Author: Mihaita Bamburic

Do you really care about security on the interwebs? According to the latest Microsoft Computing Safety Index (MCSI), most of us don’t. Of the 10,000+ PC, smartphone and tablet users surveyed, 55 percent experienced multiple online risks, but only 16 percent took proactive safety measures.

The numbers keep piling up. When it comes to theft of account information or passwords, 47 percent of surveyed users said they find it a reason for concern. However, just 33 percent of respondents are actively fighting online theft by using secure websites, and only 28 percent of surveyed users steer clear of using open Wi-Fi hotspots on mobile devices.

Furthermore, computer viruses are a reason for concern to 48 percent of respondents. However of the surveyed users, only 53 percent say they install antivirus software and 44 percent have active firewalls on their machines.

For the non-believers, Microsoft reveals some interesting findings regarding identity theft. Based on the MCSI data, the software giant says that 45 percent of surveyed users worry about having their identity stolen, but only 34 percent employ a PIN to secure their mobile devices, and just 38 percent actually try to educate themselves about the newest counteractive measures.

According to Jacqueline Beauchere, Microsoft’s incoming chief online safety officer, the shift from traditional PCs to modern mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets, does not translate into a change in the security of usage patterns. Beauchere says: “Mobile devices often have just as much, if not more, valuable personal information stored on them as a home computer, making mobile devices equally attractive to data-stealing criminals.”

Not all is lost however, as Beauchere points out: “The latest MCSI results demonstrate that no matter where or how people access the Internet, exercising safer online habits is essential. There are steps that people can take and technologies that they can employ to help prevent them from becoming a victim”.

Truth be told, users can take a number of security measures to protect their digital endeavors, but that also involves a change in habit. Using two-step authentication with a Dropbox or Google account adds an additional barrier in getting to the goodies, that some users might find as a hassle or unnecessary precaution.

Changing passwords frequently is another simple and proactive security measure, but it’s easier said than done. You have to train yourself to remember each and every new password, which can be really frustrating when dealing with complex ones, and avoid using a previous password at every change. For some users that’s a drag.

I for one tend to steer clear of paranoid security solutions. I use two-step authentication whenever possible, I try to avoid online purchases on foreign devices, I employ relatively long complex passwords and use multiple email accounts to separate my interwebs activities. But I tend to rely more on having a safe usage pattern independent of software, not to solely rely on the latter.

Seeing as it’s “Safer Internet Day”, what security plans do you have in store for your digital selves?

Photo Credit: Korn/Shutterstock

On Monday, the United Kingdom arm of the global telecommunications company Vodafone revealed that, starting February 6, it will carry a Windows Phone 8 smartphone lineup. In merely two days, Vodafone UK customers will have access to five devices sporting Microsoft’s new mobile operating system.

The UK carrier covers the market from top to bottom, with the Nokia Lumia 920 and the HTC Windows Phone 8X taking the role of the flagship Windows Phone 8 smartphones. The former ships in black and yellow, while the latter comes in California Blue or black.

For the mid-range market, Vodafone UK offers the Lumia 820, in black and red, and the Windows Phone 8S in Atlantic Blue. Nokia’s low-end smartphone, the Lumia 620 is also available for purchase, in blue and white.

Vodafone UK has yet to announce pricing for any of the five Windows Phone 8 devices.

In the camera department, Windows Phone 8 is an interesting piece of kit — users have access to a high number of customizable options and there is even support for add-ons, or lenses, as Microsoft likes to call them. But one major feature is still missing to nail that perfect picture, namely burst-shot mode.

The software giant’s research arm, Microsoft Research, has introduced a new app for Windows Phone 8 devices, dubbed Blink, that fills the gap in the otherwise competent camera bag. Blink works both as an individual app as well as a lens, and allows users to snap a significant number of shots, all in one go, and save the best one afterwards.

The app starts taking pics before you even press the camera button and stops moments after releasing it. Users are presented with all the snapped photos in a bottom row and can navigate between them by swiping left and right. Support for on-screen autofocus is also present.

Blink features “advanced image stabilization technology” which, according to Microsoft Research, “removes camera shake”. Based on my own testing, the best results are delivered when holding the device still. When following a moving target the pics suffer from motion blur in out-of-focus areas.

As one reviewer points out, “the picture quality of the images does not match my normal photos. The app has no access to things like flash. I doubt it does facial recog”. Indeed, Blink snaps pics at a low resolution of only 1280 by 720, instead of the maximum one supported by the smartphone. Users cannot take advantage of the built-in flash, nor does the app display the usual face detection rectangle when taking portrait pictures.

Basically Blink gives the impression of a technical exercise with the sole aim to prove that burst-shot is available for Windows Phone 8 devices. The app could use more features, some of which I mentioned above. Blink would undoubtedly be much more useful as a built-in feature, readily available from the default camera software, not as a lens or individual app.

Blink is available to download from the Windows Phone Store.

