You might be wondering why I posted nothing last week. I was in the Bay Area tapping the ample brains of people from Apple, Sun Microsystems and Adobe, and traipsing about at LinuxWorld Expo in my spare time. But my true reason for existing last week was to cover every horizontal surface in my hotel room, including myself, with wireless things built solely for professionals like you and me, and the enterprises You might be wondering why I posted nothing last week. I was in the Bay Area tapping the ample brains of people from Apple, Sun Microsystems and Adobe, and traipsing about at LinuxWorld Expo in my spare time. But my true reason for existing last week was to cover every horizontal surface in my hotel room, including myself, with wireless things built solely for professionals like you and me, and the enterprises that deploy mobile technology for workers and contractors. The magnitude of this project is enormous, but rather than prattle on about it, I’ll share the list of products that are in the piece and the follow-up coverage: BlackBerry 8830 (“Curve”) Nokia E61i HTC Advantage X7501 T-Mobile Wing (HTC “Herald”) Nokia E65 AT&T 8525 (HTC “Hermes”) BlackBerry 8800 TeleNav GPS Navigator (software) TeleNav GPS receiver (hardware) Plantronics P590A Stereo Bluetooth over-the-ear headset w/AVRCP (audio video remote control protocol) BlueAnt Z9 Bluetooth voice isolation, dual microphone in-ear headset Plantronics Discovery 655 Bluetooth in-ear headset BlueAnt Supertooth-Light visor clip Bluetooth handsfree kit T-Mobile HotSpot @ Home router with Nokia 6086 dual-mode (cell/Wi-Fi) phone iPhone (already reviewed; included for comparison) I have a couple of points I’d like to explain about the piece here rather than take up space in main body of the coverage. There are major vendors, with Samsung, LG and Motorola among them, that don’t have products on this list. This took a long time to line up, and not all of the vendors I approached were keen to meet my terms of participation. The only two-weeks-and-return reviews I do are of devices that don’t make the grade. I test technology by living with it, betting my professional life on it, just as you do with the technology you buy. I keep testing devices and software in rotation until they let me down or otherwise lose their status as leaders in their class. After InfoWorld runs the huge 15-product mobile package that you’re soon to read, check back here regularly for follow-ups because my ranking of devices will change as I carry them. Some of these products aren’t strictly new, but they are either in North American wireless operators’ current catalogs or available as unlocked devices, that is, devices that will operate on any compatible operator’s network once a valid SIM (subscriber information module) is installed. Mobile handsets enjoy months-long honeymoons, attracting excited new buyers well after their debut. AT&T is marketing its HTC-built 8525 unusually hard, and it is tantalizing new buyers with a promised free upgrade to Windows Mobile 6 firmware later this year. I am interested in your comments and experiences with your mobile devices and service. Technology Industry