Initial rumors of the WP 7.8 update had it on retail devices in December, then others in the first quarter of 2013.  Well, if you’ve been around a while (and if you’re reading us, you probably have), then you’ll not be surprised when I say that it looks like the folks at XDA couldn’t wait.

According to winsyde.com, getting it from WMPoweruser, 7.8 may start popping up this coming Wednesday, November 28th.  But if that doesn’t happen, and you’re willing to flash your device, you can head over to this post at Winsyde and see if your device is listed as cracked into, and go check out the directions. (Naturally, my Surround isn’t listed. But that’s another story that has a new beginning.)

I admit: it’s been over 2 years since I flashed a device (TouchPro – I was an EnergyROM addict) and I actually like not HAVING to, but I might miss (a little) WANTING to.

We’ve probably all heard the rumors by now that all we’ll be getting with Windows Phone 7.8 is a new Start Screen.  While that Start Screen is pretty sweet, that’s a very, very small bone that MS is throwing to us.  If you feel that they should be able to push us more of the hardware-independent features of Windows Phone 8, perhaps you’d like to check out this petition, brought to Microsoft by Simon Luk, an/the administrator of WeLoveWP.HK.

Myself, if they will not push more than the Start Screen, that’s one thing; but if they CAN NOT, they need to tell us WHY.  The problem with silence is it makes a very large vacuum, and vacuums get filled with rumors, many of which have absolutely NO basis in fact and are simply speculation.  MS can silence these with a few words.  That’s the least that they can give to those of us who hung in through Windows Mobile, then Windows Phone, and are still fans.

The petition text follows:

Bring new features of WP8 that can be supported by WP7.5 hardware to WP7.8!

20th June, 2012 has been one of the darkest days in the history of Windows Phone.

On 20th June, 2012, Microsoft announced Windows Phone 8, the next generation Windows Phone platform. At the same time, Microsoft broke the bad news to existing Windows Phone users – WP8 will not be available for existing WP devices to upgrade. Instead, Microsoft showed their “commitment” to current WP users by delivering WP7.8, which is just basically WP7.5 with the whole new Start Screen of WP8.

Are current users satisfied? Furious WP users are shouting in the Internet. Microsoft, what do you think?

Microsoft, you might think that the existing WP user base is just so small, so you can dumb us anytime you think it’s appropriate. You might think making current WP users angry is no big deal because WP8 must make a huge success, attracting all the consumers to buy your devices. Please, Microsoft, stop and think. Who are the existing WP users? We, the current WP users, are your loyal customers and fans. What you are doing with WP7.8 – barely adding a new Start Screen – is just an insult to us.

Being WP fans, we know that WP8 needs a new kernel. We absolutely understand the fact that our existing devices cannot get WP8 due to huge work for kernel and drivers re-writing. On the new kernel for WP8, we, WP fans, are totally on your side. I am sure most of the existing users, who wish WP having a better future, can accept the fact that WP8 apps cannot be supported in WP7.8 due to kernel incompatibility issues. However, it does not mean that it justifies for WP7.8 just having the new Start Screen of WP8.

Although they are still not officially announced, many features of WP8, including IE10, Skydrive Integration, Xbox Music & Video, DataSmart, whole-new range of languages and IME supports, etc, have been revealed by different parties. Many existing WP users will love to have these new features on their WP7.8 devices. We believe that some of the above features do not require high grade hardware. Indeed, Microsoft, we can assure you that you will **** most if not all WP users off, if you deliberately leave these “upgradable” features off from our WP7.8 devices.

We are your loyal WP supporters. We were always happy to introduce our friends to buy WP7.5 devices. Provided that WP7.8 only brings the new Start Screen without other new features from WP8 which are supported by existing hardware, we just cannot help but tell our dear friends – Do not buy a WP. Word of mouth is of paramount importance in selling smartphones. Please do not embarrass us and yourself. Act quickly and give confidence to the existing WP users; and we will let the whole world know WP is always worth buying.

Microsoft, please bring new features of WP8 that are supported by existing WP7.5 hardware to WP7.8. Do not let your loyal WP fans down.

Simon Luk
Administrator
WeLoveWP.HK

Do you agree?

Papa Joe is a cute little game that has good reviews so far.  It can be found at the Marketplace here, and sells for $3.49.  It has a free trial option.

