Tag: windows mobile

Windows Mobile – Yep, still dead.

Back in 2016 I stated that Windows Phone, or Windows Mobile, or whatever you wanted to call it, was dead. The article caused a bit of a stir, but hey – it was true. Still is. The short version was that, whilst the GUI and the experience was …

Bill Gates goes Android

It’s not something I talk about much, but I’ve actually met Bill Gates. He’s a bit shorter in real life and had a lot of bodyguards following him around at the time. We spoke about the Microsoft Smartphone because, way back when, Microsoft was actually pretty successful at …

Stores without apps and cities without streets

Nokia may well be springing to life again with the announcement of new models at MWC, but according to most commentators Windows 10 Mobile is still manifestly kicking the bucket. Can’t you just hear that clanging sound?   Much of the blame for Windows Mobile’s failure to take off …

Skype app to be killed off for Windows Phone owners

Skype, which is a piece of software people used to use to communicate with each other before they found WhatsApp, is being ditched for Windows Phone. The product support page states that, if you’re still intent on using a video call, the native Skype client for Windows Phone …

Microsoft Lumia 950 XL – Review

We finally have the Lumia 950 XL on our testbed. We had to wait a long time for this one – it has been nearly two years since the last flagship-spec device from the Microsoft brand. Many people were hoping for a direct Lumia 1020 upgrade, which has …

Windows 10 devices launch event confirmed for 6 October

There have been a great number of rumours suggesting that Microsoft would take the wraps off the first official Windows 10 Mobile handsets this coming October.  Those rumours turned out to be true (who’d have thought it!) and an official invite has just been released.  The two phones in question, …

Specs of rumoured Microsoft Surface Phone… Surface.

When Windows Phone 10 will be released later this year we have been promised a slurry of new phones, designed to cater to every different type of audience. One of Microsoft’s recent announcements was that it would focus on a number of areas, one of which was the …

Windows Mobile – Back from the dead

We’ve been covering smartphones since the Orange SPV and Microsoft Smartphone 2002. That, along with Microsoft Pocket PC, eventually became Windows Mobile 2003, then Windows Mobile 5.0, Windows Mobile 6.0, Windows Mobile 6.1, Windows Mobile 6.5 and then we had the whole “Windows Phone 7 Series” launch that …

Nokia X – Goodbye, we hardly even knew you

The Android-powered Nokia phones, which were meant to be a step onto the Lumia ladder, will no longer be worked on. New handsets and development is being put into “maintenance mode” whilst work shifts onto Windows Phone handsets. This comes just hours after 12,500 Nokia staffers were shown …

Windows RT arrives on the HTC HD2

The poor, poor HTC HD2. It shipped originally with Windows Mobile 6.5 but had Windows Phone 7 splattered all over it along with Android Ice Cream Sandwich. Now we can add WIndows RT to the mix as CotullaCode has managed to squeeze the OS into the ancient old …

My Phone History – By Ronnie Whelan

Before I start, I have to apologise for my lack of detail with regards to my pre-smartphone phones. I had very little enthusiasm for phones before my Orange SPV, and even a brief spell working in the Nokia factory in Finland didn’t spark an interest. Motorola MR30 It …

Nokia – Iceberg, right ahead.

This morning, like you, I read about the Nokia cuts. Nokia appear, in my opinion, to be hitting the same issue that Microsoft and Windows Mobile tackled four or five years ago. Complacency. There was far too much washing about. Nokia were the undisputed king of the mobile …

Time-lapse video on Android

Some years ago I filmed this summer sunrise on a Windows Mobile phone. Last weekend, with the sun actually beating down on our garden, I decided to try the same thing on Android. I ended up using Controlled Capture Lite which is, if I’m honest, a bit rough …

Windows Mobile still more popular than Windows Phone in the US

The latest Nielsen figures are out and they reveal that Windows Phone still hasn’t overtaken the previous Windows Mobile operating system. More than half of US mobile owners now have what’s classified as a “smartphone” but Windows Phone is still struggling to beat the “Other” category at the …

ZTE Tania Debuts With Virgin Mobile

ZTE have today announced that Virgin Mobile will be the first UK operator to carry the new ZTE Tania. The Windows Mobile 7.5 carrying device will be available from the middle of May on pay monthly and pay-as-you-go. The Tania has a TFT capacitive touchscreen, a display of 480 …

Battery going flat too quick? It could be your adverts

Adverts. Nobody really likes them, especially those foreign ones that get badly re-dubbed in English. On your mobile they can, according to a report picked up by the BBC, suck a lot more battery life too. By running constantly in the background and offering “helpful offers and reminders” …

Marketplace for Windows Mobile 6.x – Two months and counting

Back in June last year we heard that Windows Marketplace was headed for the bin and now it looks like that’s happening. Emails are going out to say that the shut-down begins on May 9th, which is just two months away. A huge number of you have sent …

DashWire closes up, grab your data while you can

If you had a Windows Mobile phone a few years back then you may well have seen or used Dashwire. It basically plonked your pictures, videos, texts and contacts onto an online portal for you to access. It was great, but time has moved on and many phone …

Yandex Acquire SPB Software

SPB Software, the mobile software development company famed for it’s prevalence on Windows Mobile devices of the past, has been acquired by Russian company Yandex for an undisclosed amount. Yandex is known throughout Russia as the provider of the country’s leading search engine and operates across most of Eastern Europe. SPB …

Android almost doubles UK market share according to report

Just in case you weren’t aware, Android is continuing to rise in popularity. Research from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech shows the sheer seismic shift in the market share for Android. Android now has a 47.1% share of the smartphone market here in the UK, with BlackBerry some distance behind …

Daylight Savings fixes for HD2 and Touch2 go live

A couple of updates are now listed on the HTC website for the HTC HD2 and HTC Touch2. These updates are to readjust your clock for the hour gained during Daylight Savings. Links - HTC HD2 Update - HTC Touch2 Update

Windows Phone 7.5 next year?

