Windows Phone News

Meet the world's smartest watch on Kickstarter: AGENT

Windows Phone News

By Rich Edmonds, Tuesday, May 21, 2013 at 10:07 pm

An interesting Kickstarter listing has been spotted. A smartwatch called AGENT is currently open for backing, but has already surpassed the team's goal of $100,000. So what exactly is AGENT? It's a watch that can connect to smartphones, as well as power apps and more.

Telstra promotes the hell out of Windows Phone, has video to prove it

Windows Phone News

By Daniel Rubino, Tuesday, May 21, 2013 at 11:21 am

We’ve heard a lot of discussion from users, mostly anecdotal, about their local carriers and how well they are promoting Windows Phone in the store. Some are horror stories, with reps pushing Android or the iPhone while often there are great experiences too.

Telstra though as evidently set the bar with their in-store advisements.

In fact, it’s so good that Microsoft has made a video in conjunction with the popular carrier to highlight their effort. It’s quite the achievement to see Windows Phone promoted in such a way and while US carriers like AT&T and Verizon are getting serious about putting Windows Phone front and center, we think Telstra here sets a great example.

Latest Verizon ad showcases the Nokia Lumia 928's camera in low light

Windows Phone News

By George Ponder, Tuesday, May 21, 2013 at 10:41 am

There's very little arguement that the Nokia Lumia 92x series of Windows Phones performs extremely well in low light conditions. The latest Verizon commercial, #takebetterphotos, highlights the Lumia 928's camera's low light abilities.

Touted as the "best low light smartphone camera around" the thirty second ad illustrates how well the 928's camera performs when lighting is at a minimum. Similar to the Lumia 920, the Lumia 928's benefits from the optical stabilization and Nokia's Pureview technology to improve photos captured in those dimly lit situations.

The Nokia Lumia 928 is an exclusive to the Verizon network and is currently running $99.99 after contractual discounts.

Source: VerizonWireless; Thanks, pbroy, for the tip!

Windows Phone Central community member nails the latest Nokia Lumia Photo Challenge

Windows Phone News

By George Ponder, Monday, May 20, 2013 at 7:59 pm

It shouldn't be a secret that Nokia likes to hold photo contests from time to time to showcase the cameras on the Lumia line of Windows Phones. The latest Nokia Lumia Photo Challenge dared readers to capture adventures at night with their Lumia Windows Phone.

The winner was announced over on Twitter and we would like to extend our congratulations to Windows Phone Central reader aaa6112 for his photo of the Scripps Pier in San Diego. The above photo was captured with his Lumia 920 and the prize for this wall hanger of a photo, a new Lumia 720.

Not sure what the next Nokia Lumia Photo Challenge will be but we'll keep an eye out for it and let you know.

Source: @Nokia_Connects

Latest ad for Lumia 928 shows off low-light prowess, calls out both the iPhone and Galaxy S4

Windows Phone News

By Sam Sabri, Monday, May 20, 2013 at 6:15 pm

The Nokia Lumia 928 and 925 aren’t upgrades to the Lumia 920. Daniel put it best in his From the Editor’s Desk this morning when he called it a sideways upgrade. Same goes for the camera found in those devices, they’re basically the same one you’ll find in the Lumia 920, but with a little more software magic.

Here’s an ad from Microsoft that shows off the low-light prowess of the Lumia 928 for Verizon.

Feeling grey? Order up a Lumia 920 genuine housing replacement for a weekend project

Windows Phone News

By Daniel Rubino, Monday, May 20, 2013 at 5:31 pm

Although we’re kind of in love with yellow for our Lumia 920, there’s one even more elusive color out there that’s kind of hard to find depending on your geo-location: Grey.

Yup, Nokia does make an all matte grey Lumia 920 and while it’s difficult to find, you can now order the original housing for that device on eBay from a UK seller. The price of the housing (which may not include the SIM tray, so contact the seller first!) is going for £39.95 (~$60 USD), which isn’t cheap but for an accessory that will literally make you feel like you have a brand new phone? That’s not too bad.

PSA: Update your Nokia Lumia 521 today to get Wi-Fi calling

Windows Phone News

By Sam Sabri, Monday, May 20, 2013 at 5:17 pm

What’s today? Today is the 20^th of May, which means if you’re rocking a Nokia Lumia 521 on T-Mobile you should be getting a killer update. A killer update that adds Wi-Fi calling. Users on Reddit are seeing the update now. Ready to update? Details below.

Wordness, a letter game for Windows Phone and Windows 8 gets teased in video

Windows Phone News

By Sam Sabri, Monday, May 20, 2013 at 3:13 pm

Last fall we finally got the popular word game Words with Friends. But by the time it finally came to Windows Phone the gaming community seemed to have moved onto newer games. On iOS the next big word game was a little gem called Letterpress. We don’t have Letterpress on Windows Phone, but we’re getting a game that looks fairly similar called Wordness. Check out a sneak peak of the game after the break.

New bug reportedly found in Windows Phone Store: WP8 apps "updated" into WP7 version

By Chassit, Monday, May 20, 2013 at 12:34 pm

The "Windows Phone Store" is a pretty big concept. Instead of being one simple market available to all users equally and indifferently, it has countless facets intended for specific user groups and regions.

Depending on your OEM, carrier, geographic region, OS version, and size of RAM, the apps visible to you just won't be the same. When things get complicated in order to serve as many types of consumers as possible, the chance of stuff going wrong gets increased as well.

