One of the hardest parts of attracting users to a particular smartphone platform is convincing them to abandon the ecosystem with which they've already invested considerable time and money. After all, your OS might be great, but if that means having to start from square one with apps, movies, and music, it just might not seem worth the while. In order to help convince Android users that they should think about jumping ship for Windows Phone, Microsoft has released a new tool to find replacement apps, but is it really all it's cracked up to be? Switch to Windows Phone scans your Android ...

You've been asking for it: a head-to-head matchup of the best of Windows Phone with (one of) the best of Android. We had to get the hotter comparisons out of the way first, but here for your viewing enjoyment is the latest piece of Nokia versus Samsung hotness to come out of Pocketnow. Why the delay? Funny you should ask. We've been churning out quad-vs-octa, Samsung-vs-HTC, and Galaxy-vs-Galaxy comparisons first because, at the moment, they're the more apt head-to-heads. Nokia's Lumia 920 is a half-year old at this point, and the truth is, putting it up against the newest Samsung ...

Watch today's Pocketnow Daily as we talk about AT&T's current trade-in program to make your 2013-smartphone purchase more compelling. We later go through BlackBerry's CEO statement regarding tablets, and why this is both ironic and revealing at the same time. Later it's Nokia's turn as we discuss their probable plans to bring Lytro-Camera technology to future smartphones. Microsoft is next as we go through their new Windows Phone Facebook app in beta. We end today's show talking about iOS 7 and all the rumors regarding Jony Ive's influence over it. All this and more after the break. ...

As Windows Phone users are no doubt aware, unlike the Facebook apps on iOS or Android that are developed and published by Facebook itself, it's Microsoft behind the Windows Phone version of the app, instead. That's meant that it's always been a bit "off" from the experience you'd get on those other platforms. Microsoft is apparently getting tired of its version playing second (or third) fiddle, so it's started a project to speed up the app's development and get new features to users faster than ever before. In order to meet that goal, it needs your help, and has set up a public beta ...

Promotion can make or break a smartphone, so let's take a moment to checkout two recent entries from some of the industry's heavyweights: a new Lumia 920 ad from Microsoft, and a clip from the Galaxy S 4's Indian launch that makes even the over-the-top US event seem restrained in comparison. The Microsoft ad really pulls no punches, and in just a short span of time manages to fire off plenty of volleys at all the quirkiness of both Apple and Samsung designs, as well as some of the fervent behavior their supporters can display. We've got the Note being way too big, Samsung's fascination ...

Windows Phone has yet to become a very popular platform. While it has its passionate supporters, and is host to some pretty nice hardware, it just doesn't have the numbers to back it up. If we look at the the most recent figures, Microsoft only has about 4% of the US market. What makes that so interesting is that polling data suggests that far more users have the platform in mind when making their smartphone purchasing decisions, but ultimately choose something else. Indeed, something like 23% of shoppers surveyed report giving consideration to Windows Phone for their next phone purchase. ...

Windows 8 and Windows 8 RT tablets are still newcomers to the scene, and so far it's felt like they've been struggling to find their place. After all, the wildly fluctuating prices we've seen are hardly representative of a firmly established product that's going to keep pulling in predictable sales figures; we don't see anything like this with iPads, for instance. Are we being too hard on the nascent platform, though? Could it really be off to a better start than it's seemed? We're definitely reconsidering things in light of some new market figures, showing Windows tablets getting a pretty ...

We're no strangers to seeing smartphone fanboys talk a little trash about the other platforms, whether you're an Android devotee bashing iOS for being too closed, or an Apple fan making fun of the lack of apps on Windows Phone. Things start getting a little more interesting, however, when the people making these attacks are smartphone execs themselves; today we get to hear some of the latest smack, with Microsoft's VP of Windows Phone, Terry Myerson, digging in to Android in particular. Myerson pulls no punches, calling Android "a mess" and warning of the threat Google's control over the ...