Mobile gps phone
NEAT! http://www.imity.com/blog/index.php?tag=what-is-imity - dreamed about this years ago. Now open source.
== iPhone (erstwhile?) ==buy essay
Yeah, it's neat, but ... 2 year lock in, no add on slot, non replaceable battery, no GPS, soft keyboard, and yet another platform that's fond of lock in? Meh. Would be nice to see something really ground breaking, like a more modular design, because it's basically the same old when you get past the flashy interface (specially if you're not Mac dependent).
Nokia N95
This is the perfect device. Except no touch screen. Why do they torture me? They should also have made it 20g heavier for a longer life battery. I ordered it anyway, since it'll be the 'best' (intentional compromises aside) all round for the next 6 months to a year.. Nokia n95
FIC Linux phone
http://www.slashgear.com/fic-linux-cellphone-can-it-capture-the-imagination-of-the-open-source-community-072392.php - Odds are good this will be vapour.
Glofiish m700
This looks great.. a bit bulky but has all the major checklist features, and it looks like nothing with next gen features (higher res screen, usb host mode) will be available for a few months.
I especially love the name. It means you can easily find it on net searches.
As the reviews come out, predictably its flawed. The camera is awful (yes, this is important to me), GPS sofware spotty, bugs bug bugs.
Vendors
Canada
http://www.superiorgadgets.com/ca/product_info.php?products_id=205 - $818 - sent an email seeing if they can match int'l pricing.
http://sntradersonline.com/phone_details.php?product_id=snp476 - $499 - $50 less for in person pick-up (Missisauga), trade in for old models.
Int'l
http://egadgetdepot.com/catalog/product_info.php?currency=CAD&products_id=67&osCsid=cae3a047056297e8ea877d5ab61df774 - $639US in stock
Accessories
CC comes through with the best price for MicroSD - http://www.canadacomputers.com/index.php?do=ShowProduct&cmd=pd&pid=012212&cid=990.218
Mac sync - http://www.markspace.com/missingsync_wm_devices.html
Benq p51
It's monstrous, but it has the feature set of the glofiish, along with a keyboard.
Nice that it has all the modern checklist features - usb mini for charging/synching (though no usb host), qvga screen, gps, wireless a/g, and even full size sd. Plus 128MB of RAM? I'm wrestling over the requirement for a keyboard.
Barring new phones (dual mode would be kinda nice). Alas, a lot of the newer features are designed around cost effective mobile internet, which is back in the stone ages in Canada.
hewlett packard hp hw6900 in Canada
[ipaq hw6955], from the series (hw6915, hw6910 - uk versions, hw6955, hw6950 - no camera, US hw6920, hw6925 - they sure don't want to make it easy) since it's available locally and will support Java easily,
Who carries it?
- http://www.wirelesswave.ca/rogers_phones_details.asp?PhoneID=449 (hw6515)
- $665 - http://www.handheldcanada.com/netCoreWebRequest/handheld/UserShowProductDetail?productId=49313
- $640 - http://www.softmagic.ca/product.asp?pf_id=FA746AA%23ABA
- http://www.canadacomputers.com are bound to have it at some point, since they have the hw6515 and are expanding their handhelds
accessories
http://www.proporta.com/F02/PPF02P05.php?t_id=1841&t_mode=des - $75US usb cable, screen protector, car charger, case
http://www.proporta.com/F02/PPF02P05.php?t_id=1243&t_mode=des - silicon case (available with above)
or their travel charge kit + charge/sync cable + screen protector/case deal
http://www.pocketpctechs.com/main.asp?unit=HP_Compaq_iPAQ_hw6900-587&area=accessories - headphone adaptor
loox t830
- http://www.solopalmari.com/content/view/1741/143/1/2/ , http://www.fujitsu-siemens.com/campaigns/pocket_loox_t/index.html - since it has usb host mode and an autofocus 2mpix camera and slays the hw6950 in just about every other way
http://support.fujitsu-siemens.de/forum/viewforum.php?f=25 - fujitsu-siemens evidently ineffective support forums
http://www.expansys.ca/forumthread.asp?code=130765&thread=5 - let's see if expansys can help
misc
http://blogs.msdn.com/windowsmobile/archive/2006/08/04/689069.aspx - nice article on power usage on PDAs
data access
Of course, I must be a fool for wanting such a device, since in Canada, after Fido pulled their $50/month unlimited data plan, data access via GPRS is stupidly expensive (something like $20 to send a high resolution image).
development
http://dcg.ethz.ch/theses/ws0405/gps_ipaq_report.pdf - nice doc on creating GPS apps using Jeode
gpl java J2SE vm - http://www2s.biglobe.ne.jp/~dat/java/project/jvm/index_en.html
using swt with ibm's j9 - http://forum.java.sun.com/thread.jspa?threadID=604997&tstart=0