spiderwebwoman : Windows Phone 7

Windows Phone 8 will support removable MicroSD cards

Kathleen Anderson — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 18:22:00 GMT

This time last year, I wrote about two mobile phone features that were "must haves" for me in my next phone: the ability to sync directly to Outlook on my desktop and an SD card expansion slot. The lack of these two features in Windows Phone 7 is what led me to buy an Android phone, specifically the HTC Merge from Verizon - it syncs via USB with my desktop Outlook using HTC Sync and has an SD Card slot.

Since then, I've been tracking the status of these two features at the Windows Phone Feature Suggestion Box at the Uservoice web site. Today Paul Andrew (Admin, Windows Phone) posted in the "SD Card expansion slot should be standard" thread that Microsoft had announced in June on the Windows Phone Blog that Windows Phone 8 supports removable MicroSD cards!

One down - one to go.

I've heard a rumor that the new Windows Phone 8 from Nokia might support Outlook syncing via a USB cable, but I've not been able to confirm this. The thread at Uservoice is still open and taking votes and comments - if you must have it, go vote for it. You can also join the conversation on Facebook in the Windows Phone sync with Outlook via USB group.

Uservoice site now open for Windows Phone Customer Feedback

Kathleen Anderson — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 15:11:00 GMT

Microsoft wants to understand how customers use Windows Phone and wants your feedback, so, they have created the Windows Phone Feature Suggestion Box at the Uservoice web site. You can search for ideas that other customers have posted, vote them up, and post your own comments. You can also submit your own suggestions and feedback. There are 27 categories of features and comments, so you should be able to find something you have an opinion on.

I have already voted up and commented on two suggestions - the ability to sync directly to Outlook on my desktop, and the lack of an SD card expansion slot. These two issues are what prompted me to look at other smartphone options when I switched carriers a couple of months ago, and I ended up with an Android phone.

Mozilla ends development of Firefox for Windows Mobile

Kathleen Anderson — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 17:18:35 GMT

From: Stopping Development for Windows Mobile « blog.pavlov.net

“We have been building a version of Firefox for Windows Mobile for quite a while, with the expectation that Microsoft would be doubling down in the mobile market and hoping that they would put out a great new mobile operating system. We’ve been following the Windows Phone 7 announcements quite closely for the last few weeks, and had one of our developers in attendance at MIX last week. We know that the underlying platform for Windows Phone 7 is Windows CE 6, which is a big step up from the kernel used by Windows Mobile 6.5. Windows CE 6 is a platform that we have been developing towards, and already run well on, leaving us well positioned to have an awesome browser on Windows Phone 7.

While we think Windows Phone 7 looks interesting and has the potential to do well in the market, Microsoft has unfortunately decided to close off development to native applications. Because of this, we won’t be able to provide Firefox for Windows Phone 7 at this time. Given that Microsoft is staking their future in mobile on Windows Mobile 7 (not 6.5) and because we don’t know if or when Microsoft will release a native development kit, we are putting our Windows Mobile development on hold.”

Windows Update-like service coming to Windows Phone 7 Series

Kathleen Anderson — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 00:29:55 GMT

In a meeting today with Todd Brix, Senior Director for Windows Phone Product Management at Microsoft MIX10 he revealed that Microsoft will be delivering a Windows Update-like service for all Windows Phone 7 Series phones. As many Windows Mobile users would agree in saying, “about time”.

I couldn’t agree more.

More at: Windows Update-like service coming to Windows Phone 7 Series – istartedsomething