Nokia Lumia Icon shows up on Verizon's site
The Lumia 929 is, without a doubt, the worst kept secret in Nokia's recent history. Pictures of the new Windows Phone have appeared numerous times, leaving nothing to the imagination. Furthermore, the handset even went on sale in China, at a local online retailer with its Verizon branding, ahead of its official launch.
Also ahead of its official launch, the Lumia Icon -- known as the Lumia 929 -- has appeared on Verizon's site, revealing every detail that one might want to know about the device. As you may have read so far, this Windows Phone is allegedly a big red-exclusive offering.
MusicTube for Windows Phone 8 downloads audio content from YouTube videos
For a long time, dedicated websites and apps have been able to separate the audio content in YouTube videos, in order for users to download it for offline playback. Even the full-blown YouTube app that was developed by Microsoft for Windows Phone offered a similar feature, which allowed users to grab the whole video instead and store it on their smartphone.
Ripping the audio from YouTube videos can come in handy for those who want to enjoy their favorite tracks, but may find themselves in areas without good-enough cellular coverage for YouTube streaming. I have experienced this scenario first-hand while traveling. For Windows Phone users, there are a couple of apps that can get this job done, with MusicTube being one of the most appealing choices.
FIFA 13 for Windows Phone 8 no longer exclusive to Nokia -- but there is a catch
The BetaNews team is quite diverse, hailing from various places around the world. While this can lead to subtle nuances, such as extra U's in some words or unknown slang, a larger (playful) dispute is what is true Football. After all, in Europe, "football" is what we American's call soccer -- we view football as the NFL -- pig skin, helmets and pituitary cases.
With this in mind, EA did a smart thing by not putting the word "football" in the title of its soccer game, FIFA 2013. This causes neither side of the pond to feel alienated. However, there was a group that may have felt slighted -- non-Nokia Windows Phone 8 owners. Sadly, the game was an exclusive to the Finnish company's handsets, until today. Yes, more Windows Phone users have access to the game, but there is a catch.
Best social apps for your Windows Phone
Mobile devices have completely transformed the way we connect with others. We can chat from anywhere these days, assuming there is an Internet connection available. What was once primarily aimed at browsers and traditional PCs has since fully embraced mobile computing, or vanished. There are also new, mobile-friendly apps and services that leverage features offered by smart devices to offer more personal and private ways to reach friends, family, coworkers and other folks.
For social butterflies Windows Phone has quite a lot to offer. The tiled smartphone operating system neatly integrates with popular services like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, allowing users to easily post updates from within their Me tile, see what others are doing and respond to their activity on said social networks in the People hub. But there are also dedicated apps available in Store that offer more, and we are going to take a look at the best of them in this article.
Nokia announces Lumia Black update roll out
Finnish maker Nokia has announced the Lumia Black update roll out for its Windows Phone 8 smartphone lineup. The latest software upgrade, which is set to first reach the Lumia 1020 and Lumia 925, is based on Windows Phone 8 Update 3, and adds a number of exclusive features.
Nokia's official announcement comes nearly three months after Microsoft took the wraps off Windows Phone 8 Update 3. The latest version of the tiled smartphone operating system brings an orientation lock, support for quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processors and 1080p displays and an extra live tile column on phablet screens, as the most important changes. Now let's take a look at what Nokia adds on top of this.
Best apps for your Windows Phone
With the rise in popularity of Windows Phone, the Store has reached an important milestone as more than 200,000 apps are now available. That is good news and certainly impressive for the third-most popular smartphone platform, considering its track record. However, such numbers are actually meaningless as users do not install, or need, every available title. It is the quality, and not the quantity, that matters.
And, of all available Windows Phone apps, only a small part can be considered essential, or the best for most people. Those are the titles that can enrich the user experience, and add great value atop of what the tiled smartphone operating system offers. So without further ado, here are the must-have apps for your Windows Phone.
Windows Phone 8 gets Xbox Music and Video, but do users love the new apps?
In a new attempt to level the playing field between Windows Phone 8 and its main rivals, iOS and Android, Microsoft has launched the Xbox Music and Xbox Video apps for its tiled smartphone operating system. The two offerings complement the existing functionality and add more options to purchase and consume content.
Until now, Microsoft provided no option for Windows Phone 8 users to purchase or rent movies from their smartphones. Xbox Video adds these features, alongside content streaming and download. Users have access to both popular movies and TV shows, like Fast & Furious 6 and Family Guy. For the latter category, the app allows them to get a Season Pass, that will automatically add new episodes to the user's collection.
Citrix releases GoToMeeting for Windows Phone 8
Citrix has launched GoToMeeting for Windows Phone 8, an app which allows users to create or join online meetings from their smartphone. The popular solution arrives in Store following its release on Windows, OS X, iOS and Android, and is one of the latest high-profile releases on the platform alongside Instagram, Vine and others.
The Windows Phone 8 version of the app allows users to join a meeting or webinar either by entering the Meeting ID or tapping a link included in a calendar appointment or email. GoToMeeting can show "whatever the presenter shares on-screen", including presentations and reports, and supports gestures like pinch to zoom (for content).
