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Archive for the ‘Microsoft Phones’ Category
Wednesday, April 6th, 2011
Since the debut of the first Microsoft operating system it has always been the popular opinion that Apple and Microsoft are arch enemies. While both companies are in similar industries, Apple and Microsoft have been able to get along for the most part thanks to their very different business models. Apple is more concerned about carving out market niches and collecting huge dividends from said sectors while Microsoft is more interested in turning the entire computer world into a Microsoft controlled monopoly.
That being said, both companies have more rivalry between Google than between themselves and with the latest subtle partnerships between Cupertino and Redmond, it is not hard to see why seeing that Google has morphed from that cool kid who everybody got along with to the son of the neighborhood association’s president who everyone has a problem with.
So it should be no surprise that Microsoft has been working on Mac OS X software for years and has just released the Windows Phone 7 Connector v1.1 in the Apple Mac Store. As you might recall, the Mac App Store was released earlier this year after being speculated about for quite some time now.
Thanks to the Windows Phone 7 Connector, those Apple users who are interested in syncing their Windows Phone 7 devices on their Mac’s will be able to do so and the app carries a slew of features including the ability to synch DRM-free media to said devices. Users can update the software of their Windows Phone 7 devices as well as synch with multiple Mac computers. Support for Apple’s Lossless audio is included in this release as well as the ability to automatically launch the app when a Windows Phone 7 device is connected. Last but not least, anyone looking to run this freebie will need Apple’s Snow Leopard operating system. Now if only we could get Zune Pass on this thing.
Source: Mac App Store
Tags: Apple, Mac-App-Store, Microsoft, Windows-Phone-7-connector
Posted in Apple Phones, Microsoft Phones | No Comments »
Tuesday, April 5th, 2011
Just like Google, BlackBerry, HP (webOS) and Apple have made it clear that they will (and have) pulled apps from their marketplace if they violate their policies, Microsoft has communicated their point to developers as well. However, the Windows Phone Marketplace is well over 6 months old and until now there had not been a peep of an app being rejected until last week.
You might remember that Microsoft is boasting well over 10,000 apps in their application store as well as 30,000+ developers. With those numbers it is to be expected that every once in a while an app will fall through the cracks. Well that so happens to be a certain app named Imagewind. The application, as some have styled it, is a “great app to kill some time.” Basically the app pulls random images from Twitter and displays them on the user’s phone. For those not familiar with Twitter, unlike many other social networks who hosts images for their users, Twitter only hosts background and profile pics leaving the rest of the image hosting to other sites such as TwitPic. Many of these sites do not have stringent policies on nudity and other forms of offensive content. Imagewind’s app pulls from many of these sites and this “violates” Microsoft’s TOS.
Many could argue that a browser does the same thing but is beside the point. Microsoft originally gave the creator some time to remedy the problem but has since pulled the app from its store. According to Roger, he is working on a fix for the app which would filter out such content.
Source: Smarty Pants Coding
Tags: Imagewind, Microsoft, Windows-Phone-7
Posted in Microsoft Phones | No Comments »
Friday, April 1st, 2011
There has been little talk out of Redmond on the numbers involving the actual sale of Windows Phone 7 devices. So far all we have been able to wring out the company is a vague statement claiming that sales are on track and that they have met their expectations.
On the other hand while Samsung has not come forward with any specific numbers, they have said that they were a bit disappointed at the sales figures regarding their part in the Windows Phone 7 launch. But while the company did stop short of giving actual stats, it is clear to see that not everyone so far is smiling upon the success of the platform. Even with that, Microsoft has said that they expect to long haul in making Windows Phone 7 successful and that might be one of the reasons they have decided to spend over $1 billion in advertisement for the platform.
That said, there has been some good news for the platform today. According to Microsoft, thanks to a developer network totaling 36,000, Windows Phone Marketplace now boasts a cool 11,500 apps. Now I’m sure many people will begin comparing these numbers to Android’s Marketplace which currently boasts over 150,000 apps or worse Apple’s App Store which is sitting above the 300,000 mark, but it’s not like all of those apps are unique as many have duplicated functionality. That being said, with the next major update for Windows Phone 7 coming in the holiday season of this year (codenamed Mango), it looks like things will be moving up from here. Plus we cannot forget the new support Nokia will be giving the platform a much needed boost over the next 2 years thanks to their dropping of Symbian and the adoption of Windows Phone 7.
Source: Engadget
Tags: Windows-Phone-7
Posted in Microsoft Phones | No Comments »
Tuesday, March 22nd, 2011
With Apple’s marketing, it could be believed by many consumers that the iPad was the first tablet. Far from it however as there were Android tablets way before the iPad (namely from ARCHOS) and before that, tablets have been living in the industrial and corporate world for well over a decade. What Apple does get credit for is bringing the first tablet to the market that had a major consumer appeal.
In the wake of Android Honeycomb 3.0 and Apple’s iOS 4.3 and the iPad, Microsoft, the only other major player in the mobile operating system department (now that Symbian is breathing it’s last breaths) has been taking it’s time with bringing a tablet to the market that can rival the iPad. Yes there have been Microsoft Windows 7 tablets before, but none of them quite lived up to expectation performance wise (hello HP Slate).
