Sunday, October 26, 2008
Thursday, October 16, 2008
G-Invaders
G-Invaders
10/16/2008 12:00:00 AM
Summary: It is a new game for Diamond: G-Invaders. Like Caver it uses the tilt sensor to steer the ship.
Found in: games, tilt, sensor, action
Download G-Invaders
Mobile friendly download
10/16/2008 12:00:00 AM
Summary: It is a new game for Diamond: G-Invaders. Like Caver it uses the tilt sensor to steer the ship.
Found in: games, tilt, sensor, action
Download G-Invaders
Mobile friendly download
WinXplore
WinXplore
10/16/2008 12:00:00 AM
Summary: WinXplore is a simple tool that allows you to manage special folders e.g. "\Windows\Rings\" in a quick and convenient way.
Found in: utilities, windows, explore, File Managers
Download WinXplore
Mobile friendly download
10/16/2008 12:00:00 AM
Summary: WinXplore is a simple tool that allows you to manage special folders e.g. "\Windows\Rings\" in a quick and convenient way.
Found in: utilities, windows, explore, File Managers
Download WinXplore
Mobile friendly download
re: Windows Mobile as secure as Blackberry - are you joking?
re: Windows Mobile as secure as Blackberry - are you joking?
4/29/2008 12:33:28 PM
4/29/2008 12:33:28 PM
Jason love your blog as you have a good pulse on things mobility and I'd love to see this presentation but you are not going 1-1 with BES. Windows Mobile against Exchange only is not as secure as Blackberry against BES. Your policies are limited, and there is NO reporting, assest management through exchange unless you want to phrase out IIS logs.
Yes with System Center 2007 Device Manager you approach what BES does but at that point your TCO is double that of a BES CAL. Device manager should be PART of exchange and not SC2007 and an extra expense.
If anyone would you might know this .. will SCDM support the Iphone?
HP Silver
HP Silver
10/3/2008 4:23:16 PM
Any news on this phone? Anyone knows how much it should weigh?
10/3/2008 4:23:16 PM
Any news on this phone? Anyone knows how much it should weigh?
How do I return to mobile 6.0
How do I return to mobile 6.0
10/4/2008 1:08:31 PM
Does anyone know how I can return to windows mobile 6.0 from 6.1?
10/4/2008 1:08:31 PM
Does anyone know how I can return to windows mobile 6.0 from 6.1?
what happened to live search??
what happened to live search??
10/7/2008 4:29:19 PM
I dont see it on wm 6.1
Really were is it? I can't even see it on my Windows Mobile Device
10/7/2008 4:29:19 PM
I dont see it on wm 6.1
Really were is it? I can't even see it on my Windows Mobile Device
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
OopsImLate
OopsImLate
10/15/2008 12:00:00 AM
Summary: Oops Im Late is software for mobile phones that sends notifications based on ones calendar and GPS.
Found in: organizers, gps, notification, tools, meeting
Download OopsImLate
Mobile friendly download
10/15/2008 12:00:00 AM
Summary: Oops Im Late is software for mobile phones that sends notifications based on ones calendar and GPS.
Found in: organizers, gps, notification, tools, meeting
Download OopsImLate
Mobile friendly download
Why Android Will Soon Kick Ass
Why Android Will Soon Kick Ass
9/29/2008 3:55:37 PM
9/29/2008 3:55:37 PM
When the T-Mobile G1 was shown off in NYC last week, it didn't have the gusto of a Stevenote. There was no "boom!"—no "one more thing!" And as a result, many (including us) felt a bit underwhelmed, and were quick to interpret the device's inconsistent GUI as an indicator that the lack of attention to detail would doom it.
But allow me to remind all of those getting their naysay on this early in the game that we've seen only a fraction of what the G1 can and will be able to do with the open-source Android OS. And when Google's mobile machine is finally humming at full power—with an army of coders cranking out add-ons for the Market, today's skeptics—including some of us—are going to have to eat crow. It's not about pretty icons, Apple fanboys, and its not about business use, Windows Mobile Nerds: its about giving people the true tools to build whatever they want without lame App Store limitations and OS handcuffs. It's about giving phone makers shackled to Symbian and Microsoft's phone OS the chance to build with something different and better and free. And who's going to complain about that?
