Saturday, October 29, 2011

Nokia Ad Push Raising Lumia's Profile; 800 Available November 16?


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Nokia product announcements for the Lumia 710 and Lumia 800 Windows Phone Mango handsets have gone over in a big way, dominating today's headlines and generating a lot of buzz. It's clear that Nokia is very interested in seeing its first WP7 efforts a success – it certainly has enough at stake – already releasing tons of content showing-off the pair of phones and their capabilities. We're still taking it all in, while Nokia is one step ahead, starting what looks to be a very prominent advertising campaign for the Lumias, and helping to narrow-down when we could expect the phones to arrive.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Steve Ballmer hits back at Android and praises the iPhone


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Google's User Experience Director for Android, Matias Duarte, said about Windows Phone being too forceful everything into a constrained look and feel. While he says that he offers the web, there's no denying that Metro is a beutiful UI and effectively provides content with no pixels wasted to chrome. Even Android took some pointers from Windows Phone (as well as other platforms).

Steve Ballmer, being the legend that he is (see the above image), has lashed back at Android but praises the iPhone to keep it from being a targeted attack. Ballmer mentioned that Android is simply difficult for the user to get into from the off.

Mango update unleashed to everyone


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Eric Hautala is back! With some more good news regarding the Mango roll out, which has now been bumped up to 100%. Everyone is now set to receive the notifications to update their NoDo powered handset (be sure to keep an eye on Where's My Phone Update?), up from 50% only two weeks ago.

The LG Optimus 7 on Telefonica in Spain is now being scheduled, finally. Eric mentions that work is still ongoing, for example with Orange FR where technical difficulties are preventing the network and Windows Phone team from pushing out the update at full speed.

Nokia Windows Phones to use "Pure" Font


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After Long Zheng saw those first press-shots of the Nokia 800 Windows Phone that is expected to be announced next week, he noticed that the images are using Nokia's "Pure" font style for the text as opposed to Microsoft's usual Segoe font originally designed for Windows Phone. As we know, Nokia has special privileges when it comes to modifying the Windows Phone operating system due to their deal with Microsoft. Changing the font to something more in tune with Nokia's branding is a subtle way to really differentiate Nokia's Windows Phones without fragmenting or deterioriating the Windows Phone design too much.

Nokia 800 SeaRay press shots emerge


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Although not exactly revealing, these high resolution renders are supposedly the final look of the Nokia 800 aka SeaRay, which is expected to be announced officially next week in London at Nokia World. The SeaRay, sporting a 3.7" AMOLED screen with a 1.4GHz CPU and 8MP camera, is expected to go on sale in various European countries as early as mid-November.

The renderings here don't show too much new outside of Nokia Navigation and Nokia Musik apps on board, which should be great OEM offerings to those who like the Nokia brand. Other than that, the devices look exactly like the Meego N9, including the same three color schemes of pink, grey and blue.

Steve Ballmer: A "Bunch of New" Nokia Windows Phones Next Week


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Nokia's World event is happening exactly one week from now and Steve Ballmer, while talking at the Web 2.0 Summit, is pretty excited about what the Finnish phone maker has up its sleeves.

Microsoft's CEO was excited to tell the world that Espoo "will have a chance at their Nokia World show next week to show a bunch of new devices running Windows Phone". "It should be pretty good", he said, and he definitely knows more than the rest of us who are expecting two Nokia Windows Phones to see the light of day.

ChevronWP7 Labs Coming In A Few Weeks


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We've heard about the $9 you'll have to pay in order to unlock your Windows Phone with Chevron WP7 (as a nice alternative to the much higher price of a developer account and device unlock). The solution will be called Chevron WP7 Labs and is officially landing soon.

According to the Chevron WP7 blog, Labs is only a few weeks away from launch. It will allow "hobbyist developers to install, run, and debug unsigned applications on their personal Windows Phone" and will cost $9 per token (one token equals one Windows Phone device registration).

Bing Maps On Windows Phone 7 Is Using New Map Scheme


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If you are a heavy Maps user on your Windows Phone you probably noticed that, after opening the application, you are greeted with a new scheme of displaying the map in the "Road" view.

The colors are now matching those on Bing Maps on the Internet (meaning purple for highways and major roads, dark grey for secondary roads, red road name badges, etc.) and the mapping data seems to have been updated with new information (though you might not notice this if you live in an area that was well covered before). Fire up your Maps app on your Windows Phone and let us know how you like the new maps.

