windowsmobile
Latest
Latest HTC Leo render seemingly confirmed by leaked ROM
Remember those weird "Pro.Three"-branded Leo renders that leaked a few days ago? The ones that seemed improbable at best? Well, a ROM appears to have dripped out of the HTC sieve recently that miraculously confirms those renders as having some basis in reality, thanks to an animated start sequence that matches up pretty tightly with the previous leak. We can't confirm the Pro.Three name specifically from this, but if the Leo turns out to be the WinMo superphone everyone's hoping it is, does the name really matter? Follow the break for a video of the ROM in action (on a Touch Diamond2, sadly -- not a Leo). [Via MobileTechWorld and pocketnow.com, thanks Casimir]
Verizon's Touch Pro2 in the wild again, just for kicks
Regardless of carrier, we know that these in-the-wild shots of the Touch Pro2 drive impatient buyers within an inch of madness, so we apologize in advance if this latest batch leads to any mental health facility commitments -- but, you know, we're just doing our job here. This time around, we get Verizon's version of the phone pitted against a Sprint Touch Pro, starkly demonstrating that the new model is a good deal longer -- something we hadn't really considered. We also get a good look at the Device Information screen showing 86.85MB of free RAM and 230.69MB of free ROM, though we can't say with certainty that the shot was taken on a bone-stock Touch Pro2 that was fresh out of the box, not to mention the fact that we could still see firmware revisions before it even hits the market. With global roaming capability, we bet this one's going to be a hot seller in certain audiences -- particularly those with far more business attire in their closets than ourselves. [Thanks, morrowa2]
HTC Leo rendered again -- maybe by HTC, more likely by fans
So here's what we know about the Leo with some certainty: it's going to be awesomely high-end. Other than that, though, the sky's the limit; no spec is too wild, no physical design too outlandish until we actually get some official information (or at least some really solid leaks). We wouldn't call these latest renders "solid" by any stretch -- in fact, we're willing to bet it's the result of a daydreamer with some graphic design background -- but we want to believe, especially since the front is basically consistent with what we've seen previously. Imagine a rounded-off Touch HD with WinMo 6.5, a 1GHz Snapdragon, and a 5 megapixel cam accompanied by two high-output LEDs. We love the stylish "Pro.Three" branding (and we guess we're going to forgive the "lorem ipsum" gibberish beneath it since this is a rough, unbranded render), but there are a few holes in this story: for one, we still don't know how this dovetails with Firestone; two, the Touch Pro2 just came out, so we're not sure why they'd release a device with the conflicting "Pro.Three" name so soon thereafter, particularly in a different form factor; and three, this might make more sense as one of HTC's inaugural WinMo 7 devices. Given the rumored pie-in-the-sky October availability date, we'll get this sorted out soon enough.
HTC's Whitestone for Verizon, high-power Leo rendered again?
HTC' Leo and Whitestone have been mentioned enough times in different contexts this year so that we have absolutely no doubt that they're real -- the questions at this point revolve around what they are, what they look like, and when they're coming. We still don't have most of those answers, but the situation might be getting a little clearer with the latest round of supposedly leaked renders. First up, the Leo (pictured left) basically sounds like HTC's go-for-broke, ultra high-end model with an 8 megapixel camera, 4.3-inch (yes, 4.3-inch) WVGA capacitive display, 1GHz Snapdragon, and all the trimmings; how it fits in with the Touch HD-replacing Firestone is unclear, so we'll have to keep a close eye on that one. Next, the Whitestone pictured here on the right looks a little less in-your-face than the last shot, though we don't know whether this is a newer or older render; either way, though, we feel good in saying that Verizon's lined up for one of the coolest Touch Diamond2 variants on the block. [Thanks, Brian and sleepymia] Read - Leo Read - Whitestone
Is Microsoft gearing up for Xbox Live on mobile?
Are you a currently unemployed Software Engineer? If so, here's a recession antidote of an altogether different stripe: Microsoft is taking applications for a LIVE Community Director, whose job it will be to manage "LIVE community strategy and execution across a range of properties, from Xbox LIVE to Windows Mobile." The posting then goes on to discuss how the team will be tasked with constructing a next gen, LIVE-enabled platform across the web, the console, mobile and more... which, you know, sounds a little bit like the Live Anywhere concept. Either way, it sounds like the company might be doing a little more than merely contemplating its mobile strategy, Shane Kim's recent interview notwithstanding. What are you waiting for? Dust off that resume and hit the read link. [Via Ars Technica, thanks Adrian]
Microsoft and Nokia announce Office coming to Symbian
We didn't expect too many fireworks from Microsoft and Nokia's joint teleconference this morning, and, well, we didn't get any. As expected, Office Mobile is coming to Symbian, along with Office Communicator Mobile, SharePoint, and Microsoft System Center, and the two companies also said they'll be working on "future user experiences" for Nokia customers. Don't get too worked up about that, though -- Nokia said it was "deeply committed to Symbian," and that "there are no such plans" to work on a Windows Mobile device. So much for that. We did ask whether this partnership would affect Nokia's rumored Maemo plans, and we were told that development is Symbian-focused for now, but that there might be "other business opportunities" in the future, so at least that door remains open a hair -- but for the most part this is all about Microsoft and Nokia trying to stake out a stronger enterprise position, not anything else. Video after the break, if you're having a hard time taking that nap.
