With Microsoft Windows Phone 7 now on the market, many users are discovering the Zune music and video experience on their desktop as well. Windows Phone 7 integrates your Xbox and Zune account together on your phone using a single Live ID account. But many customers are trying to make their Live ID’s the same on both the Xbox and the Zune Desktop. But from the Zune desktop you can’t chance you Live ID.  However……

Why!!

Now why do you want to change the Windows Live ID with your Zune account.

The reason I will do this  is because I want my children to have the benefit of all the functionalities that Windows Phone 7 has to offer without draining my bank account. If I have to get the Zune Pass for me and both my children that will be a total of $48 a month. I own my children’s phones and pay their bills. This way I am in control of what they can use their Windows Phone 7 for and make a wise family choice which apps movies and music to purchase. For that same reason I have my children use my Xbox Live Gold account for the one $59.99 a year instead of $180 a year. In my situation I am saving the family over $500 a year in subscriptions and even more since we don’t have to duplicate previous purchases. Now if I could add a 4th device for my wife we can really be a total Windows Phone 7 family. (for the Apps in the Marketplace you can actually have 5 devices using the same Windows Live ID, but for the Zune Pass only 3 ).

Microsoft really should get Family plans going for the Zune Pass and Xbox Live Gold accounts. With iTunes I can connect unlimited devices and have my family enjoy the apps and music we all bought on one account.

The Zune account let’s you connect up to 3  mobile devices. If you have more then one device in your family you can for example connect multiple Zune’s and or Windows Phone 7′s, then use the same credits, memberships, previous purchases and payment information.

A Warning!! Using this new Live ID for the purpose described above will let your family members on their Windows Phone 7 see the same Contacts, Mail, Calendar and SkyDrive items associated with this account as well as your possible Xbox Live account.  A separate Live account (Your Old One) can be added. More info later.
Tip: Leave this account as empty as possible and just use it for the purpose described earlier. An extra great use of this new Windows Live ID is to use this calendar as your shared family calendar and I will be able to manage the phones in one dashboard on the devices dashboard page. (Map it, Ring it, Lock it and Erase it)

How to change Windows Live ID without losing your credits and memberships.

The Zune desktop let’s you sign in with a different Live ID account but you will lose all your credits and memberships. Most users have their Xbox account and Zune account already linked and are using the same Gamer Tag/ Zune Tag.

The Zune account won’t let you switch your account to a new Live ID, but the Xbox does !!

If you don’t have a new  Windows Live ID to change it to you need to create one at www.live.com. Using the same first name and last name in your account will benefit you later on, when you have to re-set-up your Windows Phone 7. We will get to this later.

If you don’t have a Xbox you need to create a free Xbox live profile on a friends Xbox with your current (old)  Live ID on your Zune account. This action will sync your user tags and your Microsoft points and Zune memberships.

Now on the Xbox you can log in onto your profile with the following steps.:

1. My Xbox
2. Select your Profile
3. Connect to Xbox Live
4. Manage Account
5. Windows Live ID
6. Change Windows Live ID
7. Select “Yes I do”
8. Enter the password of your old Windows Live ID
9. Enter your new Windows Live ID and password.
10. Now all your Xbox and Zune credits/memberships will be transferred for free to this new Windows Live ID account.
11. On your desktop make sure you log out of f from old Windows Live ID account and sign in with your new Windows Live ID.
12. Now you can see all your Credits, Memberships and Payment information are transferred over when you click on the  ”Settings” right next to your avatar on the top of your screen.
13. In your inbox you should even have a confirmation that your Points transfer from you account was successful.

Extra Set Up for Windows Phone 7 users.

If you already had set up your Windows Phone 7 with your old Live ID account you need to unfortunately do a hard reset on your Windows Phone 7 using the following steps:

1. Home Screen
2. Settings
3. About
4. “Reset your Phone”
5. In the initial set up now use your new Windows Live ID information
6. Now your Windows Phone 7 will be associated again with your Xbox and Zune account.
7. You can add your old Windows Live ID in the accounts set-up in which you will get your “Me”  Tile back. Only if you used the same first and last name in your old and new Windows Live ID.  Now you can select as well which information (Contacts, Calendar, Email) you want to sync from your old Windows Live ID. Unfortunately this is not possible with the new Windows Live ID account which was used during the initial set-up. The initial ID used with the set-up will sync all information.

Previous how to’s for Windows Phone 7

• How to quickly Search People in Windows Phone 7 Peolpe Hub
• How To Change your Picture Tile Image and Picture Hub background on your Windows Phone 7
• How to access Marketplace for Windows Phone 7 (or Zune HD) from outside the USA
• How to add (Windows Phone Radio) podcast to your Zune HD or Windows Phone 7 !

Brandon Le Blanc, Windows Communications Manager at Microsoft, posted a tweet this morning about an article he published on the Windows Experience Blog, that briefly looked at a new application Windows Live Messenger for Zune HD.

Some time ago I reviewed the application Twitter for Zune HD, which I have been using on my Zune HD 32GB together with the Zune HD Facebook app, to keep track of most important social networks. In this article I will review Windows Live Messenger for Zune HD, the latest addition to the Zune Marketplace, that fills the gap of a decent Instant Messaging client on this great multi-purpose device.

Download and installation Windows Live Messenger from Zune Marketplace

I launched Zune Software 4.2 on my Lenovo X60 tablet, signed in in the upper right corner and went directly for the marketplace tab, anc chose for the category apps.

In the overview of Apps for Zune HD I chose for the sub-category social networking, which is shown in the screenshot above. You can see there are already Facebook and Twitter clients for the Zune HD, and today Windows Live Messenger is added as well.

When you click on the Windows Live Messenger application in the Marketplace, you get an awesome overview with a description of the application as shown in the picture above. The next step to get Windows Live Messenger on my Zune HD 32GB is to click on the download button to start the download to “My Collection”. When the download is finished, the text on the download button changes to “In Collection”.

The next step is to install Windows Live Messenger for Zune HD from your collection onto the Zune HD 32GB. You simply go to the tab collection, and the category apps. You now get an overview of the applications for Zune HD which are in my collection on the Lenovo notebook.

I connect the Zune HD 32GB to my notebook and click in the Windows Live Messenger application. In the preview pane on the right you can read some details about the application, and you simply drag and drop Windows Live Messenger to the connected Zune HD 32GB in the left bottom corner. You can see in the picture above the Windows Live Messenger icon and the + that copies the application to the Zune HD.

Windows Live Messenger on Zune HD

In this section of the review I will provide a step-by-step overview of the Windows Live Messenger for Zune HD application. In the right picture above you can see the About-screen of Windows Live Messenger 2011 for Zune HD, which includes the latest features of Windows Live Essentials 2011.

Sign In

Just like any other application for Zune HD you go select the Apps category from the Zune homescreen, and select Windows Live Messenger among the applications to start the app. In the left screenshot you can see the first time sign-in screen of Windows Live Messenger 2011 for Zune HD.

You can see the great implementation of the panorama, which is a very helpful and unique part of the Metro design language for Zune HD and upcoming Windows Phone 7. In the top navigation you can see that you can switch between the sign in and about screens.

Because it is the first time sign in, the Windows Live Messenger avatar isn’t downloaded yet. Like you are used to from the Windows PC version you see the green border, that tells you that you sign-in with the available status. You can also select busy, away or even appear offline by clicking on the avatar.

In order to sign in to Windows Live Messenger 2011 for Zune HD, you click on the big arrow in the bottom right corner. You simply sign in via a two step sign-in process where you enter:  (1) the e-mail address of your Windows Live ID and (2) the password of your Windows Live ID and click on the “sign in button” on the keyboard.

The Zune HD now turns on  the Wireless radio and automatically connects with your Wi-Fi network (if you have configured this).

This results in the main screen of Windows Live Messenger 2011 for Zune HD. In addition to your avatar you have a box where you can directly “share something new” just like a status update and below that you can see a navigation menu that consists of 4 items: (1) social, (2) friends, (3) chats, and (4) options.

In the right screenshot you can see that I shared the text “Windows Live Messenger on Zune HD looks very nice and clean”. My avatar is downloaded as well. In the following sections below I will cover each of the four navigation menu items.

