Hopefully you’ve already seen a couple of comparisons between HTC’s newest Android flaghship HTC One, and the current photography champion-Lumia920. Well My Nokia Blog has managed to get a fresh set of comparisons and video capture it for our viewing pleasure. Check it out below.

Certainly if you’re HTC and your big differentiating feature is your camera hardware and software you want you bill it as a gigantic leap forward. Nokia did it with the PureView 808 and the Lumia 920. Before Nokia it was Apple with the camera on the iPhone 4. Unfortunately it appears all HTC has managed to accomplish is get themselves firmly in the game when it comes to low-light photos but not quite matching the Lumia 920’s performance. Since graininess seems to be an issue I’m hoping that some kind of software patch can be done to improve that aspect of the photos.

Drop a comment below and let me know what you think.

Source: MyNokiaBlog

Well that was fast. Just when people started to get clued in that Spotify had finished coding and submitted the popular music streaming app to the Windows Phone store for approval Microsoft takes to their blog to let anticipating users know the wait is over and those with Windows Phone 8 devices can get their Spotify on.

Spotify, which is being released as a beta, instantly increases the size of your music library by millions of tracks, making it easy to discover new songs and artists. You can create your own playlists, or browse and indulge in the ones your friends put together. Going off the grid? The app also lets you download and enjoy your playlists without an Internet connection. Tracks you add to any playlist are also simultaneously available on your phone and PC. 

The app is free and so is the service for the first 30 days. After the trial expires, the premium service costs $9.99 a month.

Source: Windows Phone Blog

In case you haven’t heard the iOS has yet another “must have” app. The newest craze is a mail replacement app named-you guessed it-Mail. There has already been over a quarter million people reserving their spot to get access to the app and it has even made the trending list on Twitter. So now the question has been asked “How long before it comes to (insert your platform of choice here)?” To this I pose the question Isn’t it time for other major mobile platform users to start championing the outstanding and impressive apps that originate on their platform? You can’t be of the mind that the grass is greener on the other side unless you aren’t valuing what you have on your side of the fence.

Case in point. Instagram became a cult hit because it had a simple name and provided not just different filters but emphasized the social aspect of the app. This isn’t limited to just Instagram. On Windows Phone we have several apps that perform the same functions including a highly social component. It irritates me to see people clamoring for App X from another mobile platform when you have great ones on your own that you ignore. Are you really going to try and tell me Android doesn’t contain some awesome apps that can stand up to anything on any rival platform? That’d be ridiculous, unfathomable even.

So here is a word of advice for non-iOS users. Take the time to discover great apps on your mobile platform of choice. Champion the app by recommending it to your social network. Rate the app highly so that it can gain exposure and send a tweet or feedback to the developer to let them know their effort and commitment to delivering a top notch experience is appreciated. Naturally I will be doing the same and more. I’ll be reaching out to other tech bloggers to push this agenda. It has to start somewhere and I’m the type that would much prefer it be in my hands than leave it up to Google, Microsoft, BlackBerry or any OEM. We are the people and we hold the power.

Make sure you comment and leave a suggestion of great apps native to your platform of choice that should be highlighted. The revolution may not be televised but it sure will be publicized!!!

Fans of the extremely popular and highly rated Fhotoroom app for Windows Phone can breathe a sigh of relief. Users had been frustrated and complaining about the service being down not for hours but days, closing in on a week in fact. Well the developers behind Fhotoroom have taken to Twitter to update fans of the app on the situation and the steps they are taking to resolve the issues.

A few days ago they started having issues with their hosting company and other infrastructure problems related to servers. They have since taken the necessary but time intensive step to transfer data over to new servers. They are nearing the final stages and verifying data. Look for a final update from the awesome team very soon.

If you’d like to keep up with the progress the team is making follow their feed on Twitter: Fhotoroom

Surely security moving forward in this ever encompassing mobile tech-friendly society is important. I’d go as far as saying its universally important. I mean, who wants to be that gal/guy that has had revealing or embarrassing personal photos or texts get out into the public? For the record my hand is not raised. The thing that I’ve realized after much consideration is the misinterpreted concept of what qualifies as security to the mass public. Many battles are fought between the camps of Android, BlackBerry, iOS & Windows Phone users on what platform is the most secure. I’d argue that all are secure for 90% of the consumer market. Yes, I believe that all major mobile platforms are secure enough for 90% of the consumer market.

Maybe it just says that I need to upgrade my network but there isn’t a single person that I know reasonably well that has a device that requires def-con 1 level security. The hottest topic I’ve heard people debating when it came to mobile security was the face recognition unlocking in Android last year. I had several friends ask me what I thought about its awesomeness. Seriously, their word not mine.

I, like pretty much everyone else I interact with on a semi-regular basis, considers are device secure the moment we come up with a sufficiently clever while memorable four-digit passcode. That is all 90% of the consumer market requires to sleep well at night feeling pretty good about their most personal information locked out of the hands of disapproving eyes. So the next time you find yourself engaging in a fierce debate over the merits of each platform’s security just remember this: Keep It Simple Stupid (K-I-S-S). Get creative (as creative as 4-digit combinations can get) and enjoy this thing called life.

