Richard Devine is an Editor at Windows Central. A former Project Manager and long-term tech addict, he joined Mobile Nations in 2011 and has been found on Android Central and iMore as well as Windows Central. Currently you'll find him covering all manner of PC hardware and gaming, and you can follow him on Twitter and Instagram.
It's that time again. The time to say goodbye to families, pack a couple of bags and hit the dusty trail for another major show. This time out it's Mobile World Congress, the annual gathering of the world's biggest and best that the mobile industry has to offer. For me, MWC is what I'd class as a home event after CES, with Barcelona a mere 2 hours away by plane. The event may be closer...
Microsoft's Windows Insider program has been pretty successful thus far, but according to a new report only a small percentage of those signed up are currently using the Windows 10 preview for phones. According to Neowin, these figures come with another significant bump in the total number of Insiders. "According to an internal source who has had a good track record in the past,...
The time is upon us, the Mobile Nations team is packing up, hitting the airport and making the trip to Barcelona, Spain, for the annual Mobile World Congress. Everyone who's anyone in mobile will be in attendance, which includes Microsoft as well as some other Windows and Windows Phone vendors. We've a busy time in store over the coming week, so here's a quick run down of what's in...
Monday March 2 sees Microsoft's next big press event at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, and you'll be able to watch the whole thing live. Windows Central will be live on location (and we may even break out the old liveblog machine) but Microsoft will also be streaming the whole thing online. To watch it live visit the source link below on Monday morning, bright and early...
No-one ever talks about great customer service. As someone who spent a past life working in retail, I'm only too aware of this. Not once would you hear of one of your customers seeking out the manager to praise your efforts, no matter how much you had done. But should a customer be unhappy, well, everyone heard about it. That seems to be the way, regardless of the company. "Oh, xxx...
After last weeks more technical challenge, this week we're going back to a more simple topic for the weekly photo contest; trees. But even the simplest of topics can produce some incredible shots. The one up top, for example, isn't a particularly fancy setting, but it's one of the first outdoor shots I've been able to take using Rich Capture on the Lumia 830. So, that's this weeks task...
One of Microsoft's latest pairings sees British group, Clean Bandit, teaming up with Lumia for various promotional activities. One of the more amazing ones is the video for latest single, Stronger, which throws no less than 50 (yes, 50!) Lumia 930s into the mix on a Bullet Time rig. And the effects are amazing. The phones required a custom app, built by Microsoft, to do the task...
Kazam isn't just announcing new Windows Phones today, it also has a trio of tablets to announce ahead of next weeks Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. The L7, L8 and L10 are all Windows 8.1 tablets with the numbers referring to the sizes, 7-, 8-, and 10-inches respectively. Spec wise all three are very similar. They're all packing an Intel quad-core Baytrail CPU and all have...
European brand Kazam today announced its Mobile World Congress portfolio, which includes no less than 5 Windows devices. Making their debut at the show will be three tablets and two phones. The Windows Phones will be part of the Thunder line, and introduced today is the 450W and 450WL. Both come with the latest version of Windows Phone 8.1. It isn't the first Windows Phone that...
One of the new features in the latest Microsoft Band update is a customized keyboard. And despite its diminutive size, typing on it is surprisingly good. To get to grips with it, Microsoft embedded a tutorial guiding you through everything you need to know. If you haven't got the update yet, check out our short video below to see it in action. OK, you're not going to be typing...
Microsoft today announced huge updates for the Microsoft Band and Microsoft Health apps along with the first release of an SDK for third-party developers and a web dashboard, too. The updates announced today are in response to user feedback and besides the web interface includes support for biking, new ways to scan and respond to notifications and integration with Microsoft HealthVault...
Recent talk has suggested that the popular Lumia 635 Windows Phone was in line for a popular hardware upgrade. One of the biggest limitations to the Lumia 635 (despite being one of the first Windows 10 preview phones) is the 512MB of RAM, meaning some apps just won't install. Various sightings of a 1GB version have started appearing across the web, but now it appears that the phone is...
Having polled the Windows Central community on whether or not they'd installed the Windows 10 Technical Preview on their phones, the response was strong and the results not completely surprising. While excitement is clearly high, it seems that there are more who simply can't get it right now than can or are using it. Despite the number of low and mid-range devices Microsoft sells,...
Dell made a big splash at January's CES as it unveiled the latest in its XPS line, the 2015 edition of the XPS 13. For anyone looking for a compact Ultrabook, the new XPS 13 has to be at the top of the list of considerations, with a 22% smaller footprint than comparable 13-inch notebooks. With prices starting at $799 and specs going all the way up to a 5th generation Intel Core i7 CPU...
The Brit Awards is one of the biggest nights in the UK music industry and Cortana will be going with the Grammy winning act, Clean Bandit. Microsoft UK's latest ad sees the group putting Cortana to work ahead of the big night, including reminding Grace not to dance on any tables. Oh, and Cortana will be wearing a phone down the red carpet. Of course. Check it out in the video up top...
If you're a Windows Insider and you're running the Windows 10 Technical Preview on your PC, you'll want to go check the Insider Hub right about now to check for a very special opportunity. Announced via Microsoft's Gabe Aul, some Insiders will be seeing a special notification which is actually the chance to go to Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, courtesy of Microsoft, as...
My Trips isn't a new app, it's been around for some time but we haven't talked much about it in recent times. But, if you're a frequent traveller it's something you should definitely look at. It hooks into the popular service, TripIt, which manages travel documents and itineraries on your behalf by pulling confirmations out of your inbox and organising them into trips for you. The...
With the brand new XPS 13, Dell has already launched one of the year's very best Ultrabooks. Right from the day it launched back at CES, inevitable comparisons have been drawn between it and the Apple MacBook Air. Not least because it's taken on Apple at its own game and for many, come out on top. But, the XPS 13 isn't just a MacBook Air class Ultrabook. The lower spec models, perhaps...
The past couple of weeks our weekly photo contests have taken on some quite broad themes, but this week we're going to try something a little different. We're focusing on one specific effect, and that's Tilt Shift. You may know it best as the effect that can turn city scenes into appearing to be miniature villages. So, it's going to test your editing as well as your photo taking. The...
Finland has produced some fine devices over the years, of course, being the home of Nokia. This latest one isn't from a name you'd necessarily recognize, but it is interesting. The Eve T1 is an 8-inch, Windows 8.1 tablet with an affordable price point. The Windows tablet space is becoming increasingly crowded, so to stand out you need to have a quality product. The announcement of this...