Monday, February 28, 2011
Most Wanted Windows Phone 7 Series Differences Today
6:58 AM
One question we hear often is: What’s next for Windows Phone? We’re obsessive about listening closely to our customers and improving our phone software. So over the next few months, look for updates that add some new features you’ve asked for and also tune up your phone’s performance. We've got a serious hands on for you to check out, but here is everything that you need to know.
The name—Windows Phone 7 Series—is a mouthful, and unfortunately, the epitome of Microsoft's worst naming instincts, belying the simple fact that it's the most groundbreaking phone since the iPhone. It's the phone Microsoft should've made three years ago. In the same way that the Windows 7 desktop OS was nearly everything people hoped it would be, Windows Phone 7 is almost everything anyone could've dreamed of in a phone, let alone a Microsoft phone. It changes everything. Why? Now that Microsoft has filled in its gaping chasm of suck with a meaningful phone effort, the three most significant companies in desktop computing—Apple, Google and Microsoft—now stand to occupy the same positions in mobile. Phones are officially computers that happen to fit in your pocket.
Windows Phone 7 is also something completely new for Microsoft: A total break from the past. Windows Mobile isn't just dead, the body's been dumped, buried and paved over by a rainbow brick road.
The Interface
It's different. The face of Windows Phone 7 is not a rectangular grid of thumbnail-sized glossy-looking icons, arranged in a pattern of 4x4 or so, like basically every other phone. No, instead, an oversized set of bright, superflat squares fill the screen. The pop of the primary colors and exaggerated flatness produces a kind of cutting-edge crispness that feels both incredibly modern and playful. Text is big, and beautiful. The result is a feat no phone has performed before: Making the iPhone's interface feel staid.
If you want to know what it feels like, the Zune HD provides a taste: Interface elements that run off the screen; beautiful, oversized text and graphics; flipping, panning, scrolling, zooming from screen to screen; broken hearts. Some people might think it's gratuitous, but I think it feels natural and just…fun. There's an incredible sense of joie de vivre that's just not in any other phone. It makes you wish that this was aesthetic direction all of Microsoft was going in. Another, sorta similar interface, in terms of data presentation, is this Android Slidescreen app, which gives you a bunch of info up top.
Windows Phone 7 is connected in the same sense as Palm's webOS and Android, with live, real-time data seamlessly integrated, though it's even smoother and more natural. Live tiles on the Start screen, which you can totally customize, are updated dynamically with fresh content, like weather, or if you've pinned a person to your Start screen, their latest status updates and photos.
The meat of the phone is organized around a set of hubs: People, Pictures, Games, Music + Video, Marketplace, and Office. They're kind of like uber-applications, in a sense. Massive panoramas with multiple screens that are each kind of like individual apps. People, for instance, isn't just your contacts, but it's also where social networking happens, with a real-time stream of updates pulled in from like Facebook and Windows Live. (No Twitter support announced yet, it appears—a kind of serious deficiency, but one we're sure will be remedied by ship date.)
As another example, Music + Video is essentially the entirety of Zune HD's software, tucked inside of Windows Phone 7. A piece of interface that's shockingly not there: A desktop syncing app. If anyone would be expected to tie their phone to a desktop, you'd think it'd be Microsoft, but they're actually moving forward here. All of your contacts and info sync over the air. The only thing you'll be syncing through your computer is music and videos, which is mercifully done via the Zune desktop client.
Hello, Connected World
The People hub might be the best social networking implementation yet on a phone: It's a single place to see all of your friends' status updates from multiple services in a single stream, and to update your own Facebook and Windows Live status. Needs. Twitter support. Badly. But you have neat things going on, like the aforementioned Live tiles—if you really like someone or want to stalk them hardcore, you can make them a tile on your Start screen, which will update in realtime with whatever they're posting, and pull down their photos from whatever service. There's also your very own profile page, where you can scan your current social state and post updates to multiple services simultaneously.
All of your contacts are synced and backed up over-the-air, Android and webOS style, and can be pulled from multiple sources, like Windows Live, Exchange, etc. Makes certain other phones seem a little antiquated with their out-of-the-box Contacts situation.
Faster apps and games
“Nobody likes to wait. That’s why we’ve whittled down the time it takes for apps and games to start up and resume. It’s all part of our focus on getting you to the things you love, easier and faster.”
Better Marketplace search
“We’ve streamlined Marketplace search to make it easier to find specific apps, games, or music. Press the Search button in the apps or games section of Marketplace and you’ll see only apps or games in the results.”
Holy Crap! The Zune Phone!
Microsoft's vision of Zune is finally clear with Windows Phone 7. It's an app, just like iPod is on the iPhone, though the Zune Marketplace is integrated with it into the music + video hub, not separated into its own little application. It's just like the Zune HD, so you can check out our review of that to see what it's like. But you get third-party stuff like Pandora, too, built-in here. Oh, and worth mentioning, there will be an FM radio in every phone (more on that in a bit).
