Chris Pirillo » smartphone http://chris.pirillo.com News and Reviews! Geek, Internet Entrepreneur, Hardware Addict, Software Junkie, Book Author, Once TV Show Host, Technology Enthusiast, Shameless Self-Promoter, Tech Conference Coordinator, Early Adopter, Idea Evangelist, Tech Support Blogger, Bootstrapper, Media Personality, Technology Consultant, Thicker Quicker Picker Upper. Wed, 25 Nov 2009 14:58:42 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 en hourly 1 © chris@pirillo.com () chris@pirillo.com() Geek, Internet Entrepreneur, Hardware Addict, Software Junkie, Book Author, Once TV Show Host, Technology Enthusiast, Shameless Self-Promoter, Tech Conference Coordinator, Early Adopter, Idea Evangelist, Tech Support Blogger, Bootstrapper, Media Personality, Technology Consultant, Thicker Quicker Picker Upper. chris@pirillo.com No no http://chris.pirillo.com/wp-content/plugins/podpress/images/powered_by_podpress.jpgChris Pirillohttp://chris.pirillo.com 144 144 iPhone vs Windows Mobilehttp://chris.pirillo.com/iphone-vs-windows-mobile/ http://chris.pirillo.com/iphone-vs-windows-mobile/#comments Wed, 19 Nov 2008 10:06:44 +0000 Chris http://chris.pirillo.com/2008/11/19/iphone-vs-windows-mobile/ iPhone vs Windows Mobile is a post from Chris Pirillo

A geek known as Gilbert shares a familiar tale of frustration: which is the best mobile device to own? I’m sure you’ve already made up your mind by the time you reached the end of that sentence, but let’s hear a little bit more about what’s going on in Gilbert’s world. He scribbles:

Thanks for your great contrast between the iPhone and the Windows Mobile devices, on how it relates to business use. I had been using the HTC Advantage for a year and a half now. Although I loved the big screen and strong processor and memory, I’ve gotten tired of lugging that big “brick” around and was looking for an alternative.

I decided to purchase the HTC Fuze yesterday to lighten the load and replace the Advantage as my portable device. I brought it home and played with it, and I was . . . kinda impressed, but also disappointed. I have never owned an iPhone, but, I bought my wife an iPhone for Xmas last year, and my daughter also owns an ITouch. So, I had a cursory overview of what the Apple OS “PDA” could do.

Like yourself (back in the day), I was perfectly happy with WM, for the most part.

But there was a certain application it couldn’t do. So, frustrated, I came across your youtube opinion on the contrast between Windows Mobile, and specifically, the Sprint equivialant to the HTC Fuze, and, it hit home.

In less than 24 hours, I traded my Fuze in and am now a proud owner of an iPhone 3G. I think it was the right purchase, and, in the long run, it will pay off. But I want to tell you that, initially, I’m some what surprised as to the challenges that I’m now facing, that I didn’t have with my initial WM device.

First off, I have a Motorola S9 bluetooth headphones. It paired beutifally with my HTC. It paired with my iPhone, it just doesn’t work. I hear no music through the headphones, but plenty through iPhone speakers.

Second, the e-mail, which was a big sway for me in your commentary, I couldn’t get it register with the e-mail function on the iPhone. I utilize Hotmail, and the iPhone, didn’t configure it. I believe there was a $20/Year workaround by a gateway service, but hey, I didn’t need that using WM6. I then thought I’d sign up for Yahoo mail, but, that attempt failed since it appears you need a $20/Year upgrade to set up the proxy servings there, as well. And MobileMe, at $99/Year, when (my mail) ts free now, well, as you “tried” to say . . . “forget about it!” I also noticed that I couldn’t install Windows Live Search. This was a great function in WM6, that’s not, understandably so, available for our beloved Apple device.

These are just my first 12 hour initial observations. I am, for the most part excited about overcoming these “iPhone shortcomings”. But, I just thought I’d share with you my initial observations of the contrasts from my perspective. Yeah Windows Mobile is clunky and stale, but damm, it does a lot of things pretty adequately!

