Hasta La Gadget!

As Nokia gears up to hand off its Lumia brand to Microsoft, one must look back and see what the Finnish manufacturer was able to do right. Time and again it has been reported that the low cost Windows Phone devices, Lumia 520 and Lumia 521, have proved to be major hits. Latest data from Ad Duplex reiterates that, with both variants accounting for 30 percent of all Windows Phone devices being used around the globe. In the U.S., the Lumia 520 has overtaken the Lumia 920 as the second most used Windows Phone device. Of the entire Windows Phone market in the U.S., the Lumia 520/521 command 30 percent.

The popularity of T-Mobile branded Lumia 521 has propelled the carrier ahead of AT&T as it now has the second most Windows Phone devices on a U.S. carrier. The future of these devices in the country is uncertain. While Nokia has launched the Lumia 525 which has roughly the same specifications as these two devices but comes with twice the RAM at 1GB, which makes it compatible with latest content on the Windows Phone Store. So far Nokia hasn’t said if it plans to release the Lumia 525 in the U.S. Nokia’s high-end smartphones still struggle in the market, with the new flagship Lumia 1520 down at 16th and Lumia 1020 at 12th on the list of most used Windows Phone handsets. The low cost strategy seems to have worked wonders for Nokia, the question is, will Microsoft go down the same road once it assumes control of the brand and of Nokia’s hardware business?

Lumia 520/521 Account For 30% Of All Windows Phone Devices Around The Globe original content from Ubergizmo.

While Nokia is definitely holding its own over in India, especially with devices like the Nokia Lumia 520, we suppose it wouldn’t hurt if Microsoft were to try and court some of India’s top OEMs if they wish to gain an even larger share of the Indian market, and that is apparently what they are trying to do. This is according to The Times of India who reports that Microsoft is looking to woo some of India’s smartphone OEMs, the top 3 to be exact, in hopes that they will produce Windows Phone devices. The reason is because these OEMs are said to be in control of about 32% of the Indian smartphone market and having them produce Windows Phone handsets would definitely be a boon for Microsoft and help them gain market share quickly.

At least one of them has agreed to come aboard, and they are none other than Xolo, a subsidiary of Lava, who has promised to release a Windows Phone device come 2014. Micromax, one of the three and the second largest in India, admits to be in talks with Microsoft although at the moment they are still haggling over licensing fees, which they admit is a pretty big obstacle especially considering that Android is free. Lastly would be Karbonn who at the moment is neither confirming nor denying that the company is in talks with Microsoft. The Windows Phone licensing fee is currently at $25, if the rumors are to be believed, which is understandably expensive if companies were to mass produce devices. Will Microsoft’s efforts in India be successful? We guess we will have to wait and find out.

Microsoft Courting India’s Top Smartphone OEMs For Windows Phone Devices original content from Ubergizmo.

Gizmodoers, the holidays are upon us! And it’s a safe bet you’re either traveling somewhere, or waiting for people to travel to you this weekend. Either way, plenty of time to sit around and play with your phone. Here are some new toys to stuff your phone’s stocking.

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Microsoft’s video-selling kingdom has arrived in Xbox form for their mobile devices in the Windows Phone 8 Xbox Video app. This app takes on all the abilities of the Xbox … Continue reading

A significant app gap exists between mobile platforms that aren’t as popular as the two behemoths that rule the global smartphone market, iOS and Android. Therefore users who opt for these mobile platforms often have to wait for quite a long time before some of the most popular apps on iOS and Android are ported over to their particular platform. This was precisely the case with Vine, which was only recently released for Windows Phone. Today, the Twitter owned Vine Labs rolled out an update for Microsoft’s mobile platform which brings support for saving those six-second clips in drafts.

Today’s update brings version number up to 1.1 and brings feature parity between the iOS, Android and Windows Phone apps. When it was initially launched, Vine for WP didn’t support drafts which meant that users had to finish up the six second clip at once, they couldn’t save it mid-way and pick it up later. Today’s update brings the ability to save Vines mid-way through recording and resume recording from that very spot at a later time. There are only minor visual tweaks included in this update apart from the drafts feature. Available for free, the updated Vine for Windows Phone is now live and ready for download through the Windows Phone Store.

Vine For Windows Phone Update Brings Support For Drafts original content from Ubergizmo.