One of the limitations of Windows Phone Market Place is to easily re-install in one action all the apps you ever downloaded or purchased. Right now you either have to use your phone or the marketplace website and individually re-download and install these apps. On the Windows Phone “your account” website you actually can see all the apps you have ever downloaded and let you re-install them one by one.  But now there is an app that allows you to re-install easily in one click the apps you want to re-install.

The app is free and is called “Reinstaller”

The description on the marketplace product page is informative and it works like a charm. I just downloaded it myself and tried to select specific apps and with one click these apps were downloaded instantly on my device.

Reinstaller by WPfied can help you reinstall all the apps easily. Tap on the Connect button, log on to www.windowsphone.com and watch it fetch the list of apps. And, then tap on the Install button to review the list of app and start installations – it really that simple.

How does it work? When you tap on the Connect button, Reinstaller prompts you to login to https://www.windowsphone.com and then scans the website for all the apps that you have ever installed on your Windows Phone.
Once you are done with that, you can tap on the on the Install button on the main page. The install page displays list of all the apps that are associated with your Live account. Using the jump list and check boxes you can install all or some of them.

When you start the installation, Reinstaller invokes the Marketplace tasks for installing the apps one by one as that’s the *ONLY* way to do it on the current Windows Phone release. Tap on the Yes button to start the installation, No to skip the specific app and Stop to prevent further prompts and come back to the main screen.

This confirmation screen helps by preventing seemingly endless prompts for app installs.

Reinstaller is available on the Windows Phone Marketplace here and is free. Hopefully this will become one of the standard functionality on the Windows Phone and Windows 8 in the future.

Video

Images

Did you notice that the image on your Picture Hub Tile rotates. And you really don’t like those pictures. Well, you can change them and have your favorite pictures rotate on this tile.  You can change the background image once you are in the picture hub as well. This has changed a little since “before Mango Update” in our earlier article.

Windows Phone 7 has a great fast, snappy User Interface. The Tiles on the home screen are movable and some of them even display live information. It is very easy to find out how to change the image for your Lock Screen, but there is a way to change the images on your Picture Tile and the background of your Picture Hub as well.

How to Change your Picture Tile Image

How to Change your Picture Hub Background Image

The following steps will give you the opportunity to change your Picture Tile image and the background image in your Picture Hub.

1. Home screen
2. Select Pictures
3. Select the three dots on the bottom.
4. A menu pops up and select ‘Change background”
5. Select a image in one of your your albums (if you select shuffle it will rotate between all your favorites)
6. Move the image around within the given frame.
7. Select the “v” check mark
8. Now your Picture Hub background image has been changed as well as your Picture Tile on the home screen.

Note: selecting one specific image will also lock down your Picture Hub tile to this one picture.

How To Change your Lock Screen Image

The following steps are to change your Lock Screen Image. These steps are easy to find.

1. Home Screen
2. Select Pictures
3. Select an images in one of your albums
4. “Tap and hold” the image or “Tap” the three little dots on the bottom right.
5. A menu pops up and select “use as wallpaper”
6. Move the image around within the given frame.
7. Select the “v” check mark
8. Now your lock screen will have this image

Demo Video

If you love the Windows Phone platform it is only a matter of time before your children will have a Windows phone as well. However with a legitimate sign up of a Windows Live ID  Microsoft recognizes that your child is a minor and won’t allow them to download a paid application on their Windows Phone. Even after adding a Credit Card to their account using the “add credit card” in the MarketPlace on the Windows Phone.  Since everyone’s account set up is different I think with my “How To” you can figure our the right steps to allow your children to purchase Windows Phone Apps.

The Windows Phone requires a Windows Live ID that will be associated with your phone. This ID will be coupled immediately to all Microsoft services. One of these services is the MarketPlace to download and purchase apps.  I found the settings to allow my children to actually purchase apps either with a credit card or the carriers billing in the Xbox Live settings on the Xbox itself or on the Xbox website. The steps below are how I accesed my own Xbox live account where I have acces to my Kids Family Center settings since we have a Family Gold Live Account for our Xbox.

