Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 38:59 — 53.5MB)
This week on the Zunited podcast Anna and Josh discuss whether or not Microsoft is shooting themselves in the foot with the Apollo update miscommunications. Also, how well is the Nokia Lumia 900 selling? There have also been some really cool updates to some Microsoft services. All this and more on episode 137 of the Zunited podcast!
Send us your feedback, comments, questions, suggestions, fun things, fanmail, and all that good stuff to podcast[at]zunited[dot]net!
Hosts: Josh Martin and Anna Yap
Episode: 137
Title: Will Apollo end up hurting Microsoft?
Date: Tuesday, May 8th, 2012
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 45:40 — 62.7MB)
This week on the Zunited podcast Anna and Josh conclude that we long-time Zunited’ers are indeed Microsoft hipsters. We discuss the awesome buzz surrounding Windows Phone these past few weeks including the exciting launch of the Nokia Lumia 900. App spotlight this week is the beautiful app “Weather Flow.” Speaking of apps, Windows Phone has over 80,000! Will you miss the Windows 8 start button? We’re not sure yet! That and more, this week on the Zunited podcast!
Send us your feedback, comments, questions, suggestions, fun things, fanmail, and all that good stuff to podcast[at]zunited[dot]net!
Hosts: Josh Martin and Anna Yap
Episode: 136
Title: Zunited: The Microsoft Hipster
Date: Monday, April 9th, 2012
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 35:03 — 48.1MB)
In this episode, Anna and Josh reintroduce themselves and welcome you back to the Zunited podcast! We chat about some exciting Windows Phone news including a review of the INCREDIBLE Nokia Lumia 800 which we’ve had the privilege of testing out for a few weeks. We also discuss some cool new uses of Kinect that developers have discovered. In addition, we share our thoughts on the new Windows logo as well as the Windows 8 Consumer Preview. Lastly, we share a bit of the exciting new stuff coming at you from Zunited including rebranding and the resurrection of the forums!
Send us your feedback, comments, questions, suggestions, raps, fanmail, and all that good stuff to podcast[at]zunited[dot]net!
Hosts: Josh Martin and Anna Yap
Episode: 135
Title: Lumia Lovin’
Date: Monday, March 26th, 2012
Nokia Canada is AMAZING and sent us here at Zunited a brand-spanking new Nokia Lumia 800 in eye-catching cyan!
I have been using this phone as my dedicated device for the past two weeks and so this is not your average “first impressions” review. I want to put a disclaimer at the beginning of this article to let you know that I love this phone. Any and all critiques on this phone are not to be taken as objective negatives to this phone but rather things that I see as areas in which Nokia could benefit from changes or improvements.
Hardware
In my opinion, the biggest thing that the Lumia 800 has going for it is its design and form factor. The polycarbonate unibody feels unlike anything I’ve ever held – and I’ve held most generation v.next devices on the market right now on nearly all operating systems.
Since I received this phone I have had countless people – strangers and friends alike – tap me on the shoulder and ask “what phone is that?” You can see the sense of wonder and amazement in their eyes as they cradle this thing in their hands and flip through all the apps, features, and hubs on the device.
The curved Gorilla Glass is sleek and probably my favorite thing about the body of the phone. The clear black technology is near identical to the 
quality of the Samsung Focus’ Super AMOLED screen and makes the colors pop off the screen. For some reason though, the Lumia 800 manages to produce an immersive experience when using the phone and this is all the result of the time and effort that was clearly taken to designing the display of the device.
Next up on the hardware side of things are the hardware buttons on the side of the phone. Unlike the Samsung Focus, all of the Lumia 800 buttons are located on the right side of the device. This is neither a positive or negative but simply a difference. It took all of 5 minutes to get used to it and I have to say, I quite like the locations of the buttons on the 800. To press, they are very decisive and definitely moreso than the Focus buttons which can tend to be… squishy.
Last notes on the hardware are the capacitive buttons just below the screen. This is something that I think could benefit from some change. The buttons are just too darn close to the screen and I find myself accidentally the . It certainly isn’t a deal breaker but about once or twice a day I’ll accidentally tap the search button
Camera
Carl Zeiss Carl Zeiss Carl Zeiss. Now that we’ve got that out of the way, the camera on the Lumia is very good. 8 MP of clear, fast, and top quality images of the calibre you’d expect from any Nokia phone. The flash works perfectly and I receive consistently good photographs with this phone.
This is a quick shot I took with the phone on a typical gloomy day in Ottawa
Only thing that took away from the perfection of the camera is the lack of a front-facing camera. I know that it’s the mid-range phone with the Lumia 900 coming out soon-ish but it would have been nice to use the Skype beta to its full capacity.
Performance
This is how Windows Phone is supposed to feel. When I open processor intensive apps I like to have that smooth-as-butter motion as I do for all the others. Perhaps there’s no better example of this than my Lumia experience with PrimeTV. On my Samsung Focus this app is certainly usable and it’s a good thing because I depend on this app to keep track of the many shows I follow. Never did I expect the fluidity and usability of the app to be that good.
On the Nokia Lumia 800 every app feels it’s tailored to your efficiency needs. When you tap on the People hub on your first gen device you may not realize there’s that half-second moment of lag… At least you won’t notice until you hold a Nokia Windows Phone device in your hand. The hubs pop open instantly saving you precious seconds every time.
There are some users reporting some bugs like bass-less sound quality when listening through headphones connected through the 3.5mm jack at the top of the device. I can attest to this as well as poor battery life (still better than my Focus) but fear not, for a fix is on its way!
