Isaiah's Tech

Windows Mobile 6.5 looks like it will be surperior to 6.1 just like Windows 7 is to Vista. Apparently, Windows Mobile 6.5 (running on HTC Touch Diamond2) is much more responsive and the browser is faster. Everything seems to be "touched up, simplified, and polished." Although, the honeycomb menus are still quite unimpressive, there are a lot of good things going for Windows Mobile 6.5. I actually hope that WinMo 6.5 will be better because i've done a lot of WinMo 6.1 bashing. Come on Microsoft, you can do it! If you want to see a video of WinMo 6.5 in action just go to this link, via Gizmodo.

Since we're talking about Windows Mobile 6.5, i might as well tell you about LG. LG has now agreed to make 50 LG phones running Windows Mobile 6.5. Yes, fifty! I don't know how excited i am, but LG must be praying that WinMo 6.5 will run just how smoothly they say it will.

I was just talking about Windows Mobile 6.5, but it looks like we're going to have to backtrack because Acer is going old-school. All 4 of these smartphones will run on Windows Mobile 6.5 and i don't really know what the hell they are thinking. I'll go from left to right, starting with the X960. I've talked about the Acer X960 already, but i might as well briefly go through the specs. It has a 2.8-inch touchscreen display, 3.2MP camera, GPS and Bluetooth. The F900, which looks to be one of the better smartphones in the line-up, has a 3.8-inch touchscreen display, a 3MP camera with autofocus, GPS and, of course, Bluetooth. The M900 (the best out of these smartphones) also has a 3.8-inch touchscreen display but also comes with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, a 5MP camera (with autofocus and flashlight), GPS and Bluetooth. Last, and maybe, least is the DX900 which has a 2.8-inch touchscreen, a 3MP camera with autofocus, GPS and Bluetooth. Keep in mind (again) that they all run WinMo 6.1, have similar features and they all have microSD card slots.

So, Nvidia has just announced that they plan to use their Tegra 600 series chips to power $99 MID's (Mobile Internet Devices). MID's are squeezed into their own category, between smartphones and netbooks. These MIDs will "support 1080p HD video playback, which is the high end of what you'll find streaming online." Nvidia will use Windows CE along with Android on their cheap MID's. I don't see the point of this [MIDs], but Nvidia certainly does.

Windows Mobile 6.5 (and picture): http://i.gizmodo.com/5154385/windows-mobile-65-hands-on-the-new-interface-rocks
LG To Make 50 Windows Mobile Phones (and picture): http://i.gizmodo.com/5154335/lg-signed-up-to-make-50thats-fiftywindows-mobile-phones
Acer's 4 Smartphones (and picture): http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/16/acer-unveils-tempo-smartphone-series-x960-f900-m900-and-dx90/
NVIDIA's Tegra 600 Series Chips (and picture): http://www.mobilecrunch.com/2009/02/16/nvidia-plans-to-power-99-mobile-internet-devices/

Ahh yes, more news that i've found regarding the Nokia N86. Besides have an 8MP camera, a Carl Zeiss lens and autofocus, the phone is a slider. The phone will run on Symbian S60 and has a 2.6-inch OLED screen. It also has 8GB of internal memory, a standard 3.5mm headphone jack, microUSB and will have "Share on Ovi integration", whatever that means. It doesn't look like it will have a touchscreen and there are 2 different reports on having either a xenon flash or a dual-LED flash. I think the keypad looks way too plain and plasticky. Price and availability will be coming soon.


The 6710 Navigator (left) will have Nokia Maps (so you will never get lost), a 5MP camera, a Carl Zeiss lens and a dual-LED flash. This phone will be available in Q3 for €300 ($383 USD). The 6720 Classic (right) is a replica of the 6710 Navigator but will be "in candybar form." This will be available in Q2 for €245 ($313 USD). These 2 phones look pretty plain, except for the camera, which is above par.


The E55 (left) is the "world's thinnest smartphone" according to Nokia. This 9.9mm smartphone will have a "compact QWERTY" or SureType keypad. "The E55 has aGPS [Assisted Global Positioning System, Google it] and Nokia Maps Support, a claimed 28 days of standby and will go on sale in Western Europe this summer for €265 ($338 USD)." Unlike the E55, the E75 (right) will have a slide-out QWERTY keyboard. It will run Symbian S60 3rd Edition, have a 3.2MP camera, have WiFi and will also have 3G. The 2.4-inch display and the normal number keypad make this thing have lots and lots of buttons. "It officially ships next month but pre-orders are now being taken on Nokia's website for a pretty fair €375 ($478 USD)."


Do you remember the Nokia N97? It's the phone that used to be my love. But just like the XPERIA X1, the N97 will also be hit with numerous delays. The scheduled March 31 release date has been pushed back to some time in June. The Nokia N97 is already being outdated by other phones and i think i'm going to fall in love with an HTC Touch Pro 2 [or something newer] now. Sorry N97, you took too long.