Steps to enable app purchases for Windows Phone.(using the Xbox website)

1. Use you Internet Explorer to go to http://www.xbox.com
2. On the right top sign in with your Live ID.
3. Hoover over the green bar “Xbox Live” title and select “Family Center” 
4. I you don’t see your child’s Xbox gamer tag or profile try to add it on the right hand site.
5. If your child Xbox gamer tag is there hoover over his/her name and select “Privacy and Online settings”
6. You know are in the Online Safety Setting for their Xbox account.  Here you can give them permissions to allow them to purchase apps. I have used the “Custom” button to change this.
7.  Below the custom button you have many setting that you can allow or not allow. Select “Allow” under purchasing section to enable app purchases for children on their Windows Phone. Decide whether this player can purchase premium content from Xbox LIVE Marketplace on the console and Windows Phone. Premium content includes Xbox LIVE Arcade games, game add-ons, and other items. On Xbox.com, purchasing is restricted to adult accounts only.

My great friend Mike Temporale at Mobile Jaw has been involved in a beta application for a new twitter client on the Windows Phone named Carbon. We all know twitter is very well integrated on the Windows Phone, except for Direct messaging. But if you are Twitter power users you really want to have a good look on MobileJaw’s review of just the candidate release of Carbon.

Some great features and screen shots are explained in very great detail.  Below are some screen shots courtesy of MobileJaw of the application, but head over to Mobile Jaw for all the nitty and gritty details. The only problem I see is that it is not yet available in the Marketplace but should be launched this month. I know I’ll be getting it.

We have seen the previews already online but now the Xbox Live game  Kinectimals is available to all Windows Phone users. Kinectimals is a great kinect game for the Xbox 360. However now you can have the same fun with Kinetimals for your Windows Phone. If you have Kinectimals on the Xbox 360 your Windows Phone becomes they key to unlock five new cubs on your console.

This irresistible experience on your Windows Phone gives you the chance to use your device to visit Lemuria and play with, care for and fall in love with your very own Kinectimal cub. The bond between you and your cub grows ever stronger as you experience new ways to interact with it. If you’ve already experienced Kinectimals on Kinect for Xbox 360, your Windows Phone becomes the key to unlocking 5 new cubs on your console.

Some great features are:

• Use the touch screen to pet your cub and make it purr
• Embed, pose and animate your favorite cub in pictures you take on your phone
• With just a flick, play with a variety of toys, activities and games with your cub
• Transfer your cub to and from the Kinectimals game on your Xbox 360
• Take a picture and add your cub to it.

Details:

Image Gallery

Facebook always had the option on your desktop to filter your news feed to just read the updates of people you had put into a custom list. However in a couple of the last updates on Facebook, Facebook has been automatically creating some lists for you as well. My main complaint on the Mobile Facebook apps was that you couldn’t filter your news feed to these list on the Mobile device applications. It is possible but it is not that obvious and requires a little trick.  In this article I explain you how you can do this on your Windows Phone, Apple iPhone, iPad and on all Android devices.

Facebook app for Apple iPad, iPhone and all Android devices.

Facebook app for Windows Phone

The Windows Phone allows you to create your own filtered groups by creating a group tile which is really the best way. I have described this in an earlier article. This will filter the facebook, linkedin and twitter posts from these people in this group.

The Windows Phone Facebook app takes a couple steps to see the specific news feed of on of your lists.

1. Open the Facebook app on your Windows Phone
2. Tap on “Friends” in the selections
3. Tap on “Lists” on the top of your screen
4. Select the List of your choice in the selections.
5. Select “News Feed” on the Top of your screen.

The Navigon navigation applications (Now a Garmin Company) for Windows Mobile, iPhone and Android phones have been always top of the line. Now they have done it again for Windows Phone. After the latest Mango update for Windows Phone (7.5) Navigon released two applications Navigon Europe and Navigon USA.

We have reviewed other Navigon applications in the past and I couldn’t let this one pass by. The Navigon USA version is only $29.99 till November 15, 2011 compared to the European version of $69.99. The price difference has to do with higher licencing fees in Europe.

The download of the application was only 5 MB, but at the first launch of the application you need to download an extra 1.6GB of data to complete this installation. You can only do this over Wifi or if you are connected to your desktop Zune client.

There are some great features which I will summarize below but will show most of them in the Video as well.

