Windows Mobile Official Facebook App: Unpretty But Useful

Cnet has a runthrough of the first official Facebook app for Windows Mobile—developed by Microsoft with Facebook—whose defining feature might be that it makes no real attempt to mimic the look and feel of Facebook. More »

Oct. 31 Last Day to Upgrade HTC Windows Mobile 5 Phones

If you've got a Windows Mobile 5 phone from HTC and have been putting off the jump to WM6 for whatever reason, you're reaching do-or-die. HTC will be pulling its Windows Mobile 6 upgrade link on Oct. 31, forever sealing the fate of your T-Mobile Dash or AT&T 8525. You're still running Windows Mobile 5 though? Really? [HTC via Phone Scoop]

Zumobi Browser for WM5, WM6 Updated: Users Can Add Their Own Content

Earlier this year I put the Zumobi browser for Windows Mobile 5 and 6 devices through its paces and determined that it had some novelty value, but it was clear that there were shortcomings that needed to be overcome before it had any chance of attracting a serious audience. The folks behind the project have taken a step towards that end by updating their software to allow users to customize and create their own tiles from RSS feeds. They have also made it possible to select and upload Tiles directly from your phone. More »

Rumor: MWg to Launch Windows Mobile 7 Device This Year

One fun rumor bopping around the phone sites is that MWg, the smartphone maker previously known as O2 Asia, will be rolling out a Windows Mobile 7 phone in the fourth quarter of 2008, specifically the Flame II shown above. That's about a year earlier than we last heard. Everyone sounds skeptical, but you never know, the timeline could have been Boy Genius, or to see the whole MWg presentation, have a accelerated because WM6 isn't exactly a crowd pleaser. If you want a more complete roadmap, check out Boy Genius; for the original video presentation from MWg, look at MoDaCo. Either way, take it with a grain or two of salt. [MoDaCo via BGR]

Giga-Byte GSmart Windows Mobile Phones Have a Fancy Smart Touch UI

It took a year for Giga-Byte to follow in HTC's footsteps, but the upcoming GSmart Windows Mobile smartphones will have a brand new UI on top of the standard WinMo affair. The interface is called "Smart Touch," and will be more finger-friendly—more oriented toward gestures and finger-navigation—lending itself to launching your commonly used programs directly from the home screen. The Chinese version of this has been available since April, but suffers from some incompatibility issues that most likely won't be in the European release version coming sometime after May. [The Unwired via Into Mobile]

HTC Launching Most Important Product of the Year Next Month

The Taipei times quotes HTC's own financial executive Cheng Hui-ming at an investor's conference as saying they will launch "the most important product for HTC this year" at an event on May 6. Cheng wasn't too forthcoming with details, but it seems like it's going to be a "Touch" phone—as in one of the HTC Touch models—and be called the "Diamond". He says that it's going to be so good, he's "confident of landing orders from most major carriers," but warned about possible delays because they haven't gotten certification for the phone yet. Sounds very interesting. Could it be this phone? [Taipei Times via Engadget]

TouchBrowser Brings iPhone Finger-Flicking Browsing to Windows Mobile

Desktop-like browsing is already headed to Windows Mobile in version 6.1, but can you use your finger with it? Like on the iPhone? Not exactly. For that, you'll have to install TouchBrowser. Along with being able to pan around a page to get your Britney Spears news with your finger, there's even a proprietary onscreen keyboard that takes up almost the entire display. Would you pay $14.95 for this? Only if you're building the world's lamest iPhone replica on your HTC Touch. [Makayama]

Windows Mobile Face Contact Plugin Adds CoverFlow Contacts

CoverFlow may be only semi-useful on your Mac, but imagine what it would look like on a Windows Mobile phone. Actually useful! The Face Contact plugin, which costs $14.95, displays all your contact photos in a CoverFlow-esque way in your home screen, letting you flip between people and even directly dial, text or send emails from their photo. Cool for sure, but is it worth $15? Probably not. Plus, are all your contacts actually good looking enough that you'd want to stare at them every time you pull out your phone? [Cnetx via Just Another Mobile Monday via PhoneMag]

MSN Direct Weather, News and Stocks Comes to Windows Mobile

MSN Direct's weather, news, stocks, and entertainment info have been available on MSN Spot devices for a while now, but have been surprisingly missing from Microsoft's own cellphone devices. Not anymore. You can get now up-to-date info right on your Windows Mobile home screen direct from whatever data connection you have (Wi-Fi, 3G, EDGE). Best of all, it's free, which means that MSN Direct might be moving more towards a software service on already-connected devices, which in turn means that it might even expand to non Windows Mobile phones in the future? [MSNDirect]

