Microsoft – Page 17 – SomeGadgetGuy

April 2, 2014April 2, 2014

Microsoft BUILD 2014 Developer Conference Kicks Off with Windows Phone 8.1, New Phones

It’s a big day for Microsoft. Kicking off their BUILD Developer Conference, Joe Belfiore took us through an on stage demo of Windows Phone 8.1 and the new Cortana digital assistant.

New Phones

Microsoft announced new partnerships with MicroMax and Prestigio to develop hardware. These companies should help expand Windows Phone’s presence in European, African, and Asian markets.

Of course the premier line of Windows Phone handsets is the Nokia Lumia line. Stephen Elop took the stage to show off the Lumia 930, which looks like an international version of the Lumia Icon we’ve been reviewing over the past several weeks, only now we’ll have more colors than stingy Verizon was willing to offer up.

Nokia also has two mid range phones on the way, the Lumia 630 with 3G and dual sim variants, and the Lumia 635 with 4G LTE. The dual sim 630 will show off different colored Live Tiles for each of the sim accounts.

The Lumia 630 will be priced at $159 for single sim, $169 for dual sim, and $189 for LTE, and it’ll be the first phone to land with Windows Phone 8.1. It wasn’t announced what the screen resolution of the 630 will be, but it is arriving with the newer 3 rows of Live Tile arrangement found on the 1520 and Icon. Cortana will also be arriving for these entry level handsets.

ALL Nokia Windows Phone 8 Lumias will be upgraded to WP8.1 this summer, which is exciting even down to customers who opted for a sub-$100 Lumia 520, especially when compared to the Android market at that price point.

Windows Phone 8.1 Updates

A ton of new features and polish are coming to the Windows Phone platform. Demonstrated on stage, here’s a short list of some of the highlights!

WordFlow keyboard is getting gesture “Swype” style typing. You can now slide your thumb around the keyboard to create words. This new keyboard now holds the Guinness Book world record for fastest text entry. Continue reading “Microsoft BUILD 2014 Developer Conference Kicks Off with Windows Phone 8.1, New Phones”

March 27, 2014

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella Unveils Office for iPad

It’s been years in the making. We’ve seen teases and rumors, and now it’s officially arriving on iPads DATE.

Microsoft’s new CEO Satya Nadella took the wraps off the app we all knew was coming today during his first public address. Stressing the five to ten year outlook for Microsoft, Nadella shared his ideas on changing computing form factors not resembling the machines we use today. User interactions, apps, services, and cloud computing defining the future of our interactions.

General Manager for Office Development Julia White discussed the solutions Microsoft are developing to serve the crossover between corporate applications and consumer applications. Showing us a highly touch optimized version of the Office Suite for iPad. Continue reading “Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella Unveils Office for iPad”

March 27, 2014March 27, 2014

Microsoft developers receive Google’s official API

GAPI copy

This is great news for Window’s Phone 8 users and developers who miss Google’s official apps. Back in January I wrote an article on Google VS. Microsoft.

Google has released over 50 API’s for developers. Here are a few that are on that list:

Google Plus
YouTube
Drive
Ad Exchange
Blogger
Orkut

Although we may never see any “official” apps from Google heading to the Microsoft Store, this does open up the door for developers to create an awesome Google app using the official Google API.

Personally I would love to see Rudy Huyn develop a really killer G+ app! If you are unfamiliar with Rudy then check out his apps. Rudy is responsible for one of the most awesome Instagram apps called 6tag!

Continue reading “Microsoft developers receive Google’s official API”

March 17, 2014March 17, 2014

Nokia Lumia 1520 Long Term Review!

March 17, 2014March 18, 2014

Microsoft Surface 2 LTE Officially Announced for AT&T

***UPDATE***

Confirmed from NVIDIA PR, the Surface 2 will continue to use a Tegra 4 chipset paired with the NVIDIA i500 LTE modem.

***Original Article***

No big surprise that this guy is on the way, but Microsoft officially took the wraps off of the long rumored Surface 2 tablet with LTE. We now have pricing and availability info.

Headed for AT&T’s LTE network, the Surface 2 LTE is pretty much the same beast we’ve come to know over the last several months, only now you’ll have broadband data anywhere you have 4G reception. It’ll be available starting tomorrow, and will retail for $679. This $230 premium over the base model also includes twice the storage (64GB). What isn’t explicitly mentioned however, is if Microsoft will be sticking with the Tegra 4 chipset, or the more common Qualcomm 800 which is also utilized in the LTE enabled Nokia Lumia 2520.

