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Smartphone Web Browsers

Saturday, May 1st, 2010

Internet-able smartphones have been out on the market for long enough, and offered by enough major device makers, that now might be a good time to assess the state of the web browser in the never-ending smartphone contest. Especially since now is when a whole bunch of exciting announcements have come out by makers of that very software we count on to get online – web browsers.

Any article that claims to summarize the current state of smartphone web browsers must start with Opera Mini, as it is far and away the best web browser the mobile device market has yet produced. Yes, better than Apple’s Safari, better than the Blackberry Browser. And certainly better than Windows’ troubled IE.

And now Opera has jus announced the beta launch of the next Opera Mini upgrade, Opera Mobile 9.5. Once again the best is getting better, which is as it should be.

Also recently announced was the impending arrival on the smartphone scene of one of the most popular web browsers in the desktop and laptop markets among both Windows and Apple users – Mozilla Firefox. This Linux-based browser has been eagerly-awaited by its devoted fans since smartphones first went online. And now their…our wish is being answered.

A start-up named Skyfire Labs is also planning a smartphone browser launch sometime soon, but what we can expect of it is anybody’s guess. The Skyfire browser will be what’s called a “thin-client” browser, basically meaning that it runs with limited resources of its own, mostly running with the aid of Mozilla’s servers and Firefox desktop browser. Both the Firefox and Skyfire mobile browsers will initially be released, as expected, in beta form.

Personal favorites aside, the statistics cite Apple’s Safari/iPhone web browser as the reigning champ among U.S. smartphone users (this according to StatCounter), and number two globally. The number one browser worldwide, interestingly enough, has yet to be mentioned in this piece – that being Nokia’s. (And to think, all this time we though they were just the best smartphones for making actual phone calls.)

The big improvement that all smartphone web browsers have either implemented or will be wise to any day now is the integration of the desktop interface with the mobile content delivery format. Now users browsing the web on their handhelds can view a full-screen window of the entire web page (minus scroll-downs of course) just like they would on their desktop or laptop. Then to read a specific portion of the page, they just move a sort of magnifying glass over the section with their cursor and zoom in.

In the past, users could only view web pages reformatted in a messy, clunky single column resembling nothing like the web pages they’re familiar with. This made navigation next to impossible, even if one was already familiar with the layout of the web page (as it would appear on a full-sized computer). Thank goodness for progress.

Author: Corey T Bruhn
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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A Travel Agent For Your Smartphone

Wednesday, April 7th, 2010

Avid travelers rejoice! Your time has finally come…to your smartphone.

An Isle of Man travel agency by the name of the Online Regional Travel Group has just launched what just might be the world’s very first worldwide travel agent for smartphone devices.

The technology is available on their website, empowering visitors to utilize the site’s many tools for easily searching and booking (and paying for, by credit card) travel arrangements all over their smartphones.

Obviously the convenience and usefulness of this technology is without question.By at least one count, already 20% of population of the U.K. has internet access through their cell phones. Its innovation seemed only a matter of time.

What merits real question is is why doesn’t this already exist? Just a simple Google search for Smartphone Travel will show you how meager the selection travel tools for smartphones really is (mostly currency converters, world clocks, translators, and GPS-related software. And with companies like Orbitz and Travelocity and Priceline eating up the online travel industry, why has it taken this long for a company to make such services available over the smartphone, today’s PC?

The reason is actually quite simple: flight information is updated constantly, making it extremely difficult to provide through most distribution channels with any reasonable due haste.

Having said that, it seems that Online Regional, while none too late in the game, just may not be the first. British Airways just announced recently that users of the Apple iPhone 3G can now book their flight arrangements with BA through their iPhones.

An additional appeal of the JustTheFlight mobile software that gives travelers a good idea of what they can expect from all the competing global travel sites for mobile devices that will undoubtedly start cropping up all over now, is all the extra features it offers. By using the site’s application on your smartphone you can view updated airline news and travel news, study up on various holiday guides and destination guides, and read all the latest travel-related feature stories. It’s like an in-flight magazine on-demand over your smartphone.

Further, business tavelers and corporate customers can look forward to enjoying multilingual and multi-currency options, along with a bevy of other tools to make busines travel easier and more enjoyable.

As we mentioned already, seeing it now, it seems like it was only a matter of time before such a utility existed for smartphones, so much so that it forces one to ask, “What took it so long?” As JustTheFlight makes abundantly clear, before long we will all be handling all our travel arrangements through our smartphones. And travel agents, alas, may go the way of home milk delivery.

Author: Corey T Bruhn
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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The Latest in Smartphone Innovations – WiMax, 4G, and Voice Over Wireless LAN

Saturday, March 20th, 2010

The smartphone industry is a cut-throat industry that never seems to sleep. Every time we turn around there’s another feature or cutting-edge technology that makes all existing smartphones a thing of the past and has consumers thinking about their next smartphone before their current smartphone is even broken in. Today we’re already starting to see what tomorrow’s smartphones (or next year’s really) will be able to do that this year’s cannot.

