New Fashion Themes for Windows Phones at 13:32

The first is that a number of designers have signed with Microsoft to produce designer themes for Windows Phones.
Isaac Mizrahi will be the first in a series of designers to create exclusive themes, including color palettes and wallpaper.
Other designers will be announced in the coming months.

“Phones are just as much a fashion statement as the clothes you wear,” says Mizrahi.
“As a designer, I’m excited to team up with Microsoft to bring forth fresh and funky new ways for people to make their Windows® phones a part of their personality."

The second and more important for the users, is that a new Theme Generator is about to released.
The Theme Generator, will be an online service here coming later this year (probably coinciding with the release Windows 6.5).
This will enable people to select pictures from their PC to set as background images, as well as choose colors to personalize their navigation bar, scroll bar and highlighted text.
The finished themes can then be sent directly to your phone.

Windows 6.5 has the ability to extend a wallpaper into the taskbar and softkey bar, but these are soon lost when you head away from the today screen.
These new themes look set to extend those images throughout the entire OS.
This will improve the overall Windows Mobile UI, which is in definite need of an update.

New Social Networking Apps at 12:54

Following on from the Facebook App from Microsoft, they are also creating a new MySpace App.
Both Apps are set to be free and LG have already agreed to release the MySpace App pre-installed onto their new Windows Phones.


Windows Live is also expanding to 25 Languages and will be free to download from here on April 2.
This will be available for Windows Mobile 6 and up and includes
Windows Live Hotmail, Windows Live Messenger, Windows Live Contacts, Windows Live Spaces, Microsoft Live Search
This will also bring enhanced photo upload capabilities.

Mobile Marketplace + Mobile Operators at 10:03

Mobile operators that partner with Microsoft on Windows Marketplace for Mobile will gain access to a branded section of the catalog, where they will be able to market their own applications and services to their customer base.

Mobile Marketplace + Developers at 10:02

Microsoft also announced today that developers will now be able to deliver updates to their applications for free* throughout the application lifecycle.

Mobile Marketplace + Consumers at 10:02

Customers will have the option to purchase applications on Windows Marketplace for Mobile with a credit card or have charges appear directly on their phone bill. In addition, people will be able to return an application after purchase within 24 hours for a full refund.

Mobile Marketplace + Mobile App Leaders at 09:57

The following leading companies have today signed up to create some of the first application for Windows Marketplace for Mobile.
AccuWeather.com, The Associated Press, CNBC, Developer One Mobile Software, EA Mobile, Facebook, Gameloft, Glu Mobile, Handmark, Ilium Software Inc., Jeyo Inc., Kinoma, LiteScape, Magmic Games, Melodis Corp., MySpace, Namco Networks, Netflix, Pandora, PhatWare Corp., Resco s.r.o., ShoZu Inc., Sling Media Inc., SBSH Mobile Software, Spb Software, Web Information Solutions Inc. and Zagat Survey.

“EA Mobile develops some of the world’s most fun and advanced mobile gaming applications, and we understand the importance of product quality and consumer discovery as keys to success,” said Adam Sussman, vice president of Worldwide Publishing, EA Mobile. “With Windows Marketplace for Mobile, we are excited to continue our close relationship with one of our most valued partners to offer great EA games to millions of Windows® phone users worldwide.”

New Supporters for Next Gen Windows Phones at 09:00

EA Mobile, MySpace and Isaac Mizrihi are among early supports of the next generation of Windows Phones and will be releasing new suftware with the launch of Microsoft's Windows Marketplace for Mobile.

Robbie Bach, president of the Entertainment and Devices Division at Microsoft, in his keynote address at International CTIA WIRELESS 2009, will introduce an alliance with two prominent design houses through which fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi will demonstrate ways people can customize their Windows^® phone to fit their personal style.

Good News Regarding Windows Mobile Market Place at 23:26

So what will the good news be?

Any ideas?

Multi Touch : Apple Wont Stop Microsoft at 18:04

A real concern last year were the patents granted to Apple appeared to tie up Multi-Touch.
But a few sites have brought to light a new (old) patents regarding Multi-Touch which are owned by Microsoft which include.

