XDA Developers is at it again and a new thread has popped up listing lots of extracted apps from the HTC HD2. Handle with care, but potentially great for Windows Mobile users who want to experiment.

Windows Mobile users can now try out a new Windows Phone 7 theme from Jaxbot. The download is here, but early indications are that it is a bit slow. However, if it speeds up a bit it is one of the more useful and entertaining theme creations we have seen this year so far.

The XDAndroid project has managed to port the Android OS to the HTC Touch Pro2 and the results at last make the OS perfectly usable on a Windows Mobile phone. More at PocketNow.

Google has released a new YouTube app for Windows Mobile and S60 phones and it’s looking to be quite an improvement- “Last March, we launched the YouTube Mobile app for Nokia S60 and Windows Mobile phones. Since then, the application was translated to 12 languages, installed on millions of devices around the world, and has been chosen as a Nokia Ovi Top App of 2009. Today we’re excited to announce the release of the latest version of the YouTube Mobile app, version 2.4.

We strongly believe that faster is better. The YouTube Mobile app is designed to be the fastest way to find and play a video on your smartphone. In the initial release we minimized the number of features and focused on speed for things that matter – app startup, finding a video, and starting playback.

In today’s release we have added search query suggestions, ‘My Account’ support, and a new homescreen user interface that is optimized for larger screens. Now when you log into your YouTube account on our phone, you can view your favorites, subscriptions and playlists from wherever you are. Let’s say you have recently found an amazing basketball shot video and favorited it on your desktop PC. When you’re at the basketball court with your friends all you need to do is launch the YouTube app and go to your “Favorites” to show it to them…”

Microsoft has shown off some XNA games that are likely to make their way to Windows Phone 7. The images and video from engadget say it all really- stunning!

“Alright, we’re going to be straight with you: you’re not going to like this. See, Microsoft just showed us a pair of 3D games running on its ASUS Windows Phone prototype and built with its brand new XNA Game Studio 4.0, but wouldn’t let us nab a single photo or video of the process. What we can tell you is that they exist, they work, and at least Microsoft tossed us some screenshots to wave in your face. The two titles are The Harvest (pictured), a good looking touch-controlled dungeon crawler with destructible environments, being developed by Luma Arcade; and Battle Punks, a less impressive one-on-one sword fighting Facebook game by Gravity Bear that’s being ported over. We didn’t get to see any full motion 3D camera moves, since Battle Punks is just composed of two characters duking it out, and The Harvest has a fixed camera and some pre-rendered elements, but there were indeed some real polygons being crunched before our eyes at a full resolution (no upscaling), alpha-rev…”

There will be games on Windows Phone 7 of course, but here is one of the very first videos demonstrating one in action-

Windows Phone 7 has finally be demonstrated on video in a full walkthrough. Check out the video below and let us know what you think. I am kind of impressed so far.

Opera Mini has finally gone native on Windows Mobile phones- hooray! “Opera Software today launched a native version of Opera Mini 5 beta for Windows Mobile 5- and 6-based handsets.

By integrating Opera Mini with the Windows Mobile platform, Opera is able to deliver an optimized version of the popular Opera Mini browser that dramatically improves performance and the overall user experience. While Opera Mini traditionally requires Java, the new Windows Mobile version does not, which means that Opera Mini will work on any Windows Mobile phone.

The Opera Mini 5 beta for Windows Mobile includes the same rich feature set as the Java-based version. Renowned features, including tabbed browsing, the password manager, bookmarks and Speed Dial, are built-in to deliver convenience while on-the-go.

One of Opera Mini’s major benefits is that it compresses data traffic by up to 90 percent, resulting in significantly improved page-loading and speed. This results in a dramatically reduced data load, which can translate to lower browsing costs when on a pay-per-MB data plan or when on expensive roaming.

“Windows Mobile deserves a mobile browser that looks better, handles better and delivers better than the default browser,” said Dag Olav Norem, Vice President of Products, Opera Software. “Even though Opera has 50 million satisfied Opera Mini users, we always seek ways to improve our browser for each and every mobile phone user out there. Now, we are pleased to offer the world’s most popular mobile Web browser as a native Windows Mobile application.”"

Wired has captured the thoughts of some Windows Mobile developers and saught their views on Windows Phone 7. The results are slightly negative…

“Developers, developers, developers, developers, developers, developers. Recruiting a ton of them to create a rich app experience for Windows Phone 7 Series is going to be Microsoft’s toughest challenge if it wants to get its groove back in the mobile space.

Demonstrated last week, Microsoft’s new mobile operating system Windows Phone 7 Series looks elegant and immaculate compared to its predecessors. The OS blends together Xbox Live gaming, Zune multimedia, personal media (photos and videos), social media utilities, productivity tools and third-party apps, which are organized into categories called “Hubs.”

Even so, a neatly packed user interface doesn’t fully address the fundamental weakness of the previous Windows Mobile OS: a fragmented platform that made coding and selling apps for Windows Mobile a challenge for smaller developers.

In other words, Microsoft has long lacked the sort of widespread, enthusiastic support from independent developers — not just enterprise coders within large organizations — that made the iPhone and its App Store a blockbuster innovation…”

Apple has stepped up the mobile lawsuits and popped one on HTC for supposedly infrnging 20 Apple patents. When will it ever end? Thanks to Trevor.

From NYT- “Apple said on Tuesday that it had filed lawsuits against HTC, the Taiwan-based phone maker, accusing it of infringing on 20 Apple patents tied to the iPhone.

