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

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.

This is going to be a re-post of an article I have written about Groups when the first Beta Mango update was released to developers. Why, very easy the Windows Phone Mango update is rolling out to the public and I really want users to know about this amazing strong unique feature on the Windows Phone 7.5.

Now that Mango is in the hands or is going to be in the hand of end users we can show you  the great new functionality of Groups in the Windows Phone 7.5 Mango update. With all the different Social Media connectors on the Windows Phone like Facebook, Live Messenger, Twitter and LinkedIn your People Hub will expand dramatically with amount of connections you have.

With this, the “What’s New” feed in the People Hub will be filled with information you really don’t care about. On the  Facebook and Twitter websites  you already can create lists to cancel out the noise and filter the information you really want. However those are not accessible on the Windows Phone with the Mango update.

But the Mango Update for Windows Phone comes with a better solution which is called Groups. Groups allows you make individually named groups of people you care about.  Once you have these groups created you can pin these onto your home screen in which it becomes a live tile with notifications circling through if new posts, comments and pictures were added to this specific social media feed of this group.

Once you are in the group tile you will see individual live tiles of the people you have added. From here you can tap onto any of your individual people tiles and see what’s new with them. You will be able to see their contact information and Call, Chat, Text, Post and Email this person from there. You can also slide over a screen for what’s new in status updates and in Pictures.

Instead of tapping on the individual tile of a contact you can also slide over and see the same information as listed above for the individual person but for the group combined. Now that’s pretty awesome !!

From any of these fields you are able to respond accordingly. Our build didn’t have the Twitter integration activated yet, but it should work the same way.

By the way Facebook chat and messages from Twitter directed to you are now integrated into your Messaging client, previously only for text messaging.

How to Create a Group and Pin it to your Home Screen

1. Click on the People Hub
2. Tap on the “+” on the bottom of the screen and select “new group”
3. Give the Group a name. (Don’t select Save yet)
4. Tap on “add a contact”
5. search for your contact and tap it’s name.
6. Search for more contacts to be added to the group.  Some times it could give you suggestions as well based on previous selected contacts.
7. Hit the save button, or the back button and you are in the Group with the information you need.
8. There are two ways to pin the group to your home screen. First way is to find the group on the top of your people hub listing. Tap and Hold to have a menu appear and select “pin to start”. The second way is to open the group by tapping it once and select the “push pin button” on the bottom of your screen.

Video Instruction.

Below is a short video showing you this process and functionality.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GYTKNxNT44

From day one the Windows Phone Answer Forums have been flooded with complaints about not be able to connect to a hidden Wi-Fi network.  When the developers Mango updates came out this was still not an option. However with today’s official roll out of Windows Phone 7.5 (Mango) you are now able to connect to a Hidden Wi-Fi network. And this is how…

How to connect to a hidden Wifi Network.

1. Go to Settings
2. Wi-Fi settings
3. On the bottom select “advanced” (scrolling might be needed)
   
4. Select the “+” on the bottom toolbar
   
5. Type in the exact name of you hidden network and select add.
   
6. Your phone will authenticated with the network and you should be done.

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.

About a month ago we gave you the link for the full webcast when the new Windows Phone 7 update was announced and was being previewed. In the last two days many real reviews showing off the new and hidden features of this Mango update have been appearing on some great sites. Just reading them and watching the screenshot and video’s make me even more excited to have this Mango update on my Windows Phone 7.

Below I have summarized some links of the best reviews I have seen about Mango.

• PocketNow.com - The Ultimate Windows Phone 7.5 Mango Preview (many video’s and screen shots)
• ZDnet – Matt Miller – Hands-on with Windows Phone 7.5 Mango Technical preview
• WinRumors.com – Windows Phone Mango ‘secret’ features demo (many video’s and screen shots)
• WPCentral.com – Windows Phone “Mango” (preview release) (many video’s and screen shots)
• Gizmodo.com – The Next Windows Phone: It’s Pretty Great (Video)
• Winsupersite.com – Hands On With Windows Phone “Mango”
• TheNextWeb.com – Hands on with Windows Phone 7′s Mango Update
• Cnet.com – Windows Phone Mango hands-on (review) (video’s)
• Thisismynext.com – Windows Phone ‘Mango’ preview
• Slashgear.com – Windows Phone 7.1 Mango Technical

If you looked at all these reviews you really want to experience this yourself. Mango can’t come fast enough for me !! Maybe worth getting a developer account since the rumors are that they will be able to get a beta Rom.

