AllThingsD » Windows Phone 8

Hulu Plus Hits Windows Phone 8

John Paczkowski — Mon, 06 May 2013 20:00:29 +0000

Microsoft has added another marquee app to its Windows Phone 8 catalog: Hulu Plus. The video service app debuted Monday on the Windows Phone store, offering streamed access to its catalog of TV shows and Criterion Collection films for an $8 per month subscription. The app’s lone Windows Phone customization: a Live Tile that updates with Hulu’s “hottest shows.” Still, a great addition to the Windows Phone app catalog which has been criticized for its lack of top-tier apps.

Microsoft, Nokia Target Low End in Effort to Crack Tough U.S. Market

Ina Fried — Fri, 03 May 2013 12:00:53 +0000

For the most part, Windows Phone has found itself targeting the premium segment of the U.S. smartphone market.

That’s especially tough in a country like the U.S., where big phone subsidies mean that one has to compete against free iPhone 4 and Android devices. Even the top-end devices generally sell for under $200 with a contract.

However, with T-Mobile’s recent move away from phone subsidies, Nokia and Microsoft are pouncing on an opportunity to offer a new smartphone at a noticeably lower price.

The Lumia 521, which runs on T-Mobile’s network, sells for around $150 unsubsidized. That’s hundreds less than many other smartphones. It goes on sale at Walmart and Microsoft stores next week, after selling out during a run on HSN.

Speaking at our D: Dive Into Mobile conference earlier this month, Windows Phone boss Terry Myerson noted the difficulty that Microsoft and its partners have had in subsidized markets such as the U.S.

“If every phone is $200, we are the challenger at the same price,” Myerson said. “That’s a playing field that is a little harder.”

T-Mobile’s move away from subsidies could create more room for Microsoft — and for others targeting the low end of the market.

The Lumia 521 is a T-Mobile customized version of a low-end model that Nokia introduced back in February.

Nokia CEO Stephen Elop said that Windows Phone needs to continue to come in less-expensive phones in order to effectively compete against Android.

“There’s definitely an opportunity to push to even lower price points,” he said.

Microsoft is also taking a harder line in its advertising, debuting an ad that goes directly after Android and the iPhone.

Facebook Timeline Makes Its Way to Windows Phone, at Least in Beta

Ina Fried — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 17:27:14 +0000

Although its iOS and Android apps have been getting most of the attention, Facebook is apparently still friends with Windows Phone.

Microsoft said on Tuesday that there is a test version of updated Facebook software for Windows Phone 8. The beta software adds support for high-res photos, post sharing and the Facebook Timeline.

However, the companies apparently mean it when they say beta.

“Don’t like it when apps crash?” Microsoft said in a blog post. “This probably isn’t the program for you.”

The app isn’t available in the Windows Phone marketplace, but is available via this direct link.

Separately, an app geared toward to making it easier for folks to switch from Android to a Windows Phone has made its way onto the Google Play and Windows Phone stores. Developed by Quixey, Switch to Windows Phone helps ease the move and allows one to see which of their apps are available for Microsoft’s operating system.

BlackBerry's Pitch to iOS and Android Game Developers: We're the Same, but Different

Eric Johnson — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 17:33:04 +0000

At the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco last week, most mobile devs said they would focus on iOS and/or Android (usually both), and play the “wait and see” game with everyone else. But in sync with its surprisingly good fourth-quarter earnings, BlackBerry is pitching the idea that bringing games into its new OS is a no-brainer.

“I’ve been evangelizing that BlackBerry is not a business device,” global gaming head Anders Jeppsson said. “It used to be, maybe, many years ago. But over 80 percent of our users are active consumers today, and they’re very, very social.”

In order to get to those users, though, developers must first be persuaded that porting games over to BlackBerry is simple and cheap. Naturally, Jeppsson said it is, thanks in part to the company’s open-source efforts on Github and the cross-platform social gaming tools provided by BlackBerry-owned Scoreloop.

Microsoft is also touting how easy it is for mobile developers to transition into its ecosystem, but — this is both a positive and a negative for Redmond — the discoverability gap versus BlackBerry 10 is huge. Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 are the newest members of a big family, including the proven powerhouse Xbox 360 and its accompanying Xbox Live Marketplace, not to mention Windows 8’s backward compatibility with innumerable PC games. Meanwhile, BlackBerry 10 is a nascent OS currently available on just one device, the Z10.

Efforts to bridge that device gap include some monetary incentives for BB10 developers, like the (now ended) “10K Commitment” that promised early-adopter devs up to $9,000 in free money if they couldn’t reach $10,000 in revenue in their first year on BB10. There’s also a first-mover advantage, Jeppsson added, because the OS is barely two months old. In other words, it’s easier for a game to break out on a non-Google and non-Apple platform because, at least for now, the pickings are slimmer.

Jeppsson said he’s been working on developer outreach since he came to Research In Motion in 2012, when RIM acquired Jeppsson’s user interface design company, The Astonishing Tribe. He claimed “many” developers are making more money with BB10 than they are on iOS.

But the devil’s in the details, and one of the biggest questions is, what proportion of BlackBerry 10 users are frequently playing games on their new Z10s? A company representative said she would try to find out last week, but did not respond to a follow-up request for numbers. (“Frequently” is important, because players who download games, open them once and never come back are near worthless for the free-to-play mobile developers that dominate the charts on other operating systems.)

Lack of specific numbers isn’t stopping Jeppsson from some good old-fashioned competition bashing when it comes to attracting developers from outside BlackBerry’s ecosystem.

“I think BlackBerry users are actually users that are willing to pay for quality content,” he said. “They expect a quality experience. They’re not going to sideload stuff and pirate it like Android [users], stealing software.”

However, he added that his newest goals are less about developer outreach and more about making the case that the consumer’s gaming experience is better on his side of the fence.

His hope is that, as phone hardware continually improves (“This is easily an Xbox One in terms of what it can do,” he said, holding up a Z10), users will be able to play the same games as consoles, so that a game started on the bus can be finished on the couch.

Again, Microsoft is preaching a similar message. But although it already has the console side of the equation worked out, its cross-platform games are more casual than the more complex hardware-constrained games Jeppsson aspires to pair with BlackBerry — or, indeed, run entirely on his phone.

“Why would you want to buy a big PC to play Counter-Strike, where you remove all the details anyway because you want 60 frames per second?” he said. “That’s how I play Counter-Strike.”

Microsoft Says Paying Developers Is Not Its Main Strategy for Getting More Windows Apps

Ina Fried — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 11:00:12 +0000

Microsoft has raised more than a few eyebrows with a new promotion that pays developers $100 for each new Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 app they create.

Shutterstock/Fussypony

The offer promises developers $100 for each app they bring to the PC or phone, up to a total of $2,000.

But paying for apps is a risky game. Such a move can boost the total number of apps, but seems unlikely to convince big-name developers to bring their apps to Windows.

Microsoft, for its part, seems to agree. In a statement to AllThingsD, a representative said that paying developers is not its primary strategy, noting that the promotion is a limited-time offer that runs only through the end of June.

“We believe the best apps come from those partners who are invested in the platform and own their experience now and in the future,” Microsoft said. “Of course, we are always working to spark creativity with new developer audiences and sometimes try limited incentives or contests, like Keep The Cash. However, it is not representative of an ongoing program.”

Microsoft added that it is encouraged by both the quality and number of apps out there, noting it now has four times as many apps as it did when Windows 8 launched.

Is Samsung Stringing Microsoft Along on Windows Phone 8?

John Paczkowski — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 18:20:53 +0000

Is Samsung’s interest in Microsoft’s Windows Phone 8 on the level, or is it a ploy intended to slow the platform’s market penetration? Boutique research house Detwiler Fenton believes it may be the latter, a concerted effort by Samsung to hamstring Windows Phone 8 as it ramps up development of its own Tizen mobile OS.

