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Worst trial limitation

Blink and you'll miss Second TaskManager. Thanks to a truly strange trial limitation, the user interface is only available for view for 10 seconds at a time.

Second TaskManager's bland interface unnecessarily defaults to a maximized window every time it's opened. We had to minimize it each time for a better view. The window does include all of your running processes, including memory usage, max memory, threads, and CU time. A Help file is not included, so users must navigate through the processes on their own. Each time we opened the program, it closed after only a … Read more

Phone with Windows Mobile beta reported stolen

A phone running the beta of Microsoft's new Windows Mobile 6.5 has gone missing from a Telstra executive, a spokesperson for the Australian telecommunications company confirmed to sister site ZDNET Australia.

Early reports claimed the phone had been given to Telstra chief executive Sol Trujillo, but Telstra says that is not true. Several online reports suggest the phone was pickpocketed, but Telstra would not confirm details of how the phone was lost. What we do know is that the phone had been loaned by Microsoft to a Telstra executive during the Mobile World Congress, a huge mobile technology … Read more

Why wait for Windows Mobile 6.5?

The enhanced usability features of Windows Mobile 6.5 (coverage) may not be available for a few months yet, but that doesn't mean you have to wait for Microsoft's newly announced mobile operating system to start sampling some of its new features. There are a couple of similar applications that are available now.

Instead of twiddling your thumbs over the new MyPhone service--which will back up your phone's contacts, photos, and texts--you can sign up for Dashwire (download). Dashwire's free service for Windows Mobile 5 and 6 uploads your calls, texts, contacts, photos, videos, and ringtones … Read more

Photos: Windows Mobile 6.5 hands-on

We've just had a super-sneaky peak at the future of Windows Mobile--version 6.5--and got to demo the new operating system in all its glory ourselves, on a brand-new HTC Touch Diamond2.

Microsoft has completely overhauled the user interface and the mobile OS, and aims to capture more of the consumer handset market with its launch later this year. Check out some of its features in the gallery below.

(Via Crave UK)

Microsoft still has no iPhone answer

Most of Microsoft's announcements Monday at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona were leaked weeks ago, so there weren't any big surprises.

There's a new mobile OS, Windows Mobile 6.5, that's supposed to be friendlier than the notoriously clunky earlier versions. (ZDNet's mobile maven Matthew Miller is still disappointed.)

There's a set of cloud-based services for synchronizing data like contacts and photos. (Although apparently v.1 will not be connected with the Windows Live or Live Mesh platforms or services, so the vision of unified data sync across devices is still a whiteboard drawing as far as Microsoft products and services are concerned.)

There's a marketplace for Windows Mobile apps. There's a brand change--the phones will be called "Windows Phones," although the OS is still "Windows Mobile." (Confused?) Oh, and the company has finally acknowledged that competing in the consumer space is important, a year and a half after CEO Steve Ballmer dismissed the iPhone as a "$500 subsidized item" that had "no chance" of gaining any significant market share.

Assuming that any of this makes you want to run out and buy a Windows Mobile phone, too bad. None of it's available until late this year.

I'll give Microsoft some credit for envisioning and beginning to build a free alternative to Apple's MobileMe service. And the mobile marketplace is a no-brainer. But Monday's announcements just underscore that Microsoft has no answer to the iPhone. … Read more

Microsoft hopes 'Windows phone' has a ring to it

Microsoft is trying to sell the world on the notion of a "Windows phone."

The first part of that effort is simple. It's a rebranding exercise. Although Microsoft will continue to sell its Windows Mobile operating system, it is going to put its marketing muscle behind the term "Windows phone" to describe the devices that run its software.

The second part is trickier: convincing consumers that they want a Windows phone as opposed to all of the other smartphones on the market, such as the iPhone, BlackBerry, or Palm's Pre, to name just a … Read more