Apparently one of the first apps to appear on the Windows Marketplace for Mobile, Dymo’s CardScan Mobile’s premise is very simple: you take a picture of a business card with your Windows Mobile smartphone’s built-in camera, and it takes care of encoding the text, adding the information to your contact list, and making sure the data is in the correct fields.
While I look for someone who can try out the app on his or her Windows Mobile smartphone, here are some five quick questions answered by Dymo’s PR:

CardScan Mobile uses OCR to decipher the text right? Yes.
Do your testers have …read more

According to the source, here are the specs you should expect from Dell’s rumored Android smartphone, the so-called “Benzine” which is rumored as ready for launch:

Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE class 12
Size: 68.6cc
103g grams weight
Dimensions: 58 x 122 x 11.7mm
Display: 3.5″ nHD 640×360 LCD, 18-bit, 262K colors
OTA capable
Microsoft Exchange support
Google, AIM, Yahoo and MSN IM support
3 megapixel auto-focus, flash, 8x digital zoom camera with 30fps video shooting mode, built in photo editor
USB 2.0, Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR
A-GPS
On-screen QWERTY keyboard, hardwriting recognition, multi touch UI
MicroSD slot

Pretty thin and full-featured, if you ask me. And unless the version of Android to run on this gadget …read more

Take the Nokia E75 out of the box, and you’ll see a transparent sticker plastered over the display. Apparently, Nokia received too many complaints, from people who couldn’t figure out that on some phones, the red End Call key doubles as the power button! The side-effect of this noobishness? You have to take off the display cover to start using the phone, wasting the sticker’s screen protector potential.

Based on the attended product briefing, Nokia’s pushing the E75 as email-centric, highlighting the QWERTY keyboard that slides out from underneath the otherwise candybar-looking smartphone, as well as the email-friendly messaging app. Functionality-wise …read more

The advent of Blackberries marked the beginning of the frequent mobile use era. It’s not uncommon to see people today check their email or their favorite websites through their phone.
he problem is that some people are unaware of how rude they come off, tapping away on their thumboards in meetings or even one-on-one conversations.
This is where smartphones still fall short versus laptops. For some reason, and I’ve seen this happen many times, people who use laptops to essentially not pay attention while getting things done on their own agenda come off as more polite. More businesslike even.
It’s a reality that …read more

In attempt to get more people to their website BillShrink recently came out with this well-made digital flyer that compares the so-called “new generation” smartphones:
Here’s that table in real-text form:

iPhone 3GS (AT&T)
Palm Pre (Sprint)
Android G1 (T-Mobile)

Storage Capacity
16GB
8GB
1GB (Expandable SD Slot)

Talk Time (hours)
5
5
5

Standby Time (hours)
300
300
130

Camera Megapixels
3.0
With Video Recording & Editing
3.0
3.0
With Video Recording

WiFi?
Yes
Yes
Yes

GPS
Yes
Turn By Turn (& Digital Compass)
Yes
Turn by Turn
Yes
Turn By Turn (& Digital Compass)

Voice Commands?
Yes
No
Yes

App Store
iTunes App Store
Palm App Catalog
Android Market

Price (With Contract)
$199
$199
$149

Price (Without Contract)
$599
$550
$399

Service Plans
Unlimited:
$99.99 – Voice
$30.00 – Data
$20.00 – Messaging
Unlimited Voice, Data, & Messaging:
$99.99
Unlimited:
$99.99 – Voice & Messaging
$24.99 – Data

Total Costs (+Tax Over 24 Months)
$3,600
$2,400
$3,149

I say workable, because even if it takes some time to get used to the QWERTY keyboard of the Nokia E71, it’s still decent enough to allow the input of an appreciable amount of text quickly. This very post was composed on the said smartphone.
The E71’s keypad features rounded and slightly raised buttons that are easy to distinguish from each other after some practice, but don’t require an extraordinary effort to push. Right now, I’m literally blazing through this part of the post, gaining confidence with each press and committing virtually no mistakes. I guess the only way to move …read more

Hear hear Steve O’ Hear! You understand that with smartphones, one size doesn’t really fit all:
Yet I remain convinced that for all of Apple’s innovation – especially on the mobile browsing front and major improvements in usability – the iPhone in its current incarnation will have significant but limited appeal. There’s only one iPhone, and in the smartphone market, one size doesn’t fit all.