Handango Friendship Days -- 20% Savings

Handango is celebrating International Friendship Day (1 Aug) with their Friendship Days promotion, valid from 30 July to 2 August which provides 20% Savings on All Applications when you use the code FRIENDS20

Symbian-Guru site closes - Tamoggemon steps up!

Tamoggemon Ltd. is sad to see the long-established Symbian-Guru close his web site. However, as a sign of our strong commitment to the platform, we want to reach out to all customers affected.

Each and every ad customer of Symbian-Guru who can reasonably prove that he had a contract for which he was not reimbursed, is granted “similar or equivalent” ad space on the Tamoggemon Content Network for free.

Affected customers should contact us via tamhan (at) tamoggemon (dot) com, and be prepared to show reasonable proof of their purchase.

Editors working for the news service are urged to also contact us via the email address. The Tamoggemon Content Network offers its editors similar, if not superior benefits, and is honoured to accept each and every Symbian-Guru as a member of the team.

Farid Hanna, CFO of the company, finally states the following: “I am very sorry to see symbian-guru close shop. Their news service has been a great asset to the industry; and I am always sad to see a competitor go. After all, it’s competition which keeps the business alive.”

Tamoggemon Releases LocaNote Free for Symbian

Tamoggemon LocaNote Lite has simplified the lives of countless users since its release in 2009. After all, being able to leave the note pad at home and never loosing a pesky paper again isn’t too bad an option.

Having an unlimited amount of notes is nice for power users – however, we are fully aware that it constitutes overkill for less sophisticated users. In order to allow them to enjoy the benefits of LocaNote, Tamoggemon today introduces LocaNote Free.

LocaNote Free is, as the name says, available at no cost. It contains the same drawing engine found in other versions of LocaNote, and furthermore stores GPS and date information which can later be analyzed using more advanced versions of the product.

Its only limitations compared to the Lite version are the limited number of notes allowed, and the lack of a filtering option. It can be downloaded from the Ovi Store and Samsung’s App Seller office immediately.

As usual, Sony Ericsson wasn’t able to pass the product through QA in a reasonable time frame. We are currently evaluating other options for making the product available to Sony Ericsson customers.

Find further information via the URL below:
http://www.tamoggemon.com/s60/loca/index.html

Tamoggemon Releases (Qt-based) BallZ for Symbian

Tamoggemon is proud to announce that it has just become the first vendor to provide a Qt-based Symbian game to the public.

BallZ for Symbian is a port of the evergreen JezzBall, which has been an extremely popular, unviolent action game. Our port contains 30 colourful levels and can be played without a stylus - thanks to our innovative user interface.

Tam Hanna, Tamoggemon’s CEO, states the following: “We have always been strongly committed to Symbian as a platform. Working with Qt wasn’t always easy. Even though the development environment is fantastic, shipping apps was not possible so far.”

BallZ has already been submitted to the Ovi store, and is expected to become available in the next few days. The product will cost 3 Euro. A free trial version, containing five levels, will also be provided.

Further information on the product can be had here:
http://www.tamoggemon.com/s60/balz/index.html

Google's Nexus One Phone - Not Available in Canada

Google's Nexus One phone looks very interesting. Especially for someone like me who is trying to decide where to go next (both hardware and provider wise) after spending countless years using Palm devices.

One bit of bad news (from my point of view) is over at Digital Life -- they posted an article today entitled "Google's Nexus One, not available in Canada" which, states that the unlocked Nexus One is not yet available in Canada. The exact quote is: "Google Canada representative Tamara Micner said no specific timing has been set for the release of the phone for Canadian consumers, but she added, ‘we’re hoping for soon.’"

Be sure to follow the link to read the whole story.

Save a Tree with LocaNote Lite for S60 Touch

Tam Hanna (of TamsPalm fame) and Tamoggemon Software just released LocaNote Lite for the S60 Touch. (screenshots coming soon)

We feel that the Copenhagen heads should be considered hypocrites: while talking about the environment, their notes are being scribbled down on paper. Paper, which is produced out of trees, and furthermore, is dumb.