Social

The panorama of the social menu consists of ”tabs” that are also present in the Windows PC version of Windows Live Messenger 2011. In the list below are the panorama screens you can find in the social menu of Windows Live Messenger:

1. Highlights;
2. Recent;
3. Me;
4. Photos;
5. Status Messages;
6. Links;
7. Videos;

In the left picture above you can see a screen with highlights (1) on Windows Live and its connected services. In the right picture above you can see a list of social items of me (3). Among these items it the notification that I connected Facebook and Windows Live and enjoy the benefits and synergy of the connection of both services.

“Messenger for the Zune HD lets you check out social updates from your friends on Windows Live which includes things they’ve shared from Facebook, Flickr, or MySpace and chat with your friends.”

In the left picture above you can see the shared links (6) on Windows Live. In this example it is the Cyclingnews article that covered the  Michael Matthews’ victory at the men’s under 23 UCI Road World Championships 2010. In the right picture you can see an overview of shared videos on Windows Live: A YouTube video of the HTC Desire Z, which has been announced a few weeks ago during the HTC Press Conference in London.

Friends

Instant Messaging is about communication with other people, which can be found under the navigation menu item friends. The friends panorama consists of four different screens/tabs, that are listed below.

1. All;
2. Favorites;
3. Recent;
4. Facebook;

In the all screen you get an overview of all (1) your Windows Live Messenger contacts, sorted by groups and sorted by status which is shown in the left picture above. Windows Live allows you to integrate with a wide range of other services like Flickr, MySpace, WordPress and Facebook.

“It (Windows Live Messenger) also supports Facebook Chat just like Messenger on your Windows PC does!”

Your Facebook contacts are listed in the Facebook (4) screen of the friends panorama. Now it doesn’t matter if your friend is logged in on  Facebook or Messenger, you can simply chat with him/her from within one application. The chat below with Mike Temprale was initiated as a Facebook chat, and it worked really well over multiple screens (I had Windows Live Messenger open on the Lenovo X60 tablet as well).

When you tab-and-hold on a contact you will get a pop-up menu, that allows you to perform certain actions. These actions are shown in the right picture above, where I can (A) send an IM, (B) remove from favorites, (C) appear offline, or (D) view social updates from Mike Temporale. In the left picture you can see that I have Mike Temporale added to my favorite (3) Windows Live contacts. I have a fairly limited number of Windows Live Contacts, that is easy to manage. So personally I don’t use the favorites feature myself.

Chats

The navigation menu item chats is self-explanetory. In the pictures above you can see my Windows Live Messenger chat with Mike Temporale, Microsoft Most Valuable Professional Mobile Devices and Editor in Chief of MobileJaw! In the left picture you can see the on-screen keyboard of the Zune HD, that works pretty well (but I’m a dedicated hardware keyboard fanatic)

Options

Windows Live Messenger for Zune HD consists of a wide range of option screens, that are listed below. “Options” is the fourth navigation menu item from the Windows Live Messenger for Zune HD main screen.

1. Personal;
2. Contacts;
3. Messages;
4. Notifications;
5. Sounds;
6. Privacy;

Under personal (1) you can set the option to share the song that is currently playing on your Zune HD. This feature is also present in the Twitter and Facebook for Zune HD applications. In the contacts (2) screen you can configure how you want to sort the contacts. Sort by status or alphabetically. Timestamps and emoticons can be switched on/off under the messages (3) screen of the friends panorama, that is shown in the right picture above.

The notifications (4) and sounds (5) screens have the most options to configure. Both the screens from the options panorama are shown in the pictures above. You can see that these features are very comperable with the options of the PC version of Windows Live Messenger. In the privacy (6) screen can you delete your current Windows Live ID and sign-in with a new (fresh) Windows Live account.

Concluding thoughts and wrap-up

Yesterday Microsoft released Windows Live Essentials 2011 with improved versions of most applications in the Essentials Suite. I was a little surprised to see Windows Live Messenger for Zune HD to be released this morning, but it makes definitely sense due to the momentum and recent changes in the Windows Live value proposition.

The look and feel of Windows Live Messenger for Zune HD is very sleek and clean. In terms of features and functionality is pretty comperable with the PC version of Windows Live Messenger 2011, however with the advantage that you can use it on a mobile device. Windows Live Messenger for Zune HD is freeware, rock solid stable and pretty fast.

Microsoft released some more apps and games for Zune HD. Ian Dixon, Microsoft Most Valuable Professional for Windows Entertainment & Connected Home nd Editor in Chief of The Difital Lifestyle, wrote an article about Metronome for Zune HD and Windows Live Messenger for Zune HD. Brandon Le Blanc, Windows Communications Manager at Microsoft,  mentioned three new games for Zune HD: WordMonger, Castles and Cannons, Dr. Optics.

Windows Live Messenger 2011 – Zune HD vs. Windows Phone 7 ?

I would like to wrap-up with a with the remark from Rob Miles, Microsoft Most Valuable Professional and a lecturer in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Hull, United Kingdom, during one of his sessions at DevDays 2010 in The Hague , Netherlands. He advised developers who would like to jumpstart development for Windows Phone 7 to buy a Zune HD and start developing for this device, due to the similarities in programming languages and tools.

Therefore I expect this version of Windows Live Messenger 2011 to be very very similar to the version you will see on Windows Phone 7, however this is pure speculation from my side. What do you think of Windows Live Messenger for Zune HD and has Windows Live Messenger for Windows Phone 7 ?

]]> http://www.mobilityminded.com/9783/windows-live-messenger-on-zune-hd-review-a-precursor-for-windows-phone-7/feed 1 http://www.mobilityminded.com/7049/sandisk-first-to-ship-32-gb-micro-sdhc-memory-card http://www.mobilityminded.com/7049/sandisk-first-to-ship-32-gb-micro-sdhc-memory-card#comments Tue, 23 Mar 2010 10:17:17 +0000 Mark Briggeman http://www.mobilityminded.com/?p=7049

Until now, the largest micro SDHC Memory card for your Mobile Device was 16 Gigabytes. Enough to store your maps, pictures, videos and music. The demand for more memory keeps on growing everyday and now SanDisk is the world’s first to ship their new 32 Gigabyte micro SDHC Memory Card.

“With the large volume of photos, videos and music that consumers create and carry around, a high-capacity memory card is a must-have component of today’s smartphone.
Smartphones have evolved far beyond the simple phone call. They serve as mobile offices, music players, movie theaters, cameras, video recorders, GPS devices and gateways to the mobile Internet. The highly-versatile 32GB SanDisk microSDHC card delivers immediate memory expansion that lets consumers enjoy the storage-intensive features of their advanced handsets. For example, the 32GB SanDisk microSDHC card can store enough music to outlast 35 round-trip flights between San Francisco and New York before repeating a single song.”

The 32GB SanDisk microSDHC card is available starting Tuesday, 3/23/10 on SanDisk.com U.S. and European e-commerce sites, with worldwide retail availability to follow next month. The new card comes with a 5 year limited warranty and carries a suggested retail price of $199.99.

Click here for the full press release.

You know that the MobilityMinded team is always looking for the best solutions available on the market that can help mobile professionals as well as average end users.

I personally use a Lenovo X60 tablet as my primary notebook and I’m very excited to write down my thoughts, practical experiences, and views about a great product:

“The Lenovo 90W Ultraslim AC/DC Combo Adapter can power your notebook, cell phone, MP3 player or other peripheral devices, when it is plugged into a standard AC wall outlet or the DC outlets available in automobiles and airplanes. It is Lenovo’s smallest and lightest combo power adapter yet, so it tucks easily into your carrying case for travel.”

What is in the box ?

I received the Lenovo 90W Ultraslim AC/DC Combo Power Adapter in a very basic cardboard-coloured box, with the information from the manufacturer like product- and serial-number. The picture above shows you an overview of the contents of the simple cardboard box.

At first there is some paper documentation included in the box of the Lenovo 90W Ultraslim AC/DC Combo Adapter.

