Not a Spotify fan? Then perhaps a Google Music client will suit your tastes a little better. Gooroovster has just shed its beta cocoon to reveal its new Windows Phone wings. Available on trial, the full app will set you back $3.99 and offers streaming access to your whole library, the usual collection of music player controls and the ability to refresh the 500 most recent additions to your library. Unfortunately, there doesn't appear to be any caching options -- so it's largely a Windows Phone-skinned copy of the web-based player, although it doesn't look all that official and you'll also need a Windows Phone device running the Mango upgrade. The typical Google Music provisos apply: check your data allowances and if you're out of US, you're (still) out of luck. That is, unless you know how to beat the system.

Windows Phone gets Gooroovster: streams Google Music whether it's official or not originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 18 Feb 2012 04:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Windows Phone Marketplace  | Email this | Comments

Microsoft on Thursday revealed new details about Windows on ARM (WOA) on the company’s development blog. Both Windows 8 for x86 PCs and WOA are still under development, however both will be available at the same time while delivering the same experience. Windows on ARM will come preloaded with Office 15 — which has been enhanced to support touch controls — and users will have access to Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote. To ensure that x86-based tablets and ARM-based devices are identical, WOA will feature a desktop mode, giving users access to the File Explorer, Internet Explorer 10 desktop and other Windows desktop features. Metro-style apps from the Windows Store will support both Windows on ARM and Windows for x86/64. WOA does not, however, support running, emulating or porting existing x86/64 desktop apps.

Read

Windows Phone 7.5 (Mango) currently offers support for 35 different languages, however Microsoft may be planning to add an additional 85 languages in the next Windows Phone Tango update. The new version of Windows Phone, codenamed Tango, is expected to better cater to emerging markets, which will help Microsoft and its Windows Phone partners expand the platform globally. WPSauce, the source of the rumor, said that Microsoft announced the added language support during an event in India where the company also noted that future Windows Phone updates will support C++. It remains unclear when the Redmond-based company plans to release Windows Phone Tango.

[Via Pocketnow]

Read

It doesn't sound like particularly shimmery compliment, but the best thing that I can say about Microsoft's Metro UI is that after over a year of using it in various iterations, it still feels new. Not like never-breached-my-eyeballs-before new, but new as in the promise of something better, something from the future. But it's here, and I'm touching it with Windows 8. And it's going to redefine how like a bajillion people are going to use their computer over the next couple of years. More »

HTC and Samsung are both preparing to announce new Windows Phone devices with 4G LTE support, and a few details on the phones were leaked Thursday. HTC’s device is currently codenamed “Radiant” while Samsung’s is codenamed “Mandel,” The Verge said. Both phones will reportedly run an “early build” of Windows Phone Tango that offers full support for LTE, a connectivity option that Windows Phone 7.5 (Mango) does not support. The Samsung Mandel will allegedly have a screen that’s even larger than the 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Plus display on the Focus S, but its exact dimensions are still unknown. Verizon Wireless has only ever offered a single Windows Phone device to date, so it’s possible that these phones could fill out its Windows Phone portfolio. We wouldn’t be surprised if at least one of them lands on AT&T’s shelves, though, which have been more welcoming to Microsoft’s mobile platform. It’s possible we will hear more information during this year’s Consumer Electronics Show next month, since The Verge says both phones should land early next year.

Read

Microsoft’s Windows Phone Marketplace is reportedly now home to more than 50,000 applications. That’s a relatively small figure taking into consideration that Apple’s iTunes App Store now boasts more than 500,000 apps and the Android Market is estimated to offer almost as many. However, it is double the amount of applications that were available just five months ago, in July, when the Windows Phone Marketplace only offered 25,000 apps. All About Windows Phone, which first reported the milestone and went into great detail showing the app spread, said 17,276 new Windows Phone applications were published in the last 90 days while 8,010 apps were added in the last 30 days. The site also noted that entertainment is the most popular category, with 15% of all Windows Phone applications falling into that group. The entertainment category is followed by books and reference (14%), games (14%) and tools and productivity (15%). All About Windows Phone also estimates that 58% of the apps in the store are free, 14% are paid but come with a free trial and 29% are pay-for only.

Read

Windows 8 is coming and it's going to make all your wildest dreams come true. OK, that might not be wholly accurate, but at least Microsoft is hoping it'll shake things up in the world of computing. One of the new additions will be a Windows Store, which was shown off at a preview event yesterday. It'll be the place to grab Metro-style apps, games and content. More »

We flew all the way to London and crashed on a friend's couch just to tell you all about the new hotness from Nokia. Nokia? Huh? Why? Because this is important: Windows Phone has long been a legit competitor in need of some sexy hardware. More »

Microsoft general manager Eric Hautala wrote a blog post on Microsoft’s official Windows Team Blog on Wednesday in which he confirmed the Windows Phone Mango update will begin rolling out to devices “in the next week or two.” Hautala said Microsoft has been making solid progress on the update and advised any Windows Phone users not to install unofficial or leaked copies of Mango. “During the official Windows Phone 7.5 update process, every Windows Phone will also receive software from the handset manufacturer,” Hautala explained. “This matched and paired firmware has been painstakingly tuned so your phone—and apps—work with all the new features of Windows Phone 7.5.” HTC recently unveiled the Titan and Radar, two of the first Windows Phone Mango devices, and we are expecting fresh phones from Samsung, LG and Nokia in the coming months, too.

