Kinect technology coming to Windows Phone 8?

Hands-free gestures were in development for Windows Mobile 7.

VR-Zone.com is claiming to have inside knowledge suggesting that Microsoft is working on bringing Kinect Natural User Interface to Windows Phone 8.

Apparently inspired by the success of Siri on the iPhone, Microsoft has developed a new appetite for Natural User Interfaces (NUI).

VR-Zone claims the technology will show up either at launch or in the first or second update after.

Apparently the biggest challenge for the R&D department is lack of room for Kinect cameras on smartphones:"Kinect has three cameras, one of which his infrared. We can’t put an IR camera on a smartphone, and without it, NUI won’t work in dark." (See Canesta, now owned by Microsoft, small sensor here)

While the story may be a late April’s Fools by VR-Zone, we must remember had been thinking in this direction before, saying:

“Windows Mobile 7 will use motion gestures, something the iPhone does not. It will not use an intricate and complicated series of gyroscopes and accelerometers. Instead, it will use the camera on the phone to detect motions and create appropriate actions. You will be able to shake, twist and otherwise manipulate the phone and get things done. The phone will be able to perform actions when placed face down on a surface, and it will know when it is in your pocket or bag.”

Source:wmpoweruser

Sprint Galaxy Nexus signs to hit stores on the 15th

Sprint customers that covet the LTE Galaxy Nexus, your wait may finally be coming to an end. A tipster over at Phandroid has supplied photographic evidence of window posters advertising the Galaxy Nexus for Sprint, and they came marked “do not display before” date of April 15th.

We know the phone is coming soon – it’s already cleared the FCC, and both April 15th and the 22nd have figured prominently in rumors for the long-awaited launch of Google’s flagship Android handset for “the other U.S. CDMA network.” In a way these posters don’t clarify between the two, as the advertising could go up a week early in an attempt to stoke interest. Regardless, it looks like Sprint customers should see a launch either this weekend or next.

If you’ve been waiting with bated breath for the Sprint Galaxy Nexus, we recommend you exhale (breathing is good for you) but then go ahead and enjoy the visual confirmation that the Galaxy Nexus will grace your network of choice in the very near future:


Source:phonearena

Samsung Galaxy S III To Feature a Home Button, Five-Row Icons?

The latest rumors regarding the Samsung Galaxy S III were talking about a May 22 event to be held in London, on an alleged invite which featured part of a render (hopefully to what will be the real deal). Today, a new set of rumors surfaced courtesy of the Korean Digital Daily and it's about how the manufacturer will reportedly keep the home button.

The original Samsung Galaxy S and the Galaxy S II both featured a hardware Home Button in addition to the capacitive buttons on its left and right. According to reports, there were internal discussions regarding the design of the upcoming phone which divided the design teams in two: those in favor of the Home Button and those who preferred a buttonless aspect, pretty much like the Galaxy Nexus.

Rumor has it that the team in favor of a home button won and that the Galaxy S II refresh will sport a rectangular, elongated hardware button on the bottom, below the screen on the relatively thin bezel. As far as software is concerned, reports have Samsung preloading the Galaxy S III with a version of TouchWiz which will allegedly sport not four, like on the Galaxy S II, but five icons on the home screen, like the Galaxy Note. This would definitely work if rumors regarding a 4.65-4.8-inch screen turn out to be true.

Whether the above (or part of it) turn out to be true is yet to be seen. What's interesting though is that Samsung managed to keep this pretty much under wraps and build a rather impressive buzz around the most anticipated Samsung phone of all time.

Source:pocketnow

Quad-core HTC One X on sale for $630 without a contract

The business of selling imported smartphones is pretty hot right now, as the US carriers are more stringent in their testing and approval phases, so the newest gadgets from Samsung and HTC, for example, come later here than in the rest of the world.

Daily Steals is at it again, with its one-day-only offering of an unlocked HTC One X with a quad-core Tegra 3 processor (the international GSM version) for $629.99. Shipping and handling will set you back another five bucks, but the end $635 price is a pretty good offer for what is probably the hottest Android handset on the market right now, if you can't wait until the dual-core One X version lands on AT&T.

The site recently had a one-day sale of the 16GB GSM Galaxy Nexus, so it is apparently fixated on juicy Android offerings - nothing wrong with that.

Source:phonearena

UC Browser 2.0 Now Live In Windows Phone Marketplace

UC Browser is an alternative web browser for Windows Phone that is targeted towards Chinese users. But the app also has an option for English language UI which makes it usable for most of us. The browser has some interesting UI/UX design elements which I would like to see in native mobile IE.

Features:

1. Powerful Thunder Mode
Switch to thunder mode to experience substantial traffic save as well great speed. Time…traffic…Energy, UC Browser saves everything!
2. Heart-warming Cloud Service
Forum mode and novel mode now available on WP7! Cloud service allows you to browse with simple typesetting and without ads.
3. Thunder-like Image banning Mode
In image banning mode, all images will be filtered which offers pure text browsing. Surprisingly fast and traffic saving!
4. Share to Renren Supported
Anytime and Anywhere, you can share fun to Renren with simple touch. Be THE fashionista!
5. Right Click Menu Optimized
Much easier to call menu. Operation efficiency greatly improved.

Download it here from the marketplace.

Source:wmpoweruser

AT&T readying a Galaxy Nexus with 4G LTE?

Rumors on the web run rampant, especially when it comes to unannounced smartphones. Well this one is no different, and this one, like many other rumors before it, comes from that good ole “very good source”. AndroidRevolution is claiming that their “very good source” at AT&T, has said that SIM cards for the Samsung Galaxy Nexus have been sent out for testing, even giving a SKU for the SIMS of 73057, saying their LTE enabled. One cause for concern is they claim the SIM cards are of the standard size (Think: credit card), compared with the micro SIM that the Verizon G-Nex uses. Seems a little odd, but this could just be an error. Remember, this is a rumor afterall. However, the addition of the SKU number for the SIM cards does provide a little more certainty to this one and we may very well be close to seeing AT&T’s first Nexus branded device. Let’s hope this one pans out. Would anyone be interested in an AT&T Galaxy Nexus? Maybe this will be that new improved model we’ve heard rumblings of in the past?

Source:smartphoneenvy

Nokia Lumia 900, HTC Titan II Now Available On AT&T

On March 26, AT&T officially announced the Nokia Lumia 900 and the HTC Titan II, both introduced at this year's CES as Windows Phones taking advantage of the carrier's 4G LTE network. The availability date announced was April 8 and, as such, both phones are now available.

The Nokia Lumia 900 -- with its 4.3-inch ClearBlack AMOLED display, 1830 mAh battery, eight-megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics, f/2.2 and 28mm wide angle focal length -- goes for $99.99 on a two-year contract (and $449.99 for the phone only). The HTC Titan II -- packing the largest camera currently available on a Windows Phone, 16-megapixels, a 4.7-inch Super LCD screen with the usual WVGA resolution, Qualcomm's 1.5 GHz Snapdragon S2 processor, 512 MB of RAM, 16GB of Internal Storage, and a 1,730mAh battery to power everything -- costs $199.99 on a two-year agreement (and $549.99 outright). You can grab both by following the source links below.


Source:pocketnow