windows mobile 7

Windows Mobile 6.x to be free, come with free navigation?

February 10, 2010 | By Surur

MSMobiles say they have the low down on Microsoft’s Mobile World Congress announcements, and what they leaked makes quite a bit of sense.

First the bits we think we know already:

Windows Mobile 7 will be introduced with Zune, Xbox, Bing integration. It will feature a new kernel,Games and Music improvements and a new user interface, based on Windows Presentation Foundation. Development will take place in the latest version of Visual Studio.

Now the new bits:

Clearly in a direct response to Nokia and Android, Windows Mobile (not sure which version) will come with free navigation (presumably turn by turn). Also clearly in a response to all the open source mobile OS’s, Windows Mobile 6.X will be free to developing markets.

As mentioned above, these changes make perfect sense, and shows a Microsoft prepared to respond much more rapidly than before to changes in the mobile market.

What do our readers think? Is this a sufficient response to the competitive pressure Microsoft faces? Let us know below.

720P screens on a phone impossible? The Qisda QCM-330 disagrees

February 8, 2010 | By Surur

There has been many Windows Mobile 7 rumours, but the one that made the LG Apollo appear pretty ridiculous was the 720P screen on the device, which frankly appeared impossible last month.

Fats forward 3 weeks however, and we have the Qisda QCM 330, a MID-type device with a 4 inch screen and an amazing 1280x 1024 screen.

The OS is unknown, but likely Android, but that wont stop LG from using a similar screen on their 3.8 inch monster.

Read more about the Qisda QCM-330 here, and the LG Apollo here.

Thanks Hugo for the tip.

5

Microsoft giving up on the business market with Windows Mobile 7?

February 8, 2010 | By Surur

Chainfire, via Tweakers.net, has posted this collection of Windows Mobile rumours:

Microsoft will drop much of the business side of WM in favor of the consumer side. The traditional business offerings like Office / Exchange functionality will of course still be supported, but the focus will be shifted to gaming and multimedia. The Xbox and Zune brands will be represented, the Zune player willl be included and it will be possible to wirelessly exchange data, multimedia, and games with the Xbox 360.

The first batch of phones that will be released will have pretty much the same chip specs, and HTC, Samsung, LG and SE will be the ones to deliver this first batch of phones. In this first batch (September 2010), the OEMs are apparently not allowed to make big changes, they all have to use the same interface.

This means, no custom UI like Sense, no Opera Mobile either. Instead the default WM UI will be used and a new PocketIE based on IE7, but with some functionality from IE8.

The second batch (end of 2010) will be allowed to have small changes, but likely only theme-based and addition of some custom application.

Only at the third batch (early 2011) will the OEMs be allowed to add their own interfaces, like Sense, Panels, TouchWiz and S-Class.

The official announcements of the WM7 phones are not expected to occur more than a few weeks before actual release of the OS, [CF: so we probably won't see official (unleaked) specs and such before the end of July (based on the September release date)].

As hardware goes they say mostly the same as the chassis 1 specs. 1 Ghz+ CPU, Open GL ES 2.0, 800×480+, 3.5"+, 384mb+ (possibly 512+).

According to those we have seen the WM7 interface, it is nothing revolutionary. It should have standard multi-touch support and supports only capacitive. The interface is said to be a hybrid of iPhone / Android / Zune HD elements.

Apparently those that have used WM7 builds differ in opinion about the software. Some state it is much faster than for example the 3GS, while others mention apps are slow to start and experiencing ‘hickups’.

Apps-wise, old applications will in principle not be compatible with Windows Mobile 7, throwing away many thousands of apps that are currently available. It may be compatibility for old apps will be emulated, but this is not clear yet. How exactly this will work will likely be explained at MIX 2010 in March.

It certainly seems like only .NET apps will be supported [CF: ugh!], however it is not clear if the Compact Framework will be a part of that .NET support.

PPCGeeks claim Windows Mobile 7 leak

February 6, 2010 | By Surur

PPCGeeks claims to have come accross a treasure trove of Windows Mobile 7 information, and most are consistent with other rumours we have heard, but no less controversial.

They claim:

-The User Interface is based upon codename “METRO”. It will be very similar to the Zune HD User Interface with a complete revamp of the “Start” screen. The UI is “Very Clean”, “Soulful” and “Alive”
-Unfortunately there will be no Flash support at the get go as there was not enough time to implement these features.
-Windows Phone 7 will only support application installation through service based delivery. (i.e Marketplace). Application installation via storage card will not be possible.
- No Multi-Task support. Applications will “Pause” when in the background, however will support notifications via push notifications.
-Marketplace will now support “try before you buy” as well as an API
-No NETCF backwards compatibility. This means the original rumor of no backward compatibility for applications holds to be true. That being said, there are high hopes of porting the NetCF to the newer platform easily.
-Microsoft is confident that devices will be ready by September 2010
-Full Zune Integration
-Windows Mobile Device Center will no longer be used. Zune software to take over syncing via PC.
-OEM Interfaces will not be allowed to run on the device. Say goodbye to Sense UI / SPB Mobile Shell / Point UI / Infinity, etc, etc
-Full XBOX Gaming Integration (Gamer tag, achievements, friends, avatars, merchandising, etc)
-Full support for social networking.

