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Coke Studio @MTV app released for Windows Phone and Windows 8

The hugely popular Coke Studio show that airs on MTV India has got its app on the Windows Phone and Windows 8 platforms. With the recent push of local apps on the Windows platform, it isn’t a surprise to see another cool entrant from the Indian pop culture scene. The app is free and available for download on the Windows Phone Store for WP8 devices and on Windows Store for all Windows 8 and RT devices. The show, running in its 3rd season, got big names like Rahman and Ram Sampath for the latest one, which created excellent songs and garnered some insane attention. The app will let you download audio as well as video from inside, and is powered by the Microsoft Azure cloud technology.

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Microsoft to merge Windows Phone and Windows 8 app stores

At a company meeting today, Microsoft evidently let out news that the Windows Phone Store and Windows Store will be merged into a single app store. Terry Myserson who heads the operating systems group confirmed the news at an internal meeting. First reported by The Verge and confirmed by our own sources, Myserson confirmed that the changes will appear over the next few releases of Windows and Windows Phone. The next major update for Windows is expected later this year called Windows 8.1. A similar update for Windows Phone called Windows Phone 8.1 will follow it.

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Microsoft announces refreshed accessories for new Surface tablets

Microsoft just announced the new generation Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2. Not only did Microsoft refresh their tablet lineup, they also announced new and updated accessories for the new generation tablets. Some of the new accessories include Touch Cover 2, Type Cover 2, Wireless Adapter for Typing covers and the Power Cover. Continue reading “Microsoft announces refreshed accessories for new Surface tablets”

Microsoft unveils Surface 2 – Tegra 4, Full HD screen and Silver option, starting $449

Microsoft has announced its refresh of the Surface devices today, with the new Surface 2, the Surface Pro 2 and a whole lot of updated accessories. The Surface 2 is the updated version of Surface RT, running on the much criticized Windows RT platform. Last year, it was meant as one of the first entries into the ARM territory for Microsoft, and this year, without much change in the strategy, Microsoft has done a Spec bump to the older version. The new Surface 2 runs on a Tegra 4 Quad Core processor, a full HD Clear Type 1080p screen, a two-step kickstand for better usage on the lap and even a second colour option in Silver. They also claim that it is thinner and lighter than the original Surface.

Read about the Surface Pro 2 here

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Nokia Lumia 929 heading to Verizon, leak shows off 20MP camera and Windows Phone GDR3

What you see above is a leaked press image of the Nokia Lumia 929, a device heading to the Verizon network in USA, exclusively. The image comes via @evleaks who has a good track record of getting it right. So, assuming the name is right, the Lumia 929 sports a 20 Megapixel PureView Camera on its back, which is purportedly the same one that is coming up on the Lumia 1520 too. The device also looks to have a polycarbonate matte body, which looks similar to the one on the Lumia 720.

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Windows Phone retains the position as India’s second largest smartphone OS with 5.4% marketshare

It’s been almost an year since Windows Phone 8 launched, but the growth has seen a spike only recently, with the Nokia Lumia 520 becoming the most popular Windows Phone, not just in India, but the world. India has definitely been a tough market to crack for anything other than Android. Even with the huge marketing and retail push by Nokia, the most trusted brand in India for quite a number of years, Windows Phone is just at 5.4% of the whole Smartphone market. With iOS and BlackBerry contributed even lesser, Android rules the market with more than 84% marketshare at least.

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Official IRCTC apps for Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8 announced in partnership with Microsoft

This might be the biggest coup for Microsoft in India. IRCTC, the notorious Indian Railways train ticket booking website known for its crashes and slowness under usual heavy Indian loads has received an exclusive app for the Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8 platforms, developed in partnership with Microsoft. This app will naturally let you book tickets, make PNR enquiries, check booking and cancellation histories and more. But the most important catch here is that the app will not be able to book tickets between 08:00 to 12:00 or 23:30 to 00:30 hrs of any day. This is presumably to reduce the expected additional load from mobile devices in the peak booking times, due to this app. You can download the app for Windows 8 here (link now LIVE) and Windows Phone 8 here.

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Nokia Lumia 925 Review

The Nokia Lumia 925 was launched in London a few months back, as the company’s answer to all the issues related to the Lumia 920. Concerns of bulk, thickness and similar looking design were addressed, with the Lumia 925 sporting a new Aluminium based design, a thinner and lighter build, bringing along some needed changes. The Lumia 920 was already a well rounded flagship smartphone, and with Nokia supposedly fixing all of its issues in the 925, does it make it the best Windows Phone currently available in the market? Our detailed review might help answering that question, read on.

