Windows Phone Summary of the Week: November 14-20, 2022

Summary of the Week

Welcome to a belated weekly summary, apologies for the absenteeism of one last week. Kicking the states off is episode 129 and episode 130 (with video) of the WPCentral podcast and our weekly developer interview where nosotros're joined past Long Zheng. We're going through some radical changes (as well every bit the entire Mobile Nations network), which volition bring some outage and site issues, merely volition exist worth the trouble with more features and functionality.

Moving onto this weeks highlights, nosotros have a report from Appcelerator, which pins Windows Telephone every bit the third most interesting platform for developers. Brandon Watson, the chosen i in the eyes of developers, has written upwards an insightful article on his personal blog covering lessons learned by the team with how the platform has evolved in the past year. For Australians, they will be able to enjoy unlimited access to music and more with the Zune Laissez passer now available in the region.

Later on the ChevronWP7 Labs was opened to the public, the team had to quickly atomic number 26 out some issues that arose. Now the service is back online and Windows Telephone owners are able to unlock their handsets for a minute fee. Nokia is standing marketing efforts with more Lumia 800s beingness given away on Facebook for gratis, nice! Steve Ballmer took the stage to talk about Windows 8, Windows Phone and other Microsoft products and how visual integration is key.

The platform has not only been nominated for the TechFlash Flashie laurels, but the Nokia Lumia 800 has been awarded the title "phone of the year" at the What Mobile Awards 2022 at London's Whisky Mist. A friendly reminder for those who are eligible for the prepaid app bill of fare program that you'll want to purchase a Windows Phone now if you haven't done so already to receive a $50 menu, which can be spent on the Marketplace. Lastly, it would appear equally though AT&T has non learned lessons from previous reports and complaints about how the carrier retail stores downplay Windows Phone.

Kicking u.s. off for the games section of this summary is this week'due south Xbox Alive Deal of the Week, which is Enigmo. OSR: Unhinged is a new indie Xbox Live game to be hitting the Market soon. According to the CEO of Unity Technologies, the company will not be bringing their game engine to the platform and will be "skipping" it due to the closed ecosystem. The popular puzzle arcade game, ilomilo, has received a Mango update, but unfortunately doesn't bring any new content or features.

3 Xbox Live titles have been put on sale including: Full House Poker, Somic the Hedgehog, and Assassin'southward Creed. Halo Waypoint has been Mango updated in time for the anniversary and falls nothing short of being the slickest looking app available. Our Paul Acevedo walks us through the integration that'due south available with Fusion: Sentient and Fusions: Genesis. Survivalcraft, a Minecraft clone (drumroll), has entered the Marketplace and is proving to be extremely popular. A horror game that's scheduled to arrive later on this month, Ghostscape, has been attacked by the photographic camera and nosotros can witness some action in screenshots.

There take been a few updates this week, software wise. Nosotros'll kick off with myAT&T being bumped to version 2.0, and is now an actual app (which is more than what can exist said for the 3 UK app) that doesn't rely on IE! Tango version 1.1 has been released which now ensures the service works on the Samsung Omnia 7 and Focus. The Official Twitter app gets minor update but is now Mango ready with little else being added. Nosotros want live tiles!

Nokia Music, the OEM app that was leaked for all to use, is at present at 1.6 with both performance and functionality being improved. Skilful news for those who are able to utilise the service, WiMP is now bachelor for Windows Phone, with a 30 day gratuitous trial available for new accounts. Microsoft is delivering updates to Samsung Focus ane.four owners and details the mysterious 7740 OS patch. 4th & Mayor is now Mango optimised with existence updated to version iii.0.

There's word on the street that Nokia Bulldoze, the complimentary OEM GPS plough-by-turn navigation app, will be receiving an update for offline navigation/route updates - handy for those on tight data plans or are abroad. If you remember the days of ICQ and then you lot'll rejoice equally a client is on its way to Windows Phone. IM+ is the terminal update of this summary with adding numerous improvements and features in version i.9.

The news has followed the Nokia Lumia 800 everywhere, and now it's headed to Orange French republic. The 800 will exist joining its blood brother, the 710, in Dec when Nokia will exist launching the handsets in India (and Hong Kong) to hit the Eastern marketplace. SFR appears to be stocking a white label ZTE Windows Phone, which resembles the ZTE Tania. Back onto Nokia news, the long-awaited 800 has been successfully launched in the UK (besides as a few other European countries) and is taking the lines of people by storm.

Once the Finnish manufacturer has finished (pun intended) with Europe and Republic of india, we volition be seeing a stiff attack on the U.S. market to combat the iPhone and Android. If this wasn't plenty, Virgin volition also exist stocking the 800. A number of handsets have been receiving updates, some enabling Internet sharing and others not, what have you lot received? As well, in Canada the Samsung Focus ane.iii is receiving updates. Dell has confirmed that at that place will exist no compass support for the poor Venue Pro.

If you're a massive Star Wars fan then you'll love to deploy some minimalistic wallpapers to your lock screen. Nokia has teamed upwardly with Deadmau5 for a public 4D promotion on Nov 28th, should be a bash. Closing us off, should you savor the Nokia marketing campaign and then y'all'll love an opportunity to waste product some fourth dimension and play a classic game (or two) of Serpent.

Highlights

Appcelerator: Windows Phone now third virtually interesting for developers
Brandon Watson: lessons learned a year on
Zune Pass now available in Australia
ChevronWP7 Labs resumes unlocking services
Nokia is giving away five Lumia 800's on Facebook. Again.
Steve Ballmer: I'grand bringing Windows back... yeah! [Updated]
WP7.5 upwardly for Flashie Honor
AT&T's holiday deals - WP7 phones for a penny
Nokia Lumia 800 wins Phone of The Twelvemonth award
Reminder: Prepaid App Card program is at present alive
Example study: AT&T retail still downplaying Windows Telephone

Gaming

Enigmo makes a splash as the Xbox Alive Deal of the Week
XBLIG indie stunt racer OSR Unhinged coming to Windows Phone
Unity gaming engine "skipping" Windows Phone 7
Xbox LIVE title ilomilo gets a Mango update
Enigmo Deal of the Week is at present active [Xbox Live]
Three other Xbox LIVE titles discounted: Full House Poker, Sonic the Hedgehog and Assassin's Creed
Let'due south Golf game 2 at present bachelor in the Marketplace for $four.99 [Xbox Alive]
Let's Golf 2's online features score a double bogey [UPDATED x2]
Halo Waypoint Mango updated in fourth dimension for the Anniversary
Xbox Live - Fusion: Sentient connectivity demonstration
Minecraft-clone Survivalcraft now available in the Marketplace
I ain't afraid of no Ghostscape screenshots [Xbox LIVE]

Software

myAT&T goes to version ii.0 and becomes a existent app
Tango v1.1 in Marketplace; updated for Samsung Omnia7 & Focus
Google Voice customer GoVoice is getting a Mango update before long--first wait and changelog
Official Twitter app gets minor update but is now Mango set
Nokia Music updated to 1.6
WiMP available for Windows Phone
Microsoft delivering Focus v1.4 update, details mysterious 7740 OS patch
fourth & Mayor v3.0 for Mango at present bachelor
Nokia Drive to receive update for offline navigation
ICQ client coming to Windows Phone
IM+ hits version 1.ix with more features and improvements
DFT adds custom boot loader MAGLDR to Samsung Focus?

Hardware

Lumia 800 now available at Orange France
Nokia Lumia 710 and 800 headed to Bharat in Dec
Samsung Focus S keyboard oddity
SFR offering white label ZTE Windows Telephone?
Cincinnati Bell at present offer HTC Radar for $99
Nokia Lumia 800 now available, with free coffee in the U.k.
Nokia Ace/900 in promotion video?
Nokia to aggressively target U.Due south. and competitors
AT&T HTC Titan coming to Costco on Nov 23rd
HTC Titan likewise receiving a software update
Updates out for HTC HD7, Mozart and Samsung Focus, bringing tethering to many
Samsung Focus 1.3 receiving update in Canada
Head to Head: HTC Radar vs. Samsung Focus Wink
HTC Radar (international) getting firmware update too
Nokia Lumia 800 heading to Virgin
Dell confirms no compass support for Venue Pro
Nokia Lumia 800 & 710 announced for Hong Kong, coming in December
€fifty prepaid app carte du jour on T-Mobile with Lumia 800
Nokia Lumia 601 pictures surface

Fun

Minimalist Star Wars wallpapers for Windows Telephone are crawly
Teaser: Nokia teams up with Deadmau5 for an epic 4D promotion on eleven/28 in London
Microsoft giving away Xbox 10th anniversary avatar particular
Play the archetype game of Snake online and waste time
Nokia Lumia - The Amazing Calls