Tag: Microsoft

Windows Phone app store crosses 100,000 apps

At the Windows Phone Summit, Microsoft informed devs that the app store has crossed 100,000 apps. With the upcoming shared core between Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8, we should expect a much more exciting app scene for Windows Phone. Developers are now free to use native code for development making it easier to port apps to Windows Phone.

“Lumia customers can expect thousands more apps to be introduced across Windows Phone platform. The announcements underline the progress Nokia is making with the Lumia family of smartphones and in building a winning ecosystem with Microsoft. It shows how the Windows Phone experience continues to evolve at a faster pace than the competition and how Nokia’s continued investments in great location-based services benefit partners, developers and consumers.”

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jsLcPFlM9M

Microsoft is making a lot of under-the-hood changes to allow developers access to more features. Case in point, speech recognition will be available for each and every app to use. Easier development means more and better apps which in the end is great for consumers.

Video : Microsoft demos new Windows Phone 8 start screen

To better demonstrate the new start screen on Windows Phone 8 devices, Microsoft has uploaded a short video demo. While i was personally quite skeptical at first, the new layout definitely seems to be better in terms of displaying notifications.

Continue reading “Video : Microsoft demos new Windows Phone 8 start screen”

Current Windows Phone devices to get WP 7.8 update with new start screen

Windows Phone users who are feeling shafted post the Windows Phone 8 announcement can sleep a bit easier tonight. While they still won’t be getting the complete update due to the sweeping changes in the backend, they will still get the new user interface which is one of the more obvious changes in the OS.

The new interface allows users to resize app tiles. Three specific sizes have been defined by Microsoft. Small, Medium and large which would correspond to  1×1 , 2×2 and 4×2  in terms of spaces on the icon grid. Unfortunately apps compiled just for Windows Phone 8 will not be backwards compatible which doesn’t bode too well for current users. In addition there are expected to be some other Windows Phone 8 features which should make their way back to the WP 7.8 update which the company will reveal closer to launch.  Continue reading “Current Windows Phone devices to get WP 7.8 update with new start screen”

Microsoft Surface Tablet Video

Here is a video teaser of the just announced Microsoft Surface Tablet . Will the iPad finally see some competition from Windows Tablets and has Microsoft finally managed to get it right in the tablet arena ? Give the video a look after the jump. Continue reading “Microsoft Surface Tablet Video”

Microsoft announces 10.6″ Surface Tablet

At an event in Los Angeles, Microsoft has just announced its first tablet called the Surface. The screen is a 10.6″ unit and is covered by Gorilla Glass. Something unique is that the tablet comes with an inbuilt kickstand.

Continue reading “Microsoft announces 10.6″ Surface Tablet”

Rumor : Office for iPad and Android to debut in November

After the purported leak of an iPad version of Office in February , rumors have existed that the extremely popular software might be making an appearance on tablets soon. Speaking to a source ,  BGR reports that long awaited app might be making its debut on both the iPad and Android tablets sometime in November.

Continue reading “Rumor : Office for iPad and Android to debut in November”

Microsoft confirms WP7 app compatibility with Windows Phone 8

Via a blog post , Microsoft’s Larry Lieberman reassured developers around the world and confirmed that all current Windows Phone apps will continue working with future versions of the fledgling operating system. Backwards compatibility is a sign of “commitment to the developers” according to Lieberman.

Continue reading “Microsoft confirms WP7 app compatibility with Windows Phone 8”

Windows Phone Tango to up multitasking limit to 8 apps

Microsoft has been trying to put across the point that the Tango update will be fairly minor and aims to bring down the requirement levels to be able to launch lower end hardware without compromising the experience. What it hasn’t told anyone is that due to the reduced hardware requirements , current hardware will be able to perform better. Keeping this in mind , Microsoft has increased the limit for apps allowed to multitask to 8.

Continue reading “Windows Phone Tango to up multitasking limit to 8 apps”

Google+ for Windows Phone in the works

Google+ was launched by Google last year, now it has around 90 million people registered on it, and its apps are available on both Android and iOS, though the Android version has more set of features. Google had earlier said that they are working on Google+ application for all the major operating systems including Blackberry O.S. Now, news is that Google is working on the WIndows Phone version and it may be out pretty soon.

Continue reading “Google+ for Windows Phone in the works”

Aviary photo editing tech now coming to Windows Phone

Aviary photo editing tools which powers the likes of imgur , Halftone and Rockmelt is going to be available to Windows Phone developers soon. Aviary lets app and web developers add photo editing functionality for free to their apps.

Continue reading “Aviary photo editing tech now coming to Windows Phone”

Native code , Support for more languages coming to Windows Phone ?

Windows Phone fansite , WPSauce , reporting live from the Windows Phone Dev Camp in India says that future versions of Windows Phone will support upto 120 languages. Equally interesting is the news that C++ native code support will be coming to Windows Phone in the near future.

Continue reading “Native code , Support for more languages coming to Windows Phone ?”

[Updated] Nokia publishes Q4 2011 results , Sells over 1 million Lumia smartphones

Nokia just published their Q4 2011 results with predictably dropping sales. What is interesting to note is that the Finnish cellphone manufacturer managed to sell over 1  million Lumia devices. Sales are 31% lower than the same quarter last year essentially selling 19.6 million units. These numbers however are 17% up since Q3 2011.

Continue reading “[Updated] Nokia publishes Q4 2011 results , Sells over 1 million Lumia smartphones”

Nokia might have shipped over 1 million Lumia smartphones last year

Bloomberg reports that if analyst figures are to be believed , the Nokia Lumia series of handsets might have shipped in excess of 1million handsets so far. The figure was achieved by taking an average of the input from 22 different analysts , in other words it should be taken with a pinch of salt.
Continue reading “Nokia might have shipped over 1 million Lumia smartphones last year”