As a P.S., the reason I chose the HTC Advantage was because it had a Video Out, and, Windows Mobile had the SlingBox application. This worked well for me. I researched and knew that the iPhone doesn’t have the SlingBox capability yet, but Slingbox is working on it. The Video Out on the iPhone is limited to just the media output itself, but not the full functionality (menu scrolling, etc.) I say this in post script because, all this, I knew going into what the iPhone limitations were.

I am very intersted in your comments and reactions to this. For better or for worse, I took the fork in the road towards the iPhone, in part because of you (no pressure here!

]]> iPhone vs Windows Mobile is a post from Chris Pirillo

A geek known as Gilbert shares a familiar tale of frustration: which is the best mobile device to own? I’m sure you’ve already made up your mind by the time you reached the end of that sentence, but let’s hear a little bit more about what’s going on in Gilbert’s world. He scribbles:

Thanks for your great contrast between the iPhone and the Windows Mobile devices, on how it relates to business use. I had been using the HTC Advantage for a year and a half now. Although I loved the big screen and strong processor and memory, I’ve gotten tired of lugging that big “brick” around and was looking for an alternative.

I decided to purchase the HTC Fuze yesterday to lighten the load and replace the Advantage as my portable device. I brought it home and played with it, and I was . . . kinda impressed, but also disappointed. I have never owned an iPhone, but, I bought my wife an iPhone for Xmas last year, and my daughter also owns an ITouch. So, I had a cursory overview of what the Apple OS “PDA” could do.

Like yourself (back in the day), I was perfectly happy with WM, for the most part.

But there was a certain application it couldn’t do. So, frustrated, I came across your youtube opinion on the contrast between Windows Mobile, and specifically, the Sprint equivialant to the HTC Fuze, and, it hit home.

In less than 24 hours, I traded my Fuze in and am now a proud owner of an iPhone 3G. I think it was the right purchase, and, in the long run, it will pay off. But I want to tell you that, initially, I’m some what surprised as to the challenges that I’m now facing, that I didn’t have with my initial WM device.

First off, I have a Motorola S9 bluetooth headphones. It paired beutifally with my HTC. It paired with my iPhone, it just doesn’t work. I hear no music through the headphones, but plenty through iPhone speakers.

Second, the e-mail, which was a big sway for me in your commentary, I couldn’t get it register with the e-mail function on the iPhone. I utilize Hotmail, and the iPhone, didn’t configure it. I believe there was a $20/Year workaround by a gateway service, but hey, I didn’t need that using WM6. I then thought I’d sign up for Yahoo mail, but, that attempt failed since it appears you need a $20/Year upgrade to set up the proxy servings there, as well. And MobileMe, at $99/Year, when (my mail) ts free now, well, as you “tried” to say . . . “forget about it!” I also noticed that I couldn’t install Windows Live Search. This was a great function in WM6, that’s not, understandably so, available for our beloved Apple device.

These are just my first 12 hour initial observations. I am, for the most part excited about overcoming these “iPhone shortcomings”. But, I just thought I’d share with you my initial observations of the contrasts from my perspective. Yeah Windows Mobile is clunky and stale, but damm, it does a lot of things pretty adequately!

As a P.S., the reason I chose the HTC Advantage was because it had a Video Out, and, Windows Mobile had the SlingBox application. This worked well for me. I researched and knew that the iPhone doesn’t have the SlingBox capability yet, but Slingbox is working on it. The Video Out on the iPhone is limited to just the media output itself, but not the full functionality (menu scrolling, etc.) I say this in post script because, all this, I knew going into what the iPhone limitations were.

I am very intersted in your comments and reactions to this. For better or for worse, I took the fork in the road towards the iPhone, in part because of you (no pressure here!

