Posts by Adam Z. Lein
Adam has had interests in combining technology with art since his first use of a Koala pad on an Apple computer. He currently has a day job as a graphic designer, photographer, systems administrator and web developer at a small design firm in Westchester, NY. His love of technology extends to software development companies who have often implemented his ideas for usability and feature enhancements. Mobile computing has become a necessity for Adam since his first Uniden UniPro PC100 in 1998. He has been reviewing and writing about smartphones for Pocketnow.com since they first appeared on the market in 2002.
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by Adam Z. Lein | November 8, 2012 7:47 AMWhat Rovio calls the best Angry Birds game ever has just been released for Windows Phone 8, Android, iOS, and Windows PCs. Rovio isn't acknowledging the Windows Phone version on their website, but we were easily able to find it in the Windows Phone 8 store. Of course, this is a new theme which brings Star Wars style Angry Birds characters to locations like Tatooine, the Death Star, and Hoth (coming soon in an update). There are a few new things, too. You'll be able to use lightsabers, blasters and Jedi powers to fight the Imperial Pigs. You can also level up your birds to ...
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by Adam Z. Lein | November 7, 2012 12:23 PMOne of the things that was great about Windows Mobile back in 2003 was the Voice Command integration that allowed you to press a button on your Bluetooth car kit or headset and tell it to play specific music that was on your device. Somewhere along the line Microsoft lost those very-advanced speech interface capabilities from a decade ago. Thankfully, with Windows Phone 8, Microsoft made a full speech user interface platform that 3rd party developers can plug into and today we're going to take a look at a 3rd party app called "Hey DJ" which brings voice control of music playback back ...
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by Adam Z. Lein | November 6, 2012 6:39 PMOur first look at the new Windows Phone 8 operating system came courtesy of an early version of the Windows Phone 8X by HTC. If you're really interested in hearing more about the Windows Phone 8 operating system that runs on this device, be sure to check out our full Windows Phone 8 review. Meanwhile, in this review we'll take a closer look at what's unique about HTC's Windows Phone 8X hardware,as well as some of its software customizations that will add to Windows Phone 8. Read on for our full review of the Windows Phone 8X by HTC! Video Review · Specs · Hardware · Software · ...
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by Adam Z. Lein | November 5, 2012 8:55 AMIf you saw our full Windows Phone 8 review, you may have noticed the part about the new Windows Phone 8 sync utilities. Windows Phone no longer uses Zune for syncing media and the new sync programs are probably the most pathetic mobile device syncing utilities that Microsoft has ever made. They don't even sync content, they just transfer it. There's no conversion options for saving mobile storage space, there's not automatic playlist sync or automatic anything. You can't sort individual songs by anything useful like "date added" or genre or DRM protected status. You can't set ...
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by Adam Z. Lein | November 1, 2012 12:28 PMWhile everybody loved Windows 7 on the desktop and it was the best-selling operating system of all time, it really wasn't so great for any of the new human-computer-interaction methods that are quickly becoming popular. Things like touch screens, 3D gesture interaction (Microsoft Kinect), and voice recognition just don't work well with the old style graphical user interface designs that Windows and Mac OS have long been made for. That's where Windows 8 comes in, but it still needs to work well with the sort of interaction methods that people are used to; there have been some changes ...
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by Adam Z. Lein | November 1, 2012 8:45 AMWindows Phone 8 and Android 4.1 are very different operating systems, but in many cases they have similar functions that may be implemented in different ways. In this video we look at a few of the major differences between Windows Phone 8 and Android 4.1 as well as a few of the similarities. You'll see that Windows Phone 8 certainly does some things better than Android 4.1, while Android definitely does other things better than Windows Phone 8. Overall, we think it's getting to be pretty well balanced, but of course that depends on which features are really important to you.
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by Adam Z. Lein | October 30, 2012 9:29 AMIf you've read and watched our review of Windows Phone 8, you may be wondering how some of new changes compare to how Windows Phone 7.5 currently looks and operates. For the most part, you'll see that Windows Phone 8 is a clear evolution of Windows Phone 7.5. There are plenty more features, a few minor design changes, and some great new extensibility options. Unfortunately there are a few omissions that might be annoying, but you'll have to decide for yourself if the additions will make up for the omissions (and be sure to let us know what you think in the comments). Take a look at ...
