The HTC Mini is based on Windows Mobile 6.5 and brings the experience of the HD2 to a smaller footprint. The HD2 experience is truly something special. If HTC can make this into a smaller device, it will be interesting to see and use. The single best thing on the HD2 is the screen. If they can pack the processor and power into a smaller footprint, will the device be as attractive? It’s a hard question to answer. With a smaller screen, they will need to make sure that the smaller screen is just as brilliant as it’s larger brother or it won’t succeed.

The HTC Legend and Desire are both Android based devices. The Legend is like version 2 of the Hero, adding a AMOLED screen LED Flash, optical trackball, a faster processor – 600MHz, and some more memory.  The Desire is HTC’s version of their Nexus One phone, but with an optical trackball and an extra button.

You can read check out the press release over at MobilityMinded – HTC Mini, and HTC Legend, Desire. And then let us know what you think of HTC’s latest devices.

Many are looking to Mobile World Congress as the best time for Microsoft to share their plans with the world. And share they did. A couple of minutes ago, Microsoft announced the long awaited Windows Phone 7. Billed as “Windows Phone 7 Series”, the mobile operating system takes a new fresh approach to the mobile world. With custom “tiles” and “hubs” you can be sure to keep informed of the information that matters most to you.

Phones are expected from all the major hardware manufacturers by this holiday season. Initial rumors had devices hitting the market in April or September. They appear to be a little off the actual date, but not too bad.

The full press release can be found below. Give it a read and share your thoughts with us. My initial reaction is that Microsoft is hitting the mark with this release. There’s still a load of unanswered questions. Hopefully we can get all the details shortly.

UPDATE: Check out the live demo on http://www.windowsphone7series.com/

Microsoft Unveils Windows Phone 7 Series

New phones designed for life in motion to debut at holiday 2010.

BARCELONA, Spain — Feb. 15, 2010 — Today at Mobile World Congress 2010, Microsoft Corp. CEO Steve Ballmer unveiled the next generation of Windows® Phones, Windows Phone 7 Series. With this new platform, Microsoft offers a fresh approach to phone software, distinguished by smart design and truly integrated experiences that bring to the surface the content people care about from the Web and applications. For the first time ever, Microsoft will bring together Xbox LIVE games and the Zune music and video experience on a mobile phone, exclusively on Windows Phone 7 Series. Partners have already started building phones; customers will be able to purchase the first phones in stores by holiday 2010.

“Today, I’m proud to introduce Windows Phone 7 Series, the next generation of Windows Phones,” said Steve Ballmer, chief executive officer at Microsoft. “In a crowded market filled with phones that look the same and do the same things, I challenged the team to deliver a different kind of mobile experience. We believe Windows Phone 7 Series is a phone that truly reflects the speed of people’s lives and their need to connect to other people.”

Designed for Life in Motion

With Windows Phone 7 Series, Microsoft takes a fundamentally different approach to phone software. Smart design begins with a new, holistic design system that informs every aspect of the phone, from its visually appealing layout and motion to its function and hardware integration. On the Start screen, dynamically updated “live tiles” show users real-time content directly, breaking the mold of static icons that serve as an intermediate step on the way to an application. Create a tile of a friend, and the user gains a readable, up-to-date view of a friend’s latest pictures and posts, just by glancing at Start.

Every Windows Phone 7 Series phone will come with a dedicated hardware button for Bing, providing one-click access to search from anywhere on the phone, while a special implementation of Bing search provides intent-specific results, delivering the most relevant Web or local results, depending on the type of query.

Windows Phone 7 Series creates an unrivaled set of integrated experiences on a phone through Windows Phone hubs. Hubs bring together related content from the Web, applications and services into a single view to simplify common tasks. Windows Phone 7 Series includes six hubs built on specific themes reflecting activities that matter most to people:

• People. This hub delivers an engaging social experience by bringing together relevant content based on the person, including his or her live feeds from social networks and photos. It also provides a central place from which to post updates to Facebook and Windows Live in one step.
• Pictures. This hub makes it easy to share pictures and video to a social network in one step. Windows Phone 7 Series also brings together a user’s photos by integrating with the Web and PC, making the phone the ideal place to view a person’s entire picture and video collection.
• Games. This hub delivers the first and only official Xbox LIVE experience on a phone, including Xbox LIVE games, Spotlight feed and the ability to see a gamer’s avatar, Achievements and gamer profile. With more than 23 million active members around the world, Xbox LIVE unlocks a world of friends, games and entertainment on Xbox 360, and now also on Windows Phone 7 Series.
• Music + Video. This hub creates an incredible media experience that brings the best of Zune, including content from a user’s PC, online music services and even a built-in FM radio into one simple place that is all about music and video. Users can turn their media experience into a social one with Zune Social on a PC and share their media recommendations with like-minded music lovers. The playback experience is rich and easy to navigate, and immerses the listener in the content.
• Marketplace. This hub allows the user to easily discover and load the phone with certified applications and games.
• Office. This hub brings the familiar experience of the world’s leading productivity software to the Windows Phone. With access to Office, OneNote and SharePoint Workspace all in one place, users can easily read, edit and share documents. With the additional power of Outlook Mobile, users stay productive and up to date while on the go.

