I’ve looked this over a couple times and I’m not sold on this being 100% accurate. The phone doesn’t have any of the “standard” Windows Phone 7 buttons – no Search, no Windows Key, and the Back button is not the same Back button we’re seeing on todays devices. The pictures show a Home and Back button from the older Windows Mobile Standard line of hardware. Also, it only comes with 4GB of internal storage. Every other Windows Phone 7 device has 8, while a few have 16GB. Why would you release a “fashion” focused device with less storage than the average consumer device? I would expect it to be high-end all the way.

So what do you think – fact of fiction?

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.

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.

February 2, London, UK – Today sees the announcement of Sony Ericsson Aspen™, the business mobile phone with green credentials at its core. The newest edition to the successful Sony Ericsson GreenHeart™ portfolio, Sony Ericsson Aspen™, allows easy multi-tasking combining the touch experience and a real QWERTY keyboard. Organise and adapt panels to change during the day and use Slide View for quick access to common features.

With Sony Ericsson Aspen™, view and edit office files easily and comfortably with one touch operation, or just access the internet in one click. The QWERTY keyboard is made for fast and easy typing. Simple email set up allows for a maximized messaging experience on the go. Secure the phone’s contents through the Microsoft MyPhone service, which remotely erases phone data when the handset is lost or stolen.

“Sony Ericsson Aspen™ is the business phone with a conscience, perfect for any consumer or company who want to make a green choice in their daily work life.” Said Quentin Cordier, Global Marketing Manager, Sony Ericsson. “An affordable GreenHeart™ phone with the latest version of Windows Phone, the Sony Ericsson Aspen™ has a rich user interface and powerful productivity tools. But it’s not all about work, stay in touch with the fun parts of life with Media Browser and PlayNow ™, with simple access to social networks and quick and easy access to media files. Find the fun with a-GPS, Google Maps™ and snap pictures with the 3.2megapixel camera.”

Sony Ericsson Aspen™

• Modern office at your fingertips – latest version of Windows Phone
• Easy multi-tasking – Sony Ericsson Slide View and customisable panels
• Maximised message experience – QWERTY keyboard and finger friendly touch experience
• GreenHeart™ – for a greener choice
• Stay in touch with the fun parts of life – access fun applications at PlayNow™ such as games and new music
• Media browser – access music, photos and videos
• Social network tool (Windows Live™ Messenger, Facebook™)
• Human curvature design – fits into the palm of the hand

Sony Ericsson Aspen™ supports HSPA 900/2100 and EDGE 850/900/1800/1900, HSPA 850/900/2100 and EDGE 850/900/1800/1900.

Sony Ericsson Aspen™ will be available in selected markets from Q2 in the colours Iconic Black and White Silver.

Create your own phone booth with optional extra Bluetooth™ Noise Shield Handsfree VH700 and charge your phone the eco-friendly way with the Energy Saving Mini-Charger EP800.

Log on to The Sony Ericsson Product Blog for more information: http://blogs.sonyericsson.com/products

Sony Ericsson Aspen™

Camera

• 3.2 megapixel camera
• 4x digital zoom
• Multishot
• Self timer
• Smart contrast

Music

• Album art
• Bluetooth™ stereo (A2DP)
• Equalizer
• Sony Ericsson media player
• Music tones (MP3/AAC)
• PlayNow™
• Stereo speakers
• Windows Media® Player Mobile

Web

• Bookmarks
• Google™ search
• Internet Explorer® Mobile
• Pan & zoom
• Web feeds

Voice

• Polyphonic ringtones
• Speakerphone
• Vibrating alert

Messaging

• Email
• Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync®
• Handwriting recognition
• Instant messaging
• Picture messaging (MMS)
• Predictive text input
• Text messaging (SMS)

Design

• Auto rotate
• Media browser
• Picture wallpaper
• Full keyboard
• Touchscreen
• Wallpaper animation
• Windows Phone®

Entertainment

• 3D games
• Facebook™
• FM radio with RDS
• Java™
• Skype™
• Video streaming
• Video viewing
• YouTube™

Organiser

• Adobe® PDF Reader
• Alarm clock
• Calculator
• Calendar
• Flight mode
• Microsoft Office® Mobile
• Notes
• Outlook® Mobile
• Phone book
• Stopwatch
• Tasks

