Category: Software

Microsoft is still officially mum on your “next release of Windows Mobile”, but their partners have never been as tight-lipped as Microsoft has been recently.

Letting the cat out of the bag one day early, Adobe has released a statement confirming that Windows Mobile 7 will not initially support Flash in the browser, but they are working together with Microsoft to make this possible later:

Microsoft and Adobe are working closely together. While the newest version of Windows Phone won’t support Flash at initial availability, both companies are working to include a browser plug-in for the full Flash player in future versions of Windows Phone. More details will be shared at Microsoft MIX next month.

This also confirms leaks we have heard earlier that say much the same, but given that Windows Mobile 7 is not fully cooked yet, it is quite understandable.  Hopefully this will not have any effect on Flash 10.1 on Windows Mobile 6.5.

Read more at Phonescoop here.

Jaxbot has created a cool application inspired by the Windows Mobile 7 gesture control system leaked a while ago.

Using the g-sensor and ambient light sensor, he is able to detect a hand waved over the screen, and use this either to answer the phone or ignore the call.

While the application works OK in good light where contrast is good, it is less effective in low light, but does include a sensitivity slider to address this issue.

The app also includes other features such as autolock when dark, shake to save a screen shot and turn to unlock.

We have tested the app on the HTC HD2, and it works reasonably well. If we could make one suggestion to the developer however it is to automatically activate the speaker phone when the phone is answered this way unless its connected to a bluetooth headset or car kit, making the whole process completely touch-free.

The cab can be downloaded here, and the app followed on this xda-dev thread here.

Opera is one of the fastest growing and most widely used browser in the Windows Mobile world, and this new cab includes everything you would need to better you experience. This cab was repacked by XDA member mike2037, and he included some tweaks and tools that shortens the wait time, give the browser flash support and associates the browser with all web based files.

This application again is still a beta but with this CAB, you will get the best experiance out of this great browser.

He had this to say:

Time to repack again…
I have repackaged Opera 10 Beta 3 with the following enhancements:

• No prompts to make it the default browser or launch
  • This makes it possible to use during UC/XDAUC/Sashimi without a custom mort script
• Default Browser is set to Opera 10
• Rotation is enabled by default
• Flash Lite is included in the package (all credit to JuggaloX)
• File associations are set to Opera 10 for HTM, HTML, MHT, MHTML, WGT, WML, WMLC

If this new and improved Opera sounds like something for you, give it a go here

Sleep is one of the most vital part of our day, it determines how we will act the whole day from angry from lack of sleep to energetic from a great nights rest, well this new application is here to assist. The application which has been done before by a major company for a high price has been recreated by an XDA member for no cost.

The application is a very simple application that does several things to determine your sleep patterns and rearrange when your alarm will ring to better your awakening. The application is still in beta and some people are already saying it works and is very simple.

The developer had this to say about it:

This is a beta application which monitors your sleep cycle, and sets a gently increasing alarm to go off at up to 30 minutes before your set alarm time (during your lightest sleep phase so that it’s easier to wake up fresh). If you are interested in testing it, please download and install the CAB here

Method of calculating lightest sleep phase: alarm can go off up to 30 minutes earlier than the set alarm time if you become more alert than you were at the lightest phase of the previous sleep cycle. If alarm does not go off early, as a failsafe it will always go off at the set time. The alarm does not affect any other alarms you may have set, so I would recommend setting some other alarm too as a failsafe.

If a better nights rest is what you have been searching for… then this application could be worth a try.

Give it that try:XDA

Engadget has dropped into Barcelona and has met up Garmin, who gave them a look at the Garmin- Asus Nuvifone M10.

The WVGA Windows Mobile 6.5.3 handset performed well in their cursory tests, and as usual Engadget damned it with faint praise by saying

The M10, meanwhile, is reasonably sexy, but we prefer the A50’s simple good looks by the thinnest of margins. It’s obviously being billed as a slightly higher-end device than the A50 on account of the 5 megapixel cam (up from the A50’s 3) and the inclusion of a 3.5mm jack, but what really struck us was Windows Mobile 6.5.3 — obviously WinMo’s still got a ton of issues in its present-day form, but 6.5.3 takes the paradigm just about as close as it can be to finger-friendliness as possible. If you’re still a stylus kind of person, though, don’t worry — you’ve got one discreetly tucked around back.

See more pictures after the break.

Source:Engadget.com

Barshad on XDA-Developers has created a custom installation of the leaked Blackberry Application Suite which runs pretty well on the HTC HD2, benefiting immensely from the Snapdragon powerhouse underneath.

Blackberry Application Suite has never been officially released but has been developed by RIM to run their OS as a virtual machine on Windows Mobile. It therefore supports nearly every function of a normal RIM machine, including Blackberry PIN.

The cab can be downloaded  from Rapidshare.com here.

Via Pocketnow.com

A mis-sent press pack seems to have alerted Neowin to the imminent announcement of a new version of Windows Mobile at Mobile World Congress.

