Microsoft has been pretty quiet about their long term plans for the Windows 8 ecosystem, but its job board has been pretty loud-mouthed. First, it hinted at the plan for Windows Blue, and now a new posting indicated that the next big thing for Windows Phone is probably going to show up at the end of this year. More »
It seems that Microsoft’s own job’s board is the best place to find out what the company has planned in the future. In a new job posting, Microsoft has leaked information that their new, major update to its Windows Phone series should be coming here just in time for the holidays. The job posting also confirms that there is a “current release” for Windows Phone 8 devices that should be released sometime soon. It may be referring to the Windows Blue update.
The job posting states that the company is, “getting ready for our next release targeting the holiday of this year and we’re chartered with keeping the momentum for Windows Phone by bringing new killer devices and delightful user experiences.” It has also been confirmed that if you currently own a Windows Phone 8 device, you will be eligible for this major update. Microsoft has realized the mistakes it made with its Windows 7 devices, and will increase the longevity of its devices from here on out.
We also know that Microsoft is speeding development up for Windows Blue, and it plans to release it sometime during the summer. From the job posting, it looks like development for Windows Blue may be nearing its finish already. We know that one of the features that Windows Blue will have is a revamped Excel app. It will also feature other significant improvements to user experience as well as bug fixes.
We also know that Microsoft will release a few minor updates entitled GDR2 and GDR3, and that HTC plans on releasing the first phone to take advantage of the GDR2 update. Looks like we have a lot to look forward to for the Windows Phone platform come Christmas time, and its good to know that users who opt for devices like the upcoming Nokia Lumia 928 will still be able to take advantage of this major update.
[via WM Poweruser]
Microsoft to release major Windows Phone update around holidays is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Those of you on contract with Verizon Wireless may be excited to hear that the Nokia Lumia 928 has been spotted on Verizon’s inventory log. The Lumia 928 has actually been placed there way back in January 17th, and it should be coming out sometime in the near future. Verizon’s customers have been waiting anxiously for the Nokia Lumia 920 to make it to their carrier ever since it launched on AT&T’s network, and while there is the Nokia Lumia 822 on Verizon’s Network, it doesn’t have the same aesthetic appeal as the Lumia 920.
Both Verizon Wireless and Microsoft are said to be doing extra marketing for the Nokia Lumia 928. Verizon Wireless will be marketing the Lumia 928 alongside its other flagship smartphones, including the iPhone 5 and the HTC DROID DNA. Other than commercials, Microsoft will most likely also implement the Nokia Lumia 928 in various product placements throughout popular TV shows. Currently the HTC 8X has been receiving massive product placement in various shows, and it looks like it may be replaced soon.
The Nokia Lumia 928 has been confirmed to have the same display resolution as the Nokia Lumia 920, both utilizing a 1280 x 768 resolution display. There is also speculation that the device will look different compared to the Lumia 920 on AT&T’s network. The Lumia 928 should, however, still feature the same polycarbonate exterior as the Lumia 920, and should be available in various colors.
While the photo does confirm that the device is headed straight to Verizon Wireless, and soon, it doesn’t confirm an actual release date. On a side note, Nokia is also speculated to be releasing a new smartphone sometime in the future that utilizes a 41MP Pureview camera sensor. The device is speculated to be released on both AT&T and Verizon Wireless’s networks.
[via Phone Arena]
Nokia Lumia 928 spotted in Verizon Wireless’s inventory is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Microsoft’s ever-popular panoramic app Photosynth has arrived on the company’s own Windows Phone 8 platform. The app had previously only been available for iOS devices (as well as WP7), but after being absent from Microsoft’s new mobile platform for several months after its release, Windows Phone 8 users can now capture Street View-esque panoramic images with their new Windows Phone devices.
Unlike the Photosynth app for iOS, the Windows Phone 8 version comes with a few exclusive features, including the ability to launch the app from the default camera app. There are also new sharing capabilities that allow Windows Phone 8 users to share and view panoramas with one another, as well as posting to Facebook and Twitter.
There’s also more camera controls. Users can adjust for various lighting conditions by using the new exposure and white balance locking options within the app, which should make panoramic images turn out a lot better. Microsoft boasts that Photosynth is the “only Windows Phone app that can stitch a full sphere (that’s 360 degrees horizontally and vertically).”
The app is really easy to use. All you have to do is tap the screen to start, and then move your phone around in all directions to capture your surroundings with the camera. Whenever you move the camera to a different location, the app will automatically recognize that and will take a photo of that section. You can take full 360-degree images or just a quick panoramic from left to right.
Photosynth panoramic app arrives on Windows Phone 8 is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
We caught up with Greg Sullivan — senior product manager of Windows Phone — for an early morning chat during Mobile World Congress. He was kind enough to give us an update on the state of Microsoft’s mobile OS, which has apparently experienced a four-fold increase in sales since version 8 launched last fall and is taking share away from Android in the UK. We discussed the delightful user experience provided by lower-end Windows Phone 8 handsets like Nokia’s Lumia 620 and asked how Microsoft plans to satisfy power users at the higher-end of the spectrum who are still missing critical features such as proper notifications, quick settings and CalDAV / CardDAV support (to name a few). It’s clear that the company’s aware of these shortcomings and is working to remedy most of them in a future release. We also talked about the ecosystem, what Microsoft is doing to improve app quality, how it meshes with Windows 8 / RT and whether the company is looking to expand its partnership beyond existing device manufacturers. Look for our full video interview after the break.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Microsoft
Are wearables like Google Glass the inevitable future for smartphones? Not if you ask Nokia, where simply floating a display in your line of sight doesn’t quite satisfy the self-imposed “head up” challenge its designers and engineers are facing. The evolution of Lumia isn’t just bigger displays or faster chips, it’s a new way of interacting with the digital world. SlashGear sat down with Jo Harlow, EVP of Smart Devices, Marco Ahtisaari, EVP of Design, and Stefan Pannenbecker, VP of Industrial Design at Mobile World Congress this week to talk “people versus robots”, rolling back the clock on convergence, and how the Finns want to pry our eyes away from smartphone screens, even if we’re looking at a Lumia.
Spend any time talking future tech to Nokia’s executives, and you realize there are two themes running through their predictions. First, and perhaps most familiar to most industry watchers, there’s the relentless advance of sensors and the complexity of devices, with capabilities always evolving. Nokia differs in some respects in how its management see the form-factor of those devices: rather than a single, increasingly powerful phone in your pocket, all three VPs talked about a resurgence in dedicated devices; products that, as Marco Ahtisaari described it, “do a few things really well.”
Secondly, and arguably a more contrarian stance than others in the segment, is a desire to actually reduce the attention that’s paid to smartphones and mobile devices. Ahtisaari coined the phrase “heads up” internally to describe it, though it’s become an ethos for the long-term shared by others in the design team, like Stefan Pannenbecker.
“How can we get the “heads up”?”
“We see sometimes couples, out in a restaurant, romantically texting each other, or broadcasting… so that type of phenomena is interesting, and in a way bugs us a little bit, because the question is how can we get the “heads up”?” the Industrial Design chief explained to us. “So we do a lot of work on all kinds of levels in order to think that scenario through: what does that mean? So we’re interested in that type of topic, how do we get people’s heads up again.”
Nokia isn’t expecting to address that question in the next few months, or even the next couple of years. As Marco Ahtisaari told us, it’s an example of the company’s longer-term planning, though as an internal culture of design it has an impact on the Lumia devices we’ll see over the coming years. “The one thing I would say is that I talk about the “heads-up” principle in the studio, it’s like a 20-year principle. Creating computing technology that’s with us that doesn’t require more attention” he said.
“And part of this pinning-to-Start [in the Windows Phone homescreen] is one example of that; things we’ve done with the glanceable, low-power mode on our devices in the past is an example of that; the NFC work we’re doing is an example of that,” Ahtisaari counted off. “You just touch the environment: the world becomes your interface, rather than having to go through twelve swipe-swipe-swipe. So that’s another component of that future, I think, and very important as we go to more distributed objects that do only a few things.”
Having got to a point where a person’s smartphone is often also their camera, their music player, their fitness tracker, and more, it might seem counter-intuitive to be considering breaking apart those components and turning again to individual gadgets. However, there’s a strong feeling within Nokia that specificity has its own advantages.
“There’s room again for devices that do a few things really well”
“I think there’ll be room for more and more dedicated devices that do a few things really well again” Ahtisaari predicts. “And that is slightly a contrarian view, but I think what we’ll see is increasing complexity and ability… you can either shortcut through the environment, but this means also space for dedicated devices that do a few things really well. Yes, a phone, but other functionalities too.”
Right now, all three executives are coy on what, exactly, Nokia’s portfolio of answers to these questions might look like. However, they’re more vocal on what they probably won’t be, and the approach seems less “in your face” than Glass, and more cautious than the “confident” search and prediction of Google Now.
“I’m not going to speculate [about Glass] because time will tell with regards what is the right execution with regards to this idea of “heads-up”, so I think we’ve a lot of work to do, frankly, so I’m not going to speculate about that” Pannenbecker said. “But I think, as I said, this is for me an area that we want to engage in, I mean, this topic of heads-up not this particular solution for example. As I said, there’s a whole bandwidth of opportunities, and I think we as a company need to look very deeply into these opportunities, and then commit.”