Connectivity

• 3.5 mm audio jack
• A-GPS
• Bluetooth™ technology
• Google Maps™
• Micro USB connector
• Modem
• Synchronisation
• USB mass storage support
• USB support
• Wi-Fi™

Applications and panels

• SPB Mobile Shell 3.0 (Professional)
• SPB Mobile Shell 3.0 (Lifestyle)
• SEMC Greenheart Panel
• Microsoft Today
• Facebook™
• Panel Manager
• SlideView
• Google Maps Latitude
• Google Mobile Application
• Send My Location
• Unified Search Application
• SPB Traveler and Weather combo
• Skype
• YouTube™ panel
• Communication City/Day
• Communication City/Night
• CNN
• On-The-Road Panel
• Windows® Live
• Twitter
• Gokivo Weather Panel
• Eco mate application

GreenHeart™ indentity

• GreenHeart™ panel
• Power saving mode
• Eco mate application
• E-manual
• Waterborne painting
• Recycle materials (Green charger, Green PHF, Green Box.

Screen

• 65,536 colour TFT
• 2.4 inches
• 240 x 320 pixels (QVGA)

Accessories

• In-Box:
• Sony Ericsson Aspen™
• Battery
• Green charger
• HPM-60J GreenHeart™ Stereo portable handsfree
• 3.5mm jack
• Micro USB cable
• E-manual

• Optional:
• Bluetooth™ Noise Shield Handsfree VH700
• Dual connect charger
• 4GB MicroSD card
• Car charger

Facts

• Size: 117 x 60 x 12.45 mm
• Weight: 130 grams

• Memory card support: SanDisk microSD™, up to 16 GB

• Operating system: Windows Mobile® 6.5.3

• Talk time GSM/GPRS: Up to 10 hours
• Standby time: GSM/GPRS: Up to 450hrs

• Talk time UMTS: Up to 8 hours
• Standby time: UMTS: Up to 600 hrsMusic listening  time: Up to 12hrs

Availability and versions

• Networks

• UMTS HSPA 900/2100
• GSM GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900

• UMTS HSPA 850/900/2100
• GSM GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900

• Available in selected markets in Q2 2010

Colour

• Iconic Black
• White Silver

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.

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.

LAS VEGAS, Consumer Electronics Show (CES), – Jan. 7, 2010 – HTC Corporation, a global smartphone designer, today unveiled HTC Smart^TM, a new type of smartphone that creates a new category of easy-to-use, connected smartphones that are accessible by people all over the world.  The HTC Smart will be available this spring across Europe and Asia.

“HTC has always focused on listening to customers and setting the stage for new mobile categories and HTC Smart is the response to customer demand around the world for an easier-to-use, affordable smartphone,” said Peter Chou, chief executive officer, HTC Corporation. “Just adding a touch interface doesn’t mean a phone is a smartphone; The integration of HTC Sense brings an unparalleled smartphone experience for people looking to do more on their phone.”

Bringing HTC Sense To The Masses
HTC Smart begins with a friendly compact touch design and integrates an intuitive user experience that is centered around HTC Sense^TM, an HTC design philosophy that puts people at the center by focusing on three core areas: Make It Mine, Stay Close and Discover the Unexpected.  HTC Smart enables personal customization of each person’s own phone experience.  It also provides a quick and easy way to see what friends are up to via various social networks as well as quickly communicating over the phone, through text messaging or email.

“HTC Smart breaks new ground in delivering the powerful, in-demand smartphone features that consumers want on a more accessible device for global markets,” said Paul Jacobs, chief executive officer, Qualcomm Incorporated.  “We are pleased to be supporting HTC as they utilize the capabilities of Qualcomm’s Brew Mobile Platform open operating system to offer high-end capabilities and a compelling mobile user experience at mass-market price points.”

Qualcomm Brew Mobile Platform (Brew MP)
HTC Smart utilizes Qualcomm’s Brew MP, a popular mobile operating system that enables smartphone devices to be offered at more aggressive price points, providing HTC with the flexibility to deliver smartphone features on devices across multiple tiers.

