TAT BlackBerry PlayBook apps blow us away

An Introduction to the Windows Phone 7 Development Platform

On Sep 16th 2010, Microsoft made available the RTW (Released to Web) version of the development platform for Windows Phone 7. In some ways, for many of you, parts of this will be a re-introduction to technologies you already know or with which you have become familiar. This is great news because it means you can become productive very quickly, and that’s no mistake. If you are wondering whether this platform is going to be a success then consider that there are millions of developers out there with existing skills which they can already leverage to build applications for Windows Phone 7. Even for those who have never used tools like Visual Studio before, the barrier for entry is low because the basic toolset has been made available completely free of charge!

Exciting news about Ovi Chat

Nokia is pleased to announce that the updated Ovi Chat powered by Yahoo! service has been released! What does this mean for you? You can now invite your Yahoo! Messenger friends and Ovi Chat friends into your friend list, giving you access to an even larger community for chatting.

If you have an Ovi Chat account but cannot log in, visit https://t.ovi.com from your phone or computer to accept the additional Ovi Mail and Ovi Chat powered by Yahoo! Terms and Privacy Policy. Once you have done this, you will be able to log in to your Chat account.

If you do not see some of your friends in your friend list, they might not have accepted the additional Terms and Privacy Policy. Please encourage them to go to https://t.ovi.com so they can join you on Ovi Chat and share in the updated experience.

We will have more exciting updates to share about Ovi Chat in the coming weeks. Until then, keep chatting with Ovi Chat!

Nokia Working on Charge-less Mobile Phone

In order to attain charger less world, Nokia is working on a mobile phone that would be charged wirelessly through ambient radio signals that are available in atmosphere. Markku Rouvala, a researcher from the Nokia Research Centre, in Cambridge, U.K told MIT’s Technology Review that ambient electromagnetic radiation – emitted from Wi-Fi transmitters, cell-phone antennas, TV masts, and other sources – could be converted into enough electrical current to keep a battery topped up

The team at Cambridge is working on a prototype device that could harvest up to 50 milliwatts of power from the electromagnetic soup – which is sufficient to trickle charge a switched off phone.

Current versions can scavenge 3 to 5 milliwatts. To increase the amount of power that can be harvested, Nokia is focusing on harvesting many different frequencies. “It needs a wideband receiver,” says Rouvala, to capture signals from between 500 megahertz and 10 gigahertz–a range that encompasses many different radio communication signals.”

MIT noted that historically, energy-harvesting technologies have only been found in niche markets, powering wireless sensors and RFID tags in particular. If Nokia’s claims stand up, then it could push energy harvesting into mainstream consumer devices.

Rouvala said that he envisaged commercial products could be launched in three to four years time.

Nokia Phones to Recharge Automatically, Soon!

Soon, your Nokia cell phone will never run out of battery, while you are on the go.

New Scientist figured out that Nokia has filed for a US Patent for a phone that recharges as the phone user moves.

Some watches already use similar pattern for generating energy – they use circular frames on back end of dial, that keeps moving to generate energy.

Nokia thinks that there can a phone in which the heavier components, such as the radio transmitter circuit and battery, are supported on a sturdy frame. This frame can move along two sets of rails, one allows it travel up and down, the other side to side.

Strips of piezoelectric crystals sit at the end of each rail and generate a current when compressed by the frame. So as the user walks, or otherwise moves the phone, the motion generates electricity. This charges a capacitor which in turn trickles charge into the battery, keeping it topped up.

How to Increase Mobile Phone Battery Time?

In this present epoch we have become so much obsessed and dependent on our mobile phones that we detest anything that prevents us from being in tact with our mobile phone.

We are all aware that mobile phone’s battery has not improved as much as the mobile phone and these latest gadgets have improved. Juice draining is a common problem that many of us are suffering from.

Now a days many people are buying more than one battery for their mobile phones and getting car chargers too, to keep their mobile phone powered on 24/7. Many even try to make sure that they carry their charger with them along wherever they go.

Keeping Battery Power Stay for Longer:

Scientists are working on air-fueled battery that would have the capacity to store up to ten times the energy storage. Oxygen drawn from the air reacts within the porous carbon to release the electrical charge in this lithium-air battery. But we can not wait for this technology to reach our hands, so about trying to save the battery from draining so quickly!

Use Genuine Charger:

Always use a genuine mobile charger, instead of going for the low-priced Chinese made non-genuine mobile phone chargers in order to get maximum out of your mobile battery.

Take Care of your Mobile’s Battery:

Keep your mobile battery terminals clean – you can do this by cleaning it once in a month time with alcohol. keeping it away from moisture, water and high temperature.

Lower your Mobile’s Display Brightness:

Set the brightness of your mobile phone on a low level – this will also be good for your eyes. Also, shorten the display duration too, this will help you in great deal!

Use Dark Colored Themes:

Use themes with dark colors, as whitish themes eat more battery than any other activity on phone.

