official

New Windows Phone Mango square logo gets official

Windows Phone News

By Daniel Rubino, Monday, Aug 1, 2011 at 3:36 pm

Back in May, we first saw the new flat, square (tile) look to the Windows Phone logo when we managed to get our hands on an exclusive back decal for our Focus (yeah, we're in the club). And when you boot up "Mango" from build 7710 and up, you can also see the new logo on display (see the Nokia Sea Ray video).

Therefore it should come as no surprise that Microsoft is now endorsing this as the official new look to Windows Phone going forward. It's obviously non-3D, no chrome and visually represents the "tile" system in a minimalist way. To that end, we really like it. NanaPho have done a real good job of recapitulating the continued sightings of the new logo, going back a few months.

Although we do wonder, will it change upon every new re-release or is this just a late re-adjustment? Anyways, sound off in comments on your thoughts. And should Microsoft get a logo/mascot ala Android? (Personally, we're against it).

Source: Shinobu Takahashi's MSDN blog ;via Nanapho

Toshiba-Fujitsu reveal IS12T with Windows Phone "Mango"

Windows Phone News

By Daniel Rubino, Wednesday, Jul 27, 2011 at 3:23 am

As expected, the press conference with KDDI/AU, Microsoft Japan and Toshiba-Fujitsu just wrapped up. The big news of course those is the revealing of the IS12T, one of the first official "Mango" phones to be made available in the coming weeks.

Here are the device specs, given during the presentation:

32GB memory
3 colors: Yellow, Pink, Black
Waterproof
MSM8655
3.7" TF LCD screen
13.2 MP camera (!)
59x118x10.6mm
113g

Release date appears to be on track for September or after, a bit later than previously reported. We have to admit, with a 13MP camera, waterproof, 32GB of memory and those fun colors, this could be a big seller in Japan.

(Additional info via NanaPho; photo via Engadget)

WP7 PlentyOfFish app released

Apps

By Rich Edmonds, Saturday, Jul 2, 2011 at 7:26 pm

What's that? Yet another official app? Of course it is, this is international official app release week for Windows Phone 7 remember? It seems even the WP7 users who are seeking love will be able to use their handsets to find romance with the official PlentyOfFish app entering the Marketplace.

While no information is detailed in the description as to what features are presently available in the app (apart from search and profiles), we'd assume messaging and more is included. You can download the app (Zune link) from the Marketplace for free (as well as register and use the service) but be aware that a payment is required to use advanced features.

Qype coming to WP7 (Update: It's already here)

Windows Phone News

By Rich Edmonds, Friday, Jul 1, 2011 at 4:53 pm

Update: App is already out, look at that! You can grab it here in the Marketplace. (Thanks, @hellboy552000 & Oli, for the correction)

Wait, we didn't say the stream of official apps was over did we? Good, because it seems Qype is in line to come to Windows Phone 7 too, scoring a deal with Microsoft. A huge brand in Europe, being the largest consumer review website, and is an extremely popular app on iOS, Android and RIM with over 1 million downloads accumulated.

With Mango coming up, Qype will be able to take advantage of some great features being introduced to developers. The app will make use of Bing's geo-location feature to locate the best places across almost 1,000 categories and provide you with instant-use vouchers. Neat, eh?

Combine this with Local Scout (should it be appearing outside the US) and we'll have a winner in your pocket for travelling. The app wont be limited to only basic Qype features too as check-ins can be published via Twitter and Facebook, reviews can be written and photos uploaded. We'll also have some exclusive-to-WP7 features as Ian Brotherstone, CEO of Qype, explains;

"Exclusive to Windows 7, users will be able to track their friend’s check-ins on a location map, filter searches even further and view important information and tips on the Windows Panaroma Screen. The apps’ big advantage is personalised recommendations; “Someone who has a passion for certain types of bars in London for example, can receive recommendations for similar places in Paris, Hamburg or Buenos Aires."

Frank Fischer, Director Mobile Communications at Microsoft Germany, said:

"More and more smartphone users are accessing the web for local recommendations and Qype is leading the charge in this area. With the innovative local services of the Windows Phone our customers will now be able to access this information whenever and wherever they want to."

