Geekzone Technology Community

Renaissance Limited joins "Apple Consultants Network"

Tue, 9 Feb 2010 00:10 +1200

Renaissance's Apple Division, Renaissance Education Division (RED), and Renaissance Service, are all founding members of the newly established Apple Consultants Network in New Zealand.

Intel Itanium 9300 processor raises bar for scalable, resilient mission-critical computing

Mon, 8 Feb 2010 19:43 +1200

New Itanium processors more than double the performance of the previous versions, with up to an 800 percent increase in system interconnect bandwidth, up to a 500 percent gain in memory bandwidth and up to 700 percent more memory capacity.

Telecommunications Industry Group providing a launch pad for Kiwi businesses

Fri, 5 Feb 2010 04:00 +1200

Innovative New Zealanders keen to set up their own business will have a chance to turn their dreams into reality in a competition being run as part of the Planet 2010 Communications and Technology Conference in Auckland next month.

Ponoko easy making system now available in the EU

Fri, 5 Feb 2010 01:28 +1200

The development also opens up the European market for creators around the world. Items can now be produced in the EU and shipped locally, reducing the cost – and environmental impact – of long-distance shipping to the EU.

Symbian completes open source migration project

Thu, 4 Feb 2010 23:41 +1200

The Symbian Foundation offers free code to everyone to enable them to contribute openly to the future of mobile.

Business PCs arrive with new Intel Core vPro processor family

Thu, 4 Feb 2010 01:53 +1200

Business PCs based on 2010 Intel Core vPro processors with Intel Turbo Boost meet growing office performance demands, include enhanced security and management features.

NZICT welcomes two new Board members

Thu, 4 Feb 2010 01:45 +1200

NZICT has announced the appointment of two new Board members - CEO of Gen-i Australasia Chris Quin and Country Manager of Dell NZ Mike Hill.

Penguin launches interactive e-book for children on iPhone (with video)

Wed, 3 Feb 2010 19:10 +1200

In association with New Zealand-based Kiwa Media, Penguin Group (NZ) brings a number of popular children's picture books to touch-enabled iPhone devices.

Mint Chicks leave major label Warner for New Zealand tech start-up MusicHy.pe

Wed, 3 Feb 2010 11:00 +1200

Using the MusicHy.pe platform the Mint Chicks are running three major competitions that include the download of Creative Commons licensed sound files for fans to remix and upload.

Nokia announces first developer conference in Sydney

Wed, 3 Feb 2010 02:42 +1200

The Forum Nokia Developer Conference 2010 is happening in early March 2010.

Intergen first Microsoft Sharepoint Elite Certified Partner

Tue, 2 Feb 2010 20:33 +1200

Locally developed initiative certifies Intergen for highest degree of expertise and skill.

Kiwi student's design to appear on Google New Zealand homepage

Tue, 2 Feb 2010 20:00 +1200

Amelia Abbot from Nelson's Hampden Street School was announced as the winner of the inaugural New Zealand Doodle 4 Google competition in November 2009. The competition, held in association with The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, asked students to create a Google ‘doodle', based on the Google logo, to share their vision of New Zealand.

Sony Ericsson Aspen latest Windows Phone

Tue, 2 Feb 2010 08:11 +1200

The Aspen is running the Windows Mobile 6.5.3, a small update to Microsoft's mobile operating system, with improved touch interface.

Vodafone and BlackBerry take smartphones to the next level with Bold 9700

Tue, 2 Feb 2010 02:02 +1200

BlackBerry fans around the country can now get their hands on the next generation BlackBerry Bold 9700.

ProSecure by NETGEAR brings enterprise-class security to small businesses and home offices

Tue, 2 Feb 2010 02:00 +1200

ProSecure UTM5 extends security technology to businesses with five users or less and to home office setups.

Vodafone UK Twitter wasn’t hacked, just a disgruntled employee

freitasm — Fri, 5 Feb 2010 21:20 Y

In an interesting story, The Next Web is telling us about a slip in the Vodafone UK Twitter account. A Vodafone UK employee with access to the company's Twitter account posted "VodafoneUK is fed up of dirty homo's (sic) and is going after beaver". Screenshot on the right, since the tweet has since been deleted (obviously).

