windows phone

Windows Phone 8 notification center may be in the works

It appears Windows Phone 8 could eventually get a notification center similar to the ones found on the iPhone and on Android smartphones.

A Microsoft executive conceded that the company "ran out of time" when putting together the latest version of its mobile operating system, but said that such a feature was of great interest and something that is "very very important to me," The Verge reported.

The notification center, which appears as a pull-down menu on iOS and Android, gives apps a central location to alert users about new software updates, messages, or other information. … Read more

Nokia Lumia 920 camera vs. HTC Windows Phone 8X vs. iPhone 5

Nokia has trumpeted the ability of its Nokia Lumia 920's 8.7-megapixel camera with image stabilization, low-light enhancements, and PureView algorithms. Photo quality was strong and fairly consistent, though photos had a blue cast to them and the Lumia 920 had problems with contrast and absolute sharpness compared with the others.

In the meantime, HTC's 8-megapixel Windows Phone 8X took some pretty nice photos as well, though there was more swing between the highs and lows. For its part, the 8-megapixel iPhone 5 won some and lost some, but retained the most consistent.

Don't just take my … Read more

Microsoft upgrades Windows Phone sync app for Mac users

Mac owners who use a Windows Phone device now have a new and improved app for syncing their information.

Released yesterday in the Mac App store, the Windows Phone 3.0 app lets users sync movies, videos, documents, and other files between their Macs and Windows Phone handsets. The latest version now supports Windows Phone 8.

Users can drag and drop files between their Windows Phone 8 devices and the Mac desktop or the Finder file manager. They can see the state of the phone's battery charge and take advantage of better support for ringtones. The new app also … Read more

Skype for Windows Phone 8 has some smart moves (hands-on)

Skype's VoIP app is "coming soon" for Windows Phone 8, but when it arrives, it'll be outfitted with more options than its Skype sibling for Windows Phone 7.5.

Written in native code, the app integrates into your address book and partially into the dialer, so you can receive incoming Skype calls the same way you would receive a cellular call. You'll be able to answer with a video chat in addition to voice. Skype contacts also integrate into your address book, so you can find your buddies from your contacts screen, not solely from … Read more

Microsoft to developers: We have a gift for you. It's an SDK!

After a couple of delays, Microsoft finally has made available to the public the Windows Phone 8 software development kit (SDK) -- a day after launching its next-generation smartphone platform.

Microsoft made the SDK, along with a free version of Visual Studio Express 2012 and Blend 5, available to MSDN subscribers and to the public for download on October 30.

The public Windows Phone 8 SDK is available for download from Microsoft's Web site. The MSDN version of Windows Phone 8 SDK is here.

Microsoft made the announcement at its Build 2012 developer conference, which kicked off in Redmond … Read more

Google ties Apple with 700,000 Android apps

Google has hit another milestone for Android apps, and this one is pretty big news for Apple too.

The number of apps available for Android now totals about 700,000, a Google spokesman confirmed to CNET. That's up from the 675,000 the company said it had a month ago.

And it equals the figure Apple most recently touted. The Cupertino, Calif., company first revealed it had about 700,000 apps available in its store last month, and Apple reiterated that amount during the iPad Mini launch last week.

The number of apps offered for an operating system is … Read more

Verizon's Windows Phone 8X will get wireless charging

The Verizon Wireless version of HTC's Windows Phone 8X may have one advantage over the AT&T version: support for wireless charging.

Verizon confirmed to CNET that the Windows Phone 8X will indeed get wireless charging capabilities. The Verge first reported on the feature and that it would be exclusive to the carrier in the U.S. The wireless charging addition will be built into the phone, and wouldn't be noticeable to users.

Wireless charging, which has been sold through third-party retailers and famously touted in Palm's smartphones, is making a bit of a comeback. Nokia's Lumia 920, … Read more

Apple, Google and Amazon wage war of pixels

It was there this month in Apple's announcement of the iPad Mini, in Google's marketing of the Nexus 10 tablet, and in an advertisement on Amazon's home page promoting the Kindle Fire HD.

Pixels per inch -- the simple measure of a device's screen resolution -- now trumps many other metrics in a device's product marketing. In a world where nearly everything has become a rectangular square of glass, the quality of the display on that glass has risen to the top of device makers' priority list.

Google has made the screen of the Nexus … Read more

New Windows Phone ad: It's not for everybody (like Apple)

Dear Apple, you are now a formulaic monolith and your challenger is that sweet, small, slightly naive company based in Redmond.

How else is one to explain Microsoft's quite thrilling attempt to be not merely relevant, but actually different?

You might already be exhausted from being pushed the Surface and Windows 8.

Microsoft, on the other hand, has just started. For today sees the YouTube launch of an ad for Windows Phone.

This, too, has those cute tiles that seems so blessedly simple. However, if you're going to appeal to the modern imagination, one way is to appeal … Read more