Review Horizon

After a buggy update process bricked a number of Samsung Focus and Omnia 7 Windows Phone 7 phones, Microsoft was quick to stop it until it looked for ways to fix it. Apparently it succeeded so the update is available again.

While the update issue only happened in extreme cases, like no more room on the hard-drive or a crappy internet connection that failed in the middle of the upgrade, it affected somewhere toward 10 percent of the total WP7 Samsung phone owners, so it is more than a little bit surprising Microsoft QA team didn’t catch the issue before. Most of the tests are performed exactly in extreme conditions, so low space of bad connection cases should be part of any reasonable test plan.

Well, whatever the problem is, it is now fixed and Microsoft resumed the update. If you have one of the affected models, you should be able to get the upgrade now. Be sure it works, because it prepares the field for the next, more important update called NoDo Read More…

For all the webmasters, I am happy to announce the launch of Review Horizon Analytics application for Windows Phone 7.

The application can be used to retrieve simple, most commonly used reports from Google Analytics like Hourly Visits, Visitor Summary, Bounce Rate, New Visits, Average time on site, Average page views, Traffic Sources, Top Countrie , Top Cities, Top Keywords, Top Landing Pages, Top OS, etc. All the reports will display the first 20 positions.
You can can have an unlimited number of websites per account and you can create reports for today, yesterday, last seven days or choose an arbitrary date range. You can also refresh the reports directly from the results screen at a touch of a button.

The application was already approved and can be found in Windows Phone 7 Marketplace under the Business section for a price of $2 or via this link (only works in Internet Explorer). By my knowledge it is the first application with such functionality in Windows Phone 7 Marketplace.

Check after the break for additional screenshots.

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It didn’t take long, did it? Google takes an additional step toward Google everywhere dream and now you can find their Google Search app on competition’s phones, the recently released Windows Phone 7 devices. The application is as expected, free, enables web searching along with images and local news and features Google latest trick, instant search, displaying suggestions as you type. If you want to download it right now, the link is here. (use it from a Windows Phone 7 device)

There is no way currently to replace Bing as the main search engine on the phone, but having it pinned to Start page (and in the top position) should do the trick…And wait for the day when the regulators will force Microsoft to include all search engines and browsers on their phone, in a neat random order waiting for you at startup

I was late for the Keynote and when going around the Registration area I noticed Microsoft employee stacking LG marked boxes. A free Windows 7 phone for us? I certainly hope so…keep my fingers crossed. I’ll keep you updated once the Keynote is ending.

Update: Confirmed, we’ll get a LG Optimus 7 Windows 7 Smartphone starting 12:30pm.

LG Optimus 7 Windows 7 Phone is built around a 1Ghz Qualcomm Snapdragon CPU and features a 3.8″ WVGA display, 16GB storage, 5MP camera capable of recording 720p HD video, WiFi and GPS, and, interestingly enough, native DLNA client, a first in the industry. But a client DLNA is not all, LG Optimus 7 can also act as a DLNA server sharing its content to other DLNA enabled devices around your home.

Update 2: Apparently a select group will get a Samsung (probably Omnia 7) device. We’ll see at 12:30 who and why!

Update 3: I just got my device, if you signed fo the Windows Phone 7 Workshop on Saturday, you get a Samsung!

In a recent press conference with investors, company’s CEO Bert Nordberg announced that Sony Ericsson will work to release Windows Phone 7 based smartphones in 2011, moving away from previous OS used, Symbian. Nordberg did not explicitly said what kind of handsets they will release or even when exactly they will be released, but we cannot feel sorry that the company will miss the holidays again.

Sony Ericsson is not amazingly successful, due in part to their prices and their lack of coherent plans for software upgrade. The most expensive Sony Ericsson smartphone, Xperia X10 for example doesn’t use the latest Android OS 2.2 (when most of its competition does) while being priced significantly above the market.

Windows Phone series, as a Microsoft product is famous to bring deep XBOX Live integration. It would be interesting to know if Sony intends to add any kind of Playstation Network Functionalities or even PS3 Remote Play, a technology found in their portable PSP devices and some Sony Vayo laptops that allows PlayStation Portable user to interact with their PlayStation 3′s Xross Media Bar.

Sales overall were €1.6bn, with net income of €48m ($68.8m) which is fairly weak for a major player in the smartphone market.

In a stark contrast with US market, where Verizon announced not too long ago that they won’t carry Windows Phone 7 devices at launch, Microsoft announced that all 5 big UK wireless companies (Orange, O2, T-Mobile, Three, and Vodafone) will actually carry Windows Phone 7 devices as soon as they will be available.

In a recent press release, Alex Reeve, Director, Mobile Business Group, Microsoft UK, said:
“Following our announcement at Mobile World Congress that Orange will be our lead partner, it is wonderful now to have all of the UK’s network operators supporting the launch of Windows Phone 7. This means we can provide network choice and also a range of phones across networks for customers to choose from, all with the power of Windows Phone 7. We are thrilled to be working in partnership with these major industry players.”

In a recent Bloomberg interview with Verizon’s Brenda Raney, we find out that Verizon doesn’t have any imminent plans to sell Windows Phone 7 based devices. Maybe for 2011. hearing this, we can’t stop to remember that they seem to have no imminent plans to carry iPhone handsets either and it makes us wonder if there is something wrong with their planning department, or they just have a sadistic tendency to sell only unpopular handsets as the recently dead Kin. We do know though that Verizon just loves to heavily customize (read – install their crap) the handsets they sell and maybe this is what was driving away Apple and Microsoft.

Whatever their motivation, the latest news won’t increase Verizon’t appeal among consumers, but there is always next year.

Today Microsoft released its final version (as the version 1.00 goes, of course) of their development tools for Windows Phone 7 OS. Part of the development technology supported by Windows Phone 7 are key elements like Silverlight, XNA and of course, the development environment Visual Studio 2010. New features part of the development toolkit are a new Bing Map control, a pivot control and a panorama control as well as an update for their Windows Phone emulator. Among the applications also demoed today you can enjoy Twitter, Netflix, Flixster, OpenTable, and Travelocity apps so if you are in the market for a new phone around holidays you might just looked into Microsoft’s new offering.

Read Microsoft’s full Press Release and additional screenshots after the break. Read More…

According to some unofficial reports floating around the Web, Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 based phones might see the light of the day sometime around October 11th. While some Windows Phone 7 prototypes get reviewed regularly on various tech blogs, it it the first time the rumors are specifically pointing toward a certain date. The big event could take place in New York and be broadcast around the world. Microsoft’s OS would be the 3rd large competitor in the oh so crowded smartphone market (after iOS and Android devices)  but it might also bring a fresh breeze with their unique integration of Office and XBOX Live. If that will be enough for Microsoft to reclaim some of the market share it is yet to be seen but we can only be happy for the additional competition.

Today Microsoft proved that they are serious about gaming on Windows Phone 7 by announcing their games lineup for the Holiday 2010.

“Windows Phone 7 is the launch of a major gaming platform for Microsoft” said Matt Booty, general manager of mobile gaming for MGS. “Just like we’ve done with Xbox 360, our charter is to push the envelope and deliver definitive games that maximize the platform. We will have an incredible lineup of MGS titles, and that’s just the beginning.”

Windows Phone 7 offers the Games Hub where the gamer will be able to earn, view and track achievements, customize XBOX Live avatars, shop the game marketplace, play live against other users, etc.

Check after the break for the full games lineup. Read More…