After compiling and posting ROMs for hundreds of smartphones — from HTC, RIM, Motorola, and more — Conflipper is throwing in the towel and no longer updating his popular Shipped ROMS website. The decision is part of a compromise negotiated with HTC following a Cease and Desist letter from the handset manufacturer over these publicly available ROMs. As part of the agreement, Conflipper is permitted to keep all current ROMs on his site but is forbidden to upload any new ones. Rather than go head-to-head with the handset giant, Conflipper announced, in a blog post, that he is begrudgingly accepting this agreement and leaving the PPC community to pursue other interests.

Read

It’s the epitome of cruel irony- folks who were brave enough to score one of the last Windows Mobile handsets are enjoying the latest OS Android has to offer while the rest of Android world waits idly for Froyo to land on their non-Nexus One handsets. HTC HD2 owners need to look no further than xda-developers to discover a treasure trove of updated ROMs which offer stock Android 2.2 or Android 2.1 with Sense. Though a bit rough around the edges, these ROMs give HD2 owners some serious bragging rights over their Android counterparts, at least for the time being.

[Via Android Community]

Read

XML files with user agent profile information found on HTC’s website reveal that the HTC Mozart and the Mondrian will be Windows Phone 7 handsets. The XML files confirm much of what was rumored about the handsets including the presence of a 480×800 display, a keyboard-less slate form factor, Bluetooth with A2DP and various hands-free and headset profiles, along with (duh) Microsoft’s Internet Explorer Mobile 7. Obviously, XML files reveal cursory specs and not launch dates, but we can safely postulate that these handsets will launch later this year, most likely around the same time the HTC Shubert lands at T-Mobile.

Read

T-Mobile’s roadmap for the second half of 2010 has made its unofficial appearance on the internet courtesy of Android Spin. The blurry screenshot is light on the details but does reveal that T-Mobile has a total of five Android handsets in its pipeline; two from Motorola, two from HTC (including the rumored Emerald), and one from LG. Also represented on the screen grab is one Windows Phone 7 handset from HTC dubbed the Schubert, one unidentified BlackBerry, and a few other offerings from Samsung and LG. It also appears that T-Mobile’s current crop of Android handsets including the CLIQ, CLIQ XT, MyTouch and MyTouch Slide are slated for updates in the upcoming months.

Read

Windows Mobile 6.5 isn’t dead, it’s just been given a bizarre makeover and loaded onto a strange new handset from Motorola in the ES400. Created specifically for enterprise customers that need a handset that’s as secure as it is rugged, the Sprint-bound ES400 will run Microsoft’s newly announced Windows Embedded Handheld, an OS that is currently based on WinMo 6.5.3. An EV-DO world phone with support for HSDPA roaming, the ES400 is kitted out with a 3″ VGA touchscreen, 3.2 megapixel camera, GPS, Wi-Fi a/b/g, barcode scanner, 600MHz ARM 11 processor, 256MB RAM and 1GB of internal flash memory. Pricing and a release date have not been set.

Read

Ladies and Gentleman, unlimited smartphone data from AT&T is a thing of the past. Or at least it will be as of June 7th. Starting that day, AT&T will introduce two new data plans to replace its current $30 unlimited smartphone plan. Without a bunch of preamble and crying over the changes, here’s the skinny on the plans that AT&T says will make it possible for “more affordable for more people to enjoy the benefits of the mobile Internet.”

DataPlus

• 200MB of data for $15 per month. AT&T says this will be enough data to meet the needs of 65% of its smartphone users. If you go over the 200MB cap, AT&T will charge you $15 per 200MB of overages.

DataPro

• 2GB of data for $25 per month. According to AT&T, only 2% of its smartphone customers manage to blow through more than 2GB of data per month. Go over the limit and you’ll be charged $10 per GB.

Tethering

• Smartphone users that want tethering and have a DataPro plan can add the feature for $20 per month. This means you’ll be sharing 2GB between your phone and your laptop for $45 per month. Not great at all, but remember this: A 5GB data card plan costs $60 per month. This means — with overages — you’ll be able to have 5GB of smartphone and tethering data for $75 and not have to worry about two contracts. Oh, and “Tethering for iPhones will be available when Apple releases iPhone OS 4 this summer.” About bloody time.

iPad

• The $29.99 unlimited data plan for the iPad has not escaped the chop. Starting June 7th, new iPad customers will have two options: $15 for 250MB and $25 for 2GB of data. Any iPad customers who wish to stick to the $30 unlimited plan are free to do so, but AT&T is hoping most people will opt to save $5 and change plans.

As much as it hurts to see unlimited plans die off (and don’t pretend we didn’t know it was coming), the new rates will make data more accessible to those who don’t have a lot of coins in their coffer. And again, to be perfectly clear, you are welcome to stay on the current $30 unlimited smartphone data plan, but if you think you can squeak by on the new plans and save $5 to $15, AT&T will move you over to the DataPlus or DataPro plan without renewing your data commitment. Awww, so sweet.