Pictures is a little different though, and gets its very own hub. That's because it's intensely connected—you can share photos and video with social networks straight from the hub, and via the cloud, they're kept in sync with your PC and web galleries. The latest photos your friends post also show up here. Of course, you get around with multitouch zoom and zip-zip scrolling stuff.
Xbox, on a Phone
I'll admit, I very nearly needed to change my pants when I saw the Xbox tile on the phone for the first time. Obviously, you're not going to be playing Halo 3 on your smartphone (at least not this year), but yes, Xbox Live on a phone! It's tied to your Live profile, and there are achievements and gamer points for the games you can play on your phone, which will be tied to games back on your Xbox 360.
If Microsoft's got an ace-in-hole with Windows Phone 7, it's Xbox Live. Gamers have talked about a portable Xbox for years—this is the most logical way to do it. The N-Gage was ahead of its time. (Okay, and it sucked.) The DS and PSP are the past. The iPhone showed us that the future of mobile gaming was going to be on your phone, and now that just got a lot more interesting. The potential's there, and hopefully the games will be plentiful and awesome enough to meet it.
Browser and Email
Yes, the browser is Internet Explorer. And yes, the rumor's true: It won't be as fast as Mobile Safari. Not to start. But it's not bad! Hey, least it's got multitouch powers right out of the box. Naturally, you've got multiple browser windows, and you can pin web pages to the Start screen, like any other decent mobile browser.
The Outlook email app makes me question how people read email on a BlackBerry. It is stunning. I never thought I'd call a mail app "stunning," but, well, it kind of is. It's the best looking mobile mail app around. Text is huge. Gorgeous. Ultrareadable. Of course, it's got Exchange support too.
Apps, Office and Marketplace
Remember what I said earlier about Windows Mobile being dead? So are all the apps. They won't work on WP7. Sorry Windows Mobile developers, it's for the best. Deep down, we all knew a clean break was the only way Windows Phone wasn't going to suck total balls.
Apps will have some standardized interface elements, like the app bar on the bottom for common commands. But here's a question: Will they multitask? Um, that depends on your definition of multitasking! When we asked Joe Belfiore, the guy running Windows Phone, he alluded to live tiles and feeds as some ofthe ways that third-parties will be able to "bring value to the user, even when their apps aren't running." Which sounds to us like a big ol' "shnope," but we'll see more next month at Microsoft's developer event MIX.
The Marketplace is where you'll buy apps. Since we've got like 6 months 'til Windows Phone 7 launches and people should be excited to develop for it, hopefully there'll be plenty of stuff to buy there on day one.
Naturally, Bing and Bing Maps are built into the phone as the default search and maps services. They're nice, smartly contextual, and very location-oriented. Bing's also used for universal search on the phone, via a dedicated Bing button. (There is no search but Bing search, BTW.) Bing Maps is multitouchable, with pinch-to-zoom. It's rich, with built-in listings with reviews and clever ways of searching for stuff. And yeah, Office! It's connected to that cloud thing, for OTA syncing and such. Business people should be happy.
Hardware and Partner
Another way the old Windows Mobile is dead is how Microsoft's handling partners and hardware situation. With Windows Mobile, a phonemaker handed Microsoft their monies, and Microsoft tossed them a software kit, and that was that. Which is why a lot of Windows Mobile phones felt and ran like crap. And why it took HTC like two years to produce the HD2, the most genuinely usable rendition of Windows Mobile ever.
Microsoft's not building their own phones, but they're going to be picky, to say the least, with Windows Phone 7. Ballmer phrases it as "taking more accountability" for people's experiences. There's a strict set of minimum hardware requirements: a capacitive, multitouchable screen with at least four points of touch; accelerometer; 5-megapixel camera; FM radio; and the like. There are serious benchmarks that have to be met. And only chosen OEMs get to build the phones now, not like before, when anybody with $20 could get a license. The OEMs that Microsoft's announcing they're working with at launch are: Qualcomm, LG, Samsung, Garmin Asus, HTC, HP, Dell, Sony Ericsson, and Toshiba. AT&T's their "premiere partner" in the US (dammit). (Take note people! Premiere does not mean exclusive!)
Every phone will have a Bing (search) button and a Start button. Custom skins, like the minor miracles HTC worked, are now banned. The message to hardware makers is clear: It's a Windows Phone, you're just putting it together. Basically, phonemakers get to decide the shape of the phone, and whether or not there's a keyboard.
One other word on hardware, in a manner of speaking. Hardware it won't work with? Macs. Which is kind of stupid to us—a lot of the people Microsoft wants to use Windows Phone 7, like college students, have been going Mac in droves. You wanna lure them back Microsoft? Let them use your phone with any OS.
The Big Picture
Windows Phone 7 Series is, from what we've seen, exactly what Microsoft's phone should be. It's actually good. It brings together a bunch of different Microsoft services—Zune, Xbox, Bing—in a way that actually makes sense and just works. But there's a real, lingering question: Are they too late? The first Windows Phone 7 Series…phone—goddamn that is a stupid name—won't hit until the end of this year. That's more than three years after the iPhone, two years after Android, hell, even a year after Palm, the industry's sickly but persistent dwarf.