Features

• Text to Speech directions
• Will continue to work without a cellphone reception
• Pin favorites or an address to your start screen
• Free Traffic app, Traffic4-all ($1.49 will turn off adds)
• Turn by Turn directions
• Visual Lane Guidance with RealityView Pro
• Live Traffic info with rerouting
• Augmented Reality Scanner
• Select address from Contact list (little slow in pulling that info)
• MyRoutes – Navigon’s most reliable routes
• NAVTEQ Data
• Speed assistant

Video

Availability

Screen Shots

Full Press Release

NAVIGON Launches First On-Board Navigation App for Windows Phone 7 Smartphones

Premium GPS App for Windows Phone 7.5 (Mango) Provides Turn-by-Turn Directions without a Cell Phone Signal, NAVIGON also Releases Free traffic4all App

 

Hamburg, Germany, October 11, 2011—NAVIGON AG, a leading provider of mobile phone on-board navigation, today announced the launch of the first on-board navigation app for Windows Phone 7 smartphones. NAVIGON’s app is available for Windows Phone 7.5 users and takes advantage of new features made available to developers with this new release such as the ability to save an address to the start screen. In addition, NAVIGON also launches a free traffic app for Windows Phone 7, traffic4all.

Similar to a standalone navigation device, NAVIGON for Windows Phone 7 works in areas without a cell phone signal, so users can get directions and information anytime, anywhere. Other navigation apps for Windows Phone 7 are dependent on a cell phone connection to download map and routing data. Therefore, no cell signal can render navigation useless or interrupted until a connection is reestablished.

“We are pleased to bring our award-winning navigation app to Windows Phone 7,” said Gerhard Mayr, NAVIGON vice-president of worldwide mobile phones and new markets. “The app includes many of the same signature features that have made NAVIGON’s apps successful on other platforms, such as Android and iPhone. The user interface is fully customized to the Windows Phone 7 experience, so users of this platform will feel right at home.”

NAVIGON for Windows Phone 7 includes spoken turn-by-turn directions, visual lane guidance, live traffic information and rerouting, among many other features. NAVIGON’s new app runs on Windows Phone 7.5 and also takes advantage of new features made available to developers with this new release. These features include the augmented reality function Reality Scanner, which provides an instant and effortless way of identifying nearby destinations while on foot; an option to select address information directly from the phone’s contact list; and the ability to save a favorite or home address as a shortcut on the start screen.

NAVIGON for Windows Phone 7 features include:

-       NAVIGON MyRoutes: The app includes routing technology built upon NAVIGON’s 20 years of experience in the navigation industry, so users get the most reliable routes available. The MyRoutes feature provides customized route suggestions with up to three different choices based on the user’s driving style.

-       Reality View Pro and Lane Assistant Pro: Reality View Pro feature clearly displays photo-realistic views of actual highway/interstate signs, exits, and lane guide markers so users can see lane changes and exits in advance. Lane Assistant Pro prepares drivers to make an upcoming exit or turn with a lane map complete with arrows and actual road geometry.

 

-       NAVTEQ® maps: NAVIGON for Windows Phone 7 uses one of the most robust and accurate geographic databases in the world, providing the most accurate map data and points-of-interest information. The superiority of NAVTEQ® maps is defined by its verified accuracy, content richness, and its breadth of coverage data.

-       Traffic Live: NAVIGON for Windows Phone 7—using real-time traffic information available from industry leader INRIX—alerts drivers to traffic problems and automatically calculates alternative routes so they can avoid congestion and save time.

 

-       Reality Scanner: Reality Scanner is an augmented reality feature, providing an instant and effortless way of identifying nearby destinations. Users simply point their smartphone in any direction to see points-of-interest icons appear directly onto a live camera view, making it easy to find destinations on foot.

 

-       NAVIGON Shortcut: Save any address as a shortcut to the Windows Phone 7 start screen. This allows users to start navigating, for example to their home address, with only one click.

-       Speed Assistant: Drivers can potentially avoid costly tickets by receiving alerts when they’re speeding and getting notified of speed and red light cameras before they pass them.

Additional features include Google Local Search, which allows users to find local points-of-interest instantly; one-tap access to help users find critical services such as hospitals and police stations in case of an emergency; and the ability to select address information directly from the phone’s contact list.

