Facebook to launch in-browser video chat powered by Skype?

Posted By Ray Nicolini

Microsoft's $8.5 billion acquisition of Skype hasn't closed yet, but it looks like Redmond is already working behind the scenes to make the service even more ubiquitous. According to an anonymous source interviewed by TechCrunch, Facebook is going to introduce video chat next week, and that service will be powered by none other than Skype. And while the service will be browser-based, it's also said to include a desktop component. We'd say none of that sounds too fantastical -- video calls would be a logical extension of Facebook chat, and let's not forget about the $240 million Microsoft invested in the site back in 2007. What's more, Facebook sent out invites for an event next week, where Mark Zuckerberg was clear the outfit would unveil a new product from its Seattle team. That's in Microsoft's backyard, of course, the invites themselves have chat icons on 'em, and, most tellingly, that Seattle office has been snapping up engineers specializing in desktop software. All told, that adds up to a likely true story to us, but we won't know for sure until the long, beachy weekend is through.

TechCrunch

Samsung Focus WP7 Review

By Ray Nicolini

The Samsung Focus. It’s a phone’s phone. That’s partly thanks to Windows Phone 7. The Microsoft operating system makes it a proper calling device first, apps secondary, and that’s refreshing compared to app-filled screens from competing phone makers. Instead, we just buy and play apps, sent emails and text messages, and only on rare occasion listen to voicemail from our mothers. Someone in Redmond must have remembered why it’s called a cellphone. Add a smart OS to brilliantly designed hardware, and you have a clear winner.
Windows Phone 7, however, is not the highlight of this review. Samsung’s Focus is, which we took a first look at awhile back. I can safely say that it can replace my iPhone and I wouldn’t look back. In fact, that’s exactly what I did…for a month, and then some. And I haven’t looked back since.

As a product reviewer, I switch phones regularly. It’s part of the job. I personally own an iPhone, which I purchased like everyone else in the Apple store. Even when I’m testing a phone, I still bring my iPhone along, because it stores all of my data, music and apps. I bring it along even if I take out the SIM card to use my AT&T service for the phone being tested.
With the Samsung Focus, I did just that. I used my own SIM card (the Focus is available through AT&T), and after 3 days forgot entirely about my iPhone. As a side note, I use an iPod Touch and iPad regularly as well, so apps were never an issue. More importantly, I didn’t miss my iPhone. The Samsung Focus was – and is – an absolute pleasure to use.
The Samsung Focus is very similar to the Galaxy S phones (like the Fascinate and Epic 4G, which we reviewed) in both shape and design. As you read in my first impressions, the biggest difference between the devices is the Focus has a fat, rounded bottom, and of course runs on Windows instead of Android. Otherwise, if you painted a Galaxy S logo on the Focus, it would fit right into that exclusive club. Windows Phone 7, however, puts the Focus in a different class entirely.
However, for this review we will concentrate on the device specifically. The design is sleek for a 4” display. It feels good in the hand, both to hold for calls upright and horizontally when watching recorded video or taking pictures. The glossy phone is easy to grip, and I’ve never had a slip or drop because of slick fingers. Buttons are well placed and tactile. There have been some complaints about the power/standby button being placed on the right side instead of the top, but I’ve found it easy to adjust to, and more convenient than a top button for a phone of this size.

The HTC HD7 beside the Samsung Focus, from left to right

Even removing the battery panel reveals a very clean design, a testament to Samsung’s swift change to its design philosophy. Unfortunately, even now, the micro-SD slot for upgradeable memory is still not functional. Interested buyers can take comfort in knowing that the Focus comes with 8GB of onboard memory, which is still leaps and bounds ahead of most smartphones. Still, it’s pathetic that after all this time there is still no fix for the flagship Windows Phone 7 device.
The curvature and contoured design is unique, and even after a month I still haven’t adjusted to it. The bottom bulk makes it more difficult to put in and take out of the pants pocket. That girth simultaneously helps support the device, which is presumably top-heavy without the thick bottom. The overall design is very pleasant to use with either hand, with both hands, and for phone calls.
Some stipulation about poor battery life is only partially true. A recent glitch did cause some less than stellar battery performance, but in my testing the Focus lasted as long as most smartphones these days last, a full day with a little extra. Under moderate use, it’ll last a day and a half, though if you’re on the phone constantly, it won’t last the day. Low battery life is partially due to WP7′s very bright design. The screen often displays bright colors, which undoubtedly wears the battery down. This is also why the main screen uses a black background, though the wonderful design is worth spending a little extra battery life on.