Some may see what Microsoft doing is "buying" brands, but I see this as an excellent strategy to build solid interest on the platform and bring big brand apps (which are used by most smartphone users) to customers.

Source: Rooster PR

Official New York Times app released

Apps

By Rich Edmonds, Friday, Jul 1, 2011 at 3:15 pm

Carrying on from the batch of official apps we've had this week, New York Times is now readily available on the Marketplace. You can view and browse through the latest headlines for free, or you can subscribe for a small fee to unlock all the sections in the app, plus blogs, videos and slide shows.

This app supports synchronization to pull down content for offline reading and stories can be shared via Twitter and Facebook. You can download the New York Times app from the Marketplace (Zune link) for no cost at all.

Official Foursquare app is back, hits v2.0

Apps

By Daniel Rubino, Friday, Jul 1, 2011 at 12:58 am

First is was Facebook hitting v2.0 and now the official Foursquare is back (after being pulled). Now with a new look and complete overhaul, the app has a vibrant, more Metro feel to it including nicer graphics. New features included check in history (by date), tips, to-dos, shout button, most explored, recommend places and probably more (we're still figuring it out).

Over all the app is a solid effort by Foursquare, but we're still giving 4th & Mayor (which is hitting 2.1 today) the edge here for speed. Sound off in comments with your thoughts and observations.

Update: And yes, indeed there is a Live Tile. It shows the current rankings of you and your friends, giving a nice extra bonus to the app.

Grab it here in the Marketplace. (Thanks, Tahiti Bob, for the tip!)

Announcing the Official WPCentral app for Windows Phone 7

Apps

By Daniel Rubino, Friday, May 20, 2011 at 8:48 pm

Yes everyone, you read that right. After months of planning and developing, we are excited and proud to deliver our very own, official app. What's more, it is chock full of features, delivering almost every feature of our website in a streamlined, minimalist fashion.

Developed by Jay Bennett, the app has been submitted to the Marketplace and (fingers crossed) it should be live by Monday evening. So, enough chatter, lets hit the features:

Read homepage, reviews, apps, games or how-to sections
View comments associated with each article
Watch videos and view pictures posted in each article
Full search for any previous articles, including by section
Search through YouTube videos from the site
Deep links to the marketplace with articles featuring other apps
Listen to the latest podcast on your device through the app
Clean, simple user interface design and great user experience
Sharing of articles through E-mail, SMS or Twitter
Full landscape support
Live tile for the latest headlines

Not too shabby for a v1.0, eh? The app comes in two flavors: the full, premium-experience version is $0.99--no ads, all the features or the free, unlimited "trial" version (same as full version, but has ads and some missing features--unlimited use though).

So check out the vid for the tour and in a few short days, you can be using it too. Feedback is welcomed, so comment away.

The Home Depot releases an official app for WP7

Apps

By Daniel Rubino, Thursday, Apr 21, 2011 at 6:14 am

It's always cool when "official" apps hit the Marketplace and tonight we have pretty big one: The Home Depot. Sure, they're not the first company that springs to mind when we think of smartphone apps, but truth be told it's actually pretty slick:

Search the store (all departments)
Make purchases
Store locator
In-store map (!)
My Account & My lists
Deals/Featured products

Yeah, that's not too shabby at all and the layout is up there with other apps like Amazon's. So if you like to spend time the Depot, you'll want to pick this up.

Available here in the Marketplace. Thanks, Amir, for the heads up

Official Microsoft MIX11 Windows Phone app now available

Apps

By Daniel Rubino, Thursday, Apr 7, 2011 at 3:16 pm

Although we have seen some MIX11 apps for Windows Phone in the past, it looks like Microsoft rolled out their "official" one yesterday, called 'Conference Helper'.

The app is a great tool for those attending the big Microsoft sponsored dev conference next week in Las Vegas, as it gives a way to mark events to attend, has a floor map, news and general info. No outstanding features e.g. live tiles or notifications are present, but it's not bad for what it is either.

Browse and search sessions

View sessions filtered by speakers and tags.

Manage your favorite sessions.

Access sessions and schedule information even without Internet access.

View maps of the conference center and the neighborhood.

The alternates, MIX11 Explorer (from eDefine) or MIX11 from ConceptDevelopment.net are also good choices, with MIX11 Explorer getting the highest reviews of all.

Here are the links to the Marketplace for each: Conference Helper (Microsoft); MIX11 Explorer and MIX11

'NoDo' update starting today; full list of changes published

Windows Phone News

By Daniel Rubino, Tuesday, Mar 22, 2011 at 7:18 pm

WinRumors reports that the NoDo update should be coming today for some phones--namely unbranded ones. No source is given, just that they heard users should be getting an update notification sometime soon. We just checked our AT&T and T-Mo Windows Phones and no dice there, so we'll have to wait and see about when the carriers unleash NoDo--our bet is it could be a few days.

Adding legitimacy though to the claim is the fact that Microsoft just updated their support page to list the full changelog of NoDo. While we knew copy/paste, faster performance and better Marketplace search were on board, we noticed a few other changes unmentioned (e.g. the Marketplace update process). Now, Microsoft has given all the details, published after the break and they may be small, but are still important. Thanks to everyone who sent this in...

Update: Reader Morten Romslo confirms on his non-branded HTC Trophy: "...just conected my HTC Tropy to Zune, and the NoDo update was ready for install. No carrier phone europe"

See the full changelog for 'NoDo' after the break...it's pretty lengthy!...

Windows Phone 7 Marketplace hits 5,000 apps - shows no signs of slowing

Windows Phone News

By Daniel Rubino, Tuesday, Dec 28, 2010 at 4:09 pm

Once again, another week another milestone. Today, the Marketplace hit the big ol' 5,000 for available apps. What's funny about this number is on December 25th, WebOS also hit 5,000 official apps (unofficially, it's over 6,000). As we mentioned last time, WebOS has been out for 18+ months, whereas Windows Phone, just two.

And although things have slowed down a teeny bit due to the holidays, they're looking to pick up speed again this week. Of interest is the average price got bumped last week from about $1.41 to $1.52 (it's now down to $1.51). The reason for such a sharp spike? That "I Am Rich" app fetching for $500 skewed the average overall price by $0.10 in a day.

Also of interest, there are over 1,100 games available, which is nearly a fifth of all apps--so gaming is huge. Tools are next at 751 and the rest of the stats can be found at WP7AppList, of course. Here's the rest of the Marketplace history, as refresher:

October 4th: Invite-only early submissions
October 25th: 1,000
November 4th: Marketplace open for all submissions
November 8th: 2,000
December 1st: 3,000
December 15th: 4,000

Source: MarketplaceBrowser & WP7AppList

Video: Official Twitter app for WP7

Windows Phone News

By Daniel Rubino, Monday, Oct 4, 2010 at 8:56 pm

While not earth-shattering per se, especially since we've seen a video of the emulator version, Twitter was caught on video by CNet in a nice little walk through.

Not much to say other than it looks smooth, it looks good and we're glad Twitter is officially on board. Actually, it is kind of neat that you evidently don't need an account with Twitter to use the app, you can just browse around if you want. Good for you social-network-phobics out there!

Update: David K. over at MobilityDigest correctly notes this one big downer mentioned in the article (which we'll summarize soon) is: "The result, combined with the lack of copy or paste, is that the Twitter app for Windows Phone 7, while unique and pretty, won’t allow for important basics like being able to tweet a photo from one’s library or even send a link from the Web browser."

Ouch.

Rumor: October 11th in NYC is the day for Windows Phone 7

By Daniel Rubino, Monday, Sep 27, 2010 at 6:08 am

We're pretty sure we've been saying this for months now, but reportedly Microsoft is getting ready to launch Windows Phone 7 in New York City on October 11th, at least according to Pocket-lint.

While the exact date has been up in the air, October and New York have been been assumed to be the time and place for the big launch--after all, it was exactly one year ago (October 6th, 2009) in New York City that Microsoft launched Windows Mobile 6.5 (see our earlier coverage of that, to relive some memories), so it makes sense for them to repeat that event.

Hey, we're in New York City...how convenient!

