Interview

First impressions are everything and Windows Phone has that covered. It’s by far one of the most unique and beautiful operating systems at first glance. Its beauty is also more than skin deep, spend a few minutes playing around and you’ll know something is different about it. Albert Shum recently sat down with Jay Greene at CNET to talk Windows Phone and design.

Whilst at MWC, Windows Phone Central had the chance to sit down with Marco Argenti, Senior Vice President of the Developer and Marketplace division at Nokia. We had just been checking out the new partner apps being shown off in Nokia’s sizeable booth and were keen to hear more about the relationships Nokia are continuing to build with developers both commercial and indie, especially following the news of Nokia’s new imaging and HERE API features.

You can find the full write up of that discussion after the break.

Although Nokia was not announcing any new Lumia Windows Phones here at CES 2013 in Las Vegas, they were still present here making sure people know that they mean business.

Luckily for us their photo guru, Juha Alakarhu, was there to take our questions regarding cameras and the future of mobile camerawork. Being in charge of Nokia’s imaging for their Lumia line gives him special insight into the field and since we’re photo enthusiasts ourselves, we had a lot to discuss.

Most of our conversation concentrated on chatting about their current cream of the crop, the Nokia Lumia 920 but who could also ignore that 808 Pureview with its 41MP image sensor? Not us. So both imaging technologies were discussed in tandem as well as what Nokia is thinking about what’s coming next. Join us after the break for some interesting tidbits behind Nokia’s photographic magic.

Image from the WSJ Live interview with Nokia CEO Stephen Elop

In an online video interview just posted to WSJ Live, Nokia CEO Stephen Elop discusses Nokia’s strategy going forward with Windows Phone, their regular phone business and what to expect tomorrow.

While no specifics were revealed, it has been confirmed that Nokia will be showing off a fully-functional Windows Phone 8 OS on their new devices—rubbing the point home that Samsung was unable to do this just a week ago. From the interview..

Me pondering what we look for from developers

If you’re a Windows Phone developer and want a peek behind the current on Windows Phone Central and our process on app reviews, you’ll want to head to the AdDuplex blog. AdDuplex as many of you know powers the developer promotion network behind many Windows Phone apps (and now Windows 8) and the service’s creator, Alan Mendelevich, was curious as to what we look for when developers contacts us.

Ah yes, the table has turned as we’re the ones being interviewed!

The conversation was with myself and Alan asks some really great questions, such as how many app-review requests we get, what we look for in those emails, are dedicated app-websites beneficial and more. Basically if you’re a developer it’s a roadmap on how best to get your app noticed by us for a potential review. (The first step though is the app or game better be good).

You can read that full interview here at the AdDuplex blog. And if you’re more curious about Alan and his role in Windows Phone, you can read our interview with him from February.

Jake Kazdal (left) and Paul Acevedo

At E3 this year we interviewed Ben Vance and Borut Pfeifer, two members of 17-BIT about their upcoming Xbox Live game Skulls of the Shogun. Yet we still had much to learn about the unique multiplatform strategy title, and so 17-BIT kindly invited us to visit their studio during the week of Casual Connect Seattle. One of the highlights of the visit was our interview with Jake Kazdal, studio founder and Skulls’ creative director/lead artist. Check it out after the break!

This week we've had the pleasure of being joined by Fisayo Adeleke from Exnesys. He's the brains behind Markets & Me, a financial Windows Phone app for those who enjoy keeping up with stock levels and reports for personal interest. 

We think highly of Adeleke's app, which follows Metro to the letter. Be sure to check out what he has to say about Windows Phone as a platform, as well as the development process. Head on past the break for the full interview.

One of the biggest highlights of E3 2012 for us has been playing Skulls of the Shogun on Windows Phone and Xbox Live Arcade and meeting two of its creators at 17-BIT. Skulls is an amazingly beautiful and accessible turn-based strategy game in development for XBLA, Windows 8, and Windows Phone. Yesterday we posted our Windows Phone impressions; today we follow up with an interview and in-depth demonstration of the XBLA game in action. (The color shifting in the interview video is due to fancy overhead lights on the show floor.)

Head past the break for more Skulls of the Shogun details and gameplay footage!