Well, no more new releases at least – according to Skype, neither WinMo nor their Java client provided a good experience. Though I won’t argue that point too much, it was a useful tool for me and I guess this says a lot about the sorry state of Windows Mobile. Hopefully Windows Mobile 7 series-something something fixes it.
Lenovo Thinkpad Edge AMD-version info / benchmark
Thinkpad Edge
Those looking for a decent cheap laptop that’s portable and powerful with a great (albeit new design for Lenovo) keyboard really may need to look no further. I was looking for a thin/light that was better to use everyday compared to my MSI Wind U100 netbook and easier to carry everywhere compared to my Gateway 7905u gaming monster. Looking at the Dell Vostro v13 (very nice by the way) and the Thinkpad Edge, I was intrigued by the lower cost AMD-powered option that Lenovo had but couldn’t find any benchmarks for it. Since it was significantly cheaper than the Intel version, I took a gamble on it. If you check out the Engadget and Gizmodo reviews, it looks like the Intel version is a pretty good ~1600 or so on the GeekBench overall score. I haven’t installed anything yet (besides Chrome) so I closed all apps and ran GeekBench. Two runs produced a 1567 and a 1598 score which is pretty darn good considering this is the 3gig RAM version with the 5400rpm hard drive. A quick swap to a 7200rpm or SSD would help boost performance even more!
To clarify the stats on mine: AMD Athlon Neo X2 L325 dual cores @ 1.5ghz, 3gigs RAM, 250gig 5400rpm hard drive
I don’t want to rehash what’s already been well-said at the other review sites, so in short:
- Great choice for a thin/light laptop with adequate power for day-to-day usage
- Aesthetically pleasing (to me, at least!)
- Good value since the AMD versions can be had for < $600 with free shipping from some places
I may update this later as I add VMware and probably dual-boot Linux or FreeBSD to let you know how those work out!
Microsoft wants to give you a MacBook Pro (with Office for Mac)
um yeah…. so it’s not pretty but free makes up for a lot of shortcomings – besides at least it’s unique? Yeah, i’m reachin’ here… You need to be a Twitterer and follow @officeformac or RT them – see the link below for more details – thanks @nhan26!
Microsoft announce Windows Mobile 7 – aka Windows Phone 7 series O_O
Yeah, that’s a long name alright, but MS seems to have finally done it. Check out their site as well the buzz from the people that were at the MWC in Barcelona.
From the looks of it, it’s inspired/based on their newer Zune navigation UI (which is not a bad thing!). Oversized fonts and a very slick, flickable (at least based on the media presented) UI that has updating tiles to show status of all your running apps like email, texts, etc. A long overdue link to Xbox Live and the Zune Marketplace should make this pretty appealing overall since XBL is one of MS’s true shining stars in terms of products that just work well. I think the Zune Marketplace, especially with the Zune Pass also could use a bit more attention based on its all-you-can-eat model and maybe this will help since people won’t have to shell out for a Zune (which imo, was very poorly named and almost as poorly marketed).
If you break it down into it’s disparate elements of big, colorful blocks, it doesn’t sound like much, but it certainly seems to work and looks good. It’s a huge step up from the WM5 to 6.5.3 days (since besides the UI skins oems would put on, the underbelly was the same ugly WM) and I eagerly look forward to seeing how well this runs on an HTC TP2.
Don’t stick with your stock WM ROM!
yeah yeah I’m way behind but I was just too busy with work to stop and reflash my HTC TP2… anyway – finally got around to doing it the other day and since i’m on Tmob I decided to stick with Timor’s Tmob optimized ROM. Was a fairly easy process of using HardSPL to basically “unlock” the phone, then flashing the new ROM. So far, everything’s working much better than under the stock WM6.1… the touchscreen is much more responsive and I don’t misclick when flicking anymore! Animated weather front end and other included software is working great. I can’t compare w/the stock Tmob 6.5 ROM, but from what I hear it works, but it’s not sexy. Also, they team at XDA-developers seems to be THIS || close to getting Android up and running with all the essentials so i’m definitely looking forward to that!
obligatory iPad coverage!
Looks like everyone and their grandma is talking about it so here’s the best place to get info. Both Engadget and Gizmodo are liveblogging at the event and have some hands-on opportunities as well! Lucky bastards!
Nitty gritty:
1ghz Apple custom processor
WiFi, multitouch, App support from App store for existing apps (native or pixel-doubled)
9.7″ display
prices starting at $499 to 699 for 16-64gig and add $130 more for 3G (no contract, $29/month for unlimited)
Firefox 3.6 official!
It’s out now with some new features like personas (themes), a private browsing mode (like Chrome’s incognito), and supposedly faster page rendering! I’ll check it out but right now my main browser is Chrome
HTC Touch Pro 2 for cheap – WMdeals.com
This has been around for awhile, but it’s still going and the deal is getting better! I got mine a few months ago and had to pay $50 and get a $50 
credit 3 months later from Tmobile. This is a pretty damn good phone all around! Yeah, the screen is resistive, but it does the job – the resolution is great at 800×480 and it’s got enough power to play most divx/xvid, browse the web, etc. The keyboard and speakerphone were also big selling points for me since I’m still not happy with any touchscreen keyboards! Maybe the HD2 will have enough real estate to make it less goof-proof… I guess the main thing i _don’t_ like about it, is that it’s a pretty damn slippery phone! The back should be non-slip or rubber-coated… you do not want to drop a phone that costs this much to replace!
Enterprise – switching from Exchange to Google Apps
Google’s doing a lot more in the enterprise space than I had realized! Most everyone knows Google as the search engine, the Gmail, maybe even as a Calendar, and Chrome.
Besides the cool stuff they are always working on in the Labs, they really have done a lot of work on their Apps and have some pretty significant wins in the enterprise arena based on some of the articles listed at their site. I’ve taken my company from a hosted Microsoft Exchange solution to a full Google Apps solution (email that’s compatible with Outlook for our Windows users, no Entourage support for our Mac user though besides IMAP, Calendaring, Sites, Video, etc.) and so far so good. The mobile synching could use a bit of work based on the device you’re using…
PS3 – GT5 delayed T__T
Looks like Reuters broke the news overnight as Sony decides that due to “production related matters”, GT5 will be delayed from its original launch date in March 2010. No new release date has been given, but GT5 was supposed to help bolster this quarter’s earnings. I just want to play the damn game, but i’ll wait if it means more of a quality release!