The HTC Windows Phone 8X is a smartphone that you will either love or not want to touch even with a 10 foot pole. Part of the arguments for and against it stem from the operating system of choice, Microsoft’s latest (and greatest) Windows Phone iteration. Sure, the device has good build quality and the software is fluid and responsive, but the app selection is currently lacking compared to rivals like Android and iOS. So where does one draw the line between success and failure?

I’ve been using the Windows Phone 8X for almost two weeks and the early impressions are still on the positive side. In my initial review I touched on a number of points that I found revealing for my brief time with it, but the real test is how the Windows Phone 8X fares over a longer period of time. My main and initial gripes concern the limited app selection and general usability issues of Windows Phone 8 when coming from the stock flavor of Android 4.2 Jelly Bean. The real question is this: Is it good enough?

The Specs

The HTC Windows Phone 8X features a 4.3-inch Super LCD 2 display with a resolution of 1280 by 720. The handset is powered by a 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor, 1GB of RAM and an 1,800mAh battery. There is 16GB of non-expandable internal storage onboard, or 8GB of internal storage depending on the carrier variant. My Windows Phone 8X is the California Blue international variant, and comes with the former option.

The Windows Phone 8X sports HSPA+ cellular connectivity (LTE is available depending on the market); Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n; Bluetooth 3.1; NFC (Near Field Communication); GPS with Glonass support as well as the common plethora of sensors. The device ships with an 8MP back-facing camera and a 2.1MP shooter on the front, both capable of 1080p video recording. Other specs include Beats Audio support and a 3.5mm headphone jack.

The Windows Phone 8X measures 132.35 x 66.2 x 10.12 mm. Weight comes in at 130 grams.

Great Social Integration, but not Perfect

I’ll kick off with the social element. Windows Phone 8 places social (or human if you will) interaction at the forefront, be it through the Me tile and People app pinned on the homescreen or through the social network integration. Users can post straight to Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter right after pressing their own live tile, view social notifications and check on what other connected folks are doing. Social, social, social. But not that social.

As you may expect the main gripe with Windows Phone 8 in terms of social integration is Google+, or the lack thereof. For me that’s a deal breaker when it comes to any mobile device, more so with a smartphone as it’s the only one that I carry around with me. That would be relatively fine had Google bothered to release an official app but, sadly, the only ones available are third party offerings that display a mobile view. Not modern, not modern at all.

It’s one of the worst parts in dealing with Windows Phone 8 on a day-to-day basis, and really puts a dent in enjoying the operating system. That’s a shame as Microsoft managed to deliver an impressive package in this regard — the unified social notifications in the Me tile is great, the People app is really useful in finding out what your buddies are doing, and the Rooms and Groups features for private chats and sharing are nice as well.

Users can also expect an official Foursquare app and third party Pinterest and Reddit clients, among others. For those roaming around interwebs forums, Board Express is a nice and free Tapatalk alternative, although like most third party apps it’s supported by ads. So far, I have found a working replacement for almost every social app that I use on Android and iOS.

Let’s Talk Mail

What’s a smartphone operating system without a competent email client? Thankfully Windows Phone 8 includes support for Gmail, Hotmail, Outlook.com, Yahoo! Mail, generic POP and IMAP accounts, as well as Exchange ActiveSync support, among other types of supported accounts such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter or Sina Weibo.

I will not bore you with generic details, but suffice to say that it works as expected — you get emails, they show up. There are some issues though which I struggle with on a day to day basis, ones which a Gmail user on Android will undoubtedly find annoying to deal with (and likely others as well). As a point of reference I have set up Outlook using the Microsoft-preferred method and Gmail as an Exchange ActiveSync account in order to take advantage of push email as well as calendar and contacts synchronization.

With both types of accounts I have noticed that marking an email as read does not necessarily mean that it will be listed as read when checking the web app. This is a nuisance that reminds me of just how trouble-free the Gmail and Email apps on Android really are. Furthermore, after applying a batch action the previously selected emails will be unticked and you have to start over ticking them again as to perform another batch action.

The third issue comes from using Gmail. Unlike with the Android counterpart, on Windows Phone 8 there is no Archive button as to immediately move emails straight to All Mail. I have to do that by hand, which is time-consuming and bothersome when dealing with a ton of emails each day. The fourth issue, and the most frustrating, is yet again with Gmail — emails cannot be sent using aliases from a single account. I have to add each and every single one in order to get that functionality.

Great Phone

The Windows Phone 8X (and Windows Phone 8 by implication) is great at making calls and sending texts. The sound through the headpiece is loud and clear, sometimes too loud with the volume raised all the way up. I have noticed a few dropped calls, although I cannot really fault the device for any of those since although I had a decent signal the person at the other end of the line did not.

This is not a Windows Phone 8 fault per se, but I’d like to have a dedicated contact list just for making calls. By default, and this applies to Android as well, the operating system uses a unified contacts list for all corresponding apps, which is overkill when looking up someone to call. I doubt this will be implemented, but it would be nice to have for someone like me that makes plenty of calls each day.

In the texting department, I do really have to commend Microsoft for the extensive dictionary selection. Unlike Google, which doesn’t bother with stock Jelly Bean, the Redmond, Wash.-based software corporation admits to the existence of more than a couple of languages. I count more than 60 dictionaries for a variety of languages, which really comes in handy when writing texts (but applies to other areas as well).

