New video compares new Gyroscope to Motion Sensor, makes us dizzy

One odd omission from Windows Phone 7 at launch was the lack of gyroscope support, a feature that would allow augmented reality apps and more sophisticated motion sensing games to enter the Marketplace. It's a pretty standard feature across nearly all smartphones today and fortunately Microsoft has graciously included it into Mango. Microsoft has also said these new gyro-enabled apps can still be compatible with older hardware lacking the feature thanks to a new Motion Sensor API that uses some math alongside the accelerometer to give the same effect, so no harm no foul.

But in reality how does the new gyroscope compare to the motion sensing-workaround? In the video above you can see for yourself and there's definitely a noticeable difference to our eyes. Of course the gyroscope is the Fujitsu IS12T on the left while the motion sensor is the HTC Trophy on the right. By rotating the devices around we can see that the IS12T is much more precise and one-to-one with real movements while the Trophy appears to be more 'floaty'. It's an interesting comparison and unfortunately proves that it is difficult to implement new features at the same level of performance as new hardware to older hardware.

P.S. If anyone can translate the subtitles in the video that would be super helpful! Just drop a comment below if you know some.

Source: YouTube

Molly Wood talks about her Windows Phone Challenge, begs for more apps

CNET's Molly Wood was spotted having Android troubles on Twitter by Microsoft's Brandon Watson. One thing led to another, and Watson issued Wood a challenge to try out Windows Phone Mango instead. If she didn't like it, Watson would donate $1000 smackers to her favorite charity. Not a bad deal, and now Wood is holding up her end of the deal. She's just posted up the first video covering her initial day/week with her Mango'd up HTC Trophy and for the most part she's positive. However, when it comes to apps she's feeling the pain. For her full thoughts in this first week, check out the video above and head on over to her article on CNET for more.

Source: CNET

Nokia devices leaked in new video? (Update 2)

Whoa! What do we have here? A new, leaked video claiming to be official from Nokia and showing off new devices, that's what! My Nokia Blog receives this video from a tipster who was allegedly a Microsoft employee and used a .ovi email address. The video itself looks legit to us despite recycling old images and footage. This could very well have been an internal video that was meant for employees or carriers, but we don't know anything for certain at this point. Just sit back, relax, and enjoy the tease after the break.

Source: My Nokia Blog

Update: The video's been removed...which makes this about 1000x more legitimate than before. We'll see.

Update 2: I've reuploaded the video to our own YouTube channel if you missed it! Watch it below and enjoy.

Nokia President talks Windows Phones, Carriers, and America

Nokia: Apple iOS and Android are "outdated" from Venturebeat on Vimeo
Nokia's USA President Chris Weber seems to be making the rounds lately. Earlier Weber sat down with AllThingsD and revealed Symbian will be wiped out entirely in the United States. Now Weber returns in the above video interview with VentureBeat. In it he talks about how Microsoft is differentiating its OS from the reliance on apps, how Nokia is going to become the most "carrier-friendly" manufacturer, and how the company is readying itself to "act like a startup" when push comes to shove this Fall. It's a great interview and we recommend you watch it. There's also an accompanying article that goes more in-depth by mixing in parts of the interview with broad ideas Nokia is talking about, as well as off-screen talks with Weber about other snazzy new features in Mango. Read that here.

Via: The Nokia Blog
Source: VentureBeat

New video of Nokia Sea Ray discovered, this time with buttons! (Update 3: Q logo revealed--Qualcomm!)

Ever since last week, Mango hardware has been quite the leaky faucet and a new look at the mother lode of all future Windows Phones just leaked onto the web. Yes, the video above shows a quick hands on of the Nokia Sea Ray in action and includes real Windows Phone buttons (no buttonless for you)  as well as a nice long look at it running honest-to-god Mango. Awesome. Better watch it while it's up because Nokia's lawyers could be all over this soon!

Here are some noteworthy points from watching the video:

• The phone appears to have been housed in a case similar to how the iPhone 4 was disguised as a 3GS before it looked. It looks like Nokia wasn't kidding when they mentioned "Apple-style" security.
• Capacitive buttons are definitely a go, so that earlier buttonless rumor was most likely fake. Only time will tell if the Swipe UI is going to make the cut or not.
• The phone boots up to a large new 7 logo before jumping into another odd screen which looked like it could have been a new bootup screen for Nokia (turned out to be a Qualcomm logo, see below) and then finally reveals the new Windows Phone Mango branding we spotted on other phones.
• The button layout appears to be the same as the N9, with the power button on the right side just beneath the volume rocker and above the camera shutter key.
• It's safe to say this prototype does not have a front-facing camera. It should have been in the bottom right corner and there also should have been a software button in the camera UI, but that may change in the future.

We'll post up some screenshots in a minute. We're also working on a YouTube upload for those weary of Youku's foreign flash player.

Update 1: Here are those promised still images, and boy does the Sea Ray look sweet.

Update 2: Embedded above is a copy of the video on YouTube. The original Youku video can be found embedded past the break.

