Microsoft will unleash the Windows Mobile 6.5 on the 6th of October and all current upgradable smartphones will be able to install it. Those and the new, which are still not launched, will ship directly with the new OS.

That seems some good news for the WinMo users – mark down 6 October in your calendars if you’ve been promised an upgrade to Windows Mobile 6.5. The new version of the mobile OS will become available then probably meaning you should be able to upgrade free your HTC Touch Diamond 2, HTC Touch Pro 2, or Samsung Omnia II, etc.

Besides the user experience boost, the new version of the OS will offer two new potentially powerful services – the My Phone and the Windows Marketplace.

The first one will offer free web synchronization of photos, music, contacts and messages, while the second name speaks for itself introducing a huge application catalog straight to the mobile. Easy access to the popular social networks like Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and Twitter is also provided.

There is a whole month until the official premiere, until then you may want to check our detailed impressions of the Windows Mobile 6.5 running on the Samsung Omnia 2.

Source

Half a dozen new claims of exploding iPhones have come out of France, as Apple faces an official investigation over the possible risks of its popular smartphone.

An 80-year-old Parisian pensioner, Rolland Caufman, claimed his iPhone screen began cracking in his hands a week after he bought it.

“I went out shopping, with my iPhone in my left pocket, when I suddenly felt it heat up and start vibrating — even though I never use the vibrate setting,” said Caufman. “I took it out of my pocket and held it to my ear — and saw the screen crack up like a car windscreen.”

In another case, a 26-year-old security guard, Yassine Bouhadi, said he suffered an eye injury when the screen of his iPhone suddenly shattered.

In all, ten French iPhone users have now come forward claiming their handset screens have either cracked or exploded without explanation.

The Cupertino, Calif.-based company insists the exploding screen cases were isolated incidents. It has sold more than 26 million iPhones since it first debuted two years ago.

“We are aware of these reports and we are waiting to receive the iPhones from the customers,” said Alan Hely, Apple’s European head of communications. “Until we have the full details, we don’t have anything further to add.”

But France’s consumer affairs watchdog, the DGCCRF, is still launching an inquiry to determine whether Apple’s flagship device poses a threat to consumers.

Additionally, the European Commission has asked the other EU nations to report any iPhone-related problems.

“We just need to monitor closely now and see if these are isolated incidents,” said Helen Kearns, the Commission’s spokeswoman. “We’ll be vigilant and if necessary we’ll take further actions.”

Three years ago, similar lithium-ion batteries made news when Sony voluntarily recalled millions of laptop batteries after they caused laptops to possibly overheat and catch fire.

Experts blamed part of the problem on the increased demand that sophisticated portable devices are placing on batteries.

Since batteries were first manufactured on a large scale in 1991, consumer electronics have become over 200 times faster — outpacing developments in battery technology.

This article contains unofficial information.

We all know that App Store is bursting at the seams with whatever apps you might think. It´s certainly one of the major aces up Apple´s sleeve, but what we are amazed to find out is what a cashflow it generates. According to an AdMob´s recently announced figure, customers of the online store download software that´s worth $2.4bln per year. AdMod also compares it to the sales volume of Android Market that is currently estimated at the meager $60mln per year. There is a catch though – App Store is actively used by not only iPhone lovers, but iPod touch owners as well, although the former seem to be more active managing to generate revenues of nearly $125mln a month alongside of the $5mln reaped by Android app developers. Well, the whole thing adds up, since the iPhone is the most popular cell phone in the US and the service offered by AdMob is aimed at the same market, meaning these guys probably know what they are talking about. Moreover, it seems that half of all iPhone owners download at least one app per month, while this holds true for just 19% of Android fans.

source: Gigaom

It seems that Motorola’s more likely to launch an eco-friendly phone than an Android device, since the environmentally friendly Moto A45 Murano has just went live today. Also known as MOTOCUBO A45, the handset is available in Brazil, for $293, but let’s hope it’ll enter more markets soon.

This eco-friendly phone is 25% recycled plastic bottles, while 70% of it can be recycled as well. MOTOCUBO A45 is destined to reach a youthful market, since it’s a messaging phone with a sliding QWERTY keyboard and a landscape QVGA display. Moto A45 supports quad band GSM/EDGE connectivity, Bluetooth, FM radio with RDS and Google Maps.

Social networking services are also on the specs list, together with a 3.5mm headset jack, a 2 megapixel camera and there’s a 2GB memory card bundled with the device, if you’re wondering.

[via Unwired View]

Don’t limit yourself to the usual FM transmitters when it comes to playing your iPods through the car head unit of your vehicles. Thanks to Sinjimoru, there is a new and stylish way of docking and enjoying the stored music you have for in-car mobile enjoyment.

Sinjimoru introduces the iDeck, a car-pack suited for people who are fond of listening to tunes on their iPods. The iDeck actually comes in three parts: a car-pack delivering music through a magnetic head in the cassette deck of a car, a cradle for an iPod, and a charger supplying electricity through the cigarette lighter jack.

To date, the iDeck has sold over 3,000 units since its launch in April of this year. The iDeck is slated to be in attendance at the CIETEC2009 in Tokyo this coming October and the CES2009.

(Source) Aving

Bell customers should be happy to know that Bell is ready to release the Palm Pre. The carrier has recently released a new ad for the smartphone. In case you didn’t know, the Palm Pre supports EV-DO connectivity, a 320 x 480 pixels multi-touch display, GPS, Wi-Fi, a full QWERTY keyboard and the WebOS platform. Video after the jump.

Here is yet another watch phone called the N800. It comes with a 1.3-inch touch display with handwritten input support, 1.3-megapixel camera, Bluetooth function, microSD slot and support for MP3/MP4 playback and it’s running on a GSM 900 /1800MHz network along with MP3/Midi ringtones and a preloaded puzzle game. Get yours today for $185.90.

Here’s the leaked pictures including details of Samsung’s upcoming B3310 social networking phone. This entry-level phone will feature a horizontal slide-out QWERTY keyboard, a 2.1-inch TFT LCD display with 176 x 220 pixels, a 2MP camera with video recording, a music player, an FM radio, a 40MB of internal memory, a microSD card slot, Bluetooth and comes pre-loaded with applications to access Facebook, MySpace and Flickr. The Samsung B3310 will hit UK in mid-September for unannounced price yet.