Since then someone behind the VodafoneUK account has repeatedly posted "We weren't hacked. A severe breach of rules by staff in our building, dealing with that internally. We're very sorry"." in response to queries from its Twitter followers.

This reminds us all that the power given to employees that face the public are much bigger than before. It's easy to see someone snapped under pressure, or after a more "demanding" customer asked one too many questions. But still is not an excuse for public displays of "affection".

Telecom and Vodafone have we covered where kiwis work, live and play - your turn to sell it now

freitasm — Fri, 5 Feb 2010 03:05 Y

Apparently advertising standards in New Zealand wouldn't allow a company saying anything bad about a competitor's service or product - even if it's true - so a TV ad like this one wouldn't be produced here:

It won't matter anyway, because in terms of coverage, both of our largest mobile operators claim to have us covered - almost completely.

For example, Telecom New Zealand has a XT mobile network that "covers 97% of the places Kiwis work, live and play."

Vodafone New Zealand also operates a rather large network, even though the blurb on their website is quite confusing: "Our 3G Broadband (HSDPA) network currently covers areas in Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin, Whangarei, Whangamata, Tauranga, Rotorua, Taupo, New Plymouth, Wanganui, Napier, Palmerston North, Nelson and Queenstown. If you're travelling outside 3G broadband areas, our 2G (GPRS) network will cover 97% of the places people live and work in New Zealand. Please note, however, that you will experience considerably slower speeds when connecting onto the GPRS network. We have 97% coverage of where people live, work and play in New Zealand."

I have asked Paul Brislen to clarify this, so the official short answer is "We have 3G coverage (including 3G Extend) to 97% of the population. We also have 2G coverage to 97% of the population." (actually his email provided a lot more information). So I'd say they have us covered too.

Now my question to you. If those two giants can't compete in coverage, then what features would you use as a selling point if you were in charge of the marketing for these companies? Post in the comments below (and yes, "We operate a reliable network" will probably appear in the replies).

UPDATE: At the risk. Even if you work for one the companies - or the other - your anonymous comments are welcome on this post. It's about fun and trying to find something worth in all the marketing blurb we are bombarded with.

There are more serious things than Bill Shock: modern telephone fraud

freitasm — Tue, 2 Feb 2010 23:19 Y

In the last couple of weeks we have seen a series of articles in our mainstream media about "bill shock". A "bill shock" happens when you travel overseas and get a surprisingly large bill on your mobile usage.

I do not have sympathy for people who claim "bill shock" because people know there are roaming charges involved when you travel. When you arrive in another country both Vodafone and Telecom send SMS warning users of different costs for voice and data connections. You signed a contract that says you have to pay for roaming costs.

I don't like the mobile data roaming costs as anyone else. I think our telcos simply make as much as they can - it's unbelievable a mobile operator in the U.S. can give their customers 5GB of mobile data for a fixed price, but charge visitors something that (adding up the margins) comes to $10/MB. The mobile data roaming prices are a joke.

But there's something else that local companies will have worry more and more with the adoption of VoIP solutions - the old telephone fraud.

Just to give you an idea, a company has a digital PBX. For some reason it's not completely secure and some crooks find it. These people then enter their own configuration in this digital PBX and create a "company" to sell cheap calls to China, Korea, South Africa. They sell some calling cards around and publish their "access number". Callers buy these cheap services, call the access number and after the dial tone enter the number they wish to call and get connected - all using the unsuspected company's digital PBX over their VoIP lines.

Companies may find this after a month or so, when the first bills come in. But by then they suffered under a constant stream of outbound calls and have to pay for it.

This is kind of tricks work with new digital PBX systems, but also with older ones. An unsecure route to an outside line, a non-secure voice mail access and things can be done, easily.

This is being discussed on Geekzone here, and shows an interesting series of questions:

Should the telco monitor your usage and contact you if patterns change (a la credit card companies?)
Should the telco be responsible for a misconfigured VoIP installation that their technicians are not involved with?
Should an insurance be required for telephony services now?
Should insurance companies charge less from companies using VoIP installed by certified technicians?
Should the telco "forgive" the bill and simply pay for the calls that are not their problem in first place?

What do you think?

