Given the fact that Samsung has released officially announced an impressive number of new phones at the MWC, there would be no point in hiding one, right? It looks like a certain Valencia phone has not been unveiled by Samsung but by Microsoft.

Microsoft has for display various Windows Mobile phones and among those there lies a Samsung Valencia. We’ve shown you the Valencia before, although its name was the C6625. The Valencia comes with 3G, GPS, 128MB of both RAM and ROM, QVGA display and a 393MHz processor. Would you get a Valencia running Windows Mobile for just $365?

via Engadget

Tags: C6625, microsoft, Mobile News, Mobile Software, MWC, Samsung, Samsung, Valencia, Windows Mobile

While LG has announced its partnership with Microsoft, that doesn’t necessarily mean that it will not create smartphones running other OS. And rumor has it that LG plans to release three Android phones by the end of the year. One should arrive by June while the other two should be announced in Q2. Unfortunately we have no idea what LG will actually launch but we hope they will have better success at designing Android phones than Kogan or Samsung did so far.

Tags: Android, Google, kogan, LG, LG, microsoft, microsoft, Mobile News, Mobile Software, Other Brands, Samsung, Samsung, windows

We’ve already told you how Microsoft and LG partnered up to offer more than 50 LG Windows phones by 2012. And LG decided to launch a smartphone to mark the special occasion. The LG-GM730 will be available in the first half of the year and it will run Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional Edition for starters. The phone will also be able to run on Windows Mobile 6.5 in the second part of the year. The GM730 will get a new S-Class 3D user interface which we’ve already seen in the Arena and it will have Internet Explorer Mobile 6.0 installed. We still lack all the details of this LG smartphone but we’re expecting to get them soon enough.

via Press

Tags: GM730, LG, LG, microsoft, microsoft, Mobile News

LG has announced that it has chosen Windows Mobile as the primary OS for its cell phone business. LG has reached an agreement with Microsoft and according to it, it will increase the number of Windows phones and the total volume of Windows phones it distributes. By 2012 LG might launch over 50 new LG Windows phones which is quite impressive. And if they’re going to be at least as impressive as the Arena KM900 we’ve seen today then LG might have landed quite an important deal.

Yong Nam vice chairman and chief executive officer of LG Electronics had this to say:

New LG phones running Windows will take advantage of the excitement in this dynamically growing market. The Windows platform brings flexible and customer-friendly software that ties into the Web and the PC, giving our phones a wide range of new capabilities to address an increasing number of segments and markets.

And here’s Ballmer version of the story:

Windows® phones enable people to tap into digital experiences that span their lives so they can connect to the people, information and services they care about most. Integrating Windows software with LG’s design leadership will bring new experiences to help enrich people’s lives.

Following the agreement LG and Microsoft will create joint team for research and development which might deliver better Windows phones than we expect.

via Press

Tags: LG, LG, microsoft, microsoft, Mobile News, Mobile Software, MWC, Other Brands

The HTC Touch Diamond is a great phone that needs an impressive heir. And HTC prepared quite the follower. The HTC Touch Diamond2 will be available in Q2 for an undisclosed yet price. Like the Touch Pro2 the Touch Diamond2 will also be upgradeable to Windows Mobile 6.5 later this year.

The HTC Touch Diamond2 will get you a larger 3.2-inch high resolution widescreen VGA display, a new touch sensitive zoom bar and HTC TouchFlo 3D experience. HTC says that Diamond 2 will also get the company’s new Push Internet technology and the phone will be optimized for one hand use. You should also expect a better battery, a 5 megapixels auto focus camera, expandable memory, a gravity sensor and an ambient light sensor.

What would you choose? HTC Touch Pro2 or HTC Touch Diamond2?

via Press

Tags: HTC, HTC, microsoft, Mobile News, Mobile Software, MWC, Touch Diamond2, Touch Pro2, Windows Mobile 6.5

Microsoft has come in strong in Spain with all the new products we were waiting for. There’s Windows Mobile 6.5, My Phone, Marketplace and Recite. But let’s go through them one at a time.

The next generation of Windows phones will be based on Windows Mobile 6.5. Notice how I refer to them as Windows phones as Microsoft decided to totally rebrand its mobile branch. Windows Mobile 6.5 comes with a new home screen meant to improve the user’s browsing experience. The touchscreen interface has also been improved and there’s a new Internet Explorer waiting for you to try it on before you go ahead and replace it with something else.

My Phone is a free service which will let you manage your personal information on the device and back it up to a password-protected web-based service. That means you will be upgrading your phones without the fear of loosing any precious information. My Phone will offer automatic sync for contacts, calendar, messages and more information. Photos and video can also be uploaded to My Phone. We have no idea when My Phone is coming though since it’s only available in a limited beta trial so far.

Windows Mobile 6.5 will get you access to Windows Marketplace for Mobile. And yes, you got it, it’s Microsoft late response to Apple’s App Store. You will be able to get Windows application for your phone or PC using a Windows Live ID.

Microsoft Recite could be one of those applications. For now it’s open for trial and it might become really useful to you. With Recite you will be able to record your spoken thoughts and listen to them later when you need to remember stuff.

