Friday 28 February 2014

ACER wants Windows Phone to hit 15% in EU first before releasing a new handset

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Acer VP for Smartphones EMEA Allen Burnes has told the Inquirer that they want to see a lot more demand from consumers for Windows Phones before they are prepared to take a risk on the OS and release a new handset.

“Consumer call is one of the reasons why we we have no Windows Phone plans at present. While Windows Phone indexes at around seven percent in Europe, that’s not enough for us to take the risk.”
“The fact is, until people start talking about the great experience you can have on Windows Phone, we can’t go in on it.”

He also lacked confidence in the Windows Phone Store, saying:

“The Windows Phone Store is improving. But if there are 350,000 apps and it doesn’t include the top 100, then it’s no good for consumers. For example, if you don’t have the local banking apps, then it is of naught to certain people. There are a whole bunch of elements around the application space which need fixing, which for us, is a a big deal.”

The last Windows Phone released by Acer was in 2011, and the company did not appear on a recent list of Windows Phone partners.

He did set Microsoft a target however.
“We are having conversations with Microsoft, and if they index Windows Phone to 10 to 15 percent, we are interested.”

All else being equal (and of course it never is) Windows Phone is tracking certainly to 10% and eventually to 15% in Europe, suggesting Burnes may soon have to put up or shut up, but if their new efforts are as lacklustre as their earlier devices I do not think they will be missed much either way.

Via: Wmpoweruser
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Nokia X projected to sell 16 million units, now on pre-order in Spain

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MNB reports that   according to Strategy Analytics analyst Scott Bicheno Nokia could sell as many as 16 million Nokia X Android handsets in 2014.   That would translate into around 4 million handsets a quarter, or about 40% to 50% of Windows Phone volume.

Bicheno unfortunately did not publicly reveal the impact he expects this to have on Windows Phone sales, but it is not difficult to see that in areas dominated by Android where Windows Phone sells largely on the strength of Nokia’s brand there will be a distinctly negative influence.

While Nokia has said they expect sales to be concentrated in so-called growth markets, such as in South East Asia, they have also said they expect to sell the handsets globally, and we can already see this in effect, with the Nokia X and Nokia X+ showing up for pre-order at Amazon Spain, according to NokiaLumia.es.

The Nokia X + starts at  119 €, while the Nokia XL is priced at 129 €.
The X+ has a 4 inch WVGA screen and 3.15 megapixel camera and 768 MB RAM,  while the XL has a 5 inch WVGA screen , 5 megapixel camera and also 768 MB RAM.

It is of note that the Nokia Lumia 520 also costs 119 Euro on Amazon in Spain, and given the massive market share of Android in Spain (more than 80%) it seems unlikely that buyers will be choosing the Windows Phone handset over the Android one.

What do our readers think the impact of Nokia’s Android foray will have on Windows Phone? Let us know below.

via: Wmpoweruser
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FIFA 14 heads to the Windows Phone 8 store, available for download

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Are you a football lover? If yes, then we have big news for you. Electronic Arts has released its latest game for Windows Phone 8 users. FIFA 14 is now live on the store and is ready to be downloaded. FIFA is one of the most popular and most loved franchise of EA games. The game was already available for Android and iOS, today is headed to the Windows Phone store. FIFA 14 is the successor of FIFA 13 which is available as Nokia's exclusive but unlike FIFA 13 which costs $4.99, FIFA 14 is free to play but requires 1 GB RAM to work. Sadly, no word on 512 MB version by EA.


Features:

  • REAL PLAYERS. REAL TEAMS. REAL LEAGUES: Welcome to the most authentic football game on Windows Phone 8. Feel the excitement of every pass, shot, and tackle with new touch controls. Plus, live every moment of real-world football mastery with EA SPORTS™ Football Club Match Day.
  • FEEL THE PASSION: Featuring 34 leagues, over 600 licensed teams, and more than 16,000 players. From the English Premier League to La Liga and beyond. Plus, for the first time on mobile, listen to commentaries in English, French, German, Italian and Spanish!
  • BUILD YOUR ULTIMATE TEAM: Earn and trade, or buy and sell FIFA players to create your own fantasy team. Choose your play style, formation, kits, and more. Compete in tournaments to earn coins, then spend them on new players and items to improve your team. Play for free or purchase packs. The choices are endless!
  • FIFA FANATICS: Classic modes like Manager, and Kick Off are available for purchase in-game.
One last word from us that download this game only if you are a big football fan.  But you will not have to pay real money, so we also recommend you to try it because of some excellent features. FIFA 14 sounds like the good kind of free to play overall, and worth a download.



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Facebook Shutting Down Its Messenger App on Windows

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Facebook quietly announced plans to shutter its Messenger app for Windows this week, informing individual users that the service will be unavailable in its current form starting on March 3. The company hasn’t offered an explanation for its decision, but confirmed the news to The Next Web earlier today.

