It's pretty obvious (from the WinMo 7 screenshots) that MS are indeed updating their UI. But I think companies (mainly HTC) will continue to develop their own shells. Like I said, whats stopping anyone from creating better messaging/dialler/calculator/media/etc apps? The APIs are there and they do work. MS are not to blame if oyu ask me.

EDIT:

Why doesnt someone create LiteStep for WinMo!! That would totally kick ass.

That is exactly my point. They don't even need to go as far as having a different UI for every device they release. OEMs could create a generic device for their range or product families and just go with that. The point is, everyone is looking at MS and blaming the OS when in reality, if they really want to do something about it, the platform will fully support anything they may wish to do. This has been shown by companies like SPB and HTC, Asus and Gigabyte. These are starting to catch on and if the rest of the WinMo OEM community follows suit I think we have good things to look forward to.

It's too easy to build a device (these days all you need is an AIO radio chip, some processing power and a screen really), slap the WinMo OS on it and, in the words of Gordon Ramsey, be "DONE!" Then when people complain the GUI is crap to just blame MS.

But that's the point, Windows is simply the platform.

Now don't quote me on this as I havnt seen the available API's first hand so I could be wrong, but seeing as HTC can read the messages and display them on tf3d I reckon there is one. Assume there is an API available for messaging (one of the devs, maybe Paul, could let us know if there is), the messaging app could be completely rewritten and skinned to work however you want.

HTC have gone half way IMO with the ability to display messages in tf3d, the next step would be that when writing a message you dont see the Windows side of it, just an HTC skinned and customised app. It's all possible but the OEMs have been lazy.

I don't know how big SPB are but with the way things are going and their obvious prowess at designing UI's and applications, I can see them getting bought out by an OEM in the not too distant future. Unless they are real grassroots guys and could resist a financially lucrative offer.

I meant no disrespect to you or your news post at all, sorry if it came across that way. I just dont really think that Toshiba putting SPB Mobile Shell really counts as innovation. It's like Dell installing Object Dock on their latest machines and making a big deal out of it. Anyone can do it.

What I find interesting is that since the iPhone came out (and to some extent before) people have been complaining that the Windows Mobile UI is outdated and difficult to navigate blah blah blah.

My take on this is that, while initially the WinMo UI might have been ok, it is indeed long in the tooth and could do with a breath of fresh air. But at the same time, the WinMo platform itself is solid and (relatively) reliable. Sure it has it's issues, it's a fairly complex platform compared to most mobile operating systems. But the platform is there, it has a full set of APIs and libraries. With that in mind, why are companies like Toshiba not following HTC's lead and developing their OWN kick ass UI's. Licensing a 3rd party app and slapping some customisation on it is all well and good, it gets the job done I suppose. But innovation it aint.

Now take HTC, on the other hand. They took a relatively big risk when they ditched their big distributors (imate, qtek etc) but obviously it was a calculated risk. But since then they have been upping their game consistently both with their devices AND their UI's. They have been developing and evolving their UI independantly, albeit taking direction from various other industry players (read: Apple and other simpler phone UI's). The home screen plugin, touchflo and now touchflo 3d. They have seen the light, sure the MS UI is shocking by todays standards...but the platform is there for the OEMs to do great things of their own. HTC is living proof of that.

So sure, Mobile Shell on a device is good but it's SPB's achievment. For Tosh to license and slap it on a device is just lazy on their part. HTC touchflo3d is taking the bull by the horns and producing something original and innovative.

Christ, I should work in marketing for HTC !!!

Erm, it's basically SPB Mobile Shell and a skinned keyboard...what's the big deal? Mobile Shell has been around for ages...

Hrm, I get that a couple of times too. Mostly it works, but sometimes the loading splash/animation comes up and then it just dumps me back to the today screen. No idea why. Usually just hit the shortcut again and it loads up as it should

Indeed, that's what I was thinking. I'm guessing there's a reg hack that will allow you to change how Opera presents itself to the world. I'll have a dig (probably over at xda-dev).

Cheers.

