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Mush: Xbox Windows Phone Review

People play games for many different reasons: to be challenged, to be stimulated artistically or intellectually, for the narrative, and even for the Achievement points. Not every game needs to be a high-pressure experience or a bombastic assault on the senses though; sometimes you just want to relax and play. In fact, I would argue that calming games are especially suited for mobile play since we often play them on the go during our otherwise hectic days. Mush - from student developers Angry Mango - is just the game for such an occasion.

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Explained: A familiar error message for some Windows Phone users

Ever since WhatsApp was pulled and then re-released this past weekend, we have had a small deluge in complaints from users that they cannot install the update. Instead, they are greeted with the above error message, resulting in user frustration. What’s more, uninstalling the app, resetting the phone and dancing around in a circle did not fix the problem either.

We’ve been trying to figure out exactly why some users have the problem while others, including ourselves, do not. Just as interestingly, we wanted to know which apps were exhibiting the error.

Microsoft has now detailed the problem on the Windows Phone Blog and there’s good news and some bad news. The good news is they acknowledge that there is an issue and they even know what is causing it. As it turns out, there are some problems with certificates for new apps published in the Marketplace within the last week. 

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Image removed by request from ALPS

With just a few weeks before Nokia World is scheduled to take place it is not too surprising to see more and more leaks happening regarding the Finnish company’s Windows Phone 8 plans.

The photo to the right is just another piece of that puzzle and is certainly one of the more unique pieces of evidence to come out. What we are allegedly looking at is the display frame for a new Nokia Windows Phone that came from one of Nokia’s new screen sub-contractors called ALPS (that company does make capactive panels for smartphones).

Measuring roughly 4.3” across the part looks to be a reference design used to manufacture the expected high-resolution display (1280x720 or 800x480). Besides the new Windows Phone 8 logo and hole for the ambient light sensor not much else can be garnered from the image.

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It looks like Samsung may have inadvertently leaked their upcoming Windows Phone 8 device for peppy T-Mobile. And if accurate, fans will be very excited.

The data presented in the document, found by TmoNews, hints that this device is none other than the Samsung Odyssey, which was initially leaked in court documents at the end of July.

The info comes from Samsung's wap.samsungmobile.com site which notoriously shows upcoming devices before they are announced...

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WPCentral's roundup of running/jogging apps for your Windows Phone

Several months ago the popular fitness app RunKeeper was pulled from the Windows Phone Marketplace. The reason was simple, the developer decided to drop support for the app and focus on other platforms. This opened the door for other fitness apps to step up and fill the gap.

We decided to take a peek at the popular fitness apps that concentrated on running/jogging to see what alternatives are out there. Plus Dan just joined a fitness center and is looking for a good jogging app.

After reading user reviews on the Marketplace and taking a peek at the apps ourselves, we've narrowed the field to five.  All five have similarities with online components and making use of your Windows Phone's GPS.  One even adds a storyline and a bit of suspense to your workouts.  As always, if we missed the running app that you think is the bee's knees, jump in below and share your thoughts in the comments.

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It's that time of the week (or should we say weekend?) where we bring you the latest discussions from the Windows Phone Central forums. Should you find yourself missing out on the hottest threads in our community, be sure to read on so you're up-to-date and can join in.

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Lo and behold, WhatsApp for Windows Phone has returned. The popular messenger app vanished from view just over a week ago and has remained "private" since. We got in touch with the WhatsApp team in attempt to withdraw information detailing the reasons why it was hidden from consumers who may be looking to download (or reinstall) the app, but had no luck with replies received from employees.

We later relayed the news that WhatsApp for Windows Phone was possibly removed because of security concerns and vulnerabilities. A German website reported an Android WhatsApp sniffing tool was able to intercept messages sent using the messaging app over a WiFi connection. WhatsApp later denied this as the cause for the app pull and assured Windows Phone Central that this was not a security related incident.

