Samsung and Microsoft join forces for Windows Phone 7 products

Yesterday, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd, announced the completion of an agreement to use the Windows Phone 7 platform and related application software as a key component of Samsung's smartphone portfolio.

With the signing of this contract, Samsung makes a long term commitment to including Windows Phone 7 in its smartphone portfolio. Samsung plans to launch several models based on Windows Phone 7 this year in the US, Europe and Asia.

"For years, Samsung has been a key partner in bringing new Windows phones to customers all over the world," said Steve Guggenheimer, Corporate Vice President, OEM Division at Microsoft. "Windows Phone 7 is an important release, and we look forward to deepening our collaboration with Samsung on mobile devices and beyond, with our multi-screen strategy."

WP Hong, Executive Vice President and Head of Product Strategy Team said "The addition of Windows Phone 7 smartphones to Samsung's smartphone portfolio is a significant milestone for us. Samsung's new Windows Phone 7 based smartphones will play a key role to reinforce Samsung's leadership in smartphone market. The new Windows Phone 7 smartphones will provide an unparalleled entertainment experience on the go."

Samsung's Windows Phone 7 smartphones will combine the latest hardware design and technology with Microsoft's software and innovation heritage. Using design to simplify tasks and Windows Phone hubs to organize information, Windows Phone 7 breaks the current smartphone convention with an experience that helps people more easily find and consume the data, information and services they care most about. The new phones are distinguished by unique and diverse experiences built from Microsoft's deep portfolio such as Xbox LIVE, Office, Zune, Windows Live, Bing and more.

Continue Reading →

Windows Phone 7 Connector for Mac Updated

Microsoft has released a update for Windows Phone 7 Connector for Mac that adds support for Aperture, drag and drop, improved video conversion, support for market place and more.

Windows Phone 7 Connector is a simple, easy-to-use application designed to sync your favorite media files from your Mac, with your Windows Phone 7 or Zune HD. You can also sync photos and videos you captured on your phone with your Mac, and when needed, update your Windows Phone 7 software.

Features:

• Full sync and import support for Apple Aperture software
• Drag and drop import of files from Browse Device
• Ringtone transfer support (for phones running Windows Phone 7.5 or later)
• Improved video conversion process with user configuration options
• Support for Windows Phone Marketplace (for phones running Windows Phone 7.5 or later)
• Localization support for 13 additional languages
• Improvements to backup and restore operations
• Improved configuration for podcast sync and photo import
• Improved iTunes import support in certain languages
• Improved metadata support for videos

Fixes:

• Added additional error codes and help references for device update
• Resolved connectivity issues with certain devices
• Resolved album art display issues for certain devices

Source:-Windows Phone 7 Connector for Mac ( iTunes )

Continue Reading →

Nokia–Microsoft Partnership: Is It Good For Us?

As Akshat mentioned a few days back, Nokia and Microsoft have entered into a strategic partnership wherein Nokia will build phones that work with Windows Phone 7, and will ditch its own efforts towards a mobile friendly operating system (Meego). Even though Intel mentioned that it will continue working on Meego, but Nokia pulling the plug essentially means there won’t be many takers of Meego, at least in mobile universe.

Now, coming back to Nokia – Microsoft partnership. In general, most of the people took this news in a positive manner. In general I am also one of those who believe that it is a great news. Till now iPhone and Android had been fighting it alone in the consumer mobile space. Blackberry is also there, but it still has the corporate feel to it, and it is not a popular choice among consumers. This is also because of the fact that Android phones are available at virtually every price point.

This limited competition meant that people were not able to get the same experience on their mobile phones as the experience they were having on their desktop / laptop computers.

Windows was trying hard to make a dent in Mobile world, and Windows Phone 7 could be considered as the first successful attempt from Microsoft in that direction. However, it could be successful only if lot of devices come out carrying Windows Phone 7, which in turn leads to lot of people using Windows Phone 7, which in turn leads to more and more developers creating apps for this OS. Because, at the end of the day, it is all about apps.

Now, let’s talk about Nokia. Nokia has been the largest producer of mobile phones in the world, but iPhone and Android made it really lag behind in terms of smart phones. Nokia had been trying to fight on its own by keeping pumping money into its Symbian OS, and then collaborating with Intel on Meego. Meego was actually quite good, I did get a chance to try Meego on Netbook earlier, and just loved it. However, Meego is still not completely ready for Mobile phones. It is still not there today, where iPhone was a few years back, and iPhone has come ahead a long way since then.

If Nokia had to stay alive in this mobile phone universe, then it had to do something radical. Partnering with Apple was of course not an option. So, only option left was to choose between Android and Windows Phone 7. Many people would have thought that Android would have been a better choice, but I agree with Nokia’s choice of going with Microsoft. This is the only thing that will let them present an offering that is different from their competitors.

From our perspective, this is quite an awesome news. This means that there is now strongest competition in the smartphone arena. iPhone, Android, and Windows Phone 7 will fight out each other. And the end result of such competition is always beneficial for customers. We will get even better phones, that are even cheaper than the phones out there. And growth will continue like that. Windows and Nokia partnership will also ensure that smartphones come at even less than $100 price point, so that more and more people can use it. Nokia is the best mobile phone manufacturer to create cheap phones that have a great quality. And Windows Phone 7 will be a nice companion to those phones.

