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Clarity Consulting have just the first screenshots of a Microsoft Hohm energy management application for Windows Phone 7. Hohm is Microsoft ‘s home energy tracking and monitoring service aimed at help user to save cost and use less energy in there homes. The Windows Phone 7 application use the OS’ panoramic UI to comply with the UI Design and Interaction Guide and features all the basic functionalities and info found in Hohm. Here’s a description of the apps features:
Application Overview
By monitoring home consumption in real time and with yearly projections users can pinpoint vampire devices, times of high or low consumption, and wasteful patterns of energy use. Energy usage meters indicate total current consumption as well as individual device consumption. Users can then use the information to take action, make adjustments, and change their consumption behaviors. The app can be used to automate certain systems like lighting, temperature, or alarms. Other features can be turned on an off at the touch of a toggle switch on your phone, away from home. Forget to turn off the TV or shut the garage door? No problem, you can do it from your phone. Through settings you can enable and disable features of the phone that apply to your home making it a completely customized and convenient experience. To be clear, this equates to more security, big environmental impact, and even bigger savings
Remember that this is currently just a in-house proof of concept and that Clarity Studio isn’t announcing if this app will eventually be made available to the public once Windows Phone 7 is released later this year. You check out Clarity’s other WP7 projects here. Source: Clarity Consulting Last but not least, the Dell Looking Glass Android tablet. At the heart of it ia nVidia’s Tegra 2 chipset coupled with 7″ WVGA capacitive touchscreen. The Looking Glass runs Android 2.1 like the smaller Dell Streak and is said to feature a optional ATSC or DVB-T tuner. Release date is estimated around November 2010, but like I said earlier: those slides are probably dated which means that the info isn’t reallt up to date (and having a Tegra 2 on board doesn’t help in light of nVidia’s curent problems when it comes to shipping dates and quality control). Source: Engadget Here comes the second Froyo handset, the Dell Smoke (I’m waiting for the Dell Vapour now…). With a design similar to the Palm Pixi and a hint of Sony Ericsson, the Dell Smoke is the company’s second Android Froyo based handset and like the Dell Flash, features a Qualcomm SMS7230 at 800Mhz. THe screen is said to be a 2.8inch QVGA panel even though it doesn’t exactly look like that in the slides above. Source: Engadget Seems like the leak won’t stop tonight. Here’s the Dell Flash handset based on the upcoming Android version named Froyo. The Dell Flash is aimed at the mainstream market and packs a Qualcomm MSM 7230 SoC clocked @ 800Mhz (the “mid-end” shrunk down version of the SnapDragon) and 3.5inch WVGA TFT LCD screen. It also features a 5Mpix camera and all the connectivity option you can expected on a modern smartphone. Like the Dell Thunder the Flash will feature Dell’s on UI on top of Android. Shipping is expected in Q1 2011 (on AT&T?). Please keep in mind that all the leaked slides are probably a couple of months old and that all the specs are subject to change without notice… Source: Engadget After the lightning….comes the thunder. It’s leak time today: The Dell Thunder is the company’s upcoming Android based smartphone expected in Q4 2001. Not much is known about the specs (other than the 4.1″ OLED screen), but from the looks of it I would guess that it has basically the same hardware has the Dell Lightning minus the hardware keyboard. The deivie is also said to include a Hullu application to watch on-demand video (via Flash 10.1) and will also feature the Swype onscreen keyboard. Source: Engadget Wow, this came out of nowhere. Engadget just got the hands on some internal slides of Dell’s upcoming Windows Phone 7 handset: the Dell Lightning. The lighting features a portrait sliding qwerty keyboard, a 4.1″ OLED screen, 1G Rom of internal Flash, 512Mb of Ram and 8Gb of storage on a Micro-SD (weird given that micro-sd aren’t supposedly allowed on Windows Phone 7..). A Qualcomm Snapdragon clocked at 1ghz is also on board. Check out the slides for the rest of the info. The device is expected to launch in Q4 2011 with full flash/silverlight support in the browser (this info is definitely old/wrong). As you can see the Bing application shown in the slides is actually the iPhone version, also it’s actually the Zune HD interface you see there and the OS is still called Windows Mobile 7 instead of Windows Phone 7, so I wouldn’t be surprised if the slides were a couple of months old (dating before WP7′s announcement at MWC10 in Feb 2010). Source: Engadget TheNextWeb had the chance to chat with Charlie Kindel, Microsoft’s head of development for Windows Phone 7, while he was in Portugal yesterday. As you can see in the video the OS looks quite a bit smoother and more responsive than what we have seen before which means that this is probably a newer build on both the Asus prototype and the LG protoype. Nothing really new is shown other the ability to play music via the Zune hub in the background and continue working on the phone at the same time. Source: TheNextWeb Here’s short demo video of Microsoft’s Smart-Sensing technology vs traditional copy & paste in Windows Phone 7. This looks nice and all (somewhat similar to what’s on the iPhone..).. but I still want real copy/paste Microsoft. The latest we have heard is that work is being done and the feature should hopefully be available in one of the first updates. Source: Microsoft I uploaded the video to YouTube for those who don’t want to create an account on MS’s site. 
