4 ways to get your Office Docs onto Windows Phone 7

1. Sync with Sharepoint (if you have Sharepoint 2010)
2. Email them to yourself (!)
3. Attach them to a One Note file
4. Save your doc to your Sky Drive , browse to it using IE and Save

Ta Dah !

5 Top Windows Phone 7 tips

Well done to the guys at AT&T for producing a video on the top 5 tips for Windows Phone 7

See it here

One update or two?

I hear that certain people are expecting a minor update to Windows Phone 7 in January, and a more major update to coincide with Mobile World Congress in February.

Personally, I'd wait and get it all done in one go in February, but we shall see

Apparently Copy & Paste will be available and there is a rumour of a browser update. Of course, what we really want is access to the database !

HD7 Review

Very nice review of HTC's flagship Windows Phone 7 device here

Windows Phone 7 Update Coming

There's a pretty strong rumour that an update for Windows Phone 7 is coming early in the New Year......I'd sat Copy & Paste is a given, but I wonder whether they'll give us the Database ?

Train WiFi

So, ZD have placed a rather nice image on their site (credit www.mytrainticket.co.uk) showing the UK's wifi enabled train routes........and pricing for same.

Not sure the Heathrow Express is free but the map is quite useful !

WP7 Home Brew kit locked down

I see that the Chevron SDK, designed to crack open the Windows phone 7 OS has been pulled. It seems that the Chevron people have done so to have "discussions" with our friends in Redmond. Interesting !

Clint off to San Diego

It had to happen one day but I, Clint Aerialhead, have decided to retire from life at Crimson Tide Towers. The days of Sam, Dave and myself being the face of Crimson Tide have come to a close to be replaced by the new "mpro from crimson tide" brand.

The modernisation of Crimson Tide's offerings also incorporates the new "simply smarter solutions" tag.

So, December will be my last month of blogging for the company and the "Clint Aerialhead Blog" will evolve into the "mpro blog" which will have an associated facebook group and twitter account.

Sync Framework

Our old friend the Microsoft Sync Framework has reached v4 CTP. This was the framework that we at Crimson Tide Towers called "Soprano".

Hopefully the chaps in Redmond have dealt with the speed issues we had a year or two ago

The interesting thing about the Sync framework which, if you recall, encouraged us to believe that you could sync "anything with anything", is that one of the "anythings" is Android - and another is iOS.

Of course those nice Silverlight tools have come into play since then so could be a useful tool when we bring mpro to those platforms. Look for RTW in early '11.

Kin Hell again

So, 'tis true, Verizon are once again selling Microsoft's Kin Phone - the one that "didn't exist"

Good luck with that project

Amazing what you take for granted, part 2

So, as a Windows Mobile house, we have edited our Word Docs/ Excel Spreadsheets and One Note (I love One Note) files on our phones

I heard today that you can now Edit Google Docs on your Android device. Whaaaat! just now ?

And only on Froyo 2.2

How lame is that?

Amazing what you take for granted, part 1

I have a new work PC at home, I've unpacked, fired it up and it is very nice. I didn't get round to installing Office 2010 and needed the disk etc to do so which was at Crimson Tide Towers. So I installed Open Office as I neede to edit a document.

A few weeks went by and I still hadn't got round to getting Office on the PC. Late last night, my chum Tim sent me a Word Doc to edit. I thought that Open Office would do the job........I was wrong

I probably cost Tim an hour this morning sorting out the errors in the document (and he's really quick) due to formatting errors and change tracking mistakes.

I'll get the disk.....

More NFC stuff

So, Nokia's C7 is also going to carry a Near Field Communications Chip, as (as is rumoured) will the Google Nexus S (see blogs passim)

The plot thickens......I wonder when we'll see a Crimson Tide application that uses such a chip.....

Nexus S Rumour

I hear through the grapevine that the Google Nexus S will carry a Near Field Communications chip......interesting for payment and location sensing technologies

Palm Pre receives visit from Grim Reaper

Looks like the end of the road for the Pre. We thought it was a very well designed device, and that WebOS was a good idea. It just seemed a bit slow to some and the keyboard was very fiddly.

So, we anticipate the end of the Pre and the beginning of the Pre 2.....good luck with that Palm/HP friends, we fear that the Android, iOS and WP7 trains may have left a while ago.......

A small bounce from LG

We're not convinced about LG's credentials in the smartphone market. Engadget report that their Android 2.2 powered Optimus One (Surely Optimus Prime !?) has sold a million units...Ho Hum, we said , until we are told that that represents sales in 40 days...not bad at all. Well done LG (and thanks to Engadget

Return of the KIN?

Allegedly, Verizon has Microsoft KIN phones on its roadmap........unbelievable unless you believe in the rumour that there are "tens of thousands" of the YouthPhone in a warehouse somewhere

NoSQL allowed in the Microsoft Azure Cloud

My friends in Redmond do take a lot of stick, however they do some things that other software companies would blanche at. For example, they are allowing versions of NoSQL on the Azure platform. You'd have thought that the Redmondians would be very protective of their SQL Azure offering, but no, they are so focused on Azure as a platform they are prepare to allow non_SQL server databases on the platform.

We at Crimson Tide Towers are big believers in the cloud and Microsoft is pushing it heavily. We should see a Crimson Tide Azure offering in 2011.

Palm Pre 2 Available

We have been friends with Palm ever since we started our mobile data business. devices such as the Treo Pro still bring a misty eye to those at Crimson Tide Towers.

Things have been slightly different since the takeover by HP , but we're glad to see the Palm badge still out there.

The New Palm Pre 2 runs WebOS, a great OS if you listen to many in the business, not one we have experienced ourselves . Good luck to Palm - it's a tough market to get penetration into but we hope they do well "for old times sake"

Handy Windows phone Spec Comparison

Thanks to Engadget we can see the spec details of a number of Windows Phone 7 devices here

Windows Phone 7 Selling Fast

Seems that my frinds in Redmond have an early success on their hands. Demand for Windows Phone 7 devices is outstripping supply and many places are out of stock.

Thanks to The Register for the info http://bit.ly/bX8vtk

Spotify on Windows Phone

Microsoft is obviously very keen to get as many apps as it can on Windows Phone devices. It has signed a deal with spotify to put the music sharing app onto both 6.5 and 7 phones. There is a monthly subscription of £9.99 payable if you should want to stream music over the air. And, errr....a sufficiently large data bundle.

Running Out of Names

It was pretty obvious that phone manufacturers would start to run out of superlative names for their devices (maybe one should be the HTC Superlative?). That same company is now down to the HTC Speedy (better have a decent processor)

How long until we hear about the LG QuiteNice?

New Palms !

We have always been big fans of Palm and our friend Tim has been a great supporter of Crimson tide over the years.

We're delighted to hear that there will be 6 new Palm devices in 2011 (allegedly). It will be interesting to see if hP has got hold of WebOS and made any strides in the face of stiff competition from Iphone, Android and now Windows Phone 7 devices.

