This nifty little shell switcher has just been released in beta over at XDA forums. According to the developer, the ShellSwitcher utility lets you switch between well known shells like SPB Mobile Shell, Titanium, Touch Flo 3D, HTC Sense and the classic today screen. ShellSwitcher will automatically detect the shell UIs you have installed and allow you to choose between them from a menu.
The app is in beta, so be warned! You can download the free ShellSwitcher for Windows Mobile from the XDA website.
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I just came across a little post on coolsmartphone.com about FPSEce: a PlayStation emulator for Windows mobile devices. FPSEce lets you run PlayStation games in the form of ISO files right off your memory card.
You can grab a free copy of FPSEce over at their website, where you’ll find some instructions too. They also have some info on PocketISO, an app you can use to compress your own game images. Here’s a video FPSEce PlaySstation emulator for Windows Mobile in action:
Grab a copy of FPSEce Playstation emulator for Windows Mobile here.
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Google Maps for Windows Mobile devices has been updated to 4.1, and it now includes voice search capability. Simply pressing the talk button while the search window is open will pop up a screen that allows you to say what you want, and Google will return the appropriate results. Visit m.google.com/maps for more details or to download the latest version.
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Microsoft has released a refresh of their Windows Phone Developers Tools CTP and it now works with the final version of Visual Studio 2010. This means that you can now developer full apps for Windows Phone 7 devices using Visual Studio 2010… so let’s get crackin’!
The new features are:
- This release has been tested to work with the final release of Visual Studio 2010.
- An updated Windows Phone 7 OS image for the Windows Phone Emulator.
- A few APIs in the frameworks have been added and or changed. See this MSDN page for more details.
- The documentation has been updated with new and expanded topics. See this MSDN page for more details.
- We’ve provided limited support for launchers and choosers. In cases where the underlying built-in experience is not present launchers and choosers are still not available (i.e. the email chooser asks you to select a contact, but there are no contacts in the emulator and no way to add one).
- Pause/Resume events are now supported.
- If the tools are installed as the admin user, non-admin users are now able to deploy to the emulator.
- A problem with incremental deployment of projects has been fixed.
- A problem resulting in the error "Connection failed because of invalid command-line arguments" being displayed during project creation has been fixed.
- A problem where the Windows Phone node was not appearing in VS 2010 on non-system drives has been fixed.
- Design time skin refresh issues have been addressed.
You can read tonnes more and download the April Refresh to the Windows Phone Development Tools CTP for Visual Studio 2010 at developer.windowsphone.com.
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bowplay, an XDA Forums member, has launched XDARoms.com: a one-stop shop for all your Windows Mobile cooked ROM needs. Visitors to XDARoms can sort ROMS by device and compare features of up to 5 different ROMS side-by-side… how’s that for a-la-carte hacking?
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This 10-minute video shows a nice walk through of all the major features of the latest build (6176) of Windows Phone 7 Emulator. This version of the OS emulator is much more complete than previous versions, thanks in part to the neat phone app (kind of a key ingredient) and the new Windows Phone 7 Office apps, which I features in a previous post.
Watch the video or you can check out the latest version of the Windows Phone 7 emulator for yourself here at XDA.
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Blade0rz from XDA has released a final version of his very neat IMDB app. Packed with features like user and external reviews, trailer support, trivia, quotes and more, this finger-friendly app is a must-have for any film buff or movie know-it-all.
The full feature list from XDA:
- Screen/Orientation Independent
- User Ratings/Reviews
- External Reviews
- Search Movies/TV/Video Games/Actors
- Finger-friendly interface
- DVD Covers
- Actor Headshots
- Trivia
- Quotes
- Photos
- Top 250
- Coming Soon List
- Videos/Trailers
- Goofs
- App-To-Date Support
- TV Episode Listings
- Parental Guide Info
- Movie Certificates
Read more and download about the IMDB Mobile for Windows Mobile devices at XDA. The app needs .NET CF 3.5 to run.
