After a happy online jumble of "it's coming, it should be here today, it's here for me, is it in the Marketplace?" from various sites, tweets and Facebook status updates, you can finally pick up the Xbox Companion App for your Windows Phone... and iOS devices. Using your Windows Phone as an alternative controller (think of it like a TV remote rather than gaming controller), the app will allow you to search Bing, browse content from the Marketplace, and control media playback on the Xbox.
Anecdotally, the Proporta chargers have been hugely popular amongst my Phones Show viewership and 'All About' readers generally - and there's a new monster version now available, clocking in at a stunning 7000mAh. The Turbocharger 7000 has two USB output ports as usual, along with a facelifted exterior, weighs only 175g, and comes with charging heads for all major phone and gadget ports and a carrying case. Watch this space for a full review.
Everyone's favourite flight simulator for Windows Phone, Infinite Flight, just got itself a big update, v2.1 (changelog below), adding in two major new planes as well as a number of enhancements and fixes. You can grab the update yourself by going into 'Marketplace' on your Windows Phone and looking for 'Updates' at the bottom of the home screen.
We all knew that Windows Phone Mango included 'Internet sharing', i.e. Wi-fi tethering, but the functionality hasn't so far been available to handsets which 'updated' to Mango (rather than shipping with it) - and Internet sharing is also dependent on the chipset in your phone. However, there's an update rolling out around the world from HTC for the editorial HD7 and 7 Mozart, I applied it yesterday, screenshot proof below (from the HD7). It seems that tethering is a 'go'.
After celebrating its first anniversary by passing the 35,000 app mark in mid October, the Windows Phone Marketplace has now passed the 40,000 app and games submission mark. Content is being added at the rate of 165 items per day. In the last 30 days, 85% of submissions were apps and 15% were games; 68% were free, 23% were paid and 9% were paid with free trial.
From 8am tomorrow morning (November 16th) the Nokia Lumia 800 goes on sale in the UK and five other European markets (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Netherlands). In the UK, it is available on contract from £26 a month, PAYG for £400 and SIM-free for £469. For the launch of its first Windows Phone device, Nokia has seeded more demo units and trained more retail staff than any other launch in its history. Tomorrow is a big day for the Finnish company.
Three times a year, Ewan Spence heads out for a major tech event. And we do like to kit him out with something fairly cutting edge, to put the smartphone through its paces in a way that might not be possible staying at home. All tinged with Ewan's own unique take on life and expectations. In this, the final (bumper length!) part 4 of a video diary from BlogWorld Expo in Los Angeles, he reports on day four with the Nokia Lumia 800, running Windows Phone Mango, in which he rounds up whether it met his expectations, looking at both hardware and software/apps.
Three times a year, Ewan Spence heads out for a major tech event. And we do like to kit him out with something fairly cutting edge, to put the smartphone through its paces in a way that might not be possible staying at home. All tinged with Ewan's own unique take on life and expectations. In this, part 3 of a video diary from BlogWorld Expo in Los Angeles, he reports on day three with the Nokia Lumia 800, running Windows Phone Mango, in which he gets first impressions from noted bloggers live, on camera.
Three times a year, Ewan Spence heads out for a major tech event. And we do like to kit him out with something fairly cutting edge, to put the smartphone through its paces in a way that might not be possible staying at home. All tinged with Ewan's own unique take on life and expectations. In this, part 2 of a short video diary from BlogWorld Expo in Los Angeles, he reports on day two with the Nokia Lumia 800, running Windows Phone Mango, in which he gets reactions from attendees, tries out the social networking and answers a question about connectivity in the USA.
Revealed in one of the launch videos for the Nokia Lumia 800 were screens of the generic Nokia Maps for Windows Phone, the software that will be made available to all Windows Phone licensees as part of the agreement between Nokia and Microsoft. We've shown the relevant images below, along with the full video - suffice it to say that Nokia Maps is effectively Bing Maps on steroids, but keeping away from the real time sat-nav features of Nokia Drive.
