E3 event just ended last week, and as expected Microsoft provided absolutely no details about the Next-Ge Xbox product line. However, there are some new supposedly leaked details that shed insight to what the company is working on behind-the-scenes. Based on what has been presented as a confidential series of concept art, it looks like Kinect isn't going away.

In fact, it appears to be one of the major points of the Xbox 720. If these leaks are to be believed, the new console will have "Kinect v2" built directly into the console, so there will be no need for an extra peripheral. Among the enhancements referenced are the ability to track four players simultaneously, stronger integration with other devices like the PC and Windows Phone 8, and just all-around more powerful performance.

Another interesting thing mentioned in the leak is a project Microsoft is reportedly working on, called Kinect Glasses, which has hints of Google's Project Glass in it. Few solid details are laid out, but it looks like they'll both enhance your core experience with the Xbox 720, and can be used on-the-go as well. And the biggest piece of information from this alleged document - the console will launch at a nice price point of $299.

We heard about Samsung Mandel last year, Samsung was reported to release a Windows Phone LTE-enabled device by Q2,2012.

Remains to be seen, but we now got a couple of leaked images, showing us what the eventual Samsung smartphone will look like. "Mandel" has the same Samsung Galaxy S III design and mostly the same specs too but with windows Phone OS, code named SGH-I667.

Twitter users using Windows Phone 7 devices have been waiting for this one for quite some time now and it has finally released. The Carbon app is now available on the Windows Marketplace and can be purchased for 1.99 USD.

Here is some of the goodies that you will enjoy on this App:

• Full inline Pictures on the Timeline

• Double Tap on tweets for quickly replying to tweets without the need to leave timelines

• Quickline: A swiss army timeline for accessing all kinds of timelines from Lists, Retweets, Saved Searches.

• Live Ties for every account, pinnable to the Home Screen with Mentions & Direct Messages background checks

• Compose Tile, pinning a compose tile on the Home Screen for a speedy tweet composition

• Search Tiles, pin a #hashtag or keywords to your home screen for quick access to a search timeline

• Threaded Direct Messages View

• Bit.ly Pro URL shortening

• Read Later support

If your mobile platform of choice is Windows Phone and you also enjoy Google social network, Google+, a ray of hope has shined from Twitter.

Dominik Sichling, a PR Spokesperson from Google Germany, tweeted that an official Google+ app is on the way for Windows Phone. Unfortunately he did not give a date or an indication of a timeframe, but it is good to know that an official app is definitely in the works.

Good News for Samsung Windows Phone devices users, The Korean company has confirmed all of its smartphones will be getting a major software update that to Windows Phone 7.8, which brings a bunch of WP8 elements and features to legacy handsets.

The list of improvements includes the redesigned home screen, which will add a third live tile size, more interface color options, and the ability to have Bing set your lock screen wallpaper.

via

A new report out of Strategy Analytics today claims that Nokia took the title of world largest Windows Phone vendor in the last full quarter from HTC, a remarkable feat if accurate, that is considering that it was not even in the Windows Phone business in the quarter prior.

The market intelligence firm reports platform market share numbers throughout the year, and it says that Windows Phone shipped a total of 2.7 million units in Q4, of which some 33.1 percent were Nokia devices nearly 900,000 units. Nokia launched both the Lumia 800 and 710 in certain markets during the quarter, but the deployments were limited: the 710 had not hit either Europe or the US at that point, and the 800 arguably the more important of the two had not come to North America.

After the Lumia series from Nokia running the latest Windows phone 7.5, Sources from the upstream supply chain indicate that the rumored Nokia Windows 8 tablet "Lumia Tab" to be released by Q4, 2012. Nokia is reportedly going to use a dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 chipset for its 10" tablet.

Nokia have apparently outsourced the production to Compal already, with the first batch out of the conveyor belts expected to be 200,000 units. Nokia has given hints and indications before that it might be interested in entering the tablet game.

Nokia confirmed that it will be selling the Batman limited-edition of the Nokia Lumia 900 at Phones4U in the UK very shortly. Just like the extremely Barman limited-edition of the Nokia Lumia 800, The Lumia 900 will come in black and have the Batman logo laser etched into the polycarbonate body of the Window Phone 7 handset.

Also, This limited-Edition will go on sale in the UK, Germany, France and a few other European destinations in the coming weeks.

Nokia released the windows phone 7.8 update to few Lumia 800 users. However, this was merely a test run, rather than the real deal. While a limited group of users did indeed get the update, the Windows Phone 7.8 roll-out for the general public will happen in early 2013 as planned.

Those who received the update actually own a pre-production units of Lumia 800, so they were eligible for the test version of WP 7.8. All this was confirmed by a Nokia official.

