Items tagged with WP7
Microsoft's Surface has been an interesting technology platform ever since the company launched it back in 2007. The original Surface was built around a 30" LCD, ran at a resolution of 1024x768, could respond to up to 52 touches simultaneously, and was based on a 2.13GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 2GB of DDR2-1066. Despite these impressive statistics, the unit's high price ($12,500 and niche market status limited its practical deployment. Now, that may be about to change. At CES last weekend, Microsoft unveiled an impressively updated Surface Surface 2.0 is built around Samsung's SUR 40" LCD panel (a 77 percent increase), a Phenom II dual-core at 2.9GHz, and a Radeon 6700M. The display's...
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Tablets and mobile devices are central to Microsoft's plans for CES 2011. In addition to its demo of an early Windows 8 build running on ARM CPUs, the software giant will be demonstrating a number of tablets running Windows 7. If this sounds familiar it's because Microsoft did much the same thing last year—but very little came of the company's push a year ago. Analysts expect the slate/tablet market to explode over the next few years and Redmond wants a piece of the action. It's less than-clear, however, if the tablet version of Windows 7 is capable of standing up to the competition. Spend a few hours with Windows 7's current multitouch mode and you'll soon be wondering why the company...
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Well, at least Microsoft has spoken. They haven't said an awful lot that we didn't already expect, but it's something. Despite the fact that Windows Phone 7 went on sale to consumers weeks ago, Microsoft has yet to come forward with any near-term sales figures. Contrary to that, they were quick to point out 2.5 million Kinect sales in just 25 days, so there's definitely a double standard of sorts going on. Analysts were wondering what the holdup was, and just before Christmas, Microsoft has come forward to silence some of that talk. Achim Berg, Microsoft’s vice president of business and marketing for Windows Phones, has just stated that "phone manufacturers sold over 1.5 million phones...
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Windows Phone 7 devices support additional storage via MicroSD but making use of that capability has become problematic. Users who attempt to re-use MicroSD cards they purchased for older phones are in for a nasty surprise. Insert a legacy MicroSD into a Samsung Focus, and the device may crash, slow considerably, or suffer data corruption. Worse, there's no going back—an incompatible SD card that's been plugged into a non-compatible handset can no longer be used the original reader. According to Microsoft, SD cards should only be inserted by the carrier and only certain specific SD cards are reported. WP7-compatible SD cards will ship with a specific logo advertising said support, but according...
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Windows Phone 7 just launched in America this month, and already the app store is growing in impressive fashion. All of the regular apps are already onboard, but now a few "killer apps" are beginning to take shape. U-verse and Microsoft have retained a close relationship over the years, with Xbox integration already being a reality. But now, Windows Phone 7 users will have U-verse integration as well, with U-verse TV subscribers able to download and watch TV shows on their phone for free during a mobile holiday trial. AT&T U-verse Mobile for WP7 should come pre-loaded on any future devices from AT&T, and any AT&T Windows Phone user can log-in to U-verse Mobile by Dec. 31 and download...
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Windows Phone 7 devices began to hit retail stores in America this week, and we suspect that the flood of applications will follow shortly. Just as the Apple App Store and Android Market blossomed shortly after phones began to fall into the hands of end-users, the Windows Phone 7 app store should also begin to grow in due time. But there's one flagship app that you won't have to wait for: Loopt. This is a hugely popular social networking/location-based app on other mobile platforms, and now the company is announcing that the Loopt app will also be available for Windows Phone 7. Even better, this version isn't just a straight port, it's a tweaked version that takes advantage of certain WP7 features...
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The iPhone has had no issues working with Windows-based PCs since the very beginning. iTunes for Windows was released long before Apple's first smartphone, so Windows users were able to connect to Apple's iPhone right away. No one ever really considered that the iPhone would be Mac-only. But will Windows Phone 7 be PC-only? Microsoft obviously has Apple as their enemy, and in the mobile division, Apple is actually on top in terms of market share. It's not often that Microsoft has the play the role of the underdog, but even though the global Mac market share is just under 10%, the company obviously sees that segment as an important one. It just wouldn't be right for the iPhone to support Windows...
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Microsoft's Zune platform has been fading from view in most accounts. Apple is still marketing their iPod family heavily, but Microsoft has seemingly given up on pushing the Zune line of music players. Just like everyone else. It has proven extremely tough to even compete with Apple at all in the music business, and even Microsoft has all but conceded. But that doesn't mean that Microsoft is giving up support of those who still believe in Zune. Along with the Windows Phone 7 launch this week, Microsoft also released Zune Software version 4.7, which adds support for the new mobile operating system. Zune Marketplace version 4.7 media player and synchronization software (v4.7) is now available,...
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The big news on Columbus Day here in America is Windows Phone 7. It's a mobile operating system from Microsoft that was originally launched months back at Mobile World Congress, and it has grown and evolved over the months leading up until today. At launch events in New York City and in the UK, Microsoft revealed the next major part of their plan: hardware. A mobile operating system is only good as the hardware that it's loaded on, and the company is making sure that consumers have a wealth of hardware options. Windows Phone 7 handsets are expected to launch later this month in Europe, while Americans will not see their phones until November. In both cases, they'll arrive before Christmas, so...
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The jury is still out as to whether or not Microsoft's upcoming mobile OS, Windows Phone 7, will succeed but if AT&T has any influence in the matter, things are looking good for the Redmond-based software manufacturer. Via email, an AT&T spokeswoman said, "We'll be the premier carrier for Windows Phone 7." She continued saying, "We haven't given guidance on timing." Last week, well-known Altimeter Group analyst Michael Gartenberg sent out a tweet that claimed AT&T had signed up to purchase 8 million Windows Phone 7 devices. He cited an email from a "trusted source" though his comment could not be confirmed. To help put this in perspective, approximately 55 million smartphones shipped...
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Up to today, Microsoft had managed to keep the Kin's failure and early termination largely separate from the discussion over Windows Phone 7. According to Redmond, the Kin was neither fish nor fowl; it wasn't Windows Phone 7, but it wasn't Windows Mobile 6.5 either. After Microsoft's WP7 demos at Mobile Beat this year, that's no longer possible. According to Infoworld, WP7 "will be a failure...Windows Phone 7 is a waste of time and money. It's a platform that no carrier, device maker, developer, or user should bother with. Microsoft should kill it before it ships and admit that it's out of the mobile game for good. It is supposed to ship around Christmas 2010, but anyone who gets one will prefer...
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