These days Siri is a pretty big deal, and something that really helps set the iPhone even further apart from the competition. With recent 3rd party efforts to create Siri plugins this experience has gotten even better. What about those that don’t have an iPhone?

There has been plenty of love on the Android platform at this point with great legal, acceptable options like Vlingo, and there has already even been a somewhat-scam related release called “Siri For Android“, which was recently removed from the marketplace.  Most siri attempts though have been laughable.

Where does Windows Phone rank in all of this? Nowhere, at least not until now.

Today a new voice assistant has hit Windows Phone platform, called Ask Ziggy. While it doesn’t seem to be nowhere near as polished as Siri (at least not yet), it does give users the ability to send out Tweets, update Facebook, and is capable of answering trivial questions such as “Was Darth Vader a good guy?”, apparently.

The app is available for free from the Windows Marketplace and seems to be a good start.

The post Ask Ziggy Brings Siri-Like Functionality To Windows Phone appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Microsoft Reveals the Kin One and Kin Two

The journey has taken longer than any of us expected, but that whole “Project Pink” business at Microsoft finally emerged as something real yesterday when the company revealed the Microsoft Kin line of mobile phones. This release follows the acquisition of Danger and a partnership with Verizon, Sharp, and Vodafone.

To usher in its freshman foray into self-branded cell phone hardware, Microsoft is going to offer two different handsets at launch: the Kin One and the Kin Two. You may have once known these by their respective codenames during the Project Pink development: Turtle and Pure. It’s debatable whether these new names are any better.

Microsoft Introduces Kin One and Kin Two

Not to be confused with Thing One and Thing Two from Dr. Seuss, the Kin One and Kin Two feature the same kind of user interface and the same kind of social media-minded fundamental functionality, but they are quite different in size and stature.

Starting with the similarities, they’ll both have the same operating system, which has yet to be named. I guess we’ll just call it the Kin OS for now, or assume it’s Windows Phone 7. The main homescreen is known as the Loop and it is an automatically updated, real-time stream of all your news feeds, social network updates, emails, text messages, and the like. Yes, automatically updated.

You’ll also notice a small dot near the bottom of the screen. That’s called the “Spot” and you can drag the content to the “Spot” in order to share it with your friends, either through conventional means like MMS and email, or through the social networks like Facebook and Twitter.

Regarding differences, the Kin One (or Kin 1) is the smaller of the two, looking almost like a stout Palm Pre. The compact form factor allows it to literally fit in your palm. You get a vertical slide-out QWERTY keyboard (like the Pre), 5MP camera, 4GB storage, and full access to the Zune music store.

The Kin Two (or Kin 2) is the larger of the two and it looks more like a regular smartphone. Like the Kin One, it has a touchscreen, but this one is bigger. It also bumps up to 8GB of memory, an 8MP camera with 720p HD video, and a horizontal slide-out QWERTY keyboard.

Continuing the Sidekick Tradition

It’s been some time since we last saw the T-Mobile Sidekick (also sold as the HipTop in some markets). That represented a partnership between Danger (who made the OS) and Sharp (who made the hardware). It seems that they have once again been combined for the Microsoft Kin.

Just as the SideKick line was never a true smartphone, so is the case with the Kin One and Kin Two. They’re not supposed to be real smartphones. Instead, they cater to a tech-savvy youth market who are more inclined to interact with their friends. Is this the second coming of the Sidekick? Yes and no.

Back when the Sidekick was still popular, smartphones were more expensive, more inaccessible by the average consumer, and more catered to the business market. That has changed and, with that change, I fear that Kin will not be able to carve out the same kind of following as the Sidekick.

Social Network like MOTOBLUR?

This social media thing isn’t going to blow over any time soon, so it seems that all the hardware manufacturers are looking for ways to better capitalize on this interest. Motorola did that by using Google Android and developing the MOTOBLUR UI to go over top of it. We’ve also seen other phones with amalgamate information across networks so that you have a unified contact list.

The Microsoft Kin is doing much of the same, but I find that the user interface becomes far too cluttered as a result. Social networking is its clear focus, to be sure, but there has to be a better way to organize all that info.

Microsoft Kin Two Social Networking Home Screen

Be Wary of Battery Life and Data Usage

The “always on” social networking aspect of the Microsoft Kin One and Kin Two concern me. According to Microsoft, the Loop constantly updates itself. If you have a lot of Twitter and Facebook friends, that’s a lot of data to rifle through. (It seems that the updates are every 15 minutes, from what I hear, and not truly “real time” like how RIM’s push email is real time.)

Further still, every picture and video you capture with your Kin device is automatically saved in the cloud as part of Kin Studio. The cloud-based interface stores and organizes your captured memories based on a timeline and with geotagged GPS information. This means that you are sending boatloads of data and your GPS is always on.

This can’t be good for battery life and it can’t be good for your data plan either. Imagine uploading several 8-megapixel pictures and 720p HD videos to the cloud throughout the day. Unless you have a truly unlimited data plan and you’re always next to a power outlet, this could pose an issue.

The Palm Pre All Over Again?

The Palm Pre was hailed as the savior of Palm. It was going to pull it out of the dated mess of Treos and Centros, letting the company emerge as a leader in the new generation. While the Pre has been able to sell some units, it hasn’t been the resounding success that they had hoped.

Will Microsoft be doing the same thing with the Kin? The “Sidekick” philosophy doesn’t work in today’s climate, I don’t think, and Microsoft hasn’t exactly been a huge winner in the hardware arena (think Zune vs. iPod). But maybe that’s enough for MS; maybe they’re okay with second or third fiddle.

Microsoft Kin One and Kin Two Photo Gallery

The post Microsoft Kin One and Kin Two: Specs and perspective appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Most "smartphones" are unable to multitask fully as users would expect.

Rivals Microsoft and Apple have two mobile device platforms with one similar thing in common: both are unable to fully multitask.

For example, the biggest criticism being aimed at the iPhone is simply the inability to write an e-mail and listen to music in the background. You have to turn off the Pandora application for that. The only other way around this problem is hacking into the phone, commonly referred to as jail breaking. This is illegal according to Apple.

For Windows Phone 7, the operating systems’ core components can run without any slowdown. Again just like the iPhone, the third party applications can’t run in the background. Coincidence? Or smart phone technology just not being so smart yet.

If the lack of multitasking isn’t annoying enough, Windows 7 does not support the copy and paste function, as the iPhone did not when it first was released. How is anyone going to get used to not being able to copy and paste?

This is surprisingly quite the opposite in the case of Google Android which allows multitasking, so running third party applications is a very smooth process. Although there is a limitation to how many applications you can load into the internal memory in order to maintain a “smooth” operating environment.

Microsoft’s Charlie Kindel has said “We do not allow third-party applications running on the phone to execute in the background” his reason being: the drain on the phone’s battery life. It is a widely held belief that multitasking is a term that is misinterpreted in the world of smartphones because on paper both the iPhone and Windows Phone 7 have their core components running in the background. This misinterpretation might stem from the fact that multitasking for a desktop is much different than a smartphone.

Palm’s Web Operating is another shining example of a phone’s operating system that allows you to run applications in the background, but this has a large impact on the device’s battery life.

Comparing Apple and Microsoft’s phones to Googles and Palm’s is  like comparing a marathon runner to a sprinter. Who has the stamina to run the longest distance? When it’s all said and done, Microsoft seems to be taking a step back and trying to emulate the iPhone. This is an unusual move for the company but hasn’t stopped them from copying before.

The post Microsoft and Apple have one thing in common: no multitasking appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

A variety of Windows-powered smartphones.

When Apple came forward with the App Store for the iPhone, everyone got pretty excited. At the same time apps had already existed on other platforms; just not in a unified storefront. The other trouble was that other smartphones did not have the same kind of internal storage capacity as the iPhone.

As a result, it has been more difficult to install quite as large a number of applications on other smartphones because of internal memory limitations. That’s about to change, at least for the Microsoft fans in the audience. Rather than restrict you to internal memory, you can now install some apps on a storage card.

Microsoft just made an announcement on the ability to install new applications from the Windows Marketplace for Mobile has been added to both Windows Mobile 6.5 and the upcoming Windows Phone 7 Series.

Since you can get these microSD memory cards in fairly sizable capacities, you could say that this brings Windows Mobile smartphones on par with the iPhone, at least in terms of installing a large number of apps.

For the record, Google Android phones are still lacking in this ability and rely solely on internal memory for app installations. I have a feeling that’s going to change pretty soon based on today’s news.

The post Microsoft to let you install mobile apps on memory cards, sticks one to iPhone appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Building an operating system for handheld devices is a lucrative business. It is the story of David and Goliath all over again. Microsoft has been taking a sound beating in the mobile phone market.

Motorola’s CEO is business savvy. He is diversifying his product mix by introducing a brand of phones with Microsoft’s heavily touted Windows Phone 7. Essentially Motorola will have this new phone satisfying Motorola-loyal customer, with the ‘Motorola Droid’ targeting one segment of the market and the Windows 7 phone targeting another segment of the market. He’s got it covered.

The Windows 7 Phone series GUI architecture uses a “hub” thus slotting content in various categories. This may seem revolutionary and unique in contrast to Android but the truth is it’s a similar interface to Microsoft’s Media Player Zune project. It’s no big deal software companies recycle their code libraries and designs on older projects for newer projects all the time – it’s called ‘Software Recycling’. Rumour has it the Windows Phone 7 language is an amalgam of Silverlight, XNA and the .NET compact framework. Yes XNA the language used for writing code for X-Box games and Silverlight Microsoft’s alternative to Flash.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has reassured all concerned that Microsoft will continue to support Windows Mobile 6.5, although right now it looks like an ancient relic that Microsoft may want to drop like a hot potato.

Microsoft is also aware that Apple is another tough competitor with their I-Phone. Microsoft’s Marketing analysts want consumers to know that they are going to be offering a unique product different from Apple’s marketing strategy, to build media devices.

Looks like the software giant has its claws out and wants to put a stranglehold on the handheld device market reminiscent of the PC – Apple wars.

The post Motorola open to launching Windows Phone 7 devices appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

With the recent launch of Windows Phone 7 Series, many Windows Mobile 6.5 (and Windows Mobile 6.53) owners cringed at the thought they would be dropped without a second thought. Contrary to those thoughts, Microsoft has announced that the OS will stay on board and will be re-badged as Windows Phone Classic. Why? Well, it’s still popular and Microsoft doesn’t want to turn their back on such an important core group of users.

As we reported earlier, WinPho7 will be a complete overhaul on Windows Mobile, making it more of a mobile lifestyle device by integrating Zune and Xbox Live. Windows Mobile Classic may just be the version targeted to businesses with continued support from Microsoft. For those of you looking for a Windows Mobile 6.5 download, your best bet is to wait it out for the Windows Phone Classic release.

The post Still alive: Windows Mobile 6.5 now Windows Phone Classic appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Microsoft’s CEO Steve Ballmer unveiled the companies next-generation of Windows for smartphones today: Windows Phone 7 Series.  Microsoft is adapting to consumer demand and tailoring the new OS to have a “smart design” and integrated experiences between web and other applications.  The have also have managed to bring Xbox Live games and Zune music and video to the mobile phone.

“Today, I’m proud to introduce Windows Phone 7 Series, the next generation of Windows Phones,” said Steve Ballmer, chief executive officer at Microsoft. “In a crowded market filled with phones that look the same and do the same things, I challenged the team to deliver a different kind of mobile experience. Windows Phone 7 Series marks a turning point toward phones that truly reflect the speed of people’s lives and their need to connect to other people and all kinds of seamless experiences.”

We do know HTC will be of the first to manufacture smartphones for the new Windows Phone 7 Series, along with Dell, Garmin-Asus, HP, LG, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Toshiba and Qualcomm.  Peter Chou, chief executive officer of HTC Corporation, says their company is working closely with Microsoft to bring the unique HTC experience that customers love to next-generation smartphones.

Microsoft says they are taking an entirely different approach to the phone software, they’ve done a complete overhaul on Windows Mobile from the ground up essentially creating a completely different OS.  With Android 2.1 and iPhone OS being extremely intuitive with beautiful UI designs, Microsoft has now aimed for their Windows Phone 7 Series to be more visually appealing with more emphasis on the mobile lifestyle.  Tiled boxes of applications scroll vertically, users can customize them as quick launch links. Scrolling and sliding between applications makes it all fluid and connected.  The first screenshots of the OS seem to be very basic and bland, nothing like the iPhone or Android OS, and really doesn’t make me wan’t to get off my seat.  But replete with social networking functions, it has an advantage over out-of-the-box systems.

Windows Phone 7 Series OS was announced to be on smartphones in stores by “holiday 2010.”

Update: I’ve added a video below from Microsoft, it doesn’t get overly in-depth about the system, but shows a bunch of visuals of the various screens.

Overview of various screens in Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 Series OS

The home screen (shown above), or Start, on Windows Phone 7 Series can be customized with “live tiles” that show the latest updates from the Web directly to customers. For example, create a “live tile” of a friend and gain a readable, up-to-date view of that person’s latest pictures and posts, just by glancing at Start.

The Windows Phone 7 Series People Hub is communication central, where customers can see all relevant content associated with a contact, including live feeds from social networks and photos. It also provides a single place from which customers can post updates to Facebook and Windows Live in one step.

The Windows Phone 7 Series Pictures Hub brings together photos from the phone, the PC and online albums into one simple view. It’s easy to share pictures on the phone to social sites such as Facebook and Windows Live, and see up-to-date online albums that others are sharing.

The Windows Phone 7 Series Office Hub provides fast access to Microsoft Office Mobile, Microsoft Office SharePoint and Microsoft Office OneNote on the same phone that offers Microsoft Office Outlook e-mail.

The Windows Phone 7 Series Games Hub delivers the first and only official Xbox LIVE experience on a phone. It’s not just about games on the phone; it’s about playing games with friends.

The Windows Phone 7 Series Music + Video Hub is the one place for media — from music to streaming radio to podcasts to video.

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