Posts tagged windows mobile
HTC HD2 triple-boots Windows Phone 7, Android, WinMo 6.5
Jan 24th
Vying for the title of the most customizable smartphone ever made, HTC’s legendary HD2 can now triple-boot Windows Phone 7, Android, and Windows Mobile 6.5, courtesy to posters at XDA-Developers. The 4.3″ phone, grandfather of HTC’s current large phones, has similar specs to today’s high-end smartphones (1 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon, 512 MB RAM) and runs all three OSes smoothly (not at the same time though).
The triple-boot system entails running Windows Mobile 6.5 as the native OS, with Android and Windows Phone 7 installed on the phone’s MicroSD card. See the thread for instructions on how to make sure you’re cooler than people who have just two OSes on their phones.
Windows Phone 7 now fully works on the phone (earlier issues with accessing Windows Live services like the Marketplace have been solved). The HD2 has also seen ports of Ubuntu and Meego, so we could soon see a quad- or penta-OS HD2.
Source: XDA-Developers
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T-Mobile HTC HD7 Revealed: HD2 Lives On
Oct 10th
A set of leaked photos depict T-Mobile USA’s version of HTC’s upcoming Windows Phone 7 handset, the HD7 (codenamed HTC Schubert). As we detailed earlier, this is basically a WP7 version of HTC’s earlier, Windows Mobile 6.5-powered HD2.
Like the HD2, the HD7 has a 4.3″ WVGA LCD screen, Qualcomm Snapdragon QSD8250 (1 GHz) processor, 576 MB of RAM, and a 5.0 MP camera with autofocus and dual LED flash. The HD7 adds a kickstand, camera button, and more powerful (stereo) speakers, and whereas the HD2 has 1 GB ROM + MicroSD slot (up to 32 GB cards), the T-Mobile HD7 has 512 MB ROM and fixed 16 GB flash. That’s double what the European HD7 is rumored to ship with (8 GB).
The (international) HD7′s dimensions/weight are 122 x 68 x 11.2 mm / 162g, so compared to the T-Mobile HD2 (122 x 67 x 11 mm / 157g), it’s roughly the same size. The T-Mobile HD7 may be slightly taller– no exact dimensions yet. Pricing will likely be the standard $199 (on 2 year contract)– we should get final confirmation at Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 launch in just a few hours.
Source: TmoNews
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HTC HD7 Caught on Camera: 4.3″, 5 MP, Snapdragon, Windows Phone 7
Sep 23rd
HTC’s new Windows Phone 7 handset, dubbed the HD7 (but labeled HD3 in these shots), has been outed in a Taiwanese forum. The successor to the Windows Mobile-powered HTC HD2 sports a very similar design and internals to its predecessor, with a large 4.3″ WVGA (800×480) touchscreen and the same 1 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon QSD8250 CPU and MicroUSB and 3.5mm audio ports as earlier. The phone has 8GB of built-in storage (likely non-expandable), and the volume rocker has been moved to the right side.
The camera is the same 5 MP unit from the HD2, with 720p video recording and dual-LED flash, but the phone gains a dedicated camera button on the side. There’s now also a kickstand in the back, like the Android-powered HTC EVO 4G, but this time cleverly hidden in the camera bezel. There are grille slots at the top and bottom (whereas the HD2/EVO have just one at the top), suggesting the HD7 might be sporting stereo speakers. The HD2′s array of bottom buttons has been replaced by 3 capacitive touch keys (the standard Windows Phone 7 setup of back, start, and search).
Otherwise the phone looks very similar to the HD2– we were surprised to see that the processor, while still speedy today, has not been upgraded, and the phone lacks a Mini-HDMI output and front camera (for video chat), both of which the EVO 4G has. We suspect that’s because HTC simply went about upgrading the HD2 (we’ve seen the codename “HD2+” milling about carrier sheets) and didn’t bother with large chassis changes. This will be a GSM-only model and will hit T-Mobile USA this fall; AT&T may also get it at some point. No pricing or release date info yet.
Windows Phone 7 Series Back Story: The Sleeping Giant Awakes, Reboots Windows Mobile
Mar 26th
Microsoft stopped developing Windows Mobile 7 (left) in favor of a total reboot to create Windows Phone 7 (right)
In early 2008, Microsoft was busy working on Windows Mobile 7. The OS was an evolutionary step forward from WinMo 6.x, based on the company’s Windows CE 6.0 embedded OS, with bigger changes planned for the next version, Windows Mobile 8. But in the fall of 2008, after seeing Apple’s iPhone 3G fly off store shelves and the iTunes App Store grow exponentially to soon overtake Microsoft’s decade-long lead in mobile apps, Microsoft realized that Windows Mobile was dying. An evolutionary step was not going to be enough to save it, so Microsoft decided to take drastic measures to respond, and today the result is Windows Phone 7 Series.
How exactly did this come about, though? Read on to find out.