Windows Phone Ads

I was shocked at the size of the Windows Phone 7 ads at London Bridge station this week. The Orange WP7 devices were dominating poster and screen space.

I hear that the devices are moving fast - good news for Microsoft. As the ads say "Microsoft is back in the game !"

T3 Awards

The T3 Gadget Award 2010 winners:
App of the Year: Google Maps Navigation
Music Gadget of the Year: Cambridge Audio DacMagic
Gaming Gadget of the Year: Alienware M11x
Home Gadget of the Year: Samsung NaviBot SR8845E
Commuter Gadget of the Year: Apple iPhone 4
Green Gadget of the Year: OneClick Intelliplug
Work Gadget of the Year: Three Mobile MiFi
Innovation of the Year: Apple iPad
New Media Service of the Year: Spotify
Computer of the Year: Apple Macbook Pro
Camera of the Year: Panasonic Lumix GF1
Camcorder of the Year: Sanyo Xacti VPC-CS1
Retailer of the Year: Apple Store
T3 Design Award: Samsung UE55C9000
TV of the Year: Panasonic VIERA TX-P50VT20B
Gadget Personality of the Year: Suzi Perry
Tech Brand of the Year: HTC
Phone of the Year: HTC Desire
Gadget of the Year: Apple iPad Wi-Fi + 3G

Interesting slide on percentages of the smartphone market

Its Windows Phone 7 Week

Its different ! . Well thats what Big Steve says . Its got hubs, live tiles, Xbox and many other things. I still haven't got one but have my eye on the top end HTC or Samsung unit.

As usual . ZDNet have done a good job with reviewing devices here

Crimson Tide, the European example for IDC report

IDC, the very well respected analyst has produced a wide ranging report on the business opportunities around Windows Phone 7.

I quote "This IDC White Paper examines the opportunities for the channel to develop sales of Microsoft servers, business applications, tools, infrastructure deployment services, and managed services to customers building infrastructure around Windows Phone. The document includes a forecast of Microsoft Windows connected phones in North America and Western Europe and the attached revenue opportunity for channel
partners in these regions that sell Windows Phones and other software solutions. In
addition, this IDC White Paper includes two case studies of Microsoft Windows Phone
channel partners: one based in the United States and Crimson Tide based in the United
Kingdom . This document is for current and future Windows Phone ISVs and systems
integrator partners as well as for current and future complementary solution partners
that build on or support key Microsoft applications such as Exchange, SharePoint,
Business Productivity Online Standard Suite (BPOS), Office Communications Server
(OCS), etc."

LG CEO steps down

Phone sales may be to blame apparently

Credit Engadget http://www.engadget.com/tag/lg,windowsphone7

Windows Phone 7 , not on CDMA yet.....

As a Windows Phone Evangelist , I have been concerned about the speed of launch of Micorosoft's new OS. I am glad I am not a Verizon or Sprint customer as cnet revealed that these networks will not carry WP7 at launch as it is not going to be CDMA enabled.

RIM numbers

Profits up substantiall, revenues up, but a little down on forecast, subscribers at 50m

These are some pretty good numbers from RIM

I am unconvinced that the RIM startegy will work in the long term as I see enterprise class email as becoming a commodity, especially as that is where Nokia are aiming their sights.

Gartner Smartphone OS projections

I've been saying it for a while but, according to Gartner, Android looks to be the big winner in the smartphone space in the coming years.

By 2014, Android is projected to have 30 % of the market. In that weird way of counting many Nokia devices, they are expected to have 30% with RIM at 11% and iOS 15%. Windows Phones are predicted to lose out and fall to 4% (gulp)

I'm not so sure about the Windows fall but the others seem logical to me.

Microsoft's Stephen Elop becomes Nokia CEO

Interesting to see that the Head of Microsoft's Business Division has become CEO of Nokia. Stephen was the guy who signed the big MSFT/NOK partnership based around Office and OCS on Nokia devices (we're in discussion with both parties regarding a services partnership)

Crimson Tide - right space, right time

Larry Dignan of ZDNet reports that sixty-two percent of chief information officers and technology leaders see mobile technology as a high priority for the upcoming year, according to Forrester Research.

That finding comes as enterprise mobility is increasingly wedded to overall corporate information technology. As a result, 48 percent of companies plan to spend on making enterprise applications mobile. Another 37 percent are interested in mobile apps. Increasingly, these apps are moving beyond the standard email and calendar genre and into line-of-business software like field service, sales and business intelligence.

http://zd.net/aav3qv

Nokia N8 - Saviour or merely the last defender ?

Nokia have introduced the N8, a very smart looking piece of kit. Its main feature is a 12MP camera with video and HDMI to hook it up to a flat panel (does anyone actually do that?). We are intrigued to see whether this device can hold the line against the Android attack!.See more.......http://www.reghardware.com/2010/06/14/nokia_n8_hands_on/

So, now RIM can officially do Office apps

BlackBerry maker RIM has apparently bought out DataViz, publisher of the popular Documents To Go, in a deal worth $50m in cash.
Credit The Crackberry Blog and The Register

Those on board with Windows Phone 7 include...

Dell, Garmin-Asus, HTC Corp., LG, Samsung, Sony Ericsson and Toshiba. Carriers such as AT&T, Deutsche Telekom AG, Orange, SFR, Sprint, Telecom Italia, Telefónica, Telstra, T-Mobile USA, Verizon Wireless and Vodafone and , of course, Crimson Tide

Reality Distortion Field

Jobs tries it again !

Oh, so its just a case that's required to fix the Iphone4. Odd that, because the other day it was a software problem which, in my experience, has never been fixed by a case.

Now whay would RIM have wanted Palm?

I can understand why the following companies would have wanted to buy Palm -

HP - for WebOS, for decent mobile devices, for market share
Apple - For a device with a keyboard
Lenovo - As an entrypoint into mobile
Acer - for a bigger share of mobile, WebOS

One bidder (according to a lot of rumours) was RIM. Who have a keyboard device, an OS and market share in those markets

Why would RIM want Palm then? - an OS for a slate perhaps?

Windows Phone 7 Developer Training Kit

.....can be downloaded here

Windows Phone 7 Codecs

Thanks to PocketNow for informing us of all of the codecs that Windows Phone 7 will support....and I quote.....