Read

Are you a diehard Windows Mobile fans that think Microsoft is making a huge mistake with Windows Phone 7? Than you had better make with $150 post-haste, because one of the last Windows Mobile 6.5 devices you’ll ever see — the LG Fathom — is now available from Verizon. This things been the subject of more than its fair share of leaks, but in case you never caught the memo, you’re looking at a 1GHz processor, 3.2″ WVGA display with haptic feedback, 3.2 megapixel camera, Wi-Fib/g/n, GPS, EV-DO Rev. A, 2100MHz 7.2Mbps HSDPA, 512MB ROM / 256MB RAM, and WinMo 6.5.3.

Read

We knew it was coming…and now it is official. Verizon Wireless and LG have just announced the release of their newest Windows Mobile 6 joint venture, the LG Fathom. The Fathom packs a: 3.2″ touchscreen with haptic feedback, full slide-out QWERTY keyboard, 1 GHz processor, Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1, 3.2 megapixel camera, micro SDcard slot, an unspecified GPS unit, and Windows Mobile 6.5.3. The Fathom is a travel-friendly “world phone,” as it packs both CDMA/EVDO and GSM/UMTS chipsets. It can be all yours on May 27th for $149 after a $100 mail-in-rebate. Any takers?

Read

It seems T-Mobile simply can’t catch a break when it comes to software updates. Not even three months removed from its disastrous CLIQ update, T-Mobile has been forced to remove the recently released software update for the HTC HD2 after a load of complaints from users started. What sort of complaints? Oh, you know, just the typical “I can’t download the update” / “my battery life has been shot to hell” / “my phone is bricked” / “my phone is slower than Bengie Molina”. So far there’s no official timeline for a new update, but a T-Mobile forum mod has gone on the record as saying “once the issues have been resolved, the software update will be re-posted on www.t-mobile.com/wmupgrade.” Good to know…

Read [Issues] Read [Pulled]

According to mobile ad firm Smaato, U.S.-based Symbian users are 2.7 times more likely to click on a mobile ad than their iPhone OS using countrymen. The findings, based on 6 billion ads served up by 40 ad companies in the month of April, are quite puzzling when considering the infinitesimally small share of the U.S. smartphone market Symbian currently occupies. But GigaOm’s Kevin Tofel has what sounds like a very reasonable explanation for the stats: “Symbian is a more mature operating system in terms of age, and both advertisers and developers have used that time to optimize mobile advertising on the platform. Apple’s iPhone OS is a relative youngster compared to Symbian, having only initially launched on a product in June of 2007.” Kind of makes one wonder why the FTC is making such a stink over Google’s attempt at acquiring AdMob and the launch of Apple’s iAd. Moving on… Anyone else think it’s pretty incredible that feature phone users click on more ads than Android, BlackBerry, Palm and Windows Phone users?

Read

The render you see above is of the HTC Mondrian — or at least according to some forum dwellers at xda-developers. Found within a .cab file from a recently leaked Windows Phone 7 ROM, it is said that the Mondrian features a 4.3″ WVGA display, 1.3GHz processor, HD-capable camera in excess of 5 megapixels, and digital compass. Interestingly enough, for a device believed to be headed to AT&T, the Mondrian’s Qualcomm QSD8650A/B Snapdragon processor supports both GSM and CDMA. Of course this doesn’t necessarily mean we’ll see a dual-mode model of the Mondrian or a variant of it launch with another carrier, but it is pretty interesting to know nonetheless.

Read

Skype is reportedly turning its back on the upcoming Windows Phone 7 platform and is instead focusing its efforts on the iPhone, Symbian, and Android OS. Speaking at an event in Australia, Dan Neary, the Asia Pacific Vice President for Skype, confirmed that the VoIP software giant is not currently developing a version of its popular software for the Windows Phone 7 platform. This revelation comes close on the heels of Skype’s removal of its Windows Mobile version due to the product’s less than stellar UI and poor user experience. Neary failed to provide a reason for Skype’s dismissal of Windows Phone 7 but the decision could stem from WP7′s lack of native code and its tight integration with XNA and Silverlight for development. It also doesn’t help that Windows Phone 7 is a new and untested platform. Regardless of the reason, heavy Skype users looking to jump to Windows Phone 7 may be wise to wait for Skype to change its mind or for some savvy third party developer to pick up the slack.

Read

Microsoft threw its Windows Mobile faithful a bit of bone today by updating its Bing application with free turn-by-turn navigation. When using Bing to find directions, a new “navigate” button will allow users to navigate to their destination using voice prompts. The navigation is (obviously) powered by Bing Maps, while the voice components are provided by Microsoft’s Tellme technology. The feature is said to be available for all Windows Mobile 6.x devices on Sprint, T-Mobile, and AT&T. Verizon Wireless was not listed amongst the compatible carriers, but seeing how the Omina II was mentioned as a compatible device we think it might be possible to get the nav feature —  but not the voice prompts — to work on Big Red. Point your Windows Phone to m.bing.com and let us know what you think.

