Test-drive Windows Phone 7 on your Android phone or iPhone

Of course, short of driving to your local cell phone emporium and standing there like a dweeb, there's no easy way to test-drive the OS. (It's not like anyone you know has a Windows Phone. Am I right?)

As it happens, you can test-drive Windows Phone 7, and you can do it right on your Android phone or iPhone. For reals! Microsoft just introduced an interactive, browser-based Windows Phone 7 demo, one that gives you both the look and flavor of their please-won't-somebody-buy-it mobile operating system.

If you're reading this on your phone, just tap the link in the previous paragraph. Otherwise, point your mobile browser to http://aka.ms/wpdemo.

What you'll see next is an HTML5-powered page that shows you the Windows Phone 7 home screen (in all its photo-flipping glory) and lets you try all the main features: Phone, People, Messaging, Outlook, Family, and so on.

Tapping any one of these tools leads you through a semi-guided demo, one that allows you to scroll screens and flip pages along the way. If you tap where the glowing swipe and/or tap indicators tell you, you'll eventually get to the "end" of that particular demo, with the option of starting over. (On my iPhone, I discovered I could also tap Safari's Back button to return to the Windows Phone home screen.)

Truth be told, this was my first exposure to Windows Phone 7--and I liked it. The interface is just lovely, a monumental improvement over the train wreck that was Windows Mobile. There's a logic and elegance to it that, quite frankly, is lacking in both Android and iOS. I'm not saying I'd abandon my iPhone for it, only that I could see myself using and enjoying a Windows Phone.

In other words, mission accomplished, Microsoft. You gave me a little hands-on time with your redheaded stepchild of a mobile OS, and got me thinking about adoption.

Source is:
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-19512_7-57333671-233/test-drive-windows-phone-7-on-your-android-phone-or-iphone/#ixzz1fFfrN9Mr

New Path 2.0 automatically chronicles, shares your life

Path has a new, attractive, and intuitive interface for sharing moments and viewing what your close friends are posting.


The year-old semi-social network app Path is getting a major update that adds scary but interesting automatic life-tracking features, as well the capability--finally--to share Path items with larger social networks.

A refresher: Path was designed as a mobile service that lets you share what's important in your life with only your closest friends. It's not a wide-open social network like Facebook, nor a broadcast platform like Twitter. It's designed to keep you in touch with your family and your close, intimate friends only.

Path now makes that even easier and, in my opinion, more enjoyable. The new user interface on Path is extremely engaging. Now every sharing activity hides under a single button. And Instead of being good at just sharing photos and videos, now Path is equally adept at sharing thoughts, places you're visiting, and when you're asleep or awake. (It also lets you share music, but it's less good at that, since it can only tell what you're playing in the phone's music player, not on Spotify or other services.)

The fascinating, scary, and fortunately optional new feature of Path is called "Automatic." The app knows where you are and can automatically update your Path stream with significant location changes, once it learns your routine. If you hang out in a new neighborhood, or you're driving and stop in a city you've never been to, Path will create a location update. When it spots you at a new airport, ditto.

You can also tell Path when you go to sleep and when you wake up, and it will create an update with that data, and additional clever story-telling. Sleep for two hours and it might say you, "need coffee." Snooze for ten and it could say, "Ready to attack the day!" Path has a novelist on staff, I'm told, to keep these little items fresh.

Path CEO Dave Morin told me that tweaking the algorithms that figure out when to update, and which update "story" to use, are under constant development. Siri, he says, is paving the way for mobile apps with personality and smarts. "AI is the new UI," he says.

Posting automatic updates about when you're stopping for grub or grabbing some shut-eye might seem like trivia or over-sharing, but Morin maintains that in Path's tight networks of real friends, it's not. This information is not irrelevant when it comes from your best buddy or your spouse.

But it certainly is TMI when it comes to sharing with friends of friends, or those long-lost Facebook contacts you last saw in grade school. So while Path will now let you share out the items you post intentionally to Facebook, Twitter, or Foursquare (Tumblr is coming; but Google+ still has no API), it won't share the Automatic updates.

Morin says that Path 2.0 will post "natively" to these other social platforms: It'll use link-shorteners for items it puts on Twitter, and will post natively to Facebook's photos, for example. So you could, theoretically, use Path for sharing everything, from your intimate updates to Path friends to your broadcasts out to the Twitterverse.

Path 2.0 is due out today on iOS and Android.

Source is
http://news.cnet.com/8301-19882_3-57333449-250/new-path-2.0-automatically-chronicles-shares-your-life/

RIM BlackBerry services open up to iOS, Android

The iPhone 4S may soon be managed by BlackBerry's server.

Research In Motion now aims to support both iOS and Android smartphones and tablets--a break from the company's previous BlackBerry-only focus.


RIM introduced today BlackBerry Mobile Fusion, a mobile device management service that takes advantage of the BlackBerry Enterprise Server technology to track and monitor different phones and tablets.


With BlackBerry Mobile Fusion, RIM is attempting to preserve its hold over the business customer even as more of them leave the BlackBerry fold for other flashier devices. Mobile Fusion allows RIM to play a role in companies and government agencies, even if its BlackBerrys are no longer used. For RIM, it also represents a fundamentally different view of the mobile world from only a few years ago, when it would have never considered opening up its core service to other platforms.

The Mobile Fusion service gives RIM an in on the bring-your-own-device trend that's starting to pick up momentum with businesses. Increasingly, corporate IT departments are letting their employees use whatever smartphone they want. A number of companies have jumped into the business of supporting that trend.

RIM is taking advantage of one of its core assets: the strength of its BlackBerry Enterprise Server. For all of the knocks that its phones receive, its BlackBerry service remains the most efficient at delivering e-mails in a secure and speedy manner. That's particularly important with as employee-owned phones increasingly run confidential corporate applications and data.

RIM said it is in early tests with select business customers, and will have a wider trial with more customers in January, with planned general availability in March.

The services include standard management tools including the ability to remotely lock or wipe the phone, manage a phone's secure wireless connection, and selectively providing or denying access to certain corporate data.

RIM said Mobile Fusion will be able to use the capabilities on BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5.0.3. It also said there are additional features for BlackBerry smartphones and PlayBook tablets.

Source is
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57332782-94/rim-blackberry-services-open-up-to-ios-android/

Windows Phone 7 wins Operating System of the Year 2011 award

Windows Phone 7 has won the  Know Your Mobile Operating System of the Year 2011 award.

The number of WP7 developers are growing faster too, and so is the Windows Phone MarketPlace. The OS as you’d already know, has a refreshing user interface which favorably doesn’t rhyme with any of its competitors.

The OS won the category on the strength of its now widely emulated Metro OS with its easily customisable start screen, which is focused on putting people.

The system won plaudits for having a unique tile-based look which stepped away from the sea of isolated uninformative icons used by other smartphone operating systems while integrating experiences come from third party developers and from across Microsoft’s suite of products including Xbox LIVE, Microsoft Office 2010, Zune, Windows Live, Bing and more.