Read

Microsoft’s Bing team took the wraps off of a new location-sharing application for Windows Phone on Thursday called “We’re in.” The application is similar to foursquare and Latitude in some respects, and yet still very different. The idea is simple: you can create an invitation that will allow your friends to share their location for a specified amount of time. Say, for example, you want to share your location and see where four of your friends are, for one hour, while you all head towards a local restaurant. You can create a quick event with “We’re in” and then send it to those friends. Once they accept, their pictures and locations will appear on Bing Maps. If you hit traffic or the train is late, you and your friends can update your status as you make your way to the restaurant. Unlike Latitude, which some people avoid for fear of location privacy issues, you can always leave the party. Better yet, when the allotted time is up, your location is automatically turned off. The application is available in the Zune Marketplace now and Microsoft says it plans on delivering it to other platforms soon, too.

Read

If you live in Seattle and use a Windows Phone 7 handset, you're one of about 40,000 people that can take advantage of Amazon's new AmazonFresh mobile application [Windows Marketplace]. More »

Microsoft’s new Windows Phone Mango update is expected to begin rolling out this fall, but there are already reports that the company is working on the next updates, codenamed “Tango” and “Apollo.” DigiTimes reported on Tuesday that Compal Communications, which manufacturers devices for Acer and Nokia, recently inked a Microsoft deal confirming that it will build devices for Mango as well as the next-generation Tango update. Microsoft hasn’t discussed Tango yet, so it’s unclear what will be included or how big of a jump it will be from the long awaited Mango release. Reportedly, Tango will then be phased out in favor of a new “Apollo” OS, which we first heard about late last year.

Read

According to industry insider Eldar Murtazin, Microsoft has struck a deal to purchase Nokia’s mobile phone business for $19 billion. Just two weeks ago, Murtazin — who has a proven track record — suggested that Microsoft and Nokia were about to enter closed-door meetings to negotiate a possible purchase that could close sometime before the end of this year. It could make sense: Nokia’s CEO is former Microsoft executive Stephen Elop, and the two companies have already reached a deal to create new Windows Phone devices, a dozen of which are expected to launch next year. We’ll have to see how this pans out, but a Nokia spokesperson had already addressed Murtazin’s earlier claims, saying “Eldar’s rumors are getting obviously less accurate with every passing moment.”

Thanks, Johnny

Read

During Microsoft’s Windows Phone Mango press conference in New York today, the company confirmed that Nokia’s first Windows Phone devices will run the newest Mango operating system when they’re released. That suggests that the phones could land as soon as this fall, when Mango makes its debut. Microsoft also confirmed that it already has Nokia prototype devices running in its labs today. Other new partners include Fujitsu, Acer, and ZTE, and Microsoft said that we can expect new Windows Phones from Samsung, HTC, and LG as well.

It finally looks like the first round of Windows Phone 7-powered devices unveiled last year will be getting some company soon. CTIA should finally bring us some new Windows Phones when it kicks off next week, and we may now be seeing preliminary details leak out as the show draws near. The full touchscreen HTC Ignite broke cover earlier and now we catch a glimpse of its cousin, the HTC Prime. According to an unconfirmed report, the Prime features a 3.7-inch WVGA touchscreen, 512MB of RAM, a 5-megapixel camera and a slide-out QWERTY keypad. The phone looks sleek and stylish, and it should be a welcome addition to the Windows Phone 7 family. We’ll be on the look out for it at CTIA, where we’ll be on hand to cover all the latest devices as they’re unveiled.

[Via pocketnow.com]

Read

CTIA vice president Rob Mesirow said on Thursday that a “significant” new tablet will be unveiled at the annual CTIA trade show later this month. The show will be packed full of tablets — just like this year’s CES — as we all expected. “Tablets are just an extension. We’ll start seeing a lot of extension devices. It’s probably no accident that most of the new phones coming out will be able to tether 5-7 products to that phone,” Mesirow told PC Magazine in an interview. “We’re going to see a ton of tablets at this show.” Unlike CES, however, it also looks like we might finally see a new round of Windows Phone 7 devices announced at CTIA. “We’re going to see a lot more out of Windows Phone 7 at this show, but it’ll be moving into the fall show in a much bigger way,” the CTIA exec noted. But Android will still be the belle of the ball, of course. “Android, Android, Android,” Mesirow said when asked what the predominant smartphone platform at CTIA might be.

Read

There's so much going on in this new Windows 7 ad that I'm still haven't decided how I feel about it yet. Whimsical animation! Avatar played with PC Na'vi! A Mac in desperate need of ginger ale! Actually, it's great. More »