Source

Microsoft has some major changes in store for Windows Phone 8, we have learned, which is the version of the platform currently being referred to by codename Apollo. Thanks to a video hosted by senior vice president and Windows Phone manager Joe Belfiore at Nokia, a number of WP8 features and themes have now been revealed.

Hardware changes

According to Belfiore, the overarching theme with regards to the Windows Phone 8 hardware ecosystem will be scale and choice. Specifically, Apollo will add support for multicore processors, new screen resolutions, and removable microSD card storage. It is clear that Microsoft is addressing one of the platform pain points, which is a perceived inability to compete in spec sheet comparisons with the iPhone and Android-based devices.

NFC

NFC radios will also be supported, with Belfiore placing specific emphasis on 8's push into contactless payments. The "Wallet experience," as he calls it, will have the capability to be carrier-branded and controlled, either by a secure element on the SIM card or utilizing hardware in the phone itself. In addition, tap-to-share capabilities will reportedly work across multiple platforms, allowing desktops, laptops, tablets, and phones to all share content.

Windows 8 integration

Windows Phone 8 will not just share a UI with the next-generation desktop and tablet OS, apparently: it will use many of the same components as Windows 8, allowing developers to "reuse by far most of their code" when porting an app from desktop to phone, according to Belfiore. He specifically mentions the kernel, networking stacks, security, and multimedia support as areas of heavy overlap.

Moreover, Windows Phone 8 will reportedly scrap integration with the desktop Zune client in favor of a syncing relationship with a dedicated companion application. In other words, Microsoft is bringing back a richer version of ActiveSync after letting that program die out for the most part.

Since Windows Phone first started shipping back in Q4 2010, there have been two software updates: NoDo, which added copy and paste and CDMA support; and WP Mango, which added multitasking, a newer version of Internet Explorer, and a whole bunch of UI tweaks. Lately, We've been hearing that there's a third update to Windows Phone called "Tango".

Chinese site, WPDang, is reporting that the Tango rollout will begin as early as this month (April). Soruce also says that Microsoft's intentions are to update 90% of the currently available Windows Phone handsets to Tango by the end of June.

Source

ZTE plans to introduce 8 new devices at the MWC 2012, YES, 8 New Smartphones mixed between Android and Windows Phone smartphones, LTE and a Quad-core Flagship too.

ZTE Smartphones Specs

The new mobiles will be unveiled Monday, February 27. They did not give out much detail about the upcoming announcements , but they threw around phrases like "quad-core flagship handset" and "LTE-Advanced", which do pique our interest.

They have already announced the ZTE Mimosa X, which had the distinction of being the first smartphone to use chips by NVIDIA exclusively. Also out in the open are two ICS-running droids.

The Samsung Galaxy S3 is most anticipating device in 2012 for Android fans all over the world, Many rumors are talking about Galaxy S3, but one recent rumor that seems to make sense is that the S III could be used a hardware and design reference for Samsung's first Windows Phone 8 handset. If true, this means that Samsung will release two devices using the S3code design and Specs, featuring WP8.

The upcoming device is allegedly currently referred to as the Samsung Focus S II. The original Focus was one of the most successful first-gen Windows Phone handsets, and with such a successor it would establish the Focus trademark as the WP equivalent to Samsung's Galaxy series for Android.

The Focus S II performance will exceed previous version thanks to the redesign of Windows Phone 8 that allow powerful hardware to take advantage of the platform. Focus S II Specs are reported to be:

• 4.7-inch HD screen

• Faster dual/quad core processor (depending on region)

• LTE support

• 12-megapixel rear camera, 2-megapixel front-facing camera

• Dedicated camera button

• Samsung Cloud Support

• NFC

• Improved Photo Studio

Today, Microsoft is sending invitations for an upcoming Windows Phone Summit event in San Francisco. The event date is June,20 and Microsoft will show "a sneak peak of the future of Windows Phone".

As you may know, The next major release of Windows Phone OS is the Windows Phone 8.0 (codenamed Apollo) which Microsoft will focus-on during this event, The few confirmed features of the New WP8 includes a multi-core CPU support and backwards compatibility with the current WP 7.5 apps.

Just after some rumors suggest that the windows phone device will get WP8 Apollo Update, A New Microsoft's plan comes out According to the media's source, an update is indeed coming to these smartphones but not to Windows Phone 8 (aka Apollo). Instead, current WP handsets will supposedly get Windows Phone version 7.7, which is going to be more of a "feature update" that will only introduce certain WP8 features. The source claims that it was a senior Microsoft manager and a Nokia insider who spilled the beans on this.

"An update is not technically possible because Windows [Phone] 8 uses different chip sets"

Here is a Short preview video showing the New features of the Windows Phone 7.8 Update on a Nokia LUMIA 900, All current Windows Phone 7/7.5 Mango devices will get this update instead of WP8.

The Video is short and doesn't reveal much details only the major changes, Windows Phone 7.8 is scheduled to arrive in early 2013.

Video