Read

Dell might not currently be putting its best foot forward when it comes to smartphones, but man does it ever look to have plans when it comes to Windows Phone 7 and Android. Engadget was sent some slides of the Texas company’s Lightning, Flash and Thunder and do they ever strike our fancy. Just like nature, let’s start off with some Lightning. Running WP7, it is a vertical QWERTY slider with a 4.1″ WVGA AMOLED display, 5 megapixel camera with autofocus, 802.11b/g/n, 8GB microSD card, 1GB ROM / 512MB RAM and 1GHz processor. Network-wise, the Lighting will be able to run on both AT&T and T-Mobile’s 3G networks with downlink speeds of up to 7.2Mbps, although unfortunately you’re going to have to choose one or the other. Then there’s the Thunder. Equipped with Android 2.1 Eclair and Dell’s social medial-friendly “Stage” UI overlay, its specs closely mirror the Lightning’s except in lieu of a full-QWERTY keypad it has an 8 megapixel camera. Throw in support for Flash 10.1 and a Hulu app and it looks like Dell has a real winner on its hands. Then again, who knows what the competition will come out with by the time it’s released in Q4 on various HSDPA networks like AT&T. Next up is the Flash. Featuring Android 2.2 “Froyo” with Stage UI, it is going to be positioned as a mid-range smartphone upon its release in 2011. It has a 3.5″ WVGA touchscreen display, a feature-packed 5 megapixel camera, support for microSD cards up to 64GB, Wi-Fi, TV-out, Bluetooth 3.0, 512MB ROM / RAM, AT&T-friendly tri-band HSPA that peaks at 14.4Mbps down all powered by an 800MHz processor. Finally there’s the Smoke. Another Froyo device and the most affordable of the bunch, the stretched-out Smoke has a 2.8″ QVGA display (likely a typo on Dell’s part), QWERTY keypad, 800MHz processor, 5 megapixel shooter, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, 14.4Mbps HSDPA and sports dual-microphones

Doesn’t the future look lovely? You can find a few of the pics after the break.

Read – Flash

Read – Lightning

Read – Thunder

Read – Smoke

Additional details on the underlying architecture of Windows phone 7 hit the internet today, courtesy of a leaked document that fell into the hands of tweakers.net. Many of the hardware requirements are already known, but there are quite a few other tidbits which shed some light on the inner workings of Microsoft’s latest smartphone OS. Just keep in mind when you’re reading this that all of the information is tentative and may change once Windows Phone 7 is officially released later this year. Hit the jump when you’re ready!

Windows Phone 7 is a 32-bit OS with a dual layer architecture comprised of a kernel layer and a user layer. Application processes are given up to 1GB of virtual memory with a total of 2GB of memory allocated to processes. 2GB is given to the kernel. Microsoft will supply the 2D graphics and DirectX 10-based Direct3D 11 runtimes while OEMs, not Microsoft, will develop and distribute the drivers for both the 2D and 3D graphics. Support for Bluetooth 2.1 is included, but apparently support for 3.0 and 4.0 is not. Presumably future updates will be able to provide support to further updates to the standard.

Windows Phone 7 OS will use two different file systems: IMGFS for system files, and TexFAT for user files. User files can be stored on memory cards or internal flash memory and have the system treat both locations as the same. Oddly enough, if a memory card containing key files is removed or the files are erased, the phone will be rendered useless and will be available for emergency calls only.

All Windows Phone 7 updates, including carrier updates, will be distributed through the Microsoft update system. Updates will be disseminated OTA or through the Zune Software installed on a PC.

Windows Phone 7 is tightly integrated with Windows Live ID in a manner similar to Gmail is to Android and iTunes is to iPhone OS. A Windows Live ID is the gateway to the Marketplace which just so happens to be the only place one can go to get applications (side-loading is not supported). The Windows Live ID must be entered in order to use the phone and is required for data synchronization to and from Microsoft’s servers. The device must also have a Genuine Windows Phone Certificate which is necessary to authenticate the device.

Changes allowed to the UI are minimal. Providers and manufacturers can add custom tiles to the home screen, but the standard Microsoft tiles can not be removed. The boot screen can be changed by carrier or manufacturer and ringtones and wallpapers can be added. Additionally, Bing is the default search engine for the device, but manufacturers and carriers can change the default search engine found within Internet Explorer. The carrier or the manufacturer can also add custom applications to the ROM of a device (excluding trial apps which are forbidden), but these apps must be first approved by Microsoft. Only 6 applications occupying a maximum of 60MB are allowed. Interesting, no?

Read