Cleaning Google Maps Mobile
April 18, 2007
A while ago, I extolled the wonders of Google Maps Mobile for your smartphone. I still think it’s one of the best applications ever developed for smartphones. But it has one huge flaw. It remembers the maps you’ve viewed, so that if you go back there, it loads more quickly - saving time. No, no, that’s not the flaw - stay with me a bit longer. Google Maps Mobile saves these maps in a cache on your smartphone. The “tile-cache.GLM” (as the cache is called on my Treo 650) can quickly grow to massive size. Since I regularly use Google Maps Mobile, the cache can quickly become the largest file on my Treo.
So, it’s important that you periodically wipe clean this cache. To do that, find the option to “Erase All.” On the Treo, first activate the top bar, then Options, then Erase All. You may then get a dialog box asking (in essence) if you’re sure. Yes, you’re sure - hit the “Erase” button. All your old maps and preferences onGoogle Maps Mobile will then be erased, and when you open Google Maps Mobile again, you’ll be looking at good ole San Francisco.
I hope that in a new version soon, Google Maps Mobile will introduce some options to limit the growth of this cache. Maybe a maximum size (after which the older maps are replaced by newer ones), or a reminder to flush one’s cache.
In the meanwhile, Map On!
Use your smartphone as a credit card?
April 16, 2007
This seems too good to be true. Visa and Mastercard are (separately) working on technology that would make it possible for your smartphone (Blackberry, Palm devices, Windows Mobile devices, and many cell phones) to also operate as a credit card. You’d make purchases by bringing your smartphone close to specially designed EFT (credit-card machines that you see in stores) which would then detect your credit card info and process it. And your smartphone would then tell you how much money you’ve got left in the bank. Smartphones would also be able to get info from business cards as well as specially-designed advertisements in magazines. Ain’t technology wondrous (and a bit scary, too)?
Thanks to MyTreo.net for this nugget.
Windows Mobile doesn’t push
April 10, 2007
If you want push email (see my recent post on this topic), for heaven’s sake, don’t get a smartphone that runs on Windows Mobile. Over the past two weeks, a friend of mine bought a T-Mobile Dash, and another friend bought a Palm Treo 750wx. Both runs on Windows Mobile. And neither comes with push email, like the Blackberry and Sidekick does. Both friends ended up returning both devices.
The Palm 650, 680, and 700p (which run the Palm Operating System) can run Chatter Email, an excellent 3rd-party push email program. The Dash and Treo 750wx (and numerous other Windows Mobile smartphones as well) doesn’t have a comparable program. So, unless you have a huge business with its own IT solution or unless I’m badly in error (and if I am, leave a nice comment!), do not buy a smartphone that runs Windows Mobile. Buy a Palm Treo 680 or 700p, a T-Mobile Sidekick, or a nice new Blackberry like the 8700g. If you absolutely must have reliable AIM (AOL instant messaging) in addition to push email, then get the Sidekick. Just don’t get a Windows Mobile device if you want push email.