Always exciting seeing a few more premium tablet offerings with LTE. Microsoft’s full press release is below.

Continue reading “Microsoft Surface 2 LTE Officially Announced for AT&T”

March 15, 2014

Playstation 4 Price Rising to $449 in Canada Starting Today

In an odd response to “changing market conditions” Sony is bumping up the price of the PS4 console, Playstation Camera, and the Dualshock 4 controller.

Starting today, the PS4 will jump $50, from $399 to $449, the Dualshock and Camera now retail for $64.99, and games will also increase in price by about $10 over USA prices.

This move makes sense to a degree as the current exchange rate puts the Canadian dollar at around 90 American cents, which would bring the price difference pretty close to that rate adjustment, as $399 USA is about $443 Canadian at the time of this posting.

As a platform strategy however, the timing on this increase is tricky. Sony still enjoys a sales lead, but rival Microsoft has been chipping away at that, and currently has no plans to raise the price of the XBox One which remains at $499 in Canada. Sony’s bump here brings the stock PS4 (without a camera) to within $50 of the XBox which includes the Kinect camera and tracking system.

Consoles exist to move software however, and Microsoft is only adding a $5 premium to their games up north, largely eroding the cost advantage Sony enjoyed when you factor in a console, and additional controller, and actually buying a game to play on that new system.

NPD sales data for February showed Microsoft selling just over 90% of what Sony moved over the same time period, and we’re about to see the impact of Titanfall, which has all the buzz and momentum of being the first true “Next Gen” hit. It’s impossible to declare any kind of “winner” this early into the console life cycle, but thankfully the competition is about to get a lot more interesting.

February 12, 2014

Nokia Shows Off Lumia Icon Smartphone, coming to Verizon February 20th

It’s official! The next Lumia headed to VZW will be branded “Icon” instead of some string of numbers.

Icon looks to bridge some of the new high power internals found on Nokia’s 1520 phablet with a slightly more phone-like form factor. The 5″ OLED screen is 1080p, and it’s packing the Qualcomm 800 quad-core we’ve all come to know and love in our high end phones. 32GB of storage will be on board with 2GB of RAM to keep all your apps fed. Best of all, Icon retains internal wireless charging based on the Qi standard, so no futzing with sleds or cases.

For you A/V freaks, the 20MP shooter from the 1520 will make another appearance, as will the high fidelity quad microphone array which allows for incredible sound and solid noise reduction on your videos.

Bridging the boxy design of the Lumia 928 with a slimmer Aluminum build and curved glass, it’s an attractive piece. Not as curvy as the phones we’ve used on AT&T, but distinctive and modern.

The phone will drop on February 20th for $199.99 with a two year agreement. Purchasing before March 16 will also get you a free wireless charging dock.

More info on Nokia’s site, or see their teaser vid below!

February 12, 2014

Windows Phone 8.1: Better file management, Universal Apps, and New Notifcations

Windows Phone is growing up fast.

Details on the new SDK for Windows Phone 8.1 have leaked on Reddit, and Twitter user @AngelWZR has posted screen shots from the developer emulator showing all kinds of fun new features for Microsoft’s phone update.

Highlights include fixes for my top two gripes! Windows Phone will now have separate volume controls for media and alerts. It’s can be a painful experience listening to music and then having an email alert go off on your headphones.

We’ll also see radically improved file management in WP8.1. As it stands now, WP8 handles files much like the iPhone does. You don’t really have access to one central app where you can see file location. Now, like on Windows 8 and RT, WP8.1 will allow the new OneDrive app to manage cloud storage and local storage. We’ll also see improved support for memory cards, support app installation on removable media.

We’ll also see significant improvements to other services like NFC, screen sharing on TV’s, and WP8.1 will allow for 3rd party messaging apps. Alongside improvements to the actual phone OS, Microsoft is pushing forward with universal app support, so new apps being developed can work on both Windows Phone and the Metro interface for Windows 8. We knew this synergy was coming with the future Threshold update, but it’s exciting seeing pieces falling into place now. Right now apps don’t travel between phone, tablet, and computer, and I don’t want to have to buy Halo multiple times to play it on all of my various screens.

Best of all, Microsoft has stated that all WP8 phones will be eligible for the 8.1 update. This is a great step forward for the platform, as even the most entry-level phones like the Lumia 520 should be able to benefit from some of these updates.

The actual 8.1 update is rumored to arrive in April, which means we could see much stronger competition from this third place platform later in the year. See some more screenshots of WP8.1 in action below!