MobileViews Blog

RunKeeper updated its Fitness Reports to provide more information. A premium account (RunKeeper Elite) is needed to view most of it. However, I found the the Total Distance information available for free accounts useful. It lets me look at my walking information in a variety of ways. You can see my totals sorted by day of week in the screenshot above.

The free RunKeeper mobile app is available for a variety of platforms. I use the version for Windows Phone to track my near-daily walking sessions.

WeatherBug beat out other weather apps to earn its spot on my Windows Phone’s start screen because it provides the most accurate information.

The app has, however, one feature that really annoys me: It issues a Tsunami Watch/Warning when there is no actual warning. The “warning” is based on an informational alert from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center that clearly states This Statement is For Information Only. No Action Require. WeatherBug should be able to parse this statement and either not issue any alert (which pops up on my Windows Phone) or relabel it as a simple informational alert.

Hey, WeatherBug! Please fix this issue in your otherwise useful app!

I’ve used a number of Android phones with physical QWERTY keyboards over the years (starting with the original T-Mobile G1). Having come from the Windows Mobile world, I never understood why Google turns off predictive text when using the physical keyboard. It only works when using the on-screen keyboard. This was a great feature in Windows Mobile phones with physical keyboard. I recently review the LG DoublePlay (BYTE) and LG myTouch Q (aNewDomain.net) Android phones and noticed that predictive text is still not available when using their physical keyboards.
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I’ve been wondering why Microsoft’s decision makers choose to use Microsoft Windows for tablets instead of the Windows CE platform that underlies Windows Phone. Windows CE was designed for devices like tablets that benefit from lower hardware requirements, lower power use, increased security, and instant on-off (suspend-resume). A Windows CE based tablet would be lighter and less expensive. More importantly, every piece of software written for a touch display. You could argue that the Metro-only ARM based tablets would have software designed just for tablet displays too. But, is a computer that can’t run “legacy” Windows software of much use? The point of using Windows is to access all the software available right now.

However, if you look at PC shipment numbers, Microsoft’s tablet strategy and statements like There’s nothing more important at Microsoft than Windows by CEO Steve Ballmer make sense (Network World).
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The first two Windows Phone devices Nokia announced late last year, the Lumia 710 and 800, looked like decent but unexciting phones. The phones were also missing a couple of feature checkboxes including a front-facing camera, NFC and LTE. The first 2012 Lumia model is the 900. How does it fare spec checkbox-wise?

+ 1 megapixel front facing camera
+ LTE (AT&T)
+ 4.3-inch display
+ Gyroscope
+ Two microphones (one presumably for noise cancellation)

It is still missing a couple of features, however.

- No microSIM slot
- No NFC (something Nokia is pushing on its legacy platforms)

It remains to be seen if the 900′s camera matches the spectacular quality of past Nokia (non-Windows Phone based) smartphones or is the so-so quality seen produced by the 710 and 800.

You can find the full Lumia 900 specifications at:

Nokia Lumia 900 specifications

Paul Thurrott, who has a good inside track to Microsoft’s Windows Phone team, said that the rumored $100M 2012 marketing budget for Windows Phone is way off.

Exclusive: Microsoft and Nokia’s Plans for Marketing Windows Phone in 2012

He says that he was told that the marketing budget for the U.S. alone is in the $200M range. Despite Thurrott’s general reliability of Microsoft related information, I’m still skeptical. It is not how much marketing money is spend, it is about how that marketing money is spent. Do you remember those Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates TV adds from 2008 to advertise… Well, I’m not sure what they were supposed to advertise. But, Seinfeld was reportedly paid $10M for two or three commercials that fizzled out.

I had to laugh when I read this subject line over at Betanews.

Windows Phone partners bet $100M on Nokia Ace

Why laugh? It is because it was so reminiscent of this rumor floated on TechCrunch in August 2010 shortly before Windows Phone launched.

Microsoft To Pay More Than Half A Billion Dollars To Jump-Start Windows Phone 7

So, what ever happened to this rumored half-billion dollar campaign? Not much as far as I can tell. We saw a couple of laughable un-smartphone commercials and not much else.

If you wonder what a $100M marketing campaign looks like, reflect back at what Verizon and Motorola did back in the fall of 2009. It consisted of a series of big budget movie quality alien landing themed TV commercials, paper advertisements everywhere and in-store promotions that left such an impression that many people refer to any Android phone as a “Droid” even today.

Forbes noted survey data from BNP Paribas showing Nokia’s flagship Windows Phone, Lumia 800, only attracted the attention of 2% of Europeans considering a new smartphone. This is not good news for Nokia or Microsoft. Nokia’s first generation of Windows Phone devices were supposed to vault the platform into contention with Android and iPhone. Instead, it remains at the back of the pack trailing even the faltering RIM BlackBerry.

The problem with the Lumia 800 is that it does not have any features to make it stand out in crowd. And, it actually lacks expected features like a typical outstanding Nokia camera subsystem, front-facing camera, NFC and LTE.

Nokia Still A $7 Stock Even Though Lumia Falls Flat In Europe

The Verge reports that Nokia’s Lumia phone will get their own app section in the Windows Phone marketplace. While this is not a first, HTC and other firms have apps only available for their phones, most of those apps fall into the interesting but not “must have” category. However, if Nokia’s Lumia because the flagship for Windows Phone and Nokia produces truly must have apps, we’re going to see the tiny Windows Phone market fragmented and shattered. This is not a good way to build a market for a platform far behind the leaders.

Nokia Windows Phones reportedly receiving ‘Nokia Collection’ Marketplace section

Spider Jack for Windows Phone is a $2.99 game under the Xbox Live imprint in the Windows Phone Marketplace. The game was previously released for the iPhone (99 cents there) and Android (also 99 cents). It is one of those games that would seem to have the right components to be entertaining. And, yet, it just didn’t come together for me. Here’s what I found…
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Phonegap’s Jesse MacFadyen posted some great news and good info for web developers who want to build for Windows Phone. Be sure to watch the video embedded in the blog entry for installation information. The problem is that the video is the only clear source of information because Jesse’s blog item…

PhoneGap for Windows Phone Dissected

more or less points back to the PhoneGap blog item…

PhoneGap for Windows Phone: Getting Started

which in turn points back to Jesse’s blog item. The problem is compounded because, as Jesse points out in his blog, the PhoneGap download link currently points to an older release [Note the download link pointed to a version 1.3 when I checked but it appeared to be a different release from the one on github]. The current release is on github. So, here’s a list of links that gets you the downloads.
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Doodle God for Windows Phone is a logic puzzle game that I consider to be in the casual game category. You can spend as little or as much time as you like and get entertainment for whatever time is spent. The game starts with four basic elements that are combined to create new ones. One goal is to create all 135 elements (really “compounds”) possible. Not all compounds are intuitive. For example, combining “life” and “ash” creates a “ghost”.

In addition to the main game play mode, Doodle God has minigames and quests. And, like other Xbox Live games, it has achievements and leaderboards.

Doodle God is priced at $2.99.

Disclosure: Microsoft provided the game free of charge for evaluation purposes.