Hopefully what PPCGeeks are talking about is a Zune Phone rather than the real Windows Mobile 7, because otherwise… Do I hear Android calling?

What do our readers think? Let us know below.

70

12 Windows Mobile sessions at MIX 10 announced

February 4, 2010 | By Surur

Microsoft is slowly lifting the veil on their Windows Mobile plans, and in this VisitMix blog announcement finally revealed that there will be 12 MIX 10 Windows Mobile sessions.

One of them will be hosted my Microsoft UI heavyweight Joe Belfiore, who will be delivering the keynote.

Corporate Vice President of Windows Mobile Program Management at Microsoft, Joe Belfiore, will be speaking at MIX in March. Belfiore is responsible for the overall design and product definition of the software that powers Windows Phones. A huge consumer advocate, Belfiore has led the design and development of some of Microsoft’s more consumer-friendly products, including Zune, Windows Media Center, and the user experience for Windows itself. Along with Belfiore’s keynote, eleven new Windows Phone sessions have just been added to the MIX10 agenda.

The sessions remain place holders however, and no information regarding the content has been revealed yet.

Thanks Adam for the tip.

0

Open Source NFC stack released, compatible with Windows Mobile 7

February 3, 2010 | By Surur

NFC is an increasingly popular technology that allows contactless data exchange via smart card chips, and is often used for small payments via smartcard or cell phone.

INSIDE Contactless, a leading provider of advanced, open-standard contactless chip technologies, today announced it is making its Open NFC commercial-grade NFC protocol stack (formerly MicroRead Software Foundation) available in a free and open source edition under the Apache License,Version 2.0.

The also announced the stack will be compatible with WinCE 6.0 and Windows Mobile 7, and is available for download now.

"Our decision to release Open NFC under the Apache license demonstrates our willingness to lead the way in bringing high quality, well documented NFC software into the open source arena," said Philippe Martineau, executive vice president of the NFC business line for INSIDE Contactless. "Open NFC fits right in with the trend toward open platforms in the mobile industry, and will benefit device makers as well as software developers and others in the mobile ecosystem in several ways, providing greater impetus to implementing NFC solutions across a broad range of consumer products."

NFC has appeared prominently in several Microsoft Windows Mobile job postings, and there is therefore some indication they are intending to implement the technology broadly in Windows Mobile 7.

Open NFC supports several levels of functionality, from low-level RF control to high-level NFC Forum tag handling, peer-to-peer communications as well as Bluetooth and Wi-Fi pairing, interactions with single-wire protocol SIMs and other secure elements and compatibility with smart cards and RFID tags.

Qualcomm now offers two complete NFC handset reference designs, one based on an HSUPA Mobile Station Modem (MSM ) chipset and one based on a Qualcomm Single Chip (QSC ) solution for CDMA2000 . The two reference designs leverage INSIDE Contactless’ NFC solution enabling device manufacturers to bring next-generation NFC handsets to market more quickly and at significantly reduced development cost.

Steve Ballmer to appear at Mobile World Congress

February 3, 2010 | By Surur

Microsoft has been doing it all it can to stage manage their Mobile World Congress event, including trying to to suppress all (of their own) Windows Mobile 7 leaks.

This effort included to not giving any indication to who will be speaking at Microsoft’s MWC event on the 15 February.

Unfortunately it seems there was again some communication error inside the computing giant, and a banner has been popping up on the site advertising Steve Ballmer’s presence at the event.

This, amongst many other things, is another indication of the importance of the event, and with the Windows Mobile 6.5.3 announcement out of the way, again raises the odds of Windows Mobile 7 being shown off.

For Developers: Windows Mobile 7 development tools coming to Visual Studio 2010 only when WM7 is released

February 2, 2010 | By Surur

Developers have been concerned by the lack of Windows Mobile development tools in the latest Visual Studio 2010 betas from Microsoft.

Beta 1 of VS2010 and .NET 4 were made available last May, followed by beta 2 in October. Participants in Microsoft’s Technology Adoption Program and Visual Studio Industry Partners had access to limited community technology previews (CTPs) after the beta 2 release.

Senior VP of the Microsoft Developer Division S. Somasegar has confirmed that Visual Studio 2010 tooling for Windows Mobile 7 and smart devices will be made available after the official release of Visual Studio 2010.

Somasegar said it will be released as out-of-band in conjunction with the technology itself.

Microsoft is slated to offer a public release candidate (RC) of Visual Studio 2010 this month, delaying the formal "launch" of the upcoming IDE and .NET Framework 4 by a few weeks, according to the company. If Microsoft adheres to that schedule, VS2010 should be released to manufacturing (RTM) by April 12, the new launch date.

Visual Studio 2010 is still waiting for Silverlight 4, expected still in the first half of the year.