For Harlow, the question is of need: or, more accurately, the balance of plain geek appeal – as perhaps Google Glass embodies – against relevance to mass-market consumers. “I think that it’s just as true in any of these new areas that you have to solve the fundamental consumer problems, and you can’t… you innovate for the sake of innovation” the smartphones boss argued. “Usually there’s a small number of people who find them really cool, and the vast majority don’t see a reason why. That the use case is so on-the-point that they don’t see it.”
In fact, there’s a sense among all three that the Glass strategy – that is, taking what components might usually be associated with a smartphone, and making them something you can wear – is too easy a way out. Yes, there are battery challenges, and persistent wireless demands, and the need to craft an interface and interaction paradigm that suits a more hands-off usage style, but a wearable computer doesn’t necessarily address either user-need nor go far enough in liberating users from the tyranny of persistent, connected distraction.
“Either they solve latent needs, or unknown problems”
“I think that’s why you see fitness all over the place, because clearly if people stick with it then it can help solve a problem” Harlow explains, “but that’s where I think the energy will really come from, either that they solve latent needs that consumers can’t necessarily articulate, or solve unknown problems that they have and that sensors would solve.”
While the most attention has been paid to Nokia’s evolving Windows Phone handset range, the company has also been working on matching accessories, pushing ideas like wireless charging and NFC pairing. That focus on a well-designed, integrated ecosystem looks likely to spawn a family of shared technologies, each delivering its own component part of the overall usability.
“That’s something which we’re working on, and I’m not in a position… I will not talk about specific solutions to that, but absolutely that is a challenge for us” Pannenbecker agreed. “For us as designers. Because ultimately again it comes to better problems. This is more what we think a smartphone is supposed to be [holds up phone], but I think obviously there’s other ways of doing that.”
Nokia hasn’t been afraid of riffing on those possibilities in the past with concept designs, however. Its 2009 “Mixed Reality” headset predated Google Glass, and was envisaged with its own suite of accessories and sensors: a motion-tracking wristband for navigating a wearable display, for instance, along with wireless audio. Meanwhile, the idea of paring back information in a more context-driven way has also been explored, such as the Nokia-prompted “Frame” concept device that rethought the smartphone into a window that blurred the physical and digital worlds. Arguably it’s an idea that has expressed itself in Nokia City Lens, the augmented reality app now publicly available for Windows Phone.
Just as Google Now relies on its context engine, so has Nokia Research been pushing its own predictive technologies to better focus the user-experience. We mentioned the 2009 “Linked Internet UI Concept” from Nokia Research to Marco Ahtisaari, a project which learned from social networking attention and prioritized updates and geo-location of those people it calculated the user was most interested in, and asked him where the company’s roadmap was on integrating such ideas into its software.
“Partly that’s a question of focus” he said, pointing out that Nokia needed first of all to prove itself with a successfully selling Lumia range of phones. “Like I said, the most important thing we can do now is show momentum. These are things we definitely work on.”
However, he also argued that there is risk in making mobile devices too intelligent – or portraying them as having intelligence – because you run the risk of leaving the user feeling at odds with their device, not enabled by it. “If this makes sense there’s robots and people. People versus robots” Ahtisaari said, somewhat cryptically. “We’re on the side of people, in general. What I mean by that is certain personalization you can do, goes a long way. And the other example, if you took that, would be “hello, we just reconfigured your phone, it’s got all the people here, and we set it up for you”.”
“We’ve got the auto-magic today, it’s just making it not feel creepy”
In fact, Nokia could already integrate that sort of contextual technology into its phones today; the reservation is one of how the mainstream user – not the Glass aficionado – might react to that. “We’ve all of that auto-magic today, it’s just doing it in a way that doesn’t feel creepy, or has violated what you do” he argued. “It’s striking that balance. But definitely, the two things you’ve mentioned – contextually and prediction – are important.”
It’s early days for Nokia to look too far beyond smartphones; the Lumia line-up has only just reached five Windows Phone 8 handsets, the platform itself still holds an extreme minority share, and there’s no sign of a tablet on the horizon, at least not publicly. Nonetheless, it seems we can expect something other than a set of Windows Phone goggles.
“I’m not going to speculate [about Glass] because time will tell with regards what is the right execution with regards to this idea of “heads-up”, so I think we’ve a lot of work to do, frankly, so I’m not going to speculate about that” Pannenbecker demurred. “But I think, as I said, this is for me an area that we want to engage in, I mean, this topic of heads-up not this particular solution for example. As I said, there’s a whole bandwidth of opportunities, and I think we as a company need to look very deeply into these opportunities, and then commit.”
