Windows Phone 8

We last touched on a map refresh in late December when users were able to download OTA updates to their offline locations.

Today, Nokia Maps have received yet another update and once again, this applies to all Windows Phone 8 devices, not just Nokia. If you have downloaded maps on your phone, you should have already been prompted to update them for the latest batch of improvements. If you haven’t already, go to settings > applications > maps > check for updates.

The question you may be wondering is, what changed? We have the details.

AT&T has said it's exploring the possibility on whether or not to support Microsoft's Data Sense service for Windows Phone 8 devices on the network. The service, unveiled by Microsoft last year helps consumers control and manage their data allowances to ensure limits aren't breached and high costs added to the account. Data Sense compresses users' data transmissions in order to reduce data consumption.

We just got our hands on the new Verizon Samsung ATIV Odyssey and it makes a nice first impression. The Windows Phone has a familiar feel to it that reminds us of the Samsung Focus 2 or maybe a thicker version of the original Samsung Focus.  The ATIV Odyssey joins the HTC 8X and Nokia Lumia 822 on Verizon's Windows Phone lineup.

The 4" Super AMOLED Screen looks nice and the Odyssey feels comfortable in the hand. The Windows Phone is powered by a 2100Mah battery and driven by a 1.5Ghz Dual Core CPU. Add NFC support and a 5MP rear camera and the ATIV Odyssey comes across as a decent mid-level Windows Phone.  The only downside that jumps off the paper is the Odyssey only has 8GB of storage. However it does have a microSD expansion slot and while 8GB may not sound too great, memory shouldn't be an issue.

Untappd, the social network for those who like to spend their free time relaxing in their local with a well-poured pint, have recently announced that they are working on bringing an app to the Windows Phone 8 Store. What’s more they are anticipating having it released before the end of March, as revealed in a blog post picked up by our sister site CrackBerry.

Featuring the ability to discover popular establishments as you travel, as well as which beers come with the highest recommendation, Untappd brings together ideas from other popular networks (Foursquare, Twitter) such as badges and a stream showing what your friends are drinking.

Microsoft has been taking extra steps to prove to us that our online privacy is much more of a concern to them than other companies.

As one of the launching OEM partners of Microsoft, Huawei is terribly late with their Windows Phone products. It took them awful lot of time to bring Ascend W1 to the market. The device is barely unique by any means so far. But if the picture above is to be trusted, things might start to turn in Huawei's favor.

If you fancy drawing or just like to doodle out of boredom, Didlr is a fun and fairly simple, easy to use app that will appeal to you. Similar to Draw Something - minus the game aspect and frustration – once you publish your didl, it’ll appear on the stream where the rest of the Didlr community can replay your masterpiece, step by step.

Of course, you can always tap through to the finished product if you don’t want to sit through someone drawing a ridiculously detailed Batman for 15 minutes. 

Here is some good news for everyone on Verizon who can’t wait to get their paws on the Samsung ATIV Odyssey, it could be a week away. This little nugget of information comes from Twitter leakster @evleaks, who has a solid history of being accurate. He (she?) has shown off things in the past like these renders of the Lumia 920 or these of the Lumia 822 and charging pad.

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, corporate vice president of mobile communication products at Asus, Benson Lin has revealed that the company is indeed considering Windows Phone. Unfortunately the employee also noted that such hardware has no timeline on when they'll be released to consumers. For Asus to be building Windows Phones would further add to the foundations of the platform.

You like puzzles, I like puzzles, and we all like puzzles. So here comes one from a new Windows Phone job posting. There’s a new team within the Windows Phone department forming around a very new technology – for smartphones at least. Microsoft is looking for a Senior Software Development Engineer in Test to work on UEFI for Windows Phone.

But what for?