Log into Facebook Messenger on Windows and you’ll likely see a message at the top of the app apologizing that the company “can no longer support” the app. “We really appreciate you using Messenger to reach your friends,” Facebook adds, noting that you can still use the service by heading to Facebook’s main website.

The news follows Facebook’s announcement earlier that a Messenger app will finally launch on Windows Phone in the next few weeks. It’s unclear if there’s any connection between these two announcements, but it seems possible the new messaging app could work on both Windows Phone and the full Windows OS. Either way, we’ll likely learn more early next month.

via: Technobuffalo
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Wednesday 26 February 2014

Nokia confirms which nations won’t get the Nokia X

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 Not only has Nokia gone ahead and announced its rumored Nokia X Android handset, but it exceeded even our expectations, revealing the X alongside the X+ and XL. All three handsets are going to be seriously affordable… that is, assuming you can get your hands on any. Back on Monday, Nokia stated that “the Nokia X will be available to buy immediately in Asia Pacific, Europe, India, Latin America, the Middle-East and Africa.” OK, but does that mean that it’s coming to other areas later on? And are there going to be more restrictions to its distribution within those regions? Nokia’s been following-up with some more details, explaining just who won’t be seeing the Nokia X showing up in stores nearby.

Nokia clarifies that the Nokia X series of devices “will be available pretty much everywhere except North America, Korea and Japan.” That North American bit we might have assumed from the lack of any earlier mention, but this seals the deal, and also explains how availability will differ by nation in Southeast Asia.

We should also point out that despite Nokia crossing North America off its list there, it has confirmed the phones for Mexico and other Latin American nations, so it must just mean that the US and Canada won’t be seeing them.

via : pocketnow
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Nokia Branded Phones to Live On Under Microsoft!

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There’s been a lot of speculation regarding the future of Nokia devices once the acquisition of D&S is complete. Apparently Microsoft have shared a bit of information regarding that, stating that the Lumia brand name would continue under Microsoft; more importantly for us Nokia fan boys is the fact the “Nokia D&S” will continue to make Nokia branded phones!
He confirmed that Lumia as a brand would continue under Microsoft, but refused to confirm whether the Nokia name would survive on phones too. But a Microsoft spokesperson has since told me that the handset division of Nokia will continue to make phones under Microsoft, phones with Nokia logos on.
It seems that either Microsoft aren’t completely sure what the plan is regarding the Nokia scheme, or are keeping it hush; but if the “Microsoft Spokesman” Cnet spoke to is believed, this isn’t really the end of “Nokia” phones.

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GlanceScreens.com, a Glance Background library for WP8

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Are you a frequent user of Glance Background Beta app, then you must check out GlanceScreens.com app for Windows Phone 8 devices. GlanceScreen.com is a the official app for the website that allows the user to create custom Glance Backgrounds for the Lumia devices. This app is free with ad-support to all the Windows Phone 8 devices but do note that Glance Screen is only available for Nokia Lumia Devices except Lumia 520 and Lumia 625.


The layout for GlanceScreens.com is fairly simple with the main page offering up a small sample of the featured images. A menu tile is in the upper left corner that will pull up the full menu for GlanceScreens.com.
Here you will find options to log in/create a GlanceScreens.com account, view the Featured, Hot or New background images, and scroll through the various categories of Glance background images. Categories include Cars, Brands/Logos, Gaming, Scenic, Movies and more.
Once you find a background to use, just tap the download button and the image is saved to your Windows Phone Pictures Hub. From there you will need to launch Nokia’s Glance Background app to convert the image to a Glance Background.
The GlanceScreen.com app is fast and fluid delivering tons of images and is a perfect companion to Glance Background Beta app.
You can grab the app from Here
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IE11 demoed on Windows Phone 8.1 (Lumia 920 in video)

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 Unleashthephones have continued to tease us with short videos from their captive Windows Phone 8.1 handset.
Above is a look at Internet Explorer 11 which is another major upgrade in Windows Phone 8.1 “Blue” release.




















Reading mode is likely one of the best features, allowing users to only view the text without the ads and formatting, and allowing users to select between different styles like Bright, Light, Medium & Dark and even Justified mode.

What more do you expect from WP8.1 ?

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Tuesday 25 February 2014

Updated: Lumia Black available for Lumia 620 in Finland, India & Netherlands. Rolling out to Lumia 925 on T-Mobile.

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Update:

Seems, it is rolling out to Lumia 620 in India, too. Thanks Caspien for the tip. Cheers!!

Great news for Lumia 620 owners, who unfortunately are yet to receive the Lumia Black on their devices. Lumia 620 in Finland and Netherlands have started receiving Lumia Black update and this raises hope of sooner roll-out to other markets as well. Nokia has earlier confirmed that Lumia Black update would hit most of the Lumias by end of January, but we are in the end of February, so that’s bit harsh on Lumia 620 owners!!

Another good news is for Lumia 925 owners on T-Mobile. Lumia Black is rolling out for your devices.
Lumia Black update bundles goodies from both GDR3 OS update and Nokia Firmware update in one. There are some new apps which also become compatible post Lumia Black.