WAV, MP3, WMA Lossless, WMA Pro, WMA Standard v9, AAC-LC, HE-AAC v1, HE-AAC v2, Adaptive Multi-Rate Narrow Band, Adaptive Multi-Rate ide Band, and Qcelp" in addition to video codecs "WMV (simple profile, main profile and advanced profile), WMV v9, MPEG-4 Part 2 (simple profile, advanced simple profile), MPEG-4 Part 10, H.263 and DivX (4.x, 5.x and 6.x)"

Try doing that lot on a Fruitphone

Samsung creeping up on Nokia

According to IDC

-Nokia’s Q1 2010 total mobile phone shipments fell 9% year on year
-Their total device market share, year on year, went from 39% to 33%
-Nokia’s smartphone market share fell 16% year on year, from 57% to 41%
-Nokia’s traditional feature phone shipments fell year on year by 18%
-Their feature phone market share fell from 35% to 30%
-Samsung now ships 40% of all feature phones in Europe, but their smartphone are not doing so well
-Nokia’s overall Q1 2010 market share is 32.8% versus Samsung’s 29.3%

Android market share reaches my expectations

According to comscore Android devices have achieved 13 % of the smartphone market, just behind Windows Mobile. I'll expect that position to change hands next quarter as WM phones in the shiny space continue to disappear whilst we await Windows phone 7 devices in "Holiday '10 "

Samsung Galaxys gt-i9000 review

Hmm, we're just going to have to post links to Android device reviews now as the wait for Windows Phone 7 is just too long.

PocketNow do a great job so do visit their review for the excellent Samsung GT I9000 here

HTC Sales up 63%

Mainly due to Android devices HTCs sales rose 63% in the second quarter of this year

And so the speculation begins

We are now into the second half of the year, and some of us are starting to get excited about their new Windows Phone 7 devices. Of course, part of the fun is the new names given out as codenames by the OEMS (or even speculated upon by bloggers)

The HTC Gold is the first name I have heard, although linked to AT&T so it may just be a US based name.

I did read that some OEMs might find it difficult to surpass their existing efforts (Incredible !)

Stand by for the HTC Ohmigosh and the Samsung Oursisbetter

No Nexus Two

Google's ill-advised entry into the smartphone market has come to an end with Mountain View stating that there will not be a successor to the Nexus One.
Some might say that the Nexus drew the world's attention to the Android OS , but the concept of Google competing with OEMs was never a good idea in my book.

More Windows Phone 7 Database News

Suddenly, World + Dog is on trek to find the answer to the Windows Phone 7 Database issue

See here for an independent firm's effort - now I wonder how it syncs?

Told you so

As you know I am a Windows Mobile evangelist, but Kin phones were officially a Really Bad Idea......and it has now been confirmed that they are going out of production.

We'll have to wait until "Holday '10" for Windows Phone 7

Windows Phone 7 database

Yes, that's a phrase I thought we may never hear.

Ok, it's not SQL Server 2008, but it is, nonetheless, a database

See here for a description of the isolated storage possibilities linked to Silverlight controls on Windows phone 7 devices

Motorola ES400 and Windows Embedded Handheld Update

Further news via video here on the Motorola ES400 and the evolution of Windows Mobile 6.5

Note the nugget about CE7 !

Oh dear , Apple = lemon

As you know, I'm biased, but even ZD are not happy with Iphone 4. Dropped calls, poor aerial design, less than a day's battery etc etc. See here

New Windows Mobile OS

This is what we have been waiting for folks - a Windows Mobile update later this year and a new enterprise OS based on Windows Phone 7 for 2011

I'd like to think I had a tiny part in that !!

Aticle here

A Windows Phone 7 hands on demo

For those who have not seen it in action, there is a video here of Windows Phone 7 in action (courtesy of PocketNow.

Running on an LG device with what I am told may have only been a 666MHz processor, I think you'll agree that the OS is pretty impressive. The screen is , I believe, AMOLED and a super AMOLED would liven the view up even more.

Particularly impressive is the multitouch functionality and the new SegoeWP font is really nice and clean.

I love the way that everyone who demos the OS goes to the Xbox tile , brings up the avatar and thinks "Wow". I'm going to be really impressed when I see someone actually use Xbox Live on the OS (about 0.1% of users I bet)

HTC Sense on the Omnia 2

As I have mentioned, I am not a huge fan of Samsung Widgets or the touchWiz UI on my Omnia 2.

In the interests of research, I have therfore replaced the ROM with a custom (ie hacked) HTC Sense OS

The ROM also removes several annoyances (qik etc) and updates the Browser to Opera Mobile 10 (nice!)

The horsepower of the Omnia is lacking, so the OS does not fly particularly quickly, however I am very pleased with the UI.

Toast from Microsoft

I see that Windows Phone 7 will carry the ability to configure a live tile to accept advertising. Interestingly, the advertising will be pushed to the WP7 device even when an application is running.

Microsoft call it "Toast" and, I am pretty sure, you'll be able to configure this in other Tile Groups on the phone (although perhaps not the standard MS ones)

I understand the service will be "opt in" (which I probably won't) but the model is quite interesting.

Blinded by the light

I have been pretty unhappy about using the Samsung Omnia 2 in direct sunlight. I did find I had a setting wrong, (although Touchwiz did not help me find it ) . The screen is definitely brighter now but still unacceptable in my book

I read a comparison on Engadget and apparently the new Super AMOLED screens are considerably better. I;ll look forward to seeing one.

New Samsung running Bada

I cannot for the life of me think why Samsung developed their proprietary OS, Bada, but hey, what do I know? A prize for the first person to develop a Bada Bing app.

Anyway, the new Samsung Wave S8500 running Bada is arriving shortly and carries a very decent spec too.

The 1 Ghz processor is the de facto standard for a top end phone now and the device carries the seemingly standard Samsung 5Mp camera.

Key for me in this phone is the Super AMOLED display which I hope is an improvement (in the light anyway) over my Omnia II.

HTC HD2 hotfix

I hear that there is an (as yet) unofficial patch for the big old HD2 which solves some touchscreen issues

I can't recommend an unofficial patch , but if you are an HD2 developer (who is prepared to take a risk !) it is here

HD2 with a keyboard

There is a whisper in the market that HTC's mighty HD2 may receive a hardware keyboard soon. I had a few issues with the HD2 (a bit too big for me) but it is certainly one of the best devices in the market running Windows Mobile 6.5

Phone to Pad

I am convinced that Pad style devices will increase in popularity and Dell have introduced a halfway house device , the Streak.

With a 5" screen, the Streak is not quite an Ipad, but, of course will make Voice Calls which the standard Ipad will not.

The device runs on Android (although it is currently advertised as version 1.6, not the latest 2.2 Froyo release

I can definitely see a market for Pad devices - the Streak may be too small to qualify , but the market is certainly moving in that direction

Mobile health market

We are very close to what is going on in "mhealth" - the use of mobile devices in the healthcare market

I was staggered to see the projections for growth in this sector in home patient healthcare

The wireless home health market was about $304 million in 2009 and it looks to $4.4 billion by 2013, according to Parks Research. That is for the US market alone.

Stunning statistics

Crimson Tide's mpro3hx (home patient drug administration) and mpro3nx (nursing) fit right into this space

Back blogging with Snapdragon news

Been away for a while but back on the case now .

I see that Qualcomm have are releasing the silicon for two new processors - and they are dual core !

