If I was running the Fennec project, I’d be thinking carefully about accelerating development for more than just the Maemo platform too! Its not that Maemo is a dying OS (although at this point you could say that Maemo is already dead with the ‘old’ N810 being the only Maemo device on the market and very little news about any new devices based on Maemo 5) it’s that Fennec needs to position itself where the customers are in order to get brand recognition. Windows Mobile, due to the terrible built-in browser offering, is a great place to start. They need to do it fast though because Opera Mobile and Skyfire are fast becoming de-facto choices.

Mozilla released Alpha 1 of the Windows Mobile browser in May and last week set free the Alpha 2 version. People have already started testing and giving feedback. Clearly, Alpha 2 is a long way away from a full release (late 2009 timeframe would seem a reasonable estimate for full release, much later then the original plan) but it will be interesting to see if the development accelerates to meet the new range of powerful smartphones that are coming out. LG01, Omnia Pro, Touch Pro 2, Acer M900. They all reach into the same ‘mobile microblogging’ arena as the Nokia Tablet. [More info on the Omnia Pro a it later today]

For some information on how Fennec is performing on WIndows Mobile, check out  Mobility Site. For information on the Maemo version, check out this thread on the Maemo.org forums. I won’t be trying it on my N810. I’m holding out for new Nokia Tablet hardware. (Please!)

ZDnet posted some information about a rumored ‘Chassis 1’ specification for Windows 7 mobile phones yesterday and although it’s great to see, it looks like a list of the hardware that many of us in the UMPC and MID community have been been talking about for the last few years. It’s basically a list of currently available mobile technology and includes ARMV6+ processor, 800×480 multi-touch, 3MP cam, compass, accelerometer, light Sensor, high speed USB, BT2.1 and fast SSD. The other interesting spec is a screen size of 3.5” or more. 

ARMV6 is not exactly thrilling but the ‘+’ would indicate that Microsoft are going to build WM7 for the Cortex architecture meaning ARMv7 and high-end platforms like Snapdragon, Tegra and OMAP.

What we don’t know is what the software layer is going to be like and that’s arguably the most important element.

The SWD-M100 Mondi [product page] is the WiMax device that was spotted at MWC in Feb. There in Barcelona it was seen running Windows Mobile 6.1 which didn’t really get too many people excited. It looks like we might find out more soon though. Phone Scoop have found a new image on a Samsung RSS feed.

The device is potentially very interesting. If it uses a fast, Cortex-core  processor, Windows Mobile 6.5 and the new Opera Mobile 9.7 browser then it will meet a lot of wish-lists, spot-on. Until we get further info though, we’re still left with the same specs as we had before:

• 4.3 inch touchscreen
• Wimax, Wifi and Bluetooth
• Dual cams ( 3M + 0.3M pixels )
• Micro SD
• TV out
• Windows Mobile 6.1 with Opera web browser

Fingers crossed that it comes in HSDPA flavour.

Update: Samsung Mondi is now in the database with links, videos and specifications.

via Samsung’s First Wimax Device Spotted (Phone Scoop).

Via JKKMobile.

Update 01/04/09 : Officially launched as the Samsung Mondi

A surprise from Samsung at their Mobile World Congress WiMax display. The SWD-M100 MID running Windows Mobile indicating that they’ve chosen an ARM processor for the system. The fact that Opera is also highlighted tells us that this one is more than a prototype. I suspect it’s not a voice device based on the ‘MID’ tagging but there’s no technical reason that it can’t support voice.

• 4.3 inch touchscreen
• Wimax, Wifi and Bluetooth
• Dual cams ( 3M + 0.3M pixels )
• Micro SD
• TV out
• Windows Mobile 6.1 with Opera web browser

The info comes from a brief post at Ubergizmo. (More images available there.)

If this little baby has a decent processor in it (Remember Samsung make their own processors and are licensees for ARM11, Cortex A8 and A9 architectures – the Cortex A8 makes a lot of sense here.) then we could be looking at one of the most powerful windows mobile devices ever and, finally, a viable mobile internet solution with the Opera 9.5 browser.

