How much better? Well that’s for you to decide. They have implemented some bug fixes and incorporated some new features. Read more for pictures and descriptions of these new treats. Read Full Entry

That’s right. New York City is now enjoying Voice and Data on T-Mobile’s new 3G network. T-Mobile plans to accommodate most metropolitan areas by year’s end with the new network. Customers with compatible phones will enjoy faster download/upload speeds and better mobile data experience. No public calendar is available yet for the roll out of the network per city but be rest assured it is a welcome change.

Source: Matthew Miller at ZDNET

Some rumors floating around the web about which cities will get the new T-Mobile network and in what order. Folks, you gotta remember T-Mobile has been building this thing for years. They’ve been testing. I’m willing to wager that the network unveils in at least 75% of the cities below within the first week of launch.

In no obvious order:

New York City
Austin
NJ and Long Island
Las Vagas
Minneapolis
Miami
Dallas
Chicago
Houston
Philadelphia
Denver
Detroit
Orlando
Kansas city
Atlanta
Los Angeles
New England
Portland
Sacramento
San Diego
Seattle
Washington DC
San Francisco
Birmingham
Memphis
Tampa
Phoenix

Sources Gizmodo IntoMobile FCC TmoNews

I know many of you have been waiting to get your hands on an extended battery for the Shadow. There is one available from BoxWave. I am almost done with testing it in comparison to the OEM battery that comes with the Shadow. Look for that post later tonight. I’m sure you will find it worth it.

In the meantime, the battery is larger and comes with an larger battery cover (pics to come soon). It is also 2200mah in comparison to the 920mah OEM battery that’s a big difference. So far I can tell you the results are great. My testing might not be 100% scientific but it is aimed squarely at what most of us do, except amplified a bit.

Stay tuned.

Here is a list of improvements we know the Shadow II will have, some speculation, some that would make sense, and some wants… Feel free to add in the comments and we’ll update. More than likely the hardware has already been developed. Cross your fingers and hope the Software Devs for the Shadow will read this and throw some last minute improvements in.

Confirmed Improvements:

• UMA
• Will work on T-Mobile’s new high speed network (when it goes live)
• Windows 6.1
• Neo Interface as well

Most Likely Unconfirmed Improvements:

• Will work with T-Mobile’s HotSpot@Home
• You will get to type Don’t instead of Font
• Faster Processor
• More Memory

Logical Improvements (things that would make sense)

• integrated GPS
• Higher MP camera
• Recessed Camera lens (so it doesn’t get scratched)
• Recessed Send/End buttons (get rid of accidental calling) 
• Will already come with HTC Streaming Application, HTC Action Screen, etc.
• Themeable Neo Ease (will be easier to switch between different Neo themes)
• Scroll Wheel will have a custom sensitivity setting

Wants

• Options for Neo Homescreen (Add a user pane, switch App X with App Y without hacking registry)
• Complete customisation for Shortcut Key, Volume Keys, Camera Key, Home Key, Back Key (add any app, use ‘Browse’ to assign)
• Built in links to AllShadow.com!

New Network Confirmation

• Yes, they are already testing it
• It will roll out first in Major cities based upon population density per square mile.

New Network Speculation

• New Networks are very expensive to roll out, however T-Mobile has had a lot of time to set their equipment up. It will be a very large zero day roll out

Confirmed Current Features

• Will be a slideout like the current Shadow

Vsevolod Shorin has announced that gpsVP is open sourced and is welcoming people to help develop and make it better. If you enjoy developing for Windows Mobile or just want to help develop the wiki you can join the project gpsVP at Google Code. For the beginner developer it could even be a learning experience just checking out the code.

Hopefully, we can get some AllShadow community members on the project to ensure compatibility.

It’s not owned by Google in anyway yet this freeware delivers a powerful punch by culminating all the Mobile Google services under one roof. Basically Google2Go is an instance of Internet Explorer wrapped with Google functionality. There is an easily accessible Menu (left soft key) that enables you to quickly access you favorite Google Services. It is a direct competitor to Yahoo Go and MSN Direct and in my opinion a much more elegant solution. The memory foot print is low and device compatibility is fairly broad. Read on for more details Read Full Entry

The next version of Windows Mobile, named 6.1 (the Shadow runs 6), was announced at CTIA by Microsoft today. The Standard version (non-touchsreen) adds such enhancements as an improved Home screen, threaded-SMS (finally!), copy and paste functionality, and a zoom function in Internet Explorer. Will the Shadow be upgradeable to Windows Mobile 6.1? Probably not, according to Engadget, which makes sense. The Neo interface was a precursor to the 6.1 Standard interface, seen below, so it wouldn’t make sense for T-Mobile to offer 6.1 and replace Neo. New devices going forward, such as the Shadow II, will come with 6.1.

If you’re interesting in learning more about what Windows Mobile 6.1 has to offer, check out the thorough review at pocketnow.com.

Also, if you want threaded SMS immediately, check out Extreme Text.

We still need more input from the AllShadow Community about post orders. Vote on this poll to say whether you would like the newest post at the top of each thread and the oldest on the last page or to leave it as it is.

This is a big change so it is important that we get as much input from the community as possible. There are some comments here as well.

