By Rich Edmonds, Thursday, May 16, 2013 at 12:14 pm
It's been almost three years since Windows Phone succeeded Windows Mobile and now Microsoft has managed to take third position from BlackBerry in the global market for Q1 2013 shipments, according to IDC. The gap between the two platforms has been closing in for some time and with Nokia's strong marketing push, Windows Phone is now well on its way to the iOS and Android pool party.
By Rich Edmonds, Thursday, May 16, 2013 at 9:09 am
Swedish accessory manufacturer Jays will be launching the a-Jays Five series of earphones this summer, with a version for each mobile platform supported - iOS, Android and Windows Phone. Sporting flat, tangle free cabling, a handy clip and MEMS microphone, every Windows Phone owner will find the new kit useful when out and about.
Microsoft has taken the opportunity to discuss its future update plans with the Lumia 925 running a yet-to-be-released version of Windows Phone 8.While probably not the final build, the release is set to be rolled out to consumers later this summer, which will introduce a number of features and improvements. So what can you look forward to?
The third //BUILD/ conference takes place June 26-28 in San Francisco. Tickets went on sale back on April 2nd and sold out in the blink of an eye. Good news if you missed the chance to buy tickets and still want to go. This Wednesday more tickets will go on sale.
Microsoft hasn’t been shying away from the competition lately. Last week they finally hit a home run with an ad for Windows Phone. So here’s one highlighting the strengths of Bing over Google. It also happens to showcase a killer, but underused feature of Windows Phone. Videos below.
The following videos aren’t HD. Sorry, we got them from a reader before they were hidden from the Bing YouTube account. They were prematurely posted there, but not before our man grabbed them for us. Check them out.
Microsoft launched it's latest Windows Phone ad the other day poking fun at the Samsung/Apple rivalry. The end result was a humorous poke at the competition while highlighting our Windows Phones.
Microsoft is now sharing a behind the scenes video filmed during the making of the commercial. It's an interesting, funny perspective on how the ad was shot. The behind the scenes footage might even make for a nice follow-up commercial.
Collect 142,369 online customers service reviews published before March 30, 2013 and what would you expect to find? Are customers more satisfied with their iPhones? Maybe they prefer a Samsung Galaxy something? Nope. A lot of them preferred their Nokia handset across all the carriers here in the U.S.
Latest figures released by Kantar Worldpanel shows that Microsoft is actually starting to perform rather well in the US, one of the more important markets for the company. So much so that the platform is growing at a slightly faster rate than Google's Android. Microsoft still has a tough mountain to climb to tackle both Android and iOS, but it would seem as though the third position is firmly in its grasp.
By Rich Edmonds, Wednesday, Apr 17, 2013 at 5:46 pm
Have you ever wondered what it would be like for a Windows Phone to stream music to other Windows Phones so each one plays the same audio file at the exact same time? Well, we have too. But that trail of thought will be answered with soundSYNK, an upcoming exclusive app for Windows Phone. Once again the platform will have an offering that will be restricted to Windows Phone and it sounds brilliant. So, what's soundSYNK all about?
Level with me. You’re civil and fairly polite here in the comments on Windows Phone Central. But on other sites you’re a Microsoft fanboy. Don’t worry, there’s one deep down in all of us. Here’s some fodder for the next little flamewar you start with your Android frenemies – Microsoft will pocket dough for every single Android and Chrome OS device that Foxconn makes.
Facebook is reportedly talking with both Microsoft and Apple about creating a version of its new software (that's already available on Android) for the iPhone and Windows Phone. The software is titled "Home" and offers further integration with mobile platforms for consumers to access social features more conveniently (or intrusively).
Is there a need for a Microsoft Windows or Surface Phone? Microsoft's Vice President of the Windows Phone Division, Terry Myerson, doesn't think so. Speaking in an interview with AllThingsD's Dive Into Mobile series, Myerson said there just isn't a need for such a device but left the door open should situations change.
"It would have to be something where Nokia or HTC was not providing the consumer experience we think is possible with our platform."
There has been speculation for sometime that Microsoft was leaning towards producing their own hardware. Myerson feels that Microsoft's partners are doing a good job of it and doesn't see the need for Microsoft to step in and start producing hardware.
Believe it or not, there are some settings where you shouldn't have your smartphone around. Places like a doctors appointment, job interview, or court hearing are fairly obvious places where you should leave it in the car or at least put it on silent. So what happens when the professional across the table breaks this rule, especially if it's your own? In the case of a Michigan judge, you hold yourself in contempt. No, this not the Onion.
We’re not a 100% certain on the specific of this one, but the Samsung SCH-R860U has cleared the FCC sporting Band 12 LTE. That band is used by US Cellular, making this phone destined for that carrier and that carrier only (sorry, Sprint fans).
The question is, does the phone run Android or Windows Phone 8? With the Galaxy S4 right around the corner and Sammy’s slightly cold support of Windows Phone 8, we’d lean on it being another Android phone. But the site Blog of Mobile, who have a pretty decent reputation for finding these filings, claims it sports Windows Phone 8.
By Rich Edmonds, Wednesday, Apr 3, 2013 at 9:06 am
Songza (www.songza.com) has revealed that the company is working on a Windows app, but more importantly a Windows Phone app thereafter. But what is Songza exactly? It's a free music streaming and recommendation service for the US. Playlists are claimed to be created by music experts and the service recommends various playlists based on time of day and mood or activity.
Kantar World Panel has released it's U.S. market analysis for the three month period ending February 2013. While Android slipped into the number one spot with 51.2%, ahead of iOS, our Windows Phones has made a nice jump with its market share.
Compared to the same period in 2012, Windows Phone's market share went from 2.7% to 4.1%. Apple experienced a decline falling from 47% to 43.5% and RIM fell from 3.6% to 0.7%.
The other day the web went a little wild over news that Windows Phone was outselling iPhones in seven countries. Crazy right? Whether or not the iPhone is king in terms of marketshare is irrelevant, it’s the bar that any OEM or OS wants to beat. So where did Windows Phone beat out the iPhone?
By Rich Edmonds, Wednesday, Mar 27, 2013 at 1:06 pm
You may (or may not) have heard of the MOGA Bluetooth-powered gaming controller. The device has been available for Android hardware for a few months, but the team behind it has opened up platform limitations by releasing the SDK for developers to implement support in Windows Phone 8 games. The controller is on show at this year's GDC.
Yesterday Nokia announced Lumia 520 and 720 for the Chinese market in a theme park in Beijing. We have reported the estimated date of availability as well as the retail price, so there's nothing really new here. One little thing about the announcement caught our attention: Lumia 720, the Lumia 720T customized for China Mobile's TD-SCDMA network, will come with a CMMB mobile TV module.
China Multimedia Mobile Broadcasting (CMMB) is a mobile television standard, mostly supported by China Mobile as a "killer feature" that defines the cellular carrier from its competitors. A phone with built-in CMMB reception module could snatch broadcasted TV programs over the air, without generating any data fee. Nokia has done various kinds of localization to adap to local markets. But adding a new hardware module to an existing phone model just for one carrier? I reckon that's something never happened before.
Good news for Chinese HTC 8S owners: there's a firmware update over the air. Bad news: the update may just kill your phone. On March 21st, owners of HTC 8S in China started to get a firmware update, and a fair portion of them were permanently stuck on the start up screen after the installation and reboot. HTC and Microsoft are trying to figure out what exactly is wrong with the firmware. Meanwhile the OTA update has been suspended.
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