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New privacy policy agreed upon for the WP Marketplace and others

George Ponder — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 02:17:29 GMT

With all the litigation going on involving the smartphone industry, something good might have come from one Courtroom. The California Attorney General has struck a deal with Microsoft, Apple, Google, HP, RIM and Amazon that will have new privacy policies put in place.

In a nutshell the agreement will:

Require any software that uses personal information to provide a privacy policy that can be viewed in the store before any app is downloaded.
There will also be a requirement to provide links to the relevant documents in an obvious and consistent location.
Each app store will provide a simple way for users to report developers that violate the rules.
Each platform is committed to educating developers about their obligations to respect consumer privacy and to disclose what private information they collect, how it is used and how it is shared.

As far as enforcement is concerned, violators can be prosecuted under California's Unfair Competition and False Advertising laws. Not sure how far of a reach such enforcement will have but it's a start.

Source: California Attorney General Via: Engadget

And the Windows Phone Party winners are...

George Ponder — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 01:19:44 GMT

Earlier today we got word that we could invite ten readers to Microsoft's Windows Phone Party that the company is holding at the 2012 Mobile World Congress. Readers who were interested in attending (and could find their way to Barcelona) only had to comment on the post to have a shot at winning one of the tickets to the party.

While we would have liked to have given everyone a ticket, we could only choose ten. Here are the winners, picked at random.

xdomingo
Pablo Alarcon
Existentialism
Gmotagi
briadupuis
Reinout_
preriz
juanyfante
NewWindowsPhoner
r womack

We are in the process of sending the winners an email (need to get the requested information back to us as soon as possible) and we will get all the details on the where/when for the party and were to claim your ticket.

Congrats to everyone and enjoy the party. If you see Joe Belfiore, say hey for me!

NRL Season 2012 for Windows Phone released

Rich Edmonds — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 00:17:15 GMT

Interested in rugby for both Australia and New Zealand? Enjoy the NRL (National Rugby League)? You're going to want to purchase NRL Season 2012 for Windows Phone for your app arsenal. The developers of the AFL Season 2012 app has continued the their efforts to bring fixtures, ladders, news, results, and more to rugby fans.

Here's an fairly detailed list of available features:

View Upcoming Matches for Nominated Team(s).
View Embedded Live Scores + Ladders
View Fixtures by Round or by Team.
Covers 2012 Regular Season, Finals + SOO
Pin your team logo to your live tile.
UX (Headers) is themed to your nominated team colors
View Team page with info, links and upcoming matches.
Browse Latest RSS News Feeds from Major Sites
Browse Team + Match specific Twitter feeds
Comprehensive Venue details with Maps + Navigation
View Venue and Team Guides
View Additional Scores/Player/Team Stats Online
Auto Updates Fixtures as changes are made
Hide Live Scores Settings

As is the case with the AFL app, NRL Season 2012 will preload images and content to minimise data usage for those on tight restricted contracts. The app will also convert times to match your location.

You can download NRL Season 2012 from the Marketplace for $1.99, with a free trial available.

Pinball FX 2, Carcassonne, and more Xbox Live games coming to Windows Phone

Paul Acevedo — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 21:33:49 GMT

The Must Have Games 2012 promotion is nearly over, but that doesn’t mean the Xbox Live games will stop coming once March rolls around. Microsoft has just announced several new mobile Live titles.

Splinter Cell Conviction sneaks onto the Xbox Live Marketplace

Paul Acevedo — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 20:55:47 GMT

Splinter Cell: Conviction was announced back around the Windows Phone launch over a year ago. At last, Gameloft’s mobile port of the popular Ubisoft franchise has made it to Xbox Live.

This version of Splinter Cell tells the story of series lead Sam Fisher’s investigation into the death of his daughter. Gorgeous console-quality cutscenes narrated by Sam’s pal Victor Coste bookend each level. Conviction is actually a port of the popular Xbox 360 game (minus the multiplayer) and feels very much like a console title.

