Treo-Gear.com Offers the Palm Treo 700w Smartphone—the First Verizon Windows Mobile Device Built Into the Power of a Palm

Treo-Gear.com adds the Palm Treo 700w Smartphone—the first Palm phone device available on Windows Mobile platform—to its already vast selection of Treo devices. The Treo 700w is a full-featured phone with easy-to-navigate features and high-speed CDMA networking capabilities that successfully combines phone, email, organizer, messaging, Web browser and camera in one small device.

“With the Treo 700w, users get the power of a Windows Mobile environment with the speed of high-speed, broadband internet access and the one-handed navigation of a Treo Smartphone,” says Jennifer Bean, IS Director of eCommerce at Treo-Gear.com.

Treo 700w Accessories, such as a 512 MB or 1 GB expansion card, Bluetooth headsets, optional screenguards and versatile cases make the 700w’s functionality truly exceptional. Plus the device’s integrated QWERTY keyboard with 5-way navigator—Windows Mobile 5 action keys—in the center of the phone allows users to access everything with one hand. Scroll messages, scan Web pages, read documents and find phone numbers easily.

Central to the device’s functionality is an enhanced Today Screen system, a Windows Mobile-based experience that gives users access to their phone numbers, calendar appointments, unread emails, Web searches and more without the need to go through a menu screen.

“We are pleased to offer this user-friendly, high-functioning device and huge selection of quality Treo accessories to our customers,” Bean says. “This ultra-portable device allows users to stay in touch with home and office while on the go without the need of a laptop.”

For quick information access and versatile usability, The Treo 700w Smartphone is Palm’s first to integrate EvDO, the latest generation of high-speed CDMA networks, which supports download speeds of 400-600 Kbps. The device has 128 MB of memory, 60MB user storage and a 1.3 megapixel camera with 2x zoom.

Charge it to My Phone!

Already popular in Asia, mobile bill paying is starting to infiltrate the U.S.. A web resource called BilltoMobile allows anyone with a cell phone (YES, a basic cell phone works) to be able to to charge digital purchases to their cell phone bill via their cell phone. No need to use carry credit online anymore. Just charge purchases to your phone.

However, there is an interesting twist to this resource, it is being targeted at teens and younger adults. Which can be worrisome, since many do not have or understand how to use credit cards and keep from getting into credit debt. I think this marketing is another good reason why it is vital to teach youth about ethical and legal issues when using mobile phones. Many university students have gone into terrible debt because they don't understand the consequences of signing up for so many credit cards and maxing them out. I don't want the same thing to happen to teenagers who think using their phone as a never-ending cash machine is economically savvy. They need to learn how to use a cell phone as a credit card in an appropriate, safe, and professional manner. This is a teaching opportunity.

T-Mobile Sidekick: The Cool Gizmo You’ll Love To Own

The T-Mobile Sidekick II, the successor of the famed T-Mobile Sidekick, can be called the ultimate communication gadget. Launched in the US market by leading telephone carrier T-Mobile, the Sidekick II is not only helps you communicate, but has some great features that allow you to have a great time communicating!

The T-Mobile Sidekick II has been launched after ironing out some of the problems that plagued the earlier version. Here’s some vital statistics. The Sidekick II is fully loaded and weighs 6.49 ounces. It measures 5.12 x 2.60 x 0.87 inches and comes with a lithium-ion battery that provides up to 4.5 hours of digital talk time and 60 hours of digital standby time. Sidekick Ii runs on the GSM/GPRS 900/1800/1900 frequencies and has a one year limited warranty. Enough of what the T-Mobile Sidekick II’s great features. Let us see why it provides real bang for the buck and has reviewers drooling over it.

The Sidekick II has got some huge improvements over the T-Mobile Sidekick I. The Sidekick II is a tri-band world phone. Flip it open and you’ll be greeted by the big color screen. You can send unlimited emails and the new keyboard is really easy to use. The T-Mobile Sidekick I suffered from a lack of buttons for easy access to basic functions. Not anymore. Dual purpose buttons make it easier to place calls and browse the Net using Sidekick II.

