Surur

Site Admin and Windows Phone enthusiast, he has been using Windows Mobile devices since before they were called PocketPC’s. He is currently sporting a HTC 7 Trophy.

Nokia Lumia 900 now in Finnish stores with Tango andWIFI internet sharing in tow

May 23, 2012 | By Surur

Jonne from esphoneblog.com reports that the Nokia Lumia 900 has now arrived in the Finnish store where he works. He reports the handset is running the latest version of Tango (8773 ), and comes with WIFI Internet Sharing built right in.

He notes the handset runs:

OS Version: 7.10.8773.98
Firmware revision number: 2175.1601.8773.12141
Hardware revision number: 112.1914.2.0
Radio software version: 2.1.75.16
Bootloader version: 7.17.2.0
Chip SOC version: 0.85.2.1

Jonne says Gigantti in Finland will be selling the handset priced at 529 EUR from May 25th, a few days before it is expected to show up in most other places.

Nokia World becomes smaller, probably cheaper, more secretive

May 23, 2012 | By Surur

Nokia has announced that they are moving their annual Nokia World conference a bit earlier, from the 25th September to the 5th and 6th September.

Before however rejoicing that this would mean an even earlier announcement of a Nokia Windows Phone 8 handset, it seems the event is set to become a lot more closed and a lot more secretive.

While Nokia calls it moving from a CES to SXSW model, in fact the event will become even smaller, centred around operator and retail partners, not normally the most loose-lipped folk.

If Nokia does show a new Windows Phone 8 phone (which is very likely) this will not necessarily result in an announcement to the general public.

The cause for this change in MO is likely Nokia’s financial stress, which makes the usually extravagant Nokia World event an expense they could not justify, especially with Nokia promising recently to focus on"lowering the company’s costs, improving cash flow and maintaining a strong financial position."

See the post at Nokia Conversations here.

0

Nokia Lumia 900 coming to O2 Germany next week

May 23, 2012 | By Surur

We have already seen the Nokia Lumia 900 becoming available unlocked from Amazon.de on the 31st May.

Now according to O2 Germany on twitter, the German carrier will also be bringing the Nokia Lumia 900 to their subscribers some time next week.

The O2 rep was was unable to pin it down any closer or provide more information but our earlier info said the handset will be available for € 541 unlocked or for 24 instalments of € 22.50 in in Black, White and Cyan.

Thanks Bajanx for the tip.

2

Nokia Lumia 610 now on sale in Denmark

May 23, 2012 | By Surur

Windowsphonefan.dk is reporting that the Nokia Lumia 610 is now on sale in the country.

The handset will be on sale for t 1.795 DKK including VAT and come in the full range of black, cyan, magenta and white.

Have any of our readers picked up this handset yet? Let us know your user experience below.

Nokia Lumia 900 pushed back to another week in Germany

May 23, 2012 | By Surur

Some of our German readers have been eagerly awaiting the Nokia Lumia 900’s arrival in Germany. Now Amazon Germany has pushed back the ship date for the handset from the 25th May to the 31st, i.e. from this week to next.

While I am sure this is disappointing, hopefully it still reflects high demand in USA, where the handset has seen good sales traction.

Have any of our readers been waiting for this Windows Phone? Let us know below.

Thanks Adam for the tip.

15

Nokia touts Smarter Apps, smokes Blackberry

May 23, 2012 | By Surur

Nokia has really taken the Smoked by Windows Phone challenge to heart (and also to the streets). In this latest instalment of their web series they demonstrate how pinnable pages of apps, a unique Windows Phone feature, means needing only two taps to check in to FourSquare, making it much faster than even a keyboard-equipped Blackberry.

Nokia is calling it Smarter Apps, and they have a list right here.

5

Fully unlocked RainbowMod ROM now available for the Nokia Lumia 800

May 22, 2012 | By Surur

RainbowMod, who have released a custom ROM for the Nokia Lumia 710, have now extended his work to the Nokia Lumia 800.

He has now released a Tango ROM for the Nokia Lumia 800 using Chinese firmware which brings your Lumia 800 up to 7.10.8773.98.

The ROM adds the following new features:

Full Unlock from UltraShot
Removed OEM applications (Nokia Drive, Maps, etc.)
Search key remapping
QuickLaunch menu for quick switching state of WiFi, 3G, Flight mode, Power save, etc.
Ability to access file system via WiFi/USB
Integrated Live ID, DppImplant no longer needed, but new key can also be banned
Orientation locker
Added multiple colour themes
Easy installation xap from browser or file manager
Unlocked Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn accounts (limitation of Chinese firmware)
Added Google and Yandex search engines
xb0xmod cert for cab-updates
Cab-updatable
Lots of minor changes
Updatability via Zune (not guaranteed)

The ROM supports both English (US) and Russian and requires the Qualcomm boot loader to flash.

As usual, such high level hacking is dangerous to your device, and should only be done at your own risk. Find the ROM and further instructions at XDA-Developers here.

Via WPCentral.com

4

Runkeeper calls its quits on Windows Phone, not worth their time

May 22, 2012 | By Surur

Runkeeper has announced on their blog that they will no longer be supporting Windows Phone and Symbian, and will be removing their app from Marketplace.

Saying they have spread themselves too thin and that the two platforms combined only made up a very small percentage of their users, they said they could no longer justify “ giving our Windows and Symbian apps the support they need to be up to our quality standards, and if they can’t be up to our quality standards, they shouldn’t be at all.”