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In the ongoing saga between Samsung and Apple, documents came out late last night from the court case that detailed a proposal by Apple to charge Samsung for royalties on their smartphones.

It’s interesting for a few reasons. For one, Apple almost never enters into cross-platform patent royalty deals with other companies, specifically if it is tied to any of their “product differentiating” technologies. Back in 2010 though, Apple was willing to make an exception to this with Samsung because they are a major parts supplier for Cupertino and they wanted to preserve that relationship. Apple was also “shocked” at just how much Samsung was willing to allegedly copy the iPhone.

In the documents, Apple spells out some license terms it was willing to offer Samsung back in October 2010—just a few weeks before Windows Phone 7 became available.  Although Android was offered a $24-per-device royalty fee, which yes, is extremely high, Apple evidently also wanted $9 per ‘Windows Mobile 7’ device as well.

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Crackle, a digital network and studio, has released an official app for Windows Phone. The service offers commercially supported streaming of video content in Flash format. Owned by Sony Pictures, its primary collection is Sony's library of films and television shows. Crackle (crackle.com) provides its content through a web syndication network, which includes YouTube, Huhu, AOL, MySpace, and mobile service providers.

Without requiring to signup and register an account, Crackle enables Windows Phone owners to enjoy content for free from its expansive collection. According to the company, twenty new movies and television episodes are added monthly. Genres include the likes of action, comedy, crime, horror, thriller, sci-fi, and anime. There's bound to be a title for everyone.

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For a long time, Windows Phone users have speculated about the possibility of a Tablet based on the OS. It never happened, but even now, I’m left wondering if Windows Phone is the more capable and desirable portable computing experience.

Microsoft are on the cusp of releasing Windows 8 and with it we see the software giant plunging head first into the world of true mobile computing. They have dug in deep and hammered away at the core of Windows to enable new, mobile orientated computing experiences. At the same time we also have Windows Phone 8 getting ready for primetime. Windows Phone is now reaching its first major upgrade, and it's about to fully mature.

Given the right form factor it's an OS that could work better as a tablet than Windows 8, and here is why...

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Internet Explorer 10 is good but is it the best?

Although Windows Phone 8 is still a few months away from release, it doesn’t mean we can’t start to gather information about it or one of its main new features: Internet Explorer 10.

The new browser was revealed back at the Summit in June and it will match the desktop component found in Windows 8 Desktop, due in late October. Featuring a new JavaScript engine, better performance, twice the HTLM5 compatibility, advanced privacy features and optional data-compression, the browser should really be a step up for consumers.

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We're back for another exciting chat on all things Windows Phone. This week we catch up on the great SDK leak, the disappearing Metro name, disappearing apps and our user polls on missing features.  Listen above or watch the video after the break...

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WPCentral's Roundup of Surveillance, Security and Spy apps for your Windows Phone

The Bourne Legacy hit theaters today and we felt that it would be appropriate to focus on spy type apps for your Windows Phone this week. These are apps that can be used for security, surveillance or irritating your teenage child.

We've got a security toolkit, a few hidden cameras, an audio recording app, a novelty tracking app and a spy game in this week's mix. While they may not turn you into the likes of Jason Bourne, Aaron Cross, Jacque Clouseau or even James Bond... you may find these apps can come in handy.  They can turn your Windows Phone into a nanny cam, hide your camera to capture your camera shy girlfriend and record important conversations.

Now for the obligatory disclaimer. If a title doesn't make the roundup, it shouldn't reflect poorly on that app. We've got a limited number of apps to focus on and if we've missed something, feel free to share in the comments.

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AT&T Nokia Lumia 900 with the 8779 Tango update

Well after biting the bullet and factory-resetting our Lumia 900 with a ROM flash, we managed to update our glossy-white AT&T Lumia 900 to the official Tango update. That update is sitting in stand-by on Nokia’s servers, presumably waiting for AT&T to give the go to push out to the Zune servers so the rest of you can update.

