Quick Hit: Unknown HTC Windows Phone With 12 MP Camera Support

By: Kareem Ali

So it would seem the rumors of an HTC-WP7 12 MP camera were true. A phone reviewer by the name of Eldar Murtazi posted some tweets and pictures of the phone showing off it’s 12 MP capabilities check em out:

The pictures also show that the phone will be capable of capturing images in RAW format which is a first I think for phones.

Murtazi said this via his twitter account "I like 12 megapixel camera on WP7 - support RAW, some additional settings. Quality is not bad at all. Will compare with N8 tomorrow"

There is no other real information on the phone other than it will be running Mango (as Murtazi shows in the video below). There’s no release date or even and official  name for this device yet, but a lot of people seem to be pretty excited about it.

Here’s the vid (in Russian):

Related Stuffs:

• Source: GSM Arena
• Engadget: Mystery HTC Windows Phone sports 12 megapixel goodness, RAW support

A few Specs On The New WP7 Mango Build

Microsoft is showing off it’s latest WP7 build, codenamed mango at this years TechEd 2011 in Atlanta.

So what’s new in WP7 Mango?

For starters Microsoft is offering users the ability share documents via their cloud services Office 365 and Windows Live SkyDrive. That’s pretty handy for people who have tons of documents and can’t store them all locally on their devices.

On the social side of things there will be improved Twitter integration which is good news for the many many people complaining about WP7 lack of a decent twitter app. Facebook/AOL chat is also getting an overhaul and being made more accessible.

There are also some new security features being announced at the reveal, such as complex password support and Information Rights Management capabilities that protect emails and docs from being stolen or unwantedly accessed.

Microsoft is also planning to add new functions for developers which will allow them to target their app distribution and a huge push for HTML  support.

There was no mention however on how or if they plan to leverage their recent Skype acquisition to add any new features, but I’m hoping they’ll mention something coming in the near future.

Microsoft seems to be playing it pretty smart, some people might say their being slow, but I think it’s a smarter idea for them to release things that can compete with the current kings of mobile operating systems (Android and iOS), rather than just rush things to the market. Microsoft has built a pretty good foundation with WP7, they have plenty of tools that make it easy for people to develop on their OS and there are already quite a few Silverlight, .Net, Visual… developers that can use what they already know to get a decent start on WP7 so the future is looking pretty bright for Microsoft mobile. Despite the fact that they’re struggling in market share and install base now.

So with all that Microsoft is hoping to attract more developers to the platform so they can start competing with the Apple and Android App store and Marketplace. Something they’re going to have to achieve if they want to be taken seriously in the mobile space, and repair their damaged reputation there.

Related Stuffs:

• Source: TG Daily
• Article: Microsoft's New iOS To WP7 API

Microsoft Announces New iOS to WP7 API Mapping Tool

By: syeed@techsual.com

Microsoft announced on the Windows Phone Developer blog yesterday that they’ve released a new iOS to Windows Phone 7 mapping tool that makes it easier for iOS developers to port their code over to WP7.

The tool basically allows iOS developers who want to develop for WP7 to load their code into Visual Studio and find the equivalent classes, methods and notification events in WP7. According to the blog:

“A developer can search a given iOS API call and find the equivalent WP7 along with C# sample codes and API documentations for both platforms. The code samples allow developers to quickly migrate short blobs of iOS code to the equivalent C# code. All WP7 API documentations are pulled in from the Silverlight, C# and XNA sources on MSDN.”

Microsoft hopes to attract more iOS developers with this new tool, but it’s probably going to take a lot more than what they have now before developers start seriously thinking about dedicating time and effort into porting their code. Not to mention the fact that WP7 has no where near the install base of iOS yet.

The good news however is that they see this as a work in progress and intend to add a lot more functionality in the future.

Source: Windows Team Blog

Is Android Nokia’s Biggest Threat

Although the iPhone is currently raking in the profits for Apple, the numbers don’t seem to mean much to Nokia’s CEO who told the Financial Times he sees Android as the biggest threat to his companies future.

Android is on tons of phones and has enjoyed tons of success. There is no question Google will keep supporting it and it will only get better with time. Apple makes one phone, but it sells and people who want it will do with nothing less. Some say Android is fragmented, it’s too differentiated and there are too many updates. A lot of the apps that run on Android 2.2 wont work right in 2.1. Plus With the number of Android phones available you can buy a phone without really noticing what version it’s running and end up with a dated device that won’t do what you expect, it’s kind of a mess. But Google is working it out. Apple dosen’t have that problem, they make one phone one mobile OS and update both yearly.  Both OS’ are great, I use Android but I respect iOS. Which one is better? That’s a matter of choice. Why is Stephen Elop, Nokia’s CEO worried Android might be the next king of mobile OS'? Here’s what I think.