The keyboard itself is quite nice to use, without any of the swiping gimmickry, and provides decent word predictions. The keys are rather tall and narrow, but even with my big thumbs I can write without making too many mistakes while typing. It’s worth noting that the space bar, at least on the Windows Phone 8X, is quite narrow and too close to the “,” sign, making accidental presses a common occurrence.

Maps

Straight off the bat I do have to point out that I do not find much use for a maps app. Most of the time I know where I am and how to get to where I want, although I can understand why others may feel the need for navigation and similar features. Where I live functionality is rather limited when it comes to discovering nearby shops, restaurants and movie theatres to name a few. They’re there but don’t show up on maps, hence my rare, online and offline, use of Maps.

The Maps app on Windows Phone 8 implements Bing Maps as one might expect, but with some features supported by Nokia, and as far as I can tell only works in portrait mode. That’s a real bummer, and something to consider when using the Windows Phone 8X with car mounts. I have no doubt that the recently introduced Nokia Drive+ is a more suited alternative for navigation, but since it only works with US, UK and Canadian SIM cards it’s pointless for billions of people on the globe. Whoever took charge and decided to offer Drive+ in just three locations is clearly short-sighted, to put it kindly.

Within the Maps app users can also find a navigation feature, dubbed “directions” which works as expected at a first glance, but again only in portrait mode. There is also an option to display traffic, view favorite locations and display an aerial view. By comparison, and I have only tested this in my location, Google Maps, through the gMaps app, displays more detailed maps and allows to zoom in more compared to Windows Phone 8’s Maps app.

That said, users can download maps of entire countries and update them if needed. As a point of reference the entire map of the United States of America take up in excess of 2,556MB, with states like California and Delaware needing 208MB and 40MB, respectively.

Through the Maps app Windows Phone 8 users can also use the Scout feature, which displays nearby “eat+drink”, “see+do”, “shop” and “for you” places on the map. It’s a similar feature to Google Now for instance, and I can only assume that it works as expected for other regions other than mine. Again, I appear to live in the desert or a remotely isolated area with Internet connectivity.

Office, Baby!

Call me an Office fan, I really don’t mind. Although it does not live up to the features of its desktop counterpart, the Office app on Windows Phone is a welcome addition. It comes with Office 365 integration, can add SharePoint locations, integrates with SkyDrive (which as a SkyDrive user I can certainly appreciate), handles opened email attachments, and can also open and edit locally stored documents.

I have covered the important details in the “Microsoft details Office on Windows Phone 8” article but suffice to say that it works well, even on the 4.3-inch display of the Windows Phone 8X. I mostly like the Excel and Word editing features, which come in handy while on the go and ensure compatibility with every modern office suite.

Undoubtedly, Office on Windows Phone 8 is one of the most important features of the smartphone operating system. It works well for editing and viewing large documents and spreadsheets (from a physical dimensions point of view) as well as presentations and neatly integrates with other Microsoft services. I do have to mention that the Samsung ATIV S or even the Nokia Lumia 920 might be better suited for Office use, due to larger displays, compared to the Windows Phone 8X.

The App Store Conundrum

One of the first issues that I have to overcome in order to use the Windows Phone 8X is the lack of official apps. Mostly everything that is Google-related comes from third party developers, except a frankly pointless Google Search app from the Mountain View, Calif.-based corporation, and a YouTube app made by Microsoft which displays a mobile view of the popular video sharing website.

That said, there are working third party alternatives to Google+, Google Docs, Google Drive, Google Maps, Google Play Music, Google Reader, Google Talk, Google Voice, Picasa and YouTube. I’ve used a bunch of them, and while they may not come from the search giant, each of the ones I’ve tried so far works as intended. Keep that in mind if you’re a Google user planning to buy a Windows Phone 8 device soon and are afraid of leaving the comfort of Android or iOS.

There are plenty of official apps available ranging from Kindle and Amazon Mobile, Bank of America, Box, eBay, Endomondo Sports Tracker, Evernote, Fandango, Flixster, Glympse, Groupon, IMDb, Last.fm, Newegg, Nike+ Kinect Training, OpenTable, PayPal, Shazam, SoundHound, Speedtest.net, TopGear News (for much needed car news), TuneIn Radio, Vevo, Vimeo to The Weather Channel, for instance.

There are third party Instagram clients, however neither is a replacement for the official Instagram app which must come to Windows Phone as soon as possible. Same goes for Google+. There are millions of people who rely on such apps on their smartphones, so why not cater to that significant audience? Microsoft made the official Facebook app, so why not do the same with Instagram? I’m sure Facebook wouldn’t mind.

Generally speaking I have found that if there is no official corresponding Windows Phone 8 app, a suitable third party alternative can be installed instead. That’s not good enough though.

The Bummers

Moving on from the software onto the hardware and I do have to point a couple of weaker traits, which affect either Windows Phone 8 or the Windows Phone 8X, or both.

