Free Resources Available for Windows Phone 7 Series Developers

There’s been a lot of news around Windows Phone 7 Series as of late and while it’s not expected to be available until later this year, Microsoft has begun to share resources with the developer community so that they can get a jump on application development for the new platform. Things have changed from the past model where you were able to side load (by using Active Sync or Windows Mobile Device Center) applications on your device. With Windows Phone 7 Series the only way to get applications installed on your device is over the air using the Marketplace. Another big change is the development tools required to build an application. With WP7s, it’s all about Silverlight and XNA. Both of which were not even a choice on the previous platform. And of course cost of developing for WP7s is a lot less than before. Microsoft has made the development tools freely available.

Now’s a good time to get your feet wet on development for WP7s.  You still have time before devices ship, so you can make sure that your application will be in the marketplace and read for customers when the devices start to ship late this year.

Here’s a list of the current resources available:

• Visual Studio 2010 Express for Windows Phone 7 Series (Link)
• Windows Phone 7 Series eBook (Link)
• Windows Phone 7 Series Developer Documentation (Link)
• Windows Phone 7 Series Icon Pack (Link)

FourSquare gets Fancy on Windows Phone 7

FourSquare has been exploding on the mobile community over the last year. For those of you that are not familiar with FourSquare, it’s basically a location based social media game. By using your GPS co-ordinates, or AGPS if required, you can check into venue’s close to you. If you check into a venue more than anyone else, you become the mayor of that location.

There are FourSquare clients for BlackBerry, iPhone, Android, and most recently Windows Phone based devices. Any users of the Windows Phone based client can tell you how frustrating it has been to use. It regularly crash’s when trying to check into a location. For the longest time it didn’t suppor assisted GPS. So if you were inside a building you wouldn’t be able to get a GPS fix and check in. One pain point after another and there appears to be no updates.

And now we know why. It appears that a lot of effort has been put into creating a Windows Phone 7 Series client. This new client for a platform that hasn’t shipped yet, looks amazing and offers some really cool functionality. However, in the mean time we are all left to use an unstable, bug filled version.

Anyway, here’s some pictures of what you can expect to see for FourSquare on Windows Phone 7 devices when they do start shipping later this year. There’s more pictures over at Anand Iyer’s blog, Artificial Ignorance including new features like the social tab. If you’re using FourSquare, you’ll want to check them out.

I’m looking forward to the using the new application when Windows Phone 7 Series ships later this year. I just hope it’s more stable than the current FourSquare Windows Phone client. Then again, I’m certain it can’t be any worse!

Capacitive or Resistive – Understanding the Different Touch Screen Types

This is an issue that I’ve long since ignored. For the longest time it was never a concern for me because I mainly used non-touch devices. I find happiness in a front facing keyboard that allows for fast text entry. Typically that means a non-touch device. So I have spent a lot of my time using Windows Mobile Standard (previously known as Windows Mobile Smartphone) based devices. I’ve seen discussions go on for pages and pages over these two technologies and which ones is better and why.

Over the last while I’ve been testing out various touch devices and that has caused me to step back and take a look at capacitive and resistance screens.  There is a really good article over at AllAboutSymbian.com that clearly shows and compares capacitive vs resistance screens. What it comes down to is this – resistive screens require resistance (ie: pressure) to work. You can use your finger or a stylus to apply the pressure required. Capacitive screens don’t work on pressure, they require an electrostatic charge from your finger to determine where on the screen you are touching. Because of this, there needs to be about 5% humidity for them to work correctly. So it can be hard to work it in extreme cold conditions. While capacitive screens can cost more, they provide a number of benefits like being easier to view under direct sunlight, and the ability for multi-touch applications.

Overall user experience is also a key with capacitive screens. They’re much easier to interact with than resistive based screens. If you’ve been using a resistive screen, generally you can move to a capacitive screen with out noticing much of a difference. However, if you’ve been using capacitive for a while and try to switch to a resistive screen, there’s no doubt that you’ll notice a difference and have problems interacting with the screen. Without realizing, I recently switched to a resistive screen and noticed a number of issues interacting with the device. Once I made the connection about the screen type, I just made sure to apply a little more pressure on the screen and things have been great since.

Get to know your touch screen so you can better enjoy that device!

