Samsung Mobile kicked off their new and exciting Windows phones with the Samsung Omnia Invasion starting at October 1 at SM North EDSA. The Samsung Omnia Invasion is a series of mall roadshows that highlight the Samsung Omnia phones - all powered by Microsoft Windows Mobile. The Windows Mobile team had the opportunity to be part of this event, represented by Norbert Aquende – Microsoft Asia MVP for Mobile Devices & DJ Matt – Microsoft Certified Windows Phone Expert.
For the entire weekend, the Windows Mobile team gave workshops and tutorials on the usability and features of Windows Phones together with Samsung Mobile Product Manager Raine Javalera, who highlighted Samsung enhancements such as the TouchWiz UI, added software, and phone features of the Omnia phones.
 Omnia II
Touchscreen AMOLED |  OmniaPro B7320
QWERTY keypad |
The new Omnia II and OmniaProB7320 runs on Windows Mobile 6.1 and is updatable to Windows Mobile 6.5 when it becomes available.
Microsoft just announced the availability of the final release version of Internet Explorer 8. But, its not available for poor Windows 7 beta users like me 
Microsoft Philippine’s Windows Mobile Team, in partnership with Samsung Mobile, will be bringing to you another Touch & Click customer session for Samsung Windows Mobile users.
It will be held this Thursday, March 26, 7-9 PM at the XBox room in Microsoft Philippines, 16/F 6750 Ayala Ave. RSVP 849.6941 if you are a Samsung Windows Mobile user and would like to join us.
If you would like to try the My Phone service, head out to the Windows Mobile developer page on Twitter to get beta invite codes now!
I’m helping out a friend on this. This is a good deal. Upgrade to an HTC now! 
One of the perks I get from my work is I get to play with betas very early on. Just a few days ago, I received an access key from my boss in Microsoft who asked me to try out the new Microsoft My Phone service, to which i gladly complied.
After I did my first sync, i was surprised to find that Text Messages were included in the sync! This is really cool as its as if i could do a full backup/restore of my phone to the cloud!
With this I can just backup my phone to the My Phone service and change Windows Mobile phones anytime and just sync up to get the complete data from my phone. Really cool!
Note though that this wont sync your Exchange and your Windows Live data, for the obvious reason that it already syncs with their own services.
This is a screen shot of what positively is a Windows Mobile Professional device(notice the Start Menu on the top left corner and the task manager or the right), the touch screen variety of Windows Mobile phones, now sporting the slider home screen just like in the home screens of existing Windows Mobile Standard 6.1 phones.
Currently, the Windows Mobile Professional 6.1 phones still has the traditional Today Screen, that is not much different from its old ancestor, Pocket PC 2000. This presents a major change in the UI experience in Windows Mobile and we don’t know how will this affect current 3rd party software that enhances the Today Screen such as SPB Pocket Plus and SBSH Pocket Breeze. We expect that Microsoft should provide a new API for creating Home Screen items for this new interface.
This update shouldn't be surprising as Microsoft made it known than it intends to make the experience and codebase of Windows Mobile varieties, such as Windows Mobile Professional and Windows Mobile Standard, more similar.
What seems to be an update to the Programs Menu seems to be more radical, where it replaces the more Windows-like icon tiles or list interface with a honeycomb-like interface. Thought, it seems to offer a nice eye-candy effect, we are unsure if this would have a negative effect on usability for experienced Windows Mobile users. But it seems the honeycomb style UI was designed to offer a much finger-friendly way to access your programs.
The notification bar icons also seems to mimic the motif of Windows 7 with simple white icons on colored backgrounds.
I don't expect Windows Mobile 6.5 to have a very large impact, but I expect it to maintain Windows Mobile’s relevance in the market and maintain its momentum while Windows Mobile 7 is being prepped up to be the secret weapon that would help Microsoft take the significant lead in consumer Smartphones.
Source: WM Power User
I gave a Windows Mobile orientation to techies from Novare yesterday afternoon when I got a question from the audience about using Chinese in an English Windows Mobile device. Im putting my reply as a blog post so that others may also benefit from this and hopefully also generate traffic to my blog *ahem AdSense ahem ahem* 
Although you can copy Unicode Chinese fonts from Windows and do a registry hack, or find a localized ROM image from sources with questionable legitimacy, it is always best to get 3rd party software from a legitimate source that the user can easily install on the Windows Mobile phone.
The most popular software that enables Windows Mobile Chinese display and input is CE Star from Mobem Technologies in Beijing.
CE Star supports simplified Chinese characters used in Mainland China and traditional Chinese characters used by the rest of the overseas Chinese, such as in the Philippines. The Input Methods it supports are pinyin, chajei, phonetic, quick chajei, cantonese, dayi, array and wubi aside from handwriting recognition in freehand mode, or character-by-character inside a box in the Windows Mobile SIP display.
Aside from Chinese, it also has Japanese support for Katakana, Hiragana and Romanji character sets.
You can find out more from the website of Mobem Technologies.