Update 3: Well we now know what that mysterious 'q' logo was in the Sea Ray's boot screen--Qualcomm! This definitely means we'll be seeing some silicon from San Diego inside Nokia's first Windows Phone.

Via: WPCentral
Source: WPXAP

Indoor Maps & Visual Voicemail demoed in new hands-on videos

Oh, Mango. We grow to love you more and more each day. Why? More of your little unique features begin to show up, features like we've never seen in anything else. A pair of your best features aren't even well known and yet here we are watching videos from PocketNow detailing both. The first shows off your impeccable knowledge of social hotspots, offering up sophisticated indoor maps in key spots across the country. We even learned that you have a pretty decent list of some of the top malls in the United States supported.  Then there's your wonderful visual voicemail implementation, which works as beautifully as we would've expected. Grow your affection for the succulent fruit and watch both past the break.

Source: PocketNow (Indoor Maps), (Visual Voicemail)

Video of the Nokia "Sea Ray" Unveiling

So are you all hot and bothered about that Nokia "Sea Ray"? Are those oddly cropped photos still not doing enough for you? We have good news for you then! You can now watch the "Sea Ray" being unveiled at Nokia's random press event! Now you can watch the quick snippet posted to YouTube above or you have the option of watching the entire 22 minute long introduction video in which the "Sea Ray" starts its cameo at 01:15 into the video. The choice is yours, but either way you'll get to see the "Sea Ray" moving and isn't that all that really matters?



Source: Technet.hu

New Hands-on Video Shows that the Little Things Matter in Mango

We all know about Mango's headlining features: Multitasking, Internet Explorer 9, Local Scout, Groups, Threads, Twitter integration, etc. WPCentral was one of many outlets of the press to receive some hands-on time with a preview build of Mango on a Samsung Focus and considering that their main coverage is of Windows Phone they knew what to look for compared to other sites. The video above shows a number of new smaller tweaks that experienced Windows Phone users will probably learn to appreciate much more than beginners. Our favorite is the addition of a touch to focus option in the camera, which should help user's photos look less like the result of arthritis.

What's your favorite new tweak in Windows Phone Mango?

Source: WPCentral

Developers: Mango Live Tiles No Longer Require Personal Server, Local API Promises More Reliable Push

If you've spent any extended amount of time with Windows Phone in its current iteration, you'd know that live tiles aren't exactly perfect. Live tiles are a comfortable middle ground between widgets and shortcuts, but as of right now they're difficult to implement and even more difficult to keep working. We just experienced the past five days without live tiles before it fixed itself with a power restart, and to say it was hard to live without would be an understatement.

Luckily it appears Mango will be adding quite a bit to improve the platform's signature feature. Thomas Fennel has a discussion with Brandon Watson about the update's new and improved live tile and push notification implementation and it's a great watch. For those who don't have 10 minutes to kill, here are the highlights:

• Live tiles were about to be cut from Windows Phone 7's final build as it approached release, but were eventually saved by developers in the end.
• Live tiles will no longer require self-sustained servers. Instead, Microsoft has setup their own cloud service developers can use to push updates. Windows Phone Mango will support a local push API which developers can use instead.
• The local push API will include the same 500 live tile push updates as we see today. By the way that's 500 per device per day, meaning if you're pushing out to 3 devices you'll have a total of 1500 notifications available to use during that day.
• Pushing data down to live tiles is said to be very reliable in Mango through the new local API, and Thomas Fennel advises developers follow a "simplify, simplify, simplify" mantra when pushing out updates.
• Mango will support up to 30 live tiles on the Start page, doubling the previous amount of 15. However to correct the terminology, it's really 30 live tile "channels"; users can actually add an unlimited number of tiles per app. So for example, pinning the Qantas app and three Qantas flight tracking 'deep link' tiles will all still count as a single live tile 'channel' because they all are receiving push notifications from the same app.

Live tiles are getting a pretty sweet bump in functionality with Mango and in addition to those deep toast notifications we could definitely see a significant increase in productivity for Windows Phone's future. Just a few more months people...think you can hold on?

Update: Our friend Renfred Law (developer of Prime TV) pointed out to us a few errors in our post. For one, Microsoft is not licensing out their servers but rather developers will have access to a local push API. Second is that the 500 live tile push updates is already in effect and is actually per day. Bullet points have been appropriately updated above. Sorry for any confusion!

Source: Channel 9

Video of Windows 8 Presentation from Computex Now Available

Microsoft did a quick presentation of Windows 8 at D9, but the real goods were found halfway across the world in Taipei, Taiwan. Windows 8 took center stage at Computex 2011 and now Microsoft has made the video available to see for your viewing pleasure. You can really see how beautifully the Metro UI works across all of those form factors, which we just showed you video of, and the ease of use looks incredible. Clearly Microsoft has learned a lot from Windows Phone users' experience with the interface and has expanded upon it in numerous ways while keeping things clean and simple. If you can't tell, yes we're still excited.

New Hands-On Video of the Acer W4, It's Still Plastic

Engadget is live at Computex 2011 right now and once they heard about the surprise reveal of the Acer W4 handset they hurried on over and caught a quick video of the mockup. The video doesn't show us much than we already knew before about the plasticky Windows Phone, but we suppose some may want to get a better idea of the design and if there are any goodies packed in.

