by jaganath on December 18, 2007
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
by jaganath on September 19, 2007
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]
by jaganath on September 18, 2007
HTC entered india with a bang a couple of months back. Hitherto available only through resellers like O2 and i-mate, HTC devices are now available as branded HTC itself. The company priced the launchtime handsets, the Touch and S710 very aggressively - in fact cheaper than the european market - which led to some remarkable sales numbers during the first few weeks. I heard that Touch is in great demand and dealers are running short of supply! Indeed it is a sleek device. Probably the best looking Windows Mobile device ever.
As a result of HTC's pricing, O2 and i-mate also reduced the prices, which means you can get a brand new WM device starting from about INR 12K. That is an amazing price point considering that you had to shell out atleast 25K a couple of months back to get a good WinMobile phone.
by jaganath on June 25, 2007
RAM prices are falling at an astronomical rate, most likely because of the launch of Windows Vista about 6 months back. We saw the same effect during Windows XP launch. The need for higher memory to run new operating systems send the RAM prices spiralling towards the bottom. During XP days, the 256 MB module was in heavier demand. This time around, it is the 1 GB module that has become quite popular. Don't even think of building a Windows Vista based media center PC without a minimum of 2GB RAM.
I bought a 1 GB DDR2 RAM module for INR 5400 ($131) during November 2006. The same module is now available for INR 1700 ($41), a whopping 300% price drop! The price may still fall further to the INR 1000 range in the next few months. So, now is the best time to get that memory upgrade that you always wanted.
by jaganath on June 12, 2007
One of the highlights during WWDC 2006 was Apple's childish comparisons of Windows Vista with OS X Tiger. Steve Jobs opened his Leopard part of the keynote with a 'top secret' feature which he did not want to reveal because he felt that Microsoft would copy that and release it as part of Vista, which was at RC builds during that time.
Now that Mr. Jobs' WWDC 2007 keynote is over, I can't help wondering which one of the ten features that he highlighted could be the "top secret" one. Is that the new Dock? The new dock could not be top secret because it is a blatant copy from Sun's project, the Looking Glass. See for yourself here.
We have seen enough of Cover Flow, Core Animation, Time Machine etc., in the past. They are no secret. Then what was that top secret feature? Could it be the iChat Theatre? Oh, wait, Microsoft Windows, which Mr. Jobs uses for playing Minesweeper and Solitaire, has had something very similar called Netmeeting for more than a decade now. Then is it the Spaces, Quicklook, 64bit or the Boot Camp? Hmmm.. I don't know. May be the top secret feature is hidden in the rest of the 290 features that are new to Leopard. Only His Highness knows. Can someone help me 'unearth' this top secret feature?
by jaganath on June 6, 2007
In Vista, Activesync is replaced by Windows Mobile Device Center. Often called WMDC, the Mobile Device Center brings better usability and easier management of Windows Mobile devices with Windows Vista. Media and photo synchronization has been improved and there is a link to browse the device easily through explorer. Unfortunately, your pristine Windows Vista installation does not have WMDC pre-installed. You have to download it separately from a Microsoft website. Previously in beta, the recently launched WMDC final version is now much more stable and ready to be installed in everyone’s PC.
Here are the download links:
32bit version
64 bit version
Related: Know your Vista: Readyboost and how to hack it
Related: Know your Vista: Sideshow
by jaganath on June 4, 2007
Yet another unique feature of Windows Vista is the Vista sideshow. SideShow helps Vista drive small, auxiliary displays which can be used to show useful information like Emails, weather updates, contact information etc., without opening the laptop or booting a computer. SideShow is different from the traditional secondary display - which is enabled through an external monitor - in that it does not display information from your existing screen, but supplements it by providing additional information. ASUS and LG demonstrated a laptop equipped with a small LCD display on top of the device. The one shown above is the LG Z1 laptop with Sideshow.
There are many gadgets with SideShow capability which are being made available now. A very interesting device is the Vista Media Center remote from Philips. The remote has a small LCD screen which displays media information like artist, album info etc., from the Vista media center pc to which it is paired. Since this is an RF remote, the user need not be in the line of sight of the media center, but can be anywhere in the house and can still chose what song to play using the tiny display.
A remarkable feature of Vista SideShow is the ability to display widgets (gadgets) created for the Sidebar. SideShow capable devices are classified into many types. A basic sideshow device may display a couple of lines of text while an enhanced one can display pictures and video. Once Vista becomes mainstream, we can expect a gamut of SideShow compatible devices in the market. The bag shown above is a very interesting 'device' - It is a regular handbag with a Vista sideshow display! The data on the screen gets updated through bluetooth from the laptop. The bag is manufactured by a company called Eleksen.