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by Adam Z. Lein | October 29, 2012 3:17 PMHere's our unboxing video and first boot of the Windows Phone 8x by HTC. This is a pre-release device which does not include final packaging or software, but you can get a good idea of what it's going to come with and how the first-boot sequence is going to be. You do get stereo headphones with the device, which is a good idea since this one has Beats Audio with a dedicated audio amplifier built in. Of course, you get a MicroUSB cable (that's kind of short), and a USB charging adapter. There's also a little MicroSIM card slot pin that you'll need to use to open the tray on the phone in ...
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by Adam Z. Lein | October 29, 2012 2:12 PMWindows Phone 8 (codenamed Apollo) has finally landed! Microsoft has put a lot of effort into keeping their latest smartphone operating system under wraps all year so that they could show off some surprise features this fall. Some were revealed little by little, but today we've finally got the whole thing and are able to see how everything fits together. We've only had about 24 hours to use this latest iteration of Microsoft's smartphone operating system and a few of the back-end things are not as fully implemented as they should be once the new Windows Phones go on sale, but we hope the ...
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by Adam Z. Lein | October 29, 2012 1:13 PMTonight, T-Mobile was going to have an event that announced their holiday line-up of both Windows Phones and Android phones, but they cancelled due to the hurricane in New York City. Instead, we get a press release full of prices and release dates! You can see the break-down below. Most of the new ones will be available around November 14th. Windows Phone 8 Nokia Lumia 810: Expected to be available on 11/14 Value Plan: $99.99 down payment after a $50 mail-in rebate card and 20 equal payments of $20 per month with a two year service agreement on qualifying voice and data plans. ...
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by Adam Z. Lein | October 29, 2012 12:04 PMMicrosoft's big reveal of Windows Phone 8 is going to start at 10:00am PT and 1:00 pm EST and if you're around you might want to watch the live stream. It will be available on the Windows Phone Newsroom, as well as the Windows Phone Social Hub on Facebook. It's only an hour away right now, so be sure to load up those links and then come back to Pocketnow to see more of our coverage on Windows Phone 8. We already know there are plenty of improvements like the new start screen, a speech UI that integrates with 3rd party apps, the new Windows 8 core for extensive hardware support, etc., ...
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by Adam Z. Lein | October 26, 2012 8:03 AMAt Microsoft's Windows 8 and Surface RT launch, members of the press not only got to see plenty of the new Windows 8 PCs and tablets, but we also got a preview of Microsoft's art exhibit that will be open to the public between October 25th and November 3rd at Hudson River Park's Pier 57. The installation features a model of New York's Manhattan island with model buildings strutting out all over the place which make for nice viewing spots for a host of Windows 8 PC, Tablets, and Microsoft Surface RTs. Some buildings you can sit on, some are painted. The Statue of Liberty is floating ...
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by Adam Z. Lein | October 25, 2012 9:29 PMThe Dell XPS Duo 12 is a unique type of Windows 8 Tablet PC Convertible. It has a hinge between the keyboard and screen and then another hinge in the center of the screen that allows it to flip inside the bezel. It's a bit strange to convert from laptop mode to tablet mode since you have to flip up the screen, press behind it to flip the screen over, then flip the whole screen back down against the keyboard. It's a lot of steps compared to the Lenovo Yoga or Microsoft Surface for example, but perhaps not as convoluted as some of the pivot and rotate hinges on some of the other tablet ...
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by Adam Z. Lein | October 25, 2012 9:28 PMThe HP Elite Pad is a full Windows 8 tablet running on an Intel Atom processor with 32Gb of storage and 2Gb of RAM with a 10.1" 1280x800 pixel screen. This device is kind of one step up from the ARM processor Windows RT tablets since it's still a bit low on the memory and storage options, but it has an Intel processor so that you can still run all of your current Windows 7 applications in addition to any kind of web browser plug-ins you might be accustomed to. The tablet itself seems nicely built with good balance and I like the screen size. Performance wise you might think an Intel ...
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by Adam Z. Lein | October 25, 2012 9:27 PMThe Lenovo Thinkpad Twist is a new tablet that I think I might be interested in due to its more business-oriented design and capabilities. It's a high-power Core i7 convertible tablet with a full keyboard, keyboard joystick, trackpad, and touchscreen. It also has an anti-glare screen, 8Gb RAM, and a 128Gb SSD. The rumor is that the pricing on this one starts at around $850 as well, so that's not a bad price for a powerful Windows 8 tablet PC convertible. It's also got plenty of important ports like Ethernet, multiple USB, and a full SD card slot. It's clearly a business-style tablet as you ...