Can't wait to get my hands on one running on a phone - should up the ante as far as speed is concerned PLUS an accelerated GPU - which should be quite something

Shhhhh

...Just Google LG Panther

The Sopranos on 3

The 3 network (not one we're used to) has signed a deal with HBO to broadcast the excellent US based channel's TV shows on demand on their phone network. Watching TV on the phone has never been one of my particular habits, although Band of Brothers and The Sopranos are probably my two favourite TV series of all time.

this news does, however give me a chance to make an unusual (well, for this blog) picture post......

Mobile data prices down.....except they aren't

I was reviewing how much my mobile data bill would be in San Diego. I'm told that it will be £25.50 per day with 50Mb. That's about £175 for the week. Not a bargain, I think you'll agree and , what we know in the trade as a 400 % increase.

I'll be looking for a wireless hotspot for the new Samsung N220 then.

javascript:void(0)

Location, location, location

One of the things that fires my imagination at the moment is location based services. I am convinced that fuel can be saved, efficiencies achieved and congestion eased if vehicle based staff are more effective. Ha ! , I hear you Say, but route planning is easy and some of these telematics boys can do that already. My idea, however is more complex. I want our mpro3 systems to know where a field worker is and, if he is late or cannot fulfil a task, the system calculates this from his location and reallocates the task to another operative.

I had a good conversation about this today with my chum LJ and we decided that it was eminently doable.

Watch this Crimson space

Lenovo Lephone

I must admit I was confused for at least a year when the IBM ThinkPad disappeared and teh Lenovo Thinkpad arrived. Not being an IBMer meant that I didn't realise they were the same thing and that Lenovo had taken over IBMs hardware division.

Anyway, Lenovo have now released a smartphone - Android based , I am not sure of the specs, but I have to say it looks quite funky

Shares of a bigger pie

Smartphone sales rose from 35 million in the first quarter 2009, to 54 million in the first quarter 2010. I hereby declare that officially, that is a lot of phones.

Nokia continue to lead (quite how they still have 39% I do not know) followed by RIM and Apple. The IDC survey, however now takes some scruntinising as HTC and Moto are the next on the list and , safe to say , many if not most of their new sales come from Android devices.

As my friends at Microsoft say, this market continues to fly AND with many more devices in the market, this should mean that prices fall.

Now, which one shall I have next?......

Whilst I was driving .......

...through Davis, California last month little did I realise that a campus-wide trial of Gmail was in process at the University of California at Davis. 30,000 students at UC were apparently having their mail processed by Google.

I would have been less surprised that UC Davis eventually decided that running a mail system through an online information processing provider, was ....er hem....insecure

The Gmail trial has been terminated......funny that.

HTC HD2 ROM updates

Please be aware that there are various HTC HD2 Rom updates available, from HTC themselves or , operator specific ROMS from your network provider.

We suggest that you go to your network's support site first, then HTC to check for the latest ROM and don't forget to back up your data as a ROM update will "flatten" the device to factory settings.

A new Windows Mobile device from Acer

Not many new Windows Mobile devices seem to be hitting the street at the moment, mainly due to the announcement of Windows Phone 7 and the focus of OEMs on Android devices.



Acer have been to see us recently and they are rolling out the The P300 slider . Looks a bit lacking in Horsepower to me with a 528Mhz Snapdragon and a WQVGA screen

I am guessing that the price point is Acer's main hope but even then £250 - (ish) is not that cheap

All in all I'm not sure how this device will fare in this very competitive space

Nokia and Microsoft Bring You.......

.......Office Communicator Mobile for Symbian !

I have been aware for a while that Microsoft and Nokia have been collaborating on a number of things and today sees the launch of Microsoft Communicator Mobile for Nokia handsets.

This smartphone client allows Nokia users to contact their colleagues by phone, email, IM etc using the very smart Microsoft UC client

The Communicator Client will be available on E72s and E75s in the first instance......with more to come. This will also be part of the BPOS push by Microsoft and the collaboration is obviously targeting RIM users.

Google offline Docs are, well, offline

Google have suspended support for offline Docs today......and haven't told people when working on your documents offline will be reprovisioned.

Most people I know work on their Office-style dosuments on a local machine, rather that directly online so, without going through a File..Export style process they can no longer achieve this goal.

Seems to me that Google have highlighted here why so many people stick to Microsoft Office

Best look yet at Windows phone 7

There's a new build of Windows phone 7 out (6176) and it comes closest to showing what Microsoft are bringing to market in "Holiday '10". The video is at PocketNow here

One thing I would say is that each iteration seems to deliver a little more than expected, which is good, and the look and feel is excellent

Hmm...WIndows Mobile 6.5 Apps on Windows Phone 7?

Tucked away on the Agenda for TechEd10 in New Orleans

“Come join us for this interactive session on code compatibility between previous Windows Phone applications and Windows Phone 7. Come talk to experienced application developers and hear what they have to say about code compatibility and share your own experiences with other attendees. Even though the programming paradigm for Windows Phone 7 differs from previous Windows Phone versions, managed applications are still written in C#. Taking a number of best practices into consideration, the majority of your existing code, with the exception of the User Interface, can run on Windows Phone 7.”

There’s also a session entitled “Microsoft’s Next Generation Mobile Enterprise Application Platform (MEAP).” MEAP “allows corporate IT departments to support multiple mobile applications on a single platform.

Hp Buys Palm

Well , that came out of left field.

HP has bought Palm for about $1.2 bn (not a bargain price we think)

Which really means that HP has bought WebOS and a brand. It was increasingly becoming apparent that HP had backed Windows Mobile, was not part of the Windows Phone 7 launch group and needed traction in the smartphone market.

What next?

Well, we'll see a range of HP smartphone running WebOS obviously, which will likely amount to the same as a bunch of Palm smartphones running WebOS, which is seen to be a very "smart" OS but not a majorplayer in the Iphone, Windows Mobile, Android, Symbian field.

Windows Mobile turns 10 years old

The old "PocketPC" is 10 years old today. The OS that fired these devices matured into Windows Mobile and , in due course, Windows Phone

I had an Ipaq 3600 and it was, of course, an Ipaq that helped formulate the idea behind Crimson Tide's Mpro range of products and services.

The range of original PocketPc devices is hown below

Nice article on Microsoft Office for Windows Phone 7

PocketNow have produced a nice piece on Office on Windows Phone 7 here

The article shows PowerPoints being edited on the device - I just hope they get the memory level right because, there's no external storage.

On my Omnia 2, the storage memory is very poor, which I top up with an SD card. If I had no SD slot I would not be able to carry all I need on the road.

I am not sure how Microsoft's idea of continuously connected phones and storage will work in the real world - we shall see

Windows Phone 7 - No Cabs

Well, we knew that Windows Phone 7 would not allow cabs to be transferred to the device, now we know that ther will be no such thing as a cab.

The files that developers provision will be implemented via a xap file, a kind of zip file that will include all of the files necessary to run the app.