Turn off Bluetooth/ WiFi/ Background Applications when not in use:

Most infamous battery-draining culprits are Wi-Fi, EDGE, GPRS, Camera, Flash, Bluetooth, FM radio, video player. Then comes mobile applications, JAVA, games etc. that consume plenty of energy.

All of these can be left on unintentionally, which will drain your battery with ease.

Bluetooth, WiFi, EDGE/GPRS can receive and transmit information even when not in use and this consumes battery power. Keep it turned off when not in use.

Get up when it sounds:

Get up as soon as you hear the wake-up alarm instead of letting it consume your battery.

Do not Let it Ring for long:

When you get a call answer it as soon as possible so that it rings for lesser time. When busy keep it on silent to prevent it from ringing that long. Try not to keep long duration ringtones and sms tunes. Keep them on a beep or similar.

Keep the Talk short:

This might sound odd and totally absurd, but try talking short – especially when you know that your battery might run out. Particularly, when you are on motor-way and may not reach a recharging point for next few hours.

You can leave some of the unnecessary gossips (aur sunao stuff). Keep the conversation brief and relevant and of course avoid taking unnecessary calls.

Turn Off Vibration:

Vibration feature in the mobile phone consumes quite a lot of battery power, therefore, we should try keeping the vibration off unless the mobile phone is on ‘silent’. Vibrating mobile phones also create disturbance during an important meeting. So keep it off unless it is very necessary.

Switch it Off:

Don’t assume that I am asking you to switch off your phone off all the day or all the time, but you can keep it switched off when you are out-station and there is no coverage.

Let it Discharge completely before you charge again:

If you want to get the maximum out of your mobile phone’s battery then always let the mobile battery get fully discharge and then turn off the mobile before you charge it. Full charging gives the battery long life time.

Nokia Announces Partnership with Microsoft

Ahead of its Strategy and Financial Briefing in London, Nokia has shared some details on what it plans to announce at the event. Company said it is aligning its strategy with Microsoft for smartphones.

Nokia said that it will adopt Windows Platform as its primary smartphone strategy.

Nokia and Microsoft will closely collaborate on development, joint marketing initiatives and a shared development roadmap to align on the future evolution of mobile products.

GLOBAL – Today in London, our two companies announced plans for a broad strategic partnership that combines the respective strengths of our companies and builds a new global mobile ecosystem. The partnership increases our scale, which will result in significant benefits for consumers, developers, mobile operators and businesses around the world. We both are incredibly excited about the journey we are on together.

While the specific details of the deal are being worked out, here’s a quick summary of what we are working towards:

• Nokia will adopt Windows Phone as its primary smartphone strategy, innovating on top of the platform in areas such as imaging, where Nokia is a market leader.

• Nokia will help drive and define the future of Windows Phone. Nokia will contribute its expertise on hardware design, language support, and help bring Windows Phone to a larger range of price points, market segments and geographies.

• Nokia and Microsoft will closely collaborate on development, joint marketing initiatives and a shared development roadmap to align on the future evolution of mobile products.

• Bing will power Nokia’s search services across Nokia devices and services, giving customers access to Bing’s next generation search capabilities. Microsoft adCenter will provide search advertising services on Nokia’s line of devices and services.

• Nokia Maps will be a core part of Microsoft’s mapping services. For example, Maps would be integrated with Microsoft’s Bing search engine and adCenter advertising platform to form a unique local search and advertising experience.

• Nokia’s extensive operator billing agreements will make it easier for consumers to purchase Nokia Windows Phone services in countries where credit-card use is low.

• Microsoft development tools will be used to create applications to run on Nokia Windows Phones, allowing developers to easily leverage the ecosystem’s global reach.

• Microsoft will continue to invest in the development of Windows Phone and cloud services so customers can do more with their phone, across their work and personal lives.

• Nokia’s content and application store will be integrated with Microsoft Marketplace for a more compelling consumer experience.

We each bring incredible assets to the table. Nokia’s history of innovation in the hardware space, global hardware scale, strong history of intellectual property creation and navigation assets are second to none. Microsoft is a leader in software and services; the company’s incredible expertise in platform creation forms the opportunity for its billions of customers and millions of partners to get more out of their devices.

Together, we have some of the world’s most admired brands, including Windows, Office, Bing, Xbox Live, NAVTEQ and Nokia. We also have a shared understanding of what it takes to build and sustain a mobile ecosystem, which includes the entire experience from the device to the software to the applications, services and the marketplace.

Today, the battle is moving from one of mobile devices to one of mobile ecosystems, and our strengths here are complementary. Ecosystems thrive when they reach scale, when they are fueled by energy and innovation and when they provide benefits and value to each person or company who participates. This is what we are creating; this is our vision; this is the work we are driving from this day forward.

There are other mobile ecosystems. We will disrupt them.

There will be challenges. We will overcome them.

Success requires speed. We will be swift.

Together, we see the opportunity, and we have the will, the resources and the drive to succeed.