NAVIGON traffic4all Windows 7 App

In addition to its turn-by-turn navigation app for Windows Phone 7, NAVIGON also announced a free traffic app: traffic4all helps drivers to avoid gridlock and save time by providing a clear overview of traffic conditions. NAVIGON developed an intuitive user interface that displays traffic incidents on a map with a single hit of a button. Colored road overlays indicate traffic flow, ranging from green for normal to red for traffic congestion or black/white for blocked roads. The app also allows users to plan ahead and look up traffic forecasts by entering a specific time and location.

traffic4all uses traffic information from NAVIGON’s partner INRIX. The leading traffic expert covers more roads than any other provider, delivering real-time traffic information that extends beyond major highways and interstates covering more than two million miles in North America and Europe.

Pricing and Availability

NAVIGON for Windows Phone 7 includes on-board NAVTEQ maps for the USA and is available for $49.99 in the Windows Marketplace. NAVIGON offers a special introductory price of $29.99 until November 15, 2011.

NAVIGON traffic4all is available at no cost in the Windows Phone Marketplace. An upgrade option for $1.49 turns off the integrated ads.

For more information, please visit: www.navigon.com.

Find NAVIGON on:

Twitter: www.twitter.com/NAVIGON_US

Facebook: www.navigon.com/facebook

Flickr: www.navigon.com/flickr

YouTube: www.navigon.com/youtube

About NAVIGON AG – a GARMIN company:

Germany-based NAVIGON AG was founded in 1991 and is a leading supplier of satellite navigation products. In July 2011, the company was acquired by Garmin Ltd. and operates as a fully-owned subsidiary. The NAVIGON brand offers mobile navigation devices (PNDs), smartphone navigation applications, and solutions for the automotive OEM industry.

I have been frustrated for awhile why I couldn’t see any Facebook updates of certain friends in the People Hub and those Individual and Group Tiles but was able to read their posts and updates from the official Facebook app from the Marketplace. Well!!! it has to do do with the the Privacy setting of that specific person.

The Facebook app is an official app from Facebook it self and published in the Marketplace which will allow you to see the updates from your friends set by their custom posting settings. However if you use the People Hub features to check up on their postings you could be surprised to see a message that that person doesn’t allow you to see it. Postings or Pictures.

To fix this you actually have to let that person know to change their privacy settings in Facebook to allow you to see their posts in “How People bring your info to apps they Use”. This is an extra privacy setting for their and your friends to see your updates in Facebook accessible apps they use to access your information. Don’t worry, once you change this, it will still follow your custom posting privacy setting you have set up.

Make sure you let your friends know about this and make sure you change this as well for your friends to access your information on their Windows Phone People Hub, Group and Individual Tiles.

How to Change your privacy Settings to Allow Access of Your custom Post on Friends Facebook related Applications.

1. Log in to Facebook
2. On the right top select the little arrow down and select “Privacy Settings”
3. Select “Edit Settings” under “Apps and Websites”
4. Select “Edit Settings” under “How people bring your info to apps they use”
5. Select the Boxes you want your friends to see in their Facebook related apps. (My Status Updates and My Photo’s are key for the People Hub)
6. Select “Save Changes”
7. Now when you or your friend has changed this you can see their post updates and pictures in the “What’s New” section on the People Hub, Group and Personal tiles.

There were many issues during the roll out of the Mango Update for Windows Phone 7 to Windows Phone 7.5 of the twitter integration. Many people had issues that either the feed wasn’t showing up in the “What’s new” section of the People Hub, Group Tiles or individual Tiles.  Linking the Twitter Names to your contacts was an issue as well. However this has now been fixed and here is how you easily can fix this without doing a hard reset. If you have some issues in general the steps below will fix this most of the time as well.

How to Fix your Integrated Twitter account on your Windows Phone.

1. Go to your settings.
2. Select “email+accounts“
3. Find your twitter account on this list.
4. Tap and hold this twitter account and select “Delete“
5. After the phone tells you everything has been deleted you can turn off your phone.
6. Turn back on the Phone.
7. Go to your settings
8. Select “email+accounts“
9. Select “add an account“
10. Select “twitter“
11. Input your credentials and authorize the Phone to use your Twitter account.
12. The message “setting up the account” will be displayed.
13. Wait about 5-10 minutes

How to Check Twitter names

How to quickly post a tweet.