Runner ups include Samsung’s Bada OS and BlackBerry 7 OS. Here’s why the Jury thinks Windows Phone 7.x is the Operating System of The Year:

“It has the most potential, with a unique interface and a rapidly growing apps selection. It has a great looking UI and doesn’t look like Android or iOS.”

“A massive move from the previous OS. Huge growth in apps and system looks heaps better than the competition.”

“Innovative interface, with more success to come.”

“A refreshing OS that doesn’t try and copy other operating systems. Has attracted a large number of developers too.”

The runner ups on this category were Blackberry 7 and Samsung Bada.

Source is
http://wmpoweruser.com/windows-phone-7-wins-operating-system-of-the-year-2011-award/

Microsoft Lync coming to Android, BlackBerry, iOS and Windows Phone next month

Heads up, corporateers. Just like the company previously hinted, Microsoft Lync will soon make its smartphone debut. Currently, the enterprise instant messaging client (formerly known as Microsoft Office Communicator) has only been available to Mac and PC users, but all that is set to change next month when the software becomes available for Android, BlackBerry, iOS and Windows Phone. Curiously, Microsoft's New Zealand outfit had formerly stated that Symbian would be among the mix, although its mention is entirely absent from this announcement. Granted, the news seems rather informal at this point, and there's only so much you can cram into 140 characters.

Source is
http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/25/microsoft-lync-coming-to-android-blackberry-ios-and-windows-ph/

Yes, It Might Be Time for Windows 7.5 Phone

I am not sure the mobile operating system folks over at Apple or Google are losing any sleep about it, but Microsoft's latest upgrade on its mobile OS, Windows Phone 7.5, has made a decent mobile business tool even a bit better.

Redmond's mobile OS struggles are hardly deep dark, J. Edgar Hoover-like secrets. These are the facts: Even though Microsoft controls something on the order of a half-billion desktop computers on Earth, it essentially controls none of the mobile computers.

Which, rightly, should terrify Steve Ballmer and company.


And Redmond is clearly busting it to try crack the mobile market. To wit, Microsoft recently rolled out a major upgrade to its Windows Phone OS, called 7.5 -- and dubbed rather idiotically "Mango." Handset manufacturers such as Samsung, HTC and, yes, good old Nokia, have actually cozied up to the code. Major cell operators including Verizon, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile now all offer reasonably business-useful Window Phone phones.

I have spent the past month or so tinkering with this upgrade. Here is what you need to know about Microsoft's improving mobile business fortunes.
(Full disclosure: My firm does business with an unrelated unit at Microsoft.)


1. Dirt-cheap business phones.

Microsoft may not be shy about charging up the you-know-what for its desktop tools, but in the mobile world the company is like a trip to Goodwill. None other than Verizon now sells the perfectly business-ready HTC Trophy for just $30 with a two-year contract. And the HTC Arrive from Sprint -- which sports a surprisingly effective keyboard for us recovering BlackBerry) addicts -- can be had for a decent $99. That's cheap, and they both work.

2. Social media you can ... gasp! actually control.

Here's a clever idea: A business-ready group communication function that can be tightly managed. Called Groups in Windows Phone world, they are essentially multiperson chat or email threads that happen in one place on your phone. Sure, any chat module from, say, Google Talk or even Facebook does the same thing, but to these paranoid eyes, a Windows Group is much easier to control. Factor in the Windows Phone's overall improved security and don't be shocked if you find these phones easier and safer to be social with than even an iPhone.

3. The best mobile Microsoft Office experience, period.

Without question, the biggest news with Windows Phones 7.5 is improved support for Outlook and document types such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint for just about any business user. As I have reported, the integration of Windows Phone with Microsoft's Web-based software tools called Office 365 is excellent. But here in Windows 7.5, really any business can take its copy of Office out of the office. An app called Office Hub not only offers a reasonable mobile facsimile of say, Word, but users can also store and share content on Microsoft's Web storage tools such as SkyDrive. (Be warned: SkyDrive is primitive by Google Apps, Box.net or even Apple iCloud standards. But for basic file sharing and swapping, Windows Phone works. And you don't need the hideously expensive SharePoint servers to do it.)

Source is
http://www.thestreet.com/story/11317403/1/yes-it-might-be-time-for-windows-75-phone.html

Silverman: BlackBerry vs. Windows Phone

When trying to decide on a smartphone, most buyers focus on the two biggest platforms: Google's Android and Apple's iPhone. But those aren't your only choices.

Two veterans are still in the game. Research in Motion, or RIM, still has its BlackBerry, and Microsoft is offering a completely revamped mobile operating system.

Last week, I compared Android and iPhone; this time around, it's BlackBerry vs Microsoft's Windows Phone system.

BlackBerry

RIM may have been the top smartphone dog at one time, but its failure to respond to the iPhone and Android has dramatically decreased its share of the market. There are still plenty of BlackBerry devices to choose from, and RIM is working on new ones built around the QNX operating system it started using in its BlackBerry PlayBook tablet.

The pros. When it comes to handling large amounts of email and messages, no one does it better than BlackBerry. Its Messenger client is legendary for organizing overwhelming flows of information and doing so in a secure manner. Email gets routed through RIM's servers, which provide an extra layer of security.

The BlackBerry is also known for the quality of its physical keyboards. There are models of the phone that are narrow, but the flagship BlackBerry Bold and the BlackBerry Curve provide roomy keyboards with a solid feel.

RIM offers phones in two versions of its operating system: BlackBerry 6 and 7. A new OS based on QNX, to be called BlackBerry BBX, is due next year, and should come with updated hardware. BlackBerry devices are available from all four major U.S. carriers, and some models work with faster 4G networks.

The cons. RIM's competitive flatfootedness is largely responsible for its market-share decline. Critics say the phones' approach to handling data is somewhat dated, even with the newer BlackBerry 7 OS. Its Web browser, for example, remains among the slowest among smartphones and can have trouble rendering some Web pages.

One of the advantages to BlackBerry is also a disadvantage. BlackBerry owners usually pay an extra monthly fee for the privilege of routing messaging through RIM's servers.

And while they add security, they also can be a point of failure. When they went down for several days in October, BlackBerry users couldn't get email or access the Web.

There aren't as many apps for BlackBerry devices as for Android or iPhone, and there are relatively fewer free ones.

Windows Phone

As with RIM, Microsoft got run over by the iPhone. Realizing its Windows Mobile software would no longer cut it, the company threw it away and developed a brand new operating system, Windows Phone 7, which was recently updated to 7.5. New phones are coming later this year and early next, and Nokia has adopted Windows Phone as its primary operating system.

The pros. If you're tired of the same old apps-on-a-grid look of Android, iPhone and BlackBerry, Windows Phone 7.5 offers something different.

