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Seeing as I have been talking about mobile email and push email a lot lately I thought that this article about the current litigation between NTP and RIM was quite interesting. The court will make a ruling on Friday whether or not the injunction against the sale of blackberry in the U.S will go ahead.

“No more communication, no more instant updates, isolation from the outside world. That’s what 4 million BlackBerry customers fear if a judge cuts the service.

A five-year battle between a tiny patent holder and BlackBerry maker Research In Motion could come to a head in a Richmond, Va., courtroom Friday. That’s when a federal judge will decide whether to enforce an injunction against RIM, which would shut down its wireless e-mail system.

Several years before RIM introduced its BlackBerry system, NTP Inc. owned patents to a system that could send messages from computers to wireless devices, but NTP never actually developed a system. When RIM started producing BlackBerrys in 2001, NTP launched a lawsuit.”

Full article @ abcnews

SecureGSM announces the immediate availability of a major update to its successful crypto phone product, SecureGSM™ Pro.

This latest revision, 1.22, boasts several enhancements to the unique, software-only secure voice and messaging application for Windows Mobile phone enabled devices using the GSM network standard.

Users of SecureGSM™ Pro enjoy secure, encrypted end-to-end voice and messaging over standard GSM networks.

SecureGSM™ Pro R1.22 features the following enhancements:

• Support for HTC Prophet and HTC Charmer
• Enhanced Echo Suppression engine with improved support for HTC Universal, Wizard, Prophet, Charmer and other WM5.0 based devices.
• Enhanced Caller ID module with improved support for HTC Universal, Wizard, Prophet, Charmer and other WM5.0 based devices.
• Enhanced connectivity in difficult network conditions.
• Enhanced incoming call management engine.

More details @ http://www.securegsm.com

It looks like the much anticipated Push email for Windows Mobile powered devices is finally starting to become available. This technology has been due for quite some time now on Windows Mobile devices. I look forward to seeing some reviews of the new features. Will it be the Blackberry killer that many people say it is?
“Today at 3GSM World Congress 2006, Microsoft Corp. and its mobile operator and device-maker partners announced a broad range of services and Windows Mobile^®-based devices for business customers to cost-effectively deploy mobile messaging solutions. Leveraging the integration between Direct Push technology in Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0 and Microsoft^® Exchange Server 2003 Service Pack 2 (SP2), businesses can mobilize their employees on a unified infrastructure without the requirement to pay for additional and costly e-mail servers. This same technology is now available for Microsoft Windows^® Small Business Server and is also offered as a hosted service by a number of mobile operators around the world.

Cingular Wireless, Orange, T-Mobile and Vodafone today announced free upgrades to the Messaging and Security Feature Pack (MSFP) for all their Windows Mobile 5.0 customers, enabling Direct Push functionality and providing enhanced device management and security for messaging applications. Palm Inc. and i-Mate also reaffirmed their commitment to free MSFP upgrades. In addition, new Windows Mobile-based devices were unveiled today, all of which will ship with Direct Push technology: the HP iPAQ hw6900 Mobile Messenger, the Gigabyte Communications g-Smart (offered by Chunghwa Telecom Co. Ltd. in Taiwan), the ASUS P305 3G-enabled smartphone, and the Fujitsu Siemens FS Pocket Loox. In addition, HTC Corp. has unveiled a new product portfolio of Windows Mobile-based devices that are Direct Push-enabled and will be made available globally to T-Mobile and other operators beginning in the second quarter of this year.”

Microsoft Press Release @ Microsoft.com

A new version of Vito Sound Explorer has been released.

VITO Technology releases a new version of VITO SoundExplorer. This update mostly concentrates on increasing performance. VITO SoundExplorer is a great choice to explore the music world on your Pocket PC to the full.

VITO SoundExplorer is 3 programs in one. It is an audio player, audio recorder and file explorer designed specially for browsing music content. VITO SoundExplorer:

• Supports Windows Mobile 5.0
• Supports high-resolution displays
• Supports landscape mode
• Converts WAV to MP3
• Records CD-quality MP3: 44 100 Hz
• Features Today plugin
• Is all you need for music playing and sound recording

New in VITO SoundExplorer v 1.7:

• ID3 tags supported
• WMA playback returned
• Overall stability increased
• landscape mode fixed
• New easier registration system (see the manual on the product page)

More info @ http://vitotechnology.com/

“NVIDIA Corporation the worldwide leader in programmable graphics processor technologies, today

unveiled the NVIDIA GoForce 5500 handheld graphics processing unit (GPU)—the industry’s first handheld GPU to enable true, fluid digital TV, high-fidelity surround sound, rapid multi-shot photography, and console-class 3D graphics. For many years, these capabilities have been the domain of function-specific devices such as the home entertainment system, the digital still camera, or the Sony® Playstation®. Today, this new GPU brings all these features, and more, to the mobile phone.

