Hasta La Gadget!

We know tomorrow’s Windows Phone 8 event will finally answer all of those burning mysteries that we’ve been yearning to hear more about since Microsoft first announced the new OS in June. After all, the company has kept its upcoming platform under tight wraps, preventing its hardware partners from showing it off to the press. So what else will the folks from Redmond have up their sleeves? Stay tuned here as we bring you all of the revelations live in San Francisco, tomorrow at 1PM ET!

Filed under: Announcements, Mobile, Microsoft

The Microsoft Windows Phone 8 event happens tomorrow, get your liveblog here! originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 28 Oct 2012 23:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’re just a few days away from Microsoft‘s big Windows Phone 8 launch event, and today we’re receiving a bit of encouraging news about the Windows Phone Marketplace. All About Windows Phone has announced that the Windows Phone Marketplace has passed the 125,000 apps milestone, with a total of 126,530 apps being published to the marketplace in the past 20 months. It’s important to keep in mind that these aren’t official numbers from Microsoft, but All About Windows Phone has been right on the money when talking about published Marketplace apps plenty of times in the past.

Of those 126,530 apps, 113,170 of them are available for download in any combination of 60 different countries, while 101,517 are live in the US. The UK isn’t far behind the US, with 96,265 apps live on its own app store, and France rounds out the top three with a total of 92,887 apps on its Windows Phone Marketplace. That 126,530 figure means that around 215 apps are being published to the Windows Phone Marketplace per day, which certainly isn’t bad.

The number of developers has been steadily climbing too, with a total of 30,000 developers publishing an app on the Windows Phone Marketplace at some point in time. Windows Phone managed to hit the 125,000 milestone faster than Android, which took 26 months to get there, but iOS ultimately came out on top in the race to 125,000 apps, taking only 18.5 months to reach the milestone. That has to be pretty encouraging, but then there’s still the fact that the Windows Phone Marketplace lags pretty far behind the Google Play Store and the iOS App Store in terms total published apps.

Unfortunately for Windows Phone users, AAWP says that the rate at which apps are being published to the Windows Phone Marketplace has slowed down in recent months. This is likely because developers are preparing for the launch of Windows Phone 8. If you have a few minutes on hand, be sure to read through AAWP’s full report, as it’s a very interesting piece!

Windows Phone Marketplace surpasses 125,000 apps milestone is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Let’s face it, China Mobile will carry Nokia’s Lumia 920T, with the launch now believed to be in mid-November. Unfortunately, the network itself isn’t being so straight forward, announcing the news on Sina Weibo shortly before yanking the post altogether. China Mobile’s dithering aside, we’re fairly sure the 920T will gain TD-SCDMA and TD-LTE modems, but is otherwise the same phone we’ve pawed at for the last few weeks.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

China Mobile announces Nokia Lumia 920T, changes its mind soon afterward originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 23 Oct 2012 05:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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With the Windows 8 launch in full swing, there is a lot of communication coming from Microsoft, but a Bill Gates interview is arguably much more interesting than a TV commercial. Of course, it won’t come as a surprise that Bill Gates supports the Microsoft Surface tablet, but it’s probably clear that it has to be more than a bit special for him since he was supported the “tablet” idea for so long.

Bill gates was still around when Microsoft’s CTO Ray Ozzie coined the “three-screen and a cloud” (TV, PC, Mobile — in 2009) which sets the goal of having a consistent experience across multiple devices. A few years later, this vision is about to have its best implementation yet with the arrival of Windows 8, Windows 8 RT and Windows Phone 8. It’s not hard to imagine that he is genuinely excited about this.

“You can’t appreciate it, without seeing it. Go to a store” says Bill Gates. Now that Microsoft stores are popping all over the country, that may ultimately be the easiest thing to do. for the details, stay tuned for our own review of the Microsoft Surface as it should come out within days. So far, what do you think of the Surface, and what would you like to see in a review? Watch the video in the full post.  (more…)

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Microsoft Surface for Windows RT at $199, possible or not?, Windows 8 companion app for Windows Phone 8 spotted,

Nokia’s Lumia 920 has been prematurely priced up for its US-exclusive launch on AT&T, with Best Buy spilling the competitive costs for the Windows Phone 8 handset. The 32GB 4G smartphone will be $149.99 with a new, two-year AT&T agreement, according to Best Buy’s listing, while unactivated it will set shoppers back $599.99. However, even undercutting most mainstream smartphones by fifty bucks won’t make it the cheapest Windows Phone 8 flagship.

The Windows Phone 8X by HTC, for instance, is currently listed at $99.99 with a new, two-year agreement from the same retailer. It’s unactivated, unsubsidized price is the same $599.99, but HTC is obviously being more aggressive than its Finnish counterpart.

At $100, that pits the HTC 8X against Apple’s iPhone 4S, though the iOS smartphone has twice the storage of its 8GB Windows Phone rival. Considering HTC also opted not to give the 8X a memory card slot, instead preserving the unbroken lines of its unibody plastic casing, that could prove to be a considerable limitation, even with Microsoft’s SkyDrive cloud storage push.

The Lumia 920 lacks a microSD slot too, but at least gets 32GB of internal capacity. Best Buy has no listings for the smartphone’s accessories, such as the wireless charging plates, though based on UK pricing we’re not expecting them to come cheaply.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]

$150 AT&T Nokia Lumia 920 priced to undercut rivals (but not HTC) is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.