Microsoft's latest mobile operating system, Windows Phone 7 was announced at Mobile World Congress in 2010. Windows Phone 7 features a clean and minimalistic interface known as Metro UI. The operating system features a start screen with "Live Tiles" that can display notifications and information at a glance and specific "hubs" where content from social networks and stored locally on the device is gathered. Expected in late 2011, a major update known as "Mango" will bring many more features such as Twitter integration, multitasking and a mobile version of Internet Explorer 9. Read on for the latest Windows Phone 7 news, reviews and videos:
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by Michael Fisher | March 11, 2014 12:03 PMRead OnEven at launch, there was nothing humble about the HTC HD2. With the largest screen ever grafted onto a smartphone, the first-of-its-kind Qualcomm Scorpion SoC, and the heaviest skin ever crafted for a Windows Mobile device (here called "HTC Sense" for the first time), the HD2 was a behemoth – the biggest spec beast ever devised. It married the touch-and-go simplicity of the iPhone with the power of WinMo 6 to produce the best Microsoft-powered smartphone anyone could ask for ... and back in 2009, there was no shortage of asking, with the device selling out repeatedly over its initial ...
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by Anton D. Nagy | November 9, 2013 2:47 AMRead OnMicrosoft has announced some improvements to its Xbox video catalogue. Great news, because, "this update will allow us to more quickly and efficiently add the highest quality video content to the Xbox Video service", says the official wording. How about collateral damage? Yes! Sadly, "as a result, beginning in late February 2014, any Xbox Video content you own as of then, will no longer be playable through the Zune PC client, Zune devices, or Windows Phone 7 devices." Microsoft apologizes for the inconvenience and lets all Windows Phone 7.x users still using the Zune app that content can ...
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by Anton D. Nagy | August 31, 2013 9:21 AMRead OnIf you have a Windows Phone 7 and you've always wanted the Facebook app that Windows Phone 8 users are now using, you can do it, as of today, thanks to Microsoft. The company has updated its Facebook Beta application to add support for Windows Phone 7. Grab it at the source below. If you're on Windows Phone 8 and are already using the Beta, make sure to update your client as the new version brings "performance improvements and bug fixes". It is visibly faster than the previous version, though not as fast as we'd like it to be. Source: Windows Phone Store
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by Adam Z. Lein | April 9, 2013 11:12 AMRead OnYou might be able to read that headline and interpret it as saying that everything in Windows Phone 8 has improved so much that the best part of the previous version is now the worst part of the latest version. Or you might read that as saying the best part of the previous version has been completely ruined in Windows Phone 8. The latter is going to be the case here. Let's start with what was in my opinion the best part of Windows Phone 7; the Music & Videos hub combined with the fantastic Zune Pass service. Back in 2010 there was nothing like it. Nothing else was as good at ...
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by Adam Doud | February 20, 2013 6:30 AMRead OnMicrosoft CFO Peter Klein recently had a chat with Reuters while attending the annual Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference. During this chat he mentioned that Microsoft was “very focused on continuing the success we have with PCs and taking that to tablets and phones." When asked, citing Microsoft’s relatively unimpressive 3% market share, if there was a ‘Plan B’ to their mobile strategy, Klein’s response was just as corporate mouthpiece-ish. "It's less 'Plan B' than how you execute on the current plan," said Klein. "We aim to evolve this generation of Windows to make ...
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by Adam Doud | February 13, 2013 7:00 AMRead OnSitting on the couch the other night, I saw a commercial that really piqued my interest. Lumia 920 from AT&T – buy one get one free. Holy Crow! That’s just the excuse that I’ve been looking for! Sure I’d have to go on contract again – I haven’t bought an AT&T phone since June of 2010 – but this might just be worth it. But wait. As much as a Lumia 920 would fulfill a good portion of my smart phone naughty dreams, is this REALLY the best time to pony up $100 and the next two years of my life on a new phone? Can the Lumia 920 still be considered a “new” phone? It ...
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by Taylor Martin | February 13, 2013 7:00 AMRead OnPart of me has always rooted for the underdog. I was a huge fan of webOS when I first caught wind of it; I loved Android long before it ever came to market; I pulled for MeeGo until it was evident the OS had no future with Nokia; and I'm currently rooting for Jolla's MeeGo-based Sailfish OS, Ubuntu Phone OS, Ubuntu for Android and Open webOS. While not all of these up-and-coming platforms will succeed, I continue to pull for them – they each have a golden nugget of potential. Some consider Windows Phone an established OS. I'm not so sure I agree – the platform has gained little ...