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

Last week we already gave you the details of the Windows Phone 7 March 2011 NoDo Update. Microsoft also started to publish the status of the February pre-NoDo and the NoDo update. Since then Nodo has been delivered to many Windows Phone 7′s but here in the US AT&T hasn’t even given the go ahead to Microsoft to push out the pre-Nodo update.

This is very upsetting to me, but to make it even worse is that Mango has been spotted on some Windows Phone 7 devices around the globe.

Come on AT&T,  finish testing so we can get pre-NoDo, Nodo and have our Mango on our Windows Phone like this.

As we wait in anticipation for the next Windows Phone 7 update to roll out it seems that the first unlocked non-carrier branded Windows Phone 7 are receiving a message that the famous NoDo update is being pushed out. However I am still waiting for the small February 2011 update for my AT&T branded Samsung Focus and LG Quantum.

It would be nice for an official announcement from either Microsoft or the Carrier that will breakdown by carrier and devices of dates when we will see the updates. With the detail information below that has been published on the Windows Phone update history page of the March 2011 NoDo update the consumers can have the anticipation with a confirmation. Instead right now this information below is anticipation with no confirmation.

The NoDo update will bring your OS version to: 7.0.739.0.

Here are the details and hopefully you will be lucky enough to receive it soon (I’ll keep my fingers crossed):

• Copy & paste. You asked for it—now it’s here. Just tap a word and drag the arrows to copy and paste it on your phone. You can copy text from emails, text messages, web pages, and Office Mobile documents, and paste it anywhere you can type. To learn more, see Copy & paste.
• Faster apps and games. Nobody likes to wait. That’s why we’ve whittled down the time it takes for apps and games to start up and resume. It’s all part of our focus on getting you to the things you love, easier and faster.
• Better Marketplace search. We’ve streamlined Marketplace search to make it easier to find specific apps, games, or music. Press the Search button in the Apps or Games section of Marketplace and you’ll see only apps or games in the results. Press Search in the Music section of Marketplace to search just the music catalog.
• Other Marketplace improvements. We’ve improved the stability of Marketplace while you download apps. We’ve also improved the experience of downloading apps larger than 20 megabytes, upgrading from trial apps to paid apps, using a credit card with an address outside the United States, sharing links to apps via email, sorting Xbox LIVE games by release date, and creating an Xbox LIVE account from within the Games Hub.
• Wi-Fi improvements. We now display your phone’s Media Access Control (MAC) address in Settings. (You might need this info if you try to connect to a Wi-Fi network that uses MAC address filtering. To learn more, see Connect to a Wi-Fi network.) We’ve also removed the limit on the number of Wi-Fi profiles that you can store and reduced the time it takes to start your phone if you’ve stored lots of Wi-Fi profiles.
• Outlook improvements. We’ve improved the experience of viewing iPhone photo attachments you receive from a non-Exchange-based email account (such as a Google Mail, Hotmail, or Yahoo! Mail account), using the Global Address List (GAL) when connecting to Exchange Server 2003 using Exchange ActiveSync, and working with email display names that contain brackets (for example, “David Alexander [Contoso]“).
• Messaging improvements. We’ve improved the experience of receiving Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) messages if your phone uses a PIN-locked SIM.
• Facebook integration. We’ve improved the experience of syncing Facebook accounts.
• Camera improvements. We’ve improved the stability of switching between camera and video modes.
• Audio improvements. We’ve improved the experience of using a Bluetooth headset to make calls when you’re playing music or videos.
• Other performance improvements. This month’s update also includes software from several phone manufacturers that improves the performance of specific models. Naturally, if you don’t have one of the affected models, we won’t install this portion of the update on your phone.