Google has released a plug-in for the Home screen that makes searching Google that much easier. The plug-in saves time as you don’t have to find and load Internet Explorer, bring up Google and then perform your search, instead you just enter your search terms from your Home Screen. You can choose to have the search results opened in Mobile Google or full strength Google. Many of the quick searches I tried turned up relevant results. One feature that I found disappointing was that when looking up a location the results aren’t opened in Google Maps. Perhaps they will include that in the next version.

To get the Google Search download just point your mobile browser to mobile.google.com and select ‘Search (download)’

Inside sources have confirmed that this is not the Shadow II. Do not distress, the current word is that the next Shadow will “make the iPhone seem like a toy.” As any frequent forums visitor knows this is more than highly probable. With all the hacks, registry edits and tips and tricks in the forums it’s hard to not make the Shadow one of the most fun phones to have. As for release dates for the Shadow the only confirmation we have is that it is a ways off. So if you are needing a new phone now I still highly recommend the Shadow. Take a look around this site and the forums and you’ll be amazed at its capabilities.

If you haven’t already, subscribe to our RSS feed. If you need a good feed reader for windows mobile check out Viigo (update), it’s free. Another alternative for desktop and mobile synced feeds is Google Reader.

There is some buzz lately about T-Mobile’s new MDA Compact IV that is supposedly being released in Europe. The details are scarce but promising and a quick look at the picture and anyone can see it looks incredibly like the Shadow. No official word on if it is coming to the US but we can only hope. Here are the specs I could find and I am sure more are to come so stay tuned.

Rumored Specs:

• 3 Megapixel Autofocus Camera - Even better pictures!

• 4GB Internal Memory - Ready for music and movies right out of the box

• VGA Screen (640×480) - Imagine the beauty of your videos on this one!

• GSM/GPRS/EDGE

• Triband UMTS/HSDPA up to 7.2Mbps - That’s pretty damn fast, I would have to see this in person

• Bluetooth 2.0 - Good to know

• Wifi b/g - Always a plus

• GPS is rumored - If this is the Shadow 2, then it BETTER have GPS. I see no reason why any Windows Mobile phone shouldn’t be rolled out without GPS nowadays

 Sources: Engadget has some more photos of a plastic model here and here. The image above is from CDRinfo.com. More info at PhoneMag as well.

 Bluetrek is setting to release a very handy Bluetooth Headset + USB Memory Key + Direct USB Charging Device soon. It’s called the Bizz and takes two things most of us have and combines them in a wonderful package.

The Specs:

• 7 hours talk time

• 10 days standby

• Interchangeable color plates

• USB Flash memory device and microSD card reader (memory from microSD card up to 8GB)

• High Speed USB 2.0

• Charges headset via USB

• Optional Car Charger

• Supports SDHC microSD

You can watch an informative video about the Bizz here.

Without a doubt, Skyfire is in demand. Over a week ago I downloaded my beta copy and have enjoyed it ever since. It does break my heart a little that not everyone can enjoy it yet. However my hopes were lifted with this recent email concerning Skyfire and the beta program. Hopefully this will left your hearts as well.

Straight from the Skyfire Office:

“Here’s the status of our private beta program.  As you know, we have quite a demand for the beta and sign ups beyond what we can support today.  On February 8^th, we invited a batch of the sign ups to download Skyfire beta 0.5 based on the chronological order in which they signed up.  We purposefully kept the number of those first downloads to a manageable number so we could finesse our systems before we increased the pool.  We’ve taken the time since February 8^th to work out any kinks in our system — nothing of significance, but the normal stuff that comes up when you go live the first time.  We needed this time to fine tune the download process, support, etc. and assess our infrastructure relative to real users.

After this period of tweaking and assessing, we are in a position to invite more people to download Skyfire. Very soon, we will invite another batch of people to download in a first signed up, first invited basis. That’s not to say, we can invite every beta sign up to download immediately – the invitations will continue in a measured pace to meet the significant demand for Skyfire. Next week, you will see our external messaging to beta signs up in this regard – blog updates, email blasts and website messaging.  We appreciate that you point your readers to our sign up page as that’s the best course of action to get into our private beta program.  However, it’s safe to say that there is a wait as we continue in a measured pace.”

So you heard it here. Up until this point every reader of AllShadow.com should already be signed up on the beta program’s sign up page. If you aren’t then you need to get over there and get your beta on. As you can see they are proceeding in chronological order of when people signed up. Do you want to be the last?

For awhile I have been wanting to provide a more inclusive guide to the Windows Mobile Standard Shadow than just the front page here. If you look to the right in the menu, just below ‘Ask Mike’ you can see a link that will take you to the new page ‘68 Things‘. It is meant as a primer for the new user and a Table of Contents for our How-To’s. I don’t expect it to stay 68 things forever, but instead I expect it to grow over time.

You might notice that not every item has a link. That is intentional and is a preview of some of the How-To’s to come.  It is real fun being able to make these How-to’s and write informative articles as I learn along the way as well. So if you have questions about something do these steps in order to find the best results faster: use the search function up top, use the search function in the forums, if you haven’t found an answer yet the best place to ask one is in the forums as more fellow Shadow owner’s visit there on a regular basis. Remember, AllShadow.com is mobile friendly so be sure to save a bookmark on your phone as well.

Enjoy the super list!