Windows Mobile News, Reviews and How-Tos
This has got to be one of the best Windows Mobile devices out there. The HTC Touch HD has got such a nice screen and media capabilities and I can watch these video reviews all day. The first impressions of the phone clearly leave the reviewer taken aback by the screen and clean user interface. The device is shipping to customers in both Europe and Asia so expect a lot of videos like this. Highlights include:
[Via]
Though priced a bit steeply at Rs. 39,999 ($869 US) for the 16GB model and 37,999 ($825 US) for the 8GB model, the Samsung Omnia (i900) has made its appearance in India.
The Omnia offers up a 3.2-inch touchscreen display, 16 GB (or 8GB, if you prefer) of internal memory, GPS with geotagging, DivX/Xvid support, an accelerometer, optical mouse control, and a sweet, sweet 5-megapixel camera all in sync with Windows Mobile 6.1.
[via mobile whack]
The notebook manufacturer that brought you the Velocity Micro (NoteMagix etc.) notebooks has created a new Windows Mobile device — and a beautiful, sleek looking touchscreen at that!
For the most part, it’s on par with some of the better WinMo devices out there presently, but it’s got a few tricks up its sleeve that I’m really impressed with: 640×480 VGA touchscreen, 2.0 megapixel camera AND a 0.3 megapixel videoconferencing camera, TV/VGA out, etc. Plus it’s got all the bits that I already love in a phone: Bluetooth, WiFi, GPS, MicroSD expansion slot, and over the air updates.
Not your style? Need a QWERTY keyboard? Check out the Velocity 111. Yet another super sweet phone.
Now, I’m a big HTC fan (oh, how I love the Touch Pro) But you know what? That’s it – I want one. Hey, Velocity Mobile? You’ve won me over!
Check out the press release for more information on this cool little upcoming device.
Yet another item from the fanciful land of patent filings: the “Hybrid Portrait-Landscape Handheld Device With Trackball Navigation and Qwerty Hideaway Keyboard”. It might be thought that the whole hideaway keypad and orientation detection thing has been done, but obviously not with a trackball, otherwise this filing wouldn’t have gone through. Considering another patent of this variety has been released recently, it’s easy to get enthusiastic about the idea of a BlackBerry with significant form factor changes. For the bookish, you can check out the whole patent filing here.
HTC has added a new Touch to it’s lineup in the form of the rather nice-looking Touch Cruise. This new Touch Cruise features a bright 2.8″ touch screen, GPS, a MicroSD slot, a 3MP camera on the back and another VGA camera on the front for video calls… pretty good specs. It is also sporting Tri-band UMTS/HSDPA and Quad-band EDGE/GPRS, Bluetooth and Wifi, which is nice. The guys over at MobilityToday have a nice first-look if you want some more details.
We missed this when it first hit, but it’s more than worth reporting, even late: Garmin has announced the nüvifone, a new touchscreen smartphone scheduled for release in Q3 of this year.
Electronista broke the story originally, saying that the nüvifone will compete directly with Apple’s iPhone. The device is controlled almost entirely by the 3.5″ touchscreen, which displays only “Call,” “Search,” and “View Map” on its main menu. From there, users can access a wide variety of features like web browsing, email, instant messaging, and more. GPS is very tightly integrated with the unit, allowing such features as “Where Am I?” which provides a near-instant list of the user’s latitude and longitude, nearest intersection, and nearest hospitals, police stations, and gas stations. If used with the optional car mount, which allows hands-free dialing and other features, it even marks the last known spot where it was removed from the mount to ease finding your car in crowded parking lots.
We’ll definitely be keep an eye on this phone.
Our friends over at BlackBerry Cool posted about RIM publishing a new patent for a touchscreen LTD.
The patent is called System and Method for Integrating A Touchscreen Within an LCD. It works by detecting displacement within the liquid crystal display and routing that data to software within the device. The patent was published 4 months after it was filed, in contrast to the usual 18 month gap, which could indicate that the technology will be used sooner rather than later.
This is definitely something to keep an eye on.
A new report on Business Wire suggests that smartphones will capture 22% of the mobile market in Asia by the end of this year.
A company named Research and Markets compiled the report, which lists 5 “hot topics” for mobile operators and manufacturers this year. Beyond the predicted rise to 22% in the Asian market, the author says that competition in the OS sector will increase and Mobile Linux will be on the rise; that UI innovation will increase dramatically, and even that smartphone companies will merge with UI companies to get an edge on the competition; that touch screens will be used on more and more phones; and that GPS and and Location Based Services based GPS will be the next “killer app” for the mobile market.