History is on Microsoft's side here—we know what happened the last time Apple had a massive head start. (Update: To be clear, in computing.) Microsoft is, if nothing else, incredibly patient. Remember the first Xbox? Back when it was crazy that Microsoft was getting into videogames? It's cost them about a billion dollars and taken nearly 10 years, but now, with Xbox Live, Project Natal and their massive software ecosystem, they arguably have the most impressive gaming console you can buy. That was a pet project. Now, mobile is the future of computing. What do you think Microsoft will sink into that?
The mobile picture is now officially a three-way dance: Apple, Google, and Microsoft. The same people who dominate desktop computing. Everybody else is screwed. Former Palm CEO Ed Colligan famously said a few years ago: "PC guys are not going to just figure this out. They're not going to just walk in." That's precisely what's just happened. Phones are the new PCs. PC guys are the new phone guys.
This action is pretty logical: Microsoft employees want Windows Phone 7 to succeed than the average outside developer, and so allowing employees to gain financially through their app development efforts is a big incentive to come up with interesting app ideas Windows Mobile for the next generation dubbed Windows Phone 7 Series upon its launch at MWC.
Friday, February 25, 2011
10 Must Have iPhone Apps for 2011
9:12 AM
1. Instagram – By Burbn Inc, Updated 27th January 2011, FREE 
Photo-altering app that has effectively become an image-based social network
Spearheading the recent social networking trend of sharing images rather than words is Instagram. This app allows you to take photos, enhance them with a series of effects, and seamlessly share them on social networking sites.
What makes Instagram stand out from other photo-sharing apps is that it has effectively become a social network unto itself. You can build up a network of friends and contacts whose photos you appreciate within the app itself, making it a pure image-based social network.
Instagram is great for those wanting to (literally) share their visions with the world and track down people with similar outlooks. Instagram is certain to continue growing throughout 2011 as the relative anonymity of photo-sharing is proving to be a popular digital pastime.
2. Star Walk – By Vito Technology, Updated 4th January 2011, £1.79
A deep but accessible astronomy iphone app
Ok, so not everyone is interested in astronomy, but for those who are then this is a beautiful app to get lost in. Whether you just want to do some star-gazing, travel through time, or look at Meteor showers in deep space, Star Walk has it all.
The great thing about this app is that it is accessible to astronomy beginners while also being useful for those specialised in the field. The Telrad feature allows you to measure angular distances between stars (not that I understand astronomy enough to know the purpose of this), and there is a considerable catalogue detailing objects in both deep and shallow space. All of this presented through an intuitive and sleek interface that never distances you too much from the wonders of space.
Star Walk received design awards in both 2009 and 2010. Its regular updates should ensure that it remains the most comprehensive, visually pleasing and enjoyable astronomy app to indulge in throughout 2011.
3. Schedulicity – By Schedulicity Inc
For the uninitiated, Schedulicity is a web-based service that allows individuals and small businesses to manage their appointments and schedules online.
Now, the popular service has found its way to smartphones and tablet devices, allowing appointments to be managed from the palm of your hand. Edit client accounts, receive appointment reminders and organise you calendar whenever you like! Of course, this could spawn a generation of workaholics who, having their business in the palms of their hands, obsess over their schedules every waking moment of the day, but it certainly makes businesses more manageable. Everything you do in the mobile version will, of course, be streamlined with your web-based account.
Already recognised as an important trend in streamlining business operations and customer services, Schedulicity looks likely to catch on as an integral aspect of managing small businesses.
4. Blackstar – By Spacetime Studios,Release Date: Q2 2011, Price TBC
From the makers of Pocket Legends, Blackstar is likely to be the next big thing for iPhone MMOs
While a Massively Multiplayer Online game a.k.a. MMO is certainly not a must-have App for everyone, there certainly is a niche crowd of geeks who’ll be drooling over this one.
Blackstar is the successor to the popular iPhone MMO Pocket Legends. However, while that was based on a world of elves and pixies, Blackstar takes place in a conflict-filled 41st Century.
Few details have been disclosed so far, except that the developers are promising that it will not be ‘content-light’ and that it will support just about every relevant technology out there (EDGE, 3G, Wi-Fi, 4G). It’s safe to assume that this will address the various issues raised with its fantasy predecessor, and reel in the sci-fi-geek masses.
5. Kindle – By Amazon, Updated 14th February 2011, FREE
Will Kindle succeed on the iPhone?
So the Amazon’s digital-book-reading App has been around for a while, but 2011 will be a crucial year in finding out whether it will catch on on Apple’s devices. Its case will not be helped by the recent revelation that Apple have forbidden Amazon from providing web links for purchasing their books.
Politics aside, the Kindle App is probably the best book-reader App out there. It allows you to synchronise all your e-books between devices, meaning that as long as you have a device, you always have access to your books; stick in the mud that I am, I don’t see how carrying an actual book around is such a burden, but then this whole e-book craze seems to be catching on quite nicely so I’m obviously just wrong in my cynicism.
Among the neat features on the Kindle App is the option to look up words on Google and Wikipedia and also tap words into an in-built dictionary. While 2011 seems destined to be a good year for the Kindle device, whether it will catch on with Apple’s devices is not so certain due to the recent changes to Apple’s terms of use. Either way, it will be an interesting year for the Kindle App!
6. Dead Space – By EA Mobile, Released 25th January 2011, £3.99
One of the most intense horror games has arrived on the iPhone
Most gaming enthusiasts will know that Dead Space is probably the most terrifying game to play on the big consoles. Naturally, this fear is hard to translate to the small iPhone screen, but that doesn’t stop it from being EA’s best mobile offering to date.
Dead Space looks and plays brilliantly, utilising the minimal interface of its big console counterparts. There is a plethora of brutal weapons, varied scenery, and the gameplay utilises the touch-screen very smoothly.
At £3.99, Dead Space can be considered one of the more pricey iPhone games, but with a 5-hour storyline and some intense action sequences its price tag (which, let’s be honest, isn’t that high anyway) is perfectly justified.
7. CoPilot Live 9 Release date: Q2 2011, Price TBC
The social-network-friendly GPS App
A relatively unexpensive Sat Nav App for the Facebook generation. The latest version of CoPilot is set to feature an overhauled interface and provides multiple routes to your selected destinations.
Aside from these functional upgrades, CoPilot 9 will also feature an integrated Bing search engine made for tracking local businesses and services. And for those hopelessly addicted to the trivial activity of letting the whole world know where you are through Facebook Places, this App will feed your habit by letting you post updates to Places in real-time; after all, everyone wants to know when you’re stuck in rush-hour traffic in London, don’t they?
Other unique features include the option to save the exact location of your car, driving directions to ‘geotagged’ pictures taken by your smartphone, and a walking mode which helps you navigate cities on foot. Yes, CoPilot is making our dependency on our own sense of navigation a thing of the past.
8. Bear Grylls – Bear Essentials – By Chillingo, Updated 6th January 2011, £3.99
Bear Essentials is a functional and substantial app for those interested in their own survival
People often say that their iPhone is a ‘lifesaving’ device, helping you find your way from A to B, work out train times and general assistance with other such urban activities. But with Bear Grylls’ heavily branded ‘Bear Essentials’, your iPhone can save your life more literally.
In the admittedly unlikely case that you find yourself in a Bear Grylls-like scenario of being stranded up a mountain or in a jungle, or shipwrecked on a desert island, this App gives essential advice in surviving these situations.
As well as offering videos and interactive diagrams, there is a whole wealth of extremely useful survival information for you to refer to. At the end of each section you look through, there is also a quiz to test your survival knowledge; granted, you won’t be quizzing yourself while hunting for snakes and making camp-fires using flints and sticks, but it’s good to be prepared. Essential for the more adventurous iPhone owner.
9. Hipstamatic – By Synthetic Corp Updated 10th February 2011, £1.19
Hipstamatic allows you to choose from plenty of vintage looks for your photos
Retro is always ‘in’, so it seems natural that an App would come along that lets you take photos with a distinctly retro make-over. Hipstamatic is an extremely fun App that allows you to take photos using various lens, flash and film types to give your photos that Analog feel.
Such is the popularity of this App that it even has its own ‘Hipstamart’, where you can purchase further flashes, films and lenses for your omnipotent analog camera. There is even a monthly competition where the community votes on the best ‘HipstaPrints’, giving you the chance to win ‘fabulous’ prizes.
The fact that Hipstamatic has managed to create a community around itself and even have its own store for additional content suggests that the ball has only just got rolling on this one, and it will be interesting to see how it develops throughout 2011.
10. The Shadow Sun – By Ossian, Release Date: Q2 2011
The Shadow Sun looks tear-jerkingly beautiful
While the iPhone has slowly established itself as a worthy gaming platform, it still lacks an immersive, epic RPG experience. Initially, it was thought that this was due to the technical limitations of the iphone, but The Shadow Sun looks should put that theory to bed.
The Shadow Sun promises in-depth character development, a varied game world and, as you can see, beautiful graphics of the sort rarely seen on the iPhone. Your choices affect the story, the gameplay is fast-paced, and you can even take on party members. In other words, this isn’t the ‘Lite’ RPG experience iPhone users have come to accept, but the full-on thing.
Ossian have delayed The Shadow Sun until Spring 2011, suggesting that they are striving for perfection with this ambitious project. Could this be the RPG that iPhone gamers have long been waiting for?
Thursday, February 24, 2011
The iPad 2: How Will Apple Stay Ahead of the Pack?
5:38 PM
With Android having exploded, it’s unlikely that Apple will be willing to let all those upcoming Honeycomb Android tablets get close to the iPad. Once burned twice shy, as they say.
So what might we reasonably expect Apple to do to maintain their lead? And what do we want to see?
