MicroSoft Austria has just informed me that the release candidate of Windows 7 has just been uploaded to MSDN/TechNet. This means that all who are subscribed to either of the two services can now download it.
According to Microsoft, this release candidate has already reached a stability level where companies can start evaluating it – whatever that may mean…
P.S. Just in case anyone cares: Release Candidate is Microsoft-Speak for feature complete and decently stable…
HP will forever be remembered for the “duffergile!” sound emitted by the voice control software found on early versions of the 51x – the boys were one of the very few companies which consequently installed a voice control software onto their smartphones.
Microsoft’s recent acquisition of TellMe now comes to fruition => Windows Mobile 6.5 will get a voice control engine of its own. The quotes below are from the official press release:
, Tellme is the first to allow people to press one button, say what
they want and get it, whether that is to send a text, make a call or search for information. Tellme has
designed a unique version of this experience specifically for Windows phones due out this fall.The new service puts many of the most popular phone functions behind a single button. Windows phone users
just press the side button of their phone to:* Send a text by saying “text” to open a text box, then speak the text message and send to call anyone in their contact list
* Initiate a call simply by saying “call” and then the name of anyone in their contact list
*
Search the Web with Microsoft Live Search by speaking your request, such as “weather in San Francisco, California”,
“Pizza in Kansas City” or “mother’s day gift ideas”…
Tellme will be available for free on Windows Mobile 6.5 phones in the Fall 2009 when the phones hit store shelves. Initially available in the
Windows Marketplace for Mobile store, Tellme will also make the service available for free to mobile operators and carriers to embed
‘on-device’ for a voice experience right out of the box.
Motorola’s Q9-series is one of the most successful WMS series: even though multiple manufacturers (e.g. Palm – Samsung is NOT included here) have tried to copy it with moderate success, nobody came close to its sales figures. Nevertheless, signs of age have been visible for some time…which is why I am more than happy to say that the FCC finally leaked a device dubbed A4500 WORLDPHONE:
The device looks like a Q9 from the outside:
A quick look over the manual reveals the following interesting specs:
Fingerprint reader Wi-Fi TV out
Further information can be had here:
https://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/oetcf/eas/reports/ViewExhibitReport.cfm?mode=Exhibits&RequestTimeout=500&calledFromFrame=N&application_id=208620&fcc_id=%27IHDP56JL1%27
Week 2 of our Crazy Sunday raffle is over: this means that one price must be given away, and another one must be announced. Before we get down to the nitty-gritty, please allow me to thank you all for talking back!
Your comments are what keeps a news service like this one running. Tell us that you love us, or tell that you hate us (and why)…but show us that you are there! We love you all…seriously!
This week, you guys are able to get not one but two products: NS Basic and SplashMoney. NS Basic is an excellent tool for developers, and SplashMoney helps you track your loot!
With that, this post ends – just talk back and leave behind an email address in order to participate!
Quite a bit of time has passed since we last heard from Krusell – but the boys just sent me their latest top-seller list:
1. (2) Nokia 3109
2. (1) Samsung SGH-i900/i910 Omnia
3. (8) Nokia 5800
4. (5) Nokia E71
5. (4) HTC Touch HD
6. (7) Nokia 3120
7. (3) Nokia 6300
8. (6) Nokia E51
9. (-) Sony Ericsson C702
10. (-) Sony Ericsson X1 Xperia
() = Last month’s position.On Krusell’s Top 10 list for April, six out of ten phones are Nokia. At the moment Nokia is a very strong brand in many markets, says Ulf Sandberg MD at Krusell. Though it is rather surprising a pretty simple handset as the Nokia 3109 takes the no. 1 position this month. We all know that most people who buy a smart phone or a more expensive device prefer to protect it with a case. Now also phones in the lower price range frequently shows up on our list. This is encouraging for us, but I am still a bit surprised, Mr Sandberg ends.
As usual: keep in mind that Krusell has a very strong high-street presence and thus has more “down-to-earth” figures compared to metering companies which focus solely on smartphones…
HTC’s recently-released Snap has taken headline space away from the S74x series of WMS devices – but the S74x boxen nevertheless remain extremely interesting devices which every WMS head should keep in mind.
The latest bit of news is that Expansys has discounted the critter:
As this is likely to be a time-limited offer, hit the URL below for further information:
http://www.expansys-usa.com/d.aspx?i=181677&partner=usnews
P.S. No, I am not an affilate of Expansys as of this writing.
The plethora of chargers used by different manufacturers has attracted EU regulation for quite some time – it looks like the US CTIA will now follow suite:
…
The CTIA wireless association endorsed a plan to create a common format for all cellular phone chargers.The plan, known as Universal Charging Solution, aims to have the majority of all new mobile phones use MicroUSB as a common charging interface. This would potentially lower the costs for end users because they could use the same charger for future handsets.
…
Even though I prefer the handling of MiniUSB to the somewhat difficult-to-unplug MicroUSB port, standardization definitely is helpful – imagine being able to travel with but one charger…
The quote below is part of a recent press release from Deutsche Telekom, which is the mother company of the infamous carrier known as T-Mobile:
…The sale of more than 1 million G1 handsets since the market launch in October 2008 alone, and a total of over 1.5 million 3G-capable handsets sold in the United States, clearly shows, however, that customers are demanding products and ser-vices based on these increased bandwidths and that the provision of these products and services is an important selling point in competition.