On contrary, S60 touch phones, are smart. With Tamoggemon LocaNote, they become your personal note taking tool – and can do loads of things your ordinary slab-of-wood will never be able to do.

For the ultra-low price of 3€ on Ovi, customers can enjoy the following features:

x) Flexible folder structure
File cases for paper are large and – at least to a large extent – unportable. LocaNote Lite allows you to sort your notes into folders, which can contain subfolders ad infinitum. And all of that in less than 1 cubic decimeter of space…

x) Rich colour notes
On paper, the number of colours is limited by the amount of pens which fit into your pocket. In LocaNote, the number of colours does not affect your pockets – create full colour notes on the run with but one stylus or finger tap!

x) Note searching / sorting
Finally, finding notes is easier than it has ever been before. Enter the date when you created or edited the note, and LocaNote finds it for you – no effort whatsoever on your end!

Cutting a long story short: paper notes are out. LocaNote is in. Go, Tamoggemon! Go, LocaNote! Go, S60 touch!

Palm Will Announce Q2 FY 2010 Earnings on 17 Dec

This Palm Press Release just in:

SUNNYVALE, Calif., Nov 30, 2009 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Palm, Inc. (NASDAQ: PALM) today said it will announce its second-quarter fiscal year 2010 financial results on Thursday, Dec. 17, shortly after 4 p.m. Eastern (1 p.m. Pacific), followed by a conference call for the public at 4:30 p.m. Eastern (1:30 p.m. Pacific). The conference call will be hosted by Jon Rubinstein, chairman and chief executive officer, and Doug Jeffries, chief financial officer.

Investors and other interested parties are encouraged to listen to the call via audio webcast at Palm's Investor Relations website (http://investor.palm.com). Investors wishing to listen to the conference call via telephone may dial 877.278.9658 (domestic) or 763.488.4651 (international). There is no pass code required for the live call. A telephone replay of the conference call will be available through Dec. 24, 2009. The dial-in number for the replay will be 800.642.1687 (domestic) and 706.645.9291 (international). The pass code 43773355 is required for the replay. An archive of the audio webcast of the conference call will be posted on Palm's Investor Relations website at http://investor.palm.com.

About Palm, Inc.

Palm, Inc. creates intuitive and powerful mobile experiences that enable consumers and businesses to connect to their information in more useful and usable ways. The company's groundbreaking Palm webOS(TM) platform, designed exclusively for mobile application, introduces true multitasking and Palm Synergy(TM), which brings your information from the many places it resides into a single, more comprehensive view of your life.

Palm products are sold through select Internet, retail, reseller and wireless operator channels, and at the Palm online store (www.palm.com/store).

More information about Palm, Inc. is available at www.palm.com.

Palm, Synergy, and webOS are trademarks of Palm, Inc. All other brand and product names are or may be trademarks of, and are used to identify products or services of, their respective owners.


SOURCE: Palm, Inc.

WebOS HomeBrew Apps List at Pre|Central

The Palm PRE is quite popular but for quite some time there was no support for paid WebOS applications on the WebOS Apps Store. This has caused the HomeBrew crew to find their own solution. The most popular solution I know of is the HomeBrew Apps on-line at Pre|Central:

Homebrew Apps
285 Apps in the Gallery
3,298,498 Total Downloads since August 19th

Welcome to the Homebrew App Gallery at PreCentral.net! Like the gallery itself, the apps you'll find here are all beta and are for testing purposes only. They are all under development - use with care.

Click on any header to re-sort the apps, filter by category below, or search by tag by clicking the links in the sidebar. Don't forget to rate apps!

Palm WebOS Application List Available On-Line

Palm has made their WebOS Application List available on-line. This is a great summary of the applications (officially) available for WebOS phones.

