Free Republic

Announced in October 2015, and released a month later, Microsoft's Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL smartphones have not set the world alight. The first 'out of the box' Windows 10 powered smartphones occupy a curious pivot point in Microsoft's plans. What do they tell us about the direction of Microsoft and how it will approach mobile in 2016? Between them they represent the end of a line of smartphones that stretches back to Nokia's 2011 decision to go with Windows Phone rather than Android, They also represent Microsoft's future attitudes to smartphones as a single element of a wide...

Windows Phones are continuing to find solid footing in the market, even as Microsoft obtained the Lumia brand then turned things quiet around them. It seems now is the perfect time to make some serious noise. The Microsoft Lumia 950 XL is the best Windows Phone device - and we're not talking about small leaps. This one took the highest one that made a crater upon landing. On the surface, the Microsoft Lumia 950 XL is a good-looking phone. It's not all-metal, sadly, but it's comfortable to hold and feels solid. The power and volume buttons are well spaced and...

Microsoft released Build 10052 of Windows 10 for phones on Tuesday, along with a revised rollback tool that should help solve the bricking problems that Lumia 520 users and other unlucky souls experienced. The major problem that the new build solves is an issue where some users—including owners of the most popular Windows phone, the Lumia 520—suffered catastrophic failures that “bricked” the phones when they tried to roll them back to Windows 8.1. Microsoft said it has solved the bug on Lumia 520 phones, with an update to the Windows Phone Reset Tool.

Speed kills, and the iPhone goes from 0 to a good picture faster than anything else I was at Intel’s CES booth, composing a photo with my Android smartphone, when a pair of anonymous hands thrust a shining iPhone 6 Plus into my line of vision. A nonchalant tap of the camera shutter button later, the hands were pulling back, having captured a stupendously clear and sharp picture on the first attempt. By the time I’d completed my routine of setting proper focus and steadying myself, the dude who’d beaten me to a better shot with none of the effort...

6:15 PMIf Windows Phone really does start to take off, it will be in large part thanks to the efforts of Nokia, the Finnish device manufacturer that has come under withering criticism from both analysts and investors for choosing Microsoft’s mobile platform over Google’s Android. Seeking Alpha has posted a compilation of charts showing that Nokia has been slowly increasing its market share in many key markets, which is helping Windows Phone gain a foothold in its efforts to become the world’s No. 3 mobile operating system.As you can see from the chart, which is based on numbers from Kantar...

(Photo : Reuters) The Lumia 920 may give Nokia the push it needs when Black Friday comes around. Nokia's Lumia 920 may not be as disappointing as some critics said it would be. Actually, the Windows 8 smartphone is flying off shelves as we speak, which is a good sign for Nokia's Black Friday sales.The Lumia 920 has already made it on the Amazon Best Sellers list. It is already in high demand in Germany.Like Us on FacebookAccording to AllThingsD, a number of Nokia Deutschland's German retail partners experienced "stock-outs" since the device first became available earlier November."Because of the high demand, we are aware of the reports the Lumia 920 is sold out in...

The Lumia 920 represent the company's latest best shot at turning its ailing smartphone business around. Nokia today unveiled its latest flagship phone, the Lumia 920, its first to run on Microsoft's Windows Phone 8 operating system. CEO Stephen Elop showed off a bright yellow Lumia 920, larger than its predecessor, the Lumia 900. The phones represent Nokia's latest bid to vault back into the smartphone business in a big way. They also represent a last chance of sort for the company to pull out of its recent decline. The camera's advanced features were spelled out to an audience of...

This is really rather amusing. Until just recently if you asked Siri, the voice assistant on the latest of Apple‘s iPhones, which was the best cell phone ever the reply would be that it was the Nokia Lumia. Which is, as all know, a Windows based phone. The proof is here with a screen shot. The reason why it gave this unexpected answer (well, unexpected to me, it might actually be that the Lumia is the best cell phone ever) is that Siri interrogates the Wolfram Alpha database to answer such questions. And if there are four reviews (as there...

Bloggers got in a fair amount of digs at Nokia for launching the Lumia 900 flagship phone on Easter Sunday, when vast majority of AT&T stores were closed. Fair enough – the decision was odd. But on Monday eve, the day after the Lumia 900 launch, the traction this phone has at Amazon.com is certainly better than anticipated. Four points about Amazon’s Cell Phones with Service Plans sales chart. Lumia 900 sales are split between two color variants right out of the gate. The black version is #1, the blue one #2. This is unusual – phones tend to debut...