Windows Mobile -- Engadget

windows mobile posts

How would you change Windows Mobile 6.5?

by Darren Murph posted Nov 7th 2009 at 12:59AM

We know, today is totally Android 2.0's day to shine, but what would a Friday night be without a little diversity? Windows Mobile 6.5 officially landed on a gaggle of Windows Phones back in early October (a month ago to the day, in fact), but by and large, all of 'em have seemingly drifted off into some forgotten corner while Motorola's DROID has taken over the hype. Still, we've got a feeling at least a few of you loyalists went out and gave Sir Ballmer a few more of your nickles, and now we're eager to hear if you're loving or regretting that choice. Is 6.5 really a worthy update over 6.1? Are you waiting for WinMo 7 instead? What would you change about 6.5 in order to make 7 the best mobile OS of all time? Sound off in comments below!

HTC's HD2 has landed at Engadget (hands-on)

by Joshua Topolsky posted Nov 4th 2009 at 10:12AM

That's right... the HD2 has landed. Actually, we took the phone over to Late Night with Jimmy Fallon the other day, but didn't get a chance to show it off, so here we are. Sure, you've seen this guy in action in earlier videos... but it's still nice to get a look at this monster up close. We're still blown away by the fact that this is a Windows Mobile 6.5 device -- the skinning job that HTC has done here is nothing short of a miracle. So far we've found the phone to be snappy and responsive, but we're currently putting it through its paces. We'll have a full review shortly, but for now, feast your eyes on the photos below -- and start saving for that imminent US launch.

Gallery: HD2 hands-on

HTC HD2 officially coming to US, out in Europe and Asia today!

by Vladislav Savov posted Nov 4th 2009 at 6:02AM

Be still, our beating hearts! HTC has just pressed the "Go" button for European and Asian shipping of its latest object of desire, and it's served notice to American phone lovers that the HD2 is coming to them soon as well. Slated for a "major US carrier" some time "early 2010," it'll land squarely in the same time bracket as the XPERIA X10, which should lead to some really quite interesting decisions to be made, presumably by March 2010. The WinMo 6.5 device might be shipping now, but you'll have to wait at least until the 9th of November before you can spill your Euros for it, and we expect to see a flurry of pricing and contract information filling that short waiting time. Full PR after the break.

[Via MobileTechWorld]

Continue reading HTC HD2 officially coming to US, out in Europe and Asia today!

T-Mobile nabs HTC's Touch HD2, schedules release for November

by Tim Stevens posted Nov 2nd 2009 at 7:58AM

WinMo folks, we wouldn't blame you for getting a bit of Android envy after last week's DROID onslaught, but if there's one thing that could make people pine for your OS it's HTC's HD2, and T-Mobile has just confirmed it's coming on November 9 -- a mere weekend after Moto's new hotness hits Verizon. Mind you, there is some confusion going on here, as the picture on T-Mo's site is of the old Touch HD, not the HD2 we met and loved, and the mention of "loads of applications to download from Android Market" is particularly perplexing. But, we've been told to go ahead and blame a bumbling marketeer rather than to expect some sort of cross-platform app marketplace love fest -- groovy as that may sound.

Update: We've also just learned that HTC is going to officially launch the HD2 on November 4 ahead of a November 11 release elsewhere. We're not entirely sure what there is left to learn about the thing, but we're always game for another press event.

Update 2: Just to clarify things, this is T-Mobile UK. Also, as many have pointed out in comments, we're now thinking the "09" above means 2009, not November 9, which likely points to a November 11 release. Surely you can swallow that DROID envy for another two days, yeah?

[Via WMPoweruser.com]

HTC CEO says he could but won't make HD2 an Android phone, has to take care of Windows Mobile

by Paul Miller posted Oct 29th 2009 at 11:41AM

In an interview given to Forbes, HTC CEO Peter Chou spoke pretty candidly about the widespread desire for an Android version of the HD2, and says the phone won't be finagled thusly. "Technically, we could make the HD2 an Android phone, but I have to take care of Windows Mobile," said Chou, after which we imagine popped in a stick of Juicy Fruit and didn't offer to share any with the rest of the class. Of course, this doesn't rule out a handset with similar specifications to the HD2, like the Dragon, matching DROID's push toward Android 2.0 and modern hardware, but it seems to imply that at least it won't be called "HD2," and probably won't look much like it either. Chou did admit that Windows Mobile innovation has been "a little slow" and that interest is declining, and says HTC is "working hard on these kinds of products to get excitement about Windows Mobile back." He didn't hold back on Google, however, saying that some of its actions can be "destructive" but that "we've worked with Microsoft for 13 years ... I also believe we can work with Google for a long time."