Seeing as my new smartphone has NFC I decided to give it a go and pair it with my Google Galaxy Nexus. So I touch their back covers one to another (in an appropriate manner that is) and wait for something to happen. Guess what? It doesn’t work, as the Windows Phone 8X and the Galaxy Nexus cannot pair, with the latter requesting Android Beam to send files to the former (although I did get a link to Google Play on the Windows Phone 8X). Oh, the joy of having NFC and be unable to use it between different phones. This is an issue that plagues many devices on major platforms.

The Windows Phone 8X features an LED indicator, but it only lights up to display charging status. It’s green when the battery is completely charged and red while it’s charging and that’s it. Coming from the Galaxy Nexus I expected HTC’s device to feature a more usable LED indicator which lights up for missed calls, new emails, Facebook notifications and such, but sadly it does not. I hope that this feature will come with a future software upgrade, as it’s disappointing to let it go to waste.

One thing which I am not used to is the inconsistent implementation of the disappearing status bar throughout apps. By default Windows Phone 8 only shows the time within the status bar and in order to display the carrier network or Wi-Fi signal strength one has to swipe down from the top of the screen. It’s not a bad implementation as it cleans up the look, but the gesture has no effect within certain apps. FeedWorm is a good example where the app is not maximized and there is a black bar on top which fails to display the status indicators after swiping down.

The Camera

The Windows Phone 8X features an 8MP back-facing camera with an F2.0 aperture, 28mm lens, LED flash and a BSI sensor for low-light use. That suggests that it’s capable of capturing some great pics in poorly lit conditions, but sadly it is unable to deliver spectacular results. I often notice that flash is not always needed even though it’s used and that color reproduction is not entirely accurate.

Colors tend to have a blueish tint when the flash is used and noise is present from up close (without zoom) in low-lighting conditions, whereas in well-lit scenarios the camera on the Windows Phone 8X shoots fairly decent pictures, which are better than the ones produced by the Galaxy Nexus. The latter is not exactly a professional shooter in disguise, but it’s adequate for brief use.

That said, I have not noticed a single scenario where the Windows Phone 8X can shoot pictures with accurate color reproduction. I am much more impressed by the video camera, with manages to shoot decent videos with flash as well as without it, although it could use better autofocus when pointing it around in different directions. By contrast the front-facing camera is rather poor, which is to be expected considering that it’s just a 2.1MP unit.

Battery Life

Battery life is difficult to quantify as usage scenarios differ from one person to another. I use my phone most when I’m heading out and then I mostly check email and browse the web, among other things like playing games for instance. With the software up to date, including the much-needed “Keep WiFi on when screen times out” option, the Windows Phone 8X gets me even through a heavy day of use.

Generally speaking battery performance is similar to the Galaxy Nexus throughout a day of use, although the Windows Phone 8X sips less when displaying web pages, something that I’ve come to appreciate when switching from the former.

I do rely on a bunch of apps to sync in the background, including the dedicated email app, Facebook, Foursquare, LinkedIn, Twitter, People, Associated Press, CNN, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, among others. Depending on what’s actively syncing the battery might suffer a lighter or heavier hit, so your performance will definitely vary.

The Verdict

It’s my personal opinion that every operating system comes with its own caveats, more so in the app store. Android provides a more raw experience where the user interacts with the device in a more analogue kind of way — the software is not designed to mask itself through fancy transition effects or animations and generally feels unadulterated. iOS on the other hand is more fluid and provides a more artificial experience where the operating system is merely a bridge between the user and the apps.

However, both Android and iOS cannot really be faulted for the available app selection. Windows Phone 8 on the other hand is the perfect example of how an operating system can strike a balance between raw and artificial, but fail to carry over the common denominator — the vast app store offering. No matter how many third-party apps are available, people like me that have a craving for the official variety will often be disappointed.

At the same time the Windows Phone 8X is not really an Apple iPhone 5 nor a Samsung Galaxy S III when it comes to the camera performance. It’s average and really does not work as well in low-light conditions as HTC may lead everyone to believe — the quality is just not there. So the back and front-facing shooters rule out the Windows Phone 8X for camera aficionados.

I have said that the battery gets me through a heavy day of use, but is that really impressive? No, I don’t think so, at least not when comparing it with smartphones like the Motorola Droid Razr Maxx HD and Samsung Galaxy Note II, both of which come with batteries larger than 3,000mAh and, therefore, with better performance in this regard.

After using the Windows Phone 8X for a couple of weeks I’ve grown fond of it. It’s not designed to take on Android flagships in terms of raw performance, but it’s enjoyable. The form-factor makes it easy to hold, the operating system is refreshing compared to the bigger players and, something that I really came to appreciate, the design is, frankly, amazing in this California Blue (which is really purple) color. At the end of the day the Windows Phone 8X can only be summed up as this — the all-rounder.

Little more than four months ago, Team Win Recovery Project introduced the last major iteration of the popular Android custom recovery TWRP. Now there is a new version available that packs features as well as bug fixes.

