matthewmiller

Pinger Phone is a new application for the Apple iPhone that lets you view status updates and interact with your friends on popular social networks (Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace). You can use it to replace your Phone utility because you can also quickly access your Contacts and now have one touch buttons to interacting with them. The IM client supports Yahoo!, AIM, Windows Live, and Google Talk with a landscape keyboard for optimized text entry. A dialer is present too in case you want to call a different person.

A very popular type of case today is the skin case that provides extensive protection of your device with a clear plastic skin. These cases have come a long way from the old screen protectors and are a fantastic way to protect the device while not adding bulk.

The lines between feature phones and smartphones continues to blur and with these two new devices from T-Mobile that distinction almost cannot be made. The Samsung Behold supports T-Mobile’s new 3G network and is a full touch screen device with the familiar Samsung TouchWiz user interface. The Motorola ZN5 is a sleek and sturdy device with a very good 5 megapixel digital camera with Xenon flash. These two phones are available now for US$150 and US$100 with two-year plan.

One of the main strengths of the Google Android OS is the “openness” of the platform. Evidence of that became apparent today in one respect with the release of the Opera Mini 4.2 beta web browser that you can use on your device with the Google default browser. Opera Mini 4.2 beta is quite functional and it is nice to see an alternative browser.

OtterBox is known for creating cases that offer major protection for mobile devices. They have a couple of cases with different levels of protection for the RIM BlackBerry Bold. The Impact case provides a minimal level of protection while the Defender series gives you a much higher level of protection with an increase in size of the case.

There are lots of games available for the Apple iPhone and the prices are more competitive than what you will find for the DS and PSP mobile gaming devices. One of the recent games launched and then updated for the iPhone is Cronk. Cronk is a caveman trying to save his village by throwing and matching up three boulders in a row. I have played a comparable game on my T-Mobile G1 (Bonsai Blast) and Windows Mobile devices (Astraware Zuma) and think Cronk is an enjoyable game.

The Celio REDFLY C8 was released a few months ago as a mobile companion to Windows Mobile devices. The REDFLY provides an 8 inch display and large keyboard with the Windows Mobile device serving as the CPU for the solution. The new C8N brings a media port to the REDFLY so you can now watch media content from your iPod, iPhone, Zune, or other portable media player. Celio also made a couple of minor improvements in the keyboard that improves the usability of the keyboard.

HTC has been pushing the limits with Windows Mobile devices and improves the HTC Touch Diamond for the enterprise by adding a QWERTY keyboard and larger battery. The device is known as the HTC Raphael or Touch Pro and the two models I had a chance to play with from Sprint and AT&T are slightly different (primarily in the keyboard design). The Touch Pro and Fuze are high end Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional devices with 3G radios, WiFi, Bluetooth, and GPS.

The BlackBerry Bold is the first BlackBerry with HSDPA support and also includes WiFi, Bluetooth, and GPS. It has a powerful 624MHz processor and comes with 1GB of on-board flash memory. The following gallery shows the hardware and some of the new screens you will see in BlackBerry OS 4.6.

Flip form factor mobile phones are very popular in the U.S. and until now these users were unable to pick up a BlackBerry in this form factor. The RIM BB Flip brings the power and functionality of the BlackBerry to this form factor, complete with a SureType QWERTY keyboard. The BB Flip from T-Mobile also supports WiFi and UMA for unlimited calling over WiFi.

ASUS just celebrated the first year of the “netbook” category of mobile computing devices and since they started it last year, the market has taken off with a wide choice of netbooks today. I had the chance to try out the MSI Wind for a couple of weeks and was so impressed that I ordered one for myself.

The HAVA Platinum HD lets you connect your HD source to the device and then watch your HD content on your PC, Windows Mobile device, S60 device, or Nokia Internet Tablet. You can even control your TV source just as if you were there in front of your TV/HD source.