Will HTC Hero UI be able to work on the TOUCH HD? - Hero, G2 Touch Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hey guys im just wondering if it was possible to port the new htc hero ui on to the HTC touch hd? The htc hero ui is amazing, kinda makes me regret buying the TOuch HD. . .

It won't for winmob devices will be availible manila 2.5...

no it can't because the hero is an android phone, and touch hd is a winmo phone

According to latest news, there will be definitely a version of that UI (named: HTC Sense) for both operating systems: Winmo AND Android.
Sources: Interview with Peter Chou, CEO of HTC (http://derstandard.at/1246541395037/HTC-Android-oder-Windows-Mobile-Das-ist-uns-egal - sorry, in german)

licht77 said:
According to latest news, there will be definitely a version of that UI (named: HTC Sense) for both operating systems: Winmo AND Android.
Sources: Interview with Peter Chou, CEO of HTC (http://derstandard.at/1246541395037/HTC-Android-oder-Windows-Mobile-Das-ist-uns-egal - sorry, in german)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Correct. There have been multiple reports that HTC ill be bringing a more unified UI to WM and Android phones. Each OS will have a few differences, but i'm sure people will be able to recognize that it's an HTC phone just by looking at the screen.

There will be things missing from the winmo side on account of the difference of screen. Touch HD is resistive (uses a stylus and works on an x/y two point contact system), whereas the hero and the magic are both capacitive and are capable of reading multiple points of contact at the same time.
Basically speaking, a capacitive screen registers a contact through creating voltage at the point where your finger is touching. Your finger IS the contact. Resistive on the other hand is like two sheets of plastic being forced to touch each other, with a thin layer of space between them. I've yet to hear of a resistive screen that will allow multiple point contact. Usually, when you press two points at the same time, the device just reads it as on point in between the two actual pressure points.
Although multi touch will not be showing itself on the Touch HD or other resistive screen devices, the Touch HD has a semi working version of android in development, thanks to the talented people of this very site (xda). It's far from ready to replace winmo on the Touch HD, but it's at the point where it gives a good idea of how it would work.
As for the Sense UI on the Touch HD, very little would have to be done to the Touch HD to make it possible, as Sense UI is basically just a new Touch Flo, and therefor it's just a matter of taking a step forward for current winmo devices.
I hope that explanation helps.
Caid.
444

thanks for the lengthy explanation, Caid...but licht77 is right, HTC created the UI for both operating systems so a wider user base can use this awesome interface! :-D Yay! cant wait!

will HTC Sense UI work on Touch Pro 2 ?

Let it be very clear Windows Mobile users,
HTC said: they have the INTENTION to bring the two UIs (TouchFlo for Windows Mobile, Sense for Android) closer together AT SOME POINT.
So TouchFlo will eventually will look a bit more like Sense, and maybe Sense will borrow more TouchFlo looks... but don't expect it any time soon.
Manilla3D 2.5 that is spotted just recently (version for some new high-end Windows Mobile device ) still very much looks like TouchFlo. It has a bit more customization I believe, but the freedom of the Widgets in Sense is still something for Android for the coming months I think.

I've found "HTC Sense" package for PointUI. Here are download links - http://community.pointui.com/topic/suiteto-come-pointsense-suite and http://www.pointui.com/products/home-2/ .
Here is a video preview - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDyb-Tq-y3E

zipiik said:
I've found "HTC Sense" package for PointUI. Here are download links - http://community.pointui.com/topic/suiteto-come-pointsense-suite and http://www.pointui.com/products/home-2/ .
Here is a video preview - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDyb-Tq-y3E
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you
I have PointSense Suite on my Att Fuze
Working fine, just need help setting the Weather
Anyone knows how to change the city
in weather after we install:
PointSenseSuite
PointSense.HomeScreen

Related

is their a way to have touchflo3D on the titan

im so tired of waiting for the touch pro
iamtexasmade said:
im so tired of waiting for the touch pro
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can have TouchFlo 2D which is a less memory intesive version. Near identical as far as I can tell.
Check out the ROM that I made in this post:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=436997
It looks great and is pretty smooth to boot ;c)
iamtexasmade said:
im so tired of waiting for the touch pro
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not until someone makes the drivers for our device. Hard to say if that will happen or not.
how about now?
This was a topic of discussion in my office the other day. The smartphone industry is moving so fast that it's impossible to keep up (unless you have lots of money to spare).
When the manufacturers introduce a new device they also introduce more memory intensive software. Almost to MAXOUT all of the new power. The problem is, from a hardware/software engineering perspective, with devices such as the TP it seems that went a little too far. That is why you are hearing people complaining about their devices hanging. An example of a device that had a GUI designed to be 80% intensive of the hardware is the iPhone. This leaves room to grow until you get your next device.
This is the reason TouchFLO 3D/2D are slow and freeze up. They were designed to MAX out specific device specs that the Titan doesn't have and the TP barely passes the benchmark... When you buy a new PC do you load the most process intensive apps on it to the point where it is choking up? No. You leave room to grow. What people fail to realize is that these devices have been pretty much fully loaded from day 1. You can only REALLY run flawlessly some apps on the Titan. Anything too intense will result is freezing and choppy behaviour.
HTC Titan 100 TouchFlo 3D Pro Background and Today Screen!
There is a good one google search for empex_Diamond.tsk make a folder in ur main onboard storage and click on it and it will go into ur themes page this is for yout Diamond TouchFlo 3D BackGround Black Theme and now u need two files, these two files you install on your P4000 Titan 100 HHCv10Final and HTC-Home-Plugin-v1-0, an Now Reboot your phone and this should be in ur today screen start up and home screen, Enjoy.. HTC TouchFlo 3D Pro : ))
do not install v2.1 or 2.0 will mess ur system up and u will have to hard reset via USB in bootloader mode.
Easy TouchFlo 3D Pro On HTC P4000
Just forgot to meantion that this GPS toogle looks like the TouchFlo Pro, here it is if u want to put it in ur list, i think GPS at top of today icons, second down in the middle messeges and bottom of list Device Locke i think looks the best with this Titan P4000 TouchFlu 3D Pro Hack.

windows user to android- need advice

i've had windows mobile forever and basically i now have an oppertunity to get the hero but keep my touch pro.
does anybody have any advice on the difference between the 2 os's?
the goods and bads of anroid compared to winmo?
The biggest difference is that multi-tasking is a little different. By default there is no list of running processes, and no way to switch between them. Instead you go back to an already open app by going through the menu and opening it like regular again.
ahm, long pressing the Home button will bring up the list of currently/last opened apps so you can switch between them
