Archive for the ‘Windows phone 7’ Category

Unofficial Windows Phone 7 updater removed

Remember the Windows Phone 7 updater by Team ChevronWP7 that allowed you to update your WP7 phone regardless of what model it may be and the warning Microsoft issued about it possibly putting your phones into an unserviceable state? There were disputes over the whole issue, with some folks saying that they’ve received notifications to official updates even after updating their phone unofficially. Well it looks like it does’nt matter anymore. Regardless of whether it negatively affects your WP7 device or not, the ChevronWP7 updater has been pulled off the internet because Microsoft told the developer that the tool was “breaking phones.” So there might be a possibility that users who updated their phones with the unofficial updater could be stuck on NoDo forever. The developer is working on how to rectify the solution, but until then it looks like a system restore of the phone to its original state should do the trick, which not many users are willing to do for now. I guess we’ll have to wait for the next WP7 Update to arrive first. Read the blog post about the updater being removed.

Unofficial Windows Phone 7 updater removed, By Ubergizmo. Top Stories : Atrix Review, Motorola Xoom Review,

Netflix CEO says consumers just aren’t interested in long-form video on portable devices

We were undeniably excited about Netflix coming to the iPhone and iPad, but according to CEO Reed Hastings — who spoke on the subject during a Web 2.0 Summit panel discussion — that move has actually had little impact on the company’s business. In his mind, these results indicate that consumers just aren’t interested in streaming long-form video on mobile devices and instead prefer the experience on bigger screens. To support his conclusion, Hastings cited how Netflix integration on the Xbox 360, PS3, and Mac significantly grew its subscriber base. While we personally disagree with his judgment on mobile and grant him honorary captain obvious credentials for his bigger screen preference remarks, we’ll still entertain the possibility that Hastings may know somethings we don’t. That’s not to say the phrase correlation does not imply causation isn’t tickling the back our throat though. But what about you, reader? Are you taking advantage of the little red app on your Apple portable devices or even on your new Windows Phone 7 handset? Hit the poll to tell us what’s up.

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Netflix CEO says consumers just aren’t interested in long-form video on portable devices originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 18 Nov 2010 04:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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No Angry Birds for WP7 Yet, Even if Microsoft Thought So [Angry Birds]

They’ve now removed the Angry Birds icon and passed it off as a mistake, but for a while yesterday Microsoft must’ve been quaking at the thought of Rovio dispatching the Angry Birds flock their way. More »

Microsoft’s Mobile Strategy Takes Aim at Apple, Google

Microsoft on Tuesday announced new features for its upcoming mobile platform Windows Phone 7, including over-the-air Wi-Fi syncing and a feature to track a missing phone. The real message: “Suck it, iTunes and Android.”

When Windows Phone 7 becomes available later this year, customers will be able to download and sync content (such as music, video and photos) wirelessly, using a Wi-Fi connection to Zune software running on their PCs, according to Microsoft’s Aaron Woodman.

Additionally, Microsoft will launch Windows Phone Live, a free website for Windows Phone 7 customers to automatically publish their photos and sync their contacts, OneNote notes and other data.

“[Windows Phone 7] integrates experiences by consolidating common tasks and services around shared hubs that put the focus on what you want to do rather than putting the onus on you to move in and out of various apps,” Woodman wrote in a blog post. “All the stuff you’d expect is right where you expect it — and that goes for content and services that live outside the phone.”

The new Windows Phone Live site will also host a Find My Phone service, which will allow people to find and manage a missing phone with the ability to find the phone on a map, make it ring, lock it and erase its contents, all from their PC. This is comparable to a feature Apple offers through its MobileMe service for an additional fee; Microsoft says it will offer it for no charge.

With these moves, Microsoft is emphasizing Windows Phone 7’s over-the-air “cloud” strategy to compete with other mobile platforms. Many tech companies are offering online services to wirelessly manage content over the web. Google, for example, provides web services services for customers to automatically sync their e-mails, contacts and calendars over the internet to their phones.

However, Microsoft will have to move fast to stay in the smartphone game. Its once dominant Windows Mobile OS currently holds just 13.2 percent of the smartphone market and has been been steadily losing market share to competitors — most notably Google’s Android. The longer Microsoft takes to get Windows Phone 7 out, the more difficult it will be for it to regain the ground it has lost.

When Microsoft introduced Windows Phone 7 in February, CEO Steve Ballmer said the platform would blend personal media with Xbox Live gaming and third-party apps served through the Zune marketplace.

The company with a relatively weak cloud strategy is Apple. Critics have slammed the iPhone and iPad for still relying on a USB connection to sync content with iTunes. And Apple’s web service MobileMe has received criticism for being expensive ($100 per year) compared to Google’s free web services. Steve Jobs said his company was “working on it” during a recent All Things Digital Conference on-stage interview, suggesting that iTunes might soon receive a reboot with a focus on streaming media.

“You can sum up the most frustrating thing about being an Apple customer in three little words: ‘Connect to iTunes,” said Matt Buchanan, a writer of Gizmodo.

It’s clear the software giant is shooting at the cloud in order to target a major weakness of Apple and a major strength of Google. Microsoft is offering consumer-oriented cloud services that Apple lacks, while providing enterprise features, such as remote wiping or locating a missing phone, that are not built in to Android.

“Microsoft’s activities in the cloud are really key in terms of its competition versus Apple and of course Google,” said Ross Rubin, a consumer technology analyst at NPD Group. “While there’s certainly a lot of overlap with Google in terms of the places where they’re competing head-on — photo sharing, e-mail services, etc. — Microsoft has really integrated part of what Apple has sought to make a premium offering with MobileMe.”

Gadget Lab will soon receive a Windows Phone 7 prototype for testing. We’ll keep you posted on our impressions this week. Follow @gadgetlab or @bxchen on Twitter to stay plugged in to the news.

See Also:

• Hands-On With Windows Phone 7 Series
• Microsoft Tells Windows Phone 7’s App Story
• Microsoft’s Challenge With Windows Phone 7 Is Wooing Developers
• Like iPhone, Windows Phone 7 Won’t Fully Multitask

Image courtesy of Microsoft

Confirmed: Zune Integration Coming in Windows Mobile 7 [Ballmer]

Ballmer just confirmed to Engadget that Zune integration IS coming to Windows Mobile 7, as was implied by these leaked screenshots earlier this year. [Engadget]