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Posts tagged windows-mobile-
Sense UI to live on in Android 3.0, Windows Phone: HTC
Jul 25th
HTC Sense layers on top of a smartphone platform, whether it’s Android or Windows Mobile. Some love it, and some hate it. When Microsoft announced Windows Phone earlier, it said it would exert more control over devices, and not allow custom “skinning” of the OS, such as Sense.
Still, HTC told Forbes that it believes it’s still going to manage to layer Sense on top of Windows Phone 7. Drew Bamford, who heads HTC’s user experience design team, told Forbes:
“Microsoft has taken firmer control of the core experience [in Windows Phone 7], but we can still innovate,” says Bamford. The future version of Sense, he adds, won’t look the way it does on current Windows Mobile (6.5) phones, where it basically replaces all the core applications and is fully integrated into the phone.
Nevertheless, HTC is optimistic about the Windows Phone 7 launch, according to Bamford. “We won’t be able to replace as much of the core Windows Phone experience, but we will augment it,” he says.
Such deep integration as is current with HTC Sense on Windows Mobile 6.5 is not going to be allowed in Windows Phone 7. Microsoft is going to be much more strict in terms of what it permits manufacturers, and third-party developers as well, to customize on Windows Phone devices.
Meanwhile, although Google has said that stock Android 3.0 will have a much more polished UI, meaning that the “need” for manufacturers to customers its UI will be reduced, HTC doesn’t see an end to Sense UI on that platform, either. Bamford said,
“Google may focus more on improving the user interface on the stock Android [software], but I don’t think they’ll preclude manufacturer customization.”
Sense and Motorola’s Motoblur, as well as Samsung’s TouchWiz have been criticized for adding items to the stock OS that folks don’t want or need. In the case of WM 6.5, Sense actually was pretty handy, making up for much of that old-school platform’s shortcomings. Android, however, doesn’t have the same limitations as WM does.
What do you readers thinK? Do you love, or hate Sense, Motoblur, and other such manufacturer customizations on top of the stock OS?
Sense UI to live on in Android 3.0, Windows Phone: HTC
Jul 25th
HTC Sense layers on top of a smartphone platform, whether it’s Android or Windows Mobile. Some love it, and some hate it. When Microsoft announced Windows Phone earlier, it said it would exert more control over devices, and not allow custom “skinning” of the OS, such as Sense.
Still, HTC told Forbes that it believes it’s still going to manage to layer Sense on top of Windows Phone 7. Drew Bamford, who heads HTC’s user experience design team, told Forbes:
“Microsoft has taken firmer control of the core experience [in Windows Phone 7], but we can still innovate,” says Bamford. The future version of Sense, he adds, won’t look the way it does on current Windows Mobile (6.5) phones, where it basically replaces all the core applications and is fully integrated into the phone.
Nevertheless, HTC is optimistic about the Windows Phone 7 launch, according to Bamford. “We won’t be able to replace as much of the core Windows Phone experience, but we will augment it,” he says.
Such deep integration as is current with HTC Sense on Windows Mobile 6.5 is not going to be allowed in Windows Phone 7. Microsoft is going to be much more strict in terms of what it permits manufacturers, and third-party developers as well, to customize on Windows Phone devices.
Meanwhile, although Google has said that stock Android 3.0 will have a much more polished UI, meaning that the “need” for manufacturers to customers its UI will be reduced, HTC doesn’t see an end to Sense UI on that platform, either. Bamford said,
“Google may focus more on improving the user interface on the stock Android [software], but I don’t think they’ll preclude manufacturer customization.”
Sense and Motorola’s Motoblur, as well as Samsung’s TouchWiz have been criticized for adding items to the stock OS that folks don’t want or need. In the case of WM 6.5, Sense actually was pretty handy, making up for much of that old-school platform’s shortcomings. Android, however, doesn’t have the same limitations as WM does.
What do you readers thinK? Do you love, or hate Sense, Motoblur, and other such manufacturer customizations on top of the stock OS?
Windows Phone 7 Launch Partners Are Confirmed by Microsoft
Jul 24th
Slowly Slowly we are getting the details by the Microsoft about the Windows Mobile 7 that is Smartphone operating system. From last few days Microsoft is giving information about it step by step. On Thursday Microsoft announced to give free Windows Mobile 7 Smartphones to all of it Workers. Another big news they announced was the names of their hardware partners that will launch the Windows Mobile 7 Smartphones operating system in their Phones.
The Names that where announced by a Microsoft official of hardware partners are Samsung, HTC, Dell and ASUS.These Companies will launch their Smartphones with Windows Mobile 7 operating system at end of 2010. Microsoft also announced that they will not just restrict Windows Mobile 7 to US and UK but will try to provide it as much people around the world as much possible. Now only Time will tell how much success this Smartphone operating system by Microsoft will get after launching.