Windows Mobile 6.5.3 in the wild: advances in User Interface

freitasm — Tue, 2 Feb 2010 08:12 Y

Microsoft has released a small update to Windows Mobile, its phone operating system. Windows Mobile 6.5.3 is a step ahead in the "facelift" of this smartphone platform, and the latest update brings the following new features:

Capacitive touchscreen support
Platform to enable multi-touch
Touch controls throughout system (no need for stylus)
Consistent Navigation
Horizontal scroll bar replaces tabs (think settings>system>about screen)
Magnifier brings touch support to legacy applications
Simplified out-of-box experience with fewer steps
Drag and drop icons on Start Screen

I am told the native browser performance has improved, with decrease in page load time, better memory management, pan & flick gestures smoothed, and zoom & rotation speed increased.

The OS comes with updated runtime tools (.NET CF 3.5, SQL CE 3.1), and support for Arabic read/write document.

The update in itself is a small release but it should bring the venerable operating system closer to current consumer markets. The first handset with the new operating system is the Sony Ericsson Aspen, just announced.

Screenshots below - click for larger versions:

Trade Me, the behemoth on NZ’s Internet

juha — Mon, 1 Feb 2010 23:07 Y

How busy is Trade Me these days? According to Trade Me developer Jay, very busy:

Yesterday being Monday February 1, 2010, Trade Me served up almost 2.4 million pages an hour, or just under 40,000 a minute.

Wonder how much data the 1.4 billion pages represent? Should see if WAND or someone else has stats on NZ Internet traffic.

Technorati Tags: Trade Me,Internet,New Zealand

Google YouTube on TelstraClear: is this still affecting you?

freitasm — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 23:09 Y

I have been using TelstraClear cable modem services for many years, in its many different "brands" - Chello, Saturn, TelstraClear - and really enjoy having a plan that provides me with consistently good speeds and reliability (but don't try calling their customer services line).

Digital media in all its different forms is now part of many families every day life. Here at home we are able to rent and buy movies from iTunes at any time and have those quickly delivered to our media center. We have two VoIP lines at home, being completely POTS free. We have 100GB+ of online backup stored at Mozy servers - including all those iTunes movies, music, family photos and short movies captured with our Flip video camera. We have six computers at home, and we work from home.

This is all possible because we subscribe to a TelstraClear 80GB cable modem plan with good download and upload speeds - and frequently go over the cap. I don't mind paying for the service when it provides me with the means to exercise my freedom - freedom of work, freedom of play.

A few years back, Dr Allan Freeth, TelstraClear CEO was quoted as saying "the main result of faster broadband links to the home may be more downloads of pornography and movies rather than improvements to productivity." This was also reported on Computerworld.

That statement made then InternetNZ Executive Director Keith Davidson jump with a release saying "Dr Freeth's view that true high-speed broadband available at home is not important for New Zealand's future is not a view we share. High speed broadband - 100mbps and more - is vital to New Zealand's future" .

So what? The Internet is for Porn (safe for work except for the word "porn"). But try watching this short movie on a TelstraClear connection - even a fast 10Mbps connection - and you might have problems. Actually since just before September last year people started reporting problems when accessing YouTube clips over a TelstraClear connection.

This problem is still going on, and while TelstraClear have very quietly admitted there's a problem, it seems the solution is not coming any time soon.

Could it be that politics of peering are involved in this? Peering is a very sensitive subject within TelstraClear. Dr Allan Freeth remarks were "Peering has become an extremely emotional issue, as noted in the recent Internet NZ report, which also noted there was no evidence of market failure. Our decision was a commercial one - we need to earn a return for the use of our assets. While some people believe the Internet is 'free', I can assure you my shareholder doesn't see it that way. Organisations that have content they want to supply to end users can buy a service from us, which is tied in with the cost of national carriage. This is still more cost effective than international bandwidth."

A lot of an ISP traffic goes to all of Google's properties. YouTube is probably the biggest one of those services and to help reduce traffic, Google does peer locally with larger ISPs. It basically comes to this: Google is clever and wants free (or low cost) distribution of its content. To this end they enter an agreement with larger ISPs and colocate cache boxes.

Of course if your ISP don't have one of these boxes then your traffic to Google's online properties needs to find the content somewhere else. In TelstraClear's case it seems this traffic goes all the way to the US and back.

There are local YouTube caches in New Zealand, with other ISPs. But the problem then is back to the peering camp. It seems TelstraClear rather have a lot of traffic going out over international connections than to have it flowing locally and pay for it to a competitor.

