Steve Ballmer finally admitted yesterday what some had rumored in the past, that Microsoft was planning an Enterprise version of WM7 alongside a consumer version. It will roll out based on 6.5 to start and then transpose into WM7 later next year. Here’s Ballmer’s quote from PC Magazine’s report:

"Microsoft will soon release a new mobile OS for embedded and enterprise devices based on Windows Mobile 6.5, to be followed by an enterprise-focused version of Windows Phone 7 in 2011, Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer said by video at the launch of a new Motorola enterprise smartphone on Thursday."

The new phone is Motorola’s  ES-400 phone to be handled by Sprint’s Enterprise Division.

The ES400 runs on a 600-MHz ARM11 processor. It supports GSM HSPA, Sprint’s CDMA EVDO, and Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g – yes, that’s "a," which is the relatively unusual high-speed Wi-Fi variant used by some large businesses. There’s a fingerprint reader on the back. Every part of it is rugged, including the keyboard. Making the device rugged greatly prevents failure rates and saves companies $500 per device over three years, Motorola said.

Resco has released its new Resco Keyboard PRO 6 for Windows Mobile touch devices, to give us a better software keyboard for typing all our text. Did they get the point?

You may (or may not) that I am addicted to physical keyboard, an that this was on of the main reason I went with an HTC Touch Pro2.

However, being a lateral slide keyboard, sometime is not that comfortable to use it, especially if you want to go one handed. Regrettably, I can’t use very well the default software keyboard of the Pro2, and I end doing many, many, oh-so-many mistakes with or without predictive input.

Default QWERTY keyboard (on an HTC Touch Pro2)

Thus, when Resco offered me to try their new Resco Keyboard PRO 6 I was very happy.

Installation

The installation is really smooth, and the keyboard simply adds to the list of input methods, which are always available at your fingertip form the keyboard pop-up menu.

The Resco Keyboard PRO can be chosen from the keyboard pop-up menu

Configuring the program

The preferences can be configured either from the Windows Mobile Settings or from the program icon.

The program icon opens the program settings

The preferences panel is touch friendly and iPhone like, and the options listed are both clear and useful.

The available choices are:

• Set as default input: to have Resco Keyboard PRO be the default input method
• General settings: we will see these below
• Primary language: to default define the regional keyboard layout
• Secondary language: as the previous one, but relative to an optional second choice
• Skin: changes the look of the keyboard
• About

The preferences panel

In the “General settings” you have:

• Enable xT9: to enable or disable predictive input
• Gestures: to add actions to specific finger movements
• Tap notification: how to be notified about button selection (none, sounds, vibrate)
• Button preview: if to show a big preview of the button you selected

General settings panel                  General settings: Gestures

General settings: Notification               General settings: Preview

The gestures setting is interesting as it allows to perform some actions via the finger swipe.

Choosing “Sliding layouts” you will be able to switch among the different layouts (called “views”) with a left or right swipe.

If you choose “Advanced gestures” instead if you select a key and swipe right a space will be added after the letter. A left swipe will be equal to pressing the backspace key, swiping down will end the line and start a new one and if you select a key and swipe the finger up you will  make a capital letter.

Holding the key you will be able to insert the small character above the key or some special character (i.e. selecting and holding “e” for the Italian layout you will be able to insert “3, è, é”).

Layouts

The Resco Keyboard offers five layouts (six actually, as one has two pages):

• QWERTY: the standard keyboard
• Numbers and special characters: with all the special characters (2 pages)
• Frequently used phrases: tap the cell to type the text, or hold the key to edit the phrase (i.e. to insert date, time, links, and other common phrases)
• Calculator: to make basic calculation without leaving the program with the ability to copy them (also step by step) in the document
• Navigation: to navigate through the text via the arrows and perform one button copy, cut, paste, delete and select all actions.

Special characters layout (pg. 1 shown)            Frequently used phrases

Calculator layout                               Navigation layout

To move from a layout to another without using gestures, you will have to select the corresponding buttons in the layout you are using.

All the layouts are available also in panoramic view.

Panoramic view of the QWERTY layout

Panoramic view of the Special Characters layout (pg. 1 shown)

Using the keyboard

All the above is about the settings and capabilities of Resco Keyboard PRO 6, and shows the care put by the developer in the program.

Let’s now turn to its usage.

The app is snappy and I never had lag during the review. Moreover, the keyboard keys seem bigger than the default and I was more accurate using it. Moreover, the layouts offer a lot of flexibility, with an ease of change from one view to another. The Frequently Used Phrases layout is very useful and the Calculator comes handy too.

I liked the gestures idea, but it turned out I didn’t use it, but this is just a matter of personal taste. I often use the arrows to navigate in Pocket Informant fields and to correct my mistakes, thus I missed the navigation arrows in the QWERTY keyboard layout.

On an ending note, there is a problem which prevents Pocket Outlook to complete the email addresses. For now you can avoid it writing the first letters and then pressing backspace and Outlook should suggest you back all the options.

Summary

In summary, I found Resco Keyboard PRO 6 more accurate than the default one and I liked it more, also thanks to all the alternative layouts.

Thus, if you accept the lack of navigation arrows in the QWERTY view and the address completion trick in Pocket Outlook, there is a lot to like in Resco Keyboard PRO 6.

Resco Keyboard PRO 6 is $9.95, and you can also download a 7 days trial.

Link: Resco Keyboard PRO 6

My cousin has complained to me before where an application that was sold suddenly went on sale a few days after she bought it for a limited time.  Granted, this app can’t help you in such cases that are after the fact, it does, however, help you know when the price of an app drops.  Just add an application that you want to the list, and AppBzr will keep an eye out for you when those apps go on sale.  Free to use, this app will send push notifications to you and will save mony for those who can wait for apps to go on sale (assuming that they do).

Appbzr is available in English and German for the iPhone and iPod Touch running OS 3.0 or later.  1.4MB of space is required.

Download and try Appbzr today, or watch the video tour to see Appbzr in action.  Happy app bargain hunting!

Boy Genius Report first uncovered a very disturbing issue with HTC Sense UI concerning the web browser.  The UI will take snapshots of the screen when you are using the internet, which is not unusual when going to bookmarked pages for faster load times.  What is unusual is that these screenshots are happening for bookmarked and unbookmarked sites alike.  Plus, these files are stored in a location that is extremely difficult to get to and delete.  They are not even erased after a full factory reset.  So, if you ever sell your phone, you could also be giving away important data.  A screenshot could grab banking information, passwords for different accounts, or even work related information.  For the Incredible, the info is stored on the internal memory.  All of the other HTC Android phones have the information stored on the SD card.   SD cards are easy to lose, and I know a few people who have forgotten to remove the card before selling or donating their phone. 

The files are stored in a folder called .bookmark_thumb1 which is located within the emmc folder on the phones internal storage.  The only way to truly get rid of them is to find that folder and manually delete them.  Honestly, how many people are going to do this?

When I read this, I was extremely unnerved.  I am always a little nervous of my banking info getting released, but until this problem is fixed, I will never do any banking on my phone.  What if your phone is lost or stolen?  Identity theft criminals could target these phones in the hopes of finding credit card and banking data.  I hope that HTC comes up with a fix soon.  All info should be completely erased with a factory reset.

Via BGR

The JAMM Store and Mobihand are featuring the Blackberry Theme Throwdown.  Currently in week three, the designs of BT Design are featured.

With one more week left, it’s important to keep in mind that the winner is decided by the amount of purchases received per theme.  Check it out here.