Windows Phone 7 Is Real Facebook Phone

When Microsoft and Facebook announced that they were partnering to integrate Facebook and Bing for social network-powered search, it confirmed something I thought Monday: Windows Phone 7 is the real Facebook phone.

I don't know whether Facebook has a secret team working on a phone where they control the OS. But the company don't need one. It's already deeply integrated into Android and iOS. Now with the Microsoft partnership, it's tied to the most socially optimized smartphone ever brought to the market.

"This is, I think, one of the most exciting partnerships we've done on the platform so far," Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said at the Bing announcement Wednesday. "Our view is that over the next five years we expect that almost every industry is going to be disrupted by someone building a great product that's deep in whatever area that industry is, plus is extremely socially integrated."

The first Windows Phone 7 handsets are due in stores November. The OS is Microsoft's complete do-over on mobile, after its predecessor Windows Mobile tanked in popularity and market share in the wake of more consumer-savvy handsets such as Apple's iPhone and Google's Android-powered smartphones.

Every aspect of Windows Phone 7 is geared to social networks: phone, contacts, gaming, photos, even Office. Focusing the phone around Hubs doesn't just mean that local client apps and cloud apps are grouped next to each other. It means that the local client and cloud work together.

Microsoft tried to explicitly build a social networking phone featuring Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and MySpace with the Kin. The Kin failed and was killed by Microsoft, mostly because it wasn't a full-featured smartphone (it was a fork of Windows Phone 7), but required a smartphone's data plan.

Windows Phone 7 and Android Platform Competition

Encroaching competition
Microsoft (MSFT) has finally unveiled its Windows Phone 7 operating system, bringing another mobile platform to compete with Android. With a powerful 1GHz Snapdragon processor and hi-rez screens, the initial Windows Phone 7 devices will be fairly well equipped to match many features on Android devices. For gaming and entertainment especially, it’s clear that certain standards have been established for smartphones.

Android Market keeping pace
Hardly fazed by Microsoft’s launch today, Android rolled out a Market update for non-Froyo users. You now get tabbed app browsing, bulk updates for apps and auto-updates for apps you select. The changes are important towards improving navigation around the Android Market, making it easier to manage what some deem are the most important features on your device. With the likes of AppBrain making searchable apps for managing your marketplace, Android itself needs to keep pace.

Another entity that is interested in its own front for the Android Market is Best Buy (BBY). The electronics retailer mentioned interest in experimenting with an app store for Android, which would be a great way to interface and market to their customers. Coming off the heels of Amazon’s (AMZN) delve into Android Market storefronts, we’re sure to see a deep and ongoing evolution for Android’s economy.

Superheroes on-the-go
DC Comics is likely to reap the benefits of this marketplace maturation, with plans to release an Android app in the coming weeks. The publishing company has managed to remain relevant throughout the generations, and having a strong mobile front is just another wave of the future. A number of print media publishers have turned to the mobile industry lately, as it’s reached a point of reasonable distribution and montization.

Windows Phone 7 Gets "VoIP"; iPhone "FaceTime" Competitor ?

Microsoft had a solid CES appearance with the announcement of many new key products. But sometimes it’s not what’s said at the main events but inside conversations that can provide a peek into the upcoming products from the company.

At a high profile CES Event, a key WP7 employee delivered, in an off comment fashion, a few tips about where the platform may be headed. One feature that was discussed was that Microsoft is working on a FaceTime type like application for Windows Phone platform.

Now we have confirmed the news that Microsoft is working on a Apple iPhone's "Facetime" competitor, a feature of the platform that allows the user to make video phone calls to other users of the iPhone.

The registry keys "VoIP" and "SIP" are hidden inside the "ControlPanel" portion of the registry, and both seem to be set to be off (by having "0" under their "Enabled" value). It's worth noting that for some reason, these keys are in a portion of the registry that contains other features that are fundamental to the platform, such as theme colors. Right now, we don't have write access to the registry to attempt to turn it on, but hopefully in the near future the homebrew community may allow us to do this.