The Visual Studio Magazine article notes developers can expect to learn more about Windows Mobile 7 at the World Mobile Congress later this month and at MIX10 in March.

Read more about Visual Studio 2010 here.

3

Tegra-powered Zune phone to be announced at Mobile World Congress?

February 1, 2010 | By Surur

Spanish blog myucomputer.com claims to have first hand knowledge that confirms that Microsoft will be announcing a Zune-themed phone at Mobile World Congress, powered by the same Tegra chipset as found in the ZuneHD.

Like the ZuneHD the device will also have HDMI-out capability, but retain the 480×272 screen.

They go on to speculate that the device will feature Windows Mobile 7, but this early in the day its likely to be the cut down non-multi-tasking version rumoured rather than the real release we will see towards the end of the year.

At WMPoweruser.com we find the rumour believable, and will make sure we are there to bring you the first pictures of the device.

Thanks Rakesh for the tip.

11

Windows Mobile 7 showing up in Microsoft upcoming events

January 30, 2010 | By Surur

Microsoft is a large company with fingers in many pies, and when it comes to working with business it is difficult to keep all your clients in the dark.

Therefore it is no surprise that news of Windows Mobile 7 is starting to show up as agenda items in Microsoft’s event planners – how would business clients be able to know which event to plan to attend if they do not have enough notice?

MSFTKitchen noticed Windows Mobile 7 being discussed at the Energize IT 2010, will be held in Canada on March 30, 2010 in the session is titled “From the Client to the Cloud V 2.0.”

Windows Azure. Office System 2010. Visual Studio 2010. Windows Phone 7. The Microsoft-based platform presents a bevy of opportunities for all of us. Whether you are an IT Manager, Developer, or IT Pro knowing how these will impact you is critical, especially in the new economic reality.

To start the day we will explore the Microsoft-based platform through a scenario that will demonstrate different points of view – from developer to IT Pro; from consumer to the information worker. From the client to the cloud, this fun-filled demo-intensive exploration will excite you about the possibilities of the Microsoft-based platform. You’ll see how to build next generation applications with technology like Silverlight, .NET 4.0 and Visual Studio 2010. You will find out how to consume those applications on a variety of devices, like mobile devices running Windows Phone, netbooks and PCs running Windows 7, as well as the web. You will learn about how the Microsoft-based platform allows you to connect with your colleagues no matter where you are –office, coffee shops, or your own living room. You’ll also see how you and your colleagues can be even more productive with Office 2010 and SharePoint 2010.

In the afternoon we will split in two tracks focused on managing and deploying infrastructure, and the development process. These tracks will help you answer the question “How do I get to the latest technology from my current reality?” You’ll learn about the technical details required for you to be ready to implement some of the technologies demonstrated in the morning sessions and help offer a clear learning and experimentation roadmap, and action plan.

EnergizeIT: From the Client to the Cloud is your opportunity to learn how to harness the power and flexibility of the Microsoft-based platform from the client to the cloud.

In short, it seems, after the announcement, all secrets will be off and Windows Mobile 7 will be discussed pretty freely.

Windows Mobile 7 UI concept

January 29, 2010 | By Surur

By now we have all been bored with the old, rather pedestrian screen shots of Windows Mobile 7. We often see more interesting UI’s in Microsoft’s concept videos, such as this Microsoft Tag video which we have posted on earlier.

Do you think Microsoft will surprise us with a good-looking and radically different UI such as this, or will we just be seeing Windows Mobile 6.5.3 Plus? Let us know what your wildest fantasies for Windows Mobile 7 is below.

Thanks Wreiad for reminding us of the video above.

15

Microsoft directly confirms Windows Mobile 7 for Mobile World Congress

January 29, 2010 | By Surur

Microsoft has been extremely cagy about Windows Mobile 7, preferring to always couch statements about it in vague terms such as their favourite, “the next generation of our mobile OS”.

Clearly no-one told Peter Klein, CFO of Microsoft that, as he came out and responded directly to a Windows Mobile 7 question in this Fox news interview.

Fox News: “Are we going to see Windows 7 Mobile come out in 2010? What is your plans for that?”

Peter Klein: “We are heads down working on Windows Mobile 7 and we will have much more to say about that at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in February.”

There we have it. Let any speculation about whether Windows Mobile 7 will be discussed at Mobile World Congress end now.

Check the video at the 4 minute mark to hear this in person above.

For all our Windows Mobile 7 coverage follow up at twitter.com/wmpoweruser.

12

Windows Mobile 7 still in line for Spring Release to Manufacturers?

January 29, 2010 | By Surur

MSFTKitchen, clearly an amazing data spelunker, has found this slide on Microsoft’s server in a Chinese presentation created on the 11th December 2009 which indicates that Windows Mobile 7 was, then at least, still set for a Spring RTM.

This is of course exactly the time scale Microsoft should be looking for id they expect to have Windows Mobile 7 smartphones available in the fall on 2010. The news here is of course that Microsoft is still on track, and that rumours of a delay are just that.