Windows Mobile Louisville

Well, what do you know?!  MS was keeping a secret from us!  Steve Ballmer acknowledged during a webcast that Windows Mobile 6.5 really will be released!  Here is a statement Steve made during that webcast:

“With releases we’ll make this year - releases we’ll make with 6.5 next year, Windows Mobile 7, I think we have a pretty interesting roadmap. ”

Now the $10,000 question is, who will see this version on their devices?  That much is pure speculation at this point…

Whatever your preference on election day, Windows Mobile Louisville encourages you to exercise your right to

There are a myriad of ways to keep track of the results throughout the day, particularly on your Windows Mobile device. Here are a few examples:

• NY Times
• Associated Press
• CNN (visit cnn.com via your mobile browser)
• Google

If you are using the Windows Mobile 0.6 Beta, please take time to upgrade today. Look for the upgrade link on the Skyfire start page. It’s quick and easy to do.

You’re going to like the improvements to zooming, video playback, text entry, and bookmarks, to name a few.  We’ve added new features, too. These are two of our favorites:

• Super Bar - Get to content quicker. In a single field, you can search or enter a URL. It’s always present in the header so it’s easier to find what you’re looking for. Type a few characters and with auto-complete, it’s quick.

• Sharing - Share your favorite web content with friends and text message any web page. Imagine you’re watching The Office on Hulu, and you Twitter it to your friend - the link and all. If they have Skyfire, they’ll be enjoying the show too.

To read the full list of improvements and features, check out the Release Notes.  Make sure you upgrade before November 17, when the Skyfire 0.6 Beta expires.

Terry Myerson was the leader of the Exchange Server 2003 and Exchange Server 2007 teams, and is now the head of Microsoft Mobile Communications Product Group.  The Windows Mobile product team falls under that area.

He was recently interviewed at Windows IT Pro, where he hinted at the Windows Mobile strategy:

“Microsoft’s strategy for Windows Mobile has always been to nail tough business requirements while not forgetting that all of us go home to our families and friends. And we want people to carry a single phone that crosses those two worlds seamlessly.”

I wonder if part of that strategy is “Get the product out the door faster, dammit!”

:)

f you’ve read any tech headlines in the past few days, you have probably already caught word of this, but I’m posting it just in case readers haven’t heard the story:

Motorola’s chief executive of mobile devices, Sanjay Jha, gave an interview last week during Motorola’s Thursday earnings call.   He made mention of Windows Mobile 6.5, which could either be a slip of the tongue or a mis-statement. Here’s what he said:

“Windows Mobile 6 has not delivered the experience that I think Apple has been able to deliver, but as you look at the plan that is Windows Mobile 7 and even 6.5, I think there are significant new added features which will help the platform,” Jha said. “We have now targeted new teams which are focused – in California and Seattle – to deliver experiences. That is where we have to differentiate.”

There are no details at this time to support or disclaim what he stated - who knows?  We’ll keep you posted!

Resco has released version 1.20 of Resco Bubbles.  This is a game which requires a G-sensor, btw…

Resco Bubbles is an action puzzle game where the idea is to clear the grid of bubbles in order to advance to the next level. You are given a sequence of bubbles, which should be quickly and efficiently popped. Numerous explosive, speed-up, slow-down and damage bubbles keep the game play exciting and challenging.

Features:

• Samsung Omnia is now supported
• 50 challenging levels
• G-sensor support
• Various surfaces
• Calibration
• Best score
• Realistic ball-bounce feeling

Resco Bubbles is $9.95 - get it here.

VITO Technology has released online project & task management utility Task2Gather. Task2Gather saves tasks in the web cloud for users to access them any time they need. Task2Gather key features are intuitive user-friendly interface, hierarchic organization, and easy task sharing.

Task2Gather is very flexible. It serves equally well both for organizing and supervising work flow in mid-size companies and also for managing personal to-do or shopping lists. The hierarchic structure allows users to divide any project or task into unlimited number of sub-tasks. 

It can be a simple project “Shopping” with a list of grocery items. Or it can be a multi-level project “Website maintenance” with sub tasks like “SEO optimization”, “Links exchange” with even further unlimited division of sub-tasks into smaller sub-tasks.

Task2Gather is for working together. Once user has created a project, he can invite other participants and assign them responsible for certain tasks. All it takes is typing an email address and clicking “Invite” button. In a couple of minutes their friends, colleagues, or partners will become the part of the project, even if they didn’t use Task2Gather before. The registration in Task2Gather takes less than a minute.

Task2Gather provides an easy way to communicate for project participants through comments. Everybody in a team stays updated on the latest changes as there appear notifications for unread comments. Apart from comments there are also displayed all history changes for every task and project.

Task2Gather is mobile. Task2Gather supports such useful for task management features as assigning deadlines, colors, progress (in hours) to tasks, synchronization with Outlook tasks. All this is available for Task2Gather users on the go. 

Task2Gather for Windows Mobile is available here for $4.99.

The Samsung Omnia is supposed to be Verizon’s answer to the iPhone - optical mouse, large touchscreen, Windows Mobile 6.1 Pro, 5 MP camera, GPS, 8 GB internal memory…

They’ll also have a version of the HTC Touch Pro, just like Sprint (though word has it the device will not have the same features).

Lastly is the Samsung i770 Saga. It’s supposed to replace the i760.

Check out this brief article from Mobililty Site.  The author gives first impressions on the T-Mobile G1, which runs Google’s Android operating system.  While it is just a first impression, it’s still interesting - he still prefers what his Windows Mobile device can do!

For those of you who were waiting for the Touch Pro to be released, the wait is over…

I am quite content with my Diamond, but I will admit that I want to check out a Pro and hold it in my hands to make a final determination as to whether I’d want to make the switch.  There are times when I miss the keyboard, but I seriously love the small size of the Diamond…!