• Important information about the Lenovo 90W Ultraslim AC/DC Combo Adapter;
• Safety information about the Lenovo 90W Ultraslim AC/DC Combo Adapter;
• A quick start guide with Lenovo 90W Ultraslim AC/DC Combo Adapter set-up in car-, plane, and home-usage-scenario;
• A thank you note for purchasing the Lenovo 90W Ultraslim AC/DC Combo Adapter;

I would lik to emphasize that the thank you note is something you don’t see that often. However it really shows the focus on customers and customer satisfaction within Lenovo, that I can only appreciate.

Furthermore in the picture below you can see an overview of the quick start guide of the Lenovo 90W Ultraslim AC/DC Combo Adapter, that gives you a feeling about the different ways you can use the Lenovo 90W Ultraslim AC/DC Combo Adapter.

In addtion to the documentation you can see the black case for the Lenovo 90W Ultraslim AC/DC Combo Adapter (just below the Bluelink letter head). The case for the Lenovo 90W Ultraslim AC/DC Combo Adapter consists of the following hardware parts:

1. DC Output Module of Lenovo 90W Ultraslim AC/DC Combo Adapter;
2. Dual charging cable for Lenovo 90W Ultraslim AC/DC Combo Adapter;
3. Lenovo Powertips – Select a Lenovo Powertip for your peripheral device(s);
4. Lenovo Power Adapter;
5. Wall charger cable for Lenovo 90W Ultraslim AC/DC Combo Adapter;
6. DC Input Cable for Lenovo 90W Ultraslim AC/DC Combo Adapter;

In the following sections I will address each of the hardware parts in more detail, and provide some insights on the design from both an engineering and end-user perspective.

1.  DC Output Module of Lenovo 90W Ultraslim AC/DC Combo Adapter

The first hardware part of the Lenovo 90W Ultraslim AC/DC Combo Adapter I would describe as the DC Output Module that is shown in the picture above.

On the left side of the picture you see the light grey, familiar, 20V powertip for most Lenovo Thinkpad notebooks. This Lenovo Powertip is removable, and in one of the upcoming sections I will look in more detail at this part of the hardware design.

In the middle there is a wider black part, that features the two icons:  (1) a notebook icon, and (2) a cellphone icon, suggesting that you can charge both type of devices.

The right part of the picture shows the rest of the DC Output Module cable, that is about 1.0 m. in length that gives you sufficient length to find a wall charger near you. In the picture I have wrapped up this part of the the cable with help of a velcro fastener, that is permanently attached to the cable. A simple detail like this velcro fastener shows that the Lenovo engineers have thought well about the details.

2.  Dual charging cable – Simultaniously charge your Lenovo notebook and another device

The second hardware part in the Lenovo 90W Ultraslim AC/DC Combo Adapter case is the dual charging cable, that is shown in the picture above.

If you remove the light grey, 20V powertip for most Lenovo Thinkpad notebooks from DC Output Module (described in the previous section), you can snap  the circular right part of the dual charging cable onto the DC Ouput Module to simultaniously charge your Lenovo notebook and a peripheral device !!

In the picture above you can see that the plug of the upper cable is marked with the notebook icon, so you can snap on the light grey, 20V powertip to charge your Lenovo Thinkpad notebook.

The bottom cable of the dual charging cable is marked with a small blue minus sign, and on this cable you can snap a Lenovo Powertip for almost any other device. In the picture above the L9 charging tip is attached to the cable, and has a generic usb port so I can easily attach a Gomadic straight USB cable to charge various Mobile devices.

3.  Lenovo Powertips – Select a Lenovo Powertip for your peripheral device(s)

“Select from a wide range of optional peripheral charging tips to power Lenovo or older ThinkPad notebooks, your cell phone, MP3 player or other peripheral devices.”

The picture above shows you the L9 charging tip for the Lenovo 90W Ultraslim AC/DC Combo Adapter, however there are many more Lenovo Powertips for a wide rage op perpheral devices, like cellular phones from various brands, mp3 players or even the Amazon Kindle devices.

With this brilliant modular design you can save some room in you bag or suitecase when you travel, since you just need the Lenovo 90W Ultraslim AC/DC Combo Adapter and a few Lenovo Powertips.

On a special website www.lenovopowertips.com you can shop for additional Lenovo Powertips, either by tip or by device. I hope that Lenovo can expand the portfolio of Lenovo Powertips in the future, and standards like the micro USB port on cellular phones really help in this area !!

4.  Lenovo Power Adapter – Very small and lightweight

The picture above shows you the fourth modular component of the Lenovo 90W Ultraslim AC/DC Combo Adapter set, the very small and lightweight power adapter.

In the middle of the power adapter you can see ”the special port”, which is marked with the grey bullet just like the plug of the DC Output Module of the Lenovo 90W Ultraslim AC/DC Combo Adapter. It is a no brainer that you can connect the two components, and remark the shape of this special port.

Furthermore the Lenovo Power Adapter is very thin and leightweight, especially when you compare this one to the standard power adapter of the Lenovo X60 tablet. A nice silver Lenovo logo is printed on the surface.

Finally I would like to emphasize one of the clever details of the Lenovo Power Adapter. The top and bottom surface of the Lenovo Power Adapter almost completely consist of cooling ribs to transport the heat of the Lenovo Power Adapter. If you look closely to the picture above, you can see the cooling ribs in the surface.

5.  Wall charger cable – No modular design on International Plugs

In the privous section I have discussed the Power Adapter component of the Lenovo 90W Ultraslim AC/DC Combo Power Adapter. The picture shows the side of the Power Adapter where you can attach the DC Output Module.

On the opposite side of the Power Adapter of the Lenovo 90W Ultraslim AC/DC Combo Power Adapter you can attach a cable to connect with a wall charger, which is shown in the picture above.

While almost every component of the Lenovo 90W Ultraslim AC/DC Combo Power Adapter is characterized with a high degree of modularity, that is clearly not the case for the cable that connects with the wall charger. Honestly I’m slightly disappointed, since the overall design and engineering are so clever.

Let me illustrate with the example of the MaxiMobileShop 4-port USB Power Adapter Kit:

“[...] you directly notice that in addition to the main power charging unit you get 4 complimentary charging plugs as well. With help of these charging plugs you can charge your mobile devices across four “electrical-different” areas:  United States of America, Great Brittain, Australia and Europe.”

The Lenovo 90W Ultraslim AC/DC Combo Power Adapter is a great travel solution, but you either need to order different wall charger cables as additional service parts, or you need to use the well known Swiss World Travel Adapters.

6.  DC Input Cable – Charging in a plane or car

When I discussed the quick start guide for the Lenovo 90W Ultraslim AC/DC Combo Adapter in  the “What is in the Box section, I already mentioned two other usage environments of the modern, travelling,  mobile professional:  (1) car, and (2) airplane. On the wide black part of the cable on the left, you can see the airplane- and car icons.

The picture above shows you the DC Input Cable that keeps your Lenovo notebook and peripheral device powered in your car or on an airplane. On the bottom of the wide black part of the cable on the left, you see the grey bullet just like on the plug of the DC Output Module and the Power Adapter of the Lenovo 90W Ultraslim AC/DC Combo Adapter.

In the car- or airplane scenario you simply connect the DC Input Cable with the DC Output Module (plus the Dual Charging Cable if you like).

UPDATE:

PhillipM, one of the MobilityMinded readers, asked an excellent question about the DC Input Cable:

“Do you know if the DC adapter will work on United Airlines planes with their EmPower® DC power ports?”

As you can see in the large pdf-version of the quick start guide for the Lenovo 90W Ultraslim AC/DC Combo Adapter, there are two ways to use the DC Input Cable, depending on the power outlets in the plane.

1. Use the DC Input Cable as shown in the initial picture just above the heading of the paragraph;
2. Remove the special plug from the DC Input Cable, so the EmPower® DC plug of the DC Input Cable becomes visible;

In both the pictures above you can see that the special plug can be removed, so you can charge your Lenovo notebook and a peripheral devices directly from the EmPower® DC power ports on a plane.

Final thoughts and overall conclusion

The Lenovo 90W Ultraslim AC/DC Combo Adapter, is a brilliant masterpiece of engineering that is a must have for every mobile professional that owns a Lenovo notebook.

