Windows Mobile
Mobile Media Center 1.0.2 released
OABSoftware just released Mobile Media Center 1.0.2, a free utility running on Windows Mobile OS. The graphics are designed with familiar look of WMC on either Windows Vista or Windows XP. The finger touch friendly app can play various media files (Audio, Videos, Photos, RSS feeds for video or audio podcasts). Read more the user [...]
OABSoftware just released Mobile Media Center 1.0.2, a free utility running on Windows Mobile OS. The graphics are designed with familiar look of WMC on either Windows Vista or Windows XP. The finger touch friendly app can play various media files (Audio, Videos, Photos, RSS feeds for video or audio podcasts). Read more the user guide HERE!
Windows Mobile is considering capacity screen support
The iPhone, Palm Pre, Android have capacitive screen support, while Windows Mobile only supports resistive screen. Even Steve Ballmer mentioned in recent interview the reason why. Microsoft certainly will consider to implement this feature in future Windows Mobile OS releases.
Taken from a recent Microsoft development blog, which gives a nice summary of the [...]
The iPhone, Palm Pre, Android have capacitive screen support, while Windows Mobile only supports resistive screen. Even Steve Ballmer mentioned in recent interview the reason why. Microsoft certainly will consider to implement this feature in future Windows Mobile OS releases.
Taken from a recent Microsoft development blog, which gives a nice summary of the touchscreen technologies
Resistive
Touch enabled Windows Mobile devices traditionally sport a plastic tipped stylus and have a touch screen based on resistive technology.
In brief resistive screen technology is based on two layers of transparent conducting material (Indium Tin Oxide or ITO) separated by an air gap held apart with tiny insulating plastic beads. Pressing the screen deforms the two sheets and makes contact between them and from the change in resistance the screen firmware can identify where the stylus has been placed. There are lots of variations on this technology.
Resistive screens have several killer properties: they are cheap, very accurate for a stylus, and they can continue to work in quite hostile environments i.e. dirty screens.
However they do suffer in other areas: they require an amount of force to deform the screen and make contact between the conducting layers; because of the multi plastic layers placed on top of the display and the air gap, some brightness is always lost; cheap & readily available traditional resistive screens really only support a single touch point - more advanced digital resistive sensors have been demonstrated which do support multiple touch points, but this is a future development; it’s quite tough to get more information beyond just the point location i.e. size of the touch area; and durability can be an issue due to the use of moving parts – i.e. deformation of the screen.
Capacitive
Another touch technology that has rapidly gained in popularity is capacitive (as found in the iPhone, Palm Pre and Android G1). This technology works by continually measuring the capacitive property of different areas of the screen. When conducting material such as a finger is placed on the screen, its capacitive properties change and the screen driver can determine where the finger is based upon the changes.
Capacitive technology has several advantages: zero pressure is required to make an input because nothing needs to be deformed and this leads to a much more natural interface experience; although additional material is laid onto the screen, there is no air gap so optical clarity is much improved reducing the need for backlighting making power draw lower; multiple touch points can be supported; things like touch size and pressure can be extrapolated from the capacitive data.
However they do suffer in other areas: in general the cost is currently higher than the equivalent resistive screen; supporting a stylus is hard because it must be made of conducting material and must make sufficient contact to change the capacitive property of the screen; in several areas the accuracy tends to be lower than resistive e.g. around the edges of the screen, combined with the lack of a stylus and lower sample rates makes things like handwriting input very hard.
There are other input technologies developing all the time, but at the moment these two represent nearly all the market for mobile devices.
Windows Mobile 6.5 has primarily been designed for resistive screens because some input areas still rely on small controls and require a high level of input accuracy that can’t be easily achieved with a finger and require a stylus; however some device manufacturers are considering options to ship capacitive screens.
Looking forward the mobile team is considering how to address these issues and support many more screen types including capacitive.
Skype 3.0 for Windows Mobile released
Skype, the popular VoIP just released Skype 3.0 for Windows Mobile. The notable changes are File transfer (similar to the desktop counterpart) and SMS.
