Fresh Paint for Windows Phone Updated with Added Features

Fresh Paint, an app that unleashes your creativity, gets updated with new features:

• New pencil
• Inspire Me (practice with Bing images)
• OneDrive integration to pick up drawings where you left off
• Front-facing camera support
• Improved camera lenses
• bug fixes

Download the update in the Windows Phone store now.

Twitter for Windows Phone Gets an Update

Earlier today, Twitter for Windows Phone gets an update to version 3.2.0.1 with small bugfixes and improvements. No noticeable changes are seen in the UI. Find out for yourself and grab the update if you have a Windows Phone.

What do you think? Do you see small changes?

Windows Phone 8.1 Kicks Off Today, Lumia Cyan Slowly Pushed Out to Nokia Devices

Windows Phone 8.1 was first announced at Build 2014 on April 2nd. It was made available to download for testing to developers as a preview on April 14th. After a month, the preview received its first update, then followed by another update after a week and another after that. Now, the preview feels buttery smooth due to constant crash reports by some users and Microsoft answered by rapidly fixing those bugs. To a beta tester, the coming of the final version of the software upgrade for Windows Phone seems like ages. Microsoft has been quiet about when the update will roll out. Many reports claim that it might come out soon but we waited for like two weeks. It seems to take forever. But forever has ended. Windows phone 8.1 update starts getting to devices today. This was officially announced by Microsoft through the old Nokia website. Nokia is now a part of Microsoft dubbed as Microsoft Mobile.

Source: Nokia.com

Source: Nokia.com

The update only started to roll out so it means that a select few models have received the update such as Lumia 625 and the Lumia 925. Updates for other models are yet to arrive because it's still under carrier testing. The Lumia Cyan is a power pack update for Nokia devices that includes Lumia added features for Nokia devices. Compared with the developer preview, a few improvements noted are related to camera app tweaks, image editing integration, Bing app single sign-in, brightness profiles, device hub, wireless screen projection, SensorCore and Dynamic Lockscreen. Many feature-rich upgrades were announced at the build but some of these additions were not fully experienced due to firmware restrictions. Once the official update gets installed, Lumia owners will be able to enjoy all these that were not included in the preview.

Of course, let's not forget about Cortana, the more personal digital assistant that can understand natural language. Right now she's just available for the US. After beta, she'll venture worldwide to help us, Lumia owners, and simplify our everyday lives with searches on matters that mean to us the most.

Facebook Beta for Windows Phone Now Supports Messenger

Facebook Beta just received an update earlier bringing together improvements for better app navigation and functionality. The new UI overhaul is still in the beta stage but it has improved a lot since it updated to this refreshed user experience a month ago. The official Facebook app is still using the older UI and it will soon be upgraded (might be) to this one after the GDR of the Windows Phone 8.1 platform is released to the public.

Some of the improvements noted are:

• Messenger Support. Facebook seem disconnected then with the Messenger app because it renders useless as there is also a chat area for the Facebook app. But now, selecting the chat icon opens the Messenger app, so this will be your one place for chatting to Facebook contacts.
• Post Detail Page. Then, when you open a post you still have to open the Comments and Like links to see who commented and how many likes you've got. Now, recent comments and number of likes are displayed at the bottom of the post.
• Performance Improvements and Bug Fixes. The new update generally feels a lot faster to load and less waiting time. Even the video and photo uploads are great with no errors or problems.

Beta testers if you want to try out Facebook Beta, just head to the store link and download the update.

Twitter for Windows Phone Now a Universal App

Universal apps are ever increasing in the Windows Phone store and Twitter, after a long time, just received an update today to be a candidate for this. Now, you can tag friends in a photo, upload multiple photos to a single tweet, share photos through direct messages, see your Twitter photos and Vine videos in your timeline, and directly retweet, reply, favorite or follow someone from within the tweet. These are just some of the added features introduced in this update.

Get the update for Twitter to see the difference.

Bing Travel App for Windows Phone Updated to a Universal App

The Bing suite of apps were updated just a few days ago to support the universal apps that's being pushed by Microsoft for all Windows powered-devices. Here's a link to that post. But Bing Travel was not one of them. And if you're wishing that it would become a Universal App, your wish is granted as it's update to version 3.0.3.344 is available for download in the store.

So, if you're fond of travelling and getting information from other countries to guide your trips and destinations, head to the store and download the update today.

