“Microsoft today unveiled a new generation of phones from leading manufacturers and mobile operators that offer an intuitive user interface, powerful Web browsing, and access to an online library of downloadable services and applications. Windows® phones – a new brand for phones running Microsoft’s Windows Mobile operating system – are now available in retail stores worldwide in a broad range of styles and prices. The new phones were shown at press events in New York, hosted by Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft’s Entertainment & Devices Division, and in Paris, where Microsoft chief executive officer Steve Ballmer showed off the new Windows phones. They also announced the availability of two key services platforms for the new phones: My Phone and Windows Marketplace for Mobile. My Phone is a free service that helps people back up and manage photos, applications and other content from their phone or PC, as well as restore information in the event of a lost phone. Windows Marketplace for Mobile is an online library of business and leisure mobile applications – as well as games – that customers can buy and download directly to their phones.”

Ladies and Gentlemen, it’s official – Windows Mobile (the operating system) is now at version 6.5, and Windows Phones (the devices) are available. Now let’s just hope all of us Dash 3G & Touch Pro 2 (As well as other devices) owners get upgrades in a timely manner!

This was originally posted at Pocket PC Thoughts, check out the the source for discussion.

” 42Gears has released SureLock Studio, a product aimed at enterprises using Windows Mobile devices. SureLock locks down Windows Mobile devices into kiosk mode and helps enterprises increase their mobile workforce productivity and reduce regular device maintenance. In recent times Windows Mobile has become quite popular among companies to deploy and run their business applications. Windows Mobile is a generic operating system and therefore provides opportunities to employees to use the device for entertainment and gaming purposes (browsers, audio players, games, phone etc) which results in wastage of crucial working hours. Besides, accidental corruption of device settings by employees can cause critical business applications to fail.”

Want to suck the little bit of enjoyment your employees may have using a company issued device away from them (Namely solitaire)? Well then here’s a product for you. Lock down that sucker so your automatons can work at peak potential, without bothersome free thought or expression…

OK, in all seriousness, I’m sure there are IT managers who pull their hair out with users who muck up devices with software they shouldn’t be running, and somehow mess up things they should be, and even do spend way too much time indulging the solitaire addiction. And if you’re one of them, SureLock looks like it may be a relief.

This was originally posted at Pocket PC Thoughts, check out the the source for discussion.

So here

“Zeus Quest is a brand new, huge and funny adventure game with gorgeous cartoon graphics*. The humor reminds us the old classic adventures games by sierra and Lucas.”

Zeus Quest, a new game by Crazysoft.gr, is now out and as a special offer to Thoughts Readers, the head of Crazysoft.gr would like to give away 5 FREE copies. All you have to do is post here and let us know how this game might improve your life (E.g. will it make your commute more tolerable? Will it provide recreation before bed? etc…). 5 random winners will be chosen from those who post. You have from now until Midnight, TST (Thoughts Standard Time a.k.a. MST) on Friday, November 14! Happy Posting and Good Luck!

title="Read the full story on the Jon from PPCT site."

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“GapiDraw is the graphics platform to use when creating applications with high demands for fast graphics on Windows Mobile devices! GapiDraw comprises a framework and a set of C++ classes that together provide everything you need to create state-of-the-art applications such as games, navigational tools and advanced user interfaces for Windows Mobile devices.”

If you develop applications that require graphics processing or other displays of graphical goodness, then GapiDraw may fit the bill to save you a bit of time and effort while giving your users a nice experience overall!

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It’s been a week of technological upgrades for me in the Entertainment realm. Prior to Saturday, the last console system I’d owned was 8-bit Nintendo, my smartphone was my only music player that was updated (as I’d outgrown my 30 GB Zune and my 60 GB iPod’s screen was just too small anymore), and my Toshiba laptop with Windows Media Center did very little media wise, save store my music and play it back via Windows Media Player. That changed with recent purchases of an Xbox 360 and a Zune 80. Now I’m looking at the smartphone and wondering why its implementation isn’t up to par with these other two Microsoft products. And more importantly, what should be done about that!

As I write this, my Zune is synchronizing wirelessly. My Media Center PC is recording something or another, and my Xbox is cooling off after some GTA IV. The smartphone, a Pantech Duo, is faithfully waiting for email or urgent phone calls. In past years, it may have been able to sync over WiFi to pull the latest copy of my eWallet, although now I’m content to have a copy from a few months back on there. It also used to be loaded up with games, but my PSP can do that way better, so no games for the Duo. Why have I, a lover of convergence, found myself with a myriad of devices over the past year? Simple, my Windows Mobile phone simply can’t be a jack-of-all-trades, even though it was designed (and sometimes marketed) as such. The Zune OS, or the Xbox 360 OS, in contrast, seem like they could be built onto endlessly though – and in a timely and cool fashion.

I find it no coincidence that the smoothest Microsoft experiences I’ve had lately have been from technologies that didn’t exist in 2000 – and certainly hadn’t matured. The Pocket PC and Smartphone operating system of record, Windows Mobile, in turn based on Windows CE, was around back then – and in many ways, still harkens back to those days design wise. When I use a Windows Mobile device, I almost feel like I’m back in the late 90s, design and implementation wise. For example, the inbox feels very isolated from the rest of the OS. On the desktop I can drag an item from my inbox to the Calendar button in Outlook and boom – a new calendar entry pops up with the email as the notes. No such luck on the smartphone. I can also tell my Zune to sync wirelessly and after its set up, there is no fussing on the device – it simply connects to my computer wirelessly and syncs. No establishing connections in an archaic connection manager. In comparison, Windows Mobile can seem like the elderly man standing in the crowd at a Hannah Montana concert – out of place, out of its element, out of touch – in 2008. It occured to me tonight that perhaps we don’t need upgrades to Windows Mobile – we may need a completely new product. Phune or Pbox or whatever you want to call it.

Now this isn’t saying that upgrades to Windows Mobile are not going in the right direction. I’ve seen a very promising direction, one that I can’t talk about other than to say I’m happy with what I see so far. But maybe building onto an existing OS is akin to patching holes in a sinking ship. A new ship may be the best alternative. But in this case, a new ship would take way longer to build than upgrades to the existing one – but perhaps it could do it “right”.

I’m 99% sure Microsoft won’t abandon Windows Mobile and create a new phone operating system tomorrow – but if they asked you, would you tell them to?

title="Read the full story on the Jon from PPCT site."

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“When you visit our Windows Mobile Developer Center you will probably notice that we’ve done a complete overhaul of the site. For years, the Developer Center has been responsible for delivering you content on Smart Device Development which most often included articles on building apps with the .NET Compact Framework and SQL Server CE/Mobile/Everywhere/Compact. The new Developer Center will give you rich access to a whole host of content including Applications for Smart Devices, Mobile Web, Mobile Games and Rich Internet Applications! This content will include articles as well as links to blogs and other resources.”

The Mobile Developer Center is ground zero when starting out as a developer and for veterans as well. New resources are always appreciated – so take a look at the new site if you get a chance!

title="Read the full story on the Jon from PPCT site."

href="http://feeds.pocketpcthoughts.com/~r/pocketpcthoughts/~3/242710887/index.php" >Read More at Original Site
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