Interested in any of that? Are you going to get a new Windows phone soon?

via Press

Tags: marketplace, microsoft, microsoft, Mobile News, MWC, My Phone, Recite, Windows Mobile 6.5

I bet you weren’t expecting Windows Mobile 6.5 to arrive before MWC but it looks like it did. The video tour arrived on YouTube and it seems its running on HTC’s Touch HD. Are you ready to move from Windows Mobile 6.1 to the next level? We’ll be looking forward to see how the new interface works. There’s a new home screen and a honeycomb-like launcher. There’s also IE Mobile which we will probably replacing with Fennec and there’s portrait mode action. The video is not official so we’ll be waiting for Steve Ballmer to heavily sweat through the officially official Windows Mobile 6.5 presentation next week.

via YouTube

Tags: microsoft, Mobile News, Mobile Software, MWC, Windows Mobile 6.1, Windows Mobile 6.5, youtube

Microsoft has announced that it will release a new service that synchronizes information on a user’s cell phone. Contacts, text messages and photos will all be available to be managed at a password-protected Microsoft Web site. By subscribing to the service, called My Phone, cell phone users will no have complete data storage and back-up online, so that if the phone is lost or destroyed all the cell phone data can be retrieved and downloaded to a new phone. Subscribers who use the My Phone service could also post information on the My Phone Web site that will then appear on their cell phone.

The Microsoft My Phone service will be free, but will only work on phones that run Microsoft’s Windows Mobile 6 operating system. Microsoft is offering up to 200 megabytes of free storage on the My Phone site. Full details will be released at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, which will start Feb. 16.

Tags: Cell phone synchronization, Contacts, microsoft, microsoft

A MyPhone beta page popped out yesterday and everyone started talking about it. It was all a mistake but it looks like Microsoft has confirmed everything. Microsoft will offer invites to a few people for a private beta testing but that will happen at the MWC. And in case you thought MyPhone is some kind of a Zune Phone then don’t get all excited. MyPhone is simple that sync service we’ve talked about earlier on here, called SkyBox. We’ll let you know how one can join the beta once Microsoft announces it.

via windowsmobile

Tags: Beta, microsoft, microsoft, Mobile News, Mobile Software, MWC, MyPhone, SkyBox, Sync, Windows Mobile

You’re probably wondering how much will Microsoft dare to charge for their latest PC OS and after Vista’s success you should do that. Will Windows 7 prove to be another bad investment? From what we’ve seen in the beta so far, the new Windows looks better and it’s definitely more stable.

And here’s what Microsoft is going to charge for it:

• Windows 7 Starter: $199
• Windows 7 Home Premium: $259
• Windows 7 Professional: $299
• Windows 7 Ultimate: $319

Will we see any special prices? What about upgrade costs? Shouldn’t current Vista owners get a bargain price when upgrading to Windows 7?

via OSNews

Tags: microsoft, microsoft, Mobile Software, Price, vista, Windows 7

We thought CES 2009 was going to bring us the Zune Phone, but it didn’t. Now that MWC is getting closer, the rumor of a Microsoft Zune Phone launch is upon us again.

MSFT Smart-Phone Launch? Multiple industry sources are telling us that MSFT is planning to launch a smartphone. We are told it will be a 2H launch. We do not see this as landscape changing, much like their Zune launch.

Analyst firm Broadpoint AmTech says the phone will be available in the second half of the year but Microsoft still says that the Zune Phone isn’t coming yet.

via allthingsd

Tags: ces, microsoft, microsoft, Mobile News, Mobile Software, MWC, Portable Devices, Zune Phone

It seems we have arrival dates for both Windows Mobile 6.5 and Windows Mobile 7. Windows Mobile 6.5 should be presented in all its glory at the MWC. Microsoft will release it then in Q3 and sources say that means September. Windows Mobile 7 on the other hand might not be presented at the MWC but early beta versions of the OS might be available as soon as November 2009 with an official release of Windows Mobile 7 in April 2010. Are any of these Microsoft OS going to successfully battle Apple, Android or Palm?

via ZDNet

Tags: microsoft, microsoft, Mobile News, Mobile Software, MWC, Windows Mobile 6.5, Windows Mobile 7

What would you choose between Windows 7 or Windows Vista SP2? Do we need that second service pack? Well Microsoft seems to think so as it has sent it to testers. That’s what the rumors say, which means we might get SP2 before Windows 7. The thing is that we might not want that SP2, isn’t that true Vista users? We might feel like we deserve an almost free upgrade to Windows 7. What do you say Microsoft? Wouldn’t it be fair of you to sell that Windows 7 at a heavily discounted price for all current Vista users?

via computerworld

Tags: Desktop PCs, Laptops, microsoft, microsoft, Mobile Software, SP2, windows vista

Let me start this one of by saying I am really surprised that Windows 7 didn’t win this test. I mean I shouldn’t be, should I? It’s still Microsoft we’re talking about. But lately Windows 7 has managed to pretty much come ahead of XP and Vista in a bunch of benchmark testing.