It features dynamic tiles on its home screen that update with information pulled in over the Net from a variety of sources. The Windows Phone software is divided into hubs that focus on different topics, such as a People hub for social media and an Office hub for productivity. And yes, as you'd expect, Windows Phone has the best support for working with Microsoft Office documents.

Social media are deeply integrated into Windows Phone, particularly Facebook. It's very easy to keep up with friends' statuses without ever opening a Facebook or Twitter app.

Windows Phone hardware comes from a variety of manufacturers, including HTC, Samsung, LG and more, and tends to be priced lower than most other smartphone types. It's available for all four major U.S. carriers.

The cons. Windows Phone's newness means it doesn't have all the features of the more mature mobile platforms.

For example, it doesn't formally support memory cards or dual-core processors. Windows Phones also don't work with faster 4G networks.

In addition, Windows Phone doesn't support very high resolution screens. So, although its upcoming HTC Titan has a 4.7-inch screen, it only has a resolution of 480-by-800 pixels.

Windows Phone also has more than 40,000 apps, putting it far behind Android and iOS. It also lacks some of the best-known apps, such as Hulu Plus.

Source is
http://www.chron.com/business/silverman/article/Silverman-BlackBerry-vs-Windows-Phone-2281510.php

iOS Users Fastest To Upgrade

When it comes to adoption rates for upgrades, the iOS platform easily tops both Android and BlackBerry, underscoring the avid consumer base for Apple products like the iPhone and iPad, according to a new study by mobile ad network Jumptap.

Within three weeks of its mid-October release, iOS 5 already accounted for a third (32%) of the total iOS traffic on the network. By contrast, Android 2.3 still had less than 50% penetration of the overall Android market nine months after its release. And only a quarter of BlackBerry users have adopted BlackBerry 6, the platform upgrade launched a year ago.

The latest version of Apple’s mobile operating system clearly got a big boost from the simultaneous launch of the long-awaited iPhone 4S, which sold a record 4 million units in its first weekend. Older models like the iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS, whose pricing dropped to $99 and zero, respectively, can also run iOS 5.

“From both the network impressions and the long lines outside Apple stores across the country, it’s clear that Apple fans tend to seek the latest technology at the fastest rates,” noted Jumptap CMO Paran Johar. “While more new users are turning to Android, they tend to hang on to their current operating system for longer periods of time.”

For mobile publishers and marketers, that means iPhone and iPad users are the most likely to be able to access the latest versions of their content or ads at any given time. That may be one reason that new apps are often rolled out on iOS initially before extending to Android, BlackBerry and other platforms.

Android, of course, holds the majority of market share on smartphones overall, since it runs across the handsets of multiple manufacturers. The Google platform represented 44.7% of smartphones on Jumptap’s, trailed by iOS at 24.6%, and BlackBerry, with 22.9%. Still, the surge of iPhone 4S buyers helped iOS gain 1.6 percentage points of share in October, while Android slipped 2.3 points.

According to Gartner, Android powered 52% of smartphones worldwide in the third quarter, compared to 15% for iOS.

Jumptap’s latest metrics report also highlighted other differences between Android and iPhone users.

The Android-based Samsung Galaxy S2, for instance, generated 27% more ad requests from apps than the iPhone. But iPhone users were twice as active on the mobile Web. And while gaming is the leading content category on Samsung smartphones, news and entertainment is the top vertical for iPhone users. That suggests Android users skew younger and may be more drawn to apps. Previous research has also shown the Android Marketplace carries more free apps than the App Store.

Overall, Jumptap said traffic on its network remained evenly split between the mobile Web and apps in October. The share of Web traffic from feature phones, however, dropped from 50% in September to 34% last month, reflecting the accelerating adoption of smartphones.

Among other findings, males, older people, and high-income users clicked on mobile ads at a higher rate than other demographic groups. Click-through rates on a daily basis peaked at .70% during evening drive time. (No data on whether that includes drivers) Retail, automotive and entertainment were the largest ad verticals on the Jumptap network in October, unchanged from prior months. The government, entertainment and automotive categories showed the best CTRs for direct-response performance.

Source is
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/162871/ios-users-fastest-to-upgrade.html

Mobile app content ratings system to debut next week

Next week brings the unveiling of a new rating system for mobile applications, akin to what the video game industry has used for the past 17 years.

The CTIA-The Wireless Association today said that it's taking the wraps off a new mobile application rating system early next week with with the help of the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB). That's the self-regulating body that reviews and assigns age appropriate ratings to video games.

The original initiative (PDF) behind a mobile apps rating system was launched by the CTIA near the end of March and calls for "voluntary self-certification of apps." The program seeks to have app-makers define the content within their creations based on a specific set of ratings and guidelines. The end result is a system the CTIA hopes will give consumers "more informed choices" when using applications on mobile devices.

On the docket to talk at the unveiling, which takes place on November 29, are U.S. Senators Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), and Mark Pryor (D-Ark.), alongside CTIA President and CEO Steve Largent and ESRB President Patricia Vance.

Mobile application stores already have numerous content controls in place, including ratings systems that can alert consumers to whatever content is contained within, however there is fragmentation:

•     For Apple that system includes four age, specific ratings as well as requiring that apps stick to its App Store Guidelines.
•     Google has a four-tier rating system as well, with developers assigning their own rating.
•     Research In Motion and Nokia have their own sets of content guidelines, but no specific age designation.
•     Microsoft combines both its own content guidelines, and carries over existing ESRB ratings if those titles have been ported from other platforms with those ratings in place.

Issues around these policy differences bubbled up earlier this year when several government officials asked Apple, Google, and RIM to remove applications that alerted users to police checkpoints. RIM complied, as did Apple eventually.

The CTIA is a Washington, D.C.-based trade group that represents carriers, manufacturers and other players in the wireless industry, including many of the companies with mobile application stores. Apple, Google, Research In Motion, Nokia, and Microsoft are listed as members, however there's no guarantee that those companies will comply with whatever plan the CTIA and ESRB lay out.

The ESRB was formed in the mid-1990s as a self-regulatory arm at a time when the video games industry faced regulation from the government. The group has publishers filling out a description of what types of content are in a game, as well as providing footage for a title's evaluation. In return the game gets a ratings classification. All of this comes with a fee, which varies depending on the cost of the game's development, and goes to support the ratings system's existence.

Source is
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57329195-94/mobile-app-content-ratings-system-to-debut-next-week/

Is Windows Phone the Best Mobile Platform You’re Not Using?

In the world of smartphones, Windows Phone 7 is barely a blip. It has, by some estimates less than 6% market share. Android now owns half the market and iOS about 26%. This isn’t right. You see, the Windows Phone 7 is a good — possibly great — mobile platform. It’s better, in my opinion, than Android and nibbling at the heels of my favorite, iOS and the iPhone.

To understand why things are so out of whack and why I believe they could change, we need to take a closer look at a Windows Phone—which I did.

