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Why Apple might want to buy ARM
--- Last January, Apple COO Tim Cook stated, "We believe we need to own and control the primary technologies behind the products we make." That motivation, backed by Apple's 41 billion cash on hand, makes its rumored acquisition of ARM Holdings so compelling. --- What would you do if you had $41.7 billion in cash reserves? That's what Apple has and, as Ken posted earlier, the rumor du jour suggests the company might use a modestly large chunk of it to acquire ARM Holdings. If such a deal is in the works, it would be Apple's largest purchase ever by an order of magnitude; the suggested £5.2 billion (US$8 billion) sticker price dwarfs the biggest prior buyout, which brought NeXT into Apple for $400 million and delivered the foundations for Mac OS X (along with a certain iCEO). ARM licenses its chips to many consumer electronics heavyweights; in addition to powering the iPad and iPhone, ARM processors power other smartphones, including those running on the Symbian, Windows Mobile/Windows Phone 7, and yes, Android operating systems. An Apple acquisition of ARM, therefore, could have far-reaching implications on consumer electronics, especially when it comes to competitive access to the latest and greatest ARM chips. In the London Evening Standard article, a trader was quoted as saying "A deal would make a lot of sense for Apple .... That way, they could stop ARM's technology from ending up in everyone else's computers and gadgets." That may be taking it a bit far -- ARM's licensing and product lineup couldn't be made completely private in the short term -- but it would make Apple the most-favored customer for ARM's designs. It would also help Apple's other recent buyout, chip shop Intrinsity, make the most of its expertise. Back in January 2009, Apple COO Tim Cook stated, "We believe we need to own and control the primary technologies behind the products we make." As the processor plays a pivotal role in shaping the user experience on mobile devices (think performance and power consumption) an acquisition of ARM could provide Apple the ability to better integrate and leverage ARM technologies in order to stay ahead and differentiate from the competition. The A4 chip in the iPad is based on an ARM design, which was first whispered about almost two years ago. In the last two years, Apple has made several notable acquisitions: of semiconductor company P.A. Semi, mapping company Placebase, music streaming service Lala, and mobile ad firm Quattro Wireless. So far, the Quattro Wireless acquisition has produced the most visible results, in the form of iAds. If an ARM acquisition is indeed happening, it'll be fascinating to see what comes out of it.
Microsoft Kin: everything you ever wanted to know
For as long as Windows Mobile 6.x overstayed its welcome, Microsoft seems to be doing what it can to launch a full-out assault on the mobile battlefield -- first with Windows Phone 7, and now less than a month later with Kin. As we were reminded ad nauseam at the unveiling, the pair of devices -- dubbed Kin One and Kin Two -- aren't for the tech enthusiasts in the crowd, but rather for a younger audience Microsoft is calling "generation upload." That's apparently a group whose life is focused around capturing memories and updating Facebook, without any care or concern whatsoever for apps. Will Microsoft's gamble for control of the feature phone market prove successful? That remains to be seen, but for everything we know so far, read on!%Gallery-90313%
Home Tab Mod 1.7 for Sense 2.5 breathes new life into Windows Mobile (video)
Ready to customize your custom Windows Mobile skin? HTC's already thoroughly tricked out Sense UI has received the modding treatment courtesy of Co0kieMonster and his team over at xda-developers, and user feedback has been exultant about the results. What you're getting with the Home Tab Mod, and particularly in this latest version 1.7, is a litany of custom arrangement options to suit all tastes. Whether you want your weather and expandable appointment list front and center or you prefer extra quick links to your favorite applications and notifications of new calls, messages or emails, you'll find a layout to suit you. There are even options for loading up the lock screen with Sense elements, if that's more to your liking, and we've grabbed a video walkthrough of the new UI after the break. To get on board, you'll need a HTC device with Sense 2.5 and the clicking power to hit up the source for the download and full instructions. [Thanks, ran]
Day in the Life: Kin-less
If you were near an internet display terminal yesterday, you might've tragically stumbled upon one of Microsoft's Kin promo videos. Sure, the product might be slightly condescending to its supposed target market, but the promotional videos are outright MTV-gone-bad, full of hipster shorthand and fake "reality" bits. The "Day in the Life" videos are particularly egregious, featuring a guy on a road trip to burn a box of mementos from his ex while accompanied by his two new girlfriends, a terrifying parade comprised of facial hair and Williamsburg-esque terror, and a tragically-near-30 couch surfer trying to remember a drunken night of excess through pictures. Strikes a bit close to home, we must say. So, in case you missed the spots you can check a couple out after the break, but to wash the palate we've also provided our very own "Kin-less" spin on the concept, with the help of a Windows Mobile 6.5 handset we just happened to have lying around.