To Lenovo 90W Ultraslim AC/DC Combo Adapter is very small and lightweight, and the clever modular design helps you in almost every situation while you travel. No matter if you are in an office, hotelroom, car or airplane, you always can keep your notebook and peripheral device charged.

In the picture above you can see that I charge the Lenovo X60 tablet and the HTC HD2 Windows Phone, which means I could leave the phone charger at home. With the Lenovo Powertips I could narrow down the number of chargers while travelling even more, since I can easily charge peripheral devices of my choice with different Lenovo Powertips.

The Lenovo 90W Ultraslim AC/DC Combo Adapter is for 95% the perfect solution to suite every modern nomad. With such a brilliant engineering team I really do hope that Lenovo will design a modular wall charger cable as well, so I can easily switch between different international plugs. This would add the last 5% of to the perfect solution for travellers.

Finally I would like to speak out a great many thanks to the Bluelink team for their excellent technical advice on this brilliant accessoiry. I could really experience why Bluelink is an authorized Business Partner of IBM for more than 12 years!

If you own a Lenovo Thinkpad or Ideapad this is simply a clever must have accessoiry and the pricepoint of €92,- is worth every penny for the value you gain from the Lenovo 90W Ultraslim AC/DC Combo Adapter !!

Today I received some interesting news from one of my international friends -Ed Hardy, Editor of  Brighthand.com- about the Brighthand Mobile Film Festival. This is, according to the description on the Brighthand Mobile Film Festival page:

” … a two day event sponsored by TechnologyGuide.com and Brighthand.com that showcases some of the most creative and interesting made-for-mobile content designed for display on small-format wireless cell phones, smartphones and communications-enabled devices.”

Submit your own films for the Brighthand Mobile Film Festival

“We’re looking for entries for this festival from six different content categories: Comedy, Drama, Music, Animation, Commercial, and Series. Submissions should run about three-minutes or so, and can be in virtually any format.”

In the screenshot above you can see already some of the submitted video’s among the different categories. If you are creative, ambitious and you feel triggered by this article, you will certainly love to submit your own video and keep your fingers crossed that you will enter the finals.

“In addition, finalists in each category will be awarded a guaranteed 60 days of national distribution on the mFlix mobile film channel, one of the first mobile channels of its kind in the U.S. now available on the Sprint PCS wireless network.”

Please help the organizers of the Brighthand Mobile Festival to make their event a true success @ CTIA Wireless 2010, and I’m really curious what video’s you would submit ?!

Who of you still knows the original on ear headphones with black or orange pads  of the Sony SRF-40 FM Walkman back in 1980, or the Sony WM-2 WalkmanII back in 1981 ??

“AIAIAI Tracks Headphone series (headphones & headphones with microphone) are on-ear headphones inspired by the function and design of the old iconic walkman headphones.” 

AIAIAI Tracks headphones unboxing

The picture above shows the box of the AIAIAI Tracks Headphones with microphone in the color black. The box surface has the same eye catching blackwhite structure as the AIAIAI website background.

In the left top corner you can see a black sticker with the AIAIAI logo in green on it. Furthermore you can see a black band around the box with the product name and a nice picture of the AIAIAI Tracks Headphones. After you slide off the band/binding you can open the box easily with a special black flap on the right side of the box to remove the upperpart of the box. The picture below clearly shows this black flap on the right side of the box, which is initially hidden under the black band. First clever design-part uncovered !!

In the right part of the picture above you can see the actual headphones, and the brace to which the headphones are connected with a clever slider mechanism. Just above the speakers you can see the two additional sets of sliders in the colors green and pink. On the AIAIAI Tracks product description page you can read:

“The simple brace design fits all and ensures a comfortable and secure fit. The slider connecting the ear cup and the brace comes in three sets of different colours for customization.”

In the left part of the picture you can see a band with the inverse structure of the outside surface of the box. Under this band you will find the AIATAT Tracks headphones user manual”, a sheet with AIAIAI stickers and a small bag to transport and stow away your AIAIAI Tracks headphones.

An overview of the bag, stickers and user manual is shown in the picture above (from left to right). In order to close the unboxing section of this review I would like to end with a picture of the backside of the closed box with AIAIAI Tracks headphones. As you can see some of the product specifications and product details are printed onto the black band/ribbon.

Technical specifications

Below electronic engineers, musicians or audio-lovers can have a look at the detailed overview of technical specifications.

• Driver Unit Size: 40 mm.
• Plug: 3.5 mm. stereo plug
• Speaker Impedance: 23 Ohm
• Speaker Sensitivity: 112 +/- 3dB
• Maximum Operating Voltage: 3-10 V

Unfortunately I’m not an expert in this field, so I can only tell that there is a (significant) difference in speaker impedance and speaker sensitivity of the AIAIAI Tracks headphones compared with the AIAIAI Y-COM in-ear headphones. The difference is probably related to the driver unit size / speaker size.

A closer look at some product details

One of the main parts is the simple but elegant designed metal brance, to which the speakers are attached with a clever slider mechanism. In other words on the AIAIAI Tracks product description page:

“The design of Tracks is subtle with a clear focus on organic lines and an overall iconic shape. The simple brace design fits all and ensures a comfortable and secure fit.” 

When I wrote a short review of the AIAIAI Y-COM in-ear headphones about half a year ago, the first product detail that I liked was the 3.0 mm. thinkness of the cable of the AIAIAI Y-COM headphones. The cable thickness of the AIAIAI Tracks headphones is about 2.0 mm. and combined the rubber coating (in comparison with a more plastic coating on the AIAIAI Y-COM headphones) it does give the AIAIAI Tracks headphones a slightly less heavy duty look and feel compared with the Y-COM headphones.

In the picture above we can see some typical AIAIAI headphone details, which are also present on the Y-COM headphones:

1. A sleek gold-plated 3.5 mm. plug with a nice AIAIAI logo on it;
2. A thicker Y-part, which splits the cable to the left- and right speaker;
3. A small microphone embedded in the cable to the right speaker;

In my opinion the presence of the small AIAIAI logo on the plug shows that the designers even thought about the small details. My compliments to the AIAIAI Tracks headphone designers for the robust Y-part which is one of the weak parts in some standard old headphones, like it was the case in the early 80′s !

Furthermore I would like to have a closer look at the slider mechnism that connects the driver unit/speaker with the brace.

At first you can see the slider mechanism connected to the metal brace in the right part of the picture above. In order to make the AIAIAI Tracks headphones fit the size of your head and position of your ears, you can easily slide this part in the slot of the brace (in the picture it is a left-right sliding direction).

Second you can see the driver unit/speaker with a ball in the center. The headphones can easily be clicked into the sliders because of the ball(-and-socket) joint design, that provides some additional freedom of movement for the driver unit/speakers resulting in an excellent fit. But also …

“For disassembly you can easily slide off your ear cups and pack them securely for transportation or share your music with a friend. The headphones come with a neat carrying bag for protecting the different headphone parts and keeping the wires from entangling with other items in your bag.”

Practical use and first experiences

With the clever slider parts and the ball (-and-socket) joint design it is very easy to first assemble the AIAIAI Tracks on-ear headphones, and second adjust these headphones for a proper fit to your head. The AIAIAI Tracks headphones are very comfortable to wear, even after hourse of use when these are connected to my Lenovo X60 tablet or Zune HD 16GB/32GB.

One of the product details that becomes very helpful in daily practice is the microphone embedded in the right speaker cable. The AIAIAI Tracks headphones product page shows compatibility with Apple iPhone, Apple iPod and BlackBerry devices. This means that you can take phonecalls or end them, or simply play or stop a song, via the on/off switch on microphone unit.

This functionality worked remarkably well on the HTC HD2 Windows Phone, despite it is not included in the compatibility desciption. On the Zune HD it doesn’t work, but I can’t complain since it is not guaranteed that this functionality is compatible.

Finally the most important question: “How good is the sound quality ?” I would like to refer to a conclusion in the article: “Short review of AIAIAI Y-COM in-ear headphones” since the AIAIAI Tracks headphones show a very similar experience !!

