Hasta La Gadget!

Hipstamatic Oggl app users might want to rethink those subscriptions. Select Windows Phone 8 imaging apps, such as Instance, may no longer be able to upload images to Instagram’s photo sharing service. According to a spokesperson’s comment published on The Verge, the site has updated its API, restricting access to third-party apps in an effort to “fight spam to help prevent future attacks and increase security.” Images apparently still pop up on the platform, but are deleted seconds later. For now, it appears that the only way to share images on Instagram is to capture them directly within the app, or through a supported service like Hipstamatic Oggl, leaving some WP8 and BlackBerry users out in the cold. Let’s hope this unwelcome change means additional OS support is on the way.

Update: We spoke to an Instagram representative, who provided the same ambiguous response we’ve already seen reported. “We recently made an update to the systems that we use to fight spam to help prevent future attacks and increase security. As part of this, applications accessing Instagram against the terms of our API may also be affected. This update does not specifically target any particular app or platform.” Unfortunately, it’s not clear which apps are affected, including Hipstamatic Oggl, but we’re currently testing several third-party offerings and we’ll share our results shortly.

Update 2: We’ve managed to test Hipstamatic Oggl, and the app was successfully able to upload an image to Instagram. It appears that this new restriction is limited to apps that aren’t accessing the service in line with API requirements.

Filed under: Cellphones, Cameras, Internet, Facebook

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Source: The Verge

Bryan Biniak, VP and General Manager of Global Partner and App Development at Nokia, was in London today for the UK launch of JobLens, so we took the opportunity to sit down with him and talk Windows Phone 8, the basket in which Nokia has entrusted all its eggs. Being Microsoft’s brother-in-arms, Nokia’s heavily involved in building out the platform and, despite an increasing number of high-profile apps making the jump, the general health of the WP8 store was the main topic of discussion. Unsurprisingly, Biniak was keen to report the app catalogue and with it, competitiveness, is growing fast. There are still gaps to be filled, however, and if Biniak’s claims are to be trusted, all the apps most common to iOS and Android home screens are headed to WP8 in the near future:

We’re not having a single conversation with anybody, of any material application that’s out there, that isn’t going to be coming to the platform. It’s not a matter of if — I had those conversations, the “if” conversations, before — all of our conversations now are “when.”

Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Mobile, Microsoft, Nokia, Google

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The rumors were true. Nokia’s revealed its biggest phone to date, with a screen measuring in at 4.7 inches. It’s the Lumia 625, and it joins a series that has grown a fair bit since the Lumia 620 launched earlier this year. Compared to that earlier phone, the 625 keeps the same resolution (a slightly pixelated 800 x 480), but bumps the processing power up to a dual-core Snapdragon S4. Despite that hulking LCD screen, however, it’s still thinner than the Lumia 920 at 9.15mm (0.36 inches). It’s a Nokia smartphone, so there are plenty of HSPA radio gadgetry to keep the global fanbase happy. What’s more — and this is rare for an entry-level Lumia — it also has LTE. Specifically, we’re looking at the British EE-friendly Band 3 option here, alongside Bands 7 and 10.

If there’s anything to remind us that this is no flagship device, it’s the camera. Don’t expect any 41-megapixel sensors. In fact, get ready to be a little underwhelmed by a 5-megapixel camera module, although you’ll still get the likes of the animated gif-making Cinemagraph and the same Smart Camera app seen on the Lumia 925. You’ll have 8GB of internal memory to fill with your best photo moments, and there’s also a microSD slot behind the removable back. Meanwhile, customization options include orange, green, yellow, white and black cases, although there’s no turquoise shade like we saw on the Lumia 620. It’s headed to EE, Vodafone, O2, Phones4U and Carphone Warehouse in early September, priced at £200 or 220 euros for continental Europeans. Find our hands-on impressions (and a video!) right after the break.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Nokia

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Source: Nokia

Want a cheap gateway to the world of Windows Phone? In the US, it won’t get much cheaper than AT&T’s new version of the Lumia 520. Nokia’s starter device will cost just $100 contract-free when it hits AT&T’s GoPhone prepaid service on July 26th — that’s $50 less than T-Mobile’s already inexpensive Lumia 521. There won’t be LTE support or other frills, but we suspect that many customers won’t mind at this price.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Nokia, AT&T

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Source: AT&T

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!

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

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