It’s now been a couple of weeks since I started using the HTC Radar 4G from T-Mobile. It’s one of the new Windows Phone 7.5 or “Mango” phones. As a phone, it’s good; calls come through loud and clear and the 4G is nice when I can get it. It’s not a beautiful or particularly striking handle like the iPhone 4S or Motorola Razr. Yet the somewhat dull combination of pearl, bushed aluminum and one-too-many rounded corners quickly fade into the background as soon I start using the phone.

Microsoft’s Windows Phone Metro interface is a malleable tower of hubs that brings more sense to your mobile world than virtually any other platform. Yes, it looks good. Windows Phone 7 features one of my favorite mobile interface color palettes–second only to the iPhone’s gray, rain drop speckled backdrop and consistent, brightly colored app icons.

Like the best smartphones, Windows Phone can use what you tell it to organize your friends, family, e-mail, appointments and more. It does a lot of what I like to call “connecting the dots” and creates a variety of serendipitous connections to your disparate world. The “Me” hub is one of my favorite innovations not only because it’s all about me, but because it brings together everything that matters and relates directly to me in one place.

Windows Phone is full of sensible touches and navigation that should make sense to the both smartphone veterans and neophytes. You can swipe up and down to see all of your tiles (or hubs), and once you’re inside a hub, you’re usually scrolling left to right you see different facets of information for that hub. Yes, you can add and remove tiles. I added Gmail and Twitter.

Things don’t disappear on the phone because they often bubble up to one of the hubs. The ever-present picture tile means my photos are one tap away, my always updating e-mail box (which automatically groups emails by sender) means I can find new messages in a tap. The People hub is an ever-rotating patchwork of smaller pictures of the people who are active in my social/digital world. In other words, I can learn a lot with very little effort.

That kind of one-click-away M.O. is evident throughout the phone and it points to Microsoft’s larger strategy: to simplify the smartphone experience. All Window Phones have a Windows Phone home button, a Bing search button and the ability to bring up the camera simply by holding down a physical camera button for a second or two. If I want to share a photo, I simply tap on the eclipses that appear at the bottom of each, picture, I can then share it on Facebook or Twitter, both smoothly integrated into the Windows Phone system.

For the most part, this simplicity matches much of what you can find on the Apple iPhone—which is my main phone, by the way. iOS 5, for example, integrates Twitter, just as smartly as Windows Phone does and the act of capturing—double tap the home button—and sharing out an image feels not dissimilar across platforms. It is notable, though, that the Windows Phone places your pictures not on Twitter’s photo sharing service, but on SkyDrive—the Microsoft’s cloud-based storage and file-sharing service (Apple now uses iCloud and photo stream). And this points to another important, growing similarity between Apple and Microsoft’s mobile platform.

The ecosystem. Yes, with Microsoft Windows Phone 7 you enter what appears to be an impressively well thought out ecosystem, driven largely by your Windows Live or Hotmail account. Once you use this, the Windows phone will bring in whatever contacts, calendar and more it can from your account and then weave it all together with other phone services (like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn). Windows Phone is also, naturally, a perfect companion for anyone who lives in Microsoft Office. Office files you save on the phone are automatically saved to your SkyDrive account. From there you can share them via e-mail or directly from your SkyDrive account. It smart, and well integrated with the broader Windows Phone and Microsoft cloud ecosystem.

This ecosystem, however, is not a perfect circle yet. Windows Phones will still, for example, default to funneling your App purchases through the wireless carrier, unless you proactively add a credit card to your Windows Live account and then choose to use it. With the iPhone, my iTunes account is set-up offline and once I log in with my phone, it knows who I am and who to charge—the carrier never comes into play. I’m certain, though. Microsoft, will eventually match Apple on ecosystem simplicity.

Windows Phone 7.5 is not an iOS 5 doppelganger. The screen metaphors are all different. The keyboard, for instance, has a much sharper, almost sterner look. I’m just as poor a typist on it as I am on the iPhone’s virtual keyboard. The way each phone handles typos differs as well: instead of autocorrect, Windows Phones suggest words in a bar above what you’re typing (I prefer this). Text selection is different and, in some ways, more precise than on the iPhone—no magnifying bubble, just a cursor that sits above where you’re pointing. However, nothing in Windows Phone 7.5 should confuse any current iPhone or Android user.

Microsoft would be happy, I think, being a solid number three in the smartphone marketplace — behind Android and iOS — but why settle for #3? I actually prefer Windows Phone to most any Android device I’ve used and I think the Microsoft Windows Phone ecosystem, though still clunky at times, offers a better, smoother, more extensible experience than anything found on the multitude of inconsistent Android devices on the market today.

It’s true, Microsoft and its partners did a terrible job positioning and promoting Windows Phone over the last 12 months, and it still makes dumb moves. My biggest peeve is the lack of screen capture. Microsoft figures only developers and media folks like me care about it. That may be true, but how do you think we’re going to spread the word on those gorgeous Windows Phone screens if we can’t grab a good copy and post it online? I’m sure this is something Apple considered when including the feature in the iPhone.

Despite this, Microsoft’s approach to marketing Windows Phones is clearly changing. It’s undertaken and aggressive campaign (they threw a huge, day-long-bash in Herald Square New York) and I think the carrier partners may finally be getting behind the platform. Plus, there are now a number of excellent, lust-worthy and super affordable Windows Phone 7.5 devices on the market. The time is ripe for Windows Phone 7.5 to grab the spotlight. Now, are you ready to grab a Windows Phone? Let me know in the comments.


Source is
http://mashable.com/2011/11/19/windows-phone-best-platform/

Android 4.0 VS iOS 5: the apps and service

After the release of iOS 5 and Android 4.0, people always talk about which is better. It is really difficult to say that iOS 5 is better than Android 4.0 or Android 4.0 is better than iOS 5. Today I will compare the features, advantage, disadvantage, hardware and other features from the two most popular mobile operation systems. I believe that you will know more about them after read my article.

From iOS 4 to iOS 5, we can not find big surprise, instead we can see the perfect in details, such as drop-down menu and other new features borrow from Android. That maybe because iOS is already powerful and perfect. People can not find any big disadvantage on it.

In contrast, Android 4.0 has more improvement than the previous version. We not only see the redesigned interface and many upgrades in details, but also we notice the integration of Android mobile phone and Android Tablet in the brand new Android 4.0. Of course, you can understand this as the integration of Android and this is a good news for developers and hardware producers. However, in today’s mobile phone area, all the customers care about the apps more than hardware, a well-developed platform can attract more app developers. This will brings more business to them.

As we talking about above, apps is now more important than hardware and game plays a big role in app. In iOS 5 and Android 4.0, which one provides a better game experience for users? I think iOS 5 is better than Android 4.0 now. The game experience in iOS is absolutely better than Android. This is not only because iOS has its own Game Center, but also because the hardware of the devices. For example, the new iPhone 4s has dual-core Graphics processor, while in Android phones, only Samsung Galaxy nexus is comparable. In Android 4.0, we only find the new 3D driver. Now I can not say how much it can improve the game experience.