Since the arrival of Windows Phone 7 there’s a lot to do about the customization possibilities of the platform. With the hubs it is possible to enter a world full of open possibilities.

The way of distributing applications and possibilities to change the OS in a way some users would like to are very similar to the iOS platform. Last week, Johan wrote about what our wishes are for the next Windows Phone update which. This lists a good overview about what we’d like to see in a first update.

One of these customizations is add your own Ringtones. I remember that back in 2003 I had an Orange SPV, on which I was able to select any ringtone I wanted! Now – 8 years later – The Windows Phone platform is not able to let you use your own ringtones.
There are a bunch of pre-loaded ringtones no-one would like to hear installed and that’s it! That’s all the choice you’re getting!

Obviously this unleashes a reaction from Windows Phone users who would like to customize their Windows Phone the way they want it, not the way Microsoft allows them to customize it. When something is locked, there are always people trying to open it, no matter how strong the safe is. The first to open-up parts of the Windows Phone 7 Platform was the ChevronWP7 team. This happened on November 25th 2010.

At first -obviously- Microsoft wasn’t very happy about this, Apple wasn’t really excited as the iOS-platform got jailbroken for the first time as well. But what’s most important is the reaction.

On December 1st ChevronWP7 posted a blogpost that they had been invited by Microsoft to discuss about the ChevronWP7 tool. At the same time they discontinued the Unlocking tool they’d released a week earlier.

“To fast-track discussions, we are discontinuing the unlocking tool effective immediately.”

Quote: ChevronWP7

Image Source:IstartedSomething.com

Now – from my point of view this is really really smart of Microsoft. There aren’t a lot of people running around on this planet who are able to create a mechanism to Jailbreak Windows Phone 7. Hence even for iOS there are only a hand-full of developers who find vulnerabilities in the platform and are able to turn these vulnerabilities into a mechanism to create a Jailbreak-tool. When Microsoft collaborates with the people who ARE able to create a jailbreak mechanism, Microsoft keeps control over their platform.

Of course the ChevronWP7-team isn’t the only one who work on Jailbreaking Windows Phone 7. But at the moment they are definitely the well-known ones.

Another fact is that Microsoft’s Director of Developer Experience for Windows Phone 7, Brandon Watson, tweeted George Hotz (the well-known iOS hacker) to flourish his dev creativity on the Windows Phone 7 platform.

Microsoft is pro-actively mobilizing people to  make Windows Phone 7

a) More secure by Fixing vulnerabilities found by ‘hackers’ (ChevronWP7, George Hotz)
b) More ‘Open’ by allowing Homebrew Appliactions.

I think there is no way for Microsoft -and Apple- to keep control over their platform other than collaborating with these people. Yes I am sure there are a lot of talented and gifted persons working for Microsoft and Apple, specialized in security and closing the platform, but face it. There will always be people trying -and succeed- to ‘hack’ the system. What happens if you don’t collaborate?

The exact same situation Apple is in since the release of the first iPhone: A cat-and-mouse game

Microsoft seems to understand this. Apple on the other hand seems to live in the illusion of being the cat and truly being the mouse.

As many sites have reported Microsoft will soon come with the first update for the Windows Phone 7 platform. The Microsoft Windows Phone site even has a special page announcing the upcoming updates. The info on this site is very limited besides the Copy and Paste function we all wanted. Using the Windows Phone 7 now as my main device I do miss some functions. Some little bugs that keep bugging me need some fixing as well. Take a look at our wish list and add yours to ours!

Take a look at our Windows Phone 7 update wish list and add your wishes in the comment below or in our new forums.