We’ve started a new weekly series App Effect to promote awesome apps and games that our staff of writers and editors use in our personal lives and also what we think can add real value to our readers lives. We’ll do our part to promote the awesome work that is going on across the board. We need your help to make this not just another series, who needs that?

Follow us on Twitter at @MobilityDigest and get in touch with us. We have quite a few of your contact information but we want more because we want to better serve our readers. Looking forward to hearing from you.

The Mobility Digest staff

The unfortunate part of a growing and maturing app ecosystem is that the awesome apps and games that arrive at launch gets forgotten and overshadowed. This new series, App Effect, is meant to highlight awesome apps that I’ve personally used and recommend on a consistent basis.

TVShow

I’m not a fan of spending hours every day plopped down in front of a TV. In truth it is rather difficult to do so even if I was a fan. I spend most of my day on the computer editing or designing print and video projects. Equipped with my secondary monitor and my HTC Titan any media I view tends to happen on one of these two devices. TVShow is an app from developer Rudy Huyn.

I’ve been using TVShow since May of 2011. Over time the app has been updated promptly and Rudy Huyn has made sure to take advantage of each upgrade to implement all platform features available to him. The mark of a star app developer! He’s even updated the app for 7.8 to enable different sizes for Live Tiles. If you’re have a Windows Phone 8 device you’ll be glad to know he has already updated the app for Windows Phone 8 too.

TVShow is the most complete application to track all your favorite TV Shows with live tile, toast,reminder, background agent, facebook and twitter. TVShow updates every day (without relaunching the application) the live tile with the number of unseen episodes and the list of tv shows of the day.

Features:
- Get a quick overview of the all the upcoming episodes for all of your favorite shows
- Get synopsis, screen captures, rates, subtitles and recaps for each episodes
- in app youtube player
- Mark seen and unseen episodes
- be notified right before a new episode of your favorite TV Shows aired even if the app is not launched.
- Share comments with friends on facebook/twitter and with other users
- offline mode
- rate episodes
- Use your phone as a remote screen for subtitles
- read news from allociné, maxiseries, tv.com, tvguide, tvspoiler et buddy tv
- translation feature for recaps and summaries
- for U.S. residents only: adjust air date/times of U.S. tv shows to your local time zone
- 3 choices of live tiles
- support trakt.tv for comments and episode rates

The absolutely best feature is that you can set reminders (they come up exactly like a regular alarm does) complete with what show is airing in the next 5 minutes. If it is multiple shows occupying the same time slot it will present each show one at a time. Again, just like how a regular Alarm is displayed. I highly recommend this app to anybody who tends to get too busy to catch their shows all the time.

Impossible Shoota

Developer Elbert Perez regularly updates this. I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say he might have the record for most app updates on the Windows Phone platform. I love that it is an infinity shooter that keeps up getting tenser and more explosive as you go along. No matter how much you play you always feel like you can do better and most importantly want to do better right away. One of the very first games I installed back when I bought my HTC Surround and one of the first I installed when I purchased my TITAN too.

You are the last survivor of your race, the elite pilot known as Starboxer. Your last and only mission is to take out as many Sho-dan ships as possible before crumbling to their relentless march. Level up your ship by destryoing Sho-dan ships and teleport around the battlefield to gain tactical advantage to avoid an early demise. It requires skill to live up to your reputation and you will remind the Sho-dan armada why you have that name.

- Intense shooter action again an endless swarm of enemies
- Fight 25 different enemies as you rampage through the Sho-dan armada
- Post your scores online against other Starboxers

Sixty seconds playing this game feels like six minutes. It’s the type of fast paced game you can whip out when you have a few minutes to burn and get deep into it getting a rush for the day.

Video Credit: (TVShow) WPCentral

I’m sure you followed us yesterday and you know the AVG Security Suite is potentially just a method of collecting personal data. Well that’s what it was. It’s gone for now:

Let’s see how this plays out once MS looks into it. It also questions how the app passed certification in the first place and if there are others like it that Justin Angel needs to rip apart for us

