rumour

Magenta Nokia Lumia 900 on the way after all?

April 23, 2012 | By Surur

Nokia has said they will only be offering Black, White and Cyan Nokia Lumia 900 handsets.

Interestingly however Nokia has a facebook page where one can try out the handsets, and also change the colours, and this does in fact feature a Magenta option.

The other handsets in the Lumia range are also available on the page, and interestingly the colours vary by handset, for example orange is only available for the Lumia 710, suggesting at least some customization is going on.

There has been a rumour the Magenta device may come out on Mother’s Day, which would be a great bit of marketing on Nokia’s side.

The page can be seen here.

Thanks Michael for the tip.

4

SkyDrive paid tiers rumoured again

April 23, 2012 | By Surur

Claiming unnamed sources The Verge is saying Microsoft is preparing to release a Windows 7 desktop SkyDrive app , and at the same time start supporting paid tier of the online service.

The new pricing options for SkyDrive paid storage plans are expected to be around $10, $25, or $50 per year for an extra 20GB, 50GB, or 100GB, respectively.

The most interesting element of rumour is that Microsoft will apparently drop the amount of free storage to new users to 7 GB, while existing users will continue to benefit from the old 25 GB allocation. Additionally the service will apparently involve Live Mesh-type synching missed by many.

The Verge expects the plans to be announced at The Next Web Conference on Friday April 27th at noon (CET).

Sounds like if you do not have SkyDrive yet it may be a good idea to grab an account now.

Update: It seems everyone has been downgraded to 7 GB of storage, but a free upgrade to 25 GB is still available.

Via the verge.com

38

Rumour: Will today’s high end WP7 handsets become tomorrow’s low-end WP8 phones?

April 22, 2012 | By Surur

NASA-Apollo_thumb We have just received an interesting (so far unsubstantiated) rumour that we felt was worth sharing.

Our tipster have apparently spoken to HTC and Nokia reps in South Africa, and have been told they will not be launching the HTC Titan or Nokia Lumia 900 handsets officially in the country until Windows Phone 8 becomes available, at which point they will come pre-loaded with the OS. Apparently HTC is aiming for Q3 2012, while Nokia is looking at Q3-Q4 2012.

While there is of course no substance to the rumour so far, it does make pretty good sense, and has been Apple’s pattern so far over the last few years, with last year’s iPhones becoming the low-end handsets for the current year, such that even the 3 year old iPhone 3GS is still being produced. Of course all iPhones on sale run the current version of iOS, essential for a coherent software ecosystem.

An additional element is that it makes very little sense for Nokia to produce the Nokia Lumia 900, launch it in the middle of April and then take it off the market 6 months later when Apollo comes out.

Do our readers feel this rumour is realistic? Let us know below.

Thanks Calli for the tip.

79

More claims the Nokia Lumia range will get Windows Phone 8

April 20, 2012 | By Surur

At this point we are just passing on rumours, but I am still sure many current and prospective Nokia Lumia owners will want to hear the latest one, which claims that the current Nokia Windows Phone range, including the Nokia Lumia 610 on the low end and Nokia Lumia 900 on the high end will indeed get the Windows Phone 8 update.

The news has been passed on by João Luis, who claims an extremely reliable insider source he trusts “200%”

Of course this rumour is not isolated, with Nokia India hinting strongly about an update and recent claims on a Chinese Windows phone forum that a Nokia Lumia 800 is already being tested with Windows Phone 8.

Nokia of course has the most to lose with the rumours that there will not be any Windows phone 8 upgrade for current Nokia Lumia owners, and I suspect there will soon be a strategic video “leak” from inside Nokia which will erase all doubt.

Thanks Antonio for the tip.

31

Rumor: Windows Phone 8 being tested on Nokia Lumia 800, new features detailed

April 19, 2012 | By Liwen Guo

A poster on the Chinese WPXAP.com forums claims that Windows Phone 8 is currently being tested internally on a number of current and future devices. He cites a friend working for Microsoft in the US, who has been testing the Apollo update on his retail Lumia 800 as well as an unreleased Nokia WP8 device since last month. This, of course, also suggests that current Windows Phones will be able to run Windows Phone 8, unlike earlier rumors. Compatibility with current apps, however, is indeed preserved, with the few incompatibilities that exist being worked on.

While the interface – at least for now – is said to be largely unchanged, according to the poster, speed and touch response are much improved (perhaps all the way down to 1ms?). Other new features include folders, an overhauled Internet Explorer, improved Chinese language support, and “gravity sensing” which we assume to mean an option to lock the orientation. Also, contrary to other reports, the poster specifically says that bulk deletion of text messages is not available yet.

Regarding the VPN support that is currently enabled on the test version, the poster warns that it could be removed once Apollo ships. He claims that the same also happended to some features that were originally being tested for the Mango update. For instance, a feature to close running apps in the app switcher by tapping an X, and an option to disable “gravity sensing” – again, we assume it to refer to an orientation lock – failed to make the cut for the shipping version of Mango as well.

Of course, take all this with a grain of salt, since there’s no way to verify these claims for now. However, after reading through the thread (I’m Chinese, after all ) it definitely seems possible that the poster is legit.

Source: WPXAP.com, via Insideris.com. Thanks Anon!

46

Microsoft to discuss Windows Phone 8 Customization & Differentiation opportunities with OEMs

April 18, 2012 | By Surur

Netbooknews reports that Microsoft will soon have a meeting with Windows Phone OEMs and carrier partners, where Windows Phone 8 will be presented to them.

One of the topics of the meeting, which will be held in Reading in UK, will be customization of the OS, with the particular topic being called “Customization & Differentiation opportunities”.

Customization of the Windows Phone 7 OS has been a sore point with some OEMs and carriers, with Microsoft resisting it, but some carriers blaming this for poor sales.

Given the lacklustre performance of Windows Phone 7 so far in the market, it is quite possible Microsoft is now prepared to make many concessions they refused to before. On the other hand the leaks we have seen so far suggest only that OEMs will be able to skin the camera app mode deeply.

The full agenda, according to Netbooknews, is below:

Apollo Review
Windows Phone Schedules and release plans/processes
Customization & Differentiation opportunities
New Windows Phone 8 application development capabilities
What’s new feature review of Apollo
Connectivity and APN management
Better together with Windows 8

Hopefully we will see some leaks from the summit which will give us better clarity into Microsoft’s 2013 Mobile OS.

How would our readers feel about HTC Sense and TouchWiz for Windows Phone? Let us know below.

Thanks Michael for the tip.

56

Microsoft accidentally reveals official Waze app

April 17, 2012 | By Surur

Extremely sharp-eyed reader PaxTTel has spotted the icon for the Waze app, apparently on Windows Phone 7, on the recently released Microsoft Translator 2.0 video.

Waze is a free, community-base traffic & navigation app where maps are built using other drivers, who also contribute information such as traffic speed and best routes.

The service does not have a Windows Phone 7 app, but from the name and icon it appears an official version may be on the way.

Waze did in fact support Windows Mobile in the past, so it would be great to see them back on the platform. There have been doubt about Windows Phone 7 support, since Waze has said in the recent past that they did not wish to rewrite their C++ code to .Net, and would wait for Apollo before supporting the platform.

The video can be seen at Bing here.

Thanks PaxTTel and CruiseZero for the tip.

11

Rumor: Lumia 900 coming to T-Mobile this summer

April 17, 2012 | By andrewbares

With all the news about the Nokia Lumia 900 for AT&T, Windows Phone fans on other carriers may feel a little left out.

That feeling could soon be over, since it seems the Lumia 900 will be coming to T-Mobile this summer of 2012!

I was in my local T-Mobile store talking with one of the store employees about their Windows Phone selection, and he confidently told me without interrogation that the “Lumia 900 will be coming to T-Mobile this summer.”

This confirms a previous rumor back in January 2012, which stated that AT&T only has a 45 day exclusivity period on the Nokia Lumia 900, and that the Lumia 900 coming to other carriers may even have a 12 MP camera instead of the current 8 MP camera.

Plus, the previous rumor stated that Verizon would “probably” be getting the Lumia 900, and Sprint will “possibly” join in on the action too!

30

Nokia Design patent may be revealing a future Windows Phone handset

April 15, 2012 | By Surur

LiveSide.net have uncovered another Nokia Design patent, D650,350 filed back in May 26, 2011, which bears a striking resemblance to one of the concept designs released by Nokia when they announced their partnership with Microsoft in February 2011.

