When what you Really need is Just a Phone

Unless you have been living under a rock for the past few weeks, you know that Apple recently released the new iPhone 5 with iOS 6. As usual, the media and Apple iSheep went crazy over the new release (as if the same group didn't make such a big hoot the last time that Apple released a new version of its iPhone or iPad).

When you think about it, Apple, with its iPhone, was what brought the appeal of a smartphone to the consumer. Previously, the world of smartphones was mostly made up of professionals and computer scientists. Apple took the smartphone and turned it into a fashion statement.

Unfortunately, in the process, Apple also created a situation where people are more inclined to buy a phone which might have more than what they need. In the mass appeal of the smartphone, I feel that we have forgotten about the most important part of a phone..the phone. I would wager that, especially with older people than with young people, what most people need is just a phone who's only function is being able to make phone calls (+ voicemail).

If your contract is up and you are eligible for an upgrade, there is nothing wrong with getting a new smartphone as long as it meets your needs. However, what I have seen is people who, when shopping for a new phone, are pressured by salesmen which may or may not give a customer the full range of choices or who may or may not have a preemptive bias towards a certain phone or maker of phones and end up getting a smartphone that is more than what they can handle (in order to make a sale). Here, I blame salesmen for either pushing a customer towards a phone without making known to the customer the given carrier's full offerings or overlooking/ignoring the customer's needs, or not being (fully) knowledgabe of the overall phone environment. Through work with Microsoft, I work with Windows Phone a lot. Over the summer when I was looking at possibly switching carriers, I would ask about the carrier's windows phone offerings and ask whether it was a good idea to go with windows phone (and why). I have gotten mixed results, with some being fully knowledgable about windows phone and phone hardware/network information in genal and others, not knowing. A good salesman for a cell phone carrier should have knowledge of phone hardware and cell network information (such as cell phone radio bands like GSM and CDMA). Of course, some blame for a bad choice of phone can fall back on the person buying. You should ALWAYS do your homework and research possible offerings which meet your needs before you buy.

Every time Apple releases a new iPhone, there always seems to be the mindset which says that your old iPhone, which is perfectly usuable (after all, it CAN make phone calls), is instantly obsolete and you should immediately go out and buy/preorder the new iPhone. While Apple has been beefing up its hardware offerings in the new iPhone, can people really tell the difference in speed between the new iPhone and the old one? I don't think most people notice a difference and only care that the phone works without problems. Rather than buying new hardware with the new version of the operating system, you might be better off, for the time being, with a software upgrade of your current iPhone instead.

The main point of this article is when looking at getting a new phone,  take some time to think of all of your needs first, do a little research on the internet on the carrier's offerings, and then you won't be totally clueless about what you want when you go to the cell carrier's store. If you end up getting a smartphone, but don't know how something in your smartphone works and need help, someone will be more than happy to help/teach you, but don't complain that the smartphone is something you can't handle. There is also the data plan requirement which comes with owning a smartphone as well, but this is a topic for another blog post.


So do you agree with my thoughts on this or do you have your own thoughts and comments? Please share those thoughts and comments in the comment box below. Also, if anyone still wants the updated rom I made for the dell axim X50(low), please request it in the comment box, and it shall be made available for download.

You and I both know how hard it is for some people to wake up in the morning without coffee. If you are going to drink coffee, why not drink it like a mystic monk? Some tasty Mystic Monk Coffee (use this link or click on the picture below to access the store and purchase) is what you really need when it comes to coffee. Trust me, it's good coffee (in most instances, much better than Starbucks coffee) and you won't regret buying some (just keep it away from your computer keyboard or laptop/tablet). For the summer (or what's left of it), they are also offering Iced Coffee as well. If you like tea more than coffee, they also offer tea. Using the link (or picture below) to buy the coffee (or tea) helps the monks out and helps me with college expenses as well. The coffee (or tea) also makes for great gifts for friends and family as well.