Back to Apple for a minute: The iPhone has brainwashed us into thinking everything that's revolutionary and exciting in the gadget world needs to be a sex object. Now, I enjoy an Apple hardware brainfuck as much as the next, but a phone is never a better phone because of hardware alone, and Google knows this too. And it will be entering the market at a time when iPhone’s software strategy is starting to show wobbly legs. If you’ve been reading our weekly app roundups, you’ve probably noticed the story shifting away from clever developers doing cool things no one previously thought possible to more about what Apple won't let iPhone developers and users do with their phones. As a result, we’ve seen tons of variety, but not a lot of depth. There are a ton of clever calculator apps of various kinds. There are a ton of games, a ton of flashlights. But in the groundbreaking and unexpected functionality department, all anyone can hear lately is crickets. And Apple's lawyers trying to get the crickets to sign an NDA.
No one else makes a legitimate phone OS with all this support that can be tweaked down to the very roots. For one thing, I'm excited to be able to download an entirely different version of all of Android’s core applications if I don't like the default 1.0 versions—and that’s every app, everything from the dialer to the contacts manager—something that's technically possible in WinMo but often comes off more as an awkward re-skinning and not a top-down integration. I'm excited to add system-level features to my phone for free, and not just apps that are only allowed to bounce around on the surface. These are the benefits that an open platform will allow developers to provide to Android users, and the benefits that Google hopes all mobile phone customers will come to expect from their phones as a result.
This is all banking on the platform being successful, of course, which is obviously up in the air this early on. But would Google mount such a huge undertaking as Android if they were only expecting to be a different flavor of Windows Mobile? That seems hard to believe.
Everyone who gave the G1 a quick run-through last week was in reality testing a product still in beta. Because as we’ve said repeatedly, Android is now in the hands of its developers (from within Google itself as well as third-parties), who will have unprecedented access to all parts of a mobile phone and a centralized distribution network (Android Market) in order to do things that have only been teased until now. It’s all banking on the Market, and its ability to attract grade-A content that will provide even novice cellphone users with many opportunities to greatly customize their phones.
To do this Android will need one thing: critical mass, on both the developer and consumer side, in that order—with each reinforcing the other. Its pre-release may be sold-out, but on October 22 there probably won't be campers and local news crews stretched for miles outside of the T-Mobile store. That's because Google knows who they need to go after first—the developers. The geek community. It wasn't a coincidence that at launch, Sergey Brin came on stage on Rollerblades bragging about his accelerometer phone-toss app that he wrote himself. This first release is all about getting developers into Android, and giving them a similar open dev environment that Larry and Sergey will be the first to tell you they couldn't have built Google without. The iPhone didn't get that until version 2.0, many firmware releases later—and it's still not nearly as open as Android will be. (The iPhone also couldn't reliably hold a call without dropping for many until version 2.1, but that's besides the point.)
Open source has failed many times before, critics will say. Here's why Android will not fail in this regard: governance. Google told us that priority number one right now with Android is setting the standards by which the project will operate—what makes a device Android 1.0 compatible, how often full system upgrades will be offered, and the like. One thing that's fairly evident, though, is that an upgrade path will have to be fairly regimented (closer to Ubuntu’s strict twice-yearly schedule, rather than the “release whenever we feel like it” model found in other smaller projects) in order to keep all of the members of the huge Open Handset Alliance all on the same page. There will be no folks still waiting for their carrier to release Windows Mobile 6.1, years after it was made available. Android will not and cannot operate like this—to keep the Market thriving, all of the developers and users will need to be on the same (regular) release schedule. So, while they're taking care of the problems of being open source, they're also taking care of the same problems that a paid platform like Windows Mobile has.
Google has their eyes on the long haul with Android. Which is why reactions to a somewhat scattered UI in the very first implementation is not something they're worried about too much. This is a platform about further reducing the mobile carriers to raw pipes of data, and giving full control to the consumer. It’s about creating a critical-mass open-source ecosystem. And even if they fail to sell a ton of handsets, they've already put pressure on all the carriers and phone makers by the fact that they've created a free alternative that does not have to win to impact the players in this industry.
Of course, all of these arguments can be debated, but there's one thing that no no one can argue with: You don't take Google lightly.
