Videos on YouTube are like hapiness and money ("if you can't buy hapiness, then you don't know where to shop"): you can find anything on YouTube and if you can't find it, then you don't know how to search.
Some people mention, that tilt sensor of HTC Touch Diamond is a feature that can sway many people to buy this phone, but another amazing advancement of this phone, is YouTube stand-alone application that is included in HTC Touch Diamond and that offers even high-quality watching meaning the image sharper than in iPhone because it uses full 640x480 pixels (and iPhone has only 320x480 pixels = 2 times less):

Once you open the YouTube application you see the following welcome screen (we publish screen shots here one-to-one, i.e. in original resolution as they appear in HTC Touch Diamond):

However we don't recommend trying out videos on the welcome screen as many of them are spoofs and does not include topics that they claim to cover.
What we can recommend is searching for author of given video:

... or searching for some specific topic:

In any case we recommend using high resolution in settings:

... but obviously if you are on cellular network and not WiFi and you must see something quickly, then lower resolution ("fast download") is also OK.
In case you give your phone to somebody to use, don't forget to clear history of your YouTube watching in order to avoid embarassment:

You can also bookmark some videos in case you would like to watch them again for some reason or if you would like to show them off to somebody.

Another nice touch of this YouTube application is ability to send YouTube videos over MMS or email - just by tapping on the email icon.
By tapping on "i" icon on the right side of the list of videos (in search box, history or favorites) user can get see additional info about given video including longer textual descriptions, some "related videos" and some "more from the same author" vidoes.
Improvement suggestions for HTC for this YouTube application (although we are not sure whether they are more towards Google/YouTube than HTC):

• search results when one enters name of the author to the search box should be sorted in chronological order, i.e. recently uploaded on the top
• some caching mechanism would be useful, i.e. this YouTube application should not connect to the Internet automatically on the start-up and users should be able to watch vidoes from the cache - without connection to the Internet
• users should be able to tap on the icon of the author to see all vidoes of given author and it should be possible to have "more..." link near "related videos" and "more videos fromt he same author"

Source: msmobiles

Taimur Asad (The Microsoft "Wow" Blog!)

This date is earlier than we expected but still not this year as some "manufacturer" (in fact: re-seller of models designed and made in Taiwan and China) claimed. Since HTC is biggest manufacturer of Windows Mobile phones with market share of over 80%, so it is interesting to see what HTC says about Windows Mobile 7:

At the HTC Touch Diamond launch in South Africa, I had the opportunity to have a little chat with Kevin Chen, General Manager of HTC for MEA and CIS. Besides having an in-depth explanation on the innovations that the Touch Diamond brings, Chen told me that HTC is planning to unveil a device with Google Android Operating System by Q4 of this year, and a Windows Mobile 7 by Q1 of next year, atleast that’s what’s on the planned release schedule from HTC.
To learn more, visit related story about Windows Mobile 7.

Commentary: the launch date of HTC's first phone powered by Google Android is nothing new because it was announced in many places that it is by the end of this year, however it is interesting to see that Kevin Chen from HTC - obviously a higher manager sent from Taiwan to manage regional sales - is unveiling HTC's roadmap for Windows Mobile 7. The statement however looks very optimistic as from our previous information the release date of the first Windows Mobile 7 phones would be summer 2009. It may be that in February 2009, during Mobile World Congress 2009, Microsoft will unveil Windows Mobile 7 officially for the first time and it is possible that HTC immediately at the same time will announce their first phone powered by it... or maybe even HTC will launch this device immediately, not just announce it. All in all it looks like Windows Mobile 7 will come out earlier than expected: Q1/2009 instead of Q3/2009...

Source: msmobiles

Taimur Asad (The Microsoft "Wow" Blog!)

Do you fancy using your Windows Mobile phone as an external display for your notebook or PC?
Windows SideShow for Windows Mobile is an application for Windows Mobile 5 and Windows Mobile 6 Pocket PCs and Smartphones that allows you to use your Windows Mobile device as a Bluetooth SideShow-compatible device. This enables you to use your phone as an extra window into your PC. You can both access your computer’s information from your Pocket PC or Smartphone, and control the computer through a gadget interface. While the phone is out of range, or when your computer is off, you can continue to view content sent to the phone previously. This makes it easy to send information to the phone that you'll need later on.
Supported Operating Systems: Windows Server 2008; Windows Vista.