HTC Goes Supersonic with Launch of Sprint Evo

HTC and Sprint announced the new EVO 4G Android based smartphone at CTIA earlier today. The EVO will work on Sprints new 4G wireless network offering speeds up to 10 times faster than 3G. While the 6MBps speeds that 4G offers is yet to be proven, the EVO is clearly targeted to take the best advantage of this new network.

The HTC EVO is powered by a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor with dual cameras – an 8.0 megapixel auto-focus camera with HD capable video and a front facing 1.3 megapixel camera. Say goodbye to those MiFi’s because the EVO also comes with a built-in mobile hotspot allowing you to connect up to 8 wireless devices to share the 4G data connection.

A 4.3 inch screen combined with the latest version of Android (2.1) and HTC’s Sense user interface results in an amazing device experience. The 8 megapixel camera allows for HD video’s and using an optional HDMI cable, you’re able to playback that video directly from the EVO to an HDTV.

The HTC EVO will be available exclusively on Sprints network this summer. You can sign up on Sprints website to be notified when it’s available. Slashgear has a number of pictures posted showing the device from all angles including behind the battery door, with the kickstand extended, and compared to the Nexus One. They also have a hands-on video showing it in action – well worth checking out!

In the mean time, I need to find a way to get Sprint service up here in Canada because this phone looks truly amazing! What do you think? Would you switch networks to get this phone?

Full press release can be found after the jump.

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Palm, You’ll Be Missed

I hate to say “I told you so”. Actually, in this case I really do hate to say it. Palm is going down the toilet.

I’m certainly not on my own in writing doom and gloom on Palm. It certainly seems that something will need to change in a very large way for Palm to continue as a standalone entity.

In May of last year (Will the Pre be Palm’s Tonic?) I was doubtful as to whether Palm was going to do well enough with the Pre to win over current smartphone users. It looks as if I may have hit the mark with this prognostication with one exception; at that point none of us knew that Android would come on so strong.

In December of last year (Palm Rubbing Their Palms in Their Eyes) I wrote that Palm had not done well enough with its initial push to capture enough of the market to gather the momentum it would need. While Palm did end up pushing about 900,000 units to the channel the sell-through was a rather dismal 650,000 units or so.

Palm is trying hard to be a phone company but it just has not done what is needed to get to that point, and time is running out quickly. In some measure it seems Palm has been ignoring the marketplace; people have been saying they need to release new, compelling hardware. While its current phones are fine they are snubbing the trend of slate devices. Not everyone is going to want a hardware keyboard with a relatively small screen.

Palm’s real problem is that it may not have the resources left to launch new phones or to rewrite its OS for a larger screen. The company has been trying to stretch the Pre and Pixi as far as possible but if people aren’t taking to those its time to move on.

Yes, Palm still has money but also has a horrible burn rate. In many ways the company is back to where it has been in the past and may need to split off the OS team as a standalone company and license out the OS. WebOS is really a very nice OS and I’d hate to see it go, but Palm is far too bloated a company given it’s current levels of income.

So, lets start the pool: Who is going to buy Palm…or maybe just the IP.

HTC Responds to Apple’s Patent Lawsuit

In case you’re not already aware; Apple is claiming that HTC has violated a number of intellectual patents during the implementation of Google’s Android on their hardware. The patents in dispute include things like touch-screen finger gestures to unlock a mobile device and dynamically changing the voltage supplied to a processor to achieve better power/battery performance. For a complete list and breakdown of each patent, check out the following engadget post.

Now, HTC has responded to Apple’s claims stating that they disagree and will fully defend themselves. HTC’s CEO, Peter Chou comments “HTC strongly advocates intellectual property protection and will continue to respect other innovators and their technologies as we have always done, but we will continue to embrace competition through our own innovation as a healthy way for consumers to get the best mobile experience possible”.

The press release highlights a number awards and firsts that HTC has achieved – First Windows PDA (1998), First Windows Phone (June 2002), First 3G CDMA EVDO Smartphone (October 2005), First gesture based smartphone (June 2007), First Google Android Smartphone (October 2008) and First 4G WIMAX Smartphone (November 2008). It’s still early in this battle, but HTC’s response is clear and to the point – they won’t be pushed around by Apple.

It’s going to be an interesting legal battle. Will Google get involved and try to legally aid their hardware partners and keep the adoption of Android devices growing? Apple’s approach of attaching HTC seems odd to me. A lot of what the patents talk about are related to Google’s implementation of the operating system and a number of those have been around long before those patents. If HTC wins, it could severely damage Apple’s image, although that’s been happening a lot recently, and spur more sales for Android. Of course, if Apple wins it could spell doom to Android devices in the US.

