Watching Movies on Your Phone, Windows Mobile 6.5.3 Arrives

Windows Mobile 6.5.3 is now starting to arrive, with the release of two new phones. This week I want to point you to information about these new devices, but will first note some good how-to information about converting videos for your Windows Phone as well as watching Amazon Unbox movies on your device.

Putting Movies on Your Phone

If you like to watch movies on your phone, you may want to check out a couple short articles by Chris on the Simple Mobile Review website.

The first article shows you how to watch movies via Amazon Unbox, Amazon’s video-on-demand movie service that lets you purchase or rent movies. An advantage of using Amazon is the ease of buying and adding videos to your device. You simply check the option in the Amazon Unbox Player to also download portable video files when downloading movies. Once it’s done downloading, you just tap the Transfer button to move it to your phone, with the option of putting it on the SD card.

According to the discussion, this only works for the movies that your purchase for download at Amazon Unbox — not the rental option.

If you already have movies on DVD that you’ve purchased in the past, Chris has also posted a short article on how to convert a movie so that it’s in a format that will work on your phone.

And speaking of movies, the new free IMDb Mobile app from XDA-developers lets you access the IMDb website for info about a movie, rating, and even trailers. PocketNow has posted a very helpful demo video of this app.

Windows Mobile 6.5.3 Officially Arrives with SE Aspen

Last week the first device with Windows Mobile 6.5.3 was announced: the Sony Ericsson Aspen, a Blackberry-style device with a front-facing QWERTY keypad.

This new version of the software is more touch friendly and also adds support for capacitive touch screens, which sense the electrostatic charge of your finger rather than pressure from a stylus or your finger, making iPhone-like multi-touch gestures possible.

Other changes include, according to a post on PocketNow, dragging-and-dropping of icons in the Start menu, conversation view in e-mail, a new contacts screen, a faster web browsing experience in Internet Explorer mobile, and a more finger-friendly interface.

The Aspen is also touted as being green, being made from more environmentally sensitive materials and having reduced energy consumption.

The full specs can be found on PDAdb.net. They include a QVGA touch screen, quad-band GSM/EDGE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, aGPS, FM radio, a 3.2 megapixel camera, and microSDNC slot. No word yet on the price for this unlocked device.

You can see a promotional video and high-res photos on Windows Mobile Thoughts, a hands-on video in a language unfamiliar to me, and some photos comparing it to the Xperia X2.

Garmin-Asus M10 GPS Phone

Also out with Windows Mobile 6.5.3 is the Garmin-Asus Nuvifone, a GPS phone with 3.5-inch WVGA screen and 5-megapixel camera. Read more on CNET, and see some photos on Mobile01.com.

ClintonFitch.com Updated

Clinton has been a long-time champion of Windows Mobile devices, and he now has a completely new look on his website and a very newsy blog. Check it out.