There are many GEEKsters out there looking for some numbers from MS to help them make a decision on their next smartphone. Judging by some of the numbers released by MS, things are moving in the right direction. The number of developers downloading the needed tools to develop apps are great considering this is a new platform.

What’s very interesting is the number of apps MS has released does not include the lite versions, ebooks, wallpaper and the apps that have multiple languages count as 1. We all know that the Android and Apple market counts each one of these apps as a seperate app.

Last year many were calling WP7 the new Kin. The numbers are proving many of the nay sayers very wrong.

What do you GEEKmeisters think about this development?
What will the other platform fans say?
Inquiring GEEKS want to know..

Read more here: Intomobile

Microsoft has finally started rolling out the NoDo update after quite a few delays. The latest Windows Phone 7 device (HTC Arrive) has this update and seems to work well. The NoDo update has other functionality updates also, including apps search on the device, performance improvements, Wi-Fi functionality and Outlook e-mail client.

The update is still missing the highly sought after Multi-tasking feature. This function should be added when Microsoft rolls out Mango. Take a look at the video of the copy and paste feature below.

Read the article for more information on the update and let us know what you think. Have you been impressed with the update? Did you expect to see more or are you happy with the update? Leave your comments in the box below.

Source: PCWorld

On Cnet’s behind the scene look at the Windows Phone 7 team, we get some insight as to where things actually stand with the new mobile OS and the realistic expectations come the holidays.  Terry Myerson, vice president at Microsoft, is leading the team and explains:

“We’re going to reset, but it is going to take us five years to build a product we all want to have,”

This of course is enough to frustrate the already wavering Windows Phone 7 hopefuls.  He is basically saying you’ll be getting a beta release until 2015!  Of course we are going to see a release this holiday season, but the polished final product they are hoping to achieve is 5  years away!  He goes on to say:

“There were people that looked in the mirror a year ago and said, well, if we aren’t going to win next year, I am out of here,” he said. “There were people that looked in the mirror and said what a great fun project to spend the next three to five years of my life on and kind of buckled down for it…Those are the people you want because that’s how long it is really going to take. The company has that level of commitment.”

Let’s be real here.  Microsoft cannot afford to flop this thing.  It is either going to make or break this company in the mobile OS world, and they are facing very fierce competition from Android with the upcoming release of 2.2 codenamed “Froyo” which improves speed, allows native tethering and more to an already booming user base.  The iPhone 4 had record 600,000+ pre-orders and Apple is frantically looking to supply people with a higher than expected demand, as well as reports that they are planning on releasing CDMA iPhones in Q4 of 2010.  On this Myerson states:

“I think when we look back on the release five years from now this was a foundational release not the release that broke through,”

“We’ve got some tough competition.”

That would be an understatement.

Regarding hardware integration, he states:

“The OEM partnership model we have is more complicated…
We aspire to have the same level of end-user finish as Apple, but getting that level of user finish requires a level of partnership…
Between Qualcomm and Broadcom and Samsung and LG and HTC, AT&T and T-Mobile it’s just very partnership complex, it just is…
I don’t know any other way to describe it…
We’ve made it work many times in the past and as you know, there’s times in the past where it hasn’t worked out so well…
We’re aspiring to do it well, which unfortunately does take more time.”

Time is something Microsoft doesn’t have much of though, people are getting anxious.  Take a look at our forums and you’ll see people becoming exasperated and jumping ship over to Android and iPhones.  With the inability to cut and paste, no backward compatibility to your Windows Mobile 6.x apps, no ability to install apps from your SD, no ability to change the Metro UI other than what’s on the tiles, MS is taking a huge risk and a giant leap with this thing and putting all their chips in the middle of the table.  Myerson is hopeful, however.

“We’ve got a good product,” he said. ” I actually do believe that. I think we are going to actually have a lot of happy customers.”

That remains to be seen.  Does this change your mind about Windows Phone 7?  Does it frustrate you even more?

thanks to darren.wlsn1 for the cdma iPhone tip and for the WP7 taking 5 years tip!