And, of course, the xap file we only be able to be loaded via Marketplace

Microsoft Project Natal - June release announcement?

Seems like the folks in Redmond are looking to announce Project Natal's release in June - Holiday '10 anyone?

The project which Big Steve calls Microsoft's most exciting release this year brings gesture based interaction with the Xbox using a camera and video setup

I look forward to watching my son snipe the enemy from behind the sofa on Call of Duty

64 Gb on an SD Card (yes, that's 64GB)

We're lookiong into an application for photographers at the moment and, with their huge photo files, I'm sure they'll be interested to know that SanDisk have produced a 64Gb SD card (well played SanDisk)

The minor drawback is that the price would appear to be about $350 (netbook anyone)

See the details here

New Blackberry devices

We have to keep up with the times here ar Crimson Tide towers and, although Blackberry is not our premier recommendation , we bring news of the refresh to the Bold and Pearl series

The 9650 and Pearl 3g will run on BB OS 5.0 and seem to be just a refresh rather than anything new and exciting

Live Messenger - for Iphone

In Microsoft's bid to license all of its products everywhere , I hear that Live Messenger for Iphone is slated to arrive in the coming months

Microsoft apps on the Istore, well fancy that.

Information Week give smartphone stats

Far too much detail for me but excellent article from Information Week here

As predicted, Android is taking amarket share like crazy from all players, except RIM (I'm surprised at this part)

I am 100% sure this will continue

Nice news article on the Crimson tide healthcare applications

Mobile News - April 2010

Data solutions provider Crimson Tide has won a four-year contract worth up to €100,000 a year from Dublin company Temperature Control Pharmaceuticals (TCP) to develop software enabling Europe's first barcode safety system for blood disorder suffers to treat themselves in their own homes. The system runs on a range of
Windows smartphones supplied to the patients. The system verifies the product
identification before self treatment is carried out. It can be used to alert patients to product recalls. Where there is more than one haemophilia patient in a household on different treatments, it ensures the right patient is treated with the correct medication. Crimson Tide executive chairman Barrie Whipp said: "This is our largest subscription deal to date. Our application is relevant to in-home patient drug administration worldwide, therefore we are anticipating extending our sales of this type of product in other markets."

Crimson Tide has also developed a mobile system to guarantee the security and confidentiality of a 10-year Irish Government study into the needs of older people.
The study examine 8,000 people aged 50 and over living in Ireland. It charts their health, social and economic circumstances over a 10-year period. The mobile system uses a Motorola MC55 phone into which people from the sample group can input information over a long period of time.

12 Mp camera on a phone? - Good grief !

I see that Nokia have announced the release of the new N8

As you may know, we do very little with Nokia smartphones (although we supply a lot of the "day to day " phones.

I was stunned to see that this new Symbian OS 3 device has......a 12Mp camera. It also recoeds video in 720p HD, which I think is quite amazing.

We're yet to be convinced by an N series device, although one of my friends at a serious softwrae company that I cannot name tells me the new devices are excellent indeed.

Have a look here (we won't be ordering the sickly green one)

Crimson Tide Tablets ?

Our mobile data solutions work really well on Windows Mobile smartphones , and we will certainly be developing for Android at some point soon.

In some instances, we can see that our applications would be really efficient on a Tablet device.

The IPad is leading the way , but there is an HP tablet running Windows 7 and Google are also developing this form factor. I'm sure there will be more to come. Even though I like the Kindle concept, it is just so easy to run other apps on this type of device I cannot see any reason to just run an e-book reader.

Watch out for a first draft mpro app for Tablets in the second half of 2010

Adobe Flash being developed for Windows Phone

After an unholy row with Apple, the people at Adobe have mentioned that they are working on mobile versions of Flash for Windows Phone 7.

I find this slightly odd as WP7 will be running on a Silverlight based platform. You'll recall that Silverlight was introduced as a direct competitor to Flash (but has now developed into a much broader canvas)

I am guessing (literally) that Flash is being developed to work within the Browser on Windows Phone 7 which, as we know HAS to be a cutdown version of IE

Adobe say they are developing for Android and other OSs too.

Nice Healthcare News

There is a nice mention here on the new Crimson Tide mpro solution for haemophiliacs

New smartphones from err....Dell

We were never fans of the old Axim pdas - very square and underpowered. We hear though that Dell are back in the market with a number of devices including some Android smartphones coming soon.

Our interest was increased when we learned that Dell had a Windows Phone 7 in production (we presume built by HTC or LG)

The Dell lightning is slated to have a 1Ghz Snapdragon plus an Amoled screen
Looks good (well, for Holiday Season 10 anyway). They have a non-slider available, but we understand that is an Android unit.

Thanks to Engadget for the image

SQL Server 2008R2

The latest and greatest version of our favourite DB is released today.

Lots of features and updates but my particular interest is the BI part and, of course, its associated reporting

We're as busy as anything at the moment but hopefully our Developers will get a moment to tell me about these features

Opera Mini for Autumn Fruit Device (AFD)

Wow - in a landmark change of direction, Apple has approved opera Mini for the AFD and the browser will be in the iStore .

I love Opera's work - this is good news for lovers of the AFD

Kin Phones

So, Microsoft were "economical with the truth" about not producing a phone

The Kin phones, announced yesterday, are aimed at the Teen/Twenties market and have Social Networking at their core. They are based on a limited version of the Windows Phone 7 OS. As you can see they look pretty cool.

Apparently the phones come with Zune (no idea about storage) but cannot take apps. Curiously (for the teen/twenty market) they are Excchange enabled.

Microsoft sees a big opportunity in the feature phone market and, although these phones are limited to Verizon at the moment, we'll see what impact they have after their May release.

Android is for squares

I hear that Motorola are releasing a 240x240 display phone with an Android OS

More fragmentation in the Android market!

Now that's what I call multitasking....and a small OS note !

The Samsung Omnia i8910 Omnia HD, has been proved to run over 62 applications at the same time. That's about 61 more than some phones I know. It runs these apps on a custom ROM, but that is a pretty impressive amount of grunt work for a phone

Add and 8MP camera and AMOLED display and you have a pretty compelling package. The reviews I have seen allege that it does not have 3G. I suspect that is US 3G but I'll wait to see whether that is a lack of Eurozone 3G. Other not so good news is that TouchWiz is on the device (aargh) with, I guess, its usual Memory Hogging Capabilities

I also read, wait for it, that the device runs on a SYMBIAN OS !! I am so taken aback I don't know what to write.......

Samsung now has Windows Phone, Androis, Bada and Symbian devices in its range....we'll have to have a think on this as I thought Symbian would not be playing in the "HD" space.

The NHB ™

Not sure if I should use a "Register" Trade Mark on this but today's "The Register" contains the wonderful NHB (Normal Human Being)view from The New York Times of the Ipad launch.

