Author: James Kendrick

One of the most amusing things in the mobile tech world is how the more things change, the more the same things come around again and again. Take the e-book craze, which is seeing more companies than you can shake a stick at promise us the newest, bestest reader ever. Looking at these new gadgets makes one thing clear: We’ve seen these before, and quite a long time ago.

Take the two promised “readers” from Paradigm Shift, which will be color readers and so much more. The two gadgets, slated to appear next week at CES, will have 5- and 7-inch screens for high contrast viewing. They will also bring “impressive battery life” as they run Windows CE. Using CE means they will not be mere e-book readers, but will be able to do much more.

If this sounds familiar to you it’s because Windows CE “e-book readers” have been out for almost 10 years. The first Pocket PCs ran Windows CE and had e-book reading software readily available. Paradigm Shift also points out that its revolutionary gadgets will be able to do such things as read Microsoft Office documents. Hello, that capability has been available in CE for years.

The good news is that the company claims it will be able to sell the two readers for $150 and $200, making them cheap alternatives to other single-purpose readers on the market. But they should be cheap; they’re using years-old technology and bring functionality I had almost a decade ago.

It seems the mobile tech world is not happy unless there are rumored gadgets floating around the nexus. Google has been playing the Apple game with the leaks concerning the mystery Nexus One Android phone. Details have leaked out over time, and we now have an idea what the Nexus One will be, and how it will be sold.

First, here’s what we know about the phone:

• 512 MB of RAM and ROM
• 4 GB microSD card included with support for up to 32 GB of removable storage
• 3.7″ AMOLED display with WVGA resolution
• 5-megapixel camera sensor with 2x digital zoom
• 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi support
• 1 GHz Qualcomm QSD 8250 processor
• Removable 1400 mAh battery
• Voice supported on both AT&T and T-Mobile, but 3G is only good for T-Mo
• AT&T’s network will provide EDGE

The phone looks just like a slightly bigger Droid Eris, complete with the four touch-sensitive buttons below the screen. The Snapdragon processor makes this the fastest Android phone yet, but otherwise the Nexus is just another Android phone.

Google will sell the Nexus One for use on the T-Mobile network. The phone is reported to go on sale Jan. 5, and will be available for both a subsidized and an unlocked price.

• The phone will sell for $180 with a subsidy
• The unlocked price is $530
• The subsidy is only available with the one data plan ($80 monthly), providing unlimited web, unlimited texts, but only 500 talk minutes
• Current T-Mobile customers with other plans must buy the unlocked phone for use with those plans, or switch to the new plan
• You can only buy five phones on one Google account
• Google will sell the phone online
• If you cancel your new plan within the allowed 120 days, you will be charged the difference between the subsidized and unlocked prices ($350)
• Two docks will be available, one for home and another for car use (a la Motorola Droid)

Diabetics know that keeping on top of the body’s glucose level is vitally important. Bad things happen when the level dips too low, or spikes too high, and constant monitoring is the key to maintaining control. Technology is often leveraged to handle this chore, but nothing I’ve seen to date makes more sense than these color-changing contact lenses.

The lenses use special nanoparticles that change color to reflect the glucose level in tears. They are, in essence, a constant glucose monitor that requires no effort from the diabetic. Just pop them in and go. I hope we see these lenses hit the market, something that unfortunately doesn’t always happen with medical technology.

It’s no secret that I have a fetish for gear bags; my quest for the perfect bag has been ongoing for years. I had reached a happy place with the Booq Boa XS backpack that I picked up several years ago, so my quest slowed down quite a bit. But I recently finalized the kit I’m taking to cover CES, and came to grips with the realization that this gear would not fit in the Boa. That put me in the market for another backpack, preferably one just a little bigger than the Boa, as I like to keep my travel gear as small and light as possible. My search for a new bag started at the Booq web site, and I quickly settled on the Mamba Shift L backpack. The Mamba Shift looked like it would easily fit my gear, yet remain as small as possible. With the trip approaching, I was getting nervous that the Mamba wouldn’t arrive in time, but today the FedEx guy dropped one off.