Ok, I'll give you that, it makes switching easier, but it is not a task list. Just a shortcut to some recently launched apps. If you open 7 apps, you won't be able to switch to the oldest.
If you compare stock Android (1.5) versus stock Windows Mobile 6.1 / 6.5, it'll be a close call. I think I would rather have a WinMo device then.
But the HTC interface on the Hero makes it a no-brainer for me.
But it all depends what you use your device for. If you are a heavy bluetooth user you might want to look into that first, but since I hardly ever use it I have no issues with android and loved it from the first few minutes of using it . And that was after years of Winmo-using.
But Android simply doesn't have the HUGE list of applications, tweaks and tricks that Windows Mobile has.
If I had to choose between a Touch Pro or a Hero, I'd go for a Hero. But if it was a Diamond2 / Touch Pro 2 (or maybe even a Touch HD) and I could tweak it completely with all the knowledge from cooking I had, it'll be a though choice . TouchFlo 2.6 on a Diamond2 is still a lovely combo.
Hi everyone im new to the forum and to android.
Im also a converted WinMo user, i had the touch hd running with Duttys rom and sometimes Energy rom. I enjoyed the installing of new roms etc but the biggest thing for me though was the lack of a marketplace and consequently the lack of really good apps that compare with android.
True there is a marketplace on winmo being released soon with WM 6.5, but ive used WM 6.5 and i hated the interface. Plus there are no winmo phones i can think of that are finger friendly (all operate with pressure sensored UI's). Android has a nice UI.
The hero for me has exciting potential and i think can acoomplish great things once they get rid of the infamous lag. Plus the developers are shifting over more and more from apple (flooded) to android.
dipje said:
But it all depends what you use your device for. If you are a heavy bluetooth user you might want to look into that first,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good point - Android bluetooth is partly crippled at the moment, the API has not been finalised thus it has not been released.
nrains said:
i've had windows mobile forever and basically i now have an oppertunity to get the hero but keep my touch pro.
does anybody have any advice on the difference between the 2 os's?
the goods and bads of anroid compared to winmo?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The article linked here gives a reasonable accurate and concise summary of the differences between the two, including relative strengths and weaknesses. From my experiences, I'd agree with most of what the author has said.
http://smartphoneandroid.com/2009/07/06/whats-the-difference-between-google-android-and-windows-mobile.html
Regards,
Dave
wow thank you, but i have another related question, should i get the "my touch 3g" which from my understand is basically the htc magic and just put a hero rom on there or is it worth the extra bit of ram to get the hero?
Are you in the US? If so, bear in mind that the Hero won't work with any 3G network as yet, whereas the T-Mobile branded MyTouch 3G will at least work on the T-Mobile 3G network (assuming you're in the fairly limit coverage area!).
Personally, I would get the Hero, but if you can get a Magic with 288mb Ram, it should run the Hero run ok. As far as I'm aware, all HTC branded Magics should be ok, but I do know that some operator branded Magics (e.g. Vodafone UK) only have 192Mb Ram and therefore won't really run the Hero run acceptably.
Regards,
Dave

