CES 2012 Recap

I’ve posted two appearances to my radio page. The first show published is my report from the most recent CES show that took place in Las Vegas, NV. I went to the show to scout out products for travelers and featured 5 products that are also discussed in a detailed blog post as well.

Apple iPhone 4S for Travelers

Secondly, I’ve posted a show from October in which I discuss the Apple iPhone 4S from a travelers lens. Is the improved camera and Siri worth the upgrade?  Listen in and find out!  :)

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New Radio Shows Posted

On Saturday, Rudy Maxa recently had me on his radio show to talk about the best products and services for travelers.

First of all, this was the biggest CES ever, with new records being broken: 153.000 people attended more than 1.86 million net square feet of exhibitor space being taken up…amazing!
The coolest products I saw: the AR Drone 2.0

• It’s a helicopter with 4 blades. comes in an outdoor model and an indoor model – indor model is about the size of a small pizza box.
• can hover and is controlled by your iPhone, iPad or Android device
• New model has a High def 720p camera which plays back on your phone or can be recording.

The new model also has a pressure sensor to improve altitude control, and new electronic assistance for better navigational control than what was available in the original model.

Costs $299

Jawbone Jambox

In short, it’s an amazing speaker to pack in your overnight bag.

• is 2.25 inches high, 6 inches wide, and 1.5 inches deep.  - if you were to cut a brick in the half long-ways, it’s about that big.
• bluetooth enabled and has a cord to connect with your computer, phone or iPod while on the go
• has AMAZING bass
• Is quite loud
• can also be used as a noise-cancelling bluetooth speakerphone.
• Amazon for about $180

In short, it’s a backpack that has a built-in battery pack for all your gadgets to charge, simultaneously!

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CES Radio Show: Top Traveler Gadgets

Nokia has finally taken wraps off their first Windows Phone device for the United States. Coming in January 2012, the Nokia Lumia 710 will be available for T-Mobile customers.  This phone is an entry level phone, but a very well equipped one.

The Lumia 710 comes in white and black (I’m hoping to get access to a white one) with covers that go on the back. Additional colors will be available from select retailers in the future.

The Lumia 710 sports a 3.7 inch ClearBlackDisplay, which means they have some wicked technology that produces vibrant colors and deep, deep blacks. I have a Nokia N9 is also a ClearBlackDisplay and the colors and color depth is astounding.

Back to the 710, it is capable of T-Mobile’s 4G speeds and runs Windows Phone, a new platform for many, including me. I adopted Windows Phone back in November and I can’t look back. Between People Hub, which brings all your social networks and friends from them in one central place, Bing Search, Local Scout (which shows you food, shops, and experiences around any location from within a map) and the smoothness of Windows Phone 7, I’m totally sold on the platform.

Affordable Phone and Affordable Plan

One facet to this phone that makes it astounding to me is the price. The Nokia Lumia 710 will only cost $50 on a two-year contract and will be available to be on a $50/month plan from T-Mobile that will give you voice minutes and mobile data.

This is intended to convert existing feature phone owners (the vast majority of phones in America) to smartphone owners, of which Nokia says there are 150 million in the States.

Looking at the specs

For those wanting to know what this phone can do specs-wise, let’s do the run-down:

The Lumia 710 features a 3.7-inch WVGA display with Nokia’s ClearBlack technology; 1.4GHz single core SnapDragon processor with 512MB of RAM, and 8GB of storage; HSPA Category 10 at 14.4Mbps down and 5.76Mbps up, Bluetooth 2.1, Wi-Fi, and GPS. It has a 5-megapixel camera with autofocus, LED flash, and video capture at 720p HD.

[Full Disclosure: I write for Nokia Conversations and am a paid contributor there.]

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Nokia Announces Lumia 710 for T-Mobile US

The iPad is an amazing device that has changed my opinion of portable computing forever.  Navigating and using a full touch experience has been amazing and fun all in thebreath.

However, sometimes I don’t want to utilize my fingers. There are times, whether when I’m cooking and have dirty hands from working outside where a pen-like device would be great. Also, if you’re taking notes in a meeting or drawing notes where a stylus would be very handy.

Targus makes a Stylus that drew my curiosity. I chose the Targus Stylus for iPad to try out, my thoughts follow.

Touch and feel

The Targus stylus is 5 1/8 inches long and has a nice soft rubberized tip that won’t scratch the screen. One thing I like is that this stylus works on any touch screen device, including your touch screen mobile phone, an iPod Touch.

This Targus stylus feels good in the hand – it’s made of aluminum and is solid. It has a balanced weight that is perfectly suited for writing and using on the iPad.

To test out the Stylus, I downloaded a few drawing apps from the, most notably the Wacam application that allows me to write freely. I liked drawing notes, thoughts and flow charts on my iPad in full color.

The Targus stylus is a perfect compliment to my iPad and is a very good Stylus. One thing I noticed about the Targus stylus is that the weight is heavy enough so you don’t feel it necessary to rest your palm on the iPad while you’re writing.

Bottom line

The Targus stylus is perfect for writing, sketching, navigating and drawing down your paper notes. I highly recommend this device if you’re seeking a stylus for your iPad. Even though it’s only $15, this stylus is a premium product.

