Windows Mobile 6.5 has been officially released for some time now. And we already had the launch event last week (together with Windows Mobile marketplace, together with Windows Mobile Marketplace this has been the biggest thing since the release of well.. Anything Windows Mobile and phone related.

Microsoft has woken up and smelled the competition, although many feel they acted a little bit too late. Luckily Microsoft is well known for putting major funds into projects and getting them back on track in record time. Although Windows Mobile 6.5 could have been more, everyone agrees that it is a huge improvement over Windows Mobile 6.1. So what phones will be getting an upgrade?

First let’s have a look at the amount of windows mobile phones that a company like HTC has launched over the course of 2 years:

HTC Touch Diamond
HTC Touch Diamond 2
HTC Touch HD
HTC Touch Cruise
HTC Touch Pro 2
HTC Touch Pro
HTC Touch Dual
HTC TyTN II
HTC Snap

And the list goes on and on, there are about 5-6 lesser known Windows Mobile powered phones released by HTC over the last 2 years. So what devices are getting an upgrade? Sadly not too many HTC already released a press release about this and stated that only the Touch Diamond 2 and the Touch Pro 2 are getting an upgrade. Probably the only reason for this is that they had promised this to the audience when these phones went on sale.

They call the other phones like the Touch HD to be dated technology even though it has the exact same hardware as the Touch Diamond 2 and the Touch Pro 2. So basically it’s all about the money. HTC has no intention in spending time and money on bringing out updates for older devices because that would only hinder their sales. For a company standpoint it’s pretty clear but from the consumer point of view it’s a bit disappointing.

Microsoft has released a list of devices that are getting an official Windows Mobile 6.5 upgrade. The list can be found here.

Please note that although they say that the devices are outdated and therefore not getting an upgrade a lot of people are already running Windows Mobile 6.5 upgrade on their HTC phones for months. If you are interested in this go find out if your device has a custom rom available on the best message board out there xda-developers.com.

If you have any questions feel free to leave a comment, we have been flashing our devices for years and are willing to answer any question about this issue.

Windows Mobile Marketplace has been released for a couple of days now. So how did the release go? Are the users happy thus far with the applications you can find here? One of the bigger problems so far is that users from smaller windows mobile market place ‘groups’ as Microsoft calls them have little applications available in the new shop.

For instance we have heard from people in The Netherlands that next to the applications that Microsoft themselves have to offer there is only one third party application that you can install with the marketplace.

So where does this problem come from? The issue lies with the policies Microsoft thus far has enforced on the mobile Marketplace. Application developers have been forced to have their applications translated to the country language of the sub-shop, this can be an expensive endeavor depending on the size of the application. Next to the fact that an application needs to be translated the developer also has to pay 10 dollars per submission per country. So for smaller developers it’s of course a much better idea to submit an application to the bigger countries and forget the smaller markets. This leaves the users of Windows Mobile Marketplace from smaller countries with little applications and a sour taste in their mouths.

It’s weird that Microsoft concocted such a strategy for the release of the Marketplace, because looking at the success of the Android and iPhone market, why would you change a winning formula? These shops are doing millions and millions of application downloads every day and most of the applications do not have Multilanguage support. It’s really the last thing you want to do in this world of global communication and internet-wide information streams. Nobody is interested these days in being restrained from the English language in applications and communication.

Let’s hope Microsoft listens to their customers and changes the application so you can access everything, let the user choose their destiny and live happy ever after with or without applications on their Windows Mobile Smartphone. Next to that, it’s in their own best interest. We look forward to hearing from Microsoft officials. We will keep you posted.

So we already reviewed and made you aware of a few great WVGA Games before. But some of these games you have to pay good money for to enjoy. Some are worth it some are not. Today though, we bring you free WVGA Games, or at least bring you the opportunity to find these games. As always some are good some are not, but they are all free games that work with any of your WVGA devices, weather you are running a custom ROM for Windows Mobile 6.1 or 6.5 or have an older device. Some games may require you to update the .net package on your phone but that is not hard. The following games were tested with these windows mobile devices: HTC Touch HD, HTC Touch Pro 2, HTC Diamond 2. We hope you enjoy these. If you have a WVGA games of your own or wish to request a review feel free to contact us. Now, onto the games!

