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The boys a PhoneArena just posted their full review of LG‘s latest Windows Mobile 6.5 smartphone, the Expo (also known as the iQ in Canada). LG seems to have done a solid job this time around :
LG did a wonderful job in disassociating itself from the sour after taste that left us with the LG INCITE. They’ve clearly reworked their designs and managed to produce a worthy Windows Mobile smartphone that will aim to please a wide range of users with its impressive lists of features. Not only does the S-Class interface make its US debut on the eXpo, but it adds a lot of visual flare that we haven’t seen stateside to make it a refreshing option for users consistently seeing either TouchFLO 3D or TouchWiz dominating the scene. Finally, the implementation of the pico projector opens up a plethora of implications that can cater to a whole new list of needs. The X in eXpo marks the spot where LG clearly differentiates itself in being a prominent figure in the Windows Mobile landscape.
As with all Windows Mobile 6.5 device you will still come across a lot of UI inconsistency, but if you really need a WinMo device on AT&T the LG eXpo is a good choice. source: PhoneArena I just did a short hands-on video of the recently released Resco Photo Manager 7 showing you the new UI and the Multi-Touch implementation on the HTC HD2 (introduced in version 7.03) . As you can seethe application is blazing fast and pinch-zooming works quite well (but I would like to have the option to disable the multi-touch rotation feature..). I’ll post a more in-depth review in the coming days. 
You probably already know by now that the HTC Bravo / Passion (or Nexus One, whatever you want to call it) is rumored to natively support DivX decoding unlike any other HTC device. Well here’s my speculation; my guess is that this will probably enabled by the Nextreaming NexPlayer for Android (licensed by HTC?) which has recently (Nov 9th) passed DivX certification and now officialy supports Qualcomm’s SnapDragon Chipset:
NexPlayer™ is now successfully ported and optimized for the Qualcomm Snapdragon™ platform, including also DivX™ as required for the DivX™ certification. Nextreaming’s DivX™ 4/5/6 decoder, highly optimized for the ARM® Cortex™-A8 processor with NEON™ technology, brings the cutting-edge performances and video experience to the end users. Nextreaming supports also DivX DRM and subtitles (.srt) required for the DivX Mobile Theater Profile. “We are pleased to announce DivX™ support at NexPlayer™ optimized for Qualcomm Snapdragon™” said Dr. Il-Taek Lim, CEO of Nextreaming. “Our media player is being used by the most important mobile device manufacturers worldwide; we are committed to providing them with the latest technology. With this announcement, we enforce our competitiveness in a popular platform such as Qualcomm Snapdragon™ and we help our customers to prepare attractive devices according to the strong trend of Mobile and Internet convergence. Moreover, the use of internal hardware accelerators in the Qualcomm chipset can make NexPlayer™ more optimized. We will keep updating NexPlayer™ with this aim continuously” he added.
NexPlayer is also the multimedia player licensed by Samsung on all their latest smartphones like the Omnia II, OmniaLite, Omnia Pro , Samsung Jet etc.. Source: Nextreaming 
Just like we reported a couple weeks ago, Acer is shifting its focus on Android based smartphones next year. According to sources Acer is set to launch between 8-10 smartphones next year with Android models likely to be slightly more than Windows Mobile-based ones.
Acer will outsource the production of three Android-based smartphones to Foxconn International Holdings (FIH), using ST-Ericsson PNX6719 3G chipset solutions for the entry-level segment, the sources said. On the other hand, Inventec Appliances will roll out entry-level Windows Mobile-based smartphones for Acer.
[...]
Acer will continue to develop in-house smartphone models for the mid-range to high-end segments using Qualcomm Snapdragon solutions, while sub-contracting the production of those models to Compal Communications on an EMS basis, the sources noted.
[...]
Acer is also considering in-house development of smartphones based on Qualcomm’s Brew Mobile Platform (BMP) with an attempt to offer inexpensive models to compete with HTC (High Tech Computer) and also attract more interest from telecom carriers, the sources added.