While this is pretty understandable, the company made one telling statement which suggests they are rather out of touch: “Combined, they make up less than 1.5% of our total userbase. We don’t see this changing any time soon, these platforms simply haven’t kept up with Android and iPhone, and we only see this gap increasing over time.”

Clearly the company has no real understanding of market share numbers. Hopefully by the time Windows Phone takes significant market share everyone on Windows Phone would be using a number of excellent alternatives available, such as Runtastic or Endomondo Sports Tracker.

See their blog post here.

Thanks Arbel for the tip.

34

Windows Phone used as a landmine detector, find hidden wires

May 22, 2012 | By Surur

Last year we saw a Windows Phone being used to detect malaria parasites in blood samples, and continuing this trend of addressing major real world issues, one of this years Imagine Cup entrants is using the magnatometer in a Windows Phone 7 handset to detect landmines.

The students from the Military University of Technology in Warsaw developed their SAPER technology, which stands for “Sensor Amplified Perception For Explosives Recognition”, which uses the magnetometer – normally responsible for your phone’s digital compass- to detect minute disturbances in the magnetic field around an explosive material. Forty different kinds of explosive materials can be sniffed out from 30 cm (11.8 inches) away.

All that needs to be done is wave the phone in a grid-like pattern 30 cm away from the suspected explosive.

The app connects to a cloud-based server and compares the recorded magnetic disturbance signature with other signatures in the database. If a threat is detected, the app returns a warning message and identifies the likelihood of there being a certain type of explosive material in the sampled area. GPS connectivity is used to pinpoint the site and to immediately alert the authorities. The threat alert message can also be automatically pushed to social networks.

“We do not intend for SAPER to replace mine detection devices, but only to provide additional help when none are available”, says Mariusz Chmielewski, the mentor of the student team behind the app.

A bit closer to home for most of us, the team suggests the app could also be used to detect wires within a wall.

New Contact and Live Tile animations suggest Windows Phone 8

May 22, 2012 | By Surur

The strangest things things turn up in the strangest places. WPCentral noticed this interesting new live time behaviour in a PCadvisor.co.uk ad for the Nokia Lumia 900.

The ad shows :

Contacts – The tiles flip and it says "Meet up with Sarah"
Photo Hub – Flips and splits into two tiles, one with the latest photo, the other with a count

Both are of course new behaviour, which could have been dreamt up by an ad man, or could be designed for an ad which wont have to be recoded after the Windows Phone 8 announcement on June 20th.

What do our readers think? Real or fake? Let us know below.

18

Huawei’s Senior Vice President confirms they are working on a Windows Phone 8 handset

May 22, 2012 | By Surur

So far the only one NOT talking about Windows Phone 8 is Microsoft, with their OEMs and carrier partners pretty open about the coming arrival of the OS and their support for it.

On his Weibo micro-blog, Huawei’s Senior Vice President Yu Chengdong confirmed, after a meeting with Steve Ballmer at the Windows Partner Summit in Tokyo, that the company would be creating a Windows Phone 8 handset.

Calling Huawei the “world’s first the WP8 phone supplier !”, the company is expected to produce low-cost Windows Phone 8 hardware, which raises hope that the OS will support current generation hardware also as an upgrade.

The announcement confirms earlier rumours, which had the company having 70 engineers working on a Windows Phone 8 handset with a 4 inch screen which will cost only 2,000 CNY (317 USD),

Huawei is not normally associated with smartphones, but have sold 20 million smartphones last year, and aim to sell 60 million this year, making them a significant player.

Shenzhen Post notes that these handsets may show up on Leap Wireless, a low cost US carrier that is already carrying some of Huawei’s smartphones.

It is expected that Microsoft will formally unveil Windows Phone 8 at their Windows Phone developer summit on the 20th June 2012.

10

Mint.com not planning a Windows Phone app yet

May 22, 2012 | By Surur

With more and more official Windows Phone apps on the way it may be more useful to identify the hold-outs than the ones actually making the apps.

It seems Mint.com, the web-based personal finance site, is firmly on the list of “No plans yet”, which for their US and Canadian market means ignoring the only growing mobile ecosystem after iPhone and Android.

Hopefully they will also come to that realization very soon, before millions of Windows Phone owners in US start banging on their doors.

Add your voice to the list of those asking for an app here.

Thanks Jim for the tip.

10

TheTrainline.com gets an official Windows Phone app

May 22, 2012 | By Surur

Here’s one for UK readers. thetrainline.com is the UK’s leading independent train ticket retailer. They have just released a mobile app that helps you check train times (updated throughout the day) and ticket prices as well as buy train tickets for all train companies to all national rail destinations. You can buy train tickets up to 10 minutes before you travel – and collect from over 1000 stations.

The app features:

Access train times information from the official national rail timetable (updated throughout the day).
See recent and save favourite journeys making it easy to re-use common journeys and stations.
See nearby stations in a list or on a map using your phone’s location services.
View station information including ticket collection kiosk locations.
View your ‘next train home’. The app finds the nearest station to your current location and lists departure times of the next trains to your home station.
Buy right up until 10 minutes before boarding the train and collect from over 1000 stations.
Create an account and book the same range of train tickets as on thetrainline.com website.
Save your preferred payment card making it simple to buy train tickets without having to hunt out your card details.
View ticket collection reference for tickets you’ve bought – regardless of whether you have a signal.

If you want to jump the interminable queue and buy your tickets straight from your phone download the free app from Marketplace here.

Via AAWP

1