I’m going to CTIA next week in San Diego, California.  I have a plan to record a bunch of interviews focusing on anything related to mobile money as well as new apps for the consumer.  I’d like to meet anybody with a new consumer app or any service related to mobile money.  From NFC to new payment apps I’m interested in what you’re doing and if you’re a developer with a new exciting app I want to help spread the word about it.  So contact me at Jeb@TheMobilePerspective.com if you’re interested.

PS I like hardware as well.

So I’m a huge BlackBerry fan.  I have been for a while now and used a BlackBerry as my primary device until my Nexus One got Gingerbread.  In that time I’ve switched from AT&T to T-Mobile and now back to AT&T.  The bottom line is I don’t have a BB plan on my account any longer and I’m of the understanding I can’t add it to my iPhone sim.  So I’ve put a spare sim into my BB and it works on many fronts but not for email.  I figured this would be the case and unfortunately BBM doesn’t work either but I can live with that.  But I can’t live without email, that and a battery that will go the distance, at least 1 full day is what I need from the BB.  Battery isn’t an issue but email is.  I’m currently using the Gmail Mobile app which is ok and liveable because it’s not my primary device.  My 2 issues is 1 not having color coded tags, yes I know, the iPhone doesn’t have that, but Android does and I want the best of all worlds.  I can live without it for now.

What I can’t live without is the Push.  I can’t live without it on a BB if I’m going to take it out and about like to a trade show.  I live in my email especially at trade shows and must have Push support.  I was told by a good friend that he uses this app for some of his email on his BB and I got the feeling he had is being Pushed.  I could have misunderstood him but that’s what it sounded like to me.

So my question to my readers is, Is there a way to get the BlackBerry Gmail Mobile app to sync more often and hopefully at near instant speeds?  I guess I could live at a 1-2 minute delay but not longer then that and that’s really pushing it.  Thanks!

I have been a heavy user of phone minutes on and off for many years now.  At my peak I believe once I hit 5,000 minutes in one month.  That may not be a lot for some but boy was it a lot for me.  Anyways I have always been very cautious about giving out my personal mobile number let alone my home phone number, but in the beginning I didn’t have a choice, I traveled a lot and didn’t want to pay the $50 or so a month for a business line.  Then over the years I’ve tried different services but none of them fit me perfectly.  None of them radiated the feeling of a full blown company, it always came across like I was a one man operation and that was not the way it was or what I wanted.

I came across Phone.com late last year when I met their CEO Ari Rabban (he usually twitters on the company twitter account) at a wine dinner Andy Abramson hosted.  Ari told me about their virtual phone service and I was instantly interested.  Was this the treasure in my search for telephone gold?  So I went home that night and took a look at Phone.com.  It was great, for the price of 1 lunch I was able to get business class phone service for a month.  Problem was, I travel and rely solely on my mobile phone.  I mentioned this to Ari and he said “just hang on for a couple months” so I did.  Then about 2 months ago I was invited into a beta group to test Phone.com’s new Android app and walla, my problems were solved.  I finally had a business class phone system in my pocket and everywhere I went.  I had an automated system with customizable greetings, extensions and the ability to set office hours, so my phone won’t ring in the middle of the night (some people just don’t understand time zones).  The best part was, I can have all of it on my Android phone.

Well the day is here and I’m finally able to talk about it publicly (I was under embargo until today). The new Android app is everything I have been wanting.  It gives me the ability to make calls from my cell phone which is nothing new, but it shows my work number in the caller ID not my mobile phones’ number.  This is one of the biggest selling points for me.  I like having ubiquity and not multiple numbers.  Along with that same point, I now have a work number that I can receive SMS (text messages) on, I have been testing it and it is flat out fast.  What’s nice is I can send SMS from the Phone.com website (as well as my phone of course), keeping me from having to type out messages on my phone.