Syphon

PS. If I find a solution, I will be sure to post back here.

Lemme check...

I cant see any settings for that specifically.

There's a "Mobile View" option but that is uncheck.

Hey guys,

Got a quickie for you.

Why when using Opera does the download for Google Maps at www.google.com/gmm present itself as a Java midlet and when using PIE it directs you to a cab. It's highly annoying. I would want Opera to give me access to the cab as PIE does so that I can sve the file to my storage card and then run the install from there. Any suggestions/info would be much appreciated.

TIA

Syphon

Well, if the Raph is of better spec, I would probably lean that way.

Extra RAM for running apps is always nice. WinMo is great, but it does suffer from slow down when you get a couple of things going at once.

ooooooooooooooo. It. Just. Got. Interesting!

Does the titanium have an SD slot? And are the rest of it's spec comparable to the Touch Pro? ROM/RAM/CPU/Camera etc...if it all matches up and the only difference is the 12/20 slider vs. qwerty then it really is a touch choice.

PS.

I know...dreadful pun/typo.

ROFL. That picture is funny. "Turbo 3G", lol.

£230 handset only sounds great. Get it unlocked any you're away!

I'm inclined to agree. Not quite sure why though. Just something.

Schveet. Thats really good news.

Not fast enough!

I think what he means is does it have a membrane over it. With it being a resistive touch screen (like past HTC devices) there surely is a membrane over the top of the tempered glass.

The iPhone, on the other hand, has a capacitive screen right, means it doesnt have that ever so slightly flexible layer over the glass.

Or am I WAY off base here?

You're absolutely correct, I found the Copilot 6 video on the BengalBoy site. Looks like those apps render nicely.

So the real decision now is Xperia vs. Touch Pro

Excellent idea. I hate American'isms eg color vs. colour!!

Maybe you should do a "Street Speak" version as well...(innit?)

I believe that is just the vibration motor at work in that game. The combination of your eyes seeing the ball impact the side of the screen at a particular point and the vibration of the motor (which can vary it's intensity/vibration time) tricks your brain into thinking it;s a localised feedback.

Or is there definitive evidence there are a number of motors providing true localised feedback

Any sign of a review device for MoDaCo?

Hrm, I love FF but a couple of annoying things:

1) tab browser preferences add-on doesnt work, which is fair enough as FF3 is only just out. But they didnt incorporate ANY features of TBP into FF3 as stanard, namely the ability to have a newly created tab go straight to your home page.

2) In FF2, if you selected a folder in your bookmarks and did "Open All in Tabs" it opened every link in a new tab. Now it opens the first link in the tab you currently have in focus. Highly annoying.

cool. Good to know.

Dude, your Vario III is QVGA!

But I take your point. I guess we will have to wait and see when some indepth reviews start coming out with reviewers installing various apps etc. You'd hope that worst case scenario they would just be displayed stretched (ie wrong aspect ratio). Best case they would detect the higher resolution display and adjust accordingly, keeping things in the correct ratio.

EDIT:

How do your apps deal with screen sizes? Are they hard coded to go on 320x240/640x480 screens or do they detect the available resolution and display accordingly?

Pretty sure I submitted a BengalBoy review of this ages ago!!

I guess it was deemed inappropriate for obvious reason

One question though:

This is a WVGA screen, how would QVGA/VGA targetted apps deal with being on there, for example...Copilot Live 7?

That's fair, to go from sleep to usable should be near enough instant seeing as the machine is already running from a technical point of view.

Either way, I still find texting (I'm assuming you dont do this from your laptop or does it allow that via the device used for HSDPA?) and writing email (when I dont have my laptop with me nor want it with me) much easier/faster with a hardware keyboard such as that found on say a Kaiser or Blackberry (both of which I own).

I'm not talking about using something like either of those aforementioned devices for blogging or other intensive stuff etc...if you want a lightweight device for stuff like that then these days you'd be much better off with a "netbook" class machine (if that's what you like). But a hardware keyboard/pad is far superior, even for quick stuff (IMO).