Mobile Apps That Go Further!
Applications designed for the Palm® webOS™ platform make your phone more powerful, more useful, and more fun. And many take advantage of the Palm Synergy™ feature, allowing you to do more with just a touch. Automatically add an event date to your calendar. Share location information in one step. Both free and paid apps expand what you can do.

BlackBerry PhoneSnoop App Spies on Users

US-CERT (the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team -- the operational arm of the National Cyber Security Division (NCSD) at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)) has announced the existence of a Blackberry app called PhoneSnoop which is designed to spy on users.

BlackBerry PhoneSnoop Application Used to Spy on Users

US-CERT is aware of public reports of a new software application called PhoneSnoop. This software allows an attacker to call a user's BlackBerry and listen to personal conversations. In order to install and setup the PhoneSnoop application, attackers must have physical access to the user's device or convince a user to install PhoneSnoop.

US-CERT encourages users to only download BlackBerry applications from trusted sources and to password protect and lock BlackBerry devices.

Brian Krebs excellent blog "Security Fix" has quite an interesting article on the whole PhoneSnoop situation.
.

"Palm Pre is Fab" says WPG-SUN

In a Winnipeg Sun article entitled: "Pre is fab: Latest smartphone does it all elegantly" Steve Tilley gives quite a good (in my opinion) review of the Palm Pre which just recently became available here in Canada. Steve says "The Palm Pre smartphone is an attractive alternative to a BlackBerry or iPhone" and, in his 'verdict' at the end of the article, warns that "the Pre could cause gadget love at first sight".

The folks who ushered hand-held organizers into the collective consciousness have come a long way, baby. Heck, I remember when we used to call these things Palm Pilots.

-={snip}=-

It's the latest phone to be saddled with that tiresome "iPhone killer" label, but it's also one of the few that really can stand up to Apple's beloved little slab.

A chunky, squat black number, the Pre (pronounced "pree" and not "pray") lands in the crowded uber-phone market with a few secret weapons. One, it combines a very sharp iPhone-like touchscreen with a surprisingly functional BlackBerry-like keyboard, revealed by sliding the screen up. Best of both worlds right there, eh wot?

And two, it's a built-from-the-ground-up marriage of hi-tech silicon guts and cool, intuitive software. From e-mail to web browsing to memos to maps, the Pre does everything you'd expect a high-end 3G smartphone to do, and it does it with what can only be described as elegant grace.

-={snip}=-

When using the Pre, I felt like the folks at Palm didn't just sit down and cobble together a device with a touch-screen and a handy slide-out keyboard. It feels like they reverse-engineered the thing from the perspective of you, the user, to make it easy and fun to use. And it's even pretty decent at making phone calls.

-={snip}=-

Despite its faults, the Pre is an elegant device that doesn't try to mimic an iPhone or a BlackBerry, even though {it} offers some of the best features of each. It reminds me of how I felt the first time I used a Palm Pilot, way back in the day: An exciting, albeit not entirely perfect, glimpse at the future of gadgetry.

But hey, the Palm Pilot evolved, and so will the Pre. Stay tuned.

-={snip}=-

Verdict: While it has a few flaws and the battery life is mediocre, the Pre is packed with features that make it an attractive alternative to a BlackBerry or iPhone. And if you've never used either of those devices before, the Pre could cause gadget love at first sight.

Be sure to follow the link above (or this one) to read the whole article. It's definitely worth your time.

I have a couple of personal comments. Steve states that the Pre has an "iPhone-like touchscreen" -- when, because the Palm Pilot was the first commercially successful PDA with a touchscreen, it should say the iPhone has an improved Palm-like touchscreen. He also says that it includes a "surprisingly functional Blackberry-like keyboard", yet that style of keyboard was pioneered by the Treo smartphone, again made by Palm. In fact, it is widely acknowledged that RIM's Blackberry's (and most other PDAs for that matter) "acquired" their keyboards by openly emulating the Palm Treo.