That changes with the Eee Slate from ASUS. This is a fully fledged tablet with the power of a notebook (not netbook). After seeing the specs such as 4GB of DDR# RAM, Intel Core i5 processor and a host of connectivity options, it is clear to see that this tablet is anything but ordinary in terms of power.
With their latest commercials, Microsoft and ASUS are taking real customer stories to show how the tablet is useful. One of the biggest things both companies are playing on here is the device is not limited to an app store or the web. Almost any program that can run on a regular desktop can run on the ASUS Eee Slate with no performance decline. Those are big statements, but after seeing demos of Photoshop and other graphically intense programs on the tablet, we are inclined to believe Microsoft and ASUS. Check out all four commercials below and tell us what you think.
Source: Engadget
Tags: Asus-Eee-Slate, Microsoft
Posted in Asus Phones, Microsoft Phones | No Comments »
Wednesday, December 22nd, 2010
 The HTC Wildfire handset is getting the Froyo update. Users under Vodafone and T-Mobile will be getting the update a little earlier with the expected update to launch by the end of this week. For those Wildfire users under other networks, the wait might take as long as until February of next year. Version 2.2 Froyo brings Flash support, better performance and of course, is a step closer to the Gingerbread OS.
Speaking of the Gingerbread, the Google branded Nexus One smart phone will be receiving the update in a matter of weeks, though it has yet to be confirmed when the exact release date would be. As the first Google branded device (and the one that Google has handed directly to developers), the Nexus One is one of the first Androids that we should expect to receive standalone updates first.
Android smart phone owners will be happy to know that the touch screen typing aid Swype is finally coming. The tool that makes typing on the virtual keyboard a lot easier and more intuitive is finally here; this allows users to send messages and updates faster than ever, without the need for a slide out QWERTY keyboard.
Location based service app Foursquare has now updated their servers to take on not only the light load of user login details, but also for longer comments and more importantly, images. Users of the app can now choose to upload images of the locations of various Foursquare locations.
Lastly, Microsoft is enjoying a quiet success with the Windows Phone 7. While the overall public reaction seems lukewarm, the sales show a different scenario with over 1.5 million devices sold in a span of six weeks. While this does place the new OS only slightly over the Samsung Bada, it is still a good start –and only time will tell if the platform can live up to Andy Rubin’s earlier visions for it.
Tags: Google, Google-Nexus-One, HTC, HTC-Wildfire, Swype, T-Mobile, Vodafone, Windows-Phone-7
Posted in Google Phones, HTC Phones, Microsoft Phones | No Comments »
Monday, December 20th, 2010
 It seems that the Windows Phone 7 update will not be arriving as early as we thought –that and there is a possibility that smaller updates might be released along the way. According to the latest reports, the WP7 Mango update (yes, Microsoft is calling it the Mango), will be released sometime during summer of 2011. This tags the release date of the patch to be sometime around August to September.
Originally, it was believed that the first major update of the Windows Phone 7 mobile platform will be out by the first quarter of 2011; however it seems that there are certain add-ons that are proving to be so massive that it will take a while before the update gets released. At this point, many are calling the Mango as “7.5” and from the initial reports, it appears that HTML5 support, and more Silverlight will be added in the update. There are also rumors that the Windows Phone 8 mobile platform will be released by 2012.
Google’s new Android version has finally gotten a designation, and we are not talking about the recently launched Gingerbread operating system. Indeed, the search engine giant is churning out one massive Android update after the other, starting with the Éclair at the end of last year, to the flash capable Froyo that came out mid-year and just a couple of days back, the 2.3 Gingerbread. Google has not made it a secret that the next OS to follow the big G is the Honeycomb, but no designation has been confirmed.
It appears that the Honeycomb might be taking on the 2.4 designation, though there are questions as to whether the update is really not that far from the 2 series. It has been confirmed that the Honeycomb is designed specifically for touch screen tablet devices –which the original Android is not all that good for (or so Google says).
Tags: Android-2.4-Honeycomb, Google, Microsoft, Windows-Phone-7
Posted in Android Mobile Phones, Google Phones, Microsoft Phones | No Comments »
Thursday, December 16th, 2010
 Google’s NFC plans are being charted out as the August acquisition of the Zetawire payment firm points to the Android developer moving forward with providing payment services. This may not be exclusively used by the Android OS either –it is also possible that a payment platform powered by Google may also be opened as well.
In any case, this latest bit of news confirms that NFC is truly the next big thing for smart phone technology. With Google and Apple solidly backing the innovation, it will not be long before we see actual application of the feature.
Apple’s iPhone 5 has just moved on from rumor-ware to confirmed-ware. The new smart phone is still far off from the production line, but Toshiba has just been confirmed as the manufacturer for the new touch screen to be used in Apple’s new smart phone. With the strong competition between super LCD, super AMOLED and the retina display, Apple needs to bring in new expertise to their displays.
