Windows Mobile 7 in the flesh?

Windows Mobile 6.5 not coming until this summer and the design still up in the air, many have kind of almost forgotten about Windows Mobile 7.  Ok, maybe not forgotten, but it has been shoved from the forefront of their minds.  Above is an awesome screenshot of a “claimed” Windows Mobile 7 in action captured by “a kind tipster” who sent the image above to WM Power User.  Is it real?  For all we know it could be a really nice theme or shell on top of WinMo.  If it does in fact turn out to be anything close to how WinMo 7 will look once released I can honestly say I would be excited to see what it looks like.  Anything would be an improvement over the current Windows 98 look of WinMo 6 and 6.1.

Source: WM Experts

Palringo IM app comes to Android

Social butterflies on the iPhone have enjoyed Palringo for several months now.  Palringo if you didn’t know is an awesome multi IM chat client that supports:

MSN, AIM, iChat, ICQ, Yahoo!, Jabber, Gtalk, Gadu-Gadu and Facebook.

As you can see it has a wide list of support.  Android users can now join in on that multi-chat goodness as Palringo has officially released the Android version.  Like all other smartphones, since apps can run in the background, you get true background notifications that no “push server” can ever replicate.  Apple, this will forever be your biggest crutch.  So Android users get downloadin’!

Source: Slashphone

iPhone 3.0 SDK still leaving some wanting more

The iPhone 3.0 preview last week revealed to the world Apple’s latest up and coming goodies that are on track for this summer.  Copy & paste, multiple photo email, etc were some of the many *average* features added to the iPhones feature set.  Even with more than 1,000 new API’s, some developers are still asking for more.  Not more as in more complex, but as in make it easier to make simple apps.  Neven Morgan details on his blog that for something as simple as a pill reminder app to take your meds you have to use the push notification service effectively walking around 10 city blocks just to go to the house next door.  Why is Apple making it so hard when they can just add an API to use the existing clock app and tie into that to have notifications?  Why make even simple things exponentially harder when Apple is all about simple?  Hopefully Apple addresses this as they still have a couple months.  What’s your take?

Source: Alley Insider

iPhone App review: Scrabble *Updated*

*Updated on 3/24/09 for latest 1.1.88 Scrabble update…updated section is at the bottom following original review*

I know the iPhone version of Scrabble has been out for a quite a while now but I have spent a great deal of time playing it and felt I should write a review of my own.  If you like words, play the board game of Scrabble and own an iPhone, you must get the iPhone version.  Besides the fact that you don’t have to lug out a board and keep track of a billion little tiles, being able to play against a partner and lay down on the couch will even being in different rooms adds a whole new level of fun to the game.  It is definitely worth the $7.99!  Read on for the full review!

SMS Counter monitors your texts to keep your bill low

If you don’t have an unlimited texting plan (I didn’t used to) you know the feeling of always calculating in your head about how many texts you’ve sent/received each month and how close you are to going over you monthly allotment.  It is a balancing act that often results in you paying several dollars up to more extreme cases of several hundred just for using a few bytes of data each time.  Pricing per text message is rediculous in itself, but that’s a whole nother story.  Blackberry users have a nice option to monitor their text message usage with a handy little app called SMS Counter.  SMS Counter will monitor your texts and alert you when you are close to going over your monthly limit.  The features include:

• Counts incoming/outgoingSMS/text messages
• Set monthly limit and get warning when approaching
• Set cost per text message and keep track of over limit cost
• Export monthly summary to the Calendar application

So is SMS Counter worth the $4.95?  That is up to you decided.  I’m merely the messenger.  A couple more screens inside.

Nokia’s Mail for Exchange gets updates aplenty

Nokia may have the lead in market share globaly when it comes to phones, however that market share doesn’t mean they’re the best.  Most of Nokia’s numbers come from low end handsets.  What really has driven smartphones in years past is enterprise support for large coporations.  In this regard, Nokia has fallen short mulitple times.  Nokia brought to market Mail for Exchange (MfE) in order to get a foot in the door of the corporate world and is slowly trying to wiggle their way further inside.  With the latest update that they have just released many problems are addressed in hopes of finally making larger strides business land.  The features are just after the click.

Peek Pronto brings more speed, more mail, less color.

If you are the type of person that needs mobiel email and only mobile email, the Peek was your latest answer. It provided support for up to two email accounts and at one point you had the option to buy it outright without ever having to pay monthly usage charges. Not all was perfect however as the two email account limit was a turn off for some. For others the devices not so speedy operation was the deterance. If the first Peek wasn’t enough to woo you over, the good folks at Peek have something new to tickle your fancy…the Peek Pronto. What is the Peek Pronto? It is the Peek on steroids *mild steroids* mind you as the updates are minor though greatly welcomed.