Hasta La Gadget!

Sure, we’re still anticipating — but not necessarily merrily — the release of Windows Mobile 6.5, but for those who wish to look even farther into the future, Microsoft head honcho Steve Ballmer said in a conference call this week that WinMo 7 will be out sometime next year. That jibes pretty well with what we’ve heard from Motorola and ZDNet before, although there’s probably a dozen or so known unknowns that could push it well into 2011 or beyond. For now, however, we’re willing to take Steve at his word. Hey, at least they’re not gearing up for a Windows Mobile 6.75 in the interim… right?

Filed under: Cellphones

Steve Ballmer pounds chest, decrees Windows Mobile 7 coming next year originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 24 Feb 2009 18:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

HTC plans to make its hotly anticipated Touch Pro2 available to just about anyone who wants one, Brighthand reports.

“To answer the big question on everyone’s minds, the Touch Pro2 will be broadly available in all major markets, including North America,” the company said via its Twitter Feed. “We have not announced a launch date for the Touch Pro2 in any country yet. But we did announce we will start to roll it out late Q2.”

The Touch Pro2 will feature a 3.6-inch, WVGA (800-by-480-pixel) LCD touchscreen and a slide-out QWERTY keyboard that also tilts. It will ship with Windows Mobile 6.1, but will be upgradable to Windows Mobile 6.5 when it comes out. I’m hoping that the device features improved performance and responsiveness compared to the original Touch Pro. But given that the 528 MHz processor is staying the same, yet pushing more pixels and an OS with a potentially heavier footprint, I’m not optimistic.

No big surprises here — HP‘s announced for Windows Mobile 6.5 for its future devices, confirming what we already knew: HP is awesome. The company cites WinMo 6.5’s “key enhancements to business productivity, personal messaging and mobile Internet capabilities” plus its “new visual appeal” as some of the reasons for its continued love of the OS. We don’t have any specific information about upcoming Windows-boasting devices, but we’ll let you know as soon as we catch sight of one or more — because we’re here for you. Full press release after the break.

[Via Pocketnow]

Continue reading HP confirms support for Windows Mobile 6.5

Filed under: Cellphones

HP confirms support for Windows Mobile 6.5 originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 21 Feb 2009 08:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Okay, an Android RAZR would have been amazing, but sadly Motorola didn’t announce anything at all at MWC, so our dreams are on hold for the moment. In fact, day three was bereft of any major announcements, but there was some action: Telstra boss Sol Trujillo’s prototype HTC handset running Windows Mobile 6.5 was pickpocketed, we played with a few real Android prototypes, and we even saw Windows Mobile hacked into compatibility with a capacitive touchscreen. What else did we learn?

Continue reading MWC day three: return of the Jedi

Filed under: Cellphones

MWC day three: return of the Jedi originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 Feb 2009 21:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

We were really impressed with Texas Instruments’ OMAP 3-based mobile development platform when we saw it running Android earlier today, and the hardware seems to hold up well to all sorts of video-accelerated magic for a multitude of Linux-based interfaces. Not so much with Windows Mobile 6.5. Granted, this is a very early build of the OS according to Microsoft, and is lacking all sorts optimization mojo that will go into the final product due end-of-year-ish, but at the same time this is basically an interface skin to Windows Mobile 6 that Microsoft has had nearly a year to work on since 6.1, and it’s not exaggerating to say that performance is a complete joke at the moment. TI’s OMAP 3 was clearly struggling to handle basic scrolling of the home screen and app menu, though “smoothness” was slightly improved in scrolling through a gallery of photos. TI has been working with 6.5 for “a few months,” and claims to have added optimizations to interface performance — and interestingly is running this on a capacitive touchscreen device, something that isn’t officially supported as far as we’re aware. They’re also saying that they plan on achieving full smoothness by the time this launches, but there’s really a long way to go, and it’s difficult to understand why this seems to be a last priority for Microsoft at the moment. On the other hand, TI is doing great things with its own 3D-accelerated interface, something which Windows Mobile 6.5 brings support for, so perhaps these will all one day (soon) meet in the middle and give us the sort of interface smoothness and usability we’d expect on a phone built a decade into this century. Check out the painful videos after the break.

Continue reading TI’s OMAP 3 hardware doesn’t manage to do Windows Mobile 6.5 any favors

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

TI’s OMAP 3 hardware doesn’t manage to do Windows Mobile 6.5 any favors originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 Feb 2009 11:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments