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MobileTechReview reviews the Samsung Focus 2

May 19, 2012 | By Surur

MobileTechReview have posted their take on the 3rd LTE Windows Phone on AT&T.

The handset is pretty good, but thoroughly middle of the road, even for a Windows Phone handset, with no real outstanding features, and MobileTechReview agrees that the smartphone suffers from being only $50 cheaper than the Nokia Lumia 900.

Nokia Hong Kong create WP7 Marketplace “trading cards” for salesmen

May 19, 2012 | By Surur

One of the toughest perceptions Windows Phone has to fight against is that the OS has “no apps” or certainly nothing of note.

Nokia Hong Kong is attacking this idea head-on in a very interesting manner. They have taken the best apps in Marketplace and made them rather physical, in the form of “trading cards” which contain details about the app, its “fun ratings” and other features and a QRcode which can be scanned with Bing vision and will allow apps to be installed easily.

The cards are meant for sales people selling the phones, and are divided into categories like social, games, Music and video etc., allowing the salesman to easily demonstrate the range of apps in Marketplace to prospective buyers.

It sounds like a great idea to bring over to the rest of the world.

See more examples at WeloveWP.hk here.

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Game Review: Feed Me Oil

May 19, 2012 | By andrewbares

Feed Me Oil is an excellent fluid-physics game that is definitely worth $0.99!

Overall Score: 5/5

Awesome gameplay, excellent lasting value, and great presentation.

Gameplay: 5/5

In this game, you use a variety of tools to direct oil into the land monster’s mouth. You have flat platforms, wind currents, magnets, propellers, and more to use. The variety in the game is incredible! Each of the levels have their own unique challenge. Plus, there is a help system that gives you hints of where to place items if you ever get stuck. The controls are also unmatched! Feed Me Oil has the best controls out of any other game like this that I have played.

Presentation: 4/5

The visuals are nice and cartoonish, and the music is pretty good (although the 6 or so songs can get repetitive).

Lasting Value: 5/5

You’ll get about 6 or more hours from this game! There are plenty of levels, and they all increase in difficulty. After you’ve played through them all, you can replay levels and try to use as few items as possible, in order to score the maximum amount of stars. qrcode

Reader Rating

[starratingmulti id=1 tpl=12]

Title: Feed Me Oil
Price: $0.99
Publisher: Electronic Arts

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Nokia Camera Extension on video

May 19, 2012 | By Surur

WeloveWP.hk have some video of the Nokia Camera Extension app. The app integrates in the normal Camera Settings menu and brings 4 new functions: “smart group shot” (Smart Group Shot), rapid multi-shot (Action Shot) panoramic (Panorama) and the timer Self-timer (Timer).

Quickburst takes up to 8 photos in a short burst, and of course the self-timer allows easier group shots.

The Panorama feature will merge up to 5 pictures and is demoed in the video above.

The Smart Group Shot feature takes things to the next level, by taking 5 pictures when taking a group shot, identifying each face, and allowing the user to select headshots in which the person is not blinking, therefore ensuring the perfect picture.

You will be presented with circles over each face on the photo, you can select the best image you want. This is similar to the one Blackberry showed us as the upcoming feature in their Blackberry 10 platform.

See the video below.

WhatsApp 2.0 now out

May 19, 2012 | By Surur

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WhatsApp has released another minor update to their popular messaging app for Windows Phone 7.

The update increments the version number to 2.0, but does not appear to bring any major new features.

New is the ability to set your profile picture from the app. In addition the update is said to bring several bug fixes, which from reading the reviews the app still desperately needs.

The WhatsApp app itself is free, and the service is also free for the first year, but from then on will be costing $0.99 per year, which seems rather reasonable.

WhatsApp 2.0 can be found in Marketplace here.

Thanks Rudy for the tip.

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Nokia’s Camera Extension and Data Counter app pictured

May 19, 2012 | By Surur

Blogjack have posted some more pictures from the Nokia Lumia 900 presentation in Hong Kong, showing the Camera Extension app in mode detail.

It appears the app will integrate as options into the normal camera app and will bring the following features:

Smartgroup Capture (Top left), Self-Timer (bottom left), Burst Mode (bottom middle) and Panorama (bottom right).

Blogjack also has a picture of the data counter app, which has been demonstrated before, and which should help users keep track of not only their data caps, but also voice minutes and text message allowances.

WeloveWP.hk has posted much more detail on the Data Counter app, and notes the app will even let you know who your top contacts are.

The app was first leaked last month by WP7Forum.ru in April and should hit Nokia’s Collection worldwide soon.

Nokia to launch Nokia Lumia 900 in Hong Kong with new Camera features

May 19, 2012 | By Surur

blogjackphone

A while ago we reported from analysis of a leaked ROM that Nokia would be updating the camera features of their Lumia range to include features such as Panorama and Self-timer.

That the feature would be built-in was confirmed by Nokia’s camera guru Damian Dinning. So far Nokia has only released the Nokia Creative Studio, which includes a Panorama app, and we had thought that was it.

Now we have a report from BLOGJACK, a Nokia blog in Hong Kong, who attended a briefing giving by Nokia Hong Kong and a local retailer, Wilsoncomm on the Nokia Lumia 900, where it was revealed that the Lumia 900 will ship with what they call Camera Extension.

The software will bring Lumia users a panorama feature, smart group capture, burst mode and self timer.

