Windows Mobile Tips

Could The Windows Phone Update be Coming on Feb 7th?

2011-02-10T19:21:00.000-08:00

Windows 7 News reports: "Rumors are swirling that Microsoft may be releasing the first and eagerly anticipated update for Windows Phone 7 on February 7th. Microsoft has obviously made no statement publicly to dispel or authenticate the rumor, but the fact that Mobile World Congress is also in early February (14th-17th to be exact), leads many to believe that this speculation may have some truth to it. Microsoft would be wise to release the update either before MWC or at the mobile industry gathering as many Windows Phone followers and early adopters, including myself, are becoming restless with the sloth-like speed at which Microsoft is moving to fix the minor issues with their version 1.0 software."

Quotes

2010-10-22T17:50:00.001-07:00

I drive with my knees. Otherwise, how can I put on my lipstick and talk on my phone? - Sharon Stone

Apparently we love our own cell phones but we hate everyone else's. - Joe Bob Briggs

HTC, Dell, Samsung, LG Show Off Windows Phone 7 Devices

2010-10-14T11:10:00.000-07:00

eWeek reports: "Microsoft launched its Windows Phone 7 smartphones with a New York City event Oct. 11. During the company's presentation, CEO Steve Ballmer and other executives detailed Windows Phone 7's user interface, which consolidates Web content and applications into six subject-specific 'Hubs' such as 'Office' and 'Games.' Microsoft hopes that the phones' uniqueness will stand it apart—and allow it to take back market share—from competitors such as the Apple iPhone and Google Android. Microsoft and its manufacturing partners also demonstrated some of the first smartphones for the platform. While Microsoft tried to keep those manufacturers to rigid hardware requirements, some of the devices on display included additional features—including pop-out speakers and QWERTY keyboards—that suggest those partners decided to do a little tweaking of their own. Devices from Samsung, LG Electronics and HTC will debut on AT&T's network starting Nov. 8, to be followed by others in the months afterward. Phones on Verizon's network are expected in early 2011."

Mobile Devices, Apps Turned Heads on CTIA Show Floor

2010-10-13T11:30:00.000-07:00

eWeek reports: "Upward of 2,000 mobile software developers crowded into the Moscone West conference hall in San Francisco for most of the week of Oct. 4, learning about the latest news and trends in the mobile device business. Security, operating systems, connectivity advances, storage and new devices were some of the key topics of discussion. Software appliances were also a major news item. A software appliance is a software application that might be combined with just enough operating system for it to run optimally on industry-standard hardware (typically a server) or within a virtual machine. There were connected cars (Ford Taurus and Explorer), connected bikes (which provide travel metrics like average speed and distance)—even a connected exercise station. New GPS and Bluetooth devices caused heads to turn. Samsung walked away with several awards, including one for its Galaxy tablet, which reportedly won't become available until mid-November. This eWEEK slide show covers some of the highlights of CTIA 2010."

Windows Phone 7 - Available November 8

2010-10-11T08:45:00.000-07:00

The new Windows Phone 7 arrives in stores starting Monday, November 8 in the US. For more information on this product, check out the following sites:

Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 page
Wikipedia article (Windows Phone 7)

Windows Phone 7 Launch Scheduled for Oct. 11 - Windows from eWeek

2010-10-09T09:11:00.000-07:00

eWeek reports: "Microsoft will formally unveil Windows Phone 7 in a high-profile New York City event Oct. 11. Microsoft hopes Windows Phone 7 will attract users from Android and the iPhone."

I hope Windows Mobile will do well, it has a lot of competition. Although I believe this is best Mobile OS Microsoft has built to date.

Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 Seeks a Rebirth of Its Mobile Line - Mobile and Wireless from eWeek

2010-10-04T10:14:00.000-07:00

eWeek reports: "Microsoft will soon launch Windows Phone 7, its newest smartphone operating platform. The stakes for the company are considerable: In the face of several quarters' fierce competition from the likes of Apple iPhone and Google Android, Microsoft has seen its mobile market share steadily decline. Windows Mobile 6.5, launched in October 2009, was supposed to halt that slide; but now it's down to Windows Phone 7 to make sure that finally happens—or else. Microsoft's presence on smartphones extends back to the birth of the devices. That has led to growing pains over the years; for example, Microsoft's releases kept emphasizing the stylus as an input device, even after the industry had started moving decisively toward finger-touch. In addition to chucking the stylus, Microsoft finally decided that its mobile franchise's user interface and built-in applications could use a total revamp, which is why Windows Phone 7 looks so totally different. If Windows Phone 7 succeeds, it will also redeem some of the bad odor associated with Kin, an ill-conceived social-networking phone that went down in flames earlier this year, and the Zune mobile-media-player franchise, which never sold very well but whose interface elements have been incorporated into Phone 7."

First official Windows Phone 7

2010-09-21T12:08:00.000-07:00

AT&T Star Service Numbers

2010-09-08T22:10:00.000-07:00

Want to know how many minutes you used already, what your current balance is, or how much data you've use on your current plan? Try using any of the AT&T Star Service Numbers below. I know they work in the US on AT&T, I am not sure if they work in other countries on other carriers.

Check your balance:

Dial *BAL# (*225#) on your phone.
Press the Call key.
Your balance is delivered via text message to your phone screen. You'll also see your next bill's due date as well as your last payment posted.

Check your minutes:

Dial *MIN# (*646#) on your phone.
Press the Call key.
The minutes remaining are delivered via text message to your phone screen. These minutes will be broken down by type.

Check your remaining data usage:

Dial *DATA# (*3282#) on your phone.
Press the Call key.
A breakdown of your remaining data usage will be delivered via text message to your phone screen. The remaining data usage will be broken down by type.

Check your upgrade eligibility for a new iPhone:

Dial *NEW# (*639#) on your phone.
Press the Call key.
Your upgrade eligibility is delivered by text message to your phone screen.

Make a payment:

Dial *PAY (*729) on your phone.
Press the Call key.
You'll get immediate access to our automated voice system. Follow the prompts to pay your current bill with a checking account, debit card, or credit card.

Windows Phone 7 with Xbox Live

2010-08-30T18:04:00.000-07:00

From the article: "We had a chance to take a look at Windows Phone 7 in action at the Microsoft X'10 event in Toronto. Greg Milligan of Microsoft gave us a demonstration of the new mobile platform, and showed off some of the Xbox Live integration as well."

Microsoft`s Kin One, Kin Two Smartphones Coming to Verizon - Windows from

2010-04-16T14:42:00.000-07:00

eWeek reports: "Microsoft unveiled its Kin One and Kin Two smartphones during high-profile presentations in San Francisco and New York on April 12, showing off the devices targeted at a younger, social-networking-happy demographic. The Kin One is a compact device with a sliding form-factor, reminiscent in many ways of the Palm Pre, while the Kin Two is more akin in its length and heft to the Sidekick, another smartphone that was aimed at a social-centric audience."

Microsoft Windows Phone 7 Smartphones on Display at CTIA - Midmarket from eWeek

2010-03-26T16:43:00.000-07:00

eWeek reports: "Microsoft demonstrated its upcoming Windows Phone 7 Series handsets at the 2010 CTIA Wireless conference in Las Vegas, showing off what the company sees as its best attempt to start afresh in the smartphone space. As opposed to phones such as Google Android and the Apple iPhone, Windows Phone 7 Series aggregates Web content and mobile applications into themed 'Hubs' such as 'People' and 'Games.'"

Fennec - alpha 1 for Windows Mobile (Video Tour)

2009-05-21T23:28:00.000-07:00

Walkthrough of the alpha 1 version of Fennec (Mobile Firefox) for Windows Mobile, running on an HTC Touch Pro. For more information on Fennec.

Fennec is Firefox for phones - will it succeed?

