Garmin-Asus Nuvifone M10 emerges on Taiwanese pre-order page

It was only yesterday that we heard of this WinMo 6.5.3 beastie, and already Taiwanese ladies and gents can sign up to own one, pending a February 6 delivery. The new pre-order page confirms our earlier indications of a 3.5-inch WVGA display and 5 megapixel camera, while adding the knowledge of 512MB of both RAM and ROM, plus MicroSD storage expandability. A relatively low end Qualcomm MSM 7227 600MHz CPU drives the show here, and we’re told a spare battery (1,500mAh by default) or a car holder for navigation also come as part of the 13,900 TWD ($435) package. So, are you excited or what?

Garmin-Asus Nuvifone M10 emerges on Taiwanese pre-order page originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 22 Jan 2010 04:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink SlashPhone  |  sourceASUS Taiwan  | Email this | Comments

Garmin-Asus taking wraps off first Android gear, M10 WinMo phone at MWC

It might be happening a little later than they’d originally hoped, but Garmin — through its partnership in Garmin-Asus — should finally be unveiling some Android-based phones pretty shortly in an effort to kickstart the firm’s weak showing thus far in the dog-eat-dog handset world. The VP of the mobile device business over at ASUS is talking up the joint venture’s 2010 plans this week, saying that it’ll show its first Android product at MWC next month with the hope of striking a pretty even balance between Android and WinMo shipments in the long term (no mention of the G60’s proprietary platform, interestingly). What’s more, they want to push a solid million units this year, and they’ll be looking to reach that goal by building somewhere between 4 and 5 models — at least one of which is likely destined for T-Mobile USA, as far as we can tell. Android isn’t the only thing on the docket for these guys at MWC, though: they’ll also be showing the M10, allegedly running Windows Mobile 6.5.3 with a 3.5-inch resistive display and a 5 megapixel camera with a retail price a little over $400. Finally, there are plans in the works for a TD-SCDMA phone for China Mobile that’d be available toward the tail end of the year — so all things considered, these guys might finally have a shot of making a dent in the market for once.

Garmin-Asus taking wraps off first Android gear, M10 WinMo phone at MWC originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 21 Jan 2010 00:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink DigiTimes  |  sourceZDNet Taiwan  | Email this | Comments

Early Windows Mobile 7 build gets handled, incompatible with previous WinMo apps?

In case you weren’t aware, Mobile-review’s Eldar Murtazin is somewhat of a living legend around these parts. The Russian-borne phone guru manages to get his hands on an ample number of then-unreleased devices and juicy scoops — but he’s also been known to get things dead wrong from time, so keep that in mind. This time he might’ve just outdone himself with some apparent hands-on time with Windows Mobile 7. Here’s what he’s saying via Twitter: the OS has been built on scratch, and none of the old WinMo 6.x apps worked. There’s “a lot of horizontal movements, a lot of additional info by clicks… for WM users it will be a great step ahead. For market it’s a copycat of Android 3.1/3.2 [sic] or iPhone.” No direct comparison to Zune HD, except to say that it’s a simpler UI than what he was seeing here, and also no clue on the kernel underneath. Still, the lack of legacy compatibility is either a huge bummer to the fan base, or if not that then Microsoft is preparing for a two-platform WinMo world. Then again, this is a purported early build (and while we’re at it, an unconfirmed hands-on), so who knows what’s bound to change before the final release. There’s a lot of other details if you’re willing to check his feed, or just head over to WMPoweruser for the abridged / “good parts” version. Boy, February just can’t come soon enough.

Early Windows Mobile 7 build gets handled, incompatible with previous WinMo apps? originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 17 Jan 2010 03:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink WMPoweruser  |  sourceTwitter (@eldarmurtazin)  | Email this | Comments

LG releasing Windows Mobile 7 phone in September and Android 2.1 in April?

First LG flat-out says on public record that Windows Mobile 7 is bound for 2010, and now we’ve gotten apparent word that the company has narrowed said release window to September of this year — at least as far as its own devices are concerned. That comes via high-profile French tech blogger Eric of Presse Citron, who while attending a LG Design Lab tweeted (both in French and immediately after in English) that LG Mobile will release a Windows Mobile 7 device in September and an Android 2.1 device in April, first in the US and then Europe just after. The tweets are now gone, but WMPoweruser managed to catch both via Google cache, while we have corroborated just the French one by similar means. So, misheard claims from the company or accidental slip-up of NDA’d secrets? MWC is starting to look more and more interesting.

LG releasing Windows Mobile 7 phone in September and Android 2.1 in April? originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 16 Jan 2010 10:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink WMPoweruser  |  sourceGoogle cache, Twitter (pressecitron)  | Email this | Comments

Windows Mobile 6.6 (aka ‘not Windows Mobile 7’) set for February release?

The sometimes-believable, sometimes-not fellows over at DigiTimes are reporting today that Windows Mobile codename “Maldives” is going to break out as version 6.6 (a name we’d previously heard associated with version 7) with native support for capacitive touchscreens next month — a launch window that would line up nicely with Mobile World Congress, where 6.5 was announced a year prior. HTC’s HD2 has already proven that it’s possible to cleanly support capacitive touch on a 6.x-based device, so it’s reasonable to think that this is legit — but what we don’t yet know is how this dovetails with 6.5.3, whether they’re the same thing, and if Microsoft is doing this simply to buy itself a few precious extra months to bake WinMo 7 to a crispy, golden brown perfection. We’d already heard before that 6.x and 7 will have an opportunity to coexist in the marketplace, so it’s entirely possible that 6.6 is the version that’ll carry that torch on the 6.x side of things — but if this gets announced alone without a mention of Robbie’s ground-up rewrite at MWC, we’d wager there’ll be riots in Barcelona.

