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.

Word has slipped out of Seattle that the beta version of Office Mobile 2010 is now available for Windows Phones on the Windows Marketplace for Mobile. That means you need WinMo 6.5 to download this early version of Office Mobile that includes mobile versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote and the new SharePoint Workspace Mobile 2010. I can’t find it on the web version of the Marketplace, so you may need to be on a Windows Phone to get it.

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…

It seems like it was only yesterday when the Windows Marketplace rolled out for Windows Mobile 6.5 phones, with a vague promise to hit the rest of WinMo phones soon. That day has arrived and the Marketplace can now be installed on all WinMo phones, as long as they run 6.0 or 6.1. Getting to the marketplace on your WinMo phone is as easy as following the instructions here, and installing the phone app. That just works in the U. S., others need to visit mp.windowsphone.com from your Windows phone to get going.

(via engadget)

The smartphone sector is one of the fastest moving sectors in the mobile tech space. New phones appear almost daily, and the resultant race for the latest and greatest is a hectic one. Savvy consumers may be the only ones concerned about technical details such as OS version installed on a given phone, but it can make a big difference when it comes time to make a purchase. It is not always a given that smartphone X will get the next big OS upgrade, and even if it does the timing of said upgrade is not always fast. That leads to the question — how fast is fast enough for smartphone upgrades?

Continue reading »

The week marches on and today being Saturday means it is time to recap the recent happenings in the world of Windows Mobile. It was a quiet week on the Windows Mobile front, perhaps the hoopla with the launch of the Droid and Palm Pixi kept WinMo providers quiet until it all blew over. The Windows Marketplace for Mobile turned the lights on for business, making a place for Windows phone owners to go for the latest and greatest in apps for WinMo. Phones with the Windows Marketplace app get purchased apps pushed OTA to the phone. The Marketplace is confined to Windows phones running WM6.5 currently, but Microsoft confirmed it would be available for WM6.0 and 6.1 later this month.

Windows Mobile 7 is the upcoming version of the mobile OS that everyone, including Microsoft, is expecting to help bring the smartphone platform up to speed competitively. WM7 is long overdue, even Ballmer thinks so, and according to those in the know it is still on track for a release during the third quarter of 2010. That’s almost a year away, and I wonder how far the competition will go in that time. WM7 could be obsolete before it’s even released.

Looking for a Windows Mobile software experience like Apple’s iTunes App Store or Amazon’s Kindle store? Then you’ll want to hit Microsoft’s new online Windows Marketplace for Mobile, which just gained new features. The website now makes it an easier to scour the store for applications and directly buy software. Any purchase made online is sent to your Windows Phone or Windows Mobile device over the air — you’ll need to run the Windows Marketplace client on your handset for the wireless magic to happen. That makes it pretty easy to buy and install titles.

I definitely like the idea of a web-based store as opposed to the iTunes client software approach used by Apple — you can access this store from just about any computer. In fact, based on my hands on experience with the Marketplace on a Windows Phone, I’d probably use the online store over the handset store, but that’s just me. I’m curious — who’s using the store on the handset and who prefers the marketplace on a bigger screen?

Along with the storefront update, Microsoft also confirmed that Windows Mobile 6.0 and 6.1 devices will gain access to the Marketplace later this month. That information isn’t new, but it’s a nice confirmation that everything is still on track for those oldies but goodies.

Microsoft just released Windows Mobile 6.5 last month, but already, there’s talk of testing Windows Mobile 7. That might explain why 6.5 is more of a minor bump after all the time between it and the prior version. WMPowerUser caught wind of the “Maldives” WinMo 7 tester program, allegedly slated for the first quarter of 2010. Now by “tester program” I mean testing by handset manufacturers, not for average Joes and Janes. And there’s no indication that Windows Mobile 7 will hit any earlier than the third quarter of 2010. But it’s a positive sign as other mobile operating systems have caught up to, and in many ways passed, Windows Mobile over the last two years alone.

The big question in my mind isn’t where Windows Mobile 7 will be when it arrives, but rather, where will all of its competitors be at that time. Apple appears to be on a major release schedule each June or July with updated handsets and new operating system features. Google is proving that it can press the gas pedal with Android updates, too — not long after version 1.6 hit the air, we saw a flashier version 2.0 arrive. Nokia’s first Maemo phone is now shipping, but updates for that platform have no history to form a basis. BlackBerry also continues to move forward and, of course, some of us are still waiting for more great things from Palm.

Three quarters of a year can be a lifetime for mobile devices, so my hope is that Microsoft debuts something that’s ahead of its time with Windows Mobile 7.

Windows Mobile gets no respect from smartphone makers, with a number of them already deserting the phone OS for alternatives. An investment note claims that consumer electronics giant Samsung is also scaling back the phones it will produce using WinMo. HMC Investment Securities analyst Greg Noh says that Samsung’s phone line will drop from 80 percent WinMo currently, to 50 percent next year and down to 20 percent in 2012.

Samsung is expected to increase its use of Android to 30 percent of its product line next year, and keep its usage at that level. The usage of Symbian on Samsung phones will drop to just a few percent, with dropping it entirely planned for 2011.

The analyst goes on to claim that Samsung is developing its own smartphone OS, and it will start appearing on its phones next year. The new proprietary OS usage will expand to gradually encompass half of Samsung’s product line.

“If accurate, the switch in strategy may reflect a combined larger exodus away from Windows Mobile for those major firms that still use the platform. HTC, the largest single Windows Mobile device maker, has already been rumored as switching more than half of its 2010 phones to Android. LG has signed a pact with Microsoft to make Windows Mobile phones but even now has introduced its first Android phone and is said by HMC to be extending its use significantly more.”

The week marches on and today being Saturday means it is time to recap the recent happenings in the world of Windows Mobile. HTC continues to dominate the Windows Mobile world with the confirmation this week that the HD2 will be coming to the U. S. in early 2010. The company was not willing to commit to the pricing nor the carrier that will be selling the HD2.

The HD2 is looking to be the WinMo phone to beat with the best hardware configuration currently available. The Snapdragon processor running at 1 GHz wrapped in a casing that is thin and light start the magic. The large display coupled with the first WinMo-powered capacitive digitizer round out the offering, and make it easy to understand why enthusiasts find the HD2 to be the phone of the hour. An extensive review of the HD2 at Mobility Minded covers every aspect of the phone, and is a must-read for anyone trying to understand why the phone has tech enthusiasts buzzing.

The folks at Modaco understand that some folks have to see things for themselves and have published an extensive video demonstration of the HD2. You’ll need to set aside a full 44 minutes to watch the whole thing, but the video covers every aspect of the phone, including the new HTC Sense interface that drives the HD2. The video clearly demonstrates that HTC has made complete operation of the phone finger-friendly, something they had to do to make Windows Mobile 6.5 work with that capacitive digitizer. No stylus is required to use this bad boy thanks to HTC Sense.