The screenshots are the main event, but there’s some juicy stuff buried in the design document as well. Most exciting? Symbian^4′s application chrome will support transparency, which could lead to some nice-looking effects. As far as usability, Symbian has taken a look at what other mobile OSs are doing, and taken its own path instead:

“iPhone has a flattened application library; however, it is displayed to the user exclusively as a manually organized grid, whereas the Symbian Foundation application library is an alpha-ordered list with multiple filtered views.”

Unfortunately, this is only a version 0.1 design document, so Symbian users aren’t likely to have the new OS in their hands until 2011. On the other hand, it’ll surely undergo plenty of improvements before that time.

[via Engadget]

Tags: mobile, nokia, operating system, OperatingSystem, osupdates, symbian, symbian4

At the risk of getting overexcited about a rumor, I’ll tell you what else Gizmodo’s tipster said: Windows Mobile 7 will apparently support the motion-sensing gestures that have been kicking around the rumor mill for a few years. That means you’ll be able to use the phone without actually touching it. Slick! The only problem is that Windows Mobile 7 might not be a simple upgrade for current WinMo users. It will reportedly need newer hardware with better specs and gesture support – like those LG phones Engadget was talking about, perhaps?

As much fun as it is to roil up a nice, fresh potful of delicious rumors, nothing here has been officially confirmed by Microsoft, so don’t be completely shocked if February rolls around and we get to meet Windows Mobile 6.6 instead of 7.

Tags: maldives, microsoft, osupdates, windows, windows mobile, windows mobile 6.6, windows mobile 7, WindowsMobile, WindowsMobile6.6, WindowsMobile7, winmo

The breakdown shows a lot of statistics, including average processor speed (2.5GHz) and NVIDIA (65%) versus ATI (30%). You can even see the split between 32- and 64-bit versions of Windows 7: if you click ‘Windows Versions’, all the flavors drop down — 64-bit has 15.6% of the total share, while 32-bit has 7.45%. In the past month, the Windows 7 64-bit adoption jumped 2.5%, while Windows XP dropped by 3.2% — a sure sign that gamer geeks are finally migrating away from XP (and that Santa brought them shiny new computers!)

But of course, the best statistic, saved until last like a prime cut of steak, is that Windows 7 (23%) has surpassed Windows Vista (20%)… after just 4 months!

Those gamers sure didn’t like Vista. Who can blame them.

[Meanwhile, Sebastian sweats profusely, praying no one adds the 32-bit and 64-bit Vista percentages together...]
Share

Tags: games, market share, MarketShare, operating system, OperatingSystem, osupdates, steam, windows 7, windows vista, Windows7, WindowsVista

The iPad, whether you like it or not, has implications for everyone. The early-adopter, the developer, and even the conscientious surfer and app downloader — whichever one you are, the iPad’s going to make an impact on your life. Apple has successfully controlled technological fads for almost a decade — you can be damn sure that the iPad won’t be any different.

So here’s the news that affects you. Not your friends, nor the hot girls you try to woo with your tablet — not even your jealous co-workers — just you.

1. All iPhone and iPod Touch apps will work on the iPad

Good news! The iPad will run the apps currently in the App Store — all 140,000 of them. Well, most of them. Apps that use the camera or a dedicated GPS will be out. You can also sync the apps you’ve already bought for your iPhone or iPod Touch with your iPad. A lot of apps in the Store are also being — or have already been — re-worked to utilize the iPad’s larger screen. I can only assume updated versions of the apps you already own will be free to download (but we’ll see…)

2. There is a new iPad SDK that will make the most of the new device

Developers start your engines! With the iPad comes a new version of the iPhone SDK, version 3.2. The SDK includes an iPad simulator, sample code, interface guidelines — just check the site if you need more info.

This new version of the SDK reveals some key features of the iPad that programmers need to be aware of, and cater for. Functionality-wise, it seems the iPad will readily connect to an external display (handy for slide shows and presentations), and there are also API calls for file sharing — there’s a directory on the iPad that will be mountable on your PC or Mac.

And, sadly, it seems the device still only runs one app at a time. No multitasking, gentlemen. Also, there’s still no Flash. Damn you, Apple.

3. Dongles and adaptors and extensions and and and…

The iPad isn’t going to be cheap, that’s for sure. The only connectivity you get is one frickin’ socket in the bottom — and it isn’t USB. No, it’s some proprietary socket that you can convert into other things… like an SD card reader… or a USB port.

Apple aren’t stupid. You might’ve let out a whoop of joy when you heard the iPad was ‘only’ $500, but you can be damn sure that they’re going to take a second pass at your wallet if you want to do anything interesting with your iPad. I quite liked the idea of using the iPad for looking at photos on my big digital camera — it sucks that Apple are going to milk my big, juicy tech-horny nipples for the privilege.

* * *
All in all, the iPad looks like it’s going to be a consumer dream, if you can afford it. I doubt it will single-handedly eliminate eBook readers like the Nook and Kindle, but it’s definitely the beginning of the end for book-reading-only devices.

There’s also no forward-facing camera, and thus no Skype or video conferencing (which for many would be a wet dream). I guess we’ll have to wait until the iPad 3GS before we see the camera. Please, Apple, take my money — take my hard-earnt money, and my soul while you’re at it.
Share

Tags: app store, apple, AppStore, developer, ipad, iphone, osupdates, sdk, software

He doesn’t give the exact number of activated licenses (why not?) but he does cite some rather astronomical PC sales in 2009. PC sales on Black Friday were up 63% over the same period in 2008 — and for the entire holiday period, 2009 saw 50% more PC sales than the year before. Incidentally, the graph at Net Applications show Windows 7 as having a 5.71% share in the operating system market, up from 4% in November.

