Team Blog

If you're feeling all romantic and planning to make a move on your favorite guy or gal, then why not say it with gems, and a copy of Bejeweled Valentine's Day Edition?

We're a bunch of hopeless romantics here at Astraware - check out the picture of Kirk playing games on her wedding day - so, if you do choose to use the Valentine's Special in Bejeweled to pop the question, or just do a little wooing, we'd like to hear about it.

Share your stories of smartphone and PDA romance here!

Back in my blog post about the Treo 680 I was mentioning that the battery didn't last as long as on my old Treo 650. I did some more testing, and having hard reset the device and left the phone radio off it still managed to lose 25% battery overnight. Something was definitely wrong.

So I was very enthusiastic when Alison pointed me at a posting on Treonauts talking about an official Palm fix involving resetting how the Treo detects what battery level it's at. I've tried it, and it works! My 680 has been off charge about 40 hours, battery on all the time, and has only lost about 30% charge. Much better! Thanks to Treonauts for the tip!

Update: Palm have released a patch for a bug on the Treo 680 where the battery drains quickly once you've used the camera.

PDA247, also known as Palm247 and WindowsMobile247, with its roots back to the Sony Clie range as "Clie World", is 5 years old today, and I thought I'd make a comment (or two!).

What I like about PDA247 isn't that it features every press announcement going (it doesn't) or make full software and hardware reviews of every new release (again, it doesn't), but that the content is well written, honest, and most important - personal.

The people who contribute to the articles on the site are all enthusiasts, and they let their thoughts show on the site. Whether it be excitement at a new device or announcement, or frustration at something that isn't right, it comes across as genuine. The writers all have their own varied and busy lives, and I enjoy how they write about how the technology changes (and various other events) fit into and around their own lifestyles. Sure, there's bias in the writing - but it's the writer's own bias, not some repetition of someone else's thoughts. In a world of watered-down, politically correct, pasteurised and homogenised, lifeless and flavourless news and comment, PDA 247 is a relief, and for this reason I make a point of checking back every day.

Shaun and the gang - keep up the good work!

There's nothing like getting an early Christmas present, and on the last work day before the Holidays Howard and I took delivery of smart new Palm Treo 680 smartphones. We've now had them a couple of weeks, so what are our initial impressions?

Howard: Definitely feels a little smaller to hold - that's a nice start. It's a fraction slimmer than the 650.

David: I think the design does look more up-to-date than the 650, more curved, and it's nice to get rid of the antenna! That said I now find it harder to get it out of its case (I used to use the antenna as a handle). Palm have made some welcome hardware improvements, such as a louder speaker, louder earpiece, covered SD card slot and a screen that definitely has richer colors compared to the 650.

Howard: It fits my existing Proporta case (leather flip case with belt clip) so I don't get that problem. I might need to put a thin sheet of neoprene or something grippy behind it to just keep it snug. Losing the antenna makes quite a difference to me - whether I keep it on my belt or in a pocket, it certainly doesn't poke as much.

David: I do like the tweaks to the SMS application, where it narrows down your contact list live as you type characters. That saves a click or two. I'm still getting used to the new Phone screen with its tabs, though I've noticed it does make getting to the Contacts list quicker.

Howard: Yup, the SMS tweaks are nice - but then I had quick launch keys for my main SMS recipients before. I think the thing I most notice is that everything seems a bit nippier on the 680, the waits for loading and app switching seem a bit lower. The big step up in internal storage is nice too of course, but since I've been storing most apps on a 1Gb card for some time, it isn't as critical as I thought it would have been.

David: I'd heard stories of short battery life on the first few charges, and I certainly experienced that. I was down in Bristol for the first weekend that I had the 680, and by Sunday morning it had told me the battery level was critical and had shut down. At least NVFS kept my data from getting lost. Now that I've charged it a number of times it's definitely better, though it doesn't last as long as the 650 did. Strangely Paul seems to be getting more life out of his 750v's battery, which is the same capacity. Also, I use Windows Vista at home, and I'm surprised that Palm (or ACCESS) haven't updated Palm Desktop to support it yet . Hopefully that'll come soon!

Howard: Well, there's a smaller battery life on this one than I'm used to, but its rare that I want to go more than a day or two without charging. I normally plug in my device to sync and charge overnight anyway. I wonder if it'll cope with being used with GPS when wandering out around cities?

Verdict:

David: Looks more like a normal phone, still easy to do what I want to do with it. Palm still has a few things to tweak and get right. But basically thumbs up!

Howard: It's a great device, and a very worthwhile upgrade from a 650. I'm happy with it!

With Christmas now at an end, the Astraware team are currently looking forward to New Year and are busy setting up our Annual Hogmanay Party promotion. We are often asked why it is called Hogmanay and as the office Scotsman I felt I should blog a little about it.

Hogmanay is the Scottish name for New Years Eve and has always been a very special and important day for the people of Scotland. It is a great time to reflect on the past year and welcome in the new! Many people celebrate by taking part in one of the many street parties held across Scotland the biggest of which takes place in the Scottish capital - Edinburgh. I prefer to spend Hogmanay with family and friends celebrating the start of the new year with a wee dram or going out first-footing with some shortbread and other traditional gifts.

Whichever way you plan to spend Hogmanay we hope you have a great time and as the traditional saying goes "Lang may yer lum reek!" Happy Hogmanay!