This makes sense because of the time frame of Android and the iPhone, which were both gaining popularity. Microsoft knew they had to come up with something new and innovative instead of just further enhancing their old kernel.

With the announcement of a Windows Phone 7 Starter Edition, could they further enhance WM6.5.5 with the old PhotonUI? Given what we know about the new MetroUI and the images of Photon, which would you prefer? I know there’s some lovers and haters of the MetroUI out there, so feel free to voice your opinion.

Source: MoPocket (Thanks to those that sent this in!)

One of the things that caught our attention was the fact that the device looks like it has a smaller screen compared to the Touch Pro 2 or the HD2, and it has a large bezel around it like earlier 2009 or even late 2008 devices. From the video below, it also looks thinner than the Touch Pro and Touch Pro 2, which is a positive for me.

Source: Slashgear

While petitions haven’t necessarily worked in the past with HTC, there’s no reason not to sign it if you want WP7 on the HD2.

You can find it here.

Rumor has it that there will be very few chassis designs available for Windows Phone 7 Series, with only 1 being available at launch. At the big announcement at MWC, Microsoft did say they were going to put more hardware restrictions on the manufacturer. Chassis 1 has a full touchscreen, gigahertz processor, and dedicated graphics acceleration (perhaps without a hardware QWERTY keyboard since that’s in the Chassis 2) and is rumored to be the only version available at launch.

Chassis 2 is rumored to be more like the Palm Treo series, with a dedicated QWERTY keyboard. Chassis 3 is unknown at this point, although speculation is leaning towards a candybar style.

Source: Engadget

Developing Games for Windows Phone 7 Series
Speaker: Michael Klucher
Time: 12:00pm-1:00pm
The future of Windows Phone has never looked better. With the release of Windows Phone 7 Series, game developers will be able to create amazing content rapidly. This talk outlines the basic framework for games, presents Windows Phone 7 Series device characteristics, and provides and overview of game development on the phone.

High Performance 3D Games on Windows Phone 7 Series
Speaker: Tomas Vykruta & Shawn Hargreaves
Time: 2:00pm-3:00pm
Windows Phone 7 Series is a highly capable platform for game development. This talk covers 3D game development on Windows Phone 7 Series with an emphasis on the unique characteristics of the platform. The talk also focuses on optimizing high-performance games for the platform, to help developers squeeze out every last drop of performance.

Development and Debugging Tools for Windows Phone 7 Series
Speaker: Cullen Waters
Time: 3:00pm-4:00pm
This talk discusses the basic tools available to game developers on Windows Phone 7 Series, including debugging, emulation, and performance tools. The talk places special emphasis on best practices for performance and profiling tools that can be used to optimize games for Windows Phone 7 Series.

Bringing the Best of Xbox LIVE to Windows Phone 7 Series
Speaker: Adam Schaeffer
Time: 4:00pm-5:00pm
The Xbox LIVE service is going mobile! With Windows Phone 7 Series, core features such as Achievements, Leaderboards, and game invites will be available to games on Windows Phone 7 Series devices. This talk covers the basics of the services available and how they can be used to enable core Xbox LIVE functionality in games. In addition, this talk will present best practices for connecting Windows Phone 7 Series games to back-end servers.

Source: WMPowerUser

View the documents after the break.

Source: XDA Developers (Post #8)

Things to note are:
-The device had a current copy of TomTom installed, which launched and ran perfectly fine.
-It ran fast, faster than the HTC HD2 runs on WM 6.5.
-Lastly, the software was multi-lingual out of the box.

Source: WinMo.nl

You can view the demo here: http://www.windowsphone7series.com/.

It covers most of the new layout features that were discussed during the press conference and lets you see some things in action.

Thanks to forum user kev.schu for the tip.

Watch it live!

Read up to the minute updates after the break.