If that all sounds a bit too evil-genius for the smartphone industry, consider this. Samsung’s Windows Phone road map is not elaborate by any means. The Ativ Odyssey, the company’s first Windows Phone 8 handset, is a bland offering by any metric, and one that’s not doing particularly well in the free-with-contract market for which it was intended. Detwiler Fenton analyst Jeff Johnston figures it has claimed barely any sales share at Verizon. And, interestingly, Samsung has made no effort whatsoever to boost sales. Which is all a bit odd. One could argue that if Samsung were truly committed to Windows Phone 8, it would be out in the market pushing the Ativ Odyssey and working hard to flesh out a full portfolio of devices based on the platform.

But according to Detwiler Fenton, it’s not. And for a good reason, and an obvious one, too. Samsung doesn’t particularly want to see Windows Phone 8 succeed. It would much rather have Tizen, the Linux-based mobile platform it’s developing with Intel, become the third big mobile OS after iOS and Android.

“Our checks indicate that Samsung may be intentionally gobbling up Microsoft’s smartphone resources as a strategic move to impede the adoption of Windows Phone 8,” Johnston theorizes. “While Samsung insists on receiving extensive engineering support (which they are getting) from Microsoft, there is no evidence that Samsung has any interest in seeing the Windows Phone platform succeed.”

End result: Microsoft funnels Windows Phone 8 resources that could be put to better use at other OEMs to a “strategic partner” that’s basically tying its shoelaces together. Muahahahaha …

Does that seem a bit of a stretch? Certainly.

But think of it this way. Samsung is actively and openly working to reduce its reliance on Android. Essentially, that’s Tizen’s purpose. By putting its full support behind Windows Phone 8, Samsung could potentially help turn that platform into another juggernaut with which it will have to compete. So instead it feigns interest in Windows Phone 8 until it’s ready to unleash Tizen, and when it does, it has only Android and iOS to deal with. Not a bad strategy for a company that intends its offering as a sort of be-all, end-all OS that’s adaptable enough to run across everything from smartphones and tablets to smart TVs.

Huawei Plans Firefox OS Phone, but CEO Says Unclear How Consumers Will Take to It

Ina Fried — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 15:30:25 +0000

Although Huawei is among the manufacturers touted by Mozilla as committed to building Firefox OS devices, the Chinese company’s chief says he has doubts as to how successful the new operating system will be.

“Whether the consumers will accept it or not, it is difficult to say,” Huawei Device Chairman Richard Yu said Wednesday during an interview at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

Carriers, he said, are eager to have alternatives to iOS and Android. It is easy to understand that, Yu told AllThingsD. “But whether this can be very successful or not, it is too early to say.”

It will take time, he said, and needs more than just devices and interest from carriers. “You need ecosystem support,” he said, adding that it is ultimately consumers who will decide if there is enough value there.

If it does find a home, it will probably be at the low end of the market.

Yu said that carriers are also encouraging Huawei to consider building devices based on the open source Tizen effort. Huawei has built experimental devices, Yu said, but hasn’t yet committed to bringing anything to market.

“We are watching,” he said.

Huawei has quietly become the third-largest maker of smartphones, behind Apple and Samsung, though Yu readily acknowledges that those rivals are far larger and more profitable.

While most of Huawei’s business is on Android devices, the company also has a Windows Phone model, the Ascend W1, which went on sale last year. The response has been strong enough that successor devices will come this year, he said.

“The W2 and W3 are in the works,” he said.

Yu had plenty more to say during our sit-down. In part two of the interview, we’ll hear how Yu plans to nearly double smartphone sales this year, and his thoughts on Samsung and Apple.

With New Windows Phone Models, Nokia Aims to Better Compete on Price

Ina Fried — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 07:43:02 +0000

Although Nokia has gotten plaudits for the hardware and design of its Windows Phones, the company has also been too pricey to fully compete with low-end Android.

With the launch of the Lumia 520 and Lumia 720 in Barcelona, the Finnish phone maker is hoping to change that.

“We are bringing elements of our high-end flagship Lumia devices to more prices and therefore to more people,” CEO Stephen Elop said during a press conference at its Mobile World Congress booth.

Expanding Windows Phone is especially important considering the company scrapped its Meltemi effort for low-end Linux and has introduced its last Symbian phones, leaving Windows Phone as the company’s only true smartphone platform.

But with a price of 139 Euros ($183), the Lumia 520 won’t bring Nokia into the bottom reaches of the Android market, which stretches into the sub-$100 range. There Nokia is counting on its Asha line, which it has been pitching as more entry-level smartphone than feature phone.

Nokia is also bringing improved camera and voice quality along with support for corporate email to a new basic phone, the Nokia 301. The phone also has built-in support for popular messaging program WhatsApp.

One interesting camera feature talks users through getting a good self-portrait with voice interaction. Taking a cue from Bump, Nokia is introducing “Slam,” a new means of sharing photos between nearby devices.

An even lower-end phone, the Nokia 105, shares design cues from the Lumia and Asha lines but at a 15 Euro price point aimed at the 2.7 billion people who don’t have a phone. Even at that price, it includes a flashlight, FM radio and weeks worth of battery life.

“You can charge this phone once a month and still rely on it,” said Nokia design head Marko Ahtisaari.

Beyond the new phones, Nokia noted that it plans to bring its Here location services to non-Nokia Windows Phones in some markets; it is also licensing its location technology to Mozilla for use with Firefox OS.

“By gaining scale we can increase the quantity and quality of the data we receive,” Elop said.

The company is also opening up more of its technologies on the imaging, music and location fronts to developers and announced a deal with DreamWorks Animation to create Nokia-exclusive entertainment software.

Nokia, Elop insisted, is getting bolder, a word he used frequently during Monday’s event.

“It hasn’t always been easy,” Elop said. “But without question we have remained focused on our strategy.”

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Windows Phone on a Budget: Nokia vs. Samsung

Bonnie Cha — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 14:00:55 +0000

If you’re curious about Microsoft’s Windows Phone and want to save money, two models from Samsung and Nokia will please you and your wallet. But not all inexpensive smartphones are created equal.

This week, I took a look at two budget-friendly Windows Phone 8 devices from Verizon Wireless, the Nokia Lumia 822 and Samsung ATIV Odyssey. The Nokia is currently free with a two-year service agreement, while the Samsung costs $50 with a two-year contract.

[ See post to watch video ]

These cheaper price points come with some trade-offs, such as lower-resolution screens, but I found them both to be capable smartphones. They delivered where it counts most: Each offers smooth performance, good call quality and solid battery life. That said, with more memory, a better camera and a bigger screen, the Nokia is the better choice.

Truth be told, I was a little underwhelmed by the ATIV Odyssey. It’s Samsung’s first Windows Phone 8 device, but there’s nothing about it that makes it stand out from the competition.

While cute and compact at 4.8 inches tall by 2.5 inches wide and 4.4 ounces, this handset’s black-and-gray chassis blends in with the rest of the touchscreen smartphones on the market. Nokia, at least, throws in a bit of variety by offering the Lumia 822 in red or white, in addition to black and gray.

The Samsung features a four-inch, 800 by 480-pixel touchscreen. The screen was bright and clear enough for viewing emails and videos. But at that resolution, the pixels are more noticeable, so images and text weren’t as sharp or vibrant compared to some of today’s higher-end smartphones. The HTC 8X, Verizon’s flagship Windows Phone device, has a 4.3-inch, 1,280 by 720-pixel touchscreen, for example.

This is also true of Nokia’s display, which has the same resolution as Samsung’s screen but is slightly bigger, at 4.3 inches. Those extra three-tenths of an inch made a huge difference when using the onscreen keyboard and viewing Web articles. I was able to type faster and with fewer errors, since the keyboard’s layout was roomier. Also, when viewing websites like AllThingsD and the New York Times on the Nokia, the pages didn’t look as cramped as they did on the Samsung.