You don’t need to search the Settings menu to change the volume or adjust any other details. You’ve got external buttons for that and also to turn the handset on or off. T-Mobile Sidekick II also has an external directional pad that’s a great help if you are one of those avid gamers. The keyboard can be used for all text messaging, emailing, and calendar updates. The 240 x 160 pixels screen on the T-Mobile Sidekick II can support 65,000 colors.

The Sidekick II is around 25 per cent thinner that the Sidekick I. It also gives you a comfortable feel when you are using it as a phone. The integrated camera, LED flash unit and self-portrait mirror are on the back of the handset. The T-Mobile Sidekick II comes loaded with the Hiptop OS and the handset has a 48 MB internal memory.

Did you run out of memory storing those phone numbers? The phone book of the Sidekick II can accommodate 2000 contacts and multiple entries per contact. You also get the usual menu of recently missed, received, and dialed calls. You’ve got polyphonic ring tones with 16 chords. If you need more you can download some great ring tones from T-Mobile’s t-zones service. You can also assign a picture and ring tone to each caller. Well, the t-zones service can be used to download some great games too.

Okay, here’s one more reason you would love to own a Sidekick. T-Mobile has priced it fairly and you can get a Sidekick data plan ($29.99 per month) to use Sidekick II’s e-mail, messaging, and browser functions.

Well, that is not the end of the good news though. Another Sidekick avatar is around the corner. T-Mobile Sidekick III will be launching Christmas!

Radio Show #5: Taking Advantage of Text Messaging on Student Cell Phones

Thank you to all who listened to the broadcast. The next broadcast will be Wed Dec. 3rd at 3:00. The topic (as per PeggyG's great suggestion) will be: What can we do with one cell phone per classroom?



Here is the transcript of the Chat:
Liz Kolb:Welcome! We will begin shortly.
Liz Kolb:Our topic today is taking advantage of text messaging on student cell phones for classroom learning.
Peggy_G:Hi Liz. Always excited to hear your show! So glad it's 30 mins now. :-)
Peggy_G:Kim-great to see you!
kcaise:hi Peggy!
Peggy_G:unlimited text messaging is a wonderful thing! essential for teens!
Liz Kolb:hi everyone
Liz Kolb:http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/34313179.html
Peggy_G:I learned that the hard way! You definitely need a partner to help monitor chat. :-)
kcaise:definitely - same here
Peggy_G:oops-clicked on the link and lost my chat window. :-(
Liz Kolb:http://www.ask500people.com/questions/should-high-schools-offer-courses-via-cell-phone
Peggy_G:what incredible examples of texting to meet real-life needs!
Peggy_G:such a good point about using textmessaging with hearing impaired students! Inclusion at it's best!
kcaise:just the ask500
Peggy_G:yes some links-not the last couple
Liz Kolb:Textmarks.com
Peggy_G:great! we can find them on your blog later :-)
Liz Kolb:ohdontforget.com
Liz Kolb:sendible.com
Liz Kolb:lastspotted.com
Liz Kolb:http://flagr.com
Liz Kolb:http://gpsed.com/
Liz Kolb:Textmarks.com
Peggy_G:mobile text messaging campaigns for businesses-great idea!
Peggy_G:students can become the experts-perfect angle for this site
Liz Kolb:http://www.zoozmobile.com/control/index.html
Liz Kolb:Phonezoo.com
Peggy_G:these suggestions are so valuable for districts facing the financial crunch of purchasing things like response systems (everyone is facing financial crunches)
kcaise:thanks everyone
kcaise:Thanks Liz
Peggy_G:Wonderful show (again!) Where should we share ideas for future shows?
Liz Kolb:Thanks everyone for joining...any suggestions for future topics?
Liz Kolb:@Peggy Here or on my blog
Peggy_G:ok-I'd love to hear more ideas about how to use cell phones in centers when you're just getting started with 1 cell phone-teacher's phone
Liz Kolb:Good suggestions...that will be my topic after Thanksgiving. I get that question a lot.
Peggy_G:anything that takes what teachers are already doing and shows how they could enhance it with cell phones outside of school :-)

