Bought the i-mate JAM

I am a member of the MSN Search Champs program and successfully solved the riddle in our last newsletter so I am getting a copy of Microsoft Office 2003 Professional that I will end up selling on ebay for a nice little profit. The fact that I won this software has pushed me over the edge so I just purchased the i-mate JAM from the reseller who loaned it to me for review purposes. I don't really need another device, but this Phone Edition is so dang small and the battery lasts FOREVER.

If you are looking for a JAM or PDA2K then I highly recommend you go to David's site first to make your purchase. He also has the excellent SP3i Smartphone for sale and his prices are the best you can find on the internet with service that can be TRUSTED. He also now sells the JAMs with the 128MB memory upgrades. I am thinking about getting this upgrade, but I can't justify the $200 right now and will just try to manage my memory a bit better on this device.

The C500 I had is now in Peter's hands and I still have not received the SPV E200 battery that I ordered from a guy on ebay over a month ago so I don't have a working MS Smartphone at this time. My wife has the Motorola MPx220 and is quite happy with it too.

i-mate JAM with WiFi card ROCKS!

Joel just sent me a SanDisk 256MB SD WiFi/memory combo card to try out with the i-mate JAM and it works great. I have surfed the last couple of days at home at night and still have over 50% of the battery life left on the unit. The JAM also worked to wake me up this morning and it is quite rare for a Pocket PC to actually have alarms that work regularly:) I was chatting with the excellent reseller who loaned me the JAM to review and he said I could sell it to someone for a much discounted price since it is now used. I treat my devices with extreme care and since I thought I was sending this back to be resold it is in NEW condition. I am debating whether or not to shell out the money for it since it is SO dang compact and works so well. I am also considering selling my PDA2K to pay for it, but I just can't give up the memory and keyboard on that unit. If my iPod and some other gear sold then I would have the money for it, but was planning on saving for a Windows Mobile 2005 unit this summer.

If anyone is interested in buying the JAM, feel free to email me at palmsoloATgeekDOTcom to discuss it.

Orange C500 healed and then sold

I don't know what was going on with the directional pad on my Orange C500, but it was bugging me and I prefer Phone Edition devices so I put it away for a couple weeks. Orange has been totally unresponsive with my requests for assistance with the device so I basically gave up on it. Peter has been interested in it so I fired it up and now it works like a champ. I don't know what was going on or if there was a software issue, but the C500 is working great now. I am tempted to keep it, but since I prefer Phone Edition devices I am selling it to Peter at a cut rate price in hopes that he gets more use out of it than I did.

Early spring cleaning of my gear closet

I have been stocking up quite a collection of gear and it is spring cleaning time as I save up for future mobile devices so you all get to benefit from my addiction. I accept PayPal, personal checks, or cashier's checks/money orders and I only charge actual shipping anywhere in the world. You can check out my ebay feedback under my "yosemsam" user name to see that I have 100% positive feedback with over 120 different transactions. Please email me at palmsoloATgeekDOTcom to discuss any of the items.

Here is the list of items I have that I am going to start selling online with my desired prices:

• Apple iPod 3G, 10GB, with purple iSkin case (used, works well, $175)


• Griffin iTalk voice recorder (used for couple hours, $25)


• Belkin TuneCast II Mobile FM Transmitter ($20)


• Microsoft Streets & Trips 2005 with GPS receiver and Pharos Bluetooth adapter (used for couple hours, $200)


• GN Netcom 6210 Bluetooth headset with office phone lifter and cradle (used for couple hours, $150)


• D-Link Xtreme G DI-624 Wireless Router (used for couple hours, $50)


• D-Link Xtreme G DWL-G650 PCMCIA card (used for couple hours, $40)


• Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004 A Century of Flight (unopened, NEW, $10)


• Ubisoft Chessmaster 10th Edition (unopened, NEW, $20)


• Ubisoft Splinter Cell (unopened, NEW, $8)

Bluetooth dialup modem experiences

I made it back from a very cold and snowy (40 inches in Juneau) Alaska and am happy to see it in the 60s in Seattle. I was able to hook up to the internet using my Zoom Bluetooth 56k modem and Tungsten T3. The cruddy Bluetooth stacks in the imate PDA2K and JAM did not allow me to connect with those devices and I didn't have my Dell Axim to test out. The T3 worked very well though in dialing my calling card to get to my local ISP dialup number. Hopefully, someone at XDA-Developers.com gets the BT stacks on those devices working better.