However, all those personal nit-picky points aside {grin}, the review is a good one and well worth reading in it's entirety.

BW: Palm's Pre Is Trying to Live Up to the Hype

A recent Business Week article entitled: Palm's Pre Is Trying to Live Up to the Hype is definitely worth a read.

Here is a few brief paragraphs, just in case you need more convincing :

Wall Street is reducing forecasts for Sprint's sales of the smartphone. That doesn't bode well for Palm as it works to sign up new carriers for Pre

Palm's road to a comeback is hitting a few speed bumps.

When Palm (PALM) launched its Pre smartphone on June 6, expectations were high that the long-troubled company could have a hit with the device, the biggest launch by the new management team led by a former Apple (AAPL) executive. Now analysts estimate that Palm likely will sell just 300,000 to 500,000 Pres in their first three months on the market. That's not bad, but it's short of the outsize expectations ramped up by the phone's advanced technology and splashy debut.

...snip...

Competition with Apple's coveted iPhone is just one of Palm's challenges. For now, the Pre appears to be a niche product, with a particular appeal to Palm devotees. A spat with Apple over Pre's ability to gain access Apple's iTunes music store led to a complaint by Palm to an industry standards group. And Palm is still trying to persuade more software developers to write applications for its device, which could increase its appeal.

...snip...

Continue reading the full Business Week article . . .

Palm to Present at Investor Conference

SUNNYVALE, Calif., 04 Aug 2009 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Palm, Inc. (NASDAQ: PALM) today announced that Palm's Chief Financial Officer Douglas Jeffries is scheduled to present at the Pacific Crest Technology Forum in Vail, Colo. on Tuesday, 11 Aug. 2009 at 3:30 p.m. Mountain Time.

The company invites investors to listen to the audio only webcast at http://investor.palm.com/events.cfm


About Palm, Inc.

Palm, Inc. is a leading mobile products company, creating instinctive yet powerful mobile products that enable people to better manage their lives on the go. The company's products for consumers, mobile professionals and businesses include Palm Pre(TM), Palm(R) Treo(TM) and Palm Centro(TM) phones, as well as software, services and accessories.

Palm products are sold through select Internet, retail, reseller and wireless operator channels throughout the world, and at Palm online stores (http://www.palm.com/store).

More information about Palm, Inc. is available at http://www.palm.com

Beta testers needed for LocaNote Lite on S60v5

Tam Hanna of both TamsPalm and Tamoggemon Software fame is a well established developer of mobile applications for several different handheld platforms. He just issued the following press release:

Tamoggemon’s LocaNote has always been a software critic’s darling – the product’s highly innovative features impressed Symbian so much that Tamoggemon was invited to demo its next-generation notetaker at the Mobile World Congress.

LocaNote Lite will be sold for an MSRP around 5 Euros on the Ovi Store in the near future (detailed time and pricing will be announced at a later point in time). The Lite version of the product allows its users to take an unlimited amount of handwritten notes.


These notes can then be stored in folders – folder structures can be more than eight levels deep to make finding individual notes easy.


Finally, notes can be filtered to make finding stuff easier:


We are extremely proud to announce that LocaNote Lite is now ready for beta testing, and are looking for testers. People who own an XM5800 or N97 should get in touch with Tam Hanna via Tamog (at) gmx (dot) at to be considered for inclusion!

Further features like on-the-go printing, GPS and draw-on-photos will become available in LocaNote Plus and Pro, which are scheduled for Q4 2009. Existing LocaNote Lite customers will be offered attractive upgrade pricing, which will also be disclosed at a later date.

P.S. Customers can tune in via http://www.tamoggemon.com/s60/loca/index.html

Treo™ Pro Now Available from Bell Mobility

Treo™ Pro by Palm Now Available on the Bell Mobility Network



The Treo™ Pro smartphone by Palm is thoughtfully designed for people who define their workday the way they see fit. You can respond to business and personal email, stay on top of appointments and contacts, and use Wi-Fi or GPS.2 All on a thin device that packs plenty of battery power for a life on the go. Treo Pro. Perfectly balanced.

