Wireless Archive

PalmOS & WindowsCE Get High Quality, Versalite, Free Video Player

Wireless 9 Comments
Gabor Kovacs has just released TCPMP 0.66 (ex-BetaPlayer), the next generation media player for both PalmOS 5 and PocketPCs. BetaPlayer has been one of the most downloaded applications in the WindowsCE world and now PalmOS 5 & Smartphone users will also be able to enjoy DivX, mpeg1-4, ogg and more. We gave TCPMP a whirl and we found that it's much faster than before when playing WMV on PocketPC (where it used to be a framedrop on our Axim X5-A05, now it doesn't), however WMV playback is buggy on the Axim x50v (ROM A04) if the 2700G driver is used (had to soft-reset the PDA, GDI was more compatible). DivX plays great though, on all of our devices including PalmOS (very usable 320x240 DivX playback on our 126 Mhz Sony Clie TH-55). Screenshots here, here and here.
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Fuel Cells for Mobile Computing Devices

Wireless 6 Comments
The Intel-backed Mobile PC Extended Battery Life Working Group has published guidelines for vendors keen to create fuel cells to power portable PCs. The document is intended to provide fuel-cell developers will details of the devices their products will have to power, whether the cells will sit inside the devices in place of regular rechargeable batteries, or operate as an alternative to an external AC adaptor. Essentially, it defines the problem the fuel cell developers have to solve.
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Intel 3D Graphics and Video Demonstration on the x50v

Wireless 40 Comments
Chris De Herrera has posted pictures and videos showing the impressive graphical capabilities of the Dell Axim X50v (thought by many as the most powerful PDA to date) running the upgrade to Windows Mobile 5.0 (Dell will sell the upgrade in the next few months). The impressive part here is that the x50v was never meant to be a 3D games device, but the addition of a better DirectX infrastructure in the recent Windows Mobile releases and the 16 MBs 3D card from Intel accompanying the 624 Mhz XScale CPU can make this a reality, even on a regular PDA. Please note that because of the way Windows Mobile 5 "sees" the memory (not as storage anymore) it will be like the device just had a memory upgrade after the user upgrades the OS (the x50v has 64MB RAM, 128MB ROM and a VGA screen).
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Nokia develops a new browser for Series 60 using KHTML

Wireless 17 Comments
A key component of this development has been Nokia's cooperation with Apple, as the Series 60 browser will use the same open source components, WebCore and JavaScriptCore, that Apple uses in its popular Safari Internet browser. Based on KHTML and KJS from KDE's "Konqueror" open source project, this software has enabled Safari to achieve industry-leading features and performance. Nokia intends to continue its collaboration with Apple and actively participate in the open source community to further develop and enhance these components, contributing Nokia's expertise in mobility.
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Interview with PalmSource exec’s probes elucidates Linux strategy

Wireless 14 Comments
This installment in LinuxDevices.com's "Executive Interview" series explores PalmSource's plans with respect to morphing Palm OS into a middleware and application stack that runs on top of Linux, with an aim of targeting mobile phones and other wireless-enabled devices. While visiting the company's annual developers conference in San Jose this week, we sat down with PalmSource VP of Engineering Mike Kelley and Director of Product Marketing John Cook to discuss PalmSource's Linux strategy and plans. Read the interview here.
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A new spin on a PalmOS palmtop (or inside it)

Wireless 22 Comments
"To save power, the hard drive stops spinning between uses. That's fine. What's not so fine, however, is that it takes six seconds to spin up again and feed its data into the palmtop's memory so you can use it. As a result, your work is frequently interrupted by maddening, six-second visits to the dead zone. Everything is frozen on the screen, no button works and your workflow comes to a crashing halt." Read the full review of PalmOne's Lifedrive at News.com.
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PDAs Keep Losing Ground to Smart Phones

Wireless 12 Comments
Shipments of handheld computers declined for the fifth straight quarter amid growth of so-called smart phones and other devices combining organizer functions with cell phone capabilities, the research firm IDC said. Worldwide shipments of PDAs — which lack telephone capabilities — decreased to 1.9 million units in the January-March period. That's a 12.1 percent decline compared with last year's first quarter, and a 30.6 percent drop from last year's fourth quarter. In contrast, shipments of so-called converged mobile devices combining cell phone, organizer and other functions more than doubled year-over-year for the third straight quarter.
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Worldwide PDA Shipments Jump By 25 Percent

Wireless 18 Comments
Worldwide PDA shipments totaled 3.4 million units in the first quarter of 2005, a 25 percent increase from the same period last year, according to Gartner, Inc. Microsoft Windows Mobile has become the No. 1 PDA operating system, as it accounted for 46 percent of worldwide shipments. RIM assumed the second position, as Palm OS slipped to the No. 3 ranking, due to Palm OS shipments declining 38.8 percent. Nokia in the fourth place.
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