Toshiba G810 Windows Mobile Smartphone Looks Like the HTC Touch

Toshiba's no stranger to Windows Mobile devices, but their latest G810 touchscreen handset looks more similar to the HTC Touch than their previous HTC-like phones. It's got Windows Mobile 6 on board, 3g HSDPA, 3-megapixel camera with auto-focus, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, FM radio 2.8-inch touchscreen display, 256MB internal memory, GPS, and a late Spring European launch. It's got enough features to be a good phone, but it's nothing revolutionary. [Toshiba Europe via Tech Digest via The Unwired]

Nokia, Microsoft in Talks to Load Windows Mobile on Phones

Nokia, who's supposedly super loyal to the Symbian platform, is currently in talks with Microsoft (says one of Microsoft's marketing directors) to load Windows Mobile on the handset maker's phones. Here's what Nokia already uses of Microsoft's: ActiveSync and PlayReady, but like an anxious teenaged lover, Microsoft is working "closely" with Nokia and wants to "go all the way." It's too early to determine whether or not you're going to be able to buy a Nokia with WinMo on it, but it's all but guaranteed that they'll still be selling phones with Symbian—so no worries S60 fans. [itwire]

More Treo 800w Details Possibly Leaked

There's been a slow trickle of details on the upcoming Treo 800w, but this poster on WMExpert's forums seems to know a little more than everyone else about the phone. He says the 800w will look like a Palm Centro with rounded corners and thin body. It will ship with Windows Mobile 6, but be upgradeable to 6.1 when that hits. More »

Samsung BlackJack Finally Getting Windows Mobile 6 Update!

You've been waiting almost a year for it, but Samsung's finally putting out the Windows Mobile 6 upgrade for your BlackJack. Just hit up the link below at 5 p.m. EST (2 p.m. PST) and you'll be able to load it on your own phone. Saves you a bit of cash from having to upgrade to the BlackJack 2. [Samsung]

Obscure Company Launches WM 6, GSM/CDMA Smartphone...in the US...for Gamblers

Interestingly enough, Hop-On, a company once known for making disposable cellphones, has introduced a Windows Mobile 6 smartphone dubbed the HOP2001 that is AT&T and Verizon ready. The phone features dual-mode GSM or CDMA, a 320×240 touchscreen, a 3-Megapixel camera with 10x zoom, Bluetooth 2.0, Wi-Fi, 256 MB Flash ROM and 128 MB SRAM, microSD expansion and Telenav compatible GPS. More »

LG KS20 Windows Mobile Phone Coming as LG MS25

The Unwired spotted the LG KS20 Windows Mobile smartphone on the FCC, noting that it's going to be called the LG MS25 when it reaches the US. Our guess is AT&T. [The Unwired via Boy Genius]

Zumobi Browser Beta For WM5 and 6 Now Live: Content Partners Announced

The Microsoft backed Zumobi browser is now freely available to download for anyone running Windows Mobile 5 or 6 (Blackberry and selected J2ME compatibility will be coming early in the second quarter of 2008.). They have also announced content partnerships with providers such as Amazon.com, MTV Networks, The Associated Press, AccuWeather.com, Traffic.com, FlightStats.com and OTOlabs, who developed Tiles for Vail Resorts and Fox Television's "Family Guy." More »

Samsung Ace SPH-I325 Smartphone Headed For Sprint

Seemingly out of nowhere comes the Samsung Ace SPH-1325 smartphone complete with full QWERTY keyboard, WM 6 (could WM 6.1 be far off?), a 1.3 megapixel camera, and more than a passing resemblance to another well-known Samsung phone. BoyGenius also expects this device to sport CDMA / GSM, but Mobiledia has it listed as CDMA only, so we will have to wait a little while longer to find out the full details —possibly as early as Q1 of 2008. [BoyGenius and Mobiledia]

Windows Mobile Successor Launching Early 2008

Shown at the Mobius Conference in Amsterdam, the next version of Windows Mobile will be "an update rather than an upgrade." This means that it's not Windows Mobile 7/Photon, which would be a huge leap in functionality, but more along the lines of the transition of WM5 to WM6. More »

SyncMate Lets You Sync Your Windows Mobile Phone With Your Mac for Free

What Missing Sync did for $39, SyncMate does for free—syncing your contacts, calendars, notes and favorites from your Windows Mobile phone onto your Mac with little to no hassle. Unfortunately for WM users, the default iSync software doesn't support either WM5 or WM6 as well as it should. We haven't tried SyncMate yet ourselves, but if it works nearly as well as Missing Sync—which we have tried—then it'll be worth every penny. [Eltima via Thinkabdul]

Verizon Wireless Rolls Out XV6800 Business Slider

After months of speculation, the Windows Mobile XV6800 is now available for $450 after $50 rebate, arriving in stores on Dec. 5. The smartphone features touchscreen, stereo Bluetooth and support for Microsoft Office docs. [Verizon Wireless]

Motorola Q9H Headed For Sprint as a Palm Powered Q2?