In Design, A Big iPod Touch
We know Apple’s strength has always been design. But though the original iPad is a beautifully designed piece of hardware, it’s likely that in order to cement their design lead, Apple will move to an iPod Touch style design.
By that, I mean the back of the device will taper to the edge, and the back will be covered in something more ‘luxurious’ that the brushed aluminum look it has now.
More to the point, it will be the thinnest tablet out there – mainly so Tim Cook (who we assume will run the keynote) can say “this is the thinnest tablet out there”. And a glossy, silver back will starkly distinguish the iPad 2 from the Xoom, Playbook et al.
It’s a shame, as I quite like the slab design of the current iPad, but competition often means simply needing to differentiate a product.
Keeping Costs Down Means No Retina
Those clamoring for a ‘retina display’ on the iPad – i.e. a doubled resolution of 2048 × 1536 – are, to put it nicely, a bit nuts.
Not only would it require an incredibly expensive screen, you would also need a very fast CPU-GPU combo (probably quad-core) to drive the 3D effects of iOS at that resolution, which would itself cause battery-life headaches.
On top of that, after asking app developers to adjust the resolution of their apps for the iPhone 4, Apple will now ask them to do it all over again for the iPad apps they just wrote? I don’t think so. If you’re dead set on a ~10? retina display, wait for an iPad 3.
But in order to stay ahead, look for an improved display in terms of brightness and viewing angles.
Cameras, *yawn*, Facetime, Dual-Core, More RAM etc.
There is some stuff on the way that could only be surprising if it’s not included. Those things are cameras on the back and front and a dual-core A5 Apple ARM-based processor – probably running at 1.2GHz. Yawn.
Since the iPad only has 256MB of RAM, this will obviously get an upgrade too, though whether it’s to 512MB or 1GB is likely a matter of cost. I’d expect the latter, since iOS quite strict in how it handles multi-tasking. 1GB might be overkill.
The only surprise might be the lack of a rear camera. It’s unlikely, because we’ve seen cases with holes for a camera. But I’d like to think that Apple might be saner than some other tablet manufacturers: who wants to hold up a 10? tablet to take pictures? No-one, that’s who.
All of this will be added simply to keep pace with upcoming Android tablets and the Playbook.
Possible Surprises? Price? No Home Button? Holographic Projection?
Holoographic projection? Yeah, I was just messin’. I don’t even know what that is.
But no home button? A possibility. After all, we’ve already seen gestures that make the home button somewhat obsolete. (Though that does limit multi-finger gestures to the OS rather than apps.) It would also line up with Steve Jobs notorious hatred for buttons, and would make a lot of sense given that the iPad is used as much in landscape mode as it is portrait.
What about the price? Well, it may be optimistic to think it will be cheaper, but look at Apple’s projected figures of 40 million units for 2011. In 2010, they sold 15 million units. Is it possible that, due to Apple’s control of the supply chain – in things like their huge $8 billion deal with Samsung – that they could drop the base unit down to $399? What else might account for more than doubling sales projections for a product with an average selling price of around $700? Yes, the product is insanely popular; but is it so popular that 40 million people around the world will drop the cost of a new laptop?
Let’s say there’s a 50/50 chance Apple will cut prices by a $100 across the line.
What Do You Want in an iPad 2?
Overall, the iPad’s market lead won’t be about hardware as much as it will be about iOS. It will be about how Apple’s ecosystem is positioned as the most appealing. So expect a modest, if overhyped upgrade to the original.
But what about you cerdaskomputer readers? 4G? A USB or Lightpeak port? NFC? SD expansion slot? What do you want to see in the next iPad? Hit the comments and let us know.
Top Best Beautiful and Stylish Mobile Phones
9:23 AM
The Simple, beautiful Mobile Phones?
There is no dearth of smart, stylish and beautiful mobile phones in the market but here we have picked up the top 5 most beautiful and stylish handsets that are simple and that would make even your best friend envy of you.
O2 Ice Phone:
If you are a style conscious person and wants to make a lasting impression with all your accessories and gadgets then O2 Ice is just the perfect pick for you.
This small and stylish 3G handset besides having cosmetic beauty is also loaded with wide variety of interesting features including 1.3 MP to capture all your memorable moments, MP3 player to enjoy music no matter wherever you may go, Bluetooth to provide connectivity with compatible devices and other features as well.
Helio Kickflip Phone:
If you are in search for a handset which is small as well as stylish then Helio Kickflip is the perfect option.
Besides being small in size the mobile is packed with interesting features like 2.2 inches of display offering pixel resolution of 320 X 240, 3G capabilities, 2 MP camera capable of capturing all your special moments in form of high quality images and various others.
Samsung Soul Phone:
This beautiful looking handset is not only known for its compact design but also for its amazing connectivity features.
It is light in weight and is capable of functioning on 2G as well as 3G networks. Other features which make this handset extremely usable include Bluetooth, GPRS, USB, multi format music player and many others.
KDDI Neon Phone:
This interesting looking phone grabs a place in the top most beautiful and stylish handsets and is available in vivid colors of pink, black and light blue.