[Via SlashGear]

Samsung Omnia II gets broken down, screenshot by screenshot

by Chris Ziegler posted Oct 27th 2009 at 6:51PM

The overwhelming mediocrity of Windows Mobile 6.5 gives us pause before saying something sensational like "it's a great time to be a WinMo fan," but we've got to admit, manufacturers are really stepping up their game to deliver these days -- one need look no further than the mighty HD2 to see that. The Omnia II's looking pretty solid, too, especially if you like your phones served up keyboard-free, and ai.rs blog has compiled a comprehensive screenshot gallery showing just how deep the TouchWiz integration really goes. Build quality is said to be top-notch, and it's pretty hard to argue with a 3.7-inch WVGA AMOLED display -- so as we go into 2010, it looks like we might be gearing up for an epic TouchFLO / TouchWiz showdown in the WinMo octagon. Who doesn't like a good fight?

[Thanks, msav]

Windows Mobile 6.5.1 (or whatever it's called) looking ready for primetime

by Chris Ziegler posted Oct 22nd 2009 at 5:48PM

Even before 6.5 got official, the Windows Mobile community has been toying around with post-RTM leaked builds that really amp up the finger-friendliness -- thing is, no one seems to know what it is, what it's called, when it's coming, who will get it, or how it meshes with the upcoming release of WinMo 7 next year. For now, it's being informally called 6.5.1 -- sounds like a fair name to us -- and new mockups floating around suggest that Microsoft really wants to bridge the gap and make major user experience modifications to 6.5; the pre-7 platform hasn't yet reached the end of the road, apparently. Big buttons at the bottom of the screen look like they should be usable by even the fattest of fingers on a resistive display (and indeed, we've seen various forms of these in leaked builds) and interface elements throughout the OS have been spruced up to finally put the stylus to bed. We'll take it, but we would've been happy to take it in lieu of 6.5, too.

HTC's HD2 continues to impress, reveals multi-touch web browsing

by Tim Stevens posted Oct 22nd 2009 at 6:57AM

We've seen plenty about HTC's hot HD2, gone hands-on and sized it up next to everyone's most/least favorite smartphone, but there's one thing we haven't seen yet: multi-touch in IE. The video embedded below from Techblog.gr is in a language you may not quite understand, but certainly everyone can grok the snappy UI performance and the pinch zooming demonstrated at the 2:20 mark. It does look a wee bit unresponsive at this point, but HTC still has time to make things perfect before releasing it here -- though to be honest we'd rather just have it now.

[Via WMPoweruser.com]

Continue reading HTC's HD2 continues to impress, reveals multi-touch web browsing

Microsoft makes a funny with Marketplace 'apps lab'

by Paul Miller posted Oct 21st 2009 at 9:30PM

It's another Microsoft video, another few minutes of hilarious, unintentional pain. This time Microsoft is tackling the topic of apps, riffing on the abundance of gimmick apps for the iPhone. Unfortunately for Microsoft, we'd think the last thing it would want to do is draw comparisons between Apple's App Store and the company's freshly minted Windows Marketplace for Mobile. Video is after the break.

[Via TUAW]

Continue reading Microsoft makes a funny with Marketplace 'apps lab'

Acer neoTouch S200 reviewed, not recommended

by Laura June posted Oct 20th 2009 at 11:09AM

After what seemed like a full lifetime of waiting, Acer's recently-launched neoTouch S200 is finally making its way into some reviewing hands. The fine young cannibals over at Phone Arena have just given it the head to toe treatment, and we have to say, we're glad they've done the dirty work for us. This WinMo 6.5 handset, according to their impressions, seems to be a not fully baked affair -- sluggishness and random crashing are both reported, as is a rather serious sounding call quality issue. The battery also seems to be inadequate for a workday, coming in at around five hours. Overall, the phone suffers from software optimization problems more than hardware issues. The one ray of light in all this is of course that 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon CPU, which can multitask and handle several things at once without flinching -- but it's rather hard to get pumped about it in the face of all that sadness. Hit the read link for the full, exhaustive review.

