Along with that "other phone", Palm (relatively quietly) launched their 800w, and the early reviews have been pouring in. For those of you considering the 800w, here's a collection of unboxings and reviews you may find helpful.

[ The Gadgeteer | Brighthand | CNET | Engadget Mobile | Mobility Site (photos, video) ]

In general, most reviewers seem to think it's a worthwhile improvement over the earlier Treos, with the biggest criticisms being the thickness, the battery life, and the connector switch to microUSB. Have any of you picked up the 800w? If so, contribute your thoughts in the thread. We'll be sure to update you with more reviews as they come in.

"You can use Windows Live™ Messenger for BlackBerry® devices to chat with other Windows Live Messenger users from your BlackBerry device. To use Windows Live Messenger for BlackBerry devices, you must have a Windows Live ID."

Looks like RIM Blackberry users can now download Windows Live Messenger for their device. The software includes such features as creating a custom status, the ability to keep the full chat history for a contact and apparently even has the ability to send and receive files.

And who said having a Windows Mobile device would allow you to have software like your desktop so you don't have to leave your connections behind? Looks like Blackberry users are able to do this at will, whereas we are stuck hoping the carrier installs Messenger, because MS sure won't let you download and install it on their mobile platform.

• Palm Releases ROM Update for Sprint Centro
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"HP's iPAQ range used to be the doyenne of the PDA world, back when cellphones were cellphones and anything more complicated than an alarm required a standalone PocketPC (or Palm, depending on your preference). Years later, and the PDA in general is a much-diminished force; the line between smartphones and cellphones has blurred and customers expect to be able to do much of what their laptops can while they're mobile. Into this competitive market HP have launched the iPAQ 910 Business Messenger, a Windows Mobile 6.1 Pro smartphone with full QWERTY keyboard. After our unboxing video we promised you a review; read on to see whether HP are likely to take back their top spot."

HP's had some bad stumbles in the past few years related to phone-based devices, but it looks like the iPAQ 910 might finally break that bad streak. The battery 1940 mAh battery is certainly worth writing home about: that's a lot of juice. The 320 x 240 screen, less so - but at least it's not 240 x 240. I have a fondness for front-facing keyboards, and since HTC seems to have all but abandoned that form factor, it's nice to see other companies (Samsung, Motorola, HP, etc.) continuing to support this design. The HP iPAQ 910 won't win any beauty awards, but with a good keyboard and great battery life, it looks like a competent work-horse.

"Leisure Suit Larry hits the high seas as he cruises for love in this comic adventure game, which mixes hilarious dialogue, mini-games and puzzles. Your favorite smooth talker from the 80’s hit the high seas as he cruises for love! Leisure Suit Larry: Love For Sail is a mobile re-production of the classic Larry PC game. Become Larry as he tries to woo the most beautiful, unsuspecting female vacationers. Larry has seemingly infinite opportunities to use his signature lines, including a plane, cruise ship, beaches, and the casino. He is on the trip of a lifetime and the theme provides the perfect summer fun. Will Larry score a date? You control Larry’s fate."

If there is one thing I have learned in life above all others it is that in real life girls really aren't that found of guys with large gold medalions and leisure suits. However, you have to admire a cartoon man with confidence with the law of averages on his side. You can pick up Leisure Suit Larry: Love For Sail today from WinPlay for only $9.99

"On Wednesday we brought news of Microsoft's Live Mesh cloud-based storage service, giving you 5 gigs of space for your files to come and go as you please. Today, the big M unleashed mobile-optimized access to the service, meaning you can get to your data while you're on the run. It's not the full-on Windows Mobile client we're hoping for, but it's certainly a step in the right direction. If you're already signed up for the tech preview, point your favorite mobile browser (yes, even the iPhone's) at https://m.mesh.com - note the secure site - and have at it."

