The week marches on and today being Saturday means it is time to recap the recent happenings in the world of Windows Mobile. The Windows Marketplace for Mobile only launched for phones running WM 6.5 a week ago, but this week it hit all phones running WM 6.x. Those with phones running WM 6.0 or 6.1 can now get into the Marketplace by downloading the app to the phone. As is the case with most online app stores, the new Marketplace provides OTA purchasing and downloading of apps right on the phone.

Opera Mobile has long been one of the best browsers on the Windows Mobile platform, many would claim it is the best, and the newest version has cemented that position. Opera Mobile 10 has updated the user interface to make it less cluttered and easier to use, while making improvements to the browsing capabilities of the program. The new interface is optimized for touchscreen navigation, bringing good usage benefits to current smartphones. Tabbed browsing and the Speed Dial features add to the full-featured usage of Opera Mobile. It is no wonder that Opera Mobile is the default browser on HTC phones.

Office 2010 is in full preview mode, and the new mobile version of the next Office suite is now available for Windows Phones. The suite can be obtained through the Marketplace, and is restricted to phones running WM 6.5.

MoTR 190 is 37:49 minutes long and is a 34.7 MB file in MP3 format.

CLICK HERE to download the file and listen directly.

HOSTS: James Kendrick (Houston), Matthew Miller (Seattle) and Kevin C. Tofel (Philadelphia)

TOPICS:

Matt’s back from möbius with a handset rundown
Maybe Pocket PC isn’t such a bad name, after all
Hands on with the HTC HD2
Kevin has a 3.5G wireless broadband secret he’s been holding out on
Google’s Chrome OS explained

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Here are some of today’s phone conversations I enjoyed reading or viewing on the web, along with some brief thoughts:

TomTom for iPhone gets voicevoice (TomTom) — $99 for an iPhone navigation app is a bit steep for me, but there are some new features to help justify the cost. New are the iPod player controls for music use,  text-to-speech functionality, and advanced lane guidance. Sounds good, but all the lanes by me are single lanes.

Motorola Motus takes a fuzzy picture (AndroidGuys) — I’m not talking about the camera of the phone — the picture of the actual handset is fuzzy. It looks like a Motorola CLIQ with a foldout, flat keyboard to me. Rumored specs show support for both T-Mobile’s and AT&T’s 3G frequency, but it’s way too early to make that determination.

Google News refreshed for mobiles (Google) — iPhone, Android, and Palm Pre devices get a new edition of Google News. The update includes a new, customizable “Jump To” menu, making it easier to get at the news you want. First take my iPhone? I like it — it’s snappy and I can get at what I want in fewer clicks.

It is Thursday and that means it’s time for another Palm Press. Palm Press is our weekly look at the world of Palm. The Pixi has only been selling for a short bit but you can already pick one up at Amazon for $25. Yes, you read that right, $25. Palm and Sprint should just go ahead and give the things away. Sell us accessories, the mark-ups obviously higher anyway. BTW, the Pre is only $80 at Amazon. Things can’t be sitting too well with Palm right about now, as savvy shoppers will have even less reason to buy a new Pixi instead of a Pre.

This week saw the rollout of webOS 1.3.1, and it was largely a rollup of fixes and minor tweaks. One of the most significant changes in the new release, to me anyway, is the inclusion of browser cookies in the backup. That means your browsing information survives a rebuild and restore, which is great news. Yahoo! users will now love the synchronization with webOS as it was added to the mix. The change in webOS 1.3.1 most discussed is the one that isn’t there, Palm apparently decided to throw in the towel in the wrestling match with Apple over iTunes compatibility. This update is the first by Palm that didn’t reverse the most recent iTunes update to block webOS phones from syncing with iTunes.

In happier news for Palm, the Pre was named by Consumer Reports as one of the top products of the year. The Pre placed eighth on the CR list of top smartphones, behind the iPhones (3GS and 3G) and the BlackBerry Bold.

The Verizon Droid is soon to be returned to the kind folks there who sent me this evaluation phone so it’s time for a video look at the phone. The Droid is the Android 2.0 slider that is thin and light, and sports an industrial design bent. In the video I show the responsiveness of the Droid, the hardware and give a feel for the web browsing experience. I also show the camera function, including how long it takes to focus and shoot.

I have been impressed with the Droid, and will be sad to see it go. It is a very capable smartphone compared to the many I have tried. I find it is easily the best phone on the Verizon network currently.

Here are some of today’s phone conversations I enjoyed reading or viewing on the web, along with some brief thoughts:

Google’s real phone is yet to come? (TechCrunch) — That’s the alleged inside scoop from yesterday, although today the rumor was softened a bit to include VoIP and data only. All in all, the truth is likely somewhere in the middle. After developing Android for the past two years and working with partners on over a dozen handset, Google isn’t likely to tick them all off by creating their own handset. They’re actually in the same boat as Microsoft with Windows Mobile licensing at this point and it would be difficult to reverse course.

Sprint’s Hero is more super now (BGR) — The Android totin’ Hero on Sprint’s network has new firmware ready for delivery. It’s not a major update, but word on the street says there’s better battery efficiency due to an SMS fix. The new version is 1.56.651.2, so check for it — it’s an over-the-air update, so it could hit at any time for Sprint customers.

Palm’s Pixi costs less than five lattes (Engadget) — Amazon might be the best place to pick up a Pixi right now — $25 with a new plan and this skinny webOS handset it yours. At this point, it might as well be free. The question is: even at these prices, will it be a hit for Palm? Early reviews generally agreed that the phone was a little sluggish — both due to the processor and the variability of Sprint’s EVDO, since there’s no Wi-Fi radio. At this price, even with those niggles, the Pixi could still be a good first smartphone. It’s like the webOS Centro, no?

Time for our Wednesday feature that highlights some of the latest iPhone news! On a personal level, the biggest iPhone news for me is the arrival of Star Wars: Trench Run (iTunes link). The $4.99 title offers intuitive gameplay and controls, but can be quite challenging. And the graphics are more than adequate for a handheld game. What I like most about it is what I like about many iPhone games — you don’t need to block an hour or more out of your day. You can simply play whenever you find a few free minutes, which ironically holds true for most iPhone apps: they’re generally offering bite-sized chunks of functionality when you need them.

While I’ve been honing my Jedi skills, the rumor mills have ripened with news of an expected Concierge application for iPhone and iPod Touch devices. AppleInsider explains that the Apple-created software will assist with scheduling appointments at the Genius Bar or for Apple’s One on One training services. Normally, most folks would use the phone to call for an appointment, but a few button presses might be quicker and give us more training time in our X-Wings.

My training got a boost this morning, but not in my fighter — my knowledge of what’s really in the iPhone App Store. Sure, we all know that there’s a 100,000 applications, but I read this morning that 1 in 5 apps added to the store last month was actually a book. If that’s the case, does Apple really need to enter the e-book market as some have said? I’m not sure they do because they’re already earning revenue from the phone as well as the e-book applications. What’s to be gained?

The company behind Fring has announced it has landed on the Android platform. Android joins the iPhone, Windows Mobile, Symbian, S60 and other platforms to support the ability to make free calls using Fring. The app is available in the Android Market and works with Skype, MSN, GoogleTalk, ICQ, Twitter, Yahoo! and AIM for both calls and chat sessions.

Opera today announced the beta of Opera Mobile 10 for Windows Mobile devices. The new look and feel is very much like Opera on the desktop or the newest version of Opera Mini. Here’s a listing of what the latest Opera browser brings to WinMo:

1. Intuitive new interface Opera has thrown out the clutter and is keeping it simple in terms of aesthetics. Less is more when it comes to mobile browsing.
2. Speed Dial Speed Dial serves as your personal table of contents for the Web. Your favorite sites welcome you upon launching Opera, and in one click, you are there.
3. Tabbed browsing Open new links in multiple tabs to bounce between sites easily.
4. Password manager Save those annoying passwords with Opera’s password manager, or if you are feeling vulnerable, simply and swiftly delete all.
5. Touchscreen or keypad navigation Whether your Windows Mobile smartphone is touchscreen or keypad-based, Opera Mobile 10 beta is customized for your navigation style.
6. Save images Select and save your friends’ Facebook pictures to your phone for offline viewing later.
7. Opera Turbo Offload your page rendering to one of Opera’s servers, and reduce your data costs.
8. Advanced compatibility Since Opera Mobile 10 beta is based on Opera’s browser for desktop computers, it maintains advanced Web-site compatibility and ensures that nearly any site is accessible from a mobile phone.
9. Smooth surfing Pan, zoom and smoothly scroll your way through the Web.
10. It is free! Opera Mobile 10 beta for Windows Mobile is available as a free download at www.opera.com/mobile/ or m.opera.com/mobile/ (for phone download).

The best part — aside from the Turbo function, which I still love — is that like older versions of Opera, the new beta supports Windows Mobile 5 handsets on up. Pity that I just shipped off my old Dash for a little holiday cash…

Are you liking what you’re seeing from the Nokia N900 and its Maemo operating system? Nokia hopes so because it let loose that Symbian S60 is hitting the recycle bin by 2012 on its N-series line of devices. Assuming that the Mayans don’t get involved in any calendar tomfoolery, you’ll see Maemo on all N-series handsets by then. That’s the word from a Maemo event held yesterday in London — bear in mind that it was a Maemo event, meaning that Nokia hasn’t officially stated this in any formal capacity.

The news makes sense in several way, though. By comparison, the S60 user interface is looking older than that Mayan calendar as each day goes on. And Nokia left the door open for this very scenario back in August when Om asked the company about a potential dumping of Symbian. Here are quotes back then from a Nokia representative, emphasis mine:

“[t]here is logically not just one software environment that fits all consumer and market needs,”

“In addition, as we’ve stated before, we also continue to explore opportunities around a new class of devices that we see as the next segment of high performance mobile devices.”

Those opportunities are surely Maemo at this point, with the N900 currently starting to ship. “Consumer and market needs” are indeed changing as well — and Nokia must change with them, or else become irrelevant. The bulk of the company’s handsets are low-end, low-margin feature phones, and the rising trend of smartphone sales tells Nokia where the near future is. For Nokia to regain lost market share and earn more profit per handset, it needs to reinvent its smartphone line. Maemo looks to be it, while I’d wager that S60 moves down the line to become the “new” feature phone-plus for Nokia.