Some additional points to note about the Phone.com Android app:

• Extremely simple set up
• Shares address book with phones built in address book
• Ability to send SMS from the phone showing your Phone.com number
• Very competitive international calling rates (some countries are even free)
• Cheaper minute plans then the mobile phone providers offer
• Unified inbox for voicemail, sms, and fax where you can read/respond to all of them
• Listen to and read (they convert VM to text) voicemail on the phone
• Office number is always with me
• Doesn’t seem to drain my battery
• Set up and initiate conference calls from your phone (this is amazing)

Keep in mind there is a Phone.com iPhone app as well that runs over VOIP, I will try to get my hands on an iPhone to review it.

In closing, I have been using this service for a few months now and really enjoy it.  I would personally recommend the Android  app from Phone.com to anybody looking to save money on their phone service.  From small to medium businesses to someone who may just want a second number but not another phone, this is your answer.  I give it my stamp of approval.

Follow Phone.com
Twitter: @PhoneDotCom
Facebook: PhoneDotCom

I got to spend some time with Raam Thakrar and Ed Hodges from Touchnote.com during CTIA and had a blast.  They were a ton of fun, we talked about how irresponsible we’ve been at work to Middle East politics and I got to learn all about what Touchnote is.

I get to see all kinds of mobile phone apps and sometimes have businesses pitched at me.  Touchnote is the very best app I’ve seen of late.  I believe these guys have a really great product and have a good chance of going all the way with it (Raam, Ed call me I have some ideas for you).

I imagine people getting a BT message when they arrive at a resort offering them Touchnote and they can just tack on $5 to their room and get to send out a few postcards.  Come on this is genius.

So as all of my readers know I’m a hard core Nokia E71 fanboy.  I’ve been infatuated with the E71 since I first heard about it roughly 2 years ago.  Now I’m impatiently waiting for the much anticipated E72 but I decided to whip out the E75 I was graciously lent for review and have been using it for 4 days now.  Hot shit, this phone is great.  I forgot how much I liked it.  It’s not perfect but I’m really digging it.  I forgot how much I liked it when I first used it.

S60 3rd edition feature pack 2 is really a nice upgrade to the E71′s feature pack 1.  There are so many little things I like more about it, but what the E75 is missing is memory/RAM.  The E75 seems to stall out sometimes and needs a reboot but that’s really my only single complaint about the software.  Of course it could be a little faster and of course it could have more of this or smarter that, but in general it’s all around solid software.

As far as the hardware goes it’s a candy bar style with a side slide QWERTY keyboard that’s 90% great and 10% ehh because of the lack of tactile feedback on the QWERTY portion.  I find it to be very useful and descent to type on.  You do need 2 hands to type on it because of the width of the keyboard which is good or bad depending on your preference.  Personally it is not my taste but I know quite a few people that are gaga over this style and particularly the E75.

Software wise the E75 does support the 4 apps I can’t live without and of course many many more apps but in particular
emoze – a push email and content client (my companies client)
Truphone – mobile VOIP offering me cheap international calls around the world and to my home country when I’m traveling
JoikuSpot – an app that turns my phone into a wifi hotspot by rebroadcasting the 3G it pulls in
Nimbuzz – an instant messaging (IM) client that supports GChat, Skype, MSN, AOL, Yahoo and ICQ

All in all the E75 is a solid piece of kit that doubles and triples as multiple devices.  Regular phone, VOIP, email, IM and wifi hotspot one by one or all at once.  This phone won’t disappoint and won’t let you down.  I have high regard for it but it’s not perfect because of the minimal RAM.  Most people would never miss it but I like to run everything all at once so if you’re a power user hold out a little longer for the E72 or something else otherwise I say pick one up and enjoy.

Great news for Nokia S40 users, emoze is now being shipped with a link in the Ovi Store to download emoze. This is a really big deal because S40 is the single most popular platform in the world for mobile phones.  I’m on vacation (holiday) so instead of going into detail I will just copy and paste some of the press release here.

