Gingerbread is lurking deep in the recesses of your Honeycomb, Android tablet. According to a report filed by mobile blog Pocketables, the interface you’re presented with on your Honeycomb tablet can be changed by adjusting your tablet’s perceived screen density. On a rooted Dell Streak 7 running Android 3.1, the default interface experience is the new Honeycomb UI — complete with updated widgets, homescreens, and controls. By changing a single line, thereby tricking that tablet into thinking its pixel density is 170 instead of 160, the Gingerbread layout is presented upon reboot. What does this mean for you? Nothing… but it is pretty cool to see in action. Hit the jump to see a video demo and let us know what you think.

[Via Engadget]

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According to research firm Gartner, although Microsoft shipped 2 million Windows Phone units during Q4 of 2010, it sold 1.6 million units during Q1 of 2011.”Windows Phone saw only modest sales that reached 1.6 million units in the first quarter of 2011,” wrote Gartner. “Devices launched at the end of 2010 failed to grow in consumer preference and CSPs continued to focus on Android.” Gartner is, however, predicting big things for Microsoft’s smartphone operating system. By 2015, the analytics company predicts that Windows Phone will see shipments in excess of 215 million units — thanks in large part to its partnership with Nokia. This would put Microsoft in second place in global market share — behind the open-source smartphone-overlord Android and ahead of the not-so-open-source iOS.

[Via WinRumors]

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Owners of HTC’s Surround device definitely were not feeling the Windows Phone love a few weeks back. It’s two AT&T counterparts — the Samsung Focus and LG Quantum — were receiving the highly-anticipated NoDo update, but the Surround was still left in limbo. Well Surround owners, your day hath cometh. Owners of the giant-speaker bearing handset are reporting that the aforementioned update is beginning to be pushed to their smartphones. The code bump is still listed as “scheduling” on Microsoft’s official update website, although from the screen shot above you can see it seems to have moved to the “delivering update” phase. If you’re a Surround owner, plug your handset into your computer and enjoy!

Research In Motion’s co-CEO, Jim Balsillie, confirmed a rumor that has been circulating the Internet over the past several days: BlackBerry 6.1 will come to market as BlackBerry 7. We gave you a quick look at the operating system running on the Bold Touch, Touch and Torch 2, and, as you can see, the cosmetic changes are minor. During the company’s shipment warning issuance yesterday, Balsillie quipped that 6.1 was “such a big update” that they felt obliged to knight the software BlackBerry 7. It was rumored that the company’s seventh major operating system revision would be based on QNX’s code base, however it now looks like the BlackBerry faithful will have to wait for BlackBerry 8 for handsets running the high-test OS.

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It looks as though Microsoft has accidentally confirmed that its next major Windows Phone update, dubbed Mango, will bring the mobile operating system up to version number 7.5. The information comes courtesy of the Redmond company’s website, which prompts developers to “Preview the Next Windows Phone OS 7.5.” Mango is expected to launch in late-fall of this year and was originally thought to be Windows Phone 7.1. The update will bring with it true multitasking, Internet Explorer 9, and an integrated Twitter experience — among other things. Microsoft has yet to issue an official statement on how the operating system’s version number schema will progress.

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The gang over at Engadget have acquired an image of a Verizon-branded, Windows Phone 7 handset — the HTC Trophy to be exact — in the wild. The site’s tipster notes that the phone has indeed been injected with Microsoft’s “NoDo” software update, providing copy and paste functionality. Rumors peg the Trophy for a late March release on Big Red and, if the aforementioned report is correct, you could be hubbing, copying, cutting, and pasting on VZW in the next thirty days.

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According to information acquired by WinRumors, Verizon Wireless will begin to sell Windows Phone handsets towards the end of March. Citing “people familiar with the company’s plans,” the blog goes on to note that the HTC 7 Trophy — the same CDMA, WP7 handset to be carried by Sprint — could be announced as early as February 28th. The device will have Microsoft’s “NoDo” update (also known as the copy and paste update) and should retail for $199.99 with a signed two-year contract. Any Big Red patrons out there waiting on a Windows Phone set?

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Yesterday, we told you about an issue being experience by Samsung Windows Phone owners that was causing a recently released update to fail — or in the worst cases render a handset unusable. Late last night, Microsoft took to the web to explain exactly what it’s discovered about the missteps of its first Windows Phone update.

