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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

If I was to choose between Macworld and CES I would probably go to CES. I’d have plenty more to see there, not that Macworld is a bad place to be. But next year even Apple is not going to go to Macworld. Instead it looks like the Cupertino-based company will join CES 2010. Is Apple going to challenge Microsoft’s supremacy right at CES? I am sure that’s what they want. And they will have lots of other big names in this business to fight against.

CES 2010 should be even hotter than this year’s exposition. At least if the economy doesn’t completely crush by that time. In the mean time we have a whole year to watch Apple and Microsoft compete.

The video above is too long but it’s Microsoft opening keynote at CES. In case you were dreaming about a Zune Phone or a Windows Mobile 7 then let me just say these aren’t happening just yet. There was no Zune Phone announced and as for Windows, Microsoft insisted on Windows 7 and the beta that has just become official. Window Mobile 7 is nowhere near ready yet and the only worthy announcement regarding Microsoft Mobile’s OS was the integration of Netflix. You will be able to manage your Netflix queue from your Windows Mobile phone in the near future.

While we don’t really want a Zune Phone (or do we?) we are interested in the future of Windows Mobile. Every other OS out there is going through significant changes which Windows Mobile is bound to loose some of that market share it still holds.

via Microsoft

MobileFiles Pro has just been announced by Quickoffice. The application was especially developed for the iPhone and the iPod touch. MobileFiles Pro won’t let you play with all those Microsoft Office docs but it will at least let you manage Excel documents. You can edit and save your spreadsheets in .xls format which is a good start. We should be expecting documents and presentations to be edited in the near future.

MobileFiles Pro will let you transfer files via WiFi from your iPhone or iPod touch to your computer. It will also let you access your MobileMe account and sync files with it.

Paul Moreton, vice president of product management at Quickoffice said:

This launch reinforces our commitment to deliver our award-winning software across leading smartphone platforms to allow more users to stay connected to all of their content and to improve productivity when on the go. We look forward to providing more upgrades to our iPhone application in 2009.

Want it already? It’s only $9.99 after the free trial.

via Press

The Windows 7 beta is out in the open despite Microsoft’s wishes? Or are we to assume that build 7000 has been leaked on purpose by Microsoft itself? You know, just to have us test it and possibly say nice things about it?

Until now it looks like Windows 7 beta is doing just fine. The OS has managed to come in first in various tests against its older brothers, Vista and XP. By tests we mean common stuff like booting up, shutting down, installations and file maneuvering. The systems used were powered by the AMD Phenom 9700 and by the Intel Pentium Dual-Core E2200 and in both cases Windows 7 was better. Are we to understand that the final version will do even better in tests?

This isn’t the most popular question on our minds today but we do wonder if Microsoft is going to announce its Zune Phone at this year’s CES. That’s why we have gone ahead and looked long and hard for a leak pointing us in the right direction. First of all we did find out that Ballmer is the guy that’s going to take Bill Gates’ place when it comes to Microsoft’s keynote presentation. But that was probably a given for most of us.

What will Ballmer do besides sweat us out in Las Vegas? He will announce the Windows 7 public beta. He will tell us that Windows Mobile will get Flash by March. He will announce two Xbox 360 games for 2009. And he will be talking about less terrible home networking. What do you think? Is it enough? Where’s the Zune Phone?

via Tech Crunch

With all the New Year’s Eve parties and fireworks we didn’t miss Zune’s misfortune. The Zune 30GB died a couple of days ago but luckily there is a solution for you. I’d ask for my money back and go get an MP3 player from the competition. Microsoft however has a fix which will bring your Zune back to life.

Here’s what you’d have to do”

1. Disconnect your Zune from USB and AC power sources.
2. Because the player is frozen, its battery will drain—this is good. Wait until the battery is empty and the screen goes black. If the battery was fully charged, this might take a couple of hours.
3. Wait until after noon GMT on January 1, 2009 (that’s 7 a.m. Eastern or 4 a.m. Pacific time).
4. Connect your Zune to either a USB port on the back or your computer or to AC power using the Zune AC Adapter and let it charge.

Once the battery has sufficient power, the player should start normally. No other action is required—you can go back to using your Zune!

Better go get you receipts in order and go get you money back. If you don’t then you might expect similar surprises in the near future.