Nokia Series 40 mobile phones are now being shipped with a direct, emoze push messaging software link in the OVI download folder so that users can quickly set up their favourite messaging data sources such as Gmail, Hotmail, Facebook and so on, pushed to their mobile phone, with real-time, secure synchronization.
Users experience the ultimate in mobile messaging, even on the simplest and most widely distributed S40 handsets.  Easy to set up and use, affordable and mimicking the look and feel of the PC experience, emoze is the intuitive answer to turn a mobile phone into a personal communications centre.  For those with more than one email address, or avid fans of social communities like Facebook, the emoze PRO version allows users to set up multiple messaging addresses for real-time delivery to their mobile phone for a nominal monthly charge.“With our software on board, all anyone needs for today’s mobile lifestyle is a simple data package from their mobile service provider – packages that are coming down in price almost every day,” says Eitan Linker, chief executive of emoze.  “We are extremely proud to be on Nokia’s broad range of mid tier mobile devices. It is the world’s most widely used mobile device platform and found in hundreds of millions of devices.”

Synchronization and security are key priorities at emoze and its service uses compression and encryption to provide the highest level of privacy and security of data.  No messages and no data are ever stored on a 3rd party server – it only remains on the user’s mail server and mobile handset.  Emoze mobile push mail is cost efficient, too.  Messages are only pushed to a mobile device when it is open and ready to receive and transmissions are optimized to conserve batteries and minimize data charges.

A free download of the software is available at www.emoze.com and works on most mobile phones, or users can navigate on their web-enabled handset to https://emoze.com for the emoze download.  The simple online wizard means set-up is straightforward and speedy.  The emoze Enterprise Edition can also be downloaded on the S40 handset thereby enabling a business solution for small medium enterprises without having to invest in expensive devices.

emoze is a client of mine and I’ve been using their push email for a while now and think it’s one of the best on the market.  Don’t hesitate to download it and give it a try.  If you have a questions about emoze feel free to email me at Jeb@emoze.com or ping me on Twitter at @JebBrilliant or at @emozepushemail.

I just got done watching the Lakers vs. Magic basketball game (Lakers won) and came away with the feeling that I wanted to get T-Mobile cell phone service.  I don’t know what it was or why I got the urge but someone in advertising/marketing is doing something very right.  I had such an urge to go out and purchase the Google G1. I might just have to go play with one this weekend at the TMO store, though I’m not buying a new phone nor will I get another T-Mobile sim right now after my last one just stopped working.

Earlier today Emoze (a client) announced a developers program.  They are giving developers the opportunity to create plug-ins for Emoze.  In one case developers created a plug-in where by Emoze users can collect, create, and reply to Facebook messages.  This is a large step opening up hundreds of millions of users to have the opportunity to use Facebook messaging on the go (here’s a tutorial on setting up Emoze with Facebook).

It seems like Emoze is offering any developer the chance to give their service real-time mobile access to messages and contacts.  This is important because social communities are becoming more popular and consumers are looking for access to them while away from their computers.  This new platform will empower every social community to do just this.

Eitan Linker, emoze chief executive said, “Incorporating social community messaging is yet another step forward in our push email and push messaging strategy, extending our technology to social communities. Taking the community experience mobile, once again proves that emoze is not just a technology, but a way of life. We realize that social community messaging is one of the fastest growing communication media worldwide. The need for “belonging” and sharing of ideas, content and common interests is evident, and the demand for receiving this communication real-time is apparent. We, at emoze, cater for the mass market and will continue to be in the forefront of mobilizing these communication needs with the best user experience possible.”

If you are a developer and have an interest in working with Emoze email them at support@emoze.com.

Truphone one of my favorite mobile VOIP providers has announced 2 new flat rate plans.  I have been waiting for this kind of thing for over a year and maybe 2 years now.  They have a plan called TruUnlimited for Landlines at $14.40/month and it includes unlimited calls to landlines in 38 countries and unlimited to mobiles in USA, Canada, China, and Hong Kong.

Their second plan is called TruUnlimited for Mobiles will run you $35/month and it includes unlimited calls to landlines and mobiles in 64 countries.

