One of the coolest things about my new job seems to be the number of toys that have gone rushing over my desk in the last few weeks.
Most folks assume that they just get “given” to us, and for some devices (such as the TyTN II and the Mirage) they are – but only for a very short time then they have to go back to the Mobile Demo team or their real owners because my excuse to play with them is over.
Most however have been paid for out of my very own pocket. Not expensed and not donated. I really must do something about that.
So… what is in the picture this month?
At the top is my UMPC. It’s a Samsung Q1U and I like it very much. It’s recently had some surgery to give it more RAM and it’s now very much more usable. I’m not a fan of the split keyboard though and to be a really useful machine it needs a better battery and a faster CPU (and a faster hard drive!)
Below that is the telephony suspects. My Shadow, then a BlackJack II, the TyTN II we used for the Silverlight demo at Advance08 and finally the Samsung Mirage (SGH-i780).
Because all of these phones apart from the Shadow have GPS I bought myself a tiny (keyring sized) Freedom GPS 200 bluetooth device (it’s going to have to share with the Q1U though!).
Last but not least is the answer to the keyboard woes of the Q1U. A Freedom Universal folding bluetooth keyboard. This device claims compatibility with both Windows/Vista devices and smartphones. Well, I had no problem what-so-ever pairing it with the Q1U and so I’m really happy with that.
The bad news is that at this point in time I am totally unable to get it working with any of the phones in the list above. First of all the driver install from the PC doesn’t work in Vista (you have to manually copy the files across and install it), the over-the-air installer doesn’t recognize any of the devices and for good measure even when I get the driver installed it wants to generate a unique unlock code for each device before it’ll let me pair… the website fell over when I tried to go it for the first device, and as you can see… I get through devices at a fair rate so locking me to one isn’t going to make me a fan.
I’ve logged a couple of support requests… when they get back to me I’ll have another look at the keyboard and report back.
Oh, and the neat little bag with “Windows Mobile” written on it… invaluable for lugging around chargers, USB cables, spare batteries, microSD cards and USB adapters and whatever else!