Hmmm.. We were expecting this announcement for a long time and finally it has happened. Sony Ericsson has announced the XPERIA X1, a new stylish looking Windows Mobile phone. This new phone packs in a punch with a 800×480 resolution screen and other goodies like A-GPS and auto focus camera. While this got many people […]
It looks like Microsoft has conquered the final frontier in its quest to make Windows Mobile the No. 1 mobile operating system. A report from itwire suggests that Microsoft is in talks with Nokia to bring the Windows Mobile platform onto Nokia handsets. This will have very interesting consequences as Nokia is currently the only […]
…but this time, it is in the mobile world. Web browsing on mobile devices always had its challenges. Smaller screen size and lower processing power meant limited browsing experience on the handset. Technologies like WAP came and went without much enthusiasm from end users. The reason for the failures are simple: Users expect the same […]
Over at Symbian-Guru, dotisisx wrote a detailed write up on 10 things that S60 can learn from WM, based on her experience of using both the platforms. Coming from a similar background, (except that I switched from Windows Mobile to S60) I do have similar sentiments about the Windows Mobile platform.
Because of its excellent Outlook […]
As you may have noticed, NewsGator has made all their previously paid products free! This includes the mobile version of the NewsGator, NetNewsWire and FeedDemon. If you are looking for an RSS reader for your mobile, you can get NewsGator Go, which is available for Windows Mobile, Blackberry and Java enabled mobile phones.
A nice feature […]
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The shell applications for Windows Mobile are now mushrooming. This trend is quite noticeable after the introduction of Apple iPhone - It should not come as a surprise because when compared to the modern UI on the iPhone, Windows Mobile provides a decade old, boring and sometimes confusing user interface. But given its extensive programming library, developers have the freedom to create new interfaces that can change the user experience on the Windows Mobile devices. HTC TouchFLO was one of the first and still a popular shell for the WM devices. Others like SPB also have some offerings. While these shells provide a nice way to launch built-in applications, their novelty wears out once the native applications come to the front. Most shells try to enable a finger based navigation, but the lack of consistency becomes apparent when the native applications require you to use the stylus. This severely limits the usability of the shell applications.
Pointui, a group of developers, have created a new shell application for windows mobile. This shell installs a home screen which has a finger based slide navigation that provides appointments, weather and a nice pair of digital and analog clocks on the screen. What impressed me most was the fluid animation on the screen when you scroll the content and flip the pages. It is very well implemented and the look and feel is extremely professional. The icons on the bottom of the screen represent the four commonly used applications. Touching the bottom slides a launch screen for all the other applications that are installed on the handset. For the first time, I could see that the Pointui developers have replaced the official title bar on Windows Mobile with their own, which provides easier access to the Home (instead of the typical start menu of WinMo) and also provides battery status and a clock. The misleading 'X' mark, which Microsoft still persists with, is replaced with a more intuitive '-' which aptly denotes minimize. You can watch a YouTube video of Pointui in action here.
The problem starts once the native applications are launched - you no longer have the freedom to use your fingers, but you have to fall back on using the stylus. The same old Windows Mobile applications start presenting themselves in all their glory. You forget that a nice little shell launched this clumsy application. This is where the developers need to look beyond the standard Windows applications. For example, using the POOM API (Pocket Outlook Object Model), the developers of Pointui could have created replacement applications for Contacts and Tasks. This would have enhanced the user experience even further as the new applications could blend very well within the shell, thus providing a consistent user interface. Pointui did a good job with the call history list - they can think about extending this further to other applications which can be replaced using the APIs provided by Windows Mobile. A good possibility is the complete PIM suite.
Proliferation of new shells also send out a clear message to Microsoft: It is time to retire the current UI on Windows Mobile. Rumors point to a reworked interface for Windows Mobile 7, which is good news, but you can expect new devices only next year, which is a long time in the technology industry.
Related: Can Microsoft get it right with the next version of Windows Mobile?