Nokia N86 (and picture): http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/16/nokia-busts-out-its-own-8-megapixel-slider-the-n86/
Nokia 6710 Navigator and 6720 Classic (and pictures): http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2009/02/16/recap-of-nokias-day-at-mwc-four-new-phones-ovi-store-n97-in-june/
Nokia E55 and E75 (and pictures): http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2009/02/16/recap-of-nokias-day-at-mwc-four-new-phones-ovi-store-n97-in-june/
Nokia N97 (and picture): http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2009/02/16/recap-of-nokias-day-at-mwc-four-new-phones-ovi-store-n97-in-june/

Nokia's own app store was finally announced. The Ovi Store will begin in May and will allow you, well, to buy applications of course. Nokia "expects that the store will reach 300 million users by 2012." They also said that 70 percent of the revenue will go to the software developers. There will be a "social discovery" feature that will tell you what apps other people are using and they "will automatically be highlighted." I don't know how interesting a store could get, but they've finally confirmed it. There's not really any specs i can give you here.

Remember that picture i showed you a while back with the skateboarder. That picture was apparently taken with an 8MP Nokia shooter that also had a Carl Zeiss lens. Well, looks like we may have a match here. It may have been taken with this phone, the Nokia N86. The N86 will have an 8 megapixel camera, a Carl Zeiss lens and a xenon flash which are all great things. This is the first picture of the N86 and there is no other word on the specs. Boy Genius mentions that it might not be a touchscreen because the screen looks a bit small.

HTC looks amazing at MWC with the announcement of their HTC Touch Diamond 2 and Touch Pro 2 phones. I'll first talk about the Touch Diamond 2. It will have a 3.6 or 3.2-inch touchscreen (different reports) and will be just 13.7mm thick. It will have 50% better battery life and a 5MP camera. It looks like it has a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, but judging from no pictures of it and the video that did not reveal a QWERTY, it actually may not have one. That would make it a direct competitor for the iPhone. Unfortunately, it runs Windows Mobile. I don't know what it is with HTC and their love for Windows Mobile. They assume that their TouchFLO 3D crap will make WinMo run better, but they're wrong. This phone will be available to "major European and Asian markets in early Q2 2009 with broader global availability coming later in the year." Since there was new news on the HTC Touch Pro 2 running WinMo 6.5, this phone may also run WinMo 6.5.

Before getting you all excited. This phone will also run Windows Mobile 6.1 [Edited later]. If you can get past that, the phone itself will also have a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, a 3.6-inch touchscreen, improved battery life, expandable memory and a 3.2MP camera. I don't see any other important specs, but this phone will be available in the early summertime. Actually this just in, Engadget reports that all Windows Mobile 6.5 phones will have a physical start button on the phone. This picture also means that the HTC Touch Pro 2 may run on WinMo 6.5, instead of the aforementioned 6.1. It will be a bit better running 6.5.

Nokia Ovi Store (and picture): http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/02/16/nokia-unveils-ovi-store-application-sales-to-debut-in-may/
Nokia N86 (and picture): http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2009/02/16/nokia-leaks-n86-amidst-a-lukewarm-showing-at-mwc/
HTC Touch Diamond2 (and picture): http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2009/02/16/htc-announces-the-touch-diamond2-and-touch-pro2/
HTC Touch Diamond2: http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/16/htcs-touch-diamond2-adds-zoom-bar-mega-screen-surprisingly-fe/
HTC Touch Pro2: http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2009/02/16/htc-announces-the-touch-diamond2-and-touch-pro2/
HTC Touch Pro2: http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/16/htc-touch-pro2-is-awesome-in-ways-the-touch-pro-never-could-be/
Windows Mobile 6.5 Has Physical Start Button (and picture): http://i.gizmodo.com/5154217/all-windows-mobile-65-phones-to-feature-physical-start-button

It's only a couple of hours until MWC and LG looks like they've got a good touchscreen line-up ahead. You can see the KM900 Arena in this photo. I am pretty excited to see LG's line-up as well as Samsung's. Maybe we'll even see more Sony Ericsson's. And, of course, Nokia, specifically the Nokia N97. Update: So, MWC has already started and i chose not to talk about a lot of pointless things. This includes Windows Mobile 6.5 because i think it's quite the same, a lot of things will still go wrong with it and there was actually not that much improvement. They've confirmed MyPhone and such, but whatever. I also chose not to blog about a couple of Nokia phones because they didn't interest me.

The LG handset you see here is also in the photo above. We're looking at a touchscreen here. There are no other words on its specifications. So, i'll have that for you at a later post. This phone does look good though, i must admit. The keypad is transparent and will "softly glow" when you slide it up. "The company [LG] has also designed a dedicated Bluetooth headset to go along with its latest work of art."

This phone is also in the picture above, the one with the girls in it. This phone is also a touchscreen and it is the GM730. It will spot that new S-Class UI that the KM900 Arena also has, you know the 3D interface. We'll see just how good this phone is while it runs WinMo and having Internet Explorer Mobile 6.0 as the browser. LG needs to run Android on some of their phones before Windows Mobile puts them down the drain. As of right now, this phone looks like it won't have 3G if it comes to North America, but that may change at a later date. Oh yes, the phone is only 11.9mm thick.

LG Touchscreen Line-up (and picture): http://www.gsmarena.com/touchscreen_is_chick_with_the_bunch_of_leaked_new_lg_phones-news-795.php
LG GD900 (and picture): http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/16/lgs-gd900-previewed-features-transparent-keypad/
LG GM730 (and picture): http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/16/lg-brings-s-class-ui-to-windows-mobile-with-gm730/