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Tuesday January 9, 2007
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For a while now, I've been following Intrinsyc's Soleus project -- an attempt to make a Windows CE based operating system for feature phones, pulling Microsoft's mobile software out of the rarified land of smartphones. Here at CES, Intrinsyc had Soleus actually running on a demo handset, and, well, it works. The interface, right now, is very basic; Intrinsyc expects Soleus licensees to help dress up and "skin" their phones, so for now they're showing basic phone applications to prove they can do it. More photos after the jump, including one of the phone running a poker game.
Intrinsyc said they'd have more news at 3GSM, the big global cell phone trade show next month.
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January 9, 2007 2:36 PM
How is this limited keyboard going to allow for text messaging? Does it have a camera? Play MP3 files?
What would make me run out and buy one?
WizWiz
January 12, 2007 6:03 AM
This product is aimed at phone manufacturers, not end users. Read the article: they expect their customers (manufacturers) to customize the UI... something you can't do with WinMo under Msft's licensing agreements since WinMo has to look like WinMo. Also Microsoft has licensing restrictions that prevent manufacturers from using the Microsoft telephony software for voice applications unless shipping a WinMo phone.
Concerning keyboards, camera, MP3 player, etc., the first two are hardware decisions made by the manufacturer, and there is no reason that a Windows CE-based phone couldn't support any particular keyboard or other hardware device as long as the drivers were there. Concerning MP3 players, Windows CE supports software to play MP3s, so the manufacturers could choose to include one if they wish.
For manufacturers, this looks like an interesting way to get many of the benefits of Windows CE on a phone without having to have yet another WinMo device on the market. Whether the idea will sell remains to be seen, I guess.