This isn’t going to be a story about Microsoft’s return to dominance. Nor is it going to be the story of Microsoft’s failure to compete in the smartphone space. These mobile wars have only just begun and despite the advantage enjoyed by Apple and Google, there is no end in sight. In another twelve months we will see fierce competition from HP, Microsoft and Nokia. There’s a lot at stake, and no company is willing to give up the opportunity to own the next-PC market without a hell of a fight. Today is the beginning of Microsoft’s fight.
By now most of the Windows Phone 7 reviews have hit the web, but one more can’t hurt. Anandtech has an exhaustive review of the operating system, with lots of great photos to satiate your thirst for Windows Phone 7 news until the US launch next week. Hit the link for the full review.
This isn’t going to be a story about Microsoft’s return to dominance. Nor is it going to be the story of Microsoft’s failure to compete in the smartphone space. These mobile wars have only just begun and despite the advantage enjoyed by Apple and Google, there is no end in sight. In another twelve months we will see fierce competition from HP, Microsoft and Nokia. There’s a lot at stake, and no company is willing to give up the opportunity to own the next-PC market without a hell of a fight. Today is the beginning of Microsoft’s fight.
By now most of the Windows Phone 7 reviews have hit the web, but one more can’t hurt. Anandtech has an exhaustive review of the operating system, with lots of great photos to satiate your thirst for Windows Phone 7 news until the US launch next week. Hit the link for the full review.
This isn’t going to be a story about Microsoft’s return to dominance. Nor is it going to be the story of Microsoft’s failure to compete in the smartphone space. These mobile wars have only just begun and despite the advantage enjoyed by Apple and Google, there is no end in sight. In another twelve months we will see fierce competition from HP, Microsoft and Nokia. There’s a lot at stake, and no company is willing to give up the opportunity to own the next-PC market without a hell of a fight. Today is the beginning of Microsoft’s fight.
By now most of the Windows Phone 7 reviews have hit the web, but one more can’t hurt. Anandtech has an exhaustive review of the operating system, with lots of great photos to satiate your thirst for Windows Phone 7 news until the US launch next week. Hit the link for the full review.
Windows Phone 7 apppears to have broken the 1000 app mark today. Meanwhile, Android has hit a similar – if not much bigger – landmark. Google themselves now confirm 100,000 apps, a number which you may have seen some months back. That, though, was a number calculated by Androlib. These more official stats show that there’s a rather large selection of Android apps to choose from.
Back to Windows Phone 7 for a moment though. The first third-party app using a live tile (one that’s acutally.. live) has appeared, plus we’re pretty glad to see one thousand applications to choose from considering how new the OS is.
Windows Phone 7 apppears to have broken the 1000 app mark today. Meanwhile, Android has hit a similar – if not much bigger – landmark. Google themselves now confirm 100,000 apps, a number which you may have seen some months back. That, though, was a number calculated by Androlib. These more official stats show that there’s a rather large selection of Android apps to choose from.
Back to Windows Phone 7 for a moment though. The first third-party app using a live tile (one that’s acutally.. live) has appeared, plus we’re pretty glad to see one thousand applications to choose from considering how new the OS is.
Windows Phone 7 apppears to have broken the 1000 app mark today. Meanwhile, Android has hit a similar – if not much bigger – landmark. Google themselves now confirm 100,000 apps, a number which you may have seen some months back. That, though, was a number calculated by Androlib. These more official stats show that there’s a rather large selection of Android apps to choose from.
Back to Windows Phone 7 for a moment though. The first third-party app using a live tile (one that’s acutally.. live) has appeared, plus we’re pretty glad to see one thousand applications to choose from considering how new the OS is.
Windows Phone 7 apppears to have broken the 1000 app mark today. Meanwhile, Android has hit a similar – if not much bigger – landmark. Google themselves now confirm 100,000 apps, a number which you may have seen some months back. That, though, was a number calculated by Androlib. These more official stats show that there’s a rather large selection of Android apps to choose from.
Back to Windows Phone 7 for a moment though. The first third-party app using a live tile (one that’s acutally.. live) has appeared, plus we’re pretty glad to see one thousand applications to choose from considering how new the OS is.
“I don’t make a lot of predictions, but here’s one: Windows Phone 7 will succeed, and it will force everyone else to rethink the way they design phone software. How do I know? This week we received two Android devices to review, and next to Microsoft’s shiny new OS they look boring. More important, when I talked to five people of varying ages who had seen what Windows Phone 7 could do, all said they would consider buying one-and none of them currently own smart phones.”
Mark Spoonauer of Laptopmag.com has an editorial on Windows Phone 7 that’s pretty positive on Microsoft’s new OS. What I find interesting is that Google’s Android has been singled out as the competition (what? is the iPhone irrelevant already?), and the value proposition will be a superior UI for Microsoft and price for Google. Are you guys thinking the same way? How many of you have changed your minds about Windows Phone 7?
“While the ubiquitous “tip calculator” is there, the biggy appears to be a Google Voice app called ‘GoVoice’. We’re not sure if this a call-back method or one that auto-dials/logs in your Google account, but either way it’s a good sign some of us will be able to continue using our Google Voice number when we get our new phone.”