“High-quality multimedia services are a key revenue growth driver for the world’s carriers and content providers and we believe we’ll see significant uptake of these services in 2006,” said Mario Morales, semiconductor analyst for IDC. “Companies like NVIDIA, whose products deliver compelling and tangible improvements to the overall end user experience of these new services, are well placed to take advantage of this surge in demand.”

The newest member of the NVIDIA GoForce family of handheld GPUs, the NVIDIA GoForce 5500 delivers a host of multimedia features, including …

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SecureGSM™ is designed to combat eavesdropping and interception by providing Military Grade security for your confidential mobile phone conversations and messaging.

SecureGSM™ is the first software-only solution designed to provide truly secure communication on Microsoft Windows Mobile enabled Communicators and Smartphones without affecting their original functionality.

Built on our SecuStream™ technology SecureGSM™ is a WORLD FIRST product of its type to run natively on Windows Mobile Phone Enabled devices.

Effectively eliminating the chance of a third party eavesdropping on the conversation, SecureGSM™ allows two parties to conduct secure voice conversations and send secure messages over existing mobile telephone networks, in real-time, over existing mobile telephone networks.

SecureGSM™ encrypts the phone call in both directions, end-to-end, to Military Grade encryption standards and beyond. On connection between parties, SecureGSM™ uses strict verification procedures to ensure the identity of calling parties, backed up by widely endorsed encryption technologies.

More information available @ SecureGSM.com

“Of all the SeV jackets that I have reviewed in the past, this one seems to be the most stealthy. With no obvious logos on the jacket’s exterior, and with so many hidden pockets and special features built in, it is no wonder that it has been dubbed SeV’s “most technical jacket yet.” We’ll get into “why” in just a little bit…

With an exterior made of waterproof, windproof, breathable - and dare I add near impossible to photograph in detail - black Finetex®, The Tactical 4.0 is ready for just about any weather conditions that may arise. The interior is completely lined in Coolmax® mesh, which keeps the jacket from being too heavy and makes it the perfect shell to wear on cooler days. It’s even appropriate for warmer days because the sleeves can be unzipped at the shoulder, turning the jacket into a comfortable vest.”

Read the full review @ Thegadgeteer

Cnet has just published a review on the new O2 XDA Exec (HTC Universal)

“Performance
The XDA Exec’s screen-swivelling mechanism works very well, and the hinge — a potential point of failure — feels solid. The ability to close the clamshell with the screen facing inwards provides some protection for the display and the keyboard. However, the device lacks a locking mechanism, so make sure that you use O2’s bundled slip case to prevent it coming open when rattling around in a briefcase or bag.

O2 claims battery life of 5-8 hours of talk, 2-4 hours of 3G usage, 15 hours in handheld mode and 220-250 hours on standby. However, we did not feel it appropriate to carry out our usual battery rundown test on a pre-production model to test these claims.

The Qwerty keyboard is a central part of this device but, as with all mini-keyboards, it has its drawbacks. The keys are small — a shade under 10mm by 9mm — and while it’s possible to use them in conventional laptop mode, you won’t achieve anything like normal typing speeds this way. However, it’s fine for tapping out emails and short texts, and we found it quite convenient to hold the XDA Exec in two palms and type with two thumbs.”

Full O2 XDA Exec Review

New City Guide for Pocket PC, Palm OS, Sony Ericsson Smart Phones and Nokia Series 60 mobile phones.

The new City Guide product range is composed of more than 60 interactive guides of the main European cities.

Now it’s possible to always take everywhere these powerful guides (more than 155.000 references of all Europe and colour detailed maps with several zoom levels) which allow to know the localization or access the information (name, direction, postal code, telephone, fax, e-mail, Web) of a selected reference. Its advanced navigation system shows the closest parking to a favourite restaurant or the closest subway station to the selected theatre.

More Info @ Beeloop.com

Digitalreviews.net have a review of the new PocketPC phone from Anextek.

“Hot from Taiwan, hot on specs and hot in performance: the new AnexTEK moboDA 3360 PocketPCPhone. And, for a change, the English-speaking world is to get this phone before Asia does!

This latest incarnation from the Wistron company is a far cry from its earlier SP230 model for which we had the scoop review last year.

With Windows Mobile 5.0 running on a 520 MHz XScale PXA272 and all the connectivity you’d want plus a 1.3 MP camera this would be a serious contender if you’re looking for an all-in-one device.

How does it perform, how does it feel and how is the quality of the phone, the camera and the PDA?

Those questions we will look at in this First Impressions review.

We’ll have another, more in-depth review, in a few weeks.”

Read the full review @ DigitalReviews.net