No, we are not talking Windows Mobile 7 here, but in fact a lower-tier version called Windows Mobile Starter Edition.

Like Windows 7 Starter edition, this version is meant for developing markets and will be based on Windows Mobile 6.X.

Starter Edition itself will come in two versions, one with Office Mobile and one without. Windows Mobile Starter Edition will also support 2G (GSM), 2.5G (EDGE, GPRS) and CDMA (Rev A, EV-DO Revision A) or or TD-SCDMA. It’s not yet clear whether 3G will be supported.

We have previously heard rumours that Windows Mobile 6.5 will become free in developing markets, which fits in nicely with this leak.

At WMPU we cant say this fragmentation between markets is advisable, and suggests Microsoft rather find other ways of making their $15 per license, for example a cut of application sales, music and video sales or premium services such as extra storage on My Phone.

What do our readers think of Microsoft’s strategy?  Let us know below.

This application is one of the first that does this task, and from what I see, it does it pretty well. The software is currently freeware and when you download it, you can start scheduling your day and not worry if your phone will ring in a meeting or  miss a call because it is on silent. This application should help anyone that has been having a hard time remembering to silence their phone at work or turn it back up when going home.

“Version 1.10 changelog:
1. Added half-hours (I think quarters are too much).
2. Hour format (24 or 12) is automatically changed depending on your regional settings.
3. I don’t have VGA device, but I think now the screen is squeezed a bit so it can fit to VGA square screen. Please, try and tell me what happens.
4. Added sound profiles – low, medium, high and very high.
5. Number of settings increased from 4 to 15.
Please, download TProfiler110.CAB for latest version.
Automatically switches device sound mode (available profiles – sounds on, sounds off, vibrate) at selected hour and weekday. Simple application, doesn’t occupy memory. Tested only on HTC HD2.”

Get the application:XDA

Titanium is one of the many new goodness that comes out of 6.5, but the UI comes with some slight short comings. The UI which is the default for all Windows Mobile 6.5 phones comes with some new features which a lot of people can agree are not the best and have tweaked to their preference and this new tweak can say the same.

This new  theme does a lot to incorporating with the TF3D’s looks, a great design/wallpaper and functions to the UI. The theme includes TF3D 2.5 Sense UI’s clock, weather application and some other plug-ins that make this unique and not to mention the nice looking background. The features of this application are not listed, but if that looks like something you would like, click on the link and enjoy.

Download:XDA

The popular guitar based game for Windows Mobile has been going without an update for a while now, but it seems that the developers has a new release available. The application has not changed much from the last update, but if you were not aware of what that included, then this is truly new to you.

The previous update brought a whole new design to the previously unsightly game, and with that also came some tweaks and speed improvements. This update brings nothing more than just some little tweaks and slight changes, it comes with a request from the developer. The developer has apparently lost his graphics guy and he is looking for a new person because this loss to the Iphone has brought the app development to a standstill.

The application update brought this so far:

Version 0.31
Debug information added.
DirectShow error checking added.
Version 0.3
Major graphic overhaul
Pause
New scoring method
Vibration Feedback
FIX: Experimental bugfix for when receiving messages and calls, etc. The program should now behave fine when losing focus.

Get this slight updated over at XDA: Here

Pity Microsoft.  Despite their best attempts to keep the Windows Mobile 7 announcement next week a secret, they are just unable to keep a lid on it.

The latest confirmation comes from Engadget’s super spy cameras, which were able to see beneath white stickers Microsoft placed on their pervasive posters all around Barcelona.  A short Photoshop filter later and the words 7 series were revealed.

The implication is that we will be seeing a variety of versions of Windows Mobile 7, presumably, Entertainment and Business as rumoured earlier.

Only 48 hours before we will know a lot more.  I can hardly wait.

And before anyone think they can grab the domain name quickly, it seems Microsoft has that covered already, with Windowsphone7series.com safely registered already.

Read more at Engadget here.

Thanks MobilePaddy for the tip.

Pocketnow have published some pictures claimed to be from taken from a Windows Mobile 7 emulator image.  The image dates to around 2006, and likely bears little resemblance to what we can expect to see in two days time.

While the UI is clearly dated, Windows Mobile 6.5 still has to catch up to the use of transparency and gradients as demonstrated in the images above.

Interestingly these screen shots do lend credence to this picture of the HTC Universal which Eldar Murtazin claimed was running Windows Mobile 7 and which were dismissed out of hand at the time. It is now clear that this was in fact the case, again demonstrating how long Microsoft has been working on the OS.

See more screenshots at Pocketnow here.

Samsung, one of the official sponsors of the Winter Olympics 2010, starting in 16 days, has released their WOW application, which provides detailed coverage of the games.

The app features:

• Finger-friendly design for multiple screen-resolutions (240×400, 480×800 and 320×240)
• Available on both Windows Mobile 6.1 and 6.5 (touchscreen and non-touchscreen)
• Single menu to access the main components: Medal Count, Today’s Events, Schedule & Results, News, Weather and more.

