Sencha Touch 2 Allows Developers to Code iOS Apps With Windows PCs

Mobile HTML5 developer framework Sencha wants to be more than just a tool to develop hybrid mobile applications. The company's roadmap for 2012 is to become an end-to-end solution for designing, developing and deploying HTML5 applications and is taking its first steps toward that goal today by releasing Sencha Touch 2 out of beta. Sencha Touch 2 gives developers a better user interface for developing HTML5 that will give consumers a more robust user experience.

Sencha also wants to play nice with the mobile development ecosystem. Touch 2 is the first framework that will allow developers to write Android and iOS apps from either a Windows PC or a Mac. That means that iOS developers are no longer tied to XCode on the Mac for building iOS apps. Presenting that freedom to developers should help Sencha win the hearts of many mobile publishers.

Sencha is focusing on three core areas for the public release of Touch 2: better consumer user experience, better developer support and development experience as well as working to improve the development ecosystem.

'We've updated and refreshed the API for Sencha Touch to make it even easier to build applications as well as out of the box we are shipping a set of full fledged built applications that developers can modify or use as their own references for locations. These are apps that use the Facebook API, apps that take advantage of custom themes,' said Aditya Bansod, senior director of product management at Sencha.

The core uses of Sencha HTML5 platform are to prototype, design, develop, package and deploy HTML5 apps. The company wants to make using the platform as painless as possible for developers and was one of the core goals for the team in updating Touch. The framework itself has been updated with a more streamlined UI for developers that Bansod describes as more 'visceral.' Sencha worked to create better performance for hybrid HTML5 apps for iOS and Android and has updated many of its native API containers to take advantage of camera, push messaging, device orientation and scrolling.

Sencha spent the most time with Touch 2 working to improve Android performance. It is well known in the mobile ecosystem that the native Android browser lacks well behind iOS and one of Sencha's primary goals was to improve that performance.

'We have spent endless amount of time working and tuning for Android. Like list performance, for example. It might seem mundane but for user experience it is so important,' Bansod said. 'I throw a list and it actually flies as far as I want it to as well as animations feel as well as they should for the platform. So, we spent time with device manufacturers understanding their implementations of WebKit and what we ended up doing is building specific implementations of our core performance APIs for each specific platform. The developer does not see this, thankfully, the developer sees one common API and we use different parts of HTML and CSS to actually do the performance work under the hood on the developers' behalf.'

One of the key shifts for Sencha in releasing Touch 2 is a focus on the mobile ecosystem. While competitor appMobi is almost always focused on the ecosystem, Sencha has always been about the HTML5 spec and creating better tools.

'The native packaging kit that allows you to build on Mac and Windows is totally novel in the mobile ecosystem,' Bansod said. 'We have some new UI controls in the updated APIs and that will help while building your applications as well as building apps that have much more of a look and a feel that look native-like.'

Out of the box, Sencha Touch 2 comes with several applications that can be used as guides for building with the platform. The company sent ReadWriteMobile several test devices to show this off. For iOS that includes an app called 'The Watch List' (pictured above) that shares what movies you want to see or have seen with friends. 'TouchStyle' is an app for purchasing home and fashion items. On Android applications include Sencha Radio and Sencha Jog.

It is one thing to give developers a couple sample apps but Sencha takes it a step further with its Kitchen Sink application that shows off exactly what can be done within the framework and gives source code examples. This feature is beneficial to both new programmers looking for ways to create rounded buttons or experienced developers having trouble with HTML5 audio or video integration.

Sencha wants to differentiate itself from other framework and container providers such as appMobi, PhoneGap, Conduit and Brightcove. The ability to write code from any computer available is a good start.

'PhoneGap requires that you develop in XCode on the Mac and if you are a PC developer, that is what you are stuck with. In the other rounds, appMobi has a build service and we have heard from a lot of developers that they do not want to give a third party that they do not know their private keys because that is what it requires, you have to give your sign in keys to the third party to build it for you. We want to give developers that capability locally so they do not have to trust someone else with their keys,' Bansod said.

The entire Sencha HTML5 platform will be released and updated this year. The next step is called Sencha Designer that will be used to help accelerate design aspects of building apps. Deployment will be handled through Sencha.io that will also have an update sometime in 2012. Touch 2 remains a free service as the company plans on monetizing around other aspects of the platform. Touch 2 will be issued on the GPL3 and Sencha Commercial License.

