Microsoft planning 'next release' of Windows Phone for this holiday season

A new job listing over at Microsoft has revealed when the outfit is planning to serve up the next iteration of its smartphone OS. According to the post, work on the current version is being finished up and they're "getting ready for our next release targeting the holiday of this year." Presumably, the update will be part of the wider Blue umbrella of tweaks for Windows. Though a vague "next release" doesn't offer any details in terms of features, it's likely the OS will carry a significant set of changes as the team in need of a developer is responsible for the Start screen experience, the shell, first party apps and more.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Microsoft

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Via: WMPoweruser

Source: Microsoft

[From Microsoft planning 'next release' of Windows Phone for this holiday season]

Coming this summer: Plummeting phablet prices

Samsung (005930) stared down an army of critics when it launched the Galaxy Note in 2011. The 5.3-inch screen was viewed with deep suspicion by many industry experts. By August 2012, Samsung had sold 10 million units. Now the handset industry is set to face the onslaught of an armada of copycats. Huawei's Ascend P2. ZTE's Grand Memo. UMI's X2. HTC's (2498) One. Sony's (SNE) Xperia ZL. And on and on. These smartphones all have display sizes ranging from 4.7 inches to 5.7 inches, and most of them are fairly close copies of the Note concept.



Continue reading... [From Coming this summer: Plummeting phablet prices]

Adobe Photoshop Touch: No longer just for tablets

Adobe has taken their excellent Photoshop Touch application for tablets, and shrunk things down to fit on the smaller screen. Available as a separate download -- with it's own $4.99 price tag -- The app offers the same great features the tablet edition does, which are essentially the core features of the desktop version. The app includes the ability to work with layers, filters, and brushes all bundled into an intuitive, gesture-based interface. In addition, the application is integrated with Adobe Creative Cloud, giving users 2GB of free storage to sync projects between the tablet app, the phone app, and the desktop.

I use the tablet version of Photoshop Touch frequently, transferring images taken with my phone to Dropbox, then importing them into my tablet. The app is really well done, and takes mobile image editing to the next level. I'm not sure how well this will translate to my phone -- I'm currently using the Nexus 4 -- but folks with a Note 2 or even the original Note have another great use for the S Pen. You can find Adobe's press release after the break, and the download link from Google Play above.

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[From Adobe Photoshop Touch: No longer just for tablets]

ASUS Padfone 2 launching in the UK on March 1

Way back in October last year we first heard word that ASUS planned to bring the Padfone 2 to the UK in early 2013. It's now early 2013 and true to their word ASUS is indeed bringing the Padfone 2 to the UK on March 1 for £599.

For some it may seem an anti-climax given the recent unveiling of the Padfone Infinity at MWC. But, the Padfone 2 is still an impressive device packing a Snapdragon S4 Pro, 2GB of RAM, a 13MP camera and a HD Super IPS+ display. It isn't quite the powerhouse the new Padfone Infinity is, but the hardware specs are still impressive. And of course, the Padfone 2 will be around £200 cheaper than the Infinity.

Both white and black versions will be available, and several big name retailers will be picking it up including Amazon and Carphone Warehouse. The full press release can be found after the break.

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[From ASUS Padfone 2 launching in the UK on March 1]

Caterpillar CAT B15 smartphone offers a taste of rugged Jelly Bean

We've seen our fair share of rugged smartphones, but there's a certain amount of attention due when a heavy equipment builder like Caterpillar gets involved. Its newest smartphone, the CAT B15, undoubtedly has the survivability you'd expect from a company that makes bulldozers: the aluminum-and-rubber shell can survive 5.9-foot drops on to hard concrete, stay immersed in 3.3 feet of water for half an hour and keep working in temperatures between -4F to 122F. Just don't expect top-flight performance elsewhere. While we're big fans of the CAT B15 shipping with Jelly Bean, its 4-inch WVGA screen, dual-core 1GHz Cortex-A9 chip, 512MB of RAM and 5-megapixel camera won't have many of us giving up our faster, more fragile devices. The phone's £299 and €329 European prices (about $437) could still lead to the more accident-prone among us picking up a CAT B15 when it ships in March.

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Source: T3

[From Caterpillar CAT B15 smartphone offers a taste of rugged Jelly Bean]

Apple eases up on 3-device limit for employee friends and family buys

Apple for whatever reason has decided to lift its 3-device limitation for employees looking to buy friends and family products. The reason for this could be due to inventory levels finally normalizing, or maybe the tech giant is feeling a little generous this time of year.

