Nokia X2 Dual SIM With 1GB of RAM and 4.3-Inch Display Launched

For many tech pundits who believed that the Nokia X smartphone range was dead after Microsoft's completed acquisition of Nokia's devices and services business, the Redmond giant has a surprise - the launch of the Nokia X2, the successor to the popular Nokia X.

The Nokia X2 will be available at EUR 99 (roughly Rs. 8,100) without taxes and subsidies. The company on its official Conversations blog has revealed that the Nokia X2 will be available immediately in select countries globally; however it has not listed the markets.

The new Nokia X series phone will be available in Glossy Black, Green, Orange, Dark Grey, White and Yellow. The Nokia X2 now sports a translucent outer layer, reminiscent to the ones seen on Nokia's Asha range of handsets.

Microsoft Mobile reiterates that the all new Nokia X2 can run Android apps and comes preloaded with the latest version of Nokia Store that now incorporates third-party app stores.

The Conversations blog said, "The Nokia X2 is also equipped with another navigation option; the brand-new 'apps list', which keeps your home screen clear for your most used apps, bringing Nokia X2 in line with the existing Lumia experience."

One of the prominent additions in the design of the Nokia X2 is the new home button that takes you back to the start screen and is accompanied by the back button that allows flipping through most recent actions, and long pressing shows what apps are open. Notably, the exact version of the Nokia X software platform being used has not yet been revealed by the company, though Engadget notes the Nokia X2 runs Nokia X Software Platform 2.0.

The new Nokia X2 is a dual-SIM variant and do not has a single SIM variant. Notably, the Nokia X2 Dual SIM has been listed on the company's official India site without pricing.

The new Nokia X family member features a 4.3-inch ClearBlack LCD display with WVGA resolution (480x800 pixels) that offers a pixel density of 217ppi. It is powered by a dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 processor clocked at 1.2GHz clubbed with 1GB of RAM. Notably, last generation's Nokia X+ and Nokia XL had just 768MB of RAM, while the Nokia X had 512MB of RAM. All three last generation Nokia X phones ran on a dual-core Qualcomm MSM8225 Snapdragon S4 chipset, and can therefore can be considered an upgrade.

The Nokia X2 sports a 5-megapixel autofocus rear camera with LED flash, while there a front-facing camera (unspecified resolution) also onboard. The smartphone is backed by an 1800mAh battery that's rated to deliver up to 10 hours of 2G talk time and up to 86 hours of continuous music playback. The Nokia X2 features 4GB of built-in storage, which is expandable via microSD card (32GB).

The Nokia X2 also comes preloaded with a bevy of Microsoft apps such as Skype, Outlook.com, Bing Search app, WeChat, Path, Facebook, Facebook Messenger, Yammer and Xbox games. The all new OneDrive is also preinstalled with 15GB cloud storage available right out-of-the-box. Games include SnapAttack, Wordament and Kinectimals. The note-taking app, OneNote, is also present. For the socialites, Line, WeChat, Path, Facebook and Facebook Messenger are also available.

Sony rumored to be delivering Windows Phone handsets in July

According to Pierre Perron, head of
Sony Mobile Europe, the manufacturer
is talking to Microsoft about some
unnamed project. This dovetails
perfectly with speculation that Sony
will be rolling out a pair of Windows
Phone flavored handsets this coming
July. Actually, Sony Ericsson and
Microsoft did team up on older models,
such as the original Sony Xperia X1 .
The device with the panel based
interface, was powered by Windows
Mobile Professional 6.1.
While Perron later backtracked a little
from his comment, it doesn't matter.
Other rumors have Sony starting a
test run of several thousand Windows
Phone handsets. It is expected that
the Sony phones will be the first to
roll off the assembly line with the new
GDR updates being planned by
Microsoft.
"We are continuing our discussions
with other partners, including
Microsoft, as part of our partnership
with this company on the broader Sony
spectrum." -Pierre Perron, Sony Mobile
Europe
Besides producing devices with
Windows Mobile, a few years ago, Sony
Ericsson had manufactured a
prototype of a phone
that ran on the Windows Phone 7
platform. Codenamed "Julie," the
model never did get offered to the
public.
source: @tomwarren via WMPoweruser

Micromax to offer Windows Phone smartphones later this year

Domestic handset maker Micromax has
partnered with Microsoft to offer
Windows Phone 8.1-powered
smartphones in the country.