Acer has released the Glofiish DX900, a dual-SIM 3G/HSDPA Smartphone, with an orientation-sensor and GPS radio, running on the latest Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional. The DX900 has 106×60.5×17 mm dimension and weighs 147 grams and sports a 2.8” touch-friendly VGA resolution screen which supports 65K colors.
What’s uniquely special about the DX900 is it has two SIM card slots that is active in the same time. This means you can have one phone that has your business SIM card and your personal SIM card installed and active both at the same time. You can also insert a SIM from a GSM-based wireless landline service, such as PLDT Landline Plus. Both lines work together which saves you having to carry around two handsets. The specs are also quite impressive.
In the following review, I would be using my Smart Gold and my Red Mobile SIMs. Take note that only SIM 1 has support for 3G/HSDPA, while SIM 2 is just GSM. Data connections are only supported on SIM 1 respectively.
Key Features:
- Dual-SIM
- SIM 1 – Tri-band 3G HSDPA, Quad-band GSM, GPRS/EDGE Class 10
- SIM 2 – Tri-band 3G
- 128 MB internal storage and MicroSD Card expansion
- 802.11 b/g Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.0+EDR
- SiRFstar III GPS
- 3 MP camera with autofocus
- 1530 mAh battery
Pros: - Dual SIM for use with alternative Mobile Operator plan or GSM-based wireless landline service
- VGA screen for high-resolution crisp and vivid text and images
- running on the latest Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional
- Included GPS applications lets you take advantage of GPS out-of-the-box
- Bundled SPB Mobile Shell software
| Cons: - slightly slow response on dialer
- sometimes erratic orientation-sensor behavior
- having two notification icons for two SIMs crowds the notification bar.
|
SRP: ₱29,990
For more information contact sales@topstrasse.com.
Dual SIM Enhancements
The notification bar shows 2 signal icons corresponding to each of the SIMs. A normal signal icon for SIM 1 and a signal icon with a number “2” representing SIM 2.
The DX900 has an HTC-like Communications Manager applet which lets you enable or disable wireless features.
The Dialer
The dialer shows two “talk” buttons which lets you choose on which SIM to make the call from. It also displays the network name of each of the SIMs in use. In the example on the left, both “Smart” is displayed because the network name used by RED Mobile SIM is also “Smart”.
You can also set the default SIM to dial from in the Menu.
Text Messaging Enhancements
Text messages received on the phone also indicates on which line the message was received from. The standard envelope icon in the Inbox shows if the message is received on SIM 1 or SIM 2, as shown in the example above (take note that i have blurred the names of the people whom the messages are from, for privacy).
On creating new text messages, you would be asked every time on which SIM to send the text message from before you can send out a text message.
Phone Modules
When I checked the System Information I discovered more detailed information about the phone radios. The GSM/3G/HSDPA radio from SIM 1 comes from Ericsson and the GSM-only radio for SIM 2 comes from Sunplus.
Gravity Sensor
The gravity sensor detects the orientation of the device, if it is held vertically or horizontally, and it automatically changes the orientation to portrait or landscape depending on the current orientation of the device. It is very convenient to have as you don't need to go to Settings to change the orientation or even press a button to set it.
Control Panel Applet
You can enable or disable the Gravity Sensor by going to the Gravity Sensor applet at the Settings. You can also set its sensitivity level to something that you may be more comfortable with.
SPB Mobile Shell
Acer has included a popular dual SIM-aware software from SPB Software House called SPB Mobile Shell. It features a dashboard which shows relevant information at a glance like missed calls and received messages. It also shows calendar items, alarm information, date, and weather information. SPB Mobile Shell’s pages can be flipped using touch gestures, that brings you to pages for program shortcuts or contact shortcuts.
you can find out more information about SPB Mobile Shell at http://www.spbsoftwarehouse.com/products/mobileshell/
GPS
GPS Viewer
The DX900 has a built-in application, called the GPS Viewer, which shows your general GPS readings. Out-of-the-box, you can already take your phone with you while driving and get your current coordinates and speed. It also shows which GPS satellites the device is receiving coordinates from.
Location SMS
There is also another nice application that lets you send your location via text messaging. The Location SMS program automatically detects your coordinates using the built-in GPS radio and sends the information using SMS.
Hardware
The DX900 has a solid feel and the casing is scratch-resistant. What i personally like about this device is the size is just right, unlike most newer and popular Smartphones that are available in the market which feels too small to for one to be productive. The form-factor of the DX900 is perfect for people dependent on Windows Mobile phones who are weary of the shrinking sizes of most of the leading Windows Mobile phones available today. It also sports a typical 3 MP camera with flash and autofocus.
Battery
The 1530 mAh Li-ion Polymer battery is good enough for typical usage for most people, but it might not be enough if you spend a lot of time on 3G/HSDPA data connections, push-email or Wi-Fi. Also consider that the battery powers 2 radios for the 2 SIMs at the same time. Perhaps this is the consideration why only SIM 1 is 3G/HSDPA enabled, and not both. 3G/HSDPA is known to consume a lot of power, especially in Smartphones which consumes a lot of power on the processor and large hi-resolution displays.
