Windows Series 7 a complete look

I have been seeing a lot of buzz and short stories on what Windows series 7 is all about.  This is the first complete article that has been made available to us.

Windows Phone 7 Series: the complete guide

By Chris Ziegler   posted Mar 18th 2010 12:00PM

After Windows Phone 7 Series' grand unveiling at Barcelona's Mobile World Congress last month, Microsoft has circled back over the last several days during GDC and its own MIX10 conference to fill in many of the holes in this story -- in particular, details around the app development ecosystem and how third parties can take full advantage of it have been focal points. Of course, it makes sense: a modern smartphone is only as good as its software catalog, and Redmond's clearly keen to show that it knows how very true that is. XNA -- the technology that underpins Zune games and a host of Xbox content -- figures prominently into the equation, but Silverlight is a huge, unavoidable component as well, making development for WP7S devices a starkly different experience for studios and independent code monkeys than in versions prior. We're going to be periodically updating this post as we get new info on the platform, but for now, follow the break for everything you need to know -- so far -- about Microsoft's latest and greatest mobile platform. 

Read the full article at http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/18/windows-phone-7-series-the-complete-guide/

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Sprint to launch WiMax at CTIA

by Philip Berne 

The Wall Street Journal claims that Sprint will unveil its first WiMax-enabled smartphone at the CTIA show next week in Las Vegas. The HTC Supersonic will be the carrier's first WiMax handset, joining the recently released Sprint Overdrive in its growing 4G portfolio. The Journal cites no named sources, and Sprint and HTC representatives declined comment. Dan Hesse, CEO of Sprint Nextel, is scheduled to give a keynote address at the CTIA Wireless show on Wednesday, March 24, and the Journal expects that the HTC Supersonic will be the centerpiece of his presentation.

more info at Wall Street Journal »

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Pocket Communications launches Brew-based App Store

posted Today, 7:20 AM   by Eric M. Zeman

Today Pocket Communications, a regional provider in southern Texas, launched a new application storefront for its customers. Pocket's subscribers will be able to shop for and download mobile applications and services from their phone, including ringtones, wallpapers, and 3D games. The store is based on Qualcomm's BREW platform, which is used by other carriers such as Verizon Wireless to deliver content to end users.

more info at Pocket Communications »

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Microsoft demos push notifications on Windows Phone 7 Series

by Chris Ziegler

Microsoft's flavor of push notifications for Windows Phone 7 Series -- the so-called Microsoft Notification Service -- was just demoed using an MLS (Major League Soccer) app, and it fits in really well with the "Metro" UI motif. Notifications come in via an unobtrusive bar across the top of the display -- better than iPhone, and not unlike webOS -- and tapping them takes you into the app where you're presumably taken to a fuller view of the relevant information. The notifications are available regardless of whether the app is open, a model that mirrors Apple's and likely a heavy dose of foreshadowing that multitasking -- at least, multitasking as we know it -- won't be available. Check of pic of the notification bar after the break.

Continue reading Microsoft demos push notifications on Windows Phone 7 Series

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Windows Phone 7 Won't Support MicroSD Cards, Multitasking

More details about Windows Phone 7 shared by Microsoft reveal that the new operating system will not support user-replaceable memory cards. Charlie Kindel, who is in charge of Microsoft's Windows Phone developer strategy, said that the company will work with phone makers to ensure that Windows Phone 7 handsets pack enough memory for applications, 3D games, and media storage. Kindel suggested that some phones may have microSD cards embedded in them, but they will be locked in place and physically inaccessible by end users. Users will still be able to place media on the cards. Microsoft also noted that, like the iPhone, Windows Phone 7 won't permit true multitasking. Third-party applications won't be able to run in the background, and those using VoIP will be limited. "Apps that run arbitrarily in the background create an end user experience where battery life and responsiveness of the system becomes … inconsistent," Kindel said. "We focused on getting a set of experiences right where we didn't have to support [multitasking,] but we will over time."

more info at PCMag »

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Confirmed: Marketplace will be the only way to get apps on Windows Phone 7 Series

by Nilay Patel

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We just got out of a meeting with Microsoft's Todd Biggs, who dropped a little bombshell on us: the only official way to get apps on a Windows Phone 7 Series device will be to download them from the just-detailed Windows Phone Marketplace. That means developers will have to abide by Microsoft's technical and content guidelines in order to make it in, with the very real possibility of rejection -- sound familiar? Todd told us Microsoft plans to avoid Apple-style submission headaches by making the process transparent and predictable, with a group of Microsoft execs regularly meeting to examine edge cases and refine the guidelines as needed, but even the best intentions can be led astray by a sexy app or two. We also got some additional details on Marketplace and how it's going to work, catch the highlights after the break.

