windows phone

Nokia Now Powering Bing Maps For Better Traffic Info And Geocoding

May 24, 2012 | By Pradeep

Few days ago we reported about the updated more traffic data appearing on Bing Maps for Windows Phone devices. Now, the reason behind it was revealed. Nokia today announced that Bing Maps is now powered by Nokia Mapping technologies such as the Where Platform. Bing Maps is now taking advantage of live traffic info and geocoding algorithms from Nokia.

As a result of this, you will find traffic info on Bing Maps in 24 new countries and get better routes and directions for people around the globe in many countries. Here are the 24 countries that will feature live traffic info from Nokia on Bing Maps,

Thanks to Nokia’s Where Platform, Bing Maps can now offer the same traffic information that is already available at Nokia Maps in 24 countries (Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UAE, UK and US).

I’m sure many of our readers will be very happy to hear this news. Enjoy the updated Mapping experience.

Read more at Nokia Conversations and Bing Maps blog.

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Facebook For Windows Phone Update v2.5 Now In Marketplace

May 24, 2012 | By Pradeep

Microsoft has released an update to Facebook for Windows Phone app. The new v2.5 brings the following features as announced by them last month,

- Threaded messaging
Full Facebook threaded messaging including group messaging, all in a beautiful Metro style design.

- Tagging
Now you can tag friends and locations in your posts in the ‘with’ and ‘at’ format.

- Delete posts and comments
Use the tap and hold context menu to delete posts and comments from your wall.

- Active links in posts
Tap on links in posts to go directly to the content.

- Updates to the photo comments and likes page
The photo comments and likes page has been updated to match the posts comments and likes page. You can see a hint of the image at the top of the page, pull down and you can see the whole thing.

- And finally, by popular demand…
…you can now ‘like’ comments!

Download it here from the marketplace.

Posted from WordPress for Windows Phone

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IDC shows slight increase in WP7 market share Q4 2011 to Q1 2012

May 24, 2012 | By Pradeep

According the IDC Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker released today, combined Windows Mobile and Windows Phone shipments increased from 2.6 million in Q1 2011 to 3.3 million Q1 2012. Absolute market share dropped slightly from 2.6% a year ago to 2.2% now, but is up sequentially from 2.1% in Q4 2011 to 2.2% in Q4 2012, with shipments remaining flat from 3.3 million in Q4 2011.

IDC commented about Windows Phone platform in their report as follows,

Windows Mobile/Windows Phone has yet to make significant inroads in the worldwide smartphone market, but 2012 should be considered a ramp-up year for Nokia and Microsoft to boost volumes. Until Nokia speeds the cadence of its smartphone releases or more vendors launch their own Windows Phone-powered smartphones, IDC anticipates slow growth for the operating system.

It is of note that besides Android, which actually increased shipments by 2 million, Windows Phone was the only mobile OS to maintain shipments sequentially, while the other mobile operating systems, including iOS, Symbian and Blackberry all saw sequential reductions in shipments after the holiday season.

Hopefully going into Q2 2012 we will see this translate into an upward trend in actual sales and further market share gains in the rest of the year.

Source: IDC

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For all the artists in Windows Phone – ARTistic has arrived

May 24, 2012 | By Alex Perez

Every person as an artist inside of them that needs to be inspired. Too often, our artistic side is ignored and life begins to get boring. ARTistic Windows Phone App was created to entertain, empower and inspire that artist hiding inside of all of us. Established and emerging artists are able to exhibit, promote and share their work using a phone application. This Windows based phone application was developed to embrace the community of artists and people who are devoted to art.

Art plays an important part in society. Art helps make people well rounded with a deeper understanding of themselves and the world. It helps people think beyond their limits of pervious boundaries. The ARTistic Windows phone application helps bring art and graphic design to literally everyone’s fingertips. The enjoyment and pleasure that are brings is immeasurable. Beauty is brought to the world in a way that everyone can understand no matter where they are globally or what language they speak.