Louisiana State Community College is Offering Courses VIa Cell Phone

I have posted on this blog about courses being conducted over cell phones in Japan, and I am thrilled to report that we are starting to see mobile courses ifiltrate the U.S.. Wes Fryer posted this article from 2theadvocate, which describes how Louisiana State Community Colleges are going to start offering courses via cell phone starting in January 2009. While you cannot use a basic cell phone, students who have iPhones and Blackberries can take the courses without having to enter a classroom or get on a computer! They have a link on their registration page when students can register for the mobile courses and download the ebooks to their cell phones. By using mobile courses, students can enroll from all over the state, they don't have to worry about getting to a phsycial space for class or even having Internet access in the form of a computer. This is truly anytime, anywhere, anyplace learning!

Accessibility is an Issue...but not for long
While 70% of Lousianians have cell phones, participants do need to have touch screens and keypads in order to properly participate in the class. However, the community colleges are hopeful that with prices constantly dropping on these fancier cell phones, their mobile courses will slowly become more accessible to all the citizens of the state.

Notifu, Interactive Mobile Messaging for Teachers

I have posted in the past about messaging services such as Remindr, Dial2do, Jott, Remember the Milk, and Sendible. All of which I think are useful. But I have to add another messaging service to this list. It is called Notifu. Notifu allows for group messaging, polling, and FEEDBACK! That is correct, I said, feedback. Notifu allows you to send a message to a person's perferred form of communication such as IM, Twitter, email, or Text Message. Once you create a contact with the contact's preferred communication, you can easily send group messages to multiple contacts and receive feedback from them (no matter which communication tool they are using). For example, I sent out a poll to all my contacts in a particular group asking them what time they preferred to meet. I gave them choices of 4:30, 5:00, & 6:00. When they got their message, they could reply with n4 (for 4:30), n5 (for 5:00) or (n6 for 6:00). Along with their reply they could also send back a message to me such as "n4 cannot attend any other time". All of this feedback is directed into my Notifu account, where the polling and feedback are quantified into legible data.

Classroom Applications
Scheduling and Group Management
I immediately thought this tool could be helpful with administrators and teachers who are trying to schedule and communicate with committees, student and parent groups. In addition, students who form their own study groups can take advantage of Notifu for messaging between the group members.

Polling and Feedback
While I love Polleverywere and Textthemob for in-class polling via cell phones, I think Notifu is a great way to conduct polls and get feedback outside of the classroom.

Brainstroming
The teacher can send out an inquiry question or getting-started question that will be used in class the following day. Students can text back their answer, which automatically appears in the teacher's account. The teacher can then project the answers on the LCD screen the next class session and discuss the answers.

Quizzes
The teacher can send some quiz or review questions to the students by using the polling feature and get the answers back in their private Notifu account (in a timely manner).

Homework
The teacher can send out homework questions or ask for questions on their homework assignments. Students can text back their answers. For example an English teacher can ask his/her students to "summarize" in 160 characters or less, the plot for their Shakespeare reading that night. By asking for short summaries, it forces students to be mindful of their descriptions in their answers (not easy to do with Shakespeare!).

T-Mobile Sidekick: Chip Off The Old Block

T-Mobile is one of the leading cell phone service providers in the US. It has become a popular operator thanks to its customer-friendly payment scheme. T-Mobile has come up with many innovative schemes to retain its top position in the US market. One of such initiatives is the marketing of the T-Mobile Sidekick. The Sidekick is a multipurpose phone, with great messaging, browsing, and gaming options.

The Sidekick marketing initiative put T-Mobile in the top spot in the US cellphone market. Now it has launched the T-Mobile Sidekick II, an improvement on the original Sidekick.

T-Mobile Sidekick II retails at T-Mobile stores and can be used with the Sidekick data plan from T-Mobile. Apart from the run-of-the-mill cellphone functions, T-Mobile Sidekick II allows you to use sounds and pictures to communicate with your friend and family with its MMS or multimedia messaging service. The in-built camera puts more fun into messaging when using Sidekick Ii.

