Best Phone Blog

The after taste of the Kin failure might still be lingering in Redmond and the hearts and minds of Verizon execs, but that does not mean that the boys responsible for the ill-fated platform launch are planning to totally ditch the idea of having all your social news and feeds as well as phone life managed from a single location online.

Probably the most compelling feature about the Kin launch was the Kin Studio which allowed you to manage contacts, messages, Facebook feeds and Twitter feeds as well as photos and videos from a centralized location that could be accessed by ones browser.

Thanks to a vague job posting by Redmond based technology giant Microsoft, we have reason to believe that Microsoft is not totally shelving the idea of Kin Studio. According to the job listing:

Help us change the way people think about mobile phones. The Mobile Studio will redefine the mobile phone for millions of everyday users around the world. We are looking for an intuitive and driven User Interface Designer with the ability to conceptualize and lead the design of features built for mobile phones. This is an exceptional opportunity for someone who is excited about making a real impact on future mobile products and experiences.

The candidate will be part of a team that is responsible for extending and evolving the functionality of Windows Phone. We’re looking for someone that is forward-thinking and willing to challenge & provoke new ways to connect with our consumers. This position requires strong design, communication, and organization skills, and the ability to work across teams. You’ll also be expected to quickly broaden your technical understanding as new technologies become available. A deep understand of our customers and creating great product experiences is a must!

The candidate will work closely with a team of UI designers, industrial designers, user researchers, design managers, brand marketers and software engineers in a highly collaborative environment.

Of course the listing is very generic and it could mean nothing, but thanks to ZDNet’s Mary-Jo Foley who has had a good success rate of predicting Microsoft product features and what not, this will definitely be Kin Studio minus the Kin name and disappointment.

We’re keeping our fingers crossed and we’re hoping to hear some more information about this at next Month’s MIX event, so stay tuned.

Source: ZDNet

HTC has launched a new phone that is being billed as the ultimate in the gaming smartphone segment. The new HTC 7 Trophy has a number of features that would certainly make sure that it lives up to the name.

The new HTC 7 Trophy features a touch screen that measures up at a hugely impressive 3.8 inches. The screen is also capacitive and has a 480 x 800 resolution that will make many a phone to go red with envy. The phone has a 5 megapixel colour camera that has options like auto focus and flash to make even the most novice of mobile phone users look good at taking pictures. The camera also has built-in scenes like candlelight, landscape, and portrait that would easily match the environment of your subject, letting you take even better pictures.

The phone has 8 GB of internal storage that lets you store your songs and movies. The phone has Dolby Mobile and SRS surround sound technologies in it, and these offer excellent virtual surround sound. The phone supports audio formats like m4a, .m4b, .mp3 and .wma. The gaming experience offered by this phone is second to none. This is because the phone comes with Xbox LIVE integration that lets you stay in touch with your friends and compete with them over your favourite Xbox game titles on the phone itself. This means that you are never far away from the ultimate gaming experience.

The HTC 7 Trophy has features like GPS that offers free navigation using the Bing Maps application. The phone runs on a 1300 mAh battery that provides talk time of nearly 400 minutes in GSM mode. The phone is expected to be released later this week and will be available on a two year £30 a month deal.

September is just a few months away and so is the launch of Windows Phone 7 (if earlier rumors are to be believed). The new platform from Microsoft is quite different from the previous Windows Mobile operating system and so is the target user base.

WP7’s main focus is on social networking, and while some users might appreciate the new approach, other could say that Microsoft has taken it too far.

There is nothing wrong about social networking on a smart phone; in fact, one can pretty much expect it. Integrated features for Facebook and Twitter are so commonplace that some smart phone buyers already consider if a basic feature. However, Microsoft has taken it one step further by choosing to replace certain aspects of the handset with social networking features –namely, the contact list.

This is where Microsoft might have stepped on a proverbial landmine. For most people, the friends list on Facebook is a collection of friends, family and “random acquaintances that would really help boost the number of people you get to play with on Facebook’s gaming applications”. That said; it is common that a mobile phone would have a more personal list of contacts. Microsoft takes away that distinction by placing everyone in a linked Facebook account into the smart phone’s contacts page.

Since the process is automated and there is no way of preventing it, the only other thing that people can do is to not associate a Facebook account in the OS.

Still, the OS manages to shine in many other aspects. The new UI design is both unique and impressive. But most old school users might not be able to adapt to the bleeding effect of the cut off text on top of the pages. The large empty space on the side might also throw off some users –especially those who want to fill up the entire screen with content.