Though the strategies may be very different, there’s one thing Nokia and Google do agree on: the name of the game is elevating users from the voracious attention-soak of the touchscreen, not finding more ways of putting it in front of them. “If they require as much attention as a smartphone, then no more human contact” Ahitsaari concluded. “That’s the perspective we have, we’re still in the people-connecting business.”
Nokia “Head Up”: How Lumia’s future is sharper than Glass is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
It is a clear (albeit sad) fact that smartphones which run on Windows Phone 7.x at this point in time, will not be getting an upgrade to boost the operating system to the far more current (and cooler) Windows Phone 8. You know what they say, what goes around comes around, but the karma police are not going to come knocking on Windows Phone 8’s door anytime soon as Microsoft has promised that devices which run on Windows Phone 8 right out of the box will be able to be upgraded to the next version of the operating system, whatever that is, and whenever that would be.
This eligibility for future upgrades will definitely be good news, although it remains to be seen whether the next version of the Android operating system will be known as Windows Phone 9 or not remains to be seen. It does lead one to wonder though, most of us do make an upgrade to our mobile devices yearly, or once every two years when our current contract is up. Would we still keep Windows Phone 8 phones by the time new handsets roll out with Windows Phone 9 in tow?
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Acer Wants To Ship 7 Million Android Tablets And 3 Million Windows Tablets In 2013, Verizon Galaxy Nexus In Line For Update,
Nokia may not have ruled out a QWERTY Windows Phone for its portfolio, but the chances of a device with a physical keyboard are shrinking, according to smartphone chief Jo Harlow. Speaking to SlashGear at Mobile World Congress this week, where Nokia took its Windows Phone 8 range to five devices with the addition of the Lumia 520 and Lumia 720, Harlow admitted that the company’s reluctance to revisit physical text entry options was down to a fear of being left on the wrong side of the mobile industry’s momentum – again.
“It’s really a question, “is there a large enough audience out there?” or “are the people who have QWERTY today intending to move in this direction?” and we really don’t want to be on the wrong side of that movement” Harlow, executive vice president of Smart Devices, told us. That’s despite a clear message from some users that a physical keyboard is high on their list of priorities.
“We still continue to evaluate because we do get the request a lot, and it’s funny that there are a lot of people that absolutely want to use a physical keyboard, they like the security of that” Harlow conceded. “Even though, I think the virtual keyboard of Windows Phone is phenomenal, especially the level of autocorrect, it’s really, really good.”
Unsurprisingly, Nokia isn’t ruling out any particular device, no matter how great the abundance of caution over QWERTY today. That means the market reception to BlackBerry’s upcoming Q10, the first BlackBerry 10 device to include one of the Canadian company’s legendary thumbboards, is likely to be of particular interest to Nokia as it figures out its next steps in Windows Phone.
“It’s something that we’re constantly looking at: next form-factors, what should we do next” Harlow told us, though pointed out that even those who really do want a physical ‘board are a dying breed. “One of the things that we see is that the number of people who are using, or are interested in using, a QWERTY continues to decline.”
A QWERTY Lumia? Don’t hold your breath says Nokia’s smartphone boss is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
A new software update is always more than welcome by hardware owners, but if and only if the software itself has been thoroughly tested to make sure that it runs smooth as butter without causing more headaches. After all, an update ought to come with its fair share of bug fixes, so to hear news of Skype for Windows 8 being bumped to version 1.5.0.109 surely brings more than just a smile to our faces. Of course, there will be new features thrown into the mix, but do not expect anything groundbreaking or earth shaking here.
Some of the features will include the ability to send and receive files, something which we take for granted on the desktop version of Skype, performance improvements and of course, general fixes. No longer will running Skype on an RT device drive you bonkers as your mates send files to one another, but you are unable to retrieve those files. The latest Skype for Windows 8 update is now available over at the Windows Store, so what are you waiting for?
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Kyocera Torque From Sprint, Ubuntu Touch Ported To Galaxy S3,
If you happen to rock on to Verizon Wireless as your mobile carrier and Windows Phone as the mobile operating system of choice, then you will be pleased to hear that all your anxious waiting for the ‘Portico’ operating system update will not only come with its fair share of unique features, but you will also be able to enjoy a bunch of special fixes to boot. Some of the new features and improvements are said to accompany the radio/firmware portion of the update, where there will be an extra layer which delivers some carrier-side requested fixes.
With firmware 1532.20.20011.605 and radio 0.17.50.1218 in tow, hopefully your smartphone will gain an improvement in performance where Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity are concerned, and you can now choose an MP3 file as a ring tone (what the heck!), an incremental security feature so that you can restrict calls to a limited list of numbers, among others. How is your HTC 8X coming along with the latest Windows Phone update from Verizon?
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: GooPhone N2 Lite A Blatant Galaxy Note 2 Clone, Samsung Galaxy Fame Gets First Firmware,
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