"A touchscreen device may be configured to receive multiple concurrent touchscreen contacts."

The key difference between this and Apple's patent, is that Apple's only cover certain ways in multi-touch is attained.

So, Microsoft owns multi-touch.
It's probably too late for Windows 6.5, but if Windows 7 will have it, then so will Windows Mobile 7.

OTA Windows Firmware Updates at 10:32

Head to the bottom of your Settings, System tab and you’ll find a little app called Windows Update.

So far this,this has never turned anything up, but Microsoft are currently working to change that.

Microsoft had originally planned to provide updates OTA for all of its users. Want to upgrade from WM5 to WM6 or WM6.1, this app was designed to allow that.

Unfortunately, the phone makers and the carriers seemed to have different ideas and right now, all updates have to come through them.

With Windows Mobile 6.5, Microsoft want to take back that control. They are currently testing Firmware updates Over The Air.

This probably wont mean that we can upgrade our Windows Phones from 6.5 to 7 (due to different hardware requirement) but this should see smaller changes pushed down to our devices including updates to the inbuilt MS software.

If these tests are successful, I expect Windows Mobile 7.1 to delivered via this update feature.

Windows Mobile 7 : Merges Standard and Pro at 18:35

Further to my previous post, WMPowerUsers have provided us with another set of Windows Mobile 7 screenshots.
These further cement the UI which we saw back in January 08 (yep, over a year ago now).



These three new shots give us our first glimce of the new Windows Mobile Marketplace
We get a shot a of a very polished looking IM Client
And we get 'proof' that Zune will be coming to WM7.


The new today screen on Windows Mobile 6.5 is very similar to WinMo Standard 6.1.
This (plus previous WinMo7 shots) has lead me to believe that we will only see one iteration of Windows Mobile 7, merging Standard and Pro.

And that makes sense.

With the cost of touch screens now, the user can retain the full standard navigation, with full capability of a touch screen.
Also, Windows Mobile Standard and Pro apps are not compatible, why not allow developers to make one App which can run on all Windows Phones, without having to double their effort.

Opera Mobile 9.7 (With Turbo) at 15:55

At next week’s CTIA Wireless Show, Opera Software will be announcing the new Opera Mobile 9.7 server-accelerated browser for smartphones and mobile devices.

Opera Mobile 9.7 with Opera Turbo compresses data up to 80%, reducing traffic and data charges and page loading times.
As an example, the Opera website have a video showing 'Opera Mobile 9.7 with Opera Turbo', 'Opera Mobile 9.7 without Opera Turbo' and 'Microsoft Pocket IE' opening the same page.

Microsoft Pocket IE = 3 mins 27 sec
Opera Mobile w/o Turbo = 30.2 secs
Opera Mobile with Turbo = 9.2 secs



It is following Skyfire and Iris' lead by rendering the webpages for you and then sending them to you.
Opera have this handy little flow diagram :


Will this leave Windows IE 6 behind, before it even starts?

No Zune for Windows Mobile 6.5 at 21:00

But there will be for Windows Mobile 7

WMPowerUsers are reporting that Zune will be hitting Windows Mobile, but not until Windows Mobile 7.

“The bad news is that Windows Mobile 6.5 will not in fact be getting the Zune service. The good news is that Zune is very much coming to Windows Mobile 7, and a pretty full implementation of it too.”`

I’m looking forward to a ZunePass on my Windows Mobile.

6.5 Feature : Music on Titanium at 17:12

One of the new features to be seen in Windows Mobile 6.5 will be a today player to control Windows Media.
With WMP running in the background, you can return to the home screen and control your tracks form there.



This provides you with the album art, track name, artist and the option to move to next/previous track :
Pressing the slide will pause the track
Sweeping left moves to the previous track
Sweeping right for the next track
Your right softkey then becomes a shortcut for Windows Media Player.

You also have the ability to continue playing the track when the screen is switched off.

Rumor : Is this Windows Mobile 7? at 16:02

I cannot say for sure…

They share features with the original leaked WinMo7 images, without looking as they have been composites.
If somebody can workout where that map is centred, it could add weight if it is near a Microsoft building.