When the TV-network in a small desert village is overtaken by a bunch of mysterious antennas, an unlikely hero must rise. Who built the antennas? And why are they brainwashing the people with beauty shows? Take control of Papa Joe in this epic sneak’em up and prove that beauty is inside all of us.

Play in full 3D graphics!
Challenge 32 stages divided into four chapters!
Sneak past tons of enemies by using tricks!
Destroy the antennas!
Collect trophys on each stage!

glƏƏk! has received an update (I got mine this evening), to version 1.9.  My Timeline seems to be loading faster, and you can see other Outsiders’ (the new name for …I’m A WP7!) Outsider profiles as well as their Gamertag profiles.  (I haven’t seen mine because my husband uses Twit.  But I have looked at others’ profiles, and that’s kind of cool.)    glƏƏk! can be found in the Marketplace here, and sells for $1.99.  There is a free trial option.

Get the coolest, fastest Twitter client available for Windows Phone!

lƏƏk! is the not only the most fully featured Twitter client on the Marketplace, but is also the ONLY app that will bring you random tweets (pƏƏks) from users around the world!

What’s New in v1.9
————
- Profile integration with Outsider for Windows Phone!
- Pin “Retweets of Me” for fast access
- Auto-tags in Tweet Compose
- More Extras, like “Who Not to Follow”
- More fixes/features!

I discovered the free, ad-supported version of Dragon’s Blade a few weeks ago.  It’s very much in the old-school RPG mold, and I’ve really had a lot of fun with it.  But at $6.99, the regular version was just too much for a phone game.  (Wow – how we’ve become used to $0.99, $1.99, $2.99!)  It’s been knocked down to $0.99!!  We have no idea how long that price will stick around, so if you like the old-school, walk around and get attacked by random bands of monsters, RPG, go get this sucker NOW!

Dragon’s Blade is a turn-based, top-down RPG exclusively for Windows Phone. If you enjoyed Final Fantasy, Dragon Warrior, Zelda, and other classic console RPGs of the 80′s and 90′s, you’ll love Dragon’s Blade. Create your custom party from 7 classes including Warrior, Templar, Thief, Juggernaut, Archer, Sorcerer, and Cleric. Explore a colorful and mysterious world, craw through dungeons, cast spells, discover thousands of items, battle unforgiving bosses, and enjoy the company of other players as you progress through more than 50 hours of game play. With the addition of online play, Dragon’s Blade features an optional online mode that allows you to chat and interact with other players in the world.

You can get it in the Marketplace here.  The free version is here.

The leader in streaming Anime and Asian content opens Windows Phone App to all viewers.

San Francisco, Calif. (May 30, 2012) – Crunchyroll, Inc., the leading Anime streaming service, has released a major update of the Crunchyroll application on the Windows Phone Marketplace. Previously only available to premium users, the latest version of the application adds free ad-supported streaming of all shows to the already existing features for premium users. More information can be found at www.crunchyroll.com.

Now, all Crunchyroll viewers throughout most of the world can stream the latest Anime titles on their mobile devices running Windows Phone 7.5 such as the HTC 7 series, the HTC Titan, the Nokia Lumia Series, and the Samsung Omnia W. Spanish viewers can also use the application in Spanish and watch titles with Spanish subtitles.

The updated application can be downloaded from the Windows Phone Marketplace (http://got.cr/app-on-wp7) worldwide except in China and the Middle East. Like on the site itself, viewers can enjoy Crunchyroll‘s library of anime for free, supported by ads. Viewers can also upgrade to a premium membership and enjoy over 30 simulcast titles with subtitles including NARUTO SHIPPUDEN, Hunter X Hunter, KIDS ON THE SLOPE, MEDAKA BOX, and SPACE BROTHERS immediately following Japanese broadcast, as well as their favorite catalog shows with no ads.

Episodes can also be accessed from Crunchyroll.com, the free iPad and iPhone application, the Android application, Google TV, Roku, Boxee, Vizio VIA, WD TV Live and additional set-top channels, and affiliate partners.
Crunchyroll premium members will have access to the largest anime selection, same-day access for simulcasted titles, no advertisements and can be viewed in 480p-to-1080p quality on selected titles. More information about the Crunchyroll membership plan can be found at: www.crunchyroll.com/freetrial/

If version 1.8, rolling out today, is in your region, and for whatever reason (financial, your country’s Marketplace restrictions) you can’t throw the developer the purchase price, you can unlock the full functionality of glƏƏk! for free with a special hashtag (numbers of unlocks may be limited).