Not to get ones hopes up but this is not the speculated mobile client that will make transferring data from the cloud to your handset as easy as pie. However, what this web application does, it does pretty well. Signing into the service you can browse through your Live folders and even download files that are in there. At the time of posting this I was unable to test downloading any other filetypes besides images so I am unsure if you could download a Zip archive or EXE file to your handset but if you wanted to get some images from your desktop computer to your handset and did not want to deal with the hassle of pulling out your USB cable and syncing, I would suggest giving Live Mesh a try.

"Companies -- lots of them -- are still buying Windows Mobile smart phones, and Microsoft Corp. doesn't want to let iPhone mania make them forget. During Microsoft's most recent fiscal year, 325 enterprises purchased at least 500 Windows Mobile phones, with many buying many more, said Scott Rockfeld, group products manager for the mobile communications business at Microsoft, in a Friday interview. "

With all of the hype surrounding the iPhone 2.0 launch recently, which includes some capabilities to synchronize against some of your Exchange data directly with the server, Microsoft doesn't want IT pros to lose sight of the fact that Windows Mobile is still very big in business, although still behind RIM's popular Blackberry platform. Even at that, there are a lot of companies with RIM's BES server that use Windows Mobile devices, and over 100 are decommissioning their BES server. The article also mentioned one company buying 10,000 Windows Mobile devices but wouldn't give the name of the company, speculating only that it might be Wal-Mart, the world's largest private employer.

"Wait no more! The latest bits for Windows Live Client for your Windows Mobile are available for download. To get yours now, point your mobile browser to http://wl.windowsmobile.com If you have Windows Live already installed on your device, you will need to uninstall it first. To do that, go to Settings->Remove Programs, select Windows Live entry from the list (if any) and click Remove. If you don’t find Windows Live on the list, then you are good to go."

There's a new version of Windows Live for Windows Mobile available, but don't expect to see anything other than bug fixes. Like the previous Windows Live release, Messenger isn't included; so, if your device already includes Windows Live with Messenger, get ready to wave goodbye to Messenger if you install this version over the top. If that's not something you want to do, you'll need to wait for your carrier/manufacturer to update Windows Live in an upcoming ROM update, which, of course, could take weeks/months/years to deliver. Uh-huh, that's a topic we just can't rant enough about.

"Toshiba Matsushita Display is about to mass-produce OLED screens that could be used for a wide range of portable devices, according to a report from Japan's Nikkei BP. The joint venture between Toshiba and Matsushita (Panasonic) is claimed to be producing as many as one million 2.5-inch organic screens per month starting from Autumn of 2009 and would be the first Japanese company to do so. The development would be primarily targeted at cellphones, GPS navigators, and other handhelds, the newspaper says, though no specific products have been announced. The screen size is also commonly used for portable media players such as the iPod classic and Zune 80."

OLED is shaping up to be like most of those crazy-cool battery technologies that look so great in concept but never seem to go anywhere in real life. We've seen a few devices ship with tiny OLED screens, like the outer displays on mobile phones, but few devices using OLED screens as their primary display. We've been hearing the hype about the power savings of OLED screens for several years now, so why haven't they come to market? My guess is cost - no one ever talked about the costs of those 15" prototype screens we were seeing at CES 2008. There's no mention of screen resolution - one would hope they'd be VGA screens if they're 2.5" in size. QVGA would be a let down, even if the power savings would be substantial. And the article is wrong about the Zune 80, that device uses a 3.2" screen. Hopefully we'll see some OLED screens in that size as well.

"Saying that Samsung's new BlackJack IIs are pink and blue is really only telling part of the story. Unlike the originals, the stylish new models feature contrasting white fronts with color-coordinated keys and fancy designs on the back -- perfect for that fashion-conscious Windows Mobile nerd in your life (if that's not an oxymoron, we don't know what is). Collect the whole set now for $99.99 a pop on contract."

These new handsets look pretty slick. Whole Jerry and I knew it was only a matter of time before another pink Windows Mobile Smartphone was released in the wild, we thought the colprit would be Motorola and not Samsung. I have to admit though the designs are pretty top notch and it is incredibly refreshing to see something new in the design instead of a plan ol' boring color. Hopefully the new designs are not done in the super plastic-looking glossy casing as the original Samsung Blackjack which was a huge turn off for me.