If this is not the case, I'd love to see an explanation from TelstraClear - something I feel they owe their customers. To me it comes down to YouTube access through TelstraClear is crippled and the way the company acts is disrespectful to their paying customers.

Microsoft Developer Survey - win a trip to the Microsoft Professional Developers Conference (LAX)

freitasm — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 02:46 Y

Microsoft will start pushing this promotion tomorrow (1st February), but it is already available so if you would like to be in to win an all paid trip to Los Angeles to attend the Microsoft Professional Developers Conference then read on:

"Microsoft would like to get to know NZ developers better so that we can better cater resources, training and events in the near future. We would like NZ developers to fill in a brief survey. Every completed response will go into a draw for a chance to win an all expense paid trip to the next Microsoft Professional Developers Conference in Los Angeles. Terms and conditions apply."

The T&C and survey are here.

Losers in the Apple iPad launch

juha — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 21:20 Y

There it is then, another culture-changing device from Apple, as Mike Elgan puts it. The iPad may not be everything to everyone, but Apple has launched the device with its usual thoroughness, and it's backed up by apps, media and 3G right from the start.
So yes, the iPad should sell well. The concept is nicely thought out, the design excellent as per usual and the marketing slick.
Who will hurt the most from the iPad then? My take is that Microsoft will smart the most. Perhaps Microsoft was too early with its TabletPCs, technologically speaking, and insisting on using styluses with them but they never really took off and look clunky compared to the iPad. Like geeky clipboards, unlike the cleanly designed Apple variant. Unfortunately for HP and Microsoft, I don't think there will be many takers for the Slate when it comes out.
Amazon will suffer too. Its Kindle is now officially boring and overpriced. End of story really.
What happened Intel being the official CPU supplier to Apple? The iPad runs custom silicon, a 1GHz A4 chip, made by PA Semi that was bought by Apple in 2008. Not much is known about the A4 at this stage. It could possibly be based on the Power architecture and it does apparently have an integrated graphics unit, like Intel's latest chips do. Clearly, Intel didn't have the parts Apple wanted for the iPad, and it'd be interesting to know why. I'm guessing power efficiency was a major driver behind Apple's decision to go with the P A Semi-designed part.
Adobe not looking too Flash on the iPad either. There's a Mexican stand-off going on between Adobe and Apple, with no Flash support for the iPhone or the iPad on the horizon. Some people will say that's a good thing, but most users will be annoyed when they hit sites that require Flash on their iPads, and there are many many many of those around.
As for the content, too bad if your media organisation isn't supplying material for the iPad. or outside the US. Is Fairfax or APN talking to Apple? If not, they should be.
The iPad isn't a great fit for Vodafone NZ in its present configuration as the 3G support will be 850MHz and 2100MHz, and not 900MHz, just like the iPhone. Telecom NZ of course has 850MHz 3G but will it be able to resell iPads? It didn't get the iPhone.
Plus, there will be no voice call facility on the iPad, only data. How will that fly with our Two Telcos, both of which love putting together Byzantine calling plans that ask you to pay in advance for minutes that you may or may not use, to subsidise handsets?

Technorati Tags: Apple,iPad,iphone,Microsoft,HP,OS X

Other features of MyFreeview|HD JCMatthew DVR-320T

MyFreeviewHDReview — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 04:06 Y

In this post I will touch on some less common usage scenarios with the JCMatthew DVR-320T.

Software upgrade
The unit has a USB port at the back. When you want to install a software upgrade copy the required files onto a USB stick and connect it. The Menu => System => Information hides an option to trigger a Software upgrade. All you need to do is drill down into the menus mentioned above and hit the Red button. Now you are able to browse the contents of you stick and apply the software upgrade.

Ethernet port / Extracting the recordings
I was hoping to be able to use the Ethernet port to extract the recordings, but it didn't seem to work quite so well. That's not to say that the recordings can't be extracted. The 320-T comes with a standard 3.5" HDD therefore you can use an existing enclosure (or your Desktop PC) to get the job done.

Radio
Listening to the radio channels available from Freeview is easy. There is a TV/Radio button on the remote that switches between radio and TV. What surprised me was how fast it was to switch between the two. All my previous units took ages to flip to and fro but that was surely not the case with the 320-T.