To learn more or to download visit related pages at Microsoft.

Source: msmobiles

Taimur Asad (The Microsoft "Wow" Blog!)

Why would you like to see some reduced in size images or images with somebody's logo on them, if you can see high-resolution and original photos of this new phone?

Here is overview:

... and here are links to high-resolution images of HTC Touch Diamond (in some Internet browsers after opening you should zoom-in, for example by clicking on given image, to see them in full resolution):

• HTC Touch Diamond 6 View
• HTC Touch Diamond Angle
• HTC Touch Diamond Back
• HTC Touch Diamond Dimensions
• HTC Touch Diamond in hand
• HTC Touch Diamond-Side
• Orange Screen on HTC Touch Diamond

Source: msmobiles.com

Taimur Asad (The Microsoft "Wow" Blog!)

Check it out:

• 2.8-inch VGA display
• Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional
• WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0
• eGPS, FM tuner
• Quad-band HSDPA 7.2
• 4GB internal flash, microSD slot
• 528MHz CPU
• 3.2 megapixel camera with autofocus
• 10.7mm (0.47-inches) thick
• Supposedly also features an orientation sensor / accelerometer

Portions Via Engadget

Taimur Asad (The Microsoft "Wow" Blog!)

HTC is making many models of phones nowadays, of which several are almost the same. Here comes HTC Touch Find - yet another member of HTC Touch family:

Specifications:

• GPRS, UMTS, HSDPA, GPS
• Quad Band: 850/900/1800/1900 Mhz
• Display 2.8'' Touch Screen with 65K colors
• Operating System: Windows Mobile 6.0
• connectivity: Bluetooth, Wi-Fi
• primary camera: 3.0 Mpixel
• FM radio, GPS
• included TomTom GPS navigation software with one free map (of one selected city)
• QVGA display (320x240)

Source: msmobiles

Taimur Asad (The Microsoft "Wow" Blog!)

Our reporter Alli Flowers was at CTIA 2008 this week, and here is a video review of the newly announced Windows Mobile 6.1:
In this video you can see among others: home screen improvements, copy and paste now also in devices without touch-scren, usability improvements in e-mail inbox, threaded text messaging, full web browsing with support for Flash (including support for regular, non-mobile, YouTube site).

Now also transcript of Robbie Bach's keynote at CTIA 2008 is available here and Windows Mobile 6.1 was an important part of it:
So, that leads us to the next innovation we want to announce, which today is Windows Mobile 6.1. Now, Windows Mobile 6.1 is a very important release for us on the operating system level. It does a number of things. Primarily it's designed to make the phone simpler and easier to use when you're using for voice, data, communications, and entertainment, because that's actually a lot of breadth to span, and we need to continually work to make sure users can get access to the scenarios they want to complete.
So, that means a new home screen, the ability to customize that home screen, to improve navigation on that home screen so that people can get where they want quickly and easily.
It includes a new Web experience on Windows Mobile 6.1 that gives you the full desktop experience you might expect, so that you can browse Web sites whether they've been optimized for mobile phones or not, and you can reach out and interact with those Web sites in a very rich and deep way. And it certainly provides a platform for entertainment experiences that will be much richer than anything we've had before.

Source: msmobiles.com

Taimur Asad (The Microsoft "Wow" Blog!)

Windows Mobile 6.1 was just announced at CTIA yesterday. A bunch of us got together to record a video demoing most of the new features in Windows Mobile 6.1. Check out this 40-minute video that shows:

• Cool devices, including the T-Mobile Shadow, HTC Tilt, Pantech Duo, Moto Q9
• The new Sliding Panel home screen (aka "Bronze")
• All new home screen plugins
• Threaded SMS
• Copy & Paste support for non-touch devices
• New Task Manager
• Clock & Alarms
• Windows Live and Live Search Mobile
• and more...

