Microsoft acquires Nokia Devices & Services

Posted on by Anton D. Nagy

Some of you out there might not find this surprising at all (especially those who might think that this was the initial plan to start with). Microsoft acquires Nokia Devices & Services business, “to deliver more choices, faster innovation, and even more exciting devices and services to our customers.” The deal is slated to be sealed in the first quarter of next year, and will cost Microsoft 3.79 billion Euros. Additionally, 1.65 billion Euros will be paid for Nokia’s enormous patent portfolio, for a total of 5.44-billion Euros (around $7.17 billion). There will also ...

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Mobile Lumia 1020 billboard gives Nokia last word on Samsung GS4 Zoom ad

Posted on by Stephen Schenck

When it comes to promoting your smartphone, you can spend all day extolling its virtues, educating the public as to its new features, and making the handset seem as attractive as possible. But for all you can say about how great your own phone is on its own merits, sometimes the most powerful messages come when you start challenging the competition. We’ve seen plenty of attack ads over the years, and while there have been some really great videos produced, some of our favorites have been when billboard ads start going up ...

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Facebook Beta updated with performance improvements, Windows Phone 7 support

Posted on by Anton D. Nagy

If you have a Windows Phone 7 and you’ve always wanted the Facebook app that Windows Phone 8 users are now using, you can do it, as of today, thanks to Microsoft. The company has updated its Facebook Beta application to add support for Windows Phone 7. Grab it at the source below. If you’re on Windows Phone 8 and are already using the Beta, make sure to update your client as the new version brings “performance improvements and bug fixes”. It is visibly faster than the previous version, though not as fast as we’d like it to be. Source:

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Nokia announces Here Auto and smartphone companion app

Posted on by Stephen Schenck

Nokia’s been teasing some kind of auto-related news, and this morning the company finally got around to spilling the beans, revealing its Here Auto in-car navigation system, alongside a companion app for both Windows Phone (of course) and Android. Considering all the interest Nokia has in mapping, and its other efforts with the Here brand, seeing this development – though a step outside the company’s comfort zone – isn’t entirely surprising. The in-car Here Auto bit will be integrated with cars ...

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Samsung ATIV S Neo review: the best of limited options

Posted on by Michael Fisher

Sometimes, as a tech reviewer, you encounter a smartphone so good that you don’t want to send it back to the manufacturer at the end of the review period. Other times, you can’t wait to drop it in the mail and scurry back to the safety of your daily driver. For this reviewer, Samsung’s ATIV S Neo is, unfortunately, an example of the latter. Not because it does much wrong, necessarily, but because it’s almost totally unremarkable – and it fails to live up to a promise Sprint made its users back in January

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Businesses moving from BlackBerry to Windows Phone?

Posted on by Stephen Schenck

Enterprise clients have long been BlackBerry’s strength. The company offers some fantastic tools for administrating devices, earning favor with IT professionals. However, all the other major smartphone players have been eying the enterprise market as well, and competition is now fiercer than ever. With the release of BlackBerry 10, will we see companies upgrade from their employees’ BBOS 7 devices to new BlackBerrys? One report suggests that it’s Windows Phone that may actually be stealing ...

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Nokia Lumia 1520 pictured, Bandit reportedly spotted in real life

Posted on by Anton D. Nagy

The phablet Nokia is rumored to work on, previously referred to as the Bandit, has received a new model name as of yesterday: Nokia Lumia 1520. Today, we’re allegedly looking at said phablet in a picture reportedly depicting the phone in real life. While we’re not quite sure of the authenticity of this image, it does indeed show a large-screened Windows Phone with the Live Tiles ending two-thirds down (nothing a Windows Phone update couldn’t fix though). Interestingly, there’s an ...

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T-Mobile Nokia Lumia 521 Review: Smartphone deal of the year

Posted on by Adam Z. Lein

When you see a smartphone available on the Home Shopping Network for $99, you might think that it would be something horrible that would fall apart after a month or it would be so slow and crashy that it would be unusable… unless it’s a Nokia Windows Phone. We went ahead and ordered the budget friendly Nokia Lumia 521 to see how it works.  It’s also available from T-Mobile, Walmart and other retailers, but the Home Shopping Network bundles a few extra accessories for a really great price.  Not ony is this Nokia Lumia 521 a really great deal, but there are a few things that ...

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Microsoft extends cheap dev registration; will it jump-start WP8 development?

Posted on by Stephen Schenck

Microsoft’s been making some admirable efforts this summer to help encourage interest in Windows Phone development. In early August, we saw the launch of the Windows Phone App Studio, letting even programming novices take a shot at building their own WP8 apps. That arrived alongside news of changes to developer policies, like how any users could now register as devs and get started sideloading their App Studio creations, without needing to pay any of the fees associated with full-on developers – the kind ...

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Windows Phone and Windows RT to be unified by Microsoft, claims rumor

Posted on by Anton D. Nagy

While this would make a lot of sense for some (and, on the contrary, to others), we’ll tell you to treat this rumor, right from the beginning, accordingly. Apparently, report has it that Microsoft is planning on unifying Windows Phone and Windows RT. The information comes from a source that claims knowledge of Windows 9 and Windows 10 plans (we’re currently at Windows 8.1). According to said source, the two platforms, one for the smartphone, and one for the tablet, will be, at one point, allegedly merged. There’s no other information to back it up, so, as usual, it leaves ...

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AT&T announces Lumia 925 plans, confirming rumors

Posted on by Stephen Schenck

We rounded-out last week with a rumor about AT&T and Nokia, suggesting the carrier was planning to flesh out its Windows Phone lineup a little and would add the Lumia 925 to the mix sometime in mid-September. Alongside that claim, we heard that AT&T would be reducing the Lumia 920′s price. Well sure enough, over the weekend we saw the 920 get just the kind of price cuts that had been rumored, but there was still no word of the 925. Today, ...

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You can already buy the perfect smartphone

Posted on by Joe Levi

Not long ago our own Anton D. Nagy told us “there’s no such thing as a perfect smartphone”. He’s absolutely right — and completely wrong. I, like Tony, have a stack of smartphones that I can call upon at any given time. Some have HD screens. Some have LTE. Some have removable batteries. Some can accept SD cards. Some have a slide-out keyboard. Some include a high-end camera. What none of them have is a perfect combination of everything. None of the smartphones I own has everything. Each is always ...

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Nokia Lumia 1520 to be the official name of the Bandit phablet?

Posted on by Anton D. Nagy

Rumors are piling up concerning the future possible Nokia phablet, codenamed “Bandit”. We first heard of this codename on August 19, and then more rumors and leaks tried to confirm the codename, and some hints towards a September New York event, where it will allegedly be announced. We could now ditch the “Bandit” codename as ...

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Nokia’s Stephen Elop under consideration as Ballmer replacement?

Posted on by Stephen Schenck

We closed-out last week with news arriving of Steve Ballmer’s retirement; the Microsoft CEO announced that he’ll be stepping down from his role sometime in the next twelve months. That’s going to leave a very powerful seat to fill, and we’ve already heard about efforts the board will take to form a committee tasked with appointing a new CEO. As they gear up for their deliberations in private, rumors are already discussing the possibilities, including one Mr. Stephen Elop of Nokia. Elop, you may ...

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Nokia Lumia 920 discounted on AT&T

Posted on by Anton D. Nagy

The Nokia Lumia 925 is either an international/global phone, or one to be found on T-Mobile’s line-up. However, according to recent reports, we heard that the phone might be landing on AT&T too, sometime in the near future. With such an outlook, it is just normal for the carrier to discount one of its older, but still, great ...

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