MWC is a few weeks away – it starts on February 15 – and we’re expecting to see a new version of Windows Mobile, version 7, to be launched with hardware soon to follow. We’ve heard some rumors about potential improvements over the current 6.x codebase, but a developer has told us that this new version is so distant from the old WinMo that it is almost unrecognizable. The worst part? It is completely non-backwards compatible, meaning all WinMo apps are about go extinct. → Read More
Our buddies over at Phonescoop spotted a handset running a copy of the as-of-yet unreleased Windows Mobile 6.5.3 floating around at CES, and were nice enough to snap some footage for everyone not living in the Las Vegas Convention Center this week. They run through just about everything 6.5.3 has to offer, from the new finger-friendly UI to the brand new, seemingly much improved onscreen keyboard; if Windows Mobile is your thing, be sure to check it out. → Read More
If HTC’s trying to keep their device releases top-secret, they’re not doin’ a very good job. While individual leaks seem to be rare, they seem to be making a habit out of bundling up all their upcoming releases into one big presentation, which in turn leaks all over the internet. It happened right at the beginning of 2009 and, sure enough, it looks like the first half of 2010 has already been locked down and leaked out. → Read More
This is one mobile application I think everyone should have installed. And be recommended by them to all of their friends and relatives to boot.
Meet iMobile Care, a potential life-saver that you can carry around in your pocket.
Launched at the beginning of this month, the app is primarily a reference guide that lets you obtain essential information about medical conditions and situations quickly and easily. The tool allows users to get a visual and textual explanation of how deliver aid and care during emergencies and events such as accidents, bites and stings, choking, injuries, poisoning, burns, and many other critical situations.
But billed as a mere mobile first aid guide even by its own makers, it’s actually much more than that. → Read More
Earlier this afternoon Fake Steve Jobs took one look at Microsoft’s new Windows Mobile commercial and wrote, “Dancing Twitter icons do not translate into cutting-edge advertising.”
I don’t know. I think the commercial is pretty good, but only because it seems to me the strategy here was to turn Internet Explorer, Outlook, Microsoft Messenger and the others into Party Boy from Jackass. → Read More
Boy howdy could I use this thing at CEATEC today. Running on a Windows Mobile handheld, Toshiba has a real-time voice translation demonstration. It worked quite well. How much longer until we get the Star Trek universal translators? Video inside! → Read More
Coinciding with the introduction of the Windows Mobile 6.5 operating system, Microsoft has upgraded and launched its free phone backup service My Phone – previously in beta – and added a couple of useful premium features to it.
Despite the fact that the official My Phone blog and Twitter account remain silent for the time being, users have definitely taken notice and started tweeting about it.
If you have a Windows Mobile 6 phone, you can use Microsoft My Phone to backup all your data, including your contacts, calendar, photos and more to a password-protected website. When you switch to a new Windows phone, or you lose (data on) your current one, you can head to the website to restore documents, contacts, music, and anything else you synced in just a few clicks. But there’s more to it than that. → Read More
Coinciding with the introduction of the Windows Mobile 6.5 operating system, Microsoft has upgraded and launched its free phone backup service My Phone – previously in beta – and added a couple of useful premium features to it.
Despite the fact that the official My Phone blog and Twitter account remain silent for the time being, users have definitely taken notice and started tweeting about it.
If you have a Windows Mobile 6 phone, you can use Microsoft My Phone to backup all your data, including your contacts, calendar, photos and more to a password-protected website. When you switch to a new Windows phone, or you lose (data on) your current one, you can head to the website to restore documents, contacts, music, and anything else you synced in just a few clicks. But there’s more to it than that. → Read More
Turn-by-turn navigation was one of the features that iPhone users were most looking forward to with the release of the iPhone 3.0 software. Unfortunately, as users quickly found out, turn-by-turn meant either significantly more expensive apps, or a monthly fee. Not only does Waze do it for free, but it offers an interesting gaming element to boot.
The reason Waze can be free while other turn-by-turn apps are expensive is that their maps are entirely user-generated. Waze simply lays down a foundation and users build out the roads just by using the app. And the company makes it in your interest to help them not only by offering turn-by-turn functionality, but also by turning the mapping of uncharted areas into a game or sorts. If you’re on a road that no Waze user has mapped before, you will see little dots and your car icon will turn into a Pac-Man-like character, to eat the dots and collect points for it. → Read More
Foursquare has been all the rage in the early adopter mobile space the past several months. And it has been peeking outside of the early adopter crowd with things such as local bars offering promotions for Foursquare usage. But it has still been held back a bit by the fact that it has only had an iPhone app and a somewhat clunky mobile web interface. And Foursquare understood that, so it called for developers to help build its app for the other mobile platforms. Today, the first of those is ready to go: Foursquare for Android.