The deal -
that was announced on Wednesday at
Microsoft's Build 2014 conference in
San Francisco - is expected to
intensify competition in the
smartphone space in India.

Microsoft Executive VP (Operating
Systems) Terry Myerson on Wednesday
said: "We are thrilled to welcome 11
new Windows Phone partners since
Mobile World Congress in February,
with the addition of Micromax and
Prestigio just announced today".
Delhi-based Micromax's revenues were
Rs. 3,168 crores for the financial
year 2012-13 and it expects to clock
revenues of $1 billion for the last
fiscal-ended March 2014. The mobile
manufacturer is expected to release
its first Windows Phone smartphone
later this year.

Micromax, which is the second largest
smartphone player in India, held about
16 percent market share in Q4 2013,
according to IDC data. Some its top-
selling models were the entry level
smartphones like A35 Bolt and A67.
Besides, the software giant has also
announced that it will offer its
Windows operating system free to
smartphone and tablet makers (for
devices with screen-sizes less than 9-
inches), a move that will help the firm
compete with Google's Android and
Apple's iOS in the fiercely competitive
smart devices market.
This offering also enables hardware
partners to provide their customers a
one-year subscription to Office 365 .

The move, though surprising, will led
to a fiercer competition in the
smartphone and tablets space,
especially in the backdrop of its plans
to acquire the handset business of
Finnish phone maker Nokia for $7.2
billion.

Microsoft's third CEO, Satya Nadella,
since his appointment in February
has been emphasising the company's
focus on mobile and cloud.

Nokia Lumia 930 will be equipped with5.1 Dolby Digital Plus audio recording

Hi The Nokia Lumia 930 was introduced recently. The new Windows Phone flagship model is similar to the Nokia Lumia Icon, which is an exclusive to Verizon. There are a few differences of note between the two models. One is the various color options that buyers of the Lumia 930 will have.

The second is that the Lumia 930 will feature 5.1 Dolby Digital Plus audio recording. Nokia says that the Lumia 930 will be the first smartphone to offer this feature. The same HAAC (high-amplitude audio recording) microphones found on the Nokia Lumia 1520 and the Nokia Lumia Icon, are found on the Nokia Lumia 930. 

The difference is in the firmware and Nokia has hinted that a future update to the Lumia 1520 and Lumia Icon will add the 5.1 Dolby Digital Plus technology to those two models. Currently, the 5.1 Dolby Digital Plus audio recording feature is still in development, and can only be found on a few units of the Lumia 930 kept internally by Nokia. 

The Finnish manufacturer hopes to finish off the feature in the weeks before the phone is launched in June. The option will be found in the Camera settings under Video. Nokia already prides itself on the quality of the sound reproduction on video captured by the rear camera on its high-end models. The 5.1 Dolby Digital Plus technology on the Nokia Lumia 930 takes the audio to another level.

"Combining Dolby Surround Sound Capturing with Nokia Rich Recording, all of your videos will document exactly what you hear. Play it back and you’ll experience true surround sound in 5.1 Dolby Digital Plus format." -Nokia source: WPCentral

Microsoft Windows 8.1 free update released

Microsoft has released the free update of Windows 8.1 for Windows 8 and Windows RT device users via the Windows Store. Businesses now have access to the final versions of Windows 8.1 Pro and Windows 8.1 Enterprise. Windows 8.1 will also be available on new devices and as boxed software from 18 October.

Updates include: An improved, more customisable Start screen with variable tile sizes, more background designs and colours to make each Windows device look unique. Now you can chose to boot up at the Start screen or directly in good old fashion Windows desktop. 

The Start button has also returned as well as an updated apps view. Search with Bing has been enhanced for instant online or local searching from the Start screen. 

You can now enjoy native support for 3D printing making it easy as plug-and-play for all. Up to four apps can be used at once side by side with easy screen resizing as well as improved multi- monitor support. 

