Windows Phone Thoughts - Daily News, Views, Rants and Raves

"Going by Microsoft's Greater China COO Michel van der Bel, the launch of Windows Phone in China is off to an auspicious start -- enough to give Apple the shakes. He claims that devices like the Nokia Lumia 800c have helped Windows Phone reach seven percent of the Chinese market, or just enough to get past the six points of the iPhone."

The tricky part of this news item posted on Engadget, as they point out, is confirming the market share numbers. That being said, it has to be somewhat encouraging for the Microsoft team. Could 2012 turn out to be a stellar year for Windows Phone? Only time will tell.

"Microsoft's mobile platform has not been the blockbuster success the Redmond, Washington-based technology giant was hoping for thus far. Google's Android OS and Apple's iPhone are still dominating the smartphone space by a huge margin in the United States and abroad, while Microsoft's share of the global smartphone market has continued to decline. According to a new report from market research firm Kantar WorldPanel, however, Windows Phone is finally showing signs of life in several key markets."

While Android and/or iOS are continuing to gain market share as reported in most market share analyses we have been reading for the past year or so, we certainly haven't seen much progress from Windows Phone. Until now, it seems. The bottom line is that Kantar's research indicates that since Nokia's Lumia smartphone launches Windows Phone’s market share has doubled to 6% in Germany, and the platform’s share has increased in the U.S., U.K., France and Italy to between 3% and 4%. These numbers are unlikely to scare the market leaders, but they have to be encouraging for Microsoft and its partners as they battle to maintain and expand a market presence. The Read link has additional details.

Product Category: Windows Phone 7 Smartphone

Manufacturer: Nokia

Where to Buy: Expansys [affiliate]

Price: $765 USD (unlocked, no contract)

System Requirements: Comes with Windows Phone 7 Mango+ (8107) installed.

Specifications: 1.4Ghz single core CPU, 16Gb internal storage, 512Mb SDRAM; 4.3in WVGA (480 x 800) Super AMOLED screen; Quad band (850/900/1800/1900) GPRS, Tri band UTMS (900/1700/2100), HSPA+, LTE 700, 1700/2100; GPS; 8mp rear colour camera w/autofocus + LED flash, 1mp front-facing camera, 720p HD video recording; BT 2.1 EDR; 802.11b/g/n; 3.5mm stereo audio jack; microUSB 2.0; G-Sensor; 128mm (5.03in) x 69mm (2.7in) x 12mm (0.47in); 160g (5.6oz). Full specs are available at the Nokia site.

Pros:

• Rogers first LTE-capable WP7 phone!
• Solid construction and feel;
• Call quality is excellent.

Cons:

• No replaceable battery;
• Access to the microSIM card is difficult.
• Wi-Fi doesn't see the 5Ghz band;

Summary: There has been a lot of buzz (and sales activity) about Nokia's introduction of their premiere WP7 phone to the US marketplace, the Lumia 900. I was fortunate to pick one up the second day they came available through Rogers here in Canada. Now, after a week or two of working with it on a day-to-day basis, let's see how it stacks up. Read more...

"Headphones on. Tilt the seat back. Just steady codin' as the keys get tapped. Get ready, because Nokia Developer is about to turn your town into Dev City with its Ready.Set(){Code} Challenge."

Nokia's Ready.Set(){Code} Challenge will be kicking off on 5/12/12 in Ohio and continue through 6/15/12. The challenge will be held in 13 cities through out the U.S. and Canada.

The event will include hackathons and app creation. You can compete either individually or in a team. The opportunity to win prizes are pretty good since they will be awarded at each of the 13 challenges.

Prizes will be awarded for the following categories:

- Top 3 created apps

- Top student created app

- Most Nokia-branded developer

App winners will be judged on creativity, usability, technical difficulty and app presentation.