HTC Tilt2 now available on AT&T

by Chris Ziegler posted Oct 19th 2009 at 2:45AM

Those looking for a slightly more QWERTY-equipped WinMo 6.5 device for AT&T than the HTC Pure need look no further than its stablemate, the Tilt2, now that it's officially available to all comers. The carrier's second model to use Microsoft's latest and greatest cut of Windows Mobile stays pretty true to its Touch Pro2 roots, offering an industrial-strength full duplex speakerphone, 3.2 megapixel cam, WVGA tilt-up display, and of course, that five-row QWERTY keyboard that makes banging out long emails and extended MMS tirades just a little more tolerable. Interest parties should come bearing gifts and plenty of cash, because it'll run $349.99 on contract before a $50 mail-in rebate.

[Via PhoneDog]

HTC HD2 turns up in purported T-Mobile USA materials

by Donald Melanson posted Oct 14th 2009 at 6:23PM

We've already had some indication that HTC's take on Windows Mobile 6.5, the HD2, would be headed to T-Mobile UK, and heard straight from HTC itself that the phone would indeed be headed to the US in next year, but it looks like we may now have one more key piece of the puzzle. If that slide pictured above is authentic as it's purported to be, it looks like the smartphone will be heading to none other than T-Mobile USA, and presumably sometime in that "early 2010" period HTC mentioned. Of course, this slide noticeably doesn't make mention of Windows Mobile at all, so the phone in question could also conceivably be HTC's rumored Android-based Dragon handset -- or... not.

[Via Brighthand]

Switched On: Microsoft's touchy subjects

by Ross Rubin posted Oct 14th 2009 at 5:00PM

Ross Rubin (@rossrubin) contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.

As CEO of Microsoft, Bill Gates would often talk about his dream of "information at your fingertips." The company he co-founded, though, is now taking literal steps toward that goal. By the end of the month, Microsoft will have released three new devices or platforms that embrace or extend touchscreen support -- but the impact touch will have on each varies significantly by their legacy, usage, and manufacturers.

Windows has long had touchscreen support. Such support, in fact, was the basis of the Tablet Edition of Windows XP, and Tablet PCs were proclaimed to be the future of notebooks. Early iterations were larger and thicker keyboard-lacking slates much like the new Archos 9pctablet. But this was before rampant Web browsing, streaming video, casual games and electronic books -- all of which now provide relevance for a new generation of touchscreen PCs as content-consumption devices.

Continue reading Switched On: Microsoft's touchy subjects

HTC Touch Pro2 and Snap among first official WinMo 6.5 updates

by Chris Ziegler posted Oct 13th 2009 at 6:08PM

HTC promised way back at Mobile World Congress in February that the Touch Pro2 would be fully upgradeable to Windows Mobile 6.5 when the binaries went gold, and... well, here we are. Sure enough, they're making good on the promise by rolling out official updates for both the Touch Pro2 and the Snap so far, though this is one of those situations where availability for your particular version of the phone is going to depend on carrier branding, locking, and the phase of the moon, among other things -- so if the updates don't work for you, you can wait for your carrier to get in gear or, you know, try your luck over with the always-helpful xda-developers to roll your own update.

[Via Smartphone Thoughts]

Read - HTC Snap
Read - HTC Touch Pro2

Windows Phone commercial is confusing for a variety of reasons

by Nilay Patel posted Oct 11th 2009 at 10:02PM

Okay, so we understand Microsoft is trying hard to rebrand Windows Mobile as Windows Phone with the launch of WinMo 6.5, but this commercial -- labeled with AT&T logos in the US but also running unlabeled worldwide -- doesn't seem to do a good job of pointing out that Windows Phone is a platform and not a device. In fact, if we didn't know better, we'd think that the HTC Pure is, in fact, the "Windows Phone" -- even though the dude in the spot is holding a totally different generic device. See how that could be weird for people? It's almost confusing enough to distract from the jubilant anthropomorphic app icons in tights. Video after the break.

Continue reading Windows Phone commercial is confusing for a variety of reasons