Alaska trip, JAM experiences, sale coming

I am off to Alaska again for another barge inspection trip. This time I am going to Haines so I don't think I'll have much chance for connecting to the net. I am taking my Bluetooth dialup modem though in case I need to get that fix and can call the 800 number to my ISP.

I now have the JAM loaded up with most all of the same essential apps I run on my PDA2K to see if this device could work for me. My love of the awesome size is wearing off a bit as I now have to manage the memory. I still think this device is a better alternative than a Smartphone for those who want the power of a Pocket PC. However, if you are a voice centric person, the Smartphone may still be the better alternative due to the ease of dialing and one handed operation. I am just too big of a thumb keyboard fan to give up my PDA2K, even if it is quite a bit larger.

Speaking of thumb keyboards, the Treo 650 GSM units look like they may be coming later this month so I am having a big sale on extra gear I have that I never use. I'll post a list here when I get back from Alaska and will then try to sell it on the forums, followed by the trusty ebay.

Fun with the T3, JAM, and MyFi

I am reviewing a new game for Palm Powered devices, Eric Snider's Blackjack, and am having lots of fun. I wish I had this before CES so I could have won back some of the money I spent in Vegas at the buffets. I also found that Think Outside released Bluetooth drivers for the BT keyboard and it works fine with my T3 and Dell BT keyboard.

I am also really loving this compact JAM device and think there is no reason to have a Windows Mobile Smartphone with this more powerful option out there. The only real limitation is the 64MB RAM and 7 MB ROM. It is going to be tough giving up this device.

I finally got around to setting up my Delphi MyFi in my truck with the external antenna and it is an even more awesome set up now. Every station comes in clear everywhere I have been driving this weekend and I now have it set up to record a couple stations at night while I sleep. Now I just have to try the personal antenna at work to see how well reception works. I was doubting this pruchase a bit before I hooked it up in my truck this weekend, but now I am sold on satellite radio.

M@ Miller
-Sent from my awesome imate PDA2K!

Full CES coverage on Geek.com

My full article with photos can be found on Geek.com now. Enjoy!

imate JAM packs quite a punch in a small form factor

I am evaluating the imate JAM right now and boy this device sure is compact and solid. It is about the same size as a mobile phone, yet is a Phone Edition device that runs all the Windows Mobile/Pocket PC applications. I do really like the PDA2K and will probably stay with it, but this JAM is tempting. I did see a rumor that a JAM with integrated WiFi and 128MB RAM is in the works for release at the end of 2005 when the new Magneto OS will also be available and think that device may be the one that takes the PDA2K out of my hands. I do use my thumb keyboard quite a bit and it would be tough to give up the huge amount of RAM and WiFi for the JAM.

More thoughts on new Apple announcements

OK, now that I am over my initial excitement and the hype has died down regarding the Mac mini and iPod Shuffle, I don't think the Shuffle is something I would want. The music plays off a shuffle playlist and there is no way for the user to control the play order. There is no visual interface or even a FM tuner. This may be nice to get someone into using an iPod, but I think the new SanDisk Digital Audio Player that I am evaluating right now is a fine player with a FM tuner and ability to act as a digital voice recorder. I also stopped buying music from iTunes because it is too much of a pain to convert it into MP3 for playing on other devices. I now use MSN Music and have been pleased with it so far.

The Mac mini still looks like a nice solution, but it doesn't include much so after adding on the keyboard, mouse, monitor, Bluetooth feature, etc. the price starts to approach $800 or more. I think my next major purchase will actually be a laptop since I do find that my mobile devices can be a bit limiting when trying to do some tasks.

Cool news from MacWorld

I started using Apple computers back in 1989 when I was at the Coast Guard Academy and have had one in my house ever since then. The current model I have is a first generation iMac that my daughters use for internet, email, and fun. I was pleased to see the new Mac Mini announced today at $500 and may have to sell some devices and pick up one of these small beauties. I think a great solution would be to get the Bluetooth module and then use a BT keyboard, printer, and mouse with a LCD monitor for serious desk space saving. Apple also announced the iShuffle Flash MP3 player in 512 MB and 1 GB models. The 512 one sells for only $99 and looks quite cool.