Availability

Partners from around the world have committed to include Windows Phone 7 Series in their portfolio plans. They include mobile operators AT&T, Deutsche Telekom AG, Orange, SFR, Sprint, Telecom Italia, Telefónica, Telstra, T-Mobile USA, Verizon Wireless and Vodafone, and manufacturers Dell, Garmin-Asus, HTC Corp., HP, LG, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Toshiba and Qualcomm Inc. The first phones will be available by holiday 2010. Customers who would like to receive additional information about Windows Phone 7 Series and be notified when it is available can register at http://www.windowsphone7series.com.

To watch the full replay of Steve Ballmer’s press conference at Mobile World Congress, and to experience Windows Phone 7 Series through an online product demo, readers can visit http://www.microsoft.com/news/windowsphone.

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

For more information, press only:
Rapid Response Team, Waggener Edstrom Worldwide, (503) 443-7070, rrt@waggeneredstrom.com

Today, I caught a post over on I Started Something about Windows Phone briefings for financial analysts and investors community. This year Microsoft has booked 2 events. The first one is February 15^th – the day of their press conference at Mobile World Congress. The second one is for February 22 – 7 days later. Both calls are financial analyst briefings and both are hosted by Andy Lees, who is the Senior Vice President of the Mobile Communication Business at Microsoft.

Does this mean that there is so much to share that they can’t fit it all in one call? Or perhaps the second call is just a re-hash of the first? As Long Zheng points out in his post, last year when Microsoft announced Windows Mobile 6.5, they only had 1 call scheduled. I’m guessing that whatever Microsoft has to say at Mobile World Congress, it looks like it’s worth repeating. And that’s a good thing. At least I hope so.

We’ll know a lot more in a couple weeks.

Samsung has announced a new messenger style device called “Valencia” that will be running Windows Mobile 6.5. This new device will sport a 393 MHz processor with 128MB RAM / 128MB ROM, a 320 x 240 non-touch screen, Tri-band GSM with GPRS, Edge, UMTS, 3G, and HSDPA. There’s a small 20MB internal storage along with a full front facing QWERTY, Bluetooth and a 2 mega pixel camera.

This new device looks very much like the BlackJack’s that we’ve come to love. However, with the Tri-band radio and front facing camera, it looks like this device is targeted for the European market. I really like the blue and white coloring.

Check out the high resolution picture below.

Today at Mobile World Congress, LG announced their support for Microsoft’s Windows Mobile in a strong way. LG will make Microsoft’s Windows Mobile operating system the primary operating system for their smartphone devices. Over the next 4 years, LG will produce 50 different mobile devices powered by Microsoft’s Windows Mobile operating system. The bulk of these devices, approximately 25, will come in the 4th year. Leaving 25 other devices over the course of the next 3 years. If divided evenly over those 3 years it would be 8.3 units per year. I would expect that production would ramp up over the course of 3 years.

LG’s Windows Mobile news doesn’t stop there. They are also showing off 2 new devices. The first is a device called “HQ” that features a SureType QWERTY keyboard. From the information that I’ve been given, the HQ will have a 528MHz processor, 256MB ROM / 128MB RAM, a 240×320 non-touch screen, Quad-band with GPRS, Edge and UMTS. As well as 3G, WiFi, Bluetooth, and a 2 mega pixel camera.

The second device is called the “Eigen” and features the same 528MHz processor, a 240×400 touch screen, Quad-band with GPRS, Edge and UMTS. The Eigen also has 266MB ROM / 128MB RAM, FM Radio, 3G, WiFi, a 5 mega pixel camera, and of course, Bluetooth.

You can check out some pictures of both of these devices below.

Microsoft hasn’t stopped at updating the OS. They’ve also announced a couple new services. The first, MyPhone, which saw it’s release a little early due to an accident with the website going live a week early. MyPhone is aimed at providing you the ability to backup your device to the cloud. The MyPhone service will backup your contacts, calendar, tasks, pictures, and documents to Microsoft’s MyPhone website. Allowing you to easily restore these to a new device if yours is ever lost or stolen. The MyPhone service will work over cellular data, WiFi, or even an ActiveSync connection.

The second new service announced by Microsoft is an on-device application store for Windows Mobile apps. The new software is called “Windows Marketplace for Mobile” and will allow people to purchase and download applications directly to the device.

I will be posting some other articles throughout the day as more information is released at Mobile World Congress. So stay tuned!

This image shows off the new lock screen. You can see the different icons for text messages, voicemail, email, and missed calls.

The new hexagonal start menu provides large targets making it easy for your fingers to press.

The new IE Mobile brings the aging mobile browser back up to speed with competitors.