The Blockbuster App is LIVE!
Remember that Blockbuster app we mentioned to you that was extracted from the TMo HD2? Well go ahead and run it now. Then wait for the update (yes, it’s slow to update but be patient…it will install v2.8). The app has been updated, runs better and seems completed. It also directs you to http://www.blockbuster.com/device/activate where you can activate an account to start on demand viewing/downloading. Now, I am not into giving out my credit card info but from all appearances, this app is live. An account is required to actually stream or download a movie to your phone. Oh and yes, you still need to press and hold to get to links within the app- it’s not as gentle to the touch as I’d like. It also flashes in and out of the app (but the app stays active) when you switch screens.
Why did I test this today? The HD2 TMo event is going on now and the Blockbuster app was being shown:)
Anyway, if you test it, share your findings!
FOUL!!! No Copy and Paste in WP7 (Wait…Maybe)
Engadget is reporting that there will NOT be copy and paste in WP7 out the gate. As they put it “Microsoft just mentioned in a Q&A session here at MIX10 in no uncertain terms that clipboard operations won’t be supported on Windows Phone 7 Series.” OK this is weak sauce. Do I use copy and paste every day? No, but I don’t use my phone as an mp3 player every day either and I sometimes go a day or two without using my phone as a phone, but I still expect it to be there. And I expect these features in a smartphone released in 2010. I think I’m so disappointed because we’ve had this ability forever in WM and it ought to be something simple to include (even if it’s not the best, I’ll take something over nothing) and the fact that it isn’t may say more about the progress of development than anything. I don’t want a first gen iPhone! Yup, I went there.
So, talk me down – am I overreacting?
UPDATE: Paul Thurrott is at Mix10 and just Tweeted: So I was told that Windows Phone copy and paste is not definitely, but that they were looking at adding this before RTM. It’s not there now.
SBSH PhoneWeaver 2.1 Released
SBSH has just released version 2.1 of their profile and phone management solution called PhoneWeaver. The best features in this release is the excellent touch control.
The new touch control panel addresses the issue with most touch based applications. You can now navigate the new interface smoothly using your fingers. As in earlier version, You can create location-based profiles which are automatically 
switched to when you are in different mobile tower’s range. This does take initial setup effort but is really worth it. Here is a brief list of the main features in in 2.0 and 2.1 versions:
- Empowered profiles
- Latest devices support
- Location based profiles
- Windows 6.5 compatibility
- More optimized application
The app comes in trial and paid versions.
Nexus One Now AT&T 3G Compliant – You Care?
With all the news about WP7 and people threatening to flee Windows and move to Android, here’s an interesting piece of news:
In early January, we announced the Nexus One, the first device sold through Google’s web store. The Nexus One is unlocked, which means you can use it with a SIM card from most GSM operators worldwide. Currently the device is compatible with most 3G networks, including T-Mobile in the US. However, there are some carriers that have different 3G frequencies, such as AT&T in the US and Rogers Wireless in Canada, so users with these SIM cards can only access 2G or EDGE networks on their Nexus One.
Starting today, an additional version of the Nexus One is available from the Google web store that is compatible with AT&T’s 3G network. This new model can be purchased as an unlocked device without a service plan. In addition to AT&T’s 3G network, this device will also run on Rogers Wireless in Canada. And like the first version of the Nexus One, it can be used with most GSM operators globally.
So, anyone care? 
I don’t but you may…
Thanks for the tip stefymarty!
Some Good and Bad News From Mix10
As I’m sure you all know, Mix10 started today and MS was talking about developing for WP7. There was a lot that happened today and we don’t want to overwhelm you with the nitty gritty but here’s an overview of some of the things that stuck out. Thanks to Auri (from TAG) who is a developer who was onsite and provided a lot of insight as to the event.
The Good:
- Overall it seems that Mix10 has a lot of developers in attendance and overall is getting positive feedback which is good news in convincing developers that WP7 is the way to go
- You can register your phone on a developer portal, and that “Developer Unlocks” your phone. Anyone guess where this is going?:)
- MS is providing a lot of free tools to developers and it appears that the tools are fairly robust and easy to use
- Lots of apps were previewed including: a Netflix app that lets you stream movies in real time and adjust the bitrate to ensure smooth streaming and the ability to resume movies; a Seesmic app (which shares the code from the desktop version; video games with 3D renderings were previewed (which link to XBox Live achievements); Shazam; AP; Foursquare’s Twitter app among others. There are lots of developers on board already
- Silverlight is the full version without limitations
Apps load where they are supposed to. In other words, if you want an app to edit photos it becomes an extension of the WP7 UI and is accessed when viewing photos. The benefit is that in viewing photos you can go straight to editing so there’s no need to switch to a third party app – it all gets integrated - Push notifications are non-intrusive and can be active even if the app is not running
- Multitasking exists beyond the iPhone (so music will work in the background even if it’s Pandora for example)
- Developers can access all of the hardware and sensors regardless of manufacturer (unlike the current situation where we need HTC to release APIs to us the HD2 digital compass)
Minimum specs:
Capacitive Touch: 4 or more contact points
Sensors: A-GPS, Accelerometer, Compass, Light, Proximity
Camera: 5 megapixels or more, Camera with a flash and dedicated camera button
Multimedia: Common detailed specs, Codec acceleration
Memory: 256 MB, 8 GB Flash or more
GPU: DirectX 9 acceleration
Processor: ARMv7 Cortex/Scorpion or better
2 screen sizes: 480×800 WVGA, 480×320 HVGA
Keyboard: Optional
Hardware Buttons: Must be fixed on the face- Marketplace is integrated so when you’re listening to music you can buy music from there and in the games hub you can buy games there for example. Again, no need to leave and go to another app.
- Activesync is gone. Zune is used to sync and photos automatically sync wirelessly
- Office is looking good
- Asus and an LG with a keyboard were shown
- Simple speculation on my behalf, but based on the fact that it’s Silverlight and the ease of developing apps, it looks lie there will be a multiple of more apps available for WP7 at launch than there are in the current 6.5 Marketplace
- Apps are not phone specific – they are lined to your Live ID and can go with you
- Seems like the battery is replaceable (man that was close)
- Apps must be installed through Marketplace
- There will not be memory cards. You must use internal memory and any memory cards need to be fixed (and not accessible to the end user)
- You cannot change the default apps so Google Maps will never overtake Bing Maps
- IE will be the default browser and that cannot be changed
- The UI is fixed, which we’ve known, and all predict third parties will work around this by making an app that launches to mask a UI
- Multitasking does not extend to VOIP apps
- Social networking needs to be aggregated using Windows Live to be shown in the HUB
The Bad:
Thoughts???
Huge thanks again to Auri for sharing his thoughts with the world and allowing me to aggregate his findings.
Marketplace WP7 In Action
Microsoft has released this short video to show what Marketplace will look like on WP7. It’s a pretty big change compared to the current version.
Marketplace Will Be The ONLY Place to Get Apps for WP7
Engadget just reported that the only way to get apps on WP7 is through Marketplace. Yup, this means we need to jailbreak…or whatever the hell we’ll call it, to use our phones the way we all like them. What does this mean for XDA? Likely not too much as I suspect they’ll be the home of whoever is going to unlock WP7 just like it currently is for cooking. This just adds a higher level of annoyance for the general population since currently unlocking is for ROMs and this would be across the board for apps as well.
There are some other nice tidbits about the new Marketplace at Engadget (like the fact that Zune will be the desktop method to install apps) but the biggie is the inability to install your own apps. So, how furious are you? You can use a number scale, a series of colorful words…whatever you like just don’t swear without the usual #!@%%. I already know that you guys will love the fact that the only reason you use WM is because you can do whatever you want with it and now that’s about to be taken from you…let the rants begin.
Google to China: Adiós?
Google’s all over Google News, more than usual. A handful of big stories you should know about including some related to phones but I’ll go with the censorship fight for now, an update on Chinagate which has heated up substantially in the past few days. To offer you the gist of this right now, just look at that guy for a moment.
Google said today that while neither side has thrown in the towel completely yet that they and China reached an impasse. Google declared that they are withdrawing from the business of censorship, China declared that they shall follow the rules or leave town. “If Google takes steps that violate Chinese laws, that would be unfriendly, that would be irresponsible and they would have to bear the consequences,” their minister for industry and IT warned Friday. And if they do leave, according to an insightful and poetic Beijing, “the planet won’t stop spinning because Google leaves and Chinese Internet users will remain online without Google.”
Nothing you haven’t already heard, however this time the smart money suggests it’s really going to happen with Baidu shares jumping over 6% and Google down over 3% today precipitated by the ramped-up rhetoric. According to the Financial Times, “Google has drawn up detailed plans for the closure of its Chinese search engine and is now ‘99.9%’ certain to go ahead as talks over censorship with the Chinese authorities have reached an apparent impasse,” according to an unnamed Google insider. To try to tie this into phones for you, if you go to Beijing on Google Maps with the Google Buzz layer enabled, you’ll see that a lot of people are buzzing, people who would be very said not to be able to keep buzzing were their leaders not so obsessed with saving face which is by the way what they’re all about. Saving face and trying to hack into my server, that is.
I mentioned this to my old man yesterday. In spite of having a PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (where he also taught), he knows virtually nothing of technology so his reaction, that of a layman, was intriguing to me. He said he admired Google’s stance, noting that it was a rare thing for any company, especially a public company, to exercise their beliefs at the probable expense of money and prospects of a lot more money and that in spite of this he’d be more inclined to invest in such a company.
Me too, Dad.
Doug Simmons
ThrottleLauncher 1.0 (Final) Released
ThrottleLauncher is the very popular UI replacement that is incredibly customizable. Today we were greeted with the release of ThrottleLauncher 1.0 (final). This should give you an idea of what kind of smoothness and customization to expect but remember, it’s running a ThrottleLauncher theme. In other words you can install themes on top of ThrottleLauncher so you can mimic other UIs as well and you can install widgets also. And as a bonus, for first time users you are greeted with a tutorial when you first launch it.
You should load this to main memory for speed purposes and it supports all screen resolutions.
For complete release information and download instructions head here to the developer’s website and here to the XDA thread. Of course, remember to use the donate link if you like APBilbo’s work.
T-Mobile HTC HD2 Gets Unboxed
It is getting harder and harder to watch these videos of the HTC HD2. Yeah, we have already seen a lot of the HD2 already from our friends across the pond who always get the good stuff first. But if you are like me and hang your hat in the good ol’ USA, you know the following Video is makes the HTC HD2 get real for us and not just a dream. If you think I am excited about the HD2 from T-Mobile, then check out Scott over at Letstalk.com who got his hands on one and is having a hard time concealing his enthusiasm as well. (That’s why I point the camera away from my face there Scott! LOL) Anyway, Scott unboxed the T-Mobile HD2 for us and is a great video watch. Scott says a lot of words in the video but they all seem to get drowned out by the HUGE 4.3 WVGA screen is this snapdragon 1GHz Beastie. So enough words from me, check out the video:
(via: WMPU)