One of Nokia’s major claims to fame has always been their camera software, so it would be good to see them taking charge some more of this user experience in their Lumia phones.

Lumination: Nokia launch Lumia range in Philippines in style

May 19, 2012 | By Surur

Nokia launched the Nokia Lumia range in the Philippines in their usual style- with a spectacular light show as seen in the video above.

The event took place at the BHS Central Amphitheatre, Bonifacio Global City, Philippines and also featured the international music group Jump Smokers.

The Nokia Lumia 610 is expected to retail below P12,000 while the Lumia 900 will likely be in the more premium P27,800.

Thanks Mark for the tip.

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Space Weather 2.0 for Windows Phone released

May 19, 2012 | By TechnoTim

The original Space Weather app for Windows Phone! We have just released Space Weather 2.0 and we know that you will find the fast and fluid UI both fascinating and functional. With Space Weather app for Windows Phone, you are only a glance or a few taps away from real-time space weather.

Here’s a quick description of what space weather, in general, is.

Space weather is the concept of changing environmental conditions in near-Earth space or the space from the Sun’s atmosphere to the Earth’s atmosphere. Space weather affects our planet, our technology, and all living things in many different ways. Solar flares, geomagnetic storms, and solar radiation are a few ways space weather can wreak havoc on the earth. It can also create beautiful auroras can that be seen near the poles and sometimes much further.

Space Weather app includes the following:

Real-time solar storm status
Live Tiles
Reports and displays over 50 real-time measurements, reports, and readings or data
RSS Feeds
real-time alerts, reports, and predictions for space weather
real-time web cam images from around the world
real-time images of the sun
real-time location of satellites
UV Index maps
real-time images and mapping of near Earth objects
real-time images of the Earth as seen from space
real-time images of the aurora oval
beautiful artwork, animations, transitions, and fades
real-time solar movies
animations, transitions, fades
plus more

Check us out!

www.SpaceWeatherApp.com

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HTC Titan II on Telstra gets priced and dated, will never come to Europe

May 19, 2012 | By Surur

WPDownUnder has been able to confirm the launch date and price of the LTE HTC Titan II on Telstra.

According to WPDownUnder the handset will become available on the 29th May and will be introduced at $20/month on the $49 plan, $10/month on the $59 plan & $0 on the $79, $99 & $129 plans.

No contract pricing is expected to be in the $750-$850 range.

At the same time WindowsPhoneItaly has confirmed with HTC that the handset will not be coming to Europe at all, which is a real shame for those who appreciate the great quality pictures the 16 megapixel camera produces.

Read much more detail at WPDownUnder here.

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Motorola Android handsets banned from the US due to infringing Microsoft patent

May 18, 2012 | By Surur

It seems Motorola’s gamble did not pay off. While most Android OEMs decided to pay Microsoft’s Android patent license fee, Motorola decided to take their chances in court.

Now the ITC has confirmed Motorola infringes on Microsoft’s four patents for scheduling meetings over email using a mobile device.

The decision affect all Motorola’s Android handsets, and the ITC has issued an exclusion order to ban Motorola’s offending devices from importation into the US.

Microsoft has issued a statement saying:

Microsoft sued Motorola in the ITC only after Motorola chose to refuse Microsoft’s efforts to renew a patent license for well over a year. We’re pleased the full Commission agreed that Motorola has infringed Microsoft’s intellectual property, and we hope that now Motorola will be willing to join the vast majority of Android device makers selling phones in the US by taking a license to our patents.

– David Howard, corporate vice president and deputy general counsel Microsoft

The decision may still be overturned by a Presidential Review, but we suspect Motorola (and therefore very soon Google) will soon become a Microsoft Licensee.

Via Engadget.com

Thanks Milad for the tip.

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Nokia Lumia 900 coming to China in June

May 18, 2012 | By Surur

The Nokia Lumia 900 has now passed through the Chinese equivalent of the FCC, the State Radio Regulation Committee (SRRC), and according to Chinese news portal Sina Tech, is expected to launch in China in June.

It is not clear which network the handset will be showing up on, giving that is not a CDMA handset (supported by China Telecom) or a TD-SCDMA handset supported by China Mobile.

The handset would however join a growing range of Lumia handsets in China, starting from the Nokia Lumia 610, 710, 800 and 900, all nearly price differentiated, which should have a good multiplier effect on total sales.

According to reports Windows Phone sales have overtaken iPhone sales in China over the last few months, and it is likely Nokia’s range was mostly responsible for the feat. Hopefully these developments would help continue this trend.

Via TNW.com

Thanks Gopalan for the tip.

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Another stealth upgrade brings Twitter bios to the People Hub

May 18, 2012 | By Surur

WPCentral has noticed that Microsoft has performed another tweak in the Windows Live back-end which now brings Twitter bios to the profiles in the People’s hub.

Twitter bios are the small snippets of text which describe the owner of the twitter account, and Microsoft makes good use of the Notes field to slot the data in.

The update follows Microsoft enabling off-line Facebook Messaging, a long requested feature, and again demonstrated that Microsoft can continue to provide new features to Windows Phone by developing cloud features without needing to upgrade the software on the phone in any way.

The Windows Live back-end will soon have a name change, but at the same time move to becoming a fundamental part of not only Windows Phone, but also Windows 8.

Via WPCentral.com

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