Sunday, June 28, 2015

Another Month, More Windows Phone Flagship Rumors


There comes a time when it just starts to get old. You know, hearing the same rumors over and over again as each month starts. As June comes to a close, we once again hear the crazy rumors and confirmations of that coveted Lumia 940 and that gorgeous 940XL. Unfortunately, the big issue is that we still don't even have an OS to put on these guesses yet.

Sure, something coming, but to start throwing around specs and terms, it just seems a bit premature. The only thing that tossing out monstrous specs and beautiful renderings will do is miniaturise the impact of the mid-range devices that Microsoft is already pushing out. It makes people forget the Lumia 735 just hit Verizon's shelves and the 640 and 640XL are rolling out as well.

It's sad that the tech blogs publish these rumors and belittle the current efforts so much. I, for one, would be happy to carry the Lumia 640XL as a daily driver. It has more than enough power to run Windows 8 and looks pretty amazing in hand. That said, I haven't seen any of them around yet, so Microsoft folks, if you want to send one my way, I'd be happy to show it off for you.

For now, let's kill the rumors and the what ifs. Let's concentrate on the here and now. Let's grow our platform and encourage developers to get excited about Universal Apps. This fall, we will launch into the beginning or the end for Microsoft's hardware division. As they change to a services company, their mobile devices could just disappear and they could leverage their power on Android and iOS Apps instead. Let's hope Win 10 hits it big and the hardware comes, but until then, don't forget the amazing Lumia's that are right in front of you.

Sent from my HTC One M8 for Windows
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Friday, June 19, 2015

Boost Mobile Drops Lumia 635 To $49.99

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If you were in the market for a lower cost monthly cell plan and a new Lumia, Boost Mobile has you covered with their new $49.99 Lumia 635 deal! The Lumia 635 features a Quad-core processor powering a 4.5” ClearBlack display. A 5MP rear facing camera and support for a 128GB MicroSD card will allow you to capture those instant memories when you need to. Of course, the Windows 8.1 powered handset also features Cortana, mobile hotspot and LTE capabilities as well.

The Lumia 635 deal also comes with a few monthly plan options that start as low as $35 a month for 1GB of LTE data, which can be doubled up when you sign up for auto Re-Boost. To sweeten that offer a bit more, they will also drop the bill down to $30 with that auto renewal program as well.

So, to make the long story short, your new Lumia 635 and unlimited plan will set you back less than $80 out the door and only $30 a month. Boost Mobile runs on the Sprint LTE network which is available in most major markets. Check the coverage map for details.

Source: Boost Mobile

What Windows 10 Needs For Me To Stop Carrying An Android Device…

2015-06-19 11.13.19

I’ve gone on and on about the failings of Windows Phone 8.1 over the past year. I’ve poked a bit of fun at the omissions of the OS and the Apps that are missing, but there is something that I never say – even when I am carrying a device like the HTC One M9… I miss Windows Phone.

As amazing as Android is, and don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I don’t like it, or it doesn’t work, it just doesn’t have something that clicks with me. I love the additional Apps for services like Klout, Wordpress and a few others, but I can work around most of those via mobile sites or programs like Windows Live Writer on my Dell Venue Pro. Even with all those extra Apps, a monstrously great device and a ‘perfect’ setup, Android isn’t right for me.

You see, I use my phone primarily as a communications device. That may shock some, but in order of importance, I need a camera, an emailing machine, a texting machine and a PDF reader. That encompasses about 85% of my daily usage. While my M9 does a good job with this, it isn’t as good as my Lumia devices, or even the M8 for Windows. The Windows Phone OS just does a better job of ‘working’ for what I need.

The problem is this, I can’t do everything I want with my Windows Phone either. While it’s a smaller portion of my day, that 5-10% of features is pretty much a deal breaker. For one, something as simple as printing an email can’t be done. Access to Google services, like Drive, which my company uses daily, is practically non-existent. Another common issue that I have is that I feel that Microsoft is putting more effort into my Android Apps than my Windows Apps right now. I know that sounds crazy, but have you seen Bing Torque? It’s freaking amazing!

Now, if Microsoft would just get down to brass tacks here and make my phone work like my Venue 8 Pro, but add the dialer and messaging apps, I think I would be the happiest guy on the planet. I can wirelessly print documents. I can edit photos with the killer OneDrive App. I can read PDF’s in the multiple readers that are available and most of all, there’s no file system problems when trying to upload from a “real” browser. This get’s over that nasty ‘youtube’ issue that seems to plague many users.

So, if you are listening Mr. Microsoft, let’s get this started already, ok? There’s no real reason why Windows and Windows for Mobile should be much different any longer. These 4”-6” devices all have plenty of power to run this OS, I mean my Dell isn’t much more powerful than my Lumia 1520, so… Yeah… Anyways, lets get bringing these awesome services to the forefront and make a phone that uses them well. Bring the mobiles to Windows 10 and not a cut version of Windows 10 to mobiles. Believe me, we will pay $500-1000 for a 5” full Windows 10 device that runs EXE’s and universal Apps. We will, we promise… Now just get this done, ok?