Office Mobile to come as an optional download?

Heard from a Microsoft representative at the recent Motorola Q 9h launch in Singapore. According to the source, smart phone users will be able to download the Office Mobile application and run it alongside whatever Office viewer/reader already preinstalled in the device. We even had a demo of a Q 9h unit with both the Documents To Go (which is the default Office application for the handset) and Office Mobile installed. We were told that this standalone version of the Office Mobile, which will support the latest Office 2007 files, is expected to be available as an optional download from Microsoft before the end of this year.

There was no mention of whether the Office Mobile download will be available for other versions of the Windows Mobile 6 (WM6) OS other than the Standard edition for smart phones. Nor could we get a fix on the price for the Office Mobile download.
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Is this the new Windows Treo?

The designs of the Treo 500v and Palm Centro are quite different from the previous lineup, including the Treo 750 and Treo 680 PDA-phones. It's therefore not far-fetched to imagine that Palm will introduce a new Windows Mobile device to succeed the 750 and in a new form factor, too. Well, over at the TreoCentral forums, someone claims to have seen the new 800w (second from left in image), a device meant for use on CDMA networks.

According to the source, the new Treo will run Windows Mobile 6 Professional, has a proprietary connector (yucks) and, get this, will come with built-in Wi-Fi. If that is true, it will finally mark the end of Palm's dogged stubbornness not to include Wi-Fi in its PDA-phones.

Even if the 800w is real, a CDMA is useless for our region. But going by Palm's pattern, a GSM version will follow. It's all speculation now, so let's wait and see how it pans out.

Via TreoCentral

Living up to the Ultimate name

i-mate is not the most famous of brands when we talk about handhelds, but the Dubai-based company created quite a buzz a few months back when it introduced the Ultimate series of PDA-phones. Such an audacious-sounding name needs to be backed up, and i-mate did have impressive specs for its announced 8150 and 6150 devices.

Fast forward to today and we have yet to see the PDA-phones in the market. And we all know that a few months in this industry is a lifetime--specs and features that were cutting-edge become old really fast. Thankfully, i-mate seems to have an answer. It has introduced two more in the series with feature lists that still manage to wow. These are the 9502 and 8502 PDA-phones, both with QWERTY keyboards.

The form factor of these two devices may not be for everyone, but power users must certainly give it a second look. Besides more common features like HSDPA, Wi-Fi and GPS, these two also come with HSUPA for fast uploads over the cellular network. Like the 8150 before them, they also come with a video-out connector for doing presentations, too.

Let's just hope we don't have to wait too long for the devices to hit the market. Read on for more information about the new Ultimates, and decide for yourself if they live up to the title.

Purple-striped glofiish

400MHz Samsung processor, Windows Mobile 6, SiRFstar III GPS navigation chip and 64MB RAM. These specs describe the E-Ten glofiish X500 PDA-phone, and now, the new glofiish X600, too. The Taiwanese company has announced a new entry-level GPS handheld and it has the exact same features as the older X500.

It's not unheard of, certainly--repackaging an old product in a nicer-looking chassis and trimming down the size a little. It's just that we didn't quite expect a company like E-Ten to do something like that because it's usually the bigger players that bother to do so.

So, those who like their X500 slimmer and with a purple strip down its side can get the X600 in Singapore in early November. Right now, we still do not have information about its wider Asia availability and price, though we understand from an E-Ten spokesperson that it will be competitively priced.

Analyst: Google OS to go on HTC handsets

Taiwanese handset maker HTC is expected to ship about 50,000 cell phones by the end of this year that use a mobile operating system from Google, according to a Fortune article that cites a report from a UBS analyst.

The phones won't be for sale until next year; the initial shipment will go to developers, says analyst Benjamin Schachter. Google is likely talking to other handset manufacturers, he says.

Google has declined to comment on rumors of its phone plans. Google is hosting an analyst day on October 24, and Schachter expects the company to talk about its phone strategy then.

Picture credit: T3
Via CNET Crave

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