The Microsoft Zune Pass is currently a great deal. For $14.99 a month you can download and stream unlimited music and keep it as long as you keep your subscription. In addition to this you are allowed to download 10 songs per month for you to keep forever. However on October 3rd,  2011 the Music Pass will go down in price to $9.99 a month but you will loose the 10 songs forever downloads. All current Zune Pass customers are allowed to keep their current plan $14.99 plan if they want and will get the new added music video streaming as well.

If you do want the 10 forever download songs a month, I suggest you make that decision in the next 3 days. Go over to the Zune website. I know I will be keeping my subscription as is, I have teenagers in the house and we use other music players as well.

Don’t forget , the Zune pass will work on your Windows Phone, XBOX 360 (Live subscription required), desktop and Zune HD player.

The Zune Pass will be as follows depending on being a new customer or an existing customer.

The Xbox Live games for Windows Phone are for the most part great games to play. Soon they will launch Burn the Rope. A preview of this game promises another great XBOX Live game on the Windows Phone. Features include over 100 levels, accelerometer controls and great graphics.

Burn the Rope is a challenging game where you try to burn as much rope as you can in each level. There’s a catch! The fire only burns upwards, leaving you to rotate the level to keep your flame alive! Bugs along the ropes have different reactions to the flame. The ant changes the color of the flame so you can burn different colored ropes, and the spider shoots out a web bridge so you can access parts of the level that you could not before. Burn the Rope is incredibly fun and addictive. You will actually feel like you’re burning a rope, yet there’s no need for a fire extinguisher! I have been playing with it and it is just awesome. (but it is not as easy as you think it is!)

The game will be available Today in the Windows Phone Marketplace for $2.99

Image Gallery

On the Msdn forums a detailed post appeared today how to update your Mango developer build Windows Phone with no roll back to a previous back-up. It looks pretty easy, just let it run some extra updates.

If the Zune software gets stuck between the two updates just it cancel and restart the search for the update.

Details

Source: MSDN forum

Windows Phone 7.5: Updating OS from Beta 2 to RTM

This morning, we started rolling out the ‘Mango’ updates to around the world; at the same time, developers can all update their devices to Windows Phone 7.5 without having to fall back to the backup taken at the beginning of the provisioning process. This update is being made available to those running build 7712 on a retail device that was updated to ‘Mango’ using the provisioning tool we published to Connect a couple months ago. To receive the update, connect your retail device to your faithful Zune client. The path to RTM will be applied in two parts: First, your device will receive the update that takes your phone from build 7712 to 7720 Next, the update will clean-up the pre-production provisioning and repoint your device to the production update servers Once provisioned back to the production servers, your device is then ready and capable to receive updates specific to your device/carrier combination, making it possible for you to receive such updates as drivers and firmware. If your device had drivers made available over the summer, you should see them immediately; and in the coming weeks, you should see the Windows Phone 7.5 device updates from your carrier as they are available for your device. Check out the ‘Where’s My Phone Update?’ page for the latest global status info. This is great news! At this point, you’re back in a happy place and able to be supported once more by your carrier. And even better, thanks to some extra work by our engineering teams, this means that most of you will not need to restore back to 739x, and that your data and settings will remain intact – meaning no saved games. There are a few caveats to this process that it is worth noting: Download Zune 4.8: For best results, you should be running version 4.8.2345.0 of the Zune client. To update your Zune client, click on ‘Settings’ -> ‘Software’ -> ‘General’, and click the ‘Check for Updates’ button. Support scoped to 7712: This de-provisioning process has only been tested on devices updated (a) using the provided provisioning tool and (b) running the pre-release build (7712) released via the pre-release servers. Folks still running on build 7661 should be provided the 7712 update as part of this update process. All other pre-release configurations are untested and unsupported. Phone Backup and Disk Space: The first step of the update to 7720 is for Zune to perform another backup of your phone. As such, make a copy of your 7390 backup before you start on the update process (you may still yet need it) and be sure you have enough free disk space on your computer to support the backup. Driver updates may trail: The dev de-provisioning process occurs separately from the Windows Phone 7.5 update process for the general customer base on the production servers. Once provisioned back to the production servers, you may still have to wait to be eligible for your device-specific updates. As such, you may still experience some quirks with your device until you receive device and carrier-specific updates tuned for your specific device. We will try to provide additional data here to allow you to know when you’re retail device is finally ‘done’, but I don’t have that information to share at this point. But wait! Protect that backup! Lastly, in the known issues category, it has been observed that a small number of users may not receive device-specific updates released in the July timeframe. As such, you should absolutely be sure to hold onto that copy of your 739x backup before you begin the update process and continue to keep it in a safe place. Windows Phone updates are cumulative in nature, and assume the presence of those that came before them. As such, getting a later update without the earlier one can put you in a less than ideal place. For folks who fail to receive a prior update, they may need to resort to using the 7390 backup in order to receive these updates. While there will be a few folks that this won’t help move forward to a supported state, it’s best to be prepared in case it happens to you. Closing out the OS Beta With this post, we’re officially declaring this program closed down. J I am no longer processing Connect invitation requests, and I will also be removing the provisioning binary files from the Connect server. And, on behalf of the Windows Phone Division, I would like to take a moment to extend a heart-felt thanks to everyone that collectively participated in the ‘Mango’ OS Pre-Release. We updated over 75,000 devices over the past three months. Thank you for your patience in getting the invites and working through a process that was quite manual this go around. I’d also like to thank our App Hub support team that helped troubleshoot issues with updates and missing invites; and thanks to the engineering team (John Menter and Andrew Brown, specifically) for monitoring the boards and troubleshooting your issues; and a warm thanks to our active App Hub users for supporting your peers. Thank you to all for helping to test the update process, yielding a better experience for our customers; and thank you for getting your apps built and tested in time for our Mango roll-out. It’s been great having you on board for the road to Windows Phone 7.5! Most of all – thank you for being a Windows Phone developer, and collectively supporting our platform.