Does HTC Touch 2 is not popular

I just bought this device, and love it.
How come there is not trafic in this forum?
Where are all the chefs?
Well, I noticed the general indifference for the device right after my purchase; that's why I quickly switched to an HTC Magic.
What makes me sad is that, beside the accelerometer and the screen size, the Touch 2/Mega is so close to the HTC Magic in its specifications, proving that it could handle a LOT more than what WM6.5 has to offer.
The problem is that :
Rather unpopular/unknown device
+
General community interest for WM6.5 decreasing (due to several factors, including the upcoming Windows Phone 7)
+
Screen size (QVGA) disappearing aswell
+
Other factors
=
Very small HTC TOUCH 2 community. Therefore, not much tweaks to offer beyond the general QGVA WM6.5 ones.
We all hope that the Android port gets somewhere and people are working hard on that, I'm sure. But if nothing gets made by the end of the year and if WM 6.5 phones are, following the rumours, unable indeed to run Windows Mobile Phone 7, I see a rather dark future for our phone.
Sad but let's not loose all hope here. I mean, it is already a great device as it is.

this forum is dead

It's a shame, but I have been visiting this forum for a year or two now and must say - this forum is dead. It's a shame because , looking at new tablet pcs and similar devices entering the market, I think athena still is a good device, offering a lot of possibilities. Unfortunately I know nothing of ROM cooking and all the cooks have left us. Too bad
mietulo said:
It's a shame, but I have been visiting this forum for a year or two now and must say - this forum is dead. It's a shame because , looking at new tablet pcs and similar devices entering the market, I think athena still is a good device, offering a lot of possibilities. Unfortunately I know nothing of ROM cooking and all the cooks have left us. Too bad
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately, this is the way with all devices these days..... I still use my Athena as a backup unit in case I muck up one of my other units....LOL
Later........... B)
I also think the HTCx7500 continues to be a good device. The things that is attractive with the new devices is the advancement of touch screen technology. Cypress true touch technology for example offer not only multi touch but also the ability to do hovering because the screen can sense the finger as soon as the finger is near the screen.
Undeniably Nice to play and might offer conveniences to a certain degree. But unless there is a way to browse the net as fast as a proper laptop or a way to do document processing or powerpoint slides editing 70% as efficiently as a desktop, what the newer device can offer as compared to HTC x7500 is just cosmetics. I can get the same job done with not much of a problem with the Athena as compared to the newer devices.
So, the things that will attract me to newer devices will be
1. Faster internet browsing
2. Document processing / slide editing
3. Looonger battery life
4. Snappiness of the operating system even after installing many programs
5. softwares availability - not specially controlled by a central "market" and all software makers have to pass their work to them and let their work be distributed by one central point where users can download and use free or paid.
Zooming with 2 fingers or 5 fingers is interesting but zooming by just pushing my athena directional buttons up and down isn't such a difficult job either.
Special today's page / Home menus like the ones in Androids or iphones are also not something difficult to reproduce or customized under windows mobile.
Athena still rocks!
Glad I chose to sell mine when I did. It was a device that was ahead of its time. Shame Android never took off on it.
Something different
The prices of these babies have dropped so much that I just bought one recently... after using various newer HTCs, etc, that are all basically the same, this ancient gadget was actually a breath of fresh air. Besides the marginal interior updates, OS versions, and the gradual screen size upgrades, I really can't figure out what's inherently different with almost all smartphones today... although using the athena needs somewhat of a change in mindset (especially of what is a phone), having something different to play with is already a big plus and an actual experience.... please phone makers, lets make the effort of trying to do something different and not just marketing something as different.
I want to browse the internet, do some emailing, write something in my blog, check auction sites, watch youtubes, can the HTC x7500 handle that? (YES - Opera mini, streaming player, etc)
I want to do some word processing, write a novel, edit some documents, and make sure the work can be in sync with my laptop/desktop. Can the HTC x7500 handle that? (YES - pocketword. document2go, softmaker textmaker, pnotepad)
I want to go through my powerpoint slides and rehearse, re position/re sort the slides, correct a few wordings and make sure i can keep both the slides i have in my desktop and my pocketpc in sync, can the HTC x7500 handle that? (YES - pocket powerpoint, clear vue slides, ...)
