Need a modern smartphone choice on T-Mobile but aren't willing to spend the hundreds of dollars usually required? Perhaps you should take a gander at Nokia's new $49.99 Lumia 710. With strong features for work and play, plus a 4G connection, it could become your new mobile best friend.
Design
Sure, it lacks the playful colors and personalized back plates of its European cousin, but the U.S. version of the Nokia Lumia 710 shows some flair of its own. It comes in two main colors, all-black like my review sample, and a model that sports a ... Expand full review
Need a modern smartphone choice on T-Mobile but aren't willing to spend the hundreds of dollars usually required? Perhaps you should take a gander at Nokia's new $49.99 Lumia 710. With strong features for work and play, plus a 4G connection, it could become your new mobile best friend.
Design
Sure, it lacks the playful colors and personalized back plates of its European cousin, but the U.S. version of the Nokia Lumia 710 shows some flair of its own. It comes in two main colors, all-black like my review sample, and a model that sports a frosty white front.
Crafted from unassuming plastic, the Lumia 710 looks pretty mundane aesthetically at first glance. Once you pick up the 4.4-ounce handset, however, it's clear that it's solidly made if not luxurious. Measuring 4.69 inches tall by 2.46 inches wide by 0.49 inch thick, the compact device sports attractively rounded edges and fits into tight pockets without too much trouble. The phone's back cover has a rubbery, soft-touch coating, too, which provides a sure grip.
On the front is the 3.7-inch (WVGA, 800x480-pixel resolution) LCD screen, which is smaller and not as sharp as the full-HD or even qHD displays boasted by higher-end Android devices. Also, though it lacks the fantastically deep blacks and eye-popping colors of other devices with AMOLED displays, namely the Galaxy Nexus, Galaxy S II, and Samsung Focus S, or even the original Focus, it does serve up pleasing-enough image quality.
That said, Nokia adds its special ClearBlack technology to boost screen contrast. For instance, I had a great time watching the YouTube HD trailer for "The Avengers," which boasted plenty of rich eye candy like bright fiery explosions, energy blasts, flowing capes, and Scarlett Johansson's artfully arranged red hair. Also, the Lumia 710's screen had noticeably darker blacks than the display on the HTC Radar 4G, which tended to leak some light around the edges.
Handling typing duties is the standard Windows Phone virtual keyboard with square blocklike keys pressed closely together. Most buttons don't double as punctuation marks, though long-pressing the period key pulls up a selection of often-entered symbols. Additionally, like all WP7 phones, the Lumia 710 doesn't have the option of haptic feedback. Despite this, my typing experience was comfortable and I easily and quickly banged out messages and e-mails.
Above the display is a nondescript earpiece and below it sits a thin, flexible bar that serves as three buttons for Back, Windows Home, and Search. While I usually like physical keys, I found these buttons stiff and often hard to press. The same goes for the tiny volume rocker and dedicated camera button on the phone's right side and the recessed power key located on the Lumia's top edge. Also on top are a standard 3.5mm headphone jack and Micro-USB port.
Placed on back are the 5-megapixel camera with LED flash and a large speaker. Ripping off the handset's battery cover reveals its 1,300mAh battery, which you need to remove to access the phone's SIM card slot. At least the battery is removable, unlike the HTC Radar 4G's, which is locked in by that phone's fancy unibody metal chassis.
Features
The Nokia Lumia 710's Windows Phone 7.5 Mango interface is virtually identical to that of other WP7 devices I've used. That's to be expected, since Microsoft lays down strict rules for how Windows Phone runs on mobile handsets. I'm not complaining, though, since my familiarity with Mango had me up and running in a matter of minutes. For those who don't use the Windows Phone operating system often, the home screen, called the Start Menu, consists of Live Tiles arranged vertically. Functioning the same way app shortcut icons do in Android and iOS, Tiles also behave a bit like widgets, pulling in data and displaying information in real time.
For instance, Messaging, Email, and Gmail Tiles showcase the number of new messages, while Pictures will flip through your gallery highlighting snapshots. Swiping left opens the main menu with a full list of installed apps. You can also pin apps and other things like picture albums and videos to the home screen for fast access. A People Tile taps into social media networks like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Gmail accounts to populate your contact list and provide live updates. Overall, it's a very slick and engaging UI rendered in a clean, modern font.
