Archive for April 11th, 2010

For Windows Phone 7, Only The Best Is Good Enough

Feeling a bit disappointed with the recent(ish) announcement of the feature-reduced, locked-down OS that is Windows Phone 7? Despite valid arguments for the change, it does feel a bit like moving back in with your parents after finishing college: sure it’s a nice house, but what’s with all the rules?

However, a recent interview (in Dutch) with Charlie Kindel during the Dutch DevDay event says that while the first release of WinPho 7 may be a little “lacking” initially, missing features will be added in the future… but only when they’re perfect.

WM Poweruser have more highlights from the interview (including tidbits on the delivery of updates, xbox tie-ins, customisation control, and carrier billing), but the take-away here is that Microsoft have now shifted away from the “Jack of all” strategy that characterised WinMo, and plan to become a powerful master, ruling initially over only an immaculate few, but gradually expanding their dominion as they fully and completely conquer foreign lands (sorry… got a bit carried away there).

Basically, new features will be added in the future, but only after they have been polished to perfection. “User experience” is key in their new strategy, and if WinPho 7 hopes to become the King of the OSes, it makes sense to only accept the best, right?

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Nokia buys MetaCarta Inc.

Today Nokia announced that it bought MetaCarta Inc., a 30 person firm based in Cambridge, Massachusetts that works on local search services. MetaCarta also allows publishers to geo-enable content that can be displayed on a host of map servers. Nokia did not discuss further details on the purchase.

Read the full story here.

View full post on MobileBurn.com

Samsung Galaxy S hits the FCC with AT&T bands onboard

It wasn’t even a week ago that we deduced the eventual launch of Samsung’s Galaxy S Android phone on AT&T, and now here we are looking at FCC documents confirming Ma Bell’s favorite frequencies. So much for intrigue and mystery. Of course, Samsung could have just filed the testing paperwork to cover devices headed to Canada and Mexico, so this doesn’t mean it’s a lock — especially since this phone is labeled as the i9000, not the SGH-i867 number we were sort of expecting. Either way, it looks like the rabid Samsung fanboys out there will be able to get their TouchWiz all up on Stateside 3G at some point — and isn’t that all you can expect from this world?

Samsung Galaxy S hits the FCC with AT&T bands onboard originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 11 Apr 2010 17:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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AT&T’s signal-boosting 3G MicroCell hitting the shelves in San Francisco today

If AT&T gets a bad wrap for having poor signal quality in any city, it’s San Francisco. Part of this is due to the sudden influx of iPhones in the Silicon Valley that began in 2007, putting an almighty strain on the network; of the roughly 800,000 or so people living in San Francisco, we’re estimating that around 10 million of them (or 1,150%) are carrying iPhones. Throw in ridiculous topography and monstrous buildings, and it starts to get tough to properly blanket the entire area in radio waves.

Thus, it should come as no surprise that San Francisco is one of the first cities to be getting AT&T’s cell-tower-in-a-box, the 3G MicroCell. AT&T just hit us up to let us know that we should start seeing the little router-sized, broadband-powered signal boosters on the shelves in their San Francisco stores beginning today.

If you’re in a dead zone or if the ridiculously sized buildings around your home are causing your calls to fail on the regular, you might want to consider picking one of these up. It’ll set you back $150 bucks up front, but there’s no monthly fee — that is, unless you want unlimited minutes whenever you’re connected to your MicroCell. That’ll set you back $20 bucks a month.

We just got our hands on one of these things this evening, and we’ll be heading up to the city later this week to give it a spin. Check back for a hands on report some time this week.

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RIM to buy QNX Software from Harman International

Today Research in Motion (RIM) said that it has reached an agreement to acquire QNX Software Systems from Harman International, pending a 35-45 regulatory approval process. Mike Lazaridis, president and co-CEO of RIM said that, through the purchase, RIM hopes to improve the user experience between smartphones and in-vehicle audio and infotainment systems. “We believe the planned acquisition of QNX will also bring other value to RIM in terms of supporting certain unannounced product plans for intelligent peripherals,” Lazaridis added.

Read the full story here.

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