Sony Ericsson pushes major firmware update for Xperia X2, all three owners celebrate
Alright, X2 owners, you ready for this? Odds are you aren't, since virtually all of you are east of the Atlantic where it's getting close to bedtime and you're not likely reading this -- and for our New World friends, the North American version is still inexplicably missing in action. Be that as it may, though, Sony Ericsson hasn't given up on its critically panned Xperia X2, delivering a sizable new firmware update that offers a variety of goodies like FM radio support, video calling, sundry performance and stability improvements, and SlideView 2.0 featuring "better usability throughout with a fresh design." It's currently being rolled out market by market, but the company expects everyone to have access to it by the end of the week -- except North Americans, of course, unless SonyStyle decides to get its but in gear in the next day or two.
T-Mobile offering up to $350 off an HD2 in exchange for your iPhone, soul
HTC's HD2 is the hottest piece of WinMo of the moment, and ever since it got the nod for an (unofficial) update to Windows Phone 7 it's been looking all the more tasty. Now it's getting more affordable too -- if you happen to have an iPhone you're willing to give up. T-Mobile appears to be running a promotion at certain locations through May 19 that would give between $100 and $350 off of a new HD2 for anyone trading in a working handset. Frankly we don't figure too many dedicated iPhoners will be taking this opportunity to hop onto the Windows Mobile train but, if you can get yourself a cheap old handset from a friend who upgraded, you might just be able to snag yourself a hefty discount on a hunky new smartphone.
Samsung Bada handsets of the future revealed in presentation slide
Just in case you had any doubts about Samsung's commitment to the physical keyboard, here's a slide of the Korean giant's Bada OS roadmap, filled with rubbery QWERTY buttons aplenty. At top left you can see the Wave -- which Samsung places in its "premium image brand" together with the Galaxy S -- priced at 20,000 Rubles (just under $700), followed by its as yet nameless and spec-less Bada siblings. Our interest is piqued most by the QWERTY slider that's sat so perfectly atop the 10,000-Ruble line, we wouldn't mind seeing the Super AMOLED screen tech trickling down to such a price point. We wouldn't mind that at all. All About Phones has also spotted two Windows Mobile and one Android handset during the presentation, though Sammy has been predictably recalcitrant about specs on those as well. All we're told is to wait for the autumn. Guess that will have to do. [Thanks, Muhammad]
Qi Smartbook U2000 gets WinMo 6.5 upgrade, retains its wide berth
When dealing with Chinese products that have yet to cross the pond (and are unlikely ever to), you spend a lot of time looking at translated docs, trying to figure out what the hell it is exactly they're trying to pitch to you. For instance, the Qi U1000 that we caught wind of last September -- or its successor, the U2000, pictured above. Looks like a MID, acts like a smartphone, yet someone (or, more likely, something) insists on calling it a "Smartbook." What we do know is that it'll run you 2,680 Chinese yuan (roughly $390), and it sports Windows Mobile 6.5 OS, a 624MHz Marvell CPU, a 3.2 megapixel camera, and a whopping 5-inch touchscreen. What do you think: Can you handle this much phone?
LookTel's 'artificial vision' makes Windows Mobile useful to blind people (video)
There's a surprising abundance of tech geared toward helping out people with visual impairments, but you won't find too many smartphones populating that sphere of electronics. Aiming to reverse this trend, LookTel is in the Beta stage of developing so-called artificial vision software that combines a Windows Mobile handset with a PC BaseStation to provide object and text recognition, voice labeling, easy accessibility and remote assistance. It can be used, much like the Intel Reader, to scan text and read it back to you using OCR, and its camera allows it to identify objects based on pre-tagged images you've uploaded to your PC. Finally, it allows someone to assist you by providing them with a remote feed of your phone's camera -- a feature that can be useful to most people in need of directions. Skip past the break to see it demoed on video. [Thanks, Eyal]
Toshiba K01 goes official as IS02 in Japan
Talk about a globetrotter. Toshiba's K01 has made the journey from the American FCC to a Japanese carrier in the space of just one day. AU, part of the KDDI group and one of Japan's big three network operators, has picked up the phone and promptly renamed it the IS02. Coming with a 1GHz Snapdragon core, a 4.1-inch capacitive touchscreen of the AMOLED variety, and that indispensable (for some) QWERTY keyboard, this WinMo 6.5 handset will be available to our Japanese comrades in the latter part of June this year. Given the long waiting times both for this and its brandmate, the IS01, we have to wonder what's up with Japanese carriers. Have they developed an aversion to the cutting edge or what?
