One of the most significant parts of the iPhone experience is the Safari browser. It is truly a very well down browser, based on the WebKit engine. While it lacks flash it renders pages quickly and accurately. With multitouch, zooming in and out is easy and almost fun. The only thing Mobile Safari doesn’t do well (other than that flash thingy I mentioned) is text reflowing; in other words automatically having the text on a page fit the screen based on it’s zoom level.

Actually, the just announced HTC Hero running the Android OS also has a WebKit based browser but it does what the iPhone doesn’t. HTC has made some wonderful modifications and the Hero’s browser will have both flash support and text reflow. But, like Mike I still have a hard time liking that “chin” on HTC’s Android devices. Lose it already! It isn’t a distinctive feature that adds…anything good to the phone!

Sorry, lost my head there.

It seems that, just like on the desktop Microsoft has a hard time making good browsers for Windows Mobile. One of the nice things about WinMo is that you can add browsers on the device and pick one you like. The bad part is that you have to bother doing this. There are going to be many casual users that take their Windows Mobile device out of the box and add little or no additional programs, including a new browser. They are left assuming that Windows Mobile just can’t do what the iPhone can.

BTW, let me just say it here; I think a great browser should be solely Microsoft’s responsibility. I hope they aren’t waiting for someone to get it right, cause that just hasn’t happened yet and it may not.

The Others:
There are actually some nice choices in mobile browsers on the market; Skyfire, Opera Mobile…ummm… Well, there are some other choices such as the NetFront Browser (surprisingly good), the Iris Browser (Webkit based but needs a ton of work) and the ever illusive Fennec browser, which isn’t actually usuable yet but may one day. Lots of choices, but no one browser does it all quite right.

My own feeling is that Microsoft should bite the bullet and use a WebKit browser, at least until they have a good one to offer.

What makes a good browser?
Faster rendering, even if it is a desktop based page that hasn’t been optimized for a smartphone.
Text reflow based on the area you double tap on (ignore that grammatical error: I am)
Flash support: its just not an option to leave it out.
Tabbed browsing!!! I understand memory becomes an issue with multiple tabs, but heck, limit the number of tabs…just not to one.
Faster rendering. I know, I know, but it needs to be fast!

Microsoft has Windows Mobile 6.5 coming out on devices soon which will help the UI become more finger friendly but if the browser isn’t significantly better than it is now, its a bit of a waste. If Microsoft had a browser that brings it at the very least on par with the iPhone or, better yet, with the HTC Hero, they will turn a LOT more heads their way.

Come on Microsoft, lets have a GREAT browsing experience: roll out a new mobile browser that shows off the years of experience that should be putting you ahead in this area!

Besides the new interface, HTC has packed this device with some really cool features, like an anti-fingerprint screen coating, or how about the Teflon coating for a more durable white surface.  Still not cool enough for you? How about a 5 megapixel camera, 3.2 inch HVGA display, gravity sensor, Quad band radio, 528MHz processor, 512MB ROM / 288MB RAM,  and of course, a GPS.

As with previous Android devices, the Hero still carries the big chin at the bottom edge of the device. There are mixed feelings about this design. From my limited exposure, it doesn’t appear to be an issue when holding or typing on the device.  From a purely looks point of view, I would rather not have it.  But it had little effect on my usage.

The Hero will be available across Europe in July and then in Asia later in the summer.  HTC has promised a “distinct” version will be made available in North America later in 2009.

First thing is to fire up your favorite registry editor. Your phone doesn’t have one installed, so you’ll have to get one and install it first.  I recommend PHM - it’s good and it’s free. In your registry editor, go to HKLM \ Software \ Microsoft \ Inbox. Create a new key with the name of Settings. Then select that key and create a new String value (you should now be under the new key Settings, that you just created) and set the name as SMSNoSentMsg and the value as 1  Reboot your phone and that’s it.

But what happens if you’ve managed to really mess things up and you can’t get the phone started?  No problem.  With the phone powered off, press and hold UP on the directional pad.  Then, turn on the device and continue to hold the UP key until you see a message on the screen.  You will be prompted to select 1 for reset or any other key to cancel. I recommend doing this with the device connected to power or with a fully charged battery. I can only imagine the mess that would result if the battery ran dry during the hard reset process.

This post was originally posted on my personal blog a while back (long before Mobile Jaw came to exist). I’m re-posting / moving it here as my personal blog is about to get a fresh start and I felt that many people could still benefit from this information.

Please Note: The following information applies to Windows Mobile Standard 6.0 devices and older. If you’re device has a touch screen, or is running a newer version of Windows Mobile Standard, then this does not apply to you.

You wouldn’t think this was a hard task. After all, you can do it very easily on the Pocket PC. However, for some reason known only to the developers at Microsoft, it’s not an easy task for Windows Mobile Standard (Smartphone / Non-Touchscreen) based devices. I know that some are you are wondering why anyone would want to change the default home page on IE mobile. To all of you I say "Why not?" and "UNLIMITED DATA".

So, let’s get down to how this is done.  First, you will need a good registry editor.  If you don’t already have one, grab a copy of PHM or even SOTI’s Pocket Controller - then you can edit from the desktop. Browse to the following location HKLM / Software / Microsoft / Internet Explorer / AboutURLs.  In this section you should see a number of entries labelled home_04xx that has a value of file://\windows\default_04xx.htm The trick here is to pick the correct entry.  For me, it’s home_0409, edit this and change the value to whatever you want to use for your home page - http://www.google.com I think the different entries are for different languages.  With a little testing and you should be able to figure out what page your device is loading.

