Jason Langridge’s Mr Mobile Blog

Over the Christmas period it looks like our Windows Live Search team sneaked out a new release I missed.  The update seems to be of benefit (dissapointingly) mainly to folks based in the US with improvements such as 1-click directions for all businesses and street addresses; in the U.S.; additional details for U.S. businesses, including neighborhood, business category, cuisine (restaurants); hours of operation (when available); photos (up to two); and reviews (up to ten) for U.S. businesses. In addition, improved movie show times and critics’ ratings are available through Instant Answers. Also, all maps now have more interactivity – clicking on the maps now zooms in and out to pre-defined levels or advances to the next waypoint for routing maps. You can use Live Search on any mobile phone by visiting m.live.com from your phone’s browser. If you have a Windows Mobile device you can also download the search app from wls.live.com

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Just before Christmas my wife and I took a trip to New York to do some Christmas Shopping (and also celebrate her Birthday)

While there I managed to convince her that we should go to the Wired Store.  The physical store itself is located in the Soho area of New York and only open November 16th to December 30th (they are open online the rest of the time).

Whilst there I got to see the Optimus Maximus Keyboard… this is the coolest keyboard I’ve ever seen – each key has an OLED display in it so it can have different characters or symbols on the keys depending on what you are doing – it can even have pictures on it – see the pictures I took below showing the variety of layouts it was scrolling through.

I got very excited but instantly deflated when I saw the $1600 price tag on the keyboard!

Having said all that – it is very cool and supposedly a $500 version is planned.  You can check out more details about it on the Optimus Blog or even see it in action in the You Tube Video below

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From January 1st the US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has issued new regulations with regards to carrying Spare Lithium batteries. 

Effective January 1, 2008, spare lithium batteries – extra batteries not installed on devices – will no longer be allowed in checked baggage. Spare lithium batteries may be packed in carry-on baggage and lithium batteries installed in a device may be packed in either checked or carry-on, as long as the battery is installed in the device.

With all the furore over the laptop battery recalls I’m not surprised by this move. 

You can get more details on the change in regulations HERE

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Jeff sent me details of the Pointui User Interface.  Pointui will be making their interface free for download in the next day or so.

The video they have posted shows the capabilities but you can also get more details from their Website HERE

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Expansys have got the excellent (albeit Windows Mobile 5.0) QTEK 8500 back on their Stock Clearance page.

The Pink QTEK 8500 is a bargain 89.95 GBP whilst the Black version will cost you 119.95.

There are also lots of other deals on devices such as the Toshiba G500,  Samsung i600 and many more ……

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If you are looking for details of (m)any devices then I always find that pdadb.net is always a good first port of call.

They just celebrated getting their 1,000th device spec online which demonstrates the comprehensive nature of their database!

You can use it to find devices with specific configurations and even OS platforms.

Check out the site HERE

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Nathan has just published details of the upcoming Mobility and Messaging User Group Meetings for January and February. 

The January meeting is being led by my colleague Ben Appleby – the February one by me.

Here are the details of the January MMMUG meeting.

This event will be held in London at the MS offices near Victoria.

Ben Appleby from MCS will be back to talk us through all things backup and recovery.

The session will take a detailed look at the System Center Data Protection Manager platform in relation to Exchange and will delve into the concept of VSS backups be that software or hardware snapshots.

The meeting will be held on Wednesday 23rd January.

To sign up see the thread here:

http://www.mmmug.co.uk/forums/thread/1862.aspx

Here are the details of our February MMMUG meeting.

This event will be held in London at the MS offices near Victoria.

Jason Langridge will be with us this time talking all about Window Mobile device management. Jason will cover the recently announced System Center Mobile Device Manager 2008 and enhancements to Exchange 2007 Service Pack 1.   Jason will run through all the options and let us know what is the best route for management.

Jason will also share the roadmap for Windows Mobile.

The meeting will be held on Wednesday 27th February.

To sign up see the thread here:

http://www.mmmug.co.uk/forums/thread/1863.aspx

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I wanted to wish everyone who reads my blog a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Thanks to all of you for your great comments and feedback over the past year!

2008 promises to be another fun year!

Jason

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If you are looking for a new 3G Windows Mobile 12 key device then your two HTC options will probably be either the Touch Dual or the S730.

Tracy and Matt’s blog have got a great review on the HTC S730

Check it out HERE

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Windows Mobile 6.0 Devices for your Shopping List

I mentioned that last time I was in Redmond visiting the Microsoft HQ – I met up with Max and created a video for On10.

Check out the glasses – the last time I wore them before I had Lasik when I got back to the UK!

http://on10.net/Blogs/maxpowerhouse7/windows-mobile-60-devices-for-your-shopping-list/Default.aspx

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