12/09/2008 by Gavin.

Inside Microsoft’s new mobile browser | Beyond Binary - A blog by Ina Fried - CNET News

Cnet news has got hold of  a Beta of the new ‘IE6 for Windows’.  I’m looking forward to getting a copy of this, and it is possible it may have full flash support, although we’ll see.

I guess IE6 is still pretty prevelant but we all know that MS is trying to comply with Web Standards with the release of IE8, which seems to ‘break’ a lot of exisiting sites which were cludged to work with IE6 and 7!

Having a full IE6 rendering experience on a Windows Mobile device will be a tremendous step forward, but with the push for web standards may also be a step back?

Posted in Windows Mobile | Print | 1 Comment »

01/09/2008 by Gavin.

Word is out today that the next version of Windows Mobile will have an ‘App Store’ equivalent.  This could have been done years ago.  It has taken a long time to free Cab files from their EXE containers with forced installations from a PC.  Develop a simple front end that allows direct purchase and download/install of cab files to the device and we’re good to go!

The App store by Apple has been so successful because it is so easy to download and install.  It’s almost addictive to keep checking what’s on there, and having instant purchase gives rise to those ‘well, it’s only 59p’ type thoughts!  Let’s see if MS can make it’s version as slick.

Posted in Windows Mobile | Print | No Comments »

21/08/2008 by Gavin.

I’ve been having some fun with a free bit of software from Instamapper.  I’ve been using it with the iPhone but it also has versions for Symbian, Blackberry and Windows Mobile.

Effectively it tracks your phone as you drive/walk/cycle along a route and uploads your location at set intervals to the website for later viewing.  Here’s my route to work this morning:

Only downsides really are the battery life hit (Instamapper say 5 hours on iPhone) plus it can’t run in the background on the iPhone until/if Apple change the SDK.  Other devices don’t have this problem.

Posted in GPS, Blackberry, S60, Windows Mobile, Phones | Print | No Comments »

13/08/2008 by Gavin.

Mobilecrunch  is reporting on the latest rumoured date for the new Android Mobile Operating System.

Now, take that with a healthy pinch of salt, but it got me thinking on where the mobile OS is going.

The major players in this market are Windows Mobile,  Apple, Symbian, Blackberry and now Google enters the fray with Android.  What could it possibly bring to the party that the others don’t already provide?

The iPhone UI is second to none, no question about it but it misses the flexibility of its competitors such as running tasks in the background (an instant messaging or GPS app for example), customisation and skinning is not really possible and misses out basics such as cut and paste.  Although not really an issue with the OS, more by design, the iPhone has a crippled bluetooth stack as well.

That being said, what could we expect from Android.  If I’m honest, I’d hope for the rich user experience of the iPhone, combined with the flexibility of Windows Mobile and Symbian.  Now that could be the killer sell, finger friendly operation without the locked door approach of the iPhone.

Posted in Palm, Blackberry, Android, S60, iPhone, Windows Mobile, Phones | Print | No Comments »