SBSH Updates PhoneWeaver for Touch Devices

PhoneWeaver allows you to create simple profiles and will automatically switch between them based on the time, agenda, phone status or even location. I’m new to PhoneWeaver, and was surprised to see just how cool this application is. I’ve been looking for just such an application for years.  I only wish there was a non-touch version of PhoneWeaver to use on Windows Phone Standard devices. I’ve already downloaded the touch version and having it running on my HD2.

SBSH has updated PhoneWeaver for Windows Mobile touch based devices to version 2.1. The new version is finger friendly for easy use without a stylus, adds support for Windows Mobile 6.5.3, a customizable task bar icon, and a number of bug fixes and optimizations. You can read the full press release for version 2.1 release here.

 

You can download the trial version directly from the SBSH website.

Google Nexus One Crosses the Canadian Border

Google’s Nexus One is coming to Canada…but it’s more of a single-file hike that a full-on invasion.

The Nexus One has been well received in the press but not so much by consumers. The problem is nothing to do with the phone itself – it’s a fantastic phone – but rather with the distribution model. Reports are that only 80,000 have been sold in its first month which is far below other smartphones of the same caliber.

Google decided to sell the Nexus One directly from its website rather that work through the complexities of carriers agreements. It’s a good idea but North Americans are just too used to subsidized phones. It’s really a shame though, because this allows carriers to lock in users for 2 years in the US and 3 years in Canada.

If you are able and willing to swing buying a smartphone unlocked and unsubsidized then by all means, take a look at the Google Nexus One. It’s a little steap at $529US but its a world class phone. Google has just released the latest version which will work on Roger, Bell, Telus and WIND Mobile in Canada, as well as T-Mobile and AT&T in the US. Please be aware that a used Nexus One may not have the right wireless bands for the carriers mentioned above, so make sure before you buy!

Multitasking in Windows Phone 7 Series; How Crucial?

Windows Phone 7 Series is set to storm into the market later this year but many are concerned about recent news, most notably the lack of multitasking. Let’s take a look at what that may mean for end users.

(The information in this article is not based on materials from Microsoft directly but rather a mixture of released and assumed information reported throughout the internet)

You would have to admit that Microsoft has been very brave with its decisions for WP7S. While they certainly did need to make a shift away from Windows Mobile 6.X no one thought they would do so in such a dramatic way. The UI is completely different and innovative, legacy apps will not work with it, it is locked down with apps only being installed from the Marketplace, it’s an all new development environment (sorta) and there will be no multitasking.

Ok, there will be multitasking of sorts, but in a limited fashion. I don’t know all the ins and outs but most likely some core apps like music, email and such should be able to run in the background. WP7S will then use notifications much like the iPhone to alert you of a changed state with apps in the background.

With all the noise many iPhone users have been making about the need for multitasking how is that Microsoft thinks it can get away with leaving it out? It really looks like Apple is about to add multitasking to the iPhone in 4.0, so is this going to be a real misstep by the Redmond gang?

I have said in the past that iPhone could address the need for multitasking without actually doing it if they supported, or made ‘remembered state’ mandatory in apps. If an app can open up almost instantly right to where it was the last time you were in it you probably wouldn’t care that it was not actually running in the background.

Of course, some apps will need either to actually run in the background of use notifications to alert users as needed. This is where the juggling act comes in, and this is where Microsoft needs to get it right. If they can balance these two and do notifications very well the OS will actually feel like it is a multitasked environment.

I can’t say I am happy about the lack of multitasking, but doing the above would certainly go a long way to helping and may assuage my fears. It doesn’t really matter though…I’m getting a Windows Phone 7 Series phone either way! Can’t wait!

How To Tweak Windows Mobile 6.5 Today Screen

With the launch of Windows Mobile 6.5, Microsoft brought the XML based today screen that has been used on non-touch devices, to the touch world of Windows Mobile. While it’s not the exact same XML template, it still allows us to get our hands in there and do some cool customization. And customize we shall do!

The first thing you’ll need to do is find a tool that allow you to set the file permissions on the device. There are a number of tools out there, find one that allows you to toggle the read-only setting of files. If your Windows Mobile 6.5 device is from HTC and is sporting HTC Sense interface, you’ll need to turn that off. If you’re not sure how, check out my post from last week for details.

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