Custom Theme Generator for Windows Phone

Earlier, we posted about adding custom wallpaper to your Windows phone. In that post, the wallpaper was a custom Windows Start button that was meant as your desktop wallpaper. If you’re looking to further customize your phone so that it’s you from top to bottom, then you will want to check out the Microsoft theme generator.

The theme generator is for Windows Mobile 6.5 devices only.  First thing you need to do, is pick your device from the rotating images. Then you can select the color you want to use, followed by the wallpaper image. You can even upload your own image and zoom/crop the image as you see fit. Once you have it just the way you like it, you can save it as a CAB file to your computer and pass it around for everyone to enjoy. You can also send it directly to your phone using an SMS message. It’s free and it’s cool. It’s worth checking out. Build a theme and share it here with us! I would like to see what everyone is capable of creating with this tool.

Custom Windows Start Button Wallpaper on your Phone

Everyone loves to customize their phones in one way or another. Clinton Fitch has a tip on how to build your own custom Windows Start button wallpaper and then getting that on your phone. The end result looks pretty cool. The wallpaper is customized to your interests and then loaded up on your phone. I just wish they had more mobile choices when making your Start button wallpaper.

Head over to Clinton’s web site and get all the details on how to get this setup.

Is it Really That Hard to get .Net Framework 3.5 on Windows Mobile 6.5 Device?

I was just going off about this on twitter and I felt it was worth posting about too. I downloaded the beta for FourSquare on Windows Mobile. However, the application requires .Net Compact Framework 3.5 on the device. At first, I figured that a new HTC HD2 running Windows Mobile 6.5 should already have the 2 year old version of the Compact Framework installed in the ROM. Guess what I found out – No .NetCF 3.5 on the device.

While that’s just short sighted and stupid on Microsoft’s part, the solution is pretty simple. All I need to do is download the CAB from the web and I’m good to go. Sadly, it’s just not that simple. You see, the .NetCF 3.5 installer is a 33MB desktop installer that contains the CAB files inside of it. So you can’t simply download it to your device and install.  Now I’m really wondering what the hell Microsoft is thinking. Have they lost sight of the end user in all this?

Let’s take a look at the steps to install the .Net Framework 3.5 on your Windows Mobile 6.5 device: 1) boot up laptop, 2) goto download page, 3) download huge 33MB installer, 4) install on desktop, 5) find 1 small 2.5MB CAB file left behind from installer, 6) ActiveSync your phone, don’t use ActiveSync then you need to copy it to a MicroSD card and insert that into your phone. 7) On your phone, launch File Explore and find the file. Run the file.

And now the steps if a CAB file was available directly from Microsoft’s site: 1) goto download page, 2) download file, 3) install file. DONE.

I would really like to see some sort of explanation on A) why it’s not already baked into the device ROM, and B) why the end user can’t simply download the CAB file directly to their device.

Windows Mobile 6.5.3 Gets Official Launch

I never thought that I would be writing a post about a dot-dot release of a mobile operating system. However, I think this is worth noting for a couple reasons. The biggest is to put to rest the rumors about 6.6 (also known as 6.5.3) being announced at Mobile World Congress and Windows Mobile 7 being delayed, again. With the announcement of the new Sony Ericcson X2 Windows Phone, Microsoft officially took the wraps off of Windows Mobile 6.5.3. So, unless Microsoft wants to go over this announcement again in a week and a half from now, I think it would be safe to say that MWC will not see the announcement of a dot increment of the existing version.

So what does 6.5.3 offer that’s so much better than 6.5? Here’s what you can expect to find in the new release:

• Capacitive touch screen support
• Platform support for multi-touch
• Improved touch friendly controls throughout the system
• Faster load times in Internet Explorer Mobile
• Pan & Flick support in Internet Explorer Mobile
• Updated runtime tools for .Net CF 3.5, SQL CE

There are also some graphical changes in 6.5.3. For example, when you tap the top title bar, it will open a new larger icon bar showing the existing system tray icons for easier access. As well, you will find that the softkeys at the bottom of the screen are now displayed in bubbles, or more button like look. Although this does look better than the early leaked images, I still don’t care for it. Check out the images and let me know what you think about these changes.

