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No Windows Phone 7 for the HTC Touch HD2

There were rumours abound when Microsoft revealed Windows Phone 7 at MWC that the HTC Touch HD2 would get an upgrade. Hell, even the Microsoft ads had what looked like to be a HTC Touch HD2 in the actors hand.

But now it has been confirmed by Microsoft that the HTC Touch HD2 *WILL* not get the upgrade to Windows Phone 7. Even with its large capacitive screen and a 1Ghz Tegra processor, it just does not qualify.

Microsoft is setting strict hardware requirements such as 3 hardware buttons and most likely at least a 1Ghz processor.

I think this is reasonable seeing that Windows Phone 7 will be released at the end of the year, and by then the HTC Touch HD 2 would be superceeded by some other hot HTC phone.

Microsoft's Oded Ran, "We've received many questions about the upgradability of HTC HD2 and we currently do not have plans to update the HTC HD2 to Windows Phone 7 Series... For Windows Phone 7 Series we are enforcing a strict set of hardware requirements to ensure a consistently great experience for end-users and developers... we cannot confirm that Windows Mobile 6.5 phones that satisfy those requirements will be upgradeable”


news via Neowin and Programmerfish

Windows Phone 7 Series Features Video

MWC: Microsoft debuts Windows Phone 7 Series

Introducing Windows Phone 7 Series

Over at Engadget, they have full coverage of MWC and the introduction of Windows Phone 7 Series. Damn, this looks interesting, expect to see it during the Holiday season of 2010...

Now, will this be ported to other aging devices when released by Microsoft by the extra-ordinary people at xda-developers? You betcha!

But will it run on older devices? Don't know, chances are even on my HTC Touch Pro, I doubt it. I would say, it may need a processor faster than 500Mhz or at least 1Ghz....

Only time will tell....

Windows Mobile updates

Over at pocketnow.com, there's some rumours about Windows Mobile 7 which Microsoft will unveil at the Mobile World Congress. Will it be true the rumour about no multitasking in WM7/WM phone? No muliti-masking?

WMExperts has done a nice recap of the latest Windows Mobile 6.5.3:

Ease of Use

• Capacitive touchscreen support
• Platform to enable multi-touch
• Touch controls throughout system (no need for stylus)
• Consistent Navigation
• Horizontal scroll bar replaces tabs (think settings>system>about screen)
• Magnifier brings touch support to legacy applications
• Simplified out-of-box experience with fewer steps
• Drag and drop icons on Start Screen

Browser Performance

• Page load time decreased
• Memory management improved
• Pan & flick gestures smoothed
• Zoom & rotation speed increased

Quality and Customer Satisfaction

• Updated runtime tools (.NET CF 3.5, SQL CE 3.1)
• Arabic read/write document support
• Watson (error reporting) improvements and bug fixes

But, the bombshell apparently came from ppcgeeks.com... have a looksy and tell me what you think...

I may not use Windows Mobile 7/Windows Phone if the rumours were true and my Touch Pro goes belly up.

Say it ain't so Microsoft!

5 Reasons Why The iPad Fails To Impress

On January 27th Steve Jobs unveiled Apples latest "it" product, the iPad. Essentially the iPad "fills the gap" in between smartphones and laptops. One question remains to be answered, is there a need for a device to bridge the gap in between the two technologies? We're not sure yet, but there is one thing we know, the iPad has some issues... below are 5 of the most glaring.

1.) The Name
Numerous names were being thrown around in the months/weeks leading up to the release (iTablet, iSlate, iPad) but which name was Apple going to choose? I had grown accustomed to referring to the device as the iTablet, I could even see calling it the iSlate… but iPad never seemed quite right. Why would Apple want to name their new product something that sounds so familiar to the iPod? Some people are objecting to the name referring to it as the "iTampon".

2.) No Multitasking
Are you serious... who thought this was a good idea? How can the iPad even compete with Netbooks if you can’t multitask? This means that if you're writing a document you can't listen to music, you can’t have TweetDeck open if you want to check your email, you can only do one thing at a time, which has always been a complaint with the iPhone.

3.) No Camera
Why is there no camera on the iPad, front or back? It's got a microphone… but no camera. Look at the size of the case that surrounds the screen, there is ample space for a camera. The iPad should've at least came with a 3-megapixel camera built in. As it stands, this means no iChat/Skype chat for you. Good move Apple, good move.

4.) Huge Ridiculous Adapters
Want to access your camera or plug in something USB… well there’s an adapter for that, actually 2 separate adapters both excessively huge.

5.) Same Touch Keyboard
The iPad needed to re-revolutionize the keypad for touchscreen devices, make it easier to use. So what did we get... just a larger version of what we already had. It’ll be incredibly hard to type on, unless you're lying flat with your knees holding the device up, or you buy the iPad Case (essentially an book cover).

BONUS: No Flash (We just couldn't stop at 5)
Most of us are probably accustomed to Apple devices not being Flash compatible, but if Apple is truly wanting to compete with other Netbooks they need to remedy this. With a larger screen comes more responsibilities, i.e. you can't just leave gigantic holes in the middle of webpages if you claim it to be "the best web experience you've ever had".

The iPad is still in its infancy, so we're sure that it'll get better with time. Only time will tell if Apple's iPad will be a success or an iFlop.