Microsoft doles out the dough to Nokia and Samsung, plans Mango marketing bonanza for year's end


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Know who loves it when other OEMs call him big poppa? Ballmer, that's who. So much so that he's opened up the company's coffers to Nokia and Samsung for a holiday blitz of Mango marketing. Hold onto your hats though, it's no carte blanche access to Redmond's Gringotts. According to a report on Mobile Magazine, inside sources claim MS has set aside ₤28 million (about $44 million) for the endeavor, with about ₤20 million of that reserved for Nokia's first Windows Phone 7.5 handset. This joint marketing effort is reportedly a broader extension of the cooperative agreements all parties agreed to, ensuring future WP devices get the media saturation they deserve. So, keep your eyes peeled this upcoming winter. We have a feeling you won't be able to escape the commercial onslaught, anyway.

Microsoft officially launches Windows Phone in India with trio of Mango devices


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You may have already been able to get a Windows Phone device in India without too much trouble, but Microsoft has only just now made things fully official -- complete with Windows Phone Marketplace, voice recognition support, and a trio of Mango devices. That includes just the HTC Radar initially, which will be available next week for the local equivalent of $490, while the Samsung Omnia W and Acer Allegro (believed to be the same as the W4) are set to follow sometime in November. Of the three, the Allegro is said to be the cheapest of the lot, and there's also some reports that it will launch in Europe for €299 (or roughly $400) off-contract. Those curious about the Radar can check out our review from a few days ago.

Thursday, October 13, 2011

iOS 5 vs the Windows Phone Mango update


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We'll just leave this funny little result here from Engadget. Looks like Cupertino has some problems on their hands with lots of "issues" going on tonight. See TiPB for more. (Of course we can't gloat too much, after all, having your servers hammered that much isn't necessarily a bad sign for your market share, is it?)

Oh and if you want, go vote now.

Microsoft officially launches Windows Phone in India with trio of Mango devices


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You may have already been able to get a Windows Phone device in India without too much trouble, but Microsoft has only just now made things fully official -- complete with Windows Phone Marketplace, voice recognition support, and a trio of Mango devices. That includes just the HTC Radar initially, which will be available next week for the local equivalent of $490, while the Samsung Omnia W and Acer Allegro (believed to be the same as the W4) are set to follow sometime in November. Of the three, the Allegro is said to be the cheapest of the lot, and there's also some reports that it will launch in Europe for €299 (or roughly $400) off-contract. Those curious about the Radar can check out our review from a few days ago.

LG Germany confirms a small update for Internet Sharing is coming


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Assuming LG Germany isn't fibbing here, users of the Optimus 7 can expect sometime in the (near) future a small firmware update to enable internet sharing aka tethering. We know the phone's chipset supports the function but since it was a late-added feature to Mango, most OEMs have had only a little time to play with the drivers. Looks like LG though is prepped to enable this for its users, which will involve updating the firmware in a quick and painless fashion.

Lets hope it comes this year.

Microsoft's giving away Windows Phones to those frustrated with BlackBerry


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In another great publicity stunt, Microsoft, via Windows Phone evangelist Ben Rudolph, is giving away 25 Windows Phones to those with the best BlackBerry stories of why they are frustrated with the company and their phones.

In case you didn't know, RIM is undergoing some serious issues right now with their BES Email and BIS service, where customers are experiencing major issues world-wide. It's been so bad that the company had to hold a press conference to address that matter (and which did little to alleviate any concern). Needless to say, this is doing nothing for RIM's image nor their plummeting market share and stock.

WiFi Tethering on handsets and the Dell Venue Pro


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There has been some confusion surrounding tethering (Internet sharing) in Mango, but a list of supported handsets has been compiled over at the XDA Developer forum. OEMs and carriers have the choice to enable tethering for customers should firmware allow it, for example Orange has recently alerted customers to a tethering add-on, but work has begun for workarounds in enabling the feature. Unfortunately, tethering depends on LAN chipset used and we have bad news for Venue Pro owners.

Garmin demos upcoming MobileNavigator for iOS and Android, latest Windows Phone app (video)


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So, get this. We were cruising through the halls of Pepcom's Mobile Focus with a horrible fever and on the brink of delirium. Unsure how much longer we could keep composure, we came upon Navigon's booth. In addition to displaying its brand new Windows Phone application, the company was also showing off its upcoming releases of MobileNavigator for Android and iOS. Fortunately, Navigon's Public Relations Manager, Johan-Till Broer, was kind enough to give us a demo of each app. Among the new features, users will be able to select individual states for local map storage, which goes a long way toward freeing up space.

