windowsmobile
Latest
Microsoft: how to port iPhone apps to Windows Mobile
With just a few months to go before launching the Windows Marketplace for mobile applications, Microsoft has published details on porting iPhone apps to its Windows Mobile platform. It's a case study of the app Amplitude [App Store link], which lets users hear far-off sounds with ease. It's a detailed writeup that takes readers through the entire process. Microsoft will have quite a task ahead of them in this market, considering Apple's considerable lead and foothold. However, there are many (to say the least) Windows Mobile devices out there as well as people for whom "Windows Mobile" means business. It will be interesting to see if and how iPhone/iPod touch app developers choose to move their products to Windows Mobile. The Windows Marketplace for mobile applications is expected to drop between September and December of this year, as are Snow Leopard and Windows 7. It's going to be an exciting autumn. [Via Macworld]
Windows Mobile 7 to be a premium, multitouch beast of a platform
Seeing the gold build of Windows Mobile 6.5 in action was pretty nifty, but Inquirer's recent video actually managed to unveil a few juicy tidbits about version 7 as well -- a platform that's shaping up to be that massive, ground-up rewrite of WinMo we've all been hoping for for years (as far as we can tell). The lack of multitouch is a sore point for some in 6.5 -- not just because of the goodness of the multitouch gestures themselves, but because it's indicative of a broader failure on Microsoft's part to recognize that touch-based mobile UIs have been wholly reinvented since the days of Windows Mobile 2003. Redmond looks to be cognizant of that, though with a mention in the video that 7 will "exploit the hardware" and "introduce multitouch," going on to say that it'll be able to go toe-to-toe with "competitor devices" -- ostensibly a reference to some combination of webOS, Android, and the iPhone. The video also mentions that 6.5 will end up being a "breadth play" while 7 branches out into the premium end of the market -- at least to start -- and over time, 7 will become Microsoft's mainstream mobile platform as future versions are released. In other words, Microsoft looks like it could be setting itself up for a two-version cadence going forward -- one for the unwashed masses, one for the gadget fiends. You know which category we fall into -- and we suspect we know yours, dear readers. [Via Unwired View]
Verizon: Touch Diamond, Touch Pro now $99 with contract
Looks like Verizon's up to something (and we're not talking about Sholes). A quick trip over to VZW's site has confirmed that $99 -- and a two-year contract -- will land you just about any smartphone that they offer (one notable exception being the Samsung Saga), including HTC's Touch Pro and Touch Diamond. Could this mean that the new Touch Diamond2 and Touch Pro2 are soon to rear their pretty little heads? We'd be down with that.
Samsung's retail Omnia II smartphone gets hands-on treatment
Oh sure, we've seen Samsung's WinMo-powered Omnia II a time or two before, but this looks to be the first instance of it waltzing in front of a camera after leaving its retail packaging. Not much seems to have changed from those pre-release versions we peeked, and we have to say, that 3.7-inch AMOLED display looks awfully inviting. Of course, you'll have a hard time procuring one of these critters here in North America without a solid importer over in Singapore, but if you can somehow steal some patience from underneath that couch cushion, you'll be just fine. Give the read link some love for a few more high-res shots.
Windows Mobile 6.5, HTC Touch Diamond2, and Flash collide on video
Remember that pretty Windows Mobile 6.5-ish skin for AT&T's Warhawk (a.k.a. HTC Touch Diamond2) we saw last week? Looks like it (or another very similar skin) is ready to make another appearance. The Inquirer managed to get a walkthrough of what's being called the final build of WinMo 6.5, and while there isn't a lot of new functionality shown -- large portions of the video are devoted to My Phone syncing and QR codes -- we do get to seem a few Zune inspired ideas and a brief glimpse of how it handles flash. It's still on track for release by Christmas, and if you want your glimpse now, check out the video after the break.
