Author: Surur

In an interesting move Achim Berg (46), previously CEO of Microsoft Germany, is moving to Redmond to become Corporate Vice President of Mobile Communications Business & Marketing, a newly created position. He will be responsible for all marketing and business development activities for Windows phones worldwide and report to Andy Lees, senior vice President of Mobile Communications.

"Achim Berg will be excellent addition, and brings his excellent management style and his practical sales and marketing experience in the Mobile Communications Business Team (MCB) . His experience at Deutsche Telekom, Fujitsu / Siemens and Dell gives a comprehensive view of our business. Achim will be a major asset to the Leadership Team and will contribute to the Mobility business and MCB to help the team succeed with the important Launch of our Windows 7 Phone, "said Andy Lees.

"The wireless market is essential for Microsoft. Already more smartphones are sold worldwide than PCs. Mobile Internet access has become the standard and is more important than the simple network with other devices. I see a huge opportunity for Microsoft in this innovative market, "said Berg.

Germany has been one of the stronger markets for Windows Mobile, with the Microsoft OS holding a 19.9% market share there, only after Symbian and iPhone and well ahead of RIM’s 5.4%, according to recent Comscore numbers.

Via MSMobiles.com

DayDeal.com is now offering coloured back covers for the HTC HD2.  Meant more for personalization than protection, the covers simply snap on, but does provide a non-slip finish over the whole back of the device.

Find more at DayDeal.com here.

Despite being accused of never innovating, HTC’s engineers are always coming up with new and interesting designs, both software and hardware.  Their latest patent application is for a hinged device that slides open into a flat tablet-like device. Interestingly their render of an actual device does not show any keys, suggesting again a dual-screened device, like their earlier patent application.

HTC explains their invention as such:

The present application generally relates to a portable electronic device, in particular, to a portable electronic device having two bodies capable of being stacked or spread.

Portable electronic devices refer to electronic devices capable of being carried and operated by users. Portable electronic devices generally have small volume and weight for being carried by users conveniently. Common portable electronic devices include mobile phones, multimedia players, personal digital assistants, handheld game consoles, handheld satellite navigation systems, and notebook computers.

Most of the current portable electronic devices adopt a two-layer folding or sliding design, thus the two bodies of the portable electronic device have a minimum volume when being stacked and a large area when being spread. However, as for sliding design, the two bodies are still partially stacked when sliding with respect to each other, thus definitely reducing the area utilization rate of the lower body.

Accordingly, the present application is directed to a portable electronic device having a function of stacking or spreading bodies thereof.

The present application provides a portable electronic device having a first body, a second body, and a moving mechanism. The moving mechanism is disposed between the first body and second body, such that the second body is moveable between a first position and a second position with respect to the first body. In the first position, the second body is stacked on the first body. In the second position, top surfaces of the first body and the second body are substantially coplanar.

Based on the above description, the present application stacks or spreads the two bodies via the sliding mechanism and the moving mechanism, so as to improve the area utilization rate of the first body.

Having a “coplanar” design does not facilitate the use of a keyboard much, except to allow the keyboard to be even larger, but such a design would certainly look good on a dual screen device.

Read the full patent here and the design after the break.

Vodafone UK is no longer selling the HTC HD2, but fortunately they have continued to support it, releasing their second ROM update now.

The new ROM, an unusual version 1.72, released yesterday, apparently brings unspecified “efficiency improvements”. 

For those who prefer to preserve their warranty and only use official ROMs, the download is available here.

Via Coolsmartphone.com

We have all seen e-Ink screens, but Qualcomm’s Mirasol technology is another competitor in the super-low power display technology arena, and unlike e-ink the display, which works via reflected light, has a fast enough refresh rate to support video.

Qualcomm has now announced they are ready to enter volume production this year in a version suitable for tablet PCs and e-readers. The 5.7-inch Mirasol displays will offer XGA (1024 x 768 pixel) resolution, video at up to 30 frames per second, and extremely low power consumption, according to Qualcomm.

The technology was first shown of as a secondary screen on a Windows Mobile smartphone by Inventec.

Read more about the technology at WindowsforDevices here, video from Tweaktown.com

ZDNet’s Matthew Miller has had an extended period with the Microsoft Kin One and Two, and have published this 11 minute walk-through of the features of the handsets.

He notes that the handsets were pretty compelling, but for the target market the main issue will the the ongoing costs of the data plans, which needed to be much cheaper than standard for Verizon for the phones to catch on.

Read more at the Smartphone blog here.

HTC, who has been very successful using the operating systems of others, is now considering getting one of its very own.

“We continue to assess, but that requires a few conditions to justify” having our own system, Cheng Hui-ming, chief financial officer of the Taoyuan, Taiwan-based company, said in a phone interview with Bloomberg.

“There are many multiple factors to be considered together, rather than a simple statement as to own or not to own” proprietary software, Cheng said.

HTC is widely believed to be making a play for Palm, which of course comes with its webOS baggage. Cheng however declined to comment on whether HTC has studied Palm for possible acquisition.

HTC has no timeframe for deciding whether to have its own platform, he said.