The HD7 and Focus, sitting atop the Samsung Galaxy Tablet. The Focus is by far the sleekest device.

Windows Phone 7 devices use a 3-button structure for navigating menus (compared to the 4-buttons on Android and 1-button on iOS), the Focus has very responsive buttons and the display is equally quick. This is no surprise considering Samsung’s proficiency with recent screen tech, though it is worth noting that the Fascinate and Epic 4G both seemed to have less accurate displays for touch sensitivity, which I thought was due to the software. The Focus, using the same SuperAMOLED display as both Android phones, has no such problem, because Windows is more accurate in reading touches.
Typing, however, isn’t as fast as it can be. Either the OS or the hardware isn’t fast enough to accept quick successive presses. After writing a sentence or two in quick succession the keyboard will lock up as though trying to catch up, and after a moment unfreeze. This nuisance is particularly frustrating when using the included Office applications. Otherwise, touch sensitivity is on par with the iPhone, and the inclusion of suggested words (where the phone displays words you may want to use immediately above the keyboard) speeds up typing dramatically. It marries the two best features of the iOS and Android keyboards.
Synchronizing the Focus is easier than syncing an iPhone. All it requires is Zune software (which is already superior to iTunes), and within 30 seconds of the first connection Zune will recognize the phone and will start media transfers and backup. The whole system is snappy and convenient, and unlike iTunes with the iPhone, fast. The Focus isn’t placed in a sync mode and can be used while syncing, though access to data is limited. For instance, you cannot listen to music when connected. Pictures are immediately backed up, and whatever automatic settings users put in place occur instantly, and quickly. Even when filling up the 8GBs of memory, I didn’t have to wait more than five minutes.

Pictures taken on the Focus look magnificent, especially on the gorgeous SuperAMOLED screen

Once again as expected, the screen is gorgeous. Video looks divine, and the very clean, high-contrast design of Windows Phone 7 makes the display look even better, OLED’s specialty. In many respects, the Focus looks almost as good, detail-wise, as the iPhone 4. However, the SuperAMOLED suffers under direct and indirect sunlight and isn’t comfortable to use outdoors. The brighter your surroundings are, the more difficult the screen is to view.
The camera on the Focus is superb. Several shots I took at the beach are just incredible, better than some taken with my Nikon D7000. You can see a few samples below. Video is also good, but not great. The Focus includes a large number of photography options, from setting the white balance, the image effects, relative contrast (from very low to very high), light saturation, sharpness, EV, wide dynamic range, and even the ISO settings. There are so many options that I could spend another month just testing the camera, which in itself is incredible.

  Click to see full-size images. Caution: they are 5MP each, but less than 2MB each.

Of course, the camera does have its limitations. The LED backlight tends to wash objects and flesh tones out, and the extremes in the settings are mostly for more professional photographers, not basic shooters. There is no option for easy versus full settings, which would be a good addition for anyone who just wants to take a good picture and have their phone figure out the rest. That said, people with more photography experience will surely get both a kick out of the Focus, as well as take some great shots with it.
Another great feature is the option to automatically upload pictures to a SkyDrive account, for free. That way, pictures taken are automatically backed up online. While I haven’t yet found a need for this feature, it should prove convenient with extended use considering how rarely most of us actually connect our phones to our computers. And the feature is even more valuable considering how good the camera on the Focus is.
The Samsung Focus is an excellent phone. There’s no question why it’s Microsoft’s flagship device for their new mobile OS. The Focus has everything a high-end phone today needs: great hardware, excellent software, and most importantly, they work well together. For app junkies, the WP7 app marketplace is barren, but anyone who wants a phone first, app player second, will be very pleased with the Focus. Combine that with a great camera, easy synchronization and plenty of customization, and both Samsung and Microsoft have a real winner.
The Samsung Focus is available on Rogers for $49.99 after a 3-year contract signing.

