Showing posts with label microsoft. Show all posts
Showing posts with label microsoft. Show all posts
Friday, April 3, 2015
Microsoft Lumia 535 Smartphone Released
Microsoft Lumia 535 Smartphone Released
Microsoft will apparently release the Lumia 535 in the UK tomorrow. We’ve known for quite a while that it was headed over there eventually, and now we may be very close to its actual availability. The phone has already been out in other markets, and it’s ready to take its affordability to the UK too.
Speaking of which, Amazon has priced the Lumia 535 at exactly £97.32. That amount is pretty much in line with the pricing we’ve seen in other parts of Europe, and we’re talking about a SIM-free and unlocked smartphone that you’ll be purchasing for this much.
The retailer says the Microsoft Lumia 535 is due to be released on January 14, 2015, and we’re taking its word for it. However, the Lumia 535 seems to already be in stock at a couple of other online retailers, namely Clove and Unlocked Mobiles. Pricing never goes above £100 whichever company you buy from, so it looks like that might be Microsoft’s recommended level for the UK.
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
Microsoft Likely to Reveal Surface Pro 3 on May 20 2014
There are many rumors that clearly suggests that Microsoft Surface Pro 3 will be launched on May 20, this year, as the whole world is waiting for Surface mini and Surface 3 tablets.
The Tech giant will launch the tablet at £539 and also promises to introduce the 4G LTE version this time in UK. A Redmond based company has held a conference on May 20 and it is expected that surface mini will be launched in that conference.
It is also rumored that Microsoft will also launch their latest device, Surface Pro 3. Microsoft has also launched 4G LTE version in UK and is also available in the US.
For More Speculations, Check-Out This Video
According to Bloomberg and much publicized news, software giant Microsift is going to launch multiple surface tablets, including the promised surface mini. According to CNET, this time Microsoft is coming out with a new fresh tablet powered by Intel.
About Anna Harris:
Anna Harris working as web content writer and a strategist for a major IT firm specialized in various mobile application development services for iOS, Android, Windows Phone and other operating systems.
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Anna Harris working as web content writer and a strategist for a major IT firm specialized in various mobile application development services for iOS, Android, Windows Phone and other operating systems.
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Windows 9 Preview What the Next Microsoft OS Will and Should Bring
Microsoft did something very...er... interesting in October 2012. It launched Windows 8, the operating system that would "unify" Microsofts platforms across PCs, phones and tablets. Except, there was a fairly large flaw in the plan.
Microsofts vision of unification wasnt just from an engineering perspective. The company also wanted a unified user interface across all its devices.
Now lets think about that for a second. Traditional PC users (both desktop and laptop) were used to mice and keyboards. They had been using these two devices pretty much since the advent of the PC. Various companies had also managed to add support for other input devices over the years, but no one was really using a touchscreen on the desktop.
Microsofts presence in the tablet market was non-existent, for all intents and purposes. Very few "tablet PCs" existed, running full versions of Windows 7 with the lowest power Intel Core processors available at the time. They were heavy, didnt have great battery life, and only seemed to be useful for designers and artistic folk, whod use a stylus to draw.
Most people were either using iOS or Android tablets, and few people were clamouring for a Windows equivalent of these two.
Finally, lets consider the phone market, where Microsoft had slight success with Windows Phone 7 and has since had a little more with Windows Phone 8 and 8.1. Its market share was fairly insignificant, and the company would have really needed something special to make things work out.
There were, at the time, around 1 billion Windows PCs in the world, 99 percent not using a touchscreen monitor. Less than 5 percent of smartphones ran any version of Windows Phone, and there were barely any tablet PCs. In that backdrop, Microsofts decision to release an OS that was optimised for touch-screen devices, rather than traditional input methods, seems premature to say the least.
Whats worse is that the UI was aesthetically, and in many cases functionally, seen as a regression from Windows 7, which is still the most popular PC operating system. Bringing back the Start Menu is an example that Microsoft is backing down from its aggressive way of teaching users new behaviour.
After two years of bug fixes, patches, question marks over the future of Windows RT, and an awkward operating system that was arguably a bigger flop than Vista in terms of adoption and user satisfaction (despite being technically more sound), Microsoft has slowly come around to accepting the reality.
September 30 is the speculated date for the "preview" version of Windows "Threshold", also informally called Windows 9 by most of the tech press. Sites have generously leaked videos and screenshots of a legit-looking preview build of Threshold.
Looking at the videos, youll be able to see that the interface is still mostly flat and boring like Windows 8. Im curious as to why they made an OS as pretty as Windows 7 and then went back to the flatness of the Windows 3.1 days, though thats down to personal taste.
Moving on, we see the return of the start menu , just with tiles thrown in. If you compare this start menu to the present one of Windows 7, it strikes me as less useful, as it simply links to fewer things. The entire right column is filled with tiles. What used to be in the right column (Control Panel, Documents, etc.) end up as pinned items, quite obviously taking up space used for pinned programs in Windows 7.
Of course, when compared to Windows 8, this is much better than making obscure "charm" gestures, or receiving a face full of that jarring start screen.
Metro (or Modern) UI apps can now be (mercifully) run in windowed mode, and can be minimised. While some may question the utility of these in the PC version of the OS, the main complaint with Windows 8.x was not having a choice, so I guess this is step in the right direction. The same goes for the existence of "PC Settings" when the Control Panel exists, and two different calculators, one for touch screens and the other being the old one were used to on Windows 7. Of course these are still early days, and all this may yet be fixed before Windows 9 reaches the consumers.
Well also most likely see virtual desktops, like on Linux systems and OS X. You can switch between different desktops, and have different windows on each. This would, in theory, allow you to switch between multiple workflows. The actual implementation looks a bit sketchy, however. Im specifically talking about window management; the creation, removal and navigation of virtual desktops looks good enough.
Long story short, from whatever weve seen so far, Threshold seems like a mixed bag. Its sort of Microsoft saying, "Hey, we made really bad decision with that Modern UI stuff but heres a compromise." But its clear that the company still hasnt quite let go of those tiles, which suggests the company is continuing to walk the tightrope between listening to user feedback and going ahead with what it believes is the future of Windows.
Microsoft must keep in mind that the function of a good operating system is to provide a stable and secure environment for applications and users to interact in, not sell itself as one giant overblown "app".
Unifying the interfaces of PCs, tablets and phones wasnt a good plan either, as Windows 8 proved. Three different type of devices and two different input models cant be fitted into one box. Even Apple and Google keep PC and mobile separate, so one wonders if Microsoft is on the right track with its one size fits all policy. Kernel code sharing doesnt mean having a common UI. And blindly sharing features is known as taking a shortcut.
Tablets, convertibles and 2-in-1s are devices that can benefit from both: ecosystem support and a touchscreen interface. Microsoft should focus on smoothening out the experience for these users while at the same time leaving the traditional PC market alone, as far as the interface is concerned.
After all, Sun Tzu did say, "Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win".
Windows 8 was an example of Microsoft going to war and then seeking to win. It was also an attempt at besieging a walled city, while bafflingly leaving the gates to its own fort wide open. Windows 9 must change that.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. NDTV Gadgets is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, suitability, or validity of any information on this article. All information is provided on an as-is basis. The information, facts or opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of NDTV Gadgets and NDTV Gadgets does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.
Monday, March 30, 2015
Microsoft officially announces the Golden Lumia 930 and Lumia 830
After filtering images pointing to an imminent filing, the company Devices Microsoft has confirmed the existence and coming-of Golden and Gold versions of Microsoft Lumia 930 and Microsoft Lumia 830 two flagship smartphones that from now are available to users seeking a plus in elegance. Both teams will be announced in two discrete issues of black and white, topped with an edged in gold at the ends of the housing. The first will go on sale later this month of January, while the second will be released from February. We will find for sale in different countries of Europe, parts of Asia, China, India and Africa. The price may vary depending on the operator to circulate, but both should be about 450 or 500 euros in the open market.
But what about its technical characteristics? you’re wondering. Well, in this sense you can rest easy, because there are noticeable changes. In fact, what Microsoft has done is to conserve Devices tab proposed specifications for Microsoft Lumia 930 and Microsoft Lumia 830 original and add only changes in the external casing. Thus, new buyers Lumia 930 will be to pocket a smartphone equipped with a large 5-inch screen and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor up to four cores. The camera is one of its strongest points. And this device integrates a 20 megapixel sensor that works through advanced technology PureView and finished off his prodigious performance with a Carl Zeiss lens. It also includes a lot of applications to edit and get higher quality catches as Nokia Refocus, Nokia Camera, Nokia Glam Me, Nokia StoryTeller or Panorama.
The Microsoft Lumia 930 is also a phone very well prepared for connectivity. So much so that it is compatible with 4G / LTE networks. The battery is capable of providing a range of up to 15 hours talk time.
The Microsoft Lumia 830 has a slightly more discreet sheet. Includes a five-inch screen and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor . The memory is 16 GB, but can be expanded with microSD cards up to 128 GB. It has an integrated 10 megapixel camera with support for PureView technology and Carl Zeiss optical quality. Includes a lithium ion battery with a capacity of 2,200 milliamps, also designed so that users can enjoy the phone for a whole day of hard work .
Microsoft officially announces the Golden Lumia 930 and Lumia 830
Sunday, March 29, 2015
Microsoft Lumia 930 Smartphone with 24K Gold Plated
Microsoft Lumia 930 Smartphone with 24K Gold Plated
Microsoft may have unveiled a couple of golden-colored Lumias, but if you’re after the real deal, Vietnamese luxury brand Karalux may have exactly what you want. Actual 24k gold-plated limited edition Lumia 930 has just been launched in Vietnam and only 99 numbered units are being made.
The jewel of a phone sports a Greek meander pattern on its gold outside frame with the words “24K Gold Plated Nokia Lumia 930″ inscribed, making sure it doesn’t get mistaken for the plain Microsoft model.
The buttons and SIM card slot, as well as the back, have remained black for a nice contrast over the shiny outline. Overall, if it weren’t for the screaming gold inscription, it would have actually been a rather understated design.
The company goes on to explain how difficult a process it is to cover the aluminum frame of the original 930, involving multiple stages and various metal coatings. The handset will set you back some 18,000,000 Vietnamese Dong ($842), which is just under twice what Microsoft is charging for their impostor of an offering.
Saturday, March 28, 2015
Microsoft reportedly near a deal to buy the maker of Minecraft
According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, Microsoft is near a deal to acquire the Swedish company Mojang AB. The studio sits behind the ultra-popular video game Minecraft.
The deal may be officially announced this week. The Redmond giant will allegedly pay more than $2 billion to acquire Mojang AB.
Minecraft has sold over 50 million copies since its release back in 2009. The game is already available on Xbox, so it is not clear what plans Microsoft has for Mojang if the deal goes through.
Microsoft Surface 2 Hands On review
It was the company’s answer to the iPad — but not exactly, since the closest thing it had to a killer feature was the a flip-out kickstand and optional keyboard covers which let you use it like a laptop.
And it was also a PC — but not quite, since the only conventional Windows software it ran was Microsoft Office and a few other preinstalled apps.
It was, in short, hard to pin down.
One year later, the sequel – Surface 2 — is here. Microsoft is calling it “the most productive tablet on the planet,” which downplays direct competition with the iPad in favor of carving off a new niche. But even though the niche makes sense for Surface to tackle, this device doesn’t go all the way toward fulfilling it.
What’s most interesting about Surface 2 is pretty much what was interesting about Surface RT, which is quite a lot: the kickstand, the keyboard covers, the full copy of Microsoft Office which comes preinstalled. It has a USB port and a MicroSD slot, providing opportunities for expansion and customization — such as the addition of a mouse and extra storage — which the iPad has famously written out of the picture.
Above all, what’s significant about the new Surface remains the fact that it runs Windows RT. The operating system has the same touch-friendly, stylish Metro interface as Windows 8, and runs new-style apps from Microsoft’s Windows Store. It has almost nothing in common with any previous version of Windows — it can’t even run the third-party applications which they can — and is also distinctly different from the iPad and Android tablets. Whether you find it bold or befuddling, it’s not more of the same.
As it did last year, Microsoft islaunching two variants on this concept. Surface 2 is available in a 32GB model for $449 and a 64GB one for $459 (neither price includes a keyboard cover). It’s arriving alongside Surface Pro 2, a largely similar — albeit thicker and heavier — device which includes Windows 8.1 and comes with a nifty pressure-sensitive pen for note-taking and doodling. Surface Pro 2 starts at $899, twice the price of the most basic Surface 2. But it also runs classic Windows apps, from your favorite games to full-strength Photoshop, making it a plausible primary PC for more folks. (My colleague Jared Newman bought one and tells me he’s pretty pleased with it overall.)
The original Surface RT remains on the market, too. It’s now simply known as Surface, and is a $349 budget special.