I want to enjoy listening to some mp3, can the HTC x7500 handle that? (YES - tcmp player, coreplayer)
I want to watch some movies in avi, wmv, flv, rm, mp4 format, can the HTC x7500 handle that? (YES - tcmp player with the correct codecs)
I want to do some voice recording, can the Athena handle that? (YES - resco audio recorder)
I want to share some photos album with friends sitting together in a restaurant, can the Athena handle that? (YES - resco picture viewer)
I want to connect to internet using 3g/ HSDPDA, because WIFI is unavailable, can the ATHENA handle that? (YES - just make sure 3G services in my data card is active)
I want to transfer file from pc, mobile phone to Anthena or transfer from my athena to my friend's mobile phone without using wires, can the Athena handle that? (YES - bluetooth connections, mocha ftp server, ...)
I wan to play some games, ?? (YES - gba emulator, nes..., playstation 1 emulator, Java, Just games made for pocket pc, etc)
I don't see what the other devices (androids or Ipods) can do that i cannot do with my ATHENA. Yes, I would love it if there is a way to try out putting ANdroids os in my athena but it will be just for fun and to know that there is one more choice of os i can use if i feel like it. Honestly, if there is a 7 inch windows mobile device, I might consider.
One of the MOST important thing that keeps me monitoring the android development is actually BATTERY LIFE (7 hrs with wifi on) and fast zooming.
Many people who try to impress me with android will show me how smooth the screen scrolls here and there with just a flick of the finger. Impressive but when i stop to think over, I realized that i am not going to spend my whole time flicking the screen here and there and just for the thrill to see how the screen can actually change simply by a flick of a finger.
What i will do mostly is click on a program i need to use and start typing or imputing. Scrolling and panning is only useful when i am reading long documents like webpages or ebooks. That is why i like isilo because it allows you to scroll without the need to use the scroll bar.
Fast zooming is another thing that i would like to see on mobile devices. The kind of fast zooming used in opera browsers and netfront browsers are heading in the right direction. FAst zooming is already something that is fast developing even under windows mobile environment.
So, in the end, it comes to a matter of which operating system uses less battery power and will allow longer battery life.
My Athena is going on ebay this weekend because I have one of these now, might be something to look into for the rest of you, as there is an active hacker community too:
http://www.slatedroid.com/wiki/index.php?title=Pandigital_Novel
I only used the Athena as a nightstand emailer/websurfer/weatherchecker, so I have no use for a phone. It worked well enough for that, but the PDN is even better for my needs, and now works with android market. Very cool not to have to activesync to move downloaded cabs to the athena, plus there won't be much activity for winmo anymore since everything is incompatible with wp7 as I understand, while android market is just beginning. Just found a solution that works for my needs, and thought I would share it. Athena was good to me, but it's time for her to move on about her life's work.
Fashion
It does seem a shame that just as big screen devices like this one are coming into fashion this forum has fallen into disuse. It doesn't stop it from still being a very good device, and still very usable in my view. Plus with the amount of ROMS to choose from on this forum there must be one to suit most people. You never know, we may get another cook some time.
regards
Jay
Yes, the Android os is very interesting to look at. If someone created a 7 inch - 10 inch screen tablet with windows mobile 6.1, (or even wm5,6), I would seriously consider but of course the battery life must be good and the processor and ram should have enough power to improve internet experience.
I've used all sorts of devices, from Psion to OQO, Everun, Zaurus, HTC BA etc etc. Recently I bought the Ameo and I can say that after some customisation this little device fits my bill perfectly.
The Ameo has been more flexible (keyboard/Tablet, case, landscape/portrait, 3G/WiFi) than the Archos 5IT it replaced. Sure, Android is nice and iOS is fluid and modern, but the Ameo kills them all with a large 4/3 screen.
I'm using it right now with a Logitech wireless mouse, it's been on all day with a 30% battery drain, browsing with Opera Mobile 10 over 3G.
I wish manufactures would revisit the 4/3 aspect ratio, not everybody wants to watch widescreen films all day, and books look terrible in portrait on thin devices.
Many thanks to the members of these forums for all the tweaks and custom ROMs. this Ameo isn't dead yet.
Last week I bought one of the android tablet made in china. It is called APAD 7 inch styleflying.