To quote: "Over at The New York Times, however, David Pogue made the reasonable observation that while a tech type might see the iPad one way, a Normal Human Being™ might look past its lack of Flash support, lack of multitasking, lack of a removable battery, lack of a camera, lack of standard USB ports, lack of an SD card slot, and any other lack you might want to mention"

To use another set of initials, looks like this confirms the RDF (Apple's legendary Reality Distortion Field)

RIP WMP

Well, for Mobile anyway.

I have never been a fan of the Windows Media Player experience (and I am a Microsoft kind of guy)

Good news for me, then, is the new Zune look and feel to media on Windows Phone 7 (told ya about the "series" thing !)

Nice vid here

I really like the software and user experience, so much better than Ithieve (which, for legal purposes, does not suggest that any media playing software would do such a thing as stealing your money for tracks that pay for but cannot use elsewhere)

Windows Phone 7

Told you that Microsoft would drop the "Series" and they have.....and no I didn't break my NDA !

Xperia X2

After waiting so long for the X2 I am afraid I missed the launch of the device. As many know, the Xperia X1 remains my favourite Windows Mobile phone so I am slightly embarrased

There is a video review at Pocket Now and I understand that there is an upgrade path to Windows Mobile 6.5.3 (obviously not to Windows Phone 7)

Not sure I would go back to a keyboard device now, but if I did, it would be an X1

Xperia X10 - no multitouch

No multitouch on the new Android Xperia then.

Which is a surprise.

Omnia II - one last chance

Nice device the Omnia II but it has started to niggle me quite substantially.

Firstly, despite the fact I was told it had two processors (maybe it has) it runs like a dog, I guess the Out of Storage Memory error is not helping affairs.

This is starting to look like a real vindication of those who say that the Samsung overlay is taking up FAR too much memory. I have SK Tools, but cannot find a way of getting some of the bloatware off.

Oh, for a 1Ghz Snapdragon and another 500Mb of storage memory.......that HTC HD2 is starting to look like the killer 6.5 device to me.

Things that I am not allowed to comment on

It may be that those clever techies at xda developers have got the Windows Phone 7 series OS runnins on an HTC HD2....

I couldn't possibly comment

Off Topic: Printing costs

I hate the cost of ink - a real rip-off in my view and I read something fascinating today in The Register.

According to the "Director of Computing and Information Technology at the University of Wisconsin at Green Bay" printing in Arial costs 30% MORE than printing in Century Gothic

So, when we're doing draft accounts etc, that's another 30 % saved !!

Not much doing at CTIA

I could make a career hopping from trade show to seminar to partner meeting etc. One of the ones I decided to miss was CTIA in Las Vegas

Seems I may have saved the company a few bucks as there really is little of note on the new phone front . T-Mobile were launching the HTC HD2 (ho hum , we had it months ago) but there was a little conflict as the HTC Evo was also announced (with an Android 2.1 OS)

When's the next CTWNIAGSMWWM conference?

Now that's a quote (and a device) I like

"Windows Mobile 6.5 is much more appropriate for the apps and the uses that our customers are looking for," said Sheldon Safer, Motorola's director of product marketing for the EDA series. "I think we can clearly say that Windows Mobile 6 is the standard for enterprises today."

This comes as Moto announces the M75A....more news as we get it

Windows Phone 7 - a small omission

Just a note to say that, according to news just made available, Windows Phone 7 phones will not have an expansion slot - hmmm, it really is locked down then!

No Firefox on Windows Phone 7 ....not yet anyway

Of course, we know that Microsoft's new phone OS will effectively be closed source (unless you wnat to go through marketplace) so it should be no surprose to learn that Mozilla have ceased developemnt of Firefox for the mobile Microsoft platform.

I hear good things about IE9 (for the desktop of course) but it will be interesting to see what the browser experience is like on a Windows Phone 7 unit. At the moment, one will have one browser option and one alone.

I'm using Opera Mobile on the Omnia 2 at the moment which has its ups and downs but is generally punchier than the native browser.

I wonder what the thoughts on WP7 are from people like SPB and Resco....?

An android unit.......a Dell Android unit? What next ?

Is it me, or does the device seem "upside down"?

As you know we are Windows Mobile champions, however the Google Android platform just cannot be ignored. We have an inherent issue with their being 5 distros but too many OEMs are joining the throng for us to ignore.

Dell have become the latest manufacturer to release an Android unit. It is called the Aero on AT&T and is a modified Mini 3

We do not have too many details but the Mini 3 had a 3.5-inch 640x360 display, Bluetooth, 3 megapixel auto-focus camera with flash, microSD, and GPS (thanks to engadget for this)

Hopefully it is a better unit than that horrid old Dell Axim !

Windows Mobile 6.1 Outlook update

Microsoft have released an update to the Outlook Client on Windows Mobile 6.1.

Enabling threaded email conversations and a few other niceties, it can be sourced here

By the way, it appears to allow SMS back up to Exchange , as well as the ability to read SM texts on the PC. (We'll have to check that!)

Apparently, Windows Mobile 6.5 users do not need to install the update as the functionality is already embedded in 6.5

HMV and Orange open games store

I have been unimpressed by HMV's online efforts ever since the music service ripped me off some 3 or 4 years ago. I notice that the company has joined forces with Orange to offer an online games download store.

I'll be interested to see the quality of Call of Duty:MW2 on a java phone (not as interested as my son, obviously) but, having been killed repeatedly on Xbox because I can't see the enemy, I rather think a phone screen will be insufficient for me to pick up any gamer points.

With the multitude of app stores, I really can't see this one becoming a major player.

Moto divorce

I see that Motorola is splitting into two (some say they should never have joined in the first place) and both companies' stock will be publcily traded.

We will be focused upon the The Enterprise Mobility and Networks business - what we traditionally know as the Symbol business - where we supply the set of rugged and semi-rugged devices for the Chicago based outfit

It would be interesting to know what has happened to the device I saw roadmapped a year ago, the replacement for the ill-starred MC35. Not sure what it was called but I was probably uner NDA anyway. We'll ask our friends in the US.

More Windows Phone 7

I was interested to see that pictures on the phone will allow you to view cloud based photos on the device. That will save a few storage issues - interesting to see whether it handles thumbnail, then full version. Also interesting on the data plan front.

Off Topic - picture of the day

Well it is a tech thing, and it is mobile but we picked up on this image from Google streetmap published by The Register.

Windows Phone 7 Info from MIX

A bullet list:-

C Sharp is the development language
Apps only from Windows Mobile Marketplace
No ActiveSync
Multitasking not available for 3rd party apps (limited number of Microsoft Apps)
No upgrade from WM 6.5

Credit to the excellent Mary Jo Foley on the ground in LV, NV

Putting two and two together on Windows Phone 7

ZD report today that the HTC HD2 will not be upgraded to Windows Phone 7 come "holiday season 2010"

This is no surprise to me as my understanding is that NO current phone will be upgradable. The Windows Phone 7 series OS will require an entirely new chassis and Microsoft is controlling how the manufacturers distribute those chassis.