ARTistic features:

Create a free profile as an artist
Upload photos, art, craft or anything artistic on your part
Detail analytics for each of your ART
Add favorites to your ART list
Review and Comment other fellow ARTists uploads
Ability to download ARTist uploads
Live ART Tile and Pin specific ART to your home screen
Pinch, Zoom and Rotate ART when viewing on full screen

Art is all around us and now it is even available on Windows Phone. It is important that everyone has access to the art world because it’s pure nature helps open minds with this FREE application.

Download ARTistic for Windows Phone

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HTC Announces Titan 4G On Telstra In Australia

May 23, 2012 | By Pradeep

HTC today announced Titan 4G with 4.7 inch display and 1.5 GHz Snapdragon processor in Australia today. The device will feature a 16MP camera with 720p HD video recording and 1.3MP front camera. The Titan 4G will be available for free from Telstra for $78 per month on a 24 month plan. The unlocked device will cost over $890. Australian Windows Phone users should be happy to hear the first 4G device on their country.

Soure: CRN

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Xbox LIVE Deal Of The Week In Windows Phone Marketplace: Monopoly

May 23, 2012 | By Pradeep

Monopoly from EA is now on sale under Xbox LIVE Deal of the Week. The game now costs $2.99 down from its regular price of $4.99. This game is perfect on what you expect from a board game on a mobile device.

From our review of this game,

Overall Score: 5/5

First of all, you must actually like the board game Monopoly in order to like this phone game! It’s basically the exact board game, but virtual. Everything works perfectly, so you can simply experience Monopoly as it should be played.

Gameplay: 5/5 (Weighted to be 2x more important)

The controls are simple and effective. If you’re ever unsure of what a button will do, just hold over it with your finger and the button will reveal its title. The controls allow you to enjoy Monopoly. Gameplay is essentially the classic board game (don’t buy the game if you don’t like Monopoly in real life!). Fans of Monopoly will enjoy the multiple AI (computer opponents) difficulties and the ability to play with their friends (up to 4 people can play).

Read our full review here. You can download the game here from Windows Phone Marketplace.

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This Week’s Xbox LIVE Title Droplitz Delight Now In Windows Phone Marketplace

May 23, 2012 | By Pradeep

This week’s Xbox LIVE title Droplitz Delight from Gamehouse is now available from Windows Phone Marketplace.

Game Description:

Can you save the Droplitz? Spin and twirl dials to make paths and help these adorable misfits to safety. There are twists-a-plenty in this humorous carnival of addictive puzzle action! Droplitz Delight ‘revolves’ around you. Think strategically and work quickly. Don’t let your paths drip dry. Spin dials to form paths from top to bottom. Make multiple paths to increase your score and help the Droplitz multiply. Master Chain Reactions for massive scores. Never give up, never surrender!

Visit 6 colorful worlds in 4 brilliant modes. Set the Droplitz free in progressively harder levels with Target Quest. Jump in and challenge the original gameplay in Classic. Play to your heart’s content in Free Play. Get the highest score you can in just one minute with Droplitz Dash.

Beginners can find solace with single dropper levels, a quick tutorial, and even hint buttons during gameplay. With more than 40 levels, trophies, and competitive high score tables, Droplitz Delight will have you captivated!

• Guide the Droplitz to safety in this uniquely addictive puzzle game
• Turn dials, create paths, and help the Droplitz from top to bottom
• Complete more than 40 levels in 4 brilliant game modes
• Unlock brilliant trophies and climb the high score tables
• Variety of difficulty levels suit beginner to expert players

The app costs $0.99 with free trial available. Find it here from the marketplace.

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TalkBox For Windows Phone Now Live In Marketplace

May 23, 2012 | By Pradeep

Last month we reported about TalkBox, a cross platform voice messaging service coming to Windows Phone. Its now available from Marketplace and allows you to send messages with your voice and text input.