HTC Titan and Radar coming to Taiwan


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Today HTC announced that its island home of Taiwan will be seeing the HTC Titan and Radar in the very near future. The Titan, HTC's new flagship phone, is set to hit shelves later this month at a retail price of Tw$18,900 ($619.67). The Radar, its lower price point counterpart, is expected in November and will fetch Tw$13,900 ($455.74).

Taiwan joins the expanding Mango marketplace, along with India, who gets official Windows Phone support today. you can bet that both will see their fair share of the bump in marketing recently promised by WP7 phone manufacturers like HTC.

Windows Phones increasing in price on eBay. A new trend?


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Here's some interesting statistics that jive nicely with that earlier Australian report on the HTC Mozart. At least on eBay in the UK demand, as measured by increasing prices, has been on the upswing for the last few weeks for certain Windows Phone models, specifically the HTC Mozart, Dell Venue Pro and HTC 7 Pro--basically the creme of the crop, if you ask us.

The measurements, as graphed above, show a steadily increase in price since early September, just when Mango-fever was picking up. The jump in price is also fairly significant, with the 7 Pro going from an average of £240 to £350 in just 30 days.

Acer Announces Allegro As Its First Windows Phone Mango


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Acer was accepted as an official Windows Phone OEM together with Fujitsu and ZTE at the time when Windows Phone Mango was announced and now the manufacturer is reportedly making its first device running the Redmond platform public.

The Acer Allegro (you might know it as the W4) will land in Europe before Christmas and will be priced around EUR 299 (around $410) unlocked. From the W4 days we remember that the phone will be powered by a Qualcomm MSM8255 chip at 1GHz and have a 3.6-inch WVGA display, five-megapixel camera with auto-focus and 8GB internal storage.

First Nokia 800 ads spotted, announcing the arrival WP7 for Finnish faithful


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Nokia keeps promising that its first Windows Phone 7 device will be shipping by the end of the year and, though the company is cutting it close, we may actually see that vow fulfilled. It's already been caught in spy shots a few times over, but now marketing materials for the Nokia 800 have started to leak out. With Nokia World only a few weeks away, it makes sense that the Finnish manufacturer would want a campaign ready to roll. The ads for what was formerly known only as Sea Ray talk up WP7's social features, with one declaring "Take, tag, sort and share. All in a flash." It's hardly a confirmation, but this is as good as sign as we've seen that Nokia will actually deliver us a little slice of Mango before it's time to buy a new calendar.

AT&T HTC HD7S Reportedly Getting Mango Today


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The Windows Phone 7.5 Mango update roll-out process is going very well according to Microsoft with a relatively quick spreading period over carriers and manufacturers.

According to recent reports users of the HTC HD7S on AT&T will be getting their Mango treat starting today. The information comes from an allegedly leaked internal memo to AT&T staff that states: "On October 11, 2011, Microsoft is scheduled to begin rolling out the new Mango 7720 update to AT&T customers with existing HTC HD7S Windows Phone 7 devices".

Shocker! Microsoft to produce dual-core, LTE Windows Phones, other modern things


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This just in: Microsoft is ready to take the plunge into mobile modernity... at its own pace. During a recent interview with All Things D, Windows Phone President Andy Lees revealed a few details about Redmond's future crop of handsets, which will apparently include both LTE capabilities and dual-core processors. The exec confirmed that LTE-equipped devices are indeed in the pipeline, but declined to specify whether they'd hit the market this year or next. Turns out, Microsoft wants to wait until current LTE networks prove capable of supporting more power-efficient smartphones. "The first LTE phones were big and big [users] of the battery," Lees said. "I think it's possible to do it in a way that is far more efficient, and that's what we will be doing."

Microsoft Hiring To Make Window Phone "The Best Camera"


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Microsoft has plans for making "Window Phone the best camera you will ever own" and for that, the company is looking to hire "great people to bring our big vision to reality".

Windows Phone already introduced camera concepts that were later adopted by Android and iOS-powered phones (like the dedicated camera button, the pocket-to-camera feature) and Microsoft is admitting they want to further improve on the imaging features of the platform; "end-to-end photo and camera experience from the hardware through software level" is the team's focus and Microsoft appears to be preparing for a battle against great camera-phone like the iPhone 4S or some high-end Android devices.

Hawaii Five-O Gets Some New Windows Phones


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Hawaii Five-O is a few episodes into their second season, and along with some new characters, we also see some new Windows Phones. In last week's episode called "Kame'e", we see that SEAL Lt. Commander Joe White (Terry O’Quinn) happens to us an HTC HD7 as his mobile phone and Kono Kalakaua (Grace Park) has upgraded to a new device.