Mobile Minds
mobile products to make your life better

Folks, I will be offline for most of the next couple of weeks. As I had emergency surgery on Sat. June 7th.I’ve spent the last week in the hospital trying t get well enough to come home. 

With that milestone behind me and trying this from my house. I now have to recover and build up my strength. As I can only stay awake a few hours before needing more sleep.

This was a very close calls for me and my family and and makes you take stock in what is important to you. It should be family and friends, then work and so on. 

I’ll leave you tonight and for the next couple of weeks thinking about this. What is your body trying to tell you?

I have wanted for some time to take a close look at Microsoft’s Zune. Several things have held me back the first of which is I use a MACBook Pro. The next thing is the amount of money I have spent on iTunes content over the years. This would make it hard to make a change to another platform. However, in the last year the music industry and Apple have both made this change a bit easier for me to image, with the ability to upgrade my purchased music from iTunes to DRM free. I no longer face throwing away thousands of dollars in music or having to burn a ton of CD’s and re-rip them to move to another platform. 

Having gotten my hands on a 80GB Zune and finally loaded Vista via boot camp I am able to run this device through the paces.  Below we will look at the software and Zune Marketplace and then examine the hardware.

Starting with the software, Microsoft’s third-generation version is stable with a visually appealing interface. On both Windows Vista (Ultimate) and XP I was able to load and sync my Zune without any issues at all.

The Zune Marketplace offers me choices I current don’t have on iTunes like, music subscription; pay a monthly fee and have access to all the music can download and install on my device.  

Being on the downside of my thirties I am somewhat hard headed when it comes to my music tastes and how open-minded I am to listen to new music or discover new artists. So music subscriptions have been of limited value to me. As I tend to purchase music from bands I already know and love and listen to this content over and over. Very little of my over 170GB music library is new. The purchases I make tend to be filling in the holes of my collection.  I do see a great value for those who do want to find new music all the time and aren’t close minded like myself. It seems like the younger generations like the idea of music subscription’s verses having to purchase every album or songs they want. I won’t even address those who steal music because they feel like it’s their right because it’s there and the music labels rip off the artists anyway.

I can see if you have never owned a portable music player and get your first one how a subscription model would allow you to spend $14 a month instead of having to shell out much more to fill up your new device with music. 

You’ll find the Zune Marketplace is flexible in the sense that if your like me you can purchase your music and own it verses having to pay every month to continue to have the content accessible to you. It offers you the best of both worlds.

While one aspect that needs to be addressed is the DRM (Digital Rights Management) security on each songs or album you purchase. Other online music stores offer DRM free or large portion of the music they sell are offered this way. One example is Amazon’s MP3 store, which is 100% DRM free and are also a larger bit rate to boot. For those who don’t know what a larger bit rate does for you, it offers you a clearer high quality sound. Think of the digital re-mastered CD’s we all have purchased of music we already owned.   

One feature Microsoft’s Zune solution offers is it Zune Social. No other manufacturers have included a social networking aspect to this social part of our lives. To me this is a no-brainer that Microsoft has seen the future and embraced it. No matter if you are like me and listen to older music or someone who listens to Top 40. Discussing music is a part of most people lives. This automated process for showing what you have listen too lately is simple and painless and for those who don’t wish to share you can turn it off so it’s not shared.

The Zune hardware also includes an aspect of social networking and allows you to share with other Zune users that you are listening too. This can be done by just announcing via a wireless signal what you are listening too or you can even send the song to someone else via a wireless connection. Frankly I’m surprised the music industry has not embraced this more. It’s basically free advertising for them.  The wireless transmitted songs are automatically wrapped in a DRM layer so they can be played only a few days and a reminder is set on the desktop software to prompt you to purchase this should you choose to. For the music industry this is a win any way you look at it. Exposing potential new customers to music and providing a seamless way for them to purchase it. I’ll also stay clear of the many, many problems with the music industry and its lack of forward thinking when it comes to new ways to promote the sale of it’s content.

The sharing of music is going to be a differentiating factor going forward. Clearly social networking is where the connected world is going.  Microsoft has leveraged it’s powerhouse XBox 360 brand and Live platform allowing users to share information with established XBox Live friends. This was a stroke of genius. When you consider this is version 3 of Microsoft Zune’s solution, there are great possibilities to where this social integration can be taken. Staying on the social aspects of the Zune but addressing the hardware, Microsoft has taken more than a few lumps for it’s wireless sending of songs to other Zune users near by via a WIFI connection. This feature will become a cornerstone feature going forward. I will try very hard to contain my speculation about where this is going to be taken in the future, as it would only be my speculation. 

