Tag / Phone

by Xavier Voigt-Hill

Microsoft confirms features and release plans for Windows Phone 7.8

In a blog entry posted today, Windows Phone corporate vice president Terry Myerson confirmed Microsoft’s plans for Windows Phone 7.8, the update that the company has remained quiet about since its announcement at the Windows Phone 8 event in June. Serving to sweeten the blow for existing Windows Phone 7.x device owners that are unable to update their devices to the latest version of the operating system, 7.8 will bring new Start screen options including resizeable tiles and 20 theme colours, and users can also opt to have new password options and the daily Bing picture as their lock screen wallpaper. While developers are unlikely to target 7.x for app releases due to SDK changes for 8, Myerson promises that Angry Birds Space and Angry Birds Star Wars will soon join Draw Something and Words With Friends in the expanding Windows Phone Store for 7.x. The update is currently said to be in testing with OEM and carrier partners, and Microsoft hope for a smooth rollout of the update in early 2013.

Source Windows Phone Blog

by Xavier Voigt-Hill

Windows Phone 8 launch liveblog

At an event back in June, Microsoft offered a ‘sneak peek’ at some new features of Windows Phone 8, with the new start screen being the star of the show. While we weren’t told about devices, the past couple of months have given us announcement events from Samsung, Nokia and Microsoft’s new best friend HTC, but all parties have remained pretty silent when it comes to the full extent of Windows Phone 8’s new features. That’s all set to change today, as Microsoft is hosting an event in San Francisco to show off their new mobile operating system to the world – and we might even hear about Windows Phone 7.8 for existing customers too. We will be liveblogging the whole thing right here, so stick with us to find out what’s up Microsoft’s sleeve.

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16:37 Google’s just dumped a whole load of Nexus news. Bear with us as we filter through it.

16:45 If you want to watch along with us, Microsoft has a stream for you.

16:48 A little over 10 minutes to go now.

16:56 It’s almost time!

16:57 The pre-stream music is actually horrible.

17:01 The announcer kindly asks everyone to turn their devices to off or silent. Not very blogger-friendly.

17:02 Here’s a table of phones.

17:04 And we’re off! Joe Belfiore is talking about why he loves his Windows Phone.

17:05 Big cheers from the Windows Phone fans in the room.

17:05 He’s talking about the successes of Windows 8, Surface and the San Francisco Giants.

17:06 Before he talks about the product, he’s going to talk about what’s happened in the last few months.

17:07 191 countries can now access the WP Store.

17:08 120,000 apps already available for 7.x devices.

17:09 Belfiore’s taking jabs at the iPhone 5’s ‘revolutionary’ fifth row of icons.

17:10 After recapping the core inspirations of WP, a video has come on soundtracked by Jonsi’s wonderful Go Do, showing off the individuality and stuff.

17:13 Let’s talk about live tiles.

17:14 Apps ‘light up the phone’. Live apps can integrate into the wallet and other hubs in WP8.

17:15 There is a new lock screen powered by ‘live apps’.

17:15 Photos, notifications and other stuff can appear.

17:16 Microsoft have partnered with Facebook to make an app that supports the lockscreen, showing various photos from your past.

17:17 Text on the lockscreen can also be customised.

17:18 New apps include Twitter, Draw Something, ESPN, Angry Birds Space and Groupon.

17:18 A new version of Skype is the highlight, based on the fantastic Windows 8 app.

17:18 It is integrated naturally into the phone experience and will run in the background.

17:19 Soon Windows Phone will have 92% of the top mobile apps, including Temple Run and Urbanspoon.

17:20 Lots of Unity games will be arriving with the new native code support.

17:21 Pandora is coming with a year of complimentary ad-free music.

17:22 SDK stuff coming tomorrow at /build.

17:23 The Data Sense feature keeps you under your data limits.

17:24 IE10 compresses sites to use less data.

17:25 Data Sense can track down WiFi hotspots on a map.

17:26 As you approach your limits, it changes how the phone behaves with data.

17:27 45% more web browsing on the same data plan with Data Sense.

17:28 The first carrier to support Data Sense will be Verizon with the Lumia 822 and HTC 8X.

17:29 Belfiore’s moving onto ‘child mode’.

17:29 We have a video of children pleading to play on a phone.

17:30 “Kid’s Corner essentially creates a separate place on your phone that’s for kids…All things that you pick is for them.”

17:30 Here are Joe’s children to demonsterate.

17:31 Alexander, 9, is going to play Battleships.

17:32 One of his children just called him ‘mommy’. Awkward.

17:33 This demo isn’t going too well.

17:34 If you don’t have kids, you can just disable the feature.

17:35 Now there’s an advert for it featuring Jessica Alba.

17:36 And here is Jessica Alba. Rapturous applause for her.

17:37 Twitter has just erupted with techies talking about Jessica Alba. This is unusual.

17:38 Apparently her daughter once tweeted to 4 million people. Kid’s Corner stops that.

17:39 She’s now talking about what she loves about Windows Phone. It’s the same-old personal stuff.

17:41 Now Jessica’s talking about her new company – The Honest Company.

17:43 The people hub now has a feature called Rooms.

17:44 They seem similar to groups.

https://twitter.com/jrvolpe/status/262973182489817089

17:46 You can share Rooms with iPhone users, including calendars and such.

17:47 On a related note, the Lumia 920 will be in UK stores on November 2nd, with the 820 coming 5 days later.

17:48 Now Joe is talking about SkyDrive stuff.

17:52 Xbox Music will also be available on Windows Phone 8.

17:52 Playlists and song choices sync across the cloud.

17:53 All of your content is with you wherever you are.

17:54 Joe’s walking off now, but Ballmer is in a new advert.

17:55 BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLMER!

17:55 He’s talking about the successes of the weekend again.