RWD / FWD
When watching a previous recording you might want to skip (ads) or rewind and you should know there is a trick here. There is a lag of around 1 second until the command to stop rewinding/fwd-ig is actually processed. What this means is that you should push the play button just before the actual play time that you want. An easy trick when forwarding past the ads is to hit play when you see the promos that follow the ads. By the time the command is processed the promos will be almost over and you'll only have to put up with a few seconds of "undesirable" content.

The other things you should know is that pushing the RWD/FWD buttons will increase the speed twofold: 2x 4x and 16x. The faster it goes the less accurate you'll be with selecting the play start time.

Record and shut down
A feature I quite like is the ability to start recording a programme and then shut down the unit. The programme keeps recording which is very cool.

Pause vs. Record
The unit allows you to pause live TV at the push of a button. I reckon you should use Record instead as often as possible. But here are the differences I noticed:
- Pause does not persist the recorded programme to HDD and you cannot do much other than hit the Play button once you've Paused live TV
- Record allows you to change channels freely, shut down the unit and also keeps the recording on the drive for later viewing
- Pause is actually slow to kick in: once the button is pressed it actually takes 4 to 5 seconds for the programme to actually freeze...

About the author: Nick Parfene was born in Romania and emigrated to NZ in 2005. He is a consultant for a Wellington based IT company 4 days a week and spends most of his spare time building mobile solutions for a small start-up called Tmro. He adores his partner and his Goddaughter, loves playing adventure games on his PS3, sports, sci-fi, animals (has a dog called Haiduc) and travelling. He is slowly being drawn into the field of photography but has no regrets. You can follow Nick via his Twitter account @nicktmro or his blog http://www.tmro.net/blog.

Gorilla Technology is growing – We need you

paulspain — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 11:02 Y

Things are off to an exciting start for Gorilla Technology in 2010 so I am keen to find some new additions to our team. I'm looking for people like me - those who really enjoy working with technology and enjoy working with people. Our environment is ... (more in the full post)

Learn about Open Source at LCA 2010 Open Day

freitasm — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 00:02 Y

On Saturday 23rd January the LCA 2010 will open its doors to the public for LCA 2010 Open Day. Part of the week of linux.conf.au, which is happening 18-23 January 2010 (and despite the name this year is based in Wellington, New Zealand), the Open Day will be an opportunity for the general public to learn about free and open source software in a very hands on fashion.
There will be 30+ exhibitors from business, education and community groups demoing some of the software they have written, along with a number of other activities including:
- Activities for kids with the One Laptop per Child laptops in the Little Blu Kids Area
- Demonstrations from the Wellington makerspace group
- 2 New Zealand Electric Cars run with open source software
- 3 sessions about free and open source software
        "Open Source for Newbies" - Cat Allman & Leslie Hawthorn (Google Open Source Office)
        "50 ways to love your project" - Josh Berkus & Selena Deckelmann
        "Geek my car" - Jon Oxer
- And more
Check the PDF poster for this event for more information.
Registration for linux.conf.au is still continuing and the organisers expect 600 delegates for the main conference alone (with a split of 40% New Zealand, 40% Australia, and 20% from the Rest of the World).

Prizes for Geekzone Freeview Pizza evenings 2010 rolling in...

freitasm — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 23:12 Y

I have just sent out an email to our users in New Zealand inviting them to register for our Geekzone Freeview Pizza evenings 2010 - Wellington, Auckland, Christchurch.

This year events are sponsored by Freeview and Telecom New Zealand. Other sponsors are participating with prizes - full list after the pictures of the swag I am holding here for you...

Mobile handsets, USB modems and SIM cards - courtesy of Telecom New Zealand (four handsets, two USB modems) and Sony Ericsson (three handsets).

Freeview|HD DTR (Digital TV Recorder) and three digital satellite receivers, courtesy of DTVS.

Three EVA2000 courtesy of NETGEAR.

Polycom Communicator courtesy of Asnet Technology.

