At last! BBC iPlayer is coming to Windows Phone

 

While we love Windows Phone, there’s no doubt that even two and a half years after launch, it’s still missing important apps, from Instagram to Google Maps. There’s some good news for Microsofties today though: at long last, BBC iPlayer is coming to the platform. Sort of.

Writing on the BBC’s blog, business development boss Cyrus Saihan has announced that the Beeb is teaming up with Microsoft to bring BBC iPlayer video streaming to Windows Phone 7.5 and Windows Phone 8 at long last. There’s no timeframe for a release just yet, but Saihan says to look out for updates in the “coming months”.

There’s one catch – BBC iPlayer on Windows Phone won’t be a full app. Instead, you’ll be able to download a Live Tile shortcut to your homescreen, which will then let you jump to the mobile website and catch up on Eastenders – which you haven’t been able to do on Windows Phone until now. That’s not a dealbreaker, but it does likely rule out updates and features that you’ll find on the BBC iPlayer iPhone app, like show downloads to watch on the go.

Still, in the battle for third place behind Android and iPhone between BlackBerry and Microsoft right now, every little helps. Will you be tuning into the Beeb on your Nokia Lumia? Sound off in the comments below.

Super cheap Nokia Windows Phone coming next week!

 

Mobile World Congress kicks off next week, and rumours are flying about what Nokia’s going to unveil at its Barcelona press event on Monday morning. Now a new report says the Finns are prepping a new, even cheaper Windows Phone for next week.

Reuters reports that Nokia is hard at work on cheaper phones to combat Chinese competitors like Huawei and ZTE who are able to undercut their rivals with low prices – and one of the models on show will be a Lumia running full fat Windows Phone 8.

That’s music to our ears. Earlier this month, we tested out the already super affordable Lumia 620, calling it the best Windows Phone ever – with the same software experience at an even lower pricetag (Below £100, perhaps), we reckon Nokia could be on to a winner.

The report doesn’t say anything about the rumoured Nokia Windows Phone with a giant PureView image sensor, so we may not be seeing the Holy Grail of camera phones in Spain next week – tune in on Monday to find out what we will.

Like the sounds of super affordable Windows Phone

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Nokia wants you to print your own phone cases! by The Gadget Show

 

Once upon a time, Nokia phones used to have cases that you could click off and change to suit your mood, but most phone offerings have been more set menu than buffet recently. That ends today. While the Lumia 820 already comes in a kaleidoscopic range of colours, Nokia has gone one step further and has released 3D printing files for the phone that lets anyone with a 3D printer quickly knock out their own custom case.

Nokia’s 3D printing Development Kit (3DK) gives you the files and templates to make your own cover for the Lumia 820 – Nokia has also packed in some guides for you to follow, so you can be sure your custom case won’t fall apart when you piece it back together.

Of course, 3D printers aren’t exactly commonplace right now, but their price is falling all the time, and it won’t be long until they start popping up in the home – so all the businesses selling you cases and covers should be very scared by Nokia’s power play.

In the meantime, expect sites like Etsy to pop up with custom Lumia 820 cases for sale. Fancy your own? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

www.easyappsbusiness.com

Nokia 620: Windows Phone 8 slims down!

Say hello to the Nokia Lumia 620, the world’s smallest Windows Phone 8 smartphone. Bringing several shots of even more colour to the Lumia family, the new Nokia Lumia 620 brings Microsoft’s new OS to a more affordable price range at last, and even lets you pick and mix your colour like paint.

Using a new dual-shot colour technique, the Nokia Lumia 620 lets you pair up the base colour with seven additional shells to mix and match. For example, starting with a yellow base and adding a cyan shell, you end up with a lime green shade.

While dubbed as being affordable, the Nokia Lumia 620 is still a capable little machine. Packing a 1GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4, it’s certainly no slug. The phone also boasts a healthy 512MB RAM, 8GB of storage space and micro SD memory card support for up to 64GB, not to mention 7GB of free Microsoft SkyDrive storage – giving you no shortages of trunk space.

The Nokia Lumia 620 also touts a 3.8-inch display, which also features the same sunlight readability enhancements as the 920 and 820, as well as NFC capability which also lets the phone easily pair up with accessories.

When it hits shops, the Nokia Lumia 620 should cost around $249 (around £150) and will roll out in January, starting in Asia with Europe a close second. What do you make of it? Let us know in the comments below

Windows Phone 8 review

 

The basics

Windows Phone 8 is here, and it’s never been more needed. Google and Apple have hoovered up most of the smartphone marketplace, and Windows Phone 7 has made little dent in that in two years. Microsoft is hoping to change that with an all new release (that won’t run on older Windows Phones, you’ll need to buy a new handset to get it) that promises speedier performance, a new look homescreen and support for the latest hardware, including 4G speeds, HD screens and multi-core processors. But is that enough, when its competitors do too? Let’s take a look.

The good

We’ve always enjoyed the design of Windows Phone, and version eight only improves on that. The new homescreen lets you customise it to your heart’c content, with three different tile sizes available. It’s a happy medium between Apple’s static icons and Android sometimes overly confusing widgets, especially since these live tiles update with information (headlines, unread messages and so forth).

Microsoft has made very few changes when it comes to navigation otherwise but that’s no bad thing. You still open apps from the live tile homescreen, and swipe from side to side for more options. The keyboard too remains visually unchanged, but that’s no bad thing: it was already excellent, and its word prediction is now even smarter.

Everything feels fluid and fast, but then, Windows Phone always did. The only difference is that now, it feels fluid and fast on HD screens, with dual-core processors.

Microsoft has improved notifications with Windows Phone 8 though, letting you assign one app to show extra detail on the lock screen (The calendar, for instance), and five to show alerts from. This combined with the ability to now receive Skype calls (a glaring omission in Windows Phone, considering Microsoft owns Skype) makes keeping an eye on all your updates in your most important apps much easier.

The problem of few apps for Windows Phone remains, but the important change is one under the hood you’ll probably never see: Windows Phone 8 is now based on the same core as Windows proper, which should mean developers should have to do very little work porting their Windows desktop apps over to mobile.

Only time will tell if this happens in practice, but given Windows 8 on PCs is off to a strong start, with four million upgrades already, there’s every chance it’ll solve the app famine on Windows Phone at last.

The bad

We like most of the new features on Windows Phone 8 (Except Rooms, the new private group chat and communication features, which is basically useless unless you and all your friends have a Windows Phone 8 device).

What we don’t like, however, is what Microsoft hasn’t fixed from Windows Phone 7 and 7.5. The People hub is a lovely idea, supposedly pulling in all the data from social networks about your friends. But it still doesn’t update in the background, so every time you open a friend’s profile, you’ll have to watch it load, load, load. It’s a bizarre move, and one that wouldn’t even be acceptable in a third party app on Android or iPhone, never mind a built in service.

Internet Explorer 10 is fast, but due to the core engine it uses has a nasty habit of showing you nasty old text-based versions of sites by default. It also only lets you have six tabs open at a time, and it’s two taps to get to them each time you want to switch, which is a lot less seamless than Chrome on Android’s swiping gesture support.

Microsoft has also not fixed its daft multi-tasking issue: you can open an app in the state you left it again, but only through the multitasking screen accessed by holding down the back button. if you open the app again from your homescreen, it just restarts and you have to wait while it loads again. It’s infuriating, especially if you find yourself using just a few core apps day to day.

And while We love Xbox SmartGlass, the app that lets you control your Xbox 360 from anywhere, and even view second screen content while palying a game or watching a film - and it comes built into Windows Phone 8. But it also highlighted for us a serious problem with how accounts work on the platform.

We have an Xbox Live account tied to a Gmail address, and not the Hotmail address we use to test Windows Phone - which effectivly meant SmartGlass wouldn’t connect to our Xbox. Microsoft’s guide for reviewers’ advice on this front was simply to make sure all your accounts are tied together before you set up your phone. Not very helpful after the fact.

It didn’t have to be this way either: you can just sign into different Xbox Live accounts on Xbox SmartGlass for Android. As such, SmartGlass is actually better on Android (and presumably will be on iOS) than it is on Windows, which is not something Microsoft would want.

You also have to wonder if the new technical support on Windows Phone 8 is enough: yes, it can now run on 720p HD screens, like the latest Android super phones. But we’ve already seen one full 1080p HD phone announced by HTC in recent weeks, and we doubt the likes of Samsung will be far behind. Could Microsoft be setting itself up for a fall down the line once more?

The bottom line

Windows Phone 8 is a solid effort that remains beautiful and effortlessly easy to use. It adds in a few extra features to keep it competitive, as well as support for the current cutting edge in hardware, but unfortunately, it still doesn’t solve the problems that have plagued Windows Phone ever since its 2010 reboot.

There’s still no sign of a flowering app eco-system, and Microsoft has still not yet fixed some ofthe issues that have been bugging us for years. We can’t say Windows Phone 8 is a reason to ditch your iPhone or Android phone, but as a new experience for a first time smartphone user who wants simplicity, not every option under the sun, it’s a serious option at last.

www.easyappbusiness.com

How to get Windows Phone 7.8 on your smartphone right now!

 

Windows Phone 7.8 is slowly on the way, but there’s good news for owners with current Windows Phone 7.5 devices who want to update right now, as the friendly folks at XDA Developers have managed to release a near-final version of the update for use on quite a few products.

Windows Phone 7.8 brings quite a few new nifty features to older devices that have been left behind after Windows Phone 8 was released. These Windows Phone 7 devices get some almost-WP8 updates, such a revamped Start screen as well as Xbox Music.

If you own one of the following devices and fancy updating to the latest software release possible for Windows Phone 7 devices, hit the link to be taken over to the XDA Developers forum: HTC Titan, HTC Mozart, HTC HD 2, HTC Radar, HTC HD 7, Samsung Omnia 7, HTC Trophy, HTC 7 Pro, Nokia Lumia 710, Nokia Lumia 800.

Of course, these released updates are available for you to install at your own risk, and are not officially supported, so don’t say we didn’t warn you. At the very least, it’s a sign that the release is very close at hand – let us know how you find it in the comments below!

Windows Phone 8 operating system launched by Microsoft

 

The handset interface is similar to that of the recently launched Windows 8 system for PCs

Microsoft has formally launched the Windows Phone 8 operating system in a bid to reclaim smartphone market share.

It boasted that the system's internet browser, Internet Explorer 10, was the fastest on any mobile, and also suggested it offered the closest integration with video chat app Skype.

Microsoft had a 3.1% share of the handset system market in the April-to-June quarter, according to IDC.

The low figure has discouraged some developers from building apps for it.

HTC, Nokia and Samsung have all unveiled flagship WP8 devices over recent months, but had been unable to release them while they waited for Microsoft to sign off its software.

The handsets will now go on sale in Europe at the weekend and rollout worldwide during November.

"It can't be underestimated how important it is to Microsoft to get a successful handheld platform," Ben Wood, director of research at CCS Insight, .

"It's the fastest growing and most prolific sector - 800 million smartphones will be sold this year, within three years that number will be up to one billion annually. Nokia has also bet the ranch on this at a time when the market is dominated by Apple and Google's systems - and Microsoft is seen as being late to the party."

Kid's Corner

WP8 resembles the Windows 8 PC operating system released last week. Users navigate the interface by swiping through tiles which also display information pulled from the internet - for example weather conditions, Facebook status updates or recently received emails.

While its predecessor WP7.5 was based on the firm's ageing Windows Mobile platform, WP8 shares its kernel - or software core - with its PC equivalent, which should help make it easier to port programs between the two environments.

Much of the details of WP8 were announced at a previous event in June. But Microsoft had held a few features back until the San Francisco launch.

Kid's Corner is designed to make it safer to lend their handsets to their children

These included the speed of Internet Explorer 10 which it said was up to seven times faster than the version on WP7.5 at handling webpages based on the commonly used Javascript language. In addition it has been designed to make use of devices' graphics processing units (GPUs) to render videos or animations written in the HTML5 computer language.

The firm also showed off Kid's Corner - a function designed for parents who give their handsets to their children to play with. It allows them to restrict access to a limited number of apps without giving access to email, phone call or text message functions.

Microsoft said a survey had suggested about two-thirds of smartphone-owning parents in the US had used the handsets to occupy their children while out shopping, visiting friends or some other activity.

Another new feature is Rooms which allows users to create an invitation-only environment in which members share their calendars, notes, photos and other material. The firm suggested it might be used to help families, sports teams and other community groups stay "in sync".

Microsoft also made much of an "always-on" Skype experience.

This addresses one of the major flaws with its previous mobile system which had not allowed the video chat program to run in the background. That had meant that users of iOS and Android phones had been able to receive calls while using other apps, but WP7.5 devices had not - a notable omission bearing in mind Microsoft paid $8.5bn (£13.7bn) to buy Skype in 2011.

On WP8 Skype runs in the background even if the app is closed and the phone locked. It uses a similar method introduced in the full Windows 8 system to reduce its battery use by effectively being "asleep" until an incoming notification of a call wakes up the program.

Microsoft stressed the facility would also be available to other video chap apps including Tango and Qik so that its own program would not be given an unfair advantage.

Microsoft making a Phone, new Gears of War, Google Play movies, this week's must-have download and more by

 

Happy Friday, gadget fans. It’s that time of the week where we round up some of the week’s gadget and gaming stories that you may have missed. This week we’ve got the latest news on those rumoured Microsoft smartphones, a release date for the new Gears of War: Judgement game for Xbox 360, and more. Read on to see what else you’ve missed.

Grab a cheap PlayStation Vita

Well, cheaper. GameStop has discounted the Wi-Fi PlayStation Vita to just £189.97 – that’s £30 cheaper than you’ll find on other websites. If you’ve been thinking of picking up a Vita, it’s worth thinking about – the Vita is a great console.

Microsoft won’t be making a Windows Phone

Microsoft has been busy of late showing off its new Microsoft Surface tablet, but don’t expect the company to apply that same strategy to smartphones. It won’t be happening. At least not anytime soon. It looks like Microsoft is content to continue dabbling in Windows Phone software with Nokia instead. 


 

Is Gears of War: Judgement out in February

That’s the rumour spreading around the web, so be sure to put it in your calendar. Gear of War: Judgement is a prequel to the popular series, starring familiar Gears characters Damon Baird and Augustus Cole. It’s gonna be good.

Google Play adds movies & TV shows

Google Play, formerly known as the Android Market, has added movies and TV shows to its repertoire of apps and games to go with the new Asus Google Nexus tablet that was launched earlier this week. If you haven’t already done so, go and check out the online store now.

This week’s must download: Stick Tennis

Just in time for Wimbledon, Stick Tennis has landed on Apple’s App Store for your iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. It’s a neat little sporty number in which you play shots by swiping across the screen. A free version is available, so give it a go. If you like it, the full version costs £1.99. An Android version will be available in the coming weeks.

www.tell-me-first.com

Slimmer Nokia PureView megapixel cameras on the way?

 

When the Nokia 808 PureView was first announced, it was its 41-megapixel camera sensor that caught the eye. Unfortunately with such a large sensor comes the extra bulk necessary for such photography prowess. That’s why Nokia’s thinking about introducing new, slimmer models down the pipeline.

The Nokia 808 PureView isn’t in shops just yet. The 41-megapixel camera phone should be with us next month. The main talking point is of course that massive sensor and the PureView camera technology inside, letting users take stunning 41-megapixel photos, condensed into a 5-megapixel shot with no loss of detail when zoomed in on. 


Samsung Galaxy S3 the fastest-selling phone of 2012

As impressive as it all sounds, the Nokia 808 PureView is hardly the most pocketable of smartphones. That’s why we’re likely to see slimmer versions in future, Vesa Jutila, head of Product Marketing for Nokia’s 808 PureView told Visit Engadget .

Though the new devices, in Jutilia’s words “would not necessarily have the same 41-megapixel sensor”, it is a possibility that Nokia has apparently been exploring. We cannot help imagine that it’s a certainty. Why let that awesome PureView technology go to waste?

And although Nokia 808 PureView runs on Nokia Belle software, it seems likely that any slimmer versions are likely to run on the Windows Phone operating system. They may arrive sooner than we think.

Nokia’s Senior Vice President Jo Harlow recently revealed to a Finnish newspaper “it will not take very long” for the technology to reach Windows Phone, paving the way for possible Nokia Lumia PureView Windows phones. Would you buy one?

Nokia PureView 41-megapixel camera tech coming to Windows Phone

www.tell-me-first.com

Five for the weekend: Nokia Lumia 610, Playstation on HTC phones, Assassin’s Creed 3, More BlackBerry and Windows Phone leaks, and more

As another five days of gadget goodness comes to an end, it’s time to round up some of the stories that got us most excited. It’s been an exceptionally good week for leaks, smartphone fans and gamers. Missed any of it? Fear not. Read on to catch up, in our latest five for the weekend news roundup.


You read that right. Ubisoft this week confirmed that Assassin’s Creed 3 is a real thing, and that it’ll be launching on October 30th, also putting it in line to become a Nintendo Wii U launch title.


BlackBerry phones are set for a major overhaul. In every way. Photos showing how leaked earlier this week, revealing a radically different BlackBerry 10 interface. If you’re a Blackberry fan of any sort, you need to see this.


Rumours this week suggested that Sony is about to allow PlayStation games to appear on HTC smartphones and tablets in an attempt to widen the reach of the PlayStation brand. But who cares about branding – that’s great news for gamers and HTC gadget owners.


The likes of Spotify and Napster could have a new rival on its hands. Word has got out that HTC and Beats Audio are hatching a plan to develop its own music streaming service set for an unveiling later this month.


The Nokia Lumia smartphone range is one of the most gorgeous we’ve ever laid eyes on. Now there are rumours of a budget model called the Nokia Lumia 610, which will apparently be unveiled later this month, hopefully giving many more the chance to own a piece of beautiful design.

www.tell-me-first.com

LG Miracle Windows Phone with NFC exposed

An image of a new LG phone reported to be named the LG Miracle has surfaced, revealing a mid-entry Windows Phone to compete with Android and iOS devices. Rumoured specifications of the LG Miracle have also surfaced, showing the LG Miracle to have NFC technology, a decent processor and HD video recording

The LG Miracle was first spotted in leaked photos last December. Back then the name of the device was known the ‘Fantasy’. A name change later and we have the LG Miracle, and with leaked specs revealing the LG Miracle to have a 1GHz Snapdragon processor, and a 4-inch NOVA display, Pocketnow reports.


NOVA displays promise to be better and brighter than some of the Super AMOLED displays we’re now seeing on the latest Android phones such as the forthcoming Samsung Galaxy S Advance and even the Samsung Galaxy S3.

For storage we’re talking 8GB of built-in space for photos, movies, music and apps. Other leaked features include HSPA connectivity, front-facing VGA camera, and a five-megapixel rear camera capable of 720p HD shooting.

The LG Miracle is also being reported to feature an NFC chip that would let the LG Miracle exchange and share information with another NFC-enabled phone by tapping the two devices together.

NFC technology is still in its early days, currently being adopted by more manufacturers in the hope that we will use the technology more often as an alternative to Bluetooth sharing, and paying for small goods at shops by touching our phones on a sensor, sending a payment via a users phone bill.
Availability and a release date have yet to be revealed, but expect to hear more at the upcoming Mobile World Congress convention in Barcelona at the end of this month

Nokia Lumia 800 goes on sale!

 

Nokia Lumia 800 goes on sale!

 

Today the much-anticipated Nokia Lumia 800 finally goes on sale. Nokia’s latest, and very stylish handset has been the talk of the mobile phone world. It’s Nokia’s first ever Windows Phone after all, and today shoppers will finally see what the fuss is all about.

Landing on store shelves right now, the Nokia Lumia 800 will be available on all the major networks. That includes O2, T-Mobile, Three, Vodafone and Orange, so keep an eye out on the deal that suits you.

The Nokia Lumia 800 represents a new vision and direction for Nokia. Nokia is calling it the first true Windows Phone, certainly the first Nokia Windows Phone 7.5. In terms of style it looks a lot like it’s MeeGo device, the Nokia N9 but comes with a 3.7-inch AMOLED screen glass display, with ClearBlack technology to reduce reflections. What we like about this screen is the curve to the glass, so images almost pop out from the screen

 

The Nokia Lumia 800 will also be one of Nokia’s fastest. It has a 1.4 GHz processor, so applications and games will run quickly. Other specs of note are 16GB of internal storage to store thousands of songs, videos and photos. 



 

Nokia has high hopes for the Nokia Lumia 800, and wants everyone to know about it. From today visitors to MSN.com (and then Yahoo, and The Sun in the next few days) can relive memories of the Nokia gaming classic Snake by visiting the homepage and clicking on ‘Play the amazing snake’. Just make sure to return here after you do.

Microsoft set to launch Mango before iOS 5?

 

It’s looking increasingly likely that Apple will launch its next-gen iPhone and iOS 5 in the next couple of weeks, and Microsoft doesn’t want to be left behind. As such, the software giant is readying Mango – the latest version of Windows Phone, and it could also be here at the beginning of October.

Microsoft have been left in Apple’s wake before, spending years coming up with a product that could finally compete with iOS – Windows 7 – when it came to usability.

With Apple’s 5th iteration of iOS likely to launch in the next two weeks or so, Microsoft needs to avoid being left behind again, which is where Mango comes in.

Mango is the latest version of Windows Phone, offering over 500 changes and improvements over earlier iterations.

It won’t just be buyers of new handsets that benefit, either, with Eric Hautala, the General Manager of Customer Experience Engineering at Microsoft, pointing out that “firmware has been painstakingly tuned so your phone-and apps-work with all the new features of Windows Phone 7.5”.

With Apple now expected to launch its iOS platform and next-generation iPhone on the 4th October, we wouldn’t be surprised if Microsoft beat them to the punch by a day or two. The launch of Mango also means that Nokia can start its own revolution, with a host of Mango-based handsets set to hit the shops.

Would you consider opting for Windows Phone over iOS? Or will you wait and see what both new versions have to offer? Leave a comment and let us know.

HTC Omega Windows Phone Mango incoming

 

The first specs have been revealed for new HTC Windows Phone 7 Mango handset the HTC Omega, likely to be one of the devices launched at company’s press conference next week.

From the hush-hush facts that have appeared so far, the Omega will have an aluminium case (possibly a Unibody) that will house a 3.8-inch SLCD display. White and Silver is the only known colour scheme at present.

The new phone is likely to be powered by a 1.5GHz single-core Qaulcomm Snapdragon processor (MSM8255) and have 512 MB of RAM available. No storage is listed but it should be expandable via microHD/SDHD card. It should also support HD TV output via a micro-HDMI adapter and media ‘throwing’ to compatible kit via DLNA support.

The main rear-facing camera will be an 8 megapixel affair with an LED flash. The Omega will also have a front facing camera, leaving open the tantilising possibility of video chat and – we hope – Skype integration for Windows Phone 7 Mango devices.

HTC is expected to officially announce the HTC Omega at a press event on September the 1st. An second, higher-spec Mango handset with a larger 4.7 inch display is expected to be launched too, code-named the HTC Eternity.

Mango is the first major update for Windows Phone 7 and is intended to address many of the niggles that early adopters found with the original release.

Windows Phone 7 Mango now supports multitasking – or at least a form of task-switching using a long press of the Back button. The phone’s contacts app now integrates with your Facebook friends and you can see their status updates alongside their details.

3rd party apps should now be able to update Live Tiles on the homescreen and the update adds new voice controls and search SkyDrive cloud storage support and more.

Windows Phone Mango: What smartphones will launch first?

Windows Phone may have been late to the smartphone party, but it still feels like one of the freshest and nicest operating systems to use. It’s not perfect, but it should get a lot better when the latest ‘Mango’ version gets released later this year. Manufacturers have now been able to get their hands on Mango, and there are a host of new smartphones in the pipeline. Read on to find out more.

Mango is the latest version of the Windows Phone operating system. It’s already a great OS, but with a few tweaks it could be even better. Manufacturers have now got their hands on the latest ‘Mango’ version of Windows Phone, which means we’ll be seeing some new phones in the not too distant future. The manufacturers below will be among the first.

NokiaOut of all the smartphone manufacturers to release Windows Phone handsets, Nokia is one of the most eagerly anticipated. We can’t help but feel that the Finnish company’s future rests on the latest operating system from Microsoft, so it needs both the hardware and the software to be spot on. We’ve already seen that Nokia can manage stunning hardware – if Mango is as good as we hope the combination could be a match made in heaven.

Toshiba FujitsuToshiba has a history of making high-end smartphones – it was the first company to release a 4-inch handset with a 1GHz processor – but in a bid to take the king of the smartphones crown Toshiba has got together with Fujitsu. The result is set to be the catchily titled Fujitsu Toshiba Windows Phone IS12T, and it’s likely to be the first Mango smartphone to hit the shops.

SamsungSamsung has a proven track record when it comes to making smartphones with different operating systems, and was one of the first to release a Windows Phone 7 device. Following on from the success of the Android-based Samsung Galaxy S II, we can’t wait to see what the South Korean company has up its sleeve when it comes to Mango, but we bet it’ll be one of the best handsets out there.

HTCThe newest smartphone manufacturer in this group, HTC weren’t even on the scene until the late 90s. The company made a name for itself with Windows Mobile devices, however, also having incredible success with Android handsets. Along with Samsung, HTC released its own Windows Phone 7 device, so expect to see a Mango-based smartphone from HTC as well.

LGLG has made some of the most innovative smartphones this year, including the LG Optimus 3D. If it can bring the same sort of innovations to Mango and Windows Phone, then there’s no reason we couldn’t see a world-beating smartphone from the South Korean company.

Nokia N9 hands on

Nokia may be switching to Windows Phone rather than continuing with its own MeeGo OS, but we’ve been playing with the Nokia N9, and it’s an absolute cracker. Read on to find out what we think about Nokia’s new range-topping smartphone.

With Nokia wanting to switch to Windows Phone, the MeeGo-based Nokia N9 looks like having a limited shelf life, and it’s not even likely to go on sale in this country. It’s a shame, as it’s the best touchscreen smartphone we’ve seen from Nokia so far, and it’s better than rivals in lots of areas.
The most noticeable is the screen – it’s absolutely gorgeous. We compared it directly to several Android handsets, and the contrast level really stood out, with deep blacks that helped the screen to blend in completely with its surround.

The other thing we love about the Nokia N9 is its design, with amazingly simple styling and a surprisingly thin and robust case. With a glass screen that dominates the front of the device, it feels every bit the high-end product, and given the chance it’s easily capable of taking the fight to Apple’s iPhone 4.

It’s the operating system that’s the main talking point on the N9, however, and it’s a vast improvement over Symbian ^3. The menu is organised into three different panels, letting you swipe to the side to access them, or down through all the different apps. It’s contemporary, looks great, responds instantly, and with decent app support it really could have been a rival to Android or iOS.

Unfortunately, it’s not to be, with MeeGo looking dead on its feet. We just hope that the Nokia N9 hardware makes another appearance when Nokia launches its first Windows Phone handsets, as the super-skinny styling, brilliant screen and speedy responses help to make it one of the best smartphone designs we’ve seen all year.

What do you think of the Nokia N9’s design? Would you buy it if available with Windows Phone? Leave a comment and let us know what you think