Go to Settings—Phone update to check whether it has become available for your phone. Lumia Black brings some cool new features and important under the hood changes for your device. Check the full changelog here. You can go to official Lumia Black update page to check about availability of the update for your country.

You can also watch our hands-on video of Lumia Black and Apps Folder below to know what all Lumia Black update brings for your phone,

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Nokia wins two more GSMA awards. Lumia 520 & Nokia 105 are the winners.

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 Nokia has scored three in a row here!

We just reported NSN getting the GSMA award for Best Mobile Infrastructure at MWC 2014 and Nokia devices bring two more. Lumia 520 has been declared the best low-cost smartphone and Nokia 105 has won the GSMA award for best entry-level or feature phone.


Congratulations! Nokia

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Lumia Black rolling out for Lumia 620

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The wait is over today. Finally, Nokia rolled out Update 3 aka, Lumia Black for Nokia Lumia 620. The update has started to rolled out from Finland to other countries. Lumia 620 is one of the oldest WP8 device that was released to market and strangely it was the last one to get the Black update. Besides the Windows Phone GDR3 updates, Lumia Black brings:


  • App Folder
  • Nokia Glance screen 2.0.
  • Bluetooth LE support.
  • Nokia Refocus.
  • Nokia Beamer.
  • Nokia Storyteller.
  • Nokia Camera.

Some features are reserved for handsets with 1GB RAM unfortunately.

To download the update to your handset wait for the notification or simply go to Settings > Phone Updates > Check for Update.
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Monday 24 February 2014

Nokia Lumia 520 caught running Windows Phone 8.1 with three columns of medium live tiles

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Check out this video showing early build of Windows Phone 8.1 running on most low-end WP device Lumia 520. The video shows off the three columns of medium live tiles, separate volume toggles, swiping down feature to terminate apps and more.
 
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Phones for everyone: News from Nokia's MWC event

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Today Nokia kicked off the Mobile World Congress at Barcelona, Spain with the slogan "Phones for all". If you didn't watched the event, then you really don't have any idea about this slogan. Actually, what happened today at Barcelona was the class itself. Nokia has completed the dream of everyone having a smartphone. Nokia announced many devices today. If you were expecting any new Lumia device then you can quit reading the post now because no new Lumia launched. Definitely, Nokia announced some of the most awaited apps for Lumia phones. Head below and check the list of new announcements of today. 

     1. New apps for Lumia Devices:

 Nokia has just announced some pretty awesome news for the Windows Phone Store. BBM and Photoshop Express will be coming soon. Stephen Elop made the announcement a few minutes into the Nokia press conference.
No further details were shared. But we’ll have more as soon as we can information on both BBM and Photoshop Express. As you know, BBM is a highly anticipated app for the Windows Phone ecosystem, as is Photoshop Express. BBM is a messaging platform from BlackBerry, it recently made the jump to iOS and Android.
Stephen Elop mentioned BBM coming in the next few weeks for Windows Phone.

     2. Nokia Asha 230 announced:

The Nokia Asha 230, priced at €45, is no less ground-breaking. It offers a fresh, bright design and a full touch-screen experience at a jaw-dropping price, with access to key social networking apps and Microsoft services like OneDrive. The Nokia Asha 230 is also available for sale immediately.

umbrella_body_230

     3. Nokia 220 announced:

The Nokia 220 is the most affordable internet-ready device in Nokia’s portfolio today, priced at just €29. (Prices exclude any local taxes or operator subsidies). It offers a first experience of internet services, social networks and Bing search, moving Nokia further in its mission to connect the next billion. It will be available for sale immediately.

umbrella_body_220

     4. Nokia X, X+ and XL announced:

Nokia X, Nokia X+ and Nokia XL form a new family of affordable smartphones that offers a better-designed choice for Android apps. They bring together Nokia’s renowned build quality and durability with signature Nokia experiences like HERE Maps and Nokia MixRadio, as well as popular Microsoft services like Skype, OneDrive and Outlook.com.
The popular swipe-based notifications and multitasker, Fastlane, allows fast access to the people, apps and information that are most important to you.

umbrella_body_X

The Nokia X is the entry-level model in the family, will cost €89, and is available immediately.
The Nokia X+ offers more memory and storage for those who want to enjoy even more music, photos and video. It’s priced at €99 and will be available in early Q2 2014.
Finally, the Nokia XL packs a 5-inch screen, 5MP rear-facing and 2MP front-facing camera, great for Skype video calls. It will be priced at €109 and be available in early Q2 2014.
The Nokia X family is priced to compete in the affordable smartphone segment, which is the fastest-growing area of the overall smartphone market. It also offers an on-ramp to Microsoft services and a natural progression to Nokia Lumia over time.

