Microsoft announced Live Search for Windows Mobile today in Spain at a 3GSM conference. It’s like the recently discussed Google Maps for Windows Mobile, but way better. Expect a full review soon, including Bluetooth wireless GPS tests (turn by turn navigation). Install it from your phone for Free at http://wls.live.com/
Last week Microsoft announced Windows Mobile 6 details and this week Motorola announced details of two new devices. The Moto Q GSM is due out later this year and is simply a quad-band GSM and EDGE version of the current Q phone, and for some odd reason (timing?) they are keeping the current Windows Mobile 5 OS on the phone, instead of the latest WM6.
The biggest news is the newly announced Moto Q q9 phone. The Q9 features the Opera browser, anti-virus protection, an updated 2 megapixel camera (upgrade from the crappy 1.3 megapixel), 30fps video capture, improved 320×240 QVGA display, improved support for more audio formats, VPN support, voice recognition, A2DP stereo Bluetooth support, Quad-Band (GPRS/EDGE) functionality like the Moto Q GSM, USB 2.0 support, and the new Windows Mobile 6 OS. New High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) technology allows for faster downloads, up to 3.6MB/sec (AT&T is the only carrier which supports HSDPA currently). The phone is also 11.8mm thick, which is 0.3mm thicker than the current 11.5 mm Q phone.
The Q9 will be available Q2 2007, probably around the time the new Apple iPhone is released. I love the Q, but I think Motorola is going to have to make some bigger changes to compete with the iPhone, most notably a larger display and improved web browsing experience. While the Q9 promises an Opera browser, there are no details as to whether or not this is just the current Opera Mobile software that you can put on your current Q phone, or something different. Since web browsing accounts for the majority of my time on my Q phone these days, I’m watching closely to see how this feature improves.
Windows Mobile 6 has been announced by Microsoft, however it is unclear as to whether or not the Q will be able to upgrade to it (and if so, when). Geek.com has a first impressions article so go check it out!
Highlights:
The camera shutter sound effect that is played every time you take a photo with your Q phone is obnoxiously loud. In my search to disable this sound effect, I found two methods. The first involved changing the sound file itself, but there is an easier way. You have to edit the registry to change this value, so if you do not yet have software installed on your Q to do this, go get the PHM Registry Editor (it’s free).
Just go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\Pictures\Camera\OEM in your registry editor and switch your view so you can view the Values (if your default view doesn’t already show you values). Locate the ShutterSoundVolume key and edit its values. Change the default value (32768) to 0. 
There’s no need to reset your phone, unless you already have the Camera app loaded (in which case you can Kill its process and restart it). I would imagine you could change the registry value to somewhere between 0 and 32768 to simply lower the volume, however my goal was to remove the sound entirely.
Now if I could just figure out how to get Ilium Software’s Screen Capture software to do the same (that’s what I used to grab the screen shot you see here).
How fun taking pictures without having the whole world know about it!
I decided to blog about Skype Mobile on the Motorola Q after reading a few topics online from people wondering how to get the Skype Mobile application on their Q and wondering how well it really works.
The first problem you will most likely encounter is that the Skype website does not list Motorola as an option on its brands list of mobile devices. In fact, it’s almost impossible to find the .cab file to download so here are two ways to do this.
Download directly to your phone
Navigate to: http://www.skype.com/go/getskype-smartphone-cab-beta
If this link is still valid (as it’s in beta), your phone will prompt you to download a 3.86 MB file “SkypeForSmartphone_Beta.CAB”. Say Yes and let ‘er rip.
After a few typical installation prompts, a new Skype icon will be added to your Start menu. If for some reason the installation fails, go to that link again and try to install it one more time.
Download from your PC
Navigate to: http://www.skype.com/download/skype/mobile/downloading_smart_beta.html
You have two options at this point. You can click the Download button to download the EXE and install it from your PC, or you can click the link “You can also download the .cab file (for advanced users only)” to download the .CAB file. You’ll need to copy this to your phone (or your phone’s memory card) to later install from your phone (browse to it using the File Manager).