Nokia Motion Monitor turns your Lumia 1520 into an activity tracker
Finnish mobile maker Nokia has released a new app called Motion Monitor which allows Lumia 1520 users to track their physical activity, similar to some wristbands. The offering is currently undergoing beta testing and is available exclusively for the company's new Windows Phone 8 flagship.
For those wondering why Motion Monitor is not available for other Lumia smartphones, Nokia says this is because only its new flagships comes with the "specific" hardware which allows the app to offer this functionality. A reasonable assumption would be that the Lumia 1520 is the sole beneficiary of Motion Monitor because of its Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor, which is not available in any other Nokia smartphones at the moment.
What is (still) wrong with Microsoft's Windows Phone strategy
Windows Phone 8 has been available on the market since late-October, 2012. That makes it more than a year old in human time and quite a bit older in tech years. So far, I've been through two smartphones running the tiled operating system -- the HTC Windows Phone 8X (in an insanely gorgeous purple) and Nokia Lumia 920 (the boring "businessman-black" version as I like to call it). There is also a Lumia 520 nearby (in a nice shade of red), that I use from time to time to gauge how it gets along with Windows Phone 8 and various new apps.
I have been playing with three important handsets that are available under the Windows Phone 8 umbrella, in order to discover the benefits and the downsides of the platform as well as get an idea of the direction Microsoft wanted to impose for its latest attempt to make great strides in the smartphone OS market. On paper, the software giant only wants the best for Windows Phone, but in practice there are still a couple of bad points about its strategy that indicate, to a certain degree, smartphones are not really a priority for the Redmond, Wash.-based company.
Nokia unveils Lumia 525 Windows Phone
The Nokia Lumia 520 is a very good entry-level Windows Phone which is only held back by its measly 512 MB of RAM. This prevents the handset from being able to run all the latest games and apps and hinders its multitasking ability. Considering that it is among the best cheap smartphones on the market today, the low amount of RAM gets a pass. After all, something has got to give.
Today, Nokia announces the successor of the Lumia 520, called Lumia 525. The new Windows Phone solves the memory problem that affects its predecessor, as it ships with 1 GB of RAM. This will allow users to enjoy more resource-intensive apps and games, improve multitasking and make the device more future-proof than the older model.
Microsoft announces the Thanksgiving collection for Windows Phone
Thanksgiving is only two days away. Across America, people have begun thawing out their turkeys in preparation of the big meal. Yes, the carcass of a slaughtered bird is being prepared for consumption, as is the custom. While the traditions of the holiday go back hundreds of years, there is no reason that modern technology cannot be utilized to improve upon it. Today, Microsoft announces the best Thanksgiving apps for Windows Phone.
"With T-minus two days to Thanksgiving 2013 here in the US, many people are double-checking shopping lists and firing up their stoves for a lazy day of holiday feasting, family, and football. That’s where our newly updated Thanksgiving collection for Windows Phone comes in: it’s full of apps to help organize, upgrade and generally ease your plans for the big day", says Michael Stroh of Microsoft.
How Android and iOS developers see Windows Phone [Q&A]
According to a new survey from Strategy Analytics, Windows Phone development is expected to ramp up significantly in 2014. Of the 1,600 interviewed devs, 32 percent plan to support the tiled smartphone operating system next year, a number that is twice as large compared to the current statistics for 2013. Android and iOS continue to rank as the top two picks, followed by HTML5 in third place and Windows Phone in fourth.
This is certainly good news for both Microsoft and Windows Phone users. The platform should receive more quality apps, an area where it is sorely lacking in numbers, and, as a result, gain more followers in the coming years. The third ecosystem dream, as Strategy Analytics says, is becoming real. The only thing that stands in the way is the developers' commitment.
Windows Phone doesn't need more half-baked apps, so why launch Instagram?
Like my colleague Brian Fagioli said yesterday in his story announcing the arrival of Instagram on Windows Phone, the lack of apps is frequently among the criticisms that pundits have for the tiled smartphone operating system. It is very much a real problem, but one which is slowly getting remedied through new releases such as Instagram, Vine and Waze. More halo apps are coming, there is no question about it, but are those -- or will they be -- good enough?
When pundits say that Windows Phone has an app problem, the consensus is they are referring to the number of apps available in Store. I believe that it will slowly shift towards the quality of apps available in Store. Again, this would be -- and is -- another real issue. The examples that best emphasize this are Vine and, most recently, Instagram.
MetroMail -- a really good Gmail client for Windows Phone 8
Google is renowned for its lack of Windows Phone 8 support. The search giant currently has a single app in Store -- which, surprisingly, just received a nice update, its first big one since March 2012 -- with no plans on the horizon to bring popular apps like Drive, Gmail, Google+, Maps or YouTube to the tiled smartphone operating system.
Being a user myself, I can see why some folks would give up on waiting for the real deal and start to embrace a third-party app or switch to a rival service instead. Fortunately, developers have released competent clients for Google services, like MetroMail that provides a solid Gmail experience in the absence of an official Windows Phone 8 app.
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