• Copy and Paste (we now that that is coming)
• Sync all office documents to Skydrive, not just the Notes.
• Able to edit original E-mail messages when forwarding or replying.
• Able to connect to an hidden WIFI network.
• Access to Mac addresses for WIFI to be able to connect on WIFI networks that use Mac filtering.
• Fix Bluetooth stack to work in all vehicles and headsets. Sound goes in and out. (Windows Phone Answers Thread)
• Filtered searches in the Marketplace. Like to just search for apps, not apps and music.
• Ringtones !!
• Notes need to sync when you open the Notes app within Office. Otherwise you make changes to a possible older version of the specific Note.
• Make my own hubs to organize my apps by functionality. Now I need to know the name of the app to find it back in the the alphabetical order listing.
• All Notebooks need to sync with Notes by default. The only way to open your own Notebook is to access this Notebook using your browser on the phone. At that point it will show up in the Notes app.
• Text messages back-up
• Syncing back updated in boxes to the cloud needs to be as instantaneous as the incoming emails. Many times I use the the fast way to triage my emails on the phone, but when I go back to my desktop I have to triage again.
• Maintain camera settings.
• Address bar in Internet Explorer while in landscape orientation.
• We want to able to create folders in Internet Explorer to organize your favorites better.
• We want to be able to Share video’s
• We want Twitter to be part of the sharing options.
• Since we have Facebook integrated, why not have Facebook  push notification (Add notification numbers to the Me tile)
• With the subscribed podcasts in the Zune app we want to be able to see the new episodes. Download or Stream them directly on your device.

Added upon Request:

• Add twitter feed to the People hub
• Add many languages for keyboard. (Try typing an email in another language that is not supported)
• Flash support in the browser
• Multitasking
• Have phone numbers listed in Text messages for a direct dail to sender

The list above are really functionalities needed within the operating system to make the Windows Phone 7 more functional, however the real functionality has to come from the quality apps.

If you are a Windows Phone 7 user or you want to be a Windows Phone 7 users please let us know what Microsoft needs to update, add or fix.

You can also let us know which apps are still missing in the MarketPlace. I f you don’t have a Windows Phone 7 and do not have the Zune Desktop installed you can browse the current MarketPlace apps at the  MarketPlaceBrowser site.

During CES 2011 Microsoft and Yahoo previewed the first Flickr application for Windows Phone 7 and Windows 7 Slates. The backend is powered by Windows Azure and with these applications, Flickr  is making it even easier for users to organize and share their photos anytime, anywhere.

The Flickr Applications for Windows Phone 7 and Windows  7 will feature embedded connected-device synchronization for sharing content between the two device types – built by leveraging RSS feeds as well as the Windows Azure platform. The state of the application will be stored in the cloud, facilitating a seamless consumer experience across Windows Phone 7 and Slate devices. Regardless of  the device the consumer is using to access Flickr content, the consumer will see the same context, the same photo and same state of the application.

Last week we already uncovered how to easy find the Mac Address on the Samsung Focus and Samsung Omnia 7 Devices. Today we found out out to unveil the Mac address on the LG Optimus 7 and the LG Quantum.

A quote from our earlier article explains a little bit more about why it is important to have access to the WIFI Mac Address on your mobile device.

Many companies apply mac filtering for giving access to mobile devices on their network. For the strangest thing in the newly released Microsoft Windows Phone 7 operating system you can get this mac address directly from the phone as a consumer. The hard way is to connect to a visible network and have an administrator look at the back end of this network to see who is connecting/disconnecting to determine which Mac Address is doing this.

Can you imagine this happening in a big company. Even if the network is visible you still need to give the network administrator your mac address to give you permission to be on that visible network.

A new quick solution has appeared in the Windows Phone 7 Answers forum for the Samsung Focus. I have tried it on mine, and it works like a charm.

Steps to discover your Mac Address on the LG Optimus 7 and the LG Quantum Windows Phone 7

1. Open up the dialer on your LG
2. type in ” ##634# “
3. in the MFG screen type in ” 277634#*# “
4. go to Engineer Menu
5. Open Device Test
6. Open WiFi Test
7. Open Net.Info and your Mac Address will be visible
8. Warning; Don’t change anything to the settings you will see in these menu’s as you can change thing that can damage your phone internally.

