News

No Windows Phone 7 upgrades for WinMo 6 devices

It would appear that the rumours of the HTC HD2 getting a possible upgrade to Windows Phone 7 Series has been smashed!

Natasha Kwan, General Manager for Microsoft’s Mobile Communications Business in the Asia-Pacific region, told APC that the HD2 “doesn’t qualify because it doesn’t have the three buttons”.

This doesn’t surprise me in the slightest as when I had a one to one with Microsoft at MWC I was told that the important factor on the new devices would be the combination of three specific buttons.

Its a shame as the HTC HD2 does meet the rest of the required specs but it has too many buttons. I know that sounds crazy but that’s the way it is!

For those of you with the HD2 or other 6.5 devices do not fear as Microsoft will still support you and the OS will be re-branded as Windows Phone Classic. I know that’s not much of a consolation if you were hoping for a upgrade but it pretty much looks like if you want a 7 Series phone then you will have to get a new device.

Posted by: James

See Windows Phone 7 Series on a real phone!

Those lucky chaps at engadget have managed to get a hands on with a real Windows Phone 7 Series.

At a recent get together Microsoft’s Aaron Woodman produced the phone and its an LG! That was surprise for me with LG not even being at this years MWC but maybe that’s because they are busy working on 7?

The guys at engadget have said the following about the device:

“We can tell you a few things about it: it’s just a hair thicker than an iPhone or Nexus One, there are dedicated hardware camera, volume, and power buttons in addition to the back, home, and search buttons dictated by Windows Phone 7 Series, and we noticed a five megapixel camera with a flash on the back, along with a headphone jack”.

Although the device is a prototype and the finished version may be somewhat different its great to see not only the new UI in the flesh but also that this device is a slide out QWERTY. It looks pretty nice to me.

If you want to see a few more pictures of the LG phone then head over to engadget and as a bonus there is a short video.

Posted by: James

T-Mobile confirm HTC Desire date

In a Tweet just a short while ago T-Mobile confirmed the availability of the HTC Desire on their network. The date you can get the Desire from T-Mobile is the 26th March. Not sure if it can be pre-ordered yet but if you need to get your hands on one it might be with making enquiries with T-Mobile!

On Twitter: http://twitter.com/TMobileOfficial/status/9680146411

Check out our HTC Desire coverage.

Posted by: Matt

[ Post Tags: HTC Desire, MWC, Android 2.1, HTC Bravo, tracyandmatt.co.uk ]

Toshiba TG01 price hitting rock bottom?

It’s only £149.00 on payg!

That’s what I found when I popped into my local Orange Retail store yesterday. I couldn’t believe my eyes!

The device sports a 4.1 inch screen and a Snapdragon 1GHz processor and for that reason I was going to buy one but unfortunately the store did not have the TG01 in stock.

Why is it so cheap all of a sudden? I don’t know officially why but I would guess that they have limited stock left and that Orange are trying to sell them rather than being stuck with them.

At under £150 the Toshiba TG01 is a bargain and if you want one I suggest giving your local Orange store a call. I would be quick about it though!

You can read our review of the TG01 here.

Posted by: James

Microsoft WP7 Interview

I think that quite a few of you will have been following our interview with Microsoft’s Alex Reeve, Director of Mobile Business Group in the UK. We spoke with Alex live via Twitter earlier today and asked him some of our own questions as well as some from our followers and forum members.

We had half an hour of Alex’s time during which we managed to ask about 10 Windows Phone 7 Series related questions. Alex then opened the questions up to those that had been following along throughout the interview.

You can find the full interview conversation listed below. There were of course many other questions that we just didn’t get time for so we’ll be sending these to Alex later and hope that he might be able to come back with some more answers.

I welcome your feedback to the questions and answers below!

Want a HTC Tattoo for a bargain price?

The guys at Devicewire.com have got a good thing going with Vodafone at the moment if you fancy a HTC Tattoo?

For only £25.00 per month the HTC Tattoo is free with 300 minutes, unlimited texts and unlimited internet.

That sounds like a pretty good deal if you ask me but rather than me yakking on about it just head on over to Devicewire.com and have a look. 

If you need to discuss it with them remember you can call them free on 0800 198 0000 or alternatively you can click the ‘Live Chat’ tab at the top of the page and talk to one of the team over the internet. You don’t get a better service than that!

If you cant make your mind up about the HTC Tattoo you can check out our full review to see what we think of it!

Posted by: James

Windows Phone 7 Series – ask your questions!

I’m sure that I wont have to remind anyone that Windows Phone 7 Series (what we all thought would be Windows Mobile 7) was announced just last in a Microsoft press conference held at MWC in Barcelona.

Personally I’m really looking forward to seeing Windows Phone 7 Series for myself, particularly the ‘Live Tiles’ and the 5 hubs.

Now I bet you have a lot of questions about Windows Phone 7 Series which is great because Microsoft have granted us an exclusive Twitter interview this week. We’ll be talking to Alex Reeve, Director of Mobile Business Group in the UK, via the Windows Phone twitter account. The interview will take place on Thursday 25th February at 12 Noon. I will be asking the questions and Alex will reply in real time.

So follow me on Twitter @TRACYANDMATT and the Windows Phone Twitter account @WINDOWSPHONEUK to see both sides of the conversation.

Please submit your questions via This Forum Thread and we’ll ask Alex Reeve the most appropriate ones during the interview. If you miss the session live we’ll also post a copy here after the fact.

Posted by: Matt

[ Post Tags: Windows Mobile 7, Windows Phone 7 Series, MWC, Microsoft ]

Watch Sky on your Nokia!

It looks like Sky and Nokia have been working on something rather cool.  Within the Ovi Store you can now find a Sky app!

Users will be able to watch Sky Sports live on their phone, Barclays Premier League goals and match highlights with 24-7 Football, record their favourite programmes straight to their Sky+ box using Remote Record and have access to breaking Sky News headlines.

The first compatible handsets are the N97, N97 mini (pictured), 5800 XpressMusic and the 5530, with the 5230 and X6 following shortly. A version of the application with non-mobile TV features will also be available on 10 further handsets, which are yet to be announced.

HTC Legend vs HTC Hero

Well it certainly was a hectic few days at MWC and I wasn’t even there! James is on the late flight home from Barcelona and has all the good stuff on his laptop so we should have plenty of photos, video and write-ups for you over the next few days and that’s before we start looking at some of the review devices that James brought back with him and the ones that should be arriving over the next few days!

Just to whet your appetite a little and because it’s a question that we’ve heard asked a lot over the past few days we have a few photos of the new HTC Legend, announced a few days ago, next to the HTC Hero which has been around for a little while. The Legend is widely regarded as the ‘replacement’ for the HTC Hero although it is our understanding that the Hero will remain as part of the HTC product catalogue.

So have a quick look at the images after the break which should give you some idea of the size differences between the two devices. We’ll have plenty more content like this for you tomorrow and over the next few days.

HTC & O2 announce the HTC Smart

It’s a device we’ve known about for a while but that we’ve struggle to find out much about, however, at a joint press conference at MWC this morning HTC and O2 have announced that the HTC Smart will be coming to Europe.

The headlines from the announcement then:

• HTC Smart – bringing Smartphone features to more people.
• HTC Smart to be half the cost of a ‘smartphone’
• HTC Smart will be in UK, Ireland and Germany in April.
• HTC want more and more people to be using social networking apps. Then they can buy a HTC Smart!
• O2 will be adding 1500 cell masts in the UK this year to help cope with the increase in data users.

Full press release and some nice images follow after the break.