For now we don't have much to share but in the coming days we will be posting more details about the announcements. Till then stay connected.
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Sunday 23 February 2014

This week: Top news highlights

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You were too busy this week. Didn't got time to scroll through every news article, then we have bought a new section collecting all the top news highlights of this week. We all take you to the big highlights of this week which drew the attention of WinPhans and Nokia boys. So, let's get started:

     1. Facebook acquires WhatsApp:

This was the one of the most shocking and unexpected news which went through the week. On 19th Feb, the social networking giant Facebook acquired WhatsApp for $19 bn. Facebook has not disclosed the motive behind the purchase and also for those who are worried about the future of WhatsApp, Facebook said that the service will continue uninterrupted for the users. We will look forward for this purchase and see what changes with this purchase.

     2. Nokia Project X details leaked:

As the MWC is about to start, we are feeling the heat between the Android fans about the Nokia X aka, Nokia Android device. Getting a Android device from Nokia was a dream of every Android fan and it looks like it is going to be true, as Nokia is expected to announce Android device in MWC. The press event of Nokia will start at 8:30 AM(Barcelona time) or 4:00 AM IST. You can see the event on the official blog live. The device is rumored to be a budget device with almost the same specs as the Nokia Lumia 520 and will run on the Forked version of Android with Nokia's services instead of Google. It will be priced around $100 or 6,000 INR.

     3. Microsoft to cut licence fees by 70% for Windows 8.1 devices:

There has been reports that Microsoft is planning to cut the licence fees by 70% to compete with Apple iPad and Google Chromebook OS. The reported cuts bring the cost per device for Windows 8.1 down to $15 for devices that will retail for less than $250. The standard licensing cost is $50, though it can be brought down closer to $30 when marketing incentive funds are factored in. Bloomberg's "people familiar with the program" said:

"Microsoft is seeking to speed up development and introduction of new devices. It won’t require products that use the cheaper licensing to complete logo certification, a process that verifies hardware compatibility, one of the people said. Devices aren’t required to be touch-screen compatible, sources said."

Microsoft tried a similar strategy back in 2008, slashing the licensing cost for Windows XP for netbooks. That move may have backfired, for the proliferation of lower-priced netbooks ended up taking a $465 million bite out of Microsoft's revenue, forced them to lay off 5,000 employees, and saddled a generation of computer users with sub-par hardware.
But maybe it will work out better this time around. Certainly, the lower cost hardware of today is far more capable of running something like streamlined Windows RT 8.1 than the anemic netbooks of six years ago could handle an XP so bloated it had to be stripped down for their benefit.

     4. Nokia Planning to bring Here navigation to Windows 8.1 PCs:

Nokia is planning to bring Here experience to Windows 8.1 PC and devices. The navigation system promises to be the best navigation experience available now. Nokia on their official blog(360.here.com) announced that Here Maps will soon be available for the Windows 8.1 users. Currently, it is only supported on Nokia Lumia 2520 tablet. Al through there is no word on the release dates.

     5. Nokia Lumia Icon available for Verizon Wireless:

Are you living in US and using Verizon network? If yes, then you must go and check out the latest 5" Lumia device from Nokia. Nokia has started providing Lumia Icon to the users on Verizon. The device is on the deal price of $199.99 on 2-Year contract. You can get the device from Verizon Website.

     6. UC Browser adds SD Card management in the latest beta update:

UC Browser is one of the best browser available for Windows Phone devices. The new update for beta version has added better navigation and SD Card management. You can now Export Videos to the SD Card directly from the Browser. The new features will soon be available for public. 
NOTE: This is a private beta so we cannot provide the download links here.

This is it for the week. Did we missed any news? Let us know in the comments section or contact us.


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Friday 21 February 2014

App Update Roundup: Extras+Info and Glance got updates

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Nokia is high on pushing updates for the users these days. Few days ago they pushed update for their Touch system app giving users ability to turn off vibration for the Windows Keys. Today they pushed out updates for two of their system apps, Extras+Info and Glance apps. See the changelog after the break.

Extras+Info:

Extras+ Info allows Nokia to push ‘under the hood’ improvements and fine tune certain aspects of the Lumia phones without having to do a complete OS or firmware upgrade.

New in this version:

  • General fixes & improvements

Glance Screen:

Glance lets you check time as well as other useful notifications when your phone is on standby. Glance screen automatically dims between the times you set.

New in this version:

  • New setting Glance screen info added
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Widows Phone 8.1: List of confirmed features

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We are nearing to the Build 2014, where Microsoft is expected to release Windows Phone 8.1 as the first major update to Windows Phone 8 users. We are now getting plenty of new leaks regarding features on Windows Phone 8.1. So, for the help of our readers, me with some of my friends have created a list of all the new features which are confirmed till now. We can't say for sure that one may see these in Windows Phone 8.1 but they are confirmed by many of the top Windows bloggers. Head below and take a look at the list created by us.

Windows Phone 8.1 feature list(confirmed):

Action Center

  • Notification center – Alerts, non-Toast notifications, update history, more
  • Quick-access to customized actions, including Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Plane mode, etc.

