Windows Phone 7 Series
Posted by cocotteseb in Pocket PC, Windows Mobile OS on February 15th, 2010
Here we are….
The change is here. In french we could say “Windows Mobile is dead, long live to Windows Phone”.
That’s finally the famous Pink project, the Zune phone or whatever it is called. There is no mistake possible it is a major breakdown and a new start from scratch !
The Zune UI seems to receive really good critics at the USA, unfortunately I was not able to see it in France. The interface is innovative no doubt about that. iPhone looks really conventionnal compared to it and I even do not mention Android. For now with only the presented functions it looks interesting, something really new but there are still lots of questions.
- Mulitasking ? Windows Mobile does it from the beginning !
- Today plugin : I’m pretty sure they are dead, even the great Titanium. I think it was necessary but Windows Mobile community will lose some really great apps from this area.
- I do not see a file explorer on the screenshots/videos. I REALLY hope it is not removed, that’s something essential to me (and not because of IconXT – which is unuseful at all in WPhones7 btw)
- Programs : how will they look ? It is great to see music, photos, mail, agenda, … but that’s pretty common how can other apps look like in WinPhone7 ?
- Marketplace : will it be the only way to publish apps ? That should be logical and the occasion for Microsoft but I hope no. If yes, I really hope they will reduce the cost of their marketplace to make it at least equal to the App Store !
- Customization ? Can we customize our phones ? Themes ?
- And of course developpement : .NET language ? Compact Framework ? Silverlight ? C++ ? Visual Studio ? Microsoft should tell us more about that on Mix. The date is noted in my agenda
There are of course really good positive points : multitouch !, fast UI, …
Two things however really disturb me :
- There are no icons ! Icons are something really important for a good looking app, in windows Phone 7 we cannot see any (ok some small in black and white)….that’s so strange!
- No gradients ! Every square is in “flat” color, I cannot see any gradients ! In fact I have the impression it takes the opposite direction Windows PC with Windows Seven : no transparency,…. (maybe some clues about Windows 8 ?)
The result is a clean UI and something really interesting. In fact I do not find the “Windows” spirit in it. But let’s wait Mix we will probably know a lot more about apps which are vital for every platform !
One a side note, I WILL provide an update of all my current Windows Mobile apps even they do not work on WM 7. For now I do not see Windows Phone 7 series as the successor of Windows Mobile but as another platform for phones !
Stay stuned !
Mass Effect 2 Launch Trailer
Posted by cocotteseb in Videos Games on January 29th, 2010
This trailer is indeed one of the best video game trailer I’ve ever seen ! I think it also comes from the incredible music called “Two Steps From Hell – Heart of Courage”
Titanium Plugin aka CHome
Posted by cocotteseb in Pocket PC, Windows Mobile OS on November 14th, 2009
I have upgraded my Touch Diamond 2 to WM 6.5 (great update BTW) and I admit I love the Titanium plugin :simple and nice ! I even have temporarily disabled the HTC Sense plugin !
Now as a developer I would like to develop a plugin for it and for example for ProjectXT . I know it is possible because there are some in XDA-Dev. In fact, I will have to look there to understand the XML files and registry needed for building a Titanium plugin.
At the same time I’ve searched for an official word concerning Titanium for developers and I get it :
http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/mktplace/thread/40f48cc4-2c4b-4292-b5bb-977346c51717
I couldn’t agree more with the two answers after the official one… :/ Wake up MS ! 
Microsoft Tag
Posted by cocotteseb in JDH Software, Pocket PC on September 3rd, 2009
I’ve just discovered the little application called Microsoft Tag. Microsoft tags are 2D barcodes using colors that contains something mostly an URL. The Pocket PC client is free and works really great. Just need to center the picture in front of my camera and it decodes immediately, even the picture is not centered or perpendicular to the phone ! Pretty amazing
But why only put them in stores or on a paper ? Is the phone not be able to capture a computer screen picture ? And what would you say if you are able to download an application just by using your camera phone ?
I think it is a really interesting and useful experience. I’ve put a Microsoft Tag for the ProjectXT CAB file. (BTW it is still the old version, the new is coming soon )
Check it here !
New Website has arrived !
Posted by cocotteseb in JDH Software on July 14th, 2009
Hi everybody,
Today is a great day, not only because it is the day of our National Celebration in France (the equivalent of the 4th July in USA) but also because the new website is finally out !
I’ve spend a lot of time to give a more professionnal and clearer look than the previous one. It is also W3C XHTML 1.0 Strict compatible, so if you like sites that respect these standarts, JDH Software is one of them. By the way, the site is also fully translated in French !