After switching from libtar instead of busybox’s implementation, TWRP 2.4 can now create TAR files larger than 2GB. The popular custom recovery also introduces support for memory cards formatted as exFAT as well as support for decrypting internal and external storage on Samsung devices sporting a TouchWiz encryption.

Before enabling ADB Sideload to install apps, custom distributions or mods from another device, TWRP 2.4 now allows the user to choose whether to wipe cache and dalvik cache. There are also improvements to OpenRecoveryScript, which can now display the correct GUI (Graphical User Interface) while the script runs, and for building TWRP in CyanogenMod 10.1.

Other noteworthy changes include replacing a number of system calls with counterparts written in the C programming language, bug fixes in the file manager feature which will now display lists correctly, fixed AOSP recovery commands as to run properly on decrypted devices.

TWRP 2.4 is available to download from the Team Win Recovery Project site.

Little more than two weeks after the beta version debuted, the new Carbon backup app has made its way onto the Play Store. The biggest change comes for Android users with non-rooted devices as they can now also perform app and data backups, a feat previously exclusive to those running the little green droid with elevated permissions.

Carbon is the work of ClockworkMod and ROM Manager developer Koushik Dutta who, with the help of 12,000 beta testers, has managed to squash out most of the bugs from previous versions of the app. Dutta, however, warns that due to the way Motorola handles the adb backup functionality (also known as the built-in backup feature in Android) the Google subsidiary’s smartphones are prevented from installing Carbon.

Users who have elevated privileges enabled on their Android devices only have to install Carbon from the Play Store. For those sporting non-rooted devices the process requires a few extra steps in order to backup (and restore) apps and data, although it’s a fairly straightforward process.

They will need to install Carbon Desktop (available for Windows, MacOS and Linux), the Windows drivers for the device if required, connect the smartphone or tablet to the computer and select “PTP” mode for the USB connection. The final step is enabling “USB debugging” from “Developer options”.

So what about Carbon’s options? Upon opening the backup tool, users can select the apps by going through the list and ticking individual items. They can also add them into groups for easier handling and choose whether to  include the app within backups (by default only the data is backed up). Carbon can also be used to transfer apps with data between devices and restore items from the USB storage.

Carbon currently provides five options for managing backups and restoring files — USB Storage, Schedule Backup, Google Drive, Dropbox and Box. However, only the first one can be used for both actions with the free version of the app. The remaining four can only be used to backup files, with the restore option exclusive to Carbon Premium.

There is also a “PC Download” feature included for handling apps. Users have to power it up, at which point a server will be enabled on the device. The listed IP address has to be used within a browser in order to connect to the mobile and backup and restore files to and from the PC.

Carbon is available to download from Google Play. The premium version runs for $4.99.

In mid-December, as part of the “Winter cleaning” operation, Google announced plans to drop support for Exchange ActiveSync effective January 31. Microsoft condemned the decision, and quite vigorously.

Matters are changed. Windows Phone users will get a six-month reprieve, until July 31, to give Microsoft time to adapt. “The Windows Phone team is building support into our software for the new sync protocols Google is using for calendar and contacts — CalDAV and CardDAV”, Microsoft’s Michael Stroh says. The company also will use IMAP for push support in order to fully replace EAS’ functionality.

“As announced last year, our plan is to end support for new device connections using Google Sync starting January 30”, a Google spokesperson tells BetaNews today. “With the launch of CardDAV, it’s now possible to build a seamless sync experience using open protocols (IMAP, CalDAV and CardDAV) for Gmail, Google Calendar and Contacts. We’ll start rolling out this change as planned across all platforms but will continue to support Google Sync for Windows Phone until July 31”.

While the announcement is good news for Windows Phone users, the same cannot be said for those running Windows 8.

The termination of EAS support will have no effect for existing Gmail connections set up until January 30. After, Windows 8 users will have to make sure the “include your Google contacts and calendars” option is not selected when setting up the account. In the contrary case email will not sync, Microsoft warns.

Furthermore, calendar and contacts sync will not work for Gmail connections, as Windows 8 does not support CalDAV and CardDAV. The operating system will, however, use IMAP for push email. The issue can potentially be addressed through a future update, although it’s unlikely one will be available soon enough.

Today is the big day — Research in Motion finally took the wraps off BlackBerry 10 and two new smartphones. The Waterloo, Ontario, Canada-based company, which new name is same as the device, bleeds market share to Androids and iPhone. During fourth quarter, BlackBerry fell out of the top-5 smartphone makers, as measured by shipment share, according to IDC. The latest operating system and new handsets might just well be the last chance to regain lost ground.

CEO Thorsten Heins officially launched the much-anticipated platform during BlackBerry World. The BlackBerry Z10 comes with a 4.2-inch touchscreen display and 356 pixels per inch, whereas the BlackBerry Q10 sticks to a traditional layout featuring a physical keyboard. According to Heins, both the on-screen as well as physical keyboard provide the best mobile typing experience, but more on the two after the break.

New Keyboard

The new BlackBerry 10 keyboard is gesture-oriented, mimicking the functionality of various keyboards from the default one included in Android 4.2 Jelly Bean to third-party Android alternatives like Swype and SwiftKey Flow.

For instance, swipe gestures can be used to delete words. Clearly, it’s not an entirely new concept; the Canadian company merely follows other players, cherry picking existent features — or that’s how it looks at first glance.

Hub and Flow

The new BlackBerry Hub features Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter social integration and bears a resemblance to Windows Phone’s People app by presenting per-contact social updates, but with added emphasis on business contact information.

BlackBerry Flow is the name of the gesture-oriented navigation interface highlighted on the Z10 smartphone. Judging by the features presented today, multitasking is a priority for the new operating system and appears to work nicely — although some users may have a hard time adjusting to the gesture-driven interface.

BlackBerry Balance

BlackBerry Balance is designed to fit within the bring-your-own-device-to-work movement, by allowing users to separate personal and work content, like apps and email accounts. It’s one of the most impressive features presented today.

BlackBerry Messenger

Although it’s not an entirely new feature, BBM is revamped for the latest BlackBerry OS. With BBM Video, users can make video calls and through Screen Share users can take advantage of remote homescreen viewing and share content.

BlackBerry Remember

BlackBerry Remember is showcased on the new BlackBerry Q10 smartphone. With the new feature, users can add attachments, audio notes and videos within folders as well as search for items on the devices.

During today’s presentation, BlackBerry also highlighted Evernote integration, which is part of the new Remember.

BlackBerry Camera

Part of the new smartphone operating system, the company formerly known as RIM also introduced the new BlackBerry Camera which allows users to take the “perfect picture” by using a time-frame in order to choose the right face shot.

Related to the new camera, there is also Picture Editor that can be used to add filters to existing photos simply by swiping on top.

BlackBerry Story Maker

BlackBerry Story Maker is a content-creation tool that can be used to add photos and video, as well as other types of content, and combine them in order to create a “story”. This new feature was showcased through a BlackBerry 10 video ad.

The Apps and Content

The Canadian manufacturer touts in excess of 70,000 apps available at the launch of the new platform. Among them: Skype, Amazon Kindle, WhatsApp, SAP, Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, LinkedIn, SoundHound, TuneIn, The Wall Street Journal, Cisco WebEx, Bloomberg, Box and The Economist, to name a few.

In terms of games: Where’s My Water?, Where’s My Perry?, Jetpack Joyride, and Electronic Arts titles are among the headliners. The now ubiquitous Angry Birds is also available.

Skype, Amazon Kindle, WhatsApp, SAP and Angry Birds are BlackBerry 10-committed apps. Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, LinkedIn are available as part of the social apps.

During the app presentation video I have also spotted some other apps and game titles such as Paper Camera, HP ePrint, Shadowgun and BBC Worldwide.

Availability

Although carrier testing is still in full-effect in some markets, BlackBerry Z10 will be available tomorrow in the United Kingdom from major carriers as well as retailers like Carphone Warehouse.

In the United States, AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile will carry the BlackBerry Z10, with availability to start in March. North of the border, in Canada the device will be available starting February 15 at various carriers for $199 on a three-year contract.

On Wednesday, popular cloud-based voicemail provider YouMail unveiled a new premium service aimed at businesses and professionals. Dubbed Business Edition, it comes with a host of exclusive features ranging from more customizable greetings to the removal of in-app ads.

YouMail Business Edition runs for $6.99 per user, per month, and builds atop of the currently available functionality. Subscribers can choose to implement “smart business greetings” which can accommodate the user’s full name and company, as well as other information.

The new premium service also touts a revised mailbox which comes with “virtually unlimited storage” as well as voicemail-to-email functionality. The latter is designed to send voicemails straight to the user’s email account in the form of .wav or .mp3 audio attachments, as well as to other designated users, such as assistants or co-workers.

YouMail is available to download from Google’s Play Store as well as from Apple’s App Store.

Photo Credit:  2jenn/Shutterstock

Microsoft is no stranger to controversy, even attracting negative attention when it comes to the advertised storage of its own Surface tablet lineup. The interwebs buzzed after the company admitted the shortcomings of Surface RT, which only comes with 16GB of user-accessible storage in 32GB trim, and now the same issue is raising its head all over again with Surface Pro, just days before the big launch.

As most knowledgeable Windows users will concede, Microsoft’s latest consumer operating system does take up quite a bit of storage space due to its fully-fledged nature. For example, on my personal computer running Windows 8 Pro 64-bit, the “Windows” folder by itself uses just over 16GB. So it’s not overly difficult to imagine Windows 8 Pro will take up a lot of Surface Pro’s free space. Of course this is something that educated pundits surely know (or at least they should).

After reaching out to Microsoft regarding the user-accessible storage on Surface Pro, a company spokesperson stated the following for BetaNews:

The 128 GB version of Surface Pro has 83 GB of free storage out of the box. The 64GB version of Surface Pro has 23GB of free storage out of the box. Surface Pro has a USB 3.0 port for connectivity with almost limitless storage options, including external hard drives and USB flash drives. Surface also comes pre-loaded with SkyDrive, allowing you to store up to 7GB of content in the cloud for free. The device also includes a microSDXC card slot that lets you store up to 64GB of additional content to your device. Customers can also free up additional storage space by creating a backup bootable USB and deleting the recovery partition.

