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Voodoo (DNA) phone in the works?

Is Voodoo PC working on bringing out their own phone/smartphone? Information right now is very scarce and it still remains a mystery IF there will be a such thing (Since Voodoo PC so far has been strictly a (gaming) computer company). The last time someone brought up the topic of a Voodoo phone would be Rob Enderle in his article published in September 2008. Recently, there have been some little, little things which hint a Voodoo phone again.

Today Mark Soloman made a post entitled “Voodoo Design Secrets” on HP/Voodoo’s The Next Bench blog. Of course, there were no product roadmaps, no concept products, not many revelations at all. Not many revelations. The first picture certainly looks very interesting (see the screenshot above) – it appears to be one of those product design kind of thing in its planning stage where the designers need to list out the components they need to pack into the final product. The right half of the whiteboard writings highlight some very interesting components (to me, at least) such as “speaker holes”, “button finish”, “multicolor LEDs” and of course, a “proximity sensor”.

Why would a computer (desktop or notebook) need a proximity sensor? Who counts the number of speaker holes on their notebook PC and their size? What about “button finish”? All these unanswered questions… the “multicolor LEDs” list “BT” and “W”. Assuming these stand for Bluetooth and WiFi respectively, when was the last time you saw a recent HP… bah, or any modern computer with separate indicators for Bluetooth and WiFi? On the other hand, some old Pocket PCs and HP iPAQs have those kind of LED indicators….

Nah, maybe Voodoo is working on a computer that turns itself on when you approach it (And off, when you walk away from it) which has flush leather buttons and back-to-the-future style separate LED indicators for Bluetooth and WiFi connectivity. Plausible, huh?

8GB SDHC works on HP iPAQ hw6915

HP iPAQ hw6915 owners and fans rejoice, I’ve just tested my 8 GB SanDisk microSDHC memory card with the HP iPAQ hw6915 (via a microSD to mini SD adapter, of course) and guess what? IT WORKS!! And with just ONE 3rd party driver I downloaded from the internet too! Fantastic.

Now I can go to the gym tomorrow with all my music and in-ear earphones! Here’s the story: I’ve been using a 2 GB microSD card with my HP hw6915 via a micro SD to mini SD adapter since the device can’t detect 4 GB and above cards. Problem is, all my songs can’t fit on a mere 2 GB card… and also, having a few MOVIES at hand is a plus, in case I get bored of just songs while working out. Meanwhile, I’ve got four 2 hour long movies and over 600 songs in the 8 GB micro SDHC card I use in my iPAQ 614c, but the hw6915 has never managed to detect the 8 GB card… until today when I installed the unofficial SDHC update.

Why not use the iPAQ 614c for music then? Well, the iPAQ 614c has a triple-duty mini USB port which handles charging, data transfer and headphones. But I want to use my own headphones (sometimes it’s in-ear, sometimes it’s the big over-the-head headphones that I use for gaming) and they all need 3.5 mm jacks, which is the standard. I prefer my own headphones because they have noise-isolation/cancellation and have VERY good bass and “thump” – the iPAQ 614c’s bundled “dangle from the ears” type of earphones (you know like those bundled iPod earbuds? same case) lack both. Also, the iPAQ 614c can NOT use HTC mini USB to 3.5 mm adapters because HTC’s mini USB ports are slightly squarish, making them sort-of proprietary and HTC exclusive, whereas the 614c’s port is more mini-B shaped.

But since my iPAQ hw6915 started developing the tendency to self-reboot randomly at times a few months ago, it became unreliable as a phone. So I use the iPAQ hw6915 now almost exclusively as a music player (plug in my own headphones via a 2.5 mm to 3.5 mm adapter, and made even better now with 8 GB SDHC compatibility) while using the iPAQ 614c as a phone and sometimes music/video player.

Until HP releases a nice large and wide touchscreen, QWERTY keyboard Pocket PC phone with a 3.5 mm headphone jack… umm which should be in the near future right? Hey EVERYONE has one now (HTC Touch HD, Nokia N97, iPhone 3G, etc all have 3.5 mm headphone jacks) so why not eh, HP?… then I guess I’ll have to switch between or sometimes carry both devices (oh, what a drag!) along with me.

Of course, it would appear that the Nokia N97 I talked about a few days ago sounds like it would fit the bill perfectly, I would rather use the Windows Mobile OS, and preferably a HP device (for many reasons).

By the way, to save you all that time searching the net, here’s where I downloaded the update for SDHC compatibility with the HP iPAQ hw6915. Do note it’s 3rd party (but what Windows Mobile add-on isn’t?) and I’ve personally tested my iPAQ hw6915 with cards up to 8 GB, all of them work. Just put it in your non-SDHC card (like 1 or 2 GB normal mini SD), put the card into your iPAQ hw6915, install the CAB file and restart. After that, the device should be able to detect memory cards up to 8 GB.