And here is the complete list (so far):

- 2degreesmobile (three $200 SIM + three $150 SIM or topup if existing customer)
- Air New Zealand (three tickets, one for each event)
- Altaro (21 licenses for Oops!Backup for Windows)
- Asnet Technology (three Polycom Communicator)
- BigHammer (three Kingston 16GB USB DataTraveller)
- Data centre limited (3x 1U colocation plus unlimited bandwidth for one year - you must register your interest at www.datacentre.co.nz before the meeting, drinks AKL)
- DTV Solutions (Homecast HT9200DTR WLG, three DTVS-1B satellite receivers)
- Microsoft New Zealand (three Windows 7 Ultimate retail)
- NETGEAR (three EVA2000 )
- Nutshell Leather Cases (one leather case matching each of the Telecom handsets below)
- NZ Internet Shop (Aeropress coffee maker WLG)
- NZS.com (online advertising packages)
- Quay Corporate (24" LCD WLG)
- sniff (drinks AKL/CHC/WLG)
- Sony (three NWZA840 walkman)
- Sony Ericsson (three W705 mobile phones, suitable for XT network)
- Stickemen Studios (concept art for King Fu Funk, Doc Clock, Dragon Master Spell Caster and Shadow Rising videogames)
- Symantec (six copies of Norton Antivirus)
- Telecom New Zealand (two sierra wireless 885u USB mobile broadband modem, two Samsung Ultra Touch S8300T, one Sony Ericsson W995 and one Sony Ericsson W705)

Note that to be in to win the colocation hosting and free bandwidth from Data centre limited you must be register your interest on their site and be present in each evening.

Please consider visiting these sponsors sites to show our appreciation!

AT&T LG eXpo Windows Mobile Phone with pico projector

freitasm — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 03:18 Y

I have just received the pico projector for my AT&T LG eXpo Windows Mobile phone (previous post here), and is it a nice addon - it basically projects whatever is on the main screen up to 66 inch (diagonal size, from 2.66m), with a resolution of 480x320 pixels.

It's powered by the phone itself, so I guess for longer sessions we will need the phone plugged in for power. It can be used to project presentations from Powerpoint mobile, or training - or any video really, including movies you might have on your device. Any sound comes out of the speakerphone (or your Bluetooth speakers) - I will try and get some external speakers plugged in if possible.

It adds only 50g to the phone and has a manual focus. You slide the lens cover to turn the projector on, and use the camera button to switch between landscape and portrait.

Here are some first pictures of the phone with the pico projector attachment and some projections at daytime - I will try and get a picture of a night time performance later:

Both the AT&T LG eXpo Windows Phone and the pico projector were supplied by AT&T for my review.

Linkification v64

RedJungle — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 22:01 Y

Have a great Xmas everybody. Blogs may be a little thin on the ground for a while - I'm off to get married in a few days!

News / Web Happenings:

Songbird 1.4.2 Released, Brings New Look, CD Ripping, and Device Support
Firefox 4 Windows mockup provides 5 UI hints of things to come
Etherpad Now Open Source
uTorrent 2.0 RC Brings Transfer Cap and UDP Support, Video Streaming to Come
Firefox 3.5.6 Update Brings Security and Stability Fixes
Google's Text-to-Speech Converter Service
Goo.gl, Google's URL Shortener
Mapping out public transit options in Auckland: Google New Zealand Blog

General / Neat Stuff:

Google Tool to Check How Much of a Page Appears in Typical Browsers

Apple:

Apple Releases Firmware Update to Address Screen Flickering on 27-Inch iMacs
Apple Rolls Out iTunes Movie Bundles

Development:

jQuery 1.4 Alpha 2 Released
Mono 2.6.1 is out
ASP.NET MVC 2 RC Released

FAIL of the week:

Safety Product Fail

AT&T LG eXpo Windows Mobile Phone first impressions

freitasm — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 03:50 Y

The AT&T LG eXpo Windows Mobile phone was just launched in the U.S. and I already got one here, courtesy of AT&T. First impressions on opening the box: it's smaller than I thought it would be, and lighter too. I haven't tested the whole thing yet (waiting for its unlock code so I can use it on Telecom's XT network) but just using Windows Mobile to browse around the options and it seems to be a very responsive phone.
UPDATE: Very impressed! This is the first Windows Mobile phone I've used that actually shows Internet Explorer Mobile under a good light. Probably because of the fast processor, Internet Explorer mobile actually performs really well on this handset - unlike the HTC Touch Pro 2 which seemed too slow for Internet Explorer mobile.
It's now charging and I will then configure ActiveSync, the fingerprint scanner, and all other options. Some just-out-of-the-box pictures: