Affichage des articles dont le libellé est phone. Afficher tous les articles
Affichage des articles dont le libellé est phone. Afficher tous les articles
vendredi 11 mai 2012
Why Microsoft Is Being Left in the Dust
There are now a number of companies — Apple, Google, Amazon, and others — that have Microsoft in their rear-view mirrors, disappearing quickly on the horizon in a cloud of dust.
That kick of dust in the company’s face is being emitted by Apple’s iPhone and iPad, Amazon’s Kindle, and Google’s search and cloud domination. Microsoft’s own wild lunges into various technology segments are also contributing considerably to it being left behind. Take the company’s recent partnership with Barnes & Noble, where it took 18% of the Nook e-reader for $605 million in cash and future guarantees. This was a move to compete with Amazon, but can it really compete?
If you want to know why Microsoft’s share price has been flat for 11 years while Apple, Amazon, and Google shares have soared, this is why. Microsoft is not innovating aggressively. It is not leading categories or blazing trails. No, it’s acquiring aggressively as a shortcut to innovation. That isn’t working. Its own history suggests as much.
Microsoft Has Not Capitalized on its Partnerships and Acquisitions
Last year, Microsoft announced a broad strategic partnership with Nokia, presumably to use Windows operating systems and software on Nokia’s smartphones. This was 15 months ago. But last week, a report found that Apple and Samsung generated 99 percent of the profits in the mobile phone category. Nokia, which once enjoyed more than half of all mobile phone profits, made zero.
In 2009, Microsoft acquired a 10-year license to use Yahoo’s core search technology, which later became the Bing search engine. Today, Google’s search market share is a dominant 66%, with Microsoft’s Bing a very distant second at 15%. After spending billions building and marketing Bing, Microsoft is barely visible in Google’s rear-view mirror.
Finally, what of Microsoft’s Skype acquisition a year ago? It’s too early to tell, but here’s a fact worth noting: The Wall Street Journal reports that 85% of Microsoft’s revenue comes from Windows and Office software. The rest of it? Barely a blip.
And so, Microsoft is proving, like many have before it, that acquiring companies outside your core competencies are recipes for failure. Remember when Cisco purchased the Flip video camera, at the time one of the most popular consumer electronics products on the planet? How did that work out? In 2010, HP bought Palm for $1.2 billion, but we haven’t seen any industry-altering smartphones from HP.
Conversely, consider Apple’s acquisition of Siri: a technology that immediately and profoundly complimented and enhanced its iPhone. It fit obviously and very successfully.
Microsoft Does Not Need to Compete with Amazon
Another major problem with Microsoft’s partnership involving the Nook is that there is simply no need for it to compete with Amazon. This is like Best Buy focusing all of its efforts on its ecommerce site while neglecting its one major competitive advantage: its brick-and-mortar stores. This is also like Research in Motion spending a year building its atrociously received tablet, the PlayBook, while neglecting its core competency of Blackberry smartphones.
Microsoft dominates the competition in computer operating systems and software. Computers are dying, right? And yet, in May 2012, there is no Microsoft Office for tablets and smartphones. Millions of iPads and Android tablets are being adopted in corporate environments, and most of those customers would be happy to spend $70 on Microsoft Office for each device. Except, it does not exist.
I can only guess why: because with its many categories, acquisitions and partnerships, Microsoft is physically incapable of putting its full focus behind converting its desktop products to mobile devices.
Microsoft is Going Wide, Not Deep
Which brings me to the third and final big problem with Microsoft’s Nook play. It is keeping with the strategy of going as wide as possible. Microsoft is not, and cannot be, all things to all people. In fact, no company can.
Here’s the truth: The wider you go, the more priorities you focus on, the less chance you have to be successful. But when you go deep, you can dominate. (See Apple, and Amazon.) When you go deep, you can continue perfecting. You become the world’s expert on a certain specialty. Apple is seen as the world’s expert on smartphones and tablets. Amazon is the accepted leader in online shopping and electronic reading. It’s because these two companies relentlessly focus on their strengths, saying no to nearly everything else. No. That’s a word Microsoft should consider trying out before it gets left in the dust permanently.
12:05 1
mercredi 9 mai 2012
HTC EVO 4G LTE Comes to Sprint May 18 for $199
The device sports a 4.7-inch HD 720p Super LCD display, a 1.5 GHz dual core CPU, an 8-megapixel camera on the rear plus a 1.3-megapixel one on the front and Android 4.0.
Other features of note are Beats Audio support, a 2000mAh battery and a kickstand for longer video viewing sessions.
Although one of the device’s selling points is support for fast data transfer via LTE, users will have to wait a while to start enjoying it. Sprint plans to launch its LTE network mid-2012, with Atlanta, Baltimore, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City and San Antonio being the first cities to get it.
The HTC EVO 4G LTE can be pre-ordered from Sprint over at www.sprint.com/evo4glte.
11:06 0
dimanche 6 mai 2012
20 Mouthwatering Instagram Pics [FOOD PORN]
Instagram users often get a bit of flack for oversharing their food photos. Now that the photo-sharing app is available for iOS, Android and possibly soon Facebook, we expect the user base and the photo uploads to surge.
But that’s not to say all photos aren’t worth sharing. Sure, maybe there are a swarm of users who like to share photos of their Subway sandwich, but there are also tons of gorgeous pictures of food and beverages that will make your mouth water.
We’ve collected photos from Instagram users, professional photographers and even chefs to present you with 20 of the tastiest photos. (Note: You can’t actually eat them.)
Do you think your food photos have what it takes? Let us know in the comments.
11:27 0
mardi 1 mai 2012
RIM Demos BlackBerry 10, Offers Look Into Developer Hardware
RIM's Thorsten Heins took the stage at BlackBerry World to show the audience some of what BlackBerry 10 will have to offer. He highlighted a new virtual keyboard, which considering the relative absence of hardware keyboards on rumored BB10 devices, is going to be hugely important to the system's acceptance. The company's design is all about gestures, using finger-swipes to choose predicted words and shift between keyboard layouts. Other highlights of the operating system include a graphical multitasking interface, again looking to gestures to let you swipe aside the current app and peek at what's running underneath.
As for the BB10 developer hardware, some details continue to remain elusive, but the bigger picture is coming together. RIM's confirmed the handset has a 4.2-inch 720p display. Supposedly, there's also a gigabyte of RAM and 16GB of internal flash storage. We're still wondering just what processor RIM chose to employ.
09:33 0
mardi 10 avril 2012
Microsoft and Nokia Begin Massive Marketing Push Behind Lumia 900
On the heels of putting on a free Nicki Minaj concert in Times Square on Friday, the big marketing push behind the Lumia 900 smartphone went into high gear this week in New York City.
To draw attention to the Nokia Lumia 900 — the first U.S. Windows Phone to boast a high-speed LTE network connection — Microsoft set up an event in Madison Square Park on Monday to give people a chance to check out the new device. The Lumia 900 (which costs $100 with a two-year contract) debuted on Easter Sunday and is yesterday was listed as the number one smartphone on Amazon.
Nokia and Windows aim to differentiate the device in the marketplace by highlighting its LTE network connection, which is far faster than the iPhone’s speed capabilities. New Yorkers who participated in a two-minute demo of the new Lumia 900 device or HTC Titan II device, which also runs on the LTE network, were given a ticket to win “time-saver” prizes.
Those randomly awarded special tickets could tap on an enlarged Lumia 900 touchscreen and win prizes that save them time, from a gift certificate for a local dog walker or having a member of the event staff wait in line for them at popular burger joint Shake Shack, located behind the event space.
“Since the LTE network is so fast, the event focuses on how the Lumia 900 saves you time with its fast speeds,” an event coordinator told Mashable. “It’s been a big success so far.”
An event employee with a microphone also told people in the park that the device runs “much faster than the iPhone” and that it’s the best phone on the market. Although the device launched on Sunday, it was reportedly difficult to purchase the Lumia 900 as nearly all 39 AT&T stores located near Times Square were either closed for Easter Sunday, according to the New York Times.
To create buzz for the launch, Nokia hired Nicki Minaj to put on a free live show in the middle of Times Square on Friday. She performed several songs on a Nokia-branded stage, surrounded by billboards that also promoted the new device. In addition to shout outs about Nokia and the Lumia 900, Minaj also filmed a remix of her song hit “Starships” that has already been watched more than 300,000 times on YouTube. Minaj also promoted her new album “Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded.”
In addition, Nokia launched last week a nationwide marketing campaign called smartphonbetatest that lead up to the launch. The strategy implied that other smartphones were only in beta before the launch of the Lumia 900. However, the site appeared to suffer from poor planning — it counted down to zero several times before launch day, only to have more hours added to the clock each time.
To draw attention to the Nokia Lumia 900 — the first U.S. Windows Phone to boast a high-speed LTE network connection — Microsoft set up an event in Madison Square Park on Monday to give people a chance to check out the new device. The Lumia 900 (which costs $100 with a two-year contract) debuted on Easter Sunday and is yesterday was listed as the number one smartphone on Amazon.
Nokia and Windows aim to differentiate the device in the marketplace by highlighting its LTE network connection, which is far faster than the iPhone’s speed capabilities. New Yorkers who participated in a two-minute demo of the new Lumia 900 device or HTC Titan II device, which also runs on the LTE network, were given a ticket to win “time-saver” prizes.
Those randomly awarded special tickets could tap on an enlarged Lumia 900 touchscreen and win prizes that save them time, from a gift certificate for a local dog walker or having a member of the event staff wait in line for them at popular burger joint Shake Shack, located behind the event space.
“Since the LTE network is so fast, the event focuses on how the Lumia 900 saves you time with its fast speeds,” an event coordinator told Mashable. “It’s been a big success so far.”
An event employee with a microphone also told people in the park that the device runs “much faster than the iPhone” and that it’s the best phone on the market. Although the device launched on Sunday, it was reportedly difficult to purchase the Lumia 900 as nearly all 39 AT&T stores located near Times Square were either closed for Easter Sunday, according to the New York Times.
To create buzz for the launch, Nokia hired Nicki Minaj to put on a free live show in the middle of Times Square on Friday. She performed several songs on a Nokia-branded stage, surrounded by billboards that also promoted the new device. In addition to shout outs about Nokia and the Lumia 900, Minaj also filmed a remix of her song hit “Starships” that has already been watched more than 300,000 times on YouTube. Minaj also promoted her new album “Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded.”
In addition, Nokia launched last week a nationwide marketing campaign called smartphonbetatest that lead up to the launch. The strategy implied that other smartphones were only in beta before the launch of the Lumia 900. However, the site appeared to suffer from poor planning — it counted down to zero several times before launch day, only to have more hours added to the clock each time.
Hands on the Lumia 900
Microsoft set up an event in Madison Square Park on Monday to give people a chance to test the new Lumia 900 smartphone.
Lumia 900 Marketing Event in New York City
The phone --
manufactured by Nokia and powered by Windows software -- aims to
differentiate the itself by highlighting its ultra-fast LTE network
connection.
Window's HTC Titan II Smartphone
Testing the HTC Titan II device, which also runs on the LTE network.
15:48 0
lundi 2 avril 2012
iPhone Documentary Takes on Syria: Is This the Future of Journalism? [VIDEO]
The 25 minute documentary, “Syria: Songs of Defiance,” aired on Al Jazeera’s show People & Power earlier this month. Al Jazeera has not released the reporter’s name for safety reasons. (Check out the video at the end of this post.)
The anonymous reporter states the reason he used his iPhone at the beginning of the documentary. “Because taking a camera would be risky, I brought my cell phone with me as I moved around the country,” he says.
Syrian activists have been uploading YouTube videos of protests and sending out phone calls to media outlets for more than a year now, understanding what exactly has been happening in the country from citizen journalism alone has proved difficult.
Though the Syrian government recently adopted a U.N.-backed ceasefire plan, the violence continues. According to Al-Jazeera “there was no sign of any risk-free demonstrations” as of Friday.
That’s why the reporter’s use of his iPhone is a huge feat — though an incredibly dangerous one. Had he been caught, he might have faced brutal retaliation. The Syrian government banned iPhone usage last December.
Here are four reasons why it was essential for the reporter to go undercover and use a mobile device.
1. Language. Many of the videos that activists have uploaded don’t have narration. In this undercover report, the context that the reporter provides — in English — makes it accessible to audiences worldwide. Subtitles are used for footage documented in Arabic, whether they be interviews with civilians or translations of the songs that protestors sing.
2. Audience awareness. At the beginning of the documentary, audiences can see several unidentifiable objects. They are very familiar to Syrian protestors, but most people who will watch this documentary will probably have never seen them before. Right away, the reporter asks the essential question: “What am I looking at?”
It turns out those objects are “thumb bombs.” They can’t hurt anyone, according to the activist showing them to the reporter, but protesters use them as alerts, to test security and warn those who haven’t entered the revolution yet.
3. Perspective. Syrians have been experiencing the protests for more than a year, so explanations of the significance of these demonstrations hardly ever emerge in their footage. However, with the reporter well-aware of his audience — and being an outsider himself — he can offer a Tocqueville-like perspective. Take this example:
I was walking through Homs and sniper fire started, and I was the only one in the crowd that actually flinched. And a father with his kids was standing by the door and they were sort of laughing at me and pointing, saying ‘why don’t you fall on the floor while you are at it?’As New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof recently pointed out in an interview regarding KONY 2012, “One thing we know intellectually is that it helps to have a bridge character, that Americans don’t just want to focus on somebody abroad.”
It’s amazing how Syrians, who never heard gunfire because they lived in a very peaceful country, have gotten used so quickly to living in a state of war, how to respond to it. They’ve very quickly become a mobilized revolutionary society, whereas before they had no experience of doing this.
4. Form. In the same way that the videos Syrians upload offer a raw, visceral look at the situation, the imagery from the reporter’s iPhone — not always of the best quality, prone to shaking — gives a perspective that large, professional cameras don’t always capture.
Given the circumstances the reporter is covering as well, a polished, glossy video simply would not make sense. In fact, it might take away from the understanding the documentary is trying to convey.
However, one thing that distinguishes this iPhone documentary from other mobile-captured footage on Syria is editing. The inclusion of music, cutting from one shot to another and positioning clips of interviews side-by-side before zooming in on one specific shot — these editing details provide a more stylized look at the entire situation, which is not something one finds in most Syrian YouTube coverage.
Because the majority of Al Jazeera’s footage itself is from the iPhone, the rawness of the actual situation in Syria — and what that means — doesn’t seem to be compromised.
Of course, this stylized editing is a resource that media outlets have, and a luxury for most people documenting the situation on the ground. But, it speaks volumes of the capacity that journalists have to make the situation in Syria come alive for the rest of the world — which, arguably, has been a battle in itself for the past year.
What do you think of this iPhone documentary? Will mobile devices become the default eyes and ears for reporters? Let us know in the comments.
WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT
18:33 0
Nokia Lumia 900 Tops Amazon's Best-Selling AT&T Phone Chart
As you can see in the image above (and at the source link below), we not only have one, but two Nokia Lumia 900 phones on the top spots of Amazon's best-selling AT&T devices. Both the black and cyan variants rule the list and this is just three days after the official pre-orders received the green light. Furthermore, Amazon's list of best-selling cell phones with service plans features the two Lumia 900 phones at five and seven. This is great news for both Microsoft and Nokia fans in the U.S.
10:28 0
T-Mobile Apologizes For Mistakenly Sending Notification Bar Ads
After the word got out, T-Mobile made an official statement, via e-mail and from a spokesperson, saying that the advertisement was a mistake and that the carrier is sorry for any inconveniences it might have caused. The wording goes like this: "during a recent software update, a message to promote T-Mobile's free VIP Zone was mistakenly sent to certain customers and appeared on the notification bar for some Android devices. After T-Mobile was made aware of this mistake, the company stopped the notifications. T-Mobile apologizes for the inconvenience this may have caused customers".
With most of Google's revenue coming from ads, do you see a possible future where ads would be delivered, in a similar way, to your mobile device (and not only in free, ad-supported applications)?
08:49 0
Sprint Galaxy Nexus Launch Rumors Look To New, Later Date
As far as visually convincing leaks go, this find leaves a lot to be desired. Just a basic word processor document, it does little to try and convince us it's an official internal publication. That said, if we're to have a little faith here, the leak suggests that the LG Viper will, in fact, launch on April 15 as we'd heard, but the Galaxy Nexus won't hit stores for another week after at, finally landing on April 22.
Sprint and HTC have an event planned for Wednesday, and while we don't expect to hear anything about the Nexus directly, Sprint may offer a little insight while discussing its general LTE launch plans.
08:30 0
mardi 13 mars 2012
Forget Photos and Video. SpinCam App Captures 360-Degree ‘Spins’
Unlike traditional photos, Spins capture a 360-degree image of a moment that can be experienced interactively. Spins are created by holding your phone up and “spinning” around in a circle to create a panoramic-style photo, or spinning around a person or thing to create an image much like this one from outside our San Francisco office.
While you might use the app in place of taking a panoramic photo or shooting a short video, the folks at SpinCam are quick to point out that the app creates its own medium.
“Spins really fall into a new category of interactive media that is ideal for concisely sharing an experience,” SpinCam CEO Josh Aller told Mashable. “Though it takes just seconds to capture, viewers typically explore the spin for over 30 seconds. That inversion of capture time to viewing time is unique to this form of visual media. We see people using SpinCam to capture panoramas simply because it’s faster and easier than with panoramic capture apps like Photosynth. We don’t see Spins as a replacement for panoramic images but it’s so much easier to capture a Spin that many folks are using SpinCam for that purpose.”
“We also think it’s great that it’s mostly people that are being Spun, not places or things,” Aller added. “It’s a great way to share personality and group photos…we are seeing users do things with it that we could never have imagined. For example, a new meme has emerged that we are calling the “Matrix” spin in which time appears to stop and that meme has been copied many times.”
Spins created using SpinCam are saved within the app on your phone for sharing with others and can also be uploaded to Facebook. The app already has 200,000 downloads, and from that group of early adopters more than 6,000 are already sharing images. While shares are currently Facebook-specific, SpinCam plans to integrate email, Twitter, and SMS sharing in the near future. Spins you share are currently uploaded to a webpage, so while you’ll have to upload a spin to Facebook to get that URL, you can copy/paste that URL and send it to a friend elsewhere.
Long-term, SpinCam sees itself evolving into its own popular social network much like Instagram. Like Instagram, the app currently has Featured and Liked sections where you can browse through popular Spins shared by other users. As the community grows, those sections will ultimately be populated with more and more interesting spins. Plans are also in the works for an Android version.
“We see this as only the beginning of a new media form,” Aller said. “We see our purpose as serving our users in their creative pursuits. They are leading and we are along for the ride. We don’t know where this will go but we will evolve the product rapidly to meet their changing needs.”
17:23 0
T-Mobile CTO Says 84Mbps HSPA+ Still a Possibility
Chief Technology Officer Neville Ray recently participated in a question-and-answer session which T-Mobile published on its blog today. One question specifically regarded 84Mbps upgrades, and the chances of T-Mobile going ahead with them. Rather than the blanket dismissal we last heard, here Ray says that LTE is the clear focus, but that T-Mobile hasn't closed the books on HSPA+ yet, and will keep thinking about introducing 84Mbps service. Ray himself says he "would like to see both technologies advance".
Honestly, T-Mobile's going to have a lot on its plate as it attempts to get ready for LTE service starting in 2013. It might be nice to get a few phones supporting 84Mbps before then, and see service introduced in a few major markets, but considering how late to the LTE game T-Mobile already is, maybe it would be better off just concentrating on LTE for now.
17:08 0
lundi 5 mars 2012
LG Optimus Vu Goes Up For Sale As Pricing Info Revealed
Sales of the Optimus Vu begin today in Korea. If you go to check out the Android at a retailer, make sure you bring a high-limit credit card, because off-contract sales of the Vu work out to the equivalent of nearly $900.
There are plenty of good reasons why smartphones are so expensive, and we could probably live with a price that was just a hundred dollars or so cheaper, but it really starts to get difficult rationalizing the sticker price as we approach the $1000 mark.
From its specs, it sounds like the Vu could be a very solid phone, and though it's not for everyone, we're sure that the unusual size and shape will win it a few big fans. Unless LG makes the handset more affordable as it spreads to additional markets around the globe, though, it could be difficult to convince consumers to give the Vu a chance.
15:22 0
Google Brings Location Search History to Mobile Browsers
If you've got Google's Web History enabled, letting it keep track of your queries, it's now going to pay special attention to the details on any physical places you end up searching for. Later on, when you pull up Google on your phone's browser, you'll be able to review those locations through a new "Recent" icon. Unlike Chrome to Phone, there's no special software to install on either side of this equation; you just need to be logged-in to Google on your phone with the same credentials you use on your PC.
For now, the new feature works on Google's Android browser and with Mobile Safari on iOS.
15:14 0
mercredi 22 février 2012
iOS 5.0.1 Bug Allows Very Persistent Villain To Access Contacts
In theory, the password protected iPhone must have a missed call. Swiping the missed call notification in an area without network coverage, or by removing the SIM card from the phone, could expose, after several attempts, the entire Contact list together with Favorites on the device. Luckily this is highly unlikely to happen because you have to leave the hacker alone with your phone and a SIM card eject tool for quite a long time. Check out the video below and see how many attempts it takes to replicate the bug.
08:41 0
Google Heads-Up Display Glasses Are Coming by the End of 2012 [REPORT]
Google plans to launch glasses with a heads-up display by the end of 2012, the New York Times reports citing sources familiar with the matter.
The glasses, who were previously rumored to have a front-facing camera with flash and a voice input interface, will be Android based, sources say.
They will include a display, mere inches from the wearer’s eye, streaming real-time info about your surroundings, similar to the various augmented reality applications we’ve seen on smartphones.
The data will be fetched through a 3G/4G data connection, and the glasses will retrieve information about their surroundings through GPS and several sensors.
The glasses will cost “around the price of current smartphones,” sources say. While definitely not very precise – current smartphones cost anywhere from $150 to $600 – this price range shows that Google intends the glasses as a product for the mass market.
Will these glasses be something you need as opposed to want? We doubt it – we haven’t seen a must-have augmented reality application yet, although we have seen some very cool ones in the past.
AR heads-up display glasses, however, are the stuff sci-fi dreams are made of, and it’s a product we’d definitely like to see in the real world – even if they make us look like total geeks.
Image courtesy of Flickr, Jason McDermott.
[via New York Times]
08:21 0
lundi 20 février 2012
Nokia Siemens Network, Qualcomm Prepare MultiFlow HSPA+ To Keep Data Signals Strong
That said, the Nokia Siemens Network and Qualcomm are putting together a new network technology called HSPA+ MultiFlow. It’ll basically allow for one person to use the connection from two different base stations to heighten network efficiency.
So, in other words, if you were near the very edge of a network base station’s cell coverage, your phone would automatically connect to the next closest cell along with the one it’s on to make sure that what would be a rather choppy connection (connected to just one of the stations) is nice and smooth (thanks to a connection to both stations).
The duo is set to show off the technology at Mobile World Congress in about a week.
According to the official release, MultiFlow HSPA+ can up to double data speeds for users at the edge of cell coverage. What’s even better, it doesn’t take billions of dollars in installation to set up. Carriers can use a simple software upgrade to their existing HSPA+ network to enable MultiFlow.
11:00 0
vendredi 10 février 2012
Verizon’s Latest LTE Smartphone Leaked: Is This The HTC Incredible 3?
As PhoneArena notes, this mysterious handset sports the same sort of curvaceous back that gave devices like Verizon’s HTC Incredible and Rezound a bit of extra visual flair. That, coupled with the appearance of Verizon’s own 4G LTE logo and what looks like the Verizon Wave wallpaper means that we could be looking at an early version of a Big Red-bound Incredible 3.
With the announcement of their renewed focus on “hero” devices still fresh in my mind, I can’t help but think that this handset doesn’t seem like much of a standout. Ice Cream Sandwich and the Sense 4.0 UI notwithstanding, the device’s 1.2 GHz processor, 1GB of RAM, and 8-megapixel camera aren’t much of a bump over previous Incredible models. Audiophiles — or at least, audiophiles who don’t mind listening to compressed mp3s on their smartphone — may also be tickled by the inclusion of Beats Audio support, and it’s a safe bet that the Beats headphones should ship with it.
Strangely,HTC opted to go for four hardware buttons rather than the three on-screen keys that are baked into Ice Cream Sandwich. A leaked demo video of the forthcoming HTC Ville clearly shows that the Taiwanese company has adopted the three key layout, though The Verge points out the possibility of this device launching with Gingerbread first before receiving the 4.0 update. Considering that HTC plans to push ICS to certain devices as early as this March though, the thought of HTC launching a handset without the latest software is more than a little puzzling.
18:30 0
samedi 4 février 2012
Will Windows Phone 8 Launch Microsoft Back In the Game?
There were several voices (not only) on the Internet that criticized Microsoft and its Windows Phone 7 platform because of several reasons including, but not limited to, the low number of apps in the Marketplace, the lack of copy and paste operations, missing video calling options, but mainly because we never got the chance to see official numbers representing sales of Windows Phones. The marketplace is growing fast (and now, at the time of this editorial, it already has close to 70,000 titles), the NoDo update brought copy and paste functionality, Mango and some wave-two devices added video calling and Nokia’s recent financial report talks about over one million devices sold from the end of October until the end of January (but still no global numbers).
Windows Phone 7 is still well below a two-digit OS market share, increasing ever so slowly but steadily (and even decreasing recently); however, Apple’s iOS at 43% and Google’s Android at 47% seem very far away. So, will a platform refresh like Windows 8 put Microsoft back in the game (for real this time)?
After seeing details of the upcoming OS refresh codenamed Apollo we can all agree that it will be as big of an update as Windows Phone 7 was when it replaced Windows phone 6.5. Not only will it be a new mobile platform but it will very well blend in with Microsoft’s Windows 8 operating system for PCs, slates and convertibles.
The lack of support for removable storage was probably one of the most criticized Microsoft moves with regards to Windows Phone 7. Users wanted to be able to manually sync all sorts of documents while Microsoft considered it was best to sync music, videos and pictures via the Zune software. Additionally, a huge part of the user base (or future possible users that refrained from going Windows Phone 7) was complaining about the limited internal storage space on devices. Eight gigabytes were not enough and 16GB were still too little to accommodate huge multimedia libraries for some users.
Windows Phone 8 will bring back removable storage. What does this mean? You will most probably be able to expand your storage with a microSD card to a yet undisclosed total storage supported by the platform. Not only that but you will probably be able to use your phone as mass storage and sync all sorts of documents.