T-Mobile hits the sauce, demands $350 for HTC Touch Pro2
Jumpin' Jehoshaphat! With Apple lowering the smartphone price bar with its last-gen iPhone 3G at $99, any well-specced phone hitting the airwaves these days for over a buck ninety-nine on contract just seems outrageous. And then, there's this. T-Mobile USA has somehow found it within its heart to charge a near-astronomical $349.99 (on a two-year agreement, no less) for HTC's latest WinMo-packin' powerhouse, the Touch Pro2. Look, we aren't saying the phone isn't worth its weight in gold, but a quick look around the marketplace shows just how out of place this obscenely large asking price really is. The silver lining? We're betting this slips beneath the $200 mark just as soon as the HTC fanboys have chipped in their early adopter fees (and it hits every other carrier in America).[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
T-Mobile Touch Pro2 review
Followers, fans, and casual observers of HTC alike all know that when the company launches a new landscape QWERTY model, it's a big deal. In fact, it's more than a big deal -- it's a Big Deal. Many describe it as the ultimate smartphone form factor, the perfect execution of everything a modern handset is capable of doing -- and realistically, no company has as much experience or know-how at making powerhouse landscape QWERTY sliders than HTC does. That's why droves of subscribers on virtually every carrier are on the edge of their seats awaiting the Touch Pro2's release. Whether you love, hate, or feel nothing but pure, unadulterated ambivalence toward Windows Mobile, it's hard to argue that the Pro2 isn't a gorgeous smartphone at a distance, and T-Mobile USA's gently-tweaked version is no exception. Unless you're desperate for SLR-quality photography (which you're frankly not going to get regardless of what phone you buy), the spec sheet reads like a dream -- an expansive 3.6-inch WVGA display, full QWERTY, tilt-up display, all the 3G and WiFi you could ever want, and HTC's latest and greatest build of TouchFLO 3D constantly working to make sure that WinMo cleans up nice -- but is it true love or just lipstick on a pig? Let's have a look.
Nokia and Microsoft to announce an "alliance" tomorrow -- what? Update: Office on Nokia phones
We're not sure what to make of this, but we were just invited to a joint Microsoft / Nokia teleconference during which the two companies will announce an "alliance." Yeah, there are some pretty wild possibilities there -- Nokia going WinMo? Redmond going Symbian? The creation of MaeWinMo? -- but considering the featured speakers are Stephen Elop, president of Microsoft's business division, and Kai Öistämö, Nokia's EVP for devices, we're guessing the real announcement will be something more pedestrian, like native Exchange support on Symbian or possibly that upcoming Atom netbook running Windows 7. Otherwise, hell -- Nokia would be supporting three different mobile OSs, and that seems just a little too crazy, even for Espoo. We'll see -- it all goes down tomorrow at 11AM Eastern.Update: This is probably unrelated, but Microsoft's Mac BU just called its own presser for Thursday, so if you're looking to spend the night weaving wild nonsensical conspiracy theories, we'd say all the pieces are in place.Update 2: Told you it was nothing too out there -- the Wall Street Journal says Microsoft will announce it's working on a version of Office for Nokia phones. Anyone surprised? Didn't think so.
WinMo 6.5 build 23022 caught on video, in all its finger-friendly glory
It's been a hot minute since we first laid eyes on those WinMo screen grabs featuring big ol' buttons at the bottom of the display -- signaling, we hoped, an all-around effort to minimize stylus use in the mobile OS -- and now we have a video for you that seems to further make the case. While WinMo 6.5 build 23022 is still pretty clumsy, those finger-friendly (well, at least, "finger-friendlier," or maybe "not as finger-hostile") buttons grace the bottom of the display, and there is an iPhone-esque magnifying glass option for zooming in on and editing text. Technical details for this build are available at the read link -- but first, make sure you peep the thing in action at the break.[Via SlashGear]
New WinMo 6.5 build shows fingers even more love
Windows Mobile 6.5 has already started to take baby steps in the all-important direction of finger-friendliness, and the latest leaked build is showing a seemingly innocuous addition that's actually really, really exciting: big, ugly soft buttons along the bottom. It's not clear whether this is some experimental feature, something Microsoft plans to shoehorn into the 6.5 RTM or a future AKU, or an addition that was intended to be left on the cutting room floor, but anything that the team out in Redmond can do to make 6.5 a little less stylus-dependent will be more than welcome. Are the buttons down there pretty? No, but at a glance, they look awfully functional -- and as platforms go, WinMo may express the "form follows function" mantra better than any other. [Via pocketnow.com]
HTC Touch Pro2 spotted again, this time with AT&T branding -- to be called Tilt 2?
