Smoked By Windows Phone Coming to Toronto!

Over at WPCentral.com, they are reporting that the Windows Phone campaign known as Smoked By Windows is making its way to Canada.  It's landing in Toronto for the next 3 days

• May 25: Yonge and Eglington - 12pm-8pm
• May 26: The Danforth - 10am-6pm
• May 27: Yonge and Dundas - 11am-5pm

Unfortunately, since I am not in Toronto or anywhere close to the Toronto area, but for the rest of you who are, make sure to check out the action (or bring your iPhone/Android friends down to the challenge so they can be humiliated, if not, hey, they get $100 for winning the challenge and given what the track record is, it can happen).

Finally some love for us Canadians!  Hopefully it will be coming to more cities in the future!

Thanks WPCentral!

Battle.Net Authenticator for WP7

By now, some of you D3 fans are probably in Inferno level collecting all the good drops and getting killed.

I am still in Act 2 of nightmare.

With the Auction House coming online next week where you can buy and bid for items with real money, it is probably a good idea to keep that battle.net account protected.  Besides have a good strong password, Blizzard have also release the Battle.Net Authenticator for WP7 so you can properly secure your Battle.Net account.

click this to start installation on your WP7 device and follow the instructions on the app once you start the app.

Better update that Gen1 handset to Mango soon...

Over at the Windows Team Blog, they are reminding that if you are using the gen 1 WP7 handsets, and you have to upgraded your handset to run the "Mango" firmware or Windows Phone 7.5, you'd better hurry because if you do not, you will likely lose access to install apps from the Marketplace (both the phone and the webfront).

Here the first generation handsets that were available in Canada in case you are puzzled:



From Rogers:
- Samsung Focus

From Bell:
- LG Optimus Quantum (the one with the slide out keyboard)
- HTC HD7

From Telus:
- LG Optimus 7
- HTC Surround (the one with the slide out speaker)

If you are anything other than these, you should be on Mango already.

How do you check your phone's firmware version?  It's easy

1. Start the "Settings" app
2. Scroll down to the bottom under "Systems" and click on "about"
3. Click the more info button
4. Check the OS version - if you have something like 7.1.*, your phone is already on Mango
5. If not, and you use Windows
• go to Zune.net and install the Zune Desktop
• Plug in your WP7 phone and updates will start (depends on how old your firmware is and which update is available to your phone, it could like around 2 hours
6. If you use Mac, 

• open the Mac App Store (which means you either have to have OS/X 10.6.8 or 10.7.+), looking for the Windows Phone 7 Connector and install
• plug in your WP7 device and click "Update" (or something like that) and let it install

Source: Windows Team Blog

Nokia Lumia 710 is now available at Mobilicity!

Finally, the Nokia Lumia 710 is available at Mobilicity.

It is selling at @$249.99 outright.  Link to Mobi here

Mobilicity is offering a 50% off all their regular rate plans start from May 17 to May 20, 2012.  So, if you happen to live in an area with decent to good Mobilicity coverage, you could get unlimited data and voice plan for a ridicules price of around $23 (before taxes) for the next 4 days.

Biggest problem is Mobilicity's coverage.   Check your coverage at Mobilicity or at CoverageMapper to see if your area has decent to good coverage or not


Source: Mobilicity

HTC has gone stupid, charges stupid $ for HTC Location Navigation

A few weeks back, the HTC OEM app Locations had a pretty good upgrade where it finally brought offline maps and navigation to the HTC WP7 masses for free at the time with the promise to starts charging for navigation within the month.  Well, I had thought that maybe they will have a change of heart since they probably need this app to do battle with the pretty darn awesome Nokia Drive app on the Nokia handsets.  Even if they didn't, I would imagine that they would charge a reasonable low amount.

I had the chance to try it out in a recent trip to Seattle.  There are some UI oddities that I didn't care for, some bugs but all-in-all, it worked pretty well (on the HTC Surround, it was a little bit slow when zooming in and out of the maps), GPS tracking was good, finding POI was good.

Well, apparently HTC has gone off the deep end and decided to charge, $9.99 for All of North America per month, $39.99 for 1 year, and $49.99 unlimited.

HTC has already admitted defeat in North America on the Android vs. iPhone front but this move, to our HTC owners, is just plain absurd.

The Zune crashing bug?  Doesn't happen on my Lumia 800, doesn't happen on my wife's Dell Venue Pro, doesn't happen on my friend's LG or Samsung Focus.  Only HTC Surround and likely the HD7 is affected.  HTC has a fix but refuses to release it to older hardware (not sure about the HTC Radar - if you have an HTC Radar and subscribes to Zune, feel free to drop a comment on whether or not this is affecting you)

Source: wpcentral

Exclusive apps coming to your Nokia handsets!

