| Video: Windows Phone 7.8 Demoed on lumia 900 + Changelog Posted: 30 Jan 2013 01:35 PM PST 
As promised here’s a quick video walk-through of the changes in WP 7.8; plus what I could gather as a changelog:
- New Boot screen to match Windows Phone 8 (seen above)
- New tiles sizes
- Tiles now take up full width of the screen (like WP8)
- “Applications Arrow” moved to the bottom of the start screen
- New accent colors
- New accent color picker
- New Animations when switching between recent apps, and when choosing accent color (Visible at 3:02 in the video)
- Lock screen settings changed; now allows setting Bing Daily wallpaper as lock image (Updates automatically)
- Under the hood speed improvements (Whatsapp which used to take 10 seconds to fully loads now loads a lot quicker)
- New Office icon to match WP8 and Office ’13
- Changed display of number of notifications on pinned live tiles (used to be small black circle, now it uses a transparent square)
 That’s about all I could spot, if you folks see anything else that’s been added let us know in the comments down below. |
| First Look at Windows Phone 7.8 on Lumia 900 Posted: 30 Jan 2013 12:08 PM PST 
As we mentioned Windows Phone 7.8 has begun rolling out to all users across the globe; while updating it turns out there was another update that I somehow missed which was a “Nokia software update” and did something to App purchases and email sync times.  
  After downloading the update it took about 15 minutes to install each of them; after which the phone restarted and I was greeted with the new Windows Phone 8 boot screen; which was actually quite disturbing seeing the mismatched logo between the screen and the capacitive button.
New tiles Wohoo!! 
Also new is the ability to set the Bing Search wallpaper as background for the day; which although doesn’t allow for as much customization as WP8, is a pretty neat addition.  The OS Version barely jumped going from 7.10.87XX to 7.10.88XX; while the Software now reads as “Windows Phone 7.8″
 (I’m uploading a video of the changes- it should be up shortly) |
| Windows Phone 7.8 is here! Update Now (How to Video) Posted: 30 Jan 2013 10:11 AM PST 
Nokia have posted a video on their official youtube channel declaring that WP 7.8 is finally here
Windows Phone 7.8 is here! Update your Lumia via Zune and enjoy the great features like new start screen. Find more information here: http://nokia.ly/14vUUxJ
I’m still waiting on Zune to detect the update for my stormtrooper 900; but get updating guys 
Zune just informed me of an update,; so it’s through on my Unlocked 900- remember you need to connect to a PC to update. Edit: From Nokia Conversations blog: Availability The Windows Phone 7.8 update is now rolling out for Nokia Lumia smartphones through February. Delivery of the update is operator dependent, meaning you will receive a notification in the coming weeks if you have an unlocked phone or if your operator has approved the update. If you don't receive the update notification within the next three weeks, please contact your operator for more information. In the meantime, you can ensure that you don't miss out on the update, by checking that notifications are enabled on your phone. Go to Settings > Phone Update > "Notify me when new updates are found". |
| Video: BlackBerry Z10 vs. Lumia 920 Posted: 30 Jan 2013 10:05 AM PST 
Here’s a hands on video pitting the newly launched Blackberry Z10 against the Lumia 920. Interestingly although the Z10 has a smaller screen size (4.3″ vs. 4.5″) they appear almost the same size, even-though the Z10 is completely buttonless; I guess that’s the price you pay for symmetry in a phone.
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| Nokia Poking Fun at BlackBerry; Claims the Title of “Worlds Best Business Smartphone” For Itself Posted: 30 Jan 2013 10:02 AM PST  With the BB launch over (read my thoughts on it over here) we can all gather round and watch what will become of Blackberry; will it float or sink? But @Nokia took this chance to remind us all that Lumias are the “world’s best Business Smartphones”.
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| Caption Contest: Win a Nokia Lumia 820 #LumiaCaption Posted: 30 Jan 2013 09:50 AM PST  @Nokia on twitter are running a fun contest; where the best caption for the image above wins a Lumia 820. All you have to do is tweet you caption with the hashtag #LumiaCaption, and hope you’re creative enough to win.