Sky Drive is also more heavily integrated making backing up files and using them across devices much easier. The Windows Store has also had a refresh making keeping up to date easier.

Skype overhaul promises improvedcalling, chat sync across devices

Skype has announced a new architectural update with an intent to improve the popular messaging and video call platform in a world with more connected mobile devices. Sharing some details about the changes in a blog post, Skype's Mark Gillet mentions that Skype is now using the cloud to assist clients in delivering chat messages and connecting calls, marking a shift from the p2p nature of the service where a major amount of processing was done on the user's device.

Gillet calls the move to Skype cloud the service's biggest architectural change in 10 years and says that new technologies are helping the company to promote improved battery life and improved connections. "Skype clients continue to evaluate bandwidth, connectivity and firewall settings to select the most appropriate path for the call and continue to connect devices for P2P calls across the Internet so that users get audio and video connections that 'just work'," he states. 

Skype also credits the cloud for enhancing the performance and quality of its core messaging experience. It talks about the ability to receive messages offline and pushing notifications to the Windows Phone 8 mobile client even when the Skype app is not running, and says that the feature will soon be extended to other Skype mobile clients soon. 

However, the major feature that Skype is about to introduce is chat sync, something which has been demanded by a large number of users since the time Skype started focusing on clients for multiple devices. Skype says that it is working to synchronise chat message status across all of the user's devices so the user knows the current status of all of chats on every device that is used to interact with Skype. 

It says the capability will be rolled out across clients over the next few months. Right now if you log-in to Skype's mobile client after being logged in on the desktop one, you receive all messages that you've already read on your desktop on your mobile, which hampers the chat experience in a world where users keep on shuttling between different devices.

Skype also states that it will use its cloud to help preserve the battery of the users' device by enabling the mobile Skype app to stay in "sleep" mode until it's needed by using push notifications. When a user calls another user, the calling app sends the Skype ID and IP address of the parties, as well as the time and date, to the Skype cloud. 

Once a push notification is sent, Skype collects and stores information about the call. It will even sync missed calls information across all the users' devices, The Skype client on Windows 8.1, will offer the ability to answer calls directly from the lock screen with the user's choice of audio, video or a message. Skype also clarified that it uses strong physical, technical and administrative security protections, apart from storing only partial IP addresses, and cryptographically hashing the Skype IDs it stores, to help protect the users' privacy.

Microsoft Windows 8.1 Preview now available for download

At its Build developers conference,
Microsoft announced that it has made
the preview version of Windows 8.1,
the update to its Windows 8 desktop
operating system, available to the
public for download.
As the word 'preview' suggests, this
build is sort of a final beta and might
contain some bugs so Microsoft
recommends that you should only
install it if you're comfortable with
troubleshooting your PC. The company
also warns that you might lose some
functionality or encounter errors as
the software is still in development
stage. Also, the final version of
Windows 8.1 could feature more
changes.
To download the new OS, you need to
visit the Windows 8.1 Preview page
and download a small program. It's
worth pointing out you will not be able
to 'uninstall' Windows 8.1 Preview
and will need to perform a fresh install
if you wish to go back to Windows 8.
After executing the downloaded
program, the PC will prompt you to
restart and will give you an option to
download the Windows 8.1 update
from the Windows Store. You'll just
need to follow the instructions to
download and install the update.
Microsoft also lists some devices that
are not compatible with the Preview,
yet.
It says, "Some tablets and PCs running
newer 32-bit Atom processors require
updates to their graphics drivers
before they can run the Windows 8.1
Preview. Those tablets and PCs
include the Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet 2,
ASUS VivoTab TF810C, HP Envy X2,
HP ElitePad 900, Samsung ATIV Smart
PC, and Fujitsu ARROWS Tab. We are
working closely with Intel and OEM
partners to deliver updated drivers
that will allow you to install the
Windows 8.1 Preview as soon as
possible."
The Windows 8.1 update features a
couple of new improvements including
a new Start tip that offers Start menu
like functionality, desktop wallpapers
for Start screen, updated search,
automatic app updates, new
multitasking experience, a revamped
Store, better PC settings and a new
version of Internet Explorer, among
other changes.