October 2006

It's taken a good long while, but the HP iPAQ 6900 series of Pocket PC phones will start selling through Cingular by the end of the month. An advanced version of the HP 6300 we reviewed and used a good while ago, the 6920/6925 is powered by a 416MHz PXA270, has a 3-inch 240x240 display (we had hoped for 480x480 by now!), quad band telephony (GSM/GPRS/EDGE), WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS -- all in a 2.8 x 4.7 x 0.7 inch package that weighs 6.3 ounces. There's a full QWERTY thumbtype keyboard and the 6925 version also has a 1.3mp camera.

Afaria 5.5 enhances wireless mobile security
Sybase iAnywhere announced Afaria 5.5, the next generation of the company's award-winning frontline management and security solution. Afaria 5.5 includes new capabilities to initially provision devices over wireless networks, expanded device security functionality, remote control for Windows Mobile devices, and expanded Patch Manager capabilities. Afaria Security Manager has also been updated to include FIPS 140-2 compliant encryption modules, which ensures corporations can safely extend sensitive data to mobile professionals and meet security directives and compliance requirements. [Afaria 5.5 new features -- Posted Tuesday, October 31, 2006 by chb

Syware Visual CE 10 sets milestone
SYWARE, a developer of mobile database development tools for business and personal productivity, today announced the world wide release of Visual CE 10, a major new release of its award winning mobile database development tool. The new release significantly extends the capabilities of Visual CE and its drag-and-drop desktop development environment, which enables both business professionals and developers to easily create Windows Mobile based applications with little or no programming. [see complete list of enhancements] -- Posted Thursday, October 26, 2006 by chb

Microsoft seeks to double WinMo Smartphones from 6 to 12 million this year
According to Reuters, Microsoft aims to double the number of mobile phones running its software this year from 6 million at the end of 2005 and to keep up this rate of growth in coming years. This is based on a statement Peter Knook, head of Microsoft's Mobile and Embedded Devices division, made to Germany's Euro am Sonntag. As is, Nokia has about half the global market for smartphones. As a value-added, Microsoft is looking at ways to connect users of Windows Mobile smartphones to its Xbox Live online video games console, thus adding to their appeal. -- Posted Monday, October 23, 2006 by chb

Windows CE -- not just for PDAs and phones anymore
More and more we see Windows CE being used in a variety of interesting products, beyond just Pocket PCs and smartphones. The Road Angel Group in the UK, for example, has a whole bunch of very cool navigation deviced based on Windows Mobile. The new Navigator 6000/7000 is a complete satellite navigation device for in-car use that combines full UK street mapping with Road Angel, the leading safety camera and accident alert system. With new fully integrated SiRFstar III GPS technology, the Navigator 6000/7000 alerts drivers to accident blind spots, fixed and mobile safety cameras, school zones and mobile safety van sites with visual and voice alerts. [check out Road Angel devices] -- Posted Wednesday, October 11, 2006 by chb

Symbol introduces wearable with handmount scanner

Symbol introduced the WT4000 Series of wearable terminals. The smartly designed device measures just 5.7 x 3.7 x 1 inches and weighs 11.3 ounces with a full-shift battery. The PXA270-powered WT4000 is geared towards warehousing and manufacturing markets, has 128MB of RAM and 64MB of flash, uses Windows CE 5.0 Pro and has a transflective 2.8" LCD. It is used with either the RS309 Wearable Scanner that's worn on the back of the hand or an even lighter and handier option, the RS409 Ring Scanner. Both use a 650nm laser and can read and decode virtually all 1D symbologies. The WT4000 and the scanners are sealed to IP54 specifications and can survive four-foot drops. [See our preview of the Symbol WT4000] -- Posted Tuesday, October 10, 2006 by chb

New BMJ Clinical Evidence for Palm and Pocket PC
Unbound Medicine, specializing in knowledge management solutions and mobile information resources for healthcare, and the BMJ Publishing Group, a medical publisher, announced the release of an upgraded BMJ Clinical Evidence for mobile devices. This all-new version makes the full content of the BMJ Clinical Evidence database easy to access using Palms or Pocket PCs from any location, including the patient's bedside. Monthly updates are delivered to subscribers when they synchronize their devices. [see product page] -- Posted Wednesday, October 4, 2006 by chb

Wyse debuts new high-speed wireless thin clients
Wyse Technology announced the industry's first family of Via C3-based high-speed Wi-Fi enabled thin clients that, when turned on, automatically and securely connect to any supported wireless network, without requiring driver installation or assembly. Compatible with Microsoft Terminal Services, Citrix Presentation Server, VMware VDI and Wyse Device Manager, the line includes models based on Windows CE 5 (Wyse V30), Linux (Wyse V50) and Windows XP embedded (Wyse V90). There is support for WPA and WPA2 for use with 802.1x authentication. The devices measure 7.9 x 7.1 x 1.8 inches, weigh about 8 pounds, and have various mounting options (horizontal, vertical, brackets). -- Posted Wednesday, October 4, 2006 by chb

HP's iPAQ suppliers
Digitimes reports that HTC is expected to start volume shipments of the iPAQ rx5915 GPS-enabled PDA to HP this month. The iPAQ rx5915 runs WinMo 5.0 on a 400 MHz Samsung SC 32442 processor and has built-in WLAN 802.11 b/g and Bluetooth connectivity, and TomTom's Navigator 6 with Tele Atlas data. Though HP has added Quanta Computer and LG Electronics to its iPAQ supplier list, HTC remains the most important one. Quanta has received orders for HP's rw6800-series PDA phones, while LGE will manufacture the rx4000-series multimedia players for HP, Digitimes sources noted. -- Posted Monday, October 2, 2006 by chb