Sprint is pleased to announce the first EVDO netbook.  With a price of $199 after a $100 rebate with a 2 year contract at $60 a month for 5GB of bandwidth, what you get is a Dell Mini 10 featuring:

 
10.1-inch 1024 x 600 display
Intel Atom Z520 1.33GHz processor
1GB of RAM
160GB hard-drive
B/G Wireless
Intel GMA500 graphics

Good deal or a bad deal?  In my personal opinion, I’d say it’s a bad deal.  Dell currently sells just the netbook for $350.  Considering that I have to shell out $300 up front is crazy not to mention how much I don’t like mail in rebates due to the fact of sales tax on the original amount.  I’d rather buy a netbook from Micro Center for say $200 for a refurbished HP Mini (which I like so much more than the Dell in terms of design) and then just get a USB aircard with the 2 year contract for free.  So I’ve spent the same amount but I now have a USB device where I can move from computer to computer should my netbook go haywire or runs into problems where it will be with the manufacturer for about 2 weeks for warranty repair.  Yes, certain things should not be integrated.  And I find it laughable that Sprint would require one to have such a high out of pocket cost when AT&T provides a 3G equivalent with an out of pocket cost of $50 less.

Source: SlashGear

Next in the iPhone review series at ClintonFitch.com, the DataViz Documents To Go office suite has been tested in its Exchange Synchronization Edition.

If you have ever used a Palm OS device, you should know the DataViz Documents To Go office suite, which has been given for free in Treos and Centros and allow to create, edit and view Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents.

From Clinton’s review:

[...] That’s where Data Viz comes in for iPhone owners. Their Documents to Go application allows you to synchronize Word and Excel documents or create them on your iPhone, make the platform highly functional in an enterprise environment. Further, you can view PowerPoint, PDF, iWorks and other document formats all in this one powerful application. The editors for Word and Excel look and function similar to the Office applications in Windows Phone and while they are not as powerful as the desktop versions of these applications, they do provide enough functionality to allow you to make good looking, well formatted documents with little trouble.

The review shows the Exchange Synchronization version, which allows you to view and send email attachments in MS Office main documents format from the native iPhone Mail application.

While I suggest to give the review a full read, the impatient can find Clinton’s concluding remarks below:

There is little not to like about Documents to Go for iPhone. It is a feature rich editor for Word and Excel documents and allows you to view those along with PDFs and PowerPoint presentations all in one place. Synchronization with the desktop works well with the free desktop application and the ability to view and send Exchange emails with attachments is very welcome. I would like to see the desktop sync setup made a little easier and something that can be initiated from the desktop when you are setting it up. Just seems to me it should be able to go both ways.

DataViz sells two versions of Documents to Go for iPhone – Standard and the Exchange Synchronization edition.  They are $9.99 and $14.99 respectively.

What I Like:

• Powerful editors for Word and Excel
• Ability to view PowerPoint presentations
• Desktop synchronization
• Exchange email attachment viewing and ability to send emails with attachments
• Speedy

What I Don’t Like:

• Desktop sync can only be started from the iPhone initially – seems it should be an either/or option for users

Via: ClintonFitch.com

Today we will be reviewing two new Free GPS applications, and each of them have their own set of valuable features.

I took both of these applications out for a road test, by picking a very difficult to find location downtown address and I started the navigation from the the expressway for both WAZE and AMAZE.

The first contender was WAZE:

And as I continued down the highway, I realized that the directions recommended almost past the downtown area, so I quickly jumped off at the next exit.  Unfortunately, and really quite comically, I went on a “wild goose chase” for about 7 minutes that ejected me right back onto the highway speeding my away from my destination at about 60 mph.  I did receive a warning during navigation that the accuracy of navigation might be lacking until the routes are “learned” by local “Wazers”.  I found out the hard way that I should not yet rely on this application to get me to timely affairs until a time in the near future when more users in my area drive the local roads and the navigation accuracy improves. 

I then got off at a subsequent highway exit and entered the coordinates into the second contenders application, AMAZE and turned the car around and headed back towards downtown.  I was directed by AMAZE to get off at one of the first downtown exits and after approximately 2 or 3 turns I ended up in front of the location.  The voice prompts were clear and quickly found my destination, however, I missed my appointment because of the inaccurate navigation of the previous GPS navigation

So, for accuracy and finding a difficult location I was amazed with the performance of AMAZE and let down by WAZE.

