I’ve spent most of the day working on the new iPhone section of Pocket PC Central, aptly named iPhone Edition.  I’m excited about this new part of the site for two reasons: first, it’s always interesting to broaden the products and topics covered by PPCC. The second is that the iPhone, which has changed so much of the handheld landscape, is about to change itself, and covering the evolution of a popular product is great.

Apple is announcing, most expect, the 2nd Gen iPhone on Monday.  Commonly called the 3G iPhone, the new Apple smartphone (or perhaps smartphones) will work with faster wireless networks, allow for 3rd party software, will sync with Exchange and will feature a new and improved OS. With PPCC: iPhone Edition, we’ll try to blend what makes Pocket PC Central so successful with the iPhone universe; of course, there’s a great deal of information out there about the iPhone, and I certainly know that much of it is high-quality, but hopefully we can add to the conversation and even help a few folks out in the process.

Stay tuned to iPhone Edition’s 3G iPhone page on Monday for the latest details and feel free to e-mail me with any questions or comments regarding the new sub-section of PPCC.  I’m calling it quits for the week.

-M

I spent some time this afternoon working on my full review of the iPod touch.  Though Pocket PC Central is primarily known for its Windows Mobile device information, the MP3 side of the site (which we call PPCC: MP3 Player Edition) has been growing in traffic over the last year or so.  If you haven’t seen it, please take a look.  As a result, we’ve been trying to cover more of the stand-out devices currently available in the sea of mobile audio and video players.

The iPod touch is one of my favorite mobile devices in some time.  There’s no question that the iPhone is also a fantastic product, but I feel it simply doesn’t excel at many of the things smartphones should  do (I could write an entire essay on the practical shortcomings of the touch keyboard alone).  The iPhone’s technology ported to a dedicated media player, on the other hand, is an entirely different story.  The iPhone’s iPod interface was and is amazing, and the iPod touch is really little more than the isolation of that functionality without all of the telephonic add-ons.  I should have the full iPod touch review completed within the next couple of days.  If you want to read what I’ve written so far, you can take a look at the iPod touch Review entry on the Works in Progress page.  I also published a First Impressions review of the touch the first day I began using it (which was September 15) if you’re interested.  I’ve love to hear any thoughts you might have.

Enjoy what little is left of your weekend.  I have some TV to catch up on.

M.N.