Microsoft Mobile Updated the Rate Us Settings for Lumia Phone

Microsoft Mobile/Nokia updated the Rate Us Settings app for Lumia phones today to version 2.5.2.7. This app lets users shout out to Microsoft of what they think about their Lumia phones by submitting a rate score and a comment.

So, what do you think about your Lumia phone? Have yourself be heard by the company that made it. Download the update for Rate Us now.

Nokia Storyteller Updated with Bugfixes

The Nokia Storyteller app groups you photos, videos and cinemagraphs into stories that you can share to others in the form of a slideshow. The app gets its update to version 2.1.0.4 today.

The release notes are as follows:

• Living Images are displayed in Nokia Storyteller
• Photos and videos in a story are combined with a backing track to create a 30-second story video
• Nokia Storyteller integrates with Nokia Creative Studio and Nokia Video Trimmer for editing your photos and videos
• Location data is associated with your photos within Nokia Storyteller

Check for the update in the Store today.

Windows Phone's Bing Rewards App Updated for the Third Time

Bing Rewards, a Microsoft search engine that allows you to earn points just by searching in Bing search engine, gets its third update for Windows Phone.

The first update lets you get into the app but would pop up a message that reads "Your country is not supported at this time". Since point system is initially available in the United States, users outside the US won't be able to take advantage of it. The second update was unusable because the app can't open. An error message states that the app might not have been installed properly and needs to be uninstalled. However, uninstalling the app and reinstalling it gives no remedy. It still crashes. The third update gets the work done. Now, you can navigate within the app and see your points.

I'm just not sure why it worked since I'm outside the US. I just tweaked my phone to think that I'm in that country to get the Cortana functionality. On the other hand, the PC version also won't allow you to earn points when you go to www.bing.com. But if you use the Bing desktop to search, your start earning points. Using Cortana on Windows Phone to search lets you earn points since it's powered by Bing.

Right now, earned points can be redeemed if you're in the United States. But let's just hope the service will be rolled out internationally soon. And by that time, you'll have enough points to enter to raffle draws, to donate points to charity, and to redeem points with Microsoft products like free OneDrive storage and Skype credits and much more.

Download Bing Rewards in the store today.

Xbox Music and Video Update to Bring Fixes and Improve App Performance

Xbox Music and Xbox Video gets minor fixes and improvements with this update. Xbox Music lets you purchase music on the store with the functionality of a music player to manage your songs while Xbox Video app brings together your favorite TV shows and movies on your phone, including streamable and downloadable digital content.

Download Xbox Music and Xbox Video in the store today.

Nokia Cinemagraph Gets Updated for Improved Performance

Nokia Cinemagraph, a Movie Maker-like photo editor that lets you add transition effects to your photos, is updated to version 4.2 to have the following fixes and improvements:

• export cinemagraphs as GIF files
• location data for better integration with Nokia Storyteller
• general performance improvements

Take note that this app is only available for the Lumia range of devices.

Download the app in the store through this link.

Remote Desktop App for Windows Phone Gets an Update

Remote Desktop App, which can let you control your Windows PC remotely via Windows Phone, gets an update to version 8.1.2 today. The store changelog are as follows:

• Improved ability to connect to your home PC by name
• Resized the remote keyboard based on the device size
• Bug fixes and other improvements

Download the update via the Windows Phone store today.

Google's Android L is Just a Mash Up of Windows and iOS

Microsoft

Microsoft held its Build Developer Conference is San Francisco last April 2nd. One of the most interesting announcements made by Joe Belfiore is Windows Phone 8.1 update. If you're a fan of the mobile OS, you'll be blown away by a ton of additions that adds functionality to the phone, making it a feature pack smartphone. It jumped from a consumer communication device into an enterprise business friendly one, from a half-baked OS into a an almost complete one.

The make of the phone UI was inspired by Windows 8's Live Tiles that continues to feed live updates on the Start Screen. And speaking of Windows 8, it uses the Metro Interface and later was renamed to Modern. Microsoft is working hard to implement the One Windows ecosystem where every Windows device syncs with each other. This was properly implemented in OneDrive (formerly SkyDrive), where editing documents (including OneNote) can be continued on a tablet or another laptop and Windows Phone, as long as the user is signed in on all of these devices. Apps in the store are also saved as a history so that users can opt to download them in each of their devices.

