James Bond's smartphone: Sony Xperia TL (Bond Phone 007)

The Sony Xperia T is being marketed as the "Bond Phone." It looks like a very respectable Android smartphone that's selling on the AT&T network for $99. Some have reported that the phone is a bit heavy, but it's fast and it's on AT&T's 4G LTE network. Will you really want one after you watch the new movie Skyfall? Let's ask all those 007 fans out there. I have to admit that it's been quite a while since I've purchased a Sony product. I used to have all sorts of electronics and gadgets made by Sony including one of their first Walkman (cassette player) and portable CD player called the Diskman.

Sony Ericsson SmartWatch Android™ watch

We're going from Smartphone to Smartwatch.

The Sony Ericsson SmartWatch Android™ watch is an extension of your Android smartphone to your wrist. So, instead of pulling out your phone to see who is calling you or sending you messages, you can view those things right on your wrist.

Could the "smartwatch" be the next hot technology to follow the smartphone?

• The SmartWatch communicates wirelessly with your Android smartphone via Bluetooth.
• SmartWatch features an easy-to-use, ultra-responsive touch display.
• Customize your SmartWatch with any 20mm wristband.
• Can read SMS and email and calendar reminders on display
• Clip the device anywhere

This device actually looks a lot like an iPod nano. It has a clip, it can be worn like a watch, and it has a color screen. Perhaps the next iPod nano will have Bluetooth and will connect with iPhones. Maybe it will be called the iWatch.

Remember when Sony used to make a Palm? (it was called a Clie)

Now that HP has purchased Palm, I wonder what that does to all those Sony Clie PDAs out there running the original Palm OS. Do these go into a museum?  My wife had an old Sony Clie. It had a color screen and it was a really nice PDA. 

I'm eager to see what HP will do now that they've acquired webOS and all of Palm's patents. Just when I thought that webOS was dead, a new twist occurs. Now, I'm thinking that webOS has a bright future in the hands of HP and we'll continue to see innovation coming out of Google, Apple, and HP/Palm.

Smartphone coupon codes

When's the last time you used a coupon code for an online purchase? How often do you use the Internet to search for coupon codes? I use them all the time, but sometimes you may find codes that are invalid or expired.  I will frequently post coupon or discount codes on my blog for my readers. I recently posted some discount coupon codes for medical software (medical apps) and even some smartphone accessories.

Now, if you know where to look, you can find some great deals through these coupon codes. The other day, I was shopping for some accessories and I decided to look for a Dell coupon code. I needed to get a battery for an old Dell Axim Pocket PC (remember those?). After searching on Google and browsing several different sites, I finally found a coupon code that I could use to get free shipping.

I also have a few HP iPaq Pocket PC and smartphones and I was browsing the HP website looking for discounts. After searching on Google, I found some an HP coupon code that had expired. No luck with HP on Google. Then, I dug through some old e-mails and found an Amazon code so I purchased the item through Amazon instead.

Sometimes, you may be shopping for someone else. My family members are always asking me to make purchases for them since they know that I frequently shop on the Internet. My cousin needed something for his Sony Vaio and I couldn't find it on Amazon so I shopped on the Sony site. I could have gone to the Sony store, but why pay for tax and shipping if you can have it shipped for free? I fortunately found a great Sony coupon code that I used right away.

So, the next time you get ready to shop online, make sure to look for some coupon codes. You might get lucky and find something to help you save.

Windows Mobile 6.5.3 (not kidding)

That's right. Instead of calling this version Windows Mobile 6.6 or 6.7, it's 6.5.3. Don't you just love it? We've gone from:

• Windows Mobile 6
• Windows Mobile 6.1
• Windows Mobile 6.5
• Windows Mobile 6.5.3

Do you see a pattern?

Windows Mobile 6.5.3 will offer more touch-friendly features and will also allow users to leverage a capacitive touch screen (if you device has a capacitive screen). Plus, support for multi-touch gestures will be included. Let's hope that also includes "pinch to zoom." Most of the older smartphones use a resistive touch screen plus a stylus. I think the days of the toothpick stylus are gone. As smartphones use resistive touch screens and rely on finger-touch, we won't be using stylus pens anymore. 

The first Windows smartphone running 6.5.3 will be the Sony Ericsson Aspen.  You can expect to see larger buttons, a modified user interface, a magnify feature, an improved version of Internet Explorer, and several other new features.

Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 (Google Android)

I love Sony products. Back in the old days of TDMA, I used to have an Ericsson phone. The upcoming Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 will be running Google's Android smartphone operating system and this is going to be a fantastic device for those who can afford it. This device is going to be a "high-end" model with a large display that allows for multi-touch gestures. You can expect great performance on this device since it will run a 1 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor.

The sad news is that I don't know if we're doing to see this model appear in the U.S. Right now, the U.K. store is estimating a Feb 10 launch date. You can stay current on new product launches by following the Sony Ericsson Product Launch Blog.

