We're not to sure what to make of this ad for the Nokia Lumia 900 showing up on some sites but it caught one of our reader's attention and indeed, it is intriguing.
The ad is simple enough. It shows the 'beautifully different' Lumia 900 in glossy-white with a 4G icon (this is for the international version, not AT&T) spinning around, displaying various features.
But what is different relates to the Live Tiles:
Anyone who has used Windows Phone, any version, knows very well that the Live Tiles do neither of those things. Yet there they are flipping around like they belong there are a new ad.
Now we could easily chalk this up as some marketing error, a glitch made by someone getting Photoshop happy and not accurately representing Windows Phone 7.5--and to be honest, there's a good case for that theory. Or perhaps we're looking at something else, maybe something along the lines of Windows Phone 8 behavior. After all, those are small enough changes that also make tremendous amount of sense for "new features" in an updated OS.
No real way to know of course but if this isn't a Windows Phone 8 leak then Microsoft, you should probably make those changes because they're quite nice. And if a mistake, Nokia you should probably fix it.
Source of ad: PC Advisor; Thanks, Victor V., for the tip
Nokia has caught some flack for their less-than-stellar Windows Phone cameras, something which we probably remind people of all too often. Regardless, you have to admire their commitment to offering some of the best OEM apps on Windows Phone.
Word on the street (specifically Hong Kong) is that Nokia will be launching a new app for the Lumia line called Camera Extension which will allow users to have a new panorama feature, smart group capture, burst mode and self timer as new camera functions. These additions look to compliment the photo editing abilities in their Creative Studio app released a few weeks ago.
The info was even captured on a slide during a Nokia "experience day" for the Lumia 900 and the info was revealed by a Nokia representative ensuring the legitimacy of the claim. No details on when we can expect the release but if we know Nokia, it's probably right around the corner.
Be sure to check our out "Best Photography apps for Windows Phone" post as well as our tips on taking good photos for more info on your camera.
Update: Two more pics have surfaced. One of the Data Counter app and the other of Camera Extension
Source: BlogJackPhone; Thanks, Jack!
China is a big, vast country ripe for the smartphone market with its growing economy and access to new technology. So it's with keen interest that we focus on how well Windows Phone performs there over the next few months.
According to some leaked internal roadmaps for China Telecom, the nation's 3rd largest carrier, Windows Phone is a big hit with the folks who oversee operations. Reportedly they are planning on getting the Nokia Lumia 719c as well as the Samsung Minuet sometime this summer, augmenting the Lumia 610c and 800c which are already on sale.
For those who don't remember, the Lumia 719c is a device that so far has not yet been announced and bares a slight resemblance to the Lumia 710. Instead of physical keys though the 719c has capacitive buttons and what looks to be the same 3.7" screen and 5MP camera. Likewise, the Samsung Minuet is thought to be a variant of the recently announced Omnia M line, making both of these devices low to mid range offerings.
Finally, though the ZTE Mimosa (aka Orbit) is not listed on the roadmap it reportedly is still planned and should be released soon as well.
Source: WPDang (Translated); via Windows Phone Daily
While we're expecting Windows Phone 8 to be available later this year, Israeli technology website Techit has reported that Nokia are planning to release "Apollo" smartphones before 2012 is up, and the next major update for Windows Phone is slated for a June rollout. The website is citing a Nokia representative, who is also quoted to have mentioned full Hebrew support in the next version of Microsoft's mobile operating system.
As well as the release of Nokia hardware, and the support for Hebrew, the Nokia rep also reaffirmed June as the month for Windows Phone 8, but we should take these quotes with a grain of salt. The burning question on consumer minds is whether or not their current hardware will be upgradable to the next version of the OS. Unfortunately, we're still unable to confirm either way, but we expect concrete information to be released soon enough.
Samsung has also been reported to be looking at "Apollo" to release a number of devices to tackle Nokia, and even Acer has been thrown into the light with the rumours of the manufacturer working on a Windows Phone 8 QWERTY slider. We expect to hear more details unwrap as time goes on, especially with upcoming June Windows Phone Developer Summit and Nokia World 2012, which we will certainly be covering.
What do you guys think? June too soon for Apollo?
Edit: A more likely and conservative reading of the source would suggest June is ripe for the beta and SDK but not a proper, formal release of the entire OS. That still looks likely for late fall.
Source: Techit.co.il (Bing translate)
If there's one technology Windows Phone users have been yearning for it's Photosynth. The photo-stitching software creates "synths" or 3D images from your camera phone, giving an immersive photo that's hosted on the web. It then allows the viewer to pan around the image, zoom in and out and various other options.
What makes Photosynth (www.photosynth.net) frustrating for Windows Phone though is not only does the service have an iOS app, the company who makes it is owned by none other than Microsoft.
The Windows Phone version was noted to be a "top priority" for the team and we saw some real evidence of it existing back in February but not much since then.
Now, eagle-eyed reader Scott has found not only some test images but a Microsoft Twitter account that does nothing but post Photosynths. (We're not going public with the Twitter handle because we like to track these things and not scare them off) What's more, when one looks at the JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) data for the image we can see "__version_synther": "Windows Phone 1.0.0" listed, strongly indicated that the Windows Phone app is in final testing.
In fact the image above is an actual photo of a Microsoft employee's test computer which lists the steps in required for testing Photosynth. If you look closely, you can also see "(Windows Phone Only)" an "AugmentedReality" listed which is tantalizing to think about. (And if anything, that's just kind of interesting to see how this stuff is done).
Should we expect a full-on Photosynth app for Windows Phone soon? We think so and it'd make sense that the app is due hopefully in the next few weeks as it coincides with Microsoft's big "official app" push which seems to be going on.
Fingers crossed people, fingers crossed. A big thanks to Scott for all of his detective work on this story!
Here's a weird little story but we're worried it may get legs so we want to nip in the rear before it spreads.
Some are peeking at those official LinkedIn app screenshots and noticing a lot of oddities. Indeed, on the Start Screen the icons near the top for the time, WiFi and cell signal look tiny, the fonts are a bit smaller over all and the IE logo looks different too. You can see it above compared to our phone.
So what does this mean? Some are wondering if these might be accidental Windows Phone 8 captures instead of normal screenshots from a Windows Phone 7 device--you know, higher resolution and stuff. If anyone were to have access to Windows Phone 8 dev tools, a major Microsoft partner like LinkedIn would be up there so in that sense, it's interesting to entertain the idea.
But to be honest with that missing direction arrow near the top, the oddly sized telephony icons and the now-centered Tiles, we're more likely to believe this is just a bad composition made in Photoshop. More than likely these were mockups used for internal presentations and demonstrations rather than a Windows Phone 8 conspiracy or accident.
In other words, nothing to see here folks. But keep those eagle-eyes out as you may never know.
Thanks, ClubDirtHill and Jose P., for the tip
We ran across something interesting this afternoon where Romit Mehta over at Techie-Buzz noticed a Visual Voicemail prompt appear on his Nokia Lumia 800. Keep in mind that Visual Voicemail is supposed to be limited to AT&T's 4G LTE phones.
After entering the password, sure enough the Visual Voicemail page appeared on the Lumia 800's call screen. While it seemed promising, the voicemail page was stuck syncing new voicemail messages with no real functionality.
We tried this out on a Samsung Focus, Samsung Focus S and an HTC Titan and could not replicate Mehta's results. It could be a case where AT&T is testing the waters in select markets to offer Visual Voice Mail to non-LTE phones. Then there's always the possibility a technician over at AT&T hit the wrong switch.
We really like Visual Voicemail and wouldn't complain a bit if AT&T did throw the switch and let non-4G LTE Windows Phones have this feature. Let us know below in the comments if you've seen Visual Voicemail pop up on your non-4G LTE Windows Phone.