Feel free to try out my apps for Windows Phone: Mobile Media Manager, a media player app I made which has some features which (I feel) are missing from the system Zune player, and BSA Eagle Tracker, an app that boy scouts can use to track their progress to Eagle Scout (when the scout handbook isn't always handy). The update for the paid version of Mobile Media Manager is out, but my last submission update for the free version failed, with Microsoft taking somewhere between 1-2 weeks to get back to me and tell me that my submitted update failed. BSA Eagle Tracker will also be getting a bug fix for an obscure bug I noticed recently.

BSA Eagle Tracker download: http://bit.ly/Mm1Upo
Mobile Media Manager (paid version) download: http://bit.ly/y3rf6V
Mobile Media Manager (free version) download: http://bit.ly/xGCsWE

Do you think your phone can beat a Windows Phone?

At CES 2012, Ben the PC Guy has put out a challenge for anyone, especially Apple and Android fanboys (and fangirls too) who thinks that their phone can beat a Windows Phone: if your phone can beat a Windows phone, you get a free (genuine) $100 bill. If you loose, however, the only thing asked of you is that you look into the camera and admit that your phone is not better than a Windows phone, and then you can get a free windows phone. And in case you were wondering, it is geared towards non-windows phones only. Here is the youtube video of the announcement of his challenge:



I think this is a really gutsy move on Ben's and Microsoft's part. If many trials come back and say that Windows Phone is better than the other phones, this can only help boost the profile of Windows Phone among consumers (and will put many Apple and Android fanboys to shame as well). This is also a valuable learning moment for the Windows Phone dev team as well: if a non-windows phone performs better in a category than a Windows phone does, then the dev team can identify that concept and try to find ways to improve that concept.

I am looking forward to seeing the results of those challenges. If you want to check out the status of the contest on twitter, just check for #smokedbywindowsphone.

If you have any thoughts or comments on this, I invite you to share them via the comment box below.

Wanted: New Developers for Windows Phone Mango

If you haven't noticed yet, Windows Phone 7.5, codenamed "Mango", has been out for a while. However, you might have noticed that compared to Android or iOS, Windows Phone hasn't been given much love when it comes to development for it. It's sad because Windows Phone is a platform that delivers. However, you can change that.

Windows Phone needs new developers and new programs to help it to grow and mature. If you have been thinking about developing for Windows Phone, but haven't done it yet, now is the time. If you are new programmer, this is a good time for you to get your program ideas out there and established in the world of technology. Windows Phone mainly uses Silverlight for graphical user interfaces. Silverlight is similar to html, so if you've done any html coding, you should have some idea of how some things works since the structure of XAML, which is the markup language that Silverlight uses, is similar to html. For the internal guts of the program, you use either C# or Visual Basic. If you've programmed in Java before, the concepts are mostly the same, with a few minor differences between java and C#. It is possible to use C# (or Visual Basic) for modifying the graphical user interface of your program in addition to Silverlight. This is useful for situations such as adding components to the user interface on the fly.

To give you an incentive to develop for Windows Phone, Microsoft has launched the APPortunity Contest. You could win one of five Samsung tablets. Each time you publish a program to the Windows Phone Marketplace (for Mango), you get an entry into the contest. If you publish 5 programs to the marketplace during the contest, you get FREE ADVERTISING for ANY program of YOUR CHOICE. The free advertising will run on the Windows Phone Application Network for around 60 days and includes 25,000 impressions.

This contest runs from Now to December 31, 2011.

Important:  To submit your program to the Windows Phone Marketplace,either click on the picture above or go to :


       http://bit.ly/MangoOffer

and enter the code:

        E8YRA


I wish everyone well in this contest. If you don't have the SDK already, you can download it at: http://bit.ly/GoMango

There are more details in this contest to come. To help you stay tuned for further announcements, you can subscribe to my rss feed or follow me on twitter (username is @rctechgeek).


Update (1-14-2011): I have some important updates to the contest that you will like, especially with students. The link that was here is currently down, but I will have it up in an hour or so.

Update (1-21-2011): I have finally fixed the page with some contest updates that was messed up. You can see the update here.