Nokia Lumia 800
In conclusion, if you’re in the market for a new phone: this is it. The Nokia Lumia 800 holds its reputation as the first real Windows Phone. I cannot rave enough about this phone, and my friends agree: it’s beautiful to behold.
Do you have the Nokia Lumia 800? Sound off in the comments below with your thoughts!
If you haven’t tried IE9 for some reason yet, GET ON IT. I will openly admit I was a Firefox guy for years while Internet Explorer was getting its act together. Once IE9 came out, I was instantly sold. Microsoft is now showing off Internet Explorer in the form of TV commercials so you can expect to see this flashy, sexy, sleek ad on your big screen very soon!
We here at Zunited are pretty pumped about Microsoft’s new marketing methods.
Oh and the song is “Too Close” by Alex Clare.
What do YOU think of this commercial? Sound off in the comments below!
We’re pretty sure this is an inevitable event but there’s been a bit of buzz surrounding the Nokia Lumia 900′s worldwide debut. The device is scheduled to hit US shores in March on AT&T’s 4G network but we may now have an answer as to its participation with other carriers in other countries.
Both Carphone Warehouse in the UK and SG Best (an online retailer based in Singapore) have listed the Nokia Lumia 900 as “coming soon” with the ship date listed as June.
This is good news for everyone outside US borders who want what many are saying is the first “real Windows Phone.” Keep an eye on Zunited for future Lumia 900 sightings abroad.
The Nokia Lumia 900 sports an 8-megapixel Carl Zeiss rear camera, a 1-megapixel front-facing camera. This is paired with a 1.4 GHz Snapdragon processor, WVGA AMOLED display, and all wrapped in a stunning and sleek polycarbonate unibody.
UPDATE: It looks like Carphone Warehouse has taken down their page listing for the Lumia 900. Looks like somebody got trigger-happy on the publish button back in the UK.
Source: WPCentral
It’s not often a leaked photo gets acknowledged positively by an OEM or that it receives anything more than: “Sorry, we cannot comment on future product releases.” Looks like the community caught a break with this interaction with Lenovo, though.
Last month photos of a Lenovo Windows Phone were leaked on winphonexap.com and were referred to as the“S2.”
It seems as if Lenovo has confirmed this phone as being legit in an [translated link] interview with iMobile on Tuesday.
Lenovo LePhone Product Manager, Yue Chen added that they have a “clear release schedule” which will see the phone released in the second half of 2012. This falls nicely along Microsoft’s timeline to give China a piece of the Windows Phone action in early 2012 – complete with marketplace.
Lenovo is reportedly working on a CDMA version of the phone which (hopefully) means that these will also be on the North American networks. Lenovo has a long-standing reputation of fantastic build quality and strong dedication to Microsoft as a whole. It will be certainly be exciting to see how these will sell as a possible flagship phone in the Chinese market as well as another contender in domestic markets.
Source: winphonexap.com
Image credit: winphonexap.com
If you’re one to keep up with Microsoft codenames, you may recall “Ventura” being discussed. We knew at the time that it was going to have something to do with combining music and video services through the Entertainment & Devices divison. That project may be realized with the new Xbox.com revamp to come in the coming week(s).
The new "Xbox Social"
It seems like many new social features will be added to the new site including comments on players’ achievements and on recently played games. For legacy users, Zune social is a familiar concept, this seems to be more fluid (and admittedly, more useful).
The integration of music and videos into the site fits well into the vision that Microsoft is executing quite well which incorporates many of their services into a unified space. This simplifies, and makes the features more easily adapted by users.
It’s also notable that the look and feel of the refreshed site closely resembles the upcoming dashboard update which will effectively “Metrofy” yet another Microsoft service.
What do you think of the new interface? Do you see yourself using these new social features?
On Wednesday, September 20th, Microsoft has finally made an official statement about the timing of the Mango release on their Windowss Phone Blog.
This specific post also served as a humble reminder and cautionary advice column about the dangers of updating via bootleg, or homebrew hacks (oops).
Eric Hautala writes:
“This also seems like a good time to caution against installing unofficial or
leaked copies of Windows Phone software.During the official Windows Phone 7.5 update process, every Windows Phone
will also receive software from the handset manufacturer. This matched and
paired firmware has been painstakingly tuned so your phone—and apps—work with
all the new features of Windows Phone 7.5. Since your phone requires the proper
firmware to function as designed, my advice is simple: steer clear of bootleg
updates and homebrew tools.”
So all of you who paroused the xda-developer threads to get your hands on the Mango update long before it was scheduled for release like I did: you better have kept your backup! If not, don’t fret as the Windows Phone Support Tool can refresh your phone to factory defaults. (Warranty still considered voided though, sorry)
So all you 7 users, hold tight. The update of the year is coming soon. In fact, a few carriers (Vodafone and Telus) have already been rumored to have completed their Mango testing.
Oh! And don’t forget: when you update your Zune software to 4.8 make sure you help the Zune and Windows Phone team out by checking the “customer experience program” box so they can make updates better!
Musically inclined, love Windows Phone 7, and need some cash? Then head on over to Nokia’s new website they’ve set up where you can create and submit your own Nokia ringtone. First prize is a whopping $10,000 to the person with the most creative tune out there and a healthy $1,000 to the five runner-ups.
Nokia seems to be making a large push to get their name out there - mostly in North America where their marketshare has never been anything more than mediocre. This is the second contest or “user input” decision that Nokia has done in the past month which is a smart way of getting users (and future users) involved pre-release and will hopefully get more people tuned in to the Windows Phone channel when deciding on their next smartphone.
Below is the clever video Nokia has made to promo their new contest:
Keep an eye out for new ringtones and be sure to vote for your favorites!