Work on the project started back in April and was mainly coded by Joe LaPenna and Chris Brummel in their spare time. It started as a project to first reverse engineer the iPhone API, and then migrate to Android using Foursquare’s beta API, LaPenna tells us. After a few months of work, the duo and Foursquare’s Naveen Selvadurai (who has been managing it from the service’s side) feels its now feature-complete and ready for distribution. → Read More
MetroPCS has been around since 1994. Windows Mobile has been around in one form or another since 2000. You think at some point their paths would have crossed, right? Nope – not until now, at least. Live images of the Samsung SCH-i220 Code have just leaked out, and there it is, emblazoned across the top of the device: the MetroPCS logo. Running WinMo 6.1 on a QVGA display with EVDO, a 2.0 megapixel camera, and a QWERTY keyboard, it’s not exactly mind-blowing on the hardware specs front – but a smartphone is a smartphone. Current rumors pin this launching sometime next month, though there’s no word yet on pricing. [Via PhoneNews] → Read More
Here in the U.S. (and especially in San Francisco), it’s easy to forget that most of the world doesn’t have iPhones, BlackBerrys, Android phones, and the like. Much of the world doesn’t even have access to them, and if they did, they are often way too expensive to actually get one. Should those people be without mobile access to services like Twitter and Facebook? Microsoft doesn’t think so.
Today, it is launching OneApp, an app for people running J2ME on their phones with slow processors and not a lot of memory. Basically, it’s a lightweight app that lets you run more intensive apps by grabbing just the basics of that app that you need. And OneApp also offloads some of the processes required to use the larger apps to Microsoft servers, which handle it over the cloud. → Read More
According to Digitimes, Microsoft will be using a “dual-platform” strategy to compete with Android and the iPhone. 6.5, due to be rolled out October 1, will stay alive just to compete with Android, while WinMo 7 will compete with the iPhone. I don’t think this is as shocking as Gizmodo does, but I certainly don’t see the wisdom in having dueling OSes. Dueling salsas, maybe. On the other hand, I see the necessity: Windows Mobile is entrenched in its current form and that inertia is going to be difficult to overcome. At the same time, there’s pressure to compete at a lower level with a lighter and savvier OS — something 6.5 really isn’t able to pull off (despite looking nice). → Read More
All the improvements rolling out with Windows Mobile 6.5 (the new UI and set of tools is now “Windows Phone,” though the name Windows Mobile is not completely gone) are coming along quite nicely. This video has many of them being demonstrated — some you’ve seen (My Phone) and some you haven’t (Zune interface, alerts, Windows Marketplace stuff), and I have to say, it all looks quite nice. Internet Explorer actually looked pretty nice, though it was going pretty slowly. Honestly, these phones can run 3D games but panning around a web page brings them to their knees? I doubt it’s enough to turn the tide against Apple and Google (especially since Android Assault is just beginning), but it may help stop the hemorrhaging of users. Windows 7 will have a number of phone-integrative features as well, so that’s another wild card. In any case, I’d like to get my hands on one of these and try it for myself. [The Inquirer via BGR] → Read More
Apparently, it’s been leaked by some loose-lipped presenter at a Microsoft event that “Windows Mobile” is out, and “Windows Phone” is in. Well, Microsoft, I try to get your back now and then when you’re misunderstood or wrongly accused, but this is beyond the pale. I can’t think of a worse name to call your operating system. Let me count the reasons why: → Read More
Today at the 2009 Worldwide Partner Conference in New Orleans, Microsoft is expected to announce that it will soon be opening up its mobile app development program to developers from around the world in preparation for the public launch of the Windows Marketplace for Mobile platform later this year. Starting July 27, developers from 29 countries will gain access to the program and be encouraged to start working on a range of mobile applications for Microsoft’s very own app store on both the Windows Mobile 6, 6.1 and 6.5 operating system.
So how does Microsoft intend to convince developers to flock to the program? Well according to Todd Brix, Senior Director of Mobile Platform Services at Microsoft, the company’s reach should already be enough to pique developer interest, especially now that it turns out Marketplace for Mobile will support any phone powered by Windows Mobile 6.x. → Read More
The Garmin nuviphone G60 will come out one day, friends, most likely during the second quarter of this year. And when it does come out, there will be much rejoicing: it’s the last time the Garmin-Asus operating system will be used on a device. From there on out it’s Android and Windows Mobile all the way. → Read More
I was about to ignore this email from Microsoft but it seems there is a nugget of wonderful info in there. Remember when we said you could share your apps with four friends – behavior that essentially works on an iPhone and the App Store when you sync to the same iTunes instance? Well you can’t. OK? You can’t. Be quiet. → Read More
Computerworld calls this market changing but I’m not so sure. Here’s the skinny: when you buy an app from the Windows Marketplace for WinMo you can share that app with four people you know. You can also get a full refund within 24 hours of purchase. You can also run the apps on up to five of your own devices if you don’t want to share. → Read More
There’s a good chance you didn’t even know it was going on, but last week Microsoft hosted a competition for mobile application developers on its Silicon Valley Campus in Mountain View, and yesterday announced Networks in Motion as the winner.
The startup was one of six finalists – selected out of a pool of 50 applications – invited by Microsoft to come present ideas for applications running on Windows Mobile and get certified for the upcoming Windows Marketplace for Mobile, which is supposed to become the big, central commerce and distribution point for WinMo apps that is currently lacking.
The company is widely expected to introduce the latest iteration of Windows Mobile at next month’s TechED 2009 conference in Los Angeles (11 May), although devices running Windows Mobile 6.5 won’t start shipping until after the Summer. Microsoft’s a heavyweight in the smartphone OS market but is getting some serious heat from Apple and its iPhone / App Store (which is about to hit 1 billion downloads), and is going to be facing even more stiff competition on the mobile application front from RIM / Blackberry, Nokia and Google Android in the coming years. → Read More