Being a phone game, it uses a virtual stick for the controls. They’re a tad clunky (much like Assassin’s Creed: Altair’s Chronicles, also from Gameloft) but the difficulty is forgiving enough that it doesn’t harm the experience. If you’ve been wanting a meatier Live title (complete with shooting and sneaking), look no further. Still not convinced? Check out our video preview.

Splinter Cell: Conviction costs $4.99 and there is a free trial. Get it here on the Marketplace.

Thanks Saket for the tip!

Facebook for Windows Phone updated to 2.4 bringing events back

Rich Edmonds — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 20:47:00 GMT

The official Facebook app has been updated to version 2.4, following reports that events were no longer accessible with the main menu entry being removed in 2.3. To be able read up on upcoming events requires the user to hit the "..." menu and filter out the news feed. Just a heads up for those who miss this feature being easily accessible.

Head on over to the Marketplace to download Facebook.

Thanks to those who sent tips in!

Orbital bounces off the walls and ends up Xbox Live Deal of the Week

Paul Acevedo — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 19:56:32 GMT

Splinter Cell: Conviction may not be showing up on the Marketplace just yet, but the Xbox Live Deal of the Week has at least gone live. Orbital from BiteForge and Microsoft Studios is now on sale for $1.99, down from $2.99.

Orbital is all about shooting orbs into other orbs, destroying them and causing chain reactions. It’s got 3 modes of play, each of which changes the rules and aiming around a bit. The neon graphics are pretty enough. As I stated in our review, I really wanted to like Orbital, but it just never clicked for me. The aiming needs work, the game is unforgiving, and there’s no metagame tying it together. But a lot of people enjoy the game anyway, so you may want to give it a shot too.

Orbital is on sale for $1.99 for one week only. Shoot on over here to the Marketplace to get it.

Reuters confirms both Lumia 610 and global 900 handsets according to sources

Rich Edmonds — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 17:53:28 GMT

Reuters has recently confirmed both the Lumia 610, which is a low-budget Windows Phone set to be unveiled next week at Mobile World Congress 2012, and a version of the Lumia 900 that is available beyond U.S. shores. This confirms the earlier rumour from PocketNow stating both handsets would be announced at MWC.

We'll of course be on the floor at the upcoming mobile event for the latest so be sure to keep an eye on our website or app for Nokia and Windows Phone coverage.

Source: Reuters

Wanna go to a Windows Phone Party?

George Ponder — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 15:35:03 GMT

By chance will you be in Barcelona on the 27th of February? If so, do you want to go to a Windows Phone party at the 2012 Mobile World Congress?

We've snagged ten invites to the Windows Phone Party (big thanks to Microsoft) and are offering our readers an opportunity to mingle with the Windows Phone big wigs at Microsoft. You'll also be able to rub elbows with our own Dan Rubino!

Sound interesting? If so, leave a comment below by 8:00pm CST today (the 22nd) and we'll pick ten lucky winners. You'll need to be a registered WPCentral reader (so we can get your email address).

Keep in mind that this is for the tickets only. You'll have to find your way to Barcelona on your own.

Nokia hosts a Lumia party at the Madrid university campus [Video]

Rich Edmonds — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 13:37:44 GMT

Nokia had set up shop in the Metro station at the Barcelona University, but the manufacturer decided to take its promotion campaign into the campus grounds of the Madrid University. Bringing in a DJ and pumping out a loud beat or two, the campus laid host to Nokia's bash over the weekend.

There were a variety of creative activities for students to get involved in, including: dancing, sewing, and more. The day turned night and evening enjoyment took over with an array of waving glow sticks. Overall, it was an opportunity not only for Nokia, but for students to engage with (and express) their creativity.

Source: YouTube (Nokia Italy), via: Unleash the Phones; thanks, Clinton, for the heads up!

Windows Phone App Review: Amazing Weather

George Ponder — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 13:18:16 GMT

Amazing Weather is one of the best looking weather apps available for your Windows Phone. But it's not just a pretty picture.