One of the greatest part of the new site is the featured/promo pictures. Indeed in one look you can see the most important news/product or even upcoming “new things”. I’ve already put a few clues for a new product in different parts of the website…It is your turn to find them
The site is one step in the roadmap I’ve given in a blog post earlier this year. You can expect software updates/releases in the upcoming months.
Finally I would like to share some screenshots about the evolution of the design of the new website :
Windows Mobile Concepts
Posted by cocotteseb in JDH Software on June 29th, 2009
Just seen from here : http://www.istartedsomething.com/20090629/the-best-windows-mobile-concepts-youve-never-seen/
That’s sad to see they’ve stopped working at WM6.5 because these designs are simply AWESOME. I’m pretty sure some test devices exist with these User Interfaces : if you have one please send me it !
Joke apart, I wonder why MS hasn’t put them in a Windows Mobile device yet. Yes, we can see some screens that look like the WM6.1 Sliding panel but it is clearly not the same result ! We can also see some “presumed leaked” WinMobile 7. In one hand that means they were quite real. On the other hand, that means we will never see them in WM7….or is it a test from Microsoft to know if users like these UIs ? If Yes, the answer is definitively YES ! (it is far better than iPhone)
.NET Compact Framework 3.7
Posted by cocotteseb in Pocket PC, Windows Mobile OS on June 13th, 2009
A new version of the .NET CF seems to be leaked around the net…: .NET CF 3.7
It comes from the leaked Windows Mobile 6.5 ROMS. However I haven’t found yet what’s is new. Some users speak about performance improvements other say they don’t see any difference. It is great MS makes new versions even when it is not in the period of a release of a new Visual Studio.
Going to chek it in the emulator.
EDIT : Microsoft seems to “confirm” it : http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/netfxcompact/thread/037570ee-b1a7-4943-aba7-bdda752c455a
Visual Studio 2010 and Smart Devices
Posted by cocotteseb in JDH Software Development, Pocket PC, Windows Mobile OS on May 26th, 2009
The beta 1 of the promising (indeed .NET 4.0 and WPF inside VS itself) Visual Studio 2010 is now out ! I’m currently downloading it by the way. I browsed through the web trying to find what is new in this version…and I find a terrible answser : the support for smart device projects is completely dropped in Visual Studio 2010. That means there is no .NET CF, no smart device projects (in managed or native format),… And I haven’t dreamed because it is written black on white here : http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/sa69he4t(VS.100).aspx
And it appears that even the final version of VS2010 will not support the smart device developpement. Oh well ! It is only written :
However, smart device development is still supported in earlier versions of Visual Studio, such as Visual Studio 2008
I’m not stup** and I’m sure Microsoft CANNOT give up the support for smart devices. I’m pretty sure there is a visual studio for Mobile that is currently in the pipeline but they haven’t said anything about it. Hope that it will be free (just like express editions) or at a reasonnable price (yes visual studio 2010 for pc apps plus the VS mobile for pocket pc would be a lot more expensive than the current solution with VS2008 :/). I hope also that you could get the new IDE without subscribing automatically to the marketplace…
Since WM 6.5 will be really similar to the existing WM6, I think we will stick with VS2008 and .NET 3.5 and we will see the new IDE with WM7 and .NET CF 4.0…but again we don’t know anything yet…Please Microsoft tell us more !
Cry Engine 3 announced !
Posted by cocotteseb in Videos Games on March 24th, 2009
Hi everybody,
Some videos on video games this time. Let’s start with the presentation of the new CryEngine 3, it looks really cool (better than the actual crysis at very high settings but it is hard to say). Moreover some sites mention that it is for the consoles such as the Xbox 360. I really doubt it is the case for this video at least, having in mind the graphic card in it (which isn’t at the level of a 8800GTX).
But I love the “European” forest and I am really happy to see the soldiers with the nano combinaison : I think we are pretty sure now to see a Crysis 2
And an interesting teaser :
http://www.clubic.com/actualite-266228-ruse-preview-str-eugen-ubisoft.html
Microsoft Future Vision
Posted by cocotteseb in JDH Software on March 2nd, 2009
Browsing the web, I’ve just discovered this video showing the future in ten years viewed by Microsoft. It is just a proof-in-concept and most of the presented things don’t even exist in a prototype state, but I must say that I’m really impressed. Hope they anticipate right!
Under a JDH Software, the new website progresses slowly but there are new new things.