Update: Microsoft wanted us to clarify that enterprise customers will be able to deploy apps to employees outside the consumer-facing Marketplace -- details on that will be released in the future.

Continue reading Confirmed: Marketplace will be the only way to get apps on Windows Phone 7 Series

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Windows Phone 7 Series targeted at 38 year-old 'life maximizers'

by Nilay Patel

Here's a fun tidbit we just learned from Microsoft's Joe Belfiore: in order to focus Windows Phone 7 Series on the idea of best serving end users, the team actually created two fictional targets consumers named "Miles" and "Anna," a pair of married 38-year old "life maximizers" who demand the most from their devices. Yes, it's a little strange and hilariously specific on the surface -- Anna just scaled back her PR job to part-time so she can take care of the kids! Miles like to take pictures and use Facebook to share them with his parents in Europe! -- but it makes a certain amount of sense: Microsoft says it's trying to create a device that appeals to someone with both a work Exchange account and personal Gmail account, someone who needs to get work done but also wants to play 3D games, and it thinks that if Miles and Anna are happy, chances are a lot of other customer segments will satisfied as well. Of course, this is almost exactly the same message we've heard from Palmabout the Pre, but at least Microsoft's ideal users aren't a creepy alien lady or a mom from the 50s -- and they have a much better reason to Bing their way through the WP7S UI.

Continue reading Windows Phone 7 Series targeted at 38 year-old 'life maximizers'

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Palm webOS games get Unreal

At the annual Game Developers Conference this week, Palm and Epic Games are demonstrating Unreal Engine 3 on Palm webOS. Unreal Engine 3 powers Epic's popular Unreal Tournament 3 and Gears of War along with many other titles from leading game developers. Licensees of Unreal Engine 3 will soon be able to build games for Palm webOS. 

Earlier this week, Palm announced the public availability of the beta release of the Plug-in Development Kit [PDK] for developers seeking to expand their options for creating apps for Palm webOS phones. Together, the PDK and the Unreal Engine 3 will make it even easier for developers to bring visually rich games to Palm webOS phones. 

Developers can download Unreal Engine 3 for free here. More information about Palm's PDK can be found here.

Jon Zilber

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First Microsoft Windows Phone 7 Series devices to boast 480 x 800 pixel displays, HD2 owners sigh

By Thomas Ricker   posted Mar 12th 2010 4:37AM

Even though Microsoft's big MIX event is still days away, the Windows Phone 7 Series development platform is already pretty well defined. It's also clear that Microsoft wants to keep things tidy for developers by requiring all WP7 phones to meet a certain base-level spec. Now, thanks to a post from Microsoft's Shawn Hargreaves, we know the display resolution for the first batch of Microsoft's next generation phones: 480 x 800 (WVGA) pixels at launch, with a future update that will introduce a 320 x 480 (HVGA) native resolution. Dedicated hardware will ensure image scaling across all those pixels without taxing the GPU. That allows game developers, for example, to write to a lower resolution (requiring less horsepower) and then scale up as required while remaining compatible to a variety of screen resolutions. 

Now, for those playing along at home, the HD2 getting ready to launch on T-Mobile in the USA is also WVGA and it features a 1GHz Snapdragon processor from Qualcomm, Microsoft's WP7 silicon partner. So we can assume (but not guarantee) that it meets the image scaling hardware requirements described by Hargreaves. Man, if only the HD2 had three-buttons.

[Thanks, Cytrix]

Mobile Tech World Shawn Hargreaves Blog

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Androids Growth

Android Growing RIDICULOUSLY Faster Than All Other Mobile Platforms (In the US)

by Rob Jackson on March 10th, 2010

Comscore has just published their smartphone reports detailing statistics from October 2009 through January 2010 and although we knew Android grew incredibly – the actual statistics are quite staggering. Take a look at this chart which shows market share from RIM, Apple, Microsoft, Google and Palm:

Second to last place with hardly more market share than Palm? How is that staggering? Well… as Kevin Tofel explains it is all a matter of how you look at the numbers. What we SHOULD be looking at is growth rate – that is – percentage growth from October through January:

That is HUGELY indicative of the momentum Android has and the deceleration of other platforms. Looking just at market share gain/growth you might not realize how poorly Microsoft is performing, how Palm is slowing more than any other platform, and how little RIM and Apple are improving. And for that matter, how ridiculously quickly Android is growing.