The developer, Liquid Daffodil, is celebrating 500,000 downloads with a special “magic hashtag” that will allow trial users to unlock the full functionality of glƏƏk!   I’ve been using glƏƏk! for a while now, and while I still have a few niggling problems, overall I love it.  The color-coding of people in your Timeline is especially AWESOME – I can see a “category” of a person at a glance.

The special hashtag (which may change at any time?) today is #wpcentralrocks.  Future codes will be posted to the glƏƏk! Twitter account, @gleekthis.

This developer is Insanely Helpful, and listens to the users (I got some functionality I missed inserted in an earlier release by requesting it).  If at a later date, you can afford/are able to click the “buy” to contribute to the Awesomeness, please do so!

OI!!  Where’s #mobilitydigestrocks?!

Edit: Okay, because of the time it takes updates to show up in the Marketplace, the devloper is extending the magic hashtag of #wpcentralrocks through 5/16 and 5/17.  On 5/18 at midnight Canberra time (UTC +10; subtract 14 hours for USEast current time, so 10am on 5/17 if I have my arithmetic correct) the new magic hashtag will be #benthepcguyisbald.  24 hours later the magic hashtag will be #wpareaderocks (yes, 1 r according to @gleekthis).  Again, if you can afford the $1.99USD to buy it, that’s certainly preferred because we WANT to support our developers on ANY platform!  But I also understand that there are situations when people can’t justify any extra spending, and that in some regions the Marketplace rules are a pain in the rear-end.

And don’t worry – #mobilitydigestrocks is coming!!

Kantar Worldpanel (a market research firm) has put out mobile operating system sales as a percentage of the whole for the 12 weeks ending March 15, 2012. 

In the US, we see Android keeping its top position, but barely, falling from 54.2 to 47.6.  iOS jumped from 30.1. to 42.9.  Win7 almost doubled its share from 1.9 to 3.6.   Rim crashed hard, going from 9.3 to 3.2!  Ouch.  Rounding out the bottom were Symbian (no change at .5), WinMo (really?  1.5 to .1), “Other” (2.4 to 2.1) and Bada sits on the floor at 0.

What we need to remember, though, is that every country is different.  Interestingly, with the exception of Spain (lower) and Germany (higher) on this list (Great Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, US, Australia), Windows Phone 7 is doing pretty solidly around 3.x.  Symbian is in free-fall (45.0 to 8.8 in Spain), RIM fell everywhere but Spain, iOS made either large gains or small losses, Android made significant gains everywhere except the US, and the French seem to be the only ones buying on Bada.

Source: TechCrunch

In the “fairly interesting, I want to learn more” category, I heard about FastMall a couple of days ago, and had to wait for it to show up in my region.  This is a mall map app in which you can download the map of a mall near you, to use offline.  That’s great, I told myself.  No more hunting for the mall directory! 

The design is nicely Metroed.  It’s white text on a light blue-graphic-on-blue background that isn’t busy, nor does it distract from reading.  A good start.

The first panel is “nearby malls.”  When I first opened the app up, this panel just sat there.  There was no feedback telling me it was searching, and after about a minute, I just tapped the search icon at the bottom on the screen.  I looked up the mall closest to me, which is the only one larger than a strip mall that I can think of in the county (this is a “bedroom community” for the county to the north and the rest of the county is very rural).  It found the mall with ease.  Great!  I then chose it, and checked out the map.

Holey carps, that was terrible!  The map itself looked reasonable, but all of the icons (bathroom, cinema, the blue dots to touch to see the name of the store) were ALL SHIFTED DOWN AND RIGHT.  Strangely enough, the parking icons were accurate.  I started pressing little (and I mean LITTLE) blue dots, and while I haven’t been in the mall very much in the last few years I did notice that there was one store that I’m pretty sure is no longer there – it being the only large-size woman’s clothing store in the mall, and me being a large woman, I kind of noticed it’s disappearance from that mall years ago.  A quick check to the mall’s website and the store directory confirmed that that store was no longer in that mall.  So now I see the app has old information.

You also cannot zoom in or out on the maps.  Big minus.

