The Nokia-like Smoked by Windows Phone campaign, Blown Away by Lumia, has gone to Bulgaria with public heading through popular shopping malls in Sofia being challenged to beat the Lumia 800. Already witnessed in other countries, including India which produced some interesting (yet humorous) results, the challenge is successful at pulling in the punters to show off Microsoft's platform powering Nokia products.
Popular Bulgarian artist Deo took to the helm and led the team through the challenges. These included uploading photos to Facebook, opening web pages and posting status updates to social networks - basic smartphone tasks. Should the participant beat the Lumia 800, they'd pocket 50 lev, but if they failed they'd have to publicly admit defeat.
Check out some more shots after the break.
Source: MobileBulgaria; thanks Eirenach for the tip!
Read more
News just in. Tesco Mobile, the mobile virtual network operator (using O2 as its carrier) from the supermarket, has got the Lumia 800 in its arsenal of smartphones. But it's not running Windows Phone. Well... it is, but it isn't. Confused? You certainly would be if you came across the above page.
According to the documentation the Lumia 800 is a Windows Phone device, but it sports a small Android logo to the right. Which is it Tesco? We've previously covered retailers getting it wrong when it comes to labeling Windows Phones, but should this really be happening with the platform being almost two years old?
Thanks Rob for sending the photo in!
There seems to be a fascination with baking cakes that look like Windows Phones. So much so that Microsoft is hosting a cake contest where you could bake your way into a new Windows Phone.
Entering is simple. Create a Windows Phone inspired cake, take a picture of your culinary delight and submit it at the Windows Phone Cake Contest page over on Facebook. The three cakes with the most "likes" will win a Windows Phone.
Entries must be received by Wednesday, May 30, 2012 and voting ends on June 6, 2012. You can find all the fine print of the official rules here on SkyDrive. This is definitely one contest that could go straight to your hips.
Good luck and happy baking.
Source: Windows Team Blog
We previously covered the Crunchyroll Windows Phone app when it was released last month, but the app has been recently updated that enables guest access. When the app was released access was restricted unless you were in possession of a premium account, or enabled the free trial. The service allows users to watch over 600 popular anime shows.
So what shows are available on Crunchyroll (website)? The likes of Naruto Shippuden, Bleach, Shugo Chara!, Blue Exorcist, Gintama, Fate/Zero, Space Brothers, The World God Only Knows, and Bodacious Space Pirates. As mentioned above, this latest update enables access to those who don't have a premium account. To enjoy the full experience of the service, one is required to kick off membership.
Advantages of premium membership:
You can download Crunchyroll from the Marketplace for free. When launching the app, you can select to start a free trial, log in or test the app for free.
Thanks Elisha for the tip!
It's official, Telstra has announced the HTC TITAN 4G, which will be the first Windows Phone to make use of the faster network speeds. After weeks (if not months) of speculation and anticipation from Australian Windows Phone fans, the carrier has finally released details surrounding the HTC monster device. It's actually the HTC TITAN II that launched in the U.S., but will be branded as the HTC TITAN 4G.
This is great news for those who are awaiting for a 4G Windows Phone as this beast of a smartphone not only packs 4G speeds, but a 16MP camera, which we positively reviewed. Will Irving, Group Managing Director, Telstra Business comments:
"Windows Phone fans will soon be able to surf the mobile web, respond to email and access work documents faster than before on the HTC Titan4G – Australia’s first 4G Windows Phone which launches next Tuesday on the Telstra Mobile Network.” In a clear pitch to business users and enterprise customers. Australian small businesses have embraced smartphones to help them work where they want and to stay responsive to customers and new business opportunities.
The launch of the nation’s first 4G Windows Phone means small businesses can perform even more advanced tasks from the palms of their hands – like handling larger emails on the go, capturing and sending high-resolution images and video and accessing emerging cloud-hosted services direct from their smartphone screen. Best of all, Windows Phone is incredibly easy to navigate and immediately familiar to anyone who uses Microsoft’s popular Office software."
So we know it's the bees-knees, what about pricing? You can get your own for free on the $79 Freedom Connect plan (after using an included MRO bonus), which includes $800 worth of voice calls and MMS, unlimited SMS and 2GB data. The phone will be available outright for $888, should plans not be up your street.
