Cheaper Windows Phone 7 Devices Headed to Developing Countries

Word on the web is that Microsoft may be looking to create a different chassis or specification for developing countries. Most likely, this would result in devices with reduced screen sizes, less memory, and slower processors. As is expected, Microsoft will be looking to their hardware partners like HTC, and Samsung, to produce the low cost devices.

If the software inside the device is just as functional, then Microsoft may have a hard time keeping these out of North America.  It seems like that they would make a good starter Windows Phone to help people get on the platform at a reduced cost and then possibly upgrade to more functional hardware down the road. Microsoft needs consumers across the world to adopt the Windows Phone 7 platform. A low cost device at home as well as in other countries is a significant step towards re-gaining market share.

Windows Phone 7 is expected to be available for “Holiday 2010” running on hardware from all of Microsoft’s hardware partners. The exact date of availability and pricing are still not known.

Sony Ericcson Announces the X2 Smartphone

Yesterday, Sony Ericcson announced the X2 Windows phone. This latest smartphone from Sony Ericcson is a messenger style device with a touch screen.  The form factor is not common among mobile devices. In fact, I think you can count the touch screen devices that have a physical front facing keyboard on one hand.

Regardless, the new device comes in two colors, black or white. According to the press release, it will also be available in a UK and North American version. Other features like a 3.5mm headphone jack, MicroUSB, MicroSD, Bluetooth, and a 3.2 megapixel camera, are pretty standard for a mobile device now. However, it was a little surprising to see that this phone has a QVGA screen (320×240). I understand that there is limited space on a messenger style device, and it would be difficult to put a larger screen onto that device. You could use the same size screen with a higher resolution, or try to widen the device to allow for a slightly larger screen. Either way, QVGA just doesn’t cut it on touch devices any longer.

While I like the looks and styling of the device, I would have been more impressed to see a higher resolution screen. Otherwise, this device could be a real winner. It will be interesting to see how well the public receives this phone. I’ve included the press release below, take a look and let us know your thoughts.

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CES: i-mate Shows off the Small Yet Rugged 810

During my trek around the floor at ShowStoppers last night, I came across the i-mate booth and had a chance to talk with Jim Morrison about the small, yet rugged 810 mobile device, as well as the health of the company.

First off, we put the rumors to rest – i-mate is alive and kicking. According to Jim they had some fraud issues. The issues have all been dealt with and the people at the heart of the fraud are being held in Dubai.

Now, lets talk about the rugged 810 smartphone. The 810 is a messenger style device that is about the same thickness as Samsungs Propel Pro. It has a touch screen and is running Windows Mobile 6.1. But that’s not what makes this device special. The 810 is the smallest and most rugged smartphone in its category on the market today. It’s fully waterproof and has a fairly nice drop rating – which Jim was happy to show us as he tossed the phone in the air and let it come crashing down to the ground. Only to be picked up and tossed into a bowl of water. The device didn’t skip a beat.

This is a perfect device for the road warrior that is too rough on the general consumer products, but still needs all the portability that comes with a consumer device.

CES: HTC Announces the new Smart Phone

HTC has launched a new phone based off the Brew platform called Smart. HTC’s Smart features the HTC Sense interface that everyone has come to know and love. As well you find 256MB RAM, 256MB ROM, weighing 108 grams, a 2.8 inch screen, QVGA resolution, Quad-band GSM/GRPS/Edge with HSDPA of 2100 for Europe and Asia, Bluetooth 2.0, a 3.5 mm stereo audio jack, along with a 3.0 megapixel camera. The Smart phone is set to be available across Europe in the summer.

The Smart has very few buttons on the device. There is the standard call and hang-up buttons. Between those you’ll find a back button and just between that row of 3 buttons and the screen of the device, you will find a small silver button to open the menu or start the navigation.

The new Smart from HTC is the latest non-Windows Mobile device to come from the manufacturer that at one point only dealt with the Microsoft based OS. HTC now has a number of Android based devices and with this announcement adds Brew to the list.

