rumour

Do the Dark Forces Team have their hands on Tango?

February 9, 2012 | By Surur

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The Dark Forces Team are teasing on their forum a new build of Windows Phone 7 with number 8750, which is believed to be the Tango branch of the operating system.

They have released the screen shot to the left, which, if genuine, suggests that Tango will continue to be marketed as Windows Phone 7.5.

Tango is meant to expand the addressable market of Windows Phone 7 with support for more languages and geographies and lower price points.

According to previously leaked road maps we can expect to see devices running the OS by the middle of the year, and it is widely expected that Microsoft will be talking about the OS at Mobile World Congress which starts on February 27th.

Of course there is no way to know if the screen shot is not simply faked, and so far, besides teasing the build number, no more information was forthcoming on the DFT forum.

Feel free however to have a sniff around in the 15 pages of the topic here.

Via WPCentral.com

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Samsung not having a press conference at MWC 2012: Its exciting products not to be very exciting?

February 8, 2012 | By Surur

Samsung has confirmed to PCMag that while they will have a presence at Mobile World Congress 2012 they will not be hosting a press conference there.

In a statement last week however they still said:

"Samsung is looking forward to introducing and demonstrating exciting new mobile products at Mobile World Congress 2012."

The company has confirmed it will not be announcing its new Galaxy S III handset there, and there has been a rumour that they may announce a high end Windows Phone for Europe there.

Without a press conference this seems somewhat unlikely, but still not impossible.

Are our readers still holding out for a high end Samsung Windows Phone for Europe? Let us know below.

Thanks Arun for the tip.

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Forbes: Nokia to unveil a new handset at MWC 2012, identity unknown

February 7, 2012 | By Surur

Forbes is claiming that a Nokia partner has inadvertently revealed Nokia will be announcing a new handset at Mobile World Congress 2012, starting on the 27th February.

The OS running the handset has not been verified, with it either potentially being a European version of the Nokia Lumia 900 or the last hurrah of Symbian, with a successor of the Nokia N8 running the older OS.

The supplier was only able to provide one further detail: The handset offered ”an unusual software feature normally found only on high-end smartphones.”

What do our readers think? A new Windows Phone or an old Symbian phone? Let us know below.

Via Forbes.com

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Picture of Nokia Champagne leaked?

February 5, 2012 | By Surur

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MSNerd has posted a picture which he labelled “two turkeys” alluding to what Google’s Vic Gondotra called the Microsoft/Nokia venture.

The device has the trademark curved screen as seen on the Nokia Lumia 800 (but not the Nokia Lumia 900) but has a narrower margin than the Lumia 800 and appears to be champagne coloured, which brings to mind the Nokia Champagne code name leaked last year via the “I’m a WP7” app. Then it was running the latest build of Windows Phone 7.10.8711 which is assumed to be a Tango build.

Or of course it could be a very polished bar of soap

Update:

It is probably the Nokia Booklet 3G laptop from some years ago. (Via MyNokiaBlog)

Via Professeur thibault.fr

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Connecting the dots: Is Amazon making a Windows Phone?

February 4, 2012 | By Surur

Amazon has a pretty strong Android strategy, with both a software store, the Amazon App Store for Android, an MP3 store for Android and of course the very successful Amazon Kindle Fire, so they would be the last one one would think of when one thinks about the next Windows Phone OEM.

That was why Forbes’s claim that Amazon was working on an 8 megapixel Windows Phone was roundly dismissed in November last year.

To refresh your memory the claim was:

Channel checks suggest the Amazon smartphone will have a 4-inch touch panel display, an 8 mega pixel camera, and adopt a Microsoft operating system. The phone will probably run on a Texas Instruments OMAP4 processor and Qualcomm’s dual mode 6-series standalone baseband.

However recent events seems to ad some credence to the claim that Amazon and Microsoft are working together.

The first is Microsoft Releasing an Amazon Web Services SDK For Windows Phone and the second is of course Brandon Watson, Director of Developer Experience at Microsoft’s move to the Amazon Kindle Cross Platform team. According to a tweet from Long Zheng he is not the first Windows Phone team member moving to Amazon either.

What do our readers think? Will there be a big announcement at MWC 2012? Let us know below.