The VoIP feature has not been revealed before, and it is not certain whether or not this will be used for the "Facetime" like feature, or if it would be available for actual VoIP calling to other Windows Phone 7 users.

Windows Phone 7 Marketplace Hacked, Video

Someone claimed that the Windows Phone 7 marketplace had been hacked by phone hackers, reported at Neowin.net, because phone hackers are now seems to be busy to hack most popular smartphones like Android, Droid, iPhone and now Windows Phone 7 marketplace.

WPCentral reports that they have seen the tool in action. Created by a "white hat" developer, the application is called "FreeMarketplace" and performs the original steps outlined in the whitepaper by;

• Downloading the entire marketplace using a C# code snippet that was provided
• Circumventing the maximum application sideload limit, this was originally outlined on WithinWindows
• Enabling deployment of the disabled XAP files by deleting a file header inside the XAP "Zip" itself
• Activating the disabled marketplace XAP by replacing an entry assembly (the example used an open source app which had the debug assembly freely available
• Removing the XAP's security signatures
• Replacing the marketplace published entry assembly with a facade debug assembly

You can even see the tool in action for yourself, in a video that shows off how it works below.

Windows Phone 7 Grew Faster Than Android Marketplace

After the launched of Windows Phone 7 people were really expecting that new version of Windows Phone 7 will surely hit and get successful coverage in market amongst Android, iPhone and other popular devices. Now the latest research report from IDC, remarked that the Windows Phone 7 marketplace grew faster than Android's did at launch. The report noted that Microsoft added 4,000 applications in just two months, a milestone that took Android's marketplace over five months to achieve.

There are a number of factors as to why the Windows Phone 7 has grown as fast as it did. As Engadget.com points out, there are already thousands of developers who know the programming language, which means they can quickly turn code into an app without much trial and error.

The same can't be said for Android, which required Java programmers to learn new libraries and constructs. You also need to include the fact that there are more programmers looking to cash in on the rapidly expanding mobile app market. Programmers are also porting over their apps from iOS and the Android market to Windows Phone 7, expanding their portfolio to multiple platforms.

Microsoft could easily become the third largest mobile app market by the middle of next year, which doesn't face very much competition in terms of WebOS, BlackBerry OS and Symbian.

Despite all of that, this is a major accomplishment for Microsoft and its consumers. With a larger marketplace for consumers to download applications and games, more consumers will begin to migrate to Windows Phone 7.

Windows Phone 7 Jail Broken App Demonstrated

Just a week after an Australian developer discovered a way to run unauthorized code, the first ''jailbroken'' app for Windows Phone 7 has been demonstrated.

Blogger Long Zheng reports that WP7 developer Kevin Marshall has tapped into Chris Walshie's efforts to create a rudimentary augmented reality app, in the same vein as Google's Goggles app. The app uses a publicly-available Silverlight toolkit and uses the phone's camera to overlay information onto real-world objects.


Writing on a blog for smartphone development firm Clarity Consulting, Mr Marshall noted that the LG Optimus 7 offers similar functionality via its Scan Search application, but developers outside LG are not allowed access to the tools to develop similar apps.

''Ideally this would be accessible to everyone somewhere between now and really soon. Sometimes I think Microsoft doesn’t want developers to have fun on this platform,'' he wrote.

''Seriously, everyone needs to write a letter to their local Microsoft representative and demand some access to all [t]he cool APIs blocked for 3rd party apps. That or whine about it on Twitter.''

But as noted last week, users shouldn't expect to see the Windows Phone equivalent of Cydia popping up anytime soon. For the time being, unmanaged code can only be loaded onto developer devices, using a particular sideloading method not available to consumers.

HTC Touch Pro Unlocked Phone with 3.2 MP Camera, Windows Mobile 6.1, Wi-Fi, GPS, and MicroSD Slot--International Version with No Warranty (Black)