Here is the Press Release from Truphone and at the bottom are notes on the included countries.

 LONDON (March 30, 2009) – Low cost calling just got lower with TruUnlimited, the most robust, flat rate worry-free calling plan announced today by Truphone. Now, users around the world can call more places, more often — all for one low fixed price with the two new unlimited plans for both landline and mobiles.

Using TruUnlimited, customers now have the freedom to make calls around the world, at any time of the day, and any day of the week without having to worry about mounting call charges. Additionally, the customer is always in control. TruUnlimited plans do not require entering into long-term contracts and can be cancelled at any time.

“Many of our customers have asked us to help simplify their lives by providing the peace of mind that comes with the ability to make unlimited calls to landlines and mobiles and not have to worry about checking balances or fearing bill shock when they receive their statement,” said Geraldine Wilson, CEO Truphone.

Introducing “TruUnlimited for Landlines”…
For people who need to regularly communicate with colleagues, friends and family around the world, the new TruUnlimited for Landlines monthly calling plan gives customers unlimited calls to those landlines in 38 countries for just $4.40 per month. As a bonus, the TruUnlimited for Landlines plan also permits calls to mobile phones in some top destinations such as the USA, Canada, China, and Hong Kong at no extra charge.

…and Presenting “TruUnlimited for Mobiles”
For customers regularly calling mobile phones more frequently, in addition to landlines in many different countries, the TruUnlimited for Mobiles plan provides subscribers with even more savings with unlimited calls to landlines as well as mobile phones placed to 64 countries for just $35.00 per month.

What You Need To Take Advantage of Truphone’s TruUnlimited’s Low Rates
TruUnlimited is available immediately to existing Truphone customers and for new subscribers via the easy installation of the Truphone application software available as a free download for iPhone, iPod touch, Nokia Symbian N & E series capable devices, and for Truphone Anywhere on the Google Android G1 and RIM Blackberry Messenger Smartphones.

Truphone Standard Rate Plans
The new TruUnlimited plans are not replacements for other popular Truphone programs. Customers that do not need a Truphone Unlimited plan can still make great savings using the company’s Truphone Standard rate plan (details available at www.truphone.com).

- XXX -

Notes to editors
Countries included in the TruUnlimited Landlines tariff are landline numbers in: Argentina; Australia; Austria; Belgium; Brazil; Colombia; Cyprus; Denmark; France; Germany; Greece; Hungary; Ireland; Israel; Italy; Japan; Korea (South); Malaysia; Netherlands; Panama; Poland; Portugal; South Africa; Spain; Sweden; Switzerland; Taiwan; UK; Venezuela

In addition to landline numbers, mobile numbers in the following countries are also included with the TruUnlimited Landlines tariff: Canada; China; Guam; Hong Kong; Macau; Mariana Islands; Singapore; Thailand; USA

Countries included in the TruUnlimited Mobiles tariff are landline and mobile numbers in: American Samoa; Antigua & Barbuda; Argentina; Aruba; Australia; Austria; Bangladesh; Belgium; Brazil; British Virgin Islands; Canada; Cayman Islands; China; Colombia; Cyprus; Cyprus (North); Denmark; Finland; France; Germany; Greece; Guam; Guatemala; Hong Kong; Hungary; India; Indonesia; Iran; Ireland; Israel; Italy; Japan; Korea (South); Kuwait; Macau; Malaysia; Mariana Islands; Mayotte; Mexico; Mongolia; Monserrat; Netherlands; Netherlands Antilles; Niger; Nigeria; Pakistan; Panama; Paraguay; Poland; Portugal; Russia; Rwanda; Singapore; South Africa; Spain; Sri Lanka; Sweden; Switzerland; Tajikistan; Taiwan; Thailand; Trinidad & Tobago; Turkmenistan; Uganda; UK; Ukraine; USA; Venezuela; Uzbekistan

Great work Truphone, keep it up!