The Mamba Shift L is made of the same indestructible nylon material used on the Boa. The Boa has hundreds of thousands of travel miles on it without any visible wear and tear, so I know the Mamba will stand up to the rigors of life on the road. The zippers are high quality, and the attention to detail shows the typical Booq design touches.

What I like most about Booq bags is their slim profile. This is especially important to me on backpacks, as I need one that fits all my stuff yet doesn’t add a lot of bulk on my back. The Mamba has a very thin profile, considering the ample storage space it has in the main compartment. Opening the compartment exposes a number of pockets to fit all kinds of gear, in an organized fashion. There are mesh pockets that expose the contents, pockets with flap closures, and room to fit all sorts of accessories.

The Mamba Shift comes with a small cable pouch that fits in a tapered pocket for transport. This provides a convenient way to carry a few cables while keeping them out of the way of other gear. This is a thoughtful touch for the road warrior.

There’s a zippered pocket on the front of the bag, the perfect place to carry boarding passes and other travel documents to keep them in easy reach. There are two pockets, one on each side of the bag that can be for things that are used a lot. The two shoulder straps have a pocket on them with a tab closure, perfect for iPods or mobile phones.

The laptop compartment is fully padded and made with a velour type of material for protection of the computer. It’s a separate zippered compartment, providing easy access to the notebook. This compartment is on the back of the bag, so the heaviest gear rides comfortably on the back while in the bag. It will fit up to a 17-inch laptop.

Booq bags carry the Terralinq service, which can come into play should the bag be lost. There is a Terralinq serial number on a metal tag in each bag, and once registered (free), should anyone find it they can contact the web site as instructed. The bag can be returned to the registered owner, a nice security feature.

The Mamba Shift L is $149.95 at Booq, and comes with a 5-year limited warranty.

It wasn’t that long ago when Nokia and Apple started trading lawsuits over patent violations involving the iPhone and various Nokia technologies. Nokia first started it by claiming the iPhone was infringing on 10 Nokia patents. Apple’s countersuit claimed that Nokia was infringing on 13 patents pertaining to the iPhone. Things had been quiet on this front for a while — until Nokia filed another suit claiming that Apple is infringing on seven Nokia patents. This time Nokia is firing a big salvo across the bow of Apple as the claim states that it’s not just the iPhone using Nokia technology — it’s virtually every product Apple makes.

At issue is Nokia technology dealing with “user-interface design and camera, antenna and power-management technologies” that the Finnish company claims Apple is using “in virtually all of its mobile phones, portable music players and computers.” Ouch. Suddenly the patent infringement has grown quite a bit since this whole business started. Apple hasn’t responded yet, but the expected countersuit should be interesting to read.

It’s Tuesday and that can only mean it’s time for our weekly feature, the BlackBerry Buzz. The BlackBerry is old in phone years, as RIM started moving from producing pagers to entering the corporate phone business a decade ago. The BlackBerry has been one of the most successful product lines in any business, and the look back that engadget has taken is an interesting read. They cover the last ten years, including landmarks for RIM such as hitting the one millionth subscriber back in 2004. The article is a must-read for all BlackBerry enthusiasts.

BlackBerry owners were no doubt beside themselves over the holidays as another service disruption hit that prevented web access. This latest outage was so soon after the prior outage that pundits are wondering what RIM can do to prevent them from happening so often. My newbie Crackberry spouse was almost frantic from the web disconnection, something amusing to watch as she’s only had a BlackBerry for a few weeks. This was her second major service disruption.

The Tour is a nice BlackBerry, although some wished it had better specs. Information about the Tour2 is emerging, and it looks like it will be a nice improvement of what is already a pretty good phone. The processor is beefed up and the cool trackpad and keyboard are still quite good. This looks like it will be a good refresh of the Tour.

The word yesterday that Sprint was going to roll out a new webOS update turned out to be true. Last night, my Palm Pre was updated to version 1.3.5, with no issues. It may be wishful thinking, but the performance of the Pre definitely feels faster since the update. Menus pop up quickly, and lags are not as prevalent as they were before.

This update removed the goofy program limit that has plagued the Pre since day one, but I have to take Palm’s word on that as I don’t have that many apps installed to test it out. I will keep an eye on battery life, as the update is reported to be stingier with power consumption. The only thing negative I’ve run into is I can no longer take screen captures for some reason. No matter what I do, the screen won’t capture an image.

