ChevronWP7, Microsoft team on new Windows Phone unlock tool

The ChevronWP7 team surfaced again on Friday with news of its long promised, officially sanctioned Windows Phone 7 unlock tool in ChevronWP7 Labs. Its solution will give developers and hobbyists a way to run apps without having to sign up for and publish to the Windows Phone Marketplace. Both they and Microsoft's Senior Product Manager Cliff Simpkins saw it as a way of safely experimenting without either breaking Marketplace rules or running afoul of another developer.

The new version will require a PayPal fee to the ChevronWP7 team, but mostly to cover development costs.

ChevronWP7 arrived just weeks after Windows Phone 7 arrived in the US as a reaction to the limitations on what apps were available on the new platform. Microsoft cracked down and demanded it stop, but it decided soon after to collaborate with the team of Windows enthusiasts to make an approved solution in return for taking down the original copy. The bridge is partly a necessity since the $99 fee normally has to be paid whether or not an app is available in Microsoft's store.

Electronista

Asus PadFone Is Both a Tablet and a Phone: Neat Concept, but Still Vapor

At the end of the Asus press conference at Computex 2011, Chairman Jonney Shih waited until the very last minute to unveil the best product of the night: The Asus PadFone, a convergent device that docks a smartphone into the back of a slate so that they can be used together as a single device. Problem is, the entire demonstration was based on a few concept videos and a prototype that was clearly unfinished. Still, it's a usage model that we were really excited about when the Motorola Atrix made its debut and an incredibly neat approach to mobile computing—if and when Asus decides to make it available to the public.

The PadFone is essentially a symbiotic relationship between smartphone and slate, whereas the Atrix's screen and keyboard dock are intended to replace your netbook or laptop. It's a concept that owners of both Apple iPhone and iPad wish were possible: To dock the former into the latter and quit having to use two separate devices.

From the demonstration, the PadFone is inserted into the back of the dock like a cassette tape, hidden by a panel that fits flush with the back of the tablet. With the Atrix, the Smartphone sits several inches behind the screen, which simply isn't as clean-looking.

If the PadFone is anything like the Atrix, the tablet portion won't have a processor, memory, or local storage; it'll be a shell so that the two can share things like data, webcam, and 3G internet access. What makes the PadFone fundamentally different than the Atrix, however, is that it also shares the same operating system (The Atrix, when docked, runs on an alternative Linux OS). According to Asus, it's not doing any kind of upscaling or upconversion; it's using its own technology to adjust the smartphone screen layout. If you ask me, it almost sounds like it's using an internal HDMI connector.

Here's what we know for sure: The Smartphone will have the latest version of Android at the time of launch, which means so will the tablet dock. The screen size of the tablet is 10.1-inches, while the Smartphone has a 4.3-inch one. The tablet dock also has a built-in battery that will extend the life of the one in the Smartphone.

The usage scenarios are evident with such a solution: Say you're surfing the Web on the smartphone and find that the screen is too small for certain websites. You can stop what you're doing, dock the phone, and pick up where you left on the tablet. This also applies to composing email, video conferencing, and playing media. Right now, the details are so limited that it sounds like this game-changing device is still a while away. But if it does come to fruition, it could be the future of tablet computing.

PCmag

Nokia exec backs multiple Windows Phone devices in 2011

Nokia's first Windows Phone devices could not only make the end of 2011 but include multiple devices, the company's Smart Devices VP Jo Harlow said in a new talk on Tuesday. She wasn't ready to say for certain that Nokia would make 2011 but told Forbes that the target was "absolutely still this year" and that it "looks good." Harlow also fueled rumors of multiple devices at once" with word that it would start with a "smart portfolio" of devices, not just one.

Earlier hints have suggested that the two first phones, the W7 and W8, would be direct conversions of the X7 and N8 with Windows Phone and new hardware. Since Qualcomm has another Snapdragon exclusive on the platform with the Windows Phone 7.1 update, Nokia will have to switch to the new processors. It's already due to start with the new OS.

Harlow went on to validate rumors and said Nokia was exploring NFC on Windows Phone along with its outgoing Symbian platform. The company was helping carriers make NFC readers along with creating phones to use them.

CDMA was also becoming important. Nokia has had phones in recent years like the Twist, but for the most part has kept it away from its smartphone mix. Harlow explained that Nokia was "working in that direction" to expand the company's reach.

The VP reiterated a cautious approach to tablets and was clear that the company would only get involved if it could have truly unique models.

Electronista

Toshiba Creates Phone Display With Highest Pixel Density Ever

The iPhone 4's crown of having the highest-density screen among smartphones could soon be usurped. Toshiba just unveiled a 4-inch screen with a density of 367 pixels per inch (ppi), making it the highest pixel density for any commercial display.