SPOILER: There aren't.

Source: Engadget

Microsoft Germany Mango Event Shows Off Bing Vision's Translation Feature

Yes this is the second foreign-language (foreign to us anyway) video of Mango features we're featuring on the site, but it demonstrates a ridiculously cool feature of Bing's Vision Search. As demonstrated by Microsoft Germany during their Mango preview event, Bing Vision can translate foreign languages on-the-fly by using the new 'scan text' and 'translate' options. We saw videos of this feature before but most used simple cards that were bright and big, and we felt it didn't accurately represent the feature as it would in the real world. This presentation video is extremely impressive because it translates an entire flyer with different colored text and font styles. Plus we discovered that you have the option to copy all of the text you see on screen. Very neat stuff. As we said in our hands-on with the Mango emulator, Bing is the one area getting the most end-user features above the rest and seeing Vision Search in action like this is extremely promising for Bing's future.

Via: MobileTechWorld
Source: YouTube (WinloadVideo)

Facebook Demo Video of Mango Now Available

In case you missed it on the 24th, the surprise Facebook live demo of Mango is now available from streaming above courtesy of the official Windows Phone YouTube channel. There wasn't too much shown in this demo than there was in the actual press event, but we did spot the new Zune player, the new auto-fix feature for Pictures, and that neat Best Buy app. Feel free to watch the video above, but be warned--the presenters' enthusiasm seems a little forced.

Via: WPCentral
Source: YouTube (Windows Phone)

New Video Shows Facebook Check-Ins, Exchange Tasks and More in Mango

WPCentral spotted the above video on YouTube and, despite being in Swedish, shows off a number of new features that we haven't seen in other hands-ons or official videos. WPCentral's Daniel Rubino broke down all of the highlights in case you don't want to watch the entire six-minute video:

(2:32 - 2:50) - "Me tile", Facebook Check In, Set IM Status
(3:04) - Exchange tasks shown in calendar
(4:26) - XBox Avatar dancing to the music being played

Via: WPCentral
Source: YouTube (peterwis1)

Mango Preview: Watch the Preview Event Presentation Now!

Microsoft has uploaded the footage of the Mango Preview Event from earlier this morning. If you want to see Voice to Text, Groups, Threads, and more in action for yourself than start watching!

Note: Video requires Silverlight.

Source: Windows Phone Newsroom: Webcast

Mango Preview: Videos Featuring Local Scout, Multitasking, Groups, and More Now Available

Do you want more videos of Mango in action? You've got em! Microsoft has uploaded a ton of videos in their Windows Phone Newsroom Video Gallery and we've done the courteous thing and uploaded all of them to our YouTube channel. Check out Groups above and past the break you'll find more videos of Threads, Internet Explorer 9, Local Scout, Multitasking, and the Start Page plus that slick new sizzle reel that ended the presentation. Well, what are you waiting for?

The future is in the moving image: Video traffic projections 2009-2014

I tripped over this very neat Cisco tool which enabled me to play around with some variables looking at projections of internet traffic / data projections over the 2009-14 period. Well worth a twiddle. The only things I'd critique it for is the inability to show the chart and the legend at the same time, and or twiddle the colours of the lines on the chart to make it easier to read. With more patience than I have today I am sure I could fix the line colour in Photoshop but, I don't so here it is "nature" as the French would say.

Take a look at this graph I rustled up looking at the rampant growth of video... (scale is exabytes (i.e more data that you can possibly comprehend!).  So with figures like that I question why is there such a lack of data availability on spend or even spend forecasts on video digital display formats?  Advertisers, me thinks we should be taking this more seriously!

Adding legal music to your videos...

I like this.... Friendlymusic.com launches today to allow you to buy tracks that you can legally use / set as background to your videos, so avoiding risking having anything you post taken down for violation of copyright.

Video Trivia: Every minute an entire day's worth of content added to YouTube

Yup!  YouTube recently announced: 24 hours worth of video content is uploaded EVERY Minute.

That's 4 more hours per minute than when the last lot of figures were released 10 months ago in May 2009.

Wow.

Interactive video fun

A while back YouTube started allowing you to tag videos with interactive links, and people have been playing with the many different ways you can link content together to create interesting multi-media web experiences. Kicking around for a while now has been the Boone Oakley agency "non-website" made entirely of connected videos hosted on YouTube, but I'm happy to plug them for pushing boundaries.

Remember those books you used to get as a kid where you could choose what happened next by deciding whether you wanted to jump to page 36 or page 64??

Well this morning I tripped over this YouTube interactive version and I'm sure it's the start of many more sophisticated stories told in the same way as people's preferences are increasingly for multi-media information consumption over text. Have a play..




Whilst I'm on the subject of YouTube, if you haven't already, check out YouTube XL - the rather AdobeAir inspired YouTube interface designed for those accessing YT on a big screen (e.g a TV) via a gaming platform or home media server or similar. I like it, it looks nice with it's dark surround, and the navigation is clear and simple.