More critically, is the plural of chassis chassis?

WinMoSquare - an exciting app coming soon!

You can register to be alerted on th release of WinMoSquare here

If you have heard of foursquare, you'll realise that WinMoSquare is a location based mobile service to connect with your friends or see where they are from the phone

The service has only been available for the fruit-based devices and the open source thing but developers at touchality have got hold of the SDK and , I hear , a Windows Mobile version is coming soon

See the original here for details

Bing on Android

I hear that Microsoft are going to allow Bing to be used on Android mobile phones. This is fairly typical of our Redmondian friends (remember ActiveSync is used on non Microsoft OS phones). I'm quite a fan of Bing, the categorisation and location services are very user-friendly.

PC/Xbox/Windows Phone 7 integration

Now I understand that Microsoft do some cool stuff - but this is very cool

Basically, one will be able to play the same game on PC/Xbox and Windows Phone 7

Have a look at the video here

This proves that Microsoft is integrating a number of technologies, particularly Visual Studio, Silverlight and XNA

We'll let you know the Windows Phone 7 details next week after MIX10

MIX 10

MIX is Microsoft's development conference and this year's big noise is about Windows Phone 7 . ( I have officially dropped the term "series")

I understand that 15 sessions are planned and that Silverlight and XNA are high on the list. My son will be excited about the XNA part.

By the way , I can't be there (Sorry about that but I already have too many US trips this year) but we'll pore over the sessions online after MIX and let you know what we think....

We're back - and we've seen a Windows Phone 7 (series)

Surely our friends from Redmond will drop the word "series" soon?

Anyway , LG (via Microsoft) have let slip that their Windows Phone 7 (series) is expected in Q4, 2010. Here's a teaser which shows that the device is a slider with a slick Windows Phone 7 (series) image.

Windows Phone 7 series (updated)

....will only work on touchscreen smartphones, so no "classic" and "professional" versions.

*UPDATE* ...and it seems that the fullscreen devices will come first with the sliders behind.

The pictorial evolution of the smartphone market !

I really like this image, for which I have to credit ZD (ZeeDee or ZedDee depending if you are where I am now or where I will be on Friday.)

Safe to say that I agree with most of it (and I'm not going to confirm which parts !)By the way , Palm pre should say WebOS.

I like to think that while Windows Phone 7 has a question mark, the skeleton (ie Microsoft) is big, looming and the others had better watch out.

Barcelona !

I have just spent about 2 hours reviewing Microsoft's videos of the Windows Phone 7 Series Launch.

Slick stuff from Big Steve and I thought Joe Belfiore's demo was very good indeed (unusual for me to watch the whole demo!).

A couple of interesting quotes which I will try to get to the bottom of:-

SB - " We will continue to invest in our Windows Mobile 6.5 platform"
JB - " Outlook will work from a cache"

Good news on the first one for Enterprise, I found the second one intriguing regarding whether a full Outlook experience will actually exist on the device.

By the way , I bet the term "series" gets dropped soon !

Acer Smartphones

Those nice people at Pocketnow have published some details of devices running Windows Mobile 6.5.3 that are being released

Acer have been talking about meeting us for some time - these devices look very smart but it will be nice to see them in action

All the usual connectivity is available - my only concern is that I rather got used to the 1Ghz Snapdragon when I used the HTC HD2 - the question is - is the 600Mhz Qualcomm up to the job?

We shall see.......by the way, no pictures of the Acers yet - Blogger is having a "moment"

Good grief - another OS

Qualcomm Brew, the new OS from the smartphone processor manufacturer has made its entry on the HTC Smart, the new cheap unit from our Taiwanese friends

The point is.....why? What with Windows Mobile, Apple OS, Android, Symbian, Web OS why on earth does the market need more complication?

Welcome to the "new" blog

To reflect our integration with the Crimson Tide website, we are now titled "The Crimson Tide Blog"

I am sure we will mislead a few Alabama football supporters (sorry about that) but we thought that we should declare our tie-in with the mighty Crimson Tide

Thanks for watching

So, no HTC Sense on WP7S

HTC have announced that there will be no version of HTC Sense on Windows Phone 7 series smartphones when they are released "in the holiday perios 2010"

The WP7S interface is locked down to Microsoft and I think HTC are a little disappointed

No comment from me until I get my hands on a new WP7S device (soon, I hope)

A new Toshiba or two

I have always liked Toshiba as a brand....they were groundbreakers in the laptop field "back in the day"

Their phones, however, have been a little behind the game...until now perhaps.

The TG01 had some good reviews but here comes the TG02. It runs Windows Mobile 6.5 on a Snapdragon 1Ghz so should be a nice device.

There is a slider due too (the K01) but I have a feeling this one might wait for Windows Phone 7

Windows Phone 7 Preview

Hopefully, you should be able to click on the Image to the right to see a YouTube preview of the new Windows Phone 7 OS

Hopefully....!

So now it is out there....Welcome Windows Phone 7

Windows Phone 7, the thing I have not even been able to acknowledge will exist for 4 months is now an official Microsoft product.

It looks cool, will fight the Autumn Fruit Company for consumer space and put people at the heart of the OS.

There are already people looking in detail at the system, but I think it is too early to delve into an OS that is in its "formative" stages to say the least. It will be interesting to see where other players are come the official launch date, but Microsoft is in the smartphone space to win. I have seen the impressive growth rates forecast and it is indeed a massive opportunity for our friend in Redmond.

More as we learn it but , for now, Microsoft has made a huge statement - I hope the OS backs it up and I believe it will. HTC , LG and Samsung are the marquee OEMs backing the system, so we should see some great devices - can't wait.

Treo Pro SMS issue

An issue has been identified where the Palm Treo Pro has been dating SMS texts as 2016.

We believe that this problem is related to two specific US networks but in case you do have a problem, Crimson Tide can get hold of a patch file for you to install

email support@crimsontide.co.uk for assistance

Slightly Off Topic

The Register reports that the Google streetcam has been "Snowmobiled" for the Vancouver Winter Olympics

I wonder whether people will be using their smartphones to decide when to turn......."turn left at the next Black marker.......I mean right......"

Have a look here

Sony Ericsson Aspen - Now that's what I call a QWERTY

I just love SonyEricsson devices and the forthcoming Aspen is no different - although to be fair I haven't seen one yet !

Running on Windows Mobile 6.5.3 (yes, another iteration of the WinMo OS) the Aspen looks incredibly slick - and is apparently being announced in Barcelona this month.

Credit to se-first.com for the images

Two Weeks to Barcelona

...and I hear a rather big cheese will be there....

Ah, at last, the Xperia X2 !

But only in Spain I'm afraid

As many know, I still profess that the X1 was the best built device I have experienced . I wonder what will happen to the X2 in the UK though? - apparently Voda have pulled the device for the forseeable future - not good news

New Crimson Tide website coming......

