deal

We haven't covered the popular Twitter app Tweet It! in quite some time so now feels about right. Tweet It! won our praise months ago for breaking the tradition of super-Metro Twitter apps that are out in force on the Marketplace. Featuring a unique UI, "Street mode" for walking, orientation lock, shake-to-refresh and more, the app is full of interesting surprises and stands apart from the crowd.

Because it's the developers birthday, the app has gone from its normal $1.99 to free for the next 48 hours. Call us crazy, but that's a pretty good deal even if not sure if you'll like it (but we think you will).

Since our coverage, the app has had a major revision in version 3.0.The changes are welcomed including excellent scrolling capability and fast loading (try the "Post Tweet" tile). But don't take our word for it. Go download it now, take it for a spin and let us know your thoughts.

Pick up Tweet it! for free here in the Windows Phone Marketplace, you won't regret it. And happy birthday, Khamidov Timur!

Check out our video review of v2.0 and QR tag after the break...

More details for the upcoming T-Mobile Magenta Deal Days have come to light at TMONews. The deal will see customers who sign a 2-year contract renewal or are active on any voice plan with a qualifying 2GB or higher data cap or mobile broadband plan, be eligible for the handset offers. Classic plan customers must have passed 22 months in their contract to qualify.

The Lumia 710 and Radar 4G are both included in this deal, which starts May 18th. The offer is a BOGO (Buy One Get One), with purchases on selected handsets being accompanied by a free second choice - after mail-in rebate. You could purchase the HTC Radar 4G (should you qualify for the offer, of course) and then pick up a Lumia 710 for free ($50 mail-in rebate).

The offers will be reportedly open to all customers, including those who are looking at new activations, qualifying upgrades, family and individual plans, and add-a-lines. We'll let you guys know when the deals kick off with more information.

Source: TMONews

This morning, Microsoft announced a new partnership with Barnes & Noble for their eReader business having settled the previous litigation on claimed patent infringement.

The new subsidiary of Barnes & Noble called Newco (not the real name, just a placeholder to be determined later) will focus on the digital and college business of the company. Microsoft is investing $300 million into the venture and will maintain a 17.6% equity stake in the new company.

Of course it should come as no surprise that a NOOK eReader will be one of the first priorities of the nw partnership with a client for Windows 8 in the works. Barnes & Noble commented on the newly announced deal noting:

“The formation of Newco and our relationship with Microsoft are important parts of our strategy to capitalize on the rapid growth of the NOOK business, and to solidify our position as a leader in the exploding market for digital content in the consumer and education segments,” said William Lynch, CEO of Barnes & Noble. “Microsoft’s investment in Newco, and our exciting collaboration to bring world-class digital reading technologies and content to the Windows platform and its hundreds of millions of users, will allow us to significantly expand the business.”

Although lots of pundits like to criticize Microsoft for "patent trolling" others would claim that the company is looking out for their shareholder's interest by defending what they see as their intellectual property. Despite this, some saw in B&N as standing up to Microsoft, fighting them publicly in the matter. Instead, B&N made a deal with the devil perhaps even angering Google along the way (Android powers the new Nook eReader).

Either way, Microsoft's strategy seems to be paying off for although B&N does not have to admit any guilt for the claimed violations, they clearly were forced to the table for what looks to be an exciting deal for both companies. In fact, this could be the lifeline the fading book retailer needs in its life and death struggle with adversary Amazon.com.

No mention of a Windows Phone client has been announced which has been missing since Windows Mobile and the HTC HD2. However, rumors suggest that Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 are based on the same kernel and have large amounts of overlapping code. As a result the announcement of a Windows 8 client may in fact be a dual one for Windows Phone.

Regardless, you can imagine B&N will be getting some favorable treatment from Microsoft in the future. Something that Apple and Google will have trouble in matching. For this, we' very excited by this deal (even if we're Kindle fans here).

Full press release after the break...

The Belgium carrier Telenet has the Lumia 800 Windows Phone priced at just €1 when purchased with the attached €45 /mo contract. While the plan is relatively expensive, to be able to pick up this Nokia handset for just one Euro is pretty darn attractive. As a recap, the handset sports a 1.4Ghz processor, 8MP camera (with Carl Zeiss optics), 16GB storage, and a 3.7" AMOLED screen with Clear Black technology

Be sure to check out our Lumia 800 review should you require more information about the device.

Source: Telenet; thanks Wim for the tip!

Even though AT&T proper is offering the HTC TITAN for a penny, for those of you who like to shop at Fry's you may want to head there this weekend. They have the 3-month old phone for free (with a 2 year contract extension or new contract) which is a heck of a deal for such a great phone (seriously, best camera for a Windows Phone yet).

Also worthy of mention is the T-Mobile Nokia Lumia 710 which is also free with the same terms and the old-school Samsung Focus, unlocked and contract free, for $269. Good deals all around.

Source: Fry's; Thanks, Rondald V., for the heads up

We're still expecting the HTC TITAN II to drop in the next few weeks and perhaps in an attempt to clear some stock, AT&T has dropped the behemoth Windows Phone to just one cent with a new contract.

That's pretty amazing for a 4.7" screen device with a 1.5GHz CPU and the best camera yet on a Windows Phone (yeah, we're calling it). The TITAN has been a big success, according to the folks at HTC we spoke with back at CES and we can't argue with that as it has been one of our favorite devices around.

The TITAN though is not being discontinued as far as we know as HTC told us that it will still be sold alongside the TITAN II (which is slightly redesigned, has a 16MP camera and LTE 4G on board), so we think this is more of a sale to push Windows Phone rather than an end-of-life scenario. Either way, it's a great deal.

Source: AT&T; Thanks, Reece, for the heads up

The Canadian carrier TELUS has an interesting deal currently active for the Lumia 800 Windows Phone, which is priced at $49.99 (dropped from $249) when purchased accompanied by a $50 (three year term) plan. The Nokia handset is present in black, cyan and magenta.

The device has been anticipated by those who have been awaiting for the carrier to launch the Windows Phone, but should a contract not be up your street, a no term option is available for $529.99.

Source: TELUS, thanks Ryles for the tip!

Should you enjoy Portal on the consoles and PC, then you'll love Portals 2D (by Weesals) on your Windows Phone. Taking an interesting 2D birds-eye route, this indie title feels like a unique game due to the different camera angle from 1st person to the clouds. The concept is exactly the same with cubes, portals, lasers, a portal gun and the requirement of a quick thinking mind.

The most intriguing feature of this Portals 2D is not the superb graphics (vaguely reminiscent of GTA China Town Wars?), but the price - it's available for absolutely nothing until February 7th. You can download Portals 2D from the Marketplace. Note that there are two entries for this app, be sure to download the one we link to.

Thanks gh8421 for the tip!

We covered the app Ffffound by our own RogueCode a few weeks ago. The app pulls down user created pop-art from the site of the same name, Ffffound.com, but in a really svelte manner--great transitions, minimalist design and the ability to save to your device for use as wallpaper or sharing with others.

The app was recently updated to fix issues with saving and some device memory problems, letting it work fully as it should. It's a nifty little app that even has a Live Tile that shows the latest image, giving your Start screen a little pizzazz.

For $0.99 the app was a great deal, in our opinion, but now for the next week you can pick it up for free--no strings attached. That's a great offer for a very well deigned app, so might as well take advantage while you can.

Check out the video review after the break and grab the app here in the Marketplace.