HTC Snap, Touch Pro2 officially land on Telus
Best Buy may have beaten Telus to the punch by offering the HTC Snap on the cheap all by itself earlier this month, and it hasn't been much of a secret that the Touch Pro2 was also headed Telus' way, but if you've had any doubts about the carrier's commitment to either of the handsets, you'll be pleased to know that it's now gotten fully official with the pair of 'em. Better still, Telus has even undercut Best Buy's already low $29.99 price for the HTC Snap by offering it for free on a three-year contract, while the HTC Touch Pro2 will set you back a considerably heftier $249.99 on that same contract. Those with an aversion to commitment and money to burn can also snag the Snap for $400 and the Touch Pro2 for $650, or take advantage of some not-very-attractive one or two-year contract deals.Read - MobileSyrup, "HTC Snap now available at TELUS"Read - MobileSyrup, "TELUS HTC Touch Pro2 finally available in Canada!"[Thanks, John]
HTC Mega ROM reveals new-look TouchFLO 2D
We know what's in the pipe for the next generation of TouchFLO 3D -- but what about TouchFLO 2D, the lightweight version of HTC's WinMo skin currently employed in devices like the low-end Touch Viva? For the answer to that, we need look no further than an alleged leaked ROM for the upcoming Mega, which appears to have revealed a treasure trove of heretofore-unseen goodies. TouchFLO 2D 2.0 looks, dare we say it, damn near as pretty as its higher-end 3D counterpart -- and conveniently, you can get this up and running right now if you've got a QVGA set running a leaked 6.5 ROM. We know you're a risk-taker if you're running 6.5 code right now, so you may as well give this a shot too, right?[Via wmpoweruser.com and pocketnow.com]
Entelligence: Six is much too much
Entelligence is a column by technology strategist and author Michael Gartenberg, a man whose desire for a delicious cup of coffee and a quality New York bagel is dwarfed only by his passion for tech. In these articles, he'll explore where our industry is and where it's going -- on both micro and macro levels -- with the unique wit and insight only he can provide. Last week, fellow columnist Ross Rubin talked about the state of mobile platforms and how the era for launching new platforms has come to an end. I tend to take a different view of the mobile market. There are currently six major platforms vying for the hearts and minds of users and third party applications developers -- RIM's Blackberry, Microsoft's Windows Mobile, Apple's iPhone, Nokia's s60, Palm's WebOS and Google's Android -- and there's simply no way the market will support that many device ecosystems. But there may yet be opportunity for other players to enter the market.This is not a new phenomenon. In the early 80s there were a multitude of personal computing platforms. Atari, Commodore, Radio Shack, Texas Instruments, Apple and even Timex (yes, Timex) all were in the personal computing business, long before IBM entered the game. All survived for a period of time selling to an enthusiast market with a focus on out of the box featuresets. Once the target became the mass market, however, user expectations changed from the out of box experience (which essentially meant programming in Basic) to additional capabilities provided by third party software. The success or failure of each PC platform was decided in no small part by the availability of third party software. Exclusive titles, best of breed titles, and titles that appeared on a given platform first determined winners and losers. The same thing is happening today in the mobile space.
AT&T's HTC Touch Diamond2 "Warhawk" hits the FCC
You think the pleasant ladies and gentlemen in this FCC lab got to check out that nice skin AT&T and HTC put together for the carrier's branded version of the Touch Diamond2? Hard to say -- the documents aren't coughing up too much info here -- but we can say with very little doubt that we're looking at the filing for the so-called "Warhawk" on account of the presence of 850 and 1900MHz WCDMA. That doesn't mean it's being released any time soon, of course, but AT&T had wanted a terminal acceptance date of August 24, meaning that's when it'd wrap up lab testing -- so September seems at least plausible.
T-Mobile announces HTC Touch Pro2 for August 12 availability
Sure, the Touch Pro2 from HTC is available from a variety of carriers around the world at this point -- but you won't find many (read: none) that are offering it in the US right now, which makes T-Mobile's launch especially notable. As expected, it'll be hitting on August 12, bringing a 3.2 megapixel camera, AWS 3G, GPS, a glorious 3.6-inch WVGA display, WiFi, and that unique Straight Talk tech that should make the phone one of the best speakerphones you've ever used (frequent conference callers, take note). Pricing hasn't been announced, but expect it in the lovely shade pictures above, which is being termed "mocha" (your choice of vocabulary may vary).
DEC's M5 makes an honest living with WinMo in China
Our own Engadget Chinese had an opportunity recently to play with the DEC M5 -- a phone that bears a passing resemblance to HTC's Magic, granted, but does enough to differentiate itself in its own right. How? Well, for starters, the area below the screen is a smooth, tactile response-free tundra of nav and call buttons, and if you're looking for a trackball, you're going to be sorely disappointed. It also steps down to WQVGA resolution from the Magic's HVGA, though WQVGA really suits Windows Mobile just fine -- something we can't say for Android. It's got EV-DO, AGPS, a 3 megapixel camera, and WiFi, too, so really, DEC, we're going to let you slide right on by without the KIRF label here -- not to say anyone outside Asia will have an easy go at getting one of these anyhow.