UK Android users rejoice! Google Navigation Betahas been update to version 4.1.1and now brings the full navigation functionality to the UK. According to early reports it is working on Android 1.6 and up. For more information head over here. All you have to do to get it is launch Google Maps on you Android handset and you should be prompted to download the 4.1.1 update.
Source: Google 
It a recent blog disucssing the company’s officially abondon of Apple’s iPhone OS, Adobe’s Principal Product Manager Mike Chambers slipped whar may be one of the first official confirms by Adobe that Flash (and AIR?) is coming to Windows Phone 7 (previously on Microsoft commented on this subject):
I am excited about Flash Player 10.1 and Adobe AIR 2.0 and all of the opportunities that they will make available to Flash developers across multiple platforms (desktop, Android, Palm, Windows Phone 7, RIM, etc…).
This also confirms that the developement of Flash 10.1 for Windows Mobile 6.X was indeed halted two months ago. From the looks of it, Adobe is going to try ride on the relative success and buzz of the Android platform and heavely invest in it. I don’t expect to see Flash on WP7 before H1 2011. Fortunately, the iPhone isn’t the only game in town. Android based phones have been doing well behind the success of the Motorola Droid and Nexus One, and there are a number of Android based tablets slated to be released this year. We are working closely with Google to bring both Flash Player 10.1 and Adobe AIR 2.0 to these devices, and thus far, the results have been very promising.
Source: Adobe Mike Chambers [flv:http://cdn.zdnet.co.uk/zdnetcouk/interview_pkindel_part1_apr2010_v1.flv 620 369] ZDnet UK scooped a video interview with Microsoft’s head of development for Windows Phone 7, Charlie Kindel who is currently touring Europe to promote and evangelize WP7. There isn’t much news in there, Charlie once againconfirms that some scenarios/features won’t be enabled at first (in the first release) like enterprise scenarios etc… Source: ZDnet.co.uk I must admit that I’m probably in the minority here because I sort of love the design of the leaked next-gen iPhone 4g prototype. But the first thing that came to mind when I saw the pictures was a sense of deja-vue. Yup! That prototype’s design looks strangely similar to one of my digital cameras, the Sony DSC-T2. It isn’t the first time Apple takes some design cues from Sony (remember the keyboards that first appear on Sony’s Vaios…) so I find it interesting that the Japanese company is still a source of inspiration for the big Apple. Take a look at the pictures to see for yourself, notice the rounded buttons, metallic frame (it’s actually plastic on the T2) etc… 
According to Digitimes Compal was contracted by Toshiba to manufacture an nVidia Tegra2 Windows CE 7 based dual-screen Tablet expected to ship in 2011.What is interesting is that these specs line up with the latest rumors about Microsoft’s Courier project (NYTimes claims that a source told them that it’s scheduled for 2011). It is also worth noting that Toshiba has always been close to Microsoft in the past (they build the Orignial Zune players). There’s one thing that doesn’t ad up if we assume that it is indeed the Courier: Why would Microsoft need Toshiba? They could directly contract Compal to build the device.