Toshiba's QWERTY-equipped K01 slides through the FCC
If you've yet to lose faith in Windows Mobile 6.5, or if you're holding out hope for community-made Windows Phone 7 patches magically upgrading your OS, here's another handset for your consideration. Toshiba's K01 comes with a 1GHz Snapdragon inside and a QWERTY keyboard plus 4.1-inch AMOLED touchscreen (capacitive) on the outside. Its stroll through the FCC today revealed support for 850/900/1800/1900 GSM/EDGE frequencies, meaning you may get a choice between AT&T and T-Mobile's networks. So now that we've narrowed down the carriers a little bit and certified this WiFi- and Bluetooth-equipped beastie, all that remains is to wait and see if the pricing is sufficiently alluring to entice all those starry-eyed T-Mobile subscribers who keep giving the HD2 lusty looks. Not long to go now. FCC label pictured after the break. Update: Looks like this one is headed to Europe and Asia with test reports indicating support for UMTS Bands I and VIII and some expensive 1900MHz data while roaming North America.
Shocker: HTC plans Windows Phone 7 Series device by year's end
In news apt to surprise absolutely no one, HTC CEO Peter Chou told Forbes this week that his company would make a Windows Phone 7 Series handset by the end of the year. For the sake of argument, we suppose there are a couple reasons he wouldn't want to. Historically, HTC has pledged loyalty to Microsoft time and again, even making the premium HD2 a Windows Mobile exclusive, but conspiracy theorists might suggest Microsoft returned the favor by denying the HD2 entry to Windows Phone 7 Series. Also, HTC has been rocking the bejeezus out of Android as of late -- the news that the company's planning a WP7S phone comes alongside HTC's claim that the Nexus One was a success. Regardless, we never questioned if HTC would build a WP7S handset, only when; there's no way they're going to let a lucrative new smartphone market get mopped up by the likes of Samsung and LG.
T-Mobile HD2 can be had for $100 from Amazon, others
In the wireless industry, $100 is a rather magical psychological barrier -- a price point below which consumers generally have a much easier time pulling the trigger on a sweet upgrade. So when you offer a phone for $200, a percentage of your target demographic is generally going to drop out of the race with cries of "too rich for my blood." No worries with this new HTC HD2 for T-Mobile, though, because it turns out that a number of resellers are already discounting the phone right down into that $99.99 sweet spot despite the fact that it was just launched this very week. Most notably, anyone agreeing to a two-year contract through Amazon can get the phone for less than a Benjamin, and that's upfront -- no mail-in rebate craziness to contend with. Certainly makes the phone -- arguably WinMo 6.5's last real hurrah -- a more appealing buy, doesn't it?
HTC EVO 4G vs. HD2 and Desire... fight!
Now that the excitement of the EVO 4G announce has finally worn off, it's time to get down to more practical matters -- in a street fight, would the WiMAX-powered beast hold its own against an HD2 and a Desire, for example? We had all three in a room just now, and here's what we've got to say: It feels significantly beefier than the HD2, but in reality, it's not -- it's just a single millimeter thicker. The brushed metal back of the HD2 is a little sexier, but just by the tiniest of margins; it's hard to argue with soft touch and a kickstand, obviously. We would've never noticed this without the Desire next to it, but the EVO's text is pretty huge, a side effect of the fact that it's running the same resolution on a screen 0.6 inches larger. It's not annoying, really, but it struck us that they could've comfortably fit quite a bit more information on the screen without getting cramped. The Desire's display is more vibrant, too, but that makes sense -- we're indoors under artificial lighting and the Desire has AMOLED on board. The EVO's got touch-sensitive buttons below the display that function much like the Nexus One's, but no worries: they work quite a bit better. We think this might be because there's more touch-sensitive bezel real estate below the keys; on the Nexus One, you've got to be far too accurate for comfort. Interestingly, this is the first EVO we've seen today with a silver earpiece grill -- Sprint's have been red. We've confirmed with HTC that production devices will be silver. Want to draw some of your own conclusions? See the shots for yourself in the gallery below. %Gallery-88852%
Mozilla halts Firefox development for Windows Mobile, won't offer it on Windows Phone 7 without NDK
Color us resolutely unsurprised at the news that devs are starting to abandon the Windows Mobile platform in favor of, well, longer-lived opportunities. Firefox's maker, Mozilla, has come out with a statement that it's ceasing development of its WinMo builds and -- perhaps more importantly -- it's also curtailing work on a Windows Phone 7 offering until Microsoft opens its new platform up to native apps. So basically, no Native Development Kit from Microsoft equals no Firefox for Windows Phone from Mozilla. The browser maker does express hope, however, that Microsoft will make it possible to deliver the popular IE alternative in the future, pointing out that the underlying Windows CE 6 architecture suits Firefox well and the company is "well positioned to have an awesome browser on Windows Phone 7." For now, the focus in Mozilla's mobile HQ remains on bringing out a great product on the less restrictive Android and MeeGo platforms.
