Itching to get your hands on the latest build of Windows Phone 8.1 and really don’t want to wait till your carrier pushes out the update? Microsoft has made it easy for you. Starting April 14th, you’ll be able to download the update as a preview release. Continue reading “Windows Phone 8.1 update to be available as developer preview starting April 14th”
Tag: windows phone
Micromax joins the Windows Phone party, devices coming soon
Micromax, one of the top smartphone players in the Indian market, was rumoured to get into the Windows Phone game for a long time. We had expected the name to pop up when Microsoft announced new partners in India like Xolo, Lava and Karbonn, but it didn’t until now, when Microsoft revealed additional two partners, Micromax and Prestigio, at their Build 2014 keynote. Micromax now joins a big list of partners who are committed to bring Windows Phone 8.1 devices into the market. Bringing a seismic change of sorts to the ecosystem, the Windows Phone 8.1 update enables better hardware compatibility, with which a reference device from Qualcomm was developed. Adding on-screen button support and increased chipset compatibility has enabled players like Micromax to join the Windows Phone ecosystem.
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Windows Phone 8.1 is official, brings Cortana and a ton of new features
Microsoft has finally revealed Windows Phone 8.1, the long awaited update to its mobile platform. Packing lots and lots of new features, the operating system finally gets up to speed in several departments. Starting from the action center, the parallax wallpapers to Cortana, the intelligent digital assistant, it would be safe to say that the OS has finally come of age. It may be a little late, but it is definitely not a little minor update, as it brings with it the potential to change the ecosystem of devices it runs on. The update, announced today, will be available for all Windows Phone 8 devices in the coming months, while enthusiasts can get a hold of this update in the first half of April. Besides that, the OS will come pre-installed on all the new Windows Phone devices, including the just announced Nokia Lumia 930 and the Lumia 635 and the Lumia 630 Dual SIM phone.
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Xbox One Smartglass beta previews support for OneGuide and Universal Remote
Xbox One, the latest gaming console from Microsoft, surprised a few by being the first console to have HDMI input for TV, and support for a unified TV channel guide, with voice activated navigation. The voice commands, using the next generation Kinect, might have performed well enough for most, but there is a better way to control the console now. Smartglass, the app that acts as the second screen input for Xbox One, is now in a separate beta channel which lets users preview the new and upcoming features. Amongst the latest features that are going to be added to this app later are support for One Guide, the channel guide that was initially usable only on the console, and a universal remote that can give out commands through the Kinect’s IR blaster.
Read more: Xbox One release date in India
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Microsoft partners with 9 more manufacturers for more Windows Phones
One of the main reasons that Windows Phones haven’t sold as much as Android smartphones is because of the lack of manufacturers. At launch, Microsoft had only a handful of manufacturers and as Windows Phone grew, the number of manufacturers shrunk and at one point, Microsoft bought out Nokia, which was probably the only company making Windows Phones.
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Bing Health & Fitness Beta app available on Windows Phone Store
Lack of popular apps doesn’t seem to be a problem anymore for the Windows Phone platform as they have lots of applications from the Google Play Store and Apple App Store. They happen to have some exclusives for the platform and a fitness application exclusive for Windows Phones comes from the creators of Windows Phone themselves.
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Microsoft reportedly discussing support for Android apps on Windows Phone and Windows
Microsoft is in discussions to add support for Android apps in Windows and Windows Phone, according to a report from TheVerge. Sources have told TheVerge that Microsoft is serious about bringing Android apps to both its platforms, but the discussions are still ongoing and nothing is concrete yet. The ongoing talks currently point to adding Android apps in the Windows Phone and Windows Stores, according to the report, which will inadvertently boost the app numbers, something that Microsoft really needs. Windows Phone and Windows have been second thoughts for any new developer looking at developing an app, and at most of the times, there are not enough resources to dedicate for a third platform, so will Android apps support on Windows and Windows Phone make sense?
Notification Center for Windows Phone 8.1 spotted in fresh leak
A new leak doing the rounds today is giving us a first glimpse of what is expected to be the notification center in Windows Phone 8.1 . Obtained from a confidential slide deck sent internally at Microsoft, the notification center will be dubbed ‘Action Center’ but will pack all the functionality that we’ve come to expect from such a feature.
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Microsoft invests $15mn in Foursquare, enters deal for licensing data
Foursquare, the popular location-based social network, has just received a 15 million dollar investment from Microsoft. This equity investment from the Redmond company comes after a successful $35mn round of VC funding for the New York based Startup in December last year, reports the Wall Street Journal. Along with this fresh investment, Microsoft has also entered into a multi-year deal with Foursquare for licensing its vast location-based data. This will apparently be put to use in its Search Engine Bing, and naturally in Windows Phone too, as an extension. Foursquare has a massive point of interest database that’s heavily crowd sourced with tips, check ins, comments and so forth, hence we think this deal is a biggie for Microsoft.