This is a long video but it shows several features in great detail that you may not see elsewhere. Also note, there are other improvements in Windows Mobile 6.1 that we don't cover in this video, including IEMobile's new Zoom feature and integration with SCMDM 2008.

Continue At Source

Taimur Asad (The Microsoft "Wow" Blog!)

What will this mean for Windows Mobile?

Live reporting from Engadget at Apple Press conference:

I'm really excited to be the one to talk to you abut iPhone in the enterprise. We've had some great customers at the forefront wanting to adopt the iPhone into their enterprises." Talking about using Genentech using a fleet of iPhones. "We have a lot of great university customers." Stanford, for example; hundreds of iPhones for faculty and staff.
"There are a lot of things enterprise customers have told us that have hold us back from being HUGE in the enterprise. What do they want to take the iPhone into the enterprise. What do they want? Push email -- huge request. They want great calendar integration. They want it pushed to them wherever they are.
10:05AM - They want push contacts, global address list, Cisco IPsec VPN, they want authentication and certs, enterprise class WiFi (WPA2 / 802.1x), security policies, enterprise configuration tools, and they want remote wipe.

"That's a long list of important features enterprise customers want. Well, I'm excited to be the one to tell you today, we're doing ALL these things in the next release of the iPhone software."

"Microsoft has come up with a much more advanced architecture, where the iPhone can work directly with the Exchange server in a more reliable and affordable way. We're building Exchange support so you get push email, push calendaring, push contacts, global address lists, and the ability to remote wipe it."

"The same email app, calendar app, and contact apps that customers really love will get information directly from the Exchange server." So no new apps on the iPhone for using Exchange.

Continue at source!

NOW there is an official MS press release too!

Q&A: Microsoft Helps Connect Apple iPhone Users to Microsoft’s Exchange Server

Terry Myerson, corporate vice president for Exchange, talks to PressPass about the importance of the new agreement between Microsoft and Apple to offer built-in support for Exchange on the iPhone, and the increasing popularity of Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 among mobile professionals.

Source: www.engadget.com

Taimur Asad (The Microsoft "Wow" Blog!)

WeatherBug is proud to present a mobile weather application based on Microsoft Silverlight Technology. The technology is cross-platform and the same application can run on Windows, Mac and Mobile Phones.

• To view the demo, make sure you have the latest version of Microsoft Silverlight installed on your computer.
• Click on the WeatherBug logo to change your location. Enter a US Zip Code or city name and hit the enter key.
• Click on the city name in the upper right to choose from recently selected locations.
• Click on the arrows at the bottom to navigate to radar, 4-day forecast and hourly forecast.
• When severe weather alerts are active an exclamation point (!) will display near the current temperature. Click on the exclamation point for more information about the alert.
• Press any key from 1-5 to see various weather animations. (click on the app to make sure it is in focus first).

Try out the application yourself here

Taimur Asad (The Microsoft "Wow" Blog!)