Via JKKMobile

Gizmodo have just completed a browsing speed and accuracy test with three high-end windows mobile devices using Pocket IE and Opera 9.5. The results should hardly be a surprise. There isn’t a single reasonable result among them with page load times well over a minute in many cases and very few of the devices rendering the pages well.

In the test, Gizmodo used the Sony Xperia, HTC Fuze, Samsung Omnia and Samsung Epix. Some of the newest WM-based phones you can buy.

Opera 9.5 appears to have turned in a better level of quality and speed than Pocket IE but there’s still a bunch of ‘fails’ in there which would turn off anyone thinking of relying on the given combo.

We’ve done similar tests here in the past which have proven that, on average, with some of the best ARM-based devices you can find and under good conditions, average page load times are twice as long when compared to on low-end ultra mobile PCs. We’ve even done some extensive Opera Mobile 9.5 testing and can confirm that while it does render well, it needs a lot more horsepower underneath it than the average smartphone can provide. Nothing in the smartphone world, including the iPhone, comes close to the speed and accuracy of even the lowest-level UMPC or Intel-based MID so once again I hear myself saying; If you or your business relies on fast, accurate access to Web-based resources through a browser, don’t risk problems or waste time by using a sub-standard solution. Don’t try and push everything onto one device. Buy a dedicated device. If not for the speed and quality, do it to preserve battery life for your important voice calls!

Take a read of the article and the HUGE bashing that WM gets from author, Matt Buchanan. Its a fun read!

Source: Gizmodo Via Friendfeed

Its nice to see that we might not have to wait too long for a better browser as part of Windows Mobile but is this going to be another case of ‘nice software, shame about the hardware?’ I say that because it was the conclusion I came to with Opera 9.5 a while back. The accuracy, UI and features were vastly improved but the bottle-kneck is the processor. There’s really no way around it. To convert todays very complex html, script and media that arrives through your Internet connection into a useable screen of information takes a lot of transistor switching. ARM9 and ARM11-based devices just don’t have that power. ARM Cortex and Atom do.

Show me a ‘Pocket PC’ a-la HTC Universal (left) with a 4.5″ 800×480 screen, 3G and Wifi, WM6, 5-hour online battery life, running on a a Cortex A8 core and we can talk. The Archos 5 does a fairly speedy job. The Open Pandora device too so we know there’s no hardware limitations. It’s just a case of putting the right software with the right hardware!

Source: Download Squad

WVGA, even at this 3.5″ screen size, requires zooming to click links with a finger (as it does on the Nokia tablet devices,) there’s no mention of the browser so if it’s not Opera Mobile 9.5 then it falls flat on its face, its going to be extremely expensive and with the single-core ARM11-based CPU it won’t be noticeably faster than a Nokia N800 which, in my opinion, is way too slow to use for any serious Internet work.

The HD Touch Pro looks very nice and will satisfy many people but it really is a styling exercise that won’t reach the standards that many of us need in our mobile Internet experience. Windows 6.1 core won’t impress anyone expecting a fluid interface to run through the whole system as it does on the iPhone either. The screen will look impressive but experience tells me that 800×480 on such a small screen doesn’t work well for Internet use or even for videos so you might as well take a cheaper, smaller VGA device and use Opera Mini for quick Internet bites and a larger mid for more serious internet and video experiences.

[FIE = Full Internet Experience. Our definition of productivity/professional-level Internet requirements]

Thanks to Vakeros for prompting me to take a closer look at the HTC Touch HD.  HTC Press release here.

[This is the second in a series of 3 articles. See previous article here.]

After more than 6 hours of learning, playing and testing on various devices, I’ve come to a decision about Opera 9.5. Beta. It’s technically a great browser with a very good user interface. Unfortunately though, there’s a core problem out there that’s out of Opera’s hands. Hardware. Opera does a good job but limited processing power and small screen sizes and resolutions hold it back from presenting a full Internet experience.