UPDATE (June 2009): Since the time of writing this article, I have since returned the iPAQ hw6915 and iPAQ 600 phones, and transitioned over to the HP iPAQ Data Messenger. So, sorry, I will not be able to test memory cards with the hw6915 as they come out with larger capacities (ie 16 or 32 GB) in the future.

Nokia N97; where is the iPAQ R&D team?

Is somebody in the driver’s seat asleep? Nokia just launched their N97 top-of-the-line mobile phone today – which blows away pretty much everything else on the market right now. And while I think the “multimedia computer” thing is still a bunch of marketing bull, everything else sounds solid, if not fantastic. A large 3.5 inch touchscreen – a widescreen one at that, 32 GB internal memory with a microSD slot for even more, 5 megapixel camera with VGA video recording, a 3.5 mm headphone jack plus the usual mobile phone goodies: WiFi, HSDPA, Bluetooth, A-GPS and all. And yea, a side slide-out QWERTY keyboard… this is what the HP iPAQ Data Messenger should have been!!

HP is the world’s largest computer manufacturer and sure they would have a good excuse to not put high emphasis on thigs like printers or calculators. But there are several good reasons to divert some resources (ahem, put in some effort in developing) the iPAQ line of Pocket PC/phones. These little devices are like micro computers too; they have processors, RAM, even have operating systems and offer expandability through software – though Nokia’s gimmicky marketing is taking things a little too far over the edge. And, unlike printers or calculators whose markets are already saturated and where there’s little product differentiation between competition (come on, claims of prints lasting up to 90, 99, 100 or 101 years are everywhere), the mobile device market is a lucrative one.

Though not at its infancy, the (mobile device) market is currently at a place where there’s still room for growth, people are rushing for them as every year there is a “leap” in one area or another (it was built-in cameras at one time, then WiFi, now it’s GPS and touchscreens) and so a sizeable profit can still be made here – somewhere I’d call its “teenage years”, where product makers still have some features they can experiment with, that they can stuff into this phone and that one, things that will gather “oohs” and “aahs” from the crowds and make them a ton of sales. Want good, recent examples? Look at the Nokia N95, look at the Apple iPhone.

The N95 wasn’t the first slider phone in the world, nor was the iPhone the first to feature a touchscreen. Hey, the HP iPAQ h6310 had a 3.5 inch touchscreen too waaay back in 2004! The N95 was marketed heavily as a multimedia device; it could play music, movies, had a 5 megapixel camera, and so was the iPhone (umm just replace the 5 megapixel camera part with a large touchscreen).

There hasn’t really been any exciting or revolutionary new iPAQ recently that the crowds would gush for, since the iPAQ hw6515 in 2005. The hw6915 was a mere refresh of the hw6515, the rw6828 and iPAQ 514 weren’t high-end powerful devices, and the rest of the line, iPAQ 600, 900 and Data Messenger really had nothing special to trump the competition, or at least spark some public hype.

Dear HP/Compaq, isn’t it time to wake up? What happened to being the number one Pocket PC manufacturer in the world? Even that title was snagged by HTC a while ago. With that kind of company size and especially a company being in the IT & computing industry itself, I’m sure HP could churn out some impressive Pocket PC/phones too, if only they’d work a little harder at it. Some impressive new iPAQs in the future would be nice, just like the good old days in pre-2005.

Put in better cameras into the iPAQs, stuff in bigger LCDs and more memory, have dual microSD/microSDHC slots (after all, they’re so small), ask the Touchsmart team to help with the user interface, heck add a SIM card slot to the current iPAQ 200! Anything to bring out a nice iPAQ Pocket PC phone that will sell like hot cakes.

I sure hope something’s brewing back there in the HP Labs. And if so, I hope we see the real deal coming out soon (READ: ASAP in 2009).

P.S. If some of this sounds familiar, then yes, it’s no mistake – I’ve posted some input on HP iPAQs in The Next Bench before as “mark” (as in “benchMARK”, not your neighbor Mark) when the article by Enderle brought up the discussion of the “Voodoo phone”.

16 hours with the iPAQ Data Messenger

I got my hands on a HP iPAQ Data Messenger with pre-production firmware last night and so far I’ve spent 16 hours, including an entire day out this morning with HP’s latest (business?) Pocket PC phone. I’ve stuck my SIM card from the HP iPAQ 612c and it worked straight away. Let me just make a short list of the main things that struck me right away (Do note that this is with a pre-production unit with pre-prod firmware, so things may change when I get my hands on a final, retail unit):

• This thing is glossy! Kinda like 612c-keypad type of glossy. It doesn’t show fingerprints visibly unless in very bright light
• There are two sensors to the left of the HP logo on the front, visible only under bright sunlight. One is a light sensor and the other is apparently a proximity sensor.
• The completely flush touchscreen is a welcome move by HP. Now I can finally reach the buttons on the edges of the screen easily with my finger
• The back design of the Data Messenger looks very classy, in my opinion. The camera and a single LED flash are placed at the very edge and are discrete. Compared to the HP iPAQ 612c, the 612c looks more “fancy camera phone” like while the Data Messenger’s back clearly says “I mean business”. There’s no “megapixel logo” or words anywhere, and I hope it STAYS this way in the final unit (I hate people telling me “only 3 megapixels?”).
• Because the camera lens is on the very side of the phone, you would want to keep your fingers away from the edge when holding the Data Messenger.
• The loudspeaker is VERY loud. I didn’t need any fancy meters or machinery to measure that – just using my ears, I could hear the speaker on the Data Messenger was noticeably louder than the iPAQ 612c. The speaker also didn’t crackle when I cranked the volume up to the max and has very good dynamic range (Again, noticeably better than the 612c)
• I’m not trying to say the iPAQ 612c is a lousy jukebox… it’s a good Pocket PC phone, except the Data Messenger raises the bar by a notch. I like the Data Messenger’s loudspeaker. In fact I like it a LOT
• The front “Start” and “OK” buttons at the bottom are NOT “clicky” hardware buttons. They seem to be capacitive touch (you know like those buttons on HP’s notebooks). I’m having mixed feelings about these two buttons – I like the ability to just “touch” them to close an application, but at the same time, your thumb will naturally rest on the “OK” button in camera mode (thus accidentally closing the camera app)
• The camera takes good photos. The Data Messenger and 612c both have 3 megapixel cameras. The Data Messenger seems to take better exposed photos and more accurate colors though. On the negative side, zoom and exposure are operated ONLY via the touchscreen (Eventhough there’s a navigation pad) and the camera seems to be continuously focusing all the time (and half-pressing the shutter button doesn’t do anything to autofocus)

Right, that’s about it for now. I’m off again; gonna spend the evening out and about, with the Data Messenger, and will post more about the phone once I’ve spent more time with it. Toodles!

HP iPAQs need 3.5 mm headphone jacks

HP iPAQ Data Messenger and iPAQ Voice Messenger

Right, as everyone knows, HP announced two nice iPAQ devices last month, the iPAQ Data Messenger – which is like the iPAQ 612c with a slide out QWERTY keyboard, flush touchscreen (so it’s easier to reach the “Start” and “X” buttons at the side of the screen using your finger, instead of a stylus) and 2.5 mm headphone jack – and the iPAQ Voice Messenger, the direct successor of the iPAQ 510 with a larger screen and “half QWERTY” keyboard (as in QW-ER-TY, RIM Blackberry style). Both offer welcome updates over their respective predecessors.

Both the HP iPAQ Data Messenger and Voice Messenger Pocket PC phones currently list 2.5 mm headphone jacks built in. For the Data Messenger, the 2.5 mm jack a nice change from the “mini USB headphone jack” (can you believe it?) on the iPAQ 610 and 910 phones whose adapters to 3.5 mm were hard to find (HTC’s adapters are shaped with a slight difference and don’t fit). I don’t really have a big issue with 2.5 mm headphone jacks since I’ve been using a 2.5 to 3.5 mm adapter (see the picture above) with my HP iPAQ hw6915 to plug in my own set of headphones, and such adapters are easy to find…. but here’s an idea.

The 3.5 mm headphone jack is probably the most widely used port in the world for headphones (that’s why they’re also known as “the standard jack”) and allow users to swap out the pair of “in the box” earphones for another pair they love. Not everyone likes the “hang from ears” headphones usually included in the retail packaging of their mobile phone (I don’t!) and usually would want to swap it out for a pair in-ear headphones or “over the head” headphones.

I’m not complaining about 2.5 mm jacks since plenty of 2.5-to-3.5 adapters are available out there, for only 2-3 bucks too! As long as there’s a way to plug in my own set of headphones, I’m happy… But won’t it be more convenient if someone actually built that 3.5 mm headphone port right into the device? The old iPAQ h6310 phone (you know the one with the huge 3.5 inch touchscreen launched back in 2004?) had a 3.5 mm headphone jack, so why can’t the latest iPAQs have them too?

In addition, including a 3.5 mm headphone jack built right into a phone opens up the ability to tout the device to the public as a “music phone”, as what other manufacturers have been doing lately. So yeah, not only does it benefit users in terms of convenience, it also makes marketing sense to the company! Equals more sales.

Seeing that the iPAQ 910 announced last year had tweaks from the initial press picture, to the pre-production unit, to the final design when it was finally available in June this year; I hope HP does some tweaks for the better… at least on the iPAQ Data Messenger which is their current flagship iPAQ phone (based on specifications). Fingers crossed =)