SkyDrive app gains Windows Phone 8 support in version 3.0

SkyDrive app gains Windows Phone 8 support in version 30

After just a few short months at v2.0, Microsoft’s own SkyDrive app is now sitting pretty at 3.0. What’s an extra point get you? For starters, it’ll support all incoming Windows Phone 8 products, and it’ll also allow users to search their SkyDrive files / folders. Moreover, you’ll find new settings for photo upload and download size, as well as updated app icons and visuals. Microsoft has also improved performance when it comes to loading one’s content, but as of now, the 3.0 update won’t play nice with WP7 handsets. Hit up the source link if you’re hungry for more.

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SkyDrive app gains Windows Phone 8 support in version 3.0 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 07 Nov 2012 12:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft partners with Devicescape to give WP8 users access to over 11 million WiFi hotspots

DNP Microsoft partners with Devicescape to bring access to over 11 million WiFi hotspots to Windows Phone 8 users

Microsoft has secured access to over 11 million WiFi hotspots for Windows Phone 8 users today by inking a deal with virtual network provider Devicescape. Hoping to help people avoid pesky data overages, this partnership uses Windows Phone 8’s Data Sense feature to locate participating hotspots from Devicescape’s group of pre-approved WiFi access points. When launched, the app pulls up a Bing-powered map displaying nearby hotspots and vets them based on their signal strengths. Now before you start dreaming of watching your entire Netflix queue on your shiny new Lumia 920, keep in mind that Verizon’s currently the only US carrier on the Data Sense bandwagon. Hopefully Microsoft’s customer-friendly approach to mobile data will motivate other service providers to follow suit as more Windows Phone 8 handsets become available.

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Microsoft partners with Devicescape to give WP8 users access to over 11 million WiFi hotspots originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 06 Nov 2012 22:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung ATIV Odyssey for Verizon possibly spied at the FCC

Samsung ATIV Odyssey for Verizon possibly spotted at the FCC

When Microsoft teased that Verizon would carry the Samsung ATIV Odyssey, it left just about everything to the imagination — we didn’t even see a real image. A new FCC filing may have given us a better (if all too incomplete) look. The device getting approval at the US agency doesn’t have any dead giveaways in its hardware beyond a vaguely ATIV S-like shape and Verizon’s needed CDMA and LTE frequencies, but it’s going under an SCH-i930 model name that hints at possible Windows Phone 8-based origins: the SCH-i920 was the CDMA edition of the Omnia II, one of the last times Microsoft, Samsung and Verizon hung out together. If the i930 is what we suspect, the FCC will have just removed a key obstacle to the ATIV Odyssey’s promised December launch.

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Samsung ATIV Odyssey for Verizon possibly spied at the FCC originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 06 Nov 2012 18:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Best Buy pricing once again pegs Nokia Lumia 920 at $150 on-contract (update: now $99)

Best Buy pricing once again pegs Nokia Lumia 920 at $150 oncontract

Seems like just a few days ago that Best Buy inadvertently outed its pricing of the Lumia 920. While the company eventually pulled its listing, its pricing for the upcoming Windows Phone is looking more solid than ever. You see, a shopper in Naples, Fla., was recently able to snag a photo of an in-store display that once again pegs the Lumia 920 at $150 with a two-year contract or $600 outright. Keep in mind that Best Buy’s pricing may not be the same as AT&T’s own offering, but it’s worth putting this on your radar in the buildup to its debut — especially if the Smurf shirt crew manages to come in cheaper.

Update: Following AT&T’s official announcement this morning, Best Buy is following suit by pricing the Lumia 920 at $99. Company representatives tell us the smartphone will be available for pre-order at all Best Buy and Best Buy Mobile locations beginning tomorrow, and the Lumia 920 will be available for purchase this Friday.

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Best Buy pricing once again pegs Nokia Lumia 920 at $150 on-contract (update: now $99) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 06 Nov 2012 03:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ballmer: Windows Phone 8 ‘still small’, but will ‘really ramp quickly’

Ballmer Windows Phone 8 'still small', expects it will 'really ramp quickly'

Following its launch event in San Francisco and the appearance of its first devices last week, the folks behind Windows Phone 8 is hoping for big things in the future. Microsoft’s chief exec Steve Ballmer said that its work with Nokia, HTC and Samsung offered them the chance to create a “really strong third participant in the smartphone market.” He admitted that they weren’t there quite yet and told the audience at a Windows 8 launch event in Israel that Microsoft’s mobile OS was “still relatively small”, but that he expects “the volumes on Windows Phone to really ramp quickly.” The company will be lavishing more on marketing and advertising around Windows 8, Window Phone 8 and Surface than it has on anything previous — which sounds good, as its new mobile OS might need the help.

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Ballmer: Windows Phone 8 ‘still small’, but will ‘really ramp quickly’ originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 05 Nov 2012 06:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Switched On: Missed app-ortunity

Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology. This week marks Switched On’s eighth anniversary.