Previous how to’s for Windows Phone 7

• How to hard reset Windows Phone 7 – In the rare case that you would need to !
• How To Check your Battery Status on the Samsung Focus and Omnia 7
• How to easy find the Mac Address on the Samsung Focus and Omnia 7 Windows Phone 7
• How to do more with Windows Phone 7 Messaging
• How To Share Your Zune Pass Safely with a Family Member on Windows Phone 7 and Zune HD
• How to quickly Search People in Windows Phone 7 Peolpe Hub
• How To Change your Picture Tile Image and Picture Hub background on your Windows Phone 7
• How to access Marketplace for Windows Phone 7 (or Zune HD) from outside the USA
• How to add (Windows Phone Radio) podcast to your Zune HD or Windows Phone 7

Introduction

The HTC 7 Trophy (codename: Spark) is one of the five ! HTC Windows Phones 7 devices which are now available in many countries around the world. Together with the HTC Surround, HTC HD7, HTC Mozart and the soon to be released HTC Pro 7, the Trophy features the latest Windows Phone 7 Operating System from Microsoft. All of these five devices have their own unique features, where the HTC 7 Trophy has a strong emphasis for XBOX and gaming.  It shows some similarities with the HTC Mozart, but has a slightly bigger screen (3,8 inch vs. 3,7 inch), a totally different housing (where the Mozart is made of a single piece of anodized aluminum) and has a smaller image sensor (5 MegaPixel vs. 8 MegaPixel).

Apart from this, all HTC Windows Phone 7 devices feature almost the same hardware setup, where the only difference is the screen size, type of device (bar or with keyboard) and the image sensors. Now let’s have a look at how the HTC 7 Trophy is powered and what’s in the box.

The Youtube video below shows you a first look at the HTC 7 Trophy !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euBiGGdP7Zc

]]> http://www.mobilityminded.com/10500/htc-7-trophy-windows-phone-7-review/feed 7 http://www.mobilityminded.com/10866/how-to-turn-your-samsung-focus-and-omnia-7-windows-phone-7-into-a-wifi-hotspot http://www.mobilityminded.com/10866/how-to-turn-your-samsung-focus-and-omnia-7-windows-phone-7-into-a-wifi-hotspot#comments Mon, 15 Nov 2010 19:07:18 +0000 Johan van Mierlo http://www.mobilityminded.com/?p=10866

Earlier last week we found out that using the Samsung Diagnostics Toolon the  Samsung Windows Phone  7 devices you could tether your device to your laptop. But using this same method will also allow you to create a Wifi Hotspot using your Samsung Focus or Omnia 7 Windows Phone 7  device.

With thethering with the  Windows Phone 7 Samsung Focus and Omnia 7 uncovered last week made me go back in my draw and pull out my CradlePoint PHS-300. I used this personal Wifi hotspot 3G/4G for some earlier Windows Phone devices to create a reliable Wifi Hotspot.

Basically it used to be very simple. Connect your USB charging/data cable between your device and the CradlePoint and it would automatically send out a wifi using the data pipe line of your mobile device. However with the Samsung Windows Phone 7 you need to change some settings within the CradlePoint and activate your phone to USB Tethering.

Steps to create a Wifi Hotspot on your Samsung Windows Phone 7 using the Cradlepoint PHS-300

• Go to the Phone section (as if you were going to make a call)
• Enter ##634# and select “Call“

• It did not call anything.  There should now be a “Diagnosis” option on the top of your screen;
• Go to Diagnosis and a keypad comes up and enter *#7284# – This will bring up the Micro USB Test and Path Control.
• Select Modem, Tethered Call.