Amazing Weather present you with an abundance of weather information from current conditions to weekly forecasts to radar images. Amazing Weather is powered by wunderground.com and if you're looking for a nice looking, informative weather app, it's worth a try.

Sega emulator returning soon as Blue Tomato to the Windows Phone Marketplace

Daniel Rubino — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 08:02:46 GMT

If you've been following the saga of Sonic's Jewels 7 (SJ7), you'll remember that the popular Sega Master System and Game Gear emulator was due for a nice sound update. That update actually did hit the Marketplace but only for a few hours before it was pulled due to a copyright claim by Sega.

Our own Rafael Rivera worked with the developer to sort through the claim, which revolved around the use of Sonic the Hedgehog and the dev was quoted as saying it will return. The condition of returning though would be to shed all of Sega's copyrights--images and names--in order for it to presumably pass the Marketplace certification. We spoke of this on the last podcast where the name "Blue Tomato" was tossed out as the new name.

Now we got word that Blue Tomato is in the certification process in the Marketplace and the developer has posted some screenshots, showing off the new artwork. The most pertinent question though many of you have is this: Will I have to re-buy the emulator? The answer appears to be "no" as this will by just another update to the existing Marketplace spot for the app. Certainly that should make some of you relieved.

Moreover, that sound update will be included as well as "better game loop" and Zip support, which should make things a lot easier for users. We'll keep you posted if/when the app passes and is re-available for download again.

Source: Facebook

Nokia "Little Amazings in Cape Town" and ad for Australia appear [Videos]

Daniel Rubino — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 07:08:55 GMT

Time for some more Nokia videos that keep pushing the Lumia 800 world wide. It truly is amazing the reach Nokia has with market penetration. This week we have some new videos promoting "Little Amazings in Cape Town" South Africa and a new ad for the Australian market.

The Cape Town ad is one of those happy-go-lucky ones showing people doing some cute and fun things, fitting in with that "Amazing Everyday" campaign. Part of it shows the Nokia setup in a mall and passerbys having a good time. Adorable.

The next video is pretty generic but still nice to see, especially since it really shows off the Windows Phone OS features to the public, something which we think we can all agree is one of the strongest selling points. All we know is that we can't wait to see what Nokia brings to the US in a few weeks, we're ready to be wowed.

via: Unleash the Phones and @longzheng

The Bullet Asylum desktop theme offers a safe haven for your computer

Paul Acevedo — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 04:13:47 GMT

Windows 7 users (i.e. most people with a computer) who also play Windows Phone games can enjoy an abundance of desktop themes based on WP7 games. Last week we showed you the Chickens Can’t Fly theme, which is certainly good for a few laughs. Now a Bullet Asylum theme joins the fray.

Like Chickens Can’t Fly before it, the Bullet Asylum theme includes includes wallpapers, sounds, and colors based on UberGeekGames’ Must Have title. To be honest, the backgrounds don’t remind me of the game all that much. Do you see any trippy explosions in the pics above? I didn’t think so. But they do capture a nice sci-fi vibe, at any rate.

You can find the Bullet Asylum Windows 7 theme pack here at the Windows download page. As for Bullet Asylum the game, it costs $2.99 from the Marketplace.

HTC YouTube app missing from the Marketplace? Probably just a fluke.

Daniel Rubino — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 01:45:00 GMT

We're not ready to put on our conspiracy hats just yet, but HTC YouTube app is missing again from the Marketplace.

We should point out that their apps often go "missing" (in quotes) from the HTC app section, only to be found if you can dig up an old link or you hit the "More from HTC" area in the app description. That's not going on here though as when you do hit the link to the Marketplace, you get the old "This application is not available for your device. Press here for more info". [Note: You have to hit that link on your HTC phone for it to ever work--it'll never show up in the web Marketplace or Zune Desktop]

This could be because of several reasons: HTC is updating the app and this one was "pulled" temporarily--odd but yeah, HTC does that sometimes, temporary glitch in the Marketplace, etc. It's probably not because of YouTube demanding HTC pull the app or because whatever reason LazyTube/MetroTube cited for ceasing development. In fact, the "official" YouTube app from Microsoft (love it or hate it) is still available.