The android os has somethings going but I have a number of complains. One of them is why did they do away with "scrollbars." While it is true that Many many people enjoy swiping the screen up and down and feel the screen moving at the command of the finger but it is also true that SCROLLBARS do make sense. Without scrollbars, i believe that many users have experience accidentally opening a program while they were trying to flip the screen up and down. android wants to do things differently I guess but in the process, they took away something very practical and useful. Just my personal opinion. If they want to do something that appears different, they can do what HTC hd2 did. When I look carefully, i realise that in fact, HTC hd2 has a kind of scroll bar on the main screen. It doesn't look like the traditional scrollbar but it does the same job. It allows the user to accurately move from page to page by pushing a slider. And who said programs in Android doesn't crash or hang or stop responding. In my experience, they do.
Anyway, it is a free operating system and it is open source so I hope it will improve in time to come.
Meanwhile, my Athena HTC x7500 rocks! If only I can wake up one morning and find my 5 inch screen Athena grow up and become 7 inch screen! Heh Heh!
5 inch is good size. But i would surely not mind having a 7 inch screen HTC x7500 in my collection.
I am new to the Athena myself by just having bought one for about 200 USD - and it was a great find as it is in perfect shape, looks brand new, no scratches whatsoever!
I sold my Acer F900, as I am through with touchphones, I hate them - it's too bulky and smart for a phone, but too little to do productive work (for me that's office and remote computer administration, mainly). So I decided to scrap the smarthphone, and go back to the roots: buy a small and light cellphone with physical buttons and a PDA.
So I went for the x7500, and I love it! It's 3 years old, and still getting the job done!
My only complaint now is with WiFi: it seems to 'forget' the passwords for APs for some reason...
Btw I use an extra light Taxist WM6.1 ROM (42 Megs), as I have my own proven programs I am using for years, so everything except the OS is unnecessary junk.
it is a shame it is not popular.
I have this device since June. I guess I am getting old, and the little screen of my Polaris was just not fun anymore. The screen of the Athena and the real keyboard were really the 2 attractive points before I touched the beast for real.
So here we go for a search and I found one almost new 5 months ago over the net for 200 Euros.
That's probably the best deal I have done.
I have the device at work and at home, also at customer site. I receive my calls (through Bluetooth), while taking notes or making reports. Even camera pictures are good to fill in reports. WM6.5 works great on this fast device, the only thing I miss is the letter recogniser mode when I have to take notes not seating somewhere. But vocal notes do the trick.
i check my mails both personnals and professionnals, review a presentation in the plane, give free phonecalls to my family while travelling, and finish by a good movie or the news on streaming TV.
It is said to be big, but in fact not bigger than a decent leather covered organizer.
So bad they stopped it...
And so bad there is so few brands believing in this all-in-one concept !!!
does anybody of you have a decent, stable ROM for it?
most of the links here are dead and trying the ROMs i was able to find was a great disappointment...i tried them all, even the Wm 6 ones.
thanks!
KukurikU said:
does anybody of you have a decent, stable ROM for it?
most of the links here are dead and trying the ROMs i was able to find was a great disappointment...i tried them all, even the Wm 6 ones.
thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For dead links to ROMs, the trick is to Google the exact name and see if some kind soul has uploaded them somewhere - try it, it sometimes works.
I am using AGB 3.0 - to be honest, the device is slow by modern standards, and it not really finger-friendly, it takes quite a tap with a finger to get the thing to respond.
However, yesterday, a young American looked impressively at it as I used it in the train, and asked if it was a phone or a tablet - and what OS it ran. I told him it was old, several years old, and ran WM (albeit a new version). OK, he was disappointed - but that is it, this gadget was way ahead of its time, if they did it again, it would succeed with a few tweaks (modern CPU, faster and better battery).
rjstep3
KukurikU said:
does anybody of you have a decent, stable ROM for it?
most of the links here are dead and trying the ROMs i was able to find was a great disappointment...i tried them all, even the Wm 6 ones.
thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Check Michy's sigs in any of his comments - there is a link to all of his ROMs, he removed it from rapidshare.
I recommend his Clear Edition 6 R1 or something version - I found it quite usable as I wasn't able to revert the WM6.5 start menu, found in the AVG 3 rom, to 6.1.
Nah, not dead, still in daily use by many. My Athena was 3 years old last month and I still haven't found a phone that I might want (the HD2 is close, but I got one for my wife and the screen still just feels too small). Still carry it every day.
Me too! I have tested HD2, tested Androids but the Athena is still amazing!
help making it alive agine....
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=849080