The larger screen size makes the Nokia a clunkier device (five inches tall by 2.7 inches wide; five ounces) than the Samsung, but it’s a trade-off I’m willing to make. My eyesight is already bad enough, so I can deal with a slightly bigger device if it means being able to more easily see things onscreen.

Another area where Nokia one-ups Samsung is its camera. The Nokia is equipped with an eight-megapixel camera, while the Samsung has a five-megapixel camera. Both phones took good photos when shooting outdoors in natural light, but when taking pictures indoors, Nokia did a better job of producing brighter colors.

Nokia also offers double the onboard storage of Samsung, at 16 gigabytes. Both smartphones have expandable memory via microSD card slots, but the total storage capacity for your photos, music and videos is greater on the Nokia.

Call quality and battery life are two areas where Samsung shined. Voices sounded natural and clear, with no trace of background noise. Friends also reported good results, but a couple of callers noted that the sound quality was slightly better on the Nokia.

This wasn’t the case on my end. Though generally good, I could hear a faint hissing noise in the background when using the Nokia. It wasn’t distracting, but it’s something I noticed after hearing Samsung’s pristine audio.

Samsung estimates the ATIV Odyssey’s battery life at up to 19 hours on a 4G connection. In my battery tests, where I set the screen’s brightness to 75 percent and left Wi-Fi on with email running in the background, the smartphone fell short of 19 hours, but still delivered an impressive 14 hours and 20 minutes of battery life.

The Nokia’s battery life is estimated at 15 hours. Using the same battery test, the smartphone lasted 10 hours and 14 minutes before flashing the low battery alert.

In more real-world usage, where I used the phones to check email and social networks, browse the Web and view a couple of YouTube videos, the Samsung and Nokia lasted just over a day before needing a recharge.

Both smartphones are powered by Qualcomm’s 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon processor, and performance was zippy. I didn’t experience any major delays when launching applications, watching videos or performing other tasks on either handset.

I also downloaded a trial version of Gameloft’s Asphalt 5 racing game on both devices. In a side-by-side comparison, I found that the phones’ load times were nearly identical, and game play was smooth on both devices.

The Samsung and Nokia smartphones are compatible with Verizon’s 4G LTE network, and can be used overseas. I experienced swift data speeds here in San Francisco, which is great, but can also get dangerously expensive if you go overboard.

One handy tool that can help keep tabs on your data consumption is the Data Sense app, which is built into Windows Phone. It shows you how much data you’ve used over Verizon’s cellular network as well as over Wi-Fi. You can also set limits so you don’t go over your monthly data allotment and get charged overage fees.

Both the Samsung ATIV Odyssey and Nokia Lumia 822 are attractive options for anyone looking for a budget-friendly smartphone, but you’ll get much more out of the Lumia 822.

Samsung ATIV Odyssey Journeys to Verizon Stores January 24

Bonnie Cha — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 15:40:52 +0000

Samsung announced today that its first Windows Phone 8 device for the U.S. will be available from Verizon Wireless on Jan. 24. The Samsung ATIV Odyssey will cost $50 with a two-year contract, and features a four-inch, 800 x 480-pixel touchscreen, a five-megapixel camera on back, and a front-facing 1.2-megapixel camera. The smartphone is powered by a 1.5GHz dual-core processor and has eight gigabytes of internal memory. It’s also 4G LTE capable, and can be used internationally. The ATIV Odyssey is Verizon’s third Windows Phone 8 offering, joining the HTC 8X and Nokia Lumia 822.

Asustek in Talks to Offer Windows 8 Phones

Eva Dou — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 20:19:03 +0000

Taiwanese PC maker Asustek Computer Inc. is in talks with Microsoft Corp. on a licensing deal to offer Windows 8 mobile phones, an Asustek executive said, making it the latest Asian computer maker eyeing the new operating system.

Personal-computer makers have been trying to cross into the mobile space, and with good reason: smartphone shipments rose 45 percent last year, compared with a 3.2 percent contraction in PCs, according to researcher IDC.

Read the rest of this post on the original site »

Windows Phone 8 Devices Coming to Sprint This Summer

Bonnie Cha — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 00:36:48 +0000

Sprint announced today that it will offer Windows Phone 8 devices from HTC and Samsung this summer. Both smartphones will have dual-core processors and rear- and front-facing cameras. They’ll also support Sprint’s 4G LTE network and be available with the carrier’s Everything Data plans, which include unlimited voice, text and data. More details will be announced closer to launch.

Nokia Lumia 620 Makes Colorful Debut at LeWeb

Bonnie Cha — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 17:01:11 +0000

Hoping to appeal to younger audiences and new markets, Nokia unveiled the colorful and affordable Lumia 620 at the LeWeb tech conference in Paris today.

The entry-level Windows Phone 8 handset offers a 3.8-inch, 800 by 480 touchscreen, a five-megapixel camera on back and a front-facing VGA camera. It has eight gigabytes of internal memory, along with a microSD expansion slot.

But the feature that Nokia is really touting is the colorful design. The Lumia 620 comes in various base colors that can be snazzed up with seven different exchangeable shells. The covers are translucent, so when attached they create a dual-color effect with the phone’s base hue. Colors include lime green, orange, magenta, yellow, cyan, white and black.

Priced at around $249 (before carrier discounts), the Lumia 620 is the most affordable Windows Phone 8 device yet, according to Nokia. It will be available in January, starting in Asia, then Europe and the Middle East, before heading to other regions. No word yet on whether it will arrive in the U.S.

In addition to the Lumia 620, Nokia, as expected, announced the Lumia 920T for China. It is the first Windows Phone device compatible with the country’s TD-SCDMA network, and will be available through China Mobile by the end of the year.

Like the Lumia 920, it has a 4.5-inch HD display, an 8.7-megapixel camera and NFC support. It can also be charged wirelessly, and Nokia and Air China have partnered up to offer wireless chargers at Beijing Airport’s VIP lounges.

The partnership with China Mobile will be an important one for Nokia. Though early reports showed that the Lumia 920 was selling well both in the U.S. and Europe, Nokia’s sales continue to slip.

China Mobile is the largest service provider in the country, with more than 700 million subscribers, but it remains to be seen whether it will take to the device and Windows Phone.

Ballmer: Windows Phone Sales Are Four Times Whatever Last Year's Were

Ina Fried — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 21:28:21 +0000

’Tis the season for bold pronouncements with few numbers attached.

Already this week, we’ve had Amazon make its usual statement of how its latest Kindle is nearly double another figure they won’t tell you. Now Microsoft is joining in.

At the company’s shareholder meeting on Wednesday, CEO Steve Ballmer said that Windows Phone sales are four times what they were a year ago. But, he didn’t attach a figure or a specific time period, so just how many phones Microsoft is selling remains something for analysts to merely guess at.

The number could well be good news for Microsoft. While last year’s sales were pretty dismal, they weren’t insignificant, and certainly growing fourfold is the kind of thing Microsoft needs to do if it hopes to become a serious player in the smartphone market.

Latest Lumia Smartphone: High Quality, but It’s Heavy

Walter S. Mossberg — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 02:03:38 +0000

Both Nokia and Microsoft were once titans in the smartphone world, but the pair have struggled to find favor with consumers, carriers and developers in the iPhone-Android era. Now, the two companies, which have become close partners, hope they’ve finally found the formula for success. The product on which their hopes rest is Nokia’s new flagship smartphone, the Lumia 920, running Microsoft’s revamped operating system, Windows Phone 8.

[ See post to watch video ]

I’ve been testing the Lumia 920 and consider it a handsome, high-quality phone with attractive features that worked well for me. Not only that, but it costs half of what most other top-of-the-line smartphones set you back, and yet gives you twice the typical memory. It is greatly improved from the first flagship Lumia, last spring’s Lumia 900.

While this isn’t a review of the new Windows Phone 8 software, I can say that it also has improved in the past year. Its underlying architecture has been rebuilt, it is faster and more reliable, it now has smaller icons so you needn’t scroll as much to find what you want, and it still offers a fresh, engaging interface that sets it apart.