While Windows Phone 7 users were quite happy with the way the OS performed on single-core CPUs clocking anywhere between 1GHz and 1.5GHz – because of the way the platform was built to be fluid – their friends using Apple’s iPhone and Android were rocking dual-cores (and soon quad-cores). Now that Microsoft is preparing dual-core support for Windows 8, people using other platforms are already criticizing Windows Phone users; we need to get one thing straight: Windows Phone 8 will be a completely new OS and experience. It’s not Windows Phone 7 that needs dual-core; it’s Windows Phone 8 that will support dual-core. And, looking at the current Windows platform (and how well it is optimized) chances are Windows Phone 8 will be buttery-smooth with its new chip support for which it will be specially built.
Four screen resolutions are rumored. We currently have WVGA but Windows Phone 7 Tango was rumored to lower the bar to HVGA (a resolution that was mentioned in the very early stages of Windows Phone 7). What could be the other two screen resolutions? Well, qHD and 720p seem valid candidates. Let’s take a look at those: HVGA (320×480) with aspect ratio of 1.5; WVGA (480×800) with aspect ratio of 1.6; qHD (540×960) with aspect ratio of 1.7; 720p/HD (720×1280) with aspect ratio of 1.7.
We can already see the diversity in hardware but on the other hand we can already hear the critics call out fragmentation. While we could easily brush that off with Eric Schmidt’s argument about “device differentiation” we’ll just say that anyone who used Windows Phone and its Metro user interface knows how scalable it could be.
We’ve seen that on the hardware side, Microsoft seems to listen to the community feedback: adding the option for external memory, higher screen resolutions (and probably lower ones for budget phones) and just as much horsepower as it is needed to deliver a fluid user experience (and maximize battery life). Hardware-wise, Windows Phone 8 will be right there and fans will definitely continue to defend it against the competition which will by then probably need and support quad-core processors.
On the software side Microsoft seems to plan on seriously pushing the concept of “Windows reimagined”. In a somewhat similar way to Google and its Ice Cream Sandwich OS (which is a unifying one for smartphones and tablets) Windows Phone 8 will do much more. It will be part of the Windows 8 family for PCs, slates and convertibles. It will not only lend its looks to Windows 8 but it will use many components from the PC OS; developers will be able to “reuse — by far — most of their code” and port applications from the desktop to the phone, as Joe Belfiore said. The Marketplace will see an impressive growth giving users plenty of choices. And with native code, apps will be easily portable among platforms like iOS, Android and Windows Phone.
Skype, now part of Microsoft, will have deep integration with the OS; you’ll have the same experience when answering a Skype call like the one you currently have when picking up a normal phone call. In addition, native BitLocker encryption as well as business apps (with the ability for corporations to deploy and manage) will definitely push Windows Phone 8 in the business and corporate segment.
It looks like great things are coming to Windows Phone 8 software-wise too. If Microsoft can couple all of these with an improved cloud and online experience they might have a winner. The company appears to have targeted the average user with its Windows Phone 7 platform; this saw many of its old Windows Mobile users (mainly the power users, hackers, tweakers, etc.) go Android. Sharing features like the kernel, networking stacks, security, and multimedia support with Windows 8, Microsoft can crack the ice once again for its new platform; whether it will become what Windows Mobile and Windows phone was back in the day is anyone’s guess.
Let’s not forget about Android Ice Cream Sandwich (and the probably upcoming letter “J”-named refresh); we should not forget about Apple’s iOS and the upcoming iterations. The competition never sleeps. However, those who are tired of seeing a grid of icons, those who want better battery life, seamless PC-tablet-phone integration, a fluid experience, shared apps, and so on will probably consider Windows Phone 8. Microsoft won’t turn die-hard iOS and Android fans but they can gain back some of the users lost in favor of the competition once Windows Phone 7 hit the market (and that’s a solid starting point).
This article originally published at Pocketnow here.
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