2009-04-30T21:10:00.000-07:00

TechRadar UK reports: "Fennec has finally escaped into the wild. Mozilla's mobile browser is currently in beta for Nokia Internet tablets, with a beta for Windows Mobile due later this year. It looks gorgeous, but there's more to it than a nice interface."

I really hope that this browser will succeed where Mozilla's Minomo failed. The Windows Mobile platform, needs a good web browser. Skyfire browser is good, but is but slow and eventually will be fee based. The Opera mini browser is great, but is very bloated.

HTC Touch Pro - Getting Started Video

2008-11-09T08:26:00.000-08:00

Personally I am excited about the HTC Touch Pro, this looks like the best Windows Mobile phone released so far. HTC continues to improve its TouchFLO 3D interface, its looks liked it borrowed some functionality from the iPhone. If you don't know about the HTC Touch Pro, here is some product information.

Here is a getting started video from HTC for the new Touch Pro (aka AT&T Fuze, and a few other re-branded variants from other carriers). Personally if I buy this one, I think I will spend the extra money and buy it from HTC, and not from the carrier. The carriers tend to remove functionality that I want, and installed a whole bunch of "crapware" that I don't want (and sometimes won't allow you to uninstall). Plus being locked into a two year contract is also unappealing to me.

Two major problems I see with the Fuze is AT&T removed the front video camera, and changed the 5th row of keys (HTC has numbers, and AT&T put symbols).

Mobile Standards Wars (The Next Generation)

2008-10-21T18:16:00.000-07:00

In the 90's we saw the OS, browser, and a few other standards wars. Then in early 2000 we also saw the first generation cellular mobile browsers. In my humble opinion the early mobile browsers were horrible. They were glorified text browsers in some cases, but there was a lot of fanfare about it by companies creating the technology. It really never caught on, and company's put the technology on the back burner.

Now as more and more powerful mobile devices are coming out, we have seen a huge resurgence of this technology. We are also seeing some amazing applications being developed. New more powerful mobile devices are being created all the time, and programmers are doing some amazing things with that technology.

It use to be Symbian, Palm and Blackberry ruled the mobile OS market place. Symbian, and Blackberry still have a huge market share, but they have lost a lot ground to Windows Mobile, and the iPhone.

Again, in my humble opinion, the iPhone is a great device but its too much glitz for me. I still like my AT&T Tilt, which when compared to the original iPhone it won hands down when comparing features. As soon as HTC releases the Touch Pro available, it will surpass the iPhone 3G in features.

People will argue about how great the OS is on the iPhone, but I find the whole architecture too restrictive. Apple's greatest mistake with that platform, is that they only allow you to do what they want. For example, you can only run applications that they approve you running. You could 'JailBreak' the phone to do what you want, but there is always the possibility that you can brick the device (basically makes it unusable).

I need to make myself clear I do not advocate the bypassing of any form of copy protection. My only reason for talking about this subject is to point out the extremes that a person has to go through to customize the device.

Now the point I really want to make, which there is a new mobile OS player in town and its Google with its Android OS (which is based on Linux). T-Mobile recently introduced the G1, the first Android based phone (watch the announcement).

So now we have the desktop OS wars brought to the mobile phone platform, followed by the mobile browser war which has been in process for several month since the introduction of the iPhone. Basically the way I see it, is there are going to be several mobile OS camps, Windows Mobile, iPhone, and now Android (not to exclude Sybian and Blackberry).

I want to play with an Android based device, but I am not sure I would ever really own one. There is nothing compelling enough on the platform to draw me to it. I really like, and need the Windows Mobile integration with Exchange.

3M Micro Projector MPro110

2008-10-12T21:11:00.000-07:00

I heard lots of hype about the new micro projectors several months back, so its good to see them finally hitting the market. 3M has their Micro Professional Projector MPro110. Its a battery operated hand held projector, and it can connect to most digital video devices.

Note: If you want to use this device with your smart-phone, its needs to output VGA or composite video signal. More information available in this article.