Source: Engadget

4:13PM: Steve Ballmer, “I hope we’ve given you a chance to look at what we’re doing. I think we have an opportunity with these devices. I’m enthusiastic about the direction we’re heading. It’s a big step, but I think we have a chance to make an impact on the market. Three screens and a cloud. The PC, now mobile. We hope 7 is our lucky number!”

4:08PM: David Christopher from At&t, “We’re thrilled to be the premiere partner on these new phones. We’ll ship 66 million smartphones in 2010. That’s double from the year previous. That will be driven in part by 7 Series phones. We can’t wait to get these into the market… thanks!”

4:05PM: Windows Phone 7 Series launch carriers:

4:00PM: Andy Lees, “I joined the mobile group about 2 years ago. We used that as an opportunity to reevaluate our strategy. We’ve changed a lot of things, but we’ve kept the partner model the same. There are more than a billion phones sold every year, and a massive shift over to smartphones. Partners can meet the diverse needs of customers. One size does not fit all. People want different phones, different form factors. We want to strive for synergy where the whole is bigger than the sum of its parts. These phones have four point multitouch.”

3:52PM: Steve Ballmer, “I hope you share some of my excitement for the opportunity. This market is highly competitive, highly dynamic, and super exciting! You’ll see us continue to invest in 6.5, but this is a whole new generation. We built with three fundamental changes in mind. Some should have popped clearly, some probably less so. First, we really wanted to lead and take much more accountability then we had in earlier versions of Windows Phones. At the end of the day, we all understand that in the business of info tech, software and creativity, and the innovation of developers is important. We build a new foundation with a rich set of development tools which we’ll discuss at MIX next month. So we’ll talk a little bit more about what developers can do next month, but we want to take a very big step forward on that. We also wanted to take a step forward with how we work with partners. We still need to enable partners’ innovation. We want to see lots of diversity. And I think the new way we’ll collaborate with partners, you’ll see that. With out mobile operators, we needed a model that raised the bar, but gave the carriers freedom. I think we’re on our way to making the changes we need, and they’re pretty exciting. Now I want to invite on stage Andy Lees to talk about our partnerships.”

3:47PM: “Okay, I have one more hub to show you… games. As I think about my use of games, I play games on my phone, I connect on my PC, and I play on Xbox LIVE. We wanted to bring that experience together for people. So here’s the games hub, which features Xbox LIVE. We’re bringing the service as a built in part of the 7 Series.”

3:44PM: “So the fun stuff… music and video. Now I love Pandora… it’s easy on the PC, but the phone is, again, not a PC. So let me introduce the music and video hub. First off, every 7 Series phone will be a Zune. But we go beyond that. So here’s a look at Zune on the 7 Series. Notice the Pandora Train radio here. You’ll see the phone is recognized, and the Zune software pops up. I know some of you here in Europe may not have seen it. I want to show how easy it is to get music on your device.”

3:41PM: “Most of you have probably used Microsoft Office. I’m a big fan of OneNote, I love it. SharePoint is also a great service… but we’ve tried to take that experience and bring it together on the phone. Here’s the office hub.”

3:38PM: “Next up, pictures. The way I use pictures on my PC is really rich and varied. On the PC using different applications is easy… but the phone’s not a PC.” It has a similar view to the old pictures app, but now has gallery views and integration with social networks like Facebook.

3:34PM: Integrated services are called “integrated experiences Hubs”. “On the PC it’s easy to switch between those, but the phone is not a PC. So let me introduce the people hub. The idea is to bring together the people you care about the most.”

“Now I can press the pin button and add that person to my favorites. That’s the idea, bring this stuff together in one place that’s simple.”

3:33PM: Here’s a look at Outlook:

3:31PM: “Here’s a look at the browser. This is a much more advanced browser then we’ve ever shipped. It’s based on the desktop version of IE, so it’s highly compatible with lots of webpages.” The browser looks pretty darn speedy. “I’m going to zoom way in here. I want you to take a look at this, this is a step beyond cleartype, it’s called pixel positioning.”

