Android, Windows Phone 7 and Windows Mobile

Windows 8.1 – First Look

Windows 8.1

Here is the first official video preview from Microsoft about the new Windows 8.1 – it was officially announced just a week ago and the new version will be available as a free update for all Windows 8 customers.

In the video, Jensen Harris from the Windows Team shows some highlights of what to expect in Windows 8.1 – bug fixes, new features, and the best of all – it will feature the good old “Start” button in desktop mode

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Microsoft Buys R2 Studios

Microsoft and R2 Studios

Wall Street Journal just reported that Microsoft is buying R2 Studios, a company which is specialized in development of software solutions and technologies for automated home manеgment.

According to the recent official information, the deal is now in place and Microsoft is the new owner, some of the R2 Studios patents also will be acquired by the software giant.

Office Mobile for iPhone, Excel and PowerPoint for iPad – Now Confirmed

Office Mobile for iPhone, Excel and PowerPoint for iPad

Microsoft accidentally confirmed the rumors that they are working on a version of Office Mobile for iPhone and Excel and PowerPoint applications for iPad. The product names appeared in some official documents published on the company’s website and are not accompanied with any other details.

As we reported earlier, the expected applications will be available for free, but if you want to edit documents, you will need a subscription to the Office 365 cloud service. However, the users will have a trial period to edit 25 documents without having to pay a subscription.

Microsoft Working With Component Suppliers – Testing Its Own Smartphone

Microsoft Testing Its Own Smartphone

A new rumor about Microsoft appeared online, this time the source is Wall Street Journal and they have some very interesting information. The software giant is now working with various component suppliers in Asia to test its own smartphone, if the rumors come true – this one will bring the smartphones market “war” in a whole new level!

According to Wall Street Journal, however, it is unclear whether the device will ever enter mass production. It’s mentioned that the smartphone has a screen with a diagonal between 4 and 5 inches, which is hardly surprising. As the company’s CEO Steve Ballmer says – “the future lies in a devices-and-services”, it’s all about marketing and investments now, that’s the main reason why Microsoft increasingly turns to device that includes the creation of their own hardware, software and services.

Windows Phone 8 launch event will be held in San Francisco on October 29

Windows Phone 8 launch event

Microsoft is now sending out invitations for the official launch of Windows Phone 8, putting in order all the rumors about the new mobile OS. The event will take place on October 29 in San Francisco and Microsoft also promises some new details that will surprise us during the presentation + information about the first Windows Phone 8 devices from HTC, Nokia and Samsung.

A few days earlier, on October 26, will be the official commercial launch of Windows 8.

Microsoft Surface with Windows RT to only cost $199?

Microsoft Surface tablet

One of the bigger mysteries about the Surface tablets, which bare the Microsoft logo, is their pricing – this detail, although obviously very important for the end-user, is still being kept a secret from them, though the software company has promised, that they’d announce the pricing before the initial launch of the tablet – which is going to be on 26.10, on the same date as the Windows 8 debut. So far, though, the only thing we knew about the pricing was, that it would match the pricing of a regular ARM-based tablet. As some recent rumors have, uncovered, though, the price might be as low as just $199 – quite a surprise, though according to the rumors, this information was released by Microsoft during the TechReady15 conference.

Surface tablets

If the price actually turns out to be this one, Microsoft are going to place their product right against the Nexus 7, though probably selling it at a loss. Then again they would also probably place it against the upcoming devices of their partners and a price like this isn’t really something you can compete with – not for a 10,6″ device. If the price is however higher than the rumored $199, we think Microsoft should announce it as soon as possible, in order not to disappoint the people, who are relying on those rumors. B. A.

Microsoft working on a universal stylus

Microsoft stylus

Even before the death of Steve Jobs, Apple were convinced, that the stylus as a tool for working with touchscreens aren’t necessary, Other companies, though, seem to think otherwise and Microsoft is one of them – according to recent rumors, the software giant is currently working on a stylus, that is going to be able to work with all of the modern touchscreens and even some non-touch displays. The way their revolutionary device is going to work is, it’s going to take pictures of a part of the screen (with a size of  512 х 512 pixels) and with the help of these images, it’s going to determine where exactly  on the screen it’s located.

To be more specific, the camera is actually going to determine which pixels are focused and which aren’t and it’s going to then send this information to a special software, which is going to process it and tell the device whether or not the stylus is on the display and if it is – where exactly and what angle it’s under. Actually, to be exact, this idea isn’t really new, but the way Microsoft is implementing it – by placing the camera in the stylus is and it’s certainly impressive. Sadly, though, it won’t allow for a pressure sensor. B. A.

Windows RT license only for the chosen few

Windows RT tablet

It seems, that there won’t be that many companies out there to release Windows RT tablet along with Microsoft. There is, of course, a very good reason – the software giant is being very careful about who they’re going to let make first-generation tablets with their brand new ARM-optimized platform. According to the Chinese edition Economic Times, Microsoft have told each of the main manufacturers of ARM chips to pick out two companies, with which they’re going to work. Of course, this is only going to be the case with the first wave of Windows RT tablet, which is going to be released this fall.

Windows RT tablet

NVIDIA have picked Lenovo and Asus as their partners, Texas Instruments have chosen to work with Toshiba and you’re going to find Qulacomm chips in Samsung-branded devices. The latter chip manufacturer was also supposed to work with HP, if it wasn’t for their recent announcement, that they’re not going to make Windows RT tablets, at least for now. In the end, Qualcomm’s second partner might end up being Dell. According to the rumors, Microsoft are going to allow the rest of the manufacturers to also release Windows RT tablet of theirs in January, so we’re expecting the first offers form different OEMs to start appearing in Q1 of 2013. B. A.

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Windows Phone 8 will be released in November, according to rumors

Windows Phone 8

Although they told us to expect the first products with their new mobile platform – Windows Phone 8, to be introduced at some point this fall, Microsoft never gave us any specific details about the release date. The only thing we knew thus far, was that Windows 8 would come out on 26.10, which led us to believe, that the smartphone version of the OS would also be released around this date. Well now we finally have some (unofficial) information – according to the latest rumors, Windows Phone 8 is going to be available for the phone manufacturers in aх RTM (Release to Manufacturing) version by September and the first devices to run it are going to hit the market in November.

If these rumors turn out true, it would mean, that Microsoft really aren’t going to release the two versions of their platform at the same time, which is quite odd. Still, we’re at least expecting Nokia to be the first manufacturer to introduce their Windows Phone 8 devices, given their special statute as Microsoft’s close partner. Meanwhile Steven Elop has stated in a recent interview for the NYTimes, that the first Finnish smartphone with WP8 are going to come out in October. B. A.