Good luck guys |
| BB10 Officially Launched- This is What Meego Should’ve Been; What Nokia can learn From BB Posted: 30 Jan 2013 08:53 AM PST 
*The following is a mix of a rant + my personal thoughts on the BB10 launch and what Nokia can learn from it. Just now BlackBerry are finishing up their most important launch ever; that of BB10- Without going into too much detail many are comparing BB’s current position to Nokia’s; except rather than jumping ship they’ve tried to weather the storm and hold out with their own homegrown OS. Of course no-one knows how successful this will be, and just because it might work for BB doesn’t mean it would have worked for Nokia; but the point I’m trying to make is that BB pulled it together with the launch of BB10. An OS that takes a lot of hints from Nokia’s own Meego; where the flagship device the “Z10″ follows the N9 in being one of the elite few devices that is absolutely button-less. Relying totally on gestures BB10 seems like Meego re-incarnated; except it’s much more than that, what differentiates the two is the fact that BB10 is “complete” (or so it seems from afar). The launch of BB10 so far or perhaps the “delivery” has been flawless. Granted the CEO “Heins” looked a bit like a lanky goofy on stage besides their hardware engineer “Vivek Bhardwaj” who absolutely brilliant; he was well composed, knew his stuff and had just enough “funny” in him to keep you interested. 
Looking past that at the actual “preparedness” for the launch; although BB10 was delayed countless times it certainly appears to have been worth it- rather than releasing a half baked software/device to satisfy customers RIM buckled down, but delay after delay seems to have payed off. Today alongside the launch they announced 70,000 apps in the new Blackberry marketplace; regardless of the quality that’s a high number; but even better they had some big names in the app business Available already. For example Skype, Angry Birds Starwars, Jetpack Joyride (which was promised for WP8 months ago and still hasn’t come), Whatsapp and more are ALREADY IN THE STORE! Something even Microsoft who owns Skype couldn’t get right for their own launch! 
Not only did they have a great delivery of the products, (two phones only; the Z10 & Q10) but they were able to announce the new features they had in store, such as screen-sharing over video chat, efficiently and without repeating the feature a million times. And the icing on the cake was the fact that they provided a pricing, availability and next day release! Yes! you can literally walk into a store tomorrow and buy a Z10. Looking at another aspect of BB10; the “Blackberry Hub” which is exactly like the People Hub in Windows Phone, except it’s so much prettier; BB Hub shows you all recent events from a specific contact (Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare, Email Text etc.) but it does it without losing the “look” of each network. That way it keeps a distinction between the different forms of contact and it just looks a lot more polished than the people hub. At the risk of going on for another 3 hours I’m going to end by saying that even though the BB10 launch was severely delayed, Nokia could do well to take a few pointers from it; especially when it comes to organizing the followups of the event; oh did I mention that BB had 5 events going on across the globe simultaneously; where they were able to video call another event live on stage? Or the fact that the video cast live stream never cut out a single time while playing (for anyone)… It’s the little things that count. Oh and that Z10 in white… is ridiculously gorgeous: 
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| Rumor: WP7.8 To be Pushed Out To All Devices And Carriers at 6:00 PM Today Posted: 30 Jan 2013 06:02 AM PST 
According to WPDang Microsoft are planning on pushing out the Windows Phone 7.8 update to all firs gen devices and carriers today starting 18:00 GMT. All previous reports had indicated to a January 31st rollout, so this is a day early. The rumored rollout also happens to coincide with the BB10 launch. #Interesting Via/Source |
| Switch Comics: Low Light Imaging With PureView #SwtichComics Posted: 30 Jan 2013 05:22 AM PST 
Nokia UK have published another #SwitchComic this time showing the benefits of the superior low light imaging on Lumias. I don’t know about you guys but this one actually made me laugh; things are not what they seem. Get the full picture with low-light photography. Source |
| Amazon Kindle app for WP(8) gets updated, gets new orange tile. Posted: 30 Jan 2013 04:52 AM PST 
The Amazon Kindle app on my Nokia Lumia 920 got an update this morning that changed from the recognizable Kindle logo to a simpler orange tile. I am not sure what is new, but the update version is 30th Jan 2013. Also, the app stopped opening requiring a reinstall.
  
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