Software: SplashNews (News Reader)

2008-10-11T19:26:00.000-07:00

I like keeping up with the latest news on my AT&T Tilt, especially recently. I am currently checking out a new program that I found on Microsoft's Total Access site for Windows Mobile.

Here is the description from the site: "Get the latest news, sports, technology updates, and blog feeds right on your Windows Mobile phone, anytime and anywhere! Add your favorite feeds and then sync to download the latest content on the go. SplashNews is a free, ad-supported mobile application that automatically downloads and displays feeds from your favorite news sources. Advertising in SplashNews stays in an unobtrusive banner space at the top of the application screen. There are no pop-up ads, and no personally identifiable information is collected."

This program is free, but its not freeware or open source. It's ad-supported, so if you don't like this type of software then don't download it.

Your phone may be under attack

2008-10-02T17:45:00.000-07:00

MSN Money reports: "Increasingly sophisticated scammers are finding ways to use your phone to invade your privacy and steal your personal data. Here's what you need to know to protect yourself."

Here are some tips to help protect your personal identity and finances from scammers.

Windows Mobile 6.1 Update for the AT&T Tilt (8925)

2008-09-11T19:32:00.000-07:00

I reader recently posted a path to the Windows Mobile 6.1 update (version 3.57.502.2) for the AT&T Tilt (8925). If you have been wanting to try this update, here is your chance.

Whats Included:

HTC Home
Video Share Calling
Threaded SMS
MS Voice Command
OneNote Mobile
Remote Desktop Monitor
Enroll Domain
Managed Programs
PTT Button now availablefor reassignment under Start>Settings>Buttons.

My main advice is backup your data before you start. Also if you installed any third party application on your Tilt, make sure that you have the installation CABs and product keys (if required) available because you will need to reinstall them. Finally make sure to read the instructions before you start the install.

Check your calendar via SMS - Calendar Help Center

2008-08-18T01:00:00.000-07:00

Google Calendar's SMS notification feature allows you to check your calendar from your mobile phone. Just send a quick text message to Google Calendar, and you'll get an SMS message with the information you requested.

To receive a notification from your calendar text one of the following commands below to '48368' (GVENT):

'next': requests your next scheduled event
'day': requests all scheduled events for the present day
'nday': requests all scheduled events for the next day

New HTC ROM Update for the AT&T Tilt

2008-08-13T19:53:00.000-07:00

HTC recently released a new ROM update (v1.62.502.0) for the AT&T Tilt. This update includes the following features:

Enhanced Bluetooth performance.
DTMF tones for the slide-out QWERTY keyboard.
Improves overall device performance and stability.
Includes Microsoft Adaptation Kit Update (AKU) 0.4.4.

Warning: You should attempt to load this version on any other device as it may cause serious issues or damage.

Make sure to read the important notes on the page before starting the upgrade.

Here comes the cell phone ad disaster

2008-07-01T20:51:00.000-07:00

ComputerWorld reports: "Life is good in the cell phone universe, with plentiful choice, data access getting faster and cheaper, and great new technologies like GPS and better cameras being built in all the time.

Unfortunately, the 'paradise' of using a cell phone may soon be destroyed by a tidal wave of advertising. You may be shocked by what the advertising, handset, search, software and other industries are planning for your phone."

I have been reading several articles about this, but here is just one of them. Personally right now what bothers me is SMS Spam, I have received some unwanted SMS messages and I am not sure how they got my number.

I just hope my carrier will block them, or at least give me a way to create a white-list so I can choose who can send me SMS messages. Personally its in the carrier interest to take their time to release a fix for this problem because we have to pay for these SMS messages.

Mobile Tricks - What can you do with your phone?

2008-06-26T20:26:00.000-07:00

At Google, we love mobile phones and use them for everything. Here's our day in the life with phones...

1-800-GOOG-411: Google's 411 service (Video)

2008-06-26T20:23:00.000-07:00

GOOG-411 is Google's new 411 service. It is completely free and really easy to use. Simply call 1-800-GOOG-411, say where you are and what you're looking for. GOOG-411 will find and connect you with the business you choose for free.