Other new features/enhancements include:
feature: Add to Contacts Wizard
feature: Dial Helper
improvement: Emoticons support in mood messages/about me
improvement: Hyperlinks support in mood messages/about me
improvement: Added option to block [...]
Skype, the popular VoIP just released Skype 3.0 for Windows Mobile. The notable changes are File transfer (similar to the desktop counterpart) and SMS.
Other new features/enhancements include:
- feature: Add to Contacts Wizard
- feature: Dial Helper
- improvement: Emoticons support in mood messages/about me
- improvement: Hyperlinks support in mood messages/about me
- improvement: Added option to block users from search results
- improvement: New user interface for Status tab, history and chat
- improvement: Option to Remove Skype folder from Application Data during uninstallation
Mozilla Weave Sync Bookmarks, Passwords, Preferences across systems
The anticipated Firefox 3.5 is on course for Tuesday release. In addition to new enhancements, Mozilla also released its add-on, Weave, allowing Firefox users to synchronize bookmarks, passwords, and now preferences and automatic logins across systems. Weave essentially is a framework that let you export your Firefox environment to the cloud, so from any [...]
The anticipated Firefox 3.5 is on course for Tuesday release. In addition to new enhancements, Mozilla also released its add-on, Weave, allowing Firefox users to synchronize bookmarks, passwords, and now preferences and automatic logins across systems. Weave essentially is a framework that let you export your Firefox environment to the cloud, so from any computer with Firefox running, you can feel at home. Future versions will add support synchronizing the user’s extensions, themes, and search plug-ins. The latest Weave Beta will also work with the new Fennec mobile running on Windows Mobile and Maemo devices. [Source Mozilla Labs via gHacks]
Toshiba TG01 Comes With Nimbuzz for O2 in Germany
First Handsets Available With Optimized Version of the Nimbuzz Social Messaging Client Pre-Installed.
Today, Nimbuzz announces that its native preinstalled version will be available on the highly anticipated Toshiba TG01 handset that will launch with O2 Germany in mid June 2009.
The arrival of the TG01, one of the most anticipated new smartphones of 2009, brings [...]
First Handsets Available With Optimized Version of the Nimbuzz Social Messaging Client Pre-Installed.
Today, Nimbuzz announces that its native preinstalled version will be available on the highly anticipated Toshiba TG01 handset that will launch with O2 Germany in mid June 2009.
The arrival of the TG01, one of the most anticipated new smartphones of 2009, brings Nimbuzz’s award-winning integrated instant messaging and social networking capabilities pre-installed on the high performance, feature rich device available at launch on the O2 network.
O2 and Toshiba chose Nimbuzz as its social messaging partner in Germany. Accessed via a central icon on the home screen the fast, reliable and easy to use app integrates seamlessly onto the handset and the always on nature of Nimbuzz suits today’s "hyperconnected" digital lifestyle. The three companies worked closely together to deliver lifestyle communications features on the Toshiba TG01 for contacting all of your friends across multiple networks from one place. Integrating Nimbuzz achieves this goal thanks to the inclusion of local social networks such as StudiVZ in the client along side all of the major global communities.
The Toshiba TG01 was first unveiled earlier in the year, with high anticipation from mobile fans for its arrival in the market. With O2 securing the first-to-market launch for the TG01 in Germany this will be marked by a series of promotional events at its flagship stores in Munich and Berlin and a full marketing campaign rolled out across Germany.
Nimbuzz CEO Evert-Jaap Lugt commented: "Software enriches the value chain for the mobile ecosystem. Users, who are looking for a device that fits their lifestyle, operators, looking for new ARPU magnets, and handset manufacturers looking for a value add to differentiate, all profit from Nimbuzz’s mass market solution. Adding 750,000 new users a month, we welcome all O2 customers and TG01 users to Nimbuzz."