In other news Microsoft will be launching new tablet devices pretty soon. However, instead of the using the newly launched Windows Phone 7 mobile platform, MS will be sticking with the original Windows desktop operating system. While Apple and Google have opted to use their mobile platforms, the choice of MS to use Windows is not that surprising. Considering that a different OS is more suited to the larger screen, Microsoft is certainly right on track.
Tags: Apple, apple-iphone-5, Google, near-field-communications, NFC
Posted in Apple Phones, Google Phones, Microsoft Phones | No Comments »
Wednesday, November 24th, 2010
A recently reported news bit about Windows Phone 7 has revealed a major flaw in the mobile platform: it cannot swap micro SD cards. And this is where you get some pause to let that sink in.
For those who cannot appreciate the gravity of the issue, here’s the basic lowdown: the micro SD card is basically removable storage for any mobile device. You can transfer and store files in card and basically allow you to switch between multiple handsets or multiple cards (depending on how you prefer).
Switching between phones is understandable, if you have an Android and a BlackBerry, being able to carry around a single media library means that you can still watch that next episode stored on the card, regardless of which phone you use. In that same regard, being able to carry multiple cards means that you can delegate space better –like having one card store all music and another for videos.
In any case, the ability to switch and swap micro SD cards is longer a feature of convenience, but something that is expected from smart phones. But this is not possible with the Windows Phone 7 operating system. Apparently, the OS tends to stick to the initial card you use, with the data supposedly written in a completely new format (ironic, since this is a Microsoft OS). And worst of all, only certain SD cards work well with the OS (which seems to have a high transfer rate speed requirement).
In other news, it seems that T-Mobile and Orange UK are looking into making the iPad more accessible to buyers. The team that brought us Everything Everywhere has hinted that the Apple iPad price tag might drop down as far as 200 Pounds –depending on the 3G contract. For those who feel that the almost 500 Pound cost of the touch screen tablet is too much, this is a perfect opportunity.
Tags: Apple-iPad, microSD, Microsoft, Orange, T-Mobile, Windows-Phone-7
Posted in Apple Phones, Microsoft Phones, Orange Phones, TMobile Phones | No Comments »
Tuesday, October 26th, 2010
 It takes a lot to say that something has been re-invented, after all, breaking past the borders of upgrades and innovations to totally bring something new as a whole is not something that is aspired for as a goal –but it something that is simply achieved through the process of making things better.
Of course, the base argument here was that Microsoft had plenty to make better. The developer of the ever famous Windows desktop OS is also responsible for Windows Mobile, which is definitely one of the most horrid mobile platforms ever made. It was certainly fit for the job of handling office work (which was what it was designed for in the first place), but the design concept was so rigid, the UI was so badly designed, that when smart phones started becoming more commonly used by the general market, the WinMo OS did not make a successful transition.
In contrast, the BlackBerry OS (which was also beating the WinMo in business sales) made an easy transition. Something was definitely wrong with Microsoft’s formula.
Steve Ballmer’s plan to change everything and bring in the Windows Phone 7 operating system into reality is the perfect plan for Microsoft, and he pulled it off. The new OS is sleek, easy to use and is by far, the most dynamic mobile platform we have ever seen.
User interface animations aside, the lined functions and easy access commands brings a whole new level of diversity to the phone’s user experience –something that no other platform has been able to deliver.
Checking out the HTC HD7 (the WP7 sequel to the HD2), we can easily see what makes the new OS work so well –consistency. Despite the artsy approach to the user interface, the fact that all the commands and functions are delivered in a single method (with varying visual differences), makes the UI consistent, understandable and easy on the eyes. We can certainly expect to see more great things from Microsoft’s WP7.
Tags: HTC-HD7, Microsoft, Steve-Ballmer, Windows-Phone-7
Posted in HTC Phones, Microsoft Phones | No Comments »
Thursday, October 14th, 2010
The Windows Phone 7 mobile platform is certainly making plenty of headlines these past few days and while there are a lot of people excited about the new operating system, the fact that it is Microsoft based OS is certainly alienating owners of Macs.
It has been pretty much established that the Zune media player –an earlier device from Microsoft is not generally compatible with the Mac’s operating system. The fact that special software is needed in order to connect the device meant that using the WP7 on a Mac was not going to be a simple plug and play.
However, it has been announced by Microsoft that they will be releasing a new client for Macs that would allow WP7 owners to instantly connect to the Mac and have their phones accessed using the iTunes and iPhoto software. Those who are already own the iPhone would find very little issue with this feature as it provides users with a familiar software for use with their mobile phone.
Moving on, it seems that mobile virtual network operator 3 UK will be delaying the launch of the Android 2.2 Froyo update for owners of the HTC Desire. Originally, the update was supposed to launch last September or this October. However, after considering the fact that other networks had issues with the update (such as on O2 where some users reported that their devices had bricked), it seems that the delay has become a necessary evil.
HTC Desire users have plenty to look forward to with the new Froyo update. The new OS version brings more functionality to the Android operating system and improves already existing features such as the user interface for the camera and updating Exchange. Speed and performance of the UI and the browser have also been given a significant boost.
Tags: Android-2.2-Froyo, google-android, HTC-Deaire, O2
Posted in Apple Phones, HTC Phones, Microsoft Phones | No Comments »
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