Roberto Mateu

Smartphone Is Expected via Google - NYTimes.com

Apple’s iPhone has shaken the cellphone industry, partly because of its design, but mostly because AT&T and Apple have allowed owners to download any number of applications to their phones. That freedom to individualize a phone’s functions has helped increase the popularity of the iPhone.

Bull. The iPhone is one of the least configurable devices out there. It is the best thought out design and OS. But the apps, while great, are so limited in its interaction with the OS that to talk about freedom is kinda ridiculous.

BlackBerry Bold: the DEFINITIVE hands-on review

Yep, we’re pretty impressed with the Bold, and we hope the final software updates which will be released prior to launch will iron out a few of the wrinkles noted during our testing.

Speaking of iPhone competitors, the Bold is turning out to be a very nice looking phone. Both in design and interface.

Palm Treo Pro: Palm Treo Pro Revealed (Lookin’ Good)

Wow, check out the Treo Pro, previously thought to be the Treo 850. It’s safe to say Palm is plunging ahead with the Centro’s industrial design, but the stark (glossy?) black and white color scheme with the phone/end orbs make it slick, rather than kiddie cool. Unfortunately, the Palm OS (new or othewise) for is nowhere in sight, just Windows Mobile.

Last but not, actually yes, least. Palm seems to be about to launch their I’m not dead yet Treo. Good enough design, but Windows Mobile?, I’ll spare you the rant.

Did Steve Jobs demo a Flash-enabled iPhone 3G? - iPhone Atlas

Hmmmm. This does look peculiar.

On current iPhones running OS 1.1.4, and in the iPhone Simulator included with the iPhone SDK, nationalgeographic.com renders with a picture of a cheetah and the message “This presentation requires Flash. Download free Flash player.” On the keynote-demonstrated iPhone 3G, however, the site renders the same cheetah image without the “This presentation requires Flash” message. Interesting.

Firefox 3.1 (Shiretoko) planned features draft - Mozilla Links

While the concept looks kinda nice, I’m still not convinced that this is a useful approach. I do think that Mozilla’s mobile concept of “infinite space” is much more useful as we continue to open more tabs simultaneously.

Visual tab switching and tab searching/filtering were both tried for Firefox 3, abandoned for other more critical features, and are being considered for 3.1. Ctrl+Tab, a extension developed by Dao Gottwald implements both of them displaying a thumbnail of the opened tabs when pressing Ctrl + Tab to switch tabs.

Opera redefines Web browsing yet again

Of course, being a new Opera guy this is the top news of the day. I’ve now completely switched from Firefox to Opera. I’ll post how I have mine setup soon.

Opera Software today released to the world the final public release of its flagship Web browser, Opera 9.5. Opera’s cross-device expertise, support for open Web standards and commitment to speed and performance culminate to create the most powerful Opera browser yet. Making its desktop debut in Opera 9.5, Opera Link blurs the boundaries between computers and mobile phones by enabling a seamless Web experience from device to device. Opera 9.5 for Windows, Mac and Linux systems is available free from www.opera.com.

Opera Desktop Browser 9.5 is Final - Take your stuff with you - Download Squad

The latest version of Opera has some features that 9.2 didn’t have though, so here goes nothing:

• Opera Link - Hardcore users of Opera use features like speed-dial, note taking, and of course bookmarks. Now you can sync them with your mobile if you use the very popular Opera Mini browser on your phone.
• Quick Find - search for anything on any page you’ve visited.
• Updated skin - This is the one that made us wonder if Opera is has re-invested themselves into the Desktop market. The buttons are sharper and it’s more Firefox like now.
• Opera’s Fraud Protection - This got an update. Opera likes to talk about how they guard you against phishing and spamming, and say they’re the only browser with these features built in.

Coming Tuesday, June 17th: Firefox 3

It’s going to be a great release.

After more than 34 months of active development, and with the contributions of thousands, we’re proud to announce that we’re ready. It is our expectation to ship Firefox 3 this upcoming Tuesday, June 17th. Put on your party hats and get ready to download Firefox 3 — the best web browser, period.

Firefox Mobile Concept Video

Brilliant article describing Mozilla Lab’s work toward their mobile browser. Lots of interaction design tidbits such as:

The biggest different is that with Expose, the spatial relationship between windows is broken every time the windows reshuffle. With the spatial view I know that the tab I want is down and to the left, whereas that mapping doesn’t exist using Expose. It’s an important distinction that helps the user to feel comfortable in the space and not get lost.

Apple may soon be free from AT&T

Completely agree. I think we are going to see iPhones on other US carries with the next model.

Now that Apple and AT&T have squeaked out of the deal, what’s holding the two companies together? Certainly some would say that it’s that oft-mentioned exclusivity agreement the companies signed, but I don’t know of one person who actually read the thing and no one really knows if Apple can get out or not.