However, only people who were really infuriated with this news were people who develop apps for Meego and Symbian. They feel Nokia has betrayed them, as they have been supporting Nokia since so many years. I would feel the same if I was one of them.

But right now, I am just glad that this partnership happened, and eagerly looking forward to first Nokia Phone 7 (nice name – isn’t it ;) ).

[This is a guest post from Ishan author of ILoveFreeSoftware.com]

Continue Reading →

Microsoft Unveils Windows 7 Phone

You all definitely aware of Windows 7 Phone and may be you all know that Microsoft revealed nine new Windows 7 phone handset on 11 October which will be available this holiday season from leading mobile operators in Europe, North America and Asia Pacific.

But do you know the devices that will come North America, Europe and Asia Pacific in the holiday 2010 timeframe? If not then here it is-

In North America:

AT&T

• HTC Surround, United States
• Samsung Focus, United States
• LG Quantum, United States

T-Mobile USA

• HTC HD7, United States
• Dell Venue Pro, United States

TELUS

• HTC 7 Surround, Canada
• LG Optimus 7, Canada

América Móvil

• LG Optimus 7, Mexico

In Europe:

O2

• HTC HD7, United Kingdom, Germany

Orange

• HTC 7 Mozart, including France, United Kingdom
• Samsung OMNIA 7, including France, United Kingdom

SFR

• HTC 7 Trophy, France
• Samsung OMNIA 7, France

Movistar

• LG Optimus 7, Spain
• HTC HD7, Spain
• Samsung OMNIA 7, Spain

Deutsche Telekom AG

• HTC 7 Mozart, Germany
• Samsung OMNIA 7, Germany

Vodafone

• HTC 7 Trophy, including Germany, Spain, United Kingdom
• LG Optimus 7, including Germany, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom

In Asia Pacific:

SingTel

• HTC HD 7, Singapore
• LG Optimus 7, Singapore

Telstra

• HTC 7 Mozart, Australia
• LG Optimus 7Q, Australia

Vodafone

• HTC 7 Trophy, including Australia

If you are worrying about the processor used in Windows Phone 7 then you will be kind off happy to know that all Windows Phone 7 phones will include the high-performance Snapdragon processor from Qualcomm

 

Continue Reading →

Microsoft announces Windows Phone 'Mango' update

Microsoft yesterday, previewed the next major release of Windows Phone, code-named “Mango” through a series of media events around the world. “Mango” will deliver more than 500 new features to push the boundaries of the smartphone experience around communications, apps and the Internet. The “Mango” release will be available for free to Windows Phone 7 customers and is scheduled to ship on new phones beginning this fall.

Windows Phone will also add support for additional languages, expand access to apps by launching Windows Phone Marketplace in new countries, and partner with new OEMs to enable expansion to new markets.*

Communications: Easier to Connect and Share

The smartphone experience can be complicated by a sea of disconnected apps and accounts as people attempt to keep pace with all the ways they communicate — from calls, texts, email and instant messages (IM) to status updates, Tweets, check-ins, photo posting and tagging. To help people stay on top of that growing complexity, the “Mango” release organizes information around the person or group people want to interact with, not the app they have to use.

• Threads. Switch between text, Facebook chat and Windows Live Messenger within the same conversation.
• Groups. Group contacts into personalized Live Tiles to see the latest status updates right from the Start Screen and quickly send a text, email or IM to the whole group.
• Deeper social network integration. Twitter and LinkedIn feeds are now integrated into contact cards, and “Mango” includes built-in Facebook check-ins and new face detection software that makes it easier to quickly tag photos and post to the Web.
• Linked inbox. See multiple email accounts in one linked inbox. Conversations are organized to make it easy to stay on top of the latest mail.
• Hands-free messaging. Built-in voice-to-text and text-to-voice support enables hands-free texting or chatting.

A Smarter Approach to Apps

Windows Phone will challenge the way people think about apps. Today their usefulness is measured by what can be done within the app, but Microsoft sees the promise of apps in how they can be integrated directly into the core experiences of the phone. In addition to making it easy to get timely notifications and updates from apps right from the Start Screen, the “Mango” release also will surface apps as part of search results and within Windows Phone Hubs. As a result, a useful app is more likely to be right there when needed.

• App Connect. By connecting apps to search results and deepening their integration with Windows Phone Hubs, including Music and Video and Pictures, “Mango” allows apps to be surfaced when and where they make sense.
• Improved Live Tiles. Get real-time information from apps without having to open them. Live Tiles can be more dynamic and hold more information.
• Multitasking. Quickly switch between apps in use and allow apps to run in the background, helping to preserve battery life and performance.

Taking the Internet Beyond the Browser

In addition to including Internet Explorer, the “Mango” release will connect the power of the Web to the unique capabilities of Windows Phones, such as location awareness, camera and access to apps, to present a way of viewing the Web that is more localized, actionable and relevant.

• Internet Explorer 9. A browser based on the powerful Internet Explorer 9 and including support for HTML5 and full hardware acceleration.
• Local Scout. Provides hyperlocal search results and recommends nearby restaurants, shopping and activities in an easy-to-use guide.
• Bing on Windows Phone. More ways to search the Web, including Bing Vision, Music Search and Voice so it’s easy to discover and decide.
• Quick Cards. When searching for a product, movie, event or place, see a quick summary of relevant information, including related apps.