It is also reported that Acer has added 30 members to their Android R&D team (from Mitac). The company seems to be mimicking HTC’s current 2010 strategy (more Android / less WinMo) and aiming at the very low end with a BrewMP device like the HTC Touch.B. For Microsoft, everything will depend on the development of Windows Mobile 7,as it was previously reported Acer is supposedly a WM7 launch parter (just like HTC) Source: DigiTimes The boys at Pocketnow just posted a hardware tour video of the recently released Windows Mobile 6.5 smartphone, the LG eXpo (iQ / Monaco). The device looks well build as it is usually the case with LG’s phone, the only thing “missing” IMO is a capacitive touch-panel instead of the resistive one featured here. Once you’ve gone capacitive there’s no going back… Source: Pocketnow 
Here’s another Verizon Samsung Omnia II (i920) courtesy of Engadget. As it was stated beofre in previous reviews; Samsung’s TouchWiz 2 UI isn’t really the best around especially on Windows Mobile:
True, the Windows Mobile experience varies from phone to phone — so it’s not like we didn’t expect TouchWiz to be all over this thing. We’ve had plenty of opportunities to play with various iterations of Samsung’s beloved UI over the course of the year, from the odd dumphone to the Android-powered Behold II, and the implementation has been at best unremarkable, at worst a major inconvenience. With the Samsung Ultra Touch we encountered a more-than-capable phone that did little to excite us, but would be more than suitable for the target demographic. With the Behold II, we were taken aback: a more than capable OS was rendered less-than-useful by pervasive (and at times ill-considered) skinning. Sadly, it seems that the downward spiral has continued apace with the marriage of TouchWiz 2 and WinMo 6.5.
Read the whole thing here TechBlog.gr has also posted a short teardown video of the device: Some more HTC Nexus One action coming our way, this time in the form of a 5 minutes long video walkthrough and some size comparison pictures of the Nexus One vs the iPhone nd HTC Hero: Android 2.1 is screaming fast thanks to the Snapdragon chipset. source: Thenexusone.net 
Opera just released an update to their beta of Opera Mobile 10 on Windows Mobile. This new version adds:
Changelog from Beta 2: Support for auto-rotation Support for right-to-left rendering of web content Quicker launch, up to 70% faster on some phone models Nicer shortcut icon for WM 6.5 (requires device reboot after install) A few stability fixes Several other minor bug fixes
Grab it here Thanks to the chefs at XDA you can now try Android 2.0.1 (Eclair) on your HTC Touch HD, TouchPro 2 or Touch Diamond 2. Android is basically running on WinMo through an emulator this means that a lot of functionalities currently don’t work (like WiFi, Phone etc) but the performance is quite good for what it is. Just hit the links below to grab the files: Touch Pro2 (v1.6)
Touch Diamond2
Touch HD
Instructions: 1. Download the files and put them on a storage card on your device
2. Run Haret.exe, and wait about five minutes
Pocketnow did a short video of the whole thing running on an HTC Touch Diamond2: Via: Pocketnow Looks like somebody decided to posted some live shots a a short video of the Nexus One in action before getting a call from Big Brother.. Google (the twitter account is now set to private..). The QR code on the back of the device leads to the http://www.android.com/holidays: Source: Twitter via Engadget 
PhoneArena just posted their review of Acer’s Liquid Android device. As it was expected the most disappointing part of the device is the software. Acer didn’t really do anything to the native Android UI other than ad a multimedia player (nemoPlayer) and some rotating thumbnails on the side of the screen.
Similarly to Acer´s latest Windows phones, the Liquid A1 comes with capable hardware that, sadly, is not exactly backed up by elaborate interface personalization, but the difference to Windows Mobile is that Android tends to be more user-friendly barefooted.
What’s interesting though is that they were supposedly able to playback 720P video content on the device, something that the HTC HD2 with a SnapDragon clocked @ 1Ghz (compared to 768Mhz on the Liquid) has a hard time to do. Looks like Windows Mobile 6.X is the culprit here… The only video format you can watch videos in, meaning without any issues, is MPEG4. We managed to play content with resolution of 1,280×720 pixels and the quality was pretty good.
Source: PhoneArena 
Following last weeks FCC approval of the Sony Ericsson X10 her comes a second Xperia X10 but this time with the WCDMA 850 / 1900 and Quad Edge bands. This means that the phone is compatible with AT&T, Bell, Telus and Rogers. Other than that it’s the usual FCC stuff. The good news though, is that SE seems to be pushing the X10 hard so it will hopefully be released on time (early 2010).
Don’t forget to grab the user manual here.
Source FCC via Engadget 
One more HOTFIX for the HTC HD2 has been made available today, however there’s still no change log (the description doesn’t say much..) and the file seems to be un-available at this time.
Source HTC via XDA Here are a couple of new screenshots of Samsung‘s new Bada mobile platform. They do look quite similar to those we saw last week. According to Eldar on Twitter at it does look really promising: Trying touchwiz3 aka bada on s8200. Next flagship device. Like it. Screen is amazing, speed is great.