The prizes are:

- 1st place: $500 gift card & Nokia Lumia 900

- 2nd place: $250 gift card & Nokia Lumia 900

- 3rd place: $100 gift card & Nokia Lumia 900

- Student Winner: $150 gift card & Nokia Lumia 900

- Most Nokia-Branded Dev: $100 gift card & Nokia Lumia 900

"Web Tiles enables you to create live tiles out of any web page. You can select the area of the page that will be shown on your live tile. You can also choose how often your tiles will be updated. This is great for example for weather or stock graphs and image feeds."

Here's what appears to be a very effective app for WP7. Do you really like live tiles? I bet you do and now you can create a tile from any web page. You can configure the tiles to update in a number of ways, or force one to update every 15 minutes by tapping on it. A trial version is available, which limits you to three fixed addresses, but that should be enough to win you over. Give it a try!

"When I kicked off Smoked by Windows Phone at CES in January, I did it with one thing in mind - show the world that Windows Phone is simply faster at the everyday stuff that people do on their smartphones."

Ben Rudolph has posted some updated numbers for the Smoked by Windows Phone challenge on the Windows Team Blog. A few notable numbers cited include 8,000,000+ views of the videos, 95% like rate on the videos, 36 countries that are currently running Smoked challenges, 50,675 wins with 638 losses and 2 videos that are in YouTube's top 5 most viewed list.

In the same blog post, Ben also announced the release of new Smoked by Windows Phone ads. Click through to see the new Android/Windows Phone photo speed challenge.

Read more...

"Microsoft has begun sending "Save the Date" invitations for an upcoming developer summit to select Windows Phone programmers."

Microsoft's Windows Phone Develop Summit invitations are now going out to select individuals. The Developer Summit is scheduled for June 20 and 21 in San Francisco. Topics will include Windows Phone OS 8 Apollo, XNA and Silverlight support for WP8 among other program developer issues. Details about formal registration for those that do not receive invitations will be available in the coming weeks.

"SnapCrowd is the most advanced DAM (Digital Asset Management) platform on the market and we plan to keep it that way. Whether we like it or not our lives are now digital in some way or another, so why not keep it simple and secure. At SnapCrowd a user can store photos, video, documents, audio and even contacts, all in their original form protected behind SSL / TLS and HTTPS protocol layers."

Cloud storage has hit mainstream, and in the past week or two you may have noticed a number of reviews of Google Drive, Microsoft SkyDrive, Dropbox, and Apple iCloud. These services offer a number of unique and competitive features, and are worth checking into. I would definitely add SnapCrowd to your list though. It has a some compelling features and very competitive pricing, and may just facilitate your computing and mobile life in ways you might not expect.

The SnapCrowd developers state they allow larger file upload sizes than their competition, like 200 MB for photos, 4 GB for video, audio and documents, and allow RAW files from all the major camera manufactures. Their proprietary user interface allows all user functions even while uploading files. What's more, if for any reason your file gets interrupted in the upload process, you can just log back into your account and queue the file back up and it will continue where it left off.

The SnapCrowd WP7 app looks well designed and is very functional (see the demo on the linked page). The user-interface directly guides you to manage specific file types (like documents, music, photos and video). Meta data about your files is clearly presented, and interactions seem very straight-forward. Hit the Read link for additional information and a demo of how the WP7 app works.

"Shammo also told Reuters that Verizon plans to make its new Windows Phone 8 handsets available later this year, in time for the holiday season, which should see the devices on sale shortly after Microsoft publicly launches the new mobile OS in the fourth quarter."

During Verizon's quarterly earnings report, CFO Fran Shammo voiced strong support for the Windows Phone 8 platform and believes it to be the third ecosystem along with iOS and Android. Also stated was that devices will be available from Verizon before the holiday season. Unfortunately this means there will be no WP7.5 device to supplement the HTC Trophy on Verizon's shelves.

Yumsters is a casual strategy game involving what I can best describe as guiding the diets of fruit-eating worms. The more they get to eat, the more points you score, and there's even a global leaderboard. Worth a look, especially at the decent price of $1.49.