Well, looks like Nokia is really putting in the effort to try to push the WP7 platform which is great news.  I have recently upgraded to the Lumia 800 from my HTC Surround and so far, I am very impressed with Nokia's effort in comparison to HTC's subpar effort with their own OEM applications (only way - other then the hardware chassis, WP7 manufacturers can distinguish themselves from other WP7 manufacturers).

I'll post my review of the Lumia 800 in a little while (factory unlocked one btw so I get all the firmware first).

There are plenty of news from Nokia coming out from the CTIA conference being held this week.  Exclusive apps, games are coming very soon to you (and me now).  Not sure how many of them are Canada bound but I'll try to list out the exclusive apps that are coming soon if you are a Nokia Lumia owner.

Some are available now, the ones that are available now will have a link for your installation enjoyment

• The Caddie + (no ads) - already available in the marketplace.  It's not in the Nokia Collection listings yet but just search for it on your phone.  or click here on your wp7 handset
• The PGA Tour App
• ESPN (I know there the ESPN Sports Centre app right now but this apparently is different) - still can't find it just yet
• Rovio - Angry Birds Space (Guess they are both Finnish companies), plus they now have a dedicated team that will create more WP7 for the Lumia phones first
• EA - FIFA, Madden NFL, NBA Jam, Tiger Woods PGA TOUR®, Mirror's Edge and Yahtzee.
• Groupon - exclusive features for Nokia users for the first 6 months
• Tripdots - Exclusive to Windows Phone customers for 3 months from launch
  Tripdots helps vehicle owners optimize their driving behaviors while connecting with other vehicle owners and sharing driving efficiency achievements via social networks. The app lets users monitor the operation of their vehicles to enable cost savings through better understanding fuel economy.  Everyone can participate in the MPG Leader Board game, and information is only sent to drivers after their trip is complete.
• PayPal app for Windows PhonePayPal and Nokia will work together to bring PayPal's secure, fast and easy payments capabilities to the Windows Phone platform and Nokia Lumia smartphones, globally. PayPal will leverage the power of Windows Phone Live Tiles to create a compelling user experience that provides users with the flexibility to pay on-the-go.
• AOL Entertainment Hub - exclusive to Nokia Lumia for 6 months
  Available exclusively to Nokia Lumia users at launch, AOL is set to introduce the AOL Entertainment Hub, bringing together the best of AOL's content to deliver an immersive and inter-connected experience on Windows Phone. Whether you want to listen to one of 55,000 radio stations via SHOUTcast, stream free music albums with AOL's Listening Party or view Trailers and Movie listings, the AOL Entertainment Hub delivers everything you need.
• Time Magazine app for Windows Phone
  Bringing the world's largest weekly circulation to mobile, TIME.com announces the forthcoming availability of TIME for Windows Phone. Utilizing the stunning Windows Phone UI, the app will enable users to view TIME.com content, receive breaking news alerts, watch rich media content including video and share stories via the Windows Phone People Hub, while delivering the latest news and stories to users first via Live Tiles.
• Newsweek - The Daily Beast app for Windows Phone
  For a smart, speedy take on the news from around the world, combined with the depth and investigative power of Newsweek magazine, we are pleased to announce the availability of Newsweek's digital partner The Daily Beast on Windows Phone. The Daily Beast app delivers the latest content through Live Tiles and combines the unique style of The Daily Beast with the Windows Phone UI to deliver a stunning experience. For users who only have minutes to digest the latest news, the app also delivers The Cheat Sheet - your one stop must have reads from across the world - uniquely designed for Windows Phone.
• Box app for Windows PhoneThe new Windows Phone app from Box, the company focused on providing workers with simple, secure sharing from anywhere, will be available to Nokia Lumia consumers this Summer. With support for nine languages, Box for Windows Phone will enable users across the globe to browse, search and share files from their account. 

Honestly, I don't know what I would think if I still have an HTC/Samsung/LG handset.  Hopefully, this would put them on notice and put more effort into their OEM apps because at least Nokia is trying to make it work.  So far, after 1.5 week of Nokia Lumia 800 ownership, I am a bit glad I swtich to the Nokia camp.  Stay tuned for my review on the Lumia 800 but so far, all I can that with the exception of the  external speakers on my HTC Surround, I am glad I switched.

Source: Nokia

Nokia Lumia 710 now available at WIND and soon to Mobiliticy

The Nokia Lumia 710 is now available at WIND and soon at Mobilicity

The price at WIND is a very competitive $259.00

With WINDTab25 it's $99
and on WINDTab40 it is $0

Just some specs here in case you are interested:

CPU: 1.4 Ghz single core
Camera: (back only) 5mp
Storage: 8GB on board (not expandable)
Battery: 1300mAh
Screen Size: 3.7" Clearblack LCD

Check out more info at WIND here

Source: WIND