The suits, filed with the office of the United States International Trade Commission and the United States District Court in Delaware, say HTC violated patents covering the phone’s user interface, internal architecture and hardware.

HTC makes the Nexus One, a phone designed and sold by Google that runs Google’s Android operating system. Google was not mentioned in the suit, but the lawsuits are likely to worsen the already strained relations between Apple and Google.
Steven P. Jobs, Apple’s chief executive, said in a news release: “We can sit by and watch competitors steal our patented inventions, or we can do something about it. We’ve decided to do something about it.” Mr. Jobs added: “We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours.”

How’s times change…

If you need even more customisation on your Windows Mobile device you need to check out this thread at XDA Developers. Seriously clever stuff for the serious power user.

“This is a Manila (Sense) 2.5 Home Tab modification which features:
- Home Tab with 4 views
- Extended Quick Links:
— 3 pages for up to 48, 60 or 75 shortcuts
— Quick Links layouts include 4×4, 4×5 and 5×5
— links can be easily rearranged via drag and drop
— option to hide empty links and icon frames
— grid view in program selector
- Extended Appointments:
— up to 4 appointments on the home tab
— dated appointments for more than 2 days in the future
- Optional Call History button
- Configurable links for: Alarm, Calendar and Call History
- Mod options are configurable from registry”

BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express is now available for free from the RIM website. If you have the right server, this could be perfect for your small business. “Connect two people via BlackBerry® smartphones and ideas get bigger. Progress happens faster. Answers get smarter. So imagine what happens when you give a business the freedom to connect all its employees.

BlackBerry® Enterprise Server Express enables businesses of any size to quickly and easily get started with the BlackBerry solution. It provides advanced BlackBerry smartphone features with no additional software or user license fees, and works with any Internet-enabled BlackBerry data plan or a BlackBerry enterprise data plan.”

Vodafone UK has priced the HTC Legend at a respectable £1.99 on a 24 month contract at £25/month which also gives you unlimited texts and 300 minutes. I am presuming that data is extra and the unusual pricing continues with the Legend costing only £12.99 on a 18 month £30/month contract. More at Pocket-lint.

It looks as though no current Windows Mobile phones will be upgradeable to Windows Phone 7. apcmag has the scoop and the following says it all really- ““Because we have very specific requirements for Windows Phone 7 Series the current phones we have right now will not be upgradable”, Kwan explained.”

pocket story – The Boy Giant has been released for the iPhone by Wotsamaflip and is as good as the excellent The Smelly Sprout from the same developer. Anything that keeps my 6 year old daughter transfixed must be good.

Gavin has emailed to recommend WIFI Remote Access v1.0w which he describes as “an amazing piece of software, so easy to use and setup.” Certainly looks good for free.

“This free application will allow you to explore the content of your Windows Phone directly from your computer, through a WIFI connection without installing any client software on the computer! All you need is to open your web browser, and type the ip address of your phone (which is displayed on your phone screen).

You will then be able to browse your data, pictures, and music and send files from your computer to your device. You can see pictures and listen music on your computer directly from the web interface.

It also features a registry editor, for people who like to tweak their Windows Mobile device.

Internet Explorer (6, 7 or users on Windows XP or Vista (with .Net Framework 3.5 SP1 installed) or Windows 7 (.Net Framework 3.5 SP1 already included) will be able to browse their pictures from a 3D XBAP (XAML Browser Application) / WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation) based user interface (as seen on the screenshots below). They will also be able to upload multiple files at once through this interface.”

Microsoft has shared more information about Windows Phone 6.5 Starter Edition and it sounds slightly more useful than Windows 7 starter for the PC i.e. not useful at all.

From ZDNet- “Neowin first reported over a week ago that Microsoft was planning a Starter version of its mobile operating system. But that news was overshadowed by all the Windows Phone 7 Series hoopla from the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

Windows Phone Starter is similar in concept to the original Windows Starter Edition products. Windows XP and Windows Vista Starter were products exclusively tailored for emerging markets. With Windows 7, Microsoft broadened the availability of the Starter Edition to include all countries, with Home Basic becoming the new emerging-market-only SKU. So far, it seems as though Phone Starter is going to be an emerging-market play only and not a low-end platform for users in developed countries.

As Neowin noted, Windows Phone Starter will be available in two versions (one with Office Mobile and one without).”

Murray has tried out the Treo Pro for a third time and proclaims it to be “a fabulous bit of hardware with a great keyboard that looks and feels great in the hand.”

We rarely agree, but I would proclaim it to be a terrible piece of hardware with a barely useable keyboard and one that feels dreadful in the hand.

“Splashed out on a 2nd hand Treo Pro last week off eBay and I’m not sure why. This is the 3rd time I’ve bought one in the last 18 months and regular readers will know that the first two ventures both ended badly with me slagging it off and decrying it as slow and buggy. I don’t know why this one should have been any different but it is. It is unlocked and has no carrier crud on it but then so did the 2nd one I purchased. It’s by no means quick but I haven’t noticed any of the infuriating lag that blighted the first two. I’ll probably not keep it that long but what attracted me to it again was the hardware. This thing is probably my favourite hardware set up, slim with a great qwerty keyboard and it feels solid. I’m not sure that the Bold 9700, Hero and certainly the Pre have been built as well. The Bold 9700 creaks around where the silver trim is and the keyboard is bouncy and feels like it could break, the Hero is okay but there is a bit of flex in the battery cover area whilst the Pre, well, it’s a bit wobbly isn’t it?”