In this review (video below) I’ll be looking at Opera Mobile 9.5 Beta on the iPaq 214 (see previous article for information on the iPaq 214) from a mobile computing perspective. I’ll be comparing the browser to what I’ve seen on MIDs and on Ultra Mobile PCs. In effect, I’m comparing it to the desktop. Not fair you say? I think it is. Mobile devices are now capable of running desktop software and full desktop browsers at impressive speeds. For many, the slower, although cheaper, mobile Internet experience offered by many consumer devices is probably good enough but if you rely on your browser for more than just browsing, you’ll want the fastest and most accurate mobile browsing platform you can find. In the near future, consumers are going to be more demanding of their mobile browsers too. Unfortunately, as I write this, there are very few Windows Mobile devices out there that have the screen-size and processing throughput, from network to rendering, that are able to offer users the chance to experience modern web pages, AJAX applications and to come anywhere near to a desktop-standard browsing speed. Opera 9.5 doesn’t appear to be any more efficient than it’s predecessor either. It has some other issues too issues which i’ll highlight here but please note that this is Beta software. While we are unlikely to see any more features (apart from the ones listed as disabled in the beta here), there could still be bug fixes and optimizations to sort out.

Read the full story

The software that could resurrect Windows Mobile devices as acceptable Internet browsing tools is delayed. Or at least the beta is delayed.

Apparently there’s a few bugs they want to iron out before they release the s/w so you won’t be able to download it until Thursday. Its OK by me as the 624Mhz, 4" VGA iPaq 214 that I was going to borrow to test it out hasn’t turned up yet.

Via The Unwired.

Thanks to everyone that replied to my cry for help on mobile operating systems. I’m trying to take a developers view on the mobile platform market and work out why a developer might choose a particular OS or platform. Coming from an X86 world myself, I find it difficult to understand how Moblin, one of the first X86-only mobile operating systems, might fit into the big, carrier-influenced, ARM-focused, 100million-device-per-year world of converged mobile devices.

Since my article, Nokia announced that Symbian and related projects will be pooled and gradually turned into open-source operation. This article at GigaOm has some good thoughts. Given that they have 65% of the global market it’s obviously a significant move and I’ll be watching closely to see what happens. In the meantime, here’s a list I created of the choices that are in the market. The top 4 basically take the whole of the 100million+ per year smartphone market with LiMo carrying most of the rest. The most shocking thing is the list of Linux options. What on earth are they thinking? Open Source Linux appears to translate to a lack of focus and if I was a commercial development house right now i’d be looking to the top 4. LiMo appears to have some traction with good carrier support and penetration. Android on OHA has a lot of backing and media attention and Moblin has a number of distribution deals although at the moment, these are non-voice netbook distribution deals. It remains to be seen if the X86-focused Intel can stimulate smaller-screen distribution and make the conversion to being a voice platform when their smartphone-focused Morestown cpu comes into play in 2010.

So here’s the list of platforms, systems and methods i’ve put together. i’f i’ve missed one, please let me know!

Top 4 – 95% penetration of mobile device (*1) market.

• Symbian (65%)
• Windows Mobile (13%)
• Blackberry (10%)
• iPhone/ OS-x (7%)

Linux flavours

• LiMo (now includes LiPS)
• Android – OHA
• Moblin – Linux+Gnome+Hildon
• Meamo – Nokia. Linux+Gnome (GtK+, Gstreamer, Matchbox, Hildon)
• Mobilinux – MontaVista Linux
• Acces Linux Platform (LiMo compliant?)
• OpenMoko – Linux+Gnome
• TuxPhone
• Qtopia

Others

• Garnet (Palm, Access)

High-level languages, kits and methods:

• Ajax
• j2me
• Adobe air
• Silverlight
• Flash
• Flex

(*1) % Figures from Canalys

Fans of total mobile device convergence might want to check this out as it looks like an interesting alternative to the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 that Kornel tested out a while back.

VGA touchscreen, keyboard, HSDPA, 3.2MP CAM, rotation sensor and GPS running on a Qualcomm MSM 7201A @ 528MHz (ARM11+ARM9) platform running Windows Mobile 6.1. Available in Europe, late summer and in North America after that.

With a little Opera 9.5 love this could keep a lot of people happy for a very long time! I think we should drop it into the database as an alternative solution don’t you?

More info at Engadget and TheUnwired.