I was having trouble viewing the Avatar movie after I “formatted phone storage”. It seems after a factory reset the movie plays fine, even on another sd card. I copied the Movie folder from the 2gb memory card to an 8gb card I had and it plays fine. There must be a file within the phone storage that provides the license.

Some are upset about the Vibrant not having a notification light. I found an app which attempts to solve this issue. Just install this little app and it displays a small red dot on the screen.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=730692

Well it turns out there are many complaints as this kills your battery because in order to display that little red dot, it is actually turning on the whole display. This means that while the rest of the screen is black, it is still on and drawing power. I am not intimate with the Android API so I am not sure if there is a better way to do this.

I will continue to look for something similar without negative side effects.

**Use above application at your own risk. I have not fully tested it and do not know what it will do to your phone**

I have had my Vibrant for about a day and have been getting consistent Sync Errors from Facebook and Twitter. It seems you have very granular control over which contacts you sync to your device. If you go into Contacts –> Menu –> Get friends. You will see your accounts listed. Select the account (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) You will then see a checklist of all your contacts which you can select individually or select all. This puts quite a load on your phone, If you have many contacts, you may want to make sure you are on Wi-Fi when performing your initial sync. You could also just select a few at a time and when the sync completes, go back and select a few more.

So far, I love the phone. I’ll be taking notes and writing up a more detailed write up in a few days.

I have been reading numerous posts like this regarding Sprint charging an extra $10 for the Evo data plan. People are sending out Tweets like this. I think thy are all being a little unfair. Sprint has one of the most affordable plans at $69.99. With the $10 “fee” you’re just paying the same as with any of the other carriers. I think Sprint doing this A-la-cart for their customers is a good thing. They are not gauging they people who have “Smart” phones but with lower data usage.

I really do not think Sprint charging a premium for this Data Intensive phone is unfair. If anything it shows Sprint provides more flexible pricing for their customers.

I immediately thought about the iPhone when I read this headline from Wired iPad Could See 50 Tablet Rivals This Year. I was thinking back over the past year or more and how every cell phone that came to market was compared to the iPhone. Each Android review speculated as to how this one was the iPhone killer.

Each and every tablet, slate and or Netbook computing device released in the years to come will be compared to the iPad. Apple is the first to market with a device that fills a void and other will be trying to fill it for years to come.

I have used the iPad and was impressed with it. The iPad is not a Notebook, it is not a Netbook, it’s not meant to be. It is a new type of device which is essentially a hybrid of the Netbook\Notebook, eReader, Movie Viewer and your Smart Phone. It does not make calls, it is limited in computing power, but it is enough to do most of what most people buying one seem to need.

Some seem to think that the iPad is not enough for most people to use as a work device, like this post. I think the iPad with a few accessories, could serve the needs of most. I think most PC’s and laptops are under used for their capabilities.

I think one of the main things the iPad has going for it is it’s responsiveness. I enjoyed the responsiveness of the iPad. I have used a number of eReaders as well as Netbooks as I have searched for the collection of devices I needed to do all the things I do and none of them respond like the iPad. I was looking at purchasing a  Lenovo S10-3t 0651-37U 10.1-Inch Multitouch Netbook (Black) (Affiliate Link) until I read the customer reviews and watched the Engadget video review. One guy stated that the responsiveness was slow. He stated that you sometimes tap an icon and he would not know if anything was happening, so he would tap again, and sometimes have 3-4 windows open. Not to worry though, he says you get used to it pretty quickly. It is a sad state of affairs when we settle for poor performance and accept that the experience cannot be better.

I’m not hung up with the fact that I cannot view websites that use flash. I work around that. Actually, there is most likely another site where I can get the same or similar content. That’s the beauty of the web, you have choices. I’m sure not every application I want is available for the iPad but a majority of what I need is there and that’s enough to keep people comparing to the iPad for the foreseeable future.

I have read a number of pieces about the HTC HD2 and what a shame it is that it has Windows Mobile 6.5, a dead end of an operating system.

PC Magazine called it “creaky, older OS”, Business Week called it “Beautiful But Endangered”. I have to say before I actually used one, I was thinking I would pass on this phone and wait for the Windows Phone 7 version. There are actually many things about this Phone which make it appealing. I do have to say, I think the HTC Sense™ UI on this phone make it what it is. If this phone had the clunky Windows Mobile UI of old, it would be painful to use. Windows Mobile 6.5 offers many application in the wild or through the Windows Marketplace.  A quick Google or Bing search will help you find the application you’re looking for. Facebook, FourSquare, Twitter, etc.

This phone is all about the Multimedia experience. With the 4.3” screen and Movies (Transformers and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen) pre-loaded it’s an unmatched visual experience. I have yet to use a phone with this nice of a picture. The phone also ships with Mobi-TV and Blockbuster on Demand. Barnes & Noble eBook reader is included, along with Opera Web Browser, Microsoft Office and a Twitter client.

It uses a Qualcomm 1GHz Snapdragon, The model I have has 1GB ROM and 576MB RAM. This unit also shipped with a 16 GB memory card. The detailed HTC Specs can be found here.

I have to say coming off a Nexus One and a My Touch, I really like this phone. The email set-ups were easy. I was able to configure GMail, Live Mail, Standard Pop 3 and my Corporate Exchange accounts with ease. Finding and downloading apps was easy. I also found an application so I can use the phone as a Wi-Fi hub and supply my iPad with Wi-Fi.