The application may be downloaded for free on the Samsung Vancouver 2010 page. 

Read more about the app at CareAce.net here.

The lack of a unified Marketplace for Windows Mobile applications has been a major annoyance of the service since its introduction. Microsoft has promised to fix this issue many months ago, and it looks like it will soon come to a resolution.

When asked by a developer when the solution would come, a Microsoft forum admin said:

Microsoft is working on it and the facility to purchase applications from any of the marketplaces, while not being present in that particular country, will be made available later this month.

I suspect this is one of the many major announcements we can expect at Mobile World Congress, and it can not come a minute too soon.

Read the Microsoft Marketplace support thread here.

Via Pocketnow.com

The latest Digital Camera Raw Compatibility 3.0 update for OS X update finally adds Canon sRAW, which until now has been pretty difficult to manipulate on Macs (without third party programs).

This update extends RAW image compatibility for Aperture 3 and iPhoto ’09 for the following cameras and formats:

Canon PowerShot S90
Canon sRAW
Canon mRAW
Leica D-LUX 4
Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1
Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH1
Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX3

Grab it now from Software Update.

According to Wall Street Journal, Microsoft plans to publicly show a new version of its cellphone operating system, Windows Mobile 7, for the first time, at Mobile World Congress at Barcelona on Monday, according to people familiar with the matter.

The same “people familiar with the matter” said “the operating system sports a revamped user interface that resembles the look of Microsoft’s Zune HD music player”.

Apparently a separate Microsoft mobile project, unlikely to be announced next week, to design a mobile phone aimed at teenagers, is also in the works. The device, code-named Pink, will be a successor to the T-Mobile Sidekick, and will be a youth-oriented smart phone powered by software and services from Danger and will heavily emphasize social-networking applications.

The Pink phone is being manufactured by Japan’s Sharp Corp. and is expected to be sold internationally by Verizon Wireless and Vodafone Group PLC as early as this spring.

Hopefully the soon to arrive Pink phone is the source of all the rumours of a rather crippled OS we have been hearing about recently.

Read more at Wall Street Journal here.

The WSJ has confirmed that Mic will introduce their newest mobile phone OS on Monday at the Mobile World Conference in Barcelona. WinMo 6.5 is dead; long live Windows Phone 7.

The announcement will almost certainly come during Steve Ballmer’s Windows Phone press conference, scheduled for 3pm local time. According to the WSJ, Windows Phone 7 will have an entirely new user interface that closely resembles that of Zune. This backs up what we’d heard from a tipster last month.

Apparently, Windows Phone 7 will look to fix the mistakes of WinMos past by working more closely with OEMs:

With Windows Mobile 7, similarly, Microsoft has gotten more involved in hardware design by creating detailed plans for a small number of handset “chassis” on top of which hardware manufactures can build their devices, people familiar with the effort said. The idea behind the plan, these people said, is to limit the wild variation in quality of Windows phones and to make it easier for independent application developers to write software that runs well on them.

One of those devices to run off of Windows Phone 7 is expected to be Microsoft’s Project Pink/Zune phone, although that handset’s considered unlikely to be part of next week’s announcement.

It’s still going to be some time before we see any Windows Phone 7 devices on the market, but it’s good to see Microsoft getting in gear to replace the inexcusable WinMo 6.5. [WSJ]

A mobile analytics firm named Flurry assembled this chart, plotting the percentage of newly registered iPhone and Android app projects over time.

The rise and fall of each platform feels like a blow by blow of major product announcements/launches.

The January Apple app development boost, for instance, is attributed to the iPad (despite it being announced in the waning days of the month). While, it would probably be safe to attribute Android’s strong December to the Droid and maybe even teases of the Nexus One. Android’s July spike gets a bit more tricky, but the European release of the HTC Hero may have something to do with it.

Even though the public wasn’t wooed by the iPad, developers certainly were. Of course, some of that love may be fleeting, depending on what Android devices pop up next.

Oh, and it should be noted, despite how this graph may look, both Android and iPhone/iPad app development grew in January. Apple development just grew more.


[Flurry]

Samsung has released the latest version 2.2 of their Windows Mobile SDK, which helps developers create application using the G-Sensor, compass and other advanced functionality for their Windows Mobile smartphones.

Version 2.2 of the SDK adds support for the following phones running Windows Mobile 6.5:

• SCH-M710/715 T*Omnia II
• SPH-M7350 Oz Omnia

Support for Windows Mobile 6.1 is also deprecated with this release, and Samsung suggest developers who target phones running the OS use the older 1.2 version of the SDK.

The SDK can be downloaded here.

Via CareAce.net

Fixing a typo is handy, sure, but something tells me that the less morally scrupulous among us will have a field day with Google Buzz‘s edit button—namely, this comic. [DogHouseDiaries via reddit]