]]> http://chris.pirillo.com/iphone-vs-windows-mobile/feed/ 11 Palm vs iPhonehttp://chris.pirillo.com/palm-vs-iphone/ http://chris.pirillo.com/palm-vs-iphone/#comments Mon, 16 Jun 2008 02:32:23 +0000 Chris http://chris.pirillo.com/?p=7286 Palm vs iPhone is a post from Chris Pirillo

Andrew Norman sent me this note earlier today, and it was just too good not to share with you. He makes his case on why Palm is still a choice over the iPhone. Do you agree or disagree with this assessment and perspective? The following words are Andrew’s…

Some of the reasons for disliking the iPhone, even some of the important ones, have gone away over time, such as the abnormally high price both of the software and the service, both of which have reduced drastically (and I’ll have to give props to Apple for reducing the price of iPhone 3G to $200). However, I have a few thoughts on the iPhone, and after reading them maybe you will see why I opted to go with Palm instead.

It seems that the iPhone 3G fixes problems that the first iPhone should never have had. It should never have been on a 2G network, as other smartphones have been on 3G long enough that the iPhone should have started out that way.

Something that I think is even more important than that, however, is that it should always have had an office suite. I think I read somewhere that the iPhone 3G is going to have this feature, but this is something that should have been present from the very beginning. I honestly think that a PDA that cannot edit office documents is nearly useless except as a phone. A Walkman Slider, a non-smartphone, can play movies, music, send and receive email, and even browse the web (though the mobile version), but cannot view or edit office documents, and I think that’s the most important difference between a Walkman Slider and, say, a Palm Centro or an AT&T Tilt.

I’m not about to say that the iPhone is stupid, but I think it’s not nearly as revolutionary as Jobs seems to put on, if at all. The biggest advantage that the iPhone has over other smartphones (by far) is Safari, but after the public release of Skyfire that will disappear. After that, the only clear advantage is people who prefer the UI. 3G, GPS, mobile email, and most everything that the iPhone boasts has been on other smartphones for quite some time.

One of the more subtle disadvantages, at least in my opinion, is that the screen is not pressure sensitive. Multi-touch screens are good at times, but I don’t want to be putting my fingers all over my PDA, getting it smudgy all day. I like to be able to bring my PDA into restaurants with me and not worry about getting it dirty, and I definitely like not having to wipe the screen off all the time. I’m not the only one that sees this need, either; Thinkgeek.com has developed a stylus that can be used on the iPhone for people who think the same way. With the pressure-sensitive screen, however, I can use either my fingers or my stylus, whenever I desire. There are times that I use my fingers, like if I’m just pulling it out for a second and putting it right back, and times when I decide to use the stylus, like if I’m editing a document. And call me crazy, but I’d much rather have real buttons instead of an on-screen keyboard (and I say that having tried the iPhone keyboard).

I personally decided to go with a straight PDA instead of a smartphone because I didn’t want to deal with service issues, so I decided to get a Palm T|X, and I am very happy with it because it does everything I need it to (of course, that means I get neither 2G nor 3G, but for my purposes that works fine). At the same time, I do not think it is in any way idiotic to get a smartphone, and sometimes I have seen some of the features of my friends’ smartphones and thought I would like them (especially my friend’s beta version of Skyfire, which will unfortunately not be released for Palm or non-smartphones).

Documents-To-Go may be a fairly simple office suite, lacking many of the advanced features of a PC’s full office suites, but it is incredibly useful and I think one of the most important features of the Palm. Editing office documents is, I believe, the most important feature of any PDA, even over email and webbrowsing. What’s the point of having a computer with you wherever you go if it can’t perform very basic computer tasks? The most commonly used applications on my Palm are its office suite and its pdf reader, two things that I desired more than anything to bring with me anywhere. Of the two, the first iPhone had only the second. I edit documents constantly, including .doc files and .xls files. I use .doc files for many, many reasons, including taking notes while shopping around, creating lists of movies I want to see that I add to whenever I hear of one or subtract from whatever I see one, making personal notes, or even just writing down detailed outlines for ideas I’ll have for school papers or videos that I’m making. I use .xls files to reference my bank account instead of carrying around a check register with me. I’m also looking forward to a good mobile version of Photoshop or an equivalent (though it may be out there already; I haven’t really looked yet). I’d love Adobe Premiere on a mobile device, but I also realize that that’s very unrealistic.