When I first saw the Camangi WebStation appear in folks’ hands, I was excited as it looks like a very nicely constructed tablet. It almost looks like a giant iPhone, with solid lines all around. The verdict is still out on whether it’s the sweet tablet it appears to be, but the first review of the WebStation shatters the illusion. Laptop Magazine has one of the tablets in hand, and its review is one of mixed emotions:

By itself, this device is actually pretty cool. It’s got a 7-inch screen, weighs 0.8 pounds, doesn’t tire out the hand or wrist, and is great for surfing the web..

As we mentioned, the device is sluggish, taking a few seconds longer to load apps and Web pages or respond to button presses than we like.

When we watched the included WebStation promo video it didn’t play smoothly, stuttering and hitching noticeably in many places. We weren’t able to test any other videos as only MP4 and 3GP formats are supported and the YouTube app wasn’t included.

It seems that the Camangi is almost there, but that’s often the case with mobile gadgets. Great, if only it did [insert your preference] better. I do think the inability to hit the Android Market for apps is a problem for these web tablets.

No doubt there are a lot of new Kindle owners after the holidays, and Amazon is happy about the number of Kindle e-books that are flying off the shelves. Amazon has a list of the top 100 best-selling e-books, and the majority of them are top sellers because they don’t cost a cent. That’s right, over 60 percent of the top 100 e-books on Amazon are absolutely free.

A quick check of the list shows the classics you expect to be there, but what’s surprising is there are quite a few other books that for some reason or another cost $0.00. If you were nice enough to get a new Kindle, you may want to check out the list and get a bunch of free books. I just got 15 free books for my Kindle 2, including a free James Patterson novel and a “Star Wars” short story.

It is hard to believe that this time next week I’ll be on the way to Sin City to attend the Consumer Electronic Show (CES) 2010. It’s hard to guess what attendance will be like this year given the economy, but one thing for certain there will be gadgets everywhere. I believe there will be several hot mobile tech areas this year, and I note them here in no particular order.

Smartbooks. We saw a few smartbooks at the show last year, but it was clear they were not ready to take center stage. That will not be the case this year as I believe the smartbook will be the big mobile gadget at the show. We will see major OEMs launching smartbooks, and it is the space to keep an eye on while wandering the show aisles. We will likely see smartbooks of all shapes and sizes, and many will be ready for immediate sale. I expect to see at least 20 different models at the show, with each vying for attention. Smartbooks will be the netbook of 2010.

Phones. Android will be the focus in the phone world, which is not surprising. We should see Android phones with 2.x everywhere, and Android apps will be well represented at the show, too. We will see Android begin to spill over into other gadget forms, like tablets and notebooks. The processors that will drive the smartbook into the mainstream will be used to turn smartphones into little powerhouses, and we will see quite a few phones with sizzling capability at the show.

Netbooks. There will certainly be netbooks at the CES, but they will largely be more of the same as we’ve seen before. We will see some with better graphic-handling ability, but that will come at a price. I do believe we will see a few convertible netbooks with multitouch screens. Even the major OEMs are going to get into the swivel screen game, in an attempt to kindle excitement in this now old-school genre. I’m not sure if consumers will be willing to pay the extra price for touch on the otherwise cheap netbook.

e-Book Readers. This will be the second big area at the show. We will see readers all over the place, with single screens, double screens, e-Ink, Pixel QI, and other features I can only guess. They will be accompanied by announcements for content deals, as readers without books are just dead weight. We may see some readers announced by players that are surprising, as e-books are now hot items and this attracts new blood to the table.

Handheld Computers. I think we will see quite a few little computers of all shapes and sizes. There will be clamshell forms as small as 5-inches, and slates as large as 9 or 10. There will be gadgets that are Windows-based, and Android will be onboard others. Linux will be well represented on some of the gadgets, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we see someone who has shoe-horned the developer version of the Google Chrome OS on one or two of them.

I’ve often thought that an Android tablet would make a nice web appliance, and I have followed the Camangi Webstation since it went on sale. The 7-inch screen is a good size for surfing the web, and the Android OS should make for a good platform for such a beast.