Nokia announced plans to make Microsoft Silverlight available for S60 on Symbian OS, the world's leading smartphone software(1), as well as for Series 40 devices and Nokia Internet tablets. Adding support for Silverlight will extend opportunities for developers to create rich, interactive applications that run on multiple platforms in a consistent and reliable way.
"Today's consumers are very clear in what they want: easy access to tightly integrated services and data on any device," said Lee Williams, Senior Vice President in Nokia's Devices software organization. "Nokia's software strategy is based on cross-platform development environments, enabling the creation of rich applications across the Nokia device range. Nokia aims to support market leading and content rich internet application environments and to embrace and encourage open innovation. By working with Microsoft, we are creating terrific opportunities and additional choices for the development community, S60 licensees and the industry as a whole."
Silverlight is a cross-browser, cross-platform plug-in for delivering next-generation media experiences and rich interactive applications. Silverlight is already powering thousands of applications around the world and organizations including Entertainment Tonight, the NBA and NBC Universal to deliver superior Web-based experiences to their customers. The arrangement with Nokia will substantially extend the reach of Silverlight by making the platform available for hundreds of millions of devices, including S60 on Symbian smartphones from a range of manufacturers, as well as Nokia Series 40 devices and Nokia Internet tablets.
"This is an important relationship on so many levels. Working with Nokia means we are easily able to reach a huge number of mobile users, including customers of all S60 licensees. This is a significant step in gaining broad acceptance for Silverlight and ensuring it is platform agnostic. This is critical since we want to make sure developers and designers don't have to constantly recreate the wheel and build different versions of applications and services for multiple operating systems, browsers and platforms," said S. Somasegar, Senior Vice President of Microsoft's Developer Division.
"There is clear market demand for rich, Web-based services across a variety of device types, but developing these can often be commercially difficult. For Microsoft this extends Silverlight to a broader range of vendors, platforms and devices. For Nokia it expands the web runtime options on its devices, enabling a wider community of developers and more applications. This should help the uptake of higher speed mobile services and advance a new era of anytime, anywhere device-based computing", said Bola Rotibi , Principal Analyst at Ovum.
Microsoft will demonstrate Silverlight on S60 during the opening keynote at Microsoft's MIX08 conference on March 5 in Las Vegas. Silverlight is intended to be available to S60 developers later this year with initial service delivery anticipated shortly thereafter for all S60 licensees. This will allow S60 application developers to use an even wider range of development environments for S60 on Symbian OS than today. Today S60 developers can use: C++ (using native Symbian OS APIs and Open C providing subset of standard POSIX libraries), S60 Web Run-time (supporting standards-based web technologies such as Ajax, JavaScript, CSS and HTML), the Java language, Flash Lite from Adobe, and Python.
Microsoft Silverlight availability for Nokia Series 40 devices and Nokia Internet tablets will be confirmed later.

Taimur Asad (The Microsoft "Wow" Blog!)

ThinkRemote sets Windows SideShow content free, bringing SideShow gadgets to everyday electronic devices such as mobile phones, portable game consoles, and remote controls. With support for wired, wireless, and Internet-based connectivity, ThinkRemote keeps you connected to your PC and your content anytime, anywhere.

So change the music on your PC, view your vacation photos, or navigate a PowerPoint presentation using your phone. Or a PlayStation Portable (PSP). Or a Nintendo Wii. Or your web browser at work. With expanding device support and compatibility with standard 3rd-party SideShow gadgets, the possibilities are unlimited.

Use ThinkRemote with devices you already own

Take advantage of the full capability of your Windows Mobile phone or Apple iPhone. Take a break from games and browse your PC's music library on your Nintendo DS or Playstation Portable. Or go for the big screen, and use your Nintendo Wii or Playstation 3's web browser.

Whether you're at home or at the office, ThinkRemote lets you access your SideShow content and interact with your PC from anywhere. With built-in support for ThinkConnect, ThinkRemote even takes away the headaches of firewalls and related technical problems.

Works with standard SideShow gadgets

Photo viewers. PowerPoint navigators. Stock, weather, and news feeds. E-mail, calendar appointments, and Media Player control. Compatible with standard SideShow gadgets (including 3rd-party gadgets), ThinkRemote gives you what you want where you want it.

ThinkRemote works in coordination with the standard Windows SideShow control panel applet. Mix and match with non-ThinkRemote devices without worry.

Integrate with your Z-Wave® smart home (Standard Edition)

Look for ThinkRemote support in your Z-Wave remote control. Then dim the lights, adjust the thermostat, or just enjoy whole-home range and navigate SideShow content on the remote's display.

ThinkRemote Standard Edition even has built-in control of Windows Media Center™.

Manufacturers: add ThinkRemote support to your devices (Standard Edition)

The ThinkRemote platform empowers PC and accessory manufacturers to create mass-market Windows SideShow-enabled remotes and devices.

With support for Windows Media Center, IR bridging, Z-Wave, WiFi, and Bluetooth, and with built-in extensibility, ThinkRemote is an easy choice for manufacturers.

Manufacturers: click here for more information on the ThinkRemote platform.

Via: controlthink :: ThinkRemote™

Taimur Asad (The Microsoft "Wow" Blog!)

It's iPhone clone running Windows Mobile 6, that even has motion and light sensors! And this Windows Mobile logo instead of Apple logo on the back of the phone - is just precious...
Information from the hardware vendor follows.