Via GadgetReview.com

Is Windows Phone 7 for me?

By Ray Nicolini

via Mobilesyrup.com

This is the first part of an ongoing series delving into which smartphone OS is for you? Already an iPhone user? Obsessed with your BlackBerry? Need your Android fix? Read on for a taste of them all, and maybe you’ll learn whether…

Is WP7 Right For Me?

A Brief History
Windows Phone 7 was released in late 2010 after much anticipation. A stark re-imagining of the mobile operating system, and a departure from the Windows Mobile that had become obsolete since the emergence of capacitive touchscreen mobile OS’s like iOS and Android, WP7 is all about simplicity. Microsoft realized that they needed to be a player in the burgeoning, and highly profitable, smartphone market, and forged relationships with many of the vendors that created great Windows Mobile devices, including HTC, LG, and Samsung, though HTC is probably the most successful manufacturer to augment and make successful the Windows Phone platform.

Now, unlike Windows Mobile, manufacturers don’t have a lot of leeway when it comes to producing WP7 phones. All devices must have some seriously high-end specs to meet Microsoft’s vendor criteria, and that includes a dedicated camera button and the same three hardware buttons: Back, Windows, Search.

The minimum specs are:
- 1Ghz Snapdragon processor with dedicated GPU
- 512MB RAM
- 5MP camera with flash and dedicated camera button
- 720p video capture
- 480×800 pixel LCD screen, multitouch compatible

What is WP7?
Windows Phone 7 is a smartphone operating system. That much be addressed right away. It is meant to compete with Apple’s iOS, Google’s Android, HP’s webOS. But, does it? At least in its current 1.0 form? In most ways, no. In some ways, yes, and in a few key aspects surpasses them all.

Initially, once you’ve swiped up on a very minimal, attractive unlock screen, you’re greeted with a number of square tiles. Seemingly alive, these tiles are able to display myriad types of information, from the current weather conditions to a reminder note to rotating pictures of your contacts. The more developers that take advantage of the Live Tile system, the more “alive” your home screen will be.

At this point, however, there are few developers taking advantage of this feature. Tiles are conduits to apps, either native or downloaded from the growing Marketplace. To swipe to the right from this screen reveals your vertical list of installed applications. Swiping is your key ingredient to enjoying WP7, and you’ll either appreciate its smooth simplicity, or curse it for the same. For me, it strikes a nice balance between the static, almost cold nature of the iPhone home screen (though it’s without the mature customization potential of folders) and the DIY widget-focused nature of Android.

The operating system, for the most part, performs beautifully. Screens scroll horizontally and vertically without a hint of lag; this should be consistent on all currently-released WP7 phones, since all share the same processor in the Qualcomm 1Ghz Snapdragon. Pressing on an app gives you a nice card-dealing animation, too. Displaying flat white or black text on a contrasting background, the majority of interaction is done by either swiping horizontally against a list of items. The Metro UI is consistently attractive.

App performance is hit and miss. Native ones like the Messaging and Mail applications start up and scroll effortlessly, like they’re hardly breaking a sweat. Twitter clients like Seesmic, or the native Facebook app, stutter and sometimes don’t respond to touch inputs for seconds at a time while you wait for some unknown frozen process to complete. The effect is to frustrate and often bewilder.

The operating system was designed, like the first three generations of iOS, to run only one application at a time. This means that when you’re listening to Slacker Radio, for instance, and receive a toast notification for a SMS (more of that in a second), switching to the message will end the process and the music. Microsoft understands it is late enough to the game to essentially write it off completely, but even minimal support for third-party multitasking would have been a huge selling feature at launch. We know that it’s possible for things to run in the background, as the Zune music player can play while you’re in third-party applications, and email/Facebook can be synced, so let’s hold out hope for 2.0.
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As mentioned, toast notifications are Microsoft’s compromise between iOS’ invasive and rather crude pop-up and Android’s utilitarian sliding bar. Upon being triggered the message appears for several seconds at the top of the screen. Touching it will activate the application that the toast is from. Once finished, you can press the “back” button to return to the app you were in, usually in the same state you left it. This is about as “multi” as your tasking will get in WP7, and turn-around is pretty quick, but it doesn’t hold a candle to Android or even iOS4.