My spies tell me that the Crimson Tide website is being refreshed with a great new look and feel. I also understand lots of new content will be on the site I (including device videos). The site has been created in Joomla! and the Assistant Head of Web Development was looking rather chuffed when he told me about it.

The Clint Aerialhead Blog will now be available from within the Crimson Tide site so there will be two places to find out about what is going on in the smartphone market (along with Crimson Tide news)

I hear the site

Publish Post

will be live within hours.........

That will be the end of the Adsense experiment

Sorry to all the readers out there about my little dalliance with Adsense. I have never experienced something so intrusive and hopefully I never will.

Sorry about that

No Mobile news !

Interesting how quiet January has been for news in the mobile space. I wonder when the next device spurt will come.....it is getting dull !

Windows Usage

It is unusual that I find market share figures amazing but I saw in the PC market that Windows had crashed to a catastrophic 92.02 % of the OS market. That's err.......92 %

Linux , the Next Big Thing has raced to er.....1.02%, threatening (not) The Mac at 5.13%

Funniest thing I have heard all week

You're just a fat Iphone without the phone

Crikey - its an HP

As a founding member of the Ipaq Fan club (could that be more than 10 years ago?) I was intrigued to hear of HPs Data Messenger range. We have the slider in the office at the moment so I thought I would run one of our apps on it.

Overall it is quite a pleasing device (running Windows Mobile 6.1) and quite simliar to the Samsung Omnia Pro or the equivqlent HTC (Touch Pro)

I found the screen a little unresponsive but the D-Pad is quite nice - there's a hidden button to turn the device on/off and I quite like the telescopic stylus (once i found it!)

Device comes with all the ususal connectivity (inc WiFi, 3G , HDSPA,) and a 3.1mp camera and all-in-all is not a bad mid-range Windows Mobile device

HTC Hero

We had an HTC Hero in the office today. As you may know, I'm a big fan of HTC but the Hero was horribly plasticky and lightweight. I didn't frie it up but you wouldn't catch me with one of these devices

Windows Mobile 6.5 upgrades

Hmmm...our friends in Redmond don't seem to have updated the list of phones that have a Windows Mobile 6.1 to 6.5 upgrade - the list only confrims the Samsung Jack at the moment.

I understand that you can update your Samsung Omnia 2 but if you can navigate the Samsung site and find the download you're a smarter cookie than I. By the way , download the Samsung Kies software at your peril!!

There are various ROM upgrades at www.htc.com but not the generic Windows Mobile 6.5 upgrades promised.....what's going on?

I agree with Symbian !

I saw an interview today with a sensible chap from Symbian.

He said that the future of Enterprise mobility was (and I quote form the excellent Philippe Winthrop's blog) is

"In enabling access to cloud based services and hosted apps."

I agree......yes, Symbian and I agree !

....just not on Symbian devices :-)

Smartphones are where it's at

El Reg, reproduced some amazing stats from Gartner today. The big research company says that people will spend $6.2bn. By 2013, they believe that this figure will increase to nearly $30bn which is, officially, a big number.

Of course, most of those will be consumer apps but I reckon the enterprise will benefit from the rather cool apps available from people like Crimson Tide.

In a twist, Gartner also says that even those who supply apps for free will make money (New York comic Jackie Mason would say -because they sell a lot of apps). In-app advertisers will actually pay developers for add space.

LG joins the Android clan

So, another manufacturer pops up in the Android camp.

LG, who I mentioned recently with their new Windows Mobile device has brought out the GW620, its first Android based phone - apparently they will be bringing out another 10 Androide devices in 2010

The GW 620 is a full screen slider, with a 5mp camera plus the usual connectivity one would expect.

My usual Android concerns apply - rioadmap, versions, Nexus etc.....

IBM Quickr integration on Blackberry

Not being a Lotus man myself (well not since Lotus 1-2-3 anyway) I have to say that integration to an enterprise's document store from a Blackberry is not really relevant to me. If you are a BB/IBM house however I am sure that the ability to browse your network is quite exciting. Research on the subject points you to a phone shop called Quikr in Bangalore (all 3 pages of it) but to get a view of the corporate directory view there's a piece here

Well if you want just Talk, Text & Time...................

I haven't seen to many devices as cool as the SonyEricsson Xperia Pureness.

Only in the US at the moment and "right up there" as far as pricing is concerned

Video here

New Windows Mobile

No, I'm not breaking any NDAs here but I saw that Windows Mobile 6.5.3 was being shown at CES.

I understand that the system generally works more smoothly (certainly on a 1Ghz Snapdragon processor) and that there have been a number of tweaks to the look and feel that are welcom

You can see a video here (although the chap does seem to "lock up" slightly when it comes to using the calendar)

I must say that it is good to get an update to Windows Mobile (there is no given timescale for general release yet) . Some OEMs (HTC for example) have put some very good overlays onto Windows Mobile, others have made a bit of a mess of the whole affair.

Roll Tide !

I see 'Bama won their first National Title since '92.

Nick Saban has done a great job with the Tide, who, apparently have just as good a shot next season. With Mark Ingram winning the Heisman, it has been a great year for Alabama. I feel a bit sorry for Texas, who lost Colt McCoy through an injury.

Further Snapdragon Developments

My HTC HD2 is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and I must say that performance-wise the HD2 is a real powerhouse. It was interesting to see, therefore, that Qualcomm are going to be rolling out faster Snapdragon chips over the course of the year. Should power Windows Phones pretty well.

The Acer A1 Liquid is powered by a Snapdragon, although I hear that this Android device is a bit plasticky to that touch and that brings me to a pet subject of mine - build quality.

My old Xperia X1 was the best built device I have had and I'm rather hoping to see how the X2 matches up. Shouldn't be long now. I think that the initial touch is one of the most important factors when weighing up a new phone and SonyEricssons really have that quality feel.

The HD2 and Omnia 2 are OK, but I have seen a number of phones which don't quite cut the mustard (remember that horrible Blackberry Bold?)

Nexus One

So, it's an HTC phone - therefore it's a pretty good phone, no surprise there. But I must say I'm not sure of the strategy here, or what the deal between Mountain View and HTC is.

Sure, Google is a heavyweight brand name and that should deliver a ton of sales regardless of how good the phone is. But how do Moto and Samsung see a competitor to their own Droid devices?

The Nexus is a consumer device, that's certain (no enterprise eupport to speak of ) but I'll be interested to see how this plays out.

LG GM750

We really have not had much to do with LG devices. I am not sure why - the LG brand seems to have a good reputation (and my mother's LG television is excellent (!))



Vodafone have an exclusive on the new LG GM750. It is a WM6.5 Professional device and, frankly displays an Iphone style layout. If we get hold of one I will let you know my view - I've seen some mixed reviews so far, but the "cons" seem to be about the interface which, with most WM overlays, will take a bit of getting used to.