Developages - Development and Technology Blog

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

We’d been encouraged in previous spy shots that AT&T was intending to keep a clean, brand-free look on the front of the Fuze, but what were we thinking? That’d never sit well with the suits up on the 49th floor of AT&ampT’s headquarters (we just made that up, by the way — we have no idea how many floors AT&ampT’s headquarters has), and sure enough, the latest batch of shots is showing a big ol’ logo slapped on the upper right of the face. The poster says release is currently planned for early November, but we’d say that target is about as solid as one of those Jello rings you make in a bundt mold. We’ll believe it when it’s on the shelf, as they say.

[Via wmpoweruser]

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Original post by Chris Ziegler

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless

With Sprint snagging the vast majority of the WiMAX limelight of late, we aren’t going to complain with a similar network halfway across the globe yanking it back. Out of absolutely nowhere comes HTC’s first WiMAX-enabled handset, the sure-to-be-delightful T8290. Reportedly, this bugger packs a 3.8-inch 800 x 480 resolution display, 802.11g WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0, GSM and WiMAX radios and is expected to launch soon on Russia’s Yota. Granted, we can’t take this as hard truth or anything quite yet, but the images that reside in the read link are more than convincing. Oh, and HTC — given that you’re passing on the US with the Touch HD, do you think it′d be possible to get this over here for use with XOHM? We’d really, really appreciate it.

[Via Slashphone, thanks to everyone who sent this in]

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Handhelds

Like your smartphones with a little heft to them? Check out Motorola’s new VC6096, an oversized Windows Mobile 6.1 device for those with inventory (and employees) to track. The 4.85 pound behemoth is intended for dashboards, not Dockers, and features a wealth of connectivity to ensure your workers are never offline, like HSDPA, 802.11a/b/g, and Bluetooth too. It also offers SAE J1708 and J1939 ports for communicating directly with the systems of whatever vehicle you mount it in, and a SiRFstarIII GSC3ef/LP GPS chipset for pinpointing exactly where your last shipment of widgets was delivered. The front sports a 6.5-inch VGA touchscreen and a backlit 65-key keyboard, while inside hides 128MB of RAM plus 256MB of flash for storage and a 624 MHz XScale PXA270 processor, a faster version of the same chip we′ve seen before in other shop-minded portables. Price isn’t set, but this could be the must-have gadget for your fleet in ‘09.

[Via NaviGadget]

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Original post by Tim Stevens

Filed under: Cellphones

Not that Motorola’s Q11 comes as any big surprise, but it’s nice to see the Windows Mobile 6.1-packin’ smartphone get all official on us. Now boasting its very own dedicated page on Moto’s website, the Q11 comes to us with quad-band GPRS / EDGE (no 3G, for whatever reason), a 3-megapixel camera with LED flash, 64MB of RAM, microSD card slot, Bluetooth 2.1, a 320 x 240 resolution display, integrated GPS and a multimedia player with support for all sorts of file formats. You can also expect up to 450 minutes of talk time and up to 195 hours in standby, but you won’t be able to wrap your paws around it until December. As for carriers and pricing? Patience, friends, patience.

[Via UnwiredView]

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Cellphones

Not that Motorola’s Q11 comes as any big surprise, but it’s nice to see the Windows Mobile 6.1-packin’ smartphone get all official on us. Now boasting its very own dedicated page on Moto’s website, the ᾯ comes to us with quad-band GPRS / EDGE (no 3G, for whatever reason), a 3-megapixel camera with LED flash, 64MB of RAM, microSD card slot, Bluetooth 2.1, a 320 x 240 resolution display, integrated GPS and a multimedia player with support for all sorts of file formats. You can also expect up to 450 minutes of talk time and up to 195 hours in standby, but you won’t be able to wrap your paws around it until December. As for carriers and pricing? Patience, friends, patience.

[Via UnwiredView]

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Cellphones

Not even a fortnight after HTC’s Touch HD went official in Germany, out pops a review from Deutschland calling it the best thing since sliced bread. Okay, so maybe our translation skills are a bit off, but one thing’s for sure — it was hailed as the first “iPhone killer to deserve that name.” Right off the bat, reviewers praised the TouchFLO 3D interface for masking Windows Mobile, and of course, the expansive display was drooled upon numerous times. Additionally, critics praised the Opera browser while scolding Internet Explorer, and while it’s hard to say for certain whether the battery life was remarkable, it definitely seemed to get their vote of approval. Of note, the 3.5-millimeter headphone jack was also loved, making us weep while thinking of what could have been with the T-Mobile ˇ. At any rate, it seems pretty clear that the Touch HD is going to rock some socks off, but we’re trying to push it out of our minds until it becomes available on this side of the drink. Too bad that approach isn’t working at all.

[Via WMPowerUser]

Read - Early Touch HD review
Read - Video showing off Stocks tab

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Now that Sony Ericsson’s mighty X1 has earned the FCC’s love and affection, you won’t be an outlaw for using one in the States — but unfortunately, you won’t be a speed demon everywhere, either. The version that just nabbed approval here is the X1i, and anyone familiar with Sony Ericsson’s naming scheme can tell you that an “i″ means a phone’s not really meant for North American consumption; in this case, we′re lucky to squeak by with UMTS Band II support, which means we′ll theoretically be able to pick up some of AT&T’s 1900MHz signal. On 850, though, you’ll be stuck with EDGE. Of course, a true global launch has been in the cards for the X1 from day one, and we′re not worried that we won’t see a more 3G-rife model getting torn down by the feds — this just ain’t it.

