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Something the majority doesn’t really know is that Windows Phone 7’s voice recognition features are currenly only available if you live in an English speaking country.If you device is located in Germany, France, Spain etc the feature will automatically be disable by the OS without any user interaction. But the semi-good news is that this may be fixed in Spring 2011. According to eurogamer the Kinect’s Voice Recognition, which is AFAIK also based on the Tellme infrastructure like WP7, will be enabled in non-english countries in Spring 2011.Sso I’m assuming that Windows Phone 7 will receive the same treatment. WP7 also only natively supports 5 languages and the lastest we heard on that matter was that additional countries should be addded around spring 2011 too.
Continue reading Windows Phone 7 voice recognition coming to non-english countries only in Spring 2011 →
One more Windows Phone 7 HTC handset has been partially revealed after its certification. This time it’s the HTC 7 Trophy which was certified yesterday. The fact that it has a 7 in its name makes yesterday’s HTC HD7 rumor a bit more believable. What’s interesting here is that the original HTC Trophy was a blackberry like candybar smartphone so this mysterious HTC handset is probably HTC’s first WP7 featuring a hardware keyboard.
Continue reading HTC 7 Trophy Windows Phone 7 handset approved →
The day has finally come and Windows Phone 7 is now officially Gold and RTM. Microsoft Terry Myerson has just announced that Microsoft’s next generation mobile platform is a go and shipping to partners and mobile operators Microsoft has also tweaked the Facebook integration so users can have better filtering control of the feed in the People hub (this is something Josh from Engadget asked for IIRC):
Today is the day that the Windows Phone team has been driving towards, and we’re very excited to say that we’ve reached the biggest milestone for our internal team – the release to manufacturing (RTM) of Windows Phone 7! While the final integration of Windows Phone 7 with our partners’ hardware, software, and networks is underway, the work of our internal engineering team is largely complete.
Windows Phone 7 is the most thoroughly tested mobile platform Microsoft has ever released. We had nearly ten thousand devices running automated tests daily, over a half million hours of active self-hosting use, over three and a half million hours of stress test passes, and eight and a half million hours of fully automated test passes. We’ve had thousands of independent software vendors and early adopters testing our software and giving us great feedback. We are ready.
I last posted on this blog when we reached the Technical Preview milestone, and we’ve received some great feedback since then which we’ve been able to respond to and improve the smart design throughout the OS. For example, folks loved the Facebook integration in the People Hub, but they also wanted ways to filter their contacts so only the Facebook friends they really know will show up in their contact list – we’ve added support for that. We’ve also made it easy to “like” a post right from the People Hub, or quickly post a message to someone’s Facebook wall directly.
This has been one of the most incredible product development efforts I’ve ever been a part of. Today’s milestone is exciting not just because of what we’ll deliver to customers later this year, but how it sets us up for success over the long term in the mobile space… we’re really just getting started.
Continue reading Windows Phone 7 is Gold! RTM shipped to launch partners →
Looks like we are about to get hit by a truckload of funky rumors (similar to the LG Appolo and HTC Obsession stuff…)before the official launch of Windows Phone 7 in October. The latest apparently appears in an O2 internal document (which is rather super easy to fake…maybe I should make vodafone one with an HTC TP7 listed in there…hmm) listing an HTC HD7 device as launching on October 18th (maybe this is the mysterious HTC NM8PC40100 or HTC T8788 device with the sliding speaker, remember that the HD2 is the T8585..). There’s isn’t much else to say here folks.
