I`ll be showcasing IRES running on the OQO model 02 on Verizon’s booth (C2146) at NAB April 16th and 17th, if you`ll be attending be sure to stop by so you can see the latest updates in action!

Canon has published a great article highlighting how Andy Mettler of Swiss Image used the advanced wireless workflows of IRES and Canon’s 1D Mark III to great effect at the World Economic Forum:
http://cpn.canon-europe.com/content/technical/tethering_lan_2.do#container

Was it just the sleep deprivation, or did 2007 go by faster than 2006?

It’s been a frustrating year for new Windows Mobile hardware. The HTC Advantage looked so good on paper, then let us down with broken USB host support. The Cowon Q5W took forever to launch, and then they left out HSDPA and all the Bluetooth profiles except headphones, so you can only connect via WiFi. This leaves the Toshiba G900 as my new top recommendation. It has almost every single feature you could ask for in a phone, an 800×480 VGA screen, HSDPA for the fastest transmission speed available, WiFi, Bluetooth, and of most interest, one of the best USB Host support implementations I’ve seen. Not only is the Mini B->A adapter included in the box, unlike the Loox T830, you don’t need to change any software settings before plugging in the camera, it just works.


So what are the downsides? Well, for those of us in the US, it doesn’t support the frequencies AT&T uses for HSDPA, so you only get EDGE speeds. Given the popularity of the iPhone however, maybe EDGE is fast enough? Buy an iPhone for play, then take the SIM out and put it in the G900 for work. The other downside is that this is a Toshiba G900. Toshiba has an unfortunate reputation for building great hardware (the old Toshiba E800 had the first VGA screen way before HP came out with the iPAQ 4700), but dropping the ball when it comes to firmware. If you search for reviews or browse the Expansys forums, you’ll find a lot of criticism, as the first version of the G900 firmware had serious problems. Thankfully they fixed most of these problems, and the G900s are now shipped with the new firmware. Unfortunately, this is the only phone I can think of that has to be shipped back to Toshiba in the UK for a firmware update. Talk about putting your best foot forward, then shooting it. But, even with these reservations, the fact remains that the G900 is the best phone for running Phojo. What other phones are there with HSDPA and working USB Host support? The closest competitor would be the T830, which is a year older than the G900, and in every way inferior (only UMTS vs HSDPA, half the RAM, much smaller screen etc). Even when compared to a non-phone device, the G900’s VGA screen and 128MB of RAM put anything ever made by HP or Dell to shame. Add one to your Christmas list!

Review at the:unwired
MS Mobiles Video Preview
Purchase from Expansys with no contract for 404.95 UKP
Purchase from Expansys with phone contract for 209.95 UKP (other plans available)
Purchase from MobilePlanet for $729

Better late than never: http://www.idruna.com/Downloads/PhojoManual.pdf

I recently received a batch of new Amrel Rocky DA5-Ms fresh off the production line for my Combat Camera Marines. These are top of the line mil-spec ruggedized Pocket PCs, with some unique features not found in consumer devices. They are great for use with Phojo as they have as a USB Host port (full size too, so much less prone to the cable falling out), for connecting to the camera, and a PCMCIA card slot for adding a military radio, or an ethernet card for connection to a BGAN sat modem. This combination will work great with Phojo’s Remote Editing feature. You`ll have to forgive the audio quality, I was in a hurry to get these shipped off to Iraq!

Link to Amrel’s Rocky Site

We are pleased to announce the addition of William Alexander Nolan to the team! William joined us on May 12th at 7:12am PST, weighing in at 8lb 6oz, and 21″ inches long.

Update: USB Host Support is broken on this device, with HTC being the only ones who can fix it, please see my post below with full details.

The ultimate Pocket PC Phone has arrived! The HTC Advantage, AKA TMobile Ameo, has every single feature you could wish for use with Pocket Phojo. It is only the second Pocket PC Phone available with USB Host support for connecting directly to your camera, plus it has the most RAM (128MB), the biggest screen (5” VGA), the biggest storage (8GB built-in hard drive), and the fastest uploads (UMTS/HSDPA support).

The phone supports all the frequencies necessary for it to work in both Europe and the US. The price without a cell phone contract is around $899 in the US, and subsidized price of 0-400 UK Pounds from TMobile.

HTC Advantage Site
Purchase from TMobile UK
Purchase via US Reseller

Five Members of Parliament, one Guardian political correspondent Tania Branigan, two sat phones, and a Pocket PC running Phojo recently completed a 7 day expedition to the Arctic Circle. Dan Chung of the Guardian reports that the Pocket PC faired surprisingly well in it’s ruggedised OtterBox case, although he might have been less surprised had he known in advance that Pocket Phojo has also been used to transmit from Mount Everest and Mount McKinley The two sat phones used were the Thuraya, via a CompactFlash Serial Card rather than a serial adapter cable for reliability, and the always popular Regional BGAN, which was able to lock on to a satellite closer to the Pole than the Thuraya.

Arctic Challenge Special
Slideshow

Andy Mettler of Swiss Image has been very busy putting Phojo to work at his agency, with great results!

“The Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos brings about 80 Presidents, Prime Ministers, Hollywood stars and 4000 business, cultural and religious leaders to Davos. The photographer has transmitted every day between 80 and 120 pictures via Pocket Phojo. The quality thanks to the new receiving servers workflow was perfect - photographer and editors were happy. The system worked very stable.”

“There will be about 40 flat screen around the convention center showing and quoting the speakers during the session. When the session is over - the photos must be already in the system and on the website (www.weforum.org). So the photographer has about 5-8 minutes time to take the picture and to transmitt it to the online picture editor. Normally we are using the in-house WLAN but when high ranking US politicians speak all WLAN and 3G systems are disturbed by their security devices (then we use a LAN cable in the plenary hall). “

You can see more of the photos from the event here.