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

"Screenshots of an alleged Windows Phone "Tango" build leaked to the internet today and demonstrate a number of new features in Microsoft's next Windows Phone update. Russian site WP7forum says that Tango will include the ability to export contacts to SIM, manage domestic / international roaming, and handle multiple attachments in a single MMS message."

There's not too much to go by here, save for a few little snippets about what might potentially be included in Windows Phone Tango. We do expect, of course, to hear more about future Windows Phone details at the upcoming Mobile Word Congress.

One of the biggest omissions in Windows Phone 7 is the lack of a way to manage tasks, a consequence of the Microsoft's initial decision to focus on consumers rather than businesses. You can't even sync with Outlook tasks. Task Arranger won't solve that particular problem, but it will let you manage tasks on your WP7 device, through a rather pretty interface. The developers have a sense of humour too, if you watch the video. You can download a free trial to Task Arranger through the Windows Marketplace; it currently retails for $2.99.

"The Bluetooth SIG has just approved the Lumia 719, saying it's destined for Asia, North America and South America."

The Bluetooth SIG has just confirmed the existence of the Nokia Lumia 719. The 719 is purportedly soon to see the light of day in Asia, North America and South America. From the product details, it appears the 719 is very similar to the 710 in terms of feature set.

Going by Nokia's past naming conventions, this is probably a CDMA variant of the Lumia 710. Hopefully it is destined for either Sprint or Verizon in North America.

"Microsoft's Channel 9 kicked off a new tips & tricks video series for Windows Phone today called "Minute of Mango" that's fun and worth watching."

Microsoft's Channel 9 is launching a tips and tricks series called "Minute of Mango." The host, Laura Foy, will be featured in three new videos per week for the next ten weeks. Minute of Mango is designed for both new and current users looking to get the most out of their WP7 phones. It could even be used to show users of other platforms what they can get if they switch to WP7.

The first video in this series is titled "Custom Ringtones" and can be found here.

"All search-sites in one! Beautiful, superfast search app, with all the biggest sites, and many categories for each site. It's the fastest way to find what you are looking for."

Ever been frustrated by Bing? And don't have the patience to install and use all the different search clients? Well proSearch might just be what you've been looking for. proSearch aggregates in one app most of what people would normally use, including Bing, Google, and Yahoo as well as Facebook, eBay and Amazon. There's still some rough edges like no user settings or live tiles - strictly no frills - and it would be nice to be able to search multiple providers at once. If you're interested, the price is reasonable (free!) and you can have a look at the app on the Windows marketplace.

"If you have a NAS at home branded Synology or QNAP, you're lucky: an application able to manage downloads on your NAS from your Windows Phone 7 is now available!"

dev.patey.net has just released two applications designed to help you manage downloads for your NAS directly from your WP7 phone. SynoLoad and QGetMobile. SynoLoad connects to your Synology NAS and QGetMobile connects to your QNAP NAS.

If you see a file you want to download while browsing on your WP7 phone, open SynoLoad or QGetMobile to send a link to your NAS. The application will then send a command for your NAS to download the file.

Both applications are available in the Market Place and cost $2.99 each.

"eBay calculator is an application designed to calculate fees for eBay auctions and the PayPal payment system."

One of the frustrations about eBay and Paypal are the myriad of fees they take out of your transaction. If you are not familiar with eBay, it is surprising how much money is deducted when the sales and transfer on money is done.

The eBay calculator app by Maginsoft looks to make the process smoother by giving you an exact breakdown of what fees you will be paying so there will be no surprises.

eBay calculator is available in the Market Place for $1.49. There is also a free limited trial version if you simply want to try first.

"ScanBizCards is an essential tool for any person who wishes to scan business cards with ease. Our features include scan in 21 languages, connect to Linkedin, add contacts to your People Hub and Websync cloud service. We released a paid version for 6.99 with a one year subscription of Websync FREE for WP7 users."

If you have lots of business cards this handy app for Windows Phone 7 may help you collect and organize them. The app is frequently updated on the iOS and Android platforms, and is a pretty mature product. This is a welcome addition to the Windows Phone platform. The Read link will take you to their website for additional details.

"InstaCam is a Windows Phone Instagram client that just hit the Marketplace yesterday. It allows you to take pictures on your phone, add different effects, and then share them via Facebook, Twitter or email. You can log into your Instagram account to check "likes" and comments on your uploaded content. You can also view other people's photos and leave comments, or follow them if you're a fan of their work. The search function can find photos based on key words in pictures' tags. Not an Instagram user? No worries, you can still use InstaCam to browse content anonymously."

Instagram is a very popular iPhone app and service. While Instagram is not currently available for the WP7 platform, this new app enables Windows Phone users to get in on at least some of the fun. Hit the Read link for additional details, but be aware that with this version you cannot actually upload photos to the Instragram service.

"The Nokia Lumia 710 is the second offering into the Windows Phone arena from Nokia, following the release of the Nokia Lumia 800 late last year."

Techradar.com have done an extensive review of the Lumia 710, which looks to be Nokia's offering to the young and trendy set, as well as to the more budget conscious. What's the verdict: it's a decent handset which would be a winner if the price were a tad lower. For the details, head on through the link for the full review.