Apps + Store

  • Apps can capture audio/video from themselves; be limited for copyright concerns
  • App and Game data stored on SD cards
  • Apps on SD Cards are only allowed from ONE originating phone. If it detects that apps from another phone are installed on the SD Card, then it will ask to delete those first
  • App Suggestions by location
  • Backup of App + Game data to OneDrive (if developer enabled)
  • Facebook app comes with OS, updates independently, hooks into OS
  • Filter through installed apps by usage/install date
  • Manual Update checks
  • Option to update store apps automatically
  • Option to update store apps when only on Wi-Fi
  • Single sign-in for apps (like on Windows 8) with Microsoft Account; sign in will persist across devices + apps with permissions prompt

Calendar

  • Google calendar support, with multiple calendars
  • Weather in calendar
  • Week view in calendar

Camera

  • Burst camera mode, including auto-deletion of bursts
  • New layout

Bing

  • Bing smart search (similar search system as Windows 8.1)
  • Podcast app powered by Bing, full featured

Browser

  • Internet Explorer 11
  • IE 11 to save and remember your password for websites
  • JavaScript and HTML for app development
  • Upload files through Internet Explorer 11
  • Tabs now show up individually in multi-task window
  • WebGL and Normal mapping support
  • YouTube Player including HTML5 video support

Developer

  • Background tasks: Bluetooth signal strength, Chat message notification, Device connection change, Device use trigger, Gatt characteristic notification, Location, Push notification, Rfcomm connection, System event, Timer
  • XAP replaced by APPX
  • Audio/video transcoding that’s hardware accelerated
  • New dev tools including: SemanticZoom, DatePicker, TimePicker
  • Actionable notifications for apps
  • Silent/ghost notifications for apps

Email

  • Encrypted and signed e-mail support
  • New Email sync options with accordance to usage patterns (i.e. If you get a lot of mail on particular days and if you don’t check mail every day).
  • Option to always download emails and pictures within them

Enterprise and Office

  • Enterprise enrolled phones can have their passwords changed and remotely locked
  • Password protected Office document support
  • Office Lens support for scanning documents with camera, import into Office with OCR
  • Rebranding of SkyDrive to OneDrive
  • VPN support built in
  • S/MIME to sign and encrypt email
  • Access to corporate resources behind the firewall with app aware 
  • Auto-triggered VPN 
  • Certificate management to enroll, update and revoke certificates for user authentication 
  • Enhanced MDM policies to lock down functionality on the phone for more enterprise control, in addition to richer application management such as allowing or denying the installing of certain apps. 
  • Enterprise Wi-Fi support with EAP-TLS

General User Experience changes

  • Start screen backgrounds
  • Back button no longer closes apps, instead it suspends them
  • Double-Tap to unlock your phone (Feature from Lumia devices on Amber Update and newer)
  • Double Tap to Power Off
  • Favorite photos by tapping a heart icon
  • File picker
  • Kid's Corner - Password won't be displayed (bug fix)
  • Live Tiles – mark as red by swiping from the left over the Tile
  • Live Tiles – Three column support (maybe)
  • Navigation bar for phones without physical keys on the front
  • Notification if charger isn’t of adequate power
  • Quiet Hours - Disable notifications during pre-selected timeframe
  • Screenshot button combination is now Power + Volume Up
  • Search button will be the new way to open Speech (aka ‘Cortana’)
  • Separate volume controls for ringtones/notifications and music/media
  • Set default Voice Navigation app for the OS
  • Swipe down to close apps in multitasking view
  • Voice Narrator for Accessibility

Keyboard

  • General keyboard enhancements, show emoji when typing
  • Swipe keyboard option - “Write, when I swipe through letters”.
  • T9 support

Media

  • Audio/video transcoding, Hardware accelerated
  • Media editing:  audio and video; Audio effects, video effects; Slow motion video
  • Xbox Music and Xbox Video as standalone apps instead of the Music + Video Hub (allowing more updates to be pushed)

Messaging

  • Change default SMS app. You can also change which SMS app will show notifications.
  • Mute Thread - Optionally silence text threads, no longer receive notifications or Live Tile updates

Phone + Contacts

  • Contact list sorting of those with phone numbers
  • In-call speech commands. You’ll be able to say “Call XXXXXX”.
  • Inner Circle of contacts. Up to 40 contacts can be in the inner circle.
  • Operators can also install certain applications once a SIM card is detected

Sense

  • Battery Power Sense – App to monitor which apps draw the most power
  • Data Sense – Operators can now control Data Sense limits remotely
  • Wi-Fi Sense – Sharing secured WI-Fi Networks with contacts if they have Wi-Fi Sense. They don’t get to see the shared password though