“90 percent of people who’ve received an update notification have installed the new software patch successfully,” writes Microsoft’s Michael Stroh. “Of the 10 percent who did experience a problem, nearly half failed for two basic reasons—a bad Internet connection or insufficient computer storage space.”

Mr. Stroh goes on to concede that the update has not gone perfectly, and that a “technical issue” with the update process “impacts a small number” of Samsung devices. But he reinforces that Microsoft is “committed to learning from our first update and improving the process.”

The article concludes with a handful of frequently asked questions. If you want to know more about the Redmond company’s first Windows Phone update, hit the read link and have a look for yourself.

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Looking to make your Windows 7 rig even better? Love service packs? You’re in luck! Today, Microsoft made Service Pack 1 for its Windows 7 desktop operating system available to the general public. The update weighs in at a hefty 1.95GB and packs a treasure trove of improvements and optimizations. If you’re not interested in waiting for Windows Update to give you the proverbial nod, hit up the read link and have yourself a manual download.

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The deal has been rumored for months, but before today, it was hard to believe. The world’s largest mobile phone manufacturer, Nokia, announced a strategic partnership with U.S. based software company Microsoft that will drastically alter the trajectories of both companies in the smartphone market place. As part of the deal, Nokia will begin to phase out the Symbian and, to a lesser extent, MeeGo mobile operating systems, and instead adopting Microsoft’s new Windows Phone for future smartphone products. In return, Microsoft will benefit from the Finnish company being heavily invested and deeply involved in the success and progression of the Windows Phone OS.

The two companies will share marketing resources, software expertise, and industry contacts to wage war against Apple and Google in the smartphone space. But is this deal equitable? The way we see it, Microsoft gets to have its operating system pimped by the largest phone OEM on the planet and Nokia… well, they get to be reliant on Microsoft for the majority of their smartphone operating system code-base. So what has happened here? The deal has only been official for a few hours, but it looks like the benefits for Microsoft far outweigh those for Nokia, no? Nokia, with a third-party smartphone operating system in its future, is starting to look a lot more like HTC, Motorola, Samsung, and LG than the company we once knew. Is that such a bad thing though? And could it turn out to be profitable for the proud company from Finland? Hit the jump to read our thoughts.

The strategy Nokia has chosen is certainly an interesting, albeit fairly commonplace, one: differentiation by assimilation. That is, the company is looking to make its offerings stand out in a market place where, concurrently, at least four other major hardware manufacturers will be offering devices running identical software. Nokia’s former executive vice president of mobile solutions, Anssi Vanjoki, once likened Nokia adopting Android to someone who pees in their pants to keep warm. The temporary relief from the cold gives birth to a bigger problem in the end. So what makes Microsoft and Windows Phone different from Google and Android? Nokia’s new CEO and former Microsoft executive, Stephen Elop, has already said that his company will have the ability to completely customize Windows Phone, but probably won’t. Android pushers, often to the chagrin of many end-users, differentiate their offerings via heavily customized phone interfaces (to be called “experiences” if you believe the marketing speak). But, according to Mr. Elop, that doesn’t appear to be the plan. So what will be unique? Don’t get us wrong, Nokia makes excellent hardware — check out our review of the N8 if you need further proof – but is that enough to rest on? Can the company gain both U.S. and global market share while pedaling the wares of others? It’s possible, but it’s a huge gamble. There are close to 112 million Symbian smartphone users that, in the next few years, will be forced to move platforms… and that move could be away from Nokia. Forcing users off of a platform, without a clear succession path, seems like a recipe for disaster.

We’ve longed for the phone maker to invest more heavily in software, but this just feels like the easy way out. The Nokia software experience, when compared to the experiences offered by other platforms on the market, was poor… but it was Nokia’s experience. Symbian, with all of its strengths, weaknesses, and shortcomings — for better or worse — was how Nokia differentiated itself. The software is always the differentiator. Ask Apple. Why do people pay $2,000 for a MacBook Pro when you can buy a PC equivalent with more horsepower for $400 less? Because it’s pretty? No. Because they want to run Mac OS X. That’s the differentiator. Why are the Motorola XOOM and BlackBerry PlayBook getting so much media attention? Because of the hardware? No, because they will be among the first devices to run Android 3.0 and the QNX inflicted version of RIM’s BlackBerry software. There are other dual-core tablets with nearly identical specifications available now. The software is what makes these two tablets special.

