If you’re game for Windows Phone 7 on Bell, you’ve got one lonely option right now, and you’d better like landscape QWERTY sliders: the LG Optimus Quantum, a phone you may know better simply as the Quantum on AT&T in the US. Looks like that might change in just a few days’ time, though, as MobileSyrup has scored some launch documentation for HTC’s HD7 — a phone that’s on T-Mobile in the States — that indicates it’s launching on the 10th of this month. Unfortunately, pricing is a little uncertain because the documents are showing CAD $599.95 (about $606) regardless of contract length, so realistically, that’s probably what you can expect to pay if you choose to forgo a contract altogether. At this point, we’d be curious what Microsoft and its hardware partners have in store for round two of Windows Phone 7′s retail push rather than buying a first-generation device — but then again, it’s always hard to resist a 4.3-inch display, isn’t it?
Microsoft may be playing a Samsung game when it comes to Windows Phone 7 sales and shipments, but just having handsets in stores should make a big difference to market penetration. According to TmoNews, T-Mobile USA is about to announce availability of the HTC 7 Mozart, joining the HTC HD7 and doubling the options for magenta-loving would-be WP7 shoppers.
The Mozart won our approval by virtue of its excellent build quality and above-average camera, offering 8-megapixels, autofocus and a proper Xenon flash. That’s unique among Windows Phone 7 devices and relatively unique among smartphones in general. No word on exact availability or pricing, but rumor has it T-Mobile will be offering both 8GB and 16GB versions.
Phones, phones, phones, phones, PHONES! There are some good ones this week. The Sidekick makes a blurry return to reality, the real-but-not-too-real Sony Ericsson Xperia Playstation phone struts its stuff on The Engadget Show, and a small suite of BlackBerrys leak their way into the blogosphere. It’s a mini-avalanche of news on the Engadget Mobile Podcast, guest starring Professor Vlad Savov — come join us, won’t you?
Subscribe to the podcast [iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes
[RSS MP3] Add the Engadget Mobile Podcast feed (in MP3) to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically
[RSS AAC] Add the Engadget Mobile Podcast feed (in enhanced AAC) to your RSS aggregator
[Zune] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in the Zune Marketplace
Microsoft has blamed Yahoo! Mail and an “inefficiency” with the Windows Phone 7 email client for the phantom data use some users have reported. The confirmation, sent to WindowsPhoneSecrets, follows Microsoft’s previous statement that an unnamed third-party service was the cause of the issue, which saw Windows Phone 7 devices using large quantities of 3G data without apparent reason.
According to Microsoft’s statement, below, the issue will be addressed in a “near-term end user update” by the company. Until then, WP7 users with Yahoo! Mail accounts should tweak the download settings to reduce the frequency of server pings and the period from which email is downloaded.
We have determined that an inefficiency exists in the synchronization of email between the Windows Phone Mail client and Yahoo! Mail.
This inefficiency can result in larger than expected data usage for a very small percentage of users.
Microsoft and Yahoo! have worked together to identify a fix, which will be rolled out in the coming weeks.
In the meantime, customers can mitigate this issue by following these steps:
On the Start screen of Windows Phone 7, click on the arrow at the top right
Choose “Settings” from the app list
Choose “email & accounts”
Choose “Yahoo! Mail”
Click on the setting under “Download new content”
Select a less frequent setting. If you are using the default setting (every 2 hours), change this setting to ‘manually’
Click on the setting under “Download email from”
Select a shorter time range. If you are using the default setting (the last 2 weeks), change this setting to ‘the last 7 days’
Microsoft has also identified an issue with our Exchange ActiveSync [EAS] email synchronization protocol that may affect a very small percentage of users
This issue can be caused by email that exceeds the mail server email size setting or is sent to an invalid email address
This issue can potentially affect email services that utilize the EAS protocol – Outlook and Gmail for example
The immediate mitigation is for users to delete mail that appears “stuck” in the outbox
This is currently scheduled to be fixed in a near-term end user update from Microsoft
J’accuse… ! Remember the unnamed third party that Microsoft had found to be abusing 3G data on Windows Phone 7? Secret’s out, and the culprit is none other than Yahoo Mail. According to a statement obtained by Microsoft guru Paul Thurrott, a fix is expected in the “coming weeks,” but in the interim, you can mitigate the pain by going into settings and choosing less taxing options for “Download new content” and “Download email from” — say, for example, “manually” and “the last 7 days,” respectively. At least now you know exactly at whom you should wag your finger.
Netgear‘s CEO and global chairman has heavily criticized Apple for its closed ecosystem, blaming Steve Jobs’ ego for certain aspects of company strategy, and suggesting that once the iconic CEO steps down permanently Apple will struggle against Android becoming the de facto standard in consumer electronics. Speaking to the Sydney Morning Herald, CEO Patrick Lo claimed that Steve Jobs’ departure is “probably not far away” and that Apple’s closed system is leaving content partners “wary” of the company’s control.
