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by Stephen Schenck | May 2, 2013 3:57 PMRead OnWith the exception of Nokia and its Lumia 520 and 720 models, the last few months have been pretty quiet when it comes to new Windows Phone hardware. There have been plenty of rumors about what might be next, and today we get to hear a few new ones, with some claims attempting to round-up what hardware will be arriving in the near future. Now, this info comes from a Reddit thread, and while it's posted with some authority, we really can't attest to just how accurate any of it is; as such, please don't take any of this as gospel. We've already talked a lot about Nokia's EOS and Catwalk ...
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by Stephen Schenck | May 1, 2013 5:23 PMRead OnOne 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 ...
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by Stephen Schenck | May 1, 2013 4:36 PMRead OnIt's no secret that we're seriously jazzed about T-Mobile's crazy-affordable pricing for Nokia's Lumia 521, selling the Windows Phone 8 handset for a scant $150. As we've mentioned when discussing this bargain, that's quite a bit less than what the international 520 has been going for, which we've seen more up around the $200 mark. Luckily for all of you not situated in the States, it looks like Lumia 520 prices are starting to come down to meet the 521's, with Canada's Koodo Mobile pricing its 520 at the same $150. Granted, those are Canadian dollars, but with the exchange rate what it ...
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by Michael Fisher | May 1, 2013 1:16 PMRead OnNot all of us have read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, so not all of us were exactly qualified to make the lame joke that kicks off this week's podcast. But we made it, and we stand behind it. Because as hundreds of fifth-rate "manufacturers" well know, sometimes you just have to fake it. But we're not talking about secondhand knockoff products in this episode of the Weekly. Rather, we get serious about octa-core comparisons, the till-recently-mythical HTC M4, the insanely cheap new Lumia out of Finland, and just how tired we are or aren't of the Samsung Galaxy S 4. In between, we ...
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by Michael Fisher | May 1, 2013 7:01 AMRead OnYou'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 ...
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by Jaime Rivera | April 30, 2013 7:00 PMRead OnWatch 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. ...
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by Stephen Schenck | April 30, 2013 5:12 PMRead OnWe just got done telling you about the new Facebook beta for Windows Phone 8 that Microsoft is trying to get some users interested in beta testing. That's great news on its own, but in revealing the new version of the app, did Microsoft just show its cards regarding the rumored new resolution support for the platform? The screenshots of the Facebook beta Microsoft provided sure look nice, but they don't seem to accurately reflect how the app appears on currently-available Windows Phone handsets. Check out the comparison above, with one of Microsoft's pics on the left, and a shot of the ...
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by Stephen Schenck | April 30, 2013 2:34 PMRead OnAs 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 ...
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by Stephen Schenck | April 30, 2013 11:37 AMRead OnLight-field cameras have the potential to revolutionize digital imaging. Brought to the commercial market by Lytro last year, the tech lets users snap a picture once, and then choose how to focus the image using software after the fact. We've already heard that Toshiba was working on developing the same sort of process in a form small enough for inclusion in smartphones, but today we turn our attention to Nokia, which is planning to invest in a light-field company with the intent of outfitting future Lumias with such next-gen cameras. Nokia Growth Partners, the company's investment ...
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by Stephen Schenck | April 29, 2013 1:14 PMRead OnPromotion 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 ...
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by Stephen Schenck | April 25, 2013 8:03 PMRead OnWindows 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. ...
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by Stephen Schenck | April 25, 2013 4:58 PMRead OnSprint is finally coming around to Windows Phone 8, and will belatedly embrace the platform as it adds two WP8 models to its lineup this summer. Rumors have suggested that these two initial handsets will be Samsung's ATIV S, which got sort of a bum rap when it first launched in spite of being a pretty attractive higher-end WP8 model, along with the HTC model we've been referring to as codename Tiara. As we wait to get confirmation on the carrier's plans, some evidence of a new HTC Windows Phone handset for Sprint has begun to surface, possibly backing up this Tiara rumor. One app's server ...
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by Stephen Schenck | April 25, 2013 3:16 PMRead OnNokia's Lumia 521 is coming to T-Mobile. We heard earlier this month that the phone would launch sometime in May, and at the time speculated a little about the smartphone's pricing. After all, this whole UNcarrier thing is new for T-Mobile, and we're still learning what to expect. We guessed that maybe it might go for $50 upfront on the carrier's installment plan, followed by some pretty low payments themselves. Well, today we finally get the details about the launch we were waiting for, and the pricing is even a little hard for us to believe: the Lumia 521 will sell for just about $150. ...
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by Stephen Schenck | April 25, 2013 12:23 PMRead OnThese last few months have had Nokia sitting on a whole bunch of rumored hardware. We wondered if we might get news of models like the metallic Catwalk or the PureView Lumia EOS at MWC, but the only new Lumias to surface then were the lower-end 720 and 520. When are we going to get to see the rest of this stuff? Well, we just might get our chance in a few weeks, as Nokia has just started distributing invitations to a May 14 London event. Make no mistake - this won't be another Asha announcement like that QWERTY model the company teased. We're absolutely going to learn about something in ...
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by Stephen Schenck | April 23, 2013 5:05 PMRead OnYesterday we found out that Nokia had won itself an injunction against the continued use of the high-dynamic-range microphone components it had contracted from STMicroelectronics in the HTC One. At the time, all we knew was that it appeared that STMicroelectronics had overstepped its authority in selling these parts to HTC for use in the One. Now we're starting to get some more details into just what happened. Apparently, STMicroelectronics has a twelve-month exclusive contract with Nokia for the part in question, one that was first used in the Lumia 720 – so the microphones in the Lumia ...
Posts tagged with: Windows Phone 8