HTC Touch Diamond and LG Viewty Add a Touch of Color
“Some older phones get some fresh colors. For those of you who don’t want to upgrade to the LG Renoir but want to spice things up, you can grab yourself an LG Viewty in white. You will have to hit up your favorite importer as the snow white Viewty is only available in Korea. If white is not your style, then you can check out the HTC Touch Diamond in a rainbow of colors spotted at Phone & Phone’s website. Hit the jump to catch a glimpse of the colorful Diamonds that the French seem to fancy.”
Microsoft-RIM Deal is as Likely as the 'AppleBerry'
Canaccord Adams analyst Peter Misek’s latest prediction is that Microsoft is likely to buy Research in Motion for $50 a share.
5 best future mobile operating systems
A lot is going on in the mobile world right now, but as always, it is what’s yet to come that is crucial in the long run.
The idea of mobile broadband combined with a smartphone has proved to be hard to live up to, and laptops now come with built-in mobile broadband to give you a real choice when connecting to the Internet on the road. It’s slowly starting to look better though, as powerful smartphones with high-resolution displays are increasing in number. However, let’s take a step back and look at how the operating systems will evolve in the years to come – the way we see it:
1. Windows Mobile
There’s no other operating system we like to give a hard time than Windows Mobile, largely thanks to the Windows CE kernel. Microsoft’s best friend is Qualcomm though, and smartphones with a Qualcomm chipset supporting larger RAM chips are now being released. When Silverlight 2 is rolled out on Windows Mobile sometime down the road, you’ll get two things: Facebook in an even more interactive way on your smartphone and the need for even more RAM. But as long as Qualcomm can keep up with Microsoft’s memory hunger, we won’t complain too much.
2. Google Android
Everyone will eventually want a piece of Android in their lineup, and that’s how Android will spread rapidly in the years ahead. Better yet, applications will spread just as rapidly, as Android will be like a playground for developers compared to the competing operating systems. While Windows Mobile is growing into becoming an even more advanced platform for the big players, Google Android will eventually offer a vast library of free mashup applications and services.
3. Symbian OS
Symbian is currently undergoing significant changes, and will become the future operating system for mass market cell phones. The recently announced Nokia 5800 touchscreen phone already gives a few clues, but there’s a lot more to come. The operating system will receive further enhancements to carry out advanced tasks on cell phones while preserving battery life; and the phones won’t cost you a dime with a contract.
4. BlackBerry OS
After getting a new distribution agreement with Brightpoint in place earlier this year, Research In Motion is set to spread BlackBerry OS to all corners of the world. The BlackBerry Storm (with all-touch interface), BlackBerry Bold and BlackBerry Pearl Flip will be released this fall, all representing something new and interesting. The only thing missing for the server-side specialist RIM is to team up with server-side specialist Skyfire to give BlackBerry OS an exciting edge out-of-box.
5. Mac OS X
It’s still too early to say what Apple will achieve in the mobile / tablet market, but we think it’ll remain a niche operating system mainly dedicated to Apple products and services. Just like every manufacturer will want a piece of Android in their lineup, we think every carrier will want an iPhone in their lineup. Apple is already working on improving its mobile hardware, and has even hinted at taking the matters into their own hands. With better hardware, Mac OS X could have a bright future in the mobile market.
Emulator gives you the T-Mobile G1 experience now
Yeah, the wait for October 22 (or after) is absolutely excruciating; trust us, we know. We’ll take every scrap of information and imagery we can to hold us over until G1s start showing up on doorsteps in a few weeks, but T-Mobile’s really gone above and beyond the call of duty here by setting up a surprisingly functional and feature-complete emulator to satisfy our urges to touch icons and click buttons. Obviously, you’re not going to get a GPS lock, so don’t get your hopes up that you’re going to be playing around with Street View or anything wild like that — in fact, most apps lead you to a “this screen is not fully functional” message — but it’s got more goodies than the Android SDK’s emulator, and it’s just enough to get you acquainted with the phone’s personality by the time it’s actually in your paws
Will Microsoft Make Windows Mobile Free?
Google and Nokia are trying something unusual with their mobile operating systems: they are going to give them away for free. This raises the possibility that Microsoft will do the same with Windows Mobile.
This isn’t going to happen, according to Microsoft’s Chief Executive Steve Ballmer. “We are doing well, we believe in the value of what we are doing,” is what he told Reuters.
A Study in Contrasts
Microsoft will continue to use its traditional method with Windows Mobile, in which it develops the operating system and licenses it to other companies to release devices. It typically charges its licensees roughly $10 for each smartphone or handheld.
Google is following different plan. Its Android OS is based on open-source tools, and it will continue to be an open-source platform that is available to anyone who wants it for free.
Nokia started out using Microsoft’s strategy but recently announced plans to switch to Google’s, and it taking the Symbian OS and S60 open source.
Ballmer doesn’t see any advantages in the open-source system. As he said, “It’s interesting to ask why would Google or Nokia, Google in particular, why would they invest a lot of money and try to do a really good job if they make no money?”