3:27PM: “So I’m going to go back, I’m back at my calendar… I’m going to think of a way to use some free time. I haven’t had any time to get lunch… so here in Spain, I’m a fan of Sushi — I touch the search button… and here I am in the Bing search environment.” Bing automatically locates you and does a local search. “If I want to pick one of these, the Bing engine tries to provide data… here in Spain we haven’t filled out all the data for these items. Directions to here, I can dial the number, I can read reviews. I can businesses near this one.”

3:26PM: Maps supports pinch-to-zoom and multitouch.

3:24PM: “Here’s the calendar in agenda view… items in red are my personal calendar, blue is exchange. Here’s day view — I see all my appointments. Down on the bottom is something we call the app bar, it’s all the commands for the application.”

3:22PM: “When my wife updates her Facebook profile, it updates on the tile so I always know what’s going on. You can put people on these tiles, you can promote applications, a playlist of the music you’re listening to.”

3:18PM: “We’ve tried to make hardware and software that work in unison. Every phone will have three buttons on the front — start, search, and back. We wanted the software experience to be deeply personal and relevant to your life. It should dynamically change to address where you are physically. I’m going to show you a real live demo of a real live device. This is prototype hardware.”


I’m going to show you a real live demo of a real live device. This is prototype hardware.

3:17PM: “We want to make a modern phone that fits people’s complex lives. I’m going to show you videos and some code. But there are two parts here. First, we want a smart design that puts the user at the center of the experience. Second, we wanted to design integrated experiences.”

3:16PM:

3:15PM: “And with that context, I’m going to step aside and just let you see the new user experience for 7 phones.”

3:13PM: Joe said he’s been on the team for a year and a half and they recognized an opportunity for change. “Phones kind of look like PCs… and the phone is not a PC. They all started to look the same. We wanted to revisit how we thought about that design. We wanted to move beyond the metaphor that works well for the PC. We asked ourselves a couple of questions. We said how can we build a phone that focuses on the end user?”

3:12PM: Steve Ballmer confirms that Microsoft will be unveiling the next version of the Windows Phone, the 7 Series, then goes on to introduce Joe Belfiore.

Here are two possible “facts” that I have found about Windows Mobile 7. I found the first while looking at a slide entitled “Personalizing Mobile Technology To Enhance Learning And Organizational Skills” and it indicates that Windows Mobile 7 will support gesture control via it’s front-facing camera. The presenter of the slide, a Mr. Neil Milliken, is the Head of Mobile Development of a British company, so he may well have this high-level information handy.

If you remember a while back, the ‘required specs‘ that Windows Mobile 7 purportedly has includes an optional 2nd camera under the Peripherals. This could foretell hand gestures being able to control the device, as opposed to just hand and vocal interaction and would put Microsoft ahead of Google and Apple in user interaction, as the iPhone and Android OS only support voice and mult-touch input.

The second finding is of a resume I found. In it, it states that-

• Enablement and bring up of Windows Mobile 7 (for Smart phones) on chipsets with the scorpion processor, which have ARMv7 architecture.

Again, pointing back to the leaked spec sheet for Windows Mobile 7, it states that it will run on ARM v6+ chipsets and above, which would mean ARMv7 is a viable solution for WM 7. Looking at the information ARM provides about it’s ARMv7 processor, it is below the performance of the all-conquering ARMv8 processor, but does “includes the NEON technology extensions to increase DSP and media processing throughput by up to 400 percent, and offers improved floating point support to address the needs of next generation 3D graphics and games physics, as well as traditional embedded control applications.” This could be an indicator of a lower rung of WM 7 devices, such as a business-oriented device that does not require the HD-level graphics support ARMv8 includes.

As the MWC inches closer, expect to hear a lot more news, rumors, and analysis by your PPCGN news staff about Windows Mobile 7!

(Updated 2/7/10)

Source: MuyComputer via Slashgear

He didn’t confirm a 2010 release date, but he did say that there would be more information for us at the Mobile World Congress.