The brightly colored Lumia 920 is 65 percent heavier than Apple’s iPhone 5.

But the Lumia 920 has two big drawbacks: It is heavy and thick, and, like all Windows Phones, it has a much smaller app selection than the iPhone or Android phones.

This new Lumia, which costs $100 with a two-year contract from AT&T, has a sharp, vibrant 4.5-inch screen, a very good 8.7-megapixel rear camera, and is fast and fluid. It supports LTE, the most consistently speedy U.S. cellular-data technology, and has 32 gigabytes of memory for storage. It is made of plastic, but it is a solid-feeling plastic in bright colors — including red, yellow and blue — that are injected into the material.

The phone also has some unusual features. Its screen responds to fingernails and even fingers clad in regular thin gloves (though winter-weight gloves didn’t work for me). And it can be charged without plugging in a cable, by merely placing it on a charging plate that plugs into the wall. (The charging plate, normally a $49 option, is being included with the phone for an unspecified period.)

While I didn’t do a formal battery test, this Nokia lasted me through a day of mixed use. Voice calls were reliable and clear, and the phone’s speakers sounded great. Photos and videos looked very good.

In my tests, the LTE speeds were very good, averaging 17 megabits per second downstream. But AT&T’s LTE network is only in about 100 cities.

However, the Lumia 920 has a few characteristics that may turn off potential buyers. The biggest downside is its sheer size. This may be the heaviest modern smartphone I’ve tested, and it’s one of the thickest.

To give you an idea, it’s 65 percent heavier than Apple’s iPhone 5, and 40 percent thicker. We’re in an era of smartphones with larger and larger screens, but most phone makers take care to keep these bigger-screen phones relatively light and thin, something Nokia didn’t do here. For instance, compared with the latest high-end Android phone, Google’s Nexus 4, which has an even larger 4.7-inch screen, the Lumia 920 is 33 percent heavier and 17 percent thicker.

It can be charged by placing it on a charging plate that plugs into the wall.

The second major downside is app selection on the Windows Phone platform. The number, quality and variety of apps has improved considerably in the past year. But developers still either ignore Windows Phone or write for the platform well after they’ve launched on Android or Apple’s iOS mobile operating system. The Lumia 920 has about 120,000 apps, versus some 700,000 for the iPhone and the latest Android phones.

Sheer numbers of apps may seem irrelevant after a certain point. In fact, important apps like Facebook, Twitter, Netflix, Kindle, Yelp, the New York Times and Words With Friends are available on the Lumia 920 and worked in my tests. Plus, only Windows Phones have smartphone versions of Microsoft Office programs.

But my searches of the app store on the new Lumia failed to turn up plenty of popular apps available on the Apple and Google platforms, such as Instagram, Dropbox, Google Drive, YouTube, HBO GO, Spotify, Pandora radio, United Airlines, MLB, Scrabble and Starbucks.

Some other annoyances turned up in my tests. An update to one of the built-in settings features has remained stuck in the app store for days (Nokia can’t explain why). The camera, which claims superior image stability and low-light performance, generally did very well for me. But it sometimes had a tendency to take over-bright shots. For instance, an orange wine label came out as yellow.

Voice recognition is a weak point on the Lumia 920. Its ability to answer spoken questions and commands lagged far behind Apple’s and Google’s in my tests. And its dictation capability for things like email and texts was atrocious, never coming close to accurate.

The wireless charging plate worked every time for me. But it has a gigantic wall adapter and takes about an hour longer to charge the phone fully than the included standard charger cable.

All in all, though, the Nokia Lumia 920 is worth considering, if you can live with a heavy device — especially given its combination of low price and strong features.

Email Walt at mossberg@wsj.com.

Corrections & Amplifications
The app store on the new Lumia includes an app for Delta Air Lines. A previous version of this article incorrectly said the app was not available.

Microsoft Says It Has Identified Windows Phone Rebooting Issue, Plans Fix for December

Ina Fried — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 23:17:04 +0000

Microsoft said it believes it has identified a problem that was causing some Windows Phone 8 devices to reboot without warning.

The company said it hopes to deliver an over-the-air software fix next month.

“We’re continuing to investigate some reports of phones rebooting and have identified a cause with our partners,” Microsoft said in a statement on Tuesday. “We are working to get an over-the-air update out in December.”

The company declined to identify what that cause was, however. Nor will Microsoft say whether the issue is limited to certain models or if it affects all Windows Phone 8 devices.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer Talks Turkey in Silicon Valley

Ina Fried — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 03:08:29 +0000

The sales pitch for Windows 8 started early on Wednesday night.

Before the doors to the ballroom had opened for Steve Ballmer’s speech, Microsoft had an army of its store staff roaming the halls, showing off the Surface to anyone who would stop. The company set up a full pop-up store at the Santa Clara Marriott, showing off tablets, laptops and all-in-ones. (Oddly, though, they weren’t actually selling machines, despite the prominent price tags; instead, would-be customers were referred to Microsoft’s Web site, or to nearby Palo Alto and Valley Fair stores.)

Intel and Nokia were also showing off their Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 devices at their own booths. The impromptu tech fair served as prelude to Ballmer’s speech, which is set to kick off around 7:30 pm PT. Ballmer is being interviewed onstage by LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman.

Ballmer’s talk comes at a busy time for Microsoft, which last month launched Windows 8, Windows Phone 8 and its Surface tablet. It also comes just days after the company parted ways with Steven Sinofsky.

7:20 pm: They are pouring coffee, which is either a sign that it is nearly speech time, or a sign that it is going to be a long night. (Perhaps both.)

7:31 pm: We’re being reminded that Ballmer won’t be taking live audience questions, but rather some presubmitted ones.

7:35 pm: And with that, Ballmer and Hoffman take the stage.

7:36 pm: Hoffman starts right off by asking about the departure of Steven Sinofsky. What does this signal?

“We’re real excited about the work we’ve done, and, frankly, the spectacular start we’ve gotten off to with Windows 8.”

Ballmer indicated there isn’t a big strategy shift coming.

“From a strategy perspective, we are all-in on what we’ve done,” Ballmer said.

He praised Sinofsky. “He’s made one of the most amazing contributions anyone will make to any company. I wish him well. He’s always recommended if you make a change, you make it on a product boundary.”

7:38 pm: Asked if Surface is a tablet or PC, Ballmer answered with a pat “yes.”

7:42 pm: On iPad/Mac competition. You need a diversity of form factors and prices.

7:43 pm: Ballmer acknowledges that Microsoft still has some more work to do in the “under five inches” category — a reference to the phone area.

Ballmer on competing with its longtime hardware-maker partners.

Do I anticipate partners of ours will build the lion’s share of PCs tablets and phones going forward? Ballmer asked rhetorically.

“The answer is, absolutely. … With that said, it is absolutely clear there is an innovation opportunity on the seam [of the intersection] between software and hardware.”

“That is a seam that must not go unexploited by Microsoft,” Ballmer said. “We’re not going to cede that to the competition. In Xbox, we got a lot of that right.”

So how do you manage that balance? Hoffman asks.

“Carefully,” Ballmer said, before expanding some.

Ballmer noted that the company handles things a little differently when it comes to Xbox, Windows Phone and the PC side of things.

7:47 pm: Will Microsoft ship a PC?

“I don’t know what to call this,” Ballmer said, holding up a Surface. We have shipped the Surface RT, we have announced a product called Windows Pro with an Intel chip. “We are shipping these things. We are not shipping a clamshell. We think our OEMs do a very good job.”

He pulls out a 2.2-pound touchscreen laptop from Acer. “It’s a great piece of work. Our OEMs are doing great work.”

The same holds true on the phone side, he said. Why repeat what others do well?

7:54 pm: On the price of content.

It varies by type. Some stuff needs to be paid — James Cameron, NFL.

Other stuff can be very low-price or ad-funded.