Fighting Reality, Microsoft Will Keep Charging for Windows Mobile
Fighting Reality, Microsoft Will Keep Charging for Windows Mobile
9/30/2008 4:00:00 PM
9/30/2008 4:00:00 PM
One of the reasons you're going to see Android on a ton of phones—aside from Google's juggernautical influence—isn't because of its ass-beating potential, but because hardware makers don't have to pay anything for it. They do have to pay for Windows Mobile, the other major free-floating smartphone OS, on the other hand, and Steve Ballmer is saying it's going to stay that way, even as RIM's BlackBerry passes it in marketshare. Of course, by the time Windows Mobile 7 finally, finally enters a much more hostile mobile world, he could be singing something way different. [Reuters]
Zune on Windows Mobile Confirmed by Steve Ballmer
Zune on Windows Mobile Confirmed by Steve Ballmer
10/2/2008 6:40:00 PM
10/2/2008 6:40:00 PM
Microsoft's Ballmer has just confirmed that Zune software will be coming to Windows Mobile devices as well as other phones, as sort of a really late follow-up to Robbie Bach's comments on the same subject. Ballmer goes one step further than Robbie, who just made vague comments on the platform, and said this:
Now, we built the Zune hardware with the Zune software—and what you’ll see more and more over time is that the Zune software will also be ported to and be more important not just with the hardware but on the PC, on Windows Mobile devices, etc.
We're really hoping "etc" means a whole bunch of phones, including other smartphone platforms and even the iPhone, but it's more likely that the UPS man will drop off a million dollars RIGHT NOW as we type this. Now. Now? Now? How about now? [CIO.co.uk via WM Power User]
HTC Touch HD Pretty Much Never Coming to the US
HTC Touch HD Pretty Much Never Coming to the US
10/7/2008 7:00:00 AM
10/7/2008 7:00:00 AM
No amount of oohing, aahing or drooling can convince HTC to bring this 480x800 monster to American shores, according to the Taiwanese company. That's a shame, because it was looking pretty good. The company passed the news on through Twitter, which is the corporate equivalent of breaking up with your girlfriend with a text message:
Sad news, US. we looked into it- by the time we could bring Touch HD to the States, it would be old news. We do have other cool stuff coming.
The G1 is admittedly more exciting, but this thing is set to be one of the best Windows Mobile phones available. Import options will be available sans 3G support, which nobody will want anyway. [Twitter via WMExperts]
Motorola Q11 Smartphone Lacks 3G, Common Sense
Motorola Q11 Smartphone Lacks 3G, Common Sense
10/8/2008 8:05:09 PM
10/8/2008 8:05:09 PM
We've known that the Motorola Q11 (an update to the Q9) was in the works, but today Motorola made it officially known. Maybe I'm the last person you should listen to when it comes to this particular Windows Mobile line, but I don't even think Motorola cares about this baby. It does have the requisite Wi-Fi, GPS, microSD support up to 32GB, a 3-megapixel camera and the ability to read H.264-encoded video, but with the same tight 2.4-inch LCD and no 3G data connectivity, the rest is for naught. Unwired View predicts that this omission is a sign of a low price, still unannounced. Me, I just see it as another example of Motorola running around like a chicken with its head cut off. [Motorola via Unwired View]
Giz Explains: Illustrated Guide to Smartphone OSes
Giz Explains: Illustrated Guide to Smartphone OSes
10/9/2008 2:00:00 PM
So cooooool
10/9/2008 2:00:00 PM
You're more likely than ever to buy a smartphone, not just because they do so much more than dumb feature phones, with real email, decent web browsing and downloadable applications, but because they're cheaper than ever. With the exception of some expensive ass unlocked-but-unsubsidized European models, you generally don't have to pay more than $300 for a balls-to-the-wall smartphone—though the voice plan plus data fees can easily run you $80 or more per month. Here's a rudimentary overview of your choices (more now than ever before), why you might pick them, and why they might suck for you.
ANDROID by Google
The splashy new entrant into smartphone land, Android is Google's Linux-based open source mobile platform meant to bring real, constantly connected internet to phones. Even though it's debuting on a single phone, the G1 from HTC, expect to see the free OS show up on tons of phones, from HTC, Motorola, and others. It's totally modern and powerful, and the fact that it's open source makes it incredibly appealing to some developers, so most signs point to awesome applications and mobile internet.
Why You'll Use It Unlike BlackBerry, iPhone or Windows Mobile, there are no limits on what application developers can do. So its real strength is the power that developers hold—we're hoping to see some of the wildest, most innovative applications hit Android first. You'll have tons of hardware options, from low to high end, and pretty much any input you want—touchscreen, QWERTY, whatever—once the ball gets rolling. This is the ultimate geek phone.
