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Epic games, creators of popular Unreal series (head shot!) and even more popular Gears of War, has been busy porting their amazing Unreal Engine 3 to mobile devices like the iPhone and evidently Android (soon).

All of this begs asking the question what about Windows Phone 7? After all, Epic games has a pretty cozy relationship with Microsoft and the Xbox universe, not to mention PC gaming. Between that relationship and knowing the Unreal Engine works well on mobile, what's the holdup?

No surprise, but it's Microsoft, despite Epic games asking them to be allowed native access, or as Mark Rein of Epic Games has said "They've been nudged but so far nothing". That's sort of a bummer, but as noted by Examiner, it's still early and Microsoft is probably busy doing all of those other fixes. But lets hope that Microsoft and Epic team up sooner than later for some mobile gaming bliss.

Source: @markrein (Epic Games); via: Examiner

The world is aflutter today (and journalism has taken a back seat) with the unsubstantiated rumor that Nokia, under leadership of Nokia CEO Stephen Elop, who used to work with Microsoft, is in secret talks to work with Microsoft on releasing some Windows Phones. The rumor comes from Eldar Murtazin, who has attained near celebrity status with his rumor posts, despite the mediocre track record. In a post he writes (translated):

In the last month behind closed doors is a discussion of expanded cooperation Nokia and Microsoft (two-way discussion, initiated by the new leadership of Nokia). Not simply the exchange of technology, but creating an entire line of Windows Phone devices that may go under the name Nokia, through the sales channels for the company, and will also have the characteristic features of its products. This is a desperate measure of the two companies. The last step for the salvation of Android, which crushes everything in its path.

Nokia has very recently denied such future moves, instead reaffirrming their committment to Symbian and MeeGo OS, yet the rumor persists, perhaps out of wishful thinking. It is certainly possible that Nokia may release a secondary line of phones with WP7 on board--heck, Palm did the same years ago till they got back on their feet (to fall on their face again)--but we're not holding our breath on this one. For one, there is no secondary source that comes even close to backing this up and number two, financially it doesn't make much sense (see summary at ZDNet).

But we'll leave the possibility open. We're just not that confident in the idea. Even if Nokia does go forward with a Windows Phone line, so what? Has Nokia hardware (in absence of their OS) been anything truly remarkable? Or has HTC, Samsung and Apple grabbed the spotlight with hardware innovation and unique design? Call us cynical, but we're going with the latter. If Nokia and Microsoft hatch out a plan though, it will only help Windows Phone presence in the market.  That is something we could live with, even if we are skeptical of the whole idea.

Source: Mobile-review; via ZDNet

In the ongoing saga with certain Windows Phones not playing well when unlocked (specifically MMS issues), there was an official tool and an unofficial one. The former was Samsung's app located in their app store ("Samsung Zone") and it was evidently quite limited in function (going by the average rating of 1 star). Later an unofficial homebrew solution was produced though it required you to have developer access/jailbreak the device.

We then got word that Samsung was working on an official fix, allowing users of unlocked phones to reconfigure their device for other networks with a simple menu selection. That update has hit today (v1.9) and from early reports seems to work quite well, even allowing MMS on new networks. The app also goes pretty far in reminding you that if you are currently in a contract with a carrier this tool will not work, so be warned. Other than that, Samsung seems to be at parity now with HTC and LG in offering network reconfiguration tools for users. For that, we're quite happy.

Grab the program here on your phone via Zune Desktop.

Thanks, Philipp, for the tip and feedback!