Microsoft Drops A New Windows 10 Build, Bringing The Love To Lots More Phones

Aspiration’s Growth Shows The Appetite For More Financial ServicesIt’s New Build Day for Microsoft kids, as the Redmond software shop dropped new code that will bring Windows 10 to a host of smartphones that were previously not able to handle to the beta operating system.
The build, number 10051, brings a host of new features to Windows 10 for phones, including refreshed core applications and the Project Spartan browser that has already cropped up for PCs running Windows 10.
Also in the mix is a new “universal” Maps application. Microsoft is working to bring all of computing under a single roof. That makes the Maps app important: Here is Microsoft showing off how apps will scale from small to large across various screen sizes.
According to the company, the new app “includes the best maps, aerial imagery, rich local search data, and voice-guided navigation experiences from both Bing Maps and HERE maps, integrated together for the first time into a single app for Windows.”
Below is a list of supported phones:
Lumia 1020
Lumia 1320
Lumia 1520
Lumia 520
Lumia 525
Lumia 526
Lumia 530
Lumia 530 Dual Sim
Lumia 535
Lumia 620
Lumia 625
Lumia 630
Lumia 630 Dual Sim
Lumia 635
Lumia 636
Lumia 638
Lumia 720
Lumia 730
Lumia 730 Dual SIM
Lumia 735
Lumia 810
Lumia 820
Lumia 822
Lumia 830
Lumia 920
Lumia 925
Lumia 928
Microsoft Lumia 430
Microsoft Lumia 435
Microsoft Lumia 435 Dual SIM
Microsoft Lumia 435 Dual SIM DTV
Microsoft Lumia 532
Microsoft Lumia 532 Dual SIM
Microsoft Lumia 640 Dual SIM
Microsoft Lumia 535 Dual SIM
If you want the new build, make sure that you are on the fast release ring. Otherwise, you will have to sit tight.
The development pace of Windows 10 remains rapid. It’s been notable to watch the enthusiasm gap between the current Windows 10 release cycle, and what took place with Windows 8. That’s to say that people seem to care more this time around.
An example of this is my new Twitter nemesis, Gabe Aul from the Windows 10 team, who regularly racks up oodles of favorites for his oracular drippings concerning when new code might, or might not, land:

Riveting. You can check shots of the new build here.

By: Unknown On 01:18

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A Leaner HTC Still Finds Room To Shine In High End Phones, With One M9

WebOS Shambles Back From The Grave In LG’s Latest SmartwatchAfter plentiful leaks in the past few weeks, HTC has today confirmed its new flagship smartphone at a press launch in Barcelona, ahead of the Mobile World Congress tradeshow which kicks off tomorrow.
The new handset, the HTC One M9, follows last year’s well-reviewed HTC One M8, and the original HTC One (M7). It will go on sale starting from mid March in Asia-Pacific.
There’s no radical redesign or huge software changes in HTC’s recipe for the M9. But given how well received the prior devices in the range have been — and HTC’s reduced resources as it works towards a turnaround in its business fortunes — it’s a strategy that makes sense.
This flagship is about a leaner HTC staying the course and trying to build momentum with a pared back portfolio that has room to shine. You won’t find any fancy new sensor hardware packed into the One M9. Rather HTC is focusing its efforts on beefing up core performance, and on tweaks to the camera and audio.
“We understand your smartphone is a statement of taste and personal style which keeps beautiful design at the forefront of our philosophy,” said HTC CEO Peter Chou, announcing the phone on stage, and talking up the dual-tone metal finish.
“The HTC One M9 is our third generation of iconic design. While people say M8 is the most beautiful smartphone on the market we didn’t stop there. We challenged ourselves to aim higher. We were so inspired by the premium watch. And we worked so hard the whole year creating this brand new silver and gold finish that has never been in the market before. We really polished this and add this beautiful hairlines,” he added.
Also today the company took the wraps off its first wearable — called the Grip — which is a collaboration with fitness gear brand Under Armour. The fitness band is being initially targeted at the U.S. market.
HTC One M9
Specs wise, the new HTC flagship smartphone has:
5 Inch 1080p HD displayQualcomm 810 processor3GB RAM32GB on board storage (expandable via SD card)4MP ultrapixel front-facing camera20MP rear camera100GB of Dropbox storage free for two years

Design
HTC is not straying far in its established premium handset look and feel with the M9. In recent years, the One range’s clean, metallic lines have helped it stand out against more plastic-y Android rivals. And with metal-clad phones now pushing into Samsung’s and Xiaomi’s ranges HTC has no reason to change course here.
The main aesthetic difference between the M9 and its predecessors is a subtle two-tone effect, with the edges of the new device picked out in a different metallic tone than the back. The power button has also been moved from the top to the side.