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Digitimes speculates more PC vendors, less phone vendors will pick up Windows Phone 8

February 4, 2012 | By Surur

Only quoting unnamed “sources”, Digitimes is claiming that Windows Phone 8, which will have much in common with Windows 8 and be closely tied to it via cloud infra-structure, will see increased adoption amongst Windows OEMs.

They say that that PC vendors such as Acer, Hewlett-Packard (HP) and Dell may adopt the new platform to make a comeback in the smartphone segment.

On the other hand they see a corresponding decrease in the number of phone OEMs, including HTC, Samsung and LG, committing resources towards Windows Phone 8 handsets, possible in response to the favourable treatment Nokia is receiving for supporting Windows Phone.

There is some logic to support this – if recent Canalys data is correct other Windows Phone OEMs have shipped even less Windows Phones in Q4 2011 than previous quarters, after Nokia stormed in and grabbed the lion’s share of the market. It remains to be seen if Nokia will be lifting the boats of all the other OEMs, or if they will grab so much of the market and mind share that it will no longer be worthwhile for HTC, Samsung and LG to fight over the remaining scraps.

Leak confirms Windows Phone 8 will use the Windows 8 kernel

February 2, 2012 | By Surur

Breaking out the details of the leak that Pocketnow broke so spectacularly, the news that Windows Phone will use the Windows 8 kernel is both the least surprising and also the most interesting.

According to Pocketnow:

“Windows Phone 8 won’t just share a UI with the next-generation desktop and tablet OS, apparently: it will use many of the same components as Windows 8, allowing developers to "reuse — by far — most of their code" when porting an app from desktop to phone, according to Belfiore. He specifically mentions the kernel, networking stacks, security, and multimedia support as areas of heavy overlap. “

This move by itself appears to solve many Windows Phone issues, including support for advanced networking, full disk encryption and support for business features.

The further implications is that Windows Phone will be able to advance in lock step with the desktop OS, and that it will be easy to port support for accessories to Windows Phone 8.

The leak mentions multiple resolutions will be supported, which I am sure includes out familiar WVGA, suggesting to me current devices will be able to support the new OS.

Are our readers excited? Let us know below.

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Nokia Lumia designer hints at NFC, wireless charging

January 31, 2012 | By Surur

thumb_350x250_3076 In an interview with the Guardian Nokia’s design chief , Marko Ahtisaari, responsible for the design of the Nokia Lumia 800 and who was recently promoted to Nokia’s leadership team, reporting directly to chief executive Stephen Elop, hinted at the future direction for the Lumia line.

"If you can take away a moving part and make it [the phone] more beautiful in the placement of the components, we’ll do it, so that’s something where we can certainly keep improving," Ahtisaari said, explaining the removal of the flip up tab on the USB connector of the Nokia Lumia 800 on the Nokia Lumia 900.

"Take it to the extreme,” he continued “why are there any connectors?"

While Windows Phones can sync perfectly fine wirelessly, USB is still mainly used for charging, leading the Guardian to suggest wireless charging may be in the offing.

Nokia has also re-iterated their commitment to NFC. Nokia has many Symbian handsets with NFC, and Stephen Elop recently said "it is growing in importance, and I personally believe in it".

He also suggested that touchscreen interaction is in its very early days, comparing it to the early days of the automobile: "In the 1880s in the car industry cars had tillers – it took 15 years to agree on the steering wheel controlling the front wheels. We’re in the middle of that part of the evolution of interaction."

Read more of the interview at The Guardian here.

Thanks Manan for the tip.

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Eldar spouting more crap as usual

January 31, 2012 | By Surur

Screen-shot-2012-01-31-at-8.52.15-AM To the blogosphere we have one request – do not base a whole rumour on only something Eldar says. He has a documented axe to grind with Nokia and is not an unbiased source.

He was most recently wrong about the sale of Nokia, about the number of Lumia’s shipped and about whether Windows Phone 7 apps will run on Windows Phone 8, and I am not even keeping count.

The most recent rumour, repeated by IntoMobile, is that Windows Phone 7 phones will not be upgradable to Windows Phone 8, and the reason why this will not matter to any degree is because the installed base of Windows Phone 7 users is very small.

He tweeted:

I envy people bought the current leader, they do not realize that in September, will have a “flagship”. And the OS upgrade will not be any …

We are not going to claim insider information to the contrary, but logic is a simple starting point

1) By Q4 2012 there will more more than 15-20 million Windows Phone 7 users. While this is a small percentage of the smartphone market, it is a considerable number of people to p*ss off while at the same time trying to convince 10 million more to buy your new phones.

