Smart Mobile Asset

Well, it looks like I need to move this blog. The company I got it from will not be renewing it for the same price as it was. Not a huge pobl, just a hassle.

I’ll be posting the new location at some point. Come back to find out where.

I’ve been thinking about changing the focus of this blog to offer advice to small businesses on how to use mobile technology and improve on sales initiatives. Hey, maybe that could be the blog name!! What, too long?

My thinking is that I am already writing about mobile tech at MobileJaw.com; there is no need to write about it here as well. So, what else interests me? Well, lots of things but I kind need to relate it to the URL, don’t I.

In my professional career I have been an entrepreneur and sales person for a very ling time. In fact, I have really enjoyed my sales career and always worked hard to learn from others every chance I got. I would to be able to do the same for others, so why not offer free business advice. It’s a business idea that can’t fail…’cause I was planning on making money at it anyway.
Btw, I’m typing on my iPod Touch and am ignoring typos. I hope you are too.

The other thing I know a fair bit about is how to use technology to improve sales and efficiencies. I enjoy that, so why not share the love.

Ok, if you know anyone that might want some help with their business, big or small, send them here. I’ll figure out some forms for submitting questions but for now they can email me at Darren at SmartMobileAsset.com. Pretty sure you can figure that one out.
Looking forward to helping whomever I can!

I’ve just loaded up the newest iPhone twitter app, Tweetdeck. Very impressive for an initial release!

Anyone that uses twitter regularly either knows about Tweetdeck for the desktop. It’s a super program on the desktop but they have done a great job of mirroring features on the iPhone.

With the iPhone version you can create addition panels for searches or sub groups and have a nifty UI to scroll between them. It says that it syncs with the desktop version as well, but not sure what they mean by that. I don’t really see it showing read items on the desktop. I’ll have to look into that further.

Take a look at these screen shots and download it when you can.

As someone that is crazy about gadgets it’s hard to see new toys coming along knowing they are out of reach. All the talk about HTC Touch Pro 2, Diamond2, Snap, and of course the Palm Pre makes my bank card jittery. But the simple fact is that I generally have to settle for less than cutting edge.

I don’t go without and I know there are many that don’t even have the toys I do. My point is that as a tech enthusiast it can be difficult.

But I periodically simply need to remind myself why.

When my wife and I made a decision a long time ago for her to raise our kids at home we knew that would mean we would have less mad money. We felt that for us it was the way to raise our kids and still feel strongly about it. Obviously that is far more important than the latest gadget.

The other part of the equation is that my income is not high enough by itself to do much beyond pay the bills. My wife has done typing at home which has been a huge help but still not enough to be close friends with my closest gadget store.

All in, I would have to say we made the right decision: the kids are fantastic and my wife has done an amazing job with them.

Btw, I do have a smartphone, just not cutting edge. I’ll live.

There has been a lot of hype about the Palm Pre and it is nice to see it getting good response in initial reviews. It really is a nice little phone.

For all the hype though it really isn’t making the splash the iPhone did. Perhaps it does need to? I don’t know. Palm is swimming in debt and it would take a massive success to pull off the true resurrection of Palm as a viable entity.

Reviews and look good, and for now Palm is still around. The Pre looks like a good Device to buy.

For my millions of devoted fans you will find me writing on MobileJaw.com from time to time. I’ve know the site owner (Mike Temporale) for quite a while and he has invited me to be an Editor there.

Head on over to MobileJaw and check it out.

I’m now the proud owner of an HTC Touch! I got it a couple days ago and am slowly customizing it to get it just right.

It’s funny, I have been both pleased about it and a bit disappointed. Its a great little Windows Mobile device but after using the iPod Touch it is strange getting back into WinMo.

WinMo has all the features I have been looking for and am used to having but it just feels like a collection of separate bits compared to the iPod Touch. The benefits of the OS overall make up for this but with iPhone 3.0 coming out soon the draw to WinMo will be lessened…at least until WinMo 6.5 comes along. The problem is, I won’t be able to get 6.5; it is reserved for units designed to handle it.

The HTC Touch is a bit older and it certainly not a Cadillac but my biggest reason for getting it was the data plan available from Bell Canada. I am getting unlimited data for $7 a month. Yep, UNLIMITED! For a Windows Mobile unit that is just amazing. I have been using Google Maps (built-in GPS ftw!), 3 different browsers, email and more and there are no extra charges. Shweet!

I would say that I am off to play with the HTC Touch now, but I am in the US and would be paying $6/mb…so forget that!!

LG has done a nice job with the Arena. It quite obviously has the iPhone in its crosshairs but I don’t think it will steal iPhone users.

The LG Arena has a large screen like the iPhone with only an on-screen keyboard. It is a decent size and should be fairly good build quality. Click on the pic of the Arena to go to their website for more details.

The Arena has a lot of nice capabilities right out of the box including a cube-like interface to find functions you are looking for. It seems quite smooth and slick as you can see from the following vid:

While there is a decent feature set I don’t know if there is going to be much of a developer community for it: that takes it right out of contention as an iPhone killer. Rather, I see this as a great phone for those that are just moving up to smartphones and will be happy with the out-of-the-box experience. As long as the pricing is at the lower end of the smartphone market it will probably do well.

Every March break we go down to Syracuse to my sister-in-law’s place. Our two families get along well and we always have a fun time. I am actually only here till Monday and then back on Friday but the fam is staying the week.

Anytime I go…anywhere I have to bring my mobile gear but this year I went rather light. I have my qwerty cellphone, Sony camera, iPod Touch and Acer Aspire One netbook. Unfortunately, I don’t get to play with my own gear. Well, at least not until the batteries run out; then I get to plug them in! Woo hoo!

So far this morning my iPod Touch and netbook have rotated from my sister-in-law to my wife, daughter and son.

Oh well, I bring this stuff to be used, so it’s all good. At some point I just threaten my kids with grounding if I don’t get my gear back. That seems to work fairly well.

Well, It looks like it isn’t going to be the HTC Touch Pro afterall. The trade I was working on didn’t work out.

I may, however, be getting the HTC Touch on the Bell network. It is a Windows Mobile phone with something that no other windows mobile phone in Canada has…CHEAP INTERNET!!

You can get an unlimited data plan on this phone for $10 per month, which is fantastic. It isn’t the ideal device (I really wanted a keyboard) but given the cost of internet access, it is well worth it.

By next week some time I may just have a smartphone! Haven’t had one since I gave up a work Blackberry about a year ago.