Refresh Roundup: week of August 13th, 2012

Refresh Roundup week of August 13th, 2012

Your smartphone and / or tablet is just begging for an update. From time to time, these mobile devices are blessed with maintenance refreshes, bug fixes, custom ROMs and anything in between, and so many of them are floating around that it’s easy for a sizable chunk to get lost in the mix. To make sure they don’t escape without notice, we’ve gathered every possible update, hack, and other miscellaneous tomfoolery we could find during the last week and crammed them into one convenient roundup. If you find something available for your device, please give us a shout at tips at engadget dawt com and let us know. Enjoy!

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Refresh Roundup: week of August 13th, 2012 originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 19 Aug 2012 20:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft resumes publishing Windows Phone apps, all is right with the world

Nokia Lumia 900 at Windows Phone Marketplace

Everybody, you can stop panicking. Microsoft has solved the digital signing problem that prevented app installations on older Windows Phones, as promised, and the flow of new apps is back to a steady stream. It may take a day or two before new titles show up in earnest; developers whose work was in caught in submission stage limbo won’t have to restart the process from scratch, however. The quick turnaround is no doubt good news for developers. We’d argue that it’s equally good news for Microsoft, too — there’s no doubt that the crew in Redmond would rather not have to explain any lengthy publishing outages while it’s onstage with Nokia next month.

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Microsoft resumes publishing Windows Phone apps, all is right with the world originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Aug 2012 00:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Editorial: Carriers, let customers choose their own phones

Editorial Carriers, let customers choose their own phones

Remember what the experience of shopping for a gadget was like at big-box stores years ago? Whatever your actual needs were, the store clerks would invariably steer you towards whatever they were getting a commission to sell, or whatever scratched their personal itch. Why would you even go to a store if you knew you would never get an honest answer? The problem was bad enough for Apple in the 1990s, when Macs were often relegated to a dark corner alongside the Ethernet cables, that the company started up its own retail chain. It didn’t get better for most of us until outlets like Best Buy backed off and sometimes made it a point to advertise commission-free staff. Today, while it’s tough to completely escape personal bias and the occasional exception to the rule, it’s more likely than not that a modern general electronics store will give you a decent shot at buying what you really want.

But just try buying a cellphone at a carrier store today.

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Editorial: Carriers, let customers choose their own phones originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 15 Aug 2012 17:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nokia and Microsoft announce September 5th Windows Phone event

Nokia and Microsoft announce September 5th Windows Phone event

We just received an invite from Nokia and Microsoft to attend a Windows Phone-centric event on September 5th. This is the same day as Nokia World’s opener, and we have a feeling this isn’t a coincidence. Rumors have been rampant that the Finnish company would choose this particular week to announce its lineup of Windows Phone 8 devices, and we’re hoping this is indeed the case. Granted, the invite comes with a large reference to Nokia Maps, so it’s certainly possible the navigation service could be a primary focus of the event, but we’re hedging our bets on new handsets. Either way, we’ll be there to share the excitement with you.

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Nokia and Microsoft announce September 5th Windows Phone event originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 15 Aug 2012 13:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft halts posting new Windows Phone apps after some refuse to install on older devices

Microsoft stops posting new Windows Phone apps after some titles refuse to install on older phones

Microsoft may face a few uncomfortable questions at Build this fall. A bug in digital signatures resulting from the Windows Phone Dev Center rollout is preventing a “small percentage” of apps in the Windows Phone Store, including not-so-insignificant titles like WhatsApp and Microsoft’s own Translator, from installing on older phones that had to upgrade to Windows Phone 7.5 after the fact. While the company already has a fix in the works, it’s performing some painful triage to keep the damage from spreading: it’s putting the brakes on publishing any new apps until certificate signing is back under control. Microsoft doesn’t yet know when it can open the taps once more, either. The momentary freeze won’t stop downloads of already-published apps, but it’s likely to leave a few customers jittery about resetting their phones — and developers twiddling their thumbs.