The Sidekick II’s AOL Instant Messenger application allows you to IM your friends anywhere. T-Mobile’s application download service can enable you to download Yahoo’s messenger service too. Another cool Sidekick II feature is the Auto Text word completion system which makes it easier to enter words and text on to your handset. It’s a very convenient feature to have if you are a power user of mobile email and text messaging. You can also have email from up to three of your personal accounts pulled in directly into your Sidekick II. With Sidekick II’s embedded browser, you can browse the Web easily. Also, you are just a fingertip away from the latest news headlines, weather updates, games, and ringtone downloads with T-Mobile’s t-zones service.

The Sidekick has many other useful features. It’s got a calendar with up to 1000 event entries, an alarm to remind you of the calendar events you’ve stored, and a to-do list. You can synchronize these tools with Microsoft Outlook through the Sidekick II’s USB data connection or wirelessly through Intellisync technology. The Intellisync Web-based application runs on any PC with a Web browser. With Intellysinc, you can view all photos on Sidekick II as in a photo gallery on your PC. All data is stored remotely.

With the T-Mobile Sidekick II you can send and receive virtual contact cards or vCards. With vCards, you can save and share contact information with friends. The Sidekick II also has a mini-LED flashlight. The Sidekick II also enables you to snap photos and share them with friends through messaging or email or the Intellysinc gallery. The camera also has a night mode for good shots in low light situations.

If you are a gaming fan, the game Rock and Rocket is available with the T-Mobile Sidekick II. You can also download more games through the t-zones service. The handset, running on GSM/GPRS 900/1800/1900 frequencies, is powered by a lithium ion battery which provides 4.5 hours of digital talk time, and 60 hours of digital standby. It has an internal memory of 48 MB.

Loaded as it is with so many cool features, the T-Mobile Sidekick II seems pretty awesome -- much like a Swiss Army knife. But it seems even that isn’t the end of the road. It’s widely rumored that the US cellphone market will soon have to admit a new entrant, the T-Mobile Sidekick III, before Christmas!

Radio Show #4: Creating Prof Dev. for Teachers who are Interested in using Cell Phones in Learning

Link to Show

Chat Transcript from Show:
Liz Kolb:Welcome to Cell Phones in Learning, we will start in 5 minutes!
Liz Kolb:Today's topic: Creating Professional Development Scaffolds for Teachers who are interested in using student cell phones with school learning
Liz Kolb:http://pollingplaces.nytimes.com/
Liz Kolb:http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/top-news/?i=55665
Guest1207:my display name is now Guest1209
Liz Kolb:http://drop.io
Peggy_G:sorry I had computer issues and had to restart. Missed a bit! Great to be here!
Peggy_G:I love your suggestions for podcasts. Students love doing them!
Peggy_G:Funny that you say textmessaging is complex. :-) Kids seem so comfortable with it.
Peggy_G:I definitely agree with you about teachers/adults using text messaging. I've read some really "interesting" text messages from adult friends that seem to be all on the wrong keys. :-)
Peggy_G:Twitter is a good way to learn to write messages in 140 characters.
Liz Kolb:http://textnovel.com
Guest1238:my display name is now Guest1241
Peggy_G:I haven't heard of twittertories but that sounds fantastic!
Liz Kolb:http://www.sindhtoday.net/south-asia/32245.htm
Liz Kolb:http://Notifu.com
Peggy_G:found the link for twitterstories http://twitterstories.blogspot.com/
Peggy_G:fascinating that notifu is so interactive--not just sending messages one-way! Great!
Peggy_G:it's so helpful when you suggest out-of-classroom alternatives!
klmontgomery:Will you autograph it?
Peggy_G:I took your book to our Westside AzTEA meeting on Monday and shared it with everyone. We're all excited about it!
Peggy_G:Do you have a wikispace or blog space for sharing feedback on the book?
klmontgomery:Great.
Liz Kolb:No, but that is a great idea! I'll set one up
Peggy_G:Will definitely be back in 2 weeks! :-) Love your show!
Liz Kolb:Thanks Peggy
Peggy_G:Send a tweet for your feedback space and I'll contribute.
Liz Kolb:Will Do!

Next LIVE Show: Wed. Nov. 19th at 3:00pm (eastern standard time). Topic: Creating student projects using text messaging.