The T-Mobile G1 with Google phone new
Jul 5th
T-Mobile Dash 3G specifications
- Announced
- Date
- 18 Jun 2009
- Date
- Network
- Type
- GSM Quad-band phone capable of global roaming (850/900/1800/1900 MHz)
UMTS T-Mobile 3G (2100/1700 MHz)
- GSM Quad-band phone capable of global roaming (850/900/1800/1900 MHz)
- Data
-
Help
dummy popup info
EDGE/UMTS/HSDPA 3.6 Mbit/s
-
- 3G Capable
- Yes
- Type
- Size
- Dimensions
-
Help
dummy popup info
4.59 x 2.42 x 0.47 inches (117 x 61 x 12 mm) Size Compare
-
- Weight
-
4.23 oz (120 g)
-
- Dimensions
- Battery
- Type
- Li – Ion, 1500 mAh
- Talk
-
8.5 hours (510 mins) of Talk time
-
- Standby
-
380 hours (16 days) of Stand-by time
-
- Type
- Main Display
- Resolution
-
320 x 240 pixels
-
- Type
- 65 536 colors, TFT
- Physical Size
- 2.40 inches
- Resolution
- Camera
- Resolution
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2 megapixels Resolution
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- Features
- Digital zoom
- Resolution
- Multimedia
- Video Playback
- MPEG4
- Music Player
- MP3, AAC, WMA, WAV
- Video Playback
- Memory
- Memory Slot
- microSD/microSDHC
- Memory Slot
- Software
- Smartphone
- Windows Mobile Standard 6.1
- Processor
- Qualcomm MSM 7225, 528 MHz
- Memory
- 192 MB RAM / 256 MB ROM
- Smartphone
- Input
- Predictive Text Input
- Yes
- Keyboard
- Full keyboard (QWERTY)
- Predictive Text Input
- Connectivity
- Internet
- Internet Explorer Mobile
- USB
- miniUSB
- WiFi
- 802.11b/802.11g
- Bluetooth
- 2.0
- Internet
- Other Features
- PhoneBook
- Capacity depends on system memory; Ring ID, Picture ID, Multiple numbers per contact
- PIM
- Alarm, Calendar, To-Do / Tasks, Calculator, Notes
- Voice
- Dialing, Commands, Recording, Speaker Phone
- JAVA
- Yes
- Email
- IMAP/POP3/SMTP
- GPS
- GPS
- PhoneBook
Top 10 Reasons I Love My Nexus One
Jun 18th
1. Bedside Mode- each night I drop it in the pod it dims and shows a clock as it charges
2. Pods- no need to fumble with cords, just drop it into the charging pod.
3. Live Wallpapers- no real function, I just love the futuristic look of them
4. Screen- I underestimated the value of being able to see a month’s worth of appointments on a single screen.
5. Customized LED- no need for noise- I can take a look at my phone and by the color know exactly what’s trying to get my attention.
6. Homescreen Widgets- I missed homescreen plugins the most from my Windows Mobile days, and Widgets seem like the next evolution.
7. Context menus- being able to so easily share my pictures, webpages, and everything else makes a usually isolated experience so social
8. Car Dock-with my Nexus One in its car dock, I have full navigation, podcasts and music at my fingertips, even with both hands on the wheel.
9. Camera- the best camera I’ve had on a mobile device and with 2.2 its only going to get a better interface.
10. Build- from the strength of body and screen to the thinness of it, the Nexus One gives sexy a whole new meaning.
Despite recent gains, iPhone still triples Android market share
Jun 6th
Although a recent sales survey by market research firm NPD showed that U.S. sales of Android devices surpassed the iPhone in the first quarter of 2010, that was one quarter only, and there’s that nagging other factor, total market share, to take into account. There Android still has a long way to go, according to this Nielsen Online report.
In terms of overall market share in the U.S. smartphone market, the results are of course tilted by the massive lead the iPhone had. In the report, comparing Q4 2009 with Q1 2010, Apple’s iPhone OS has more than triple the market share of Google’s Android OS, at 28 percent vs 9 percent.
The report has BlackBerry in first with 35 percent, then Apple, Windows Mobile at 19 percent, followed by Android, Palm at 4 percent, Linux at 3 percent, and Symbian at 2 percent.
RIM and Microsoft both fell by 2 percent in the first quarter of 2010. In the same period, Apple and Google both rose by 2 percent. More significantly is if you compare the two rates of rise between iPhone and Android. Effectively, Android’s market share increased by 28.6 percent, while the iPhone’s market share increased by 7.7 percent, compared to their previous levels. That shows that Android is gaining ground rapidly.
More interesting statistics: the study showed that both Android and iPhone users are pretty loyal to the OS. Nielsen said that 80 percent of iPhone users want to stick with the iPhone OS for their next purchase, while 70 percent of Android users feel the same way. BlackBerry (47 percent) and Windows Mobile (34 percent) can only turn green with envy.
