Been thinking about that amazing HTC One M8 For Windows? Well right now, if you grab one for AT&T or Verizon Wireless, you can snag yourself a $50 value for free. That freebie comes in the form of a green Xbox edition Dot View case, Simply visit this website to redeem your free Xbox Dot View cover ($50 value)
Truth be told, I’m taking this with a grain of salt, especially after the T-Mobile Lumia 810 was left out in the cold back on Windows 8, but according to the official Lumia Twitter Page, “All Lumia Windows Phone 8 devices” will be upgraded to Windows 10 when it is released. Again, this is the same song and dance that Microsoft spouted about the move from Windows 7.5 to 7.8, then again on the move from 8.0 to 8.1, so I’m not going to put much into a passing tweet.
That said, we are almost a year away from seeing that magical update, so anything is possible. Of course, since this is the Lumia page and not the official “Windows Phone” or Microsoft accounts, there is no mention of other hardware manufacturers. HTC will give their standard, “We won’t comment on any rumors or speculation about future updates or devices” answer and Samsung doesn’t even respond to requests about Windows Phone device any longer.
As soon as there is official confirmation one way or another regarding any upgrade plans to Windows 10 for existing devices I will let you know what I hear, but until then, take posts and rumors like a grain of salt and realize that your contract will probably be up before Win 10 comes out anyways and you will probably want to get a new device either way.
For those that have been wondering what on earth Microsoft has been doing by ‘perfecting’ their Skype, Office and Xbox Apps for other operating systems before getting Windows Phone versions finished first, you now have your answer. Microsoft isn’t going to ride their mobile operating system to future glories, but rather sell the services that they have spent so long developing to anyone and everyone that will have them.
When you look at the $3 a month price for Skype Premium US, $10 for Office 365, $100 for Xbox Music and another $10 a month for Xbox Live, it starts to get a bit expensive for folks out there. So, why not make it a bit easier to make that commitment. For $199 a year, you get everything, which even includes an unlimited data allotment for your OneDrive account. Not only does this deal offer a serious value, but it’s one of the most powerful offers out there for how all-inclusive this service pack becomes.
For that $16 a month charge, you get access to Office 365 on up to 5 PC’s, tablets and phones. You get unlimited OneDrive storage – though you need to email them to receive more than 10TB that comes as a standard ‘cap’. Further more, you get unlimited downloads from Xbox Music – and streaming music via Xbox “radio” stations. Then you add in the Xbox Live Gold membership for your Windows Phone and Xbox gaming system for good measure.
Wait just a minute though, the savings don’t end there. Also included with this monstrous deal is a Skype Unlimited World + Wi-Fi membership. The Unlimited World plan usually costs $13.99 a month on it’s own. Add on the Skype Wi-Fi package, which allows you to connect to Skype locations all over the world for no additional charge, and you have a seriously amazing communication tool.
Overall, there isn’t a better deal than the Work and Play Bundle from Microsoft. There is something in it for everyone and as long as you can be the primary log-in to the family devices, you can use the features on almost anything. Before you ask, yes, it also works with iOS and Android Apps as well. The hitch, you have to hit a Microsoft Store to snag this deal. Also, this deal is region locked to the US and Canada, so no luck for you overseas users, for now.
I’ll admit to being very excited for this one. The darling of my pocket, the HTC One M8 For Windows is going to be available soon for T-Mobile customers, according to their website. Pricing shows as zero down on the home page, but nothing officially has been posted at this point regarding payment sizes or full retail pricing. Stay up to date by following the link below.
Link: http://www.t-mobile.com/cell-phones/htc-one-m8-for-windows.html
There’s nothing like getting up at, well actually, staying up until 10 AM the day after Thanksgiving to go out into the world and grab those “once in a lifetime” deals that retailers put out on Black Friday. Usually the best of those deals involve some crazy pricing on some great tech. Fortunately, thanks to the magic of the internet, most of the Black Friday advertisements are already on the web and the most dedicated shoppers are already laying out their plans for which stores to get to and what time they need to be there. Unfortunately for those shoppers, it doesn’t look like Microsoft is going to give any Windows Phone users a reason to skip out on that 75% off sale at Kohl’s, at least not yet.
Yesterday, the Microsoft Stores began their push to Black Friday with a mass email campaign. While the deals themselves weren’t highlighted, the items were. The only Windows Phone product to make the list this holiday season is the Lumia 635. Currently the offer page takes you to the standard AT&T Lumia 635 page, reflecting a price of $.01 with new 2 year agreement. This will probably translate into a $50 deal for the Lumia 635 sans the 2 year commitment, but still isn’t appealing enough to get me out of bed on Thanksgiving night. One has to consider that Amazon has that same AT&T compatible Lumia 635 for $79.99 right now.
While it looks like there will be some amazing deals on Xboxes, games and a few other items, there’s not much love for the Windows Phone crowd at the MS Store’s this Turkey Day. Hopefully that magical – more items to come section will have something that Windows Phone fans can really get excited about. If not, there’s always Amazon to save me from the madness.
Some of us have them, others don’t. If you do, having those few Apps loaded into Kid’s Corner on your Windows Phone is a lifesaver. This week, I want to start collecting some great Kids Apps to review. These will not be full write-up style reviews, but a quick reference of what is out there and what is fun. I’ll be breaking them down to a few different segments, which will depend slightly on what comes in.
So, fire away in the comments below or send an email to smartphonedeals@gmail.com if you don’t want to publically say that the Barbie Hair Salon is a ton of fun and you can’t imagine your Windows Phone without it,
In a not so shocking move, Microsoft pulled the Nokia Camera App from the store yesterday to ready it for a name change, and apparently 2 different versions for future use. The first is Nokia Camera Classic, which appears to be only compatible with devices that will see the Lumia Denim update. These include the later generation Lumia devices and the Icon. The description and version numbers are exactly the same between the Classic version and the stock Lumia Camera that everyone else will be getting, so it appears that releasing Classic is just a way to segment the App for future updates. You can be assured that the 830 will end up with more powerful camera software then the 520 will in the future.
The biggest question I have is why the lack of support for the 1020 with your premiere camera software?
