Items tagged with mobile os
Want to take Mozilla's upcoming Firefox OS for a spin? You're in luck, because the developers have released a simulator called "r2d2b2g", or b2g for short, that allows you to install an .xpi extension inside of a desktop version of Firefox and see what it is that Mozilla has up its sleeves. Once the .xpi is installed, you'll be greeted to a dashboard (seen below) where you'll be able to turn the simulator on and get into action. A pop-up window will appear with a recent build of Firefox OS running inside of it. As a simulator, you'll be able to use the OS inside of this pop-up much like you would on a regular phone. This simulator isn't like a virtual machine, where functionality is cut-off....
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The jury is still out as to whether or not Microsoft's upcoming mobile OS, Windows Phone 7, will succeed but if AT&T has any influence in the matter, things are looking good for the Redmond-based software manufacturer. Via email, an AT&T spokeswoman said, "We'll be the premier carrier for Windows Phone 7." She continued saying, "We haven't given guidance on timing." Last week, well-known Altimeter Group analyst Michael Gartenberg sent out a tweet that claimed AT&T had signed up to purchase 8 million Windows Phone 7 devices. He cited an email from a "trusted source" though his comment could not be confirmed. To help put this in perspective, approximately 55 million smartphones shipped...
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When HP acquired Palm earlier this year, the webOS community feared the end was in sight. Within days of the acquisition, however, HP put any fears to rest by confirming that it had no plans to abandon webOS or Palm's smartphone business. Instead, HP said that it planned to put webOS in a bunch of other devices such as printers and tablets. Recently, Jon Rubinstein, former Palm CEO, dropped a casual mention of an updated version of webOS — version 2.0 — at the Fortune Brainstorm Tech conference. What's even more interesting is that he said it would be coming “later this year”. At this point, we don't know a whole lot about what webOS 2.0 will contain, but it's good to...
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Up to today, Microsoft had managed to keep the Kin's failure and early termination largely separate from the discussion over Windows Phone 7. According to Redmond, the Kin was neither fish nor fowl; it wasn't Windows Phone 7, but it wasn't Windows Mobile 6.5 either. After Microsoft's WP7 demos at Mobile Beat this year, that's no longer possible. According to Infoworld, WP7 "will be a failure...Windows Phone 7 is a waste of time and money. It's a platform that no carrier, device maker, developer, or user should bother with. Microsoft should kill it before it ships and admit that it's out of the mobile game for good. It is supposed to ship around Christmas 2010, but anyone who gets one will prefer...
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Android 2.2 was introduced at Google's I/O conference in San Francisco this past May. It promised to add a number of much-wanted changes and additions to the mobile OS, and even a few things that Apple's iOS does not offer. We've recently acquired the final gold build of Android 2.2, or "Froyo," on our in-house Nexus One, and we'll be detailing the changes and performance tweaks in the pages ahead. Join us as we take a deep dive into the world of Android 2.2, Google's latest and greatest mobile OS... Android 2.2 Review: A Deep, Delicious Dive Into Froyo...
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Google's Android mobile operating system originally launched back in 2008 with the introduction of the industry's first "Google-phone," the T-Mobile G1. The G1 was built by HTC, and at the time, it was fairly cutting edge. It wasn't the most exciting piece of hardware the world had ever seen, but it offered consumers with a very real alternative to the iPhone OS. Up until that point, Apple basically held the entire smartphone world in their hands. BlackBerry loyalists stuck with their push-enabled handsets, but Windows Mobile users were leaving in droves. Very few options existed in the mobile OS space, opening up a perfect opportunity for Google to do what Google...
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Microsoft showed off its new mobile platform called Windows Phone 7 Series earlier this week. While the new mobile OS promises big changes in comparison to previous generations of Windows Mobile, one thing remains the same: Microsoft still intends to charge manufacturers to license the software. Whether or not this is a wise decision will remain to be seen, but there are compelling arguments for both sides. When Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said Microsoft would continue with its current Windows Mobile business model, he defended the stance saying, "I think there's something clean and simple and easy to understand about our model….We build something, we sell that thing." He added, "I think it's...
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We're not quite sure why anyone would want to do this, but a Norwegian programmer claims to have created an application that allows you to run the Windows Mobile operating system on your iPhone. The programmer, Erik Kristiansen, showed off his app in action at the recent myPhone2008 convention in Las Vegas. Kristiansen's application operates similar to Apple's Bootcamp in that it allows you to load either the iPhone OS or the Windows Mobile OS when the iPhone boots up. Running Windows Mobile, the iPhone appears to have full functionality as a Windows smartphone, including (of course) making phone calls. Kristiansen's program is currently in beta, but he says it should be available as an open...
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