YouTube hates Windows Mobile and other news

Filed under: Features, Windows Mobile, Mobile Minute

YouTube hates Windows Mobile and other news - Mobile Minute

by Brad Linder Jun 25th 2007

In today's mobile Minute, we'll take a look at some of the latest news and software related to Windows Mobile devices.

Spb Mobile Shell 1.5 released

While you're waiting to find out if you qualify for a Windows Mobile 6 upgrade, you might want to breathe some new life into your Windows Mobile 5.0 PDA or Smartphone.

Spb Mobile Shell is a complete replacement for the built in Windows Mobile Today Screen and program launcher. Sure you could use free software to design your shell, but Spb's taken the hard work out of your hands.

Version 1.5 includes the following improvements:

Windows Mobile 6 support
Menu customization
Easy item pinning on today
Ability to change the order of pinned items
Support for third party plug-ins
Device locking improvements
Assign Spb Menu actions to hardware keys
Performance, stability, and battery life optimizations
Integration with CorePlayer 1.1

Spb Mobile Shell costs $30, or about $$470 - $570 less than an iPhone. Prices of Windows Mobile phones vary.

CorePlayer 1.1 released

Windows Media Player not doing it for you? The folks who brought us the popular (and free) TCPMP continue to refine their commercial Core Media Player. Version 1.1 includes the new CoreTheque (pronounced "core-tech") multimedia database.

CoreTheque is a cross platform database supporting Windows Mobile, Palm, Symbian, Windows, OS X and Linux. Right now it's basically a system for creating playlists, but the team plans to release plug-ins, APIs, and customizable components in the future.

Other changes in version 1.1 include:

Support for Windows Mobile 6.0
Additional support for older devices running Windows CE 4.1 and 4.2
BlueTooth headphone support
Dynamic menu system
Copy, Cut, Paste to Open/URL in Windows CE version
Storage card insertion detection and prompts
And of course a bunch of bug fixes

CorePlayer 1.1 is a free upgrade for existing customers. A new license will set you back $20.

Yeigo

Yeigo adds support for Windows Mobile 6

Windows Mobile VoIP solution Yeigo now supports Windows Mobile 6 devices. Yeigo lets you make free voice calls to other Yeigo users. You can also chat for free with anyone on GTalk, AOL, MSN, or Yahoo! Messenges.

You can also make calls to regular telephones, but you'll have to pay by the minute. Prices vary from country to country.

You'll obviously need an internet connection in order to make VoIP calls. Yeigo supports WiFi, 3G, and HDSPA. Of ocurse, you'll want a good data plan otherwise your free VoIP calls are going to drive your monthly phone bill up, not down.

YouTube Mobile (just not Windows Mobile)

no YouTube

You know how YouTube released a mobile interface that was supposed to make it easier for everyone to waste time at the bus stop (or at work) by watching videos of cats, dogs, and teenagers doing stupid things? Yeah, it turns out that most Windows Mobile users are out of luck.

The site uses 3GP videos, which are nearly universal on most mobile phones these days. But while the more powerful Windows Mobile Smartphones with full fledged media players can handle higher quality video, they don't do 3GP.

Fortunately there are alternatives. You can download FLV videos from YouTube and watch them on your PDA using TCPMP and the new flash video plug-in. Or you can use Orb, which allows you to search for and play YouTube videos on your Windows Mobile device. But neither solution is quite the same as opening a web browser, finding the videos you want to watch, and clicking play.

There are reports that newer HTC phones running Windows Mobile 6 include software that supports 3GP playback and can be used with YouTube's new site.

Tags: coreplayer, spb shell, SpbShell, tcpmp, yeigo, youtube

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Chris Moroz said 4:21PM on 6-25-2007

I've been using this since it first came out, making my device easier to use and navigate without having to use the stylus as much... and the new upgrade is nice.

Highly recommend!

mace said 12:27AM on 7-12-2007

If you Google this...
Download Free HTC Streaming Media Player to play RTSP 3GP audio .
Follow the instructions...along with the program you have to add a few DLL files to your windows folder (don't overwrite anything) just add the DLL files that you don't receive a prompt..
everything else just say no.
I just click on the thumbnail for the video on http://m.youtube.com to play seemlessly with this player on my Palm Treo 700wx. It works great.

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