I hope that this is something that you enjoyed reading, and, of course, I hope that it did not offend you as an iPhone user, especially since I do not think the iPhone is stupid.

]]> Palm vs iPhone is a post from Chris Pirillo

Andrew Norman sent me this note earlier today, and it was just too good not to share with you. He makes his case on why Palm is still a choice over the iPhone. Do you agree or disagree with this assessment and perspective? The following words are Andrew’s…

Some of the reasons for disliking the iPhone, even some of the important ones, have gone away over time, such as the abnormally high price both of the software and the service, both of which have reduced drastically (and I’ll have to give props to Apple for reducing the price of iPhone 3G to $200). However, I have a few thoughts on the iPhone, and after reading them maybe you will see why I opted to go with Palm instead.

It seems that the iPhone 3G fixes problems that the first iPhone should never have had. It should never have been on a 2G network, as other smartphones have been on 3G long enough that the iPhone should have started out that way.

Something that I think is even more important than that, however, is that it should always have had an office suite. I think I read somewhere that the iPhone 3G is going to have this feature, but this is something that should have been present from the very beginning. I honestly think that a PDA that cannot edit office documents is nearly useless except as a phone. A Walkman Slider, a non-smartphone, can play movies, music, send and receive email, and even browse the web (though the mobile version), but cannot view or edit office documents, and I think that’s the most important difference between a Walkman Slider and, say, a Palm Centro or an AT&T Tilt.

I’m not about to say that the iPhone is stupid, but I think it’s not nearly as revolutionary as Jobs seems to put on, if at all. The biggest advantage that the iPhone has over other smartphones (by far) is Safari, but after the public release of Skyfire that will disappear. After that, the only clear advantage is people who prefer the UI. 3G, GPS, mobile email, and most everything that the iPhone boasts has been on other smartphones for quite some time.

One of the more subtle disadvantages, at least in my opinion, is that the screen is not pressure sensitive. Multi-touch screens are good at times, but I don’t want to be putting my fingers all over my PDA, getting it smudgy all day. I like to be able to bring my PDA into restaurants with me and not worry about getting it dirty, and I definitely like not having to wipe the screen off all the time. I’m not the only one that sees this need, either; Thinkgeek.com has developed a stylus that can be used on the iPhone for people who think the same way. With the pressure-sensitive screen, however, I can use either my fingers or my stylus, whenever I desire. There are times that I use my fingers, like if I’m just pulling it out for a second and putting it right back, and times when I decide to use the stylus, like if I’m editing a document. And call me crazy, but I’d much rather have real buttons instead of an on-screen keyboard (and I say that having tried the iPhone keyboard).

I personally decided to go with a straight PDA instead of a smartphone because I didn’t want to deal with service issues, so I decided to get a Palm T|X, and I am very happy with it because it does everything I need it to (of course, that means I get neither 2G nor 3G, but for my purposes that works fine). At the same time, I do not think it is in any way idiotic to get a smartphone, and sometimes I have seen some of the features of my friends’ smartphones and thought I would like them (especially my friend’s beta version of Skyfire, which will unfortunately not be released for Palm or non-smartphones).

Documents-To-Go may be a fairly simple office suite, lacking many of the advanced features of a PC’s full office suites, but it is incredibly useful and I think one of the most important features of the Palm. Editing office documents is, I believe, the most important feature of any PDA, even over email and webbrowsing. What’s the point of having a computer with you wherever you go if it can’t perform very basic computer tasks? The most commonly used applications on my Palm are its office suite and its pdf reader, two things that I desired more than anything to bring with me anywhere. Of the two, the first iPhone had only the second. I edit documents constantly, including .doc files and .xls files. I use .doc files for many, many reasons, including taking notes while shopping around, creating lists of movies I want to see that I add to whenever I hear of one or subtract from whatever I see one, making personal notes, or even just writing down detailed outlines for ideas I’ll have for school papers or videos that I’m making. I use .xls files to reference my bank account instead of carrying around a check register with me. I’m also looking forward to a good mobile version of Photoshop or an equivalent (though it may be out there already; I haven’t really looked yet). I’d love Adobe Premiere on a mobile device, but I also realize that that’s very unrealistic.