Related: Know your Vista: Readyboost and how to hack it.
Related: Know your Vista: Windows Mobile Device Center
by jaganath on May 22, 2007
One gripe Windows Mobile users have been having for years is the short upgrade times. Unlike Vista, Microsoft has been very prompt when it comes to delivery of Windows mobile upgrades. Most of the time, a new OS update comes within a year of the phone purchase. This puts off many people as they get that constant nagging feeling of using an outdated device. Very few manufacturers - like DELL and HP - offered updates for old devices. Operators almost never issued ROM upgrades for existing users, unless it is a patch release.
But this time around, the news is very encouraging. In an unprecedented move, most device vendors- including but not limited to Motorola, ETEN, HTC, Samsung and ASUS have issued official Windows Mobile 6 upgrades to customers with WM5 handsets. All the upgrades are free too! This means many of the devices now have a lifetime of atleast 3 years which is remarkable for a Windows Mobile device. This move will definitely improve loyalty and satisfaction among end customers. Kudos to the operators and device makers.
PS: Ironically, HP has not offered any WM6 upgrades to its WM5 based phones. Definitely not a happy news for iPAQ customers.
by jaganath on May 11, 2007
I have read several articles and reviews on Windows Vista. I noticed that no review covered one of the highly improved features in Windows Vista - the cleartype font rendering. Sure, cleartype has been around since Windows XP days, but in Vista the default font rendering looks dramatically improved. On an LCD monitor, the fonts render as if they are on print. You can keep looking at the monitor for hours without getting your eyes tired. This is way better than the default font rendering that comes with many Linux distributions or the blurry font rendering in OS X.
Vista also ships with a new set of fonts (all starting with the letter C) which look ultra cool. For developers, the Consolas font is probably one of the best fonts ever created for programming. If you are on Vista, set all your text editor fonts to Consolas and see the difference!
I have slightly tweaked the CSS on this site, so that it uses some of the 'C' fonts that come with Vista.
by jaganath on May 1, 2007
What is ReadyBoost?
Microsoft Windows Vista comes with a horde of new features. Among them is a unique new feature called ReadyBoost which does not exist in any other operating system. ReadyBoost is a disk caching technology which improves the system performance by using a flash based memory like SD/Compact flash card or a USB memory stick. The idea behind ReadyBoost technology is simple: Random read times on flash memory is faster than that on a hard drive. By storing frequently accessed programs or program data in the flash drive, Vista can access these data faster, thus providing better response times. When you plug in a USB memory stick into your Vista PC, Vista can use all or part of this stick as a cache to store the ReadyBoost data. If the memory stick can handle at least 3.5MB/second read time for 4kb blocks and 2.5 MB/second write time for 512kb blocks, it can be used for this purpose.
If you are planning to buy a memory stick for ReadyBoost, ensure that it supports at least this speed. Thankfully, many new USB memory sticks come with ‘ReadyBoost ready‘ logo. When you plug in a device which meets these basic requirements, Vista automatically launches a dialog box which allows you to use it for ReadyBoost. Also, nothing will happen if you pull out the USB stick while Vista is using it. Remember, it is only being used as a cache – if Vista can’t find your memory stick, it will happily fetch the data from the hard drive.
The ReadyBoost hack
Now what if your memory stick just falls short of the basic requirements for ReadyBoost? Well, Vista will naturally reject it. But then, there is a registry hack by which you can force any external drive to be used for ReadyBoost. But note: While you can use an external hard drive for this purpose, it will not give any performance boost for obvious reasons.
Plug-in your memory stick. Right click on the device on windows explorer and select properties. Select the ReadyBoost tab and check “Do not retest this device”. Now fire up the registry editor and navigate to HKLM -> Software -> Microsoft -> WindowsNT -> CurrentVersion -> EMDMgmt. All your devices which you attempted to use for ReadyBoost are listed here. Select the one you intended to use and change the following settings.
- DeviceStatus to 2
- ReadSpeedKBs to 1000 (hexadecimal)
- WriteSpeedKBs to 1000 (hexadecimal)
Plug-in the memory stick again. You will now be greeted with a screen giving you an option to use it for ReadyBoost. Select how much space you want to use for this feature – you are done! Enjoy your ReadyBoost now!
Caution: Editing registry is only recommended for experienced users. If you have never done this before, better get a ReadyBoost ready memory stick than messing up with your registry. You are warned.
Related: Know your Vista - 2: Windows Vista Sideshow