Our advice? Wait a few days and check back as we bet a version 2.3 will be in its place or perhaps HTC will fix whatever it is that is causing the issue. If not, when we hang out with them next week in Barcelona, we'll ask 'em directly. Cool? In the meantime, we're sure most of you will note how much better YouTube Pro is anyways, so there's your alternative in the meantime, should you need some YouTube on the go.

Thanks, Jean-Batiste, for the heads up

Sneak Peek: Splinter Cell: Conviction on Xbox LIVE for Windows Phone [Video]

Daniel Rubino — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 21:33:06 GMT

This week's "Must Have Game" is Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction. We wrote about this game way back in June 2011 and it was even announced before Windows Phone 7 launched, making this one of the longest "in gestation" games we have seen yet. We wrote back then:

"Another Gameloft title, Conviction was announced prior to the Windows Phone launch and then disappeared off the radar. This title provides a surprisingly faithful rendition of the Splinter Cell series, with great 3D graphics and stealth game play. The Mark and Kill allows players to select multiple targets and perform instant kills on them. This is definitely a game to look forward to, but don’t be surprised if it costs $6.99 at launch."

Now the game is just $4.99 and finally will hit our phones early tomorrow morning. So is it worth it?

Yeah, actually it's pretty darn good. It's great to have this type of game finally our our phones instead of the traditional casual arcade games that we've had as of late. This is a much slower paced, cinematic style game where you take your time...murdering people. We're all for that (don't judge us!) and what we've played so far we like. The controls are pretty intuitive, the graphics are pretty snappy and it's quite a bit of fun.

Will it hold up after a few levels? Will the gameplay be challenging enough? Too early to tell and that's why we have Paul around to tell us. But so far, we're quite happy with it. Look for the game to land in the next 12-20 hours in the Marketplace for $4.99. Of course, we'll let you know when we have a link for it, so stay tuned.

@BenThePCGuy is giving away Windows Phones

George Ponder — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 21:28:56 GMT

Ben Rudolph, famous for his Smoked by Windows Phone promotions is at it again. He's giving away a Nokia Lumia 710 today. Who know's based on the photo he may giving away more than one once the dust settles.

To enter just tweet @BenThePCGuy with the hash tag #windowsphone why you want a Windows Phone. Ben will pick the best story to win.

The catch, the contest ends today at 5:00pm PST. Sorry for the short notice but Ben is building a reputation for spontaneity.

source: @BenThePCGuy; Thanks, damthman, for the tip!

Windows Phone App Review: Weight Tracker

George Ponder — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 20:24:08 GMT

Looking to track your weight loss? Want a simple solution to use on your Windows Phone? Take a look at the Windows Phone app Weight Tracker.

Weight Tracker is a simple, straight forward app to track your weight loss and chart your progress towards your targeted weight. It's a handy way to track your progress as the Mobile Nations Fitness Month winds down.

NXP puts entire catalog in Windows Phone app

Seth Brodeur — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 19:57:30 GMT

NXP Semiconductors has just released an app in the Marketplace that allows engineers to browse and buy more than 10,000 products parts from NXP‘s High Performance Mixed Signal and Standard Products portfolio. The Dutch manufacturer, who has also created apps for Android and iOS, is the first semiconductor company to make their products available via a Windows Phone application.

"We're very pleased to welcome Windows Phone users to our mobile app community. The feedback to our mobile apps for iPhone and Android has been tremendous, and we are delighted to take the lead once again in introducing our complete product catalog on a leading mobile OS, Windows Phone -- enabling customers to make selections and purchases anytime, anywhere. However you prefer to review technical information -- whether it's via mobile apps, datasheets, white papers, design guides, online forums, newsletters, social media networks, webinars or videos -- NXP is committed to helping you quickly find exactly what you need," said Sander Arts, vice president of marketing and communications, NXP Semiconductors.