Most people were disappointed when iPod Touch came out without bluetooth support. Lack of BT support meant that you cannot dial out from a mobile phone and use the data connection to browse the internet on the excellent Safari browser on the Touch. If you are using a Windows Mobile device, there is a ray of hope. Using a simple tool called WMWiFiRouter, you can convert your Wi-Fi enabled Windows Mobile device into a router and can share its GPRS/EDGE/3G/HSDPA/EVDO connection with a number of other devices which have a Wi-Fi connection!! It is pretty simple and straightforward to setup. Just make sure that you have WM5 with AKU3.3 or above or WM6. Once WMWiFiRouter is setup, you can detect this WiFi access point on your iPod Touch and connect to it.
Keep an eye on your battery. Better to keep it charged while you are running this, as AdHoc Wi-Fi connections are a drain on the battery.
Now, if only I had such a wonderful tool for my Nokia N95.
[via Mr. Mobile]
So much has been talked about Windows Mobile and iPhone these days. Some new statistics show that the iPhone, which was introduced 6 months back by Apple, has overtaken Windows Mobile in sales - a mobile operating system which is available to customers for almost a decade now. (Windows Mobile started its life as the Pocket PC in the late 90s.)
The introduction of Apple iPhone, which can’t even be called as a smart phone, has driven Microsoft to its extreme that they have already started talking about the next 3 releases of Windows Mobile, which seems to be a desperate measure from Microsoft to keep the consumer interest intact. Unfortunately, these releases are almost years away from seeing the light of the day, by which time, the iPhone would have improved vastly, not to mention the upcoming SDK which would spawn a whole lot of new applications for the platform. This will result in a very healthy ecosystem of applications which will only help Apple gain a much bigger market share.
So what is wrong with Windows Mobile? To start with, there is a fundamental difference in the way Windows Mobile approaches the handset user experience when compared to mobile OS X. While the Microsoft approach to Windows Mobile is that of a mini desktop (yep, we even have the start menu there!!), the Apple’s approach is a refreshing change. Apple designed the UI from ground up, which is very well optimized for mobile usage, which gives a very natural user experience. Microsoft, only recently has started realizing that the mobile UI paradigm is totally different from the desktop.
The second most important problem is the poor road map MS had for Windows Mobile. Almost all upgrades to Windows Mobile have been incremental in the past. Since the only worthy competing platform was Blackberry, a sort of complacency set in and MS never really bothered to upgrade some of the applications on the handsets. A good example is the Pocket Internet Explorer, which is almost useless as a mobile web browser. You should’nt be surprised to hear that the core engine for PIE, even on WM6 is based on Internet Explorer 4 !! This browser has not changed in years. While competing platforms like S60 and iPhone have browsers which bring full Internet experience to handset, There are other smaller quirks, which beg to be fixed for several years.
The greatest danger is when Microsoft designs something from scratch. We saw that with Vista, Now that the WM team is talking about building WM8 from scratch, it is going to be yet another hit or miss for Microsoft. If Zune 2 is any indication, we hope that MS gets it right with WM 8 too. Till then, consumers can stick with S60 or the iPhone.
Technorati Tags: analysis
Rumors say that Sony Ericsson could be launching some new Windows Mobile devices in the coming months. Once again, HTC seems to be the beneficiary as they are touted to be the ODM who will be manufacturing these devices. On the one hand, it is hard to believe that SE will take such a step considering they are the owners of UIQ, a Symbian based touch screen enabled operating system. On the other hand, it seems to be a logical step for SE considering that the business based phone offerings from SE are almost zero, barring the new P1i. In contrast, Nokia has been very successful with the e-series phones. A couple of Windows Mobile based offerings will help SE to quickly grab some share in the enterprise business market space.
This is also good news for Windows Mobile users, as they will see better quality cameras and music players in the SE based offerings. Sound multimedia capabilities is one thing that Windows Mobile devices have been lacking in. In any case, it is a win-win situation for everyone. Nokia, are you listening?
[via the::unwired]