Sencha Touch 2 was released to beta in Sept. 2011 but the company is now ready to release the full version. For those that have been using the beta, much will remain the same with a few developer UI improvements.

'Sencha Touch 2 is the cornerstone behind what we are going to be doing in the next couple months around the Sencha HTML5 platform. Using Sencha Touch and the new capabilities in Touch 2 to form the cornerstone of the developer experience from designing, developing and deploying their HTML5 applications,' Bansod said.

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Windows Phone Tango minimum hardware limitations outlined

Offerings from both Nokia and ZTE debuted the next major build of Windows Phone last week at MWC, dubbed "Tango". The new Nokia Lumia 610 and ZTE Orbit both took to their respective stands to show off the new lower-end capabilities of Microsoft's mobile OS.

Despite the latest iteration (excluding Apollo) of Windows Phone having made it to these devices on the floor at MWC, Microsoft had been particularly vague about just what the limitations were for devices employing lower-tiered hardware, until now.

Both the Lumia 610 and Orbit employ 256MB of RAM and this means that there are certain implications which consumers will need to bear in mind when choosing a Windows Phone device, these are as follows:

? Windows Phone Marketplace app restrictions ? Some processor-intensive apps have particular memory requirements, and won?t work on phones with 256MB of RAM.

? Podcast/Video Podcast Subscriptions ? Managing podcast subscriptions or watching video podcasts on a device with 256MB of RAM will not be possible.

? Bing Local Scout ? Bing Local Scout won't feature on a device with only 256MB of RAM.

? Fast app/Task switching ? The feature differs on Windows Phones with 256MB of RAM in that if a single application uses over 90MB, it will be killed on exit and thus not appear in the task switcher, besides this the functionality will remain unchanged.

? SkyDrive automatic photo upload ? 256MB of RAM means no auto-upload option, but users will still be able to upload their photos manually.

? HD video playback ? Some compressed videos will be unable to play due to a lack of codec support on devices with 256MB of RAM.

? Background agents ? To free up RAM for the foreground on such devices, generic background agents (PeriodicTasks/ResourceIntensiveTasks) will be disabled.

As well as informing prospective buyers of these new more competitively priced Windows Phones what they'll be missing out on, Microsoft have also made a point of appealing to Windows Phone developers who will need to take into account the limitations of devices using the new minimum hardware requirements.

Speed seems to be key with a message of optimizing app start times and reducing an apps' memory footprint being pushed to developers. All this being said, Microsoft are adding features to Windows Phone 7.5 too, including a new location alert, MMS enhancements and improved SIM contact management.

Windows Phone "Tango" should be arriving on 256MB of RAM-endowed Windows Phone devices come Q2 this year.

Source | Via

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Windows Phone or MeeGo Which One Should I Buy?

A lot of Nokia fans are back and forth and back and forth. MeeGo or Windows Phones, there are people who can afford to buy both but they are few and far in between.

I am lucky enough to own an N9 plus luck enough to have a Lumia 710 demo in my house, so I made a little video side by side with both phones to try to help you out.  I did two, the first one was forty minutes!   Yeah no one is going to watch that it’s just too long. So I made the video below with plans on uploading the forty minute on later.

What I ended up doing ultimately is the short side by side video and video review of both phones!

Here is the  Side by Side Video:

Than here is the N9/MeeGo hands on:

The Lumia 710/Windows Phone Hand On:

If anyone has any questions on either device please leave them in the comment or feel free to send me Tweet.

Kevin Everett
Proud Nokia Geek since 1997 who loves to collect old Nokia phones (owns everything from the 1992's Nokia 100 up to the very latest Nokia N9) and is very happy to share his knowledge with you. He is a writer for Daily Mobile and Nokia Innovations. Enjoy his Nokia nerd knowledge and feel free to follow him on twitter https://twitter.com/#!/NokiaKnowings
http://www.nokiainnovation.com/

View the original article here

Sencha Touch 2 Allows Developers to Code iOS Apps With Windows PCs

Mobile HTML5 developer framework Sencha wants to be more than just a tool to develop hybrid mobile applications. The company's roadmap for 2012 is to become an end-to-end solution for designing, developing and deploying HTML5 applications and is taking its first steps toward that goal today by releasing Sencha Touch 2 out of beta. Sencha Touch 2 gives developers a better user interface for developing HTML5 that will give consumers a more robust user experience.