17:56 “We’re bringing phones into the family with Windows Phone 8.”

17:56 “We set out to reinvent the smartphone…that could be personal for each of us.”

17:58 Steve is talking about personalisation and the connection to Windows 8.

18:00 He said developers. Get ready

18:00 Now he’s talking about the killer hardware, starting with the Nokia Lumia 920.

18:01 Next is the Samsung Ativ S.

18:02 And now the Windows Phone 8X by HTC, Microsoft’s flagship.

18:03 All three and more will go on sale in Europe this weekend, while in the US phones will follow soon after.

18:04 Verizon will carry the 8X ($199), Lumia 822 ($49) and Ativ Odyssey (exclusive in December).

18:05 T-Mobile will have the Lumia 810 ($99) and 8X ($149).

18:06 AT&T will have the 8X, Lumia 820 and Lumia 920 exclusively. Pricing is to be confirmed.

18:07 Microsoft stores will sell all US phones in November.

18:07 “You won’t be able to turn on the TV or open a magazine without seeing a Windows ad.”

18:08 “Windows Phone is the best phone for Windows.”

18:10 Jessica, Joe and Steve are out to wrap things up. Also the stream has died.

18:10 And that’s all folks. We’ll be off to get some hands-on time this weekend, and (hopefully) bring you some news on how Microsoft plans to treat its existing customers.

18:11 See you next time! Thanks for joining us.

by Xavier Voigt-Hill

HTC Windows Phone 8 event liveblog: 8X and 8S unveiled as Microsoft’s Windows Phone flagships

September’s been a pretty crazy month of announcements, and now HTC are trying to impress us with their showing in New York. New Windows Phone 8 devices are expected, although an updated One X is also rumoured. Whatever happens, we’ll bring you the latest news here!
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by James Trickey

Things That Should Exist: The Wrist Phone

Things That Should Exist is a column by James Trickey. Things suggested are not always good ideas.

I’m back after a while without doing anything and for that I am sorry. I just have been really struggling with ideas because some people already had to go and invent everything useful or cool because they had the idea first. But I am finally back with an idea that probably already exists thank to some annoying company, or it might not in which case this will be an amazing idea.

Now, as you can probably guess this invention right here is a phone, just like any smartphone or tablet that can be found in any phone shop in the country at the moment. But, as the title suggests, this is a phone that sits on your wrist the whole time. So I’m imagining a phone with straps just like a watch that allow the phone to sit comfortably on your wrist. With the help of Paint I will try and get my ideas across.

So as you can see there with the help of the OG iPhone as a tester it’s basically just a phone that you can wear like a watch and as I said already it might exist somewhere but to be honest it should still exist which is what this column is about.

But if not, then think of the advantages to this.

Firstly it will never fall out of your pocket because it’s on your wrist. I mean when was the last time your watch fell off without you noticing? Plus, this phone is going to be a lot more noticeable if it comes off your wrist due to the weight difference and the noise it will make when it hits the floor and dies.

Secondly it would also just be incredibly fun to play games on something that is attached to your wrist. It would be like you were a half-robot person with a screen in your wrist! and no the Fallout games stole this idea from me. But it’s still awesome.

So that’s about it for this week. I hope that you all try and actually invent one of these things and if they already do then make them better. I’ll see you next week with a brand new idea.

Hopefully.

KABLAM!!

by Xavier Voigt-Hill

Why you shouldn’t dismiss the Nokia 808 PureView

TechCrunch explains a bit about the Nokia 808 PureView and why its insane megapixel count is more than a gimmick.

by Xavier Voigt-Hill

Nokia 808 PureView with 41MP sensor confirmed at MWC

Nokia shocked the tech world this morning with the announcement of the 808 PureView, the spiritual successor to the N8. While the actual phone itself had been rumoured for some time, the confirmation of a 41 megapixel sensor came as a surprise to everyone. While people may dismiss such a specification as pure marketing crap, Nokia’s new PureView technology can compress numerous pixels into one for ultra-clear images. The technology sounds phenomenal and has been in the works for 5 years, meaning that it launches with Symbian before a planned launch on other platforms. The phone is capable of shooting stills at up to 38MP, but optimal performance comes with compression to 5MP. 1080p video can be shot with 4x lossless zoom, and due to the massive sensor, zooming is actually more like using a different part of the sensor rather than trimming the shot down. The document explaining the tech makes for a great read, and has this sensor diagram to prove a point.

Aside from the 41MP camera, the phone is a standard Symbian Belle affair. A 1.3GHz single core chip powers things, while 16GB of internal storage can be boosted to 48GB via microSD for your photo collection. A 4″ nHD (640 x 360) ClearBlack AMOLED occupies the front face with buttons similar to the Lumia 710, and 2.5D Gorilla Glass coats the device. Having such a large sensor comes at a price, however. At its thinnest, it remains over half an inch and the camera protrudes to 17.95mm. Have a glance at the full spec sheet and some phenomenal sample shots here.

The device is set to ship worldwide in May as the Symbian swansong at €450 before tax, but expect to see the technology making its way into other Nokia products before the year is out if Symbian doesn’t float your boat.

by Xavier Voigt-Hill

Casio announce G-Shock phone: running Android and looking hideous

Pictures of Casio’s new phone with G-Shock branding appeared during CES, clearly showing a rugged and chunky Android device. In the style of G-Shock watches, many extraneous plastic lumps protect the device and house the buttons which, unlike most Android devices, are around the edge and not on the base. We know nothing about the hardware specifications yet, but the phone appears to be running Gingerbread and will be able to withstand a whole tonne of pressure. It will also be shock-resistant to 10 feet and waterproof to 1 bar, meaning that it’s no RAZR. What do you think? A rugged dream or design nightmare?