The Future of Sense

Hi all,
What follows could be considered to be the ramblings of a lunatic however it is intended to provoke discussion and maybe some thought about where we (Sense users/fans) go from here. Personally I know I don't want to see Sense die off (I'm not planning on moving to Android or WinPho 7 any time soon, as you'll read) and my phone (HD2) is only a YEAR old!
The Future of Sense?
Many of us bought our HTC WinMo phones on the strength of Sense (henceforth referred to as Manila to differentiate it from its Android, and Windows Phone 7 "Hub", incarnations), which brought a compelling and attractive interface to ugly old WinMo. Judging by the amount of devices Manila has been (or has been requested to be) ported to it is still a compelling and attractive interface. However users and fans of Manila are now facing a dilemma; Manila is, in all probability reaching, if it hasn't already, the end of its (officially) developed life. Short of any previously unknown major bugs surfacing its not hard to imagine HTC now focusing all their efforts on Android and Windows Phone 7.
So where does this leave us, many of us who still have perfectly functioning phones, which often still have up-to-date hardware? We could, thanks to the guys (with very large brains) here on XDA developers, choose between Windows Phone 7 or Android to give our phones a new lease of life. However, personally (and I know I'm not the only one) I don't want to. Windows phone 7 doesn't appeal because of its lack of customisation (and copying of iOS on so many levels), and Android because of, well, Google! WinMo gives us the freedom to tinker, without the need of "jail breaking", which many of us love WinMo for. Manila is the icing on the cake... and everyone knows the icing is the best bit of the cake!
So where do we go from here?
Organise. Mobilise.
First off I don't want to take anything away from the (quite brilliant) people here on XDA Developers that have already managed (or facilitated others) to do some pretty amazing things with Manila, having extended it far beyond HTCs original scope. However despite all the hard work and effort that has gone into reverse engineering Manila there is still much that is unknown about it and parts we cannot change. If we wish to see Manila grow and develop (further than we already have), to keep our phones current, we need HTCs co-operation, we need the actual Manila source.
But why should HTC help us when they would probably rather us buy new phones? Well, HTC is a business and all good business' like a good deal. So, they've got something we want but what do we have to offer them in return? I believe that Manila has applications outside of Android and Windows Phone 7 (which HTC already have covered, so we can forget about them) so there is still one avenue left to us that we could attempt to try and tempt HTC with...
Swallow the Tablet!
At the moment the tablet market is dominated by iOS and Android but inevitably Microsoft will manage to muscle Windows into the tablet market. It managed it with phones (then, as we all know, lost its way) and more recently it managed to (almost completely) squeeze Linux out of the netbook market. At CES 2011 scores of Windows based tablets were unveiled from manufacturers such as Asus, Lenovo, Viliv and even Samsung! Microsofts desire to muscle its way into yet another market (tablets) with a full fat version of Windows is compounded by the fact that the next version of Windows (8) will support SoC architectures from Intel and ARM. Make no mistake; Whatever your views on the suitability of Windows for tablets, Windows tablets are coming and they will sell. However, lets not get too hung up on tablets, there are still millions upon millions (upon millions!) of PCs out there and sales of PCs are still strong.
But what does this have to do with Manila? Well, I believe Manila would make the perfect lightweight 3D widget engine for Windows and this is where our opportunity lies. HTC currently has a massive presence in smartphones and are now entering the tablet market (currently Android to begin with, but given their ties with Microsoft, in the past with Windows Mobile and now Windows Phone 7, it won't be long before they produce a full fat Windows tablet). However they do not (yet) have a presence, of any kind, on desktops and it is with this that we could tempt them. So, HTC get the opportunity to have a presence PC desktops worldwide and we get to extend the life of our phones that utilise Manila!
Don't forget the presence of "Sense" on the desktop would be a great marketing tool... people see the advertisements for Sense on the TV (as HTC are currently doing in the UK), they give it a try on their computer, like it, and may be inclined to buy a phone with Sense in the future. There are also the opportunities that "Sense" (Manila) on the desktop could tie in with Sense on phones.
To be continued...
Reserved for future use.
Not on a desktop
Sense is designed for touch interfaces. A desktop PC is better served by the current Windows 7 interface, in my opinion.
Sense is fine for tablets and other touch devices, in fact HTC just demoed a version for Android tablets.
stevedebi said:
Sense is designed for touch interfaces. A desktop PC is better served by the current Windows 7 interface, in my opinion.
Sense is fine for tablets and other touch devices, in fact HTC just demoed a version for Android tablets.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I feel you've missed the point somewhat. Windows 7 is better suited to a desktop/laptop PC but even so Windows 7 is still being installed on tablets. What Windows 7 will need is a proper touch based interface to hide the largely finger unfriendly OS... Sound familiar? Like Windows Mobile and Sense perhaps?
Also, like I said in my first post, touchscreens are becoming more commonplace on desktop PCs (even in the home) so those too would benefit from a touch centric interface (and/or widget engine, as is being proposed).
Manila is being proposed as the base for that interface/engine not only because it is extremely lightweight and the similarities between Windows and Windows Mobile mean it shouldn't be too difficult to port (especially since it uses Lua), but because it will extend the life of our perfectly functioning and still up-to-date phones.

Categories

Resources