Going back to Windows Phone, the 8.1 update is surprisingly an x.1 update when in fact it brought more to the table for the OS, making it the major update in the history of Windows Phone. It includes Cortana, the sassy and clever digital assistant, Action Center, the most requested feature, Sense Apps for Wi-Fi, battery, storage and data, file manager, Word Flow keyboard, Office, Internet Explorer 11, separate volume sliders for notifications and apps, automatic app updates, Project My Screen for displaying phone's content to the big screen or wirelessly via Miracast, Accessibility updated to run Narrator similar to Windows PC, a line of Xbox services, DirectX feature for gaming, Bing apps, Universal apps and enterprise features.

Apple

Come June 2nd is Apple's WWDC (World Wide Developers Conference) which announced similar approach to its OS X Yosemite and iOS 8 bringing their PC and smartphones closer together. This is said to be an unexpected update that left the audience jaw-dropped and applauding unexpectedly after the announcement.

Apple added a sidebar Notification Center where you can add widgets from third parties that makes OS X function and look more like in iOS. Typing on the search field brings you to a window where everything from local content, apps and online results show up, similar to Bing search in Windows which renders a universal search locally and online.

Their iCloud is also updated where formerly, you can only access your documents online, now it can be done offline, similar to OneDrive's approach that can save files offline and syncs to the cloud when connected to the internet. Handoff is a new feature where Apple devices communicate with each other by syncing documents you're working on, and websites you're browsing. It's like continue where you left off but the big difference is it's with every device that's nearby that gives the continuity in your tasks. And continuity is experienced further in placing phone calls and reading and sending text messages. Now you can receive text and calls on iMac so you don't have to fuss looking for your phone if you're already in front of your computer.

Apple also introduced QuickType which is similar to Windows Phone's Word Flow where swiping will get the job done together with the powerful text prediction.

Siri, Apple's digital assistant, is now hands-free. Just say "Hey Siri" and you can activate her to listen by voice. This is similar to Google Now's "OK Google" voice command.

Google

It was June 25th when Google held their Google I/O conference in San Francisco. Many are waiting for Google's big bang for Android. Then came the first keynote that introduced the many changes to the Android platform. Here comes Google's "Material Design". Android has gone flat? More striking colors in apps and animations were added in the interface. This looks like "Modern" in Microsoft's Windows 8 when they introduced their flat design known as "Metro" for its interface back in 2012 that was later renamed. Big, bold font for a cleaner, easier reading, where Windows now uses Segoe UI, Google tweaked some of their official font to look "clean". Sending text message and accepting calls are available in desktop Chrome which is similar to Apple's continuity between devices. They also updated the keyboard for Aldroid L to have a functionality similar to Windows Phone's Word Flow keyboard and iOS's QuickType.

Now, Google is pushing devices (AndroidOne) with 512 Mb RAM and they've updated their latest entry level software, Android L, to be optimized for low-memory devices. Way back in April, Microsoft made their Windows Phone 8.1 update run smoothly with limited memory phones. Now what's new with Google after all?

Now What?

Microsoft's addition of some of its features is said to play catch up on Android and iOS. Google may have introduced a revolutionary software to the crowd yet it looks like Android is now playing catch up with Windows Phone. Most of its UI changes were inspired by Windows Phone's bright and bold colors and flat design interface. Google should have done this years ago.

Now, the three tech giants are getting head to head as they push several innovations that could now compete with each other. Features can be confusing with different names and trademarks but putting them together makes them a worthy "trival" (three rivals). Let's wait and see who pushes the changes first and who re-brands it. Sounds interesting? How fast technology evolves!

Microsoft Universal Bing Apps Bunch Update for Windows Phone

Last April 2nd, during their Build Conference in San Francisco, Microsoft promised to bring universal apps to Windows Phone. Download the app once and have it installed on all devices. Since the Windows Phone 8.1 Developer Preview release, developers slowly rolled out the update to their apps to support it. Bing apps were slowly updated to bring universal apps to Windows Phone users. As far as I can remember, the first Bing app to receive the update is the Bing News app. After the update you can notice a resemblance with the desktop app.

Just recently, app updates popped up in the store and guess what? Bing apps are here again but the good news is, they will now support universal apps for Windows devices. It's not just one, but six of them: Bing Weather, Bing Health & Fitness, Bing Sports, Bing Finance, Bing Food & Drink, and Bing News.

These apps were once the default apps for Windows 8 PC but now, it's extended to Windows Phone as one with the desktop. Download each one on the Windows Store through each link above.