ces2009

Long rumored and finally revealed earlier this month as "Beauty and the Beast," HP's Voice Messenger and HP's Data Messenger (we sort of prefer the codenames, Oak and Silver, ourselves) are impressively unimpressive in person.  That is to say -- they're straightforward Windows Mobile 6.1 implementations with no flies on them.  The hardware is slick on both devices.  The Data Messenger is the slider and the slide action is just peachy, with a very subtle wave on the keyboard to remind you that there were actually engineers behind this thing.  

The Voice Messenger (out on Vodafone) is also quality and if we were fans of sure-type, we'd be (mostly) sold. See, we're not convinced that replacing the d-pad with a touch-sensitive 'swipe and tap circle' is a great idea, but we figure for the casual and fashion-sensitive users the voice messenger is targeting, such distinctions are less important than the (excellent) pocketability of the device.

Neither device has carrier acceptance in the US and given HP's recent track history, you're more likely to see one of them on Rogers in Canada than you are on AT&T or T-Mobile.  Still, a lot of folks like the plain-jane HP iPaq 910c, so to see the same company put out some sexy kit is a sort of vindication.

Getcher specs and more photos after the break!

While we originally thought that the Mobinnova Ice boded well for the company's ability to manufacture future Xperias, our hands on during CES 2009 almost fills us with foreboding.  See, the fit and finish of this model leaves a bit to be desired, although perhaps our expectations were a little too high.  This is actually a pretty standard 'black-slab' WinMo device -- the main innovation here is that '2nd screen,' which in our testing didn't do much more than act like a sub-par D-Pad.  It worked, but it also made us wish they'd just added more pixels to the main screen and then used software magic to add in a D-Pad there.

....Or not.  Although Mobinnova did go through the now-required motions of adding their own custom software on top of Windows Mobile, it's not much to look at (see the photos after the break).

So yeah, we're not huge fans of the Ice, but that doesn't mean that the future is necessarily grim for the Xperia line.  It just means that Sony Ericsson will need to do all the heavy lifting on design and software (something we figure they're doing anyway), and just leave it to Mobinnova to pump out the darn things.

Gallery and specs after the break.

Well, not exactly. One of the many subjects Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer covered during his keynote address to the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show was the introduction of a new Windows Mobile application that will let people manage and update their Netflix queues from their WM devices. Check out a brief demo of it here at the 2:10 mark.

The application ties into the Netflix-Xbox Live partnership, which was also a highlight of the keynote address. The Xbox gaming system remains the only game system that lets consumers instantly watch movies and television episodes streamed from Netflix. The Windows Mobile application will let you schedule and prompt these streams.

Stay tuned today for more on Ballmer's keynote as well as the rest of the 2009 CES.

Man, Palm just can't catch a break with these keynotes, can they?  Last year, we caught Microsoft accidentally showing a sneak preview of the Palm Treo 800w on the video screen.  This year, we have another Palm Treo, running Windows Mobile, popping up, that we're fairly confident is technically an unreleased and announced device.

See, during the keynote Microsoft very briefly touted Internet Explorer 6's flash support.  That's all well and good, but we also know that IE6 Mobile isn't going to be made available on current devices -- instead it requires a whole new ROM and a decent amount of power on whatever device it lands on.

We already have seen screenshots of Internet Mobile 6 leaked here on WMExperts and also seen speed tests from an unreleased Sprint Treo indicating the browser was Internet Explorer 6.  So sure, it's entirely possible that we are looking at a GSM Treo Pro running Internet Mobile 6 with a customized ROM.   But why go through all the trouble of creating a custom ROM when there's a perfect explanation of what we have here?  The explanation, folks, is that the photo you are looking at above almost surely is a Sprint Treo Pro.  Maybe next year Palm should ask to sit in on the dress rehersal for the Microsoft keynote, eh?