Sencha also wants to play nice with the mobile development ecosystem. Touch 2 is the first framework that will allow developers to write Android and iOS apps from either a Windows PC or a Mac. That means that iOS developers are no longer tied to XCode on the Mac for building iOS apps. Presenting that freedom to developers should help Sencha win the hearts of many mobile publishers.

Sencha is focusing on three core areas for the public release of Touch 2: better consumer user experience, better developer support and development experience as well as working to improve the development ecosystem.

'We've updated and refreshed the API for Sencha Touch to make it even easier to build applications as well as out of the box we are shipping a set of full fledged built applications that developers can modify or use as their own references for locations. These are apps that use the Facebook API, apps that take advantage of custom themes,' said Aditya Bansod, senior director of product management at Sencha.

The core uses of Sencha HTML5 platform are to prototype, design, develop, package and deploy HTML5 apps. The company wants to make using the platform as painless as possible for developers and was one of the core goals for the team in updating Touch. The framework itself has been updated with a more streamlined UI for developers that Bansod describes as more 'visceral.' Sencha worked to create better performance for hybrid HTML5 apps for iOS and Android and has updated many of its native API containers to take advantage of camera, push messaging, device orientation and scrolling.

Sencha spent the most time with Touch 2 working to improve Android performance. It is well known in the mobile ecosystem that the native Android browser lacks well behind iOS and one of Sencha's primary goals was to improve that performance.

'We have spent endless amount of time working and tuning for Android. Like list performance, for example. It might seem mundane but for user experience it is so important,' Bansod said. 'I throw a list and it actually flies as far as I want it to as well as animations feel as well as they should for the platform. So, we spent time with device manufacturers understanding their implementations of WebKit and what we ended up doing is building specific implementations of our core performance APIs for each specific platform. The developer does not see this, thankfully, the developer sees one common API and we use different parts of HTML and CSS to actually do the performance work under the hood on the developers' behalf.'

One of the key shifts for Sencha in releasing Touch 2 is a focus on the mobile ecosystem. While competitor appMobi is almost always focused on the ecosystem, Sencha has always been about the HTML5 spec and creating better tools.

'The native packaging kit that allows you to build on Mac and Windows is totally novel in the mobile ecosystem,' Bansod said. 'We have some new UI controls in the updated APIs and that will help while building your applications as well as building apps that have much more of a look and a feel that look native-like.'

Out of the box, Sencha Touch 2 comes with several applications that can be used as guides for building with the platform. The company sent ReadWriteMobile several test devices to show this off. For iOS that includes an app called 'The Watch List' (pictured above) that shares what movies you want to see or have seen with friends. 'TouchStyle' is an app for purchasing home and fashion items. On Android applications include Sencha Radio and Sencha Jog.

It is one thing to give developers a couple sample apps but Sencha takes it a step further with its Kitchen Sink application that shows off exactly what can be done within the framework and gives source code examples. This feature is beneficial to both new programmers looking for ways to create rounded buttons or experienced developers having trouble with HTML5 audio or video integration.

Sencha wants to differentiate itself from other framework and container providers such as appMobi, PhoneGap, Conduit and Brightcove. The ability to write code from any computer available is a good start.

'PhoneGap requires that you develop in XCode on the Mac and if you are a PC developer, that is what you are stuck with. In the other rounds, appMobi has a build service and we have heard from a lot of developers that they do not want to give a third party that they do not know their private keys because that is what it requires, you have to give your sign in keys to the third party to build it for you. We want to give developers that capability locally so they do not have to trust someone else with their keys,' Bansod said.

The entire Sencha HTML5 platform will be released and updated this year. The next step is called Sencha Designer that will be used to help accelerate design aspects of building apps. Deployment will be handled through Sencha.io that will also have an update sometime in 2012. Touch 2 remains a free service as the company plans on monetizing around other aspects of the platform. Touch 2 will be issued on the GPL3 and Sencha Commercial License.

Sencha Touch 2 was released to beta in Sept. 2011 but the company is now ready to release the full version. For those that have been using the beta, much will remain the same with a few developer UI improvements.

'Sencha Touch 2 is the cornerstone behind what we are going to be doing in the next couple months around the Sencha HTML5 platform. Using Sencha Touch and the new capabilities in Touch 2 to form the cornerstone of the developer experience from designing, developing and deploying their HTML5 applications,' Bansod said.

