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Microsoft announces phone support life cycles. Ill founded conclusions are made.

A few days back, Microsoft posted the support lifecycle for their Windows Phone devices, both those running version 7.8, and newer devices running Windows Phone 8. If you’re familiar with lifecycle patterns at all, these numbers seem pretty reasonable. Windows Phone 7.8 will continue to be supported until September 9th, 2014. The newer WP8 actually ends earlier, in July of 2014. While no official announcement about an update to WP8 has been made, the chances are that there will be an update to those devices either later this year, or…

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Nokia 900 leaked in developer video?

Last February, Nokia made a drastic decision regarding the future of its operating systems by going all-in with Microsoft’s Windows Phone OS. While there was a lot of online fallout from both proud Finns and Symbian advocates, Nokia’s new Windows Phones, the Lumia 710 and Lumia 800, finally started hitting overseas. The Lumia 800, which shares the same body design as their N9, has been getting rave reviews for the industrial design, but there’s still no word on what’s happening in North America.

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Computing Featured Mobile 

Windows Phone Mango update available worldwide

When rumours started floating around that today would be ‘Mango Day’, in which Microsoft launched the 7.5 version of their mobile OS (Mango of course), I have to admit I was pretty skeptical, after how clumsily the folks at Redmond handled the NoDo update in the spring. It turns out that Microsoft got it right this time, as the latest update to Windows Phone 7 has been launched worldwide.

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Windows Phone 7 Day to Day

Just a week or two before the launch of Windows Phone 7, my old phone did a nosedive onto a tiled floor. Not just a drop mind you, but a slow motion flung through the air and land screen first about 10 feet away from me drop. Though I had to cover the screen with cellophane to avoid dislodging glass shards, it wasn’t a permanent solution. That’s when I decided to give Windows Phone 7 a try…

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Canalys shows Android overtaking Nokia in the world

The latest US numbers from Canalys show that Android has now surpassed Nokia as the best selling smartphone OS in the world.  Though it started off slow, Android grew from 8.7% of the market in Q4 2009 to a massive 32.9% in Q4 2010.   The big drop was for Nokia, which plummeted from 44.4% to 30.6% in the same timespan.  All other smartphones saw a drop as well, with Apple’s iOS dropping less than a percent, while RIM dropped almost 6%.  Since Windows Phone 7 launched in the middle of…

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Zombies!!! for Windows Phone 7

Zombies!!! started its (un)life as a unique board game 10 years ago from game publisher Twilight Creations. In that time a number of expansion packs and alternate rules have kept the game fresh. I’ve been a fan of it since almost the beginning, and followed the Yahoo newsgroup for the game for a number of years, including trying out some of the fan suggested alternate rules options. Now Zombies!!! made the transition to a video game on the Windows Phone 7 platform. The adaptation not only captures the feel of the tabletop game for newcomers, but enhances the experience for those who’ve played the tabletop version.

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Windows Phone 7 Marketplace… on the cheap

Who ever said the the best things in life are free might have been on to something especially if they were talking about the Windows Phone 7 Marketplace. Before you get too excited I’m not saying everything in the Marketplace is free but there’s enough free and trial content to keep you more than busy. I’ve had my new LG Quantum running Windows Phone 7 for a couple of weeks now and despite a few minor deficiencies, that hopefully will be addressed in the next update, I have to admit…

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Windows Phone 7 sputters into Canada

Though the title seems damning, it isn’t a judgement on the OS itself, but of the seeming lack of availability of Windows Phone 7 handsets on it’s North American launch day.  Last week we reported Telus being the first to pull the trigger on pricing for Windows Phone 7 devices, and with launch day coming to a close, it appears they’re the carrier that made the biggest deal of the launch.he first 100 people to the Telus store in Toronto’s Eaton Centre also got a free Xbox 360 Slim 4GB…

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LG Optimus Quantum Hands On: video

We take a look at the LG Optimus Quantum Windows Phone 7 device with a slideout landscape QWERTY keyboard.  The slide mechanism, while a bit stiff, also feels very solid, and still doable with one hand.  When holding it in landscape mode, LG made sure that the screen portion was nice and light, so that there’s a solid balance while typing.  In fact, when we first got our hands on the Optimus Quantum, it barely registered as a slider. The keyboard itself ranks up there with the HTC Touch Pro…

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Microsoft rebrands XNA Creators Club as App Hub

When Microsoft first launched the XNA toolset, it was aimed at making cross-platform game development easier for independent game designers, and providing a framework to target them towards not only various Windows operating systems, but the Zune and Xbox 360 as well. To target the Xbox 360, one had to pay an annual membership of $99, which made you a part of the community to submit games for sale directly on the console. It’s actually a pretty innovative approach to letting the individual developer a way into console games creation,…

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LG Windows Phone 7 – Optimus 7 and Quantum Hands On Video

At a recent LG event, we got some hands on time with LG’s two Windows Phone 7 devices headed towards the Canadian market, the LG Optimus 7 slate style phone on Telus, and the LG Optimus Quantum QWERTY slider on Bell. Both phones sport 16GB of RAM and 1GHz processors, with the real differentiator between the two being the choice of keyboard or not.  The Optimus 7 has a 3.8″ screen, while the keyboard packing Optimus Quantum has a slightly smaller 3.5″ screen. During our demonstration, Frank Lee of LG…

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