deal

If you haven't picked up a Surface yet and have been waiting for an incentive, here's one. On Black Friday the first 100 people to buy a Surface in a Microsoft retail store will get a special 'Designed for Surface' protective sleeve.

While you're not getting a discount on the tablet device itselt, it's still a $50 item thrown in that you'll probably put to good. Gotta protect that VaporMG casing! It's a nice little deal for those who were already looking on buying a Surface and happen to have a retail Microsoft Store around, maybe like the one in Canada that just opened.

For some odd reason Amazon Wireless is not yet aboard the Lumia 920 train but Walmart sure is, as they have put the device on sale on their site. What's more, they have even undercut AT&T by selling the device for $50 cheaper at just $49.99 on a two-year contract. That's one heck of a deal if you're looking to jump in on what we consider to be the best Windows Phone around.

The off-contract price is still at an over-inflated $699, so there is no deal there. Colors are cyan, white, black and red with yellow noticeably absent. In addition if you look closely, they have the 820's image instead of the 920 for the black version. Whoops!

And if you're into the Lumia 820 that of course has been dropped from AT&T's $49 price to just $0 on a two-year contract.

Head to Walmart to check for your regional availability. Thanks, Vishnu S, for the heads up!

To provide further incentive for consumers to choose the Lumia 920, UK retailer Phones4u is offering a free Nokia 360 Wireless Speaker with each Lumia 920 order. This is on top of the already established inclusion of a free wireless charger with every Lumia sold.

Phones4u has been spotted advertising an enticing offer currently ongoing at one of its stores. The HTC Radar has had a further £20 taken off to drop it down from £99 (online store price) to just £79.95 for upgraders. It's great value for a sturdy Windows Phone that will be upgraded to Windows Phone 7.8 when the update is made available.

Released back in 2011 with the HTC TITAN, the Radar sports a 3.8" display, 1GHz chip, 8GB storage, 5MP shooter (with FFC), and a 1520mAh battery.

The HTC Radar (both silver and white) is currently priced at £99 on the Phones4u website, so be sure to check with your local store should you wish to make a purchase, just in case the same deal is offered in your location.

Thanks, Richard, for sending in the photo!

Could HP rejoin Microsoft in 2013? Maybe.

Yesterday, Fox Business has a recent interview with HP CEO Meg Whitman where all aspects of the business were discussed. HP has had a very interesting history these last 10 years and while we don’t want to focus on the changes, it’s on again/off again foray into smartphones is highly relevant.

To that issue, Whitman was asked directly "So a smartphone is not if, but when, for Hewlett-Packard?" to which Whitman replied:

"[HP will] have to ultimately offer a smartphone, because in many countries in the world that is your first computing device. You know, there will be countries around the world where people may never own a tablet or a PC or desktop. They will do everything on the smartphone. We're a computing company, we have to take advantage of that form factor."

That’s a smart analysis of the mobile industry but also a tough problem to solve.

Say what you will about Microsoft and Apple but the two companies either appear to be the only adults in the room or alternatively, they have formed an alliance against Android. Or maybe both.

Evidence has come forth in the Apple-Samsung trial that the former has licensed so-called ‘design patents’ to Microsoft, which indemnify them against lawsuits from Apple over their Windows Phone and Surface tablets. This may partially explain why Apple was trying to collect patent royalties from Samsung in their late 2010 offer to the company.

TechSoup, a nonprofit organisation offering technological assistance to other nonprofits, is offering the discontinued Dell Venue Pro Windows Phone to nonprofit organisations for just $31 through the Dell donation programme. The device itself is locked to AT&T, but TechSoup have since enabled those who make a purchase to unlock the device for use with other operators with GSM networks.

The Venue Pro is a unique Windows Phone as it sports a QWERTY keyboard that slides out from beneath the display (as opposed to sidewards like the HTC Arrive and other smartphones). We reviewed the Venue Pro favourably with its solid feel and great display. Sporting a 4.1" AMOLED screen, 1Ghz chip, 16GB storage, and a 1400mAh battery makes it worthy of heavy usage. 

If you're interested in purchasing a Venue Pro or two from TechSoup and introduce a nonprofit to Windows Phone, be sure to head on over to the product page for more information. Once purchased, the Venue Pro can be unlocked by entering the IMEI number on TechSoup's website.

Source: TechSoup; thanks, Aaron, for the heads up!

[+] Lock Screen is a stellar app and a must-have

Looks like it’s a good week in the Windows Phone Marketplace for deals as we just got tipped that Snack Studios have made their pay-apps free for an undisclosed time.

The developers have numerous apps in the Marketplace and in our opinion, all are top notch with an elegant design and useful functionality.  Those are apps are the following:

• [+] Lock Screen – This app comes with a surprising array of gorgeous wallpapers for your Start screen but you can also add a physical calendar and other graphics on top before you save. A must-have app, trust us.
• [+] Lomo Cam – A standard camera app that has pre-set filters including Lomo, Black and White and others giving your photos a unique look. Also very well done.
• [+] Note Plus – A unique note taking app with elegant backgrounds, this app uses AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) and has SkyDrive backup. Huzzah!
• [+] Moments – This app merges photos with notes to allow you to save your memories
• [+] Emoji – A helper app that allows you to easily insert emoji into text messages

All of those apps are normally $0.99 but dropped to free on July 7^th. There are ‘lite’ versions for some of these apps but you can evidently have the full ones for zero—so hop to it as these are some seriously nice programs.

Hit the links above which take you to the Marketplace or just search for ‘Snack Studio’ to find all of their apps. Thanks, Nettwerk, for the tip! 

We've covered a number of deals the past few days and it's certainly a coincidence that most (if not all) have been Nokia Windows Phones. We've got yet another offer to reveal to you should you reside in the UK. High street retailer Phones 4u has the exclusive white Lumia 800 listed at just £15/mo with Orange.

The Lumia 800 is bundled at no extra charge, and the 24-month plan includes 100 minutes, 3000 texts and 100MB of data. It doesn't sound a lot if you're a power user, but it's the Dolphin package from Orange so one can always upgrade should they wish to do so. 

The Phones 4u Lumia 800 product page shows a 3.8 / 5 average customer rating with 77% recommending it. Be sure to head on over to the retail website for more information. Note that Nokia have halted the free Monster headphones offer.

Source: Phones 4u; Thanks, Mark, for the heads up!