More info has surfaced about Microsoft’s Origami Project over the weekend.

From the Seattle PI: “A video of a mystery device from Microsoft Corp. was discovered online over the weekend—fueling new speculation about the company’s plans in a market dominated by Apple Computer’s Ipod.”

In a statement, Microsoft acknowledged that the video generally reflects “a concept we’ve been working on with partners.” The company, which declined to identify the partners, said it would be able to share more details “in the coming weeks.”

More info: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/260983_msftdevice27.html

Source: http://www.pdatoday.com

Mobiletechreview have  reviewed the new T-mobile SDA windows mobile 5.0 powered smartphone.  This device is manafactured by  HTC and may be  better known by it’s codename  “Tornado”.  An extract from the review is include below

“Surprisingly, the phone fits all of this into a device of reasonably modest proportions, and it weighs only 3.74 ounces. Like most PDA phones and Smartphones that run Windows Mobile 5.0, the SDA comes from ODM HTC in Taiwan, and its codename is the HTC Tornado. It’s the same beast as the i-mate SP5m, QTEK 8300 and a close cousin to the Cingular 2125. What the SDA adds to the design is its Quasimodo hump, supposedly to improve US GSM reception (Cingular also hunchbacked their 2125). Having used both the SP5m and the SDA on T-Mobile’s service in the US, I can’t say I’ve noticed significant reception improvements with the hump, which isn’t too terrible looking from the front, but makes the phone look a bit like a coffin from the rear.

Before we dig deeper, let’s take a look at some MS Smartphone basics. Though the user interface and applications look similar to those on Pocket PC, this is not a Pocket PC. It lacks a touch screen (all navigation is handled using the d-pad and keypad) and MS Smartphones generally run on slower processors (though the MDA and Cingular 8125 Windows Mobile Pocket PC phones happen to run on the same CPU as the SDA). Smartphones’ phone ergonomics are very good and are in fact on par with many ordinary feature phones. What makes the phone smart? It can sync to Outlook on Windows desktops, browse “regular” HTML web sites, not just WAP, you can install Windows Mobile smartphone 3rd party applications on the device, and access multiple email accounts using the included Messaging application with strong support for business standards including MS Exchange. It’s a phone first, but a modest PDA second.”

Read the full review @ Mobiletechreview.com

Engadget reports the new Fujitsu-Siemens LOOX N560 is nearing release.

“While not as prolific a source of new device info as the FCC, the Bluetooth Qualification Program (BQP) has just given approval (and therefore credence) to the rumored Fujitsu-Siemens Loox N5xx Brighthand first got wind of last month. Specifically, the  is supposed to run Windows Mobile 5.0 on a 624 MHz processor and said to be “the world’s first” GPS-enabled handheld with a 640 x 480 (VGA) screen. It is also said to throw down Bluetooth 2.0, 256MB of storage, USB hosting, and 802.11b/g WiFi. With the T800 series from that leaked roadmap already announced, we’re hopeful to see the N560 drop in March as originally tipped as well”

A new version of Undercroft the PocketPC RPG has been released. Version 1.20 includes new features, bug fixes and support for multiple languages. Currently are supported are English, German and Czech.

Features of the game include:

• 20 hours of total play time (on the average).
• Quest based gameplay with elaborate plot and plenty of sidequests to gather extra experience
• 5 characters with unique skills and spells.
• Hundreds of items, over 60 kind of enemies.
• Enhanced interface keeping all the extensive functionality quickly on hand
• Sophisticated graphics with strong fantasy atmosphere
• Plastic level design unseen in classic “dungeons” RPG before
• And much more…

“The availability of Microsoft’s push e-mail service last week is the company’s latest move to establish Windows Mobile 5.0 as the platform of choice for mobile users.

Interest in Windows Mobile 5.0 has grown steadily, and it now attracts far more developers than any rival mobile operating system. This should improve the likelihood of IT directors being able to buy line-of-business mobile applications for the Microsoft platform. More than 10,000 developers are currently working on applications for Windows Mobile 5.0.

Part of the reason for this developer momentum is Microsoft’s programming model. Nick Jones, vice-president at analyst firm Gartner, said, “Every device using Windows Mobile 5.0 has the same interfaces, but that is absolutely not the case with other operating systems, such as Symbian.”

According to Microsoft, companies that develop for Windows Mobile will be able to use the same skills they already have for desktop Windows development. Staff with Visual Studio and .net Framework languages, such as C# and Visual Basic, can develop for Windows Mobile.

The launch of Microsoft’s .net Compact Framework 2.0 last autumn gave Windows Mobile developers improved managed code application programming interfaces (APIs) to simplify mobile development projects, plus a number of new APIs for Windows Mobile….”

Read the full story here 

“The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has issued a final rejection of one of the five patents at issue in NTP’s long-running case against BlackBerry maker Research In Motion.

