As you can see, it’s not the Panther, which was originally unveiled a few weeks ago, and then shown off again at MIX10 on Monday, alongside the unnamed Samsung device. The image itself originally appeared on the site Neowin, but has been pulled as of this writing. That could be for a lot of different reasons, but it could be mainly for the reason that the device is real, and a ways away from being launched. Or, it could very well be that it’s fake. (Though, we’ve seen a lot worse fan renders.)

As for details about the device, those are few and far between at this point. It’s said to have a full QWERTY (physical) keyboard, which is reminiscent of the Panther. It’s also got a 800×480 pixel resolution for the touchscreen. Our main question, is why LG would be releasing two devices with a hardware, slide-out keyboard. Options are great, but if you make the options too similar to one another, what’s the point? We’re not sure if we’re counting this for a real device yet or not. It makes perfect sense that the manufacturer would have more devices being created, so it’s perfectly possible that this was a legitimate leak. As soon as more information comes our way, we’ll pass it along.

[via the unwired view]

So, what’s to come of the Marketplace that Windows has pushed for their applications? There isn’t a link between Windows Mobile 6.5 and Windows Phone 7 Series: the applications aren’t going to work on the newer platform. Microsoft knows they need to make a change in the market name as well, letting everyone know that they’re upgrading, and moving forward. Enter Windows Phone Marketplace. Sure, it probably could be a little bit more creative, but hey, it works well with the platform from which it is born, and that’s not a bad thing.

There’s some similarities between the old Marketplace and the new, though. Much like the old version (the one that’s still currently being used), the Marketplace allows developers from 30 different countries the ability to distribute their titles from a single, on-device method. The Marketplace will obviously be available on all Windows Phone 7 Series models, so that opens up a lot of possibility for games and applications. Finally, the revenue share rate is at 70% in the developer’s favor, and is accessible through the Marketplace Hub on the 7 Series tile screen.

Feel like talking about Windows Phone 7 Series? Join the discussion at Windows Phone Forums!

[via SlashGear]

The warm people over at BNAmericas had a chance to talk with Microsoft’s Latin American Director of Mobile Communications, Doug Smith, and managed to pull some very interesting things from the man’s brain. Such as, when and if Windows Phone 7 would launch in Latin America. Steve Ballmer wasn’t kidding when he said the launch of Windows Phone 7 Series would be a global launch, because Smith confirmed that his region would be getting the updated mobile Operating System at the same time as everyone else: this holiday season.

When it comes to marketshare, it’s looking like Microsoft’s only competitor in the region is Research In Motion with their BlackBerry devices. No surprise there. Smith stressed the fact that simply forgetting about Windows Mobile 6.5 is not the way to go. The company must put a lot of effort in the Operating System, up until the launch of Windows Phone 7. Numbers speak the loudest though, and Microsoft should be proud of the 26% share in Brazil, and 24% in Mexico, which was reported in an IDC paper last month. It’s good to see that even with ample anticipation for what’s to come, the current hardware and software isn’t being forgotten by the consumers, which, arguably, are the most important part.

[via WMPower User]

The bottom line is something that we’ve heard rumored before, so now that Microsoft has officially come clean on the details, we can all sigh with relief. Enter Charlie Kindel, a major presence within Windows Phone’s developer experience team. He chimed in, and detailed a few key aspects of the developer platform for the world to take in. The main things to take away? First and foremost, the fact that Silverlight, XNA, and .NET frameworks are going to be the mainstay for developers this time around. This isn’t a big surprise, considering Silverlight is a prominent platform for Microsoft, and XNA is a huge platform for Xbox as well as the Zune HD.

But for all those fans of Windows Mobile out there, there’s a bit of a dark cloud looming over all of this great news. Kindel also verified that there won’t be any love whatsoever between Windows Mobile 6.x (and obviously previous versions) and Windows Phone 7 Series. Meaning, no backwards compatibility. Yes, it’s a pain for those who wanted to stay within the same ecosystem, but that’s just not going to happen. Windows Phone 7 is an entirely different platform, and as Microsoft moves ahead, they’re obviously hoping that not only will the developers join them, but so will their customers. We’ll be the first ones in line, to be honest, and we can’t wait to see what more details make their way into the public domain come MIX10, as well as GDC.

[via Engadget]

The situation has been pretty haggard recently. Considering the HTC HD2 is set to launch on T-Mobile USA in just a matter of weeks, there were all sorts of hopes and dreams that the device would be getting an official update from Microsoft when the time came. And while it’s obvious that the device would need to be wiped, so that the Sense User Interface already on it would disappear entirely, at least it could have been done. But, thanks to Mary-Jo Foley over at ZDNet, we’ve got a reconfirmation from Microsoft that the HD2 will certainly not be getting upgraded.

The key part to take away from this: “We currently do not have plans to update the HTC HD2 to Windows Phone 7 Series.”

While we covered this likelihood before, from different angles, we’re just slightly disappointed that this lovely piece of hardware is going to be skipped over. While we understand the focus is on the future, and right now the best hope that Windows Mobile 6.5 has in surviving is with the HD2, it’s still heartbreaking to think that we won’t see Windows Phone 7 on the HD2. Though, we can take some comfort in saying that at least the standard for Windows Phone 7 Series is 3.5-inch screens and 1 GHz Snapdragon processors in one of their three chassis designs.

[via ZDNet]

You will still be able to use the Skype service with your windows mobile smartphone if you have already installed though. You can also access the windows mobile download page manually by using the following URL

http://www.skype.com/intl/en/download/skype/windowsmobile/

[via wmpoweruser]

Toshiba TG02

Toshiba K01

Joining the TG02 at MWC is the new K01, it comes with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard that makes typing easy and comfortable, the K01 also offers Toshiba’s first-ever Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) capactive 4.1″ wide-screen. The K01 also features super-slim design, measuring 12.9mm front to back. The K01 also features a fast 1GHz2 processer and storage can be expanded up to 32GB using microSDHC cards, allowing users to store their favourite movies, music and games with plenty of room to spare.

The images you see — one above and the other below — appear to be a redesigned Windows Marketplace for the new Windows Phone 7 series. I guess is safe to say that any applications from Windows Mobile 6.5 and under will not work on the new operating system.

This new Marketplace most likely will run independently of what you can access nowadays on Windows Mobile 6.5 and under. As you can see on the screenshots, the new Marketplace comes with some Zune inspired-looking interface where you can filter into apps, games, music, and podcasts.

Well there you have it, I do like it so far and I’m not a big fan of WinMo but the new 7 OS is looking promising. Don’t forget to let us know what you think on the comments area.

[via wmpoweruser]