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Nokia: Our Windows Phones Need To Get Even Cheaper

There’s little question that Nokia is taking the low-end of the smartphone market very seriously these days. They just kicked off their race to the bottom with the colorful, budget-conscious Lumia 610 at this year’s Mobile World Congress, and while it’s far and away the least powerful of the Finnish company’s Windows Phone brood, it’s certainly priced to move at €189.

According to Nokia EVP Niklas Savander though, that price tag isn’t quite cheap enough. In a brief interview with Pocket-lint, Savander revealed that in order to better compete with Android, Nokia is very concerned with getting their hardware to even lower price points.

“Android is in many markets at the €100 price already, so that would suggest that if we are at €189 with the Lumia 610 we still have work to do when it comes to creating a lower-end first-time user smartphone.”

Now, Nokia is no stranger to pushing out low-cost, no-frills hardware — their venerable Nokia 1100 once held the crown for the best-selling bit of consumer electronics in the world, but getting their Windows Phones to that level of ubiquity will take a bit of doing. While Nokia toils away on the hardware front in an attempt to cut costs without stymieing performance too much, Microsoft’s Windows Phone Tango update will make sure that the eventual end-users don’t lose too much functionality in the process.

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Does Nokia have Summer Surpise For Us? A Windows 8 Tablet Perhaps?

According to reports from the French newspaper Les Échos,  Nokia’s former Head of France has leaked to them that Nokia should have a Windows 8 powered tablet coming out early this summer.

This is not new news however…it became more relevant with his other leak from form the same interview that did where he also predicted the coming of the Lumia 900.

“the Lumia 800 is the equivalent of a BMW 5 Series…There will be a BMW 7 Series and BMW 3 series equivalent…”

He also went on to tell about 4.3 inch screen, NFC support, and  LTE which as we know all showed up in the Nokia 900.

In this interview he was quoted as stating that Nokia tablet will come out in June 2012.  So why I am sticking with this summer? It’s that the interview was old and things could have changed between than and now. One thing is safe to say is that the Nokia tablet is coming and coming soon!

VIA

Kevin Everett
Proud Nokia Geek since 1997 who loves to collect old Nokia phones (owns everything from the 1992's Nokia 100 up to the very latest Nokia N9) and is very happy to share his knowledge with you. He is a writer for Daily Mobile and Nokia Innovations. Enjoy his Nokia nerd knowledge and feel free to follow him on twitter https://twitter.com/#!/NokiaKnowings
http://www.nokiainnovation.com/

View the original article here

Windows 8 Consumer Preview Lacks Windows Phone SDK Support

Windows Phone developers might want to think twice before upgrading to Windows 8 Consumer Preview. Microsoft confirmed Monday that it does not support the Windows Phone SDK.

"We know many of our software developers are excited and eager to get started using the consumer preview on a daily basis, but Windows 8 is still a preview release, which means that there are going to be instances of software incompatibility," Larry Lieberman, a senior product manager at Microsoft, said in a blog post. "One of these incompatibilities is unfortunately with the current Windows Phone SDK."

Lieberman, however, insisted that Microsoft is "working to address these issues" and promised to have more details in the coming weeks.

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Windows 8, Quad-Core Phones Coming to MWC

By Joe Arico | Fri Feb 24, 2012 3:45 pm

Windows 8 smartphones and tablets will take center stage at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain next week, setting the tone for what's to come this year.

One of the biggest events in technology, the MWC will get underway on Sunday and attract more than 60,000 attendees, including fans, members of the media and some of the largest tech companies in the world.

Analysts expect Microsoft's Windows 8 to have a big presence at MWC. Although Windows 8 is the company's next desktop operating system, it is also expected to have several features for mobile users. Microsoft has designed the OS from the ground up for use on a tablet as well as traditional PCs. It features a similar user interface to the company's Windows Phone platform, paving the way for tight integration between apps.

In addition to the Windows 8 reveal, analysts expect several manufacturers to unveil quad-core smartphones, setting a new bar for top-of-the-line devices. Both ARM and Nvidia have crafted quad-core processors for mobile devices, and although no news outlets have confirmed any specific devices, analysts predict several handsets powered by the chips will make their debut at MWC.

HTC is a likely candidate to show off new quad-core devices, but the company may not feature too many handsets. The Taiwanese phone maker appears committed to its goal of cutting back on the number of models it makes, instead focusing on making the highest quality devices possible.