Source: Digitimes 
Project Aura is an Avatars driven social application aimed at enabling people to interact with each other across Microsoft devices like Windows Phone 7and Xbox with the use of animations rather than text. The project is developed at Carnegie Mellon University’s Entertainment Technology Center and sponsored by Microsoft:
Source: Project Aura via Istartedsomething 
Microsoft’s Andre Vrignaud has posted an article describing what he (and the WP7 team) thinks are the Three main Pillars of Xbox Live on Windows Phone 7: The Three Pillars of Mobile Entertainment Our vision for Xbox LIVE is to bring gamers the entertainment they want, with the people they care about, wherever they are. Three major pillars will guide our development efforts: Simplicity Matters Gamers who are familiar with Xbox LIVE on the console or Games for Windows – LIVE on the PC expect a consistent, unified experience for their gaming, and the mobile experience must be the same: everything must work as the gamer expects it, and must be seamless and familiar. Mobile gamers who experience Xbox LIVE for the first time should feel an instant appreciation for the simple, intuitive way that they can connect to and share their gaming experience with their friends. Everything Counts Any time the gamer spends playing a game, no matter how small, should be respected. Games should automatically save the player’s progress, and any actions taken in-game should be allowed to count toward the player’s larger goals in your title. For games that target multiple platforms, this might include adding benefits to console versions of the game when the player engages in short play sessions on a mobile device. It is important for the time that a player spends in a game to be both recorded and rewarded. Awarding achievements is a valuable way of rewarding the player for his or her efforts, and it is an essential part of the Xbox LIVE experience. Let Friends Play Together Games should make it easy for gamers to connect with their friends and to form deeper connections with them through frequent, shared, online experiences. Xbox LIVE allows gamers to participate in play experiences with each other through game invitations, leaderboards, and by comparing achievements and gamerscore. Deeper social bonds are promoted by displaying players’ status updates and their personalized Xbox LIVE avatars. Though Xbox LIVE now has over 23 million members, it’s important to recognize that Xbox LIVE isn’t the only social network with a gaming audience. Games can connect with other social networks such as Facebook or Twitter and make it easy for players to share gaming experiences with friends (such as game invites or leaderboards) who might not have an Xbox LIVE account. Friends may be located in multiple social networks, and gamers should be able to play with them all.
I think that it’s universaly agreed that bringin Xbox live services to Windows Phones was long overdue espceially after the Xbox Live anywhere announcement back in 2006(this project never saw the light). On the other hand lots of people a fearing that this consumer centric approach is going to be the final nail in the coffin for Windows Mobile. For my part, I’ll just suggest to all the skeptics to wait until the OS is released and see how things turn out. Look at the iPhone look and the Nintendo DS, the XBOX etc… at the end of the day, people are not going to care if this or that feature is absent from the first release. They want games, apps, flashy graphics , these are the things that are going to sell phones and this is what Microsoft is trying to provide. First establish a great software ecosystem and then refine it with new features. Source: Ozymendias 
Steve Jobs is going to nuke somebody…. Engadget first started posting leaked shots of the handset during the weekend and now Gizmodo a whole friggin hands-on with videos of the iPhone 4G! The device is claimed to be a lost iPhone 4G prototype and according to early investigation by the GIZ, feature s high res screen, front facing camera, Micro-Sim Slot, dual microphones, and a bigger camera lens paired with a led flash.
Here’s Apple Jonathan Ive reaction :
It could all be a planned leak though….
Source: Gizmodo 
The Dutch boys at Tweakers.net got the hands on an internal Windows Phone 7 document detailing the architecture of the new OS. This Architecture Guide for Windows Phone 7 OS is the source of the info that was leaked here right before the official announcement at MWC10.
The first slide posted shows the Kernel architecture of the OS. As you can see WP7 is composed of two distinct layers: the user Space & the Kernel Space. Inside the User Space you have the OS services, the shell etc. The Kernel Space on the other hand contains the Kernel itself, the file system, graphics rendering, radio, drivers etc.
Continue reading Leaked document details Windows Phone 7 architecture →
Some call it Multi-Touch others Dual-Touch one thing is for sure though: Testers are needed. Anaadoul over at XDA-Devs has posted the Beta release of his Dua-Touch SDK for resistive touchscreens (only Windows Mobilehandsets). One important thing to note is that this isn’t really multi-touch it is sort of simulating the same function on a resistive panel. In December last year, i posted an Alpha version of this SDK. Now it is mature enough to announce it as Beta. This SDK allows developers to build Dual-Touch enabled applications. so let’s get into action.
Features: •Pinch to Zoom Support
•Drag (swipe) support.
•Replacement events for the mouse move fires only when a single finger detected.
•Multiple events based on gestures.
•Performance optimized, memory footprint is minimal.
You can grab the SDK here, and follow the discussion thread here Source: XDA-Devs 
Eager to get your hands on the latest and greatest Android handset? If you don’t mind switching to Verizon or if you currently are part of the big red family you should be delighted to know that the HTC Droid Incredible is now up for pre-order on the company’s online store. Shipping date is still April 29th and the phone will cost you $199 with a 24months contract. Head over here to pre-order it.
Source: Verizon | |
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