I think the thing you have to take into consideration here is that Nokia makes phones, they still make Symbian, but since their deal with Microsoft, they won’t be doing that anymore soon, so the only thing they’ll be left with is designing and manufacturing phones. Where they used to be a software/hardware developer like Apple, their now just making hardware like HTC and Samsung. So I can see the shift in focus, he told the Financial Times that Nokia has been very clear that their number one “competitive consideration” is Android. They not only have to compete with Apple but all the other companies designing phones and tablets using Android not to mention other OS’ like WebOS. So Nokia has some catching up to do if they want to bring WP7 up to speed.

So once Google works out the kinks and starts releasing yearly updates rather than chaotically whenever they have something new to show off, Android is going to be a force to be reckoned with, not only on phones but on tablets as well, which Nokia is going to have to start thinking about sooner or later in my opinion.

• By: kareem@techsual.com
• Source: Financial Times

Microsoft Plans Big Window Phone Upgrade, Just Not Anytime Soon

Microsoft seems like their ready to step up their Windows Phone game, they’ve announced in a non-specific way at MIX when developers and users can expect to start playing with the new version of the OS.

Developers can expect to get the tools in next month (may), with the consumer upgrade coming by the end of this year. It seems like Microsoft is waiting to let Nokia get their hardware out before they make any big changes, hopefully they’re working together on something big and are just waiting for it to be perfect before they release it. Who knows? Maybe the two are working on a Tablet. The current market for WP7 phones is pretty sad, and the only remotely exciting WP7 phone announced is HTC’s sweetness coming AT&T. It’s almost as if their purposely keeping their own product down.

The latest version of Windows Phone, which is codenamed ‘Mango’ makes some pretty big upgrades to what is probably one of the weakest mobile OS’ with a share in the market. Some of those upgrades include such ‘revolutionary’ new features as; multitasking, integration with Twitter, motion sensing and camera integration with apps. Things that are already commonplace on Android and iOS devices.

Although these upgrades pretty much only catch them up with their competition, at least Microsoft is trying. WP7 is a nice OS, I like the tiles and I’m pretty anxious to see what Nokia does on the hardware side, so if things go well next year we might have some pretty good choices between three really really polished and well developed OS’.

I like corporate competition.

• Source: Bits Blog
• Author: kareem@techsual.com

Microsoft's Mix 2011 to Focus More on WP7

Microsoft’s annual mix conference in Las Vegas Nevada, which traditionally has been more web-dev-centric is starting next week and it’s going to be big on WP7.

Microsoft’s mix conference is a week long event in which developers' can go hear talks and learn how to better develop on Microsoft’s software. Last year it drew 1,000 developers and as in years passed was very web focused. Most of the talks and conferences were on Azure, Silverlight and Microsoft’s other web technologies.

Microsoft currently barley makes a mark on the smartphone market with it’s WP7 OS, but it is new and they do have a pretty bad mobile record. However this week, mix is hoping to attract more developers to the platform and teach them a thing or two on the way.

There’s going to be workshops on building WP7 apps, boot camp sessions meant to get developers up and coding quick, and Microsoft’s corporate VP with Microsoft’s mobile business is expected to give a keynote speech on Wednesday.

Along with all the Windows Phone 7 craziness there will also be talks and workshops on all the good old things we’ve come to expect from mix, Azure, HTML5, and Silverlight.

Source: Seattle Times

HTC Announces First 4.3 Inch WP7 Device

 

HTC announced today that it will be releasing a Windows Phone 7 device on AT&T’s network later this year.

The phone sports a 4.3 inch Super-LCD –WVGA screen, comes with Dolby Mobile and SRS WOW HD surround  audio. It integrates Xbox live and Zune for all you entertainment needs. It also has a kickstand and a 5MP cam on the back (no front facing though). It has a dedicated camera button, and can record video in 720p.

The inside features a 1GHz snapdragon , 512MB of ROM 576MB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage. Seems a little underpowered considering what their trying to achieve with that display and those audio options.

Nokia Makes Deal With Microsoft

Nokia announced today that they will be dropping their own Symbian OS in favor of microsofts new Windows Phone 7 operating system.

The move comes after a leaked memo (first published by Engadget) from Nokia's CEO in which he made comments how Nokia is not innovating enough and is on a "Burning platform" .



Nokia's move doesn't pigeonholed them into any particular operating system on their tablets. So I hope they find a way to get WP7 on a tablet, that would be a very interesting device.

Check out this very corporate style video announcing the alliance.



The move upset some of the 1500 Symbian engineers enough to walk out on their jobs today.

Check the link for a full article by the NY times.
 Article: Nokia to Use Microsoft’s Cellphone Operating System

Here's some more detailed information from Engadget.
Article: Nokia and Microsoft enter strategic alliance on Windows Phone, Bing, Xbox Live and more

iPhone/Playstation 3 Hacker GeoHot Going After WP7

After getting himself into a shitload of trouble with sony. iPhone/PS3 hack GeoHot now has his eyes set on WP7. It appears Windows Phone hackers get much better treatment Then some other companies so he's stated on His Blog That he's "Going to buy a Windows 7 phone"