It’s an open secret (okay, it’s not really a secret at all) that Verizon plans to carry Windows Phone 7 handsets before too long, and in preparation for that grand event, it seems Big Red is populating the platform’s Marketplace with a few wares. Verizon versions of Slacker Radio and Netflix are now in there alongside a carrier app — My Verizon Mobile — that lets you pull the usual stunts with your account like changing features and paying your bill. ‘Course, they can drop 50 apps in there and it still doesn’t mean much without hardware… so hopefully we see that Trophy launch within a few weeks.

Verizon apps start showing up in Windows Phone 7′s Marketplace, you figure out the rest originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Wed, 22 Dec 2010 16:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Thought the launch of the Kin ONEm and TWOm was strange? Here’s another oddity with a Microsoft tie-in: Canadian startup Mobilicity has just announced the “Mobiflip,” a phone that the carrier’s own press release calls out as being “similar to the Sidekick LX.” It’s unclear whether what’s left of Danger will be supporting the device — the Sidekick line basically pioneered mobile cloud computing, after all — but what we see of the interface certainly rings true to the Sidekicks of days gone by. It runs CAD $99.99 ($98) contract-free, which is a whole heck of a lot cheaper than its American doppelganger launched for — $250 on contract, if you recall. Yowza! Follow the break for the press release.

Continue reading Sharp Mobiflip channels Sidekick LX’s vibes for Mobilicity

Sharp Mobiflip channels Sidekick LX’s vibes for Mobilicity originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 22 Dec 2010 13:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Out of the box, many Windows Phone 7 devices aren’t really equipped to deal with the reality that you might want to use a network other than the one the phone launched on. The oversight sort of makes sense since Microsoft’s launches have been closely tied to carriers so far — but it’s still an oversight that needs to be fixed on the double. Indeed, they’re working on a fix — probably to be included in future firmware revisions, we’d guess — but in the meantime, Samsung has followed HTC’s and LG’s suit by releasing an app that keeps your MMS functional when you insert a third-party SIM. The version that Sammy had let loose previously apparently didn’t work too well, but an update this week promises to handle its business a little better — though as you might expect, it explicitly warns you that it may not work if you’re on a contract (and presumably locked) phone.

Samsung launches improved network config tool for unlocked Windows Phone 7 handsets originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Tue, 21 Dec 2010 21:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft has decided to finally dish out some sales figures for its new Windows Phone 7 platform, but alas, these are not the sales figures we are looking for. Instead of giving us the juicy number of actual devices sold to end users, the Redmond crew has given us a neatly rounded 1.5 million figure of sales to mobile operators and retailers. That tells us that the mobile industry is buying into Microsoft’s new OS, and it’d be foolish not to, but it doesn’t really educate us much on the relative success of the platform’s launch. All that Microsoft’s Achim Berg would say is that early sales are “in line” with his company’s expectations.

Microsoft: over 1.5 million Windows Phone 7 devices sold to carriers and retailers originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Dec 2010 09:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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[Thanks, Stephen]

Continue reading Windows Phone 7′s Marketplace grows faster than Android did at launch, doesn’t mean much

Windows Phone 7′s Marketplace grows faster than Android did at launch, doesn’t mean much originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 20 Dec 2010 22:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft just released — or should we say, Apple just approved — version 2.0 of the Bing search app for iOS devices. In addition to several other new features including integrated Facebook Likes on search results (really!?) and in-app checkins to Facebook and Foursquare, Bing now comes packing Streetside, something that first blew us away as Street Slide when it was still in the labs at Microsoft Research. Unlike Google’s Streetview that requires a lot of forward- and back-clicking and turning in order to get a feel for a location, Streetslide provides a more comprehensive view of the shops and businesses in an area by letting you strafe down the sidewalk while zooming in and out of the buildings located on each side of the street. We took it for a brief spin (literally) and came away impressed. You won’t find Streetside implemented for all locations yet (for example, San Francisco’s Make-out Room was found on Streetside but the Slanted Door restaurant wasn’t) but they do seem to have large swaths of major cities covered based on our brief testing of Chicago, Seattle, New York, and San Francisco. Sorry, nothing yet in London and Amsterdam but maybe you’ll have better success searching your own neighborhoods. See the full list of what’s new after the break in addition to a Streetside demo from Bing’s architect “Blaze” — unfortunately, we’re not seeing the impressive Panaroma feature he mentions in this release.

Continue reading Bing 2.0 brings better Facebook integration and the impressive Streetside to iPhone (video)

Bing 2.0 brings better Facebook integration and the impressive Streetside to iPhone (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 16 Dec 2010 05:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Remember the Windows Phone 7 ads, the ones that promised to “save us from our phones” by giving us more “glance and go” information? For the most part, these phones haven’t delivered on that promise due to the relative dearth of apps taking advantage of Microsoft’s live tile concept. That changes a bit today thanks to an update to the HTC Hub app that ships with every Windows Phone 7 device manufactured by HTC. Now, instead of a generic double-wide icon, the HTC Hub presents you with the current weather condition and temperature and the forecasted highs and lows. As such, you’ll never have to click through and be subjected to HTC’s overwrought animations that feel so out of place on Microsoft’s more demure user interface. More please.

HTC Hub update helps save us from our Windows Phone 7 phones originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 15 Dec 2010 07:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft: 15-app push notification limit isn’t that big of a deal, could be increased in the future originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Sat, 11 Dec 2010 18:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Coming this February, at a Mobile World Congress near you, from the company that popularized the Service Pack: a second major update to Windows Phone 7. The observant among you will already be leaping out of their seats to point out that the first WP7 update hasn’t even been delivered yet, but it seems like Microsoft’s calendar stretches beyond the next month and the company’s already churning away on enhancing and improving its rebooted mobile OS. Such is the scuttlebutt coming out of WinRumors, and it’s kind of hard to argue with the postulation that Steve Ballmer wouldn’t be keynoting MWC in 2011 without something significant to announce. Word is that users will be getting added customization options for their phones, while developers will gain an extra few API hooks and controls that will ideally lead to more sophisticated apps in WP7′s future. Sounds good to us, now how about some landscape love, Microsoft?

[Thanks, Jay]

Microsoft said to be planning second Windows Phone 7 update for MWC in February originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 10 Dec 2010 07:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We know, that headline makes it seem like the Plantronics Voyager Pro UC is going to seduce you, and well, after spending sometime with the headset yesterday at D: Dive Into Mobile we’re thinking it may actually be pretty hard to resist. While it’s not as snazzy as the Jawbone Icon or the Jabra Stone, its ear piece and ear hook contain capacitive sensors that know when you’ve got the device on your ear or in your hand. So, not only can the headset automatically switch a call or song from your phone to the headset when you put it on, but even if it’s paired it won’t ring the headset unless it’s actually on your ear. That means if you’ve got it paired but have it in your pocket or across the room, you’ll be able to pick it up on your phone without a problem.

On top of that, the Pro will come with a USB dongle and Voice Alerts software, which integrates with Microsoft Outlook. When configured, the software will read the subject line of an email sent by certain specified contacts into your ear. We told you it was seductive! Sadly, the Voyager Pro UC won’t actually be out until early next year and we don’t know anything on pricing yet, but in the meantime check out some more pics of the device below.

Plantronics Voyager PRO UC senses your Bluetooth wants and needs, softly whispers in your ear originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Dec 2010 15:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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