S.

The 6820 features a clamshell flip cover that turns the unit into a full QWERTY keyboard. Read more from CNET and the NTP press release, or a review from PDA Buyer's Guide.

12:28 PM by Colin Dunstan in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

According to NYT, Digital media company RealNetworks Inc. and Starz Encore Group launched an online flat-rate movie download service in the US this Monday. The service costs $12.95/mth. and will give access to currently hundred movies, including titles such as "Finding Nemo" and "Pirates of the Caribbean".

What makes me wonder is the quality of those downloads. Reuters mentions a 20-minute download time for each movie, which seems way too small to download a high-quality file that would be similar to DVD quality (a DVD encoded in XviD or DivX is still around 700 MB, and I believe most users won't be able to download such a big file in 20 minutes).

11:19 AM by Colin Dunstan in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

It is still a mystery to many web designers how to properly make their webpages mobile-friendly. HTML Dog addresses this issue and tries to shed some light on mobiles and how they handle HTML and CSS.

05:49 AM by Colin Dunstan in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

If you still happen to use AvantGo, you can now re-register and get an extra MB (2 -> 3 MB) free.

04:41 PM by Alexander Turcic in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

The Register has interesting news for all Bluetooth fans. Described in a new version of the Bluetooth specification, a technology called Bluetooth Enhanced Data Rate (EDR) will increase data transmission by compressing more data into each packet. This way, you'll be able to transfer information with 2.1Mbps instead with 712Kbps (today's standard).

The EDR specification is expected to be finalised this coming Autumn. Products based on the specification are set to ship some time in 2005.

The official Bluetooth press release is here.

04:11 PM by Alexander Turcic in Miscellaneous | Announcements

It was brought up to our attention that some of our frontpage feeds were out-to-date (PalmOneCity + ClieSource became 1src.com). We will make the necessary updates ASAP. Two questions in this regard:

1. Do you actually look at the external news feeds on our frontpage? Did you know that you can customize to the feed settings?

2. Are there any other news feeds that you would like to be integrated on our frontpage? (I remember zire71man asking me a while back to add PDAArcade). Since an upgrade is imminent, we can perhaps also add your feeds.

08:38 AM by ignatz in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

NASA has announced that they have a nearly working prototype of a "PSA", personal satellite assistant designed to move semi-autonomously in the weightlessness of the space station. Despite looking like a large version of the jedi training sphere seen in the first Star Wars movie, it reportedly has no laser blasts. Instead it can be used to assess environmental conditions, help astronauts with experiments, and even video conference with Earth. See this Wired News article and go straight to the source at NASA.

08:27 AM by ignatz in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

French telecom company Orange has released what they are billing as the world's smallest smart phone (The Register, Google News). It has 64 megs of RAM, runs Windows Mobile 2003, and has a slot for an SD card. The SPV C500 measures 10.8 x 4.6 x 1.6 cm (4.25 x 1.8 x .6 in) and only weighs 100 g (3.5 ounces). It will be available in Europe in the summer.