Microsoft has finally released Windows Mobile 6.5 to manufacturers.  Coming this fall, you can expect to start seeing new devices and upgrades to existing devices with the new OS.  There is a new look and feel for the mobile OS and new features added.  I'm doing a presentation at the Madison .NET User Group on Windows Mobile 6.5.  I will be discussing the new features and looks.  Some Windows mobile devices are being shipped with sensors such as accelerometers.  I will be showing how you can access this in your applications.   In addition, I will be talking about the contest Microsoft is sponsoring called Race To Market Challenge for Windows Mobile.  You had better get your mobile application done so that you can enter, win the contest and get access to 30+ million potential buyers for your app.

I couldn't wait any longer.  I needed to have this phone.  So I found one on Amazon and with One Click purchase, the phone was on its way to me.  I'm talking about my new HTC Touch HD Windows Mobile 6.1 cell phone.  It is, without a doubt, the BEST Windows Mobile phone I have ever had or seen.  It is an iPhone killer.  It rocks!!!  I've had it for a day and I can tell that we're going to have lots of fun together.  If you haven't seen the articles already, HTC is not shipping the Touch HD in the states.  I had to buy it through a company that sells the unlocked unit on Amazon.  And yes, I paid more than any other phone I own, but we're only talking about ~$200 more.

The phone that this one is replacing is the HTC Tilt.  It's been a good phone for me, not great but good.  My biggest complaint is that it drops calls on me too often.  It has all the standard items I expect in a phone these days.  GPS, WiFi, Bluetooth, camera, etc.  The HTC Touch HD has all these features plus a few more.

Pros

• Big 480 x 800 Display - my two oldest sons like to watch videos with me on the phone
• G-Sensors - accelerometers that give us orientation info.  It comes with a labrynth game and level app that shows off the G-Sensors nicely
• 5 megapixel camera on the back of the phone
• 1.3 megapixel camera on front of phone for video conferencing
• TouchFLO 3D from HTC is a sweet interface
• 512 mb Flash built-in
• Package came with an 8 Gb micro SD card
• Dropped my AT&T SIM card in and it just worked

Con

• 3G doesn't work here in the states with this phone...  I'm stuck with Edge.  However I believe that the pros seriously outweigh the con.  Actually, where my family and I live, we only get Edge anyway.  We have to go to either Milwaukee or Madison to start getting 3G coverage.  When I'm at home, I connect the phone to WiFi and get high speed Internet.  When I'm on the road, I rarely have the need to stream media so Edge is working for me fine.  I would have liked to get 3G on this phone but I can deal without it for now.

I would truly like to know what the reason is for the delay in the US.  It is my understanding that the US is not as big of a market than Asia so we're not high on the list of getting the latest phone tech.  Plus, as I understand it, our cellphone infrastructure is seriously lacking here.  Can someone explain why that is to me?

For now, I'm going to work on writing apps for this new phone and try to take advantage of the hardware.  I'll post the articles as I finish them.

The Touch HD comes with a labrynth game that uses the accelerometers.

The five megapixel camera is excellent. I can take stills and videos in widescreen.

I took a pic of the Touch HD next to my iPod. As you can see the Touch HD is bigger and has a larger display. Best of all, I can write apps in .NET.

It's been busy at our house now that we just had our fourth child.  We're still adjusting to the chaos.  I haven't had as much time to finish the articles that I'm currently working on.  So I decided that I would post an article that I previously worked on from my other site.  It's a cool article on how to draw bezier curves on the .NET Compact Framework.  I'm also working on some new graphics articles for Windows Mobile so it is worthwhile content.

Drawing and Filling Bezier Curves on the Compact Framework