The full press release can be found after the jump.

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Application Lock Makes its Way to Touch Screen Windows Mobile 6.5 Devices

Back when Microsoft first released their first Windows Mobile Smartphone based device, they also introduced an application lock that was not found on existing Windows Mobile Pocket PC based devices. This application lock introduced a new level of security that prevents unprivileged applications from accessing certain system functions, files, and registry locations.

During some recent research, it came to my attention that Microsoft has taken this application lock and implemented it on Windows Mobile 6.5 touch screen devices. This means that 3rd party applications won’t have free access to the entire device as they have in the past.

So while I found some documentation that referenced this new feature on touch devices, there were no production devices available to test this on – until now. Mobile Jaw reader, Keith Ramsey posted about his brand new HTC Imagio in this thread, about the problems he is having when trying to install applications on the device. As more carriers release Windows Mobile 6.5 based devices the number of application locked devices will continue to grow.

Previously, I had created a CAB file that would remove security from Windows Mobile Standard devices (non-touch screen devices). So I have now created a similar CAB file that works for touch screen devices. You can read all about application lock – what it is, and how to remove it, along with the download steps over here.

The quickie details are to copy this CAB file to the device, install the CAB and then browse to Start / System / Settings / Remove Programs and uninstall the MobiControl Device Agent from your device. If you want more details about what you’re doing, what the CAB file does, or why you need to uninstall it after it’s installed, then you should read the above linked article about removing application lock. It will answer all those questions.

If anyone else has a new Windows Mobile 6.5 device, please reply and let me know if you’re seeing the same behavior and if so, did this CAB fix things?

Removing Application Lock on Windows Mobile Standard Devices

Now that we know about Application Lock and the general principles behind it, we need to look at how to remove it from our phone so that you can install any application and make more customizations to your device.

Using an XML Provisioning file, you can load and change a number of settings, more commonly referred to as Configuration Service Providers, on your Windows Mobile device. You can find a really good list of the different Configuration Service Providers that can be changed here on MSDN. Depending on the configuration service you want to set, there are different delivery options available to use. When it comes to Application Lock, we’re interested in 4 specific settings.

Security Policy 4102 – This policy decides if the device can run unsigned applications. A value of zero (0) means that it’s locked and that no 3rd party signed applications, like Mobile2Market will be allowed. A value of one (1) means that the setting is unlocked and that 3rd party signed applications should be allowed to run. This policy is related to the following registry location: HKLM\Security\Policies\Policies\00001006. We need to set this to the unlocked state of 1.

Security Policy 4122 – This policy determines if a user should be prompted when an unsigned application attempts to run. The settings are reverse of 4102. A value of zero (0) means that there are no prompts. A value of one (1) means that the security is turned on and that you will be prompted when a unsigned application attempts to run. This policy is related to the following registry location: HKLM\Security\Policies\Policies\0000101a. We need to set this value to the unlocked state of 1. However, that means that we will be prompted when unsigned applications attempt to run.

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LG Announces the GW550 Messenger Smartphone

Earlier this year, LG committed to making Windows Mobile the main operating system used on their smartphone devices and over the next 4 years they would ship a whopping 50 devices based on Windows Mobile. With that in mind, the other day at CommunicAsia, LG announced a new business oriented smartphone called GW550. While the name is less than inspiring, the device looks like it could be a winner. It’s a Windows Mobile Standard based device, which means that the device does not have a touch screen. The GW550 is a typical messenger style device with a QWERTY keyboard below the screen. It features a 2.4 inch display with QVGA resolution, a 3 megapixel camera, HSDPA 7.2 Mbps, HSUPA 2.0 Mbps, Quad-band GSM with ‘global’ 3G support, and a 1300mAh battery. There’s no information provided about when the device will be available for purchase or what the expected price will be.  We also don’t know what sort of customizations LG has done to the software on the device.