Other impressive features of this handset include miniSD slot, music player, FM tuner, 1.3MP camera and many others.
NEC N908 Phone:
This mobile phone looks stylish in its credit card size and features music player, 1.3 MP camera, microSD card. Simple and sexy!
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Everything You Need To Know about Windows Phone 7 Apps
5:22 AM
However even though it's apparent that the WP7 handsets are great pieces of hardware, from the standards set by competitors iOS4 and Android it's clear that the success or failure of a modern smartphone OS depends on the strength of its apps.
What apps will come preinstalled?
You can expect WP7 to come ready with the basics for smartphones - calendar, email and browser. Microsoft is also emphasizing its integration with social networking and the OS's reception of steady updates from Twitter and Facebook.
There are a couple of nice features look out for too - small things like being able to collectively email a group meeting from your calendar app with a message if you are running late.
Rather than being dumped in a mixed grid system, Windows Phone 7 devices such as the HTC Mozart will arrange apps into their correct 'hub' areas. Microsoft hops this will make apps easier to find, with photo apps in the photo hub and music apps in the music hub and favorites on the home screen.
Will third party apps be available?
Third party apps are definitely available. The platform already has plenty of support from leading software companies. These will be offered from the Windows Phones Marketplace.
Tell me about Marketplace.
Like Apple's App Store, Marketplace is the gateway to all apps available for your phone. Microsoft has promised to do its best to organise the store for easy perusing and will be highlighting new apps on a daily basis to keep you up to date.
However, with 150 000 apps available for the iPhone 4 and 30 000 for Android the Windows Phone 7 Marketplace does certainly have some catching up to do. Microsoft is encouraging development by offering app development tools for free with developers only paying $99 when they decide to publish in the Marketplace. They've also been keen to demonstrate how easy the OS is to develop for, showing onstage that a basic Twitter app could be put together in under ten minutes.
Will I be able to get all my favorite apps there?
• Twitter and Facebook
Twitter has built its own app for Windows Phone 7 to specifically suit the user interface. It will support multiple accounts and let you browse through tweets without signing or being a Twitter user in the first place. Full Facebook integration with your contacts list will be standard.
• Spotify
The makers of the wildly popular music streaming service have confirmed it will soon be available on WP7, meaning you can listen to millions of tracks streamed over your Wi-Fi connection. If you know you're not going to get a connection - on a plane or underground - you can even download playlists. To use it on your phone though you'll need a premium account and with Microsoft's Zune streaming platform preinstalled free, there will definitely be some users who will switch.
• eBay
The world's largest online marketplace will let you search, bid, buy and monitor your selling activity via your phone with an app available on launch day.
• Seesmic
Seesmic is growing in popularity as a handy app that congregates all your social networking activity in one place, letting you comment on photos, update status and more across several accounts.
• Others
With Associated Press and Electronic Arts on board we will also be seeing a news app and plenty of games respectively. What is absent so far though is Skype for cheap VoIP calls, Mozilla Firefox, game sensation Angry Birds and the popular Polaroid app Hipstamatic.
How exactly will multitasking work? What about those incredible cross platform game demos? Whither WinMo 6.x, and its devs? (And what's with this "Classic" and "Starter Edition" business?) What happens to the Zune? Will we see more hardware? What about the mysterious Chassis 3? Why are developers already worried? We've got at least an hour here, folks, so expect answers. Lots of answers.
New Features
When we met Windows Phone 7 Series, it was all about taking a first look. But we really didn't get a great idea as to how the operating system works, underneath the Zune-like skin. Here's are the new OS and dev features Microsoft's announced today.
- A Push Notification Service: Called the "Microsoft Notification Service," this sounds an awful lot like Apple's push notification system, which lends credence to the interpretation of Microsoft's talk about multitasking as meaning that it doesn't really exist, or that it's at least heavily managed. As you can see above, they pop up in a small tray at the top of the screen, rather than the obnoxious pop-up system that the iPhone uses.
- A Microsoft Location Service: This is like a clearing house for location data, or "single point of reference to acquire location information." This is more of a developer tool than anything else, I think, but it suggest location service's being totally and easily accessible, and not just in terms of raw data. This is basically just Bing everywhere, in both user and developer terms.
- Silverlight, Silverlight, Silverlight: Windows Phone 7 apps are largely developed in Silverlight, which you probably only know as that plugin you had to install that one time to watch the Olympics. It can also create apps that are significantly more complicated than video players.
- Dev Tools Will Be Free: Windows Phone 7 development tools for Visual Studio and Microsoft Expression Blend (a UI dev tool) will be free to download.
- App Developers Can Start Today: The free tools are available at developer.windowsphone.com, as of right now. While developers won't have phones for a while, they'll have the PC emulator, which even allows for touchscreen input. (If you have a touchscreen PC, of course.)
• No Mac Dev Support: And yeah, of course, there's no development on Mac.
The Marketplace
We didn't even get to to see the new Windows Phone Marketplace in action in February, but now Microsoft's pulled the curtain back.