Maluuba for Windows Phone 8 updated, adds sports and TV searches

By George Ponder, Monday, May 20, 2013 at 12:23 pm

Maluuba is a Siri styled app for your Windows Phone 8 device that helps take voice commands to a new level. You can find out what the weather is like, find a restaurant, check movie show times, create reminders and more just by voice commands. Maluuba has announced an update to the app, taking it to version 1.0.2, that brings two new features into the mix that deals with sports and television.

Sports integration for Maluuba allows Windows Phone users to ask for live game scores, see upcoming schedules and see league standing for the NBA, NHL and MLB.

What Windows Phone could have been: Windows Mobile 7 concept surfaces [Deleted]

Windows Phone News

By Rich Edmonds, Monday, May 20, 2013 at 12:18 pm

Update 3pm ET: Video has been deleted by the user, sorry folks! We'll try to find an alternative soon.

Long Zheng, the brains behind the likes of MetroTwit and more (we interviewed the chap a while back), has come across a handful of concept videos published by UI designer Dave Brinda. It's reported that Brinda worked with Microsoft on the "Windows Mobile 7" project and currently works at HTC, responsible for designing HTC Sense on Android as well as HTC TouchFlo 3D on Windows Mobile. So what's the concept like? Well, see for yourself.

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Itsdagram becomes top selling app in the US on Windows Phone, version 1.2 around the corner

Windows Phone News

By Daniel Rubino, Monday, May 20, 2013 at 10:54 am

It looks like demand for Itsdagram, the first fully featured Instagram client for Windows Phone, is quite high as the app has raced to the #1 paid spot in the US over the weekend (it’s #15 in the UK where Londoners are not as hip, evidently). That’s all before the release of the free, ad-supported version, expected in the near future.

The app fetches for $1.49 and on the first day had nearly 12,000 downloads. We’re sure that number has only increased in the proceeding days, especially with the rapid bug fix update that helped stabilized logins.

32GB Nokia Lumia 925 also heading to Germany's Deutsche Telekom?

Windows Phone News

By Rich Edmonds, Monday, May 20, 2013 at 10:16 am

The Lumia 925 is Nokia's latest Windows Phone, along with the Lumia 928 but many have been concerned that Vodafone appears to have the 32GB version of the Lumia 925, while everyone else has to deal with 16GB of internal storage. It's now come to light that T-Mobile will also be picking up the model with 32GB of storage, which will surely please many to know that it may not be that much of an exclusivity.

Cool GAME Reward advertisement highlights Windows Phone app

Windows Phone News

By Rich Edmonds, Monday, May 20, 2013 at 8:57 am

UK video game retailer GAME has a Reward app to help those with loyalty cards collect and spend points when in stores. We've just spotted an advertisement on the GAME YouTube account, which shows off apps for both iOS and Android as well as "Windows 8 phone".

Monday Brief: Google I/O, BlackBerry Live, the Lumia 925, iOS getting BBM... and a Fond Farewell

Windows Phone News

By Ashley Esqueda, Monday, May 20, 2013 at 8:36 am

No new news but the webOS Nation forums are still busy!

Microsoft wants consumers to control the camera by voice, according to filed patent

Windows Phone News

By Rich Edmonds, Sunday, May 19, 2013 at 9:24 pm

It has been revealed that Microsoft has delved into voice-controlled camera technology. The US Patent & Trademark Office has published a patent application filed by the company, which would introduce speech commands for camera operation on a smartphone. Just when you thought the handsfree approach couldn't go any more... well... handsfree.

Windows Phone UK advertisement highlights Kid's Corner to keep the kids occupied

Windows Phone News

By Rich Edmonds, Sunday, May 19, 2013 at 7:37 pm

Everyone has witnessed a slightly irritating child in the public (or perhaps you're the parent of one?), but an advertisement published on the Windows Phone UK YouTube account shows exactly how to handle such a situation. The point of the video? When handed a Windows Phone, said child soon hushes and gets on with firing some birds at pigs and all the rest.

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Jennifer Lopez sending messages on a Windows Phone in latest "Live It Up" music video

Windows Phone News

By Rich Edmonds, Sunday, May 19, 2013 at 1:36 pm

It's at 0:22 in the latest pop video from Jennifer Lopez where we see a shiny new Lumia 920, which sports a bold Windows Phone styled SMS conversation between herself and fellow artist Pitbull. The song is called "Live It Up" and comes with a rather bouncy video. We've previously covered Windows Phones being used in music videos, with the HTC TITAN in Fun.'s "We Are Young" being the most notable example.

Qimini available to order in black, listed for $79.95

Windows Phone News

By Rich Edmonds, Sunday, May 19, 2013 at 12:12 pm

The Qimini is now available to order. Available in black for the time being (more colours on the way), the wireless charger supports smartphones that utilise the Qi standard of charging. This includes a handful of Lumia Windows Phones (and a lone Verizon HTC 8x). We last looked at the product back in February and noted that while consumers were able to place orders, pricing was not listed at the time.

8.1-inch Acer W3 leaked early, visits FCC

Windows Phone News

By Sam Sabri, Saturday, May 18, 2013 at 6:51 pm

Two weeks ago Acer had an event in New York City where they showed off some upcoming Windows 8 hardware. That same day, another upcoming Acer tablet, the W3-810, was leaked early by a premature listing on Amazon. Now we’ve got more images and info about the upcoming little tablet.