Source: Techie Buzz; Thanks, Romit, for the tip!
Microsoft has desires for the much-rumoured certified Facebook Phone to be built on Windows Phone foundations, according to sources familiar with company plans. The social network has been tied to Android when it came to their own device being discussed, much like what Amazon has done with the Kindle Fire. Of course we should take this with a massive truck load of salt, but it's an interesting topic of discussion.
Why would Microsoft want Facebook to use their mobile platform over Android? According to the source, Microsoft has already integrated services into Facebook, but the added traffic to Bing and other products could be huge with the size of the Facebook user base. The company is also deeply interested in penetrating the mobile market to offer a NFC-powered payment product for consumers with supported Windows Phones, something which the Lumia 610 features. They want to be the physical version of PayPal before Google advances with Wallet.
But the real question is: why would we want a Facebook phone at all? Instead of wasting time building its own devices, Facebook could simply enter into a deal with the big M to promote Windows Phone on the social networking domain as the dominant mobile Facebook experience - which it arguably is. With Microsoft's OS sporting deep Facebook integration (something other platforms do not feature) to create an immersive and convenient user experience, many would comment it makes sense for this to be taken into consideration.
Something for your guys to consider. Would you like to see a Facebook Phone running Windows? Or are handsets like the HTC Status the way forward for Facebook?
Source: BusinessInsider; via: Tom's Guide; thanks 3lackDeath for the tip!
We're not a big fan of this story but let's get it out of the way since it's sure to make the rounds.
phoneArena, a fairly reputable site, has received a photo of what they claim is a Nokia Lumia 900 running Apollo" aka Windows Phone 8. The shot really doesn't reveal much and there are lot of inconsistencies such as missing soft keys and labeling on the Nokia hardware and the oddly numbered "Apollo" version number.
The shot can easily be faked by loading up a pre-fabricated image on the phone and Photoshoping those three image-dots out. What is supposedly shown of the OS matches the Windows 8 login screen but that seems a bit of a stretch.
Bottom line: there's no evidence this is real as phoneArena conveys nothing about the tipster e.g. their credibility, do they know and trust them, etc. Seeing as not very much is revealed in this photo and it can easily be faked, we're going to say this has very little value at this point.
We would certainly not count this as evidence for anything and while we know you're hungry for info on Windows Phone 8, we suggest eveyrone just hold tight for a little while longer.
Source: phoneArena; via Windows Phone Daily
If you've been following along today, Samsung finally pulled the sheets off of its much anticipated Galaxy S3 Android phone. The device is chock-full of the latest specs and is currently the biggest threat to Apple and their iPhone yet. You can get all the nitty-gritty at our sister site AndroidCentral.
What's very odd about the look of the device which was shown for the first time today was we've seen it before. In fact, we saw it last night in a post at the site WPXAP.
Those pics were of the SGH-i667 aka the Samsung Mandel a 4G LTE Windows Phone destined for AT&T. Those photos were quickly pulled from the WPXAP site, though we managed to grab them before they dissapeared. An oddly timed leak?
Reader Judge_Daniel sent a side by side of the Windows Phone SGH-i667 next to some pics taken by the Verge and gosh darn it, there are some eerie similarities. Does this mean the Mandel is really that Galaxy S3 Windows Phone variant that Samsung is working on? With only 8GB of storage we'd had to think so but then again what we reported yesterday could be an early prototype.
Perhaps the Mandel is being re-worked for a Windows Phone 8 upgrade. No one can really be sure so we'll just leave those side by side images there for you to speculate.
Update: As noted in comments, it perhaps more closely looks like the Samsung Blaze on T-Mobile. Bottom line: Samsung recycles a lot.
Thanks, Judge_Daniel, for the image and observation. Incidentally, site WP-Life also came to the same conclusion
