Hey, I've got to tell you about my new phone. It's a T-Mobile MDA Pro and in a nutshell it's a full Windows Mobile 5.0 PocketPC PDA with a proper QWERTY keyboard, a 3G GPRS Phone, a 1.3 megapixel camera and an mp3 player.

It uses removable SD Cards for storage, has a 640x480 touch sensitive TFT screen which can be rotated into landscape or portrait mode, has bluetooth, wireless lan and infra-red connectivity built in and it can be used as a wireless modem to a laptop.

OK, as you can tell from the pictures, it's not the smallest and most ergonomic 'phone, but you can't everything. And this gadget just about does everything I want. Let's start with the 'phone bit.

The MDA Pro has all the features you'd expect from a modern mobile phone.

It can send:

• voice messages
• sms text messages
• mms picture messages
• video messages
• e-mails

The only bad thing I can say about the phone is that, being a full PDA, it's rather large and not very ergonomic as a phone - you wouldn't carry around on a night out. However, I can live with that for all the other riches it brings with it.

Now the PDA - it's a well specified PocketPC using a 520mhz Intel processor running the latest version of Windows Mobile 5.0. The screen is an absolute beauty being large and crystal clear. I've run out of time now, so here's some advertising blurb that I'll use later to rewrite this article:

This handset, sometimes called the HTC MDA Pro, has the same specifications as the I-Mate
JasJar, Qtek 9000, Orange SPV M5000 and the O2 XDA Executive. The MDA Pro operates on the new Windows Mobile 5.0 OS and is the first PDA phone to offer WLAN, GPRS and UMTS connectivity.

The top screen can be twisted and folded to operate either with the main 640x480 pixel
display covered and protected or exposed on the outside so it can be used (and looks) like
the the infamous and extremely popular T-Mobile MDA Compact.

The MDA Pro incorporates a 1.3 megapixel camera for capturing both quality still photos as
well as video clips, it also has a second camera next to the display screen allowing for 3G
face to face video calling across the T-Mobile 3G network.

No need to drag your bulky laptop down to your nearest HotSpot - the T-mobile MDA 4 has
built-in wireless ethernet allowing for connections wherever there is a wireless signal.
On the inside, the MDA Pro offers a full Qwerty keyboard and supports pocket versions of
Internet Explorer, Outlook, Excel and Word. This is one of the most powerful PDA phones
available providing laptop functionality sqeezed into a PDA sized mobile phone.

The T-Mobile MDA Pro is the fourth generation PDA in the MDA line of products. It brings
complete connectivity, seamless secure access, and total control. Contains a full
specification PDA, a tri-band mobile phone, a full QWERTY keyboard and broadband Wi-Fi
access - all in one device. Advanced features include video conferencing with two cameras,
email attachments and edit or read Microsoft Word and Excel documents.

Bluetooth audioBluetooth dataColour screenData compatibleGPRSGamesHandsfree includedIncludes digital cameraInfra-red (IrDA)Java enabledOptional car kitPersonal organiserPicture messaging (MMS)Polyphonic ringtonesPredictive textRingtones - download and/or composerSync with PCVibrating alertVideo captureVideo/audio playerWAP
Feature List: Band - UMTS Dual modes: WCDMA 2100Mhz + GSM/GPRS 900/1800/1900Mhz Browser - Windows Mobile Pocket IE GPRS/EDGE class - GPRS Multi-slot class 10 Processor / OS - QCT MSM6250 + Intel Bulverde 520Mhz / Microsoft Windows Mobile PPC PE Memory - 128MB ROM + 64MB SDRAM + MMC/SDIO (external) T-Mobile MMI customization - Compliant Messaging - SMS/ MMS/ Outlook Email/ MSN Messenger/ BlackBerry Push Email WAP - Push Partial compliant PIM/sync/RDM - Windows Mobile Pocket Outlook/ Microsoft Active Sync/ Microsoft OTA Java - JSR 120, JSR 185 (JTWI 1.0, CLDC 1.1, MIDP 2.0), JSR135, JSR 184 Games - Microsoft Pocket PC embedded game (Jawbreaker, Solitaire) 3D Gaming - Currently not supported DRM - OMA DMA 1.0 (Forward Lock, Separate Delivery) Camera/ Flash - 1.3MP CMOS camera/ Camera Flash + 2nd CIF camera Video Player - Video: AVI/ H.263/ MPEG4/ WMV; Audio: AMR, AAC, AAC+ Video telephony - 3G-H324M Sound/Ringtones - MIDI, MP3, WMA, AAC, AAC+/ MIDI, MP3, WMA Connections - Bluetooth/ IrDA FIR/WLAN 802.11b Interfaces - mini-USB/ MMC/SDIO/ USIM/3.5Ø audio jack/ RF connector Display - 3.6”, 480 x 640 pixels 65K colors TFT-LCD Accessories - Sync. cable/ AC adapter/ carrying case/ travel charger car adapter/ stereo wired headset/ manual Dimensions (mm) - 131.6(L) x 79(W) x 21.6 (T) mm / 5.18(L) x 3.11(W) x 0.85(T) in Weight (g)

MicroMart
Bingle Bongle (c) 2006

I'd been pondering for a while about the best use to make of a couple of old computers of mine. They were both Celeron 466 powered machines with between 64mb and 320mb of memory. The hard discs have long been stripped out and used in newer computers and I was left only with a pathetic pair of 6gb hard drives between them.

Then I discovered Linux and put one machine to use in being an Apache Web Server running Samba, MySQL, PHP, PHPWeb, Perl, WordPress, MediaWiki and a print server on my wireless home network. But that's a story for later...

The other machine has now risen from the ashes of scrapdom and been reborn as a Network Attached Storage (NAS) device. I'd been looking into buying more hard discs for my ever growing collection of digital photos, digital video, mp3 files and internet junk. The trouble was that they needed to be installed on a computer running an operating system which would need configuring etc, etc.

Then I heard of NAS devices and i loved the idea that you could have a hard disc with an network card plugged into a network. But the prices, oh the prices! Take the price of a hard disc and double it for the case and network interface. It was not even a remote possibility.

So I did a bit of searching on tinternet and discovered NASLite, a free program which converts old PC's into NAS devices. The story will follow soon ...

MicroMart

Bingle Bongle (c) 2006

This is my own little blog for me to do whatever I like with. I can't pretend it will useful or revolutionary in any way, but it is mine.

MicroMart