However, in all fairness I will give you my impressions of the other features found in both of these GPS Apps:

WAZE excelled in the Social aspect of having a GPS and provided user entered information regarding current traffic issues, including accidents.  It is possible for a user to quickly add an event and have it posted on the communal GPS experience.  The maps moved smoothly, they were not very detailed.

By simply driving around with WAZE activated you collect points and the more points collected increase your Community Member Ranking Status.

• participants driving habits improve the maps
• user data collected while having WAZE activated sends data  regarding streets including average speeds. 
• sharing events with other “Wazers” such as accident reports and heavy traffic events, it is possible to collect more points and help others reroute from road closures and construction. 
• PC Map Editing allows users to update maps with new roads and house numbers for improved navigation. 
• Wazers can show their moods, which displays to other users as a WAZE user icon on the area map.  Other Wazers can see your car and position and you can see their positions as well, as per the screenshots above. 

It was fun seeing the “Live” user reports and accident and traffic updates, per the screenshot above.

AMAZE on the other hand was ready out-of-the-box and had many options for Map display, including Satellite and Hybrid maps and the navigation was easy to use and for accuracy it can’t be beat.

• The Turn-by-turn voice guided navigation was very clear, as well as the timing was good, that is, you had ample time before an upcoming turn or destination.
• I really enjoyed the 3D (birds eye view) which is similar to popular “paid” navigations.  It is possible to turn on Satellite Navigation in 3D mode so you can see moving satellite imagery of the areas that you are navigating.
• It is possible to choose routing preferences such as shortest distance or fastest route.
• I really enjoyed the automated Day and Night modes so you can easily see at night with a darker background and softer color than daytime mode.
• It was a nice feature to see an overview of the next five day weather overview as shown in the screenshot.  The weather overview icon for the day is displayed in the upper right hand corner of the navigation screens, as well.
• Safety Camera and Traffic conditions can be displayed.
• Social Networking of locations using SMS helps you keep in touch with your friends.

Ability to Search by Address, Favorites, Keywords, etc. per the screenshot below.  It was easy to find a navigation destination using the many search options.

So here is a recap of what I liked:

• GPS user built live data, that shows in real time, creating a GPS software is truly user driven.
• The ability to report from your phone on roadside incidents “live” to inform other Wazers.
• Updating of maps by users via their PCs.
• Maximized User Participation.

Wish list:

• Satellite detail on maps would make navigation easier.
• Improvement needed in accuracy of Navigation

WAZE is currently available for the following mobile operating systems:

• IPHONE
• ANDROID
• WINDOWS MOBILE
• SYMBIAN

So here is a recap of what I liked:

• The Turn-by-turn voice guided navigation
• 3D Satellite Bird’s Eye view
• Ease of Zoom Controls
• Choice of Shortest Distance or Fastest Route
• Ability to get a 5 Day Weather Forecast.
• Accuracy of Navigation “Out of the box”
• Ability to Search with many options.
• Safety Camera and Traffic Conditions can be displayed
• Social Networking via SMS

Wish list:

None…I really like this freeware GPS application.

Amaze is currently available for the following mobile operating systems:

• JAVA
• ANDROID
• BLACKBERRY

COMING SOON:

WINDOWS MOBILE AND IPHONE SUPPORT (However, please note that I was able to run the JAVA version on my Window Mobile Phone without any problems)

Earlier this year, I wrote a review on a power line networking product called HomeNet by Corinex over at Gear Diary.  You can see the review here. I generally liked the product; but since the review posted, I’ve had a number of problems with the products.

If you don’t have wireless; or if your wireless network doesn’t penetrate everywhere in the house, power line networking could be a GREAT way for you to get online without having to buy an access point or lay CAT5/CAT6 cable throughout your house.  Up until about 5 months ago, I really liked my Corinex products.  They were getting the job done. 

Power line networking in YOUR home

Read More …

BeetzStream has recently publicized a beta version of their RSS reader application, SmartRSS Touch Edition.  The program is designed to download and display the content of RSS feeds, with the UI being presented into a touch oriented layout.  The layout is said to be inspired largely from the iPod Touch style of user interface, taking away the task bar at the top and the soft keys near the bottom.  The dark on black layout instead is fully optimized for finger friendly navigation.

SmartRSS Touch Edition runs on Windows Mobile Professional (6, 6.1, 6.5) devices, without a version being available for smartphone devices.  This makes perfect sense, due to the lack of touch screens on Windows Mobile smartphone devices.  BeetzStream has SmartRSS listed as running best on VGA display devices, but indicates that it will still work on QVGA handsets.

You can find out more information, browse additional screenshots and download a demo of the program here.