It’s not particularly surprising, considering Windows is PC sales, but it still would’ve been nice to get some raw figures. In the mean time we’ll just have to rely on data gathered by outside sources like Net Applications. Did you notice that XP is losing users faster than Vista? I suppose that’s the die-hard Windows XP user base finally jumping ship to an operating system worthy of their money.

Tags: microsoft, operating system, OperatingSystem, osupdates, record, windows 7, Windows7

Grab Hexxeh’s latest build and take it for a spin right now!

The new update is called Chromium OS Zero and it boasts serious speed improvements, automatic delivery of system updates, a reduction in the startup delay on Broadcom wifi adapters, and a slick, customized bootsplash graphic. The browser now has full extension support and bookmark sync, which makes it easy to experiment.

After enabling sync and a quick trip to the Extensions Gallery to install LastPass, Zero is pretty much all I need for 90% of my daily browsing.

I haven’t yet been able to boot the new version in VirtualBox, however, so you may want to stick to Cherry for now if you’re planning to test drive Chromium OS in a virtual machine. You can still download Cherry via bittorrent.
Share

Tags: chrome os, ChromeOs, chromium, google, hexxeh, osupdates

But enough about the new name. What’s actually new in Windows Phone 7 Series? Quite a bit, it turns out. Microsoft has completely retooled the user interface, with the biggest difference being that the OS is now finger-friendly, which means goodbye stylus.

The home screen is new, the program launcher is new, and there’s no desktop-style Start Menu. Overall the UI looks a lot more like the Zune HD user interface than it does like previous versions of Windows Mobile.

Windows Phone 7 Series also features integration with the Zune software for media playback. Basically, you get all the features of a Zune HD baked right into your mobile phone OS. You also get Xbox Live integration for gaming and management of your profiles, avatars, and other information.

Engadget reports that Microsoft is also taking much more control over the hardware requirements for the operating system. Among other things, Windows Phone makers such as Samsung and HTC will no longer be able to develop their own UIs to replace Microsoft’s default user interface. In other words, while the hardware may vary a bit from phone to phone, the user experience should be quite similar no matter which Windows Phone 7 Series device you pick up.

In terms of hardware, that means each phone will have three buttons on the front, a high resolution touchscreen display.

One of the most surprising things is that there’s no desktop synchronization software for contacts, email, or appointments. Goodbye ActiveSync and Windows Mobile Device Center. Hello over-the-air synchronization with the cloud. Music and video synchronization comes through the Zune Desktop software.

There are still some things we don’t know. What will the web browser be like? Will Windows 7 Phone Series support multitasking? And when will you be able to buy a new Windows Phone? All we know for now is that it should be available before the 2010 holiday season.

This is the most radical change Microsoft has made to its mobile operating system in at least 10 years. What do you think? Is it enough to fend off competition from Apple, Google, Palm, and others?
Share

Tags: microsoft, mobile world congress 2010, MobileWorldCongress2010, osupdates, windows 7 phone, windows 7 phone series, windows mobile, windows phone, Windows7Phone, Windows7PhoneSeries, WindowsMobile, WindowsPhone

It was expected, after an already-long delay, that Microsoft’s CES keynote would include news of Windows Mobile 7 — but alas, that was not the case (in fact, it might’ve been the most lackluster keynote ever, but that’s another matter entirely).

If the latest news from BSN and reports from all the major phone manufacturers like HTC, Nokia and Lenova are to be believed, we may be seeing a lot of Android-powered phones this year. Apparently all of the devices that were meant to be Windows Mobile-powered and launched in 2010 have been renamed and rejigged to run Android! Without official word from Microsoft, I would suggest Windows Mobile fans stay calm… for now.

We’ll know for sure in February!

Share

Tags: android, cellular, microsoft, mobile, operating system, OperatingSystem, osupdates, windows mobile, windows mobile 7, WindowsMobile, WindowsMobile7

Ex-Microsoft employee — that has a bit of a shady ring to it, I think. Hey, this roadmap here fell off the back of a truck … Says Windows 8 is coming real soon now.

[Via: Elecronista]
[Photo: EvinDC]
Share

Tags: microsoft, osupdates, roadmap, speculation, windows 7, windows 8, Windows7, Windows8

Overall, the new user interface looks very much like the UI on the Zune HD. That makes sense, since the Zune HD software has been incorporated pretty tightly with Windows Phone 7 Series. But it’s not just the music and movie player that has the Zune-like sheen.

For instance, in a video from CrunchGear, you can clearly see that the Bing search utility lets you shift between “local,” “news”, “web,” and other search results by sliding the titles at the top of the result page. This is exactly the same way you shift between “album,” “artist,” and other views in the Zune HD software.

But it’s not all Zune HD-like. There’s also a new series of “hubs,” for People, Photos, Xbox, and other ares. For instance, in the People hub, you see a number of tiles with the latest updates from your contacts. In the Xbox hub, you can see your games, devices, and Xbox Live information.

Tags: osupdates, windows mobile, windows phone 7 series, WindowsMobile, WindowsPhone7Series