Microsoft tries desperately to attract the attention of Windows Phone 7, organizes weird parade.

Microsoft organized something like a parade with the occasion of launching the RTM version of Windows Phone 7, which isn't the version that is going to be the present on the devices that will be shipped with Windows Phone 7 on board (what I'm trying to say is that the RTM version, or Release to Manufacturing, isn't the final product, it's the version which has been sent to manufacturers in order to allow them to prepare themselves and their devices for the final launch of Windows Phone 7).

Returning to the parade, what Microsoft did was to dress its employees in all kind of zombies, clowns and women in pink, celebrating, along with the launch of Windows Phone 7 RTM version, the death of iPhone of BlackBerry. They actually carried on the streets a dead giant iPhone and BlackBerry, trying to show everybody that the Windows Phone 7 is just near the corner.

One thing is clear, there's a total desperation in what Microsoft did, and what they probably wanted to say is "Death to iPhone and BlackBerry, the Windows Phone 7 domination starts". Windows Phone 7 looks good from what I've seen on YouTube (the interface is completely changed and the OS has been highly optimized). However, I doubt they have any chance on a highly competitive market, such as the US, where the market is shared by Android (with HTC, Samsung, Motorola, etc), iPhone and BlackBerry.

Anyway, why they didn't say anything about Google's Android?

More on Gizmodo and Engadget.

Fennec (Mozilla Firefox) for Android, or how to run out of storage on your device.

The first Alpha version of Fennec (a.k.a Firefox Mobile) has been released yesterday. The advantage which Mozilla wants to use against other browsers is the possibility of adding add-ons in the browser, in order to increase its functionality. Mozilla says that their new mobile browser tries to bring the desktop experience (which is not something extraordinary, however), on the mobile devices.

Everything looks good, at least in theory. In practice, the program itself takes around 30 MB just to install, and this is way too much for some Android devices (eg. Nexus One, which has only <200 MB internal storage). I've successfully installed it and I remained with only around 100 KB free storage on the internal memory. But there's a problem. When I launch it, the screen stays blank and then it returns to launcher. The application has the possibility to move to SD card, and I've done that, but the situation remains the same (the application doesn't launch).

You can read more about Fennec and download it from the official Mozilla blog, here. If you want to install it, make sure you have at least 30 MB of free internal storage, otherwise the device will warn you that you're completely running out of internal storage.

New YouTube mobile interface.

YouTube launched a new interface for their mobile site, one which is more complex and more touch-friendly, making it easier and faster to access both videos and all other stuff (subscribes, favorites, like and unlike for comments, and even a possibility to play videos in HQ). The interface is designed to bring users a very similar experience compared to the desktop version of YouTube.

Here is a video from YouTube showing the features of the mobile version (I don't know what was in their mind when they put the Nexus One and the iPhone together).


This website surely is a fresh breath of air for the iPhone users, but is it worth on the Android? I mean, YouTube says that it is fast and with many options, but the YouTube app from Android is just the same. Moreover, the app looks better on the dark interface.

Which one are you going to use? m.youtube.com or YouTube app from your device?

Protect your Android device with Lookout Mobile Security.

Todays mobile devices (such as phones) run more and more advanced and complex operating systems, so a protection suite is something needed now. When I got my Android phone (Nexus One), I've started looking for a mobile antivirus. I got one which offered only antivirus protection, but I wasn't satisfied with it, so I tried Lookout, and it really impressed me.

This is not just an antivirus. It has a very useful backup mechanism, and for extra protection, it also has a device locating system (named "Missing Device"). Additionally, in the last system, a method for making your device scream is also included, to help you in case that you lost your device and you think it's somewhere near you.

When you install the application, you have to create an account. Later, this account is going to be used in order to manage various tasks, such as: details about scanned and infected files, viewing, managing and sending back to your phone data which has been saved (via backup), locating and making your device scream, and some other tasks.

The entire system works perfectly. It happened for me several times to download infected apps from the Market, and Lookout blocked them. I also tried to locate my device, and it located (not instantly) my phone impressive exactly (it indicated an area of about 50 meters, as when I tried to locate it I was inside a hotel room).

After you create an account, you can enter on https://www.mylookout.com/user/login, from where you can see real-time details about your phone. From here, you can do anything I told you. You can even set how frequent should your device be scanned and backup procedures done.

It works with Android 2.1 and Android 2.2 (tested by me). Search it on the Android Market: "Lookout".

Android 2.2 is coming in a few weeks.

Android 2.2, also known as Froyo, is coming up in a few weeks for Android fans. What is known is that, if now everybody agrees that it's extremely fast on powerful devices (e.g: Nexus One or Desire), the next version will be much faster. Google developed a new JIT compiler (just-in-time compiler) which accelerates programming languages from 2 to 5 times faster. Yes, you read correctly, Java is going to be accelerated up to 5X.

The new version will have Flash 10.1 support integrated, this means that you don't need anymore to root your phone and get another ROM in order to have Flash, it will be integrated into the OS. Moreover, with this new update, you will be able to transform your phone in a Wi-Fi hotspot. This means that you will be able to share a mobile data connection (from carrier) with another computers/devices, either via Wi-Fi or via USB.

The home screen (launcher) will have near the "menu" button, a phone shortcut (on left) and a internet shortcut (on right), being available in whatever screen you will be. Installation of applications on the SD card is (finally) going to be supported on this new version of Android. You will be able to install as many applications as your SD card can store. An update is coming to Market too, making it able to update all apps with only one tap.

It is know that it will come in a few weeks, and as soon as Google will announce an exact date, I will let you know.

Impressive. Ubuntu 10.04 supports most mobile broadband USB sticks out-of-the-box.

Ubuntu shows again how an excellent operating system behave in normal activities. I have a HSUPA mobile broadband modem from a carrier from Romania (I don't mention its name), and I wanted to connect it to my Ubuntu-based computer, just to see if it works and if there are any additional steps that need to be done in order to get it working.

So I connected it, and after about 10 seconds (after the modem has been initialized), I was really surprised to see that Ubuntu supports out-of-the-box this kind broadband modems. As Ubuntu documentation says (here), the operating system supports most 3G sticks and even phones with HSPA/UMTS/GPRS data connections. I was asked to answer a few things only (country and data plan, where I selected "default") after I connected it for the first time.

I mention that I use Ubuntu 10.04 Beta 2, with Network Manger 0.8 and the USB stick is a Huawei MF110.

Will Windows Mobile 7 come in September, with LG?

After the announcement of Windows Mobile 7 at MWC (Mobile World Congress), rumors about the first phone which is going to have Microsoft's new mobile OS are heading towards both LG and HTC. The phone from LG will be most probably called "Apollo", and it seems that HTC is going to name their phone "Obsession". Nothing is unusual with the expected performances of these phones, except that LG Apollo might have a new Qualcomm processor, which will run at 1.3 GHz.

About the OS, Microsoft tries to attract people with the interface from "Zune", but I think that Windows Mobile 7 is going to be quite similar to Windows Mobile 6. Considering this, even if Microsoft tried to do a great impression at MWC, the new OS will still be pretty buggy, compatible with a low number of applications, and stylus-designed. The only new thing that is probably good related to Windows Mobile 7 is flash support, which Adobe announced that is working on.

LG Apollo is expected to come in September, while HTC Obsession is expected in October. I'm really interested what are they going to be capable of, but they will surely NEVER beat Android with their Windows Mobile 7.

Google Nexus One vs HTC HD 2. Which one do you like more?

Which phone do you prefer? It is clear, both phones have similar hardware, but their OS's are completely different. HD2 runs Windows Mobile 6.5, while Nexus runs the Android 2.1, a pretty new OS, in full development, performant and fast. They are both clear the most powerful phones on market at the moment.

Which one do you prefer? Have you got any of these two phones? If yes, what do you think about it? Below is a table which shows you the differences between them.

Device	HTC HD2	HTC (Google) Nexus One
Operating system	Windows Mobile 6.5	Android 2.1
Processor	1 Ghz Snapdragon	1 Ghz Snapdragon
RAM	448 MB	512 MB
ROM	512 MB	512 MB
Screen	4.3 inch TFT, Capacitive	3.7 inch AMOLED, Capacitive
Multi-touch	Yes	Yes
Size	120.5 x 67 x 11 mm	119 x 59.8 x 11.5
Weight	157g	130 g
Battery	1230 mAH	1400 mAH
Battery life	Talk time 5.3 hours on 3G Standby 390 hours on 3G	Talk time 7 hours on 3G Standby 250 hours on 3G
Camera	5 megapixel with Dual LED Flash	5 megapixel with LED Flash
Video	640×480 at 30 fps	720×480 pixels at 20 fps
Connectors	3.5mm headphone, microUSB	3.5mm headphone, microUSB
Control	5 hardkeys, volume keys	4 softkeys, illuminated trackball, volume keys
Additional features	proximity sensor, digital compass, car cradle	proximity sensor, digital compass, dual microphone

Microsoft-branded phone, ready to come now?

Windows Mobile 7 has just been announced at MWC (Mobile World Congress) and the rumors about a Microsoft-branded phone are the most discussed things these days. It is expected to come through Microsoft's "Pink Project", which is probably just a code name, for the mentioned purpose, says mobileburn.com. But Microsoft has refused to comment on this officially, yet.

The phone is expected to be made together with Asus (Asustek, on their full name), and to be like an iPhone killer or Android annihilator (or, more precisely, Nexus One annihilator). But I don't believe that Microsoft can represent a real problem for Apple or Google, considering that Windows Mobile 7 is not something....incredible. To be honest, I'm totally disappointed of Microsoft, considering both their mobile OS and their desktop OS (Windows 7). We'll see what follows...

What OS are you using on your phone?

With so many mobile OS's available, I'm really interested to see what are my readers using on their phones. So, please vote! :)

p.s: I'm using iPhone OS.

PockeTwit, a good Twitter client for Windows Mobile devices.

The mobile version of the Twitter website offers limited options, and as we know, Internet Explorer welcomes you to the hell when you try to view desktop versions of websites. So, it is not a satisfying solution when we are talking about Twitter on Windows Mobile devices. There are a little few clients for Twitter available for Windows Mobile, but most of them completely suck.

But I found, after trying different applications, PockeTwit, which will give you many options for Twitter, exactly like those applications which are found on the iPhone. The program runs good, I can't say anything bad about it, except that the interface could be made a little more clear (its quality is not the best on HP iPAQ 111). The official website says you need .NET Framework Compact 2.0 or higher for the application, but it runs fine for me without it. If you need options, just slide right or left on the screen (into the application) to get them.

Official website http://code.google.com/p/pocketwit/

Download link (.CAB): http://www.4shared.com/file/193097291/d8bfb09c/PockeTwitv76.html

Skyfire. The best browser for Windows Mobile.

I ever wanted to have the ability to run different content/scripts on my Windows Mobile based HP iPAQ 111 PDA, including Flash Player. For YouTube I got a little program, but there are many other good sites for music/videos that are using Adobe's Flash Player. But I never got Flash working natively on any browser for Windows Mobile. As Internet Explorer can't display almost anything as it should, I tried browsing the internet with Opera, but due to reduced RAM memory of the PDA (64 MB), it remained frequently without memory and crashed. And there was still no Flash Player...


But recently, I discovered SkyFire. It has, so far, any scripts that I needed. My blogs are both displayed perfectly, and so any other site. Flash Player works without any problems, on all the sites I navigated through until now. If you are viewing a page exactly like in a computer/laptop browser, it's quality will be reduced in order to keep the device running fine. While zooming in, page quality will increase, because the power needed to display the page decreases as the area that needs to be displayed is getting smaller. The only problem I found is that the browser hits for desktop version on pages, and if you try to view a mobile version of a site it will generally turn you to its desktop version.


So, if you're satisfied with Opera, you'll love SkyFire. Available for download from the official site here (Symbian version also available): http://get.skyfire.com/