Phones

Windows Mobile 7 minimum specs revealed

Mary Jo Foley of ZD Net has managed to get another exclusive about Windows Mobile 7 and this time it is a list of minimum specifications for the new platform which we shall see from 2010. The good news is that Multi Touch and 3.5mm headset jacks are included in the list. It is great to see that Microsoft are producing these guidelines and hopefully this will ensure we do not see inferior devices trying to run Windows Mobile 7 and giving it a bad name. The full list is after the break, it makes interesting reading.

Samsung i8910HD coming soon to Orange

The Samsung i8910HD has appeared as coming soon on Orange’s UK website today. The i8910 which was previously called the Samsung Omnia HD is a Symbian S60 rel.5 phone and will be the first handset to offer HD video capture. You can see a video of the phone in action here

Some other highlights are the 8 megapixel camera, AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, HSDPA, 7.2Mbps, internal memory 8GB and WiFi.

Not sure if Orange have an exclusive on this handset or if it will be available on other carriers but we shall see.

Windows Mobile Marketplace Registration Open – Officially

In the latest update to http://developer.windowsmobile.com, developers can now Register to participate in Windows Marketplace for Mobile. This marks another milestone in providing Windows Mobile Developers a clear path to develop, test, certify and distribute their Windows Mobile applications via the Windows® Marketplace for Mobile. Throughout the registration process, links to key documentation for distributing apps through Windows Marketplace for Mobile are provided.

Next steps for developers?

· REGISTER NOW. Developers can submit their complete profile information and take the first step in registration.

· Follow the Windows Mobile Developer team on Twitter @wmdev, Facebook and YouTube.

· Keep up to date via the Windows Mobile Team blog.

· And, stay informed with the latest development tools on the Windows Mobile Developer Center on MSDN.

via Windows Mobile Team Blog

O2 Targets Families with £6m Marketing Campaign

O2 is launching a £6m through-the-line marketing campaign handled by https://thelifestylemarketeer.co.uk to support its launch of three new products targeting the family segment of the UK market. The O2 Joggler, O2 Calendar and Your Family Bolt-on have all been designed to help family life run more smoothly and save families money.

The O2 Family campaign will go live on May 18th spanning television, cinema, print and online media. The campaign also incorporates experiential marketing and has a strong social media focus. If you are in to marketing for big brands, Make sure you’re not missing the different approaches to realtor marketing materials.

The creative, developed by VCCP, shows a kitchen scene where the fridge is the hub of family life, and features a family of animated fridge magnets. In the TV ad, stopframe animation is used to show the family organising their appointments using the O2 Joggler, demonstrating a new way to help family life run more smoothly.

Vodafone to Redefine the Mobile Internet Experience

Vodafone is to stimulate a new generation of mobile internet applications by providing internet service developers with a single point of access to Vodafone’s global customer base.

Developers will only need to create internet applications once in order to reach millions of Vodafone customers on any device and will be able to charge for it directly through Vodafone’s billing system. This will provide internet content partners, such as the media or game developers, with a cost-efficient and effective micro-payments system to reach all customers on mobile devices.

Vodafone will also provide partners and developers with customer controlled access to other network capabilities, such as location awareness, enabling them to create even more innovative mobile internet services and applications.

Speak2Me for iPhone released

With use of the 21st century technology we are scanning Apple store every day for the newly released apps – so that you don’t have to. We will be picking some newly released apps and reporting about them. While we can’t report about all of them – it is literally several hundreds new apps a week – we can cherry-pick some that seem interesting.

Here we are presenting Speak2Me for iPhone that looks like that:

Android growing rapidly

Google’s Android operating system is gaining support in the mobile industry, with 8 million Android phones to be sold in 2009, up 10-fold from a year ago, research firm Strategy Analytics said on Monday.

With the overall handset market shrinking as economies slow globally, the mobile industry is focussing investment on more advanced smartphones and their software.

Google’s Android was introduced in the United States in the second half of 2008, and now all top mobile phone vendors except Nokia have said they would use Android. "Android is now in a good position to become a top-tier player in smartphones over the next two to three years," said Neil Mawston, a director at Strategy Analytics.

Hands-on review of Palm Pre

Prethinking have an excellent Hands-on review of the Palm Pre. Covering most of the aspects this is an essential read for anyone interested in this device. Check after the break for the review.

Samsung i7500 caught on video

Looks like the Android device promises are starting to appear at long last, here is a video hands on with the Samsung i7500 which has some really nice specs. This one will surely give HTC a run for their money as Samsung seem to understand the whole 3.5mm headset jack and camera flash requirements where other manufacturers do not.

• 5 megapixel camera with LED flash
• Quad-Band GSM
• Tri-Band 7.2Mbps HSDPA (900/1700/2100MHZ)
• 320×480 pixel 3.2? AMOLED Screen
• WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth
• 1,500mAh battery
• 8GB Internal Storage (expandable to 32GB via microSD)
• 3.5mm Headset Jack

Take a look at the video after the break.

HTC Snap preview video and unboxing

Matt from Tracy and Matt managed to get his hands on a pre-release HTC Snap for 24 hours and has put together a video unboxing and preview of the device.

It looks very nice and a good upgrade from the previous HTC front facing QWERTY Smartphone known as the Dash or HTC S620. Just wish this one had a higher resolution screen, 320 x 240 seems so old now.

Anyway take a look for yourself, the videos after the break.