Why It Sucks Developers have to plug a lot of holes right off the bat, like the complete lack of business features. If they fail to come through, it could fall flat. Not as elegant as the iPhone (though it beats, say, Windows Mobile, by leaps and bounds), it still doesn't quite pass the "mom" test.
BLACKBERRY by RIM
Research in Motion's BlackBerry started out as a glorified two-way pager before evolving into what most consider the best smartphone for email. It is also a shining validation of tightly integrated hardware/software model—they make the phones, they make the operating system. Previously it was a phone that corporations gave to people in suits because of its BlackBerry Enterprise Server, which integrates it with a corporation's email, plus its Exchange support and high security. Now, though, it's increasingly popular with real live people. The BlackBerry Bold offers the latest version of the standard OS, while the recently announced Storm uses one modified for a touchscreen.
Why You'll Use It It has the best email experience around—in part thanks to their traditionally awesome keyboards, so the touchscreen Storm is something of a risk. The OS is really to easy use, with everything neatly presented up front using rows and rows of icons. There's a reason it has surpassed Windows Mobile in marketshare and is the corporate drone phone of choice. Also, RIM seems intent on juicing up its already solid dev community, so expect even more great apps in the future. (Catching a pattern with the importance of apps?)
Why It Sucks It's totally closed and proprietary. You've gotta buy a BlackBerry phone to get the OS. If you're not using the Bold, Storm or the Flip Pearl, it's not very sexy and can easily look dated. Also, in past models, the web browsing experience was absolute garbage. Now just finding its stride as a consumer device, it's not as media-centric as some others, but that is fortunately changing as well.
IPHONE OS X by Apple
Some haters still stay that the iPhone isn't really a smartphone, but for all practical intents and purposes it is. Running a stripped down but very real version of Mac's OS X, it's one of the most powerful and modern OSes of the bunch.
Why You'll Use It It's the most attractive and usable smartphone around, period. It has the best mobile internet browser, largely thanks to multitouch navigation. But its killer feature might be its ability to run third-party apps, which come from one of the most vibrant dev communities around, and are often—but not always—actually useful. Not to mention that, as an iPod, it's also the best music phone on the planet—at least until that mystery Zune phone appears.
Why It Sucks For being so powerful and modern, it can't do things even the dumbest phones do, like MMS, or copy and paste, a smartphone standard. Also email and corporate features aren't quite up to BlackBerry standards, lacking email search among other deficiencies. Apple tightly controls it, which might hurt development and innovation. And the whole making a phone call thing itself still kinda blows.
WINDOWS MOBILE by Microsoft
Unlike the iPhone and OS X, the only thing Microsoft's smartphone OS shares with actual Windows is the name. It has its roots in Windows CE and originally went by the Pocket PC moniker before becoming Windows Mobile. Mostly for corporate troopers, the current version number is 6.1, and it comes in touchscreen and non-touchscreen flavors. It recently fell behind RIM's BlackBerry in marketshare.
Why You'll Use It Diehards swear by its power, even if it isn't so easy for Joe Six-Pack to pick up and run with. It runs on handsets from a bunch of manufacturers, and unlike the BlackBerry and iPhone platforms, you can build your own device to run it. So much of the most advanced mobile hardware you'll lay your eyes on runs Windows Mobile, including the HTC Touch HD and Sony Xperia X1. It's got a corporate soul, so it's designed for business users, and it has specialty applications (like in the medical field) that some professionals need and can't get anywhere else.
Why It Sucks There's a reason premiere Windows Mobile handset makers have become increasingly adept at covering up the user interface: It's frankly terrible, especially when it comes to touch navigation. It isn't a great media phone, has a god-awful native browser and doesn't look so hot either. Unfortunately the next version, WM7, is over a year away.
PALM GARNET
Oh, whither Palm. Without getting into the complicated story of Palm's various fits, seizures and splits, the Palm OS goes all the way back to 1996, when it powered Palm's PDAs. All but dead now, its last hurrah was on the Centro before Palm plunged ahead with Windows Mobile. Supposedly work on its Linux-powered follow-up is well under way, but it's been delayed multiple times.
Why You'll Use It Though dated, the Palm OS makes a great starter smartphone, hence the success of the cheaper-than-dirt Centro. The learning curve is shallow and it provides most of the smartphone features you expect, even if it does look like it's still trapped in 1996.