When Apple first showed the iPhone 4 last year, Steve Jobs famously proclaimed its 326ppi screen as a "retina" display, implying that it was so sharp, it was beyond the point where the human eye was able to discern the pixels. Those claims were later said to have been exaggerated, though the display is still notable for having the highest pixel density among phones.

The Toshiba screen, a low-temperature polysilicon (LTPS) display that was shown this week at a trade show in Los Angeles, bests the iPhone 4's 3.5-inch 960x640 LCD with a 4-inch 1,280x720 screen. That's enough pixels to play 720p HD video at full resolution—on a phone.

The achievement, while technologically impressive, has questionable applicability. It would be difficult for most to see any actual difference in resolution between a 326ppi display and a 367ppi one.

Still, having the highest-resolution screen in a category is a talking point that Apple has shown can be a useful marketing tool, and phone makers will no doubt implement Toshiba's high-density screen in some the high-end handsets of tomorrow, possibly even Apple. Apple's current supplier for the iPhone 4 display is LG, although the company is rumored to be working with Toshiba on the next generation of the device.

Does that mean Toshiba's 367ppi screen could make its way into the next iPhone? It's possible—Apple is also rumored to be completely redesigning the iPhone for the next model to accommodate a 4-inch screen, but a shift from the current 1.5:1 aspect ratio to a widescreen one (like the Toshiba screen has) is unlikely since it would affect all apps, which have already been designed for the original ratio. If the rumors are true, however, that could mean Toshiba has a different display, with an iPhone-like aspect ratio, in the works.

The new display follows on the heels of Samsung's unveiling of a 10-inch "retina" screen for tablets with 2560x1600-pixel resolution. If the trend toward ever-higher resolution continues, mobile devices that can display full 1080p resolution video could become common—as long as their processors can keep up.

PCmag

Windows Phone 7, Symbian ads get more hits than iOS

The latest quarterly ad metrics report published by mobile ad network Smaato reveal Windows Phone 7 owners are clicking on more ads than those with iOS, Android, BlackBerry and Symbian devices. This is a large change from last year's numbers, which had Symbian handsets at the top of the ad click-through rates. Smaato's CMO, Harald Heidhardt, helped put the results in perspective.

Heidhardt believed that despite their relative small market presence due to how new they are, WP7 devices are seen as a novelty by owners and this contributes to the higher mobile advertising performance. Because Microsoft's SDK isn't bringing ads outside of the US and there may be less mobile ads in Windows Phone devices, it's likely more attention is paid to the ads in apps or mobile websites, he said.

The Smaato numbers give the click behavior or anonymous smartphone OS owners averaged over the global inventory and is meant to give advertisers an idea of which OS is the most efficient to sell advertising on.

Electronista

Polymer Vision revives, shows Readius-inspired folding phone

Polymer Vision returned from nearly going defunct on Friday and showed a concept for the spiritual successor to its short-lived Readius. The new device would embrace the folding display technology but apply it to a phone with a color screen. Along with a clamshell shape that would hide a tablet-sized screen, it would even have a second option to expand to a larger size, Digital Reader heard.

Virtually all of the other details are a mystery, including what operating system it would use and what features it would have beyond the screen. A hardware number pad and at least one camera was is visible in the render. Launch information is equally unknown.

The company has had a turbulent history. A former division inside Philips, it promised the original Readius in 2008 as a fold-out e-paper device that could fit in a pocket but unfold to give a roughly Kindle-sized e-reader with 3G for basic Internet access. It was virtually ready to launch in 2009 but was bankrupted when an investor lost funds in a Ponzi scam. Taiwanese contract manufacturer Wistron bought it out and helped continued development.

In spite of the silence, Polymer Vision reportedly sent out periodic updates confirming that it was still working.

Electronista

Microsoft making it easier to port iPhone apps to Windows Phone

One of Microsoft’s problems in attracting people to write Windows Phone 7 applications is that the user base is much smaller than those of the iPhone or Android, so app developers tend to focus on those platforms. Now, Microsoft is trying to make it easier for people to take the apps they’ve developed for the iPhone and make them work on Windows Phone.

With the iPhone/iOS to Windows Phone 7 API (application programming interface) mapping tool, released on Friday, developers have a new online resource for doing this conversion.

Essentially, the API mapping tool works like a foreign-language dictionary, said Jean-Christophe Cimetiere, Microsoft senior technical evangelist for interoperability. Developers can go through the code of their iPhone app and find the equivalent API calls for a Windows Phone 7 app.

“For this first round we focused on identifying the one-to-one mapping when it exists,” Cimetiere wrote in a blog post. “In the following versions we’ll expand the scope and anytime the concepts are similar enough, we’ll do our best to provide the appropriate guidance.

“Of course, this is a work in progress, coverage will expand and more iOS APIs will be mapped soon.”

Seattle PI