Microsoft’s Windows Phone Developer Tools package goes to beta
Early versions of the tools Windows Phone 7 developers will use to craft their wares have been floating around since Microsoft’s MIX event in March, but it looks like things have finally gotten robust and feature-complete enough this week to bless the kit with a beta label. In fact, Microsoft is coming out and saying that this release “represents the near final version,” which we take to mean you can develop with some confidence that your world won’t be turned upside down when the time comes to prep your apps for shipping devices and firmwares.
Confirmed: HTC Sync lets tethered AT&T Aria sideload apps
Looks like more than HTC’s description was erroneous yesterday afternoon — we’ve just confirmed that the HTC Sync desktop client for the AT&T Aria allows users to install third-party apps on non-rooted devices, just as promised . We ran some quick tests, and while it doesn’t actually enable anything on the handset end, it most certainly does allow those of you with Windows PCs (or VMware) to sideload APKs like Swype over USB with a simple drag-and-drop maneuver. Given how quickly the company sought to correct our original post on the subject, we’d expect HTC will be issuing a rather different version of the software soon, so hit up that source link, pound in your serial number, grab the EXE, and get while the getting’s good.
HTC Aria update for AT&T enables mobile hotspot, sideloaded app support (update: disappointment)
Well, this is genuinely awesome: it seems AT&T is pulling back from its ban on third-party sideloaded apps on its Android devices, because HTC has just released an Aria update that enables them (either that or HTC just went rogue here, but we highly doubt it).
Uplink Audio Strap System offers solar power for runners on the run
Designer Adam Hammerman’s concept — the Uplink Audio Strap System — is for all you sports enthusiasts that want to listen to tunes while running but don’t want to be bothered with headphones. It can connect with a variety of different mobile devices, and boasts four ultrasound speakers, meaning that you can hear the music but nobody else can, so you’re not disturbing the peace! For outdoorsy types, of course, it would be a much safer system for things like running, since you would still be able to hear the street noise around you, and the device would also have flexible solar panels which charge the speakers on the go. It’s just a concept for now, but one we’d like to see in reality.
HTC files seemingly confirm Mondrian, Mozart to be Windows Phone 7 handsets
We’d already had some indication that both the HTC Mondrian and Mozart would be Windows Phone 7 handsets, and it looks like that has now been all but confirmed by HTC itself. According to some XML files dug up on HTC’s own site by Conflipper , both devices list Internet Explorer Mobile 7 for the browser ID, which we can only assume won’t be making an appearance outside of Windows Phone 7 anytime soon. The files also confirm that each device will have a 800 x 480 display and a keyboard-less form factor, plus A2DP Bluetooth support, although there’s expectedly few details to be found beyond that.
AT&T identifies Alcatel-Lucent as slow upload culprit, fix in the works
As we’d suspected, AT&T isn’t intentionally limiting upload speeds on iPhone 4s in some markets where things suddenly got slow over the weekend . Or that’s the company’s claim, anyhow — and seeing how they’re actually calling out a supplier in the process, we tend to buy it. Specifically, AT&T says that some Alcatel-Lucent equipment is causing uploads to fall back to non-HSUPA UMTS speeds “under certain conditions” affecting “less than two percent” of the company’s customers, and that they’re working on developing a fix