The Camangi devices are starting to arrive in the hands of early purchasers, and our friends at Gear Diary received one today. The unboxing video shows a very nicely constructed white tablet that is reminiscent of something those fruit people might make. Have a look at the video and see what you think. I can see eReader running on this baby to make a sterling reader. Oh, yes I can.

The rumors about the mythical Apple Tablet are swirling around at such a rapid pace that my head is swimming. Depending on where you turn, this non-device has a 7-inch touchscreen, a 10-inch screen, a tempered glass screen, a multitouch screen, or even a screen that morphs into a keyboard. Give me a break! It doesn’t exist yet, and the number of people who say the Apple Tablet has a certain feature doesn’t make it so!

Let’s take this approach — what would you like to see Apple put in the Tablet? What features would you find worthy of capturing your dollars? What OS? What apps? Tell us what you want, not what you heard would be there. Add what you’d do with such a beast if it really existed, and it contained the magic features you desire. You’re the ones who are going to buy them, so make your voice heard. Don’t just sit back and take whatever Apple is willing to dole out. Oh yeah, that’s how Apple normally works, isn’t it?

Note: No Apple Tablets were harmed during the production of this post.

Welcome to our newest Monday feature — Android Ecosystem!

We’ve provided a lot of coverage of the HTC Sense interface on Android phones, as it is very well done; what we’ve been wondering is how the next version of Sense will look, since HTC is going to update it to work with Android 2.x. Well, a video of the new version has appeared, and it looks pretty slick. The program icons now have a translucent background, and it has an updated look overall. I’m not sure I like that new unlock screen, as it doesn’t seem to indicate which home screen is active, but that may just be me.

T-Mobile G1 owners may be chowing down on some tasty Eclair next year, if this rumor pans out. It is reported that Android 2.x, aka Eclair, will be doled out to the G1 early next year. It wasn’t clear if the older G1 could handle the next version of Android, but apparently it can. Android 2.x brings a lot of new features, such as multiple email account support. It is also compatible with all the features of Google Maps Navigation.

HTC Sense is a distinctive interface, largely due to the attractive widgets that HTC employs. Copying may be the sincerest form of flattery, but HTC is having none of it. The company has issued a cease-and-desist order to LevelUp Studio, a developer that produces the Beautiful Widgets for Android. LevelUp has taken the offending widgets off the market.

A rumored update to webOS should hit today if the Sprint release notes are to be believed. The new version, 1.3.5, should improve battery life when on the edge of a 3G coverage area. According to the notes, the new version will launch either Google Maps or Sprint Navigation when tapping an address in the contact app. A welcome change is the shrinking of updates so they will be applicable in 2G coverage areas going forward. The updates have been so big in the past that they weren’t available to users in a 2G only area. That will change in the future.

My Pre hasn’t seen the update appear, but I’ll keep an eye out and apply it as soon as it is available. It is not clear if this update will address the program limit that Palm has indicated it will address. We’ll have to see if this update clears up enough problems to save Kevin’s Pre from extinction.

HTC is undoubtedly the king of Android with more handsets than any other OEM. Its Verizon Droid Eris is essentially an updated Hero that has been adapated to the Verizon network. In this video I give a walk around the phone, showing how small and thin it is, along with a look at the HTC Sense interface for Android.

Specs for the Droid Eris:

The year is winding down, and as the end approaches it is a good time for reflection. That reflection can take many forms — some sites compile a list of the most highly trafficked posts of the year, an interesting look at hot topics of the year. I thought about doing such a list, but decided to take a different tack at the look back.

What sets jkOnTheRun apart from other tech sites is the engaging community. A lot of posts on the site result in good conversations, and a sharing of ideas and views. We have a very intelligent audience, and the sharing of ideas in the comments is a valuable resource to us all. There is often more good information shared in the comments on the posts here than on many tech sites in general. So it seems only fitting to list the 10 most engaging posts on jkOnTheRun for 2009. This was determined by the number of comments left on the posts, an indicator of the best conversations here for the year.

Here is the top 10 list of conversations:

1. Windows Mobile vs. Android: WinMo is Better Than You Think. Nothing fires up good conversation like the passion toward one platform or another. This post pointed out that Windows Mobile is not as bad as many think, even though it is frequently bashed.

