Isaiah's Tech

Two new Windows Mobile handsets have just hit the FCC. Above is the Sony Ericsson Aspen (filing here) and below is the Garmin-Asus Nuvifone M10 (filing here). We know both of these handsets already so I might as well just go through the known specs quickly. The Aspen has a 2.4-inch QVGA display, a 3.2MP camera, GPS / WiFi / Bluetooth support, and a microSD card slot; the M10 has a 3.5-inch touchscreen display, a 5MP camera, a microSD card slot, and a Qualcomm 600MHz CPU.

The FCC reveals that both of these handsets have WinMo 6.5.3 and are destined for Europe with their 900/2100MHz bands.

[WMPowerUser]

It looks like Vodafone has just released another handset running on Windows Mobile. This time it's the HTC HD Mini which is available on their website (here) for free on a 2-year contract with a £25 monthly fee or on an 18-month contract with a £30 monthly fee.

[WMPowerUser]

It looks like US Cellular has just released the Samsung Exec i225 handset, which is a Windows Mobile smartphone. This handset will be running WinMo 6.5 and there's no word if it will get the 6.5.3 upgrade. This handset packs a QVGA display, a QWERTY keypad, a 2MP camera, a microSD card slot, Stereo Bluetooth support, GPS support, and social integration. This is now available for $99.95 on a 2-year contract and $299.95 contract-free. Check it out on their website here.

[Unwired View, Engadget Mobile]

KDDI in Japan has just announced something pretty sweet. They'll be launching the Toshiba K01 as the KDDI Toshiba IS02. This will be running Windows Mobile 6.5.3 and will pack EVDO Rev. A connectivity. Of course, the rest of the spec you already know, so there's a 4.1-inch OLED touchscreen display, a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, a 3.2 MP AF camera, and WiFi b/g / Bluetooth support. Hopefully Toshiba has ironed out their problems because the phone was slow and sluggish when they were prancing it around at MWC earlier this year.

[Slash Gear]

This is HTC's latest Windows Mobile 6.5.3 device and it's the HD mini. It's got a look similar to the HD2 and that's because it's supposed to. This handset won't be running Windows Phone 7 and likely won't be upgradeable either. Specs include: a 3.2-inch capacitive HVGA multi-touch display, a Qualcomm MSM7227 600MHz CPU, a 5MP AF camera, a 3.5mm headphone jack, 512MB of ROM, a microSD card slot, 384MB of RAM, WiFi / aGPS / Bluetooth support, 3G connectivity, and the Sense UI. The full spec sheet is below if you're interested and it'll be launching in April 2010 in the Europe and Asian markets. Vodafone will be one of the carriers in Europe.

[Slash Gear]

Well, it looks like those old picture of the Microsoft Turtle could actually be true - they weren't kidding around about launching it for the "younger" generation. The Turtle has just passed the FCC (filing here) and it's been identified as the Sharp PB10ZU. It's said to be packing a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, CDMA connectivity, WiFi / Bluetooth support, a camera, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. We don't know what version of Windows Mobile this handset will be running, but we could hear about it at MWC which officially kicks off tomorrow!

[Electronista, WMExperts]

New rumours transpired this weekend over Windows Mobile Phone 7. Apparently, Microsoft is trying to be more iPhone-like with this new version by ripping out multitasking which would be a terrible move on their part to be honest. They need a one-up on the iPhone as much as possible. Flash support looks like it'll be absent in WinPho 7, but there will be Silverlight 3.0 support. The UI is said to be "Zune HD inspired" and there'll be no Sense / TouchFLO customization allowed. Apparently the browser is faster / better than the iPhone's. There'll reportedly be Zune / Xbox 360 integration and September 2010 is the release date. The full list is below.

We'll just have to wait until MWC 2010 so that Microsoft can confirm / unconfirm all of this good / bad news.

• WM7 will have a user interface derived from codename “METRO” and will be similar to the Zune HD
• The traditional Home Screen will get a whole new look and will not support custom interfaces like Sense and TouchFLO
• No Flash support as time constraints prevented its inclusion
• Will include Silverlight 3.0 with some aspects of SL 4.0 and mobile-specific features
• Applications will be installed through the Windows Mobile Marketplace only, manual installation from a storage card will not be allowed
• Say no to multitasking and yes to push notifications which may be provided by a Microsoft hosted push notifications environment
• Windows Mobile Marketplace will include a “Try before you Buy” feature and offer API support
• No .NET Compact Framework backwards compatibility so all those old apps will not work, but a portion of the data and business logic .NET CF may be ported at some point
• Browser is based upon desktop IE7 codebase, but with some IE8 functionality and is currently faster / better than the iPhone 3G
• MS is actually ahead of schedule which will surprise the analysts / journalists (seriously?)
• Full Zune and Xbox 360 Integration (Gamer tag, achievements, friends, avatars, merchandising, etc)
• No more active sync or Windows Mobile Device center. Zune software will handle all syncing
• Full support for social networking
• Devices are expected to ship by September 2010

[Slash Gear, Gizmodo, Engadget, Boy Genius]

It looks like some of the highlight of the upcoming Windows Mobile 6.5.3 have just been published somewhere. The most exciting feature (at least I think it is) is the inclusion of multitouch. The full list is below so you can briefly skim through that.

