Google’s improved how its calendar and email services interact with Windows Phones running the Mango update. Users can now cram up to 25 different calendars into the Metro OS’s built-in calendar app. The setup’s not exactly seamless; you need to navigate your Windows Phone to the Google Sync page, login and check the boxes found there. While testing on our phones, although one device was able to immediately sync, the other couldn’t pick up on our multiple calendars. We had to delete and re-assign our Google account to the phone in order to get it working. However, once we did, the Metro styling lent itself well to multiple calendar listings, with the ability (like the web-based Google Calendar) to assign colors to each.

At the same Google Sync page, you can now choose to enable the “send mail as” feature if you’re using multiple addresses, with the option to delete unwanted emails instead of archiving. However, aside from replying from the same address that you received emails to, we haven’t discovered a way to assign new mails to our multiple guises. We were able to send messages through our own Engadget mail account, although that’s then used on all future missives. Despite these rough edges, it remains a welcome bit of extra functionality. Are we still longing for a dedicated Gmail app? Definitely. We just hope those devs don’t drop the ball.

Windows Phone 7.5 gets multiple Google Calendar sync, additional Gmail features originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Jan 2012 06:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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How much does it cost to license Microsoft’s latest and greatest mobile OS? A fair bit it seems. While numbers have been bandied around before, this is the first time a per-handset figure was to an internal employee — this time, the portfolio manager for ZTE UK, no less. Pegged at $27 per ZTE smartphone, TrustedReviews managed to get those licensing beans spilled at the glitzy London launch of the company’s first Windows Phone ZTE Tania. The fee flies in the face of open-source Android, which requires no price to install on handsets. Microsoft, however, is still keeping an eye on its Google rival, collecting patent licensing fees from several major phone manufacturers. ZTE hasn’t yet commented on the figure.

ZTE pays Microsoft around $27 for each Windows Phone made originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 Jan 2012 19:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This may have been a fairly big CES for Windows Phone, but it looks like Microsoft still has a fair bit of convincing to do in order to bring all the carriers fully on board. That includes Sprint, which does currently have a Windows Phone in its lineup (and is apparently considering more in the “August-September time period”), but remains decidedly unenthusiastic about the platform as a whole. As PCMag reports, Sprint’s David Owens said that the carrier is willing to train its reps on Windows Phone, but that Microsoft has to “build the enthusiasm for the product,” adding that the “number-one reason the product was returned was the user experience.” Sprint’s director of product development, Lois Fagan, further added that the carrier remains “cautiously optimistic,” but that Windows Phone “just hasn’t taken off.” In other news, Owens also confirmed that Sprint would expectedly now be focusing all of its intention on its new LTE network, and not produce any more WiMAX-based phones — although, as it’s noted previously Sprint will continue to support the network itself through 2015.

Sprint remains tepid on Windows Phone at CES, confirms no new WiMAX phones are planned originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 16 Jan 2012 03:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft-approved Windows Phone 7 unlocker discontinued (for the moment) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 02 Jan 2012 13:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Things were a lot less clear back in early 2011 when Nokia announced it would abandon its burning platform for Windows Phone 7. Amidst that uncertainty, Espoo pledged to give select developers an E7 as well as a mystery device running Redmond’s bits in the near future. The company’s now making good on the latter part of that promise, informing those registered under its Launchpad program that their gratis hardware is ready to ship. Kindly forwarded by a tipster is email proof (seen after the break), which in non-redacted form would provide instructions for procuring a complimentary Lumia 800. Previous whispers suggested the Lumia 710 will also be part of the scheme, so your mileage may vary. Still, a free handset is better than none — or at the very least a Nokla, right?

[Thanks, Jota]

Continue reading Nokia ready to start shipping Lumias to Launchpad developers

Nokia ready to start shipping Lumias to Launchpad developers originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 22 Dec 2011 08:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Your smartphone and / or tablet is just begging to get updated. From time to time, these mobile devices are blessed with maintenance refreshes, bug fixes, custom ROMs and anything in between, and so many of them are floating around that it’s easy for a sizable chunk to get lost in the mix. To make sure they don’t escape without notice, we’ve gathered every possible update, hack, and other miscellaneous tomfoolery from the last week and crammed them into one convenient roundup. If you find something available for your device, please give us a shout at tips at engadget dawt com and let us know. Enjoy!

Continue reading Refresh Roundup: week of November 28, 2011

Refresh Roundup: week of November 28, 2011 originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 04 Dec 2011 10:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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25,000 apps? Make it 25,001. The Engadget app for Windows Phone is here. Finally. Now your HD7 or Surround or Trophy or Omnia can get some native news in a format that’s so Metro it doesn’t even have a driver’s license. We know that it took awhile, but we needed it to be right, and now it is. On the app you can get all the posts from the main site as well as Mobile and HD, plus podcasts, videos, and all the content we pour our hearts in to every day, pushed right to your palm. If you have a Windows Phone device that can handle QR codes, there’s an image waiting for you after the break. Or, you’re welcome to click on the source link below, which should open the Zune app and make some magic happen. No Zune app installed? No magic, but maybe that just means you’d prefer our similarly enchanting iPad, iPhone, webOS, BlackBerry, or Android flavors?

Continue reading The Engadget app for Windows Phone is here

The Engadget app for Windows Phone is here originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 01 Jul 2011 11:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’re still waiting to get our first big bite of the full Mango experience after this morning’s liveblog, but we were able to get a quick hands-on with a few of the apps making use of the operating system’s new features. Chief among them is the History Channel app, which is making use of the augmented reality features that have been enabled. Using the internal gyro and accelerometer the device was able to overlay landmarks, which with a tap can be added to the phones home screen — you know, in case you really want to know what’s up at the Brooklyn Bridge. We also got a look at the updated Weather Channel app, which will not identify cloud types using any augmented reality trickery, but will give you quick and easy access to what’s up — and about to start falling. Check out the pics below, and get ready for a video after the break.

Continue reading Windows Phone Mango augmented reality hands-on

Windows Phone Mango augmented reality hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 24 May 2011 11:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Continue reading Live from Microsoft’s Windows Phone VIP preview event!

Live from Microsoft’s Windows Phone VIP preview event! originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 24 May 2011 10:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft has some Mango-flavored updates in store for its Windows Phone operating system, and we’re going to be there live to see whether they’re really ripe. Really juicy. Steve Ballmer has promised over 500 new features in this next major release of the OS and we can’t wait to hear him list them all out. One by one. In excruciating detail. Bookmark this page right here and come on back tomorrow at the times below to join in the fun.

04:00 – Hawaii
07:00 – Pacific
08:00 – Mountain
09:00 – Central
10:00 – Eastern
15:00 – London
16:00 – Paris
18:00 – Moscow
22:00 – Perth
22:00 – Shenzhen
23:00 – Tokyo
00:00 – Sydney (May 25th)

Microsoft’s Windows Phone VIP preview happens tomorrow, liveblog happens here! originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 23 May 2011 20:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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