Continue reading HTC HD7 rumor →
Ilomilo is probably one of the most anticipated Windows Phone 7 and XBLA game coming out this fall so I decided to ask Southend Interactive a couple questions about the development process and Xbox Live features of the game. Ilomilo first started as an XBLA project and was later ported to Android to showcase Qualcomm’s MSM7X30 platform (and the Adreno 205 GPU) and is now a Windows Phone 7 launch title published by Microsoft Game Studios. Want to learn more about it? Check out the full interview with Ilomilo Associate Producer, Malte Olson:
Continue reading Ilomilo Interview with Southend Interactive →
Android.com.pl is on a roll today after posting the LG E900 pictures and videos this morning they have now posted some new pictures of the EU LG C900 Windows Phone 7 device which looks indentical to the US AT&T version and 2 videos of the device. unfortunately there isn’t much to see in the blurry videos that you can check out below:
Continue reading A couple of LG C900 Pictures and Videos →
Remember a few days ago I posted about the possibility of seeing Augmented Reality applications on Windows Phone 7 before the end of the year. If you have taken a close attention at all the LG E900media you may have noticed that a particular application seems to be pre-installed on LG’s WP7 handset. The first video was super blurry but the ones posted today reveal that the name of this application is actually ScanSearch:
ScanSearchis an augmented reality application developed by Korean Software Company OlaWorks (whos CEO was previously Managing Director, Online Services Group and GM, Consumer and Online Business at Microsoft) and currently available on the iPhone. I’m guessing that LG has some sort of partnership with Olaworks to develop the Windows Phone 7 version (Olaworks already supplies LG with a Face detection Suite ). As you probably already know there’s no digital Compass API currently available for third-party developers in the SDK but it apparently isn’t the case for OEMs. Check out a video of the iPhone after the break:
Continue reading ScanSearch Augmented Reality Application coming to Windows Phone 7 →
SimplySim has just released a teaser video for their 3D software solution that enables users to export their 3D scenes directly to Windows Phone 7 (and other devices). It is basically comparable to the Nova4Phone application we saw a couple of days before. The teaser video looks really cool but it would be interesting to see how it actually performs on a real device. SimplySim also developed the 3D assembly application I posted about not long ago. Check out the video below:
Continue reading SimplyCube 3D exporter for Windows Phone 7 →
Here are more pictures a two blurry videos of the upcoming LG E900 Windows Phone 7 handset. The polish site who is publishing them initially claimed (or had a dodgy translation..) that the device was powered by a QSD8650A (the new version clocked at 1.3Ghz and with the Adreno 205 GPU) but has since corrected it back to QSD8650 so we still aren’t 100% of the internals of the device. Remember that the only other device that was rumored to have the new chipset was/is the HTC Mondrian. Other than that the E900 features a 3.7″ screen and all the usual stuff that come with such a device (they claim that it has a mini-usb connector which isn’t the case because it’s micro-usb like all other handsets shipping this year..). Check out the gallery and videos after the break:
Continue reading New LG E900 pictures and videos →
Here’s a quick follow up to the 2.5 months old post about Exchange ActiveSync support in Hotmail. Microsoft is announcing today that EAS (Exchange ActiveSync) is fully functional and up and running in Hotmail as promised earlier this year:
EAS keeps everything in sync between your phone and Hotmail, so whatever you do on your phone, like delete an email, add an appointment, or update one of your contacts with a new number, will also be reflected on the web, and vice-versa.
Continue reading Exchange ActiveSync for Hotmail officially up and running →
Business Insider has been running a series of “linkbait” articles lately about Windows Phone 7 and Android. The first one titled “Microsoft’s mobile business is now little more than a fantasy” was followed today by an other one titled “Hey, Android People, Is It True That The All-In Cost Of Android Is Much Higher Than $15 Per Unit?”. You see this is how things work: first you trash a product then post a follow up defending it to please both sides and generate maximum traffic. The second one is rather interesting because Henri Blognet has supposedly a close Microsoft source parroting what I, others and Microsoft Execs have been saying all along: Android isn’t free.
