TamsPPC – the Windows Phone Blog

HTC’s two upcoming Windows Phone 7 devices have been priced recently – so far, none of the two critters has been reviewed.

This has now changed, with the first review of the HTC Titan emerging. Engadget concludes the review as following:

The Titan can certainly count itself among that standout minority, thanks to the way its oversized display, superb camera and overall build quality jibe so well with the generally slick and wonderful Windows Phone OS.

Not all the surprises are positive, though. The WVGA panel delivers poor pixel density, the 16GB of flash storage is inexplicably non-expandable and the lack of apps and occasional bugginess of the OS may all be bothersome, depending on your priorities and temperament.

Hit the URL below to find out more:
http://www.engadget.com/2011/10/17/htc-titan-review/

In Austria, a strange song mourning the apparent death of a lumberjack called Michel was a popular ear-sore some years ago. And just as with our Holzmichel, the Zune HD can neither live nor die properly.

After posting a hardware discontinuation notice to the Zune website, this has now popped up on the official Zune Twitter feed:

If you ask me, it is just a question of time – stay tuned for further info as we get it!

The data from the Swedish case manufacturer Krusell is extraordinarily useful as it shows “real world” data rather than the more power-user-centric data collected from things like in-app analytics.

For September 2011, the data looks as following:

PRESS RELEASE – Krusell – TOP-10 selling phones for September 2011.

1. (1) Samsung I9100 Galaxy S II
2. (2) Apple iPhone 4
3. (3) Nokia 3720 Classic
4. (-) Sony Ericsson Xperia Ray
5. (7) Samsung B2100
6. (-) HTC Sensation
7. (-) Sony Ericsson Arc S
8. (8) Nokia 6303 Classic
9. (6) Samsung GT-B2710 / Xcover 271
10. (-) Nokia E52
() = Last month’s position.

The headline for Krusell’s Top Seller list of September is that in Top 3, nothing has changed from last month. Samsung Galaxy II is still the number one selling case. What is more interesting on the list is that Sony Ericsson is climbing the list with both Ray and Arc, says Ulf Sandberg CEO at Krusell. The new updated Arc S, with as a new processor and updated software has got a lot of good media which shows in the statistics. Also Ray has been met with positive feedback, and the target for Q4 is set high on this device.

Not much to add here…except that Sony Ericsson is infamous for its bad product quality and customer service…

Microsoft’s anti-iPod (better known as the Zune) never was too succesful in hardware form – while the Zune services were nice, the hardware never quite caught on.

The Boy Genius now reports the following:

We recently announced that, going forward, Windows Phone will be the focus of our mobile music and video strategy, and that we will no longer be producing Zune players. So what does this mean for our current Zune users? Absolutely nothing. Your device will continue to work with Zune services just as it does today. And we will continue to honor the warranties of all devices for both current owners and those who buy our very last devices. Customer service has been, and will remain a top priority for us.

Even though their source link no longer works, it makes perfece sense to me – after all, licensees of Windows Phone 7 will not be too happy to compete with the OS vendor…

Toshiba has been famous for doing a lot of impressive Windows Mobile-based gear – first XSCALE CPU, etc, etc. The company then disappeared for some time, and came back with the Toshiba TG01 and the ultra-stressed booth attendant on the left.

Mobile Business Briefing now reports the following:

Toshiba is planning to exit its Japanese mobile handset joint-venture with Fujitsu after less than a year, according to local press reports. Toshiba holds a 19.9 percent stake in Fujitsu Toshiba Mobile Communications Ltd and is thought to be selling its entire holding to Fujitsu, which owns the remaining 80.1 percent. The business is expected to become a wholly-owned Fujitsu subsidiary in the first half of next year.

Scratch one potential Windows Phone 7 licensee…

Nokia and Microsoft will gang up, and will release a first Windows Phone 7 device before the year’s end. This is not news – however, so far, we saw the following images of the “prototype device”:

Steven Elop now leaked the device at an “employee only demo”. The full video is below:

As we have stated in the past, tactical leaking of devices can be a very smart strategy. Stay tuned for further info as we get it…

The first Palm Pilot devices contained a slot for memory cards – it allowed users to expand the memory of their device with ease. As devices became more compact, the slots went away…

Motorola’s XOOM shipped as a 3G handset, but was advertised to be able to get a hardware update to 4G networking via a new modem card:

iFixit now found out the following about the process:

It looks like the Xoom was specifically designed with this upgrade in mind. We had to fully delve into the device to find all the clues, but we believe this is the procedure Motorola will perform on your behalf:

1. Use a T5 Torx screwdriver to unscrew two screws on the bottom, and then slide the back panel to expose a mysterious circuit board that immediately becomes accessible. In fact, there are retaining clips on the back of the rear panel that prevent it from sliding any further (which of course we immediately circumvented).
2. Disconnect two antenna connectors, unscrew the two Torx screws holding the board in place, and swap it out with a 4G LTE board.
3. And… Thats it

Sounds cool to me…

The list is out for the last month of the year. This holiday season, Nokia unexpectedly (or rather expectedly) fell from the 60% last month to 40% this month. Quite interestingly, the HTC folks have grabbed up an extra 10% of the spots with 30% share and HTC HD2 making a strong jump from the 6^th to the 3^rd place, displacing the Galaxy S to the 9^th spot.

1. (1) Apple iPhone 4

2. (2) Nokia 3720 Classic

3. (6) HTC HD2

4. (7) Nokia E52

5. (5) Nokia N8

6. (10) HTC Desire HD

7. (-) HTC Wildfire

8. (-) Samsung Galaxy tab

9. (9) Nokia 6303 Classic

10. (-) Samsung I9000 Galaxy S

() = Last month’s position.

Samsung Galaxy Tab makes it into Krusell’s Top seller list. iPhone 4´s first place during the Christmas period, is probably no surprise to the market says Ulf Sandberg CEO at Krusell. Most impressing is that the Samsung Galaxy Tab did enter the list, and that it actually made a better position than its sibling from Samsung, the smart phone Galaxy S.

The Swedish manufacturer of carrying cases for portable electronics, Krusell, releases its “Top 10″-list for December 2010. The list is based on the number of pieces of custom made mobile and smart phone cases ordered from Krusell during December 2010. Krusell’s list is unique due to the fact that it reflects the sales of phones in six continents and in more than 70 countries around the globe.