1 For new customers on a 3-year term when activating a minimum voice and data plan combination or combo plan of $45 per month or greater. Bell reserves the right to limit the usage. Out of bundle rates may apply. Offer ends March 31, 2009.

2 Within wireless coverage area only. Email and GPS require data services from Bell Mobility at additional cost. Voice prompted as-you-go navigation requires an additional service plan, sold separately. GPS coverage not available in all areas at all times. Wi-Fi within range of 802.11b/g network only. Some Wi-Fi hotspots require fee for usage.

Pocket Tunes 5.0 for Palm OS and Windows Mobile

NormSoft has just announced the release of the new Pocket Tunes 5.0 for Palm OS and Windows Mobile

Experience your music like you never have before with the new Pocket Tunes™ 5.0 for your Smartphone or PDA. But, don't take our word for it; try it for yourself or read this review from WMExperts.


What's New

Podcast Download and Catalog
Subscribe to your favourite podcasts and automatically download them every day. To make it easy to find your favourites, we've added a catalogue of over 1,000 of the most popular podcasts, or you can add your own. This catalogue will continually be updated as podcasts come and go. Also new in 5.0, you can set an option to automatically delete your podcasts after you finish listening to them. And, we've dramatically improved automatic bookmarking of podcasts and audio books so you'll never lose your place ever again, even if you switch between playing music and books or podcasts.


Last.fm Scrobbling
Every time you listen to a song on your Palm OS or Windows Mobile Smartphone using Pocket Tunes Deluxe 5.0, this gets tracked to your Last.fm music profile - it's called scrobbling™. Based on this profile, Last.fm creates customized radio stations of music you'll like. Plus, Last.fm also uses your music profile to give you: New music to listen to, Concert listings in your area, Music videos, Free downloads, Neighbours (people who like the same music you do), Charts based on your listening history. For more information and to start using Last.fm, visit www.last.fm


Sync with iTunes
You can now synchronize your playlists from iTunes on your PC or Macintosh with your Smartphone or PDA. Simply connect your device, and the Pocket Tunes Sync software can automatically synchronize selected playlists, including album art, with iTunes. Never again will you be without your favourite tunes. (Pocket Tunes Sync for Windows works with both Windows Mobile and Palm OS devices. Pocket Tunes Sync for Macintosh works only with Palm OS devices.)


WMA Internet Radio
Pocket Tunes 5.0 adds support for the most popular Internet radio format, WMA. With this addition, the built-in catalogue contains many more of your favourite stations, and makes it much easier to find a compatible station. Many popular AM/FM radio stations broadcast in WMA format, making it easier for you to listen to local radio from anywhere around the world.

PowerSDHC Stops T|T3, iQue, Zodiac Development

Back in June I told you that "Dmitry Grinberg of PalmPowerUps fame, is at “it” again, and has created a new blog: Palm SDHC – “The status of creation of an SDHC driver for PalmOS” to document his progress on development progress."

Then in September I told you that Dmitry had released his PowerSDHC driver (it seems Palm forced Dmitry to change the name of his driver and his blog away from "PalmSDHC" so it's now called "PowerSDHC").

I also stated in that article that I would be posting a review of PowerSDHC once I had time to review it. Sorry it's taken so long to get this posted, but it took me until Christmas to get my own copy of PowerSDHC for my PalmTX and a high-speed 8 Gig SDHC card to go with it. Once I jumped through a few hoops in order to get Dmitry's registration worked out, PowerSDHC was installed, registered and working like a charm. They say that the best thing you can say about low level software like Dmitry's driver is that it just works. Well, PowerSDHC just works! It's been running flawlessly ever since. I have kept a standard SD card with PowerSDHC (and it's key file) handy at all times. I've just never needed it.