Although you can manually do this yourself using a third-party program called Nokia Care Suite, you will factory-flash the phone meaning the device will be completely wiped—no saved games, no saved photos. In that regard, you may be best served by just waiting a few days (weeks?) for it to hit Zune where you can just update the phone and keep everything.

In the meantime, we sacrificed for your knowledge. In turn you can watch our video hands on after the break for our thoughts on the update in addition to our mini-review...

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Pinball: Just one fix...

Although we’re still waiting on that pesky Xbox LIVE game to go…well live, we have something else to keep you gamers happy: Pinball League’s Dr. Pickaxe. If that name sounds familiar it’s because there’s a previous pinball game by the same company, Tainicom, called Pinball League - The Juggler. This game just hit the Windows Phone Store and we’re in love.

First off, we should note that we’re huge pinball fans. Pinball FX2 on Xbox 360 is our illicit drug of choice and we’re dying to get it on Windows Phone (see our interview with the developer for news on that front). In the meantime, Dr. Pickaxe is fullfilling our deepest wizard desires by offering a solid sequel to their previous effort.

Check out our quick video review after the break...

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One of the “forgotten” phones on T-Mobile seems to have been the awesome and site favorite HTC Radar. We say that only because it has yet to receive the 8773 ‘Tango’ update like a lot of other Windows Phone, including its non-branded international counterpart.

We’ve now had two reports coming in noting that replacement phones for the Radar have ‘Tango’ in ROM:

  • OS version: 7.10.8773.98
  • Firmware revision number:1750.0602.40602.531

There’s no word of course when or if T-Mobile will push out the update for the rest of you who still have working Radars but we think it’s a positive sign that fresh-from-the-factory versions are coming with a T-mo approved new ROM.

Although Tango is a minor update, it does feature such things as multiple MMS messaging and other minor improvements to the user experience in addition to the optimized new firmware from HTC to fix any other performance issue that may be nagging users.

We checked our Zune Desktop and did not notice any awaiting updates (even when we “forced” it using the Wi-Fi trick) so don’t get too excited yet. We’ll try to find out more though so keep your fingers crossed in the meantime. Thanks, Andre for the photo and ICMIAMI05, for the info

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Windows Phone has been growing at a steady rate, mainly down to advertising campaigns and brand pushes from Nokia with its Lumia family of smartphones. According to data released today by IDC, the platform has been sporting a year-on-year growth increase of 115% - not bad, eh? IDC also notes that the OS has been closing the gap between itself and Blackberry in the last quarter in the fight to become the 3rd major player in the smartphone market.

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Mars Attacks!

With NASA’s successful landing of the Curiosity rover on Mars late Sunday night (it was streamed live on the Xbox 360) we figured we would mention a couple Mars tie-ins for your Windows Phone and even your Xbox in case you wanted to get in on all the action.

While there aren’t an overwhelming amount of Mars-specific apps for Windows Phone there are a couple that stand out to get you in the mood...

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With the news coming reported last week that Microsoft is in the process of abandoning the name ‘Metro’ to describe their unifying new user interface, we asked you what they should rename it?

Of course your choice will have no bearing on the matter—so we think—but it is still fun to see if we can out-do Microsoft in this area. And knowing Microsoft’s past, it should not be too hard.

The Windows Phone community responded with nearly 450 comments with each one often containing multiple entries for a new Metro name. We parsed those names and chose the top six from the list of which we thought sounded good or had positive feedback from fellow commenters.  Those top six entries are...

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In a poll conducted this past weekend here at Windows Phone Central, 7,640 participants voted on the top-three features (out of an optional nine choices) they wanted most in Windows Phone 8.

Although the full consumer feature list has yet to be revealed by Microsoft, due to the leaked SDK a few weeks ago a lot of the new options have been detailed already. In turn, we asked users what they thought was missing (or we saw no evidence for) in Microsoft’s next-gen mobile operating system.

The results are certainly interesting and by large margins the top three choices by users are clearly discernable...

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