Fruity
Fruity is a really fun puzzle game made by a guy named jakobdam on xda-developers.com. He has made a scalable game that works perfectly on QVGA, VGA, QWVGA and WVGA. Of course we tested the WVGA version. The goal of the game is getting 3 ‘fruities’ in a row, this rewards you with score. You really have to use your brain here because if you make swaps that don’t give points you lose draws. A little extra in the game is as you go further in to the levels you gain an option to shuffle the deck, which should be used wisely (if you think you are stuck!). The game requires flash lite which is available for windows mobile. You can find all the information you need about this amazing puzzle game in this forum thread.

Fruity looks happy!

Towers of Glennoi
This game is based on an older game that has manifested itself in a lot of different forms. So far there wasn’t a version of this game on Windows Mobile. This was the drive for the person behind this to create the game. Towers of Glennoi seems to be working on all resolutions but we tested it on WVGA. The game is simple, fun and can be addicting. The author has made quite a few updates on this game so keep checking his site for the newest information. According to his website there will be online highscores in the future, which would add quite a lot of extra ‘zing’ to this game. Find everything you need to know about this on his website.

Simple interface, but a lot of fun

Many thanks to all the developers that put their hard work into these games, we hope people enjoy them and think about the many hours someone has to put into these to get them out. Let us know what you think.

What are you looking at!??! Oh the chin..

So are you one of the lucky few people that already has their HTC Hero Sprint phone? If so I bet you have been tweaking and configuring to try and make your Sense UI look great and personal. So what is next? You heard the android app store is filled with amazing applications that you can get for free. But where to start? There is a most popular listing but of course this doesn’t store all the previous months and what applications you should get.

For our HTC Hero Sprint friends who joined us in the Hero community (Europe has had the phone for some months now) we devised a list of must get applications for your fresh new non-chinned Hero. And don’t worry nobody blames your chinless model.

SMS Popup
SMS popup is an application that allows any android user the luxury of having their Short text messages popup on the screen like the iPhone. Some people prefer this, some people don’t. It sure is a real fast way to reply to a message as you get the 3 options on your screen “Close, Delete, Reply”. The application looks great on the HTC Hero, sprint and chinned edition alike. Choose wisely when your girl or boyfriend texts you.

Twidroid
A freeware twitter application. Yes we know HTC Hero Sprint and chinned has an included twitter client. But this one is fast, has all the options and on top of it all it’s free. Try it, if you don’t like it you can blame the Germans.

Appmanager
AppManager is a valuable instrument to assist you back up your application/programs to your expandable memory card. Like to the application program manager in ASTRO but this is a free alternative, you are able to pick out individual apps or choose all apps and back them up or install from the SD card at any time. I use this day in and day out for saving certain apps to the backup memory card.

Mobile Defense
So now you have this amazing smartphone, obviously you realy want to keep it safe. I Recall checking Mobile Defense on the Android Market some time ago, just never went around to setting it up as it required establishing an account. After I took the few mins install, I realized all this time I have been leaving my telephone at jeopardy for getting lost or stolen. Mobile defense is the best security app for your Android smart phone. It installs a application that’s hidden (so people don’t know it’s installed), and you are able to access administrative controls on your phone via a browser at http://www.mobiledefense.com. If you lose your phone, load the website using a computer and access the administrative controls you have over your lost phone. Not only does it enable GPS and show you where your phone washes up, it’ll in addition to tell you the battery life left, and pass you data about the SIM card owner if the SIM card is changed. On top of that, you are able to enable “alarm”, which turns on the volume on your phone and activates a siren sound so you’ll be able to place it. There’s also “Lock”, which turns on the pattern lock on your phone to secure it. I’m astonished at all the characteristics this application offers up, and as well the other features if you upgrade to the paid version (remote backup, remote wipe). Your Sprint HTC Hero smart phone should not go without this application installed.

I know, it’s 4 apps but top 5 just sounds so much better. See you next time for some more recommendation for your brand spanking new HTC Hero Sprint.