Now, don’t get it twisted, reasonable limits on EPP 15 percent discount program purchases are still in place. What does this mean, you ask? Well, according to people at Apple who noticed the policy change:

Use your discretion when determining “reasonable quantities” purchases for friends and family. There isn’t a specific number limit — it’s a judgment call. For example, buying iPod devices as gifts for your nieces and nephews at a 15 percent discount is fine. However, advertising a 15 percent discount on Apple products for all of your Facebook friends is not. If you have questions about what is considered reasonable, contact your HR representative.

It’s good to see Apple relax on this policy a bit. Unfortunately, anyone who works at Apple may start to get a lot of calls from people they haven’t heard from in a while. You know people go to extreme lengths to get a discount. Regardless, it is beneficial for Apple to make it easier for people to buy its products.

[via iMore]

Apple eases up on 3-device limit for employee friends and family buys originally appeared on IntoMobile.com on 2013-02-14T01:19:41Z. FV1gMYsz9b5j

[From Apple eases up on 3-device limit for employee friends and family buys]

Google Now widget now live in latest Search update

Well that didn’t take too long. A day after spotting a Google Now widget in a support page, the Big G has updated its Search application that includes the new widget and a few new features.

Alone with the new Google Now widget, the updated Search application now includes the following for Android 4.1+ users

-Google Now widget for home screen or lock screen

- Movie passes from Fandango

- Movies now includes ratings from Rotten Tomatoes

- Real estate listings from Zillow when in the market for a home

- Music button when a song is playing in voice mode (US only)

- Support for US college sports

Nothing groundbreaking here, but things like Rotten Tomatoes rating when searching for a movie in Google now is pretty helpful, and the addition of US college sports should make a lot of people happy.

Google Now is a pretty awesome service, and it just got better! Head over to the Google Play Store and update now!

What’s you’re favorite feature? Sound off in the comments below!

[Via: AndroidCentral]

Google Now widget now live in latest Search update originally appeared on IntoMobile.com on 2013-02-13T20:55:15Z. FV1gMYsz9b5j

[From Google Now widget now live in latest Search update]

Mozilla announces Nightly build of Metro Firefox for Windows 8, says it’s stable enough for regular testing

Mozilla today announced the release of the first Nightly build of Firefox Metro. The company also confirmed that the browser is now stable enough for “regular testing” by interested Windows 8 users.

Mozilla’s Director of Community Development Asa Dotzler revealed the news last night:

On Tuesday, our preliminary Metro Firefox development work arrived at mozilla-central, the source code repository that feeds the Firefox Nightly channel. This means that if you are on the Firefox Nightly channel and you have a Windows 8 device, your Wednesday Firefox update should deliver a Metro Firefox tile to the far right end of your Windows Start screen. There’s plenty of work still to do, but it’s stable enough that we’re ready for more and more regular testing.

Unfortunately, as the comments on his post indicate, some users (including yours truly) are having issues enabling the new user interface. A new Nightly build will be coming out tonight though and might fix some of these issues. The new Nightly is supposed to launch a chromeless browser window similar to Metro IE. Here’s how it should look:

You can only access the new user interface if you set Firefoxt Nightly as your default browser. If not, the Desktop version of Firefox will launch instead when you click on the Nightly icon in your Start Screen. This is a limitation Microsoft has purposefully included for security reasons: only the default browser can run in the Metro UI.

The Firefox Nightly channel, as its name implies, is automatically updated each night. The builds are meant only for developers interested in helping out the company test new and experimental features.

After six weeks or so, Nightly builds are brought into the Aurora channel. This is the alpha channel, which is followed by the beta and release channels. We can thus expect the Metro version of Firefox to be released as a stable build somewhere in May or June, but possibly later if testing takes more time.

Mozilla first revealed it had a Windows 8 Metro prototype of Firefox back in April 2012. The company then showed off a pre-release of Firefox for Windows 8 in October 2012.

Image credit: Andreas Krappweis

[From Mozilla announces Nightly build of Metro Firefox for Windows 8, says it’s stable enough for regular testing]

Snapchat for Android gets video messaging beta update

HTC's Windows Phone 8 press event now available to watch online (video)

Love you some Windows Phone? Big fan of HTC? Well, then, we imagine this has been a good week for you! If you missed our coverage from New York as it happened, first of all, shame on you. But, we'll forgive you, and as a special treat even point you to a video of the whole event online. Simply head past the break for the goods, and if you don't want to know what happens, don't click on any of the earlier links in this post. Too late for spoilers? Okay, they announce new phones!

Continue reading HTC's Windows Phone 8 press event now available to watch online (video)

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

HTC's Windows Phone 8 press event now available to watch online (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 22 Sep 2012 15:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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