Phones

Trend Micro reports vulnerabilities in Windows Mobile OS. According to the company’s blog site:

Trend Micro has again discovered flaws related to Windows Mobile. Both of the newly found vulnerabilities are flaws in applications that ship by default with Microsoft’s mobile device OS.

One of the said applications is Pictures and Videos, which causes a mobile device to hang for 10-15 minutes when it tries to process a malformed JPEG file. The other flaw is found in Windows Mobile’s Internet Explorer(IE), which when exploited terminates IE and causes the affected mobile device to be unstable.

Both vulnerabilities affect devices running Windows Mobile 5.0 and Windows Mobile 2003/2003SE for Smartphones and PocketPC. As of this writing, Microsoft has already been informed of these flaws but no patches are available as of yet.

Matt

[Post Tag(s): spam, malware, trend micro, Windows Mobile Blog, Tracy & Matt]

The i-mate K-Jar has just shown up on the FCC site showing internal and external pictures as well as a copy of the user manual.

The ropey looking prototype looks like a cross between the HTC Universal, with its swivel screen, and the HTC Hermes in terms of size and keyboard layout. However, unlike the Universal the K-Jar sports the one thing that all Universal owners wish for; an external screen!

As you can see from the image above the LCD screen (on the right) is pretty small and seems to be in an odd position. However, this is enough to display the name or number of the incoming call.

Specification of the i-Mate K-Jar is pretty uninspiring:

Matt

[Post tag(s): smartphone blog, Pocket PC blog, Windows Mobile blog, iMate, K-Jar, i-Mate K-Jar, Tracy & Matt]

Following my i-Mate JAQ3 post last week, Clove are pleased to announce that they now have the JAQ3 in stock. The save £20 offer has now been extended beyond the preorder period and is now valid until the end of February!

The iMate JAQ3 looks like a fabulous device with a form factor similar to the Blackjack or HTC S620 and packing a full Windows Mobile 5 OS with touchscreen support.

The i-Mate JAQ3 is available and in stock now on the Clove website for just £295 +VAT. Clove are one of the first to offer the JAQ3 in the UK and what’s more, we are offering you a £20 saving over the regular price with the following voucher code: TMJAQJAN07. Simply enter the code into the voucher box on the order form once you have selected to buy the i-Mate JAQ3 and £20 will be deducted at the checkout stage. We think this makes Clove one of the cheapest suppliers in the UK.

To take advantage of the i-Mate JAQ3 preorder offer please follow THIS LINK for the product page on the Clove Technology website and don’t forget to use the voucher code!

Look out for our i-Mate JAQ3 review coming soon!

Matt

[Post tag(s): smartphone blog, Pocket PC blog, Windows Mobile blog, i-Mate, i-Mate JAQ3, JAQ3, Tracy & Matt]

The O2 XDA Flame seems to be a very eagerly awaited device at the moment. We get dozens of emails about it every week. So adicts will be pleased to know that PDAMobiz have some new shots of the XDA Flame to give you all a fix!

Still no news on the release date but let’s hope we don’t have to wait too much longer!

Matt

[Technorati tag(s): smartphone blog, Pocket PC blog, XDA, XDA Flame, O2, NVIDIA, GoForce, USB On The Go, Tracy & Matt]

T-Mobile have just announced the release of the HTC Excalibur in Germany as the MDA Mail.

The HTC Excalibur has been available on T-Mobile in the USA as the T-Mobile Dash for quite some time but now T-Mobile are launching this side of the pond. No official release date as yet but we’ll try and keep you updated!

T-Mobile MDA Mail Specification:

Matt

[Technorati tag(s): smartphone blog, Pocket PC blog, Tracy & Matt, T-Mobile MDA Mail, HTC, HTC Excalibur]

Microsoft has announced the addition of an Extended Support phase for the Windows XP Home Edition and Windows XP Media Center Edition operating systems, providing consumers with an additional phase of support.

With the addition of Extended Support, the support life cycle for Windows XP Home Edition and Windows XP Media Center Edition will include a total of five years of Mainstream Support (until April 2009) and five years of Extended Support, matching the support policy provided for Windows XP Professional.

The Microsoft Support Lifecycle policy standardizes Microsoft product support policies for business and developer products as well as for consumer, hardware, multimedia and Microsoft Dynamicsproducts.

Matt

[Technorati tag(s): Microsoft, Vista, Windows XP, OS, Tracy & Matt]

Well I know that it’s a high spec device with VGA screen, 2GB Rom, USB on-the-Go etc. but would you really pay over $1100 (£600ish) for the O2 XDA Flame? Well if the prices at anything online are to be believed then that’s how much the device could set you back! Mind you, it is an Australian site and I have been told that electronics are a bit more expensive there so perhaps we can expect the Flame to retail for less in the UK – lets hope so!

No firm date for release (coming soon) but you can pre-order the XDA Flame if you are feeling flush!

O2 XDA Flame Specification

Check out MrPalm for more images.

Matt

[Technorati tag(s): smartphone, Pocket PC, XDA, XDA Flame, O2, NVIDIA, GoForce, USB On The Go, Tracy & Matt]

Ever since the Windows Mobile 6 (Crossbow) rom was leaked and found its way on to the web we have had a number of questions about the likelihood of official rom upgrades being made available for HTC Universal and HTC Hermes devices.

We now know, due to the Hermes and Universal leaked roms, that Crossbow is compatible with these devices so an official ROM upgrade would be theoretically possible. However I cannot think of a time where a hardware manufacturer has actually provided an official rom upgrade to a completely new OS version, and certainly not for free.

It’s all a matter of licensing. When a device is produced and an OS rom installed a license fee must be paid to the OS manufacturer, in this case Microsoft. The license fee relates to a specific OS version and is not transferable to another OS version. For an official rom upgrade to be released I am sure that the device manufacturer or the device owner would have to pay a further license fee.

The mobile market is a little strange in many respects. People generally expect rom upgrades and mobile software to be given for free. Compare this to the PC market. When Microsoft releases Vista would you expect them to give this new OS away for free?

I’m pretty sure that we wont be seeing an official ROM upgrade path for Crossbow on existing devices. It’s a shame as I would be happy to pay for the upgrade for my TyTN!

BTW – You wont find the leaked Crossbow ROM anywhere on this site.

Matt

[Technorati tag(s): smartphone, Pocket PC, Tracy & Matt, Windows Mobile 6, leaked rom, Crossbow]

Verizon have announced the Samsung i760 with an estimated release in the second quarter of 2007.

The i760 will run Windows Mobile 6 “Crossbow” and is a 1xEvDO device. The Samsung i760 also has a slide-out keyboard but only a 1.3 megapixel camera. Memory is said to be 128 MB ROM/64 MB RAM and WiFi b/g and Bluetooth 2.0.

See more at Engadget Mobile.

Matt

[Technorati tag(s): smartphone, Pocket PC, Tracy & Matt, Samsung i760, Verizon, Crossbow]

Vodafone Germany announce their version of the HTC Trinity called the VPA Compact GPS.

No information about the cost of release date but at least it does confirm that another Trinity based device is shipping with the GPS enabled!

Take a look at the VPA Compact GPS on Vodafone Germany.

Vodafone VPA Compact GPS Specification

Matt

[Technorati tag(s): smartphone, Pocket PC, Tracy & Matt, Vodafone, VPA Compact GPS, HTC Trinity]