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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SPB News 2.0 and SBSH GoNews go Head-To-Head in a Review

RSS feeds have become one of the best ways to stay connected and updated on the news being posted on your favorite websites. If you’re wondering how to take advantage of RSS on your Windows Mobile device, or perhaps you’re simply wondering what some of the better RSS clients for Windows phones are, then you should take a look at the review Clinton Fitch has posted. It takes SPB’s News 2.0 and directly compares it with SBSH’s GoNews application. Both of these companies are well known for creating great software. With Clinton’s head-to-head post, you can be sure to get the application that best suits your RSS reading style and the features you need. Check it out!

Microsoft has a Story to Tell at Mobile World Congress

There’s been a buck-load of rumors floating around about the future of Windows Phone and what Microsoft will or won’t be announcing at the upcoming Mobile World Congress next month. I’ve read everything from Windows Mobile 6.5.3, to Windows Mobile 7, to Pink, to Zune Phone, and beyond. I think it’s clear to say that the vast majority are guessing about the announcements.

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.

Mobile Tech Community Rallies to Help Haiti

There’s no question that the people of Haiti need our help. We can all help to make a difference in this time of need.  Many countries and companies are pledging money and assistance to Haiti. You can help too. 

Xavier from Notebooks.com and GottaBeMobile.com is trying to help the Red Cross help Haiti by matching the first $500 in donations. Since his original post early yesterday, Xavier has been able to raise $5770 from various members of the mobile tech community and from companies like ScotteVest (full list of sites and companies below!). I have added $230 to that total to bring it to an even $6000. What’s that mean? Thanks to Xavier’s efforts, the mobile tech community will be matching $6000 of community contributions – bringing the total support to $12,000!!

How can you take advantage of our matching dollars? Easy, send a SMS to the Red Cross at 90999 with the word Haiti in the body of the message. You will then get a confirmation message, just reply with Yes, and $10 will be added to your next phone bill.  Then, head over to this post on Notebooks.com and let them know that you’ve contributed.

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CES: New iPhone Cases and Speaker Docks

I’m sure that you’ve heard of this new smartphone from Apple called the iPhone.  You’ll be happy to know that a couple manufacturers have decided to built cases, docks, and external speakers for this device. Each manufacturer had a radically different accessory design and function. The good news is that if you don’t like how one looks or works, there is another manufacturer just a couple booths away with another design.

Now, I may be exaggerating a little. There are a lot of booths with cases, docks and accessories for your favorite Apple mobile device. What really gets me, is why even enter that market at this point? There are so many companies making accessories, that you don’t really stand a chance of being in the top 10 unless you’re doing something so radically different than everyone else and from what I’ve seen, that’s just not happening.

Consumers are sitting in a great position as the price of accessories is only going to go down. Unfortunately, so will the quality and the manufacturers will struggle to make money and provide for their employees.

Anyway, I hope you’ll forgive me if I neglected to visit or take pictures of any of these companies and their products.

CES: 3D Televisions Everywhere You Look

There’s been talk of 3D television for a while. However, over the last couple weeks the buzz seems to be building. Here at CES you will find a company around every corner that is preaching to you about the glories of 3D TV.

The first thing you need to understand is how 3D TV works. It all starts with a 3D DVD or BlueRay player along with some sort of 3D content. If the media output is not “3D” encoded, then some of the TV’s can automatically convert the signal into 3D-like signal. Although, everyone is quick to point out that this isn’t TRUE 3D.  Think of this like “up-converting” DVD players – it does the job, but it’s not really HD content from a regular DVD. If the signal is already 3D, then it’s passed directly to the screen and you can sit back and enjoy your movie in 3D.

Oh, but wait – there’s one thing missing from that whole equation.  Without special 3D glasses on, you’re not going to see the “amazing” picture.  Instead you’ll just be looking at a blurry mess.  It’s not horrible, but it’s not the picture you’ve come to expect from HD TVs. Here’s the thing, with the special glasses on, the picture does jump out from the TV and is kind of cool to see. Is it worth buying a new TV, DVD, and glasses?

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