Although the imminent arrival of Windows Mobile 6.1 is hardly a well kept industry secret, having been spotted on Sony Ericsson’s forthcoming Xperia X1 handset at MWC last month, rumors are pouring through that Microsoft is still planning a bit of a fanfare for its official release.
The news hounds over at Pocket-lint claim that Microsoft will officially launch Windows Mobile 6.1 at CTIA next week on April 1 (not confirmed but probably not an April fools joke). Of course that doesn’t mean that it will be hitting the streets any time soon but at least it means we might learn some more about its touted improved features.
Unfortunately all indications are that we will have to wait a bit longer for more details about the lip-smackingly gorgeous Xperia X1.
(Via engadget)
As we may have mentioned, we rather like the old Palm OS devices here at Pocket Picks. Whatever your misgivings about the PDAs themselves, you can’t deny that they had one of the best libraries of freware and shareware pps around - over 20,000 apps at the last count.
StyleTap is a Palm OS emulator that has been available on Windows Mobile for some time, claiming high levels of compatabilty to that lovely library of apps and games and operating a ‘Runs on StyleTap’ certification program that app developers can use to show their compatibilty with StyleTap.
The publishers have just announced plans for a Symbian port and - crucially - a version for the iPhone. Assuming they get it working with the iPhone SDK, this could be a great way to extend the Apple handset’s capabilities.
Syntrax is not the most useful bit of S60 and Windows Mobile software out there, but for a certain type of person - one who likes electronic music, bleepy synthesizers and harbours secret ambitions to perform with The Orb - it is great fun.
Syntrax is a bit like a scaled down version of the PC/Mac synth Rebirth. Wheras Rebirth emulated a variety of real-world analogue synths like the TR-808 and TR-303, Syntrax is more like a ‘tribute’ to analogue synths with its cut-down display and sawn-off sequencer.
It’s pretty powerful for all that. For the cost of a download, you get an 8-track midi-compatible sequencer, synth and a sample editor.
You can build your own tracks from scratch or play with one of the library of presets and example tracks. The only limitation in the version linked here is a lack of Save option - but a free registration will soon take care of that.
VITO Technology are celebrating their 7th birthday by selling all their Pocket PC, Windows Mobile, S60 and UIQ software for $7 a pop.
They seem to have been producing apps t the rate f about ten a day during their 7-year history, with a huge back catalogue of apps. Some of thes, like VITO Audioplayer, have freeware equivalents, but there are some gems.
Some of their better efforts have passed through PocketPicks before, including Pocket PC GPS utility VITO Find Me, S60 dictaphpne VITO AudioNotes and Windows Mobile SMS threader SMS-CHAT.
If you have $7 burning a hole in your account, the offer runs until Feb 26th.
PhatWare has released a new version of its test-based organiser software PhatNotes.
PhatNotes 5.2, like its predecessors, allows you to create and link text documents on your WIndows Mobile phone. These notes are fully searchable and can contain pretty much anything you like.
Its a sort of cross between a wiki and a searchable database, with a little bit of mind-mapping thrown in for good measure.
v5.2 adds a new ‘Context Analyzer’ which adds the ability to dial numbers, open URLs and create emails from quickly jotted-down addresses. It runs on Windows Mobile 5, 6, 2003 and Pocket PC and costs $39.95 with a 30-day trial.
It’s testament to how deeply the iPhone has got under people’s skins that there are so many ‘tribute’ skins, mods and hacks out there, designed to make your humble handset look like Apple’s finest. Windows Mobile seems to be particularly afflicted/blessed - most likely due to the proliferation of touchscreens, although expect that to change if Nokia ever roll out their Touch UI.
iFonz is a pretty decent stab at the form - it’s a well-written bit of freeware for Windows Mobile that smoothly animates an iPhone-esque interface that looks pretty convincing -until you actually open an app and return to uglytown with a bump.
Here is a short video of iFonz in action (caution, video may cause neck strain) and full marks to me for finishing this post without any reference to Happy Days.
Blimey, you can’t move around here for new Windows Mobile web browsers.
While you are all waiting for the new & improved Internet Explorer in Windows Mobile 7, the feature-packed Opera 9.5 and the iPhony WebKit ports Wake3 and Iris, why not whet your whistle with a look at the new ‘concept release’ of Netfront 3.5 for Windows Mobile.
The Netfront browser has been a staple of iMode phones and the PSP among other devices but their new WinMo effort looks capable of taking on the new kids. Offering fast zooming and bookmark preview features and unbelievably smooth scrolling you can download the app for Windows Mobile 5 here.
Here is a clip of the browser in action, courtesy YouTube.
Remember MSN Direct and those funny SPOT wristwatch PDAs Microsoft were trying to flog a few years ago?
No? Well, to be honest they’d slipped our minds too. It seemed like a good idea at the time - internet-enabled widgets that downloaded little snippets of information like weather reports, stock prices and news headlines and displayed them on a digital watch. Unfortunately, the watches were a bit pricey and not much of the technology ever made it across to the UK.
The MSN direct service is still going, however and Microsoft clearly think there is some mileage to be had from their little widgets - they have just announced a technology preview of MSN Direct for Windows Mobile devices.
The tech preview is a free download and should work with any non-touchscreen Windows Mobile device.
Once installed it will use your phone’s data connection to grab updates for your chosen widgets. Widgets can be cycled through using the keypad or joystick and any links within the MSN Direct content (usually to more MSN content) can be opened in Internet Explorer with the click of a button.
Last month we had news of a new browser from Wake3 that promised to bring the WebKit HTML rendering engine - as seen in Apple’s Safari - to Windows Mobile.
It looks as though Torch Mobile has beaten them to it. Their new browser - Iris - was announced yesterday at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona and it looks very promising indeed.
Iris features an implementation of WebKit that offers tabbed browsing, a tweakable interface and multiple zoom modes. Torch say that the browser also comes with integrated anti-phishing and pop-up blocking features as well as support for both key navigation and touch screens.
WebKit itself is one of the most standards-compliant HTML engines around, meaning Iris should be able to give a ‘desktop’ feel to rendered pages without too much effort.
There is no word on pricing as yet (Torch seem to be aiming to get Iris bundled with a few handsets) but a preview version for Windows Mobile 6 is available here.
Engadget are reporting that Microsoft and Nokia have been conducting talks about Windows Mobile - the implication being that Nokia might bring out a phone using Windows Mobile as the OS intead of Symbian.
John Starkweather, Microsoft’s Mobile Communications Business International Marketing Director (the sign on his door must be about three feet long) is quoted as saying “[Nokia] obviously have significant investments in Symbian but there are a lot of places where we have significant synergies and we would love to see the day where those synergies would extend completely with Windows Mobile,”
Quite what that means is anyone’s guess - panic on the streets and dogs and cats living together, quite possibly. One one hand, a Nokia WinMo device makes no sense - it could harm Symbian, a company that Nokia has invested in heavily - while on the other hand.. it still doesn’t make a great deal of sense.
Should anything come of this - possibly some kind of mutant phone running a hybrid S60/Windows mashup - Pocket Picks will be there to gawp incredulously and keep you informed.
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