First of all it has to be explained that the actual formatted capacity is different from the advertised figure due to the way software computes available storage. To give you an idea of the difference between the two, the 240GB Intel SSD 330 Series drive in my computer only has 223.57GB accessible. Similarly, the 64GB and 128GB Surface Pro models have about 59.52GB and 119.05GB respectively available for the operating system and software.

Windows 8 Pro with all its bells and whistles (including the recovery partition) robs the user of roughly 36GB of space, which is fairly normal considering the high storage requirements that the operating system actually has. At the same time Microsoft’s answer explains why there is no 32GB Surface Pro model — the pre-installed software simply cannot fit. By contrast, Windows RT only needs roughly 13GB. The question here is: Does this loss of space in the Pro version really matter?

Surface Pro is designed for business users, and they will have to choose the right version with even greater care compared to Surface RT. The 64GB model only has 23GB of free storage, whereas the 128GB variant comes with more user-accessible storage at 83GB. Depending on the user’s requirements the entry-level model might be a tight fit seeing as the tablet is designed to run fairly large apps such as Adobe Photoshop, Autodesk AutoCAD and similar programs. Therein lies the problem — the entry-level model is just not “roomy” enough for a demanding user’s peace of mind over time.

Microsoft says that the microSDXC card slot on Surface Pro can house (up to) 64GB memory cards, which indeed can be used to store “additional content” but that is not an acceptable alternative to the internal SSD drive (which is faster) for installing apps. An external card is mostly designed to be swappable, not to house installed software, which can be an issue when dealing with and going through multiple memory cards throughout the day.

The 64GB Surface Pro model retails for $899, while the 128GB Surface Pro runs for $999. In spending $100 more, prospective users can take advantage of a further 60GB of internal storage, or 2.6 times as much as the entry-level model. The difference in pricing is not all that substantial when we’re basically comparing two very expensive devices and can be easily justified by the benefits it provides both in the immediate future as well as in the long run.

Sure, users can regain some occupied storage by removing the recovery partition and using a bootable backup USB drive instead, but then again it’s not exactly a sensible alternative to buying the 128GB Surface Pro variant. Microsoft didn’t mention how much storage the recovery partition actually uses which leads me to believe that it’s not really all that much. Which makes sense seeing as Windows 8 only needs the installation disc (which takes up less than 4GB) to perform a factory reset or restore.

So where does that leave the prospective Surface Pro buyer? Well, after all is said and done, to my mind the only model worth buying is the 128GB Surface Pro, which will allow users to install a higher number of applications and even store some multimedia content without worrying about memory cards or lugging around portable HDDs alongside an already large and fairly heavy tablet.

Right after Kim Dotcom launched Mega on January 19 I succumbed to temptation and registered for a new account. My initial foray was, however, short lived as no confirmation email arrived in my Outlook.com inbox. Clearly, Microsoft’s service and Mega did not play well together.

Dotcom shed some light on the matter when he posted the following on Twitter: “Don’t use Hotmail to register on Mega. They have mysteriously black holed emails from our domain. Gmail works fine”, He shortly followed this up with: “We are working on the ‘confirmation email’ issue. Some mail services react allergic to an unknown domain sending millions of confirmations”. Intrigued by the issue I asked Microsoft for a statement concerning the confirmation email issue with Outlook.com accounts.

A spokesperson for the software giant acknowledged the issue and confirmed that it has since been fixed, stating the following for BetaNews:

As you may have seen, Kim Dotcom has updated his Twitter followers, explaining that Mega is working on the “email confirmation” issue that has impacted some email providers. To-date, the existing issue that we became aware of has been resolved per Mega’s request.

Today I verified Microsoft’s response and, indeed, a Mega confirmation email finally made its way into my Outlook.com inbox after registering. But there’s still an issue and this time, as per Dotcom’s second tweet, it lies at Mega’s end. Although the newly created account is confirmed, the cloud service says that the email address and/or password is incorrect, after displaying a vague “something went wrong” message.

Another day, another Galaxy smartphone. On Tuesday, Samsung unveiled a new handset as part of the company’s ever expanding Galaxy lineup, this one dubbed the Galaxy Express.

The new device slots in-between the Galaxy S III Mini and the Galaxy S III, with similar design characteristics including the traditional rounded corners. Samsung could have named the new device the Galaxy S III Average, as the handset features a 4.5-inch Super AMOLED Plus display with a resolution of 800 by 480 and a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, both of which are in-between the specs of the two S-branded smartphones.

The Galaxy Express also sports 1GB of RAM and a decently-sized 2,000mAh battery. The device comes with 8GB of internal storage and a microSD card slot that can house up to 32GB of extra storage. On the back there is a 5MP camera with LED flash, while a 1.3MP shooter takes care of the business up front.

One of the highlights of the Galaxy Express is 4G LTE cellular connectivity, although judging by past models there’s a very good chance that an HSPA+ variant will also be available so as to reach more markets worldwide.