Watch the video here and go to about the 4 minute mark.

Source: WMPowerUser (Thanks to our forum member sprinttouch666 for the news tip)

[Microsoft.NTx86]
%Zune.DeviceDesc% = ZuneMTPZUSB, USB\MS_COMP_MTPZ
%Zune.DeviceDesc% = ZuneMTPZUSB, USB\VID_045E&PID_0710
%Zune.DeviceDesc% = ZuneMTPZUSB, USB\VID_045E&PID_063E
%Phone.DeviceDesc% = ZuneMTPZUSB, USB\VID_045E&PID_0640
%Phone.DeviceDesc% = ZuneMTPZUSB, USB\VID_045E&PID_0641
%Phone.DeviceDesc% = ZuneMTPZUSB, USB\VID_045E&PID_0642
%ZuneIp.DeviceDesc% = ZuneMTPZIP, umb\urn:microsoft-com:device:mtpz:1

; Localizable strings
Msft = “Microsoft”
Zune.DeviceDesc = “Zune”
…
Phone.DeviceDesc = “Phone”

You’ll see in the code above that there’s a reference to Zune.Device and 3 Phone.Device lines. This is an interesting development since there’s been talk about integrating Zune into the upcoming Windows Mobile 7. There’s a screenshot of the code after the break.

Source: Neowin

Courtesty of Long Zheng

More than likely this will wind up being fake, but the Chinese site QQ.com has posted a spec sheet for the successor of the HD2, dubbed the HD3. According to the sheet, its expected release date November 2010 with a 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon CPU.

Other specs of interest:
– Running on Windows Mobile 7 – This would make sense if WM7 is on schedule for their planned release by the holidays.
– Features 1GB of RAM and ROM with 16GB of additional on-board storage – The RAM and ROM is possible since the T-Mobile HD2 was just reported as having this upgrade. The internal storage is less likely since that’s a feature of the Diamond series, not the HD.
– Screen is 4.5″ – Isn’t the 4.3″ screen on the HD2 large enough? This thing would really be a beast.
– Screen is 1280×800 pixels with 16 million colors and multitouch – This is could be very possible.
– Battery is 1800mAh – Given the specs, it makes sense to have a large capacity battery.
– Camera is 8.0MP with LED flash – The HD2 is 5MP, so this is also a possibility and would make it one of the better camera phones out there.
– Ports: HDMI, USB 2.0, and 3.5mm – A HDMI port would make the device thicker unless it uses a dongle of some sort.
– Includes WiMax and 4G (LTE?) radios – Could they really put LTE and WiMax in one device? Would they? This is unlikely.

So, what do you think? Rumor or fact?

Source: PocketNow

Now that the HTC product page is live, you’ll see that the US version will come with some nice boosts in its specs compared to the European version currently on the market. It will have 1Gb ROM (up from 512Mb), and 576Mb RAM (up from 448Mb). It will also be coming with a 16Gb microSD card in the box instead of the 2Gb one. Yes, we said it, 16Gb!

Feel free to discuss this in our forums too!

Source: Engadget

The specs that we have so far (via WMExperts) are a Qualcomm Snapdragon 1GHz processor, GSM/HSDPA connectivity, 3.7 inch capacitive AMOLED display with multi-touch, 5 megapixel camera with flash and HD video recording, 512MB RAM/512MB ROM, 4GB of internal storage, microSD expansion (up to 32GB) and a 1230mAh battery.

Source: BoyGeniusReport

They’ve also stated that we should see WM7 at the World Mobile Congress next month, instead of the rumored WM6.6 (although we could still see both).

As far as a release date, their mole has also stated things are still inline for a holiday 2010 release instead of the latest rumors that it was pushed off until 2011.

They also say that it doesn’t look like any of the renderings that we’ve seen as of yet.  There may be some similarities though.

For discussion about the LG Apollo and HTC Obsession, see our forum thread here!

Source: Gizmodo