It’s still very early and hard to say if this device is going to be a smashing success or not.  If LG has packed it with a powerful processor like HTC and Samsung are doing, along with a GPS and WiFi, I can’t see any reason why this device won’t be a hit.  Hopefully we’ll learn more about this device in the coming weeks. I would love to get my hands on a unit and give it a run through.

(Source=PhoneArena.com)

HTC Snap Smartphone Reviewed at MobilityMinded.com

It’s been a long time since HTC had a Windows Mobile Standard device. The Excalibur is a great device for it’s time, but it lacks many of the more popular features found on today’s Standard edition devices. Earlier this year, HTC announced an all new Standard edition phone to replace the Excalibur and it’s finally starting to ship. You can find this device in many of the popular online mobile retail outlets as well as on various carrier networks.

The question is, does HTC still have it? Is this new Standard edition device enough to win back the market which they once owned? Or does Samsung and Motorola (to a lesser degree) still have the market on messenger devices cornered? The Excalibur was my device of choice for a short time. I then switched to Samsung’s BlackJack line of devices and haven’t looked back because HTC just didn’t have the features that I was looking for.

All that should be changing with the release of HTC’s Snap smartphone. Remo Knops from Mobility Minded has got his hands on the new Snap smartphone and posted a detailed review of the device. Take a chance to read his review and let us know your thoughts on the Snap. Is this too little too late from HTC or is it just what the doctor ordered?

Samsung’s Smashing New Smartphones

Samsung has officially announced four new Windows Mobile devices. There was no mention of price or availability of the 3 Windows Mobile Professional and 1 Standard devices. However, it is expected that they will be available in the next couple months. The Professional devices all build off the incredibly successful Omnia product line. The first device is the Omnia II which will feature a large 3.1 inch AMOLED display with 480×800 resolution, 800 MHz processor, TouchWiz 2.0 user interface, and Samsung’s Dolfin internet browser that supports viewing of up to 5 web pages simultaneously. The Omnia II, also known as the Jet, will also sport a 5 megapixel camera, GPS, FM Radio, Bluetooth, WiFi, DNSe and SRS Sound Effect technology, as well as DivX and Xvid video support. The Omnia Pro will have a slide-out QWERTY keyboard allowing fast and easy text input. The 4 row keyboard will slide on the left side of the device. The Omnia Lite will scale things down a little with a 3 megapixel camera and aGPS.

The final phone, and the only Windows Mobile Standard based device announced, is built from the extremely popular BlackJack I/II line of devices. The new Omnia Pro B7320 phone is very much the same as the Samsung Jack that has been released on AT&T’s network. The only noticeable difference in features is that the B7320 model will add an FM Radio.

The Omnia II and Omnia Pro devices appear to be very nice units. I’m not so sure about the Lite at this time, we’ll have to wait and see how that one turns out. And the B7320 (Jack) device is a solid follow-up to the BlackJack II. Samsung is sure moving hard and fast in the mobile space. It will be interesting to see what HTC announces later this month at their big event.

HTC Touch Pro 2 Gets Reviewed

Back at Mobile World Congress, HTC announced the new Touch Pro 2 device which builds upon the successful Touch family of products – specifically, the Touch Pro (no surprise there, eh?). The Touch Pro 2 has recently become available for purchase. Currently the device is shipping with Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional, but HTC has publicly said that they will be releasing a Windows Mobile 6.5 upgrade for this device. So if you’re looking to move from your current device, but you want the latest and greatest version of Windows Mobile and you don’t want to wait until the fall, then this device is a great option for you.

Recently the Gear Diary review team of Judie Lipsett and Drew Guttadore joined forces with Clinton Fitch to post a really interesting 3 person review of this hot new device. I had a chance to play with this device for a short time back in early March, and it’s an amazing piece of hardware. My initial thoughts back then, was that the Touch Pro 2 could be the first device that makes me want to switch back to a touch screen device.

Check out the review (on ClintonFitch.com or Gear Diary) and let us know what your thoughts are on the Touch Pro 2.

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