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Original post by Chris Ziegler

Filed under: Cellphones

Details on this one are about as light as can be at the moment, but The Wall Street Journal has it that HP is aiming to expand its iPAQ smartphone line into the consumer market with a new model that it′ll market to both average consumers and corporate users alike. According to “people briefed on the plan,” the phone will have both a touchscreen and a keypad and, naturally, it′ll run Windows Mobile 6.1 — oh, and it′ll be able to “send and receive emails, and access the Internet.” While there’s no indication of a price just yet, word is the device will be available in Europe first within the next two months, with a worldwide release to follow sometime thereafter.

[Via Gearlog]

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Original post by Donald Melanson

Filed under: Cellphones

Steve Ballmer’s whirlwind UK media tour ahead of the Professional Developers Conference just keeps giving us sound bite gems: first it was Windows Cloud, then Zune on Windows Mobile, and now Stevie′s taking shots at Android and the G1. Calling Microsoft David to Google′s search Goliath, Ballms said that he wasn’t worried about Android because it won’t be “attractive″ to other handset manufacturers because it’s “version one… and it looks like version one.” Not only that, but he apparently thinks Google′s going to sit still, saying “they’ve got one handset maker, we′ve got 55. They’re available through one operator, we′ve got 175.” True for now, sure, but we know Android isn’t going to languish on a single handset on a single carrier for long — and we’re pretty certain Steve knows that HTC and T-Mobile aren’t exactly minor players, regardless. Still, it’s some masterful bluster from a master of bluster — now if he’d just back it up with Windows Mobile 7, we’d be way more inclined to believe him.

[Via Cool Smart Phones]

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Original post by Nilay Patel

Filed under: Cellphones, Portable Audio, Portable Video

Rumors of a Zune phone have floated around forever, but we’ve always thought it would make more sense for Microsoft to start by simply making a Zune player for Windows Mobile — a plan Steve Ballmer casually confirmed today in an interview with CIO Magazine. Sure, Ballmer’s hinted at Zune on WinMo in the past, but those were just hints — not like today’s pronouncement that “the Zune software will also be ported to and be more important not just with the hardware but on the PC, on Windows Mobile devices, etc.” That’s a pretty solid declaration of things to come, if you ask us — too bad he didn′t give a time frame. Now, about that 360 integration.

[Via WM Power User]

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Original post by Nilay Patel

Filed under: Cellphones

We’ve heard it time and time again, but the inner Zune Guy within us refuses to believe Microsoft is really shunning the chance to pump out a handset of its very own. Unfortunately, Lady Luck hasn’t done us any favors since the last time this question was posed, as Scott Rockfeld, group product manager for Windows Mobile, recently confirmed that Microsoft has “no plans to build [its] own phone.” He continued by adding that “right now [it’s] happy to share the limelight.” C′mon Scott — where’s that tenacious spirit you had that first day in Redmond? Where’s the unrelenting determination to conquer the competition? Where’s… oh, never mind.

[Via Pocket PC Thoughts]

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Cellphones

Let’s do a quick recap, shall we? So we pretty much know everything there is to know about Verizon’s forthcoming BlackBerry Storm save for the price and release date, and so far as we can tell, Verizon’s version of the Touch Diamond is still expected to be totally underpowered compared to Sprint’s iteration. Now that we′ve rounded the tables, let’s have a look at this image above. This here is Verizon’s internal training schedule, and given that employees have to complete their Storm courses before November 2nd and their Touch Diamond courses before December 3rd, we′d say you now have a pretty good idea of when these two will be landing. Hey VZW — think you could make that “Blocking Features Assessment″ available to the public? We′re guessing it′d be a real hit.

[Thanks, Anonymous]

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Good thing nobody’s working on anything right now in the smartphone space, or this could be really bad news for Microsoft, whose current version of Windows Mobile lost the technology and usability edge a while ago, and is being bandaged up by the likes of HTC to keep the OS relevant to consumers. According to CNET, some of Microsoft’s partners in the space are claiming that the upcoming Windows Mobile 7 has been pushed back to the second half of 2009, instead of the “early next year″ they’d been expecting. Microsoft has yet to make a formal announcement about the release date of the OS or the specific feature set, so we can’t exactly point our fingers and laugh, but we’d say crying big, mobile OS tears into our morning cereal is certainly appropriate.

[Thanks, pd]

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Original post by Paul Miller

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Ever try to look at a really big picture on a really small screen, like the kind you’ll find on your average Windows Mobile phone? You’re either left scrolling all over or squinting, and while you might think a pico projector could be a handy solution, Microsoft thinks you′re wrong. You just need more phones! A patent application called “Mobile Device Collaboration” has been uncovered that describes how multiple mobile devices could be placed next to each other to share pixels, using proximity sensors to correctly orient one image across a plethora of screens. MS also wants phones to combine antennas to boost signal strength, CPUs to handle intensive tasks, and even batteries (via tether) so that if one phone is dying the other can keep it soldiering on. All well and good, but we’d be happy with improved battery life in just one WiMo phone, thanks very much.

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Original post by Tim Stevens

Filed under: Cellphones

Nothing is quite official about this ASUS phone just yet, but the current speculation is that it’s actually the ASUS 𓪵 and, judging from some newly-detailed specs, it looks like it shouldn’t have much trouble attracting its share of interest. Leading the way is a speedy 800MHz Marvell Tavor processor (apparently a first for any phone), and a still relatively uncommon 2.8-inch VGA screen, which should go nicely with the VGA camera for video conferencing (you′ll get 3-megapixels for still mages). Otherwise, you can expect European HSDPA connectivity, built-in GPS, a 1300mAh battery that promises 3.5 hours of 3G talk time, and Windows Mobile 6.1 for an OS (with ASUS’ Glide software on top of it), of course. No word on a price just yet, but word is this one is on track for a release as soon as October.

[Via wmpoweruser.com]

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Original post by Donald Melanson