“Last but not least the sound quality of these headphones is remarkably good!! [...] some musicians or audio-lovers might question the sound quality of the AIAIAI Y-COM headphones. Of course there probably are technically superioir in-ear headphones on the market (like the Shure E530 or the Ethymotic ER4 headphones), however the pricepoint of these headphones is much higher. I have put different styles of music on my Zune HD 32GB:  Rock, Trance, Pop and even Classical music. With all these styles the sound quality is high, which means a very clear sound output at low volumes as well as a good “color” of the music.”

Concluding thoughts and wrap-up

“Once again the development has been a collaboration with Kilo Design to ensure a unique expression together with the newest speaker driver technology and material craftsmanship. The 40mm speaker offers a full spectrum sonic experience from the deepest base to high frequency tones.”

It won’t be much of a suprise that I’m really impressed with the exceptional design, that is functional and simple at the same time. Great compliments for the designers and engineers, since even the box includes some clever design features.

Furthermore the sound quality and sound “color” are more than ok, but there might be some audio experts out there that will question my statement. However there will be a very large group of end-users that simply can’t go wrong with the AIAIAI Tracks on-ear headphones.

There are two minor points of feedback. If you plan to use the AIAIAI Tracks on-ear headphones with your phone, you might miss a clip to attach the microphone unit to the collar of your shirt, sweater or jacket like we know from some standard wired phone-headphones.

Second the thickness of the on/off button on the microphone unit seems to be smaller in comparison with the AIAIAI Y-COM headphones, which makes it a slightly more difficult to feel. I might be picky, however I’m 110% sure that this doesn’t result in any quality or usability issues.

The overall conclusion regarding the AIAIAI Tracks on-ear headphones can be very simple, you simply can’t go wrong with these headphones if you are looking for a pair of on-ear headphones. If you need more information about excellent AIAIAI in-ear headphones, you might want to check a short review of the AIAIAI Y-COM headphones.  For the highly interesting pricepoint of +/- €55,- / €60,-  you will get a lot of value: a well designed set of headphones that is fashionable as well.

This is an excellent product in which design, function, fashion and quality meet !

I was fortunate to receive a Zune HD during the Mobius Conference a few weeks ago, so I was able to have a close look at the applications for the Zune HD.

Last week I noticed that the Microsoft Zune Team announced a new Twitter application in the marketplace for the Zune HD. In this article I will have a walk through of the latest Twitter client for the Zune HD.

The screenshot below shows you an overview of the Zune Marketplace section in the Zune software on my Windows 7 powered Lenovo X60 tablet.

Zune Marketplace on Windows Desktop

As you can see there is an overview of applications for the Zune HD in the Zune Marketplace on your Windows desktop. However you can see that the Zune Marketplace also consists of “picks” , “music”, “videos” “podcasts” and a “channels” section. However let’s focus on the apps for Zune HD, and remark the categories on the left side of the screenshot “games” and “other”.

In addition you can clearly see in the screenshot that the Twitter client for Zune HD is on the number one spot on the overview page of the apps for Zune HD section. When you click on the Twitter graphic, the product page of the Twitter client for Zune HD is opened. The screenshot below gives you an idea of this product page.

I would like to highlight a few points in the screenshot above. At first you see the title of the application pretty big on the first line, while just below that you can see the version number, the application type and copyright information. Furthermore you can see a button where you can download the application for Zune HD to your Windows Desktop, and below the button you will find a short application description. Finally you can see an overview with 5 screenshots, that give you an idea about how Twitter for Zune HD looks like.

Remarkable is the version number 1.1 , because within a day the Microsoft Zune team released an upgrade to address an issue with the Twitter client:

“The recently released Twitter for Zune HD application has been abbreviating some explicit words in tweets when viewed on the device; however these explicit words do appear in their full text on the Twitter site or on any other Twitter client. We have identified the issue and are taking steps to update the application as soon as possible to ensure Twitter for Zune HD users are able to view tweets in their original state.” – Microsoft spokesperson

Jason Dunn, Windows Mobile MVP and Editor in Chief of Thoughts Media has written an excellent article on ZuneThoughts “The Zune HD Twitter App & Curse Words“, which outlines the issue with curse words and looks at it from different interesting perspectives.

Twitter Client on Zune HD

Allright let’s start quickly with the application overview of the Twitter client for Zune HD. In the right picture above you see the mainscreen of th Zune HD, and at the bottom you can see the apps menu-item. If you tap on this item, a list of installed applications is shown, and I scroll down till I see the Twitter application. This is shown in the right picture, and by tapping on the Twitter text an about screen is opened with some basic information about the application. If you tap on the Twitter graphic the Twitter application starts.

When the Twitter application starts and the Wi-Fi radio on the Zune HD is turned off, you will get a “pop-up”  to turn on Wi-Fi while you see the connecting process to the accesspoint of -in my example- the home network. In the left picture you see the start screen, where you need to fill in the account credentials, while an onscreen keyboard slides up when you tap on a textbox.

I must admit the onscreen keyboard works pretty accurate, despite the fact that the width is relative small (in comparison with the HTC HD2 for example). However if you practice a little you easily get used to the onscreen keyboard of the Twitter application.

In the right picture you see the Twitter client in action. In the top row just below the Twitter logo you see 4 tabs and in the picture the first tab is selected: “Friends Timeline“. Probably most of you are familiar with Twitter clients so you see the other tabs consist of “Mentions”, “Favourites” and “Direct Messages”.

Just below this top row with icons you see another row, which shows the text “Timeline” in dark capitals. In light grey characters you see the text “Following” and with a swype you can easily switch to the next screens “Following” and “Followers“. Dependant of the selection in the top row the commands in the bar are different. For example in the case of the Direct Messages you can switch between the “Inbox” and “Sent” items.

Furthermore you see a “refresh” button to refresh the timeline manually, while below you can see a number of tweets in the timeline. At the bottom you can finally see a toolbar with 4 circular buttons:

1. Back button;
2. Create tweet or DM;
3. Search Twitter;
4. Settings;

The left picture above shows the screen where you can write a tweet or direct message and as you can see the main program layout is still active (two top rows and the toolbar at the bottom). Just above the text box you can see two additional circular buttons. The left one opens a list with followers, alphabetically ordered, so you can select one or more to @reply to them. The right button can be used to add the title of the song and artist currently playing on the Zune HD to a tweet or direct message. As you can see in the left picture the track Alive from Pearl Jam was playing on my Zune HD.

The right picture above shows the screen when I tap on the search button in the bottom toolbar. It simply opens a search box via which you can search on Twitter. Again the onscreen keyboard slides up as soon as you tap on the search box. Finally the settings screen just shows your Twitter-name, the number of followers and the number of following, while you can furthermore view the terms on the Twitter website.

httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkLiCwxGIGE

Concluding thoughts and wrap-up

For an excellent summarizing overview I would like to highly recommend the article  “Video walk through the Zune HD Twitter app” from Matthew Miller, Editor of the Mobile Gadgeteer blog on ZDNet.

At first I would like to remark that the Zune HD is a great lightweight and very functional multimediaplayer, like you can see on the main menu in one of the pictures above. By adding applications or games on the Zune HD you can even increase the functionality. Personally I haven’t added much games, but loaded the Calculator application and the MSN Weather application on the Zune HD.

The Twitter client is another great extension, which is easy to use and easy to navigate. Furthermore I’m impressed with the accuracy and usability of the onscreen keyboard. Almost all the basic functionality you want in a Twitter client is there, yes almost.

At first I was searching for the hashtag #, and thanks to Matthew Miller this is a little hidden in the keyboard structure (“123″ and “shift”). Personally I do miss the ability to retweet in this Twitter client for Zune HD, and I truly hope that the Microsoft Zune Team will include this in the next version of this application.

On the other hand I would like to compliment the Zune Team for working hard on the problem as outlined in the “The Zune HD Twitter App & Curse Words” article on ZuneThoughts.com and releasing an application update in a very short timeframe !! Furthermore it is really cool, to easily include the currently playing song in a tweet you sent from your Zune HD.

Overall the Zune HD is an awesome multimediaplayer which is incredibly powerful and functional. With applications like the Twitter client it becomes possible to keep track of your social network as well. I hope to see the great Facebook application for Windows Mobile become available in a Zune HD variant as well !!

Powermat send us some samples of their wireless charging solutions to us to give you all a feel for their products. With many cables out there, we all want to reduce these huge amounts of cables and get rid of our clutter. The Powermat is a step in the right direction in reducing some of the extra cables you might use when creating your own charging stations or with all your individual chargers.

The Powermat will allow you to charge 3 different devices  wireless and one extra device by using the integrated USB port. The Powercube comes with 8 possible connector tips which will allow you to charge nearly all mobile devices on the market.  Some specific products from Powermat will allow you to charge specific devices with ease. These specific products are: BlackBerry Battery Doors, Apple Cases and Docks, Nintendo DS Back Panels and of course the Universal Powercube receiver.

In the video below I will show you the following products:

1. Powermat Home & Office Mat ( $99.99)
2. Powermat Portable Mat ($99.99)
3. Receiver-Dock for iPod and iPhone ($39.99)
4. Receiver-Case for iPhone ($39.99)
5. Powercube Universal Receiver ($29.99)

Items also available but are not shown in the video are:

1. BlackBerry Battery Door ($29.99) BlackBerry Tour, Bold, Curve 8300, Curve 8900 and Pearl
2. Receiver-Back for Nintendo DS  ($29.99) Nintendo DS Lite and Nintendo DSi

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leqX1FjsMtE

Conclusion

Using the Powermat system is a good step into the future. At my home desk the Powermat is a great solution to charge three devices with ease. I highly recommend it.

It would be great if the Portable Powermat would be smaller and thinner. The Travel Case with everything into it is still more volume in my very limited cargo travel space. A simple small USB hub build into the plugs and 2-3 individual USB charging cables will save much more space in my luggage.

I think this technology will grow and will become a standard into devices into the future. I am glad the European Community is having results with creating at least a standard in Mini and Micro USB Charging for mobile devices. Let’s see if  integrated wireless charging could be the next step!!

Microsoft just launched their new Zune HDina 16Gb and 32Gb version. I was lucky to get my hands on it for a day and play with for a while.

I really, and I mean really like the OLED screen. The colors are vibrant and the image is so clear. The interface is so easy that you definitely don’t need a manual to figure it all out. To take full advantage of the possibilities of the Zune HD you have to pair with your Zune account. This happens when you connect your Zune with the Zune 4.0 desktop software.

The Zune HD has added functionalities compared to the original Zune, like HD Radio and…..yes Apps. With the Microsoft Marketplace now available for applications on the Zune (and soon for Windows Phones as well), The Zune will become a more functional device.  However you need to wear your earphones to get the full experience in apps/games on the Zune because it is missing an external speaker.

Below is a short video of my un-box first impressions of the Zune HD:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAs0gZSwcB4

Other great friends have their great impressions and reviews. Make sure to visit them to get even more information.

• zunethoughts.com – Many articles about the Zune HD and Zune 4.0 desktop software.
• gotzune.com – Many articles about the Zune HD and Zune 4.0 desktop software.
• anythingbutipod.com – The internal organs of the Zune HD

Today SPB Software released SPB Radio 1.0, an Internet radio player for Windows Phones. This article will have provide a short review of the SPB Radio application and guide you through the application in a step by step process.

Background thoughts and product features

SPB Software seems to be heavily investing in the online services and multimedia field lately, and developed applications like SPB Online and SPB TV. Both applications are aimed at multimedia content and can be used in the connected mobile scenario on the move.

After launching the unique SPB TV application it makes sense to continue the multimedia spectrum with an internet radio player for Windows Phones. SPB Software summarizes the product as:

“SPB Radio – a high-quality Internet radio player for Windows Phones, which gives subscription-free access to an unlimited number of live streaming radio stations from all over the world.  SPB Radio features a modern touch-interface with adaptive skins and on-screen controls.  The application has a built-in catalog with over fifteen hundred radio stations categorized by genre, geographical region, and language.”

In the product summary the unlimited number of streaming radio stations and global coverage are remarkable, as well as the impressive catalog. On this catalog I will come back later on, but first let have a look at the other new features of the SPB Radio application.

New key features of SPB Radio 1.0

• Finger friendly interface
• Adaptive skins
• On-screen volume control
• Built-in radio stations catalog with 1500+ stations
• Easy setup of more custom radio stations
• List of favorites
• Digital radio sound quality
• Real time radio streaming
• Current Bit rate indicator
• Automatic screen turn off

SPB Radio on your Windows Phone

Let start with looking at the simple and intuitive user-interface of SPB Radio 1.0, with large buttons optimized for fingerfriendy use.

At first we see a play and stop button on the left, and a volume control button on the right (providing the volume level in % as well). Between these two buttons a field is shown where the current channel is shown, as well as the state (playing …, buffering …) and the bitrate of the current channel’s stream.

Furthermore we can see a kind of carousel with radio stations, which I assume are also optimized for finger friendly use. Such an implementation of a carousel, but on a higher control level of the application, is found in SPB Mobile Shell 3.0. In the article “SPB Mobile Shell v3.0 User Interface Step-By-Step Review” a screenshot with the carousel can be seen.

The left softkey is linked to the function: “screen off“, in order to easily safe battery by turning the screen off while listening to the radio channel. It is an implementation I have seen before in the CorePlayer for mobile application, but very helpful in practice. The right softkey will open up the menu, which will be discussed below.

Also remarkable is the volume level overlay, like is shown in the screenshot above. Both with moving the Jogg Ball of the HTC Snap to the left or right, as well as with the volume buttons on the left side of the device let me control the volume level. So my compliments for this good implementation on Windows Mobile Standard (non-touch) devices.

Adaptive Skins

One of the cool features of SPB Radio 1.0 are the Adaptive Skins, highlighted in italic in the featurelist above. Now it doesn’t require to personalize the internet radio player on your Windows Phone any more by downloading and importing custom skins. SPB Radio adapts the background color and application skin to the homescreen you have set on your Windows Phone. On the left I selected the “Slinding Panel” homescreen on my HTC Snap, while on the right I selected the “HTC Home” homescreen.

Current station

The right softkey opens up the menu, in which the different menu items are shown in a logical an functional list. The first item in the list playing or pause the stream of the current station.

The second menu item is used to manage the current station and carousel of “favourite” stations on the default screen of SPB Radio. You can easily move the current station up or down, or set is to the top or bottom of the list, or you simply have the ability to edit or remove the current station.

Various ways to find and add a station

SPB Radio 1.0 offers various options to search for and add a radio station to the carousel of current stations. Each of the different options has been tested and will be described below.

1.   Find a Station

The first way is to find a radio station via the option “find station” from the menu. You simply enter the search string like you do with every search-box and hit the ok-button. In the extensive build-in catalog a search is conducted and the results are quickly shown. In the example I used a dutch radio station called Radio 538, and on the screenshot of the results page (right)  you can see that the results are shown in a list optimized for finger-friendly use.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wK_ylYuzTas

2.   Add a Station

“The application has a built-in catalog with over fifteen hundred radio stations categorized by genre, geographical region, and language.”

The second way is to add a station by browsing through the different categories of the build-in catalog. Like describe in the product summary you can browse either by music type or genre, geographical region and language. In the short video on YouTube I have provided a quick overview of the different categories in the catalog, and I hope it gives a rough idea of which types of stations are available.

3.  Add Station by URL

The third way to add a station is to simply add the URL of the lives-stream manually in the SPB Radio application. Simple but effective.

Connections

The last relevant option in the menu is the item “connections”, which gives you control over the used type of connection. You can only set SPB Radio to use only free connections, for example Wi-Fi. This feature was also implemented in the recently reviewed SPB News 2.0, and is shown in the article: “SPB News 2.0 RSS Reader for Windows Phones – SPB Insight renamed“

Also the connection control in the roaming situation can be configured simply by checking or unchecking the option. Again the same implementation as in SPB News 2.0, but very important to help users to keep their data costs as low as possible. So well done SPB software for implementing these connection control options.

Thoughts, conclusions and wrap-up

At first I would like to complement SPB software for bringing this application to both Windows Mobile Professional and Windows Mobile Standard. This to some extend inline with the adopted multi-platform approach, and I’m really curious if we will see the multimedia applications also on other platforms as well.