If you are currently a smartphone owner, or planning to become one, you will, well, spend a lot of time looking for and trying out apps. The image above illustrates the Marketplace hub on Windows Phone 7. Now, while the apps in this hub image are not too exciting, WMExperts has a very interesting screen shot of a portion of the Windows Phone 7 Marketplace where future owners will be able to download their apps. Tucked in the screen shot is an icon for a Google Voice app called “GoVoice”. I wonder what that might do? How much functionality will that app have? This could be one of the first apps you want to download and try out. Hit the Read link to head on over to WMExperts and see the screen shot first hand.
“While the ubiquitous “tip calculator” is there, the biggy appears to be a Google Voice app called ‘GoVoice’. We’re not sure if this a call-back method or one that auto-dials/logs in your Google account, but either way it’s a good sign some of us will be able to continue using our Google Voice number when we get our new phone.”
If you are currently a smartphone owner, or planning to become one, you will, well, spend a lot of time looking for and trying out apps. The image above illustrates the Marketplace hub on Windows Phone 7. Now, while the apps in this hub image are not too exciting, WMExperts has a very interesting screen shot of a portion of the Windows Phone 7 Marketplace where future owners will be able to download their apps. Tucked in the screen shot is an icon for a Google Voice app called “GoVoice”. I wonder what that might do? How much functionality will that app have? This could be one of the first apps you want to download and try out. Hit the Read link to head on over to WMExperts and see the screen shot first hand.
A handy new app has popped up on XDA forums for those of you who are experimenting with Google Voice: introducing Google Voice Mail for Windows Mobile. Google Visual Voicemail allows you to view and play your messages, mark them as read or unread and delete them. GVV is what the developer – Sl4sher – calls a semi-offline app, and at the moment you need to sync manually for now (in the pipe!).
This version of GVV (0.4) includes Google Voice dialing, so you can actually make or return calls via Google Voice. It also looks up numbers in your real contact list as you’re dialing, making the app much more usable.
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.
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.
Another interesting posit I found at MSMobiles is an opinion about the openness of Windows Mobile vs. Google Android.
He quotes a fellow from Coolsmartphone.com:
This is pretty big. Just to put this into perspective, xda-developers.com have, if we’re brutally honest, been pretty much ignored by Microsoft for many years. Windows Mobile ROM’s are all over the place with 6.5 builds appearing weekly for every WinMo phone on the planet. What’s happened to those people working on tweaking every bit of the OS and TouchFLO, then redistributing the (paid-for) OS, complete with Office Apps and all manner of Microsoft copyrighted material ? Nothing really. Now, with the tweaked builds appearing for Android and the whole “modding” scene just starting, Google have effectively put the brakes on.
Suffering a little Android-envy? This subversive app has appeared on the XDA forums that turns your Windows Mobile device into an Android look-alike, complete with the drag-and-drop desktop. The app is a bit limited right now – only works in portrait mode and was apparently designed for the HTC Touch Diamond, but folks seem to have it working on a wide variety of devices.
Androkkid, as it is called, is still early in development, here’s what it offers at the moment:
Add icons to desktop from list by tap on icon and release on desktop
If you tap icon you can move it were you want
If you move icon on X or on pen you can delete and edit it
Tapping on background open a default menu with a lot of actions on program
You can add contact from your contacts list
You can add url by typing it on program
You can minimize program by tapping on background and choose Minimize
There are a lot of settings in file Settings.ini in the application folder, you can modify but first make a backup
Have you got the Google Mobile App for Windows Mobile? It allows you to search your WinMo device very quickly for what you’re looking for as well as giving you fast access to Google applications. It can be used right from the Today screen or through a shortcut from any application.
Stop waiting for your browser to load to search Google!
An overview of Google Sync for Mobile. Provides two-way contacts and calender synchronization for many mobile devices. Please visit m.google.com for more information.
Google Sync (beta) has been released for iPhone and Windows Mobile phones! While Symbian and BlackBerry devices have been supported for some time, it’s good to see Windows Mobile now gets to benefit from this awesome application.
Google Sync lets you sync your Google services (Gmail and Google Calendar) with your phone. And the best part? It runs silently in the background backing up your contacts and saving all of your email information. Never lose your contact info again!
Microsoft’s Live Search for mobile has just been updated to include the ability to detect the location of the mobile user even if their handset is not GPS-enabled. Also new in the update are predictive search query input and more detailed views of maps including an option similar to Google Maps Street View.
Jeremy Beasley, Live Search Mobile product manager had this to say,
If you’re not running the latest version of Windows Mobile, don’t worry. We’ve built in support for Windows Mobile 5 phones to make sure that you can use these new features as well.
To download the latest version (4.012158.1) of Windows Live Search mobile, just point your browser to wls.live.com or go here on your desktop for more options.
ce22d: @jugglerKENTO 俺も前はiPhoneにしたくてしょうがなかったんだけど今みんなiPhone使ってて使いこなせてなさそうなやつもiPhoneにしててなんかいやになったから他のスマホあるいはWindowsPhoneにするかも iPhoneももっと何か変わったら考える 1 year ago from Chromed Bird
Windows Phone 7 apppears to have broken the 1000 app mark today. Meanwhile, Android has hit a similar – if not much bigger – landmark. Google themselves now confirm 
Another interesting posit I found at MSMobiles is an opinion about the openness of Windows Mobile vs. Google Android.
