By Scott M. Fulton, III, Betanews
Last Sunday, former Tom's Hardware correspondent Theo Valich, now editor-in-chief of Bright Side of News, referred to sources from at least five smartphone manufacturers plus Microsoft itself as telling him that Windows Mobile 7 would not be made generally available until 2011 -- what those manufacturers would perceive as a delay. This despite indications from CEO Steve Ballmer last Wednesday at CES that an announcement of a forthcoming product would come at Mobile World Congress next month, and a preview of coming attractions given to Betanews' Tim Conneally by Windows Mobile Senior Product Manager Greg Sullivan at CES the following Friday.
Given multiple opportunities to clarify Valich's report, and to deny that any delay was in the works, Microsoft spokespersons would not provide Betanews with information that shed any light on the timeframe, or that would refute the information from vendors cited in that report. The company appears to be taking the position that, since it has never set a firm timetable on WM7's release, whatever date it announces, however far in the future that might be, is not a delay.
"We're excited about the current generation of Windows phones and the experiences they bring to life today," one spokesperson told us yesterday. "We have steadily delivered on our commitment to ship additional features and services through a regular stream of exciting new devices. We are not talking about future generations of Windows phones at this time."
Though Sullivan told Betanews at CES to expect an improved value proposition from the company with regard to Windows Mobile, he actually did not give us anything remotely resembling a timetable. And during a financial analysts' meeting last Thursday, the only concept of time that Entertainment & Devices division president Robbie Bach would offer analysts came with this sentence: "Whether you're talking about Windows Mobile, whether you're talking about Xbox, whether you talk about our mice and keyboard business, or Zune, or whatever, I think we do a very good job at keeping the teams small and bringing things to market quickly and effectively."
"Quickly" could mean anything. But Microsoft's promise last week to say more about Windows Mobile at MWC next month, coupled with a refusal to promise to say anything definitive about the timetable, suggests that next month's announcement could center around a new set of mobile services whose public development process could begin right away -- similar to how Windows Azure was rolled out -- but without a firm completion date until much further into the development cycle. Customers may know what it is next month, and they may even be able to use pieces of it as time goes on.
But the concept may have ceased to be Windows Mobile 7 as we have come to understand it, and may take on new definition as the Windows Phone service -- something that may be at least presentable in February, but whose components may not be totally operational until 2011, as manufacturers suggested to Valich.
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010
I've long observed that Apple justifies charging more by offering a little more -- and sometimes less than competing stores. It's Marketing 101 stuff. For example, OneRepublic's "Waking Up (Deluxe Version)" is $12.99 from iTunes for 15 tracks (the standard album has 11 songs). Amazon and F.Y.E. don't offer this version of the CD, which Amazon partners sell for $17.99 or more. So, iTunes is the cheaper option. However, Amazon sells the "Waking Up" non-deluxe CD for $7.99, or $2 less than iTunes. Once again, Amazon's $3 song credit applies, effectively reducing the album's cost to $4.99. Amazon's digital download version costs $5, with 12th track "Mercy," which isn't available from iTunes. Once again, Apple charges $1.29 for each individual track and Amazon just 99 cents. So the standard album or singles cost more from iTunes.
Palm Pre Plus · When the Palm Pre came out, I read a lot of complaints about the keyboard. Since it's recessed, the user's thumbs have a tendency to move inward toward each other. Little has changed between generations of the Pre, and the recessed chiclet keyboard still feels just a tiny bit cramped. In testing it this week, my typing was quite accurate, thanks to the distinct feel and spacing of the keys; but because I'm more acquainted with horizontal keyboard layouts, my speed was considerably low.
Palm Pixi Plus · Even though the keyboard of the Pixi is nearly identical to the Pre's in most respects, there is one major difference: The rows of keys are straight across, and not "smiling." The effect this has on typing is noticeable. My speed and accuracy were significantly better on the Pixi than on the Pre, and were just about on par with the BlackBerry Curve. The Pixi has definitely become a much more desirable device with the Plus version, and should be seriously considered by users who send more than 5,000 texts a month.
Nokia N900 · The N900 and the Droid are similar in shape and design, with great interfaces, but weak keyboards. The N900's keys touch together, and the spacebar is not mounted in the center of the bottom row. Placing it in the lower right hand corner really effects your flow of text entry, and you have to make an effort to re-learn how you type. To me, this seems like a terrible design decision to have made on a phone that is otherwise quite desirable.
Motorola Droid · A lot of people speak ill of the keyboard on the Droid, and for the most part, their criticisms are justified. The keyboard on the Droid is a membrane...meaning it's a perfect grid and all the keys touch together, with little tactile distinction between them. Part of the reason you get a keyboard phone is for that feeling of the individual keys. But with a keyboard like this, you might as well just have left it all touch, since there's very few physical cues to tell you what you're hitting. While I wouldn't say the keyboard ruined the Droid, it is definitely the weaker half of this slider phone.
Motorola Backflip · Motorola's new and strange Android device prominently features the keyboard on the back of the chassis when the clamshell is closed. While this calls for a more rugged design and incorporation of the camera into the keyboard layout, Motorola has actually pulled off a decent keyboard. Though it has a similar smooth feel to the Droid, where the keys are easy to miss when you're not paying attention, the individual keys are quite big. Along with the unique flipping action and the back trackpad, the keys of the Backflip would take some adjustment for me to get accustomed to.
BlackBerry Tour · If you have a preference for chiclet-style keys, this is not the BlackBerry you should be using, which is somewhat of a shame because the Tour is otherwise a very desirable world-ready handset. As you can see, the keys are sloped at opposing angles on the right and left side of the phone. In theory, it's sound, but in actual execution, it's somewhat poor, and ruins the single-thumb typing experience that BlackBerry is so famously capable of. 
BlackBerry Curve 8500 · I chose this particular Curve model because RIM bills it as having an "
LG Expo · This keyboard took me totally by surprise, and has tentatively received my "best of" ranking. The Expo is a Snapdragon-powered, Windows Mobile 6.5 enterprise powerhouse. Because it's got the highly unusual pico projector attachment, it's easy to overlook something as simple as the keyboard. However, if you take time to test it out, you find it's quick, perfectly sized, and responsive. The only problem I had was that it doesn't feel as solidly manufactured as the chiclet keys of Palm's devices or the pyramid-shaped Blackberry keys, and the far left row "Q, A, Fn" also felt flimsier than the right on two separate units that I tested.
The driver of the largest body of customer complaints thus far has been an apparent tendency for the Nexus One to switch off of 3G back to 2G EDGE service after just seconds of use, and often to switch back and forth between 3G and 2G -- thus wasting several seconds of performance in the interim. Some customers report no 3G service at all, in areas where other phones -- including the T-Mobile G1 -- report 3 bars of coverage. Other customers report reduced 3G capability on both the Nexus One and their other T-Mobile 3G phones in the same region.