Alright, listen up: we're going to play a little game we like to call, "what carrier isn't getting the Touch Pro2?" Sound easy? Not so fast, partner -- this bad boy gets around like a record, if you know what we're saying. In fact, the beefy, all-business WinMo superphone is well on its way to becoming the first handset carried by every top-tier North American carrier in we-don't-know-how-long (granted, we don't have solid intel on Bell or Rogers, but we wouldn't be surprised to see them coming). We suspected AT&T was signed up for it some time ago, and now we've got it snapped in the flesh, complete with an AT&T logo conveniently assigned as the function on the down key. We don't know when this'll be available, but seeing how all notions of exclusivity appear to be out of the window on this one, we could see an announcement any day now. Better list that Fuze on eBay now, ladies and gentlemen. [Thanks, Ahres] Update: It'd stand to reason that this is going to be branded Tilt 2 in light of the screen shot posted earlier; kinda strange that AT&T would return to the Tilt branding, but... you know, marketing departments work in mysterious ways that we'll never understand.
Oh, by the way: August 7, 2009
Here's some of the other stuff that happened in the wide world of mobile for Friday, August 7th, 2009: In addition to the BL40 and BL42, it looks like LG's upcoming Chocolate series is also going to include a lower-end BL20 according to a newly-uncovered user agent profile. Whatever it is, it's got a QVGA display -- a far cry from the epic 21:9 unit on the BL40. [Via PhoneArena] Motorola's W562 candybar for China has broken cover, and needless to say, you won't find any Android here. CDMA and a 2 megapixel camera, yes, but no Android. More baby steps are being taken in states' fights to jam phone signals in and around prisons. This time around, a Senate subcommittee has sent a bill to the full Senate that would allow individual states to plead their jamming case to the FCC, which -- as of right now, anyway -- seems pretty lukewarm to the idea in general. [Via Phone Scoop] Acer -- like Apple, Microsoft, Nokia, RIM, Palm, Google, LG, Samsung, and your cousin Ralph -- is opening an app store. It expects the store to be ready in the next few months as it ramps up the barrage of new WinMo devices it's been pimping over the course of the year. [Via PHONE Magazine] South Korea's KT has confirmed that it'll carry the iPhone at some point, though it's refusing to spill details on exactly when or how that'll go down. SKT's apparently still in the mix, too, so we could end up without carrier exclusivity here. [Via Unwired View]
Verizon's HTC Whitestone leaks out, along with the HTC Mega and Tachi
We've been hearing about Verizon's upcoming HTC Whitestone for a while now, and it looks like a new pic and specs for the upcoming dual-mode CDMA / GSM Touch Diamond2 variant have leaked out. Seems like a mixed bag -- the revised case with a larger 3.6-inch WVGA display is impressive, but inside you're looking at Windows Mobile 6.1 running on a 528MHz Qualcomm processor with 256MB of RAM, so you've certainly lived through this experience before. That's pretty much the same case with the HTC Mega, which also leaked today: although it'll ship with WinMo 6.5 and that hot new version of TouchFLO 2D, it's a lower-end device with a 2.8-inch QVGA display, a three megapixel camera and yet another 528MHz Qualcomm proc with 256MB of RAM running the show. Oh, and just to round things out, there's a pic of the Dopod-branded HTC Tachi, which probably means this one's headed for China. Always nice to put a face to a name, though isn't it? Pics of the Mega and Tachi at the read link.
Garmin-Asus nuvifone finally coming to America in Q4 (or so they say)
With Garmin-Asus' nüvifone G60 already on sale in Asia, it makes sense to hear that said smartphone will soon make its way over to North American soil. Of course, it also made sense to think that this thing would be launching on AT&T about forever and a day ago, so we're not holding our collective breath just yet. At any rate, Garmin recently made abundantly clear on a quarter-end conference call that the GPS-infused handset is in the final testing stages with an undisclosed amount of US carriers, and if all goes well, it'll hit the streets in Q4. What's crazy is that every last specification remains unchanged from when it was announced back in January of 2008; meanwhile, Apple has shipped two new iterations of its iPhone, Android has blown up significantly and even Motorola and Palm have seemingly resurrected themselves from the grave. Knowing all that, will anyone even bother to show up to snag one in "just a few months?"