Most of Surface 2′s hardware changes compared to that first Surface are minor — sometimes exceedingly so. The case is still made of magnesium, and still looks classy and feels solid, but now it’s a light gray rather than the darker shade of the original model. Microsoft touts Surface 2 as being “leaner” than its predecessor, but at 0.35 of an inch thick and 1.49 pounds, it’s only slightly over 0.02 of an inch thinner and less than one-fifth of an ounce lighter. That reduction in bulk feels like a rounding error, especially in comparison to Apple‘s newly downsized iPad Air.
Other upgrades are more meaningful: The new Surface sports a faster processor than the Surface RT and a pleasing new 10.6-inch display with the same resolution as the Surface Pro 2: 1920-by-1080 pixels. The kickstand now pops out to two different angles: 22 degrees (like the original) or 55 degrees (designed, Microsoft says, to work better if you’re balancing this newfangled laptop in your lap). The front- and back-facing cameras offer higher resolution and better performance in murky lighting; the USB port supports USB 3.0, the zippy current version. Estimated battery life is now 10 hours, up from eight for the first Surface; in my informal tests, it at least came close.
The Surface 2 which Microsoft provided to me for review was equipped with the second-generation version of its $130 Type Cover. It’s one millimeter thinner than the first version, sports backlit keys and permits quieter typing. Like all Surface covers, it snaps on and off in a jiff via a magnetic connector on the tablet’s edge and doesn’t require its own battery or any setup. It’s not perfect — the touchpad is still too dinky and tough to manuever — but overall, it’s the best tablet keyboard I’ve ever used.
I didn’t try the $120 Touch Cover 2, which sacrifices discrete keys for a flatter, thinner, one-piece keyboard; it’s also added backlighting and uses 1,092 sensors rather than the original’s 80 sensors to provide better typing accuracy. Early next year, Microsoft also plans to ship a $200 Power Cover, which is exactly what it sounds like: A keyboard cover with a built-in battery which can provide extra juice to extend the Surface’s run time.
So that’s the Surface 2 hardware: refined, but not redefined.
The tablet’s operating system is Windows RT 8.1 — that is, Windows RT with Windows 8.1′s improvements — and that’s a reasonably big deal in itself, as long as you find the basic idea of the new interface intriguing rather than off-putting. (The update is also now available on the original Surface.) Not only can you run two apps on screen at once — an option which the iPad, of course, doesn’t offer — but you can adjust their size. SkyDrive, Microsoft’s online storage service, is more seamlessly built into the OS, permitting you to store more of your files in the cloud without giving it much thought. The new-style Start screen now lets you organize your apps with more flexibility, and the search feature finds stuff across your device, the Web and elsewhere.
Microsoft also throws in a few new freebies with the Surface 2 which are actually worth something. It comes with a roomy 200GB of storage of SkyDrive online storage — available on all your gizmos, not just the tablet — for two years. For the first year, you can also use Skype to make unlimited calls to landlines, and get gratis connections to two million Wi-Fi hotspots around the world.
The bundled version of Office which comes with Surface has one big change which will matter a lot to some worker bees — it now comes with Outlook, the Microsoft e-mail program which is standard equipment in many businesses. Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint offer Office’s signature benefits: almost every feature you can imagine, and perfect compatibility with the files your coworkers create in other versions of Office. Nobody will ever accuse these apps of being underpowered, which isn’t true of most productivity software for other tablets.
But as with last year’s Surface, Office isn’t an unalloyed plus for Surface 2. All of these programs still use the old-school Windows interface, modestly updated to work with touch input. They sit on a vestigial version of the classic Windows desktop, and never quite feel entirely at home. For instance, they don’t deal well with being shrunk down to share screen real estate with other apps — sometimes information runs off the display or gets hidden by a scroll bar. And if you’re using the tablet with the on-screen keyboard and pop open an Office app’s Ribbon toolbar, the viewable portion of your document is reduced to a tiny sliver.
But as with last year’s Surface, Office isn’t an unalloyed plus for Surface 2. All of these programs still use the old-school Windows interface, modestly updated to work with touch input. They sit on a vestigial version of the classic Windows desktop, and never quite feel entirely at home. For instance, they don’t deal well with being shrunk down to share screen real estate with other apps — sometimes information runs off the display or gets hidden by a scroll bar. And if you’re using the tablet with the on-screen keyboard and pop open an Office app’s Ribbon toolbar, the viewable portion of your document is reduced to a tiny sliver.
Basically, using Office on the Surface 2 leaves you craving a version of Office designed with the new interface in mind. Microsoft says that one is on its way, though it isn’t yet being specific about when it might show up.