The main difference seems to be that the capacitive keys in the render are now physical keys in the patent, but otherwise all the other buttons, design features and even camera and flash positions line up exactly, as can be seen in the full pictures below after the break:

Continue reading →

9

Nokia Lumia 900 out of stock, but not for the reason you think

April 13, 2012 | By Surur

We have been receiving reports that the Nokia Lumia 900 is no longer available at stores. If this was due to the handset selling out that would of course be good news, but reader Naren has clued us into the real reason.

Apparently Nokia and AT&T are pulling the Lumia 900 of stock shelves and returning it to Nokia to be flashed with the new, LTE-bug free firmware.

This process will apparently take 3-5 days, meaning the phones will only get in stock early next week.

The phone is still available online, where of course either shipment can be delayed until fixed handsets are available, or they can make sure only handsets free of the problem are being sent out.

Hopefully Nokia can keep the turn around time as short as possible and get the handset back on the shelves before the launch buzz fades.

Thanks Naren and Abishek for the tip.

27

Samsung expecting to deliver Windows Phone 8 handsets in October 2012

April 13, 2012 | By Surur

Samsung Taiwan has told reporters that they will be skipping introducing Mango devices into Taiwan, but will be delivering Windows Phone 8 handsets in October.

They noted that Mango was not really suitable for high end break through devices, and that they were ready to deliver Windows Phone 8 handsets, which were more suitable, in the second half of the year, pending availability of the software from Microsoft.

In February Matt Brum, head of product management at Samsung, was on record as saying the company was looking forward to delivering Windows Phone 8 handsets at the end of the year.

"We’re very much still focusing on Windows, and still have products in that area. We’re committed to delivering their products going forward,” he said.

"There will be more products, and the key thing for us is making sure we hit the right price points and segments for our customers.

"[Windows Phone 8] is coming at the end of the year, and will increase the capability of the platform, and Samsung is looking to optimise its devices on that.”

Recent rumours has suggested besides a Tango handset Samsung was looking to deliver 2 Windows Phone 8 handsets at the end of the year.

In recent days it has become clear that Samsung is not just the biggest smartphone vendor in the world, having overtaken Apple recently, but also the biggest mobile phone vendor period, having shipped around 92 million phones, overtaking Nokia, who only managed 83 million.

Ironically Nokia’s work at increasing consumer acceptance for Windows Phone may benefit Microsoft’s relationship with Samsung, given that the company, like many other OEMs, are waiting for evidence of consumer demand before seriously committing to the market.

Via ePrice.com.tw and Unwiredview.com

20

Windows Phone roadmap looking a bit empty

April 12, 2012 | By Surur

Mary Joe Foley from the ZDNet All about Microsoft blog has been given a Microsoft roadmap intended for Microsoft partners, dating from 22nd December 2011.

The Windows Phone segment does not give much information, but does indicate “future investment”, probably Windows Phone 8, will become generally available at the start of Q4 2012.

After that we can expect the cadence of releases to continue at a yearly rate into the future.

While some have complained that yearly is just too slow for Windows Phone to be competitive, I think this does depend on the size of the updates. With Windows Phone 8 expected to be a massive update, and of course Mango a year earlier being pretty significant also, I think yearly is not too bad after all.

Do our readers agree? Let us know below.

42

Rumour: Microsoft looking to take a 50% stake in RIM

April 11, 2012 | By Surur

The persistent rumour has surfaced once again of Microsoft looking to invest in Canadian telecom company RIM.

Fuelled by a post on finance site Bezinga.com, the rumour simply states:

Hearing Renewed Chatter of Microsoft Interest in Research in Motion Acquisition

The Rumor:
Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT)is prepared to make a $3.5 billion investment in Research in Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM), according to sources. The two companies have been frequently mentioned in potential deals over the past few months.

$3.5 billion would be about 50% of the current $6.85 billion market cap of RIM, and would presumably give Microsoft a controlling stake in the company.

The rumour has found some support at Financial Post, but then they do note it has been around for ages already. Microsoft and RIM are already working closely together, with Bing for example being the default search engine on Blackberry handsets.

As we have seen however from Nokia, simply getting a company to transition to Windows Phone does not instantly or automatically give you their market share, and it seems at this stage investing in Windows Phone development and promotion would be a more profitable route.

32