Here too is access to the Microsoft Marketplace app store, which has a much smaller selection than the iOS and Android storefronts but does feature many of the software basics, such as Facebook, Foursquare, Twitter, and Tripit, just to name a few. Nokia and T-Mobile pre-install some useful titles too, specifically Netflix so you can stream movies on the go, the Weather Channel app, and Nokia Drive for free turn-by-turn GPS navigation. Of course, if you'd rather pay for directions, the TeleNav GPS Nav app costs $9.99 per month.
The good: Thanks to its Windows Phone 7.5 Mango OS, Nokia's Lumia 710 provides plenty of power for both fun and productive uses. It has a smooth and engaging user interface, satisfying photo quality, and 720p HD video, all in a compact and affordable package.
The bad: The Lumia 710's all-plastic construction doesn't scream luxury and its small physical buttons are stiff and often tough to press. The handset also lacks a front-facing camera, so video chat is out of the question.
The bottom line: The $49.99 Nokia Lumia 710 is an excellent way to get the growing capabilities of a Windows Mango smartphone for a rock-bottom price. Though it isn't an Android superphone with a luscious AMOLED display, it's a practical device that covers all the mobile bases.
(cnet.com)
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Rabu, 04 Januari 2012
Selasa, 27 Desember 2011
Windows Phone Marketplace Reaches 50,000 Apps
According to All About Windows Phone (AAWP), the Windows Phone Marketplace now has more than 50,000 apps.
Though 50,000 is less than one-tenth of what Apple’s iOS App Store has and also a fraction of the more than 400,000 apps in Android Market, Microsoft’s ascent to 50,000 apps is a solid milestone given the time it took to get there. AAWP reports that Windows Phone took 14 months to reach 50,000 apps. Android took 19 months to reach 50,000 apps and iOS took 12 months, AAWP said.
Moreover, AAWP reports that content is being added to Windows Phone marketplace at the rate of 265 items per day. At the time of the AAWP report there were 50,126 items published in the marketplace from 13,002 different publishers. The report added:
“The 50,000 mark, which has been reached sooner than we estimated, is a key milestone, but more important is the accelerating growth of the Marketplace. It took just over a year to get to 40,000 apps, but just 40 days to add the next 10,000 apps. That bodes well for Windows Phone in 2012.”
There has been an uptick in submissions to Windows Phone Marketplace over the last several weeks. The report attributes this to the expansion of the geographic area available to the marketplace as well as to the release of Nokia’s first Windows Phone devices.
AAWP, which gets its numbers from its own tracking system, said 58 percent of items in the Windows Phone Marketplace are free, 14 percent are paid with a free trial and 29 percent are paid. Additionally, as with other app stores the majority of apps in the Windows Phone Marketplace are entertainment apps, followed by tools and productivity apps, games and books and reference apps.
(eweek.com)
Though 50,000 is less than one-tenth of what Apple’s iOS App Store has and also a fraction of the more than 400,000 apps in Android Market, Microsoft’s ascent to 50,000 apps is a solid milestone given the time it took to get there. AAWP reports that Windows Phone took 14 months to reach 50,000 apps. Android took 19 months to reach 50,000 apps and iOS took 12 months, AAWP said.
Moreover, AAWP reports that content is being added to Windows Phone marketplace at the rate of 265 items per day. At the time of the AAWP report there were 50,126 items published in the marketplace from 13,002 different publishers. The report added:
“The 50,000 mark, which has been reached sooner than we estimated, is a key milestone, but more important is the accelerating growth of the Marketplace. It took just over a year to get to 40,000 apps, but just 40 days to add the next 10,000 apps. That bodes well for Windows Phone in 2012.”
There has been an uptick in submissions to Windows Phone Marketplace over the last several weeks. The report attributes this to the expansion of the geographic area available to the marketplace as well as to the release of Nokia’s first Windows Phone devices.
