That’s right, Windows Mobile is getting re-branded. Get use to the name, as arbitrary as it sounds. It took me a while to realize that WP7S meant Windows Mobile 7… oh well, that’s just one more acronym to store my database (brain).

But really, Microsoft is making a bold move by rebranding Windows Mobile 7 to Windows Phone 7 Series. Here’s the truth behind why they did it. Some will say that it’s because they just want a fresh look to compete with the iPhone and Android. While that is partly to blame for the change of name, it’s not the only thing. The truth is that Windows Mobile is garbage. And don’t take my critique for anything negative against Microsoft as a company; but Windows Mobile, the entire series, was crap. Microsoft was simply one of the first players in the smartphone and pocket pc market, so that’s how they got so big.

Windows Phone 7 Series should surprise us. Personally, as a consumer, I hope to throw my WM6 phone out my car while driving 90mph on the freeway when Windows Phone 7 is released.

Microsoft knows how important it is to retain their mobile market share in an increasingly mobile world. Read more about the new Windows Phone at Microsoft’s site or any Windows Phone 7 blog.

When the strike turned midnight on January 1, 2010, you weren’t the only one going crazy. Almost every HTC phone went berserk and changed it’s own internal clock to 2016 instead of 2010.

Get the bug fixes here:

HTC Touch Pro 2
HTC Touch Pro
HTC Touch Diamond

Thanks WM for the links.

SMS 3.0 Screenshot

Ah, finally a good piece of freeware that can send group text messages! The reason I’m excited is because SMS 3.0 simply works well. You can create a comma delimited list of your cell phone numbers, then upload that as your contacts source. Once loaded, simply write your message and send it out. You can do it all from the freeware application for Windows Mobile 6, SMS 3.0.

SPB is one of the leading Windows Mobile software developers in the world. They make some of the most demanded software utilities for WM6. Like SPB Mobile Shell 3.0, which is so useful that major phone carriers like Sony Ericsson, Toshiba, O2, Glofiish, and Pharos ship their devices natively with SPB’s software preinstalled.

Long story short, SPB wants your feedback on their software, and they are giving prizes away just for participating.

Take the survey before 4th of December 2009, to get into the drawing for the following prizes:
Grand prize — a mobile device of winner’s choice + $100 worth of SPB Software.
Prize #1 — $100 worth of smartphone accessories of winner’s choice from Smartphone Experts + a $100 worth of our software.
Prize #2 — $100 worth of SPB’s soft.

Results and list of winners of SPB Survey 2009 will be available at www.spbsoftware.com by December 17th, 2009.

Microsoft released a new upgrade for their Marketplace for Mobile application. In short, not much changed. Nothing you can tell, I should say. There were some heavy bug fixes that were more prominent in certain devices over others. Either way, it’s a good idea to install this update, regardless of your Windows Mobile 6 version (6.0, 6.1, 6.5).

Upgrade to v1.1.1109

Before you even try to do this, you should make sure that your Pocket PC or Smartphone can browse the web with its 3G/GPRS. If it’s not working, then fix it or get it somehow. Some carriers (especially in the US) might require you to active this feature.

Here is how to share your Windows Mobile phone’s internet connection with laptop:

1. Plug-in your Windows Mobile device to your laptop (or device) via USB cable.
2. On your Pocket PC or Smartphone, select Start > Programs > Internet Sharing.
3. Select “USB” for “PC Connection”
4. For “Network Connection”, choose the one that you will use to connect to your 3G from PDA. For my case, I’m using “Maxis Internet”.
5. Tap “Connect”. Your phone will attempt to connect to the USB, then to the internet using 3G.
6. On your laptop, you will see a network connection (like any another LAN connection).
7. Connect to it!

Not a whole lot was changed in the Windows Mobile 6.1 to 6.5 upgrade. That’s why it was only a 0.5 upgrade. Microsoft has some work to do, but I have a strong feeling that they know this.

The overall user interface is slightly different from 6.1. It almost looks like they smashed the Zune UI and Windows Mobile 6.1 UI together.

SMS Messaging and e-mail were left pretty much untouched.

A new lock screen allows you to view missed calls and text messages with a simple swipe of your locked device. A small improvement over 6.1.

Lastly, the most obvious change is the “honeycomb” redesign of the start menu. In order to make their OS more touch friendly, they created a honeycomb style display. The idea behind this is to make it more touch friendly. Users won’t be accidentally opening programs as much since the icons are farther away from each other.

Hot off the press is the HTC Touch Pro 2 update to Windows Mobile 6.5. HTC published an official 6.5 ROM for the HTC Snap.

Once again the update is a ROM update that will clear all data on your device and replace the current Operating System with the new one.

Download 6.5 update

After a long wait it’s finally available from the support section of the Toshiba site:

http://www.toshiba-europe.com/mobile/