SPB Radio has a very intuitive easy to use user interface, and despite an internet radio player doesn’t require a difficult interface, it is very well done on both the platforms. And despite I know I just have tested the application on a Windows Mobile Standard device, I can see that the interface is optimized for finger-friendly use.

Furthermore the adaptive skins are a cool addition, and I hope we will see this kind of behavior back in other applications as well. Now the SPB Radio application easily is embedded in your current theme or homescreen of your Windows Phone. The result: you don’t have to customize the radio player skins.

So far I’m impressed with the build-in catalog with radio stations, which not only consists of music stations but also newstalks. The number of listed 1500 radio stations is certainly impressive, and you always can find a radio station of your personal taste. Lots of genres and categories are covered, but in the current version the build-in catalog is a static object.

UPDATE

Finally the sound quality is more than ok, but that is close related to the quality of the stream source and the connection you are listening over. I have tested SPB Radio over various connections (Wi-Fi, HSDPA, EDGE) and it’s a nice application to use on the go while you are commuting. I need to check in the upcoming days what ammount of data-traffic is used, as well as the impact on the battery life (even with the screen off).

Some short remarks

A great improvement would be to update the latest version of the catalog over the air (OTA) simply by pressing a button in the menu. This might be a nice improvement for an upcoming version.

UPDATE

After a short conversation with the developers of SPB Radio, I need to write down a short update on this remark. The catalog with radio stations is hosted on the SPB software servers, while a special team works on finding and adding radio stations to the catalog.

The Catalog is updated automatically in background of the SPB Radio application, which means next time you start listening radio you will always have the latest version of the catalog on your Windows Phone. If you listen to a specific radio station, which is not in the catalog at this moment, please head over to the SPB Club and let the team know.

While we can see a great level of integration between for example SPB Pocket Plus and SPB Diary, it would also be a great idea look at some kind of integration of the multimedia applications as well. It might be a cool idea to plug-in SPB TV and SPB Radio into the SPB Online application and control these different applications from within one single environment.

Availability and costs

“SPB Radio 1.0 is available for Windows Phones running Windows Mobile 5 and later Professional and Standard editions. A free, 15-day trial can be downloaded, or SPB Radio 1.0 can be purchased for 9.95 USD, from www.spbsoftware.com. As a web radio player, SPB Radio requires an active Internet connection via Wi-Fi, WiMAX, 3G, or EDGE.”

Every mobile enthusiast who has bought a “new” car probably is familiar with the process of adapting the “new” car to the mobile devices and gadgets you own (and not vica versa). Personally I was searching for an easy to install custom-fit solution to dock and charge a smartphone, without having to put screws into the dashboard. My search ended with the ProClip 2 part solution, and the article below will describe the different pieces of the 2 part solution as well as the install process in the car.

On the screenshot above you can see that ProClip USA offers a mounting solution for a wide variety of mobile devices (from MP3 player, to navigation devices, to smartphones). On the right side there is also a “check out our blog” button, where you will be redirected to the recently launched ProClip USA blog. On this blog the latest news, for example new device holders will be announced as well as regular ProClip USA news.

The ProClip 2 part solution, or is it a more part solution??

When you first visit the ProClip USA website and you hit the “click here to configure your mounting solution”, you will be asked to select your county. With this step the correct shipping details will be calcultated as well as filtering the mounting solutions on localized devices. 

A very simple 3-step process will help you to get the right parts of the ProClip 2 part solution. The description of of each step is in multiple languages, providing global support and which deserves a great compliment for the designers of the website !

Step 1 - Holder with Tilt Swivel and Cigarette Lighter Charger (Item No. 512011)

The first step of the ordering process is getting the right holder for your device. Select the brand or manufacturer and select the right model. For example I select “HTC” and “Touch Diamond 2″ and hit the search-button. The result is an overview of 6 (!!) different device holders for the HTC Touch Diamond 2 from a Standard Holder to a Holder with Tilt Swivel and Straight Cable for Fixed Install.

I choose for the Holder with Tilt Swivel and Cigarette Lighter Charger, simply because you don’t need to attach a third party charging cable and it gives you a nice and complete solution for a good price.

The picture above shows the packagecontent of the ProClip Holder for HTC Touch Diamond 2 with Tilt Swivel and Cigarette Lighter Charger. You can see that ProClip USA provides an installation manual, which in addition can also be found digital on the ProClip USA website, and some srews to attach the device holder to the other part of the ProClip 2-part solution.

I want to emphasize on the great level of- and focus on details in the design and manufacturing process of ProClip USA. The tolerances are very accurate, resulting in a great, just-right fit of your device in the holder. It’s not to tight that you damage your device, or that it’s hard to get the device in the holder, and not to loose that the device slips out or that the device starts to rattle. It’s simply just right !!

Furthermore the ProClip USA engineers have thought well about the functional design. The tilt swivel let’s you adjust the viewing angle onto the device, despite there is already a great deal of related-work embedded into the design of the carholder.

The HTC Touch Diamond 2 holder also contains a fixed charging-unit (and cable). You simply slide the HTC Touch Diamond 2 into the holder and “dock” the device. Here again the high tolerances and levels of accuracy are shown, since the sliding- and docking-process go in one movement !!

Step 2 - ProClip Angled Mount (Item No. 853029)

The second step in the ordering process is getting the right vehicle mount for your car, in my case a Volkswagen Polo. Again you need to enter the brand, the model, the year of manufacturing and the last part of the filter is choosing between left-hand- or right-hand steering. (ProClip USA also thinks of our British friends !)

The result of the filtering process is 5 (!!) different vehicle mounts. The options vary from a Center Mount on the air intake, a device holder placed more on the center part of the dashboard, and even an Adjustable Console Mount. I chose for the ProClip Angled Mount, simply because I don’t have any cup-holders on that place, it doesn’t block an air intake and the position of the ProClip Angled Mount is on a perfect distance to the cigarette lighter !!

The picture above shows the content of the ProClip Angled Mount package, again with a detailed installation guide on paper. In addition you see two special tools, which help you installing the ProClip Angled Mount onto your car’s dashboard. Remarkable is the fact that you don’t need any installation equipment, like screwdrivers. The functional design is really clever and the holder is simply “snapped” onto the right place of the dashboard.

Before I go to the third step of the ordering process, which is confirming the order, I continue shopping a little bit and read on below why ! 

“Step 3″ -   Move Clip Kit -1 Male and 1 Female- (Item No. 213093)

On the ProClip USA website there are ways to customize your mounting solution even further, and I noticed the sections:

• Move Clip System
• Extension Plates

The extension plates make it possible to change the relative position of the device holder compared to the vehicle mount, or you could even attach two devices holder to one vehicle mount. Again very clever but foremost functional designed ProClip USA !!

If you are in the position that you own more than one device, or you want to switch your deviceholder between different cars, ProClip USA also has thought about these scenario’s. The result is the move clip system, which consist of a male part and a female part, which can easily be connected and disconnected. The accuracy and tolerances of the product design is again of a high quality-level !

The picture above shows the package of the Move Clip Kit. While ProClip USA adds a paper installation guide to all it’s products they furthermore provide a piece of cloth to degrease the surface of the device holder and/or vehicle mount. The move clips are attached to the mount and holder with two-sided tape, and you have the option to put two screws in it (however that isn’t needed from my own experience).

Again this is a very functional and clever solution, to easily switch the device holder without any construction work !  

Build-in process of the ProClip 2 part solution

Normally you think about these build-in processes as rather complex, where you need special technical skills and additional equipment. The build-in process of the ProClip 2 part solution is very simple (you don’t need a technical background at all) and the best part is that it took me less than 15 minutes to complete !!

I started with a little preparation, and read the installation guide for the move clip system. With the piece of cloth I started to degrease the surface of the ProClip Angled mount and the surface of the tilt swivel on the ProClip holder with Tilt Swivel and Cigratte Lighter Charger. On the Angled Mount I sticked the female part of the Move Clip System while on the ProClip device holder I sticked the male part of the move clip system.

I quickly tested the fit by sliding the male-part into the female-part. Conclusion, excellent fit and time to do the in-car installation of the ProClip Angled Mount. 

In the picture- and the section about the ProClip Angled Mount, you can see that a set of special tools which have a wedge. I took one of them, looked into the installation guideliness and put the wedge on the right place between the car-radio and a part of the dashboard. A gap is now created.

