windowsphoneblue
Latest
Microsoft announces new Windows Phone hardware partners, including LG and Lenovo
Microsoft is on a roll at its MWC event today. Shortly after announcing updates to Windows and Windows Phone, the company also told us that it's now trying to make its mobile platform more flexible for operators and manufacturers and is now working with a whole bevy of new manufacturing partners. Among the notable companies on the list are LG, Lenovo and ZTE, in addition to several companies in India, such as Xolo, Karbonn and Lava. Some of the listed companies (such as LG, Huawei and ZTE) have worked with Windows Phone in the past, but today's revelations show that those companies haven't completely turned away from Microsoft -- or have returned to the fold. Says Microsoft VP Nick Parker, "we're open for business on Windows Phone to anyone who wants to build one." The company is extending its arms out to more partners by providing more options; for instance, Parker told us that Microsoft is now working with operators on possible white label devices -- phones that are branded by operators but built by other manufacturers. Additionally, Microsoft also announced that any company can build a Windows Phone using Qualcomm's Reference Design; interestingly, this means that Android-based hardware could potentially be reused for Windows Phone. These changes announced today will certainly add more appeal and higher volume to the platform around the world, especially in emerging markets, and is a good way for Microsoft to indirectly address growing concerns that its upcoming acquisition of Nokia's device division would limit the interest of outside manufacturers.
Windows Phone 8.1 will come with more hardware support and is backwards-compatible
Microsoft has made a few announcements related to Windows Phone 8.1 this afternoon in Barcelona. While we don't expect to see the new update in its entirety until April, we got at least a few satisfying nuggets of info today. First, we're going to see a lot more flexible support for hardware: 8.1 will be able to support more Qualcomm chipsets, such as Snapdragon 200, 400 and 400 LTE; it will come with TD-LTE, TD-SCDMA and SGLTE support, the ability for phones to use dual-SIM, apps on microSD and virtual softkeys instead of capacitive keys. Devices won't be required to have a hardware camera shutter key anymore, either (but it's still offered as an option anyway). Additionally, we've been told that devices currently on Windows Phone 8 will be able to get an update to 8.1, so it's fortunately backwards-compatible to some degree. With the new update, Microsoft is going to introduce support for dual SIM devices, which is huge in developing areas of the world. As part of this support, WP8.1 will offer Live Tiles for each SIM, as well as the option to link messaging tiles together for both. Microsoft is also going to be compatible with Qualcomm's Reference Design (QRD), and VP Joe Belfiore brought a Snapdragon 200-powered Windows Phone reference device to show it off. Unfortunately he couldn't show it off to us personally, since there were a few things he didn't want us to see, but it's refreshing to see such sweeping hardware opportunities; this opens up more ability for growth in global market share.
HTC working with Microsoft to bring Windows Phone Blue to 8X
HTC hasn't forgotten about Windows Phone after all. The company's been pretty silent on any sort of collaboration with Microsoft for a long time, but the North American product team spoke up today on Reddit. When asked if HTC is done with Windows Phone, the team stated: "we're working with Microsoft on the Blue update on Windows Phone 8X and will continue to take new products into consideration." Indeed, it appears that the 8X -- which will be nearly a year and a half old in April, when the Blue update is rumored to launch -- will get the latest and greatest version of Windows Phone after all, and perhaps we may even see new hardware down the road. Sadly there's no word on what will happen to the 8S, which launched around the same time, so we'll have to wait and see. As a sidenote, it's also rare to hear companies directly confirm the existence of upcoming updates, but let's face it: It's not as if it's really that big a secret these days anyway.
Leak reportedly shows Windows Phone 8.1's new notification center
Wondering what Windows Phone 8.1's rumored notification hub would look like? You may be looking at it right now. Winphollowers claims to have a leaked Microsoft presentation outlining the feature, which might be called Action Center. While Windows Phone's approach to notifications would share much in common with what we've seen for a while in Android and iOS, it would have a few tricks up its sleeve. A driving mode shortcut would be available to (presumably) keep distractions to a minimum while on the road. Apps may also have more control over their notifications than you've seen on some other platforms. Alerts would silently appear, update or vanish, making it easy to deliver constantly changing information (think sports scores) or to clear out time-sensitive notices when they're no longer relevant. There's no guarantee that we'll see Action Center in 8.1, but the historically reliable WPCentral vouches for its existence -- we won't be surprised if it's part of the final OS release.
