Pocketables

Viliv S5 enhanced by XP Tablet PC Edition 2005

This guest article was submitted by Hector Gomez.

It's only been two days since I installed Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005 on my Viliv S5 and already the MID, which natively runs XP Home, has become a lot more useful to me. I'm hoping that it will get even better in the days to come. Installing the Tablet features on the S5 didn’t take too long and I was able to do it without reinstalling the OS, which made it quick and easy.

So far, one of my favorite features is that the TIP (tablet input panel) shows up when you click in a data-input field so that you don’t have to use the virtual keyboard. Not that I don’t like using the default on-screen keyboard or anything, but when I'm holding the S5 while standing, it feels more natural to write on the screen and either manually insert the text or set it to automatically insert after a certain amount of pause.

What I also like doing is using Windows Journal in portrait mode. It's great! It transforms the Viliv S5 into a little notebook that lets me take notes and email them or, as you can see in the video I put together below, convert my handwriting to regular text. The scratch-out gesture, which will remove the ink when I simply scratch out about 60% of the writing (you can see this demonstrated in the video), is also working great.

Why tethering plans don't make any sense

This guest article was submitted by Ben L.

Cellular carriers try to make a dime off of their customers wherever they can. With all the hidden fees and overage charges, it would seem that their goal is to suck every penny from every customer they have.

What might be more ridiculous, though, is that consumers actually stand for it . . . even when the cell companies find ways to make us pay more for the same product.

Our subject for this discussion is cellular tethering plans. Tethering is a very simple concept. You own a cell phone that can browse the web through data channels provided by the carrier. By connecting your cell phone to a computer via Bluetooth or USB, you can share your phone’s internet connection with and browse the web on the computer. Simple, right? Of course.

So why is it that many carriers require "tethering plans" that cost more than the data package a web-capable phone user is already paying for? I’ve searched and searched but have never been able to find an adequate answer to this question.

The (long overdue) need for another spec: Pixel size

This guest article was submitted by Robert A. Anson.

Question 1: Which screen has larger text and pixels, the one measuring 14.1-inches diagonally with a resolution of 1024 x 768, or the one measuring 18.1-inches diagonally with a resolution of 1280 x 1024?

If you don’t know the answer, don’t feel bad. The point of this article is that you can’t tell from the information (specs) you are given. The only way to know is to look at the two screens, measure the same item on both, and compare the sizes.

If you're dying to know the answer to the opening question, they both have pixel sizes (the distance from the center of one pixel to the center of an adjacent pixel, including the space between them) of 0.281 mm, so the items (text, the Calculator window, an icon, etc.) are the same size on both screens.

Gaming, the UMPC/MID, and you

This guest article was submitted by Steven Law.

So, you're on the road and tired of listening to the music you have on your UMPC or MID, watched all the videos, read all your emails and ebooks, and don't have any websites you want to check out (or have no internet connection . . . where are you, in a submarine?) What to do? Well, you could take a nap do some work game!

You certainly won't be playing Crysis, but there's a large number of gems available, especially if you're willing to go back a few years. In fact, there are so many that I couldn't even begin a comprehensive list here; what follows are just some sources to get you started.

As the iPhone outgrows its name, what's next?

This guest article was submitted by Chris King.

When the first iPhone was released back in the summer of 2007, it laid to rest all of the rumors that had been circulating for years. While the original handset was a complete game-changer in the cellphone industry, its true potential wasn't fully realized until last summer with the introduction of the iPhone 3G and the App Store. Even more than the upgraded specs in the new phone, the App Store is what continues to separate Apple from veteran smartphone companies like Palm, Nokia, and the tag team of HTC and Microsoft. These companies basically stood pat until Apple came along and showed them what people today wanted, and only now are they starting to respond with their "iPhone clones" and their own versions of application repositories.

For Apple to stay ahead of the competition, which they should have no trouble doing for the next few years, they need to start treating the iPhone as more than just a phone and more like the computer platform they have always claimed it is. With the 3GS's new ARM Cortex processor running at 600MHz and the PowerVR SGX graphics system, we are quickly approaching netbook power. And that is what I would like to see the iPhone become, another category just below the MacBook that offers much of the same functionality but with a slimmer OS.

Packing slowed down by carry-on gadget decisions

My husband and I are in the middle of packing for the last vacation we'll take before our lives are changed forever, and while he knew immediately that his Samsung NC10 and iPod touch would be coming along, I've been mulling over what I should take for the past few weeks and am still undecided. I'm a chronic gadget overpacker and tend to come home with more than I left with, so regular readers might be surprised that I'm having trouble making up my mind this time.

My daily gadget routine and general interest in mobile devices were significantly affected by how terrible I felt in my first trimester, but now that I'm feeling better and can use multiple gadgets every day just for fun, my "non-essential" gear is starting to look attractive to me again.

Mistaken gadget identity caused by unexpected delivery

Here's a little story about how procrastination and a poorly planned delivery can result in a missed gadget opportunity.

About two weeks ago, I got an email from a shipping company notifying me that a package containing a "UMPC sample" from Viliv was headed my way. I wasn't expecting anything and hadn't been asked by Viliv or anyone else to confirm my shipping address (or my interest in reviewing a new device), so I just assumed that the X70 UMPC would arrive a few days later. The 7-inch slate had already been distributed to a few other sites, the Dynamism launch event was around the corner, and Viliv presumably still had my address from when I reviewed the S5 Premium MID, so it seemed reasonable. I also received an email response to my tweet about the UMPC's impending arrival that basically confirmed my suspicions about what would be in the box.

I wasn't exactly looking forward to the delivery, as I didn't want or request the X70, but I figured that I should make the best of the situation and try to work at least a mini review (a full review was out of the question) into my schedule.

First impressions of the mintpass mintpad

It's been a bit busier than usual here at Pocketables HQ, so I haven't been able to spend some serious quality time with my recently unboxed mintpass mintpad. I have been using it fairly often since it arrived, though, so I've put in enough time with the tiny device (full specs here) to at least share my first impressions and shed some light on what the mintpad is all about.

Website load times: iPhone 3G S vs. iPhone 3G

Even though the iPhone 3G S isn't the major upgrade many were hoping for and most of its new features should have been included on the original iPhone two years ago, I was still happy when FedEx knocked on my door yesterday with my iPhone 3G successor in hand.

The improvement I was most looking forward to experiencing myself was the new handset's 600MHz ARM Cortex A8 processor, a significant upgrade from the 412MHz underclocked ARM11 CPU used in previous generations. There are many ways to measure a processor's performance, some much more scientific than others, but website load times are what I personally find most useful and easiest to understand. For my mobile internet needs, I prioritize faster over fuller so the lack of Flash support and other Web 2.0 requirements are a non-issue for me.

Pre-mature Palm?

This guest article was submitted by Chris King.

The past few weeks were pretty eventful for Sprint with the carrier releasing two devices that have been long-awaited by many people. Sprint is not used to being in the spotlight for new devices, and their lineup had gotten a bit stale over the last 6-8 months, at least for power users. So they doubled the fun and first released the Novatel Wireless MiFi 2200, the first truly pocketable portable hotspot, and then a few days later Palm joined in with the long overdue webOS-based Pre smartphone. I had been eagerly waiting for both devices, so of course I took my early-adopter self down to my local Sprint store and bought both on their respective release days. But a funny thing happened in the following week: I quickly returned one of the devices after just a few short days of use.

I don't think I am alone in saying this to Palm and Sprint about the Pre: "What took so long to release this phone, and why did you release it too soon?"