Microsoft has not yet named the date for their 'Open House' where they show off all sorts of new tech, including Xbox, Kinect (aka 'Project Natal'), Windows 7, etc. Last year was seriously a blast and very well done, so we're kind of hoping for a repeat.

Assuming the rumor is accurate, you can bet U.S. carriers will be on hand with their wares to show off (though not sell, that's probably weeks later). While AT&T is confirmed with their multiple devices, we're still waiting on the likes of Sprint and possible hold-out Verizon to see what they be bringin'. Sprint last year did surprise (and eventually underwhelm us) with the Samsung Intrepid, so perhaps they still have some WP7 gear under wraps?

Finally though, let's remember, this is still all unconfirmed rumor at this time, but a very plausible one. We'll keep you posted.

Official YouTube support for Windows Phone 7 revealed

By Daniel Rubino, Thursday, Sep 16, 2010 at 10:12 pm

In addition to Netflix, Flixster, official Twitter and all those other apps demoed today by Microsoft, they also finally gave us a look at their official YouTube app, which will presumably be an optional download in the Marketplace.

While you can't stream YouTube videos directly in Mobile Internet Explorer (not yet at least), when presented with a YouTube link a separate program launches and streams the video. So, familiar territory for Windows Mobile users. No mention of HD streaming though, which is offered on such high-end devices as the Android HTC EVO.

One of the nicest aspects is how the video history is stored under the Pictures/Media hub automatically, allowing quick access (and pinning to a Start Tile) to your videos. That should be great if you're that guy who likes to constantly show off the latest viral videos to your friends...are you that guy? Stop it.

Anyways, between Xbox LIVE, Netflx, YouTube, Zune (music + videos), Twitter, Facebook, etc., Windows Phone 7 finally looks to have nailed down all the corners of social/media tent of 2010.

[via WMPU]

T-Mobile HTC HD2 ROM update now official

Windows Phone News

By Daniel Rubino, Wednesday, May 19, 2010 at 9:42 am

If you missed it a few days ago, before HTC pulled it, you can once again grab youself the official HD2 ROM upgrade.

Simply hop here http://www.t-mobile.com/wmupgrade/ and type in your IMEI to download the latest ROM.

Couple of things, for the 15 digit IMEI: if you have 17 digits, just leave the last 2 off. Second, yes, this is the exact same ROM as the "unofficial" one from a few days ago: same size, same numbering, no reported differences in performance. So if you're already flashed, no need to do it again.

Read all the details in the press release right here.

Epix to get WM6.5 in February; upgrade list gets updated

Windows Phone News

By Phil Nickinson, Wednesday, Dec 30, 2009 at 9:08 pm

Looks like the Samsung Epix (see full review), a phone that is now well over a year old, is slated to get its official Windows Mobile 6.5 bump sometime in February, at least according to Microsoft's updated list. (Though all the cool kids have been running it since September)

We suppose one convenient aspect of that list is the ability to keep shifting dates around and we have to admit, we're getting quite far out now from that October Windows Mobile 6.5 announcement.

Still, better late than never, and it sure beats the Ozone/Snap duo, which are still listed as "Date Not Available" -- luckily both of those have custom ROMs too. Guess we know where WM Standard is sitting on the priority list.

[thanks Akshay!]

Various Diamond 2 and Touch Pro 2 WM6.5 updates across the pond

Windows Phone News

By George Ponder, Friday, Dec 11, 2009 at 2:08 pm

No surprise with Microsoft calling for December/January release time-frames for WM6.5 updates that there will a ton of announcements in the next few weeks.

Recently we got wind that India's Touch Diamond 2 had been blessed with their official update (available here), which could please a few million users we suppose.

Likewise, Orange has released their WM6.5 upgrade for their Touch Pro 2 (available here).

Finally, Australia's open-channel Touch Pro 2 is also eligible for their WM6.5 upgrade. Open-channel is down-under speak for non-branded versions aka not on Telstra. Get that update here.

While having cooked ROMs is a blast, using official released base ROMs is even better for stability, plus not everyone has time for customs. So if you're one of the few who needs these (and you do), go get 'em.

[via XDA , WMPoweruser, Windows Mobile for Australia]