Continue reading Android isn’t Free ? Anything new we didn’t already know ? →
Here’s a short teaser video of the MobileTechWorld Windows Phone 7 Application I’ve been working on (you can vote for it >>HERE<< by Liking the video after Liking the MS Developeurs account (icon top left of the video) or you won’t be able to vote). I have never coded anything in my life before so this is actually my very first application. I still have a couple of things that I have to implement before launching it in October. As you can see I tried to stay true to the Metro UI and used Panorama and Pivot Controls. I also had to build a video player (using MediaElement) to stream my videos directly to the handset etc.. Check it out after the break:
Continue reading MobileTechWorld Windows Phone 7 Application Teaser →
Here’s a new Mobile Ad Control If you are planning to monetize your free Windows Phone 7 this fall. Contrary to the first one that was made available on codeplex a few weeks ago this new one is more Blend friendly and feature three different template. You can also use Advertising networks other than AdMob by easily editing the code.
Continue reading Custom Windows Phone 7 Mobile Ad Control: AdMob and others →
Here’s a pretty cool looking application for Windows Phone 7 save called Lodon Travel. The application is currently being developed by three guys in the UK (two of them seem to have a pretty good experience with Silverlight). As you can see in the video the application is packed with features like transportation lines, live cameras feeds, news updates etc and currently runs without any major problem on a development device. Head over after the break to check in out:
Continue reading Neat looking London Travel application for Windows Phone 7 video preview →
Those of you who have been closely following Microsoft’s Bing and Bing Maps products surely know who Chris Pendleton is. He is announcing today that he will step down from his job as a Bing Maps Technical Evangelist in two weeks to become the Sr Program Manager of Bing Mobile ad oversee the development of new unannounced features:
Continue reading Bing Maps Technical Evangelist becomes Sr. PM of Bing Mobile →
Microsoft doesn’t seem to be afraid to change things up lately. After dropping the ”Series” from Windows Phone 7, canning the Kin devices only a few weeks after launching them they are now re-branding the recently announced (and in Beta) Windows Live Sync service back to Windows Live Mesh (Live sync is/was based on Live Mesh). Microsoft has apparently listened to the beta user complaints and decided to bump the sync storage to 5Gb like it originaly was in Live Mesh and also re-brand the whole thing Windows Live Mesh. Unfortunately there’ still no mobile support yet (Live Mesh had Windows Mobile support) but I wouldn’t be surprised if this changes next year when Microsoft starts to incorporate a Kin Studio like feature into WP7 and updates the MyPhone service as it was previously hinted at.
Continue reading Windows Live Sync makes a U-Turn and becomes Windows Live Mesh..Again →
There isn’t much info about this HTC NM8PC40100 Windows Phone 7 device so this could be one of the many variants of the HTC Schubert, Mozart etc.. One thing is for sure: It’s a GSM device that supports the GSM850 and GSM1900 bands. It definitely looks like there’s going to be more than a few Windows Phone 7 devices launching this fall.
Continue reading Another Windows Phone 7 handset from HTC hits the FCC: HTC NM8PC40100 →
Now this is kinda interesting; gaming industry veteran, Mark DeLoura, just quit his job as a gaming developer advocate at Google only four months after being hired by the search giant. This wouldn’t really be super newsworthy if he didn’t actually praise Microsoft’s XNA + Silverlight effort as being the closets to enable developers to finally develop multi-platform (and cloud based games) without the need to write / code in different languages:
As game developers we’ve talked about the idea of making multiple-platform game access simpler for a long time – trans-platform play where the experiences may be different, as opposed to cross-platform play where the experiences are the same – and it should be easier for developers to create clients for web, mobile and desktop without needing to write them in completely different languages or using vastly different SDKs. Microsoft is closest to this with XNA and Silverlight across multiple platforms; Apple’s SDKs across iPhone, iPad and Mac OSX are pretty cleverly designed as well; and Google is approaching it with Android NDK and Chrome Native Client.
Continue reading Google Gaming Developer Advocate quits after only four months, praises XNA and Silverlight →
The closer we get to the launch of Windows Phone 7 the more leaks we are going to see. This time it comes straight out of Microsoft Netherlands via their twitter account. The company has posted a live picture of the LG E900 / LG Optimus 7 we have seen in a previous video on youtube. I personally wouldn’t be surprised if this was the same device (notice the identical lighting and table etc..).
Continue reading One more picture of the LG E900 Windows Phone 7 handset →
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