Now don’t get us wrong, being the same can be profitable. The move to Android has created a huge boom for companies like HTC, Samsung, LG, and Motorola, who ran to Google and Android after their smartphone chops were undermined by Apple and the iPhone back in 2006. Mr. Elop was not shy about saying that cuts to Nokia’s heavy operating budget are on the way. Downsizing the research, development, engineering, and support staff working on Symbian — for starters — will definitely help the company’s bottom line. But it also means giving up control — the ability to adjust the corporate compass accordingly as technology changes and evolves. After all, what’s best for Windows Phone and U.S. based Microsoft may not always be what’s best for Nokia in Finland.

We admit that we’ve been calling for Nokia to take drastic measures with its smartphone division for years. The company needed to do something to globally compete with Apple and, to an even greater extent, Android. Today, that drastic move has been made. What we fear, however, is that with this move Nokia has lost its identity. It is no longer a leader, but a follower. A company that, for the foreseeable future, will have the success of its smartphone division fully hedged against the success of Microsoft. It certainly will be interesting to see how this partnership plays out, in the weeks, months, and years ahead. In the mean time, all we can say to Nokia is onnea.

In December, rumors suggested that the first major update to Windows Phone 7 — the one bringing copy and paste — would drop sometime in January. When the days in January started to dwindle, the date moved to February. Now, with one-third of February gone, the latest batch of fodder points towards early March; the 8th of March to be exact. According to sources from both Neowin and ZDNet, that’s precisely when Microsoft will be releasing the highly anticipated update to WP7. As you can image, we’re pretty skeptical, but it has to be released sooner or later… right?

Read [ZDNet] Read [Neowin]

At a business-centric media event today, Dell announced that it will have a 10-inch, Windows 7 tablet available “later this year.” The company did not provide any additional details about the device, other than the fact that it will be targeting businesses.

“The upcoming tablet is designed for end-users who need greater mobility, as well as IT organizations that demand control, security, manageability and integration with existing infrastructure investments,” quips Dell. “Dell’s tablet will empower a more mobile workforce in a way that offers customers the business applications and corporate data they need, while meeting regulatory mandates and IT requirements.”

It’s still unclear whether a market for a tablet device running a full-fledge OS, like Windows, exists. Hopefully, the good folks at Dell will throw us an additional crumb or two about this mysterious tablet in the coming weeks.

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Speaking at his company’s CES keynote, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer let go several pertinent facts about the Windows Phone 7 operating system. For starters, the much anticipated WP7 software update — the one that brings copy & paste along with a host of other improvements — is due in the next few months. Mr. Ballmer also noted that the Windows Phone 7 Marketplace now has 5,500 applications and is growing at the rate of 100 new applications every day; he also mentioned that 50% of the user base downloads a new application each day. Lastly, the highly anticipated Verizon and Sprint Windows Phone devices — like the HTC 7 Pro — are due “in the first half of 2011.” Not exactly the timeframe we were looking for… and no mention of official sales figures for the platform. Anyone else disappointed by the lack of specificity on the WP7, CDMA timeline?

While the following seems completely improbable, you have to give the idea consideration due to the source. Mobile Review‘s Eldar Murtazin, who is known for his deep Nokia connections, writes that Nokia and Microsoft are working on a partnership that would create “an entire line of Windows Phone devices that may go under the name Nokia [translated].” That’s right: Microsoft’s software, Nokia’s hardware. Now, before anyone gets too excited, Nokia’s lame-duck Mobile VP, Anssi Vanjoki, has publicly (and quite humorously) stated that this company is not interested in utilizing third-party mobile operating systems such as Google’s Android. Perhaps the new leadership team over at Nokia is rethinking its position on third-party code? It’s a stretch, but it is, to say the least, interesting.

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Blog WinRumors is reporting that Microsoft is preparing a second, developer-centric software update for its Windows Phone 7 platform to be released this February. The information was relayed to the site by an anonymous source involved with Windows Phone development.

“Microsoft’s second update will introduce enhanced developer controls for applications,” reads the report. “Microsoft is expected to open up several new APIs that will allow for greater multi-tasking, in-app downloads and better customization for end users.”

The blog goes on to note that the Redmond company is already compiling beta builds of the second mobile-OS update and shipping it to select beta testers.

The new bits are expected to be introduced at Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Spain this February. When asked about a Silverlight update for WP7, Microsoft’s senior technical evangelist for Visual Studio, Brian Keller, was quoted as saying, “I think we are saving those, for say another event. If only there was a massive event in Barcelona on mobile phones and or other events in the future.”

Microsoft is expect to introduce the first major software update for Windows Phone 7 at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in early January of 2011.

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