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Windows Phone

AT&T unveils pricing for Windows Phone 8X, Lumia 920, 820

AT&T unveiled the pricing for its Windows Phone 8 devices with the hope that the three phones appeal to different customers.

The Windows Phone 8X from HTC will cost $199.99 with a two-year contract, although a yellow or blue-colored version with half the memory will be available as an exclusive product for $99.99. The device can be combined with an optional wireless charging case, while the Verizon Wireless version will have wireless charging built in to the phone.

AT&T said that the phones will be available for order on Nov. 9, and will ship … Read more

Qualcomm's Q4 shows gap between mobile, PC chipmakers

In case the market needs more evidence of the strength of mobile versus PCs, all it has to do is look at Qualcomm.

The wireless-chip maker, which helped popularize the CDMA technology used in cell phones, today reported quarterly financial results that were better than it had anticipated, and it provided bullish projections for the current period and year.

Its strong results -- which sent shares up about 8 percent in after-hours trading -- contrast pretty sharply with the dismal forecasts from many other semiconductor companies, most notably PC chip giant Intel. Intel last month gave a fairly grim outlook … Read more

Surface tension: Acer needs to shut up about Microsoft tablet

Acer may only be hurting itself by criticizing Microsoft.

The Taiwanese company, best known for its low-cost Netbooks from several years ago, has been one of the most outspoken opponents of Microsoft's new hardware push since the software giant first revealed its plans in June. Comments have ranged from pleas for Microsoft to change its plans to predictions Surface will flop. The common theme is that Acer believes Microsoft should stick to what it knows -- software -- and leave the hardware to its partners.

The problem with that criticism, though, is that it makes Acer look like a … Read more

Acer warns Microsoft that hardware is like 'hard rice'

Acer is pretty peeved with Microsoft's hardware push and continues to let the software giant know it.

The latest comments from the Taiwanese computer maker again criticize Microsoft's recent push to compete with its hardware partners.

According to a rough translation from Google, Linxian Lang, Acer's manager of Greater China operations, compared making hardware to food. He described the process to "hard rice" that's "not so easy to eat."

Of course, the translation is riddled with errors, but the general sentiment is clear: Acer thinks Microsoft should stick to what it does … Read more

Microsoft cues up the Windows Phone 8 ball

Just before Hurricane Sandy started to pummel the East Coast this week, Microsoft managed to grab the tech headlines with the official debut of Windows Phone 8.

The launch of the next-generation mobile operating system, which came on the heels of last week's splashy Windows 8 debut, got people talking with its support for multicore processors and mobile payments, and its tighter relationship with the Windows platform. And as with Windows 8, Window Phone 8 uses live tiles instead of icons. (Though Microsoft is already being sued for those tiles, over patent-infringement claims.)

So far, Windows Phone 8 has … Read more

Samsung remains No. 1 handset maker, Apple closes in on LG

Samsung and the Android operating system continued to dominate the U.S. mobile market in the third quarter, according to a study by ComScore, but Apple posted the biggest quarter-over-quarter gains.

ComScore, which surveyed more than 30,000 U.S. mobile subscribers, found Samsung to be the top handset maker (both smartphones and non-smartphones) with 26 percent market share in the September period, up a bit from the June quarter's 25.6 percent.

Apple closed in on becoming the second-biggest handset maker, lagging LG by only 0.2 percentage points. LG's hold on the market slipped 1.1 … Read more

Windows Phone 8 notification center may be in the works

It appears Windows Phone 8 could eventually get a notification center similar to the ones found on the iPhone and on Android smartphones.

A Microsoft executive conceded that the company "ran out of time" when putting together the latest version of its mobile operating system, but said that such a feature was of great interest and something that is "very very important to me," The Verge reported.

The notification center, which appears as a pull-down menu on iOS and Android, gives apps a central location to alert users about new software updates, messages, or other information. … Read more

Nokia Lumia 920 camera vs. HTC Windows Phone 8X vs. iPhone 5

Nokia has trumpeted the ability of its Nokia Lumia 920's 8.7-megapixel camera with image stabilization, low-light enhancements, and PureView algorithms. Photo quality was strong and fairly consistent, though photos had a blue cast to them and the Lumia 920 had problems with contrast and absolute sharpness compared with the others.

In the meantime, HTC's 8-megapixel Windows Phone 8X took some pretty nice photos as well, though there was more swing between the highs and lows. For its part, the 8-megapixel iPhone 5 won some and lost some, but retained the most consistent.

Don't just take my … Read more

Microsoft upgrades Windows Phone sync app for Mac users

Mac owners who use a Windows Phone device now have a new and improved app for syncing their information.

Released yesterday in the Mac App store, the Windows Phone 3.0 app lets users sync movies, videos, documents, and other files between their Macs and Windows Phone handsets. The latest version now supports Windows Phone 8.

Users can drag and drop files between their Windows Phone 8 devices and the Mac desktop or the Finder file manager. They can see the state of the phone's battery charge and take advantage of better support for ringtones. The new app also … Read more