Video Review

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKjcWbwpJc8

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Why the Microsoft – Nokia acquisition happened

Nokia and Microsoft just ended their joint press conference, in an effort to explain the acquisition the companies announced earlier today. As with any major announcement, especially with a brand like Nokia which invokes a lot of emotion, the reactions were predictably…. emotional. Risto Siilasma probably said it best, at the joint Nokia press conference in Finland – The acquisition is “Rationally perfect, emotionally complicated.” which we wholeheartedly agree with. But what drove the companies towards this deal? Why did Microsoft buy Nokia? What’s in it for both the companies? We try to explain with two points of views, read on.

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Gameloft announces Asphalt 8, Dungeon Hunter 4 and more games for Windows Phone 8 devices

Gameloft have officially announced that they will be joining hands with Microsoft to bring some of their gaming titles to Microsoft’s Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 platform. The lack of popular titles in the Games section of Windows Store has been of concern, but now Microsoft seem to have brought some life.

gameloft-windows

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Nokia Lumia 1020 Unboxing, AT&T Unlocked Version

The Nokia Lumia 1020 just arrived at FoneArena today and guess what, we managed to get hold of a unlocked unit from a US retailer. The device is currently exclusive sold only on AT&T in USA and Nokia is yet to launch the SIM-free/unlocked version in USA or any other market but how can you get one ? Read on to find out. This is indeed the Lumia 1020 for AT&T with the carrier branding but the good thing is it can accept any GSM SIM card, be it T-Mobile, Airtel or Vodafone. This supports LTE on AT&T but would work over 3G, HSPA in many countries including India. The device has evolved from the 808 PureView which was running on Symbian and subsequently the Lumia 920 which was one of the first Windows phones with a PureView camera. Today we have a combination of the best of the imaging from the 808 and 920, improved leaps and bounds, and delivered in the form of the Lumia 1020. So go ahead and watch the first unboxing of the Lumia 1020 camera phone in India only on FoneArena –

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzasTCeKUoM

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There Are Six Major Problems with Windows Phone, and Apps Isn’t One of Them

I keep running into this same sentence, over and over again “Windows Phone lacks apps”. Every single review of a Lumia for example ends with the same foregone conclusion: “it’s a great phone but there are no apps”. I usually shake my head at this statement, but the recent talks about Nokia blaming Microsoft and the lack of apps have me worried.

If anyone — at Nokia, or elsewhere — thinks that this is the culprit behind Windows Phone’s failure to gain market traction, then they’re clearly disillusioned. It’s not as if the release of Instagram will be the magical panacea to the platform’s issues.

While the app problem is partly true, it is in no way, shape or form, the sole reason why Windows Phone isn’t gaining traction. As a matter of fact, you will likely find 80-90% of the same or equivalent apps that you are used to on Android or iOS, and the community is very active — and creative — in trying to fill the remaining gap, so the app problem is only minor, if anything.

Windows Phone’s issues run way deeper than that. The apps are a symptom of the problem, an outward expression of it, if you will, but they are not the underlying cause. And while I don’t claim to be an expert on mobile phone markets and strategies, there are six problems I can see with Windows Phone that I will explain below.

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Bing gets a facelift on Windows Phone, adds new design and features

bing-1

Bing, Microsoft’s answer to Google, is the default search app on Windows Phone with a dedicated key. The service received a substantial upgrade with the Windows Phone 8 update that brought panoramic quick access to relevant stories at that point in time. Otherwise the results have been similar since the inception of the OS and that has finally changed, with the new rollout that has started for the Bing Search app in Windows Phone. The new update brings a new layout and new features based on the Bing Neural network that works similar to the Knowledge graph from Google.

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Halo: Spartan Assault lands on the Windows Phone and Windows 8 Stores

halo-concept-art

Halo has been a celebrated game franchise that was popularized during the original Xbox era. People had longed for a similar gaming experience on other Microsoft devices as the company slowly brought their different divisions together, and to much surprise, Microsoft’s own 343 game studio announced Halo: Spartan Assault for Windows 8 and Windows Phone. A trailer that was revealed along with the announcement showed off a much different type of gameplay, based in the Halo universe. And today, it has landed on the Windows Phone store at $6.99, and for the same amount, you can grab it for Windows 8 here, while watching the trailer below –

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxsYQtltOco

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Here’s what Microsoft did to accommodate Nokia Lumia 1020’s 41 MP camera on a Windows Phone

joe-belfiore-kevin-shields-nokia-lumia-1020-windows-phone

So, the official Windows Blog has published a Q&A between Nokia’s Kevin Shields and Microsoft’s Joe Belfiore to explain an interesting doubt we’ve been having. What did Microsoft have to do, to accommodate the monstrosity of a sensor’s data into the Windows Phone’s pipes, especially when considering the fact that the MSM8960 chip actually cannot handle more than 20MPs of sensor data. So, how did Nokia do it, and what did Microsoft do to help Nokia bring this technology to Windows Phone? Lets find out what Joe Belfiore and Kevin Shields have to say, minus the extra crap from their Q&A. Read on.

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