If we compare them to the original leaked images :



My only question is around the meters at the bottom.
The battery jumps from right to left and the volume becomes signal.

Is it possible that we are looking at genuine shots?
Comments welcome.

Internet ID – There should be only one at 21:37

I am Biomehanika ! (but only on some sites...)

How many different logins and User IDs do you have?
I have at least 10 which I use at least once a week + a long list of accounts which I needed to create on somebody else's forum to access a service which I no longer use.

But how many do I need?

My Windows Live ID will let me onto all MS sites.
My Google Login, will let me login into a large selection as well (including Blogger).
A Yahoo login also gives me access to Flickr.
Those three get me into over half of the sites which I access.
But can that be improved on?

Microsft have just made a feature available which could help, which means that any Website can sign-up and let people use their Windows Live IDs to login.

- Dan Wahlin's Weblog shows how.

If the other big companies followed suit and a website had the option to for you to use any of them, you could potential use your preferred ID for all websites.

Could there be just one?

MyPhone - Scheduled Maintenance at 10:47

The MyPhone service is scheduled for a short outage today (Tuesday) for maintenance from 8am PDT :



Source : MSMyPhone @ tweeter

Goodbye, Honeycomb at 18:52

The latest version of Windows Mobile 6.5 has dropped one of the new features.

Following the official release last month, there has been a great deal of discussion regarding the new menu, especially regarding the honeycomb effect.

Well, when Microsoft's own employees began to return negative feedback the decision was made to removeit from the latest build.

While the staggered layout remains the same the icons have been enlarged, but the honeycomb has gone.
And scrolling now has the effect of a PageDown / PageUp.

Personally, I like both options.

Windows 6.5 Homescreen at 17:06

One of my thoughts we move closer to Windows Mobile 7, is whether we will see WinMo Standard and WinMo Professional fuse.
If all deveices have the option of a touchscreen while keeping the Standard's navigation as well, would this not provide one solution to please all.

When I saw the new homescreen of Standard 6.1, I became envious, "Why isn't this on Professional as well?".
Well, Microsoft appear to have read my mind, as the new 6.5 Pro homescreen also brings Titanium.
As you can see this brings that Standard 6.1 slider (and hints of Zune) to the Pro.

Multitasking Stays With the Professionals at 16:43

There is a great story from WMExperts showing how the latest iPhone firmware still can't quiet manage multitasking :

iPhone vs. Windows Mobile : Multitasking

"Join us after the break for a very special WMExperts post as our little iPhone cousin dives into the deep, dark world of multitasking and background notifications. Will he thrive alongside his Windows Mobile brethren? Will he survive? In the end, there can only be one."

The Human Integration at 13:41

I have been reading a few articles recently about people's increasing reliability in their mobile phones.

In a recent survey over 50% of those questioned admitted that they would find it very hard to give up their mobile devices. The same survey found that mobiles are now the most coveted technology, ahead of Internet access and television.
There have also been repeated stories in the past couple of weeks reporting phone addiction, from users feeling phantom phone vibrations to 2 Spanish pre-teens being treated for mobile addiction, unable to do anything without their phones.

But this is not addiction, this is outsourcing.

I have outsourced my memory, my map reading skills and created a soundtrack to my life.
When asked a question I consult the oracles, Google and Wikipedia.
When I travel to somewhere new, I don't refer to the map and workout the best route, I rely on TomTom and CoPolit.
All of this, set an eclectic mix of music tracks on Windows Media Mobile Player.
I have even outsourced my personality though my online avatar Biomehanika.

Is my phone a new limb? No, my phone is now my 2nd brain, my outboard brain.
I can read minds through blogs and forums, I can travel the world in seconds with Virtual Earth and I can communicate with my friends in all corners of the earth on XBOX Live and Live Messenger.
I am reachable where ever I travel, by phone, email, sms and im.
The answers to my questions are equally reachable, drawn from the digital aether that is the internet.
Mutual availability wherever a connection can be made.

Far from addiction I see integration, I see the ever expanding capabilities through the cyborg connection that I call my Windows Mobile.