Third-party apps do at least as much as anything preinstalled to determine what you can do with a device, and it’s de rigueur in reviews like this one to point out at least one major app which isn’t available in Microsoft’s Windows Store. (Here’s one: Candy Crush Saga.) Still, after a year of operation, the store shows signs of life. Among the 100,000-plus apps it offers for Surface 2 are nice official versions of Facebook, Twitter and eBay. Foursquare may be better than it is on any other platform, and Flipboard is on it way.
Yet when it comes to productivity — the subject which Microsoft has chosen to play up as Surface’s defining virtue — the pickings remain surprisingly slim. In categories where the iPad offers multiple solid options, such as blogging apps, you’re lucky if the Windows Store has anything at all. Programs such as Adobe’s Photoshop and Autodesk’s Sketchbook are available only in basic versions, not the much meatier editions available for the iPad and Android tablets.
It’s not that it’s impossible to build a good productivity application which will take full advantage of the Surface 2. Microsoft’s OneNote — one Office app which is already preinstalled in a Metro version — is just fine. I also like Back to the Drawing Board, a computer-assisted drafting program. Jared recommends a music app called FL Studio Groove. There are other examples, too, just not enough of them. (Sadly, TouchMail, an e-mall package which I got excited about in preview form back in April, remains a preview: It doesn’t let you access your own accounts.)
I’m still rooting for Microsoft to get Surface right, and I figure that it has at least another year before the platform faces anything like an existential crisis. The good news is that Surface doesn’t really need more pixels or additional kickstand angles or a beefier battery: If Microsoft ships a well-done Metro version of Office and convinces more developers to write top-notch productivity apps, Surface 2 will feel like a whole new computer, no hardware upgrades required. But without them, it’ll continue to feel incomplete.
Wednesday, March 25, 2015
Lumia 435 certified a new mobile input range of Microsoft
The US Company Microsoft has long worked in the Lumia 1330, which possibly will become its new mobile high-end Windows Phone operating system. But, in addition, a new certification has revealed that Microsoft is also working on a new Lumia 435. This would be a smartphone input range to be presented with a modest four-inch screen and even could cost so only 56 dollars.
The certification indicates that the new Microsoft Lumia 435 will incorporate a four-inch screen that will reach WVGA resolution of 854 x 480 pixels. The dimensions of the Lumia 435 will reach 118.1 x 64.7 mm (thickness still unknown), which comes to reveal that we are talking about a phone with a similar to the Nokia Lumia 510 and Nokia Lumia 520 to the size, both officially presented in 2012 and 2013, respectively.
The Lumia 435 also incorporate a Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 processor will operate at a clock speed yet known. The capacity of the RAM and the capacity of internal storage space were not disclosed; although from the US website WMPowerUser indicate that the Lumia 435 will support Dual-SIM slot and 3G data connectivity.
As regards the multimedia aspect of the Lumia 435, we could only know that this terminal will incorporate a five-megapixel main camera.
On certification that Microsoft has asked for this smartphone mention of a petition requesting the authorities of the certification body to avoid filter photos of Lumia 435 before the day is January 30. Given that the next day January 21 official Microsoft event is held, there is a good chance that this is the day that will be presented officially the new Lumia 435. While, yes, the Lumia 435 appears to be a mobile oriented primarily to emerging markets, so we’ll have to wait for your presentation to learn if we will receive in European stores.
Moreover, the presentation is really expected of Microsoft in the coming months is the new Lumia 1330. We’re talking about a smartphone midrange filter and have appeared in photographs published previously and that; if true all rumors hit the market to succeed the current Nokia Lumia 1320. Apparently, this terminal will feature a 5.7 inch screen with 1280 x 720 pixel resolution, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor, 1 gigabyte of RAM, 32 gigabytes of internal memory, 14-megapixel main camera and, perhaps, the Windows Phone operating system in the latest version of Windows 10.
Lumia 435 - certified a new mobile input range of Microsoft
Microsoft sends out invites for a Windows 9 event on September 30
In line with past rumors, Microsoft sent out invites for a dedicated Windows 9 press gathering. The hotly anticipated event will take place in San Francisco.
Redmond’s upcoming announcement will also focus on enterprise. The company’s executives Joe Belfiore and Terry Myerson will talk about the future of Microsoft Windows.
Release of a Windows 9 Technical Preview is all but certain. The increasing number of leaked screenshots and videos also points in this direction.
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