Sprint's developer site reveals Touch Pro2's innermost secrets
We've seen enough dead-to-rights evidence at this point to say that the Touch Pro2 is Sprint-bound, barring some sort of bizarre, unforeseen series of events leading to... oh, say, Sprint's acquisition by Nokia in the next few weeks. That would be odd, wouldn't it? Anyhow, the latest piece of irrefutable proof comes courtesy of Sprint itself, which has now listed the Touch Pro2 -- along with all of its specs -- on the carrier's developer site. There's nothing ground-breaking here -- we've got the usual 3.2 megapixel cam and WVGA display -- though we're saddened to see no mention of the all-important 3.5mm jack. Not every spec is listed here, of course, but we'd be feeling better about the situation if we saw it here.[Thanks, Shawn]
A3300 proves Motorola wants to keep teasing world with its best WinMo hardware
For some reason that can't fully be explained (much less understood), Motorola's made a bad habit lately of keeping all of its best Windows Mobile hardware more or less confined to Asia. Don't get us wrong, that's great for Asia -- but for the rest of the world, getting a SURF without going through a series of importers, middlemen, pushers, weirdos, jerks, and college students just looking to make a little extra money on the side. Looks like that trend's gonna continue, too, with the appearance of an alleged A3300 slate featuring a nice little 5 megapixel cam out back. Little else is known about the black beauty at this point, but with Moto's seemingly singular focus on Android going forward, you've got to wonder how long these WinMo one-offs will continue. [Thanks, Antony]
Oh, by the way: August 4, 2009
Here's some of the other stuff that happened in the wide world of mobile for Tuesday, August 4th, 2009: Following the G'zOne C731 Rock, Casio's C741 Brigade for Verizon has nabbed FCC clearance. Not much is known about the phone -- we can assume it'll be ruggedized to one degree or another -- but one interesting tidbit is the inclusion of VCAST TV support, something Verizon's been getting lax on as of late. [Via PhoneArena] Have you seen a white / silver Samsung i7500 Galaxy? Now you have. [Thanks, Ruben W.] China's regulatory peeps have had the good fortune of seeing a couple new Philips Xeniums in their midst, a K700 full touch model and an X501 candybar. Philips has yet to announce either unit, but you can bet they'll last until the next ice age on a single charge. [Via Unwired View] Microsoft's MSDN -- its official developer network -- has published a case study on porting an iPhone app to Windows Mobile. A year ago, you'd have been more likely to see case studies going in the other direction, but, you know, times are changing. [Via Tweakers.net] Digia put together a nice little web browser for UIQ called @Web, but then UIQ sorta went away -- so they're back at it again, this time on S60 5th Edition in beta form. S60 does a decent job browsing out of the gate, but @Web's got some interesting UI elements that might make it worth a look. [Via All About Symbian] We don't see much of it in the States, but Samsung's got a whole brand -- DuoS -- for dual-SIM capable handsets. Mobil.cz has dug up a new model in the series, a low-end candybar dubbed C3212 that'll run the equivalent of around $195 and go on sale in Russia later this summer before expanding to other European markets. [Via Mobile Phone Helpdesk] Value brand Cricket is adding yet more value to its unlimited voice plans that start at a bargain-basement $40. The $40 price point now includes web access; $45 gets you unlimited email, backup, and 30 roaming minutes a month, and $55 ups the roaming to 200 minutes.
HTC support site reveals Hero for Sprint, Snap for Alltel
We've been asked not to reveal the URLs, but we can assure you we've seen this official support screen pictured above with our own two eyes, which means that the HTC Hero is all but confirmed in a juicy CDMA blend for Sprint. How (or if) that'll affect the availability of the US 3G version unlocked or on any carrier is unclear, but given Hesse's huffy language regarding Pre exclusivity, we wouldn't be surprised if they've got this one locked down for a while as well. We've seen a similar support page for an Alltel-branded Snap, so if you're still tied up in one of the carrier's legacy divested markets and you've been pining after the Snap (and Ozone) on Sprint and Verizon, fear not -- your own version is on the way. We'll admit, if you had asked us a few months back what American carrier would get HTC's highest-end Android phone to date, Sprint wouldn't have been our first guess -- but hey, good for them. If you can't win the coverage battle against the Big Red juggernaut, may as well try to win the exclusive hardware battle, right? [Thanks, Adam]
HTC Rhodium spotted in Sprint "compatible phone" list, Touch Pro2 definitely maybe imminent
While AT&T, Telus and Verizon Wireless customers have long since known that HTC's luscious Touch Pro2 was heading their way, fans of Dan Hesse have been twiddling their thumbs wondering if said handset would ever cruise along at Sprint Speed™. We wouldn't call this anything close to official confirmation, but an official Sprint portal for the outfit's NASCAR Sprint Cup Mobile application definitely lists the HTC Rhodium as a "compatible phone" that supports full audio and video content. For those unaware, "Rhodium" is just another way of uttering "Touch Pro2." Don't get your hopes too high, but feel free to have a stiff drink on us.[Thanks, Kenny]