The HTC HD2 is snappy with the 1ghz processor, although there are times when the phone seems to be tripping over some of the apps I have running. Anything which is Data intensive (Downloading updates from Twitter for example) can cause the phone to choke. While viewing videos, I experienced some choppiness while viewing.

Overall, I like this phone. I would recommend it to Business users, gamers, and video lovers.  It can feel a little big, especially at first. There are few cases which will house this phone. You will want to protect it. I have seen many of these on Craigslist with broken screens.

• Price as Tested: $199.99 – $449.99 Direct
• Service Provider: T-Mobile
• Operating System: Windows Mobile Professional
• Screen Size: 4.3 inches
• Screen Details: 480-by-800, 65K-color, TFT LCD capacitive touch screen
• Camera: Yes
• Megapixels: 5 MP
• 802.11x: Yes
• Bluetooth: Yes
• Web Browser: Yes
• Network: GSM, UMTS
• Bands: 850, 900, 1800, 1900, 2100, 1700
• High-Speed Data: GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, HSDPA
• Processor Speed: 1 GHz

I recently picked up a HTC HD2 from T-Mobile. While I was very concerned about not being able to upgrade to Windows Phone 7, I’m not sure others are.

It seems, T-Mobile is having difficulty keeping this phone in stock. Originally I thought it was because of a limited supply. Since Microsoft has already stated that there will be no upgrade. The reason given was the requirements on the hardware standard of 3 buttons–Start, back, and search.

I’m not so sure the average phone buyer thinks or cares about this up front when purchasing a phone. As bad as Windows Mobile 6.5 is, there may be some reasons to stay on 6.5. The following features will not be available on Windows Phone 7.

• Copy and Paste – “People don’t do that” according to Microsoft.
• Multitasking is restricted to one third-party application at a time
• No backward compatibility support for Windows Mobile Applications

Most vendors have been good about upgrading compared to years ago when you bought a device and 4 months later put it in the drawer with the other obsolete hardware. Users have become accustom to getting at least one upgrade from their current version after purchase.

I think the big question will be is Windows 7 compelling enough to get users who are buying this device to switch?

  Monday Microsoft announced KIN. A new Windows^®Phone with emphasis on the social user. The phone are a made in partnership with Verizon, Vodafone and Sharp. It will be available via Verizon in the US next month and via Vodafone in Europe in the fall.

The KIN reminds me of the Sidekick. It has a very basic interface. The phone is not cluttered by application and icons. It has a interface which allows you to create your own interactions with others in your social networks.

KIN 1 is a Clam Shell, KIN 2 is a slider they have a 5 and 8 megapixel camera, respectively, and each has a bright LumiLED flash. They have touch screens with a slide-out keyboards.

Social interaction is the focus of these phones. The user interface is unique in how it allows you to use the KIN SPOT (a small circle in the bottom center of the screen) to drag things you want to share. First you select the people you want to share with and drag their icons to the SPOT, you then drag the Video, photos, web pages, text messages, etc which you want to share to the SPOT and it send off your transmission.

An interesting aspect of the services on this device is the “Timeline”. There is companion software (Website??) which allows you to look back at your entire history and all the interactions and communication you have had, laid out as a timeline.

I’m interested to see the plans on these phones. One challenge for Tweens, or their parents (I know, I have two of them), is the monthly cost of a data plan. If these phones require a $25+ data plan, I think they are dead.

There has been some confusion around the fact that these are Windows Phones. People were looking for Windows Phone 7 and this is what was presented. The Windows Phone 7 (Series) phones will be available later this fall. This is another version of Windows Phone OS, based on Windows CE and the Zune platform. This phone will ship with all of it’s software in the ROM. There will be no applications to download, similar to a Zune.

I’ll post more once I actually get my hands on one of these devices, that is, if I can get it away from my daughters.

Many developers and technologist are up in arms about Apple’s new policy which dictates the language programs are written in for iPhone OS.

I can understand the frustration from developers who want to pursue the write once run anyware model. Maintaing applications across many platforms can be expensive and for smaller companies, impossible.

While the use of such tools Titanium, Scheme Gambit, MonoTouch, and Unity3D allow users to do this. I believe the fear from Apple is that it dumbs down their platofrm and poses performance or experience issues.

If you look at a majority of application on the iPhone you can easily see the benefit the API and platofrm provide. I have used all of the major mobile platforms and the experience varies across them all. By using tools which allow you to have a consistent experience across many platforms you loose some of what makes that particular platform unique.

I don’t see Apple as evil here, I see them trying to keep their platform above the rest. I do wonder if this will cause other platforms to see more applications from more developers.

Will this type of restriction lead to lead to fewer applications submitted to the app store, or just less, low quality applications submitted?

Do you think their evil or just protecting their brand?

I was just watching\reading Chris Brogan’s review of Donald Miller’s  A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life.

I have always been interested in the concept of your life as a story. It was years ago when I ready Tony Robbins and came to know the concept of Designing your Life. What better way to design your life that to write your own story? It’s a way to visualize where you want to go and where you want to be. Remember that although it might not always seem that way, you are in control of your own story. We all have something to offer each other. Share your story with others.

I’m looking forward to reading A Million Miles in a Thousand Years. I’ll post my thoughts on it here, once I’ve read it.