Other specs include: Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n; Wi-Fi Direct; MHL, NFC (Near Field Communication); USB 2.0; Bluetooth 4.0; GPS with Glonass support. The usual array of sensors, such as light and proximity ones; accelerometer; digital compass and gyro are also onboard.

The Galaxy Express comes in at 132.2 x 69.1 x 9.3 mm and 139.1 grams. It’s basically shorter, narrower and thicker than the Galaxy S III and longer, wider and thinner when compared to the Galaxy S III Mini. Only the weight is heavier than for the other two.

Samsung did not provide any details regarding the availability and pricing of the new smartphone.

It really comes as no surprise that the newest announced member of the Galaxy lineup ships with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and Touch Wiz on top. Samsung also throws in some branded apps including ChatOn, AllShare Play, and S Beam.

After teasers and tweets, it’s really no secret that today is the big day when Microsoft launches Office 2013. The suite has already been available for TechNet users since mid-November, but in typical Microsoft fashion the consumers are the last to get their hands on the goodies.

Office 2013 Home and Student, Home and Business, and Professional, as well as Office 365, are currently available for purchase in different markets, including United States, United Kingdom, Germany and Australia, with pricing adjusted depending on the region.

US pricing goes as follows: Office Home and Student 2013 is the cheapest available version at $139.99, while Office Professional 2013 goes for broke at a whopping $399.99. The in-between, Office Home and Business 2013 is available for purchase at $219.99.

Prospective customers can also purchase individual Office 2013 products, such as Word 2013, Excel 2013 and PowerPoint 2013 for $109.99 or $79.99, with the latter pricing available with a non-commercial license. In contrast to the previously mentioned products, OneNote 2013 goes for less, $69.99 or $49.99, respectively (again the second price is for the non-commercial license).

Microsoft also offers Outlook 2013, Publisher 2013 and Access 2013 for $109.99, Visio Standard 2013 runs for $299.99, Visio Professional 2013 and Project Standard 2013 go for $589.99, with Project Professional 2013 topping the charts at $1,159.99.

At a first glance Office 365 Home Premium is the cheapest entry to the club, but unlike its other siblings Microsoft demands $99.99 for a one-year subscription to use the office suite, whereas the others come without an expiration date. The upside, however, is that Office 365 Home Premium can be run on 5 PCs or Macs and it comes with 27GB of cloud storage via SkyDrive. Office 365 University is available for $79.99, $20 less than the standard edition.

To be frank, acronyms like “SAFE” and “BYOD” are not overly exciting, especially when combined with words like “business” or “enterprise”. There’s just something missing that makes related adverts unappealing and boring. Samsung, however, begs to differ and has meshed all those terms together with unicorns to create two rather cool video ads.

The two commercials are, at core, related to SAFE, which is short for Samsung for Enterprise, and the BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) movement but with an emphasis on entertainment rather than bombarding the viewers with too many technical details. At the same time the South Korean corporation did not pass on mocking BlackBerry devices, once known as the business world’s top choice for at-work smartphones.

Dubbed “SAFE and the Unicorn Apocalypse”, the first video portrays Samsung’s Galaxy S III and Galaxy Note II as two devices suited for sensitive work environments, a scenario emphasized through the Unicorn Apocalypse game launch.

Samsung also portrays BlackBerry owners in the business environment as hard to let go and in-denial types. According to Samsung, the latter use antiquated smartphones that fall behind “modern business” and have to resort to using a “system” that involves owning two devices (one for work, one for home use) in order to adapt.

In “The Leak”, which is the second ad from the series, Samsung touts the Galaxy S III and Galaxy Note II as the norm when it comes to smartphone security in the work environment.

Just as with the previous ad, the South Korean corporation again mocks RIM’s BlackBerry smartphones, which are showcased as unable to play modern games, hinting at their limitations for use within a game development company.

Samsung’s Galaxy S III and Galaxy Note II are shown to be superior when competing against aging devices in the two advertisements, but it will be interesting to see how the mocking holds up once RIM launches its new range of BlackBerry 10 smartphones.

In a move that aims to consolidate the company’s branded app selection on Lumia Windows Phones, Nokia has unveiled a new, subscription-based premium service dubbed Nokia Music+, that builds atop of the established Nokia Music platform. A “+” sign can make quite the difference.

Music+ is not designed to replace currently available free services such as Mix Radio, but rather to offer Lumia owners the paid option for “unlimited music discovery”. The Finnish manufacturer says that Music+ is aimed at “people who care enough about music to pay something for more quality and choice” and, depending on the user’s location, will run for around EUR3.99 or $3.99 per month. But what are the advantages?

Music+ allows users to take advantage of unlimited skips, perform unlimited downloads from the maximum four Mixes available with the free service, play music in higher quality with downloads at eight times the existing quality, and view lyrics. Music+ also provides access to the service straight from a web-app, without having to use a Lumia device.

Nokia has yet to provide an exact release date, only stating that Music+ will be available “in the next few weeks”. There is also no word on whether the service will come to other Windows Phone devices.