The Zune hardware offers a simple and intuitive user interface. Whether you used other devices or have never used an MP3 player you will be able to sit down and in seconds understand how to find what you are looking for on the device. It offers a large easy to read screen, which is great for those of us whose eyes aren’t what they use to be.

The full Zune 80 specifications are below. (Copied from Zune.net website)

80 GB. Holds up to 20,000 songs, or 25,000 pictures, or 250 hours of video.[2]??

Beautiful, big screen. Featuring a 3.2-inch color screen, Zune 80GB is perfect for portable video viewing.??

Premium headphones. Big screens are great for videos, but premium headphones are essential for music. Included with Zune 80GB are headphones designed to block out external noise.??

Touch controls. Kiss slow scrolling goodbye. The innovative new Zune pad makes browsing your device a blast. Fly effortlessly through your music, picture and video collections. ??

Wireless sync. Cut the cord to your PC. Refresh your Zune with new content anytime you charge your device, through your home wireless network. Learn more.??

Wireless Zune-to-Zune sharing. Share full-length tracks of your favorite songs, albums, playlists, pictures and even audio podcasts. Listen to the full track of any song you receive up to three times, and even pass along songs you receive to other friends nearby who have a Zune. If you like a song you receive, you can easily add it to your wish list and then buy it from your PC the next time you sync.??

Recorded TV or movies to go. Zune will import unprotected .WMV, .MPG4 and H.264 files into your video library. Also, if you’re recording TV shows or movies with Windows Media Center in Windows Vista®, you can import and sync them to your device. Load up your favorite videos and hit the road.[3]??

Built-in FM radio. Tune in to one of your favorite local stations while on the go or working out. Advanced tuning capabilities let you see the name of the song currently playing on select frequencies.[4]??

Zune Marketplace. Featuring over 3 million songs, DRM-free MP3s, music videos, audio/video podcasts and more, your store is always open and just a mouse click away. Learn more.??

Your games. Your music. Your way. Plug your Zune into your Xbox 360® and customize the soundtrack in your favorite games. You can also stream content in Zune software to your Xbox 360 using a wireless connection.

[1] The Zune-to-Zune sharing feature may not be available for all songs on your device, and works only between Zune devices within wireless range of each other. This feature allows recipients to play full-length sample tracks up to three times. 

[2] Music estimates are based on 128Kbps Windows Media Audio (WMA) files, with a length of four minutes each. Pictures transferred to your Zune will be optimized for Zune screen size. Video estimates are based on 500Kbps Windows Media Video files with 128Kbps WMA audio tracks.

[3] Requires a PC running Windows Vista® Home Premium or Windows Vista Ultimate and an integrated or external TV tuner.

[4] To display station name and song information, stations must broadcast an RBDS signal. Availability may vary so check out your favorite stations on your Zune to see if this functionality is present.

I am currently in the process of reviewing the Amazon Kindle, Nokia N95 8GB and the Microsoft 80GB Zune. The Zune and N95 8GB are taking me away from the iTunes/iPod ecosystem and should prove to be an interesting experience and exercise.  My question is can someone who has invested as much as I have in iTunes content and iPod/iPhones can switch to other devices.  I am trying to have an open mind and even look at these devices as someone who has never used any of the iPod and iTunes family of products.  I feel this is the only way I can provide a fair review of these devices.  At the same time it’s refreshing to see additional features in the devices I use every day. As a person who switch devices on average once every month or so for the past 5 years it’s been an experience using the same equipment for the past 8 months.  So check back in a day or two and I post these reviews.  

As you may have noticed over the past year or maybe a bit longer than that. I have shifted the main focus of this site from mainly smartphones to other devices of all types including posts on gaming  consoles and home entertainment equipment, among others. Basically my interests have broadened and quite frankly the smartphone market just is not creating any new or exciting new products.    I have not addressed this in a post stating I have made this shift publicly before now. Mainly because I had high hopes that new and exciting devices would come out and I would shift back to writing about this market. However, watching what was introduced in 2007 and seeing what companies like Nokia and SonyEricsson have in store for 2008 there’s only one device that I am interested in. It’s the Nokia N96 for those or are counting.  Although I am keeping my eyes and ears on what Google is doing and who and what is going to be released with their new smartphone OS. As always I encourage you to post your comments, questions or you can also email them to me from the link on the site above.  

Over the next couple of weeks I’m going to be testing Amazon’s new Kindle E-Book reader. Having received it over the weekend I have downloaded a couple of books and look forward to carrying it with me for the next few weeks while on business trips.  While there are other reviews posted on the net about this new device. I wanted to wait and spend a little time with it before posting my thoughts. Should you have any questions on how to use the device or about the wireless delivery service please post them and I will address them in my review.  So check back in a couple of weeks to read my thoughts on this device. 