The First ELSE originally popped out late last year at a time when the Android 2.0 Éclair was still an exclusive Motorola model and nobody had an idea what the new Windows Phone 7 mobile platform would look like. It was shown off in a period that nobody could confirm if Google was indeed making their own mobile phone and whether Apple would be coming out with a new OS.

At that time, Emblaze was pushing for design innovation when it came to user interfaces. Since the advent of the Apple iPhone OS, most designs for the UI were limited in style and function, relying heavily on the desktop established “click an icon” control system. Emblaze’s First ELSE strived to be something more.

The one finger control system might sound gimmicky, but from the demonstration videos and the hands on example that the OS showed off at the Mobile World Congress was more than enough to convince tech fans that this new user interface just might work. Add in the fact that it looks incredibly stylish and futuristic and we all knew that when the First ELSE comes out, it will have a cult following.

With giants such as the Android and iPhone OS already dominating the field, carving out a niche is already a huge feat.

However, due to financial troubles, Emblaze has announced that it will be cancelling the production and development of the First ELSE. Reasons cited for the action mostly focused on the fact that the company needed to re-allocate the funds in order to stay stabilized. Many believe that taking down ELSE is a bad move –that Emblaze is risking the loss of a potentially marketable product.

It has been revealed that the ELSE UI might be sold to other developers and manufacturers, so it is possible that other incarnations of the technology might appear in other devices in the future.

As impressive as the new Windows Phone 7 mobile platform may be, many gaming fans are still disappointed that there is still no announced lineup of games that the smart phone operating system will be supporting.

This is a major factor that many gamers are considering. For the most part, the hardcore market of gamers are not always too keen on spending money for mobile phones, many would be happy with basic GSM handsets and simply allocate their money for great games or updates to the console. And with Microsoft’s Kinect for the Xbox 360 announced to be pretty pricey (as well as the new Xbox 360 “slim” type), they will need a very good reason as to why a gamer should also get a WP7 handset.

The integration of the Xbox Live Games service on the new OS did not really come as a surprise for the gaming industry; though many appreciated that existing accounts are reportedly useable in the new mobile platform. Despite this, there are some gamers concerned about the accumulation of gamer points and in game achievements as many still view the mobile app gaming industry as a casual gaming market. For points and achievements earned there to be counted along a player’s console rating is considered by some to be an affront to their skills.

As stated, there is still no announced lineup of games for the WP7 operating system. While it has already been demonstrated by Microsoft that games can be transferred from the phone to a computer or to a console, there are not titles that would be making use of the feature.

According to reports, Microsoft is offering various incentives to developers to create games for WP7 but with the production details becoming too complex for some independent creators, they still turned down the offer.

The first Apple iPhone was released over two years ago. And at that time, people were already complaining about a lot of things: lack of tethering, no multitasking, no cut and paste (yes, there was a time when the iPhone did not have a cut and paste function), no removable batteries, no front facing camera, the list goes on and on.

In the time that has passed, Apple has gone out of its way to answer the complaints and provide some of these features, but until now some are still missing. This may not seem like a big deal, until one realizes that these features are actually present on other smart phones –as basic features (except Flash support).

Anyway, Apple fans and users have grown to get used to and tolerate these things, but at a time when new smart phones using the Android OS and eventually, the Windows Phone 7 are able to deliver a user experience that is as good as the iPhone’s, then Apple might want to change the way it makes products.

The lack of a removable battery is a simple matter. But the amount of convenience and freedom that Apple takes away from users is pretty noticeable. First off, people do not get the option of carrying around a spare battery. This is very useful for many who travel on business functions. Not everyone gets a chance to stay in the hotel for a couple of hours to charge the iPhone, busy people on the go simply carry a spare, charged battery that they will use when the phone’s battery runs low.

This also becomes an issue when the battery starts working less efficiently. As it is Li-Ion batteries can only maintain their optimum working capacity for set amount of time. After a year (or even several months) of use, batteries tend to lose the maximum capacity and since they are permanently stuck inside the iPhone, the whole device itself is considered broken (as opposed to simply needing a battery replacement).

If Microsoft’s labeling of the Windows Phone 7 series did not make much sense to you, then you might want to take note of the little fun factoid that Microsoft Tweeted out some time back: the word “series” will be dropped from the label.

It makes more sense now, considering the fact that reading the OS name no longer sounds as if you were referring to a whole new line of mobile phones. Though it still sounds like a Windows “phone”, the new name has taken on a more sensible meaning.

While some might feel that the OG name change is not a big issue, it is hard to disregard the fact that considering what we have seen from Microsoft’s presentations and demos about the new mobile platform, getting the name right will be a very crucial factor. After all, this OS can very well change the way we see and use mobile phones. Naturally, getting a good name comes with that; imagine if Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs chose a banana over the apple for a brand name.