“Once Steve Jobs goes away, which is probably not far away, then Apple will have to make a strategic decision on whether to open up the platform. Ultimately a closed system just can’t go that far … If they continue to close it and let Android continue to creep up then it’s pretty difficult as I see it.” Patrick Lo, CEO, Netgear
As for Jobs’ ego, Lo criticized the Apple exec for what he believes to be a personally-motivated attack on Adobe’s Flash technology. “What’s the reason for him to trash Flash?” Lo questions, referring to Jobs’ well-publicized open letter to Adobe. ”There’s no reason other than ego.”
While Lo’s comments are extreme, it doesn’t look like they’ll have much impact on Apple’s attitude towards Netgear; according to the exec himself, “Steve Jobs doesn’t give me a minute!” Still, Cupertino can take some enjoyment from the fact that Lo is similarly dismissive about Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 platform, suggesting that “Microsoft is over – game over – from my point of view.”
Had enough of seeing grids and folders of static (Calendar app excluded, of course) icons on your iDevice? Well, here’s one option to relieving your tedium: a Windows Phone 7 theme for the iPhone and iPod touch. You’ll naturally need to jailbreak your iOS handheld in order to restyle it quite so dramatically, but once you do, you’ll have all your precious apps sorted in a neat alphabetical pile on one screen, with the other waiting patiently for your customizations and live tile choices. It’s a good looking little mod, we have to say, and it’s currently going through beta testing, so why not grab your iPhone and see if it can survive a lick of Microsoft paint without self-combusting?
Tying into its cloud computing initiatives from the past couple of years, Microsoft has released a preview version of its Cloud Services SDK for Windows Phone 7 with the goal of enabling devs to tap into online computation, storage, notification, and security capabilities exposed by some of the other cloud projects that Redmond’s already working on. The main thrust of this seems to be Project Hawaii, which is being spearheaded by Microsoft Research to build cool and interesting mobile-focused stuff that rests atop the company’s cloud services. The first two of those services are called Relay and Rendezvous; the former enabled phone-to-phone communication to the cloud without the need for static IP addresses, while the latter is some sort of aliasing system for assigning human-readable names to cloud service clients, which really sounds like a generalized form of Relay. Clearly, it’s going to be a while before commercial products are built on this SDK, but it’s an interesting space to keep an eye on in the meantime.
Nokia needs to “change faster” to keep up with the cellphone market, CEO Stephen Elop has admitted, but it’s his ecosystem comments during the company’s financial results call that have tongues wagging. The Nokia/Android/Windows Phone 7 speculation has proven sturdily resilient to common sense and the Finns’ own denials, and Elop’s suggestion that Nokia “must build, catalyse or join a competitive ecosystem” is unlikely to do much bar fueling the rumors.
“Nokia must compete on ecosystem to ecosystem basis. In addition to great device experiences we must build, catalyse or join a competitive ecosystem. And the ecosystem approach we select must be comprehensive and cover a wide range of utilities and services that customers expect today and anticipate in the future” Stephen Elop, CEO, Nokia
At face value, that could certainly be interpreted as a sign that Nokia might consider lending its much-appreciated hardware skills to producing a device running something other than Symbian or MeeGo. The CEO’s specific focus on the US market, meanwhile, could also lend weight to that. ”Whatever the strategy is we outline on February 11,” Elop continued, “we very clearly [must ensure] that it will give us the opportunity to reopen markets such as the U.S. and some others, where we have not recently been present.”
For a company that strives to be so self-contained, though, persisting with Symbian while readying MeeGo devices still looks the most likely route. Nokia’s “competitive ecosystem” could well refer to Intel’s low-power Atom platform, or a more general indication that it intends to compete in the smartphone chipset arms-race which currently dictates the US handset market. We’ve already seen suggestions that the company is working on a high-powered MeeGo tablet based on dual-core ARM Cortex A9 processors; that would give the company an admirable spec-sheet that could take on any rival.
Microsoft is saying that over two million Windows Phone 7 devices have been sold to carriers and manufacturers as of this last quarter. No solid numbers were given out on exactly how many have been sold to customers. “We’re still in the early stages,” Microsoft Senior Product Manager Greg Sullivan said to Mobilized magazine,”when people use this phone, they really, really like it.”
He also added that 93% of the early customers said they are “satisfied” or “very satisfied” with the experience of Windows Phone 7. AT&T, who carries a series of the new Windows Phone 7 line has also said that sales are steadily growing and that 90% of customers would recommend a Windows Phone to others.
With numbers like the ridiculous 16.2 million iPhones sold over the holiday season, the paltry two million Windows Phone 7 numbers are very representative consumer visibility right now. Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 is slowly building steam but have you actually seen many around? Keep at it Redmond.