• Operating System: Windows 6.0 mobile pocket PC Support 26 languages
• RF frequency: GSM / EDGE; / GSM900/DCS1800/PCS1900
• LCM: TFT 3.2 inch, QVGA 240 x 320 resolution
• front camera of actual 3 megapixels ,behind camera of actual 2 megapixels ,both CMOS high-definition camera 1Gb+512 Mb RAM (DDR) system memory
• built-in Bluetooth 1.2, support A2DP standards and the use of Bluetooth stereo headphones
• built-in GPS satellite navigation system, Wi-Fi wireless Internet access
• support for Microsoft Office Outlook, Word, Excel, PPT, Html, enable you to do online business anywhere
• agenda, music, photos, business cards and other information easily synchronized with the computer (ActiveSync4.5 synchronization software)
• built-in Media Player, with PC synchronization, support up to 2G expandable storage.
• JAVA module enables you to play a superior number of video games,bluetooth enables you to play with many people
• Internet Explorer high-speed Internet, the stock market, MSN, QQ
• stocks online, Skype, Kingsoft, network television, calls firewall, voice, calendar, a variety of third-party plug-300
• three sensor design
  • Light Sensor: sense light intensity around to adjust screen brightness;
  • Movement sensors: When phone users hand the phone horizontally t,it automatically adjust to cross-screen display;
  • Nearly Sensor: Sensing th phone user put the phone beside the ear, it automatically close the screen to save energy

To learn more visit official page of the T32 iPhone clone.

Source: msmobiles.com

Taimur Asad (The Microsoft "Wow" Blog!)

Microsoft will not launch a product that competes directly with Apple's iPhone, Chairman Bill Gates said in an interview with Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

"No, we won't do that. In the so-called smart phone business we will concentrate solely on software with our Windows Mobile program," Gates was quoted as saying in the interview published on Wednesday.

"We have partnerships with a lot of device manufacturers from Samsung to Motorola and this variety brings us significantly more than if we would make our own mobile phone," he added.

Apple's iPhone, which also plays music and lets users browse the internet, has been a big hit.

Taimur Asad (The Microsoft "Wow" Blog!)

The first phones with Windows Mobile 7 will go on sale in 2009 but already now you can learn (almost) everything about it (including hint that it will support multi-touch!):
Windows Mobile 7 will use touch gestures, similar to how the iPhone does. You will be able to flick through lists, pan, swipe sideway, draw on the screen. A lot of emphasis has been put on making navigation easier and doing away with scrollbars, including a new scroll handle that allows for multiple ways of finding items extremely fast.
Windows Mobile 7 will use motion gestures, something the iPhone does not. It will not use an intricate and complicated series of gyroscopes and accelerometers. Instead, it will use the camera on the phone to detect motions and create appropriate actions. You will be able to shake, twist and otherwise manipulate the phone and get things done. The phone will be able to perform actions when placed face down on a surface, and it will know when it is in your pocket or bag.
To learn more, including screenshots and detailed description of the Windows Mobile 7, click HERE.

Sources:
microsoft.blognewschannel.com
msmobiles.com

Taimur Asad (The Microsoft "Wow" Blog!)

It is nothing totally new! We were reporting previously that it is possible to turn a Windows Mobile phone with WiFi into a WiFi access point (WiFi hotspot) but it required changes in registry and was a buit cumbersome.

Now a free application has been developed that does the work for you and with this application you can use a Windows Mobile phone as WiFi access point - what makes a lot of sense particularly because several Windows Mobile phones offer HSDPA with 3.6 Mbit/second.
While Microsoft's Internet Sharing application - built-in into Windows Mobile - is not bad it is available only through USB and Bluetooth but not WiFi so this solution is absolutely superior because it uses the most comfortable wireless Internet access - WiFi:
WMWifiRouter is a tool to use your Windows Mobile 6 (possibly 5) as a WiFi <-> GPRS/UMTS/HSPA router. It'll allow you to use WiFi capable devices to connect to the internet through your phone's data connection.
[...]
We're not in a final stage yet, so exact usage changes. The currently most up to date documentation is in TalynOne's "Internet Sharing over Wifi" topic over at XDA-Developers, which also serves as the official WMWifiRouter topic. The documentation will not make it to this page until we reach a decent final version. The first posts in that topic will tell you how to use it (as well as how you can do the whole thing manually), the last few posts will likely be dealing with current issues.
To learn more or to download this application for FREE, click HERE.