Some analysts favour the move, noting the most successful players such as Apple and RIM all own their own software.

“If you look at the successful smartphone players, like Apple and Research in Motion, a reason for their success is that they have their own platform,” said Steven Tseng, who rates HTC “buy” at RBS Asia Ltd. in Taipei and favours the company having its own operating system in the long term. “The negative is the amount of resources they’d need to allocate.”

Samsung has recently thrown its own hat in the ring with their Bada offering, and Nokia of course bought Symbian last year, making HTC the odd man out in the top 5 smartphone rankings.

Lena Goh, a spokeswoman for Microsoft in Singapore told PCWorld Microsoft has no plans to bring its newly announced Kin handsets to Asia, despite the large size and relative sophistication of Asian cell-phone markets.

Microsoft is not holding talks with Asian operators to offer the Kin, she said, noting that distribution agreements signed with Verizon Wireless and Vodafone were exclusive.

While Kin is slated to be released in the U.S. and Europe, Microsoft is focusing its Asian mobile efforts on the upcoming release of Windows Phone 7, Goh said.

Vodafone will be carrying the KIN the UK,  Germany, Italy, Spain and Spain by Fall later this year.

“Mobile social networking is increasingly having strong appeal for our customers,” said Patrick Chomet, group director of terminals at Vodafone. “KIN has a unique and intuitive way of engaging with the user, enabling them easily to share experiences and stay in touch with their friends.”

Vodafone has not revealed exact delivery dates or price information.

HTC has finally released their official car cradle, but of course if was not the very interesting one originally announced, but a rather mundane version which all the same is likely a lot more secure than the version which depended on the battery door staying on at all times.

The above video snaigen1 shows the HTC HD2 CU S400 car kit in action.  The cradle is available from Clove here for £55 excluding VAT.

Phonescoop.com have published this hands-on video of the 8 megapixel Kin Two in action.  Mary Jo Foley reports that the device is devoid of an app store, with none planned either and applications will only be added with each update sent OTA by Microsoft.

Apparently Microsoft developed the experience after interviewing 50 000 people, even before purchasing Danger, and the device contains absolutely no Danger code at all.

InformationWeek noted the device is missing basic features such as a calendar, and despite being the Sidekick successor lacks IM also, which I believe is actually the biggest omission for a socially-aware device.

Roz Ho also revealed to ZDNet that “Over time, expect to see a lot of alignment” among Windows Phone 7 and Kin, but declined to say if Kin features will show up in Windows Phone 7 or vice versa. She also hinted that other OEM’s other than Sharp may make Kin phones, and the devices will not be Microsoft branded. “This (Kin) is another Windows Phone,” Ho said.

Forbes reveals the real difference between this device and Windows Phone 7: According to Robbie Bach "Windows Phone 7 is about simplifying peoples’ lives, this social phone is about amplifying their lives,".

If our readers can parse that enigmatic statement, explain it to the rest of us below.

Now that we have seen and heard most of what these two devices are about, what do our readers think?

Now I know these handsets are limited and not suitable for smartphone users, but I find the UI concepts very interesting, and certainly much more so that the tiles in Windows Phone 7.  The Kin Spot in particularly is interesting, as well as Kin Studio, which has My Phone well and truly beat.

Would you recommend this handset to your Facebook-obsessed friends or is it too limited with too many unanswered questions? Let us know below.

The Loop is Microsoft’s term for the Kin home screen, where users can pin their favourite contacts.  The actual position of the contacts will determine how frequently their updates will show up on the screen, and much like with Windows Phone 7 a swipe to the right will allow one to see a list of apps, including e-mail, phone, newsfeeds, browser and photos.

The main screen contains a list of updates (feeds) and the far left one a collection of your favourite people.

Via Engadget.com

Microsoft is promising that the camera on the Kin One and Two will be much better than we expect on a camera, with a powerful flash and good low-light performance.  Like the whole Kin the emphasis is on sharing photos and video, and on the Kin Two the photos are 8 megapixel and the video 720P HD.

Via Engadget.com

Probably the most interesting feature of the Kin devices is the Kin Spot, which allows users to easily share media with their friends and followers.

What is particularly interesting about this is the similarity in UI between this and Microsoft’s Courier demo videos, of course this time with an actual implementation which works well. To me it indicated that we the Courier may in fact be real and coming sooner than we expect.

Do our readers agree? Let us know below.

Via Engadget.com

Likely the most interesting element of the Kin phones, next to the Share spot, is the Kin Studio, which takes My Phone to the next level. Hopefully these features will see wider roll-out when Windows phone 7 comes along.

Engadget has published this first hands-on video with the Kin One and Kin Two handsets at Microsoft’s launch event.

They note the keyboard was pretty good, the handsets felt solid and that the user interface worked well. The browser was a bit slow however.

Of particular interest, given the small storage on both units, is that both devices could stream music from the Zune Pass over WIFI and EVDO and play it in the background.

See their full gallery here.

Kin Two is a 8 megapixel landscape slider with 8 GB internal storage and a super-bright LumiLED flash. It has a Half-VGA screen and can shoot HD video.