Are You Up for Modding Your Cellphone?

TheSmart PDA blog posts about a thread on the SPUG forum where a poster writes on his modifying a PalmOne Treo 650.

This project started because I wanted to built an antenna-less treo or a treo with a shorter antenna. I decided to go for the latter because it will be easier for users to upgrade by just getting an antenna and plug it in. Thus I bought an antenna and started looking at how it was constructed. Thanks to treotricks, I was able to have an idea how the antenna was made. I actually did some rough measurements on the dismantled antenna shown on treotricks website (on the monitor itself!!!) before I gotten the spare antenna and decided there may be a possibility of making it shorter. Finally received the spare antenna in my hands, broke it apart and stared at it for a while ……………………. and I realised how I could make it shorter while still using the same internal components!!

A little sandpaper and black paint did the trick. However, I don’t think the Treo looked any better with the shortened antenna. The mod made the antenna look so stubby. I’d say either keep the longer stub or do away with the external aerial entirely. In the first place, the fact that the Treo’s designers decided to keep the antenna external probably means that you should keep it that way.

At any rate, the mod apparently doesn’t touch the actual antenna elements so signal quality should be the same. If you’re interested in getting yourself one without the hassles and headaches of actually doing the mod, you can still order thru the forum. The stubs are for sale for S$50 each (about US$ 31.50).

[via CellPhone9]

July 24th, 2006 Posted by J. Angelo Racoma in Palm, Hacks at 5:25 am Comment Now! »

Hottest Mobile Phones this Summer

Laptop Magazine previews and reviews five mobile phones they consider to be should-buys this summer, and they are as follows.

  1. Moto QThe Motorola Q. It’s a smartphone, and it says Windows Mobile 5.0 (up to you if that’s good or bad). Personally, I think this is cool, as you can do all sorts of wonderful stuff on a Windows Mobile powered smartphone, and I’m a fan of being able to seamlessly sync with Outlook. It’s like having a full-fledged Windows-based PDA in a mobile phone form factor. The phone even supports EV-DO connectivity, and has a 1.3 megapixel camera. Memory is also expandable via Mini-SD. Only disadvantage, though, is that the Moto Q doesn’t have touchscreen.

    Retail price: $199 with 2-year contract.

  2. TreoPalm Treo 700P. It’s PalmOS-based so whether it’s good or bad depends on your OS preference. But Palm still lives by the KISS principle–that is, keep it simple, stupid! You get blazing power in your hands but with a simple and no-nonsense UI. You can connect broadband via Sprint’s EV-DO service or Verizon’s Wireless broadband service. The Treo 700P also sports a 1.3-megapixel camera for those days you forget to bring your real digital camera with you.

    Retail price: $399 with 2-year contract and after rebate.

  3. SonyEricsson W810Sony Ericsson W810i. It’s a SonyEricsson, so the interface and operating system are proprietary. If you can live with that, consider that this, being a W-series phone, is a Walkman, and actually has strong portable music player features. You can even use your own earphones or high-fidelity noise-cancelling headphones as the phone uses a standard 3.5-mm stereo jack! It even has a 2-megapixel camera. Again, I’m not a fan of these itty-bitty things that take poor pictures, but it’s a convenient feature to have.

    Retail price: $399.

  4. SamsungSamsung SCH-a930. The a930 clamshell looks more like an MP3 player than a phone. But you might be able to forgive the design shortcomings considering the low price. For this price, you get dedicated music controls and a dedicated external screen for displaying track information. Memory is also expandable up to 1GB via MicroSD. You also get access to Verizon’s V CAST music service. Hey, you also have a 1.3-megapixel camera. IT rotates, this time, whatever you’d need that for (perfect for voyeur photography, I guess).

    Retail price: $99.99 (after $50 rebate).

  5. FusicLG Fusic. Fus-what? Strange name aside, the Fusic looks interesting, but lacks appeal in design. It has that control wheel reminiscent of the iPod’s, but sports a protruding antenna, which I find un-cool. The Fusic works with the Sprint music store, or you can transfer MP3s and AACs via USB (sounds familiar). It also has Bluetooth stereo support and–yes–a 1.3-megapixel camera. What’s great is you can plug in the phone into your laptop for use as an EV-DO modem. I’m foreseeing a visit from Apple’s patent lawyers, though, with the way the Fusic mimics the iPod’s control wheel.

    Retail price: $179 with 2-year contract.

Looks like it’s smartphones and MP3-playing phones for Laptop Magazine this summer.

July 16th, 2006 Posted by J. Angelo Racoma in Reviews, LG, Motorola, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Palm at 9:43 pm Comment Now! »

Palm Treo 700w Review

Palm Treo 700wInfosync World has written up a review on the Palm Treo 700w, and normally I would not post Palm devices on this site, but the 700w, with a rating of 80% just has too much going for it to ignore.

Although it may have some long-time fans crying “abomination”, Palm has shocked the world with the release of the Treo 700w, the company’s first-ever Windows Mobile device. Palm has stated they’re aiming for the “I love the Treo but my company has standardized on Windows Mobile” market and doesn’t expect the 700w to hurt Palm OS sales, and after working with it we have to agree. The Treo 700w is a good first-outing for a Windows Palm with some good features, but doesn’t shock the way the Treo 650 did.

The Treo 700w is powered by an Intel XScale PXA272 processor at a comfortable 312 MHz, the same speed as the Treo 650 but nonetheless quite clippy. 60 MB of the 128 MB included RAM is available for user storage, and courtesy Windows Mobile 5.0 is non-volatile.

Palm has done some interesting things with their first foray into the Windows Mobile world. The Treo 700w runs Windows Mobile 5.0.2 with, naturally, some tweaking from Palm. The biggest customization is the integration of the Call screen into the Today screen, now available from the green Call button.

January 16th, 2006 Posted by David in Reviews, Palm at 1:03 pm Comment Now! »

 |