Motorola n Windows Mobile come up with some fancy designs

Motorola can build good looking phones but their OS sucks big time, according to wmpoweruser.com these new babies run on Windows Mobile. The BGR has got some more spyshots of few of the upcoming models from Motorola check it out here.


Source 1800pocketpc

Skype for Windows Mobile 2.5 Beta Released

"Based on feedback from you guys, our Mobile team have overhauled Skype for Windows Mobile and released Beta 2.5. It features improved sound quality, better stability and a more familiar user interface. Download it now and give it a whirl."

The eagerly awaited Skype for Windows Mobile update is now available for both Windows Mobile Standard and Professional devices. Go get it!

Source pocketpcthoughts

Will Microsoft Make Windows Mobile Free?

Google and Nokia are trying something unusual with their mobile operating systems: they are going to give them away for free. This raises the possibility that Microsoft will do the same with Windows Mobile.

This isn't going to happen, according to Microsoft's Chief Executive Steve Ballmer. "We are doing well, we believe in the value of what we are doing," is what he told Reuters.

A Study in Contrasts

Microsoft will continue to use its traditional method with Windows Mobile, in which it develops the operating system and licenses it to other companies to release devices. It typically charges its licensees roughly $10 for each smartphone or handheld.

Google is following different plan. Its Android OS is based on open-source tools, and it will continue to be an open-source platform that is available to anyone who wants it for free.

Nokia started out using Microsoft's strategy but recently announced plans to switch to Google's, and it taking the Symbian OS and S60 open source.

Ballmer doesn't see any advantages in the open-source system. As he said, "It's interesting to ask why would Google or Nokia, Google in particular, why would they invest a lot of money and try to do a really good job if they make no money?"

Microsoft Phone Data Manager does data sync for Symbian, others

ActiveSync and Windows Mobile Device Center have historically dominated Microsoft's first-party mobile sync support for Windows, but there's a little problem with that: not everyone uses a WinMo phone. Enter Phone Data Manager, a new app in the spirit of Apple's iSync that knows how to play nice with a whole host of non-WinMo devices and can sync contacts, photos, video, and music into the cloud (Windows Live, that is) and your local PC. It'll have to do calendar sync as well before it can be called a complete solution, but hey -- it's in beta, so we can hope.

Microsoft Again Says It Has No Plans to Make Its Own Smartphone

Ever now and then a rumor crops up that Microsoft is going to release its own smartphone. The man in charge of the company's Windows Mobile program yesterday repeated what has always been said before on this question: it's not going to happen.

This question never cropped up when Microsoft was a software company that just created operating systems and let others handle the hardware. But in the last few years it has released its own gaming console, the Xbox, and its own music player, the Zune. This has lead people to wonder if Microsoft is going to release other hardware, like a smartphone.

Back in 2006, the head of the Zune team even said a combination Zune and mobile phone was in the cards. However, the company has stepped back from that, and in 2007 Microsoft's CEO Steve Ballmer dismissed the whole idea.

Yesterday, Scott Rockfeld, Group Manager of Microsoft Mobile Communications held to this position, telling Silicon Alley Insider that his company has "no plans to build our own phone."

Instead, Rockfeld says Microsoft is happy to continue developing and licensing Windows Mobile to other companies.