Dozens of new smartphones will likely make an appearance at the conference, but Samsung is making news because of the handset it's not showing off. The South Korean company said it won't lift the curtain on the Samsung Galaxy S3 at the show. The Galaxy S2 was one of the few devices that challenged the blockbuster sales of the iPhone, making the S3 one of the most anticipated devices of the year.

Although Samsung is not planning to show its most popular device, and its main rival, Apple, will not be present, the MWC will likely pack several surprises and paint a clearer picture of what will excite tech fans this year.

Mon Feb 27, 2012 4:07 pm | By
Best Buy cut the iPad 2's price by $50, an unusual move signaling the iPad 3's release is likely imminent.



Mon Feb 27, 2012 3:49 pm | By
Nokia will offer a diverse range of phones this year, boosting both its feature phone business, while betting big on Windows to propel its high-end smartphones to success.

Mon Feb 27, 2012 3:40 pm | By
Facebook addicts are giving up the social media site for Lent, highlighting their increasingly common struggle to balance online connections with real-life friendships.

Mon Feb 27, 2012 3:39 pm | By
Facebook is pushing to create mobile browsing and Web-based mobile payments standards, hinting at plans to compete with Apple and Android's native app stores.

Mon Feb 27, 2012 3:31 pm | By
Apple notched a victory over an attempted sales ban on its devices by Motorola, raising more questions over how common technology gets used under intellectual property ownership.


Editorials & Opinion By Kate Knibbs
Apple is gearing up for the iPhone 5, while adding improvements to its App store.

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Nokia to unveil cheaper Windows Phones at MWC

We all know that Nokia is the king of entry level devices, and it seems they're keen on retaining that title as their upcoming press conference at MWC will supposedly reveal several new midrange WP-powered devices, alongside the new Lumia 610 and the worldwide version of the Lumia 900.

This also comes alongside news that Nokia has become the largest Windows Phone manufacturer, beating out HTC. This is truly an impressive achievement, considering Nokia has only been selling Windows Phone since the start of Q4 2011.

The Nokia/Microsoft partnership would to the casual observer sound like two behemoths dominating a significant piece of the global smartphone market, but in case you're one of the few that need to be reminded, WP and Symbian combined accounted for less than 14% of global smartphone sales in 2011.

The Nokia press conference at MWC is coming up fast, so we expect to find out exactly which devices Nokia plans to unveil very shortly.

Source | Via

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Voice Control Demo on Windows Phone

While everyone seems to think that Apple has the market cornered on voice recognition, Windows Phone has a few tricks up it’s sleeve in this department too.

One of my favorite things to do is hold down the menu button, this will open up a voice command that can control the whole phone. By simply saying “open Hotmail” Hotmail will open up.  This works with any program on the phone, even the apps that you download from the Market Place.

You can also state call or text someone, than speak your text aloud and it will compose it for you.  Below is a demo of the text feature in action, not only on outgoing text but for incoming as well.

I have used this feature many times myself and it’s pretty handy when you need to send a quick text reply but you need to really concentrate on another task at hand.

Kevin Everett
Proud Nokia Geek since 1997 who loves to collect old Nokia phones (owns everything from the 1992's Nokia 100 up to the very latest Nokia N9) and is very happy to share his knowledge with you. He is a writer for Daily Mobile and Nokia Innovations. Enjoy his Nokia nerd knowledge and feel free to follow him on twitter https://twitter.com/#!/NokiaKnowings
http://www.nokiainnovation.com/

View the original article here

Nokia Windows Phone Shines in Europe

Though sales for Windows Phone 7 in the US have been practically non-existent, Finnish giant Nokia finds comfort in the knowledge that sales have been picking up in the European market.

Looks like Nokia smartphones with Windows Phone 7 software have found love inEurope.  InAustria, the beautifully crafted Lumia 800 has been listed by European carrier Orangeas their best-seller. Similarly in London, sales for the said phone drove Windows 7 Phone’s market share to 2.2 percent from 0.4 percent last year. While 220,000 units of Lumia shipment found its way to Germany in the fourth quarter of 2011 according to the research firm Canalys.

Nokia’s new Lumia 800 Windows Phone got an early sales-boost in London after Microsoft, Nokia and wireless provider Orange offered free Xbox 360 for every purchase of Lumia 800 with a contract.