Business customers can pick up the TITAN 4G for just $8/mo after using their MRO bonus on the $70 Business Mobile Advantage plan (24 months). This includes unlimited SMS, free voice calls to eligible mobiles, and 1GB data.
Source: WPDownUnder
Nokia World 2012 was announced earlier this year and is set to be held in Helsinki, Finland on September 25-26. As was the case with London 2011, we expected a single event to be held in a fairly large convention centre. It seems Nokia has other ideas for this year as the manufacturer has revealed plans for a new format with holding a number of events separately.
The first of said events will be held on September 5-6, a handful of weeks in advance than previously announced. More information and details will be published in the coming months, but you can be sure Windows Phone Central will be at Nokia World to bring you the latest Windows Phone juice. The first event will target carriers and large partners, but follow-up events will cater different audiences.
Nokia has stated that we should look at future Nokia Worlds as more SXSW, rather than CES. All we know is that it's going to be an un-missable look at what hardware the manufacturer will have for Windows Phone 8 "Apollo".
Source: Nokia Conversations; thanks Kyle for the heads up!
Our friends over at Windows Phone Geek, the developer-based community, have announced their new marketplace (link) that caters for developers who requires tools to help them build apps on the platform. This beta (currently invite-only) Windows Phone marketplace enables developers to buy / sell UI controls, developer tools, SDKs, app templates, source code and more.
So why launch a developer marketplace? The goal is to help developers build high quality apps and offer tools in a single location. For those who have already crafted such tools and projects, they can release them for free or earn a little revenue on the side by selling the tools to other platform developers. Submissions are stated to be free. Boryana Miloshevska, Founder and CEO of WPGeek Ltd, had the following to say:
"Our purpose is not just to list thousands of low quality components, but to list only those that really can bring value and can help developers to build better apps. So, quality and not just quantity is what we aim to achieve with the WindowsPhoneGeek Marketplace!"
Be sure to head on over to Windows Phone Geek to check out the resources available and show interest into the newly announced developer marketplace.
Source: Windows Phone Geek
Yes, it's that time again, folks, We're doing another Windows Phone Central podcast today and you're more than welcome to come and join in the fun.
We'll have live streaming video for the 'cast and a chat room to interact with us (and yourselves) so pop on by, say hello or ask us some questions.
Just refresh the site sometime before 4PM and you'll see the embedded video and chat.
The premium version of Rowi has been updated today, which introduces features implemented in the recent Rowi "Lite" release. Without repeating ourselves too much, this update to both versions of the Windows Phone Twitter client makes use of the Aviary SDK (see our earlier exclusive first look) for photo manipulation and editing.
As well as catering for the die-hard amateur photographers, version 2.1 also brings support for TweetMarker (website), a service that synchronises accounts across multiple clients and platforms. The update is rolling out for the paid version of Rowi as we speak, so fear not if you haven't received the notification just yet.
If you haven't got Rowi, you can download the app from the Marketplace.
Thanks to everyone who tipped us!
We're not too sure what to make out of AT&T running out of the HTC Titan I and Titan II online but if you head to their site, you can see for yourself.
Now we could explain away the original Titan becoming unavailable -- after all, AT&T would probably be happy to put away any stock on that device for it's bigger and better sequel. But even the Titan II is not available, which makes us wonder if HTC is having some component or production issues (or maybe they just forgot to make more, instantrimshot).
Could the Titan II be selling so well that they can't keep up? Obviously, we doubt that though we do have reports of general increases in Windows Phone sales due to the Lumia 900 (insert the whole "rising tide lifts all boats" idiom here) and maybe, just maybe the Titan II is seeing an uptick in purchases too.
Heck, it should. It's a great Windows Phone and a great smartphone, rocking the largest camera available on the market. Which reminds us, why have we not seen a single commercial boasting that fact? Seems like an easy sell to us but what do we know...
For those interested, Amazon Wireless still has the Titan II in stock, which is a reversal from a few weeks ago. It's also listed at the $149.99 price point. Natch. No word on supplies at local stores either, so your mileage may vary.
Source: AT&T; Thanks, kylengai, for the heads up
