2006 looks to be the year that mobility goes Microsoft, whatever the outcome of Blackberry’s patent litigation. A slew of sharp new phones running Windows Mobile 5.0 are hitting the market. Right now the big news is the Palm Treo running Windows with high-speed data access through Verizon, available in the beginning of the new year, with its Blackberry-style keyboard below a large screen.
Already on the market is a Sprint PPC 6700 running Pocket PC Phone Edition. It is the first device to launch with Windows Mobile 5.0. The Sprint phone has a very nifty keyboard that slides out sideways from beneath the phone. With the keyboard extended, the phone – or is it a PC? – automatically shifts to landscape mode to provide the user with a sizeable screen for writing. It offers Internet access through EVDO at speeds up to 400-700 kbps. Did I mention it takes pictures, can record videos and play music?
The good news is that a whole range of devices are heading for the market. The Audiovox SMT 5600 Smartphone is the smallest, while HP has phones that are based in its iPAQ with a large and easy-to-read screen. Motorola is coming out with a super slim model in the first quarter. So the bad news is that it’s going to be hard to choose, and hard to decide when to make the plunge and just buy a phone and enjoy it, without worrying too much about when the next really wonderful model is coming out. For more information go to www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile. Microsoft has also developed a monthly newsletter to keep users up to date on the latest developments – sign up on the mobility site.
For personal productivity, if you haven’t installed OneNote you should download a trial version (http://www.microsoft.com/office/onenote/prodinfo/trial.mspx) and try it out. OneNote creates a screen that floats over other applications so you can make notes, cut and paste, keep track of conversations, and even use it along with a notebook computer’s microphone to record meetings.
If you can’t keep your work in the office, take a look at Levenger which bills itself as offering “Tools for Serious Readers.” (Make that serious, computer-dependent knowledge workers as well.)
The company offers a laptop tray on a stand that you can place in front of an easy chair so the computer platform extends to within easy reach. It also sells handsome leather carrying cases, modern chairs, and sleek lamps with LED and halogen bulbs. The goodies don’t come cheap, but the store has more good design for the knowledge worker than any other place I know. (www.levenger.com with stores in Boston, Chicago, and Delray Beach, FL)
Linksys has a nifty little wireless G router that comes with its own travel case. Turn your hotel room broadband into a wireless setup so you can work from anywhere in the room, or let colleagues share files over the wireless connection. It’s $85 on Amazon.
Just for fun, Pioneer has a hot little XM receiver called XM2GO, with a suggested list price of $330. Move it from car to car; take it home or to the beach and never again be stuck listening to the ClearChannel empire.
Happy Holidays.
Tom Groenfeldt