2) Microsoft will continue to sell single core mid-range and cheaper Windows Phones, meaning there should not be any reason why Windows Phone 8 will not run on Windows Phone 7 hardware. The alternative is two code bases for cheap and expensive handsets, which negates the whole reason for the kernel transplant to start with.

3) The rumour is based on something Eldar has said, and he has already been shown to be wrong about Windows Phone 8 mere days ago.

In summary, hopefully Microsoft will deny this rumour in public, but even if they do not, Eldar has already used up all his credibility, at least with me, and I would personally have to see proof before I believe a word he says.

Update: Brandon has tweeted:

Was asked to dispute another Eldar claim. Groan. Sure, bring enumerated list, and let’s do them 1×1. He’s certainly earned my time. #sarcasm

which I personally take as a denial. Chalk another one up in the clueless department for Eldar.

Thanks Vinodh for the tip.

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Nokia Lumia 910 real, sporting 12 megapixel camera?

January 29, 2012 | By Surur

Dutch phone retailer Typhone.nl has a product page up for the Nokia Lumia 910, a variation of the Nokia Lumia 900 with a 12 megapixel camera which has been rumoured by Eldar for May 2012.

The spec sheet is a bit more detailed than most, suggesting the retailer is not just trawling for pre-orders for a handset which may not exist at all, but reveals no new information. On the other hand the site also has a page for the iPhone 5 and iPad 3 (although with no real detail) so we will leave our readers to make up their own minds.

See the page at Typhone.nl here.

Do our readers think this confirm Eldar’s rumour? Let us know below.

Thanks Andrea for the tip.

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Leak! Skype and Google Plus to arrive with Tango!

January 28, 2012 | By Surur

capture_02_10_33 Hopefully some-one is not having PocketPC.ch on, but the Swiss site is claiming to have seen the latest build of Windows Phone Tango, and found the OS now features both Skype and more surprisingly Google Plus integration.

Skype integration works as expected, with the ability to use Skype chat, make video calls and also voice calls. The software is however still not fully functional, with chat working, but voice and video calling not functional yet.

Google Plus integration is even more shaky, but offers similar features, including Google chat, video telephony and hangouts, but is even more incomplete in terms of implementation so far.

Windows Phone Tango will be labelled Windows Phone 7.6 and has the build number 7.20.1050.5 for far.

It is not clear when the OS update will arrive, but it is not expected to be too long from now.

Update: As our readers point out, and I myself noticed that screen shot does not look very kosher. I will however give PocketPC.ch a bit longer to query their “trusted source”

LG E740 gets Bluetooth SIG certification, still slowly winding its way to market

January 28, 2012 | By Surur

LG still has to step up to the second generation Windows Phone 7 game, so it is reassuring to see that they have continued development of at least one Windows Phone 7.5 handset.

The LG E740, which we first heard of in October 2011, when it was noticed on the Occasional Gamer stats site, confirming at the very least that it was a Windows Phone, has now passed through the Bluetooth SIG on the 11th January 2012.

The handset may be the LG Fantasy (pictured right) which is a Windows Phone handset with a 4 inch IPS display and front-facing camera whose pictures leaked in December last year and which is rumoured for a Q1 2012 release (i.e. soon).

The LG E740h also has an entry at LG’s user agent site confirming it is powered by IE9 and is therefore a Mango handset.

At the time the LG e740 leaked the E950 also leaked, but unfortunately nothing further has so far been seen from that handset.

See the Bluetooth SIG entry here.

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Samsung may concentrate on Windows Phone at MWC 2012

January 26, 2012 | By Surur

There is a rumour that Samsung will not unveil the successor to their flagship range, the Samsung Galaxy III, at Mobile World Congress 2012, out of deference for the US market, which tend to get handsets much later than Europe.

The Verge notes it is possible then will spend more time on tablets and also Windows Phones at the conference, possibly in conjunction with a Microsoft announcement.

There have been rumours of a high end Samsung Windows Phone coming to the European market, which so far has had to make do with the mid-range Samsung Omnia W. MWC 2012 would of course be the perfect place to announce this.

Either way it looks to be an interesting few days in Barcelona in a month or so.

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