• It's Panoramic: It's going to look like the rest of Windows Phone 7, which is to say, it's going to be swipey and zoomy and all those things that made Windows Phone 7 interesting looking. You know, hubs within hubs within hubs within hubs. Hubs!
• Buying options: It'll handle one-time credit card purchases, operator billing, and ad-supported apps.
• App trials: Microsoft is going to require developers to allow buyers to trial apps before buying them. Good for us, potentially scary for devs. UPDATE: It's not actually a requirement, just an option. What this is, really, is an old-school app trial system: You use an app until your dev-defined trial is over, or until you get tired of the missing features, then you buy it, which instantly activates the remaining functionality, no extra download required.
• The Zune Client: You can browse the Marketplace from the Zune client, like you can access the App Store from iTunes. This gives Windows Phone 7 a leg up over the likes of Android and webOS, which limit app installation to the handset. But! The Zune software is Windows-only.
This doesn't just mean you won't be able to install apps from your desktop your phone on Windows Phone 7, it means that you won't be able to sync anything with your desktop, be it music, movies or photos. And there's no USB syncing outside of the Zune software client, so you can't just dump media onto your phone, mass storage style. In other words, if you don't have a PC, you can't really listen to your music or watch your videos on your WP7 phone.
• Multitasking: Like we'd said before, it's really not there. There will be certain provisions for multitasking—music is the one Microsoft is talking about now, for app like Pandora—but there won't be pure multitasking. (You won't, for example, be able to run Skype or a Twitter app in the background. So, again, this is an Apple-like approach for the least Apple-like company in existence.)
• Copy and Paste: The current build doesn't have it, back at launch, word was that it might not ever show up on the platform. Now, Engadget's hearing the the final build may not be able to take text from here and put it there. This omission would be more curious, because there's really no upside, as in the case of limiting multitasking. Also: What the hell? Also also: They've got at least six months to fix this.
• Only two resolution will be allowed: For the foreseeable future, Microsoft's only allowing two resolutions—the 800x480 WVGA resolution we've seen on the first hardware already, and later, a 480x320 HVGA resolution—for Windows Phone 7 handsets. Developers will only have to write for two screen sizes, which helps keep developing for the platform relatively simple.
• Windows Mobile 6.x Apps Won't Work: Scott Guthrie confirmed to us that 6.x apps would need to be ported in order to work, and that this may not be a simple process—you could, for example, carry over some interface assets, or some core .NET programming from one platform to the other, but there'll be no simple patch from one platform to the other.
The First Apps
The first round of app partners is solid, for sure:
AWS Convergence Technologies ? WeatherBug, Citrix Systems Inc., Clarity Consulting Inc., Cypress Consulting, EA Mobile, Fandango Inc., Foursquare Labs Inc., frog design inc., Glu Mobile Inc., Graphic.ly, Hudson Entertainment Inc., IdentityMine Inc., IMDb.com Inc., Larva Labs, Match.com LLC, Matchbox Mobile Ltd., Microsoft Game Studios, Namco Networks America Inc., Oberon Media Inc., Pageonce Inc., Pandora Media Inc., Photobucket Inc., PopCap Games Inc., Seesmic, Shazam Entertainment Ltd., Sling Media, SPB Software Inc., stimulant, TeleCommunications Systems Inc., Touchality LLC and Vertigo Software Inc
We also got our first glimpse at the apps, which maintain the Windows Phone 7 aesthetic surprisingly well.
The first batch gives a preview of what Windows Phone 7 apps will be—that is to say, deeply integrated. Another instant reaction? A lot of these developers write for the iPhone and Android, which is a good sign and a bad one: A good one, because Microsoft needs these guys to reach anything resembling app parity with other platforms; and a bad one, because it drives home just how much catching up Microsoft is going to have to do come WinPho 7's release. None of the other platforms, for what it's worth, have paps as pretty as some of these—a point that's really driven home when you see their 3D transforms and animations.
With others, like Hush Hush, you can see that Microsoft is open to modal interfaces as well, which is to say, interfaces that look nothing like Zune or Windows Phone 7.
Since Windows Phone 7 apps are developed largely in Silverlight, you can download and incorporate Silverlight libraries that already exist. In other words, some of the interface elements, animations and icons that you've gotten used to seeing in Silverlight app interfaces might turn up in Windows Phone 7 apps later on. We'll also see some services that have depended on Silverlight before easily ported to the phone. Like what? Ho ho, like mother***king Netflix (which, while shown off here, won't necessarily get a real release)
Games, as we've seen a bit of before, have the potential to be great, not just because of the platform's minimum requirements (which make the iPhone's hardware seem downright clunky) but because of the deep Xbox Live integration.
The takeaway at the end of the app demos—which made up a tremendous chunk of this keynote—is that Microsoft knows how important apps are for Windows Phone 7, or more importantly, how instrumental the lack of decent apps was in the decline of Windows Mobile 6.x. They're going all out, claiming that devs can create apps in a matter of minutes, and (so far) coddling them as much as possible. The one thing they can't control, though, is how fast customers pick up on Windows Phone 7 Series. Without an audience, developers won't bother to write apps; without apps, buyers won't bother buying Windows Phone 7 Series phones. Microsoft's new mobile strategy may be impressive, but it could find itself stuck in a Catch-22 come release time.