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XDADevelopers member FryWalker has just updated his free TV player for Windows Mobile devices, myPlayer. This lightweight app provides direct access to a whole range of flash-based video websites, thereby eliminating the need for a flash-enabled browser.
myPlayer has built-in settings for the BBC, Hulu, 50D, MSN, SBS and others, and allows you to add your own TV channels to your favorites. It looks like it only works in the UK, but there may be some way around that in the 50+ pages of comments…
You can read about and download myPlayer here.
Software developer SpaceTime has just made their crazy-powerful math application for Windows Mobile free, as they’re discontinuing future development in favor of a Windows Phone 7 version (which isn’t backwards compatible, of course).
This math app is ridiculous and makes me wish I was a scientist. Its full features could only be used by university-level students or mathematicians: SpaceTime’s low-end features are things like solving limits, derivatives and integrals, but it allows you to move, zoom and rotate 2D, 3D and time graphs in real-time, explore mathematical concepts with their innovative interface, and even write your own scripts with their proprietary programming language.
If this sounds like a good time to you, head over to SpaceTime’s website and download a copy of SpaceTime 4.0 for free!
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A lot of apps out there for Windows Phones and Windows Mobile 6.x require users to install the Microsoft .Net Compact Framework redistributable in order for it to work. The .Net CF redistributable is just a group of common files you need to install in order for programs written in Microsoft’s .Net framework to work properly.
Installation is simple.
- Connect your Windows Phone or Windows Mobile 6.x device and ensure the ActiveSync connection is made
- Go to the Microsoft Download Center and download the latest version of the .Net Compact Framework redistributable, currently version 3.5
- Run the install program
- Check your mobile device and complete the installation
That’s it! Pretty simple, eh?
In a recent blog post, Mary Jo Foley talks about Microsoft’s plans for Windows Phone developer environments, and concludes that we’re looking at a mix of Silverlight and .Net, with Visual Studio 10 tying it all together.
Mary Jo quotes her anonymous Microsoft insider as saying:
“The dev platform is Silverlight 3, plus elements of 4, using Blend and a Visual Studio add-in. The kicker is that while it is XAML-like, it is not pure XAML (Extensible Application Markup Language). This is actually OK, as it keeps the footprint nice and small.
“In theory you can make an entire app inside of Blend, but I think you will need Visual Studio to hook it all together in C#. In the war vs. Apple for apps, every .NET developer just became a Phone developer.”
This is a clever strategy. I haven’t touched a programming language in ages, and even I can pump something out in Visual Studio. In Microsoft’s race for apps (100K in Apple’s store vs. 1,245 in the Marketplace), this could be a key advantage for Microsoft.
Backwards compatibility
Microsoft has also yet to announce whether Windows Phone 7 Series will support apps written for 6.x. Clearly some UI changes will be necessary, but will the code run? Will there be some kind of compatibility mode? Expect to hear more about this at Mix 10.
I read an interesting post over at PocketNow in which Joe Levi compares some key aspects of Windows Mobile to Google’s Android. The article just brushes the broad strokes, but Joe correctly identifies the licensing model as one of Windows Mobile’s main obstacles in the near future. With Android’s open sources, no-license approach which gives Google faster development cycles, quicker deployment to partners, and faster adoption on handsets.
Microsoft has recently signed a deal with Bsquare to handle all their licensing, a move that might end up sinking them, as I contemplated out loud in an earlier post. By adding yet another layer of corporate bureaucracy to their model, Microsoft risks slowing losing any meager momentum they still have.
Thoughts?
For those Slingbox users out there, watching your home TV from anywhere you might find some Internet is a handy trick. Sling has just released a new version of their SlingPlayer Mobile 2.0 for Windows Mobile. I haven’t taken a look at it yet, so if anyone out there gives it a whirl please leave some feedback!
One really annoying feature of the Microsoft Marketplace for Mobile is the fact that you can’t switch regions, thereby allowing you to download apps that are only available in areas other than yours. This may sound like a little issue, but since Microsoft charges developers for each country in which they want their app distributed, it is safe to assume that not all apps are going to be available in all countries.
One of the great things about the Windows Mobile platform is that it’s Windows, and it can be hacked to to anything you wish. Cheers to the fellows over at XDA who have put out their own Marketplace for Mobile Region Switcher, MarketPlaceRegionSwitch 1.1. Go and download it for free to see what you’re missing in the Marketplace!