DNP Switched On Missed apportunity

It’s difficult to remember as jam-packed a week in terms of industry announcements from major OS providers as the recent seven-day stretch that included a bevy of hardware announcements from Apple, a new tablet and OS upgrade from Google, and two major operating system releases as well as an unprecedented hardware release from Microsoft. Of course, as would be expected from these dominant digital ecosystem stewards, all of the new products included elements of hardware, software and services, even if they were sometimes implicit. But each company could have done significantly more to highlight new third-party apps that were really taking advantage of that combination.

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Switched On: Missed app-ortunity originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 04 Nov 2012 17:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft posts Build 2012 session videos for eager Windows 8, Windows Phone 8 coders

Steve Ballmer at Build 2012 with giant display

Not every developer had the luxury of putting a flight to Redmond on the corporate tab so that they could attend Microsoft’s Build 2012 conference in person. Much to their delight, they won’t have to. The company has posted streaming video for every session addressing Windows 8, Windows Phone 8 and beyond, ranging from the two keynotes through to nuts-and-bolts framework talks. Be warned: most programmers will want to know Visual Studio and similar tools like the back of their hand before tackling some of these sessions. If they emerge unscathed, though, they’ll be well-equipped to live in Microsoft’s Windows Store world.

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Microsoft posts Build 2012 session videos for eager Windows 8, Windows Phone 8 coders originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 04 Nov 2012 03:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft explains the origins of Windows Phone 8’s home and lock screens

Windows Phone 8 home and lock screens

We’ve delved into just what we think of Windows Phone 8’s interface, but not what led Microsoft to the final layout. The company isn’t content to let us wonder — a pair of new company blog posts explain some (though not all) of what was involved in that birthing process. Ignore the marketing spin and you’ll learn that the wider, more densely packed home screen was chosen as much for balance as to stuff in more home tiles, and that it caused a momentary crisis for the app list as a result. The Redmond team goes on to justify choices behind the lock screen, such as why notifications are as customizable as they are, why the music controls fade and why there’s a failsafe for PIN attempts. Don’t expect to come out of the explanations suddenly craving a Lumia 920; just expect to make more sense of the OS inside.

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Microsoft explains the origins of Windows Phone 8’s home and lock screens originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 03 Nov 2012 18:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nokia Lumia 920 review: Windows Phone 8 and (a little bit of) camera magic

Nokia Lumia 920 review

It’s been almost a year to the day since we reviewed Nokia’s first Windows Phone and now we’re staring at its second-generation flagship, the Lumia 920. Since the Lumia 800, Nokia’s taken a pretty big role in improving Windows Phone’s standing in a crowded (but lucrative) smartphone battlefield. While it may be sharing the spotlight with the new HTC 8X, this slab of hewn polycarbonate has garnered plenty of admirers. No doubt, a large chunk of those would-be phone buyers are, for better and worse, lusting after the phone’s PureView imaging tech — and after our early tests, it looks like it could be just as impressive as the lossless optical zoom seen on the PureView 808.

The Lumia 920 dominated Nokia’s presentation at Microsoft’s Windows Phone 8 press event a few months ago, with the smaller Lumia 820 barely getting a look-in. It’s got a “better-than-HD” 1,280 x 768, 4.5-inch high-contrast IPS display, built-in contactless charging, solid build quality and more of Nokia’s exclusive software additions. This time, at least on hardware specifications, the company aims to put its flagship on equal footing with the likes of the Galaxy S III and the iPhone 5. Can Nokia’s biggest and (literally) brightest smartphone maintain its place at top of the Windows Phone pile? How does that camera fare with extended use? And will the Lumia 920 offer enough to pull you away from Android or iOS for your next phone?

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Nokia Lumia 920 review: Windows Phone 8 and (a little bit of) camera magic originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 02 Nov 2012 17:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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WSJ: Microsoft testing homegrown handset designs with suppliers, may not see mass production

WSJ: Microsoft testing homegrown handset designs with suppliers, may not see mass production

Until very recently, Microsoft wasn’t known for making hardware. Sure, it put out the occasional Zune, but most of the tech running Redmond’s desktop and mobile operating systems traditionally comes from its partners — the Surface being the exception, of course. According to the Wall Street Journal, Microsoft might consider making that exception a rule: some of the firm’s part suppliers say that the company is experimenting with a smartphone design of its very own. Folks familiar with the matter say the device in question is between four and five inches, putting it in a sweet-spot that’s larger than the iPhone 5, but not quite as daunting as a Samsung Galaxy Note II. Don’t get too excited, however, sources aren’t sure the if the device will go into mass production, and Microsoft is expectantly tight-lipped about the rumor. Still, we wouldn’t scoff at a smartphone with a build quality to match the Surface — though it might rub some of Redmond’s hardware partners the wrong way.

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WSJ: Microsoft testing homegrown handset designs with suppliers, may not see mass production originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 02 Nov 2012 01:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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