As part of the Mango announcements Microsoft also announced a web based Marketplace to browse and purchase apps for the Windows Phone. As earlier announced today Microsoft updated their Windows Phone and Where is my Phone’s Update pages, but besides that they also launched their web based Marketplace. No need for a Zune client om your desktop to find or browse for apps.

Purchase and Free downloads

This web based Marketplace (US :  http://www.windowsphone.com/en-US/marketplace ) for Windows Phone allows you not just to browse and find an app but also to send you a text message with the download link in it. Tapping this download link will open up the app on your Windows Phone Marketplace.

In my test the text message did not appear yet, but the site automatically told me it send a email with the link instead. I haven’t seen that email come in yet either.  However it did appear on my phone automatically while connected to my home Wi-Fi connection. That’s even better.

Reinstall

The Web based Market is also smart enough to see that apps are previously purchased and let’s you know that you can just re-install it. However going through the process it tells me on the end that it will automatically be downloaded to the phone. For larger files you need to wait until you are in a Wi-Fi covered area.

Source: sister site  WP7.nl 

We all have been reading that the Mango update is so close and imminent. Overnight the official Windows Phone webpage has been updated to reflect the new features and phones that the Mango update brings to all new phones and existing phones.

The word is that Microsoft and AT&T are starting today to roll out the Mango update to their customers.

Go ahead and check it out.

http://mango.microsoft.com/windowsphone/en-us/default.aspx

Update: The “Where is my Phone’s Update” pages have been updated as well.

For the US and other parts of the World it looks like every phone will be updated soon as the status is “Scheduling” (except for the Sprint phones).

Check here for the US: http://mango.microsoft.com/windowsphone/en-us/features/update-schedule-usa.aspx

For the rest of the world check here: http://mango.microsoft.com/windowsphone/en-us/features/update-schedule-world.aspx

Update 2: The Web based Marketplace is live now too.

The Mango update for all existing Windows Phones is getting closer. I can’t wait to update my Samsung Focus to the official Mango update. But now Samsung also announced that they will be launching two new Windows Phone with AT&T.

These two new phones are:

Samsung Focus S

The Samsung Focus™ S builds on the success of the award-winning and highest-selling Windows Phone in the U.S., the Samsung Focus™.

