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Apple declares war with HTC – sues HTC for infringing 20 patents
Mar 3rd
Just few months after Nokia case, Apple is doing this again. Apple has just file a case to sue HTC for infringing 20 patents “related to the iPhone’s user interface, underlying architecture, and hardware.”
“We can sit by and watch competitors steal our patented inventions, or we can do something about it. We’ve decided to do something about it,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours.”
Apple has submitted over 700 pages of exhibits to the District Court. The phones from HTC that are on the list: Nexus One, Touch Pro, Touch Diamond, Touch Pro2, Tilt II, Pure, Imagio, Dream / G1, myTouch 3G, Hero, HD2, and Droid Eris. That’s really a full range of HTC phones, running both Android and Windows Mobile, with and without Sense / TouchFLO.
HTC, at the moment, refuses to make further comment about it.
[via engadget]
Microsoft says no Windows Phone 7 upgrade for Windows Mobile 6x devices
Mar 2nd
Many of the high end Windows Mobile device (like HD2) owners are hoping to get Windows Phone 7 upgrade when Microsoft releases Windows Phone 7 later this year.
Device like HD2 has a snapdragon CPU with high resolution capacity touch screen, 5MP camera and enough RAM seems to be one of the devices that qualified for Windows Phone 7 hardware requirement and likely to receive Windows Phone 7 upgrade.
However, here is a piece of bad news from Microsoft, officially. Natasha Kwan, General Manager for Microsoft’s Mobile Communications Business in the Asia-Pacific region, said that the HD2 “doesn’t qualify because it doesn’t have the three buttons”.
“Because we have very specific requirements for Windows Phone 7 Series the current phones we have right now will not be upgradable”, Kwan explained.
And it sounds like all existing Windows Mobile devices in the market will not be upgradeable to Windows Phone 7 and now we have to put our hope to the hackers from XDA-Developers 
[via apcmag]
LG has a Windows Phone 7 series with QWERTY keyboard
Mar 1st
This came out to be a surprise during one of the Engadget show. The Microsoft executive actually brought an LG made prototype Windows Phone.
The device shown was running the early version of Windows Mobile 7. And it has a side sliding QWERTY keyboard with back, home, search and camera dedicated buttons. The camera is found to be 5MP. And the device has an impressive thickness. It is just slightly thicker than iPhone and Nexus One!
We will see more phones from manufacturers that are working with Microsoft to bring Windows Phone 7 series to the market and Microsoft is definitely pushing for a big launch.
[via engadget]
HTC Desire ROM brings Sense to Google Nexus One
Feb 18th
I expected this but not so soon. The hackers don’t sleep, do they? Just shortly after HTC demoed the HTC Desire with Android 2.1 and Sense, it is quickly ported to Google Nexus One and shown off to the world.
The fast port could due to the fact that the hardwares of Nexus One and Desire are very similar. The moder from Modaco is able to load the ROM extracted from HTC Desire to Nexus One with just a few modifications. Most of the things work now with some needed more work.
With these moders around, we should be expecting a ROM with HTC Sense to be available soon from the community.
How excited!
[via modaco]
HTC Legend, the successor of Hero, announced
Feb 17th
The brother of HTC Hero, the Legend, has been announced by HTC.
The Legend comes with similar look and specs like HTC Hero. However, it is now packed with a faster processor, 600Mhz CPU, and an aluminium cover. It is more durable than the Hero. During the presentation of the phone by HTC, the phone was smashed to a wall and it was still functioning after that (I am sure I won’t do that to my phone).
And, as you will expect, the Legend is coming with Android 2.1 with the latest Sense. Other than this, it comes with the following:
- 5MP camera.
- Optical trackpad.
- GPS, G Sensor, compass, ambient light sensor and proximity sensor.
- HVGA AMOLED screen.
The Legend will be available in Europe in April and Asia will follow after that.
You can find more information of the Legend at HTC web site here.
HTC Desire (previously known as Bravo) announced
Feb 17th
Waiting for HTC Bravo’s announcement? Wait no more, HTC has just announced the Desire, the Bravo we knew previously. It will be available in Europe in April and Asia will follow. So most likely we will get the Desire (Bravo) in Singapore in May.
It is like a Google Nexus One packed with Sense from HTC. It has almost everything from Google Nexus One.
The Desire looks and feels very similar to Google’s Nexus with some differences:
- The HTC Desire has an optical trackpad instead of a physical trackball
- On either side of the trackpad are hardware buttons, which on the Nexus One are simply touch sensitive buttons alongside the screen.
- It is lack of the Nexus One’s dual-microphone noise cancelling solution – the Desire has only 1 mic.
- It has FM radio.
The HTC Desire has a 3.7-inch AMOLED touchscreen (WVGA, 800×480), Android 2.1, Flash 10.1 in the browser, an updated version of HTC Sense (with Friend Stream, Helicopter view, etc).
The official web page for Desire is already up, you can find more information here.
It is official now – Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 Series
Feb 16th
Yes, it is official now. Microsoft has officially announced its next generation Mobile OS platform – the Windows Phone 7 Series, to the world during the press conference in MWC.
Yes, it is completely rewritten from ground up and it has nothing similar to the current Windows Mobile 6.5. The entire platform, from the core to the UI, will give the smartphone market a tough competitor. It is a completely new mobile OS to the market. With its Zune like interface (which is very original) and many services brought to the phone, Microsoft will raise the bar again for the rest of the competitors.
The Windows Phone 7 series will bring Xbox LIVE games and that Zune music and video experience to the users. There are “live tiles” which show you real-time content on the main screen. On each phone there will be six “hubs” which bring together related content from the web, applications and services into a single view – People, Pictures, Games, Music+Video, Marketplace and Office.
The “People” hub delivers the social side of your life – it is an address book with integration to social networks, photos and instant updates to Facebook, Windows Live and other sites. The “Pictures” hub organize your pictures and lets you share pictures and video to your social network. The “Games” tab delivers the first Xbox LIVE experience on your phone – Xbox games, Spotlight feed and gamer profile. The”Music and Video” hub brings online services plus content from your PC. The “Marketplace” app takes you into the online application store. The “Office” hub brings the Microsoft Office experience and mobile applications like SharePoint, OneNote and Outlook to the phone.
However, there is no mentioned of the “multitasking” capability of the phone from Microsoft.
Microsoft is confident to have its first Windows Phone 7 Series phone to hit the market before the end of the year from its partners.
The introduction video is after the break. And the official Windows Phone 7 Series’s official web site is up now. You can find a lot of information from here.