We've already heard that an early update is coming in January, followed by possibly another one around the same time as Mobile World Congress. Early rumours have called these first updates "massive" but now there's some slightly different news surroun...

Windows Phone 7 Apps – 4,000 now available

Just three weeks ago there were 3,000 apps in the Windows Marketplace. Now there's a choice of 4,000 applications and games. Yes, there's around 1,000 apps arriving in the Android Market every day, but this is still a pretty respectable increase for ...

KIN Studio goes offline. KIN phones still selling?

The Microsoft KIN phones launched in April aimed at teenagers and twenty-somethings. They were billed as a "social phones" but, just two months after, they were dropped. Those who did end up buying one have now received a letter from US network Verizo...

Android Gingerbread, now for .. your HD2

For those of you prepared to gamble, a new experimental ROM has appeared on XDA-developers.com. It's Android 2.3 (aka Gingerbread) and it's designed for (wait for it) .. a HTC HD2. Yes, the normally-Windows-Mobile-powered device becomes one of the fir...

Windows Phone 7 – 15 App Push Notification Limit

If you've seen our Windows Phone 7 Review then you'll know about the "Push Notifications" that update the Live Tiles on the main screen. It's what makes those Live Tiles.. err.. "Live". A lot of the apps we tested didn't seem to have the ability to us...

Windows Phone 7 starts to get Copy and Paste

Sure, if we're honest this shouldn't really be news. Copy and paste should just be there, as default, in any smartphone you buy. Windows Phone 7 got released without this feature but now developer devices are starting to receive an update to add this ...

Samsung Omnia 7 Review

The team at 3  very kindly loaned us a Samsung Omnia 7 recently to review for you all, and here is that review!.  There is a massive 25 minute video review after the link and you can also click below for a photo album of various shots of …

Sky Mobile for Windows Phone 7 now available

This is the Sky TV application for Windows Phone 7. It's a pretty popular tool that iPhone and Android users will already be familiar with. You can search through listings, browse programme times or set programmes to "Remote Record" from anywhere with...

Windows Phone 7 Devs must wait until February for cash

Are you a Windows Phone 7 developer who went to the open days back in September last year ? Did you submit an app in October ? If you sold lots of apps and made cash you're probably quite happy right now, but unfortunately it looks like February …

WP7 Custom Ringtone Manager – WMA files only?

The people that brought you the Windows Phone 7 unlock tool have now released a custom ringtone manager for Windows Phone 7. Don't pop those champagne corks just yet though, this needs either an unlocked developer phone or that unlock tool we mentione...

Another way to find WP7 apps on your browser

Another website has popped up to let you look through Windows Phone 7 apps and games from the comfort of your computer browser. Called WP7 Applist it lists recent changes, price drops and sorts all the software into neat categories. Currently the sit...

HTC 7 Mozart Review

So here it is at last. Our HTC 7 Mozart review. Inside is Windows Phone 7, 8GB of storage, an 8 megapixel camera with xenon flash. Outside it's one piece of aluminium with a very solid but lightweight feel. We've already had a look at the OS itself …

Windows Phone 7 – First update to be "massive"

We knew even before Windows Phone 7 was completed that a few features would have to wait and that the first update would fix a lot of the issues reviewers had flagged up. Custom ringtones, copy and paste etc. Although we kinda all knew it, developer C...

Microsoft advise against unlocking Windows Phone 7

Just yesterday a tool called ChevronWP7 was released. It is designed to unlock your Windows Phone 7 and allow "side-loading" of apps and games without the Windows Phone Marketplace. This will unlock your phone and let apps install that could access pr...

3,000 apps for Windows Phone 7

Windows Phone 7 can now boast 3,000 games and applications to download. Windows Phone exec Todd Brix has stated that 15,000 developers are "signaling their intent" to produce Windows Phone 7 apps and there's a definite buzz around the platform. Link -...

MarketplaceBrowser.com – Look through apps on the web

Windows Phone 7 owners now have a place on the web to search through the games and applications they can install. The 2,436 apps (at the time of writing) are all filtered into categories and types on MarketplaceBrowser.com. It's a site built by Paul W...

Xperia X7 and X7 Mini coming soon?

These leaked slides have shown up in a YouTube video and appear to depict two Sony Ericsson Windows Phone 7 phones ready for Q1 next year. Running the all-new Microsoft OS the "Xperia X7" gets a 4.3" WVGA display with a 1.2GHz CPU from Qualcomm. The ...

Windows Phone 7 – microSD card drama

It's not the app store, it's not the battery life, it's not a signal problem (hello Apple), no.. the biggest Windows Phone 7 issue seems to be this thing. The microSD card. A lot of Windows Phone 7 devices seem to have them, but a lot of those …

Phoenix from the flames – KIN is back?!

Yes, you thought The KIN phones were not-so-ancient history didn't you? For reasons best known to themselves Verizon have decided to bring them back as "feature phones", presumably without the expensive data plans that helped kill them off in the firs...