AAWP, which gets its numbers from its own tracking system, said 58 percent of items in the Windows Phone Marketplace are free, 14 percent are paid with a free trial and 29 percent are paid. Additionally, as with other app stores the majority of apps in the Windows Phone Marketplace are entertainment apps, followed by tools and productivity apps, games and books and reference apps.
(eweek.com)
Senin, 19 Desember 2011
Windows 8 to feature image sign-on system
Using Windows 8 devices could involve signing on by tapping, circling or touching images.
Microsoft has revealed details of a login system for the next version of Windows based around pictures a user stores on a touchscreen device.
Only when parts of an image are tapped or touched in the right order will a user be able to access a device.
Experts said it might stop people using weak passwords but could lead to other loopholes that are harder to solve.
Press here
Microsoft aired the idea of using images to sign on to a device via a blog written by engineers working on Windows 8 - the next version of the Windows operating system expected to be released in late 2012.
Windows 8 is designed for touchscreen devices such as tablets and the novel sign-on systems makes use of the sensitive displays they are likely to sport.
The familiar process of getting to use a desktop PC or laptop by typing in a password made of up lower and upper case letters as well as numbers was felt to be too "cumbersome" for tablets, wrote Microsoft engineer Zach Pace on the blog.
The replacement system proposed by Microsoft employs a picture chosen by a user from their collection of images on a device.
On this image, users are encouraged to tap on, underline or circle the parts that are important to them. The sequence of gestures, including start and end positions and orientation act as a key to unlock the device.
'Interesting and cute'
User-testing suggests that the image-based system can grant access to a portable gadget far faster than was possible through text-based passwords, wrote Mr Pace.
He stressed that the system would work alongside text-based passwords rather than replace them. If a user failed to properly reproduce the correct gestures fives times in a row they would be prompted for the password they set up when they first used the device.
Graham Cluley, senior security researcher at Sophos, said the research was "interesting and cute" but may introduce more security problems than it solves.
It could, he said, make people vulnerable to "shoulder surfing" - a practice better known from cash machines where crooks try to spot a victim's Pin number as they tap it into a number pad.
"With normal password entry, what you're doing is asterisked on the screen," said Mr Cluley. "With this gesture input, folks may find it easier to see the movements you are making."
There might be more value in operating systems encouraging people to use stronger passwords by refusing to let them use dictionary words or ones that are easy to crack, he added.
(bbc.co.uk)
Microsoft has revealed details of a login system for the next version of Windows based around pictures a user stores on a touchscreen device.
Only when parts of an image are tapped or touched in the right order will a user be able to access a device.
Experts said it might stop people using weak passwords but could lead to other loopholes that are harder to solve.
Press here
Microsoft aired the idea of using images to sign on to a device via a blog written by engineers working on Windows 8 - the next version of the Windows operating system expected to be released in late 2012.
Windows 8 is designed for touchscreen devices such as tablets and the novel sign-on systems makes use of the sensitive displays they are likely to sport.
The familiar process of getting to use a desktop PC or laptop by typing in a password made of up lower and upper case letters as well as numbers was felt to be too "cumbersome" for tablets, wrote Microsoft engineer Zach Pace on the blog.
The replacement system proposed by Microsoft employs a picture chosen by a user from their collection of images on a device.
On this image, users are encouraged to tap on, underline or circle the parts that are important to them. The sequence of gestures, including start and end positions and orientation act as a key to unlock the device.
'Interesting and cute'
User-testing suggests that the image-based system can grant access to a portable gadget far faster than was possible through text-based passwords, wrote Mr Pace.
He stressed that the system would work alongside text-based passwords rather than replace them. If a user failed to properly reproduce the correct gestures fives times in a row they would be prompted for the password they set up when they first used the device.
Graham Cluley, senior security researcher at Sophos, said the research was "interesting and cute" but may introduce more security problems than it solves.
It could, he said, make people vulnerable to "shoulder surfing" - a practice better known from cash machines where crooks try to spot a victim's Pin number as they tap it into a number pad.
"With normal password entry, what you're doing is asterisked on the screen," said Mr Cluley. "With this gesture input, folks may find it easier to see the movements you are making."
There might be more value in operating systems encouraging people to use stronger passwords by refusing to let them use dictionary words or ones that are easy to crack, he added.
(bbc.co.uk)
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