I hope that this is something that you enjoyed reading, and, of course, I hope that it did not offend you as an iPhone user, especially since I do not think the iPhone is stupid.

]]> http://chris.pirillo.com/palm-vs-iphone/feed/ 37 Palm Couponshttp://chris.pirillo.com/palm-coupons-deals-the-centro-is-here/ http://chris.pirillo.com/palm-coupons-deals-the-centro-is-here/#comments Sat, 29 Sep 2007 20:30:39 +0000 Chris http://chris.pirillo.com/2007/09/29/palm-coupons-deals-the-centro-is-here/ Palm Coupons is a post from Chris Pirillo

]]> Palm Coupons is a post from Chris Pirillo

]]> http://chris.pirillo.com/palm-coupons-deals-the-centro-is-here/feed/ 1 Bar Tag with Wiffitihttp://chris.pirillo.com/bar-tag/ http://chris.pirillo.com/bar-tag/#comments Tue, 18 Jul 2006 19:28:23 +0000 Chris http://chris.pirillo.com/2006/07/18/bar-tag/ Bar Tag with Wiffiti is a post from Chris Pirillo

Bar tagWe took Ponzi’s car in to get an enema this morning, leaving us with an hour of free time to grab a bite to eat down the street. Few restaurants (in the area) were open at 10:30am, but Hurricane Cafe is open 24 hours a day. Turns out, they’ve got an amazing menu. What’s more, since they cater to a younger crowd (at all hours), they’ve hung a plasma TV above the bar – pictured here. At the bottom of the screen, you’ll read: “txt H2 + a message to 87884″ (go ahead, try it). Seconds after sending your text, you’ll see it bouncing around with the other messages on-screen. Even if you’re not there, the people who ARE there will see your message. Too freakin’ cool!

I had problems using it with my Smartphone at first (not having a subject area, I just needed to insert H2 and a space before typing my text message). As such, I received a few bounces: “Sorry, Wiffiti did not recognize your screen ID.” Dude, check it out – the Hurricane screen is online! What’s more, Wiffiti has a blog. I want one of these hanging on my wall. Had you heard about Wiffiti before? You gotta see it to believe it. I’ll take some txt soup to go!

]]> Bar Tag with Wiffiti is a post from Chris Pirillo

Bar tagWe took Ponzi’s car in to get an enema this morning, leaving us with an hour of free time to grab a bite to eat down the street. Few restaurants (in the area) were open at 10:30am, but Hurricane Cafe is open 24 hours a day. Turns out, they’ve got an amazing menu. What’s more, since they cater to a younger crowd (at all hours), they’ve hung a plasma TV above the bar – pictured here. At the bottom of the screen, you’ll read: “txt H2 + a message to 87884″ (go ahead, try it). Seconds after sending your text, you’ll see it bouncing around with the other messages on-screen. Even if you’re not there, the people who ARE there will see your message. Too freakin’ cool!

I had problems using it with my Smartphone at first (not having a subject area, I just needed to insert H2 and a space before typing my text message). As such, I received a few bounces: “Sorry, Wiffiti did not recognize your screen ID.” Dude, check it out – the Hurricane screen is online! What’s more, Wiffiti has a blog. I want one of these hanging on my wall. Had you heard about Wiffiti before? You gotta see it to believe it. I’ll take some txt soup to go!

