Tag - Windows Phone 7 - The Digital TV Blog ...

mercredi 28 septembre 2011

Windows Phone 7 Mango update begins rolling out

Par Bruno le mercredi 28 septembre 2011, 08:50

It’s official – Microsoft has now begun the roll out of its update to the Windows Phone OS, known as Mango, or Windows Phone 7.5.

The roll out officially kicked off early yesterday evening our time, but WP7 phone owners shouldn’t get too excited just yet, as it’s going to be a staggered release over an extended period of time.

Only a small amount of folks will get it this week (around 10%), with more being upgraded next week, and almost everyone eventually receiving Mango inside the next four weeks. Almost everyone being 98% of WP7 handsets.

Microsoft notes that this paced delivery is for several reasons, the major one being that the company is rolling out Mango to all phone models, networks and countries across the globe in this period.

Which is obviously something of a task, and in contrast to Android’s typical roll outs, with some operators not keeping up with the latest version of the OS for months and months after its release.

The theory is that the measured pace ensures the situation can be closely monitored and if anything goes awry with the software, it can be pin-pointed and dealt with swiftly, which all seems fair enough.

Hopefully you’ll be one of the lucky ones who has the OS this week or next, but even so, there won’t be too long to wait. Everyone should have it before the close of October – assuming some huge problem isn’t encountered in the initial stages, fingers crossed.

The Mango update brings a raft of new features, some 500 of them, in fact. We’re talking custom ringtones, deeper social network integration, a central inbox to link up multiple email accounts, grouping for contacts, voice commands and so forth.

The world is keenly watching what Nokia will produce in the way of Windows Phone 7.5 handsets next month as hardware to go with the refined OS. HTC and Samsung also have Mango phones on the boil.

Could they help reverse Microsoft’s mobile fortunes? Perhaps, but there’s a mountain to climb yet. Certainly if Mango and Nokia can’t at least perk up Microsoft’s mobile market share, then WP7 is looking pretty sunk…

Early reactions from users, however, seem favourable enough, which is promising.

mardi 27 septembre 2011

Samsung Focus S and Focus Flash launch with WP7 Mango

Par Bruno le mardi 27 septembre 2011, 12:04

These two devices both will run the new Windows Phone 7.5 which is better known as Mango.

The windows mobile operating system has been overshadowed by Android and Apple’s iSO but Microsoft are about to try and change this, with Mango and top notch handsets to go with it.

At the higher end of the spectrum is the Samsung focus S and the Focus Flash is a lower grade model.

Firstly the Focus S has a huge 4.3-inch screen, which is the same size as on the Samsung Galaxy S II. The screen makes navigating and general use superb.

On top of that it’s a Super AMOLED touchscreen, giving images that will look crisp, sharp and bright. This type of screen is said to be on the Google Nexus Prime as well.

It also features an 8-megapixel rear and 1.3 megapixel front-facing camera, and with all this it is only 8.55mm thick. Moreover in the device there is a very quick 1.4 GHz processor, so multitasking shouldn’t be a problem.

Even though the Focus Flash is a lower end model it still has a good specification. It has the same 1.4 GHz processor as the Focus S, however the camera is downgraded to 5 megapixels. Nevertheless there is a 3.7-inch Super AMOLED screen to keep you happy.

Mango is said to have 500 new features and with the two high quality Samsung devices this should be an all round crowd pleaser.

vendredi 10 juin 2011

IDC predicts 1 billion smartphone shipments by 2015

Par Bruno le vendredi 10 juin 2011, 13:03

IDC is predicting some big growth figures for smartphones over this year and towards 2015.

According to the company’s latest market forecast, smartphone shipments will climb to 472 million units in 2011, which will be 55% up on the 305 million shipped last year.

Extrapolating their data further to 2015, the IDC analysts expect 2011′s figure to double up, reaching 982 million by the close of 2015.

This year the smartphone market will expand at four times the rate of the overall mobile market, as smartphones become gradually more affordable and cheaper data plans are brought out by network operators.

Kevin Restivo, Senior Research Analyst, commented: “The smartphone floodgates are open wide. Mobile phone users around the world are turning in their ‘talk-and-text’ devices for smartphones as these devices allow users to perform daily tasks like shopping and banking from anywhere.”

“The growth trend is particularly pronounced in emerging markets where adoption is still in its early days. As a result, the growth in regions such as Asia/Pacific and Latin America, will be dramatic over the coming years.”

Turning to operating systems, IDC doesn’t really need a functioning crystal ball to predict the further decline of Symbian, the OS which Nokia has eschewed in favour of Windows Phone 7 for the future.

And the prediction that Android will grow and stay clearly at the top isn’t a hard one to make either, with IDC reckoning that Google’s platform will account for 40% of the smartphone market in the second half of 2011.

More interesting was IDC’s view on Windows Phone 7, BlackBerry and iOS. The analyst firm is cautious about Apple’s OS, stating that “after an initial explosive growth period, iOS is expected to grow at a more modest pace throughout the latter half of the forecast as the smartphone market matures and diversifies”.

It’s pretty much the same prediction for BlackBerry – its market share will remain roughly the same, with a slight decline through to 2015, even though shipment volumes will continue to increase.

And while Windows Phone 7 is most definitely floundering now, IDC thinks that as Nokia support comes into play along with the Mango update for the operating system at the end of the year, Microsoft can expect a small market share to get much larger.

In fact, by 2015 IDC predicts that Windows Phone 7 will be the second place OS behind Android and will have a market share in excess of 20%.

lundi 30 mai 2011

Nokia will support Symbian until 2016

Par Bruno le lundi 30 mai 2011, 13:38

CEO Stephen Elop has revealed the time period for which Nokia will support the Symbian operating system in an interview with the Chinese edition of Nokia Conversations.

While Symbian devices are expected to run dry soon, with the last phones carrying the OS said to be coming out in 2012 – and Nokia getting on board with Microsoft in the Windows Phone 7 deal – support for the OS will be continued until 2016.

When asked to divulge what Nokia‘s plans are with Symbian, Elop replied: “We’re in a period where the investment in Symbian absolutely continues. Even as we go through a transition towards our primary smartphone platform, Windows Phone, you’ll see that continued investment.”

“I know there have been questions about how long does that continue, and we’ve now been very clear about that, software updates to Symbian devices are expected at least until 2016.”

“So there’s a long history still to be paved for Symbian in the future,” he concluded.

In other words, panic-ye-not if you have a Symbian phone, there’s still plenty of mileage for the device in support terms. Honest.

Quite where all this leaves MeeGo, which was Nokia’s great post-Symbian smartphone OS hope before the Microsoft deal came along, is still unclear. On tablets, most likely.

There are an estimated 200 million phones running Symbian, and Nokia believes it will sell another 150 million before Symbian’s day is finally done. A bit of a rich sounding figure indeed…

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