• Platform to enable multitouch
• Touch controls throughout system (no need for stylus)
• Consistent Navigation
• Horizontal scroll bar replaces tabs (think settings>system>about screen)
• Magnifier to bring touch support to legacy applications
• Simplified out-of-box experience with fewer steps
• Drag and drop icons on Start Screen
• Browser page load time decreased and memory management improved
• Browser pan & flick gestures smoothed and zoom & rotation speed increased
• Updated runtime tools (.NET CF 3.5, SQL CE 3.1)
• Arabic read/write document support
• Watson (error reporting) improvements and bug fixes

No doubt we'll see more of Windows Mobile 6.5.3 at MWC in under two weeks. We'll also see more phones running it, not just the Sony Ericsson Faith Aspen.

[Boy Genius]

Apparently this rumour is now 100% true if you believe it. Microsoft will reportedly unveil the Zune Phone at MWC. This handset will basically be the Zune HD that can actually make calls. It'll be powered by the Nvidia Tegra and will feature an OLED display with a 272 x 480 resolution, an HDMI output, and will be running Windows Mobile 7. It will supposedly weigh 2.45 ounces. If this handset is running WinMo 7 - and those specs are true - it'll actually be one of the crappier handsets running that OS since we've already seen LG and HTC's first WinMo7 handsets.

If the Zune Phone is true, it's gotta have a beefier spec sheet, more specifically a larger display with a higher resolution.

[Gizmodo]

Microsoft has finally mentioned and confirmed that Windows Mobile 7 will make an appearance at MWC 2010. This is great news since a lot of people have been wondering "what's up?" with Microsoft's upcoming update to their mobile OS. WinMo 7 should have multitouch support and could bring things like integration with Xbox Live and all of those popular social networking sites. WinMo 7 is also expected to feature minimal requirements such as a 1GHz Snapdragon CPU, 8GB of internal storage, an 800 x 480 touchscreen display, 3G / WiFi / GPS support. They're definitely going after the high-end market with their next mobile OS which should put pressure on the future of Android and the iPhone.

MWC kicks off on February 15th so mark it on your calendars.

Update: According to Unwired View, a new picture has been surfacing online of an old-school i-mate JASJAR running Windows Mobile 7 (above). This is actually extremely weird since the minimal specs for WinMo 7 are way more than what this phone can handle. The JASJAR only has 64MB of RAM and 128MB of ROM. Apparently the minimal specs we heard are actually inaccurate. The "new" supposed list of requirements (and recommendations) are below.

• Minimum RAM: 128MB (at least 256MB is recommended though)
• Minimum ROM: 512MB
• CPU: 600MHz ARM v6+
• 3.6 inch display is not a requirement
• WVGA resolution is not necessary – WM7 phones will have various resolutions, including QVGA
• Compass is not a requirement (although it’s recommended)
• G-Sensor (accelerometer) is also not a requirement, but it’s recommended

[Electronista]

Garmin-Asus is infamously known for their very, very delayed Nuvifone G60 handset. They're looking to put that all behind them though since they are planning to unveil some of their upcoming smartphones at MWC this year. At MWC they'll be showing off the M10 which is essentially a Windows Mobile 6.5.3 handset that will feature a 3.5-inch resistive touchscreen display and a 5MP camera. This handset will retail for around $400.

Along with that though they're looking to launch a couple of Android handsets as well. We don't know what this handset will feature but Garmin-Asus is hoping to sell 1 million handsets this year, which might be a bit of a stretch for them. We'll see what happens.

[Engadget]

The latest rumour states that we could see that Zune / Project Pink phone in around two months. If this is the case it'll likely be running the rumoured Windows Mobile 6.6 OS which is scheduled to launch soon. Theoretically it should be upgradeable to Windows Mobile 7 since this'll be Microsoft's own phone - like Google's own Nexus One. If the launch is coming in two months we should be expecting it at MWC which takes place a month from now.

[Gizmodo]