Why does everyone wait until after the holidays to announce their cool products?

CES 2005 Days 3-5

Day 3

I told you that the TAO XM2Go device got me pretty excited yesterday when I met with them so I then went and chatted with the XM Satellite people yesterday afternoon. I then found out they were offering the $350 device for only $199 at CES with only 5,000 or so units available. After comparing the XM service to Sirius, I decided the XM Satellite service was a much better fit for me since they have the Fox News Channel, 3 Christian stations, conservative and Christian talk, Radio Disney and other stations I like. They also don't have an idiot like Howard Stern promoting their product so that helped my decision as well. Thus, I was the first in line at the CES Store on Friday morning and bought the Delphi MyFi XM2Go device. The Delphi unit is almost exactly the same as the TAO unit except for the color, the Delphi is silver and the TAO one is black. I will be doing a full review for Geek.com.

I was supposed to meet with Fossil in the morning, but the rain was messing up traffic and so I had to bump my meeting back later. I did get a chance to meet with Aura Communications who I met with last year to talk about the foneGEAR wireless headset that uses magnetic induction technology. Aura has now developed the technology for wireless stereo communications and Creative appears to be the first that will be coming out with wireless headphones that work with the Zen Micro. I used a prototype and the sound was excellent and the headphones were very light. This is a great use of this technology since there is no steps for pairing, etc. and a user can just pick them up and go. The headphones connect to the Zen Micro via a holster that holds the magnetic radio.

I then met with GN Netcom to discuss their product lineup and future products. I am evaluating their latest GN 6210 right now and had a couple questions answered regarding this product. They also showed me some of their other office products and their future office wireless headset. GN Netcom is targeting the business community while their JABRA division focuses on the mobile user and consumer.

Before my meeting with Fossil I had more time to wander the show floor and tried to find more cool things to check out. I stopped by the Samsung booth and found their upcoming i730 Phone Edition and Smartphone devices. Their Phone Edition has a slide down keyboard similar to my PDA2K, but it is narrower and the keys are more like a Treo 650 keyboard. Their flip form factor Smartphone looks like a nice product as well.

I met with Fossil in a suite in the Bellagio hotel/casino. The Bellagio was definitely our favorite place on the strip and the suite was quite nice. We first chatted about their SPOT MSN Direct Wrist Net devices, which I knew much about already since I am a huge SPOT watch fan. They are bringing out 2 new models in the spring and may even have different color bands for them.

The big news was their announcement of the Palm Wrist PDA, which I found out is available now for $249. An Abacus version can be found for $199. The Wrist PDA has been rumored for quite some time and they had problems with the LCD display last year and had to scrap the whole design and start over. This latest version sports 8MB RAM, 66MHz processor, Palm OS 4.1, and a 160x160 mono display. It uses a mini-USB connector so that is one great standard they chose to cover. The device is a solid metal with the stylus in the band. While the display and text is quite small, it worked well when I tried out the model they had available. This thing has more power than the Zire and comes in a watch form factor. It will be interesting to see how well this does in the market, but I think geeks like me will have fun with it. I am getting one to review and can't wait to push the envelope to see what it can handle.

WinBook was my last meeting on the schedule and I wanted to meet with them since Joel always has so much to say about their products. Their new large LCD displays were very impressive and priced much lower than competitors. Joel is reviewing one of these and I will be keeping them in mind when I am ready to upgrade my old TV system. I don't watch much TV so it isn't a priority for me right now.

I never spent much time in the press area this trip since I was too busy meeting with companies and checking out the show floor. Next year I need to set aside a larger block of time just to check out the show floor. I did better by slimming down my appointments and made it to every one this year, but they were still too spread out for me to get much show floor time in.

We went to a comedy show at the Riviera Comedy Club and the headliner stunk. The host and the warm-up comedians were much better and pretty funny. The crowd in the theater was also quite negative and many seemed politically correct. You just can't be politically correct and get offended if you plan to go to a comedy show and I don't know why those people even came.