VS750 confirms LG's love for WinMo Classic, starts torrid new affair with Verizon
Sure, all the talk lately is about Windows Phone 7 Series and all the things it can and can't do. But, in the months between now and its release, companies still have to make money, and so LG has turned to Windows Mobile Classic 6.5 to drive its VS750. We first heard wind of this Verizon-bound machine back in December, and now it's been spied by Mr. Blurrycam over at PhoneArena, apparently due for a mid-April release. The QWERTY slider is intended as a world phone, and its list of wireless support certainly sounds comprehensive: CDMA 1x/EVDO Rev A. 800/1900MHz, and GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/190MHz and UMTS/HSDPA. Why, it'll even include plug adapters for Europe, Asia, and Australia right out of the box. It's fronted by a 3.2-inch 800 x 480 resistive touchscreen, backed by a 3.2 megapixel camera, sports WiFi and Bluetooth, a microSDHC slot and, if our eyes don't deceive us, its case has more than a passing resemblance to the prototype unveiled on The Engadget Show a few weeks back.
T-Mobile's HTC HD2 gets purchased and unboxed early (video)
T-Mobile's not officially selling its world-beating HD2 until Wednesday, but if you've a Walmart nearby and hankering to get HTC's latest and greatest a few days early, it might be worth a trip out. JDMiPhoner managed to score one from his local Wally World a full four days early, and he's been kind enough to unbox it, boot it up and give us a few first impressions on video. Is it really worth a couple of Benjamins with Windows Phone 7 Series just a few months away? Head on past the break if you'd care to be reminded of just how painful it is to know that this WinMo 6.5-packin' gem won't ever be upgradable (natively, anyway) to WP7S. [Thanks, Andrew] Update: Windows Mobile Nation got one as well (also from Walmart), and has hosted up a nice gallery of shots here.
How would you change HTC's Sense?
Microsoft's not going to allow HTC to cover Windows Phone 7 Series with its Sense UI overlay (which is going to be an interesting thing to watch in and of itself), but there's no question that the homegrown user interface has made a-many Windows Mobile phones look and feel a whole lot better than stock. Sense is also gaining traction in the Android realm, a sector where it's far more likely to either make a huge impact or be overlooked entirely. So, the question we're posing here today is this: if you were granted an HTC badge for a day, how would you change Sense? Are you satisfied with the quickness? Does anything simply get in the way? Any quirks that you just can't figure out? Any tweaks that you'd love to see made? We aren't always serious when we say that these companies are listening to you, but trust us when we say that design folks from HTC might just give your comments a once over. Here's your chance. Don't screw it up.
Marvell pitches $99 Moby Tablet as textbook alternative
When chipmaker Marvell told us its technology would power $99 smartphones, we took the company at its word. We weren't expecting a sub-$100, 10-inch tablet PC, however -- and we definitely weren't expecting Marvell itself to build it. Marketed at students looking to lighten their textbook load, the Marvell Moby will be an "always-on, high performance multimedia tablet" capable of full Flash support and 1080p HD playback -- thanks to those nifty Armada 600 series processors -- and supporting WiFi, Bluetooth, FM radio, GPS and both Android and Windows Mobile platforms for maximum flexibility. No release date has yet been announced; like the OLPC, Marvell will introduce the Moby in pilot programs at participating at-risk schools. While it's far too early to say if the Moby will be the universal educational e-reader Marvell hopes (that depends on software), it's certainly an intriguing device for the price, and we'll admit we're a touch jealous of those kids who'll first get to try one.
Microsoft's Windows Live Messenger phone for France is hardly Pink
Microsoft's a pretty big company, and while we've been focused on its Windows Phone 7 Series and Pink mobile projects over here in the Land of the Free, its Live Messenger arm has apparently teamed up with French mobile carrier SFR for a branded phone. The Messenger Edition 251 handset looks to be based on Windows Mobile 6.5 (or something older), with no word on who the hardware partner is, and is taking on the youth market just like Pink will presumably be doing Stateside sometime this year. Of course, Messenger is much more popular in Europe than it is in the States, so it makes sense to brand a phone around it, but underneath that candy QWERTY shell we're sure those hapless Europeans can find plenty of legacy Windows Mobile to be desperately disappointed in. [Thanks, Bibo]