Features of the NXP Windows Application:

Engineers can browse and search the database of NXP products by product functions and part numbers to get product specifications. Product datasheets, application and packaging information are also available at the click of a finger tip.
Customers can order product parts using this application. By placing products directly into a shopping cart, they will be directed to online stores of NXP's worldwide distribution partners to complete the transaction within minutes.
Engineers are able to share product specifications by emails or social media channels, like Facebook or Twitter.
The "My Favorite" function allows engineers to keep track of product types that they are interested in.
"About NXP" provides the overview of NXP's worldwide sales offices, distribution networks and access to online technical support form.

You can download it here for free.

Source: MSNBC; Thanks for the tip, Rodney!

Introducing Doodle Invasion, from the makers of Spider Jack

Paul Acevedo — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 16:14:28 GMT

Windows Phone gamers should already be familiar with Russian developer MaxNick’s Xbox Live title, Spider Jack. What you might not know is that MaxNick has also published several indie games for the platform, the latest of which is Doodle Invasion.

In Doodle Invasion, alien invaders are attacking one of our beaches. Players must stop each wave of invaders by firing missiles at the alien mothership. You also have to keep aliens off the beach, which involves drawing lines to bounce the aliens into your boats. As the game goes on, new types of weapons and alien threats spring up, always accompanied by a friendly tutorial message.

Doodle Invasion has quite a unique play style – juggling the need to attack the mothership, keep the aliens off the beach, and optional tasks like protecting a windsurfer will keep you on your toes. The Parachute Panic-like art style is super cute, too.

The Windows Phone version of Doodle Invasion has all the features of its iPhone counterpart, plus some additional language translations (EFIGS, Russian, Chinese, Japanese and Korean). In the future, I’d like to see an online leaderboard and maybe a way to read over the tutorials at your leisure – I accidentally skipped them sometimes because I was already tapping the screen.

Doodle Invasion costs $1.99 and there is a free trial. Pick it up here on the Marketplace.

Nokia Lumia 719 passes Bluetooth certification

George Ponder — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 15:59:24 GMT

We've seen the Nokia Lumia 610 pass through Indonesia certification and now Nokia Windows Phone has appeared on the radar. The Nokia Lumia 719 recently passed certification through the Bluetooth Special Interest Group.

Details on the Lumia 719? The product detail lists the Windows Phone heading to Asia, North America and South America. The Lumia 719 is described as,

The Nokia 719 is a versatile, well-designed smartphone offering users easy and seamless to make the most of every moment, every day.

Bluetooth SIG shows the 719 having a 5 MP auto-focus camera with HD video recording to capture and a 3.7” Clear Black display. We can only guess that the remainder of the specs are similar to the Lumia 710.

Where the 719 is destined is anyone's guess at this point. Could it be an AT&T version of the 710? An unlocked, budget oriented version of the 710? Hopefully more will come to light on the 719 next week at the 2012 Mobile World Congress. We'll be there and will try to shed some light on things.

Source: Bluetooth SIG via: Liveside

Windows Phone Game Review: Escape from Heaven

George Ponder — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 13:40:09 GMT

Escape from Heaven is a nice looking game for your Windows Phone where you play the role of Hedgy, a hedge hog that doesn't like Heaven and yearns to make it back to Earth. You navigate over obstacles, jump from platform to platform working your way through the various levels of the game to make it home.

Escape from Heaven has a minimalist feel to the graphics, simple game play but Escape from Heaven is a challenging, entertaining, well presented game for your Windows Phone game library.

Windows Phone sales poised to overtake Symbian in UK

Daniel Rubino — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 13:20:29 GMT

In a happy yet somewhat odd metric of success, Windows Phone sales are on the verge of passing those of Symbian, at least in the UK. The data comes by way of Kantar Worldpanel Comtech who collected data from 15,000 users including which device they are using and if they bought a new one.