I can highly recommend PowerSDHC to anyone wanting to add SDHC capacity to their supported device.

Which brings me to the next bit of news: On Valentines Day, 14 Feb 2009 Dmitry posted the following entry to his PowerSDHC blog

PowerSDHC on T|T3, iQue, Zodiac
PowerSDHC on T|T3, iQue, Zodiac has been canceled due to lack of time to spend on the project (T|T3) and needlessly complicated driver installation requirements (Zodiac, iQue).

I can only hope that you weren't one of the people waiting for PowerSDHC to add support for your device, because, while it's a real shame, it doesn't look like these older devices (T|T3, iQue, Zodiac) are going to be supported any time soon.

aldweb is the new home of "Alternatives to C" page

aldweb, home of Speedy (the freeware benchmark utility for PalmOS based devices) among many other fine programs, is the new home of the "PalmPilot Software Development - Alternatives to C" page. I'll let aldweb explain why this popular developer resource has moved to their site.

The "PalmPilot Software Development - Alternatives to C" web page has always been a reference for me, and for many other Palm OS developers.
Michael Winikoff who created and maintained this reference page decided to no more host it on his web site.
But, before quitting, he fortunately dropped me an e-mail for offering me to host it.
Since I did not want to see this historical and valuable contribution disappear from the web, I decided to upload it to my web site.
I am not sure that I will succeed to maintain this page on a regular basis like Michael did, but, at least, his job is kept alive.
Thank you Michael for all of what you have done to the Palm developers community.
aldweb

While it's true that I'm a little behind the times with this announcement, since this move occurred last July, I feel that this is an important enough move / resource that I wanted to make sure any Palm developers out there, especially those new to the platform, are able to easily locate this valuable site.

Samsung Announced "Blue Earth" Solar Powered Eco Phone

Samsung Blue Earth Solar Powered Eco Phone

While it's a far cry from a smartphone, at least in the traditional meaning of the term, Samsung might really be onto something with it's new eco-friendly Blue Earth phone. It has quite a few interesting features, from it's integrated solar cells, built-in eco-calendar, built-in pedometer (with the nifty CO2 saved calculator), and the amount of care and attention that went into selecting the materials it's made from and even the box it's packaged in. I know quite a few "non-smartphone" users that care enough about the environment to consider switching, should this phone ever become available here in Canada.

Here's a quick blurb from the Samsung Mobile World Congress / Blue Earth Dream site:

You can see the example of Samsung's activities in eco-friendly products such as the Samsung Blue Earth.

Samsung Blue Earth is the first solar powered full-touch screen phone

• Solar Panel on the back of the phone
  
• Eco-friendly phone made from recycled plastic extracted from water bottles
  
• Free from harmful substances such as Brominated Flame Retardant, Beryllium and Phthalate
  
• Eco-UI: Eco-mode / Eco-calendar / Eco-walk
  
• 5 star energy efficient charger which uses standby power lower than 0.03W
  
• Small and light package made from recycled paper

Be sure to click through to the Samsung Mobile World Congress / Blue Earth Dream site to learn more because they have two animated video clips showing the Blue Earth phone "in use".

Here's the Blue Earth eco phone press release:

SEOUL, South Korea--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. today unveiled the innovative solar powered full-touch screen phone “Blue Earth”, alongside Samsung’s vision for environmental sustainability. Under the slogan: “The Blue Earth Dream: Eco-living with SAMSUNG mobile”, Samsung reinforced its commitment to protect the environment through the design of eco-friendly products and a programme of activities for its customers. It will be showcased at Mobile World Congress 2009 for the first time.

Designed to symbolize a flat and well rounded shiny pebble, Blue Earth is the first solar powered full-touch screen phone. By charging with the solar panel located on the back of the phone, users can generate enough electronic power to call anytime anywhere.

Blue Earth is made from recycled plastic called PCM, which is extracted from water bottles, helping to reduce fuel consumption and carbon emissions in the manufacturing process. The device, including charger, is free from harmful substances such as Brominated Flame Retardants, Beryllium and Phthalate.