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Microsoft halts posting new Windows Phone apps after some refuse to install on older devices originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 14 Aug 2012 23:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Gartner: worldwide mobile phone sales dipped 2.3 percent while users wait for next iPhone

Gartner worldwide mobile phone sales dipped 23 percent while users wait for next iPhone

Gartner is reporting that worldwide mobile phone sales this quarter dropped 2.3 percent as buyers postponed upgrades and held out for the next big thing. Of the 419 million units sold in the last three months, Samsung, Nokia and Apple unsurprisingly took the lion’s share of the sales, while ZTE and LG rounded out the top five. Overall, Android’s the most popular phone operating system, running 64.1 percent of all new handsets, while iOS phones came in second with 18.8 percent. If you feel like you need some more spreadsheets in your life, then read on for the full breakdown.

Continue reading Gartner: worldwide mobile phone sales dipped 2.3 percent while users wait for next iPhone

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Gartner: worldwide mobile phone sales dipped 2.3 percent while users wait for next iPhone originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 14 Aug 2012 05:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung SGH-T899 for T-Mobile emerges on the web with potential Windows Phone 8, LTE

Samsung SGHT899 for TMobile emerges from the web's depths with potential Windows Phone 8, LTE

User agent profiles on the web aren’t always guarantees of what you’ll get in a future device, but this is one of those moments where we’d like the details to be true. A Samsung-made Windows Phone 8 device for T-Mobile, the SGH-T899, lines up closely with the higher-end Odyssey we’d previously only seen in a purported roadmap. Along with alluding to the OS itself through the presence of Internet Explorer 10, there’s a reference to the hinted-at 1,280 x 720 screen that you won’t find on any Windows Phone 7 gear. The profile even contains a suggestion of LTE support, although we’re still wondering whether or not this would be very aggressive futureproofing or just an incidental aspect of the possible Snapdragon S4 chip — Magenta isn’t flicking the LTE switch until 2013. At least the rumored fall release date gives us a comparatively short wait before we learn whether the Odyssey and T899 are one and the same, or real at all.

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Samsung SGH-T899 for T-Mobile emerges on the web with potential Windows Phone 8, LTE originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Aug 2012 18:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Crackle brings its movie-streaming party to Windows Phone

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Popular video app Crackle has wormed its way on to an impressive number of platforms, and now we can add Windows Phone to that list. The ad-supported streaming service offers access to films such as Pineapple Express, Layer Cake as well as popular TV series’ like Seinfeld. As always the app is free, and it’s available from the Market Place, like, now. Point your phone at the source and as Crackle would say, “It’s on.”

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Crackle brings its movie-streaming party to Windows Phone originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 12 Aug 2012 08:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Editorial: when the ecosystem is the product, picking a favorite isn’t easy

You Are Your Ecosystems

Have you ever taken the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator personality test? If not, you will eventually fail in a happy hour when people compare their personality-type acronyms. I took the test years ago, and have no recollection of my official personality type. ENTJ (Extroverted, Intuitive, Thinking, Judging)? ISFP (Introverted, Sensual, Feeling, Perceiving)? No idea.

But I can tell you this: I am a WiBG digital citizen. That is my Ecosystem Type Indicator. Back to that in a minute. First, some ecosystem history.

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Editorial: when the ecosystem is the product, picking a favorite isn’t easy originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Aug 2012 15:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Square CEO hints at Windows Phone app, says Starbucks funding will go toward ‘international efforts’

Square CEO hints at Windows Phone app, says Starbucks funding will go toward 'international efforts'

As you probably have heard — it’s created quite some buzz, after all — Starbucks just announced a partnership with Square to accept mobile payments via the Pay with the Square app. That’s huge news for Square, which currently processes transactions for some 75,000 merchants, as the coffee retailer is one of the largest national chains to integrate with the payment service.

At a breakfast in New York today, Square CEO and Twitter founder Jack Dorsey and Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz fielded questions about the partnership’s importance. While most of the talk centered on the rollout that will bring Square payments to 7,000 Starbucks stores ahead of the holiday season, the discussion also touched upon other areas of expansion for the mobile payments company.

Currently, the Pay with Square app is only available on iOS and Android. Asked whether a Windows Phone app is in the making, Dorsey said, “We will definitely build for where the users are, and we’re excited about the Windows Phone interface.” Take that as you will.

Starbucks will start accepting Square payments ahead of the holiday season, and Dorsey said the coffee retailer’s $25 million investment will be used for hiring and to expand “international efforts.” Starbucks, which has 18,000 stores in 60 countries, would certainly be a natural partner in any overseas plans.

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Square CEO hints at Windows Phone app, says Starbucks funding will go toward ‘international efforts’ originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Aug 2012 13:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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