All the Rest
Obviously, Microsoft didn't run through all the stuff they'd already covered back at Mobile World Congress when Windows Phone 7 was announced, so here's the rest of the story.
• A new piece of hardware showed its face today. (Above.) This time it's from Samsung. Externally, it's indistinguishable from the Omnia HD. Internally, you can assume it falls inline with Microsoft's minimum requirements for Windows Phone 7.
Android - Google Guide to Gingerbread Tips and Tricks
4:30 AM
Keep in mind most of these are specific to Android 2.3 Gingerbread. Here's my list:
1. Tips
- Visual cue for scrolling: When you are in a scrollable list (like your Gmail inbox) and you reach the end of the list it shows an orange hue—a visual cue that you can’t scroll anymore.
- Notification bar icons (Wi-Fi, network coverage bars, etc.): Turn green when you have an uninhibited connection to Google, white when you don't. Hint: if you're in a hotel or airport using Wi-Fi, the bars won't turn green until you launch the browser and get past the captive portal.
- Voice actions: Tell your phone what to do by pressing the microphone icon next to the search box on the home screen, or long press the magnifying glass. You can tell it to send an email or text message (“send text to mom, see you for pizza at 7”), call someone ("call mom"), navigate somewhere (“navigate to pizza”), or listen to music ("listen to Mamma Mia").
- Find things you’ve downloaded from your browser: Your downloads are now neatly collected in a Downloads manager, which you can find in the apps drawer.
- Turn a Gallery stack into a slideshow: In Gallery, when you are looking at a stack of photos, put two fingers on the stack and spread them. The stack spreads out and the pictures flow from one finger to the other, a moving slideshow that lets you see all of the photos.
- Walk, don’t drive: Once you’ve gotten directions within Google Maps, click on the walking person icon to get walking directions.
- Easy text copy/paste from a webpage: To copy/paste from a webpage, long press some text, drag the handles around to select the text you want to copy, and press somewhere in the highlighted region. To paste, simply long press a text entry box and select paste. Gmail is a bit different: you need to go to Menu > More > Select Text.
- Turn your phone into a Wi-Fi hotspot: Go to Settings > Wireless & Networks > Tethering & Portable Hotspot. (You may have to pay extra for this feature.)
- Look at Maps in 3D: With the latest release of Google Maps, you can now look at 3D maps. Tilt the map by sliding two fingers vertically up/down the screen, and rotate it by placing two fingers on the map and sliding in a circular motion, e.g., from 12 and 6 o’clock to 3 and 9.
- Cool shutdown effect: When you put the phone to sleep, you’ll see an animation that resembles an old cathode tube TV turning off.
- Shift+Key to capitalize a word: In Gingerbread (and supported hardware), you can Shift+Key to capitalize a letter instead of going to a separate all caps keyboard.
- Auto-complete: The space bar lights up when auto-complete can finish a word.
- Quick replace: Tap on any previously typed word, then tap on a suggestion to automatically replace it with the suggested word.
- Easy access to special characters (like numbers, punctuation): Press and hold any key to go to the special character keyboard. You can also press and hold the "," key for an extensive punctuation keyboard.
- Angry Birds: Popular game that lets you knock down blocks by slingshotting birds.
- Astro: Awesome file explorer app. Browse and access the directories on your phone, and take full advantage of its capabilities. Great if you’re a power user.
- Chrome to Phone: This one is really useful for Chrome users. You can send anything you browse on your computer to your phone. So if you are heading out to a restaurant or party and look up directions on your computer, just click the “send to phone” button (requires Chrome to Phone extension) and that exact page will open on your phone. Same with virtually any webpage.
- Flash: Install from Android Market to watch Flash videos embedded throughout the web. Runs even better on Gingerbread.
- Fruit Ninja: A juicy action game that tests your ability to smash flying fruit. A fun time-killer on the bus or train.
- FXCamera: Popular photo sharing app with slick effects and filters.
- Google Maps: Use your device as a GPS navigation system with free turn-by-turn voice guidance, and take advantage of other Google Maps features like Street View, Latitude and Places.
- Instant Heart Rate: Measure your heart rate using your camera.
- Phoneanlyzr: Track your phone usage: who you text most, call most, average call length distribution, etc.
- RemoteDroid: Control your computer from your phone. Gives you a mobile wireless mouse and keyboard. Great if you’re using your computer for music or movies.
- Shazam: Identifies virtually any song you are listening to.
- SoundHound: Record a snippet of a song and get it identified instantly. You can even hum (if you can carry a tune!).
- Tango: A free, high-quality video call app that works on both 3G and Wi-Fi. If your device has a front facing camera (e.g., Nexus S), you will love this app.
- YouTube: New UI. Plus, portrait-mode player, and view comments and drop-down box video information
