Hasta La Gadget!

It’s finally here: Windows Mobile 6.5.3, the iterative finger-friendly Windows Mobile release that should have been wrapped into 6.5.0. The latest mobile wares from Microsoft come wrapped inside the Sony Ericsson Aspen (aka, Faith); a business-focused QWERTY candybar with 2.4-inch QVGA TFT touchscreen LCD, 3.2 megapixel camera, A-GPS with Google Maps, 3.5-mm audio jack, WiFi, and microSD expansion. This latest addition to Sony Ericsson’s GreenHeart portfolio comes in black or white silver and packs quad-band GSM/EDGE with either HSPA 900/2100 or 850/900/2100 radios (depending on region). Available in Q2.

Back to Windows Mobile 6.5.3 for a second, although this is a .dot.dot update it’s actually a fairly significant move for Microsoft. For starters, this release now includes a more finger-friendly layout (no stylus needed even when digging deep into the OS), support for capacitive touchscreens (huzzah!), and acts as a platform to enable multitouch. Microsoft has also improved browser performance with faster page load times and better memory management while improving the pan and flick gestures and zoom and rotational speeds. Sounds like somebody is getting ready for Mobile World Congress.

Sony Ericsson Aspen: first with Windows Mobile 6.5.3 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Feb 2010 03:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Every indication we’ve had out of Microsoft is that Windows Mobile 7 is on track for a grand unveiling at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona next month, and indeed, Fox Business has none other than CFO Peter Klein on record saying as much — the closest thing we’ve had to a confirmation outside of Robbie Bach’s analyst remarks a few weeks back. At the 4:07 mark of the video, Klein says that the company is “heads down” on WinMo 7 and expects to have “much more to say” about the product out in Spain, which would mark the one-year anniversary since the announcement of 6.5 at the same venue. Considering the brutal response that last version endured over the better part of 2009, let’s hope they’re coming to the table with something much, much more delicious this time around.

Microsoft CFO says ‘we’ll have much more to say’ about WinMo 7 in February originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 29 Jan 2010 20:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You know, January is all but expired now. Gone are the heady (or is that headless?) days of CES 2010, and we’re nearly past the rumor euphoria of the decade, so what do we have to look forward to? According to CNET‘s sources, WinMo 7. This year. Sure, we heard as much from DigiTimes, but it’s always good to put a more legitimate source to what is quite the juicy forecast. Confirmation that Microsoft is planning to finalize all code by this summer also meshes with an earlier leak of an LG Windows Mobile 7 handset set for a September release, while the latest Pink phone rumors are also reiterated. At any rate, it all kicks off in Barcelona come February 15, with Microsoft also circling its MIX 2010 web development conference a month later as the time it’ll start dishing the dirt on how to code for the new OS. So there we have it, new consumer phones and a long overdue WinMo overhaul all coming to you within the next few months.

Windows Mobile 7 roadmap elucidated, starts with MWC 2010 demo originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Jan 2010 02:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Man, Acer’s on the warpath. The world’s second-largest PC manufacturer seems hell-bent on radically changing the status quo, telling Bloomberg today that it’s “aggressively pursuing” Chrome OS “so there’s a change to the Microsoft-Intel environment,” with plans to be among the first to ship in Q3. That’s somewhat ahead of Google’s own schedule for reaching v1.0, so yeah, it’s definitely aggressive — and it also sounds like a strong hint towards an ARM-based Chrome OS machine in our future, but Acer wouldn’t confirm anything. Still, those are basically fightin’ words, especially since Acer’s framing the future as a choice between “either” Windows or “Google’s defined OS space.” Acer also promised to fully detail a 6-inch monochrome e-reader by June with an initial focus on European markets, and we’re also informed of a forthcoming free / cheap application store that will be compatible with Android, Windows Mobile, and, obviously, Chrome OS. And lest you thought Acer was ignoring the Apple tablet madness that permeates our world, we’re told that an Acer tablet is in the works, accompanied by the candid admission that the Taiwanese giant is waiting to see what Apple has in store before finalizing its own plans. Yep — things are getting a little nuts.

Acer to launch e-reader, app store, and Chrome OS netbook this year; wants to ‘change the Microsoft-Intel environment’ originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 25 Jan 2010 15:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Few reporting on Microsoft are as plugged in to the day-to-day happenings in Redmond as Mary Jo Foley. So much so that she’s apt to write an entire column (or two) about internal Microsoft reorganizations — moves that can be telling from a company attempting to seamlessly integrate its Zune, Xbox, Media Center, and Windows Mobile products, services, and experiences. While you might find it interesting that Enrique Rodriguez has left the company in the latest shakeup to hit MS’ Entertainment and Devices unit, the following sentence presented as fact is what caught our attention:

“Pink is the codename for both the set of premium mobile services and one or more Windows Mobile phones aimed at the teen/twenty-something market.”

Of course, what she’s referring to is the infamous Project Pink, the mystery whatsit said to be emanating from the Microsoft Premium Mobile eXperiences (PMX) group built around the people and technologies nabbed after the Danger acquisition. We’re also intrigued by the discussion of Pink in a separate breath from the consumer build of Windows Mobile 7. This makes us wonder if Microsoft is working on a three-pronged strategy that will result in targetted Windows Mobile 7 business and consumer devices as well as Pink phones specifically aimed at teens and twenty-somethings. Mary Jo Foley speculates that the Pink devices might be the first to run Microsoft’s new premium Pink services but still be WinMo 6.x based — if true then we could see a launch this quarter, no need to wait for Windows Mobile 7 which isn’t expected until the end of the year. How many days until Mobile World Congress again?

[Thanks, Pratik]

Microsoft Pink targeting teens and twenty-somethings, devices launching in Spring? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 25 Jan 2010 07:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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