Anyway, aside from the new OS, the older Windows Mobile platform will also be getting a name change soon. This will happen once the Windows Phone 7 OS finally comes out. According to Microsoft, the older platform will be renamed to Windows Phone Classic. This will help keep the two different OS lines unified under the Microsoft label. The reason for the renaming is because Microsoft will continue supporting and developing for the older WinMo OS.

With the business sector relying heavily on either the BlackBerry OS or the WinMo OS, it would be impractical for Microsoft to simply let go of such a large market –on that has kept them running all these years.

Get to know more about the change of name for WP7 at Mobile Choice UK.

Microsoft’s mobile platform is getting some new features –details of which have been shown at MIX 2010. While the OS still lacks multi tasking for third party applications, it seems like there are enough functions to keep users too busy to notice (much like the Apple iPhone).

Despite the fact that the mobile platform is not yet due to be released until much later this year, Microsoft has been able to keep up the interest and demand for the system. This means that since the OS was first shown off last February, there has never been a week without major news updates about the platform.

With developer tools already available and the Marketplace for WP7 already previewed, MS is now giving us a sneak peek at the new features that will be present in the OS. First off, Silverlight compatibility; it is already expected to see Silverlight on WP7 since the MSN Player was announced earlier this month. This web based framework serves as a perfect tool for developers to get some graphically impressive interfaces running on the system

Two new MS based services for the WP7 are the Microsoft Location Service and the Microsoft Notification Service. While some would prefer to do without the constant news updates and alerts, there are those who would love to keep up on the latest happenings and headlines. As with most things about the OS, even the feeds are customizable and users will be able to set preferences on which news updates will be shown onscreen.

The Associated Press News Reader app was also shown off at MIX showcasing Microsoft’s talent at turning huge globs of text into stylized news articles. This, along with the new Media Diary, also makes use of Silverlight.

Get to know more about the MIX 2010 updates regarding WP7 at GSM Arena.

Microsoft’s upcoming mobile platform is making plenty of promises, and while we are all pretty much dazzled with the new features and user interface, the latest barrage of updates has left us wondering exactly how much we should be expecting from the OS once it finally comes out.

Sorting out the odds and ends of the successive WP7 news reports, here is a quick list of all the things we should be expecting to see.

First off: an all new user interface. Many of us are already familiar with the stylus based UI of the WinMo OS. Despite version 6.5.3 delivering full capacitive touch screen controls, it is hard to shake off that original feel from the old OS. WP7 is set to change all that with the use of full capacitive touch screen controls and of course gestures. The new UI is also very dynamic with plenty of animated elements and transitions. No doubt that running this OS will require the use of a high speed Snapdragon processor.

Another thing we should look forward to with WP7 is innovative mobile games. While it is unlikely that games on smart phones would even come close to that of handheld gaming devices, there is plenty of promise with the latest announcement about the XNA Games Studio which will enable full 3D graphics on the device.

Also, games will now be playable on the phone, on the PC and on a game console thanks to Visual Studio. Coding is three times faster as all three devices will share a single code for a game. In this way, game progress on the Xbox can be transferred to a mobile device so that a player can continue the game when going out.

For more information and details on the capabilities and limitations of Windows Phone 7, go to GSM Arena.

There are plenty of reasons why LG’s upcoming Panther smart phone is much anticipated; mostly because the device going to be running the new Windows Phone 7 series.

The Windows Phone 7 mobile platform first came out at the Mobile World Congress held in Barcelona, Spain. There, Steve Ballmer showed off their work in progress, gave their new motto “the phone is not a PC” and showed to us that Microsoft is still one of the best operating system developers (despite the fact that the Windows Mobile series was a total disappointment).

Admittedly, there are plenty of things to like about WP7. First off, the tiles system is a great way to customize the content on the phone’s home page. The expanding pages are also pretty important. It groups all the contents and allows you to easily browse and filter through phone content to get to the stuff you want.

Other features of the OS still lack the main features –such as the Office Menu which online contained the OneNote and SharePoint functions, other features were already functional: like the “People” page already incorporated Facebook integration. It was also shown that Bing and Zune would be present in the mobile platform as well.

A demo at the Tech Ed 2010 delves deeper into the capabilities of the OS. The big advantage is the addition of the new XBL service. While it was revealed at the MWC that XBL would be part of WP7, it was only at Tech Ed that an actual game was shown. The good thing about having full Microsoft devices such as a Windows PC, an Xbox 360 and a smart phone with WP7 is that you can play the same game on all three platforms.
Read more about Windows Phone 7’s features and capabilities at Softpedia.