Featuring:

• a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Plus display
• 1.4GHz processor
• 4G-capable speeds
• a thin profile at 8.55 millimeters at its thinnest point.
• It includes front facing 1.3-megapixel
• and a rear facing 8-megapixel cameras.

The Samsung Focus S will find its way into a lot of pockets this fall.

Samsung Focus Flash

Designed to hit the market packed with value, Samsung Focus™ Flash’s

• 3.7-inch Super AMOLED screen
• As fast and lightweight as it is compact, it runs a 1.4 GHz processor
• 5-megapixel camera
• plus front facing camera.

Unfortunately we don’t have any more specifications, images  and dates yet from Samsung or AT&T.

Additionally, the Samsung Focus will receive the Windows Mango update this Fall.

AT&T announced that it will carry the HTC Titan as the new Windows Phone as well.

HTC Titan

Debuting as the largest screen in AT&T’s smartphone portfolio at

• 4.7 inches screen
• Running a 1.5 GHz processor
• 8-megapixel camera with dual LED flash,

HTC TITAN will feed the senses.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t32kRNhn23k

With the improvement of the Mango update for the Windows Phone I still missed something for a quick access to your Data, WiFi , Bluetooth and Airplane mode settings. The fastest way before was to pin the “settings” tile to your start screen. However the free Network Dashboard application gives you quick access to all these settings together or individually by pinning a tile to your start screen on your Windows Phone.

To quickly access your settings on your Windows Phone you now need to go to your settings in your menu or tap the pinned tile for settings on your start screen. Once the settings screen opens you still have many options to choose from. Thecommon setting people need are the following four: WiFi, Bluetooth, Turn on and off Data and Airplane mode. The quick access to these is definitely lacking on the Windows Phone.

I stumbled browsing the Marketplace on my phone onto the application “Network Dashboard“.

This application allows you to pin these four common settings to your start screen by going to your full menu and tap and hold the application ”Network Dashboard” and select “Pin to Start”.  Now you have quick access to these four common used settings. However once this application is open you can also tap  and hold on each of the four individual settings to pin a tile on your start screen for just one of these settings. For me I pinned just the WiFi settings to my start screen.

Download the Network Dashboard app with this link directly on your Windows Phone or desktop with the Zune Desktop software installed. Enjoy it, I know I’m a happy camper!!

Update:  Looks like it is only running with Mango updated devices and Version 1.1 will have live tile functionality. It is just getting better.

 Updated screen shot with Live Tile from the updated version. The Tile indicates that Wifi is on and connected.

Many people have either a Gmail account or a Google Mail account for their own domain. However, the quick Gmail set-up on some phones only brings in your emails from your Gmail or Google mail account and not your contacts and calendar items.  This article will show you that it is possible to sync your Gmail- Google mail,  contacts and calendar items onto your device using the Corporate Exchange protocol. The advantage of using this protocol on an Android device is that you are able to change the sync settings to a specific time frame instead of the only Push setting in the standard “add Google account” on the Android devices. This can save you a lot of battery power.

Remove existing Gmail- Google mail account.

First of all we have to be sure that you start removing your earlier quick Google / Gmail account that you have set up on your Device. Go to your account settings on your device and remove all excisting Google Gmail account that were set up using the quick “add Google/Gmail” account.

Adding your Gmail – Google mail account using the Corporate Exchange settings.

The following steps will guide you in setting up your Gmail – Google mail account as an exchange account on your mobile device.

(Ps. If you have a account for your own domain you first need to activate the active sync functionality in your Google Domain Dashboard.  “Manage this Domain -> Mobile-> Check box “Enable Google Sync“->Save settings

1. On most devices you can add a new account in the settings section.
2. Tap on “Add Account” which is listed under your already set up email accounts.
3. Select “Corporate Account, Outlook or Microsoft Exchange” depending on your device.
4. Type in your email in the first field.   Name@gmail.com or Name@yourowndomain.com
5. Type your password in the password field
6. Type in the Server  field the server address “m.google.com“
7. Check the boxes for SSL and accept all SSL certificates.
8. Now the “Next” button on the top right of your screen will be active.
9. On most next screens you can select which data you want synced (Email, Calendar, Contacts) and the frequency. Select Push for instant download of all new items. But if you have many accounts on your device I would recommend changing it to a less frequent time to safe on your battery power
10. Now you should be all set. Your data connection will sync all your contacts , calendar and emails for this account.