Why It Sucks Uh, it's basically dead. You probably won't see it on another phone post-Centro, Palm's more pricey phones use Windows Mobile, and prospects on the upcoming Palm OS overhaul are dicey. (They should take Android and use it as a powerful foundation for the next Palm OS, but that's just my two cents.)
SYMBIAN by Nokia
Symbian is the world's most popular smartphone platform, thanks to Nokia. The most prominent variant right now is S60. While it doesn't seem so ubiquitious in the US, abroad it's far more common. It powers some seriously sick hardware, like Nokia's N series, and has a solid dev community, though the free side of that isn't as big as on other platforms.
Why You'll Use It Did you miss the "world's most popular smartphone" thing? Buy a Nokia multimedia phone, and you buy Symbian. It offers a lot of the best smartphone features—strong email, web and calendar, plus a large global development community—in a package that is far more usable than Windows Mobile. Also, it works with Macs with far less hassle than Windows Mobile.
Why It Sucks It can be overly complicated, and still not as easy to use as a BlackBerry or the iPhone. If you're not using a really solid piece of hardware, it can be really sluggish. Also, connecting to the web can be annoying. And while it's on handsets from a couple of other manufacturers, for the most part, you had better love Nokia hardware.
And that's pretty much the lay of the land, at least for now.
Something you still wanna know? Send any questions about dumbphones, dumber people or Mark Wahlberg to tips@gizmodo.com, with "Giz Explains" in the subject line.
So cooooool
First Screens of Firefox Mobile Surface with Few Surprises, No Release Date
First Screens of Firefox Mobile Surface with Few Surprises, No Release Date
10/12/2008 2:00:00 PM
10/12/2008 2:00:00 PM
Early October saw Mozilla CEO John Lilly claiming Firefox Mobile would be available in a few weeks. That's still the case today, but one additional bit of info we can deliver to you are some of the first screen shots of the browser to hit the net. According to the Unwired, these screens are of Firefox Mobile running on a Windows Mobile Professional touchscreen smartphone. In a separate screen, developers were able to run an Acid3 test with a score of 88/100. Not too shabby for a mobile browser. [The Unwired]
Windows Mobile Running on an iPhone
Windows Mobile Running on an iPhone
10/13/2008 10:32:00 AM
10/13/2008 10:32:00 AM
Call it what you will: immoral, unethical, unholy—it appears that a Norwegian developer by the name of Erik Kristiansen has actually managed to pull off Windows Mobile running on an iPhone. The video of the OS is booting on a 3G is convincing enough, but the extremely bizarre exchange between this "reporter" and Kristiansen at the myPhone2008 conference is enough to bring its validity into question. We shall find out soon enough—Kristainsen claims that the hack is currently in beta with a January release in the works. [myPhone2008]
Samsung Omnia Smartphone Coming to Verizon This Year?
Samsung Omnia Smartphone Coming to Verizon This Year?
10/15/2008 4:10:00 PM
10/15/2008 4:10:00 PM
According to a rebate document that popped up on Howard Forums, the Samsung Omnia may be heading to the Verizon network sometime this year. The WinMo phone had previously been Europe and Asia only, but this supposed $70 rebate (valid through November 15th), is the first possible evidence of US infiltration. The Omnia is Samsung's big product they expect to compete with the iPhone and a launch in time for the holidays would seem to make sense. But we'll see. [Howard Forums via Electronista]
Skyfire
Skyfire
1/1/0001 12:00:00 AM
Skyfire is a free, downloadable mobile web browser that allows you to experience the internet on your phone exactly like on your PC. Now, you can use the full web from your mobile phone with unprecedented speed and simplicity without the typical restrictions and limitations that current 'mobile web' efforts offer. It's "The Web", not some mobile web. Skyfire gives you speedy page loads, full audio, images and video. From Myspace, Facebook, YouTube to Hulu - it's the full web experienced on your Windows Mobile phone.
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I love skyfire its my default browser
1/1/0001 12:00:00 AM
Skyfire is a free, downloadable mobile web browser that allows you to experience the internet on your phone exactly like on your PC. Now, you can use the full web from your mobile phone with unprecedented speed and simplicity without the typical restrictions and limitations that current 'mobile web' efforts offer. It's "The Web", not some mobile web. Skyfire gives you speedy page loads, full audio, images and video. From Myspace, Facebook, YouTube to Hulu - it's the full web experienced on your Windows Mobile phone.
I love skyfire its my default browser
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