In the new iOS 5 and iPhone 4s, Apple’s iCloud becomes a highlights. In fact, it is developed from MobileMe service, which aims to keep the consistency of data from different platform. In addition to the new features, such as photos, bookmarks, presentation’s sync, it also can sync your apps from iOS 5 to Cloud.

Although Android 4.0 does not provide this kind of service, users can also enjoy the convenient brought by cloud services. Now Android users can update and sync data with multi devices in 24 hours and Android also provides Gmail contact backup and other services.

Did Steve Ballmer admit Windows Phone 8 will run Windows 8? Probably not.

In a recent Annual Share holder Meeting  Steve Ballmer appeared to admit Windows 8 will be coming to Windows Phone, but in the end it all comes down to the placement of the full stop.

According to Business Insider Steve Ballmer responds to the question if we are in a post-PC era:

    We are in the Windows era. We were, we are, and we always will be. Uh, that’s kind of what we’re paid to do. We’ve got broad initiatives, driving Windows down to the phone with Windows 8. You’ll see incredible new form factors powered by Windows, from tablets, small, large, [??], smaller, bigger, room-sized displays. We are in an era in which the range of smart devices is continuing to expand. That is a fantastic thing for Microsoft.

However simply moving the full stop to the left gives a completely different sentence.

    We are in the Windows era. We were, we are, and we always will be. Uh, that’s kind of what we’re paid to do. We’ve got broad initiatives, driving Windows down to the phone. With Windows 8, you’ll see incredible new form factors powered by Windows, from tablets, small, large, [??], smaller, bigger, room-sized displays. We are in an era in which the range of smart devices is continuing to expand. That is a fantastic thing for Microsoft.

The point in question is at second 26 in the video above, or from 47:22 in the conference call here.

Of course a pretty good case can be made for moving the Windows 8 kernel to Windows Phone 8, but as of yet we are far from certain this will happen.

Source is
http://wmpoweruser.com/did-steve-ballmer-admit-windows-phone-8-will-run-windows-8-probably-not/

Google Apps Gets Phone Support, Mobile Device Management

Google Apps for Business’s lack of phone support has been Microsoft’s sole completely verifiable edge over the suite, but that’s set to change: At the Google Atmosphere enterprise event Nov. 14, 2011, it was announced that all customers of the Google Apps for Business cloud productivity suite will now have access to 24/7 phone support, no matter the size of their deployment. It’s about time — literally.

Obviously, Google isn’t discontinuing its online service options, including the message boards and support portal. But from now on, paid Google Apps customers will have access to experts 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Intriguingly (and slightly unbelievably), Google is indicating in its blog entry that even before rolling out phone support, “80 (percent) of our business customers and 90 (percent) of our large business customers indicate that they’re more than satisfied with their support experience.” But with the new addition, Google is shooting for 95 percent.

There’s not much else to tell: Google said its support team gives feedback to the product and engineering teams, with past results including a better SLA and new feature additions. The phone support team will continue this trend, and Google expects this new communications channel will only boost those efforts.

Customer service has always been Google’s Achilles heel. But it seems like the search giant is getting its act together and trying to match Google Apps customer needs. My concern: Does Google’s enhancement to the core Google Apps support experience undercut partner offerings of the same?

Oh, and while I was writing this, another announcement came out of Google Atmosphere: Google announced that administrators now can manage groups of Google Android, Apple iOS and Windows Phone 7 devices right from within Google Apps.

As part of the new feature, users can set password requirements and roaming sync rules for mobile devices that sync with Google Apps right from the browser with no additional hardware or software needed, according to Google’s blog entry. And it comes with analytics, so administrators and Google Apps resellers can see how exactly users are taking advantage of the SaaS suite on the go.

Source is
http://www.talkincloud.com/google-apps-gets-phone-support-mobile-device-management/

iOS vs. Android: Lots of stats, little clarity

Total devices in the field. At Apple's iPhone 4S launch event on October 4th, CEO Tim Cook said that the company had sold 250 million iOS devices to date--including iPhones, iPod Touches, iPads, and (I assume) current-generation Apple TVs. Shortly thereafter, Google CEO Larry Page said that 190 million Android devices had been "activated." (Google talks about units in terms of activations, not sales.)

The first iPhone went on sale 16 months before the first Android phone, so iOS had a head start--but according to these numbers, the handful of models that Apple has released to date have still managed to outsell hundreds of Android-based gadgets.

New devices sold daily. I don't believe either Apple or Google has released information on this recently. But as of the second calendar quarter of 2011, Apple was selling around 367,000 iOS devices a day. And in June, Android honcho Andy Rubin said a half-million Android devices were being activated each day. Both figures are presumably significantly different now.

Total smartphone ownership. Comscore says that as of August, 43.7 percent of U.S. smartphone subscribers had an Android device; 27.7 percent had an iPhone. These figures don't include tablets (a category which the iPad utterly dominates) and smartphone-like media devices (a category in which the iPod Touch has almost no competition whatsoever).

Tablet sales. Research firm Strategy Analytics reported last month that the iPad had 66.6 percent of the tablet market and Android tablets had grown to 26.9 percent. But as Kevin C. Tofel of GigaOM noted, that mixes iPads that Apple has sold with Android tablets that have shipped from the manufacturer but may or may not have been bought by a consumer. If any of those Androids are sitting on store shelves, they shouldn't be compared against iPads that people have paid for and taken home.

Web usage. In August, according to Comscore, iOS devices accounted for 58.5 percent of all U.S. non-computer browser page views. Android accounted for 31.9 percent of views.

Available apps. There are more than 500,000 iOS apps, including 140,000 designed for the iPad. There are more than 250,000 Android apps, and while I haven't seen any recent data on how many are customized for Android 4.0 3.0 Honeycomb, the tablet version, I've never seen a number that was anything but tiny.

App downloads. Research firm ABI says that in the second quarter, Android overtook iOS in mobile app downloads and now has 44 percent share worldwide vs. 31 percent for iOS. On the other hand, it says that iOS beats Android in terms of downloads per user by 2-to-1. And it states that Android's installed base beats iOS's by 2.4-to-1. (How does Android besting iOS by 2.4-to-1 jibe with Apple claiming to have told 250 million iOS products and Google saying it's activated only 190 million Android ones? Beats me! Maybe ABI isn't counting iPads and/or iPod Touches.)

Profits. Canaccord Genuity says that Apple is currently scooping up 52 percent of all smartphone profits, leaving 48 percent for everyone else. Determining Google's profits from Android smartphones would be particularly gnarly, since it gives away Android. (It does, however, get to display ads on Android devices.)

Conclusions from all this? I have a few, although they're not all that conclusive:

Beware of comparing, well, apples and oranges. Contrasting the number of iPads sold with the number of Android tablets shipped seems pointless. And I'm still not sure if anyone understands the distinction between iOS devices sold and Android devices "activated."

Don't take third-party estimates as gospel. I'm not saying they can't be informative--just that you usually don't know enough about how methodical and meticulous any particular study is. The mere fact that numbers from different research firms are never identical proves that someone is wrong.

Things are moving fast. What I'd really like to know is the state of competition between iOS and Android as of mid-November 2011--based on hard numbers provided by Apple and Google. But the most recent stats are weeks or months old in most cases; both companies disclose information when they think it's to their advantage to do so, and stay mum when there seems to be no benefit in sharing anything. The data we have could be meaningfully behind the current state of affairs.

Trends matter more than any one moment in time. The numbers I've quoted here are freeze frames, but the Business Insider's Henry Blodget--a long time advocate of the notion that Android will come to dominate the market--has some graphs that show Google's operating system gaining on Apple's in some categories

Ultimately, you've got to choose a bottom-line number. Is the most successful mobile platform the one that's moving the most units right now? Fair enough, and that might be Android. Is it the one that's racking up the biggest profits? That sounds most logical to me--and that platform seems to be iOS.

Source is
http://news.cnet.com/8301-33200_3-57323943-290/ios-vs-android-lots-of-stats-little-clarity/

Android Market safer than Apple App Store?

A tech analyst has said that the Android Market offers users more transparency when it comes to keeping themselves secure from apps that may give out unwanted personal information.

Ciaran Bradley, VP Handset Security, Adaptive Mobile told T3.com that many consumers are sharing information through apps on their phones without even realising it.

He claims that out of the two major groups, Android offers the greatest benefit for consumers in this area despite being perceived as the more dangerous: "One of the interesting things that came out of this survey is that while Android has a perception as being less secure, they actually make an attempt to give you information about what’s going on."

"When you install an Android application the permissions that will be used by that application are displayed to you, such as, it may use location it may use the internet or it may access your phonebook so people should look at those permissions and ask themselves why would a flashlight application for example need to contact the internet."

He went on to point out what he believes to be a flaw with Apple's system used in the App Store: "When it comes to Apple, [choosing permissions] is taken out of your hands. You’re just assuming that Apple have got your best interests at heart and that they’re going to do their best to protect your privacy but, Apple don’t tell you what the standards are that they use, so you’re very much at the mercy of them."

In a report published this week the analytics company highlighted concerning stats that showed trusted apps such as Angry Birds were contacting advertising domains and analytics firms with information crossing both the Android and iOS platforms with some apps contacting as many as 14 different domains.
Which is better, Android Market or Apple's App Store? Let us know what you think via the comments box below...

Source is
http://www.t3.com/news/android-market-is-more-transparent-than-apple-app-store

Finally, Windows Phone Jailbreak Tool Released

There is a irreconcilable attitude toward jailbreak between hardware vendor and enthusiastic fans. But Microsoft is trying to reconcile this situation. A few months early, Microsoft met Rafael Rivera – the first person jailbroked Windows Phone 7, and gave him a shirt which printed "I was the first jailbreak for the WP7 person". Official authorized to encourage the jailbreak for Windows Phone 7.

Recently, Chris Walsh, one member of Cheveron WP7 development, posted a message on Twitter to tell everybody that only with $9 and the users can jailbreak WP7 easily. That means the official authorization for Windows Phone 7 starts.

The mobile phone with jailbreak allows anyone install and run apps outside of the official Windows Phone Marketplace. The official unlock operation is also very easy to go, the users just need a Windows Live ID, a “Unlock token” which cost $9 and a unlock tool. The only different to some jailbroked mobile phone is that the developer cannot upload the applications to Marketplace.

This isn't the first time that Microsoft has embraced the hacking of its devices. After initially not allowing hacking the Kinect, Microsoft changed its mind, and encourages Kinect hackers.

The Security Situation Between iOS and Android

Security vendor Lookout just drew a diagram to describe the latest statistics of security situation between iOS and Android smartphone platforms, we know that smart phones have become housekeeper in our daily working life. A lot of personal data is recorded here. The safety of mobile phones is so important because mobile phone had affected the individual's privacy and property and other aspects.

iOS 5 Vs Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0: Google is worried about Siri

We have some interesting news to bring you in relation to the ongoing software rivalry between Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android platforms. Google CEO Eric Schmidt has just revealed that he sees Apple’s new Siri software as a competitive threat to Google’s business model.

If you ask any iPhone 4S owner for their thoughts on Siri, the majority will tell you that it is one of the most impressive things seen on a smartphone and another stroke of Apple’s magic where they take an existing technology and put their innovative spin on it.

On the other hand, most Android users will dismiss Siri at the first opportunity, by saying that Android already had it in the first place, and that it basically does the same funtions as Siri.

Recent comments made by Schmidt though may be deemed as a complete backtrack to previous comments made by the CEO in which he dismissed Apple as a competitive threat. Here is what he said at a recent U.S. Senate antitrust subcommittee, as reported from Apple Insider:

”Apple has launched an entirely new approach to search technology with Siri, its voice-activated search and task-completion service built into the iPhone 4S. Apple’s Siri is a significant development—a voice-activated means of accessing answers through iPhones that demonstrates the innovations in search. Google has many strong competitors and we sometimes fail to anticipate the competitive threat posed by new methods of accessing information.”

There’s a lot of information to digest there, but the clearest indication there is that Google do see Apple as a threat, and Siri is a big factor because of this. Ice Cream Sandwich will include some more voice to text features upon release, such as being able to send an SMS message to users just by voice only – similar to the way in which Siri works.

However, two innovative features that will be unique to Ice Cream Sandwich, are the Face Unlock and Android Beam features. Face Unlock will unlock your Android 4.0 handset by using face recognition only, while Android Beam will allow users to exchange data almost instantly between two Android 4.0 handsets using NFC technology. The upcoming Galaxy Nexus will be the first handset to showcase both when it launches later on this month.

What are your thoughts on the comments from Google’s CEO? If you are an Android fan, do you admit that Siri is very impressive, or do you believe that Ice Cream Sandwich will offer the same functionality in future software updates?

Source is
http://www.product-reviews.net/2011/11/07/ios-5-vs-ice-cream-sandwich-4-0-google-is-worried-about-siri/

Google -- Microsoft sues over Android because Windows Phone 7 has failed

The war of words between Google and Microsoft has heated up even further, with Google's patent counsel essentially charging that the only reason Microsoft has been going after Android phone makers for patent infringement is because Microsoft's mobile phone strategy has failed. He also warns that the patent system is broken and may dramatically slow down innovation.