]]> http://chris.pirillo.com/bar-tag/feed/ 3 How to Handle Remote Tech Support <em>Using <a href="http://www.gotoassist.com/chris">GoToAssist</a> is the easiest way to view and control another person's computer online. Use it to provide instant technical support to family, friends and customers. Start a session with just one click, and instantly connect with the other party. </em> chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) Partner Mon, 13 Jul 2009 06:30:00 GMThttp://gotoassist.com/chris/ http://gotoassist.com/chris/ Network Tools for Windows You need these network tools, no matter which operating systems and networks you have to support. <a href="http://support.solarwinds.com/updates/New-Customer.cfm?ProdID=568&campaign=ipmon_DL_lockergnome&CMP=BAC-ipmonDL_lockergnome">SolarWinds ipMonitor</a>: Affordable Network Monitoring for SMBs. Get turnkey network, server and application availability monitoring with SolarWinds ipMonitor v9.0. This easy-to-use, reliable solution for SMBs delivers out-of-the-box availability monitoring so you always know exactly what's up with Active Directory, DNS, Exchange, FTP, Web, IMAP, MS SQL Server, and SMTP. <a href="http://support.solarwinds.com/updates/New-Customer.cfm?ProdID=568&campaign=ipmon_DL_lockergnome&CMP=BAC-ipmonDL_lockergnome">Download your free trial today</a>. Or, try their <a href="http://www.solarwinds.com/products/freetools/">totally free tools</a>! And, through 2/29, save 20% when you purchase <a href="http://store.solarwinds.com/s.nl/sc.16/.f">ipMonitor 9.0</a>. chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) Partner Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:30:00 GMThttp://support.solarwinds.com/updates/New-Customer.cfm?ProdID=568&campaign=ipmon_DL_lockergnome&CMP=BAC-ipmonDL_lockergnome http://support.solarwinds.com/updates/New-Customer.cfm?ProdID=568&campaign=ipmon_DL_lockergnome&CMP=BAC-ipmonDL_lockergnome Get Your Own Web Site Starting at just $3.99/month, web hosting from <a href="http://www.godaddy.com/gdshop/default.asp?isc=cp2">GoDaddy</a> includes 99.9% uptime, 24/7 support and free access to GoDaddy Hosting Connection, THE place to install over 30 FREE applications sure to help you get the most from your hosting plan and Web site. Enter <a href="http://www.godaddy.com/gdshop/default.asp?isc=cp2">code CP2</a> at checkout, and save an additional 10% on any order. <p>Plus, as a friend of Chris Pirillo, enter code <a href="http://www.godaddy.com/gdshop/default.asp?isc=chris7">CHRIS7</a>, that's C-H-R-I-S and the number 7, when you check out, and save an additional 10% on any order. Get your piece of the internet at <a href="http://www.godaddy.com/gdshop/default.asp?isc=chris7">GoDaddy.com</a>.</p> chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) Partner Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:30:00 GMThttp://www.godaddy.com/gdshop/default.asp?isc=cp1 http://www.godaddy.com/gdshop/default.asp?isc=cp1 VMware and Parallels for Virtual Machines It doesn't matter if you're running on Windows or Mac OS X - every power user needs either <a href="http://send.onenetworkdirect.net/z/13766/rn_a32755/">Parallels</a> or <a href="http://send.onenetworkdirect.net/z/17081/rn_a32755/">VMware</a> (or both). There's never been an easier way to test software without destroying your primary operating system's stability. Think of how many times you wish you could press a 'reverse' button on your computer. Plus, there's no easier way to try new Linux distributions - see what all the fuss is about. Run Windows in OS X, run Linux in Windows, but the best way to do either is with <a href="http://send.onenetworkdirect.net/z/17081/rn_a32755/">VMware</a> and/or <a href="http://send.onenetworkdirect.net/z/13766/rn_a32755/">Parallels</a>. chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) Partner Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:30:00 GMThttp://chris.pirillo.com/2008/02/19/parallels-or-vmware/ http://chris.pirillo.com/2008/02/19/parallels-or-vmware/ Coupons for Online Shopping <p style="color: red">This feed is fueled by Lockergnome <a href="http://www.lockergnome.com/buy/">Online Shopping and Coupon Codes</a></p> <p> Before you shop next time, see if we have <a href="http://coupons.lockergnome.com/">a coupon</a> first. </p> chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) Partner Sat, 12 Jul 2008 07:56:13 GMThttp://coupons.lockergnome.com/ http://coupons.lockergnome.com/