Day 4

Today was the day to spend with my wife since I brought her down with me and she was patient with my geeking out. We finished going through almost every major hotel/casino on the strip, shopped in many of them, and had a nice day. The new Dishes buffet at the Treasure Island hotel was INCREDIBLE! I ended up doing quite well at Blackjack so we ended up a few dollars ahead for the entire trip. I should have stayed playing for a while since we got stuck in a transportation snafu where we went almost all the way down to the other end of the strip and back again for only 15 minutes or so of time at the other end. Traffic and transportation is quite crazy on the strip, but I think the city buses are the best bet for getting around. Actually, a Segway or inline skates would be even better and faster.

We wanted to do something a bit different so we went to the Blue Man Group show at the Luxor. Luckily we bought the cheapest seats, $63 each, since it was not that great of a show. They played the drums well, but some of the other stuff was rather stupid. We will pay to go to someone we know about, like Rita Rudner, next time we go to Vegas.

Day 5

We got up and ate at the Riviera buffet and the omelettes were awesome. We then packed up and headed home to see our girls. It was nice to get home and hug them again after walking way too many miles down in Vegas.

A full report with photos and focusing on the things I saw will be posted on Geek.com this week if you want to see a bit of what I talked about in my blog reports.

Day Two CES report

Day 2

Sorry for the delay in posting these updates, but I was so tired and wiped out that I couldn't do it in Vegas. I'll be posting the rest of the report soon.


Day 2 started off a bit slow because we had to move from the Excalibur to the Riviera. We just had the Excalibur for one night since we wanted to have a room with a hot tub at a decent price. The Excalibur left something to be desired and I will definitely be skipping this hotel next time.

Transportation around Las Vegas can be a pain sometimes and we took the new monorail to the Convention Center with all our luggage. The monorail is actually quite nice, but there were a limited number of ticket lines and a ton of people wanting to buy them. It also only travels to the back side of several hotels so we still had about a 3/4 mile walk from the station to our hotel. We passed through CES and I was able to go meet with the ParkerVision people during a pit stop to the hotel.

ParkerVision makes WiFi products, including a cordless phone, WiFi access point, router, and USB dongle. They use some new technology they call, D2D technology, that they state gives their products the best range of any WiFi products on the market. I hope to get an access point and give it a try. Their cordless phone has a stated 2-mile range and is not yet available. This would be great to use when you are out in the yard working.

We then checked into the Riviera and I have to say that the tower we stayed in, the Monaco, was in much better shape than the Excalibur. I chose the Riviera because of how close it was to the convention center so I could avoid all the shuttling and busing around to get to the show. I then walked across the parking lot and back to CES to meet with some more companies.

The first one I met with was TAO. TAO is a new consumer brand aimed at the mobile active consumer. Their first products are a XM2Go device, Dual Connect phone, WiFi MP3 player, and DAVE TV. I first checked out the XM2Go device and have to say this device caught my eye. I have not researched satellite radio much because I do not spend a ton of time in my car and wasn't really interested in it personally. I figured my iPod and other mobile devices were fine for music. However, when I am in my car I listen to the radio quite a bit and actually do not even use my iPod much. With these new XM2Go devices you can take XM satellite radio with you wherever you go. I was impressed with the sound quality and channel selection and was eager to get one for review. However, the TAO XM2Go device won't be released for a couple months so that tempered my excitement a bit, until I found something else a bit later in the day. I also checked out the TAO WiFi MP3 player, which is an interesting device. It includes a 20GB hard drive and the integrated WiFi is designed to allow the user to load fresh content on the device wirelessly. Their Dual Connect phone is a 2.4GHz phone that can be used as a standard phone or as a VOIP phone and looks like a nice package. DAVE TV is a media device with an 80GB hard drive unit that works to bring content to your home for viewing, similar to a Windows Media Center device.

I then met with Cardo Systems to chat about their recently released scala-500 Bluetooth headset. Joel reviewed this on Geek.com, but I wanted to check it out in person for myself and they are going to send me a headset to evaluate. They had a chart that showed it was the lightest headset and I like the ability to hang it on your eyeglasses that makes the weight even better distributed. They use a WindGuard wind blocking technology that is advertised to help with wind interference. Their products are very reasonably priced and one package they sell even comes with an adapter for non-Bluetooth phones.