What now?
Either way you choose to install Skype Mobile, installation should complete and your Home Screen will be changed to Skype’s ugly larger-than-life Home Screen and color scheme (it is so nice to do this without asking). To change it back to what you had before, go to Settings > Home Screen. If you do want to add the Skype Mobile plugin to your Home Screen’s XML file, it’s fairly easy. See my notes at the end of this post.
Launch Skype and you’ll see the following Windows Mobile alert message: “Please note that a WiFi connection could not be found.” Just ignore this, as your Q does not have WiFi and you already know it. It’s going to use the phone’s EVDO connection to communicate. The first time you start Skype Mobile it will prompt you for your login information. Subsequent launches of the Skype Mobile application will automatically sign you in:
Using Skype for Windows Mobile
The beauty of Skype is that all of your Skype contacts, phone numbers, history, etc. are automagically pulled from the Skype servers and downloaded to your phone. So once you login, you won’t need to re-configure it like you did on your PC. What’s even cooler is that you can run multiple copies of Skype (your PC and your mobile device) without any problem.
Whatever you type on Skype Mobile text messaging also appears on your PC’s version of Skype (if it’s running). The coolness doesn’t stop there, either… because even if Skype on your PC is not running, next time it starts back up you will get all of your chat history from Skype Mobile. These guys have thought of everything.
Text messaging is killer, works great, and as always — is Free. The VOIP (phone calling feature) of Skype Mobile is not so killer. In fact, it’s quite useless. While you can dial out (Skype Out) and dial in (Skype In), the call quality is so choppy it’s just not worth it. So save your voice communication for the phone part of your phone, not the data part. It might be good enough to check your Skype voicemail, but even that’s sketchy. The only cool part about Skype In on Skype Mobile is that both your mobile device and your PC will ring. I did a quick test calling out to the Skype test call account (echo123) and it worked fairly well. However Skype Out calls to a land line was horrible. Hopefully the call quality will improve with technology (both Skype Mobile as well as Verizon’s EVDO network).
Home Screen Plug-In
Earlier in this post I mentioned how nice it is for the Skype Mobile installer to change your Home Screen and color scheme without prompting you first. Well, once you change everything back to the way you had it (Settings > Home Screen) you may be tempted to want to add the Skype Mobile plug-in functionality back to your favorite Home Screen configuration.
Here’s how to do it.
Open up the XML file of the Home Screen you wish to modify. These files are found in your Application Data\Home folder on your device. Edit that XML file, adding the following code to the bottom (or wherever you want the Skype Mobile plug-in to appear):
<!– Skype shortcut –>
<plugin clsid=”{61F6E879-E592-4006-9B44-1AA3BE9B6C80}” name=”Skype” height=”58″ autoheight=”true”>
<background>
<format state=”selected” bgcolor=”transparent”/>
</background>
<skype x=”0″ y=”0″ h-margin=”2″ v-margin=”2″ text-margin=”6″ separator-width=”1″ separator-color=”COLOR_HOMERULE”>
<selected highlight=”COLOR_HOMEHIGHLIGHT”/>
<unselected highlight=”transparent”/>
</skype>
</plugin>
That’s it!
Have fun Skyping!
Google Maps is now available for the Windows Mobile platform. I just installed it on my Motorola Q and it is incredible!
Just point your mobile browser to http://www.google.com/gmm/winm and it will download a .cab file. Install it and go! It’s awesome… and includes satellite imagery, street maps, zoom in/out features (hit I to zoom In, O to zoom Out), search and direction features. It’s super fast too!
This is a must-have app, and it’s free thanks to Google. Go check it out! Here’s a screen shot I just made on my phone after searching for “space needle” and nothing else specific. It came right up, and all I had to do was to zoom in a few times.