Hiroyuki Goto, Technical Director, Toshiba Information Systems (UK) Ltd, Mobile Communications Divison added: "We chose the best of breed mobile content to accompany such a strategic handset for our business and are delighted to offer the TG01 with Nimbuzz as our social messaging partner for the launch of the device with O2 Germany."
The next HTC TouchFlo 3D V2.5
The customized UI called TouchFLO that HTC introduced since the Diamond has given a fresher visual interest to the aging Windows Mobile. The interface TouchFLO3D codenamed Manila seems to be soon upgraded to version 2.5 with better customization and introduction of the feature HTC Footprint, which offers geo-tagging to picture taken with the built-in [...]
The customized UI called TouchFLO that HTC introduced since the Diamond has given a fresher visual interest to the aging Windows Mobile. The interface TouchFLO3D codenamed Manila seems to be soon upgraded to version 2.5 with better customization and introduction of the feature HTC Footprint, which offers geo-tagging to picture taken with the built-in camera.
There were many rumors with the latest showing of a complete new UI called HTC Sense on the Android-based HTC Hero, people suggest HTC would port Sense to Windows Mobile device. Unfortunately, some branding issues with Google might prevent this from happning. In that case TouchFLO 3D V2.5 could be carried forward to new WM devices.
[Video courtesy of starbase64]
[Via PocketNow]
Mozilla released Fennec Alpha 2
Fennec, the mobile browser version of Mozilla foundation just got an update to Alpha 2 running on Windows Mobile. The progress seems to be rather slow on this mobile version, perhaps due to the more urgent Firefox 3.5 that will make its public debut this Tuesday?
According to the change log, below are the new [...]
Fennec, the mobile browser version of Mozilla foundation just got an update to Alpha 2 running on Windows Mobile. The progress seems to be rather slow on this mobile version, perhaps due to the more urgent Firefox 3.5 that will make its public debut this Tuesday?
According to the change log, below are the new enhancements:
- Improved panning performance
- Newly designed theme
- JavaScript error console is now built in
- Improved add-on support
- Numerous bug fixes
- Improved UI polish
Download the latest alpha, for the HTC Touch Pro HERE! or you can test it on your desktop with this version. [Via WMpoweruser]
Beta Version of Searchme Mobile Search App Now Available for Windows Mobile
New Mobile Search App Gives Windows Mobile Users Cool Visual Search App Searchme, Inc. (www.searchme.com) announced today that the beta version of the Searchme app is now available for Windows Mobile smartphones. The Searchme app provides an innovative mobile search experience with a fun, easy-to-use interface specially designed for touch screen handsets running on [...]
New Mobile Search App Gives Windows Mobile Users Cool Visual Search App Searchme, Inc. (www.searchme.com) announced today that the beta version of the Searchme app is now available for Windows Mobile smartphones. The Searchme app provides an innovative mobile search experience with a fun, easy-to-use interface specially designed for touch screen handsets running on the Windows Mobile platform.
Instead of a list of blue links, Searchme delivers images of web pages, videos, music and products that play right on the search result page making it easy to find and consume information on a cell phone. Searchme offers significantly improved performance for searching on a phone because it runs as a native Windows Mobile application, rather than in a slow-rendering web browser. Unlike other search applications, Searchme supports a full touch screen interface.
"Since launching our mobile app a few months ago, we had an overwhelming response from people who love the idea of a richer, more visual search experience on their phones. We’re very excited that we’re now able to introduce millions of Windows Mobile users to this superior mobile search experience that delivers quick page loads and immediate access to relevant information," said Randy Adams, Searchme Founder and CEO.
Searchme is the world’s first visual search engine, designed from the ground up to provide the user with a better search experience. Live for less than a year, Searchme has gained favor with web searchers and has more than 4 million monthly users now, growing more than 180 percent since January 2009.
The Searchme app for Windows Mobile is available in the Tools section at www.searchme.com. The Searchme mobile search app can also be found on the iTunes App Store, Nokia Ovi Store and Android Market.