1. HTC Titan –  You can say what you want about OEM shortchanging Microsoft & Windows Phone but HTC released a hellacious 4.7in monster of a phone.  It can even be argued that it is the platform’s first legitimate flagship phone.  The sheer size of the screen and slimness of the phone will draw consumers in.  Not to mention it comes preloaded with a cross platform video chat app (Tango), includes a Front Facing Camera and DLNA equipped there is a lot to like about the latest HTC offering. Did I mention that its slimmer than the iPhone 4?  That’s pocket gold right there.  Then consider that HTC held a consumer event to introduce the phones and they have achieved instant word of mouth advertising no company this side of Apple could achieve.  HTC has the 2nd best marketing team in the business behind Apple.  They have said recently how impressed they are with Mango and I think that has played a role in them really seeing Windows Phone as a major player in the smartphone game moving forward.
2. Size Matters –  Who’s has the single largest software and service ecosystem in the world? It darn well isn’t Google or Apple.  Microsoft FTW! What’s even better than a huge ecosystem? Devoting the resources of the largest tech company in the world to a few focused products and services.  Ballmer has gone on record as saying they are trimming the fat and putting their resources to the things that matter.  You can clearly see the impact Apple’s success has had on Microsoft.  They are under pressure, they have been swallowing their pride and they are learning from the best.  Yes, I a windows phone user and advocate, just referred to Apple as the best.  Jobs was the master of making you believe their product was the end all, be all of technology.  Did I mention that Microsoft and Nokia software engineers are hard at work folding each other’s services into the mother of all service ecosystems?  Do you want an even bigger clue as to Microsoft “getting it”. Microsoft stores coming to a city near you!
1. 
3. User Satisfaction – Gil’s article What Should Microsoft Do To Save Windows Phone? fail to mention that Microsoft should find a way to capitalize on the extremely high Windows Phone user satisfaction rate.  Remember how effective and compelling the Microsoft “I designed Windows 7” ad campaign was?  It was an enormous success. They need to find a way to capture and showcase a user’s story while presenting the expanded capabilities the Mango update brings. Microsoft is taking a measured approach and not rushing stuff to the platform.  They aren’t blind or deaf they are just taking things in measured, composed steps.  This leads me to..
4. Mango – This is a sizable update that improves the experience without being jarring to the user.  There is no relearning how to do things you were already doing.  Users are just presented with expanded options and capabilities.  Skype is on its way, I predict Pandora is on its way too.  Many other apps that weren’t possible pre-Mango are now possible and we’re going to see a flood of new apps that take advantage of this.  A very welcomed and reassuring aspect.
5. Developers – Developers are the lifeblood of any sustainable platform.  Have too few and your platform shrivels up.  Have a lack of communication and responsiveness and they get pissy.  Developers are funny that way, they like to have their ego stroked and be told how important they are.  Microsoft has this covered.  Brandon Watson, Joe Belfiore and the rest of the Windows Phone team are very visible.  Watson is a serial entrepreneur that gets what the platform needs on a grassroots level.  He is driving discussion in areas nobody else thought to do. Yes there are a lot of crappy and clone apps in the marketplace.  Tell me a sizeable platform that isn’t guilty of this.  It is inevitable and very necessary.  The frustration that comes from experiencing bad apps is what gives rise to the great apps.

I’ve been through enough struggles and came out the other side to know the steps it takes to succeed in a rough environment.  The playing field might change but the rules don’t even if they are renamed.  Say what you will but I’d be perfectly happy with my Surround for the next year once Mango arrives.  I’ve seen enough of the hands on and demos to know Microsoft is on the right path.  Alan Kay once said the best way to predict the future is to invent it.  Microsoft is carving out the future they see by creating their ecosystem and stabilizing a platform that is serving as not an end all be all but a piece of their much larger and powerful puzzle.

Disagree? No problem just make sure to leave a comment and make your voice be heard.  We’re all grown ups here.

Most of you know AVG – the free antivirus and internet security software for your PC. They’ve branched out to mobile devices and have an Android security app. Their most recent app is actually for Windows Phones though. The AVG Security Suite has the following description:

Free Security Suite from AVG Mobilation – security software for Windows Phone™.
Keep your device safe with just one click.

Safe Web Surfing
Stay safe from phishing and malware while surfing the web

Safe Search
Allowing you search the web avoiding malicious web sites

But it also does a search of your phone to make sure it’s ‘protected’. What does that mean? The XAP has been reviewed by Rafael Rivera and it searches for precisely two things in your photo and music: the words EICAR and עברית (which is Hebrew for the word “Hebrew”). Because of the way that Windows phone sandboxes applications you can’t search outside of these elements and that’s also why this whole thing is silly since you can’t readily have a virus in Windows Phones currently since no one has breached the walls Microsoft has put up so far. But this is only the beginning of what the app does.

Justin Angel also took a spin at the XAP and it actually is doing a bit more than reviewing your phone for two files:

If you want to see the code he’s looking at, he’s provided it here. So what we have is an application that is collecting your location and device information and it sends all possible identifying information to the server through HTTPs XmlRPC. Here’s the information it’s collecting:

Is this legit? Is this permissible under Microsoft’s guidelines?

Let’s file this one under “to be continued” because it appears as though there’s a possibility that this app gets removed from marketplace if everything above is correct. It also means there will be some explaining to do.

Remember that at Pwn2own this year no attempts were made at Windows Phones because there are no known exploits so a security suite (particularly one that can’t run in the background or scan third party apps) is pretty meaningless at this point. Well maybe it can scan itself…that would have helped from the beginning.

UPDATE: Yup this caught Microsoft’s attention: