SPB announced today “a high-quality internet radio player for Windows phones, which gives subscription-free access to an unlimited number of live streaming radio stations from all over the world”. Add to this new gestures and skins makes SPB radio finger friendly.
For more information, check out www.spbsoftware.com/pocketpc-software/radio or www.spbsoftware.com/smartphone-software/radio.
If you need a newsreader, consider GoNews Touch from SBSH. Among the new features, you will get to automatically sync your Google Reader content ; swipe between articles etc.
To find out more, browse to http://forums.sbsh.net/index.php?showtopic=25945.
If you are not happy with the built-in Contacts application and feel that you need something more powerful and good looking, then you should consider Resco Contact Manager.
Features:
Download a trial here.
In my opinion, the EU Commission has bullied Microsoft for some years about Internet Explorer bundled into Windows. Microsoft is now offering that European users get the choice to install the browser they want upon setting up Windows 7. While I do not consider the fact that IE is the default browser as a business malpractice, I think Microsoft’s offer as fair enough. But you never know with those dumb stupid politicians. By the way, It’s time for them to go on Safari.
Read Microsoft statement here.
Silent Spy is a useful application that may help you recover your Windows Mobile phone in case the latter is stolen. A nice application to have on your phone.
How does it work?
Install Silent Spy on your device and use it to register your SIM card. Register a phone number for an alert to be sent to in case your phone is stolen. If the your SIM card is swapped out, Silent Spy automatically starts sending out SMSs to the registered phone number. The alerts contain the thieves phone number. Do not try to recover the phone yourself, call the police instead.
Download a free copy of Silent Spy from http://www.codexistence.com/projects.php?id=1
Samsung has done a great job by posting the Omnia II emulator on their website. Customers now can play with the device before making the decision to buy it. Nice initiative Samsung. hopefully you’ve set a trend…
Most likely you’ve come across posts on the web that say that Microsoft has added a new feature to Windows Mobile 6.5 that, supposedly, makes it more finger friendly. These post are actually based on ROMs found on the XDA forums. What is it all about?
In Windows Mobile 6.1 and previous versions, you had to either use the finger to press or the stylus to switch tabs. For example, the Settings window has three tabs: Personal, System and Connection. You could only move between tabs with your finger and stylus. According to some websites, build 21925 does not have tabs anymore. that may be true. but that does not mean that the swipe feature was not there. In fact, it was since build 21234 even though the tabs were still there.
If build 21925 is really from Microsoft and not one developed by XDA, then Microsoft simply removed the tabs and added arrows at the top of the screen to indicate that it is possible to swipe to move to the right or left.
Don’t know if you will agree with me, but there is not much of an innovation here since that feature already existed in Windows Mobile 6.5 build 21234.
Any comments?
Recite is really a cool product. Basically, just speak to your device to record a note and listen to it later. Unfortunately, it does not include a reminder function. Overall, it works well and I like the Search feature. Microsoft is a free download.
Have you downloaded the latest Google Maps yet? No! You should, the My location feature is great. I did download it earlier today and even invited some friends to join in. It’s great to follow up on your friends whereabouts with Google maps with a Windows Phone.
Download your free copy from http://www.google.com/mobile/products/maps.html#p=default
It has always been a hassle to check my multiple emails account everyday. Windows Mobile does not let you click once to download all, so you have to open each account and click Send/Receive. Starting tomorrow, I won’t be doing that anymore as i came across a neat application developed by Krazy_about_technology over at XDA forums. The application, named SendReceiveAll, calls the Outlook Send/Receive function for every email account on your device and starts synchronizing them all. I told you it was neat.
Download your free copy here.
It was previously announced that the Marketplace would be accessible from the yet-to-be-released Windows Mobile 6.5 phones. According to a report by Mary Jo Foley, Microsoft has announced that it will allow users of Windows mobile 6.0 and 6.1 to access Marketplace. This move will allow Microsoft to tap into a much larger market estimated at 30 million users than rely on the sales of Windows mobile 6.5.
Todd Brix, Senior Director of Mobile Services said that Microsoft is working with its partners to devise a way to provide access to Marketplace for older mobile phones. Maybe an opportunity here to use Windows Update on the phones.
Read more here.
The title is just a joke (Relax Sergey and larry:)). However, when you type www.bing.mu you get a screen with a Google text box. Go figure.
Here’s a snapshot of some of the highlights:
Thumbnail interaction. Click on links immediately after the page loads without having to zoom in. This is especially helpful for high resolution phones, and for familiar sites where you know right away where you want to click. It makes getting to the content you want on the page simpler, quicker and more efficient.
Improved zoom. Double-tap or double-click to zoom over any element, including links, images or videos. The zoom interaction is smoother and more responsive as well. Best of all: when you zoom in you will get readable text instantly.
Enhanced navigation. When you navigate back or forward, you return to the last viewport (e.g. zoom level and portion of the page). Thus eliminating the need to pan and zoom into the section you were viewing on the previous page. We remember even the viewport when you select a page from your history. We have also added shortcut keys, (9) for forward and (7) for backward navigation.
Improved page handling. AJAX-intensive sites such as Facebook and Gmail work smoothly. If larger parts of the page get updated then the client will more quickly and accurately reflect this.
iFrame handling. We have a solution for full-width iFrames in Skyfire
Fast start. Put Skyfire to work before the start page is even loaded . Now, you can type a search or URL in the Superbar while Skyfire is connecting in the background.. Plus, we’ve improved connection performance.
Reconnect to last state. Leave Skyfire in the background Skyfire will disconnect to preserve battery life. Once you come back to it (after minutes, hours, days) it will reload the same page to the same zoom level and focus. Thus you can continue right where you left off. When you exit and start again, Skyfire you will always land on the start page.
Connection helper. Skyfire provides suggestions when a network connection cannot be established. If it’s due to a network configuration (common in GSM land), then we provide suggestions to help out. This is especially useful if you are with a carrier/data plan that places restrictions on certain APN configurations, which interferes with Skyfire.
Enhanced search results. Google results now include video, news articles, local results all blended on a single results page and ordered by relevance. Vertical search categories are still available.
Improved RSS feed search. Find your favorite custom RSS feeds through the improved Add-Feed feature, found under the Customize menu on the start page. Search by site domain, feed URL, or even topical keywords.
Easier sharing of RSS items from start page. We’ve exposed a simple “Share this article” link below each RSS story displayed on your start page to make it easier to share interesting items to Twitter and Facebook
Remember last connection (Symbian only). Skyfire can now remember the last connection for you, so you will not have to choose a connection every single time. In addition if you want to change the connection type while you are in Skyfire you can do so.
Fun Contact 3x gives a whole new experience in managing your contacts with its new and exciting features:
New User-friendly interface
Categories support
New Favorites with photos: grid and list
Start calling or enter contact card from Favorites
Call history editing: filter or delete
Individual call history: filter or delete
Full-screen Dialer
Quick keypad contact search
3 skins available: Dark, Clear and Bright
New FunContact 3x is simple, straightforward and quick to use. With less tabs and more built-in functions it makes your contacts' list more useful and fun. You can manage individual contacts grouping them in the editable categories, selecting and filtering individual call history and add pictures for your favorites.
Alongside with all these new functions FunContact 3x preserves unique features that none of the competitors have, for instance, you can edit and add new contact info straight in FunContact without going to standard WM interface.
The major upgrade is paid for all current users of FunContact and Communication Suite.
FunContact is available for $19.95 at http://vitotechnology.com/contact-manager.html.
Today, the Americans celebrate the 233rd anniversary of the independence and Handmark is offering free fireworks applications for Windows Phones and other phones. Go to http://store.handmark.com/products/detail.php?id=2689&&&#product_reviews to download a free copy.
Happy Independence day to my American friends.
Microsoft Maren, developed by Cairo Microsoft Innovation Center, is an extension that lets you type Roman characters and have them converted on the fly to Arabic. This is a great tool and hopefully we’ll see the technology ported to other languages as well and Windows Mobile. Did I say that it’s free???
It made me laugh when my brother sent me an email containing a snapshot of Google’s search page in creole. At first I thought it was a joke and did not pay much attention to it. Out of curiosity, I started my preferred browser and typed www.google.mu. Lo and behold, Google really had their search page in Creole. This is awesome. Of course the search results are still in English but it’s a start and I cannot help from feeling a sense of pride at seeing our mother tongue on Google. Good job Google.