HTC introduces WiMax and 4G

HTC, frequently the first to roll-out ever-newer and more advanced features, is already pushing its WiMax capable, HTC Max 4G.

Yes, you read that right. 4G! Currently only supported in Russia (on its Yota network), US smartphone users can consider this a teaser for the super-speeds awaiting them in their near future.

The HTC Max 4G is basically an HTC Touch HD with WiMax and 4G. WiMax is WiFi’s successor (often termed “WiFi on steroids”), a broadband standard with a range of as much as 80 km and a bandwidth as high as 75 bps. And if WiMax is a better Wi-Fi, then 4G is a better 3G.

Such connectivity and speeds will finally allow smartphone users to watch video-on-demand and live television broadcasts. In fact, according to Russia’s Scartel, the HTC Max 4G will be capable of displaying as many as 9 channels at the same time.

Motorola introduces Voice Over Wireless LAN

Meanwhile, Motorola has been working on bringing enterprise users together for a whole lot cheaper. Just like VoIP or Voice-Over Internet Protocol brought real-time, live telecommunications to market for a fraction of the price of a phone call (or a cell phone bill) – sometimes so inexpensive as to cost nothing at all – Motorola is bringing a similar technology to the mobile market.

Called “Total Enterprise Access and Mobility VoWLAN”, this product will integrate multiple servers on top of a business’s existing telecommunications infrastructure, scalable for as many as 4,500 users. The product suite will also include LAN-capable (really LAN-exclusive) Windows Mobile smartphone for the purchasing company’s staff, making it possible for employees to eschew their desktop phones completely in favor of a full smartphone solution.

These smartphones that Motorola includes as part of this package will include Push-to-Talk services and will allow users to have as many as 4 simultaneously active voice sessions.

In addition, the package includes:

o    a Network Services Manager – for PBX integration and push-to-talk capabilities
o    and a Wireless Services Manager – for centralized management and provisioning

These are just a few of the exciting innovations the smartphone using community can look forward to in the coming year. Whether an enterprise user, a personal user, or both, smartphone users will find their handheld devices only becoming more indispensable than ever.

Author: Corey T Bruhn
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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The BlackBerry-iPhone? – Smartphones Go Virtual

Wednesday, January 27th, 2010

Smartphones are wireless, they’re mobile, they’re even cellular (though who really calls them that anymore), but virtual? In this case the term does not apply to cyberspace, where a virtual phone call comes in from a virtual friend on your virtual smartphone. No, in terms of the future of smartphones as a product, a medium, and an industry, we’re talking about “virtualization”, as heralded by the promising work of one company, the aptly-named VirtualLogix.

To some, the term virtualization may be familiar as applied to computers and servers, wherein virtualization technology helps their hardware to run better and enables them to juggle multiple operating systems. In terms of smartphones, virtualization would mean a quantum leap forward for consumers in the functionality of their favorite little handheld device.

To give some perspective on the possibilities here, let’s take a step back from smartphones and look at plain, old, everyday cell phones. Virtualization technology can turn a regular cell phone into a smartphone. Now start to imagine what that suggests the technology might do for phone that’s already smart. Make it smarter? Better? Faster? It’s starting to sound like the 6 Million Dollar Smartphone.

Smartphone makers – read: Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, RIM, Apple – will be able to install VirtualLogix virtualization software during manufacture, and give them the ability to run multiple operating systems. Imagine no longer having to miss out on the productivity features of Windows Mobile because you opted for the user-friendlier interface of the BlackBerry, for example. Or being able to install Apple’s iPhone OS on your Palm.

This also means (listen-up all you technophiles) that users will be able to install Linux on their smartphones without interfering with the phone’s existing OS. To the average consumer, this may not seem like much, but people who know Linux know how many useful and convenient plugins with completely user-friendly interfaces the technophile and average consumer alike will have access to in no time at all.

It also means that consumers can look forward to getting, as one web writer put it, “a high-end feature on a low-end phone”. This kind of versatility could mean more feature-rich smartphones at lower cost to the consumer. It could mean a neo-video game revolution on smartphones. And it could redefine what customization means in terms of smartphones, as users will be able to make their trusty handheld devices as uniquely functional and stylish as are they themselves.

And if you think the idea of having a combination BlackBerry-Palm-Windows Mobile-iPhone is a pipe dream, consider the fact that Cisco Systems, Intel, Texas Instruments, and Motorola have all invested large amounts of capital into the venture.

You can expect to hear a lot more about virtualization in relation to the smartphone industry in the coming months.

Author: Corey T Bruhn
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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The Next Round In The Smartphone Game Is Gaming

Monday, January 18th, 2010

The future of smartphones is games; and the future of games is smartphones.

Handango is one of the top smartphone content delivery providers. Capcom is one of the gaming industry’s top game manufacturers. Put the two together, and you have some very happy smartphone users.