Source: msmobiles

Taimur Asad (The Microsoft "Wow" Blog!)

More and more applications for Windows Mobile Professional (the one for touch-screens) are being optimized for finger usage, rather than stylus usage. Actually you don't even need a phone from HTC Touch series to achieve extremely comfortable user experience... because more and more 3rd party applications provide it!
Finger-Friendly Friends is one of such next-generation applications for Windows Mobile!
Features:

• Blazingly fast contact lookup
• Features the new ground-breaking DRMWY-Touch (Doesn't Really Matter Where You Touch) keyboard. There is no need to press specific buttons on the keyboard to search for the contacts. Just touch the screen, and FFF automatically matches all contacts in the touch zone under your finger! The DRMWY-Touch keyboard is probably the world’s first glove-friendly keyboard!
• Send your position to your contacts using the device's GPS. The position is sent as a user-friendly Google Maps link in either SMS or e-mail (requires a built-in GPS).
• Fast startup, low memory footprint

To learn more, to download free trial version or to purchase this application (price: $14.99), click HERE.

Taimur Asad (The Microsoft "Wow" Blog!)

The thing is that in some countries mobile data tariffs are very expensive and also while moving you can loss your mobile connection from time to time, so mobile blogging may be problematic if you use server side software for posting... but with use of moBlog you can create blog posts for popular blogging services also off-line!
The author of this freeware - Sampath Dassanayake - writes to us:
I have just released moBlog, a free application for Windows Mobile Devices. This application will run on any Windows Mobile device from WM2003 and up.
moBlog currently supports Blogger.com, Wordpress.com / Wordpress, and Windows Live Spaces. It supports creating multiple profiles (for your different blogging accounts) and multiple blogs within a single account (such as for Blogger.com).
moBlog works in off-line mode and only requires a connection when you are initially setting up your blogging accounts and when you want to publish your posts.
For Blogger.com blogs, moBlogger also supports setting Labels (Tags). For Wordpress and Live Spaces blogs, post categories are supported.
Based on user requests future versions will support more blogging platforms and will have enhanced features.
To learn more, to post feedback or suggestions or to download this FREE program, click here: sampath.wordpress.com/moblog/.

Source: msmobiles

Taimur Asad (The Microsoft "Wow" Blog!)

Can’t believe we missed this! The brand new Motorola Q9 with Wi-Fi we just got? Yeah, that has Windows Mobile 6.1 on it! We’re getting the video up soon, but for now, check out our full Windows Mobile 6.1 gallery, and the new things we found!

• Copy / Paste (finally!)
• Domain Enroll in Settings (Enrolling in a domain will connect
  your device with company resources.)
• New home screen (pan left and right to check out missed calls,
  notifications like email, sms, etc.)
• Change Master Security Code
• Added text input settings
• Recent Programs when pressing Start menu
• Threaded SMS!
• When you compose an email, or SMS, and start typing the name of the contact in the "To:" field, the contact names finally pop up like Windows Mobile Professional!

Continue At Source (picture gallery)

Microsoft Windows Mobile® 6 website

Taimur Asad (The Microsoft "Wow" Blog!)

So we can't really delve into a lot of specifics, but today Microsoft showed off the next version of Windows Mobile at their annual Mobius conference. Nope, it's not Windows Mobile 7 / Photon, but what we saw "is an update, not an upgrade", was running on current hardware, and is due to manufacturers Q108. Our first impressions: very slick, and has a lot of features that just about any WinMo user will agree is way overdue. In other words, we're expecting users will be stoked -- no doubt about it. Expect specific details on features and the like in the near future, we wouldn't be surprised to hear more about it CES.

Via: Engadget

Taimur Asad (The Microsoft "Wow" Blog!)