Hasta La Gadget!

Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.

Throughout the histories of Windows Mobile and Android, many handset developers have talked the talk of supporting these mobile operating systems, dribbling out a couple of handsets per year as they focused on other priorities. But not HTC. The company has created more Windows Mobile and Android handsets than companies many times its size, and in fact developed the very first Android handset. Microsoft cited HTC at Mobile World Congress 2009 for being an exceptional partner, while Google’s Nexus One is an HTC-built handset sold exclusively by the search giant.

HTC has done more than simply create a lot of phones for these operating systems. It has attracted attention for its designs that include some of the largest displays and best QWERTY keyboards, as well as clever touches like the Touch Pro2’s speakerphone, which activates simply by placing the handset face down on a table during a call. But most distinctively, HTC has invested heavily in developing engaging user interfaces on top of both mobile OS foundations, with development teams focused on delivering skins like TouchFLO and Sense to both Windows Mobile and Android. But now that Microsoft is radically changing Windows Phone 7 Series, HTC will have to change course, and in the process lose the distinction of having its custom user experiences live across both Windows Mobile and Android.

Continue reading Switched On: Halting Total Customization

Switched On: Halting Total Customization originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Mar 2010 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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So we noticed this odd “Contoso” label on Microsoft’s Windows Phone Marketplace press image earlier today, and we finally got to the bottom of it: Microsoft’s Todd Biggs says it’s a placeholder entry for a carrier-branded section of the store — instead of having a separate portal and / or store, Verizon or AT&T or whoever can simply sell their content to customers directly through Marketplace. So why Contoso? Todd says it’s a random trademark owned by Microsoft used in place of carrier names that doesn’t actually mean anything, although we think it suggests adventure, white roadsters, and finely-groomed mustachios. And now you know.

Olé, Contoso: Windows Phone Marketplace will integrate carrier-branded stores originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Mar 2010 23:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Remember those old, allegedly leaked Windows Mobile 7 screen shots from way back in 2008? You know — those ones that look absolutely nothing like the so-called Metro UI that Windows Phone 7 Series is actually using? Well, Microsoft’s Albert Shum — one of WP7S’ chief designers who we had the pleasure of meeting back at MWC — just confirmed the accuracy of those leaks in a session here at MIX10. Discussing the reboot of the WinMo 7 program that happened inside Microsoft about a year ago, Shum flashed a slide showing eight of those infamous shots featuring those crazy bottom-aligned battery and signal meters along with WinMo 6.x-ish ID oozing from every nook and cranny. Needless to say, a clean-slate approach was sorely needed, and that’s exactly where Metro ended up coming into play — but be honest: is there anyone out there that would’ve still preferred the old leak in a production device?

Microsoft confirms accuracy of old, pre-‘reboot’ Windows Mobile 7 leaks originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Mar 2010 19:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft’s upcoming Windows Phone 7 Series shares one trait in common with Apple’s iPhone: It doesn’t support full multitasking.

While the iPhone does allow some limited multitasking (the phone and iPod apps can run in the background) many critics have knocked the iPhone for its inability to run third-party apps in the background. If you want to write an e-mail while listening to music in the Pandora app, for example, you must first quit Pandora. The only way to enable full background processing on an iPhone is to jailbreak (i.e., hack) the device.

For Windows Phone 7 Series, the story is almost exactly the same: The OS can process Microsoft’s core integrated experiences, such as music and phone calls, in the background, but third-party apps cannot run in the background. And just like the iPhone, Windows Phone 7 Series supports push-notifications enabling third-party apps to send updates and status messages to a phone’s home screen even when the actual application is not running in the background.

That’s in marked contrast to Google’s Android and Palm’s WebOS, both of which support extensive multitasking, including allowing third-party apps to run in the background.

Microsoft’s reasons for not supporting full background processing should sound familiar: It drains batteries.

“We do not allow third-party applications running on the phone to execute in the background,” said Charlie Kindel, manager of Microsoft’s Windows Phone App Platform and Developer Experience program, in a phone interview with Wired.com. “We’re poised to support it eventually, but in order to support great battery life and great end-user experience, we’re focusing on the integrated experiences first.”

In the smartphone world, the definition of multitasking has been widely debated. Technically, the iPhone and, soon, Windows Phone 7 Series, do multitask because they process core integrated services in the background. When critics say the iPhone doesn’t support multitasking, they’re thinking of the traditional desktop metaphor that allows multiple apps to run in several windows simultaneously without pause.

Google’s Android OS and Palm’s WebOS both support multitasking in the traditional sense: They allow you to run multiple third-party apps in addition to core integrated services in the background. Though that allows more flexibility, some Palm Pre users have complained about the Pre’s battery life being greatly reduced because of full background processing capability. The same complaint has been made about Android. For both platforms, users must manually disable settings or apps that run in the background by default to maximize battery life.

Photo: Charlie Sorrel / Wired.com

Microsoft’s driving home the point that developers are going to know exactly what kind of hardware they’re targeting as they whip up Windows Phone 7 Series apps — and naturally, a biggie is screen resolution since that affects how UI elements are going to be placed, how cool they can look, and how small they can realistically be. In a session at MIX10, Microsoft’s Charlie Kindel has laid down the law that WP7S will be 800 x 480 — just 800 x 480 — at launch, a message we heard at MWC last month, but the new tidbit here is that there’ll be 480 x 320 in the pipe for an unannounced later date. All devices will have precisely the same amount of available RAM and the same capacitive touch capability, and as we’ve already know, manufacturers will be able to tack on a keyboard if they like.

Windows Phone 7 Series will be WVGA only at launch, HVGA later originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Mar 2010 17:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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