App Features:

? Push-to-talk (PTT) INSTANT Walkie Talkie, voice messaging, text messaging, photo sharing and location sharing with your friends
? Cross-Platform Messenger
? FREE and works over WIFI, 3G and any other data network
? GROUP CHATS
? Mark your message as favorite
? Post voice to Facebook, Twitter and make broadcast to all your friends
? Address Book and Facebook contacts Integration
? 12 theme color
? Conversation History

Download it here from the marketplace.

See a video after the break.
Continue reading →

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Windows Phone 7.5 Now Mandatory To Download Apps From Marketplace

May 23, 2012 | By Pradeep

As Microsoft announced last month, Windows Phone users will have to upgrade their OS version to 7.5 to access Windows Phone Marketplace from today. If you have an old version of the OS, an error message will be shown to you when you try to download app from Marketplace. You can get all the information you need, including an update checklist and easy step-by-step instructions, on Update Central.

Source: Windows Team Blog

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Deal: Amazon Wireless Slashes Nokia Lumia 900 Prices

May 22, 2012 | By Pradeep

Last month we reported that Nokia Lumia 900 is available from Amazon Wireless starting from $19.99. Amazon has now further reduced the price to just $9.99 for users who are upgrading their contract on AT&T. Also if you want to add a new line to your existing AT&T account or create a new account, you can get the device for $39.99 down from $49.99. And if you want to buy the device without any contract, it now costs $449.99 down from $499.99.

Find the listing of the device here at Amazon.

Thanks to Naveen for the heads up.

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Visual Studio 11 Express For Windows Phone Coming Along With WP8 Launch

May 22, 2012 | By Pradeep

Microsoft’s Visual Studio team yesterday announced the product lineup for their upcoming major release Visual Studio 11. Visual Studio 11 Beta is already available for download, but Windows Phone developers were waiting for Windows Phone tool support in Visual Studio 11 Beta. Now Microsoft has announced that to make sure customers have the latest tools with the latest platform offering they’ll be releasing Visual Studio Express for Windows Phone with the next release of Windows Phone.

So, developers will be able to download Visual Studio 11 Express for Windows Phone along with Windows Phone 8 platform release. We guess that will happen next month during Windows Phone developer event organized by Microsoft. For now, developers should be able to free download the Visual Studi0 2010 Express and the Windows Phone 7.5 developer tools for Windows Phone development.

Source: Microsoft

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On The Free Xbox Avatar Props For Signing Up The Windows Phone Newsletter

May 22, 2012 | By Pradeep

Few days ago we reported about the free Windows Phone themed Xbox Avatar props for users who sign for Windows Phone newsletter. Many people got the avatar redeem code as expected, but some didn’t get it. It was because some great Windows Phone fans out there abused the system to get all the avatar props for themselves. They even listed it on eBay!

Don’t worry, Microsoft is with us. Here is their response,

We are flattered that our avatar prop is so popular, but frustrated that someone abused the system to reserve a bunch of codes for themselves and shut out legitimate users in the process. We’ve now ended the promotion for the skateboard. If you signed up for the newsletter (thanks, BTW!), got the invite for the gear and weren’t able to redeem your code, we will be making it right: we will send you a code in the next few days for a different prop (a Windows Phone foam finger).

via: windows team blog

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Download The New Nature Series Wallpapers For Your Windows Phone Devices

May 21, 2012 | By Pradeep

Microsoft Windows Phone team today announced a set of wallpapers for your Windows Phone devices. They teamed up with London-based graphic designer Levi Freeman to release this new set of “Nature Series” wallpapers. Albert Shum, who runs the Windows Phone design studio first discovered him work and then they collaborated to release this set of wallpapers. These wallpapers are coming with Windows Phone design team’s official seal of approval and they are even promising that lot more stuff from many other artists are also coming soon to our Windows Phone devices.

You can download the wallpapers from his website here.

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