In case you're new here, I love my Asus Eee PC. Of course, what would make it better? More memory of course! If you are not familiar with ADATA, you really should be. They may not be a recognizable name brand like Sandisk, but they produce memory cards that are an outstanding value for the consumer. Their 16 GB SDHC Eee branded card looks to be no exception.



Figure 1: One of these things is not like the other...

This is the third ADATA card I've owned (I also have the 4 GB and 8 GB models) and my main product criteria was storage size. The internal memory on my Eee is enough space for the OS and the non-media related files I need, but falls short once you want to start carrying around music and movies. I recently looked at external hard drives as one solution to this issue, but sometimes you just don't want to carry anything extra or have to whip out external peripherals on a plane. This is where a really large SD card really shines.

Normally, I'd knock the branding as just a gimmick that ends up just upping the final price of the card, but in this case I'm not going to. Seems that the Eee branded card actually goes for a couple bucks less than the non-Eee branded one at Newegg. So, more power too them for getting a branding agreement that might make some customers more comfortable purchasing this product and introducing them to the brand. However, just because it is branded for the Asus Eee, it does not mean you can't use it in other devices, after all it is a normal SDHC card. It worked fine in every SDHC device I had (unfortunately my Canon S2 IS isn't SDHC compatible). So in addition to the Eee, this card would be a great companion to your digital camera/video camera.

The card only comes in white (to match the original Eee), but really, I could care less if it matches or not. If it really bothers you, a black Sharpie will solve your problem. The card was recognized and worked flawlessly when stuffed full of music and movies.



Figure 2: Where did I put that black Sharpie?

Finally, no review would be complete without a speed test. For those of you that love the crunchy bits, here are my test results from SiSoftware's Sandra:

• 512bytes Files Test Read Performance : 265.84kB/s Write Performance : 12.48kB/s
• 32kB Files Test Read Performance : 8.78MB/s Write Performance : 789.87kB/s
• 256kB Files Test Read Performance : 15.60MB/s Write Performance : 4.15MB/s
• 2MB Files Test Read Performance : 17.27MB/s Write Performance : 6.77MB/s
• 64MB Files Test Read Performance : 18.13MB/s Write Performance : 9.60MB/s
• 256MB Files Test Read Performance : 17.07MB/s Write Performance : 12.80MB/s

These results were consistent with or exceded the results for the 4 and 8 GB ADATA Class 6 cards I already owned. So, in conclusion, this card is quite the bargain. It is the least expensive 16 GB SD card I could find and it comes in at less than half the price of similar offerings from Kingston and SanDisk. You can pick one up at Newegg for $49.99.

Chris Gohlke is a Contributing Editor for Digital Media Thoughts. He loves Sci-Fi and loves to get his hands on real-life tech gadgets. He lives in Tallahassee, Florida, USA with his wife and three cats.

Our buddy, Chris, has just unboxed the HP iPAQ 910. The quad-band GSM/EDGE and tri-band UMTS/HSDPA device is impressive, packing 128MB RAM, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, a 3.0-megapixel auto-focus camera, a huge 1940mAh battery (HTC, are you taking note of this?), and Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional. Alas, some of you may be let down by its QVGA display. But if you can look past that, this may be the device for you.

More eye-candy for you, courtesy of the folks at portalPPC.com, who have unboxed and compared the HTC Touch Diamond, Samsung Omnia, and Apple's iPhone 3G. Click for a look, and try not to drool too much.

"The title of this software is self-explanatory I guess. BT Spammer is a tool for one time or periodical "spamming" all nearby Bluetooth devices (in visible mode). BT Spammer allows users to set up ..."

Here is a freeware Bluejacking app for you guys called BT Spammer. As it states above BT Spammer lets you send out periodic bust of unwanted Bluetooth messages to unsuspecting individuals. As Spider-Man has taught us in the past, with great power comes great responsibility... so in other words, this program is intended for practical jokes and fun, not actual spamming!