The 8525 finally received its Windows Mobile 6 upgrade back on Halloween -- but it feels a little ironic using the word “finally” there given how long BlackJack users had to wait. Well, it turns out that HTC and AT&T had originally intended on taking the download away on February 1st. This would have created a karmic response from the universe, one assumes, so as Bla1ze reports in the forums they've taken a step away from that ledge. You'll have at least through this coming Halloween to get your download on now -- which is likely good news for corporate users who a) Can't get their bosses to buy them an AT&T Tilt and b) Can't get their tech support team to approve the update in a reasonable amount of time.

HTC: Support: AT&T 8525 Software Downloads

Thanks Bla1ze!

Given how long we waited for the Windows Mobile 6 download for the BlackJack, we were tempted to mostly ignore the Byzantine instructions for installing the update. Fortunately, we didn't - and neither should you.

After just a few hours of use we can say that this definitely feels better than the leaked ROM. This new ROM is build 17944.0.3.1, up a few ticks from the leaked 17740.0.2.0 - so we're confident that the delays were genuinely caused by bugfixes and not by AT&T trying to force us to upgrade to the BlackJack II. ...Pretty confident. ...Sorta confident.

In any case, the Windows Mobile 6 update for the BlackJack brings the little guy up to date -- for my money it's the best deal out there for a Windows Mobile device these days.

Update: Bad news, folks - the updater is not compatible with Vista. Will the pain never end? Fortunately, we have an XP machine around. We're downloading the update right now - expect a hands-on soon! ...and by "soon" we mean "in 20 or 30 years, because that's how long the download is going to take given how hard the servers are being hammered right now."

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We are not kidding (we hope. According to Crave, you can head over to this site at 5pm Eastern today and get yourself the Windows Mobile 6 update for the original Samsung BlackJack. About. Time!

We've dealt with delays, very buggy leaked Windows Mobile 6 ROMs, and the shame of the BlackJack II being released before the update. We were even starting to doubt it would ever arrive.

It's been months of waiting, now we're down to just hours. At 5pm EST, go get it.

Over at TreoCentral you'll find the full skinny on the AT&T Treo 750 Windows Mobile 6 update, including this snarky little ditty at the end:

Of course, Treo 750 owners may want to think about preparing for another ROM update wait, as both Microsoft and Palm have announced that the Treo 750 will support Microsoft Microsoft System Center, Mobile Device Manager 2008. [...] It is widely expected to require a slightly newer version of Windows Mobile 6 in order to work properly.

That's right, folks, we're never happy. Ok, we like, we're happy, as the first look video below (after the break) attests.

Meanwhile, you know that updating your ROM means that you'll lose everything, so make sure you have a good backup, just in case. Actually, Sprite let us know that they have a backup tool designed to help you update. For ten bucks you'll get an app that will only backup (and then restore) the settings that won't cause weirdness after the update - i.e. a full backup from WM5 and then a full restore to WM6 is a recipe for weird behavior. Sprite Migrator for Treo 750 (purportedly) fixes that:

Avoid losing your call history, SMS messages, pictures, ringtones and more. Save time setting preferences such as speed dials and alarms.

Read the rest of this entry »

This is good news: HTC and AT&T have finally released the Windows Mobile 6 ROM update for the 8525. You'll get AT&T branding instead of Cingular, of course, but what you'll really get is Windows Mobile 6 and a bunch of extras:

• Push to Talk
• AT&T's internet links (video, music, etc)
• Correctly shows E vs 3G depending on your connection
• Use X to close apps (huzzah!)
• Did I mention Windows Mobile 6?

I'd like to say that this bodes well for the Blackjack WM6 upgrade and also for the Treo 750 WM6 upgrade. I like to say that, but I won't. Instead I'll just write it on my bathroom mirror; write it backwards ....in blood.

It's Halloween, you know, and I hear tricks like that can summon mysterious entities that may or may not even exist. At this point, that's pretty much how I feel about these promised updates to Windows Mobile 6.

Read: HTC: Support: AT&T 8525 Software Downloads. Thanks to Roger for the tip!

The circle of leaked ROMs for AT&T's Windows Mobile devices is now complete. We had the early one - for the Blackjack, Then a little later came WM6 for the 8525, and now we have the last of the promised updates: Windows Mobile 6 for the Treo 750, as leaked on XDA. Details are rolling in, partially from PalmInfoCenter:

AT&T Mail, AT&T Music, Games, MS Office Mobile, Active Sync, Calculator, Camera, Cellular Video, File Explorer, Get Telenav, GetGood, Get MobiTV, Internet Sharing, Notes, PDF Viewer (Picsel), Proxy Manager (ATA&T Proxy), Quick Tour, Remote Desktop Mobile, Search, SIM Manager, Sounds, Tasks, Windows Media. Voice Command 1.6 is included.

...In other words, nothing shocking. Still unknown is whether or not it includes the mysterious Video Share Settings found on the Blackjack's leaked ROM. You could go a-huntin' for the leaked Treo 750 ROM, but all these leaks make it pretty clear that Windows Mobile 6 is finally ready to makes its big splash on AT&T - just a little patience.

AT&T's new video share service isn't available for Windows Mobile... yet. When they announced that they'd be launching it last month, we noticed a little something something. The leaked BlackJack Windows Mobile 6 ROM had a Video Share app built in. Which means two things to us, given the news from Mobility Site that AT&T has finally, officially launched the service:

• WM6 on Blackjack, 8525, and the Treo 750 should be right around the corner (I think they're planning on releasing all 3 at once) and
• At least one of those (the Blackjack) will have Video Share.

Now for the bad news - AT&T apparently doesn't trust its bandwidth enough to allow for two way video - it's one way video and two way audio. Oh well. I guess that's the way it has to be since US carriers and phones with front-facing camera get along like vampires and garlic. Not well.

AT&T Video Share enables one-way live streaming-video feeds that can be seen by both parties while they are participating in a two-way voice conversation. Once the parties have initiated a Video Share call, either one can be the one generating the video stream for the other to see.

Read: AT&T Video Share Arrives in Nearly 160 Markets Nationwide

Windows Mobile 6 for the 8525! and not just any ROM, mind you, but it looks to be the really real ROM that AT&T will be giving to us.. soon. That's good news to me, because it means that a slightly more stable ROM than the leaked Blackjack WM6 ROM should also come in tow - hopefully with that cool video share functionality. What's most amusing to me about this imminent release is that we just saw a ROM update for the 8525 just a month and a half ago.

You could go searching for the leaked ROM for your 8525, but in my opinion, if you've waited this long, you may as well wait just a little bit longer. If the rumor mill is right, that "little bit longer" should be less than a week or two. If you don't have an 8525 and don't have the wherewithal to wait for the Kaiser, there was a recent price drop that might help you open your wallet.

Just like the T-Mobile Dash Windows Mobile 6 Upgrade was leaked about a week before the real release, AT&T's 8525 update has just been dumped onto the internet as well. What does this mean to you? Two things.

Read: Software: Official AT&T 8525 Windows Mobile 6 ROM Leaked - Gizmodo

Over at TreoCentral I've left the lion's share of reporting in the capable hands of Jennifer Chappell. My duties there have mostly been relegated to the TreoCast and to story after story after story after story after story after story about Palm's seeming inability to release a simple ROM patch for their PalmOS Treo 700p. It's really depressing, actually, even more depressing because Palm recently announced they're not going to be releasing the Linux Version of the PalmOS until next year. So much for somebody other than Apple pushing Microsoft to innovate the WM platform.

On the Windows Mobile side of Palm's world, things are going a little better. They've released an update for the the memory-aenemic 700w and the ready-for-prime-time 700wx. The update equalizes the two devices (except for the memory issue) and adds A2DP and improved DUN. What it doesn't add is Windows Mobile 6.

Speaking of not getting Windows Mobile 6, there's still no sign of the promised WM6 update for the Treo 750, despite the fact that there have been sporadic units running WM6 for a long time.

Look, Palm, I love you guys from the bottom of my heart, I'm even willing to believe that your Foleo will be at least half as successful as you seem to think. But being a Palm fan has been a lot like being a Vikings fan for a few years now: We believe in the team, every year it looks like they're going to get it together, most years they do much better than the naysayers give them credit for, but in the end -- no Superbowl.

The biggest deal is the addition of A2DP, though that couldn't have been that hard since people have been hacking it onto the 700wx for awhile now. TreoCentral forum member hannip posted a download for Sprint 700w/wx users back in February and made lots of Treo owners very happy.

Read: treocentral.com >> Stories >> Software >> Palm Releases Verizon Treo 700w/wx Updater 1.22

In World of Warcraft (yes, I play), whenever you gain a new level you often get a whole slew of new abilities - your avatar can do more than it could before. When that happens, the standard thing to yell is "Ding W00T!" Well folks, this summer I think the Samsung Blackjack will be calling out Ding W00T!

When I loaded the hacked Windows Mobile 6 ROM on there, I noticed something very, very odd. There was a new setting and a hidden application that kept loading itself in the background no matter what I was able to do, and it was called "Video Share." So today Mobility site points us to an AT&T announcement that this summer they'll be rolling out a real-time video sharing service. The page that displays compatible phones on the Video Share site doesn't list the Blackjack (yet!), but it does list two other Samsung phones. The fact that Samsung is on board with Video Share and the fact that there's a funny little "Video Share" application on my WM6-hacked Blackjack tells me it will be added to the list.

It also makes me strongly suspect that my earlier doom and gloom about the Windows Mobile 6 date for the Blackjack was wrong. A late July release for Video Share bodes well for the new Windows Mobile 6 ROM that supports it on the Blackjack.

Ding W00T!

A&T Inc. (NYSE: T) has announced the launch of AT&T Video Share, the first-ever service in the U.S. that allows users to share live video over their wireless devices while participating in a voice call. AT&T Chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson highlighted the service during the opening keynote of the NXTcomm industry event.

Read: AT&T- News Room

Read: Video Share Site