What might be tough, Ballmer said, is stuff in the middle that is too expensive to make free or cheap.

7:55 pm: We know about iOS and Android.

“We need to stake out a position through two or three different things.

“The ecosystem for Android is a little bit wild,” Ballmer said, pointing to app compatibility and malware issues.

With Apple, things are tightly controlled and comparatively expensive.

Ballmer paints Microsoft again as somewhere in the middle.

“That’s kind of the best of both worlds, and that’s available to us,” he said.

Ballmer also said that there is an opportunity with operators, the cellular carriers that still buy a lot of these phones and want three big players.

“We have a customer set that wants an alternative,” he said. “We have a differentiated point of view.”

That said, Ballmer notes that the product has to be great.

7:58 pm: Hardware is also changing a lot, he said, noting Samsung’s work in flexible displays.

If anyone thinks hardware innovation in pocket devices is ending, they are nuts, Ballmer said.

8:01 pm: On to cloud computing and business computing.

In terms of where we are, “We’re in the early part of the game. Most enterprise infrastructure is still on-premise.”

Some has gone into private clouds, but little is in the public cloud, Ballmer said. “These things are all relatively early in adoption.”

Ballmer saying technology companies are like how relationships are characterized in “Annie Hall” (the Woody Allen flick).

“You either move forward or you die,” Ballmer said.

8:10 pm: On communications, Ballmer said its enterprise and consumer products will converge over time. “Lync and Skype will come together,” he said.

8:16 pm: On to the Internet and social networking. There’s been MSN and Bing. What’s your view of how Microsoft plays in the Internet? Hoffman said.

Ballmer: Three entries in tech: Devices, enterprise services, consumer services.

“You will have to play in all three areas. Our device plays are pretty clear. Our enterprise services are pretty clear.”

One of the company’s biggest plays in that last group is the recently acquired Skype.

“It is a foundational element,” Ballmer said. Bing is also improving, though a lot of work remains.

8:18 pm: What are key risks in Microsoft’s future? Hoffman said.

“The No. 1 thing is, in the things we are not successful, we never get there,” Ballmer said. No. 2 would be dropping the ball in areas where Microsoft is strong, and No. 3 is not recruiting the talent needed to avoid those first two pitfalls.

Tech, he said, is an area where you have to reinvent yourselves more often.

It’s a little different at Procter & Gamble, Ballmer said — that’s the only other company he worked at. Brownie Mix (the product he worked on) just isn’t the same.

8:20 pm: How do you avoid innovator’s dilemma? Hoffman asks.

Ballmer said leadership has to err on the side of cannibalizing.

“I’m not saying randomize or change direction every five minutes,” Ballmer said.

He points to an early project running IT for Energizer, which eventually led to services like Office 365.

8:27 pm: Moving on to audience Q&A (which are written questions that Hoffman selected).

What has been the biggest surprise from business customers in their reaction to Windows 8?

“Touch, touch, touch, touch,” Ballmer said excitedly. Another thing is Windows To Go, which lets companies put a Windows 8 image onto a flash drive.

8:29 pm: Are you confident Windows Phone 8 can take a meaningful share of the market, and why?

I’m going to go back to the dialogue we had earlier. Strategically, we think there is a place to be the best of organization and the best of diversity, which we don’t think the competition does.

Our challenge right now is not getting 60 percent of the smartphone market, Ballmer said. Our challenge is to get 10, then 15 and then 20.

8:31 pm: What do you most pay attention to in Silicon Valley? What are the trends you see? What do you see happening here?

Ballmer: We say “Silicon Valley” and there about four Silicon Valleys. There are the companies that build silicon, storage, networking. That still exists and is really important. You wouldn’t believe us, reading the popular press. That’s mostly based in Silicon Valley.

There’s consumer stuff, much of which is in San Francisco. He notes that he’s made a number of recent trips to “Silicon Valley,” and never made it past San Francisco, he said.

The enterprise stuff is here. It’s a little bit dormant. Venture capital had been focused on consumer stuff, Ballmer said. But the pendulum is shifting. “I think it is swinging a little bit back to the enterprise side.”

And, of course, there’s Intel, Cisco and guys we compete with, Ballmer said.

8:34 pm: Trends — UI innovation on devices. Microsoft is doing a lot in-house, and also licensed technology for Kinect.

Machine learning and Big Data. The thing that is most interesting about Big Data, Ballmer said, is that people will write software differently.

8:38 pm: Why buy Windows 8 if you already have a Windows machine?

For starters, Ballmer said, “Windows 8 is just better than Windows 7.”

It boots faster, takes less system resources, and runs nearly everything that runs on Windows 7. “They all just run better.”

8:41 pm: What is the least-understood part of Microsoft’s view of the future?

“I won’t try to boil the ocean. I’ll pick one.”

One area that Microsoft has invested more in than any other company, with one exception (I think he means Google): Machine learning.

8:44 pm: And I think that’s a wrap.

Sprint Says LTE-Equipped Windows Phones Are Coming, but Not Until Next Year

Ina Fried — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 17:57:42 +0000

Sprint confirmed on Tuesday that in 2013 it will have new Windows Phone models capable of working on its LTE network.

“Sprint and Microsoft are partnering to bring Windows Phone 8 to Sprint’s customers — operating on its 4G LTE network — next year,” the No. 3 carrier said in a statement, without offering further details.

AT&T and T-Mobile have been pretty big backers of Windows Phone, while Sprint and Verizon have taken a back seat. The initial Windows Phone 7 devices didn’t run on their CDMA networks and even when there were models available, neither carrier put much behind the products.

With Windows Phone 8, Verizon is putting a stronger effort into Microsoft’s phone operating system, offering devices from HTC and Nokia, among others.

AT&T Prices Lumia 920 to Sell -- At $100

Bonnie Cha — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 16:35:51 +0000

Last week, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer dished details about pricing for some of its new Windows Phone 8 handsets for Verizon and T-Mobile, and there weren’t a lot of surprises. But AT&T’s pricing might shock you — in a good way.

Today, the carrier announced that the Nokia Lumia 920 will cost $100 with a two-year contract, and the Nokia Lumia 820 will go for $50 — two very competitive prices that might help persuade some customers to give Windows Phone 8 a try instead of the iPhone or Android.

The Lumia 920 is an AT&T exclusive, and serves as Nokia’s flagship model. It features a 4.5-inch HD touchscreen and an 8.7-megapixel camera with advanced features such as an image stabilization system and technology to capture more light.

The smartphone’s battery can also be charged wirelessly, and to sweeten the deal, AT&T is throwing in a wireless charging plate for free, for a limited time.

With such features, I would have expected pricing for the Lumia 920 to start in the $200 range, but at $100 it’s quite the steal.

Meanwhile, AT&T is selling the mid range Lumia 820 for $50 less than T-Mobile’s and Verizon’s versions. The 4G LTE handset has a 4.3-inch, 800 by 480 pixel touchscreen, an eight-megapixel camera and eight gigabytes of internal memory with a microSD expansion slot.

Both Lumia handsets will be available for preorder starting tomorrow, with in-store availability beginning on Nov. 9. The Lumia 920 comes in red, white, black, yellow or cyan; the Lumia 820 comes only in black.

In early October, Nokia CEO Stephen Elop said in an interview with AllThingsD that the company’s first crop of Windows Phone devices didn’t do as well as he had hoped.

“I’ve said this at our results. In getting the first Lumia devices out there, I would have liked to have done better,” Elop said. “There is no question.”

Elop added that Nokia didn’t do a good enough job of telling its story on the retail front. The value pricing certainly helps Nokia’s cause, but it remains to be seen whether Nokia, Microsoft or any Windows Phone manufacturer or carrier, for that matter, can raise people’s awareness of Windows Phone and get them to buy the handsets.