Tim Porter, Google's patent counsel, was interviewed by SFGate. He pulls no punches about Microsoft's motivations for suing Android manufacturers, or threatening them with suits as a way to get them to pay royalties. He says:

This is a tactic that Microsoft has used in the past, with Linux, for example. When their products stop succeeding in the marketplace, when they get marginalized, as is happening now with Android, they use the large patent portfolio they've built up to get revenue from the success of other companies' products.

Porter takes aim not only at Microsoft, but at the entire patent system, and comes close to arguing that software simply shouldn't be patentable. First he says:

You can look at the development of the software industry and see a point when (software wasn't being patented) and it was a period of intense innovation. You didn't see Microsoft's first software patent until 1988. By that time it had come out with Word, not to mention DOS. So there's just no question you can look back and see that innovation happens without patents. It's also true that since there weren't patents, there wasn't software patent litigation.

Then when asked point-blank whether software should be patentable, he hems and haws, not quite calling for an end to software patents:

I think the question is whether the current system makes sense. During the period I talked about, software was protected by copyright and other legal protections. There are certainly arguments those are more appropriate.

Microsoft, of course, takes a very different approach, and says that the infringing Android patents cost the company money, and all it's doing is getting paid fairly for its work.

And Microsoft gets paid very well, indeed, by Android manufacturers who have signed royalty agreements with it. Goldman Sachs estimates that Microsoft will get $444 million from Android royalties for fiscal year 2012. Microsoft Executive Vice President and General Counsel Brad Smith and Corporate Vice President and Deputy General Counsel Horacio Gutierrez write in a recent blog that the Android agreements:

...ensure respect and reasonable compensation for Microsoft's inventions and patent portfolio. Equally important, they enable licensees to make use of our patented innovations on a long-term and stable basis.

Who's right here, Google or Microsoft? In this instance, I can't say that I know. But I do know that in general Google is right that the patent system is broken when it comes to software, and needs to be significantly reformed. Google's Porter points out that


The period of intense patent assertions (against things like the steam engine) resulted in decades-long periods of stagnation. Innovation only took off when the patents expired.

Source is
http://blogs.computerworld.com/19229/google_microsoft_sues_over_android_because_windows_phone_7_has_failed

iOS vs. Android Battle Repeats Mac vs. PC Clash: What's Next?

Smartphones and tablets are becoming the PCs of our time, and there are two major players in the game. Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android dominate smartphones, with RIM and Microsoft being niche players.

It all feels very familiar, harking back to the Mac vs. PC battle--and analyst Jack Brown suggests the outcome will be the same, with Android dominating by 2014. What can you learn from the past when choosing, using, and managing mobile platforms in the workplace?

Mac vs. PC

In the early days of personal computers in the 1980s, Apple developed the Mac, which allowed the average person to use a computer. It was easy to use, and much better for graphics work than anything else available, so software companies wrote for it, and publishers and graphic artists used it exclusively.

Microsoft released Windows not long after Apple’s introduction of the Mac, and as it improved, more software became available for the PC. Until there was parity, you could get most of the popular software on either Mac or PC. Since there was more competition in the PC market due to Windows being available through multiple hardware vendors, prices dropped, and sales grew.

Mac vs. PCToday, Microsoft owns the personal computer market, with Apple dominating only a few niches that tend to focus on creative arts like publishing, music and video. Finding your favorite software on the Mac is a challenge since coding for both platforms can be expensive, and most businesses release their software on the more dominant Windows platform.

iOS vs. Android

Many consider Apple’s iPhone, released in 2007, to be the first real smartphone, making it easy for the average person to have the power of a computer in their pocket. As the slogan suggests, “There’s an app for that,” meaning you could do almost anything with these elegant and easy-to-use devices. People flocked to the iPhone, developers wrote apps for iOS, and the competition took note.

Then Google released Android in 2008, and as hardware became available and units started selling, developers started releasing apps for it. Android could be licensed by any manufacturer, so many adopted it, and the variety of Android hardware spanned all price points. The Android Market matured and is on pace to overtake Apple’s App Store within months. And Android hardware outsells Apple’s by a 2-to-1 margin, according to a recent Nielsen report.

Innovator vs. Mainstream Player

iOS vs. AndroidThe two stories are similar, pitting the innovator Apple against a mainstream player--either Microsoft or Google--and a single-vendor system against a multi-vendor one. The innovative, single-vendor system sets the tone and gets early adopters, but the mainstream player with multiple vendors wins in the end due to lower costs and greater variety of options. In the tablet market, Apple currently dominates, with Android’s slow start to enter, yet analysts are predicting that in two to three years time, Apple will be the second-place contender.

The Lesson

So how does all of this affect small businesses using these platforms? In the past, many businesses started with Macs, supported a mixed environment of Macs and PCs for a while, and eventually went all-PC. The extra costs involved in managing two platforms on top of compatibility issues and software availability made the migration inevitable.

The same considerations apply now to businesses that must deal with mobile devices. Smartphones can do many tasks, but tablets are more capable for most business needs and are likely to play a part in most business strategies. Should you build your IT plan around iPads since they currently dominate the market? Or, do you wait a bit longer and design your plan around Android tablets, knowing they’re more likely to be the long-term platform in the end?

With today’s virtualization, remote access options, and cloud computing, compatibility is less of an issue, but managing hardware still is. In the end, waiting for Android tablets is the safe bet. The overall tablet market will be more mature, app and hardware availability will be better, and managing and integrating the devices in a business environment will be easier. It’s for these reasons that Android will become the standard for business, just like Windows did. What's your take?

Source is:
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/243080/ios_vs_android_battle_repeats_mac_vs_pc_clash_whats_next.html

Mobile industry needs Windows, handset vendors warn

Open Mobile Summit Senior mobile hardware executives have largely agreed that the mobile operating system market needs a strong offering from Windows Phone 7 to keep the market competitive.

Speaking during a forum at the Open Mobile Summit in San Francisco, executives said that Microsoft may be coming late to the sector with a serious operating system, but it was both needed and welcome. Several predicted strong growth for Redmond’s OS next year.

“Apple’s iOS is a closed system,” said Lixin Cheng, CEO of Chinese manufacturer ZTE’s U.S. division. “Android is mainstream, but I do believe the industry needs another operating system to keep competition healthy.”

Having just two operating systems available isn’t good for innovation, particularly when one of the two leading OSes was monopolized by Apple, he said. ZTE will be bringing out a range of Windows Phone 7 handsets in the US within the year, he explained, and the company saw Redmond as a player in the space.

Kevin Packingham, a senior vice president at Samsung, agreed. Samsung is one of the world’s leading Android vendors, but also has a very good relationship with Microsoft, and will be bringing out new Phone 7 handsets shortly.

“I would never characterize Microsoft as a ‘hedge your bets’ strategy,” he said. “We have a great partnership with Google, but Microsoft has done some very innovative things which will make it very popular.”

