The Productive Organizer

Take a look at this video showing off Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 on the Samsung hardware.

Few thoughts:

1. Very responsive UI and Screen
2. The blue color really is bright (in a sucky kind of way)
3. I like the screen to screen transition. very nice.
4. I don’t appreciate the panaroma UI. I think it will not work for a lot of people. They might have an idea for it but my Initial thoughts is that it is just very alternative and will not work for a lot of people.
5. The interface shows that you can snap things to the boxes. But it is so small! how can I put a calendar widget or a todo widget to it?

There is a new software discovery this morning. bookACab allows you to easily book a cab via the CityCab and Comfort SMS booking system.

This could be a useful app to have around but we do not know how well it works. iPhone has a similar application but I hear there are complaints about its stability as of this moment.

Alternatively, you can also make a booking via the traditional way of calling for the cabs. Quick dial any cab company without knowing their phone numbers

[Download the App here >>]

That seems to be the message that we are gathering when Microsoft made this kind of replies:

“In addition to the current Windows Mobile 6.5 and upcoming WM7 clients, with the recently announced alliance between Microsoft and Nokia we are working to bring Office Mobile to hundreds of millions of Nokia smartphone owners, followed by other leading Smartphone platforms.”

But my question is, when your mobile application is so shitty compared to the third parties like Quickoffice, Documents to go, your main concern is not just to bring the suite to people, but to make it competitive!

Coming from a Windows Mobile background pains me to say this but the office on phone’s always suck quite badly and people have to depend on Quickoffice and documents to go for any semblance of a productive office suite.

But from a business perspective it is important to do that. Office suite is one of Microsoft’s most competitive product and a big revenue driver.

There are many upstarts in the cloud space with very good products:

1. Zoho suite on the cloud computing space
2. Google Docs suite on the cloud computing space
3. Quick office on the mobile space
4. Documents to go on the mobile space
5. iWork for the MAC OS and iPhone space
6. Open office

right now the switching cost from Microsoft Office is high, but if their competitor does something game changing subtlety it might not bode so well for Microsoft.

Losing a phone is a situation where we don’t want to be in, doesn’t happen often but when it does, its a black swan event and not preparing for ti could be bad.

That is where F-Secure comes in. The key features of Anti-Theft for Mobile are the ability to remotely lock the cell phone, locate it and to wipe its data in case it looks like the phone is lost forever.

What i find most cool about it is this : F-Secure Anti-Theft For Mobile will immediately lock the phone if the SIM card is changed in the phone. The new cell phone number is automatically send to the owner of the phone

Watch this video to find out more:

Interested in this? Apparently there is a FREE version! Get it here [ Download >>]

We have not seen many sneaks of Windows Phone 7 Applications on Productive Organizer and the last one were sneaks of OneNote and Word and Excel on WP7.

This time some french developers have put together a project management application called Ahead Project Manager.

This would be important consideration if you are a person who wants to manage your task on  your smartphone. Having such an application would be a serious consideration.

Just think about it: I bought my iPod Touch not to play games, watch videos or listen to songs but because I need a good todo list Appigo ToDo

However, If the interface for all WP7 apps turn out this way, then we are really going to get pretty board by this layout.

From the demo i really find that i will not get accustom to the scrolling layout. What do you guys think after watching the video below?

Ahead — Manage your projects on-the-go. from Ahead App on Vimeo.

GottaBeMobile have a very interesting post today showing a video demo of documents or Office Hub on a Windows Phone 7 in action.

Microsoft have been very lame with their mobile office offering For Windows Mobile, which is very strange since that is their strength. Are they afraid that it might kill their desktop office application? Chances are it will not.

iPhone platform have been a really good experience when it comes to mobile documents reviewing and editing. iPad will make it even better.

So Microsoft have really got to leverage on what they do best which is word-processing and spreadsheeting on sub 3-10 inch screens.

And they have got to sell their one note application much better. its such a good application that they just don’t market it as well as people that appreciates it.

To all my friends who thinks that iPhone is overtaking the world, take a look at this worksheet:

Here is a rumor spec that i got off Download Squad. With Mobile World Congress coming on Feb 15, more details on WinMo 7 will be revealed:

Software-wise, there’ll be a marketplace with ‘try before you buy’ (hooray!), full Xbox integration (why?), support for social networking (via apps, I presume) and… wait for it… no multitasking!

By no means will this be true but if windows mobile 7 takes that route on multi-tasking then it tells us that perhaps multi-tasking might be pretty overrated in terms of how we perceived it.

Here is a good backup solution that i came across by Lifehacker. Ever had a situation where you will need to remotely secure a phone that you have lost and wipe it clean? here is a viable solution:

1. Currently this is a free download not just for Android but windows mobile phone as well.
2. Set up a routine backup of your data, sms and call logs that is done routinely
3. Have another friends phone number just in case your SIM card is swapped out for another.
4. Track your lost phone’s activity and carrier use.
5. Deliver backup data to your phone and then locks the phone through SMS
6. Restore contacts,call logs and history

Here is a look at how WaveSecure works

WaveSecure is a free download, with a lifetime subscription, in the Android Market until Jan. 31. The Windows Mobile and Symbian platforms have cheap paid apps with subscription costs.

I would think probably not. In the first place, i don’t see many retail stores touting these in the first place. The cost of deployment for such devices are high. You need company to come up with software that is tailor to your supply chain system. At the same time, how much additional benefit will you see? I don’t think so.

To retail stores i don’t think the cost justifies the effort required.

It began with a Disney Store pilot program where staff would ring out customers via an iPod Touch. A system that was so successful Apple rolled the handhelds into all of their retail stores replacing their well weathered Windows CE-based EasyPay system. Recent reports are indicating Apple is even considering opening this up to widespread commercial use. While great for large retail businesses, the EasyPay Touch units are simply too bulky and overpowered to really be useful for all of the small businesses out there.

Thus the Square is born! A company brought to life by Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, has created a adapter for reading “payment cards from any device with an audio input jack, including your mobile phone,” as stated on their website. Still in beta testing, the Square is expected to launch sometime in early 2010. They certainly aren’t the only ones eyeing this highly untapped and potentially very profitable market though.

Morphie, the company which has been mainly focused battery packs for the iPhone, is the newest player to the game and they are certainly going to be steep competition. Released today was information on a Credit Card Reader which will be specifically designed for the iPhone/iPod Touch that will be accompanied by its own specially made app to run it. Details are still sketchy right now with more being promised at CES 2010 but based on the mockups alone its already creating a stir in the community. Make sure to check back early and often next week for our coverage of CES and hopefully more info on this guy.