In addition to the Lumia models, AT&T also revealed pricing for the HTC 8X, which will cost $200 on contract. The 8X features a 4.3-inch HD touchscreen, a rear-facing eight-megapixel camera and a front-facing 2.1-megapixel camera. It also has built-in Beats Audio technology for enhanced sound, and 16 gigabytes of internal memory.

If you can do with less memory, AT&T is offering an 8GB (there is no microSD expansion slot) model for $100 on contract. The 16GB HTC 8X comes in blue, while the 8GB is available in blue or yellow. Both smartphones will be available before Thanksgiving.

Nokia CEO Stephen Elop Aims to Ride Out the Storm (And Hurricane Sandy)

Ina Fried — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 16:01:08 +0000

I’d hoped to catch up with Nokia CEO Stephen Elop onstage at D: Dive Into Mobile.

In addition to wanting to hear about things at Nokia and Elop’s efforts to reverse sliding sales, we’re both huge hockey fans, and I had been looking to commiserate about the locked-out hockey season.

But Hurricane Sandy had other plans for us. Since Elop and I were both stuck in midtown Manhattan to ride out the storm, we decided to cover some of the same ground on video.

Elop was big on touting the imagining capabilities of the new Lumia 920, so we used it to film this video, sans tripod, and to take this fun picture of the two of us in the rain.

And, in a drier setting, we sat down to talk.

[ See post to watch video ]

Style, Surprises Liven Up Latest Windows Phone

Katherine Boehret — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 22:06:57 +0000

As if there isn’t enough going on at Microsoft right now with its new version of Windows and the first Microsoft-made computer, this week the company announced Windows Phone 8—an overhauled version of its mobile operating system.

Windows Phone, which launched two years ago, was an early glimpse at how the Windows 8 touch environment would look on the PC. Instead of static icons that represent apps or programs, both Windows Phone and Windows 8 use what Microsoft calls “live tiles.” These are icons that morph to display different images or information gleaned from your apps.

One big complaint about earlier iterations of Windows Phone was that its live tiles weren’t really live. Some icons changed to show different data, but not all, and not all of the time. Some of the data wasn’t very informative or helpful. On top of that, the tiles were stacked atop one another on the home screen, forcing people to scroll down a giant list of pinned tiles to find what they wanted.

I’ve been testing Windows Phone 8 for the past week, and I can say that this revamped version’s tiles are more “live” than in the past. The Start Screen, where these tiles appear, is redesigned to show more, left to right. And tiles can be resized to small squares, allowing people to see more with less scrolling.

The only trouble with this: Small live tiles can’t display as much data as their medium or large versions, and some small versions of tiles aren’t live at all. For example, the medium and large iterations of the “People Hub” display ever-changing photos of friends, like a patchwork quilt of images. The small version of this tile turns into a lifeless white icon of two people.

A feature called Rooms can be set up for private sharing of notes, calendars, chats and photos with specific groups of friends.

Overall, Windows Phone 8 is a delight to use. I tested it on the Windows Phone 8X by HTC, a sleek and stylish smartphone that will be available in the next three weeks from Verizon for $200 and from T-Mobile for $200 or $150, depending on your plan. AT&T plans to offer the 8X in November but the company hasn’t revealed its pricing plans.Sprint intends to offer Windows Phone 8 devices next year. By the end of this year, at least six new Windows Phone 8 models will be available. Current Windows Phone owners will soon be able to update their software to 7.8, a build that gives them the new Start Screen but not the full features of Windows Phone 8.

I especially enjoyed using apps on Windows Phone 8. A lot of these apps are designed to mimic the overall look of the Windows Phone software, displaying extra menus and features as I panned horizontally.

I used Amazon’s Kindle app, Zite, AllRecipes, WSJ Live, Facebook, Twitter, ESPN ScoreCenter, Evernote, the Weather Channel, TripAdvisor and various news apps including the Daily Beast, the Guardian, BBC News and USA Today. Though there are only 120,000 apps in the Windows Phone Store versus over 700,000 in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, these apps looked stylish and refreshingly different.

A new Windows Phone 8 feature called Kid’s Corner lets parents hand their phone over to their kids without fear of the child accidentally emailing 200 people. Kid’s Corner starts up with a right-to-left swipe from the phone’s lock screen, displaying any games, videos, music or apps that the parent has marked as accessible to the kid. If the child taps the phone’s Power button, the phone returns to its lock screen, which can be protected with a passcode.

This version of the Windows Phone also features Rooms, which can be set up for private sharing with specific groups of friends. Things like calendars, notes, chats and photos can be swapped here.

Kid’s Corner on Windows Phone 8 displays only games, videos, music or apps that a parent selects. A

Some features and apps have odd qualities. When I opened the People Hub and read my sister’s latest Facebook status, I couldn’t see names of people who “liked” her status. In Twitter, I opted to be notified when anyone retweeted my tweets, but these only appeared in notifications at the top of my phone screen rather than in the Twitter app.

Battery life on my Windows Phone 8X by HTC was remarkably good. I didn’t use the phone for calls or texts as I was testing a version of the 8X that didn’t have a SIM card, so that affected my results. But even after tapping on my 4.3-inch screen and using Wi-Fi all day—checking email, browsing the Web, taking photos and playing with apps—I still had ¼ of my battery remaining by midnight.

Unlike some phones that don’t display tips or shortcuts, Windows Phone 8 encourages you to use its personalization tools. For example, a screen showed up that said, “Use Facebook photos on your lock screen” and I tapped configure. (Not Now was another option.) From then on, different Facebook photos showed up on my lock screen—a fun surprise.

The animations in Windows Phone 8 are smooth and playful. When you send an email, the email message appears as if it is backing away from you, then shoots up.

Tiles on the Start Screen fluttered with info. When I pinned a Roquefort Pear Salad recipe from the AllRecipes app to my Start Screen, the small tile version of this recipe only appeared as a photo of the salad, but its medium tile occasionally flipped to show the title of the salad on one side and the image of the salad on the other.

Someone who glanced over my shoulder and looked at the user interface of Windows Phone 8 said, “That’s a really pretty phone.” He was right. Its combined good looks, functional features and sexy new hardware make it a winning smartphone.

Write to Katherine Boehret at katie.boehret@wsj.com

Parent Trap: Microsoft Adds Kid's Corner to Windows Phone 8

Ina Fried — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 18:16:00 +0000

If you can make a parent’s life easier, that’s sure to score you some points with frazzled moms and dads.

That’s the idea behind Kid’s Corner, one of several new features that are part of Windows Phone 8, but that Microsoft had yet to reveal ahead of Monday’s official launch. The new mode allows parents to give kids their own personalized home screen, filled with only the apps and capabilities parents choose to allow.

Kid’s Corner is part of a broader effort by Microsoft to make its phones more appealing. The new models, which are based on full-blown Windows, also add support for multicore processors, improved multitasking and more.

Microsoft is detailing a full set of features, including announcing Kid’s Corner, at an event in San Francisco on Monday.

With this release, Windows Phone head Terry Myerson said Microsoft wants to show that it is different from and better than the competition.

“We have a unique point of view about who we are for,” Myerson said, noting that Windows Phone isn’t out to duplicate Apple or anyone else. “Android decides to copy, that’s their decision, that’s who they are.”

Tough talk aside, Microsoft has thus far failed to make much of a dent in the marketplace.

“There are consumers out there, we know we need to connect with them and (get) the product in their hands,” Myerson said in an interview earlier this month. The features are there, he insists, but adds, “to some extent, it hasn’t shown through.”

As for Kid’s Corner, Microsoft said it was trying to explore some critical times in a parent’s life that a well-crafted smartphone could make easier.

Clearly, one of those moments is when a toddler or young child is cranky, and a parent wants to get a little peace. Handing over the phone has become more common than a pacifier. But, with rival smartphones, giving the kid Angry Birds runs the risk that they might accidentally send an email, make a call or delete important information on the phone.

“That’s an intense moment,” said Microsoft senior program manager Spencer King. “If you can help people get through that, it’s a really pleasing experience.”

The idea of Kid’s Corner is to allow the child to really feel it is their phone. They have their own wallpaper, and can even resize (but not delete) the different app icons on their home screen.

“They can really make it theirs,” King said.

Initially, Microsoft was going to tackle another trying time for parents — crafting a “driving mode” to give parents the peace of mind that comes from knowing that their teens aren’t texting and driving. However, after some months of working on a driving-mode feature, the company decided it couldn’t do it well enough to include it in this release.

“You have to make hard decisions that you know are for the best,” said King, who worked on both driving mode and Kid’s Corner. But, he said, “Man, is it hard when you spent so much time.”

King holds out hope that driving mode will see the light of day.

Microsoft also weighed expanding Kid’s Corner to allow children to call a parent or do other tasks. However, the more features that it considered adding, the less good it seemed the feature would be at its core task — giving parents a way to hand their phone to a child without worry.

“We decided to focus on just the things we can do really well,” King said.

Microsoft Gets Personal With Windows Phone 8

Bonnie Cha — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 15:00:52 +0000

Windows Phone 8 wants to get all up in your business, but in a good way.

Today, Microsoft officially launched the next version of its mobile operating system and revealed some new features that are aimed to make the smartphone more personal to you. Highlights included an app called Data Sense that will help users manage data consumption on their device, and Kid’s Corner, which lets parents create a personalized home screen just for kids.

In addition, Microsoft finally announced pricing and availability dates for previously announced smartphones, including the Nokia Lumia 920, HTC 8X and Samsung Ativ S.

During the presentation, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and Windows’ Joe Belfiore emphasized that Windows Phone 8 was designed to deliver a more personal experience to users, bringing one’s most important contacts and apps to the forefront.

“People all over the world are about to fall in love with Windows Phone,” said Ballmer. “It has incredible software and is the most personal smartphone out there.”

But whether there’s enough there to get consumers to fall in love with Windows Phone 8, when the OS has struggled to attract consumers in the first place, remains to be seen.

—–
With Windows 8 finally launched, Microsoft is now turning its attention to mobile.

Today, the company is hosting an event in San Francisco to spill the rest of the beans on the next version of its mobile operating system, Windows Phone 8.

Over the past few months, the company has shared a few details about Windows Phone 8, including support for multicore processors and higher-definition screens, the addition of a Wallet hub, and NFC technology and data encryption. Several manufacturers have also introduced new devices, such as the Nokia Lumia 920 and 820, and the HTC 8X and 8S.

But there’s still a lot that’s unknown about the key features of the software, so we expect to hear more about them today. There’s also a chance we’ll find out pricing and release dates for the previously announced phones, as well as some new handsets.

Though Windows Phone received high praise from reviewers, and reports of good customer satisfaction early on, sales of handsets continue to be weak behind Android and the iPhone.

At least Microsoft won’t have to fight Google for attention today. Due to Hurricane Sandy, Google had to cancel its New York Android event, originally scheduled for earlier this morning. Now in the main spotlight, can Microsoft convince consumers and developers that Windows Phone 8 is good enough to compete with Android and the iPhone? We’ll soon find out.

Microsoft’s event is set to start at 10 am PT, so be sure to tune in then for AllThingsD’s live coverage.

9:56 am: Hey, everyone. I’m here at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium for the Windows Phone 8 event. Just got seated.

9:58 am: Currently playing: “Floetic” by Floetry. Great song. If you haven’t heard it, get thee to your favorite music service and check it out.

10:00 am: Announcer says the program will begin in a few moments.

10:03 am: Lights go down. Here we go. Starting with a video about Windows Phone, narrated by Microsoft’s Joe Belfiore.

10:04 am: Belfiore is onstage, and asks Windows Phones owners to hold up their devices. I’d say about 20 to 30 people put their hands up. Guessing a lot of Microsoft and Nokia workers.

10:05 am: Belfiore: We want to introduce you to the new features and value of Windows Phone 8. He says it has been a significant project for the company.

10:06 am: Belfiore is talking about the new handsets from Nokia and HTC, and calls them some of the most beautiful devices they’ve had.

“We’ve been spending a lot of time and energy on apps, too.”

There are currently 120,000 apps.

10:07 am: Belfiore says they are doubling language to support 50 languages and apps will be available in 191 countries.

10:08 am: Belfiore says static grid of icons hasn’t changed that much since the iPhone and Android. So Windows Phone wanted to come out with a new point of view.

“We created a new way for people to connect with their smartphones.” People are at the center of Windows Phone, and not apps, Belfiore says.

10:09 am: When you put people in the center, you get a better smartphone experience.

Now there’s a video showing this point. Starts with “We are not for everybody.” Sales of Windows Phone handsets seem to confirm this point.

10:11 am: We think Windows Phone is unlike any other mobile operating system out there today.

It’s also the perfect companion for Windows 8 PCs and Xbox.

10:12 am: With Windows Phone 8, we’re taking live tiles further. You can now resize tiles.

We heard about this earlier in June, at the Windows Phone Summit.

10:13 am: “Only Windows Phones have live apps.” Belfiore says they’ve tried to make apps more personal.

Here we go: A new feature. There’s now a lock screen that’s powered with live apps.

10:14 am: New lock screen will present things that are relevant to you, such as photos, sports scores or deal of the day.

Belfiore is showing an example with Facebook. There will be a new Windows Phone 8-optimized Facebook app, which will surface photos from the social networking site.

10:16 am: Belfiore calls the Facebook photos “moments of delight.” How quaint.

10:17 am: Putting Facebook on the lock screen is just one example.

Belfiore says many of its developers are working on Windows Phone 8-optimized apps, including Twitter. Better notifications, new live tile and improved performance.

10:18 am: Now talking about Skype. Skype says it has reworked the apps, so runs all the time in the background without draining battery.

Belfiore says Windows Phone 8 will have 46 out of the Top 50 apps available, which is “huge” for them.

Examples include Temple Run, Urbanspoon, Jetpack Joyride. (I’ve wasted many hours on Jetpack Joyride.)

10:21 am: Pandora for Windows Phone 8 is coming in early 2013. Microsoft is including a free year of music, with no ads. A nice round of applause for that.

10:23 am: Belfiore is now talking about controlling data costs on smartphones.

Data Sense is a new feature that will allow you to surf the Web more without eating up more data.

The system is built in the cloud and on the phone itself, and compresses every Web page to use less data.

10:25 am: Data Sense also helps find nearby Wi-Fi hotspots, and takes advantage of that connection instead of a cellular connection.

You will also receive notifications when you’re nearing your monthly data limit, and it displays how much data your apps are using.

Belfiore claims that Data Sense will give users 45 percent more Web browsing on the same data plan.

Verizon will be one of the first carriers to support Data Sense.

10:28 am: The next feature is one of Belfiore’s favorites, he says, and it has to do with parental controls on the smartphone.

10:29 am: It’s called Kid’s Corner and creates a separate place on your phone just for your kids.

You pick the features that your kids have access to. “You can imagine it as a phone within a phone.”

10:30 am: Belfiore’s three kids are now on stage to demo Kid’s Corner. Adorbz.

10:31 am: One of Belfiore’s daughters just called him “Mommy.”

My name is “Daddy.”

10:32 am: Kid’s Corner lets you simply check boxes for the games and apps in Kid’s Corner.

The feature is really for parents. “If you’ll notice right now, the kids are really quiet,” says Belfiore.

10:34 am: Microsoft has tested Kid’s Corner with a number of users, including actress Jessica Alba.

Oh, and here she is.

10:36 am: “I love Kid’s Corner. I think it’s awesome. My daughter, Honor, loves it,” says Alba.

“It’s a clutch feature.”

10:37 am: Alba gives an example about her daughter getting on her phone and sending a tweet of jumbled letters.

“hj kadjlkadfas;k dsfhd;lskafjdlkf dasl”

10:38 am: Alba says her phone is an extension of her, and with Windows Phone, you can see everything that’s important to her.