In case you have missed it or want to see the details again about the the New and Improved Features of the Windows Phone Mango update you can now see the detailed webcast right here.

As we reported earlier today in this article Windows Phone 7 is getting ready for a major update that will bring over 500 new and improved features to the Windows Phone 7 platform. Watch this full webcast below to see the up and close details of the major new features like Bing Visual, Linked Inbox, Threaded combined messaging, etc.

In case the Video doesn’t work on your screen you can follow this link.

During the press conference this morning in NY City Microsoft’s Andy Lees and Derek Snyder announced the new version of Windows Phone. Earlier reports indicated over 500 new features in this update. Of course a lot of these new features are small fixes and enhancements to improve the user experience. The Mango update will come to all current Windows Phone 7 users this fall and will be on all new released Windows Phones.

The Mango update will give the  Windows Phone 7 user again a faster user experience. The following improvements are also part of Mango:

1. Be in contact with ease and share easily.

Everything will be organized by contact person or contact groups and not within the apps.

• Threads will allow you to switch easy between text messages, Facebook chat and Windows Live Messenger within the same conversation
• 
• Groups: You can create a group of contacts with it’s own Live tile for notifications on text messages, emails and different chat conversations. All easy accessible from the live tile on your home screen.
• 
• The People Hub will have Twitter and LinkedIn integrated. These personal feeds will be visible together with the already Live and Facebook feeds currently in the People Hub.
• Unified linked Inbox: The will allow you to see all your different mails and conversations in one combined inbox.
• 
• Hands-free messaging. Built-in speech-to-text and text-to-speech, which allows writing messages and chat hands-free

2. A smarter way of approaching applications.

Integration of applications in live tiles and different hubs, kinda like Folders and Live Folders.

• App Connect will allow you to start apps associated with the different Hubs.  For example a photo editing or sharing app will direct available in the picture hub.
• Improved Live Tiles will show more real-time information. Different sizes of live tiles will be also available to allow more dynamics and information.
• Multitasking will be added to allow fast switching between running applications without the loss of extra battery consumption.

3. Web experience that goes beyond the browser

The power of Internet Explorer 9 and integrated Cloud services will give the user a seamless experience.

• Internet Explorer 9 will give you the same power as the desktop version with the support of HTML 5 and hardware accelerated graphics. Sharing information through social media and email will be integrated.
• 
• Integrated cloud services:  Skydrive will allow you to sync documents in the Ofiice Hub. Access to Windows Live PhotoGallery and Facebook picture albums in the Picture Hub.
• Recognize local (Local Scout). Providing local results and recommendations for nearby restaurants, shops and suggested activities, present in a user-friendly guide.
• 
• Bing Windows Phone. More ways to search the Internet, including Bing Vision, Voice and Music Search, so that decision making is easier
• 
• Quick Cards (Quick Cards). When searching for a product, movie, event or place we provide a summary and relevant applications

In total This Mango update will give over 500 improvements and enhancements with this update.  Mango will further expand Windows Phone ecosystem through partnerships with Acer, Fujitsu Ltd. and ZTE Corp as well.

As invites went around a couple of weeks ago for a special Windows Phone Event in NY City it becomes more clear that the specifics of the Mango update, possible named Windows Phone 7.5, will be revealed tomorrow.  Steve Ballmer mentioned over 500 new features for the Windows Phone operating system in this update.

As we reported earlier together with our sister site WP7.nl the Mango update will bring an extensive added experience and functionality in the Bing client on the devices. However Steve Ballmer is mentioning “over 500″ new features. I really hope Microsoft is giving these details to us and we will find out and know that Windows Phone is here to stay and will be a game changer in the mobile industry.

The Press conference will be tomorrow May 24th at 10.00 am EST and will be streamed live on the Microsoft Windows Phone News Center.

Besides information on the new features on Windows Phone 7 tomorrow might be day that carriers and manufacturers are presenting their new line of Windows Phone’s that will probably have the mango update pre-installed.

Stay tuned for specifics about the press conference tomorrow here  on MobilityMinded and our sister site WP7.nl