The latest in a series of eco-friendly products, Blue Earth comes with a unique user interface which is designed to draw attention to preserving our fragile environment. Simple to set screen brightness, backlight duration and Bluetooth to an energy-efficient mode, this new user interface allows the user to be energy-efficient with just one click of ’Eco mode’. Through the ‘eco walk’ function the user can count their steps with an in-built pedometer, calculating how much CO2 emissions have been reduced by walking as opposed to motor transport. This unique function allows user to calculate the value of this footprint through the number of trees that have been saved.

The packaging for Blue Earth is designed to be both small and light, made from recycled paper, and comes with a 5 star energy efficient charger which uses standby power lower than 0.03W. As part of the Voluntary Agreement of European Commission IPP (Integrated Product Policy) pilot program, Samsung has agreed to start using rating on energy consumption on the no-load mode of the mobile device charger.

“Samsung’s ‘The Blue Earth Dream’ demonstrates our small but meaningful commitments for the future and our environment,” said Mr. JK Shin, Executive Vice President and Head of Mobile Communication Division of Samsung Electronics. "We are committed to achieving the highest eco-status with our customers and business partners by providing the best eco-products and promoting eco-activities.”

Get in touch with Samsung Mobile! Learn more about ‘The Blue Earth Dream’ and other eco-friendly initiatives at www.samsungmwc.com (The site will be opened on February 16) and visit us at Hall 8, Stand 8a139 at Mobile World Congress, Barcelona.

About The Blue Earth Dream

The Blue Earth Dream conveys hope and sets goals for sustainable growth and life. In increasing environmental awareness, Samsung is developing ways to reduce CO2 emissions and to save energy at every stage of the product life cycle, as an effective response to climate change. Milestones have been put in place to eliminate hazardous substances from handsets and packaging will be designed from recycled materials. Samsung will encourage its customers to recycle handsets at a growing number of special take-back points worldwide.

About Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. is a global leader in semiconductor, telecommunication, digital media and digital convergence technologies with 2007 consolidated sales of US$105 billion. Employing approximately 150,000 people in 134 offices in 62 countries, the company consists of two main business units: Digital Media & Communications and Device Solutions. Recognized as one of the fastest growing global brands, Samsung Electronics is a leading producer of digital TVs, memory chips, mobile phones and TFT-LCDs. For more information, please visit www.samsung.com.

The Press Responds to Microsofts New Windows Phones Announcement

Well, the press (generically) are responding quite rapidly to Microsoft's recent announcement of New Windows Phones and a new version of their Windows Mobile OS.

The majority of the press articles I've read agree with my personal opinion: Windows Mobile is the ugly stepsister of all the smartphone OSs! It's clunky, slow, resource intensive, and ugly. Microsoft is still in the same position they were in when they entered the smartphone race: way at the back of the pack, busy trying to play catch-up with both their software (OS and apps) and hardware. While Palm spent many years putting Windows Mobile (in all it's various names and incarnations) to shame, currently it's the iPhone that's taken on that position. This latest announcement is just another "look, see what we have (copied)" gambit by Microsoft.

One of the more interesting responses is in an article entitled "Microsoft still has no iPhone answer" on Digital Noise - a blog about music and technology by Matt Rosoff for cnet news.

In part Matt says:

Most of Microsoft's announcements Monday at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona were leaked weeks ago, so there weren't any big surprises.

• There's a new mobile OS, Windows Mobile 6.5, that's supposed to be friendlier than the notoriously clunky earlier versions.
  
• There's a set of cloud-based services for synchronizing data like contacts and photos.
  
• There's a marketplace for Windows Mobile apps.

Assuming that any of this makes you want to run out and buy a Windows Mobile phone, too bad. None of it's available until late this year.

I found Matt's article quite interesting, so click through and read the whole thing.