System

  • Bluetooth 4.0 LE
  • Chkdsk for SD cards to ensure card health
  • Geofence monitoring support. Geofence is a boundary around a place of interest to you. Location services can monitor geofences to tell your apps when you’re entering and leaving them. This would be really good for IFTTT
  • Miracast, PlayTo, mirror and project via wireless display or USB-out
  • Mouse and keyboard support (HID)
  • Stereoscopic 3D support
  • The phone will have to update to the latest version before you can restore it to factory settings
  • Trusted app list for NFC that will remove the need for asking whether you want to open a particular app
  • Virtual SmartCard support
  • Wallet supports tickets and membership cards
  • Windows Phone 8.1 apps won't run on 8.0 devices until they upgrade
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Wednesday 19 February 2014

Microsoft's OneDrive to take on Google Drive and Dropbox

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Over the years, critics occasionally -- and justifiably -- slammed Microsoft for cramming too many features into its software. But could that ingrained habit yet work to Microsoft's advantage as it relaunches its consumer cloud storage service in a young market that's up for grabs? 

Microsoft on Wednesday officially announced the global availability of its rebranded cloud storage service OneDrive. Microsoft originally called the service SkyDrive but was forced to rebrand after British Sky Broadcasting, the biggest pay-television broadcaster in the United Kingdom, sued and won a trademark lawsuit over use of the name.

Besides the new markings, Microsoft is offering the first 7 gigabytes of storage free along with a couple of additional bonus offers. As expected, Microsoft users will receive up to 5GB of free storage for referrals. Another freebee: 3GB of storage to anyone using the service's camera backup feature. 
 And now Microsoft has a chance to spin bad news into good news. The company has years of experience warding off myriad security challenges from what its executives frankly describe as "determined and persistent adversaries." But bumps in the road notwithstanding, Microsoft has learned to navigate the front lines of the security wars. (See Trustworthy Computing for more.)

So while Microsoft often gets dinged for moving too slowly, weighted down by "baggage" accumulated over nearly four decades, might that same legacy work in its favor? As more people look to cloud storage, there will be no shortage of pitches. In a crowded field, a good reputation surely is going to be worth a battalion of sales and marketing people. Apropos, consider these findings from a Harris company survey carried out last December at Microsoft's behest.
  • Four out of five people responding to the survey -- who did not use cloud storage -- said that they remained "wary of lesser-known cloud storage offerings" and flagged concerns about privacy and security.
  • About two of three people who expressed being "at least somewhat knowledgeable about cloud storage" aren't using the services.
  • 66 percent of these non-users were not ready to trust cloud storage with important files -- again, because they say it's neither sufficiently secure nor sufficiently private
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Windows Phone 8.1 Notification Center Demoed On Video

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Upcoming Windows Phone 8.1 will include notification center concept in the name of Action Center. This information was revealed in the past few weeks through various screenshots. Action Center will give access to Quick Settings like Wifi, Bluetooth, Location, etc, on the top followed by notifications from supported apps. You can customize the Quick Settings to your own frequently used options. And you can access Action Center just by swiping down from the top of the screen. Swiping down from top for notification center has become the de-facto standard as top two mobile operating systems iOS and Android follow this same design.
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Nokia Touch System App Update Allows You To Disable Vibration Of Windows Phone Hardware Keys

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Nokia has updated their touch system app to v2.2.0.1. This update now includes one of the most requested feature to Lumia Windows Phone devices. You can now disable vibration for hardware keys(Back, Start and Search). You can enable this option under settings->touch, but you need to restart the device after it.

Download it here from Windows Phone Store for free.
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Nokia officially announces Treasure Tag accessory

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Finally, the much rumored accessory is announced today by Nokia for Lumia smartphones. The Treasure Tag accessory will use NFC and Bluetooth to work. The size of the accessory will be 30 x 30 x 10mm and will weight 13g. The accessory was first leaked by @evleaks last summer. A couple of weeks back Nokia released the official app for Treasure Tag accessory. You will be able to buy Treasure Tag accessory from April around the globe and it will cost $29.99. The accessory will follow the old rules of Nokia and will be available in funky colors like black, white, cyan and yellow so that you can match up with your Lumia device.

Don't know about Treasure Tag? Actually, Treasure Tag accessory just pairs up with either of your NFC or Bluetooth and you can attach it with your valuables like wallets, keys etc. Now, when you go beyond the range the accessory will start beeping. What if you didn't heard the beep. You can have a Treasure Tag Companion App which will locate your valuables on the Here Maps.

You can connect up to four Treasure Tags to one Windows Phone handset. If an item a Treasure Tag is attached to isn't going to be with you for the day you can deactivate it within the app. Alerts can be sent to the tag or your phone. You can toggle them within the app as well. Battery in them lasts for up to six months can be replaced with a standard coin cell battery.

In the meantime feel free to download the Treasure Tag companion app and wait for the actual accessory to hit the stores.

We are very excited to try this new innovation. Who all are looking forward to get it. Let us know in the comments.
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OneDrive now live at store

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Microsoft had re branded its cloud storage to OneDrive couple of weeks back. Just now the official apps for the cloud storage has been re branded to OneDrive from SkyDrive. The company has released updates of the SkyDrive app changing the name to OneDrive. Now on the official app you will have OneDrive instead of SkyDrive. The store info also indicates a couple of changes in the new version. Check the new features below.