Sony Ericsson's XPERIA X2 demoed on video
You know what frustrates us? Someone with their hands on a totally sweet piece of gadgetry who clearly doesn't know what to do with it. Such is the case in the video below, which seems to depict a gentlemen fondling Sony Ericsson's next XPERIA installment, the X2. While there's not much to see of the device itself, the phone is apparently running a fairly recent version of Windows Mobile 6.5, and the company has clearly taken its skinning team to parts of the OS, as the user in the video manages to stumble past some pretty magnificent looking UI trickery. It doesn't seem as dressed up as the X1's Panel interface does, though this likely isn't the final product. Truck on after the break to see the X2 in action, and try to quell your anger as the phone is repeatedly put to sleep during the demo.[Thanks, David]
Oh, by the way: July 26, 2009
Here's some of the other stuff that happened in the wide world of mobile for the weekend of Saturday, July 25th, 2009: A small Chinese firm by the name of Beyond Radio Technology is working on an Android phone that they claim to have had in the labs for 18 months now. Problem is, they've posted screen shots, and they're clearly QVGA -- an instant fail. [Via Cloned In China] Sony Ericsson's PlayNow Arena app store is now accepting apps from developers. Paid apps must cost at least €3 (about $4.25), though freebies will also be allowed; free apps with ad support, however, will require some other form of agreement with Sony Ericsson. There are no submission fees or annual charges for devs, which is nice -- and interestingly, apps that are rejected will have a plan B in the form of official partner GetJar. Java and Symbian are being supported initially, with other platforms (ahem, Android) coming in the future. [Via mocoNews] All of the intel in the field is now pointing toward an August 5 launch for the BlackBerry 8520 "Gemini" on T-Mobile, which confirms earlier suggestions. Speaking of T-Mobile, the Samsung t659 -- codenamed "Scarlet" -- has been spotted in the wild. Unless you have a thing for 2 megapixel cameras, we wouldn't get too excited, but the presence of AWS 3G is always welcome. The global number two manufacturer, Samsung, released its Q2 results -- and they're looking pretty solid. The company managed to push some 52.3 million handsets in the three-month period and said that it'll make good on previous guidance (and then some) of hitting 200 million shipments for the year. [Via mocoNews] A poster over at the ever-trusty xda-developers has somehow managed to stumble upon themes for AT&T's upcoming Warhawk -- the carrier's version of the HTC Touch Diamond2 -- and they're looking mighty Windows Mobile 6.5-ish. [Via wmpoweruser.com and Fuze Mobility]
Samsung's Omnia Pro B7610 previewed
At a glance, Samsung's recently-announced Omnia Pro B7610 seems like a sweet hunk of Windows Mobile love -- especially if you're cross-shopping it with the Touch Pro2 -- but is there more than meets the eye? GSMArena recently put a prerelease unit through its paces, and it's not a perfect situation by any stretch; first off, apparently not very pretty in the flesh, owing in part to its girth and in part to the weird red battery cover. The resistive touchscreen isn't great and the OLED display washes out in sunlight (as they typically do), but on the plus side, the QWERTY keyboard is said to be stellar and it seems that Sammy's done a great job of completely concealing WinMo 6.1's sad, sagging skin with TouchWiz. In the final analysis, the site concludes that the phone easily matches the high bar set by the Touch Pro2 -- strong words considering HTC's market dominance and the fact that we're still looking at a prototype Omnia Pro here, so this should get even more interesting.