A holiday teaser site has revealed that a phone dubbed the Motorola Q2 will be "coming soon" to Sprint. If you look closely at the product image on the site, the Q2 appears to be a Motorola Q9H running a Palm OS instead of Windows Mobile 6. Naturally, this information is only a rumor at this point and nothing has been made official, but if a leaked Sprint roadmap is to be believed, we may know more on November 23rd. [Sprint via Howard Forums]

HTC Touch vs iPhone: 25 Minute Head to Head Video

If you have been on the fence about picking up an HTC Touch or an iPhone, you owe it to yourself to check out this 25 minute comparison from the guys at WM Experts. If your attention span is limited to 15 minutes and under, I can tell you that the verdict was mixed...sort of. In the end the battle was really between Windows Mobile and the iPhone. Not surprisingly, the reviewer felt that WM was a better choice for him personally because of its productivity features (WM Experts, go figure). More »

Samsung SPH-M4650, WinMo Smartphone with Multi-touch

Samsung answers the iPhone (isn't everyone?) with this Samsung SPH-M4650, a smartphone running Windows Mobile 6 that takes the touchscreen concept a step further while adding a dose of tacky design along the way. Its touch screen gives you haptic feedback, goosing you with a slight vibration when you touch an icon on its 2.8" screen. The usual 2MP camera is on board, and its DMB TV tuner tells us this exact model isn't headed for these shores. What do we like best about this $550 phone? Its 16mm thinness. Nice try, Samsung—almost iPhoney and a design that might be good enough for the gPhone. [Akihabara News] More »

AT&T 8525 Finally Gets Windows Mobile 6 Upgrade

The official AT&T 8525 upgrade to Windows Mobile 6 is finally here after months and months of delay. You can download and install it directly from the HTC website (as opposed to the AT&T website), but you only have from November 1 to February 1, 2008 to do so. You'll probably still be able to find the ROM online after the deadline, but you can take 25 minutes out of your schedule to update before then. Even if you're planning on ditching the phone and upgrading to its WM6-having big brother, the Tilt, you might as well upgrade your old phone now to increase its Craigslist resale value. Either that, or you can offer up your body as a bonus like everyone else on Craigslist does. [HTC - Thanks Rich!]

i-Mate Makes Official North American Push With 4 Windows Mobile Smartphones

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Verizon Adds Samsung SCH-i760, Palm Treo 755p and Two More WM6 Devices To Busy Smartphone Lineup

As Charlie speculated back in April, Verizon Wireless is adding the Samsung SCH-i760 to its lineup of Windows Mobile 6 smartphones. The QWERTY-equipped horizontal slider will cost $350 after $50 mail-in rebate and two-year contract. More »

Sprint Launches HTC Touch [Updated With Video]

Sprint launched its version of the HTC Touch today, aimed not at business users (that most of the Windows Mobile platform devices target) but at consumers. The hope is that the flip-happy TouchFlo skin over the more familiar WM6 interface will draw in people with iPhone envy. The Touch will cost $250 with a two-year contract and $100 mail-in rebate, and will be available on Nov. 4. Photos by Jennifer Hooker More »

Turn Your iPhone/iTouch Into a 3G Web Device

We haven't tested this ourselves, but Pyrofersprojects came up with an interesting, but ultimately impractical, way to turn your iPhone or iPod touch into a 3G internet-using device. All you need is a 3G smartphone with Windows Mobile 5 or 6, a 3G data account, and the know-how to follow a guide teaching you how to set up internet sharing over Wi-Fi. After that's done, you can use your iPhone/iTouch to go through your other smartphone (which costs probably as much as your iPhone/iTouch), in order to get online. It's pretty gimpy, but at least it's 3G—and the irony of having to use a WM phone with an iPhone isn't lost on us. [pyrofersprojects]

There are some rumblings on Windows Mobile forums about a possible Sprint Mogul software update by the end of October. However, some others are saying a Jan/Feb timeline is more likely. Either way, it should fix Bluetooth issues (and possibly add some GPS capabilities). [WM Experts via Boy Genius]