Nokia’s dominance of the European market is a very good sign but the embattled Finnish giant still has a long way to turn things around.  They are still the world’s No. 1 maker of mobile phones when you include both traditional cellphones and smartphones, but with Apple and Google’s Android platform’s strong smartphone market performance, Nokia’s global phone market share had been eroding steadily.  Research firm Gartner noted that in 2011 its share of the market dropped to 23.8 percent, down from 28.9 percent in 2010 and that Apple has become the world’s biggest smartphone maker.

With Lumia 900 debuting in the US exclusively via AT&T in the coming months, will Nokia and Microsoft finally conquer the elusive American market and finally pave the way for their much-anticipated comeback?  Stay tuned!

[VIA]

Michael Cadiz
A corporate slave by day, a full-time partyphile at night. A true-blue internet bibliophile who spends his day surfing and reading anything and everything about gadgets, TV Shows, and movie reviews. If he's not on the internet, check him out at the local arcade playing Tekken Tag Tournament 2. Follow him on twitter: @ImNotUrAngel23

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Nokia Needs to “Nokiafy” Windows Phone to Keep It’s Base

If you read this site regularly you would notice that I haven’t been writing as much as I normally do. This is not because there was nothing to write about, it’s because I received a Nokia Lumia 710 to demo for two weeks and have been trying to wrap my head around Windows Phone.

While it is a good OS and could be great with a few tweaks on function I am not going to concentrate on that right now. What I am going to concentrate on is Nokiafying Windows Phone and making it palatable to current Nokia users. If a Lumia is your first Nokia phone then you have no expectations of a Nokia phone and you will love Windows Phone.  But for those of us who have used Symbain/MeeGo for the past decade Windows Phone is quite limiting.

Because of this I fear that Nokia will lose a HUGE part of their base to the more Symbian like Android. Nokia can lessen this loss by using the latitude that Microsoft gave them and Nokiafy Windows Phone. How you ask? Here are a few things that Nokia could do to help make the transition from Symbian/MeeGo to Windows Phone easier.

Ability to Change the Hubs Landing Pages: Hubs are a nifty little thing in Windows Phones that group like functions to make your life easier..the problem you ask?   When you push the “hub tile” it lands where ever it feels like, doesn’t matter if that’s the most useful spot or not to you.

Example? When you push the dialer button you don’t get the dialer like you would expect…No, you get your call history then you have to push another button to get the dialer. It’s like that with all the hubs, sometimes it lands in place where it makes sense and other times not so much.

If Nokia would make a setting so you can change the landing page on your hub that’s all it would take here. Even just if the hub would learn what you use most and land on that page it would work for me.

Unlocking the Phone: Unlocking a Windows Phone right now requires you to find the power button (and the power button only) push it and swipe up to unlock.  On a Symbian phone any front facing button will do, and on a MeeGo phone you simply “double tap” the screen and swipe any direction.

For Nokia users this “find the power button” game is annoying. Nokia could easily fix this issue by giving Windows Phone the “double tap” feature and by letting me swipe anyway I want to unlock my phone.

Themes! We need themes!  I don’t know about anyone else but changing the tile color on my phone does not count a personalization in my book.  When you are use to Symbian and the ability to personalize everything about your phone, (to the point where it acts like an iPhone, Windows Phone, etc..) this changing the color of tile stuff doesn’t cut it.

Nokia could easily allow themes on Windows Phone and not affect the core of Windows Phone at all.  A picture in the background of the start screen that stays there in the hubs, different fonts in the live tiles, etc…

Control of Normal Functions from the Start Screen: To turn on/off simple things like WiFi you need to dig in the secondary menu, swipe down to settings then chose what you want turned on/off, then flip the switch. (I just tested it on my 710 it took six gestures six!)  There are apps in the Market Place that fix this issue but we shouldn’t have to get an app for a basic function like controlling our WiFi.

Again easy fix here for Nokia, all we need is a live tile with a toggle switch for the basic functions that you toggle often.  If a third party can do it so can Nokia.

Wifi That Stays on When Phone is Locked: This one just dumbfounds me. When you lock your Windows Phone it shuts the WiFi off which leads to your carrier data being used, which leads to you using up your entire data plan too soon.

Nokia I don’t know why this happens but it HAS TO be fixed there really is nothing else even to say about this one it’s so simple.

Real Multitasking: All Nokia needs to do here is bring the multitasking us Nokia users expect on our phones to Windows Phone.  (The pausing programs in the background and calling it multitasking is not multitasking.) We expect real multitasking on our Nokia Windows Phone  because all Nokia phones have it. In fact sometimes I am running (really running) 16 things on my N9.  So to go to a phone where I can’t really multitask at all is a disappointment to say the least.