Let’s start with Nokia, there back in 2008! Nokia are addressing one of the biggest area’s I believe manufacturers can invest in to create loyal customers. That is integrating web services directly into the devices at an OS level. The new focus on the US market will play a major role in Nokia future plays. However, I don’t know if Nokia’s great phone designs and these new web services are enough to hold off the competition from the likes of Google, Sony/Ericsson and Apple. Nokia needs to partner with Nintendo in 2008. For Nokia sake they need to hope Nintendo is not already talking to Google.

How about Sony/Ericsson are they dead in 2008? Like Nokia, Sony/Ericsson has focused on emerging markets and not the US market. So will this change on 2008, maybe if Sony releases the PSPphone. If Sony releases the PSPphone with the capabilities of purchasing games via the PSN store and over-the-air then this device could make some serious waves in 2008. When you consider how well the PSP is selling this make good sense. However the key with such a device is going to be ease of use and how easy you can move information (games, music and movies) to and from this device. The software, which let’s face it is not Sony’s strong suit, is going to make or break this device.

Speaking of Sony I do see brighter days ahead for the PS3? Well I see them scraping the current PS3’s PSN store design, which in my opinion could not happen soon enough. I’m predicting this comes out at the same time Sony releases it’s new Home application in the April or May time frame. Additionally, this will boost the PS3 and allow it to make up some serious ground against Microsoft and Nintendo. Yes I know that sales are up on the PS3 platform after the price cuts. However, people who have both the PS3 and XBox 360 view the 360 as a stronger platform not only because of the game titles released but because of the user interface and ease of use. Another aspect of Sony’s overall strategy I see becoming a reality in 2008 is the addition of Sony’s music and movie library’s into the PS3, PSP and PSPphone experience. The key here is, are the other music and movie company willing to play in Sony’s pond since they are competitors.

I for one hope that Sony learns a new speed besides turtle slow and stop. There is so much potential in what Sony could do with the Playstation brand of products but they just seem to be behind the curve about 3 steps.

It’s hard to discuss predictions without look at what Apple is going to do in 2008. The latest Apple rumors has Apple introducing movie rentals into iTunes. I see this becoming a reality with a couple of twists. One the movies will be playable for a couple of days and only a selected number of plays. As I also believe on top of being able to play these movies on an Apple TV, you will be able to play them on iPods and iPhones. Hence the need for the limited amount of times you can play a movies before you have to purchase it or rent it again. Speaking of this at the end of movies you rent off iTunes you will be prompted to purchase the movie at a discounted price. Apple will use this as a way to entice people to purchase movies. 

As for iPhone’s in 2008, games and storage are the big additions to look forward to. But I’m sure your read 200 stories on what is coming from Apple in regards to the iPhone.

It may seem that I have focused too much on digital media and game aspects of what 3008 has in store for us. However when you consider the revenues these markets represent these are truly some of the largest markets with the biggest potential for massive growth in 2008. Not to mention the area’s that can have the biggest impact on our lives going forward.

Anyway you look at it 2008 is shaping up to bring us great new innovative products.

I have for the past 7 years changed cell phones on a regular basis. What do I mean by regular, well about every two weeks. However with Apple’s release of the iPhone I have not even though, for more than a moment about trying out a new device. Now this is not to say I do not wish I could do more with my iPhone.

Since it’s about of my connected life, my iPhone needs it to replace my company blackberry. Or I should say provide a wireless sync solution for our corporate exchange service. While I could go into all that is entailed with being a truly enterprise device, I wanted to discuss making my iPhone more of the center point  of my connected life.

So let’s say I’m sitting at my desk and my cell phone rings. I want my MAC or PC for that matter to pull up the contact of the person who is calling, that is of coarse if I have them in my database. Showing me the person calling while allowing me to answer the call with a click of the mouse is key to me.

While we are discussing desktop integration and pulling up of a contact when they call. Why does Outlook. Entourage, or Apple Mail/Address Book/iCal not log calls into the contacts record. I know there is third party software titles that does allow this functionality to be added to all these programs.

I also want the ability to return home docking my iPhone and have it continue to play via my computer speakers what I was listening too on the go. For that matter I want to control my Apple TV using my iPhone.