The story of who's at top is a familiar one with Android with 36.9 percent and the iPhone at 28.5 percent for installed-base stats. But the site Electric Pig points out, the monthly sales figures are a little more revealing with Symbian crashing from 15% a year ago to 2.8% in January 2012--not at all surprising with Nokia all but abandoning the platform. But Microsoft's Windows Phone has bounced from 0.4 percent to 2.2 percent year-on-year with a current adoption rate which will bypass Symbian's figures in the next month.

Of course passing a nearly dead OS is perhaps not the best thing to celebrate and clearly Windows Phone is miles behind iOS and Android in terms of market share. But trends are important and it seems clear now that Nokia is having a big impact on Windows Phone sales in the UK (Comtech's scores don't break down by OEM, just OS but we think it's a safe assumption).

It will be even more interesting to see Kantar Worldpanel Comtech's numbers in the coming months to see if the +0.15% per month increase for Windows Phone has increased with Nokia's recent marketing blitz there--those January numbers were just the beginning of that push for the UK.

Read more at Electric Pig; Market photo via Shutterstock

Grooveshark: We're not planning on developing for Windows Phone 7

Daniel Rubino — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 00:48:29 GMT

Although we've heard this before from companies and things can change rapidly, at least according to one community manager at Grooveshark, that company won't be making a dedicated Windows Phone app despite already having ones for Android, iPhone (jailbroken), Blackberry and even webOS. In an email back and forth between a customer and Jessica, a community manager at the company the info was revealed:

Anonymous : "I was wondering if, in the near future, you would develop an application for users of Windows Phone 7. You are on all other platforms except ours."

Grooveshark response (Jessica - Community Manager) : "Hey E *****, Thanks for Taking the time to write us. Unfortunately, Grooveshark is not planning on Developing for Windows Phone 7. We're very sorry for the inconvenience and confusion. Please let us know if You have Any further Top questions. "

Of course, reps can be wrong for companies (although Grooveshark is very small, so less likely) and they could change their minds at any point. Still, we're none to happy with that response. Even though we have a working HTML5 version of their site now, having a dedicated app would certainly be more preferential. Hopefully they'll change their minds in the future.

via: MonWindowsPhone

Windows Phone Homebrew Marketplace comes to your Windows Desktop

Daniel Rubino — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 23:21:10 GMT

We've mentioned Bazaar before--it's the first serious attempt at a homebrew Marketplace for Windows Phone, a place where developers can centralize and easily distribute their work for end users, allowing people to keep up on updates and learn about new apps. That's important as browsing our forums, XDA or just watching our front page, while helpful, can cause you to miss things.

Previously though, Bazaar was restricted to custom ROMs as an addon app for Windows Phone. While extremely useful and impressive, this limited its influence. Today though that all changes with the release of the Bazaar Desktop client.

If you have a developer or Chevron unlocked phone, you'll definitely want this. The app is quite impressive allowing you to browse, as far as we can tell, all the homebrew apps that are out there. You have concise app descriptions including if it will work on your device (lots are restricted to Gen 1 devices, for instance) and screenshots to see what the app looks like.

Perhaps more importantly though is the ability to download and install directly to your phone, making the whole process extremely easy. The app simply piggybacks off of Zune Desktop and if you have your device paired with that app, it will "see" this one. That latter part is very useful as it even shows you already installed homebrew/sideloaded apps, making management a breeze (most of us are still limited to just 10 homebrew/sideloaded apps).

Other worthy mentions include Featured, Browse, and Favorites making it a snap to find an app (although even we admit that the homebrew scene is a bit anemic).

Bazaar for Windows Desktop is free, well designed and just works. For that we're giving it a big recommendation and a thumbs up to the hard work of the dev team who are certainly worthy of a donation. Get more information and screenshots at their distribution page: http://118.139.161.234/bazaar/BazaarForPC.aspx

Source: Bazaar for PC; via Plaffo