…
From my personal point of view, this shows but one thing: the recession has not killed the US cell phone market (as of this writing). New players like Palm can still sell quite a few boxen if marketed right…
Feedback, anyone?
Common sense tells us that carriers are opposed to all kinds of EU legislation which forces them to lower their prices – but this is not true in the case of the Austrian branch of Hutchison Whampoa.
Their never-lazy press team just sent out an email celebrating the change – the most interesting quotes have been translated below for your enjoyment:
…the average Three customer has voice-roamed 32 percent more since the last regulation…
…in the Past, Three has seen insane effects of affordable roaming. The ThreeLikeHome service boosted roaming use in participating networks insanely: in the first year, voice roaming increased by 427 percent, data roaming rose by 8900 percent (8900, no typo).
Of course, the latter figures can not be extrapolated directly due to the especially good conditions of the ThreeLikeHome bundle – but the basic message is clear: Customers want cheap roaming, and tend to roam a lot more as prices fall.
HPs Voice Messenger introduces a new keyboard concept to Windows Mobile devices: the dual-tap keyboard. It differs from multitap keyboards by assigning just two characters to every key…but can it stack up?
First of all, here is a close-up shot of the whole device and its keyboard. Keep in mind that there is but one contact per key (these are not rockers like on some SE handsets):
Unfortunately, the keys can not be distinguished from one another due to lack of spacing. Pressing them does not feel good (they don’t travel too far)…and don’t even get me started on the sensor soft keys and the optical 5way navigator which don’t provide any kind of physical confirmation whatsoever:
The keyboard backlighting is one of the most uneven I have ever seen:
Even though the device is made of plastic, it looks and feels very well-built. The sparkly back contains the camera lens and its flash:
Unfortunately, the good impression fades away when it comes to prying the back plane off the device in order to access the SIM slot and 1250mAH battery. The cover feels soft, and flexes annoyingly.
The top of the device contains a feature Treo users love: a silencing switch:
A camera button can be found on the left side of the handset:
The right side contains HPs usual volume rockers, a MicroUSB port, a 2.5” headphone jack and a lock button which can be used to engage HPs custom keyboard lock:
HP has always had a faible for all sorts of innovative user interfaces which turn out to be more or less usable in everyday life. The Voice Messenger unfortunately belongs to the species of less usable devices…its keypad, the stupid 5way and the two sensor keys make this one of the worst WMS devices I ever typed on.
Tune in soon to find out more about the screen!
This one comes hot on the heels of Nintendo announcing the sale of half a million DSi’s in the first week after their US launch:
Apple sold 3.79 million iPhones during the quarter, and 11.01 million iPods – a figure that includes iPod touch devices, although also iPod Shuffles. Apple’s revenues for the quarter from iPhone handset sales, accessory sales and carrier payments topped $1.52 billion.
…
“The sum of iPhone plus iPod touch is now about 37 million units… The iPod touch is the runaway hit and it’s clearly being driven by the App Store.”
Just to keep the numbers in scale…
The first round of Crazy Sunday has just ended on the six participating news services – and the winners have been determined and were furthermore contacted by email. But before we look at who lucked out, let’s look at this week’s price.
This weeks prize will save you money in the future if you use it well: we are giving away SplashMoney. SplashMoney lets you manage your finances on the go…if you enter all expenses on the go, budgeting becomes easy.
As usual: post a non-spam comment with your email address in the email field on any news story to participate. The Tamoggemon Content team wishes you all the best!
Unfortunately, NS Basic will be given away at a later point of time – I don’t think that posting a few stupid comments counts as hacking a site…especially not if you go by the name _MuCaHiT (DarkKnight) & Real_Karizma.
I guess that the quote below doesn’t need any further explanation:
Early U.S. sales of the new Nintendo DSi hand-held system are ahead of those for Nintendo DS Lite, according to Nintendo’s internal tracking numbers. In its first week, Nintendo DSi sold 435,000 in the United States. After the same amount of time on the U.S. market after its launch, Nintendo DS Lite had sold 226,300 systems. These numbers demonstrate that the Nintendo DS brand remains strong, and that consumers continue to look for the best new experiences on their portable video game systems.
When looking at the figures above, the folks claiming that the Nintendo DS moves ten times as many games as the Sony PSP seem pretty honest. I heard from multiple industry sources in Austria about this phenomenon, and have to wonder why…
Ideas, anyone?
Microsoft’s upcoming version of Windows is hotly anticipated even by yours truly, who traditionally wasn’t too interested in operating system updates. However, our Simon Pfundstein claims that things will get a lot faster…which definitely isn’t a bad thing.
A release candidate is Microsoft-Speak for an almost finished product which is made available for free download to almost everybody.
NeoWin.net managed to get a screenshot of a Microsoft.com page stating that a release candidate will be released on the 5th of May – as the web site has since been removed, this is pretty telling…