New in v3.5:

  • New thumbnail view
  • Improved view of shared files
  • Share multiple items at once
  • Pin folders to your Start screen
  • Open your OneDrive files in other apps
  • Bug fixes and performance improvements
Head past to the Windows Phone Store and grab the new update for OneDrive.
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Tuesday 18 February 2014

Fingerprint Support and UI Customization coming to Windows Phone 8

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Popular tech site GSM Arena has just posted that the new SDK for Windows Phone 8.1 has a fingerprint support and UI customization. This will take the Windows Phone OS to the Android and iOS level. The Biometric support will provide more security to the users and also this will require new hardware so it might not work with existing devices. For UI customization it will be available for all the devices. Perhaps, there will be a option to select custom background images for the start screen as leaked by Tom few days back. Finally there’s some leaked information on how WP 8.1 will handle messaging on dual-SIM smartphones.

Fingerprint Scanner at work




















Next pic will show you the customization on Start Screen leaked.


Now the Message setting image.


We’ve seen what Microsoft is planning with its next update, including the desired notification area, navigation bar, voice assistant Cortana and more. The update could drop as early as this April.

[Source: GSMArena.com]


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App Update Roundup: Facebook and Smoking Control got updated

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Today the official app for the popular social networking site, Facebook and a app to help you control your smoking habits got updated with new features. Both the apps rather got major updates with new features and improvements. Check the changelog after the break.

Facebook:

The popular social networking site app bumped a new update with some new improvements. This store listing does not include any change log and I guess this is just a bug fix update. The previous major version v5.2 included several new features.

New in v5.2:

  • Faster and more reliable notifications
  • Toasts for Facebook chat
  • Redesigned primary tile
  • Redesigned secondary tiles for chat, events, groups, pages, and photo albums
  • Messaging improvements
  • Performance improvements
  • Support for additional languages

Smoking Control:

Smoking Control has been bumped to version 1.2.0, include fixes and nice features additions based on users feedback and suggestion.

New in v1.2.0.0:

  • Added Live Tiles support
  • Added Notifications support
  • Added a splash screen for first load
  • Minor UI Tweaks
  • Fixed a bug in the trial version




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Sunday 16 February 2014

Windows Phone 8.1: New features confirmed

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We have already seen many leaks for upcoming Windows Phone 8.1 update. The releasing of WP8.1 SDK by Microsoft has proved as a gift for us. The MUI localization files have become a rich seam of hints about upcoming Windows Phone 8.1 features, and Jeremy Sinclair has surfaced a few more previously unknown features.

The most interesting includes finally being able to open password-protected office documents, being able to scan in office documents via Office Lens, Wallet supporting Tickets and Membership Cards, Double Tap to Wake AND Power Off your handset and many more.

See more after the break.

  • Sharing secure WI-Fi Networks with contacts if they have Wi-Fi Sense. They don’t get to see the shared password though
  • Operators can now control data sense limits remotely
  • Operators can also install certain applications once a SIM card is detected
  • Change default SMS app. You can also change which SMS app will show notifications.
  • Enterprise enrolled phones can have their passwords changed and remotely locked
  • “Type as I swipe through letters”. This means we will be seeing Swype-like functionality.
  • Office Lens support. Will scan in documents and screens
  • App Suggestions by location
  • Video Calling Support
  • Password protected Office document support
  • In-call speech commands. You’ll be able to say “Call XXXXXX”.
  • Double-Tap to unlock your phone (Feature from Lumia devices on Amber Update and newer)
  • Lock Notification
  • Quiet Hours
  • Double Tap to Power Off
  • Notification if charger isn’t of adequate power
  • Screenshot button combination is now Power + Volume Up (Since the newer phones will have the start button on screen)
  • Voice Narrator for Accessibility
  • The Search button will be the new way to open Speech instead of the Start button
  • Wallet supports tickets and membership cards
  • App Syncing
  • Backups now include application data
  • Screen Reader functionality (Maybe Text-To-Speech for apps?)
  • Screen Recording functionality
  • Inner Circle of contacts. Up to 40 contacts can be in the inner circle.
  • You can favorite photos by tapping a heart icon
  • Virtual SmartCard support

Sinclair notes that these features are not demonstrated in the emulator and may not make it to the final build, but with so much in there already, we are sure that you won't be upset.

Source: WPCentral, wmpoweruser
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Saturday 15 February 2014

Tom Warren teases custom Start Screen Backgrounds in WP8.1

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The senior editor of The Verge, Tom Warren has posted two pics on Twitter teasing the custom backgrounds on the start screen in Windows Phone 8.1. As the first major update is about to launch in build 2014, we are seeing many leaks related to it. It would be interesting to see if the custom backgrounds come in Windows Phone 8.1. For now users just have selection between Black and White color which at times becomes boring. See the tweets below.