The numbers are looking good my friends and I would fully expect these various momentums (momentii?) to continue. Apple always gets a huge uptick with a new iPhone, and WebOS should perform better when they finally offer some new devices (if they’re unique), but I don’t see Android slowing down much over the next 10 months – at all. Not domestically or globally.

Related Articles:

·         In 2012, 14% Of Smartphones Could Be Android

·         T-Mobile Chooses Yahoo Over Google

·         Android Drives 5% Of Smartphone Web Traffic

·         Android Stealing Symbian & WinMo Market Share

·         Strategy Analytics: Android Phone Sales To Grow 900% In 2009

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Sharing location over Facebook

It is truly amazing how the mobile industry has integrated social networking sites into the basic software of todays phones.  We are seeing most phones priced $200 or more with these networking tools.  I am excited to see where geo tagging along with social networking will take us.  I think it will take a while  before we truly see social acceptance.  I received an email a while ago explaining how someone had stolen a car with gps from a stadium event.  Naturally the thieves knew there was an allotted time for the event so they used the gps to locate navigate the car “home”.  Three hours later it was discovered that the thieves not only took their car but also items from their home. 

Facebook to Become Location-Aware in April

by Eric M. Zeman

According to unnamed sources cited by The New York Times, Facebook plans to introduce a new location-sharing feature to is social networking service. The feature will let users share their own location as well as see the location of ...
(follow link to read)

Henry Johannes

Appleton Store Manager

Phone: 920-707-3919

Fax: 920-830-7999

hjohannes@einsteinwireless.net

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Target launches phone Based Coupon Program

Target Launches Phone-Based Coupon Program

by Eric M. Zeman

Target announced a scannable mobile coupon program launching nationwide today at its retail stores. Consumers will have several different ways to opt into the program (PC browser, mobile browser, short code), which will then distribute coupons to mobile phones ...
(follow link to read)

Henry Johannes

Appleton Store Manager

Phone: 920-707-3919

Fax: 920-830-7999

hjohannes@einsteinwireless.net

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New Android by Motorola the Devour

Motorola Devour review

by Paul Miller

 

While Motorola's vanilla-Android Droid has become the most recognizable Android device on the market -- thanks in part to a bombastic ad campaign -- Motorola's primary focus has been on its own custom Blur UI. At least, if quantity of devices are any indication. Hitting Verizon just as the Blur-powered Backflip heads to AT&T, the new Motorola Devour is an odd cross section of the "consumery" Backflip and Cliq, and the high-end Droid slider. We've been playing with the phone for a week or so (you can find our initial hands-on, video walkthrough and unboxing here), so follow us after the break as we walk through the triumphs and tragedy that is this device.

Continue reading Motorola Devour review

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3D gaming on a phone?

Microsoft bringing XNA Game Studio 4.0 to GDC this week, does 3D gaming for Windows Phone

by Paul Miller

We've all had a feeling that Microsoft is holding back some pretty big surprises (or at least completely reasonable revelations) when it comes to Windows Phone 7 Series and gaming, and here at GDC this week it sounds like we're going to get a little glimpse into that. Microsoft is unveiling its new XNA Game Studio 4.0, which lets developers work on games for Windows Phone 7 Series, Xbox 360 and Windows PC. The integration with Visual Studio 2010 that we saw the other day allows developers to build a single project and then make slight modifications to let it run on each platform respectively. Most importantly, Microsoft specifically mentions that 4.0 will include hardware accelerated 3D APIs for Windows Phone 7 Series -- not stunning, giving the fact that Zune can do 3D games (and is supported by XNA), but relieving just the same. Other phone-related tidbits are also telling: there will be fairly deep Xbox LIVE integration, including unlocking achievements from phone-based games and push notifications for asynchronous turn based gaming. Hopefully we can get some real live multiplayer gaming going as well, but there's no mention of that just yet. Microsoft promises "much, much more" will be revealed at MIX 2010, but for now we're gonna dig for all we can here at GDC.

Microsoft bringing XNA Game Studio 4.0 to GDC this week, does 3D gaming for Windows Phone originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 13:31:00 ES

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