Hasta La Gadget!

You might have missed it if you were sleeping, but we broke open a huge treasure trove of leaked Dell mobile devices last night, including the high-end Lightning Windows Phone 7 slider and Thunder Android set. We also got wind of the mid-range Flash and Smoke Android phones, as well as the Looking Glass seven-inch Android tablet, and to round things out we scored more details on the Aero and Streak. Yeah, it was a hell of a night, but we’ve got it all rounded up for you right here, so click on through if you missed anything!

Lightning: the ultimate Windows Phone 7

Thunder: 4.1-inch OLED, Android, Hulu app

Flash: Android Froyo in ‘dramatic’ package

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Smoke: ‘Like a Pixi but awesome’

Looking Glass: 7-inch tablet with Tegra 2

Streak: Android 2.1 in September

Aero: Spec’d

Dell’s mobile outlook

Dell’s Lightning, Thunder, Flash, Smoke and more: rounding up a storm of mobile leaks originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 22 Apr 2010 15:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Though much of Microsoft’s technical strategy for Windows Phone 7 materialized at MIX last month, the company stayed hazy on a handful of key details — portions of the hardware specifications were left to guesses and hearsay, for instance, as was the software update strategy. Much of that appears to be coming to light now thanks to a leaked “architecture guide” slide deck where we seeing that retail devices will be required to feature cameras (that could be a problem for corporate devices in high-security environments), FM radio tuners, compasses, and proximity sensors, among other more obvious features like capacitive touchscreen displays; of course, these are requirements for the initial volley of launch devices at the end of 2010, and it’s probably reasonable to assume that future chassis specs will be tweaked.

Moving to software, the deck confirms that a Windows Live ID will be required to set up the handset — much the same way that Android strongly encourages the use of a Google account — and that application purchases will be tied to the ID. The update mechanism, which has all but failed Microsoft in Windows Mobile thus far, looks to be very well controlled this time around — like Kin, small updates will over the air, while larger updates will require tethering and management through the Zune software on your PC. Microsoft will manage the process — not the manufacturer or carrier — though device- or carrier-specific customizations can be pushed through the same mechanism. Speaking of OEM customizations, the deck emphasizes just how tightly Redmond will be controlling them: IE’s default search engine can be changed, but everything else on the phone will still go through Bing, for example. OEMs can add no more than six (or 60MB) worth of custom apps, and while custom home screen tiles can be added, none of the standard Microsoft ones can be changed or removed. It’s pretty draconian, yes — but considering how desperately these guys are in need of a fresh, starkly different mobile strategy, it’s probably a good thing.

Leaked slides show Windows Phone 7’s update strategy, Windows Live ID requirement, more originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 20 Apr 2010 19:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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When deciding how to bring technologies to market, companies face the decision of whether to offer them in its own products, pursuing a strategy of vertical integration, or license constituent elements for inclusion in others’ products. In the wireless operating system space, Apple, RIM and Palm (since Web OS) have chosen the former strategy while Symbian, Google (via Android and Chrome OS) and Microsoft have generally pursued the latter. It is difficult, if not unwise, for a licensing company to compete with its partners. Attempting to avoid this dynamic led to the disastrous split of Palm, Inc. into the PalmSource software company and PalmOne hardware company back in 2003. With the imminent release of its teen-targeted, social networking handset, though, Microsoft is seeking to have its Kin and eat it, too.

Continue reading Switched On: Kin dread spirit

Switched On: Kin dread spirit originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 16 Apr 2010 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sure, Nokia’s already proven that it’s possible to commercially support multiple mobile platforms at a time, but is it really a great idea? Even Nokia ultimately ended up collapsing Series 80 and 90 in to S60 over the years, but Microsoft’s going in a distinctly different direction by rolling out Kin and Windows Phone 7 at nearly the same time (plus the spectre of WinMo 6.x, which’ll undoubtedly soldier on in some niche markets for years to come). While both products share common underpinnings, they’re different enough so that there’s really no user-facing commonality beyond some shared compatibility with services like Zune and Windows Live, and frankly, we don’t get it — why not start from a generic, extensible platform like Windows Phone 7 and work outwards to create Kin as a specialized sub-product?

We chatted with Microsoft GM Matt Bencke today to get a feel for why there isn’t more technical synergy between two products that obviously share the overwhelming majority of their DNA, and basically, the Reader’s Digest version of the conversation is that they intend to get there eventually. “We’re going to share more and more in terms of code,” he said — though we weren’t able to nail him down to a timeline for making that happen — ultimately agreeing that it was fair to say you’d start to see the platforms converge over time. If we had to guess, Kin’s suffering from the fact that it was approved and set in stone before Windows Phone 7 even existed in its current incarnation, and it’s going to take Redmond a little while to get the projects synced. See the critical portion of the talk on video after the break.

Continue reading Microsoft: Kin and Windows Phone 7 will share more technology over time

Microsoft: Kin and Windows Phone 7 will share more technology over time originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 12 Apr 2010 20:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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So now that Apple’s finally addressed (well, sort of addressed) the 800-pound gorilla known as multitasking, it’s time to take a good, hard look at how iPhone OS 4 stacks up against Redmond’s completely redesigned mobile monster that’s destined to hit handsets toward the end of the year. Though the two companies have taken vastly different paths to get to where they are with their mobile strategies today, there are some striking similarities between the platforms; take that multitasking we already mentioned, for example — both iPhone OS and Windows Phone are looking to keep processor and battery utilization to a minimum by putting the emphasis on managed services for background apps rather than just letting them run roughshod over your fragile hardware. Of course, there are some striking differences, too — so let’s have a look, shall we?

Continue reading iPhone OS 4 versus Windows Phone 7: the tale of the tape

iPhone OS 4 versus Windows Phone 7: the tale of the tape originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 08 Apr 2010 17:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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