Tom also claims that he has seen Windows Phone 8.1 before as suggested by his earlier tweet.


So what do you guys thing about this. Let us know in the comments.

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App Update Roundup

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Its weekend now and we have a bunch of apps getting updates today. Many popular apps rolled out their new updates. Subway Surfers is on the top of the list getting a new theme. We have many more apps in our list. Check out all the details after a break.

Subway Surfers:

Popular endless running game Subway Surfers moves to a new location in the latest update. The game has moved to Seoul, South Korea leaving Miami. If you are a 512 MB RAM user then you can stop reading this update now because there is still no support for 512 MB devices. Trading in pink flamingos for little robots, the game has an all new South Korean theme, with rivers, paper lights and new missions. Like other past world tours, this one will span three weeks. Each week, you can try to collect a certain amount of robots and if you do so, you can grab yourself some secret prizes. It’s a fun, little side project to work on.
Unfortunately, no support for 512 MB devices.


You can get the new update from Here

Molome:

Molome is the popular photo sharing service. The app was launched a couple of weeks back for Windows Phone and then it was pulled back due to incorrect release. The app was again published to Windows Phone Store in the form of Beta. This update is major one this app. Check the full changelog below:
  • Mission System enabled - complete missions and claim your reward
  • Push Notifications
  • Add support to Windows Phone 7.x
  • Significantly improved performance
  • Improved user experience
  • Smart image loading applied
  • Lower memory consumption
  • Fix camera wrong cropping area
  • Fix camera wrong focus point
  • Front-face camera bug fixed
  • More than 20 known bugs fixed
You can grab the new update Here

PicHit.Me:

PicHit.Me is a extraordinary app. This app lets you earn some real cash out of your mobile photography.  The service as a whole is attempting to solve the issue surrounding copyright and taking images from search engines without permission of the original owner.Not only are you able to browse and purchase images through PicHit.Me, you can also enter contests, submit your own images and earn money in the process.

New is this update:

  • Added "Load More" functionality to mission's contributions loading
  • Minor improvement of performance
  • Bug fix (added default images instead of theme colored squares)

You can get the app Here


WhatsApp Beta:

WhatsApp is the most popular app when it comes to IM and second after Facebook. We are lucky enough that WhatsApp team is working day and night to bring their best experience to the users. Unfortunately, the new update is for the private beta of WhatsApp. The new beta app has got some new features so we can expect that the public version will soon get this update. WPCentral has posted the pics of the new beta features. Check the images and the changelog after the break.


New in Beta:

  • Rearranging of settings page with new modern UI
  • Custom Pics for Chat Backgrounds
  • Custom Notification Sounds
Apart for these big updates we also have a big list of apps getting minor updates. Check the list of apps below.
  • Nokia Creative Studio
  • CNN
  • Foundbite
  • Three
  • AccuWeather
  • IndianRail
  • Transfer my Data
  • Listen
  • VALA: Alpha
  • PhotoBeamer
  • Call+SMS filter
  • Nokia Care
  • Path Beta
  • Fhotoroom
  • gMaps
  • StatusTiles
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Friday 14 February 2014

Battery Performance goes free for a day on myappfree

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The battery is probably the most talked about component of any smartphone, and the reading displayed on-screen is checked frequently just to analyse how much juice remains. Luckily, Windows Phone has pretty good battery management with Battery Saver Mode present just in case you need to squeeze that extra hour or so worth of use out of the device.

To help you out with monitoring your battery drain, there are a variety of apps available on the Windows Phone Store. This collection includes the gorgeous Battery Performance, which is currently available for free with myAppFree.

Partnering with myAppFree, the developer of Battery Performance is offering his solution at no cost to the consumer for 24 hours. As well as being absolutely stunning to look at, Battery Performance boasts the following features:


  • Estimated Talk time
  • Estimated Web surfing time
  • Consumption rate (per hour)
  • Live tile (including double wide)
  • Lockscreen: Detailed status or Quick status
  • Graphs
  • Notifications (battery low, battery charged)
  • Scores from users around the world for comparison
You can get the app Here(Free)

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Nokia's social media sites turn Android green

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As the clock stuck midnight around the globe, Nokia's media sites started
to turn green suggesting that new device might be on the way. Nokia is running a teaser image on their Snapchat ID suggesting that they will be launching the dual SIM Lumia 630 and another handset, which given the green colour could very well be the Nokia Normandy. You can find the Snapchat image on the right side. With the green campaign however we may very well see the opposite, with Nokia making rather a big deal of the handset running Kitkat, despite not having access to Google Play and Google’s services.
For those outside USA the last 3 numbers are easy to decipher – it is clearly the 14th February 2014.
The first  4 numbers are less so, with the leading suggestion being that it may represent two new handsets, the 630 and 870.
The Nokia Lumia 630 is of course Nokia’s Dual-SIM handset leaked earlier, but there has so far been no rumoured 870 (but maybe this is what the Nokia Normandy will be designated as, or the high end Nokia Goldfinger).
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