Samsung Omnia II gets banded for US 3G, but it's not for the US
Remember how Verizon is getting the Omnia II? Yeah, well, don't get too excited, because this isn't it. A version of Samsung's latest full-touch WinMo superphone just garnered FCC approval, and more excitingly, it packs WCDMA bands II and V -- exactly the bands we use in North America -- but you might notice that there's a surprising dearth of English on the product's certification label. Well, see, it turns out that South America uses those bands, too -- and the "L" in this version's model number of i8000L probably stands for Latin America, if we had to guess. That's not to say savvy North Americans couldn't import this and get some juicy 3G on AT&T or Rogers, but at least in AT&T's case, we still don't have any particular reason to believe that this'll land over there. Certainly wouldn't hurt their case, though, would it? [Via Cell Phone Signal]
Samsung's WinMo-powered Omnia II (GT-i8000) clears FCC, eyes AT&T
There's no doubt that Samsung's Omnia II is one of the most coveted Windows Mobile smartphones out at the moment -- we mean, who can really resist a 3.7-inch AMOLED touchscreen, 7.2Mbps HSPA, a 5 megapixel camera and 720 x 480 movie recording? For Americans, however, there seemed to be little hope that GSM fans would ever see a version catering specifically to their needs (read: dual-band 850 / 1,900MHz 3G "needs")... until now. On this fine Friday, the cool cats over at the FCC have shown that there actually is a GT-i8000 headed to America with support for AT&T 3G bands, though obviously little else is known about when it'll make its expected splash. Better hurry, Samsung -- the competition's heating up over here.[Via Slashgear]
HP iPAQ K3 Obsidian lives it up in the wild, sneaks in a stylus for the nostalgic types
There's always been a little chunk of softness in our cold, stone hearts for candybar QWERTY handsets. Stylus interaction? Not so much. That's why it's a little disappointing to see HP's upcoming iPAQ K3 Obsidian handset for AT&T show up with a stylus on board, despite the initial leaked documents we saw that clearly stated otherwise. Still, it's nice to see how Windows Mobile 6.5 can operate under such conditions, and the 2.43-inch screen is OLED, even if it's restricted to a mere QVGA resolution. It appears that a scroll wheel does the duty of shuffling through that honeycomb menu. As far as we know, we're still looking at a November release.[Via SlashGear]
Garmin-Asus confirms nuvifone G60 for sale this month in Taiwan, M20 soon after
Is this really happening? Are we all collectively in some sort of lucid, dreamlike state where Garmin-branded cellphones flow like water, or is this the real deal? Correct us if we're wrong, readers -- but if we're reading this press release correctly, Taiwanese folks will have a crack at Garmin-Asus' nuvifone G60 come the 27th of this month, just a few days from now; Singapore and Malaysia will have theirs meanwhile by the end of August, and Europe and the US are "on schedule" for the second half of the year (we hesitate to associate the phrase "on schedule" with this product, but we'll let it slide this time). If WinMo is more your cup of tea, the M20 will be coming to Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia in August as expected -- the US isn't on the roadmap for this one, but Europe should have it later this half. These phones have taken so long to arrive that they'll be fighting an uphill battle against irrelevance -- but with the reality that handsets will be all but replacing dedicated portable nav units in the coming years, it's a play that Garmin's gotta still be eager to make nonetheless.
Garmin-ASUS nuvifone G60 spills loads of Linux-laced screenshots
Yeah, we've seen our fair share of glimpses at Garmin-ASUS' nüvifone G60, but with the Linux-based phone just weeks away from shipping over in the Far East, these last minute looks are becoming all the more tantalizing. A reviewer over in Malaysia managed to spend a bit of quality time with the handset, and while he's still waiting for his official review unit, he managed to snag a litany of screenshots that gives us a fantastic idea of what to expect from a user interface perspective. We have to say -- we kind of dig the whimsical look at a glance, but it makes us wonder just how serious of a smartphone this thing really is. With Android already out, does this UI look like it has the chops to compete? Hit the read link and let us know.[Via GPSTracklog, thanks Rich]
ZTE shows off recent smartphones at Wireless Japan
China's ZTE is still sticking to the low end in North America, but in its home country, the manufacturer is a huge player. Evidence of that lies strewn about ZTE's booth at Wireless Japan this week, where it's showing a pair of WinMo devices plus a Linux-based model that look ripe to compete with some of the best in the world. First up, the RAISE and XIANG do WinMo and HSPA for China Unicom's Wo network, rocking 5 and 3.2 megapixel cameras, respectively. The D820 reps the open-source world (though we're not sure what kind of Linux distro is running on it -- it's not Android, if we had to guess) and runs CDMA with WiFi, GPS, and a 2 megapixel camera. We're not sure if ZTE is using phones like these as warmups for more global launches, but given what we're seeing here -- and the low price points they're likely looking to hit -- we're all for it.[Via Pocket PC Thoughts]