About HTC
HTC Corporation (HTC) is one of the fastest growing companies in the mobile phone industry and continues to pioneer industry-leading mobile experiences through design, usability and innovation that are sparked by how the mobile phone can improve how people live and communicate. The company is listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange under ticker 2498. For more information about HTC, please visit www.htc.com.

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?

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.

Security Policy 4123 – This policy decides if the device should act as a two-tier or one-tier security. A value of zero (0) means that the device will act in the two-tier security profile. A value of one (1) means that it would act in the one-tier security profile. This policy is related to the following registry location: HKML\Security\Policies\Policies\0000101b. By default, Windows Mobile Standard devices have this value set to 0 – two-tier security. We need to set this to a value of 1.

Security Policy 4097 – This policy determines what level or rights a desktop computer has when making calls over the ActiveSync (RAPI) channel. A value of zero (0) means disabled and that an application running on the desktop computer has no rights on the mobile device. A value of one (1) means allowed and that an application running on the desktop computer has access and rights on the mobile device. a third value of two (2) means restricted and that an application on the desktop computer has the same level of permissions as the user on the device. This policy is related to the following registry location: HKLM\Security\Policies\Policies\00001001. We need to set this value to 1.

Now that we know what security policies we want to change and what registry settings they reflect, we can just change those registry values and be done, right? Unfortunately, it’s not that easy. Remember, the device is still application locked at this point. So we need an application that is considered to be trusted to be installed on the device to make changes to those values. In the past, there has been hacks that allowed you to application unlock your device. They typically involved a number of steps like; changing a registry value or two, then rebooting, then running a desktop tool, and then rebooting, and then maybe, just maybe, you might be able to change the rest of the registry and have an unlocked device.

Now that we know the security policies we need to work with, we can put them together into an XML format that can be run on the device. Here’s the resulting XML:

<wap-provisioningdoc>
<characteristic type=”SecurityPolicy”>
<parm name=”4102″ value=”1″ />
<parm name=”4122″ value=”1″ />
<parm name=”4123″ value=”1″ />
<parm name=”4097″ value=”1″ />
</characteristic>
</wap-provisioningdoc>

Now we need an application that has privileged access on the device so that we can use it to change the security policies. Unfortunately, applications that are privileged signed are not easy to come by. Typically, the privileged access is reserved applications that are aimed at enterprise users and not the average consumer. SOTI, the makers of Pocket Controller Pro, have just such a product – MobiControl. MobiControl is a full featured device management tool that is privileged signed, allowing you to have full control over every aspect of your fleet of mobile devices.

Once you’ve downloaded and installed MobiControl, you simply build an agent for your device, install it onto said device and then you can use that agent to run the XML Provisioning document outlined above. SOTI offers a full featured 30 day trial version. Which means you don’t have to pay anything to do this.

But that seems like a lot of work just to disable the application lock on your device. So I’ve gone ahead and built an agent that will automatically disable Application Lock on Windows Mobile Standard devices during the agent install. Simply download MobileJaw-ClearSecurity-MobiControl and run it on your device. After the install is complete, open the Start menu / Settings / Remove Programs and be sure to uninstall SOTI MobiControl from your device. If you leave this agent on your device it will have an adverse effect on your battery life as the agent will continually try and connect back to the device management server. I used a non-routable internal IP Address (192.168.1.128). So there’s no worry about it actually connecting back to some backend server and uploading all your data.

That’s all there is to it. Just install and remove this agent and then Application Lock will be disabled on your device. This works on any Windows Mobile Standard device running Windows Mobile 5, 6, or 6.1. So it doesn’t matter if you have a BlackJack, Ozone, Jack, Snap, Matrix Pro, or Moto Q. It even works on upcoming 6.5 devices from HTC, LG, Samsung, Motorola, and other manufacturers. It’s a little early to say if it will work on Windows Mobile 7 devices. But we’ll cross that bridge when the time comes.

UPDATE (24-Oct-2009) – With the release of Windows Mobile 6.5, application lock can now be found on touch screen devices. This was never the case before. If you have a touch screen device (Windows Mobile Professional), please use this CAB file – MobileJaw-ClearSecurity-MobiControl-TouchScreen – to remove application lock on your device.

Anyone with non-touch screen devices (Windows Mobile Standard) should continue to use this CAB file – MobileJaw-ClearSecurity-MobiControl – to remove their application lock.

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)

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 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.