Mobile devices are only as good as their ability to keep my information in sync. Having never been on the inside of the mobile device industry, not counting a part owner of a PDA software company. There has to be more reasons why the people making these decisions do not see this. Maybe it’s my lack of a MBA to understand. But to me it’s simple “if you build it they will come” quote from one of my wife’s favorite movies, Field of Dreams. Many device developers have had 7 years to figure this out. The good news is they are now looking at Apple’s iPhone success and are now changing they ways, at least this is what I am hearing from my sources.

This article can have the Apple iPhone replaced by a great Nokia N95 or Motorola Q. The same requests I am making are true for all devices. Everybody from Blackberry, to Palm, to Microsoft, to Symbain and Apple all need to listen and understand these devices are more than just mobile phones to us anymore.

Apple is one of the software companies that always creates user interface with grace and style while providing unmatched ease of use in it’s devices and software.

All of these make my iPhone the center piece of my connected life. I have and will continue to dream of a day once described by Bill Gates when all my devices are truly connected. I know it’s strange mentioning Apple and Bill Gates with kinds words for both. I believe that both Bill Gates and Steve Jobs and teams have created a ground work for our connected life’s.

Technorati Tags: Blackberry, Iphone, Nokia, Palm OS, Rant, Symbain, Upcoming, Windows Mobile

September 27, 2007, I was invited to an event hosted be Nokia. This event was held in Los Angeles at a mansion in Beverly Hills. The purpose of this event was to show off the new products that were introduced at the Nokia GoPlay event held in London last month.

Nokia showed off new bluetooth headsets, bluetooth speakers and several of it’s high end Nseries phones. Primarily the discussed where focused around the N95-3. Which is the second generation of the N95. The N95-3 includes several enhancements not found in the original N95, including support for the US 3G radio bands used by AT&T (formally Cingular) and other things like including a larger battery.

As I mentioned the event was held at a Beverly Hills mansion. Each room was setup to show off the abilities of these new devices. Including rooms for N-Gage gaming, GPS, and 3rd party applications such as Sling Media’s new S60 client. Nokia wanted to show how these devices allowed users to stay connected on what Nokia calls the 4th screen, your cell phone. These devices allow for third party software integration into the phones OS. With this you can not only capture great viral content on the go but share this content with all kinds of social networking sites, such as Flickr, Jaiku and others.

Nokia is taken a different approach to cell phone consumers by not only partnering with wireless carriers but also selling unlocked devices directly to them. Additionally, they have opened flagship stores in the US to help consumers see everything these devices are capable of. This approach is not to replace the buying experience at your local wireless carriers stores. In fact these flagship stores do not sell you wireless service, only devices and accessories for them. Since most of Nokia’s high end devices in the Nseries line are not sold by US wireless carriers this allows consumers to go into a store and play with these devices in person. This way you can see these devices for themselves without having to purchase them from the internet without ever having laid their hands on the devices.

I have uploaded some photo’s I took at this event onto my flickr account here. Additionally, I am working on a review of Nokia’s super phone the N95. While I have played with the original N95 I am trying to get my hands on the new N95-3 with full support of my carriers network (AT&T) and include my thoughts on this device before finishing my review.

Technorati Tags: Nokia

Technorati Tags: Nokia

Over the weekend, I commented on a political story another blogger wrote discussing our President. While I will refrain from taken a side or expressing my views on all but this limited area. I have come to some conclusions regarding how to fix the US political system, and if you don’t think it’s broken you really need to really watch what our leaders are saying and doing.

The first major thing that needs to change is, we need to fund political campaigns with tax money. Believe me I don’t want to pay any more taxes than I already do. However, the way the system works today is people (those who have excess cash), donate money to candidates. If you truly believe other people will give you money without expecting something in return you are living in a dream world. By providing equal set amounts will place everybody seeking political office on even ground. Besides it will hopefully help them from feeling beholden to their campaign contributors. And just maybe they will truly do the people’s business.

Building on this idea, brings me to my second point. We need term limits on any state or federal offices. So all House or Senate members need to have a two term limit. Why, because power corrupts. Image for a moment that these elected officials are actually focused on doing the people business instead of how and what they need to say or do to get elected next time.

I for one would love to see a Senator or Representative actually tell me what they think without a political spin on it. And this is not a slam on either of our two major parties, all of them do it.

OK so my rant is over about this. Hopefully the backlash won’t be to bad. Just remember the greatness of our political system is we have the right and duty to question how things are done.

Technorati Tags: Politics, Rant

Their reaction to losing control is exactly why we need these rules. Verizon wants to keep their thumb on you and limit your choices because they can not charge you for things that should be free.

“Verizon Wireless argued that the open-access conditions are unconstitutional, and the FCC overstepped its authority when it approved them on July 31. The auction is widely seen as a last opportunity for a new player to enter the wireless market.”

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