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FlappyBird to introduce the sensation of rage quit to Windows Phone soon
FlappyBird is coming soon to Windows Phone, possibly in just 10 more days, if the developer’s tweet is to be believed. The recent mobile sensation is a frustratingly simple game with intentionally clunky physics that has taken over the world for its difficulty in scoring. It’s also been made into Internet memes and is hugely popular with the young crowd for the ability to make people “Rage quit” the game in frustration. Like all new releases, this game too evades support for Windows Phone, but if the developer’s tweet is to believed, this game will likely be landing on Windows Phone really soon.
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Android runs on 79% of 2013 smartphones, Windows Phone posts fastest growth
It’s the numbers season, with various analysis groups releasing their take on the smartphone market for the whole year of 2013. We saw the IDC report recently that the Smartphone market has crossed the 1 billion threshold. In that lineup, we have Canalys reporting that Android dominated 2013 with almost 80% of that whole Smartphone market in 2013, and amongst them, Windows Phone posted the fastest growth, with a 69% rise YoY between the three major platforms. Both Android’s meteoric rise to the top and Windows Phone’s slow rise from the bottom are pretty much known quantities now, but some of the numbers are interesting. The second biggest platform, Apple’s iOS, has almost stagnated with only 7% growth by losing marketshare, whereas Android is steadily growing at 54%, a good 10% above the market growth percentage. This technically means that Android will reach its maximum in about 2 or 3 years if it and the market retains the growth pattern. Yes, it can happen only at the expense of gobbling up other platform’s shares but it begs this question. Will we we start to see saturation in the Smartphone market soon?
Continue reading “Android runs on 79% of 2013 smartphones, Windows Phone posts fastest growth”
Windows Phone 8.1 rumoured to arrive in April
Windows Phone 8.1 codenamed “Blue” has been rumoured for a long time now, ever since Microsoft confirmed the existence of Windows 8.1(also codenamed “Blue”). While Windows 8.1 has seen its release right on time, with a developer preview in June last year and commercial release by October, we are yet to see even a glimpse of Windows Phone 8.1, which we were hoping to be delivered as fast as the first Windows 8 update. Now, fresh rumours from reliable Mary Jo Foley, ZDNet, reveal that Windows Phone is all set for a April reveal, with developers getting the preview first and general availability later. This comes after rumours of a Cortana reveal, which is a virtual assistant and very much a part of Windows Phone that coincides with Microsoft’s developer event at the same time – Build 2014.
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GTA San Andreas makes its way onto Windows Phone with a select few supported devices
Grand Theft Auto is possibly one of the most controversial yet celebrated game franchises in the history of gamerkind. The company behind the series, Rockstar games, started releasing, or letting others port its games over to mobile platforms like iOS and Android. GTA III and Vice City released on both the platforms while availability still evaded the third ecosystem – Windows Phone. But when the company announced San Andreas for mobile, Windows Phone was surprisingly in the mix of platforms supported. Keeping up that promise, the company, through Wardrum studios which developed the iOS and Android versions, has made the game available on the Windows Phone store. However, the game is listed to support only a select few devices at the moment and costs a cool 6.99 USD. Head past the break for more details, and here is a gameplay video of us playing GTA San Andreas on a mobile platform –
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0M8uVs0iCpo
Asphalt 8: Airborne goes free on Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8
Following the freemium model on other platforms, Gameloft has made its premier racing franchise Asphalt 8: Airborne free for Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8 in their respective app stores. Featuring a lot of premium cars and race tracks, the Asphalt 8 game is something we have repeatedly featured in our gaming reviews, as it serves as a decent benchmark for graphics performance. With a lot of nicely modeled tracks out of the box and a solid career mode, the popular game series continues its victory lap with Asphalt 8. Here’s a gameplay video on the Nokia Lumia 1520 –
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8telNGFfRkI
Continue reading “Asphalt 8: Airborne goes free on Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8”
Tell me voice assistant aka Cortana rumoured to launch on Windows Phone this April
Long rumoured voice assistant, codenamed “Cortana”, is all set to make its beta appearance on Windows Phone, starting April 2014, according to a very credible source – @msftnerd. The Siri-like feature is reportedly voiced by Jen Taylor, who actually did the voice acting for Cortana, an AI character in the hit game-series “Halo”. The voice assistant, which might carry the name “Bing Tell me”, will launch for developers, in beta, in April, which coincides with the Build 2014 Developer event by Microsoft. “Build” is where Microsoft plans to unveil information about the next release of Windows, codenamed Threshold.