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Microsoft has just released Fusion Voicemail Plus 2.0, a pretty full-featured visual voicemail software for Windows Phones… and it’s free!
Even cooler – for those forced to work with companies that are stuck in the 90’s, is that Fusion allows you to receive faxes right on their mobiles. Some more info straight from Microsoft:
Fusion Voicemail Plus 2.0, a free, downloadable visual voicemail application by PhoneFusion, gives Windows Mobile phone users with wireless data and text messaging plans the ability to centralize all of their voicemail boxes and see—right on the device screen—a list of their voicemail messages. It also allows users to listen to voicemails directly from their phone.A new feature—exclusive to Windows Mobile users—is that for the first time mobile consumers can receive faxes right on their smartphone. Users can use their existing mobile number or register a new number to receive faxes.
Another feature developed exclusively for Windows Mobile users is the ability to easily forward voicemails to any e-mail address or another Fusion Voicemail Plus mailbox. Fusion Voicemail Plus 2.0 also integrates with the user’s address book and expands the ability to use touch screen gestures to navigate through messages.
Fusion Voicemail Plus comes with many features, including:
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The ability to synchronize multiple voicemail boxes to one location.
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The ability to view and listen to voicemails right from your phone.
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The ability to send SMS (text) messages to the person who left you the voicemail. Send the message directly from the Forward voicemails application to other users on the system or through e-mail.
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True Caller ID Delivery on each voicemail. If the caller is not in your phonebook, Fusion Voicemail displays the information from the phone company as the caller ID.
You can get yourself a copy of Fusion Voicemail Plus 2.0 from Microsoft’s Total Access site
One thing that’s become clear in the last three or four years in the mobile space is this: an OS is not really legit until it gets the one must-have killer program: the fart app. Well, whether you agree or not, it as arrived. Search Marketplace for Mobile for “fart” and you’ll find it.
Some more screen shots after the jump…
more…
At long, long last, Adobe is bringing Flash to Windows Mobile, and the other smartphone platforms, of course. Arriving in early 2010, Flash on the mobile platforms will bring native flash rendering on your device, reducing the need for some of the server-side proxy rendering we see in browsers like Skyfire and Bolt.
From Adobe:
The browser-based runtime leverages the power of the Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) for accelerated video and graphics while conserving battery life and minimizing resource utilization. New mobile-ready features that take advantage of native device capabilities include support for multi-touch, gestures, mobile input models, accelerometer and screen orientation bringing unprecedented creative control and expressiveness to the mobile browsing experience. Flash Player 10.1 will also take advantage of media delivery with HTTP streaming, including integration of content protection powered by Adobe® Flash® Access 2.0. This effort, code-named Zeri, will be an open format based on industry standards and will provide content publishers, distributors and partners the tools they need to utilize HTTP infrastructures for high-quality media delivery in Flash Player 10.1 and Adobe® AIR® 2.0 software.
For the full press release, visit the Adobe website.
As promised, the first official Windows Mobile 6.5 Upgrade for the HTC Touch Pro 2 has just been released into the wild and is ready for you Touch Pro 2 owners to head over to the official HTC website and download it!
Be sure that you’re aware that this ROM update (version 1.86.401.0) will actually clear all the data on the phone and replace the current OS — so make sure you backup all of your contacts, emails, messages and call history using something like PIM Backup (which I highly recommend).
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I just installed the coolest note-taking app I’ve used on Windows Mobile. Available free from MyLostBlog, this little app is perfect. Open it up and you’re presented with a bulletin-board-style listing of your 9 most recent notes. This makes it easy and appealing to keep track of multiple notes.
Beyond the clever UI, MyNote is full of features, from colored brushes to stationary. Here’s a full list of features:
- Easily create or delete notes from the main page
- 24 brush sizes
- 7 ink colors
- 5 main stationery backgrounds with variants
- Save notes as screen shots
- Saves notes on exit
Here is a video of MyNote 1.2 in action:
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You can download MyNote 1.2 from MyLostBlog.