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by Jaime Rivera | January 25, 2013 2:03 PMRead OnAll companies go through rough times. You may not see them financially at first, but it's always a matter of time before the rest of the signs of decline reach their bottom line. We've been worried about Microsoft's performance lately. Whether it's about not being able to deliver compelling products, or having the compelling products not really deliver, it seems that all the corporate genius that was so well put together by Bill Gates is just there to cash a check and be polite. The irony is to have to worry about Microsoft's marketing strategy for Windows Phone. I mean, aren’t they ...
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by Anton D. Nagy | November 28, 2012 3:49 AMRead OnThat didn't take long, did it? Announced at the beginning of May, the Samsung Focus 2 has been available since May 20 and the Windows Phone 7.5 "Tango" update has also been out there for quite some time. However, Focus 2 owners on AT&T are just now getting a notification to install the refresh. After applying the update you will be prompted to install an additional refresh; when the process is complete the version numbers should read 2103.12.10.1 for the firmware and 2103.12.9.1 for the Radio. The "Tango" update was the one that Microsoft developed to allow Windows Phones with lower ...
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by Anton D. Nagy | November 18, 2012 1:58 AMRead On"We ran out of time", that's what Microsoft’s Thomas Fennel said at the Build conference when talking about a possible notification center for Windows Phone 8. As with the previous version of Microsoft's mobile operating system, the latest iteration doesn't sport a notification center to gather all of your toasts which, once they disappear after ten seconds, you can't bring back. While some might argue that the platform doesn't need one, the homebrew community disagrees. The video below is a demo of a fully working notification center for Windows Phone 7 --and claimed working on Windows ...
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by Anton D. Nagy | November 14, 2012 4:13 AMRead OnThe latest numbers from Garner are in for the third quarter of 2012, figures as of November 2012. Worldwide mobile phone sales are at 428 million units out of which 39.6 percent were smartphones, representing a 46.9 percent increase from the the same period of last year. Samsung managed to sell around 55 million smartphones in the third quarter of the year, and a total of 97,956,800 mobile phones. Together with Apple and its 23,550,300 smartphone units (up 36.2 percent year-on-year), the two companies "controlled 46.5 percent of smartphone market leaving a handful of vendors fighting ...
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by Michael Fisher | November 12, 2012 2:01 PMRead OnSeveral months back, I wrote a piece explaining why it's the rate plans, not device prices, that customers should focus on when buying subsidized smartphones in the U.S. That's because, while shelling out a mountain of dollars for a smartphone at a retail store feels a lot more costly than paying $80 a month for a wireless bill, the reality is that the monthly bill will cost you much more over the course of a two-year contract. I'm not sure people, as a whole, have gotten the point yet. That's probably because reality's hard to accept, companies obscure the true cost of their services, ...
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by Michael Fisher | November 5, 2012 2:15 PMRead OnWhen Microsoft's revamped smartphone OS -then called Windows Phone 7 Series- hit the market a little over two years ago, the mobile landscape was quite different than the one we know today. People were still bullish on new platforms; while iOS had long since found its feet, Android wasn't yet the juggernaut we know today. The market was also more diverse, with BlackBerry and Symbian fading but still important players, and webOS still a contender for "next big thing." The frontier was vibrant and alive with possibilities. All of the various players making up that frontier handled the ...
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by Michael Fisher | October 31, 2012 10:52 AMRead OnThe mobile world is no stranger to litigation, and 2012 has been a year pockmarked with legal battles of all shapes and sizes. While most of the action has centered around Apple and Samsung, today papers are being served on Microsoft, which just a few days ago unveiled its new Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 platforms. The complainant, SurfCast, is a self-proclaimed operating-system designer headquartered in Portland, Maine. The complaint centers around Windows' use of Live Tiles in the Metro Windows 8 Store Style layout, which SurfCast claims it developed. The company's website says the ...
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by Adam Z. Lein | October 21, 2012 11:43 AMRead OnOne of our Pocketnow fans and frequent readers named Ryan Gadz just released a new game for Windows Phone called Bonsai Golf Coral. He's really proud of it and we thought it would be nice to show him some support and show you what he's been up to. His new game is kind of a sequel to his first game called Bonsai Golf and basicaly each level is an interesting 3D mini-golf course where you have to aim the ball into the hole and also pick up a few extra starbursts along the way to get a higher score. There are all sorts of coral shapes, ramps, and turns to roll through, along with ...