Apps also take a while to load, and when you leave one to, say, answer an email or SMS, they often take up to ten seconds to resume. If you’re a patient person, the process itself is simple and effective enough to overcome the frustration of waiting. Worse, however, is when you lock the phone, only to have to spend ten second “resuming” before you’re back where you were. Microsoft needs to implement a save state mechanism to prevent this from happening.

At this point, though, there is an impending update slated for mid-to-late March, 2011, that is supposed to be bringing copy-paste support to the WP7 platform, as well as much faster app launching and resuming. We will report on the improvements when it becomes available.

Native Apps
No one does Exchange better than Microsoft, and its implementation really shines here. Adding and synchronizing with an email account is as simple as entering your Google, Yahoo, Live or Exchange credentials and watching the magic happen. I use Google for my email, calendar and contacts, and once synchronized, your contacts are accessible throughout the OS. Further, there is native deep Facebook integration, allowing you to associated existing contacts with your Facebook friends and their pictures, phone numbers and personal info.

The People tile sits next to the Phone tile and its power really is a testament to restrained simplicity. All contacts are accessible via an alphabetical grid, or by search. From there you can call, text, email, or write on their Facebook Wall. Facebook updates, once configured, are available in the What’s New portion of the People screen. Swiping to the right again, below the monolithic title word (all titles are displayed in large text on the top of every screen and are slightly cut off to allow for the effect of movement) finds the Recent tab, where all your latest personal updates are displayed.

The native email app is similarly robust. With an excellent virtual keyboard that rivals any currently on themarket, touch-typing is accurate and satisfying. Email is generally customizable, though the lack of support for Gmail labels and conversation view is disappointing. Mail can be sorted into Unread/Flagged/Urgent and IMAP/Exchange folder hierarchy is honoured. WP7 also supports push for services that have it, such as Gmail and Hotmail.

The calendar integrates well with Exchange/Gmail and supports Day/Week/Month or Agenda view. Updates made on the device are synced, too, with the web. The lock screen and live tile are updated to show the upcoming appointment, a very helpful inclusion.

The Zune media player will be familiar to anyone who has used the popular device. I’d argue that the Zune Desktop software is much more attractive than iTunes, though in Canada we are limited to local music and podcast transfer – purchasing/Zune Passport support is not available. What is available is offered in an intuitive package that recognizes your phone independent from any other WP7 phone.

Once on the device, music can be played in the background while surfing the web or when in your favourite app, and the quality of the HD7 is excellent, both with and without headphones. The device supports MP3/WAV/WMA/eAAC+ for audio and MP4/WMV/H.264/H.263 for video. Your DivX/custom MKV files likely won’t play, but we’ll see whether Microsoft allows for third-party apps to support these codecs in the future.

The audio and video experience is fantastic on WP7, especially on a large screen device such as the HD7 or Venue Pro. Album art is prominently displayed, and navigation is intuitive and smooth. If you wish to pause the song when out of the app, controls are available when swiping the top of your screen, revealing your connectivity and battery information as well as, when playing, the ability to pause and skip songs. Very cool.

Bing Search is integrated into the OS, and is one of the more complete features available. At any time you can press the hardware search button and it will take you to a basic Bing text input. As with the desktop, Microsoft provides a new, interesting background picture along with its austere text input, and it works even better on a mobile device. Search includes both local and web-based content, you can search your friend’s number or the local pizza shop.

Holding down the Windows button for a few seconds will result in a voice input prompt. As with search, this can be used to, say, “Call Jenny, mobile,” or “Search pizza, Toronto.” The recognition is fairly accurate. Coupled with the excellent and reliable Bluetooth connectivity, and it’s the best way to call home in the car or search on the go. Kudos.

Bing Maps also gracefully took the Silverlight plunge into mobile, and though turn-by-turn navigation is not yet available, the text-based directions are accurate, and performance is silky smooth.

Heading to the browser, WP7 uses an optimized version of Internet Explorer 7. What this means is that browsing is fast and desktop pages are rendered accurately. Pinch-to-zoom is buttery smooth. Six tabs are available at any time, though they are accessible via a button on the bottom right of the app, and are more windows than tabs. Turning the phone to landscape mode will eliminate any controls and allow for a great full-screen browsing experience, though there is no way to get to the address bar when in landscape mode.