Bottom line for Nokia:

This is merely a starter list that would “Nokiafy” a Windows Phone.  With every other Nokia phone you can customize every aspect the phone to your likings. There are VERY FEW options for the user right now. While this will get new users,  it will infuriate the loyal Nokia base and push them toward an Android phone.  Symbian users will be searching for that “Nokia experience” and sadly they will not be able to get it on a Nokia phone anymore.  This is why a Nokia Windows Phone doesn’t “feel like a Nokia” and Nokia need to take steps to “Nokiafy” it or risk losing there their very loyal base.

Kevin Everett
Proud Nokia Geek since 1997 who loves to collect old Nokia phones (owns everything from the 1992's Nokia 100 up to the very latest Nokia N9) and is very happy to share his knowledge with you. He is a writer for Daily Mobile and Nokia Innovations. Enjoy his Nokia nerd knowledge and feel free to follow him on twitter https://twitter.com/#!/NokiaKnowings
http://www.nokiainnovation.com/

View the original article here

Windows Phone Tango to have restrictions on 256MB RAM phones

Windows Phone Tango will bring many cool improvements but also some tight restrictions for low-end phones. Russian site WP7forum tested Tango on a dev phone (the HTC Mazaa) and they've dug up some very interesting details on the matter.

Let's start with the bad news - Tango will enable phones with just 256MB RAM (all current Windows Phone models have 512MB). That's quite low for a smartphone (even Symbian uses more nowadays) and such won't support all apps, plus third-party Live tiles won't update automatically.

The list goes on - Tango phones with 256MB RAM won't be able to play videos with bitrate over 4Mbps (that applies for videos on the phone and streaming video), they won't let you manage podcasts on the phone (you'll need to use Zune on your PC) and photos can't be uploaded automatically to SkyDrive.

This sounds pretty harsh, but we're likely talking about very low-end devices - Microsoft will even let makers use 3MP cameras (the current minimum is 5MP). We're not sure what that means about the 720p video recording that is mandatory for WP phones right now.

Plus, Windows Phone Tango will bring some great usability improvements. It will let you import/export contacts from your SIM card, offer finer grained roaming options and download and update apps automatically through Zune. Tango will also more than double the number of pre-installed apps and support new countries.

MMS support will be greatly improved too - in its current form you can attach a single photo and that's it. With the Tango update, Windows Phone will let you attach multiple photos but also videos and audio files too.

So, Windows Phone Tango will bring some needed improvements to mid- and high-end phones and enable affordable, low-end phones that can pry some users away from the grasp of feature phones.

Source 1 ? Source 2 (in Russian)

View the original article here

Windows Phone Tango to have restrictions on 256MB RAM phones

Windows Phone Tango will bring many cool improvements but also some tight restrictions for low-end phones. Russian site WP7forum tested Tango on a dev phone (the HTC Mazaa) and they've dug up some very interesting details on the matter.

Let's start with the bad news - Tango will enable phones with just 256MB RAM (all current Windows Phone models have 512MB). That's quite low for a smartphone (even Symbian uses more nowadays) and such won't support all apps, plus third-party Live tiles won't update automatically.

The list goes on - Tango phones with 256MB RAM won't be able to play videos with bitrate over 4Mbps (that applies for videos on the phone and streaming video), they won't let you manage podcasts on the phone (you'll need to use Zune on your PC) and photos can't be uploaded automatically to SkyDrive.

This sounds pretty harsh, but we're likely talking about very low-end devices - Microsoft will even let makers use 3MP cameras (the current minimum is 5MP). We're not sure what that means about the 720p video recording that is mandatory for WP phones right now.

Plus, Windows Phone Tango will bring some great usability improvements. It will let you import/export contacts from your SIM card, offer finer grained roaming options and download and update apps automatically through Zune. Tango will also more than double the number of pre-installed apps and support new countries.

MMS support will be greatly improved too - in its current form you can attach a single photo and that's it. With the Tango update, Windows Phone will let you attach multiple photos but also videos and audio files too.

So, Windows Phone Tango will bring some needed improvements to mid- and high-end phones and enable affordable, low-end phones that can pry some users away from the grasp of feature phones.

Source 1 ? Source 2 (in Russian)

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