XP still rules at multicore performance. It beat both Windows 7 and Vista. Well there’s really no surprise with beating Vista is there? Or should I say that XP beat Vista and Vista 2 at multicore performance? It seems this test has proven that for now, Vista and Windows 7 have performed similarly. Even more surprising is that Vista and Windows 7 are both optimized for multicore performance while XP isn’t. Well what do you know folks, XP is doing good at something it shouldn’t! It sounds like a regular day at those Microsoft Windows plants.

There’s some good news with all that; Windows 7 will overtake XP when we’ll have 16 or 24 cores. Great! Talk to you about that in a few years!

via InfoWorld

Tags: microsoft, Mobile News, Performance, software, vista, Windows 7, xp

Handset makers in Taiwan are saying that Microsoft is going to release Windows Mobile 6.5 at the upcoming Mobile World Conference in February, but the OS will actually arrive to them in the second half of the year. That means we should expect Q3 to bring us the first handsets capable of running Windows Mobile 6.5. And then the rest will follow.

So what’s up with this new Windows Mobile OS version? Is it going to sweep us of our feet? Or will we run screaming to cry on other OS’s shoulders? And by the way, what happened to Windows Mobile versions 6.1 to 6.5? Not worthy enough to be even mentioned?

via digitimes

Tags: microsoft, microsoft, Mobile News, Windows Mobile 6.5

The European Commission has decided to go against Microsoft again on that Internet Explorer matter. Practically, by bundling the web browser with the Windows OS, Microsoft is dominating the competition. The commission fined Microsoft last year for anti-competitive practices. After that $1.35 billion fine, the commission will continue its action against Microsoft:

Microsoft’s tying of Internet Explorer to the Windows operating system harms competition between web browsers, undermines product innovation and ultimately reduces consumer choice.

Microsoft will have to answer to the charges in 8 weeks or else. We’re waiting to see what that means. In the mean time, it’s time for all the other browsers out there to gloat. Mozilla, Opera, Chrome, “how you doin’”?

via BBC

Tags: charges, Europe, microsoft, microsoft, Mobile News, Mobile Software

Microsoft seems ready to step in Apple’s shoes when it comes to cloud services. And it plans to make that step bigger and better. While Apple’s MobileMe is available for iPhone users, the future service from Microsoft, the SkyBox will apparently bee available for non-Windows Mobile phones too.

Microsoft will unveil those cloud services at MWC in February and besides SkyBox we will also see SkyLine and SkyMarket in action. Skyline will sync your phone info to the cloud. It does exactly what you expect it to do: contacts, email/SMS, calendar and pictures, backup and restore. SkyLine is the business version of SkyBox and it comes with Exchange.

Will we see Windows Mobile 6.5 emerge at MWC too? The pictures certainly seem to indicate that. We’ll keep you in the loop next month when all of this will become reality.

via Neowin

Tags: Cloud, microsoft, Mobile News, Mobile Software, MWC, SkyBox, SkyLine, Skymarket, Windows Mobile 6.5

We haven’t tested Windows 7 on an SSD yet but from what we’ve seen so far, the OS is far more dependable than its predecessor. Sure it’s still a beta and things might improve and sure you will still get that blue screen of death from time to time, but over all, Windows 7 beta is doing better than Vista.

And speaking about that SSD performance it looks like Windows 7 runs better on SSD than Vista. You can expect better speed, better access times and lower CPU usage. And since Windows 7 and SSD are going to be surely part of your immediate future, it’s good to know that Microsoft is finally doing its job.\\

via TweakTown

Tags: Beta, microsoft, microsoft, Mobile News, Mobile Software, SSD, vista, Windows 7

If you remember Microsoft position on the future of Windows Mobile phones than get ready for a different opinion. Microsoft’s intentions seemed to indicate a future limitation of Windows Mobile phones in order to focus better on the OS and the handsets that will wear it. At the time we thought that Microsoft is trying to find a good excuse for the loss in market share. Fewer Windows Mobile phones but better. That seemed to be the initial message.

Right now however, a Microsoft Austria spokesperson concluded that “the implication in The New York Times that Microsoft will limit the number of Windows Mobile devices is not accurate.” So Microsoft may very well say it is ready to have fewer Windows Mobile phones out there but they will not actually limit that number in any way. Which means that manufacturers are free to make more Windows Mobile phones if they want to. Or they could simply turn to Android and Symbian instead!

via tamsppc

Tags: microsoft, microsoft, Mobile News, Mobile Software, Windows Mobile

I bet you were not expecting Ballmer to say nice things about the iPhone, were you? Well Ballmer told the Financial Times that both the iPhone and the BlackBerry have “clear market momentum” in the smartphone business. Remember what Ballmer said about the iPhone and Apple a year and a half ago?

Well Apple did certainly well, even better than Microsoft some might say, in the mobile business in 2008. What will 2009 bring? Certainly not a Zune Phone. That’s what Ballmer also said. The device’s core might be integrated in other Windows-powered mobile devices but a Zune Phone won’t be manufactured. Disappointed? Happy?

via Financial Times

Tags: Apple, BlackBerry, iPhone, microsoft, microsoft, Other Brands, Research In Motion, Steve Ballmer, Zune Phone