The next step is to hook an edge of the Proclip Angled Mount to the dashboard on the side of the dashboard-locker (on the right), and pushing the other edge of the ProClip Angled Mount in the just created gap followed by releasing the special tool from the dashboard. The gap is closed and the ProClip Angled Mount is attached to your dashboard.

The onyl thing that you have to do now, is slide the male-part on the device-holder into the female-part (of the Move Clip System) on the car mount. Put the charger plug into the cigarette lighter charger, dock your device and you are good to go ! And the best of all installation is less than 15 minutes !!

Overall conclusions

At first let me start with the ProClip USA website, which is easy to navigate and helps you in an easy step by step process to order the right parts, dasboard mount as well as device holder. The explanation of each step is in multiple languages, so great compliments about the functional design of the website.

Second the speed of which ProClip USA brings device- and carholders to the market is remarkable. On their blog I noticed an announcement that there are device holders for the HTC Magic and the HTC Snap.

In the HTC Snap review on this website, one of my complaints was the position of the mini-USB-connector of this device, and the resulting problem not be able to “dock” your device as it is the case with the HTC Touch Diamond 2 holder. Again my compliments for the ProClip USA engineers, since they have found a great functional solution with the Charging Holder with Tilt Swivel and Cigarette Lighter Plug.

In addition to the clever, highly accurate and high quality design ProClip USA provides a wide range of device holders, vehicle mounts and other cusomizations, resulting in a unique and flexible system which you can personalize to meet your own needs and demands. In that respect ProClip USA is offering a complete total solution for the end-user.

The completeness of the solution is also reflected in added “special tools” and the lack of needing any additional equipment for installation into your car. For the installation you don’t need any technical background, and it took me less than 15 minutes to install the ProClip solution into my car.

I can be very short about the price-point. For such a clever and well though-out design and the high level of quality the price if worth every dollar / euro, and making it a solid investment.

If you are looking for a great in car solution, of high quality product design and an even better an d highly customizable functional design, don’t wait any longer and start configuring your ProClip USA complete solution over here !! I will certainly get me a HTC Snap device holder !

Yesterday Microsoft announced their Zune HD wich needs to bring some competition against the iPod Touch. The twitterpage of user “officethemovie“  already made a nice statement on May 11th with the tweets:

June 2009 will be an important month for Zune lovers.

and

New product launch, that’s all I’m allowed to say. Hold off from buying an iPhone/Pre.

Yesterday Microsoft announced their new ZuneHD which must become the iPod Touch killer

Some interesting facts about the new Zune HD:

• The new Zune HD has an 3.3″ OLED Touch Screen with a 480 x 272 resolution.
• The new Zune HD has HD Radio.
• The new Zune HD has HD video output for a great video experience on both the device and a TV.
• The new Zune HD has Wifi and it’s possible to buy and download content directly on the Zune HD.
• The new Zune HD has an Internet Browser probably based on Internet Explorer.
• The new Zune HD is flash based. – Goodbye harddrive!

So all this look really promissing but if it can beat the iPod Touch it’s just too soon to say. I think Apple has a strong benefit with all the available applications that can be installed on the iPod Touch. In that way it is possible to really customise the iPod Touch which users like to do. I personally hope that Microsoft will consider to bring the Windows Mobile Marketplace to their Zune platform or create a new Marketplace for Zune owners. In these days people want more than just another Mediaplayer when they buy a high-end device. I hope Microsoft will be able to bring this for the new Zune lovers.

For more information about the new Zune HD go to www.zunethoughts.com or www.anythingbutipod.com or go to the Zune HD Productpage at www.zune.net

The SanDisk Sansa slotRadio player just came to the market after they announced the slotMusic for their existing  Sansa Fuze line of media players. The slotRadio player is a small simple media player which just allows you to listen to FM radio and your purchased slotRadio music (different than the slotMusic)

If you don’t want to haggle with synchronization of your current music on your pc and hate listening to your favorite radio station with all those commercials, then the SanDisk Sansa slotRadio player with your favorite genre slotMusic is the perfect answer. It beats carrying bigger media players and satellite radio’s around. You can even connect it easy to your aux. port in your car.

slotMusic

slotMusic is a 1GB micro SD Card. A slotMusic card can hold a complete album plus lyrics, video’s, album art and your personal content. These slotMusic cards can be used in any device that can accept the micro SD cards.

slotRadio

slotRadio is a micro SD Card that is preloaded with 1,000 songs in a mix of different genre when you purchase the slotRadio player. However separate genres are available for purchase at the cost of $39.99per 1,000 songs. Genres available are: Rock, Country, Hip Hop/R&B, Oldies, slotRadio Mix, 80′s & 90′s, Daily Mix, Workout Mix and more coming soon. The slotRadio cards onlywork with the slotRadio player and the Sansa Fuze ( please upgrade your fuze to the latest firmware). The slotRadio cards do not work on the other micro SD enabled MP3 players and devices. Every genre card will come with 7  preset playlist for you to choose from. For example on the Rock slotRadio card the playlist are: 80′s rock, 90′s Rock, Chillout, Classic Rock, Hard Rock, Workout and Alternative.

slotRadio Player

The slotRadio player is the easiest plug and play device you can imagine. Just insert you micro SD card and you are ready to go.

The switch on the top will allow you to turn on your slotRadio Playerin the FM mode or in the play mode for your slotMusic card.

In the Fm mode you can tune the radio to your favorite station using the left and right arrows on the front panel. To set the station in memory press and hold  the play/skip button on the right side of the slotRadio Player. By pressing quickly you switch between different presets.

In the Play mode the songs start playing automatically where you left of. The arrows on the front panel allow you to switch between the different preset playlists. The play/skip button on the side will allow you to skip a song and continue with the next one.  The screen will display the name of the playlist, your current song and the next song coming up. You can’t look to far into the future what is coming up, but again it was programmed like a radio, just without the talk and the commercials.

The plus and minus button on the left side are used to change the volume. It is that easy!

The back side of the slotRadio Player has a spring loaded belt clip which allows you to connect it almost anywhere on your clothing since the player is small and light (2 inches x 2 inches x 0.6 inches and 1.3 oz).

On the bottom of the player you have your standard headphone jack and a micro usb port for charging.

Included in the box are:

• Sansa slotRadio player
• slotRadio mix card with 1000 songs
• Ac adapter wit usb port
• Earbuds ( I recommend upgrading these)
• USB cable
• slotRadio card case for storing your micro usb cards (2 per case)
• Silicone sleeve for player (skin)
• Quick Start Guide

If you don’t want to haggle with synchronization of your current music on your pc and hate listening to your favorite radio station with all those commercials, then the SanDisk Sansa slotRadio player with your favorite genre slotRadio is the perfect answer. It beats carrying bigger media players and satellite radio’s around. You can even connect it easy to your aux. port in your car.

The slotRadio player is available in a bundle with the mix of 1000 songs for $99.99. Addition music can be purchased for $39.99 per genre which includes a 1,000 songs. The slotRadio will be soon available in Radio Shacks nationwide.

Seskimo Crabbles is a multimedia device stand made so simple, cheap and is a must have for anyone who travels a lot and is tired of holding their media device in their hands.

The Crabble is a wallet sized flat stand/cradle that is easy foldable to create the perfect viewing angle for you to watch your movie/podcast without holding your device. The Crabble has been designed to hold most phones and media players in the portrait or landscape position.

Now you don’t need to use the magazines,newspapers, napkins or anything you can find on the airplane to prop your device in a viewable position on your tray. Now just use the Crabble from Seskimo.

Fold the Crabble so that the cut on the hinge is on the outside of the bend. The two arms will stay in the right sort of position but, if necessary, squeeze the hinge to adjust the position. Small rubber bands in the cradle will make t your device not slip in the Crabble and the Crabble won’t slip and slide on the surface.

Watch this video and see why we didn’t  thought of this ourselves.

This is one of the cheapest gadgets that everyone must have.

Find out more about the Crabble on www.Seskimo.com. The Crabble is available for $4.99 (3.99 Euros) with $1 (1 Euro) shipping. Get two of them and shipping will be free. They ship worldwide