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Review: Targus Stylus for iPad

Nokia Conversations – Nokia’s corporate weblog

• Porting Guides for Windows Phone 7
• Appstravaganza: American Football apps for Nokia
• Productivity apps for Nokia-carrying professionals

CMSWire: Social Media Minute weekly column

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Blogging Elsewhere

On the 3 September show, I discussed the new tablet that is forthcoming from Amazon.com and 6 must-have travel applications for travelers this Fall season.

The link is on my Radio page.  I look forward to your feedback.

[Photo credit: ☻mrhappy☻]

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Labor Day Weekend Radio Appearance: Amazon Tablet + Travel Apps

Tuday, on the Rudy Maxa show, I presented the top travel applications for this Fall traveling season. Here is a summary for those who listened to the show and want more information.

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Fall 2011: Top Apps for Travelers

On the software side, I was happy with the improvements Nokia has made with Symbian^3, making it more usable and useful than the Symbian predecessors that came my way. I would say that the Nokia N8 “got the job done”, meaning that the phone did core functions such as calling, SMS and email reasonably well. However, I live a very social media centric life including Foursquare, Twitter and Facebook use on a regular basis. Being able to interact with these services on my mobile is an expected activity while I’m mobile.

The Nokia N8 combined with Symbian is blessed on the Twitter front with Gravity. This fully featured client does Twitter really well (the best app on any platform as far as I’m concerned), and it does reasonably well with Foursquare, but it leaves a lot to be desired. Sure, I can check into a location and see where my friends are, but there’s no ability to look at photos, see tips and use other Foursquare capabilities in Gravity.

Anna update breathes new life

A few changes in the last week has made me even more crazy about the Nokia N8. First of All, Symbian Anna was released. This much-needed OS upgrade brought a few new things to my phone including:

• Refreshed look and user experience
• Portrait QWERTY keyboard.  No more turning on the side to use Swype!
• Needed updates to the email application
• Meeting request handling in the messaging application
• Some needed Maps updates
• SPEED IMPROVEMENTS — my N8 no longer has lag when navigating menus, switching between screens and doing routine tasks

New apps to check out

Along with Symbian Anna, two applications have completely rocked my mobile experience as of late.

fMobi

First of all, Facebook. I love to keep up to date, browse photos and events and Facebook has always been a hole in the N8 owners’ experience. fMobi fixes all this. fMobi is a fully featured Facebook client for Nokia devices. With the latest update, fMobi is now available for Symbian^3, Meego and Symbian^1 devices.

With fMobi, I can see friends’ updates, browse photo galleries, see notifications and have a full Facebook experience all on my N8. This Qt app is silky smooth and runs so fast on my N8.

The application also includes the ability to do Facebook Chat, view user profiles and get sound notifications when updates roll in. fMobi supports Check-in/Places suppoer and has a user interface that just rocks. I used to be a fan of Borg, another Facebook client for Symbian, but fMobi is miles ahead in usability and utility.

To check out fMobi, use the link above as it has not been added to Ovi Store by the developer just yet.

4squick

Another Qt app has made my day. As an avid Foursquare user, I’m constantly disappointing by the experience on the N8. There’s an official Foursquare application in the Ovi Store, however this application is a WRT widget that is slow, kludgey and just abhorent to use.

Also, Gravity can be used for check-ins but it’s Foursquare integration is passable at best.

4squick fixes all that. This responsive and useful application makes checking in, browsing your friends location and ability to check out locations around you a breeze. Supporting Venues, pictures, tips and all the useful Foursquare features, 4squick also has a user interface that is beautiful. The app reminds me of Windows Phone in styling.

Have you found any new applications that have made your N8 better?  Sound off in the comments below.

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With Symbian Anna, fMobi and 4squick, My Nokia N8 Is A New Animal

Being a regualar Skype user, though, I’ve had a hole in my iPad usage; the lack of an adequate application for the iconic tablet. As of a day or so ago, this hole is now alleviated with Skype for iPad.

The new Skype client for the 10″ tablet is customized for the iPad’s screen and resolution. If you’re lucky enough to have an iPad 2 with onboard camera, you can use video chat whilst on the go in portrait and landscape mode. The user interface is beautiful and quite usable.  I really enjoy the voice quality, ability to send instant messages, and simple view when it comes to viewing contacts. You can also send uber-cheap SMS the world over with the application, using Skype cheap cheap rates.

I did some testing by calling folks around the world (New York, London and Mumbai) and the voice quality was excellent every time. I can’t speak to the video quality as I don’t have a new iPad…have you made a video call on the iPad? Please leave a comment below if you can speak to that experience.

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Skype Now Available for iPad

Well with a new product offering called the Play:3, the price barrier is now much lower. The Play:3 is a connected speaker system that Sonos calls the “smaller, sexier, tuck in the corner and blow out all-in-one player”. With the Sonos Play:3, you can stream your entire music library, online music services and favorite radio stations to this wireless speaker system.

The Sonos Play:3 comes in at an attractive price point of just $299 which is a very agressive price point for the functionality these speakers provide. After you get the required Bridge, which is now priced at just $50, you can use up to 15 Sonos devices in your house. The Sonos is controlled by a client either on your computer or even better on your mobile device whether it’s an iPhone, iPod Touch or Android phone. There’s also an amazing iPad app that I use every day.

Check out the Play:3 below. I will be reviewing the device fully next week when my unit arrives.

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Sonos Unveils Play:3 Affordable Sound Luxury