Everyone wants to make an Operating System Now

If you thought having Microsoft's Windows, Apple's Mac OS X, and Linux for operating systems was enough, you were wrong. So now it seems like everyone wants their own operating system. Google has Android and now Chromium (which uses the linux kernel as its core). On the handheld and mobile phone side, Samsung has their BaDA operating system.

To make things even more confusing (and nerve-wracking for both developers and consumers), now Mozilla is looking into making an operating system for mobile phones and tablets. Word has it that for this new operating system, Mozilla has decided to use Android's kernel and drivers as its base instead of Linux kernel and drivers as its base.

As a developer, this makes trying to make a program that will have a version for every mobile (and perhaps desktop too) operating system more of a pain. Personally, I like Firefox, but I think Mozilla should just work on trying to perfect Firefox more (especially in the "ram used" area) before trying to venture in the world of operating systems.

From a consumer's standpoint, this makes things complicated. Do I want a tablet running Windows, mobile Mac OS X (a la iPad), Android, or Mozilla's new os? Do I want a phone which runs Windows Phone, Android, mobile Mac OS X (iPhone), BaDA, or Mozilla's new os? This also has the potential for the many who do not do their homework before buying an expensive item like a laptop, a tablet or netbook, or a mobile phone to buy something they doesn't fit their needs and/or something they later regret buying.

Now I'm not totally opposed to Mozilla making an operating system, but I do think this is a bad time to do so. If Mozilla does go through with making an operating system, as soon as they release something like an alpha or beta version, expect the patent war to begin again and for all of the patent lawyers to start a suing frenzy, which brings me to another point.

In the world of user interfaces, it is certainly possible, but I don't thing you can make a graphical user interface shell these days without running into a patent issue. It seems like many of those companies (yes, I especially mean you, Apple) will file a patent for just about anything. When another company builds on what that patent entails and either creates something similar, but different or creates something better, the patent hounds are released and they go to war with each other. I know that companies want to protect their intellectual property, but if anyone from said companies are watching, please consider which patent lawsuits are worthwhile to pursue and which ones are not worthwhile to pursue. Frivolous patent lawsuits clog up the courts and waste hard-earned time and money.

That's all I have to say on the issue of operating systems for now. If you have any thoughts, comments, or questions on this whole operating system mess, please make them known via the comment box below. You can also follow me on Twitter as well (username is @rctechgeek).

Microsoft makes porting programs from Android and iOS to Windows Phone easier

To help get more programs on to the Windows Phone Marketplace, Microsoft has recently been targeting developers of Android and iOS programs. To make things easier for those developers to port their programs to the Windows Phone platform, Microsoft has come out with documentation which maps the APIs found in Android and iOS to the applicable ones in Windows Phone. It even links the applicable Windows Phone API to the documentation page on MSDN. What's more is that if you see something wrong, missing, or you know of something better than what's given, you can tell Microsoft and the documentation will be changed.

This resource also has the reverse effect as well. Mobile developers who are starting out in the mobile world programming for Windows Phone or are students can use this resource to make programs for Android or iOS, assuming you have all the needed hardware and tools to make them. I know that once I finish my BSA Eagle Tracker program, I am going to work on porting it first to Android, and then to iOS. This API mapping guide makes it a lot easier for me to find the applicable API in the new platform and use it.

With Mango coming, I think that Microsoft is trying to make this the best update yet, complete with many feature updates and additions, bug fixes, and many new programs making their way onto the marketplace (in this case, from Android and iOS to Windows Phone).

The link to Android to Windows Phone documentation: http://wp7mapping.interoperabilitybridges.com/Home/Library?source=Android
The link to iOS to Windows Phone documentation: http://wp7mapping.interoperabilitybridges.com/Home/Library?source=iPhone

As an Android or iOS developer, do you think this is useful and will use this to start making programs for Windows Phone? Windows Phone developers, do you plan on using this resource to port your programs to Android and iOS for maximum exposure? Feel free to tell me via the comment box or on Twitter (username is @rctechgeek)