Lets face it – I am a big gadget fan. 

I am also a fan of Microsoft Technology.  This is probably because of my deep involvement in Microsoft Development. 

I currently have a Samsung Blackjack Windows Mobile phone running Windows Mobile 6.0 and for a while I have been drooling over the new iPhones and Android Smartphones.  But my contract with Rogers is not up for renewal until March 2011.

However, my wife’s contract is overdue for renewal – and so we approached Rogers about what they would be willing to do if we both upgraded our phones now – threatening to move to Telus or Bell if we didn’t get the deal we wanted. 

Rogers gave us a great offer and so we decided to go ahead and upgrade from them.

Since the new Windows Phone 7 platform was announced at MIX I have been interested in trying to develop for the platform – after all its Silverlight, a technology that should be relatively easy for me to work with as an ASP.NET developer. 

Most people say that you need to use a platform to develop for it, and its been getting great reviews anyway, so we decided to “order” two new Samsung Focus phones. 

The Samsung Focus appears to be the best of the first batch of Windows phones, with its Super AMOLED screen, so the fact that this was the phone being offered “exclusively” by Rogers was great.

That was nearly 3 weeks ago – the Windows Phone 7 launch in North America was Nov 8th.  And still no phone.  My son Andrew who works for Microsoft and was not allowed to get his “free” phone until Nov 18th received his Focus from AT&T last week – but still no Samsung Focus phones in Canada.

Rogers said if we found the phone in a store before they were able to ship us one – we could buy the phone through a Rogers “store”, and we have been phoning all the local stores almost daily – they must be getting fed up with us by now – but still no phone.

What’s up? Who is at fault here?  Is it Samsung for shipping all their phones to the US for the product launch?  Or is it Rogers fault for not getting their order in early enough to get all the branding, that all carriers add, done? 

My feeling is that the culprit is Rogers – as there does not appear to be a shortage of Focus phones in the US.  I am beginning to lose my patience and I am seriously considering switching to Bell – who have their Windows Phone 7 phone in stock in our local store.

Regardless – at some point in the near future I will have a new Windows Phone 7 phone, and I have already started work on a development project, so you’ll be hearing more about this new toy.

This morning was the official launch of the new Windows Phone 7 mobile phones.  Microsoft have been talking about this new mobile OS for just over a year now, and promised that the phones would be available in time for the Holiday buying season.  Today we heard that the official date will be November 8th in North America.

When Apple launched the iPhone, it was only available initially in the US on AT&T.  As usual Canada got the short end of the stick – Rogers didn’t get the iPhone for about a year.  I had just extended my contract so I was not able to get a subsidized phone.

That contract is now coming to an end, and so I am thankful that I will have the choice of 3 significant mobile phone platforms to choose from for my next phone – the Apple iOS 4, Google’s Android and now the Microsoft Windows Phone 7.

I have an iPod Touch and so I am familiar with the Apple OS.  Its mature and there are a lot of Apps for it (although it is sometimes hard to find the good ones), but one of the advantages of both the Google Android OS and the MS Windows Phone 7 OS is that the OS is available in many different form factors from many different phone hardware vendors.

Also as a .NET developer I like the idea that I can develop Applications for the Windows Phone 7 phones due to the underlying .NET Framework used for Application Development on the phone.

So over the next few weeks I will be checking out the new phones, and trying to decide what will be my phone for the next 2-3 years.

From all the buzz and hype in the tech media, you would have thought that today was the second coming of the "Messiah”.  For those of you who have been out of the loop – or hiking in the Himalyas - Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple today announced the new Apple iPad device.

I must admit I was one of the sceptics.  Before today there have been a few failed attempts to establish “Tablet Devices” – can anyone say Apple Newton?  But I have to say that I think Apple has got it about right this time.  You can quibble over a missing feature here and a missing feature there, but the overall package – size, features, app support and most importantly price is in my opinion a winner.

Why? What makes it a winner? 

1. I love my iPod Touch and I would have bought an iPhone, when they became available in Canada had I not just upgraded my phone a few months before its release.
   Even if all this new device did was provide a larger screen and allowed me to watch video in HD it would be worth considering when I need to replace my iPod Touch.
2. I also own a Sony eReader device – I travel quite a bit and I love the concept of bringing a selection of books with me on this portable device – rather than the bulk of many paperbacks.  The new iBooks app and iBookStore means that it is now truly possible to have one device for audio/video and eBooks.
3. I like to read newspapers and magazines and I have not found an iPhone app that is satisfying – and while the eReader style of Newspaper/Magazine browsing is better, lack of color is a drawback. 
   The “New York Times” app looked really cool – like a real eNewspaper - and if my favorite newspapers did the same I would consider subscribing.
4. Email/Word etc – no smartphone  type device is truly satisfying for email or word documents – a larger screen provides a much better experience.  I currently travel with a 4lb Dell Notebook (an XPS 1330) mainly for the Email and Office App capabilities – this device with its Email and $10/app iWork apps will satisfy most of my needs in this area.
   If I need to do some development while travelling I would still need my notebook at a bare minimum, but for most trips this would suffice (especially with the keyboard dock).
5. Web browsing – as with email no smartphone is really satisfying as a web browser.
6. 10 hrs battery life – While people are complaining about this being much less than a kindle or an eReader – this is plenty for most uses as it can be plugged in overnight.
7. $499 for the same capabilities I have in my iPod – this won’t break the bank and is competitive with NetBook pricing.

That’s my quick review – Can haz plz?