2. Verizon MiFi 2200 Review– Mobile Broadband Done Right. The MiFi is the gadget I consider the best gadget of the entire year, and the comments show that I am not alone with that view.

3. 10 Updates My Palm Pre Needs Now. The Palm Pre was a big launch this year, and as innovative as the phone is, it’s not perfect. This post addressed things the Pre was lacking at launch.

4.  Kevin Tofel Needs Your Thoughts and Prayers. We are fortunate to have the great community here, and we consider you our friends. The friendship we have forged was never more evident than when Kevin faced a tragedy this year and many stepped up to offer good thoughts for him during that rough time.

5.  We Have a New Look! What Do You Think? When we updated the tired look of the site we asked for your opinions and you didn’t disappoint us.

6.  I’m Putting My Palm Pre on Notice. Kevin kicked up some dust when he put his Pre on notice. His frustrations with the phone touched a nerve with many other Pre owners.

7.  Palm Pre: Thoughts After Using it a Day. No question the Palm Pre was one of the hottest mobile tech topics this year as it appears multiple times in this list. My impressions of the phone after using it a day kicked off a good conversation.

8.  Is Gmail’s Spam Filtering Failing For You, Too? Gmail has grown positively huge, and when a lot of spam started creeping into the inbox, many had some things to say about that.

9.  Palm Pre WebCast Tidbit: Browser Nearly 4x Faster than iPhone. The Pre makes the list again as a lot of folks got excited to see how fast the browser operates. The video in the post demonstrates how fast the Pre browser handled a complex web site.

10. HP tc1100 — a Viable Alternative to the Netbook. Netbooks have been big news this year, and this post that pointed out low-cost alternatives was a good conversation starter.

There’s a special bond between a Media Center owner and his remote. The power of having hours of programming at the fingertips is a heady thing indeed. Lenovo, those ThinkPad people, obviously understands that and has quietly released a Multimedia PC remote with a full QWERTY keyboard. The remote has a trackball in addition to the keyboard, and brings a USB dongle to the living room, too. The $60 MSRP can already be dropped to around $30 with a search online so if you are looking for that special remote, this might be the one for you.

Related analysis: The Coming Remote Control Revolution (sub required)

Our platform focus continues this fine Sunday with the e-Book Echo, our take on the week in the digital publishing world. E-book readers have been the hot ticket for a while, and the holiday season has seen activity in the digital publishing world as never before. Amazon is reporting that Kindle books outsold print books on Christmas day for the first time in the company’s history. The Kindle was a hot holiday seller, and the company is quite happy they are selling e-books like hotcakes.

The high sales volume of readers didn’t come without its price, as both Sony and Barnes & Noble were overloaded trying to pump out e-book downloads to meet demand. Owners of new Nook readers could not download books on Christmas day due to the servers being slammed trying to keep up with demand. Nook book downloads were unavailable until the day after Christmas, when they resumed.

Sony also experienced high sales for the Reader line of devices, and that demand saw its servers equally slammed on Christmas day. New Reader owners were unable to get into the store to download purchased books, due to high volume. The Sony Reader problem was more pronounced that the Nook download problem, as Reader owners needed a software update to access the new and improved Sony store. The update download is believed to have contributed to the server overload. Things should be back to normal currently.

‘Twas the geek’s night before Christmas, and all through the house,
Not a hard drive was whirring, not a single clicking mouse;
The gadgets were charging in their docks so fine,
In hopes that St. Nick shopped at Best Buy online;
The geeks were all snuggled all warm in their beds,

While visions of netbooks did dance in their heads.
With a click and a whir there arose such a clatter,
As the smartphones and Blackberries began to all chatter;
A song they did sing to ring in good cheer,
In their sleep geeks were smiling for what did they hear?

Nothing, it was all SSDs here,
And as they settled their heads back down in the bed,
They dreamed of the gadgets that might be colored red;
An iPhone, a Nexus, or a new Palm Pre,
Could that be what they’d find underneath the tree?

As the geeks fell asleep with their eyes all aglow,
And the visions of electrons did come and did go;
With a whoosh down the chimney the gear did alight,
Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!