• The device will restart automatically and is ready for tethering.
• Use the same steps to go back an activate the Zune Sync after your are done with the tethering.
• The next step is to set up your Cradlepoint.
• Turn on the CradlePoint (preferably with power adapter attached)
• Use a laptop to make a connection with your CradlePoint.
• use your browser to connect to the Cradlepoint by typing in the ip address 192.168.0.1 in the address bar and hit enter.
• The CradlePoint dashboard will pop up and ask for your password. The default password are the last 6 keys of the CradlePoint mac address, located on your device.
• Now go to Modem-Settings and add the following information in the 3G Settings (see image)

• Select “Save Settings” on the top of your screen and the CradlePoint will restart and is ready to go as well.
• After the Cradlepoint is restarted just connect your USB charging/data cable in between the Samsung Windows Phone and the CradlePoint and after a small moment the Cradlepoint will show a little green light right next to the the little cellphone icon and you are ready to go.

Video showing the tethering

Specifications CradlePoint PHS-300

• Up to 150 feet of WiFi Range
• Connect up to 16 Devices
• Battery Powered For Portability
• Hours of WiFi with your 3G/4G Handset/Data Modem
• Secure Out Of The Box – You Choose Who Connects To Your WiFiTethers to select Smartphones or over 100 USB Modems for WiFi access anywhere you have coverage
• Compact Size You Can Take Anywhere
• Compliant with IEEE 802.11 b/g Standards
• Take it Anywhere with Rechargable, Replaceable Batteries and an Auto Power Adapter
• MSRP $179.99

Previous how to’s for Windows Phone 7

• How To Check your Battery Status on the Samsung Focus and Omnia 7
• How to easy find the Mac Address on the Samsung Focus and Omnia 7 Windows Phone 7
• How to do more with Windows Phone 7 Messaging
• How To Share Your Zune Pass Safely with a Family Member on Windows Phone 7 and Zune HD
• How to quickly Search People in Windows Phone 7 Peolpe Hub
• How To Change your Picture Tile Image and Picture Hub background on your Windows Phone 7
• How to access Marketplace for Windows Phone 7 (or Zune HD) from outside the USA
• How to add (Windows Phone Radio) podcast to your Zune HD or Windows Phone 7

How to’s, Windows Phone 7 core features, the Samsung Omnia 7 and the LG Optimus 7 have been reviewed on this website. However with the new Windows Phone 7 it is really hard to get the status of your battery. In all the settings you can’t find the percentage left on your battery. But with the Samsung Focus and the Omnia 7  there is now a better way to get this.

With the new Windows Phone 7 you only can see a little small battery meter when you slide down your finger from the top of your screen down. However with this little battery is hard to see where you really at with your battery. Two days ago we gave an article how to view your WIFI Mac Address on your Samsung Windows Phone devices using a build in Diagnostics Samsung tool.

Now we have found the code as well to check the status of your battery on the Samsung Focus and * #Omnia 7  Windows Phone 7.

Steps to check your battery level in percentage on your Samsung Focus and Omnia 7 Windows Phone’s

• Go to the Phone section (as if you were going to make a call)
• Enter ##634# and select “Call“

• It did not call anything.  There should now be a “Diagnosis” option on the top of your screen with a numeric keypad;
• On the Keypad you enter *#2*#

• The first screen will show you Battery Percentage on the bottom of the device

• Tapping the Windows logo will get you back to your home screen.

Tip:

Make a contact  named Samsung Diagnostics in your People Hub for quick and easy access to these diagnostics.

Samsung Diagnostics
Phone number: ##634#
Notes:
Mac Address *#1234#
Battery Status *#2*#
Test Brightness (bonus code) *#3*#

On my device I also have the Samsung Diagnostics show up in my app list as “Diagnosis”. This appeared after the first time I used it.

Video Demonstration

Previous how to’s for Windows Phone 7

• How to easy find the Mac Address on the Samsung Focus and Omnia 7 Windows Phone 7
• How to do more with Windows Phone 7 Messaging
• How To Share Your Zune Pass Safely with a Family Member on Windows Phone 7 and Zune HD
• How to quickly Search People in Windows Phone 7 Peolpe Hub
• How To Change your Picture Tile Image and Picture Hub background on your Windows Phone 7
• How to access Marketplace for Windows Phone 7 (or Zune HD) from outside the USA
• How to add (Windows Phone Radio) podcast to your Zune HD or Windows Phone 7 !