Looking at the serial numbers inside the back cover, it is also interesting to note that the phone has two IMEIs – one for each SIM slot.
Conclusions
No amount of thorough and detailed review or analysis of the other features of DX900 would be relevant for most people, because all they need to know is its Windows Mobile 6.1 phone with Dual-SIM. Simply having these two significant features in a device is enough reason for get a Glofiish DX900 Windows Mobile phone.
Thanks to my friend and fellow blogger, Jayvee from A Bugged Life for letting me know about the availability of the unit in his blog and helping me meet up with Chris.
If you are deploying or configuring Windows Mobile 6.1 devices(or any other Exchange Activesync licensed device) to connect with Microsoft Exchange, this new online tool from Microsoft would definitely be of value to you.
The Microsoft Exchange Remote connectivity Analyzer, currently in beta version at https://www.testexchangeconnectivity.com, has been made available to the public to assist in testing the following:
- Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync Test
This test will simulate the steps a mobile device uses to connect to an Exchange Server using Exchange ActiveSync.
- Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync AutoDiscover Test
This test will walk through the steps a Windows Mobile 6.1 device (or another AirSync licensed device) uses to connect to the AutoDiscover Service
- Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 AutoDiscover Connectivity Test
This test will walk through the steps Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 uses to connect to AutoDiscover
- Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 RPC/HTTP Connectivity Test
This test will walk through the steps Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 uses to connect via RPC/HTTP
- Inbound SMTP Email Test
This test will walk through the steps an Internet e-mail server uses to send inbound SMTP email to your domain
Having just launched the HTC Diamond, HTC Touch Pro and the HTC S700 just a few months ago, HTC has yet again launched, not one, but three new Windows Mobile phones in the Philippine market! The Touch Viva, The Touch 3G and the Touch HD.
The Touch Viva, offers the best Windows Mobile experience in its most basic level at the most affordable cost. The Touch 3G offers the same benefits of the Viva with the added 3G experience. The Touch HD, being the most revolutionary of these offerings, offers the most powerful hardware and a true high definition experience with its 480 x 800 resolution VGA screen. The three products offers the best features in smartphone market from the most basic consumer to the power user.
HTC also announced that they would be setting up a local office in the country which would allow it to be more aggressive in marketing its products. "We feel there is still ample room for growth," According to the new HTC Philippines General Manager Mark Dewy Sergio (formerly from Samsung). “Surprisingly, despite the crisis, we have been hitting our sales targets," he added.
The local retail price of the HTC Touch Viva is at ₱21,990, The HTC Touch 3G at ₱32,000, while the high-end HTC Touch HD costs ₱55,900
We have just received word from our friends at Sony Ericsson that they have just released the Xperia X1 Windows Mobile Pone, which is now available at all Sony Ericsson outlets.
The Xperia X1 is a Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.1 phone from Sony Ericsson which features a multiple panel interface, which gives you the functionality of having multiple Today Screens to choose from, depending on your mood or current activity. It offers a revolutionary hardware design which features a very firm sold body, an arc slider QWERTY keypad (the best slide out QWERTY pad in the market), dual customizable LED for notifications, aGPS, quad-band GSM, tri-band 3G, and a 800 x 480 widescreen touchscreen display.
The X1 may also be enticing for enterprise developers since the X1, being developed by Sony Ericsson in partnership with HTC, has the undocumented HTC “disk-on-chip” capability which is being used by almost all local enterprise developers and required by most application certifications. Developers can also create their own panels, as easily installable CAB files, using the developer kit provided by Sony Ericsson.
Please watch out for our upcoming comprehensive review of the X1 coming out very soon.
While visiting Australia for Liberation Day, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer mentioned a bit about the Windows Mobile roadmap for Windows Mobile 6.5 and 7. During the Q&A session, he answered questions about what's coming for Windows Mobile in the near future:
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.
Although he did not go into specifics, it is hinted that there would be improvements in the user interface and flow of the software. It is also expected that Zune integration would be included in the release.
Before the confirmation by Ballmer, Motorola Mobile Devices CEO Sanjay Jha casually mentioned Windows Mobile 6.5 while announcing that Motorola is dropping Java and Symbian to focus on Windows Mobile and Andriod.
Microsoft has released for download a patch to fix an email sending problem specific to Windows Mobile 6.1 where you can unexpectedly loose the ability to send out email messages. This problem is more clearly defined in the
Microsoft KB article KB958639, where you could find more details about the problem.
There is also a little bit of controversy surrounding the cause of this problem. With Windows Mobile 6.1, Microsoft decided to add a feature in the email system which enable the mobile operator or OEM to define an alternate SMTP server name, in case the user-defined server name fails. more on this issue is found on the Pocket PC Thoughts forum.
You can download the patch from the Microsoft Download website where you can choose between a CAB file which you install from the device itself, or using an MSI file through your Windows PC, while your Windows Mobile device is docked.
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