I would be interested to hear what others find as their default home page and what language they are using on the device.  It would help others to figure out what entry they need to edit to get the same results.

That’s all there is to it.  Get going and change the your mobile home page.

“Hello Darren,
We’ve just announced the details of special Hardware Upgrade savings for our existing iPhone customers and wanted to let you know.

There has been a lot of excitement around the new iPhone 3G S and we wanted to recognize the early adopters who helped make the iPhone the hottest-selling handset in Canadian wireless history. We will be discounting the price of the iPhone 3G S by between $250 and $500 to provide savings to many of our iPhone customers.

What this means is that eligible iPhone owners can acquire the iPhone 16GB 3G S for as low as $199 or the 32GB for as low as $299 until July 31, 2009.

For Fido customers, we’re offering the Fido Rewards iPhone 3G S promotion. This enables iPhone customers to redeem FidoDollars towards a new iPhone 3G S with an additional $100 top-up from Fido.
For customers who don’t qualify for these extra savings, we are pleased to offer Rogers Wireless customers the iPhone at our cost on rogers.com. This cost - $580 for the iPhone 3G, $680 for the iPhone 3G S 16GB and $780 for the iPhone 3G S 32GB – represents the price we pay for the device plus a nominal fee for the SIM card. Customers can access these devices at retail locations for just $19 more for the three devices.

We’re also happy to announce that Rogers and Fido are extending the 6GB/$30 data promotion until July 31. This offer is valid for customers on a new or existing iPhone plan or customers buying an Android-powered HTC Magic or HTC Dream.

Five ways to save

1) For Rogers Wireless customers who bought an iPhone 3G between July 11 and Sept. 30, 2008, and with an average monthly spend of at least $100, Rogers will provide $500 off the cost of an iPhone 3G S. This special offer expires July 31, 2009 and comes with the addition of a one-year term to the customer’s existing service agreement.
· 16GB 3GS $199
· 32GB 3GS $299

2) For Rogers Wireless customers who bought an iPhone between July 11 and Dec. 31, 2008, but aren’t eligible for the above offer, Rogers will provide $250 dollars off the purchase of an iPhone 3G S. This special offer expires July 31, 2009 and comes with the addition of a one-year term to the customer’s existing service agreement.
· 16GB 3GS $449
· 32GB 3GS $549

3) All Rogers Wireless customers can upgrade to the iPhone 3GS at our cost at Rogers.com, or for a suggested retail price of just $19 more than our cost through our retail channels.
· 8GB 3G $580/$599
· 16GB 3GS $680/$699
· 32GB 3GS $780/$799

4) Fido customers can take advantage of the Fido Rewards iPhone 3G S promotion:
· Use FidoDollars towards the purchase of a new iPhone 3G S
· Fido will top up the FidoDollars amount by $100
· This promotion does not include an extension or renewal of their service agreement.

5) New and existing iPhone customers can take advantage of a limited-time promotion of 6GB of data for $30, now extended until July 31. Other Rogers and Fido data plans will remain the same, including the only national standalone data plan at $25 per month for 500 MB. We know that this is the right plan for most Canadians – 93 per cent of current iPhone customers on a data plan use less than 500 MB of data per month.

Please let me know if you have any further questions.

With multitasking environments you can have multiple programs running at the same time. Many mobile OS’ have been doing this for a while now and it makes so much sense to have. We are continually becoming more used to multitasking ourselves; especially while on the go. Having a multitasked OS means you can be in the middle of writing an email or editing a contact and jump over to the calendar to check on an appointment. When you jump back to the email or contact you are right where you left off, mid-edit; your cursor is in the same place and ready for you to continue. It makes for a MUCH more powerful and productive use of on-the-go time.

Apple could have easily simulated this without breaking from their decision to opt out of multitasking the iPhone. They could have had applications open up to exactly the state they were in when last closed, especially if you were mid-edit. That would mean you could be editing a contact and go to a webpage to copy their address and jump back to the contact to paste it in.

By combining notifications with this little change to applications Apple would have a sort-of-multitasking environment without any of the performance hit they are worried about. With the new iPhone 3Gs being so fast this makes even more sense, as switching between apps is much faster.

I also think they should have a quick pop-up menu that shows the last 3 or 5 apps used so that you can jump to those apps quickly rather than having to go back to the application launcher every time.

Anyway, now that my idea is on the intertubes I can sue Apple if they implement it. Kthxbai

It’s still very early and hard to say if this device is going to be a smashing success or not.  If LG has packed it with a powerful processor like HTC and Samsung are doing, along with a GPS and WiFi, I can’t see any reason why this device won’t be a hit.  Hopefully we’ll learn more about this device in the coming weeks. I would love to get my hands on a unit and give it a run through.

(Source=PhoneArena.com)

The question is, does HTC still have it?  Is this new Standard edition device enough to win back the market which they once owned? Or does Samsung and Motorola (to a lesser degree) still have the market on messenger devices cornered? The Excalibur was my device of choice for a short time.  I then switched to Samsung’s BlackJack line of devices and haven’t looked back because HTC just didn’t have the features that I was looking for. 

All that should be changing with the release of HTC’s Snap smartphone.  Remo Knops from Mobility Minded has got his hands on the new Snap smartphone and posted a detailed review of the device.  Take a chance to read his review and let us know your thoughts on the Snap.  Is this too little too late from HTC or is it just what the doctor ordered?