The browser is fast, but it’s also based on dated code, and supports no HTML5. That means that most mobile pages designed for WebKit devices like iPhone or Android will not display correctly. You’ll be waiting longer for the desktop version to render, but when it does, text usually re-aligns perfectly and will adjust when zooming in and out.

Text on WP7, and especially in the browser, is gorgeous. Microsoft is using these high resolution screens to their fullest potential, and I’ve found the fonts to be eminently readable. The same text on the same resolution screen on WP7 and Android appears sharper and more readable on the former. Kudos.

Third-Party Apps
The Windows Phone Marketplace is growing at a quick clip, and the number of quality apps is increasing, too. Namestays like Facebook, Twitter, Netflix, Seesmic, Foursquare, are all there, and have been since its October launch. Independent developers, too, are taking advantage of their Windows Visual Studio and Silverlight experience to get their hands dirty. Microsoft boasts there are over a hundred thousands registered WP7 developers, and with 9000 apps in six months, the Marketplace is growing faster than any app store in history. Some of the best apps I’ve download so far, like Wonder Reader, an RSS app, and OMG, a fun space shooter, have been created by individuals but due to the robust development tools, stink of a professional studio.

Not all is roses in the Marketplace, however. Microsoft has received a lot of heat for holding up app updates for arbitrary reasons, sometimes forcing the developer to re-release it with a different name to get around the unexplained delays.

App prices, too, are extremely high. Tetris, a $2.99 game in the Apple App Store is an extravagant $5.49 in the Canadian WP7 Marketplace, and prices seem to be similarly exorbitant for apps, too. This occurred with the Android Market in its beginning, but almost six months later, WP7 apps still seem extremely overpriced.

One of the nicest features about the app ecosystem on WP7 is the ability to try before you buy. Developers can set feature- or time-limits to apps, or include ads in the free version which will disappear once purchased, without forcing the user to download a Lite version. This is a definite stepping stone to devs making more money from their apps, as buying a trial app becomes merely a one-click process.
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Is WP7 for You?
I have inundated you with a lot of information about the Windows Phone world, and I wouldn’t have done that unless I truly believed in its potential. Currently limited in many ways, Windows Phone should be receiving two important updates in 2011.

The first is coming within a month, and will include basic copy-paste functionality, as well as faster loading times for apps. That ticks off two initial problems I have with the ecosystem.

Further down the line an update should bring further performance improvements, multitasking, as well as updating the browser to support HTML5 and other modern coding standards. Microsoft has assured users that the updates will not be carrier-dependant, avoiding the often-crippling problem of providers needing to update, and therefore tweak, Android updates, delaying them for months.

Since the broad partnership with Nokia that was announced earlier last month, a couple things have become clear. Microsoft and WP7 is not going anywhere. They are pumping millions of dollars into advertising and are paying developers to create apps to fill the Marketplace with quality. Nokia, the world’s (current) largest handset maker, seems to have enough confidence in Microsoft’s ability to compete (or are without tenable alternatives) that they are going to be putting WP7 on every high-end smartphone by the end of next year. What that means for HTC and Microsoft’s other partners is unknown.

The advertising would make you believe that WP7 is for people who want to use their smartphone as little as possible, since all pertinent information is right there at your fingertips. I find this to be disingenuous, as Android is far better suited to this as it supports widgets.

Currently, WP7 is for people who yearn for the smooth simplicity of the iOS ecosystem without the Apple narrative. It’s for those who want diversity in their handset choice and for business users who want extensive Exchange integration. It’s for gamers, since the XBox Live integration is fantastic. It’s for the young texter who needs a quality virtual keyboard with an intelligent notification system and gorgeous UI. It’s for the Facebook lover who wants all their friends’ info integrated right into the OS.

WP7 does a lot of things well, and will continue to improve. In its current form it has no shot of competing with Android or iOS in terms of volume, but at the very least, every person I’ve shown a WP7 phone says two things: it’s incredibly smooth and it’s incredibly sexy. I’ll add that it’s fast, too.

Whether these things will be enough to convert you from your current smartphone OS of choice remains to be seen, but you certainly can’t knock Microsoft for trying.