The gaming industry is a multi-billion dollar industry, as the apparently much-justified hype surrounding the Microsoft XBox 360, the Sony Playstation 3, and the Nintendo Wii attests. Now, as the teens of yesteryear who played the first video games become parents themselves who are every bit as addicted as their kids to the latest in video games, and as the smartphone market now includes the entire family, it only makes sense that that the two industries would inevitably find a happy marriage in one another.

While EA Games is busying bringing its blockbuster titles to European smartphones, Handango and Capcom will be partnering to release many of Capcom’s top franchise games via Handango’s popular online store and on-device content delivery client for smartphone users is North America. The first games to be distributed will be:

  • Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
  • Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?
  • Street Fighter
  • Mega Man

And that’s sure to be only the beginning.

Capcom is the latest of Handango’s over 16,000 content partners. Capcom video games distributed via Handango will initially be made available for RIM BlackBerry and Microsoft Windows Mobile smartphones. Handango AMPP is one of the most preferred content platforms for AOL, AT&T, HP, Microsoft, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless, and many more of the smartphone industry’s leaders. Supported devices include:

  • AT&T Tilt
  • HTC Touch and HTC TyTN II
  • BlackBerry 8830 World Edition, BlackBerry Curve and BlackBerry Pearl
  • Verizon XV6800
  • Palm TX
  • Nokia E90 Communicator and Nokia N95

Other Capcom games that smartphone-using video gaming enthusiasts will no doubt be clamoring for next include Ghosts n’ Goblins, 1942 and the Resident Evil, Breath of Fire, Onimusha, and Devil May Care series’.

Meanwhile Nokia also added Konami, maker of the espionage video game Metal Gear Solid, to its mobile gaming platform, N-Gage. The popular racing game BMW Racing will be available on smartphones as well, this thanks to a licensing agreement with Hands-On Mobile.

EA hasn’t left U.S. smartphone users out of its picture altogether, incidentally, as many of its games are already available for download via the EA Mobile platform, including: Monopoly Here & Now, The Simpson’s Minutes to Meltdown, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07, NBA Live 08, Elves & Orcs, and several different the Sims games.

Hopefully, gamers can look forward to a day when all video games by all the big game developers will be available for every smartphone on every carrier. Until that time, smartphone users will only get access to some, but not all, of their favorite games while gamers will have a new criterion to take into account when selecting which smartphones on which carrier network they should get next.

Author: Corey T Bruhn
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Canada duty

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Smartphones – How to Watch Videos on Your Smartphone for Free

Monday, December 28th, 2009

Initially, we were all wowed that smartphones now allowed us the decadent pleasure of watching videos on our smartphones. But then we discovered that doing so involved downloading bulky (and sometimes bug-ridden) third-party applications that cost extra to get, those being a file converter (or transcoder) and a compatible media player.

Fortunately many smartphone makers (and their OS developers) quickly caught on that smartphone users were less than satisfied with this inconvenient (and expensive) methodology and started coming up with ways to enable their customers to get what they wanted without any extra hassle or expense.

Blackberry OS: If you own a Blackberry that came out recently, like the Blackberry 8800, Blackberry 8300, Blackberry Curve, or Blackberry Pearl, then you’ll see that it has Roxio Media Manager built in. This application lets you transcode and synchronize video files (and music files) as well as rip them to CD. Whenever you transfer a file this way, the Roxio Media Manager will present you with the option to convert the file to a format that can be viewed properly on your Blackberry via the integrated Media Player application. At that point, you can choose to sync the file using USB or a microSD card reader that’s PC-compatible in order to copy it to a microSD card that you can then simply insert into your Blackberry for easy viewing.

Symbian: If you own a Nokia smartphone, you can download a simple add-on for free to your Nokia PC Suite called the Nokia Video Manager and convert and transfer video files to your Nokia smartphone, be it a Nokia N75, Nokia N95, or any other. The N95, Nokia E90 Communicator and other more savvy Nokia devices have a mobile version of RealPlayer built in which is able to playback RealPlayer, 3GP, and MPEG-4 files without any extra steps involved.

Windows Mobile: As long as the PC you’re using with your mobile device is running Windows XP or Windows Vista, viewing videos on your smartphone is a piece of cake. Simply run Windows Media Player 11, stick a memory card into your handheld, and connect it to your PC with a USB cable. Then hit ‘Sync’ start dragging whatever video files you want to the Device pane located on the right of your display screen. Once you’ve finished with that, simply click ‘Start Sync’. When it’s finished, go to the Start Menu of your Windows Mobile smartphone and click onto the Media Player. Go to ‘Storage Card’, then ‘Menu’, then ‘Update Library’, and you’re done. Now you can easily view any of the video files you just transferred.

Alas the iPhone and devices running the Palm OS still require the use of a third-party video conversion application in order for you to transfer and convert your own video files so that they can be viewed on your smartphone. Hopefully their makers are already working diligently to remedy this deficiency. In the meantime, plenty of adequate third-party apps still exist that let you view your own video files on these devices, but unlike the solutions listed above, they’re not free.

Author: Corey T Bruhn
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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