Hasta La Gadget!

A number of issues have plagued WhatsApp on Windows Phone 8, but hopefully this latest update has addressed some of them. While it’s yet to integrate a VoIP function like Viber and other competitors, the new version allows you to initiate a call through the phone’s dialer. It promises to fix notification problems as well, although you can still see a lot of complaints about push notifications on the Windows Phone Store. The latest version also adds support for Windows Phone background agents, which prevents the app from killing off music and other tasks. Let’s not forget the new emoticons, because WhatsApp sure deserves a smiley for these much-needed changes.

Filed under: Misc, Mobile

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Via: My Nokia Blog

Source: WhatsApp (Windows Phone App Store), TruTower

One of Lumia 1020’s main attractions is its Nokia Pro Camera app, which completes the phone’s 41-megapixel camera with a bunch of handy features. In our video after the break, you can see Niina (not a typo) from Nokia demonstrating the manual focusing and lossless digital zooming. The latter actually works both ways: even if you’ve zoomed in before capture (and still get native 5-megapixel resolution), you can also zoom back out while browsing these photos, as the app captures both the zoomed-in 5-megapixel image as well as the full 38-megapixel image simultaneously. This way you can reframe the image and even focus on a different subject, as CEO Stephen Elop showed us in our earlier interview. But if you don’t need this feature, you can simply set the app to capture just 5-megapixel images by default.

Check out all the news from today’s Nokia event at our hub!

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Nokia

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Nokia’s sure taken its time, but its 41-megapixel Windows Phone beast is now finally out of the bag. Naturally, we have to compare this Lumia 1020 with its recent siblings: externally it’s closer to the 920 than the slimmer 925 or 928, except for its earpiece and, well, the camera. That said, the 1020 is somehow a lot lighter and a little thinner than the bulky 920, while packing the same 2,000mAh battery. Clearly, the lack of built-in Qi wireless charging and perhaps that Gorilla Glass 3 screen are responsible for this weight loss.

And needless to say, the Symbian-powered 808 PureView didn’t come with as many goodies compared to its Windows Phone cousin — even the newer lens is faster with six elements instead of five. Feel free to check out our detailed comparison table after the break.

Check out all the news from today’s Nokia event at our hub!

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile, Nokia

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After the official product shot leaked in late May, we knew it wouldn’t be long before Huawei’s Ascend W2 makes an official appearance. Well, today’s the day, but as the company’s second-ever Windows Phone device, the W2’s appearance at Mobile Asia Expo was surprisingly low key. According to the spec sheet at Huawei’s booth, this affordable phone comes with a 4.3-inch 800 x 480 display (looked like IPS to us) and a 1.4GHz dual-core Qualcomm MSM8230 SoC (same as the W1 but faster) with 512MB RAM. There’s 8GB of built-in storage along with microSD expansion — the slot is located next to the removable 1,700mAh battery plus full-size SIM slot, all underneath the red or yellow back cover.

Even though Huawei doesn’t hide the fact that the W2 is a low-cost device, it’s actually not too shabby. Most notably, the three usual soft keys are color backlit and will match your desired theme in Windows Phone 8. As a bonus, the touchscreen has a glove mode — as featured on several other more recent Huawei phones — for the cold winter days. There’s still no price or date announced just yet, but since this particular model packs a TD-SCDMA radio for China Mobile, folks outside China will have to wait for the WCDMA variant. For now, we have a hands-on video for you after the break.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

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It’s been just half a year since Nokia revealed its first Windows Phone 8 device, and we’ve already got another flagship to review. The Lumia 925 marks a departure in design for Nokia — it looks nothing like its predecessors, barring an expanse of screen and some capacitive Windows buttons. This time around, the phone is housed in an aluminum frame, making it Nokia’s first metal smartphone since those heady Symbian days. This, alongside some hardware repositioning and (minor) specification changes has been enough for the Lumia 925 to weigh notably less than its 920 forebear — and we think it’s enough to feel in your hand. As we juggled the two Windows Phones ahead of this review, our first impressions were that the 925 was also much easier to hold, despite only a negligible difference in thickness.

This, alongside some hardware repositioning and (minor) specification changes has been enough for the Lumia 925 to weigh notably less than its 920 forebear

Arriving in three comparatively restrained monochrome hues (white, black and grey), Nokia’s returned to OLED for its display tech, although it’s the same 1,280 x 768 resolution as the rest of the 920 series and includes the company’s anti-reflective screen technology for good measure. Its new Smart Camera app debuts on the Lumia 925, standing alongside the stock app and offering up some interesting new picture-taking options.

Otherwise, it’s an awful lot like the Lumia 920, at least on paper: there’s the same lauded 8.7-megapixel camera sensor (with an extra lens element), the same dual-core 1.5GHz processor and the same OS (albeit with some beta goodies). Nokia reckons that the phone is geared towards a different buyer than those who bought the Lumia 920, but alongside Verizon’s recent US-only Lumia 928, is there enough to get fans that skipped on last year’s model to buy this time around? And is there enough to persuade you not to hold out for what’s on the horizon?

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Nokia

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