Belfiore notes that Alba had an iPhone before switching to Windows Phone, and asks about the transition. She was worried about her music collection, but all was well.

10:41 am: Hey, wouldn’t you know it, Alba’s company, The Honest Company, is working on a Windows Phone app.

Alba says this has been the best tech crowd she’s ever been in front of … aww, shucks.

10:42 am: Moving onto the People hub. A new feature called “Rooms” lets you aggregate a group of just your closest friends and family.

When you pan over in the Rooms feature, you can share location, calendars and notes with everyone in the group.

Belfiore gives an example of sharing a grocery list with your family members.

10:45 am: Rooms will let you invite users even if they’re not using Windows Phone 8. The feature list will just be more limited.

10:46 am: Belfiore reiterates that with all the features of Windows Phone 8, Microsoft has really tried to make the smartphone more personal.

10:47 am: Moving on to SkyDrive.

“SkyDrive is the full cloud service with Office built in. You should think about your phone, tablet and PC together,” Belfiore says.

With SkyDrive, you can work on a document on one device, and pick up where you left off on another device.

10:49 am: Phone photos are automatically available in full resolution on your PC, via the cloud.

SkyDrive offers seven gigabytes of free storage, the most of any service, Belfiore claims.

iCloud only lets you store photos for 30 days, but SkyDrive lets you store photos for as long as you want.

10:51 am: Last topic they’re going to talk about is music.

XBox Music offers unlimited music across all devices.

Windows Phone 8 will allow you to transfer your iTunes library to the software, so you don’t have to worry about losing your catalog, says Belfiore.

10:53 am: Belfiore has finished up his portion of the presentation, but we’re now hearing Steve Ballmer’s voice, as a video plays. And here he is!

10:55 am: Ballmer says they have seen great response to Windows 8 and the Microsoft Surface over the weekend.

“Windows 8 PCs are really the best PCs in the world,” boasts Ballmer. “And today we’re bringing phones into the family, with Windows Phone 8.”

10:56 am: Ballmer: “We had a different perspective of what a smartphone should be. We wanted to build a phone for each of us.”

“Windows Phone 8 is the culmination of these efforts.”

10:57 am: Ballmer is pretty subdued today. Maybe too much Windows 8 excitement over the weekend.

“What else sets Windows Phone 8 apart? How it works with Windows 8 PCs. If you’re one of the hundreds of thousands of people who will use Windows PCs, Windows Phone is the phone for you.”

Microsoft account will give you access to the entire ecosystem, and developers will be a part of that.

Interestingly, I’ve talked to a few developers over the past couple of weeks, and they said they’re waiting a little while longer to see how the OS does.

11:00 am: Moving on to hardware. Ballmer’s showing off the Nokia (he pronounces it “NOCK-ia”) Lumia 920, which was introduced a couple of months ago.

Also, the Samsung ATIV S. Features a 4.8-inch touchscreen, and “feather-light.”

11:01 am: HTC 8X and 8S are also two Windows Phone devices announced earlier.

Devices will go on sale in Europe this weekend and will continue to roll out in the coming months.

In the U.S., Verizon, T-Mobile and AT&T will offer Windows Phone 8 devices.

Verizon will offer the HTC 8X and Nokia Lumia 822 for $199.99 and $99.99 with a two-year contract, respectively. Both will be available on Thanksgiving. Meanwhile, the Samsung Ativ Odyssey will be a Verizon exclusive and will be available in December.

AT&T will carry the Lumia 920, Lumia 820 and HTC 8X — all are set to go on sale in November, but pricing will be revealed closer to launch.

11:04 am: T-Mobile will offer the Nokia Lumia 810 for $99.99 on Nov. 14. Meanwhile, the HTC 8X will go for $149.00 for the 16GB model, and will also be available on Nov. 14.

All Microsoft stores will offer all phones.

Between Windows 8, Microsoft Surface and Windows Phone 8, you won’t be able to turn on the TV or read a magazine without seeing a Microsoft ad, says Ballmer. Yay?

11:07 am: “People all over the world are about to fall in love with Windows Phone. It has incredible software, and is the most personal smartphone,” says Ballmer.

11:09 am: Oprah moment! Everyone in the audience gets a Windows Phone 8 device.

11:10 am: Okay, that’s it for the event. Thanks, everyone, for joining us today! Time to fight the crowds for some hands-on time with Windows Phone 8.

Sandy Is Also a Perfect Digital Storm -- Google Cancels NYC Android Event

Kara Swisher — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 17:24:20 +0000

There have been storms before, of course. But few have gotten the kind of massive attention that tropical storm Sandy has gotten well before its expected arrival on Sunday across the Eastern seaboard.

Besides the high likelihood of the intense rain and winds downing power lines that will surely interrupt both cellphone service and Internet access, at least temporarily, the potential weather disaster is also felling a major tech event that was scheduled for Monday in New York: Google’s rollout of new Android products.

The search giant was expected to introduce its Nexus 10 tablet and possibly a new Nexus smartphone made by LG, as well as an updated version of the Android operating system.

But, at this moment, Android bigwig Andy Rubin will still be appearing at our D: Dive Into Mobile conference that is also taking place in Manhattan on Monday and Tuesday. Rubin is currently scheduled for Monday afternoon.

Coincidentally, Microsoft scheduled its Windows Phone 8 event in San Francisco on the same day, which is still on. Weather report for the Bay Area on Monday: 72 degrees Fahrenheit and sunny.

Also: Go Giants!

On Tap This Week: Apple and Microsoft Events, Earnings Galore

Tricia Duryee — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 00:28:43 +0000

Flickr: Paqman

The staff at AllThingsD is generally a very busy bunch. But the next five days promise to be particularly jam-packed with news from some of the biggest names in tech.

(For the record, these are only some of the events that are scheduled to occur. There are also contingencies in place for unplanned events — like, say, Google accidentally publishing its earnings release hours before it was supposed to.)

From Apple’s iPad Mini event to Yahoo, Facebook and Amazon’s earnings, here’s a breakdown of the week to come:

Monday, Oct. 22: Yahoo’s third-quarter report is on deck for after hours. As you may recall, CEO Marissa Mayer’s first day on the job was July 17, the same day Yahoo reported second-quarter earnings. So, technically, this will be the first time investors will have a chance to hear from the new boss — that is, if she makes an appearance on the call.

Tuesday, Oct. 23: First thing Tuesday morning, we’ll be live at the highly anticipated Apple event in San Jose. Invitations were sent out last week, simply saying, “We’ve got a little more to show you.” Hint, hint. In addition to the more compact iPad that everyone has been anticipating, we we might also see a 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display and perhaps a new Mac Mini. In the afternoon, it’s Facebook’s turn to report third-quarter earnings. Last month, Mark Zuckerberg made his first appearance since going public to explain what had gone wrong over the past year. But given that the company’s stock has done nothing but fall since (minus one small bump), it seems the company will have some more explaining to do.

Wednesday, Oct. 24: Zynga’s third-quarter earnings call hits after the bell, and thanks to its preliminary report we already know what we’re going to get: Bad things. The company warned it was missing both third-quarter and full-year guidance. Expect CEO Mark Pincus to provide a cost-cutting plan to help the company return to profitability.

Thursday, Oct. 25: The two A’s report quarterly results today — Amazon and Apple. Pretty routine stuff here. Look for Apple to discuss iPhone 5 sales figures and for Amazon to say zilch about how many Kindle Fires it is selling. In addition, Microsoft will be hosting a press event in New York City to “celebrate Windows 8,” including a Microsoft Surface Reception. The next day it starts making the software – and computers running it — available to the public. It’s also when Microsoft plans to start selling its own tablet, known as Surface.

Correction: In the original version of this post, it incorrectly stated that the Microsoft event was set for Friday, Oct. 26. The post has been updated to reflect that the event is actually on Thursday, Oct. 25.