Cortana Developer Preview comes to the U.K. for Windows Phone 8.1 in less than two weeks

A tweet sent by Cortana's program manager, Marcus Ash, reveals that inside of two weeks, a developer preview for Cortana will be available. Keep in mind that the only Windows Phone 8.1 users in the U.K. that will be able to see and use Cortana, will be those who registered as developers with Microsoft. For the rest of you, the personal assistant will be unavailable for now, unless a hack is devised, of course.

 

Right now, only those in the U.S. with Windows Phone 8.1 are able to use Cortana. In his conversations on Twitter, program manager Ash said that while developing Cortana, Microsoft learned a lot about scaling; that is certainly one of the issues that the company would have to face when rolling out a project as ambitious as a virtual personal manager, to a large number of countries world-wide.

 

No word from Microsoft yet, as to when non-developers in the U.K. will be able to access Cortana.

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Motorola Moto G2 Leaked

 

 

Motorola have decided to revisit the G-series of phones with a successor that intends to capitalize on the simple and cost-friendly features of the first G. The model 1068 XT, or Moto G 2nd Generation.

 

The panel of any device is usually the most expensive single piece and the G2 looks to have kept the resolution at 1280 x 720 pixels with a dpi of 320. In a world where 1080p screens and even QHD  displays (2560 x 1440 pixels) are becoming standard, the 720p screen still doesn’t look all that bad. Just five years ago, I thought the 320 x 480 (180 dpi) on my HTC Hero looked fine. Heck, even Apple makes such a big deal about having a 326 dpi screen that they gave it a fancy name like Retina Display. The internals of the new Moto G2, however, have been beefed up. The processor is now a quad-core ARM V7 (VFPv4 NEON) with an Adreno 305 GPU. The main, rear-facing camera, will be an 8 megapixel sensor and the phone will have dual-SIM capabilities.

 

That’s all we know right now. No word on physical dimensions, amount of RAM, internal storage or even battery cell size have been leaked as of yet. About the only thing I think is safe to assume is that the Moto G2 will be running at least Android 4.4.x, but, depending on when it’s released it could actually feature Android L.  While the first Moto G was $179 when it was released, Motorola CEO Dennis Woodside hinted that the Moto G2 could cost even less. Personally, if the phone was announced for around $100 unlocked, I’d really see no reason against picking one up for a “just in case” spare. What do you guys think? Is Motorola on the mark with this budget phone, or is it still not enough?

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Upcoming NVIDIA Shield tablet image leaks out

The photo appeared on the web thanks to @evleaks.

The leaked image reveals the front of the upcoming Android slate. Its design closely resembles that of last year’s NVIDIA Tegra Note reference platform.

 

The NVIDIA Shield tablet is expected to debut in the immediate future. Its rumored specs include 7.9-inch touchscreen with 2048×1536 resolution, beefy Tegra K1 chipset, and LTE connectivity.

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Apple expands availability of 2-step verification to 59 countries

Apple has greatly expanded the availability of its 2-step verification process for Apple IDs. While it was only available in 11 countries previously, the feature is now available in 59 countries worldwide.

For those not aware, 2-step verification or authentication puts an extra step between entering your ID and password and logging in. It sends a verification message with a code to a preset device or number and only upon entering that code will the person be allowed to log in. This way, even if someone gets access to your password, they still can’t access your account unless they have access to the special code.

 

Apple 2-step verification is now available in the following countries:

If you have an Apple device, then it is highly recommended you enable 2-step verification for your account. Or for any other service you might be using that supports this feature.

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BlackBerry Messenger arrives on Windows Phone

BlackBerry has released their BBM application for the Windows Phone platform.

The app is beta for now, so you will need an invite to be able to use the app on your Windows Phone device. The app will be open for everyone but until then, this is only for those with an invite for the private beta.

Download Link

BBM for Windows beta

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Nokia Reportedly Working On Android Powered Lumia Smartphone

Microsoft having officially taken over Nokia, we could be about to see our very first Lumia running on Android. Courtesy of a leak by perpetual informant Evleaks, a “Nokia by Microsoft” handset running on Android could be forthcoming, although teasingly, we don’t have any further details at this point.

Given that Microsoft is actively trying to promote and improve its own mobile platform, going for a device running on stock Android, or a variant thereof, would seem an odd tactic, but there are ways in which the Redmond could tweak the experience to suit Windows Phone. By using the Android compatibility as a shoo-in to a corner of the market that might otherwise have skipped a Lumia, Microsoft could take advantage of the new-found user base and tie said consumers into its own products.

But there’s a lingering feeling that, despite industry pressure and the aspersions of some commentators, Microsoft will remain defiantly faithful in pushing Windows Phone, and part of this belief in the ecosystem may take the form of not building smartphones for rivaling platforms.

 

Still, as consumers, we’d love to see some the likes of the Lumia 1520 and 1020 running on Android, with its broader range of apps and general flexibility. The cameras placed into these handsets, particularly the 41-megapixel offering of the Lumia 1020, are market-leading, and while we’re not going to throw out the confetti just yet, we’re quietly hoping that there’s some truth in these utterances.

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