Hasta La Gadget!

If you’re a Windows Phone 8 user, you’ll be glad to know that you’ve got the new ability to work with a grouping of your contacts by the name of Rooms. This new Rooms feature was revealed this week at Microsoft‘s event for Windows Phone 8, showing off how Rooms will change the way you work with contacts. You can take a photo and send it to your family – you can also make a group that all needs the same information – and this feature works with other platforms, too, not just Windows Phone 8.

This update brings on a feature set that – amazingly, it seems – is able to work with other devices not working with Windows Phone. You can share you calendar events with a Room to an iPhone, for example. You wont get the full Rooms experience, but you’ll be able to see the text and the images, at least. The update brings on what seems at first to be a simple grouping of contacts, but is sure to expand beyond this simple feature right out of the box.

With Windows Phone in general you’ve got a People Hub that already takes care of your contacts – this is an expansion of that. Or a grouping of that, rather – this Rooms feature is primarily a tool with which you’ll be working via many other apps. Windows Phone 8′s update set is primarily made up of tweaks and mega-boosts to the features that already work generally ok.

In other words, Windows Phone 8 is more of a perfecting processor for Windows Phone 7. Have a peek at our Microsoft portal as well as our Windows Phone 8 tag portal to see what this beast is all about. And prepare yourself for the full Microsoft wave sooner than later!

Windows Phone 8 Rooms arrives for contacts grouping is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Just as Google introduced their own multi-user interface this morning, so too is Microsoft making it clear that they want to create an atmosphere for children specifically. This feature can be shut off completely if you do not want to use it – but once you’ve got it activated for your kids, you can program it to show only the apps that you want to show. When you’ve got a phone with a bunch of blood-filled apps on it, you don’t want your kids to see such things – parents and kids will both benefit from such a feature.

This feature was shown on stage by a set of three kids who literally ran screaming out into the limelight like fireballs. To drive the point home, they were given three Windows Phone 8 devices with Kids Corner activated. Right past the lock screen they went with a set of apps approved for them – simple and workable.

Jessica Alba showed this off in a video that made it clear that her kids use this feature all the time – stepping on stage to show it off, she first let it be known that she’d have been terrified to bring her own children on stage. WIth Jessica Alba on stage, it became clear that celebrity endorsements were not just limited to Samsung and Google.

Check the timeline below to see how Microsoft has been issuing the Windows Phone 8 news as well as the Windows 8 news alike. WIth Windows 8 being released last week and Windows Phone 8 this week, the full Microsoft wave can come on down – stay tuned in our Microsoft portal!

Windows Phone 8 reveals Kid’s Corner for multiple users is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Ever dreamed of having more than one user account on your smartphone? Microsoft’s making that a reality with Kid’s Corner for Windows Phone 8. If you’re not a parent, don’t let the name deceive you: this particular feature is great for both the tiny tots and all of your grown-up friends, as it allows you to choose which apps, games, music and videos show up when the device is in that particular mode. It’s a feature that has strangely eluded the other major platforms, and it absolutely gives WP8 an edge for those concerned about youngsters (and potentially even colleagues) getting into trouble with your phone.

For more, check out our Windows Phone 8 event liveblog!

Continue reading Microsoft brings guest user account to Windows Phone 8 via Kid’s Corner

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile, Microsoft

Microsoft brings guest user account to Windows Phone 8 via Kid’s Corner originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 29 Oct 2012 13:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Microsoft  | Email this | Comments

Windows Phone 8 devices will get a year’s ad-free access to Pandora, the streaming music service, Microsoft has confirmed at its launch event today. The new app was a much-demanded one by would-be Windows Phone users in the US, and is part of Microsoft’s attempt to fill in empty gaps in the smartphone platform’s line-up.

Pandora, for those who aren’t familiar, takes an initial suggestion of an artist by the listener, and then builds a custom playlist based on music it thinks will be similar. It’s based on interlinking audio data from the Music Genome Project, with users rating suggestions to guide how the playlist develops.

Of course, Pandora isn’t the only streaming music service out there, and Nokia is perhaps going to be frustrated by the news of its addition. Nokia Music has already been available for Windows Phone 7 devices, and will be included as an exclusive to Nokia’s Windows Phone 8 Lumia devices, as part of the company’s attempt to pull together differentiating features.

What may save Nokia is Pandora’s limited availability compared to Windows Phone overall. Microsoft will be pushing its smartphone globally, but Pandora can only be used in the US; Nokia Music, meanwhile, is offered with all of the Lumia phones, no matter where they’re sold.

Pandora for Windows Phone 8 official with 1-year ad-free included is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

This week Microsoft has introduced an update to Windows Phone 8 with a brand new set of features for their lock screen – starting with Live Apps. This update brings on a feature similar to what we’re seeing with Windows 8, the desktop system being released here right at the same time as Windows Phone 8. Here with Live Apps comes a unique version of Facebook, made specifically for the Windows Phone 8 environment – personalization for your everyday first look at the smart mobile world.

This update also brings Windows Phone 8 into a new age for a collection of applications including Angry Birds Roost, Words with Friends, Chase, Twitter, and Skype. The Windows 8 version of Skype is made with a new architecture – so too is the Windows Phone 8 edition. With Microsoft owning the bulk of Skype, you’ve got features that don’t appear on any other operating system.

Skype is one example of an app that doesn’t run in the background – it’s on all the time, but doesn’t drain your battery like a normal app would. True also is the set of apps that appear at your lockscreen. Temple Run is also coming to the Windows Phone 8 environment, as is the Star Wars version of Angry Birds.

Stay tuned to SlashGear for more Windows Phone 8 action all day long as we stay on the Microsoft event right here in our Microsoft portal!

Windows Phone 8 gets Live Apps for lock screen is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.