Earlier this year, at the CES 2014, Asus announced the Transformer Duet which ran Android and Windows side by side. This was probably designed for those who wanted the best of both the worlds and it was quite a hit at the CES 2014. Even an Indian manufacturer – Micromax, announced a similar dual boot device – Micromax Laptab which was supposed to be available in February.
Category: Microsoft
Microsoft reportedly makes Windows Phone free for Indian partners
Microsoft would offer Windows Phone free, without any licensing fee for its Indian partners, according to a recent report from the Economic Times. Last month Microsoft announced nine new partners, that includes, Karbonn and Xolo from India. Karbonn recently announced that it would launch dual-boot phones in coming months. Xolo did not announce its plans for Windows Phone devices yet, but it recently unveiled Xolo Win, the company’s first Windows 8 tablet powered by AMD chip. Continue reading “Microsoft reportedly makes Windows Phone free for Indian partners”
Microsoft opens up Office 365 Android SDK
Microsoft has released the Office 365 software development kit for Android. With this, Microsoft is now opening up its SharePoint lists and files, Exchange contacts, mails and calendars to developers. Microsoft has made the preview available for download straight from GitHub.
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Meet Cortana, Microsoft’s Voice based Personal Assistant
Apple has Siri and Google has Google Now, what does Microsoft have? It had Bing search on its phones till now, but things are expected to change soon as the next version of Windows Phone – Windows Phone 8.1 which is expected during Spring will come with Microsoft’s very own voice based personal assistant and it will be called – Cortana.
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Microsoft’s top executives Bates and Reller to leave
It hasn’t been long since Satya Nadella took up his job as CEO of Microsoft and now, we have rumors that two of the company’s executives are leaving the company. According to reports from Recode, the company’s EVP of business development and evangelism Tony Bates and EVP of marketing Tami Reller are leaving the company.
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Hands on with the Nokia XL: Lumia 520 killer?
In a courageous and cunning move, Nokia launched its new series of Android devices under the X moniker, a ploy to capture the entry level Smartphone segment, which they had initially planned to capture with the Asha platform. Three devices at different price points were launched, with the XL being launched at a higher 109 EUR price point. Sporting hardware design from the Asha phones and software design from Lumia, Nokia wants to create familiarity to Windows Phone in the low end and hopes to catch aspiring buyers and make them move to their hopefully more profitable platform. But the pricing is treacherously close to their low end Lumias, which might just end up cannibalizing the sales of the latter, even when providing a choice with similar hardware. The XL, a 5 inch Android phone with almost the same or better specifications than the Lumia 520, poses a threat, or may be is it opportunity for Nokia and Microsoft?
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7lBS1eQZ2k
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BBM coming for Windows Phone and Nokia X platform
BBM made a lot of waves when it became a cross platform messaging service and arrived on iOS and Android smartphones. At that time, the only envious users who couldn’t get their hands on BBM were Windows Phone owners and now, looks like things are changing. BlackBerry Messaging service used to be a very popular service when BlackBerry was a popular smartphone OS and now, with Android and iOS leading the smartphone battle, the messaging apps have gathered in huge numbers.
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Nokia MWC 2014 Live Blog
FoneArena is live from Mobile World Congress 2014 in Barcelona and we are live blogging the Nokia Press Conference where Nokia is expected to announce an Android Phone. Catch all the action here as the news breaks in our live blog below. This is the first time Nokia is hosting a press conference at Mobile World Congress after the acquisition by Microsoft. This might possibly be the last ever Nokia press conference at MWC as the take over deal completes. So lets see what Nokia has got up its sleeve.
Facebook Messenger for Windows Phone coming soon
Joe Belfiore, Vice President of Windows Phone has just announced Facebook Messenger for Windows Phone, at the Microsoft’s press & analyst event at the MWC 2014. The app is expected to go live in a few weeks. Even though Facebook would acquire WhatsApp, it said both the Facebook Messenger and the WhatsApp would not merge. Continue reading “Facebook Messenger for Windows Phone coming soon”
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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Dual SIM support coming soon to Windows Phone
Get ready for Dual SIM Windows Phones people ! At Mobile World Congress 2014 here in Barcelona, Microsoft announced that it is adding support for Dual-SIM functionality in Windows Phone with an upcoming update. This is heavily requested feature amongst users especially in India and China.Dual SIM smartphones are extremely popular in India and that is one of the main reasons that Windows Phone has failed to catch up with the ever expanding Android smartphone market. With support for Dual SIM cards, Microsoft can now compete with Google in the mid-range dual SIM smartphone market. One example of a hugely successful Dual SIM device is the Motorola MotoG which went on sale in India recently.
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Microsoft’s SkyDrive is now OneDrive
Microsoft was involved in a Trademark fight over the name “SkyDrive” and it lost. So, they had to rebrand it and from now on, Microsoft’s SkyDrive will be called as “Microsoft OneDrive”. Microsoft’s OneDrive is one among the many cloud storage options offered by big companies of the Internet – Google offers Google Drive, Dropbox, Box and many others.
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?
Windows Phone 8.1 leak confirms SD card installation support, VPN and universal apps
Windows Phone 8.1 might be unveiled to the public only in April at the Build developer event, but some enterprising developers have already been able to get a preview of the SDK, as reported earlier by TheVerge. We had expected more information to pop up once it became available, and thanks to a redditor, who claims to be a high-profile WP app developer(there is proof), some details of the next big update to Microsoft’s mobile platform have leaked. While most of the details are developer-oriented, some of the long standing consumer complaints seem to have been resolved, like the support for installation of apps on the SD card, VPN support and the start of universal apps for Windows Store and Windows Phone Store.