Windows Mobile 6.6 (aka ‘not Windows Mobile 7’) set for February release? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 14 Jan 2010 14:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Slashgear  |  sourceDigiTimes  | Email this | Comments

Sony Ericsson ‘Faith’ shows a lot of faith in demand for WinMo 6.5.3

We’d have guessed that the X2’s lukewarm reception would’ve doomed Sony Ericsson’s barely-there WinMo strategy — especially since they’ve also got Android and Symbian to worry about — but here we’ve got the first images of what’s said to be the “Faith” running 6.5.3. Apparently part of the eco-friendly GreenHeart range, the portrait QWERTY set would represent distinctly new territory for the company if it actually makes it to market (a good deal of leaked Sony Ericssons don’t) and would seem to suggest a renewed interest in working with Microsoft going forward — possibly to get in on this WinMo 7 action everyone’s talking about these days. The Faith has a 2.4-inch QVGA display, Euro 3G, and an honest-to-goodness touchscreen above the keyboard, giving it access to 6.5.3’s headlining feature — finger-friendly controls. We’d just as soon see these guys hold off for 7 and focus on Android in the meanwhile, but hey, who knows — maybe there’s some massive, untapped interest in a product like this after all.

[Thanks, Daniel]

Sony Ericsson ‘Faith’ shows a lot of faith in demand for WinMo 6.5.3 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 12 Jan 2010 12:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony Ericsson Xperia X2a appears on US site screaming ‘I’m coming!’

Whoa! After two months of delay Sony Ericsson’s finally done something with the Xperia X2 — giving it an extra ‘a’ (for North America) instead of pushing it out to us mere mortals. Mind you, the number of times we’ve seen this thing — even as a KIRF — may fool you into thinking it’s been out forever, but the reality is it’s slowly morphing into a unicorn. You know what though? If we wait for another two months, the X2 / X2a might even get a piece of that Windows Mobile 7 action. Or Windows Mobile 8, when SE’s eventually done with its siesta.

Sony Ericsson Xperia X2a appears on US site screaming ‘I’m coming!’ originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 11 Jan 2010 14:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceSony Style USA  | Email this | Comments

Microsoft’s Bach says ‘there are other places where Zune logically could go’

So that meeting a few days ago where financial analysts physically beat a few choice WinMo 7 nuggets out of Robbie Bach yielded something else that’s pretty interesting, too: the expansion of the Zune franchise. Virtually everyone and their mother has been calling for a Zunephone since the day the first Zune 30 rolled off the assembly line, and a very, very carefully-worded statement by Bach in the meeting has us believing that we could finally see it make the bold leap to GSM (or CDMA, or both) this year. In response to a question about how Zune fits into Microsoft’s mobile strategy, Bach had this to say:

“Now, your other question was about I’m getting old. Zune, so Zune has been critically successful. And the way Zune is going to be successful for us in the future is you should think of that as our media service across multiple screens. We’ll continue to have the Zune device screen. But, we now have Zune on Xbox. We have Zune on the PC. There are other places where Zune logically could go that we don’t get to talk about yet. And I think lots of different screens with that capability can go.”

If you read between the lines there, it certainly sounds like Robbie’s got his eyes on the prize — but whether Zune will come to Windows Mobile or live as its own brand remains to be seen. No guarantees, but we’re hoping all will be revealed at MWC next month.

Microsoft’s Bach says ‘there are other places where Zune logically could go’ originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 11 Jan 2010 13:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink WMPowerUser  |  sourceMicrosoft (docx)  | Email this | Comments

‘Xbox Live Games’ to plug Windows Mobile into Xbox ecosystem at last? Wouldn’t that make too much sense?

We don’t want to get our hopes up again, after having them repeatedly bashed against the rocks by a merciless Microsoft that’s spoke quite highly of the potential synergy of its brands and yet so far held its mobile and gaming segments far apart, but this sounds promising. Apparently a slide from some internal Microsoft marketing material is making the rounds that says Xbox Live Games is the “mobile version” of Xbox Live for Windows phones, speaking in the not-yet-accurate present tense, and matching up with a recent job posting we’ve seen. Of course, that seems a completely obvious move for Microsoft, particularly with Windows Mobile 7 right around the corner, and we would assume it would bring along with it not just the social features of Xbox Live but also some gaming for these next-gen smartphones that can most certainly handle it. Shoot, there we go being logical again.

[Thanks, Philip]

‘Xbox Live Games’ to plug Windows Mobile into Xbox ecosystem at last? Wouldn’t that make too much sense? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 11 Jan 2010 10:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink MobileTechWorld  |  sourceKotaku  | Email this | Comments

LG CEO says about half of its new smartphones will run Android

Well, here’s a tiny mystery of sorts that’s emerged amidst all the hubbub of CES. As the Korea Herald reports, LG CEO Nam Yong reportedly said yesterday that while LG will have smart phones running on Windows Mobile, “about 50 percent of our smart phone models will run on Android.” Now, that’s not so hard to believe considering the number of LG Android phones we’ve already seen or heard about, but it is fairly surprising in light of the deal LG and Microsoft announced back at MWC last year, which supposedly made Windows Mobile LG’s “primary smartphone OS.” Obviously, something doesn’t quite add up here, unless by “about half,” LG actually means “less than half” — which seems to be a distinct possibility.

[Thanks, Jules]

LG CEO says about half of its new smartphones will run Android originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 09 Jan 2010 13:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink MobileTechWorld  |  sourceKorea Herald  | Email this | Comments