Sony Ericsson Xperia X3 (Google Android)

The upcoming Sony Ericsson Xperia X3 will be running Google Android. Before we know it, every major smartphone manufacturer (except Apple and Palm) will have an Android smartphone on the market. We're seeing this from all the major players. How will Apple and Palm keep up with this type of competition?

According to the folks over at Brighthand:

The name "X3" hasn't been 100% confirmed. Some reports say it may have been changed to "X10" or the " Infinity". In any case, the code-name is definitely "Rachael".

Regardless of what this phone is called, the Sony Xperia X3 looks like it's going to be a really nice smartphone. As we see more medical apps for Android emerge, I think we're going to see a massive movement of medical students, residents, and attending physicians using Android-powered smartphones in the clinical setting.

Spy smartphone

I'm a James Bond fan. I don't own all the 007 movies, but I own several. In the latest James Bond movie Quantum of Solace, we see James Bond (played by Daniel Craig) using his Sony Ericsson C902 Cyber-shot camera phone to take pictures of thugs in a large, dark auditorium. I want to know how he did that with no flash. Of course, the pictures were quite blurry in the movie, so that made it seem realistic (considering modern smartphone capabilities). However, I wouldn't be surprised if we see much more powerful cameras in future smartphones. Spies like James Bond will have very sophisticated gadgets in the near future.

Could you use your smartphone camera to spy on someone? Perhaps you know of someone who is an amateur computer spy. What if someone used a phone camera to take a photo of your driver's license when you're in line at the grocery store? Could he/she use this information to gain access to your personal information? What if someone took a picture of your credit card? When we're in public, we see so many people using a mobile phone. Should we be paranoid that they might be spying on us?

We live in a world where we're probably surrounded by computer hackers and spies. If you turn on the news, you'll hear of many stories of data breaches and identity theft. You may have an automated computer spy on your computer (either in the form of a virus or spyware). We must be vigilant and we must frequently change our computer passwords. Never share your password with anyone. Speaking of passwords, my Facebook account was hacked a few months ago. I checked all my computers to see if I could find some type of computer spy. Nothing ever came up.

Sony Ericsson Xperia X2

The Sony Ericsson Xperia X2 looks like it's going to be a really nice smartphone running Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.5.

It's a slider with a full QWERTY keyboard. When's the last time you saw an 8.1 megapixel camera on a smartphone? HTC and Samsung are now facing some competition in the Windows Phone market as more manufacturers are creating smartphones that have similar capabilities. Will Windows Mobile 6.5 impress users? I'm currently using it, and I'm not that impressed. Hopefully, users will be more impressed by the hardware more than the operating system.

Smartphone capabilities in 5 years

I'm not a fortune teller, but I can tell you fairly confidently that smartphones will have some incredible capabilities in 5 years. Here are my predictions:

• Much larger internal storage capacity that exceeds current Flash memory cards. I think we'll see many smartphones that have over 100 GB of storage space. They will rival current laptops in terms of storage.
  
• Much faster processors that are fuel-efficient. (battery fuel). Current smartphones are still running in the MHz range. We'll see smartphones that rival current notebook processor speeds in the GHz range.
• WiMax instead of Wi-Fi. Forget coffeshop hotspots. The entire city will be a hotspot.
  
• Much faster data connections. 3G speed will be like 14.4 K modem speeds compared to modern broadband speeds.
  
• Large touch screens. All of them will have touch screens. Smartphones that lack a touch screens will be considered "antiques."
• Built-in GPS. They will all have internal GPS chips. This is becoming quite standard right now, but in 5 years, we'll see this as the norm.
• Superior voice command and voice recognition. Who needs a keyboard if you can "say it?"
  

In essence, future smartphones will have the capabilities of current laptops (not the fastest laptop, but an "average" laptop). They won't have spinning hard drives, but they will be much more capable of multimedia and high-speed data connections. Just follow the history of the Apple iPod to see changes in Flash storage space, processor speed, battery life, and more. I believe Apple will continue to set the trend that others will follow. Samsung, HTC, RIM, Sony, Motorola, Palm, Nokia, and all the others will follow Apple's lead.

Hottest New Phones

According to infoSync, the hottest new phones are currently:

• Palm Pre
• Nokia N97
• LG Arena
• Samsung S8300 UltraTouch
• RIM BlackBerry Curve 8900
• Pharos Traveler 137
• Sony Ericsson C901
• Sony Ericsson W508

Want to read more about each of these? Go here for the infoSync story

Thank You PalmDoc Chronicles

Thank you PalmDoc Chronicles for adding this site to your blog list. I've done the same here at MedicalSmartphones.com and I hope you'll help me spread the word about how smartphones are changing the landscape of medicine. I remember when the Palm OS was the dominant operating system among medical students and physicians. I'm talking about the days before the ubiquitous Palm Treo even came out. We had devices running the Palm OS made by Palm, Handspring, Sony, and a few other companies. They were called PDAs or handhelds because they weren't phones at the time. How technology has changed things! We now have one less item to carry in our pocket.