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Microsoft Builds A Zune Phone: The Misnamed Windows Phone 7 Series
Mar 18th
Several questions were left unanswered at Microsoft’s launch of Windows Phone 7 Series at the Mobile World Congress 2010 on February 15. Since then, and particularly at the MIX developer conference this week, we’ve begun to hear answers, most of which indicate that Microsoft has dramatically shifted its view of smartphones. To summarize, Windows Phone 7 Series has no multitasking, removable storage (MicroSD cards) support, file explorer, or copy-and-paste.
It’s quite clear that Microsoft has shifted lock-stock-and-barrel from its idea of shrinking near-PC-level functionality into smartphones (Windows Mobile actually used to be called “Pocket PC”) to instead embrace Apple’s tightly-controlled, appliance-like approach to phones– the kind of vertically-integrated approach Microsoft has already used for Xbox and Zune.
Essentially what we’re left with is a misnamed OS– this is not a Windows Phone, but a Zune Phone. The “Windows” brand implies a full-fledged computer, not a music player with a phone built in. It’s important to note that Apple’s phone is not called a Mac Phone– it’s an extended iPod, hence iPhone. Microsoft also makes this branding separation- Xbox and Zune don’t contain any Windows branding, for example. Why, then, does Microsoft continue to use the Windows Phone brand when its mobile OS no longer has anything to do with Windows?
Read on for more details. More >
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Making Sense of Smartphone Processors: The Mobile CPU/GPU Guide
Mar 14th
Smartphone manufacturers these days boast of their phones’ computer-like capabilities, from desktop-like internet browsing to HD video playback. They toss around spec sheets filled with processor names like ARM11, Cortex A8, Snapdragon, Tegra, OMAP, Armada, and more. What do these all mean, and how do the various chips compare? That’s what we’re going to take a look at today. More >
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T-Mobile Launching HD2 One Day Early, 3/23?
Mar 9th
A new tweet from MobiTV, maker of a mobile TV application that will come pre-loaded on T-Mobile USA’s version of the HTC HD2, suggests that the carrier might be launching the phone on March 23, instead of March 24 as previously rumored. Could just be a typo, but for those looking to snap up these phones the day they come out, that T-Mobile store run might just be coming a whole 24 hours earlier.
T-Mobile USA HTC HD2 Update: Photos, $199/449, March 24 Launch
Mar 8th
TMoNews has come across a number of photos of T-Mobile USA’s upcoming HTC HD2. The Windows Mobile 6.5-powered, 4.3″ multitouch superphone is all set to launch on March 24 for $199 on a 2-year contract or $449 unlocked. The device is up on T-Mobile’s site, listed as “coming soon.” Besides the T-Mobile branding, it’s pretty much the same phone as the HD2 that’s been out for several months in Europe and Asia, but T-Mobile’s spruced it up with an included 16GB MicroSD card, HTC eBook reader, Barnes & Noble eBook store, Blockbuster movie rental app, and pre-loaded copies of several games (such as The Prince of Persia HD, Ferrari GT Evolution, and Guitar Hero 5 Mobile) and the Transformers and Transformers 2 movies.
More photos after the break. More >
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Windows Mobile 6.5.x to become Windows Phone Classic, Starter Edition
Feb 26th
Phones running Microsoft’s upcoming Windows Phone 7 Series OS won’t be out till fall 2010 at the earliest, but that hasn’t stopped word from leaking about what will happen to the company’s existing OS, Windows Mobile 6.5.3.
Looks like Windows Mobile 6.5.x will split into two branches, a Classic Edition and a Starter Edition. Microsoft has thus far only confirmed the Starter Edition, which will presumably be a cheaper, stripped-down version for developing markets. Here’s what a Microsoft rep had to say:
“[Starter will be for devices] with and without Microsoft Office Mobile and supports 2G (GSM), 2.5G (CDMA2000 xRTT, EDGE, GPRS), CDMA (Rev A, EV-DO Revision A), and TD-SCDMA radios.”
Interestingly, the list does not include support for GSM 3G (HSDPA) networks. If it’s not just a mistake, such a move might be aimed at ensuring that developed markets with widespread 3G use don’t see too many phones running Starter Edition.
We don’t have much solid information on what the Classic Edition would entail, but we believe it may be the new branding for the last updates to the Windows Mobile 6.5.x line, adding touch-friendly features like a UI-wide magnifying glass.
Sphere: Related ContentAdobe scraps Flash 10.1 for WinMo 6.5, may have confirmed WP7 for HTC HD2
Feb 25th
Earlier this month, an Adobe representative revealed in a post on the company’s official forums that the firm no longer plans to ship Flash 10.1 for Windows Mobile 6.5-based phones, instead opting to go directly for Windows Phone 7 Series. While Adobe had promised a version for WM6.5 just a few months ago, it now claims that the platform lacks necessary APIs. More likely the firm sees WM 6.5 as a dead-end platform, instead seeking to focus its efforts on its successor.
As for WinMo, we have made the tough decision to defer support for that platform until WinMo7. This is due to the fact that WinMo6.5 does not support some of the critical APIs that we need.
The Adobe rep also claimed that the HTC HD2 would be the first Windows Mobile phone to support Flash 10.1, suggesting that the phone will indeed receive an upgrade to Windows Phone 7 Series at some point:
Sphere: Related ContentThe first WinMo device will be the HTC HD2.
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