Source: SamsungHub 
If you don’t feel like flashing the latest T-Mobile 2.01 ROM you can still install the latest build of Opera Mobile 9.7 (35627) on your HTC HD2. So far it seems like the browser is a tiny bit faster when switching from portrait to landscape and a bit more responsive. Just grab the cab here. FYI the previous build number was 35577. You can also download the latest version of HTC Album here.
Via: XDA 
The HTC HD2 just launched in India a few days ago on TACA DOCOMO, check out the full press release below:
New Delhi, December 17, 2009: HTC Corporation (TAIEX: 2498; “HTC”) today launched the HTC HD2™, the first Windows phone with HTC Sense, in India. With its industry leading, high-resolution 4.3-inch ‘capacitive touch’ display, the ultra-thin HTC HD2 delivers more visible content in a sharper, brighter and richer way. The HD2 uses the first ‘capacitive touch’ display on a Windows phone to make viewing, zooming and resizing websites, Microsoft® Office files, PDF documents and pictures easier, with just a pinch of the user’s finger. The large display also enables faster, more efficient and accurate typing using the onscreen keyboard. Utilizing Qualcomm’s new 1 Ghz Snapdragon mobile processor, the HTC HD2 offers enhanced performance that improves the speed of applications, videos, games and more. As part of its initiative to encourage Internet access through mobile devices, TATA DOCOMO has announced an exclusive offer with this launch. TATA DOCOMO customers who purchase an HTC HD2 phone will get an exclusive offer to browse the Internet and download 500MB of data per month free for a period of 6 months. “HTC HD2 is the first Windows phone to embody the HTC Sense user interface, which makes the phone much more intuitive, engaging and a pleasure to use. Powered by Windows Mobile 6.5, the HD2 blends cutting-edge technology and stylish looks to deliver a smooth and superior experience to the customers”, said Mr Ajay Sharma, Country Head, HTC India. Announcing the launch of the HTC HD2 for TATA DOCOMO customers, Mr Gurinder Singh Sandhu, Chief Marketing Officer, TATA DOCOMO, said, “TATA DOCOMO is a young brand that recently rolled out GSM services across 15 Circles within a span of five months and has received an enthusiastic response. When we launched our GSM services, we had promised our subscribers that we would bring to them the best products and services. Living up to that brand promise, we are launching the HTC HD2 phones for our customers. Infact we will be premiering the HTC HD2 exclusively at TATA DOCOMO Dive-In stores so that customers may have a first hand experience of the world’s biggest touch screen phone.” “The HTC HD2 phones, together with TATA DOCOMO offerings, will appeal to a broad spectrum of retail and business customers who want an exceptional mobile experience with e-mail, messaging, social networking, mobile Internet, music and entertainment,” Mr Sandhu added. The HTC HD2 showcases the powerful messaging, browsing and productivity capabilities delivered by Windows Mobile® 6.5. Offering the best in e-mail experience complete with the ability to synchronize with Microsoft Exchange, users have the ability to check and manage multiple e-mail accounts. Microsoft’s new My Phone service enables users to automatically back up and synch photos, music, contacts and text messages for free from the HD2 to the web. Pricing and Availability The HTC HD2 will be available at a market operating price of Rs 39,990 in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, and Rs 36,990 in the other parts of the country at all leading authorised HTC resellers across the country. To avail the TATA DOCOMO offer, customers can SMS ‘WINDOWS’ to 54321 from their HTC HD2 Handset.
Source: HTC 
Tracy & Matt just posted their review of Samsung’s Omnia Pro aka B7610. THhe OmniaPro is basically the Omnia II with a sliding keyboard,all other specs are nearly identical (the AMOLED screen is slightly smaller).
So is the Samsung OmniaPro B7610 a decent device? Hell yeah. I found very few things I didn’t like about it. Its a good all rounder with the added bonus of the slide out keyboard. Is it as good as the HTC Touch Pro2? I would say they are pretty much equal. The keyboard on the HTC TP2 is very slightly better but apart from that its a real close call. The camera on the Samsung is better than on the HTC so that may be a deciding factor. Keyboard aside I think deciding which to get may come down to the user interface. If you like TouchWiz and its other options then go for the Samsung. If you prefer TouchFlo 3D on the HTC then that’s the one to get.
You can read it all here Source: Tracy & Matt 
The second beta release of the best file explorer on Windows Mobile, Resco Explorer 2010, has been released. This new version includes improved responsiveness after scrolling, Bluetooth, Upload and other bug fixes. You can download the EXE here.
Source: Resco It’s still not know what exactly is the HTC Espresso (an HTC Hero with a sliding-keyboard? ) but it looks like the device’s ROM has already been dumped and ported to the Hero. Here are a few screenshots of the latest version of the Sense UI on Android. Source: HTCPedia | |
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