One firm, however, won’t be using Phone 7: Sony Ericsson. The company’s new chief technology officer Dr. Jan Uddenfeldt said that the company was now a solid Android shop and was also getting out of the feature phone business to concentrate on high-value smartphones, using Google's OS

“The growth in Android has been fantastic, up three times from last year,” he said. “We expect it to expand dramatically next year as well. That's the winning horse.”

Source is
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/11/03/mobile_industry_needs_windows/

Microsoft's Bing mobile app ships for iPhone, Android -- not Windows Phone

Microsoft has rolled out a new mobile app for Bing built with HTML5 and available first only to iPhone and Android users, not to Windows Phone users. It may be another indication that Microsoft is turning its attention away from its home-baked development platforms .Net and Silverlight and toward the industry-standard HTML5.

Because a version of Bing is already integrated with Windows Phone 7, the new Bing HTML5 app at first is available to iPhone and Android users only, with BlackBerry and Windows Phone 7 versions to follow at an unspecified later date. Internet Explorer 9 with support for HTML5 is one of the features touted with Windows Phone 7.5, the Mango release.

"The functionality of the app is based on HTML5 and currently only works on iPhone and Android phones. We're working to release a new Bing app for Windows Phone 7 devices in the future," a Microsoft spokesperson told Network World.

The new HTML5-based app, Bing for Mobile, brings the Bing search engine to mobile phones. It also includes features like Maps with a List/Split view, real-time transit information, a search history and a "deals" feature. The deals feature aggregates information from coupon sites like Groupon, LivingSocial and Tippr.

To be fair, Bing did get an overhaul with Windows Phone 7.5, and added features like voice searching, music search and camera/photo-based searching (Bing recognizes the text or the barcode).

Delivering Bing as an HTML5 app offers several advantages, says Santanu Basu, Microsoft's product manager of Bing for Mobile, in a blog post.

"Rather than tightly binding functions into a mobile client, we want to embrace the drive towards exposing our functions via an HTML5 experience. In order for search to advance, engines need to be able to call functions that are currently 'hiding' in apps," he wrote. "Using HTML5, our goal is to build a mobile experience that leverages the unique capabilities of the different platforms including camera support and voice search, while making the functions the apps can provide consistent across the platforms and -- in the future -- callable by engines to help people get from searching to doing."

This praise for HTML5 on mobile platforms may also be telling. Microsoft is seemingly pushing out its own development platforms in favor of the next revision of HTML, which supports rich multimedia applications and experiences. Windows developers, be they in the enterprise or ISVs, have invested years in effort and many training dollars in Microsoft platforms, from Win32 and COM to .Net, Silverlight and Windows Presentation Foundation.

With the introduction of Windows 8, Microsoft caused much consternation among developers by using HTML5 and JavaScript as the basis for its new Metro applications. Although Microsoft still plans that at least the next version of Windows and Windows Phone will support applications built on its own technologies, many pundits say the writing is on the wall.

Even last year, with the initial release of Windows Phone 7, Microsoft had been pushing developers into writing Silverlight applications for it. With support for HTML5 in Mango, these new Bing apps indicate that even Microsoft is starting to move on.

With the Bing for Mobile app and the missing Lync for Mobile app, even Microsoft will develop first for iPhone and Android over Windows Phone. Ironically, the one place Microsoft is dragging its feet in supporting its competitors' technologies is the area customers most want such support: remote access and Microsoft's cloud services.

Source is
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9221425/Microsoft_s_Bing_mobile_app_ships_for_iPhone_Android_not_Windows_Phone

Windows Phone 7.5 vs. Symbian: Managing contacts

Now that the Nokia Windows Phones have been officially announced, we’ve been taking a look at what Windows Phone 7.5 brings to the new handsets and how it compares to the experience of using a Nokia Symbian smartphone. Today we’ve been looking at how to add contacts to your phone.

While Symbian^3 makes it easy to add contacts to your Nokia smartphone, Windows Phone 7.5 goes a little bit further by letting you add a vast range of extra information to help you fine tune, navigate and use your contacts list. Making it easier than ever to keep track of all of your friend’s important information, the Windows Phone People Hub is a simple to use, yet incredibly powerful app for the Nokia.

To add a new contact, you tap on the People tile on the Windows Phone Start screen to open the People Hub, then tap the New button - illustrated with a plus sign - and select New Contact to start adding information. All the usual options are available, including name, phone number and email, and by tapping on any of the options, you can access a range of extra options via a detailed sub-menu.

Tapping on Name, for example, gives you the option to enter information into a choice of seven fields, letting you add details of your contacts first names, surnames, titles, suffixes, company name and nicknames, among others. Entering new information is easy via the large and user-friendly onscreen keyboard and, once you’re done, you just tap the Save button to exit back to the main menu.

To help you differentiate between your contacts, you can easily set custom ringtones and add photos to your contacts in a couple of easy clicks. Tapping on the Add Photo button takes you straight to the Windows Phone Pictures app, to browse your current photos and you also have the option to open the Camera app and snap a new photo on the fly. Tapping Ringtone works in a similar way and opens a seemingly never-ending list of available ringtones for you to choose from.

The option that really sets Windows Phone 7.5 apart from Symbian, though, is the option labelled Other, which lets you add a staggering array of related information to any of your contacts. As well as the option to add standard details, such as your contacts address, you can add details of their website, birthday, anniversary and even the names of their children and partner.

While the option to include all of this extra information is a very welcome addition, we were a little disappointed to see that your contacts don’t appear to link directly with other contacts, or with the Windows Phone Calendar app. We would’ve liked the option to enter details of a contact’s birthday and have it automatically set a reminder in our calendar, or to tap on the option to enter details of a person’s significant other and choose them directly from our existing contacts list, but this doesn’t appear to be possible yet.

Once a contact has been entered into your Nokia Windows Phone, you can then choose to merge that contact with other related contacts, using Windows Phone 7.5’s excellent Groups feature. Using Groups, you can better organize, categorize and communicate with your contacts, and it is just one of the great features that clearly sets Windows Phone 7.5 apart from its rivals.

And while it’s incredibly easy to add contacts manually, it’s even easier to import existing contact details from your SIM card into your Nokia Windows Phone. All you have to do is swipe to the right on the Windows Phone Start screen, tap Settings, then again swipe to the right to access your Applications settings, and scroll down to tap on the option labelled People. Here you’ll see an Import SIM Contacts button that you can tap to instantly your existing contacts to your Windows Phone.

Outdoing even Symbian’s excellent contacts features, Windows Phone 7.5 makes it quick and easy to add contacts to your Nokia Windows Phone and just as easy to communicate with them. After using the great features of the Windows Phone People Hub for just a few days, we’re already smoothly integrating them into our daily lives and wouldn’t want to be without them – one of the key signs of a truly great smartphone operating system.

We’ll be bringing you more new guides each day to all the great features that you can enjoy on the Windows Phones courtesy of Windows Phone 7.5 Mango, so stay tuned and let us know if there are any specific features that you’d like us to help you learn more about.