I finally had some time to walk around the show floor and was able to get some photos of the BENQ P50 Phone Edition device that looks to be a good competitor to the palmOne Treo 650. It has an integrated keyboard and is a bit longer that the Treo 650. I was impressed with it during the short time I played with the device and hope it makes it to the U.S. soon. I stopped by the Axentra booth to see if they had fixed the LOUD fan issue and found that they did on their current models. They also have a newer model coming out soon that has a much smaller form factor and includes more digital media functionality. I also saw tons of new products related to home entertainment, digital cameras, MP3 players, and more.

My last formal meeting of the day was with the Microsoft SPOT (Smart Personal Objects Technology) team. They showed me some of the latest SPOT watches, including one from Suunto that is coming out soon with a heart rate monitor. They also showed some prototypes of alarm clock devices using the SPOT technology with MSN Direct service. A limited SDK is being tested with some developers and 3rd party applications should be coming in 2005. New models of SPOT watches should also be coming out in 2005 and Fossil already has announced a couple of them. At the end of the meeting they gave me a CES commemorative Swatch SPOT watch that had Vegas themed watch faces.

The evening press event was called ShowStoppers and was attended by quite a few companies with some great food. The food here was even better than the food at the Digital Experience event the night before. I met face-to-face with several people I have been working with via email and phone in the past, which is a big reason I like to attend CES and these press events. I first met with Mirra to chat about the new personal server I setup at home and am currently evaluating. I plan on testing out the Mirra extensively and providing feedback to the company from a mobile device user perspective. So far, I have been quite impressed with the Mirra Personal Server and think it fills a vital role for home and small business users.

I met with Griffin to see some of their new iPod accessories like the iShark. I met with Belinda and saw RoboForm in action. Scott Jordan from Scott eVest was there as well with his wife, Laura, who I was able to chat with. It was cold in Vegas so I was wearing my Scott eVest Leather Edition jacket. I met Ann-Marie with JAKKS Pacific and was happy to see a new Star Wars game was coming out with a controller in the shape of Darth Vader's head. Altec Lansing had a cool portable speaker system that I am going to try to get a hold of to review since it would work well with my iPod, mobile devices and new Delphi XM2Go device. I met several other people as well and then left to go meet my wife out on the town.

My wife and I walked around the town some more and stopped at Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville to dance a bit. We then walked down to Harrah's and stopped into a piano/karaoke bar where Elvis was running the show. Some people were actually quite good singers and others were not that good, but it was fun to watch.

Day One CES 2005 report

Day One

I am now starting out the second full day of CES here in Vegas and have probably walked about 10 miles already. I really need to get a pedometer next year to see how much walking I do. My wife is quite tired of all the walking and is going shopping today while I go to interviews and wander the floor.

The first night I went to the opening keynote with Bill Gates. There was a line of probably 300 or more people to get in after it was already full 45 minutes before the event. These people were hoping that spots would open up. Thanks to prompting from my wife I went up to the front of the line and showed security my press badge and they quickly ushered me in. Since I was now alone they squeezed me into a decent seat about 20 rows back from the stage.

Conan O'Brien, from the Late Show, came out after Gary Shapiro, CEO of CEA, and I thought he was great. Bill Gates came out and sat in a chair set up just like the Late Show and actually said some funny stuff as well. A couple of demos had some technical issues, but I do not think it was as bad as many in the press stated. Although after the photo one failed they should not have gone back to it a couple more times. Nothing major was announced, but there was some content partnerships and some other cool mobile device functionality revealed.

I then went to the Digital Experience press event and met many people that I have been emailing for Geek.com so it was great to put some faces to names. Pentax had a cool new digital camera that takes photos underwater, Fossil showed me the Palm OS Wrist PDA that I am checking out thoroughly on Friday, HP had the new 2200 series devices with a flip cover that looks like a great non-phone device, there was a cool new iRiver MP3 player, and some other cool things. palmOne had a ton of cases and some accessories, but not much else going on.

My wife and I then walked around the city some more and headed to sleep about 1 am.

M@
-Sent from my awesome imate PDA2K!