There is also a brushed lines texture effect on the back, contrasting with high polished sides.The metal has a scratch resistant coating. HTC said it is taking inspiration from high end jewelry, such as luxury watches, for its design choices with the M9.
There are three color options for the M9: gold (edges) on silver; gunmetal grey on grey; and gold on gold. The version pictured in this article is the gold-edged silver device.
Although the 5 inch display is the same as the M8’s pane HTC has also managed to marginally shrink the footprint of the M9, so it’s slightly smaller than the M8 (below left).

Camera upgrade
Another major upgrade is to the camera hardware: the M9 has a beefed up rear lens, with a 20MP lens, toughed with sapphire glass, that can record video in 4K. The dual physical lenses of the M8 have also been consolidated into a single, more square-shaped rear lens, with the depth-based photo post-processing which the M8’s dual lens set-up allowed now being achieved entirely with software on the M9 (and its larger single sensor).
Meanwhile HTC has moved the main camera that was on the rear of the M8 to the front of the M9 — touting a better selfie snapping experience, thanks to improved low light performance. Other camera tweaks include dynamic exposure improvements — which HTC says gives more detail in multiple exposure points in a single picture.

HTC’s now trademark front-facing BoomSound speakers haven’t gone anywhere. But they’ve been augmented with the addition of Dolby Audio — for a “much richer, rounder, more surround experience”. (The Dolby processing also applies if you’re listening via headphones.)
Sense 7 brings more personalization
The M9 runs the latest version of HTC’s Sense Android skin, Sense 7, which includes its Blinkfeed news and social feeds aggregator sitting a swipe away from the homescreen.

While Blinkfeed has had the ability to tailor the content you see to your location for a while now, such as pushing nearby restaurant reviews, Sense 7 includes some new contextual elements. So you’ll also see the apps that are displayed on the M9’s homescreen change based on your usage and location.
For instance, you might see your train timetable app appear when you’re near your local railway station. Or the calendar app when you’re at work. Users can still override algorithmic customization if they wish to pin certain apps in place, but the idea is to help people get to their apps when they are most useful.

There’s also a homescreen folder containing contextual suggestions for new apps that might be worth checking out, again based on factors such as location, time of day, and also other apps you’re downloading — so more related content.
Another software tweak in Sense 7 is also focused on increasing the personalization of the device, with a range of new themes available for download — and an option to create your own, based on a photo or image of your choosing. Themes are intended to bleed out across the whole device in a range of ways — changing multiple aspects of the design such as the clock, icons, textures, music and fonts, not just the background image.

Another software addition HTC flags up is a new gallery feature which lets users synchronize thumbnails of any pictures they have stored elsewhere — in Dropbox, Google Drive, Flickr and Facebook — to the phone to help them locate where a particular shot is stored.
Dot View II
On the accessories side, HTC is keeping its fun Dot View case in play with the M9. Dot View debuted on the M8 and shows retro-style notifications through a matrix of small holes in a plastic screen cover.
As well as notifications, and lockscreen patterns, there are retro games for Dot View, like brick breaker.

The company has also now come up with some clear-backed versions of the Dot View case so M9 owners don’t have to conceal the device’s metallic back.
In a briefing with journalists HTC said it now has “two strong product lines in the market” — referring also to its mid-tier Desire range (which includes a selfie-focused phone, the Desire Eye), and the premium One line up.
Critics may complain the M9 lacks any new ‘wow’ factor. But it’s a solid smartphone with a premium feel and HTC’s trademark thoughtful detailing.
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By: Unknown On 13:24

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Hands On With The Windows 10 Technical Preview For Phones

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Windows 10 is coming this year, and a Technical Preview came out today. The Preview is limited in terms of devices it can run on, and in terms of features it offers, but it’s a start, and a first look at the next generation of Microsoft’s mobile OS. I loaded it onto a Lumia 830 to see what it brings to the table, and limited though it may be, it already does a lot to improve the overall experience, once you get past the lack of polish that comes with any pre-release software.
The main new features in this build are an overhauled Action Center, which provides access to two more rows of quick access settings with an expanded view, as well as notifications that you can interact with directly. Dismissing an alarm from a notification is easy, even if you don’t catch it on the main screen, and you can also reply to inbound messages directly. Settings has been completely redefined, and organizes a lot of information in a way that’s more dense but also much easier to parse. At first it was a big change, given how much it differs from navigation in the rest of the OS, but it’s an intelligent redesign that ultimately makes sense, once you think through where certain settings should be located.
Other new additions here include the Photos app, which now pulls in images from your OneDrive cloud storage. I’ve stored some pictures there from a long, long time ago as you can see, and these now show up right alongside my locally stored photos and screenshots taken on the 830 itself, as well as more recently cloud-based images. It’s a smart way to keep everything together, but right now it’s pretty basic, with more advanced organization and sharing features like Albums (which you can create along with family and friends) and Folders coming in a later build.

By: Unknown On 00:37

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Windows 10 Technical Preview For Phones Now Available

Microsoft has decided to make my job just a bit harder by naming all variants of Windows 10 clumsily, but if you have a phone that runs Windows Phone 8.1 and you want to try out the next generation,

By: Unknown On 10:59

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