And the bottom of the screen are icons for levels, filters, search, and directions. There is also text for mall information.  I pressed the latter.  This brings up a small map showing you where the mall is, and “mall info.”  The info text is chopped off 1 character on the right side (I read: “…and a state-of-the-ar”, “…in the 400-sea”, “Get all your shopping don”.  There was no side scrolling).  Formatting fail.  From this page you can add the mall to your favorites and also see deals from the stores.  The deals seems actually useful.  I only did a quick look, but it pulls coupons from “spotzot.com” (never heard of it), and it pulls a LOT, which is good.  It is probably up to the stores, however, to decide whether they accept coupons you just show from your phone, so check with the stores before you go shopping.

The filters option is for entrances, elevators, restrooms, escalators, stairs, food court, and cinemas.  All options are on by default.  The search option from the map searches that particular mall for a store.  As you type, it gives you an auto selection of store name, level.  It then sends you to the map, but does not seem to highlight the dot, which I think it should have.

The only other mall in the area (well, it’s more of a “town center” design – it is not an indoor mall) was listed as “no map.”  Well, darn!  So I pressed the icon for the mall anyway, and it brought up the “mall info” page.  It had the area location map (probably a Bing map) and the mall address.  The “add mall” and “deals” icons where at the bottom of the page, but now there was a “stores” icon that hadn’t been on the other.  Pressing this took me to a store list.  Okay, I can live with that.  At least that’s a help.  On a whim, I pressed a store to see if it would react.  What I got was a “store info” page, with the name of the store, a short description, and two options at the bottom of the screen: call store and add store.  I went back and choose one of my favorite stores, a local chocolatier, and unfortunately they had no description (because they aren’t a large chain?).  Adding the store put it on a favorites list.  The call store brought up a call/don’t call pop-up at the top.  Nice to know that.

Just for a comparison, I then searched and downloaded a map for the only 2-level mall in the area.  This map was on a larger scale (still no zoom in or out) and the icons seemed to be in the right places!  The elevator and escalators were marked properly, and the level selector also worked seamlessly.  A search for my favorite store in that mall centered the map on the store, and popped up the name over it, with a small arrow so I could tell which side of the corridor it is on.  However, the same store I knew wasn’t in the other one I also know has left this one.  A search on the mall’s website confirmed this, yet a search in the app showed it was still there.

Overall, I give this app a lukewarm response.  The maps can be useful if the dots for the stores are accurate; information may or may not itself be accurate; zoom in/out would be nice.  The store list when there is no map is a good thing, the UI itself is nice and the app as a whole seems to be well thought out.  I will probably keep it, and use it, but I’ll keep in mind that it may or may not be accurate.

The app is free (thankfully) and can be found in the Marketplace here.  Where it has no description.  Or pictures.  *headdesk*

I visited AT&T’s website just to see if AT&T was still folowing through with their promised push of the Lumia 900 and here is what I found is a good sign. Not only is the main slider featuring the Lumia 900 it is featuring all three flavors of the device. Matte Black, Cyan and Glossy White are available. Sort of.

It appears that though the Matte Black and Glossy White are in-stock on the website the Cyan will prompt you with a 5-7 day shipping time.

It looks, according to WPCentral’s exclusive reveal, like the upcoming release of Pac Man Kart Rally will usher in a new, to Windows Phone users anyway, era of wireless multiplayer gaming action. Its not the true global kind as both players have to both be using Windows Phones and also be on the same local wi-fi network. Still, why let a little thing as strip away the excitement and momentous nature of this release. Baby steps people! The game itself looks to be a much better offering than the ill-fated Cro-Mag Rally that was released to the platform last year.

Here’s the rundown:

Pac-Man characters:

• Pac-Man
• Blinky
• Pinky
• Inky
• Clyde

Katamari characters:

• The Prince
• Ichigo (The Prince’s female cousin)

Dig Dug/Mr. Driller characters:

• Hori Taizo
• Hori Susumu

Galaga character:

• Fighter (Yes, this is the ship from Galaga.)

There are even exclusive Windows Phone levels that you can access. Of course the game will come packed with Xbox Live Achievements and bragging rights among your Windows Phone brethren. Who’s up for some Pac Man Rally? Maybe by this fall we’’ll be able to duel PC vs Phone or Xbox vs Phone.

Source: WPCentral