When Microsoft [MSFT] announced the new Windows Phone 7 Series on Monday we learned that the company had completely re-written the OS from the ground up rather than using older code. 7 Series will be launched later this year, while phones currently run Windows Mobile 6.5.X.

What we hear now is that the previous version (version 6.5) will now be known as Windows Phone Classic. The Windows Phone Classic will continue to be supported and Microsoft will continue to ship that version of the OS along side Windows Phone 7 Series. Obviously there will be two types of phones which will be the premium sort that have the necessary minimum spec to run WM7S and those cheaper phones that do not.

The name change isn’t happening yet from what we have heard and the older OS will receive it’s new name when Windows Phone 7 Series is launched. [Read more…]

Amazon have announced that Kindle for Blackberry is now available. The software allows you to access all your Kindle eBooks while on the move on your Blackberry and syncronises all data including annotations created on your Kindle or computer with your Blackberry smartphone.

The software is compatible with several Blackberry devices which includes the Bold 9000, Bold 9700, Curve 8520, Curve 8900, Storm 9530, Storm 9550 and Tour 9630 smartphones.

The application can be downloaded over at Amazon and once installed gives you access to browse over 400,000 books including 101 of the NYT best sellers. [Read more…]

The HTC Desire has the exact same hardware as the Google [GOOG] Nexus One phone although the Desire runs Sense on top of Android to give it an excellent user interface.

As with all things HTC, it wasn’t long before someone got to work on porting the ROM to somewhere else. A user has managed to get the Desire ROM to function on the Nexus One. One problem at the moment is that the ROM doesn’t quite fit for some reason, possibly due to Google slightly modifying the Nexus One code and perhaps not starting from a completely blank start, but with some re-arranging and moving some apps off the system partition the code can now run. The list of what actually works is included over on Modaco.

Some of the features that work include the trackball, hardware keys under the screen, the proximity sensor, light sensor, compass and G sensor. [Read more…]

Meebo have launched a new iPhone application that allows those who use IM to communicate with a number of IM services all in one place. The new application runs in competition against two other applications for the iPhone called Beejive and IM+ that cost $6.99 and $4.99 respectively. However, the Meebo application has two benefits with the first being that it’s free, and the second in that it also runs quicker than the paid competition apps.

The application has broad compatibility, keeps chat logs and utilises push notifications. One thing to note here is that the speed claims are based on early reviews, so it’s unclear what the application will run like on a range of iPhones in different signal strength areas etc… [Read more…]

The HTC Smart is a budget phone that’s heading exclusively to the O2 network. The Smart runs the Brew operating system designed by Qualcomm and has the Sense UI as an overlay to that operating system.

The HTC Smart has a 300MHz processor along with 256MB of RAM. For storage a Micro SD card slot can be found. The screen measures 2.8 inches and can display 240 x 320 pixels. On the back of the phone a 3 megapixel camera can be found.

For connectivity the HTC Smart has HSDPA along with GSM/GPRS and Edge connectivity. Wireless networking is not included on the phone with it being a budget device, but you do get Bluetooth 2.0 along with A2DP stereo audio. [Read more…]

Verizon [VZ] have announced that they are now to allow smartphones connected to their network to use Skype. The network will now allow unlimited Skype-to-Skype voice calls within the US and also allow you to utilise cheaper SkypeOut calling rates both in and out of the US.

Phones that are compatible include the Blackberry Storm, Storm2, 8330, 8530, 8830 and Tour 9630. Also a number of Android based phones are also capable of utilising the service. [Read more…]

The PUMA phone was on display at MWC this year in Barcelona and seems to tackle a few things differently to other mobile phones. First off, it’s back battery cover is covered in a solar panel that allows the phone to be charged by sun light. This allows you to leave the AC adapter at home and always have a chargeable device in your pocket. Secondly, the phone is small and aimed at those who enjoy sports.

The phone it’s self looks quite good. It’s quite a small device that houses a 2.8 inch touchscreen. The phone weighs 115g and measures 102mm x 56mm x 13mm. The small sized phone is specifically made that way too as the phone is aimed at being a “sports” phone that allows you to time, track and keep tabs on your sports activities. [Read more…]

Google [GOOG] seem to be doing very well at the moment with the Android operating system and the phones it ships on. Figures revealed recently by the Google CEO, Eric Schmidt show that about 60,000 phones running Android are shipping every single day.

At the rate of 60K per day that equates to about 5.4 million handsets per quarter which is a decent amount of handsets. Although it’s still some way behind the Apple [AAPL] iPhone in terms of sales per quarter (which are at 8.7 million), it’s still a huge chunk considering the amount of time they have been shipping vs the iPhone. [Read more…]

The graph above represents three mobile phone OS’s in competition with each other. Back in December 2006, Microsoft [MSFT] appeared to be the king of U.S. smartphone market share with just short of 35% of the market which rose slightly after that but then started to fall down on a steel slope till in December 2009 it hit a low of 17% share with RIM taking the top spot and Apple [AAPL] being somewhere in between.

Windows Phone 7 Series was announced this Monday just gone and Microsoft are hoping that this graph can be fixed. [Read more…]

Sprint have announced on Twitter that the HTC Hero and Samsung Moment will both qualify for an Android 2.1 update.

Before this particular twitter message arrived, Sprint had previously said that the Android 2.1 update would be coming to both phones sometime in the 1st half of this year, so it’s no big surprise that the window has been refined a little.

Although 2nd Quarter 2010 is still several weeks away, we have been told that it will be an early Q2 launch which hopefully means Hero and Moment users will get their hands on the OTA update sometime in April. [Read more…]

Sony Ericsson have announced their latest phones in the Xperia X10 range. The new versions are called the Xperia X10 mini and X10 mini pro. Each of the phones are compact versions of the larger Xperia X10.

The X10 mini is a touchscreen device while the X10 mini pro features a touchscreen, but also a slide out QWERTY keyboard. Each of the new X10 mini’s runs the Google [GOOG] Android operating system. Each of the phones include the Sony Ericsson Timescape application which puts all information in one place allowing users to see at a glance any text messages, missed calls, IM’s and Facebook/Twitter updates all in one place.

For music, each phone features the infinite button that connects the phone up to a music store and YouTube to get the music you want to listen to. [Read more…]

HTC have also announced the HTC Desire today. Also, Orange UK have announced that they will be rolling the phone out over here in the UK.

The HTC Desire is another Android based phone. It runs the Android 2.1 OS and is powered by a Snapdragon 1GHz processor from Qualcomm.

The HTC Desire is 3G+ enabled allowing it to connect at the fastest speeds possible on Orange’s network. Other features on the phone include a GPS sensor, a gravity sensor, digital compass, 512MB of memory that can be expanded with up to a 32GB microSD card.

The screen on the HTC Desire measures 3.7 inches and is in WVGA format. The screen is capacitive and has an anti-fingerprint screen coating to prevent marks saying on the screen that normally plague touchscreen devices. [Read more…]