While both groups of users, Android and iPhone, skew male (54/46 vs. 55/45, respectively), Android users tend to be slightly younger, with 55 percent of Android users below the age of 34, while only 47 percent of iPhone users in that age range.
Finally, smartphone usage has grown rapidly. In Q4 2009 smartphones accounted for 16 percent of the total mobile phone market, while by Q1 2010 they accounted for 23 percent of the market. This could be a result of less emphasis on feature phones by carriers and OEMs, but it also points to a more data-centric future. It’s already true that data use is spiking above voice user for cell phones, and this bodes ill for any AT&T users who are stuck with AT&T’s new capped data plans.
Multitasking for the iPhone
Jun 4th
I didn’t think that multitasking was a big deal for my iPhone when I got it. I’d had it on the Google G1, but didn’t realize that it was a big deal. After all, I really only “see” one thing on the phone at a time. And having come off Windows Mobile 6.0 before that, I was leery of draining resources that are very limited on a phone.
However as I’ve used it more and more, often going from the camera to upload a photo, to Twitter, and the Kindle app to read, I have become frustrated by the time it takes to start up apps, especially for reading. I’ve been interrupted by text messages, and while I can ignore them and continue reading or tweeting or something, if I respond, the app closes.
Grrr.
That was one reason I didn’t but an iPad right away. It would have made a great work tool for me, especially for travel, but the lack of multi-tasking, even limited multitasking like on Android, would be necessary since I often want more than mail running in the background.
My iPhone is jailbroken and unlocked. After all, how else could I have a little “T-Mobile” text note in the upper left.
I had heard about Backgrounder, an application for jailbroken phones that allows them to multitask, but had been wary of applying it. I had an issue once before and had to re-jailbreak my phone and I’ve been nervous about making too many changes. However the battery is dying and I’ll need to replace it or the phone, soon. I am tempted by OS4, so I’m willing to take a chance here. The worst thing that happens is I go back to my G1 temporarily while I decide on something else.
I downloaded Backgrounder the other day and turned it on. It’s a separate app that you configure on the phone, with various options such as the defaults for how a background app runs, but it hooks into the phone OS so it’s always available.
I used the defaults, which means that when you run an application, if you want it to run in the background, you hold the Home button down while the app is running and you’ll get a message that background running is enabled. Something like this:
I was wary of using it on Twitter, since there are API limits and I hit them at times. If I’m on the road, I might, but instead, I used it on the Kindle and Barnes and Noble apps, since I have a book I’m reading on each one of them.
It. is. cool.
When I do something else, I can come back to either book instantly. The downside for the Kindle app is that it doesn’t sync by default, so I need to mark a sync spot if I move to another device.
However it’s very, very calming to not have to wait for the Kindle app to initialize and then sync every time I want to read. And it means I’m more likely to switch between my reading apps more often, and finally get back to War and Peace.
This truly is something that needs to come to the iPhone OS, and I’m looking forward to the announcement by Apple this weekend.
Google beats Microsoft in smartphones: Gartner
May 19th
Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 is likely NTT DoCoMo’s best selling smartphone — ever
May 14th
Japan’s wireless networks have a longstanding, legendary reputation for existing in some parallel plane that’s technologically light years ahead of the rest of the world, but that reputation’s unquestionably in greater danger today than in any point in the past fifteen years. Why? Though the featurephones offered by NTT DoCoMo, SoftBank, and KDDI are ultra high-spec beasts, they’re still featurephones at the end of the day — and this comes at a time when smartphones are finally becoming true cultural phenomena across the remainder of the developed world (and, in some cases, the developing world).
There’s no greater evidence of this than the word this week that Sony Ericsson’s Xperia X10 — a phone that’s been met with lukewarm reviews, including from Engadget Japanese’s own Ittousai — has allegedly become NTT DoCoMo’s best-selling smartphone in history, a fact that would seem completely inexplicable in any other market globally. What makes it possible in Japan, of course, is DoCoMo’s historically lame selection of true smartphones, a lineup that currently includes localized versions of the HTC Magic, and the original HTC Touch Diamond and BlackBerry Bold. What’s more, many of these devices integrate poorly with popular carrier services on account of their super-tight control of the operating systems running across the featurephone lineup, something they’ve got less control over with a device running Android or Windows Mobile.
In other words, when it’s reported that DoCoMo had sold 100,000 X10s in its first 20 days — and a third-party retailer claims that the Magic-esque HT-03A is the next best seller at 80,000 units in 10 months — it seems plausible, if not likely (and Ittousai agrees). Yeah, even though the localized device has been plagued with performance problems and bugs, incompatibilities with DoCoMo’s i-mode push email, and so on. It’s hard to say what it’s going to take for these guys to make an honest-to-goodness transition to the brave new world of open platforms and freewheeling third-party development, but they’re clearly not there yet.
Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 is likely NTT DoCoMo’s best selling smartphone — ever originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 13 May 2010 20:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