My 10 mobile device predictions for 2005

Joel usually posts his predictions for technology gear on Geek.com and after almost 2 years of maintaining this humble blog I finally decided to post my predictions for the mobile device market. Next year I will visit this list and see how I did, along with making more predictions. I will post 10 predictions, thus making it simple for me to calculate how I did next year:)

2005 Mobile Device Predictions

(1) The MDA IV/imate 2005/QTEK 5050 (all fictional names) will be released and this will find me selling my imate PDA2K to get this latest Phone Edition. This model from HTC will include the 2005 operating system and have a VGA display, 1.3 megapixel camera, 128MB RAM and 128MB ROM, QWERTY thumb keyboard with a display that swivels so you can use the keyboard in landscape or portrait mode (this may just be wishful thinking here), integrated Bluetooth 1.2 that works in headset and hands-free modes, and integrated WiFi.

(2) Windows Mobile 2005 will be released in August. It is almost certain this OS update will be released in 2005 so my prediction hinges on the month of release. This latest update should have improvements in the Office suite. I wish they would also improve some of the usability issues that I have provided feedback on, i.e. the ability to minimize the top and bottom toolbars for true full screen viewing in Word, Excel and other Windows Mobile applications, better Find feature that allows you to see how much space each app/document is taking up and where it is installed, improved Pocket Internet Explorer that has the features I get using PIEPlus (multiple windows, hardware button navigation, etc), better soft input panel in landscape mode, and better dialing support in Phone Edition devices.

(3) Dell will release a Windows Mobile Smartphone and Pocket PC Phone Edition. Dell will see the value of having phone features integrated in mobile devices and come out with a couple new devices. I love the Phone Edition platform and would like to see Dell enter this market.

(4) More Windows Mobile Smartphones will enter the US market with the latest WM2005 OS and Microsoft will finally start an advertising initiative to explain the power and versatility of these devices. Microsoft needs to provide this education to consumers if they want people to know there is a difference between a Smartphone and a standard phone with some of these basic capabilities provided by the carriers.

(5) A palmOne device will be released with integrated WiFi, but without Palm Cobalt (OS 6). After all the bad press and user feedback, palmOne finally figured out that WiFi was indeed important on high end devices. palmOne may actually start polling users before creating new devices.

(6) No Palm Cobalt devices will be released in 2005. I was holding out for a Palm Cobalt Sony CLIE UX device last year and those hopes were dashed on two fronts. While I sincerely hope a Cobalt device is released, I do not have much faith in palmOne at this time for 2005.

(7) The Treo 650 will be a hot seller and no additional model of Smartphone from palmOne will be released.

(8) Tapwave will release the Zodiac3 that will add integrated WiFi and a better web browser to the platform. It will still have 128MB RAM, integrated Bluetooth, and 2 SD slots to make it the BEST Palm Powered device on the market.

(9) PalmSource will release the developer code for Linux support, but no devices with this new OS will be released in 2005.

(10) Another Sharp Linux device will be released in 2005, but the U.S. will continue to be snubbed and it will only be available in Japan. This device will be like the Zaurus SL-3000 with integrated hard drive, but Sharp will finally include some wireless capabilities (both WiFi and Bluetooth) instead of requiring the users to have CF WiFi or Bluetooth SD cards.

So, do you think I am way off base or will some of these things come true in 2005. I do think 2005 will be an interesting year for mobile devices as we see how palmOne's future shakes out, whether WM 2005 will be a worthy update, and if people drop the dedicated PDA for Smartphone devices.

Getting ready for CES 2005!

I am heading down to CES to cover the event for Geek.com on Wednesday morning and am planning out my interview route. Last year was my first year down there and I made a couple interviews I just could not keep because of how huge the event was and I couldn't physically get to each place fast enough. My wife is going with me to Vegas this year and it will be her first trip down. It should be a great time and I look forward to checking out new mobile devices and other consumer electronics gear.

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a safe and enjoyable New Year's eve last night. I went to a couple friends' houses and we lit off a few fireworks at midnight. I plan on relaxing and watching some football today.

I received this new Mirra device to review for Geek.com and it has been great so far. It is an external hard drive that is used to back up your computer and a whole lot more. You can use it as server for files and let people log into it besides yourself. I have My Pictures folder available to friends and family so they can see our latest photos, especially now that my wife has a digital camera. I just lost my USB flash drive so now I can open access to selected folders and even add files from work and no longer have to worry about carrying files back and forth on the drive. This thing was EXTREMELY easy to set up and plugs right into an ethernet port on my WiFi router. I recommend you go to Mirra.com to check it out. I'll let you know my experiences over time and also link to the Geek.com review when it goes live.