The final rejection was posted on the Patent Office’s Web site for the NTP-held patent, which covers a system for sending e-mails over a wireless network to a mobile device. The Patent Office has already issued nonfinal actions rejecting the claims in four out of the five NTP patents in question, but a final rejection is required before the appeals process can begin.

Contacted on Wednesday, NTP’s lead counsel, James Wallace of Wiley, Rein & Fielding, said he had not reviewed the final action and therefore could not comment. NTP has the right to appeal any final rejection notice to a three-judge panel at the Patent Office, and can file further appeals at the federal-court level.

RIM issued a statement confirming it had received the final action and said it expects the rejections to withstand future NTP appeals…..”

Full Story @ zdnet

Seeing as I have been talking about mobile email and push email a lot lately I thought that this article about the current litigation between NTP and RIM was quite interesting. The court will make a ruling on Friday whether or not the injunction against the sale of blackberry in the U.S will go ahead.

“No more communication, no more instant updates, isolation from the outside world. That’s what 4 million BlackBerry customers fear if a judge cuts the service.

A five-year battle between a tiny patent holder and BlackBerry maker Research In Motion could come to a head in a Richmond, Va., courtroom Friday. That’s when a federal judge will decide whether to enforce an injunction against RIM, which would shut down its wireless e-mail system.

Several years before RIM introduced its BlackBerry system, NTP Inc. owned patents to a system that could send messages from computers to wireless devices, but NTP never actually developed a system. When RIM started producing BlackBerrys in 2001, NTP launched a lawsuit.”

Full article @ abcnews

SecureGSM announces the immediate availability of a major update to its successful crypto phone product, SecureGSMâ„¢ Pro.

This latest revision, 1.22, boasts several enhancements to the unique, software-only secure voice and messaging application for Windows Mobile phone enabled devices using the GSM network standard.

Users of SecureGSMâ„¢ Pro enjoy secure, encrypted end-to-end voice and messaging over standard GSM networks.

SecureGSMâ„¢ Pro R1.22 features the following enhancements:

• Support for HTC Prophet and HTC Charmer
• Enhanced Echo Suppression engine with improved support for HTC Universal, Wizard, Prophet, Charmer and other WM5.0 based devices.
• Enhanced Caller ID module with improved support for HTC Universal, Wizard, Prophet, Charmer and other WM5.0 based devices.
• Enhanced connectivity in difficult network conditions.
• Enhanced incoming call management engine.

More details @ http://www.securegsm.com

It looks like the much anticipated Push email for Windows Mobile powered devices is finally starting to become available. This technology has been due for quite some time now on Windows Mobile devices. I look forward to seeing some reviews of the new features. Will it be the Blackberry killer that many people say it is?
“Today at 3GSM World Congress 2006, Microsoft Corp. and its mobile operator and device-maker partners announced a broad range of services and Windows Mobile^®-based devices for business customers to cost-effectively deploy mobile messaging solutions. Leveraging the integration between Direct Push technology in Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0 and Microsoft^® Exchange Server 2003 Service Pack 2 (SP2), businesses can mobilize their employees on a unified infrastructure without the requirement to pay for additional and costly e-mail servers. This same technology is now available for Microsoft Windows^® Small Business Server and is also offered as a hosted service by a number of mobile operators around the world.

Cingular Wireless, Orange, T-Mobile and Vodafone today announced free upgrades to the Messaging and Security Feature Pack (MSFP) for all their Windows Mobile 5.0 customers, enabling Direct Push functionality and providing enhanced device management and security for messaging applications. Palm Inc. and i-Mate also reaffirmed their commitment to free MSFP upgrades. In addition, new Windows Mobile-based devices were unveiled today, all of which will ship with Direct Push technology: the HP iPAQ hw6900 Mobile Messenger, the Gigabyte Communications g-Smart (offered by Chunghwa Telecom Co. Ltd. in Taiwan), the ASUS P305 3G-enabled smartphone, and the Fujitsu Siemens FS Pocket Loox. In addition, HTC Corp. has unveiled a new product portfolio of Windows Mobile-based devices that are Direct Push-enabled and will be made available globally to T-Mobile and other operators beginning in the second quarter of this year.”

Microsoft Press Release @ Microsoft.com

A new version of Vito Sound Explorer has been released.

VITO Technology releases a new version of VITO SoundExplorer. This update mostly concentrates on increasing performance. VITO SoundExplorer is a great choice to explore the music world on your Pocket PC to the full.

VITO SoundExplorer is 3 programs in one. It is an audio player, audio recorder and file explorer designed specially for browsing music content. VITO SoundExplorer:

• Supports Windows Mobile 5.0
• Supports high-resolution displays
• Supports landscape mode
• Converts WAV to MP3
• Records CD-quality MP3: 44 100 Hz
• Features Today plugin
• Is all you need for music playing and sound recording

New in VITO SoundExplorer v 1.7:

• ID3 tags supported
• WMA playback returned
• Overall stability increased
• landscape mode fixed
• New easier registration system (see the manual on the product page)

More info @ http://vitotechnology.com/