Author: Clinton

When Halo Waypoint for Windows Phone was updated around the Mango release, the plan was for it to have an Atlas included.  As we all know, that didn’t happen but good news is coming on Saturday.  That is when Halo ATLAS is to be released in the Marketplace.

Halo ATLAS will bring top-down views maps of the worlds in Halo:Reach and Halo:Anniversary editions.  In addition, here are some of the things you can expect to see as well

• Weapon and vehicle spawn locations for Matchmaking and Firefight games.
• Health pack locations.
• Near-real-time locations for weapons and vehicles during Custom Multiplayer games.
• Your location and that of your team members displayed on the map.
• ‘Follow me’ mode to track your movement.
• Dynamic player list, including current score for the teams and each player and equipped weapon for you and your teammates.

In the set of first generation Windows Phones, the Samsung Focus is generally accepted as having the best all around camera.  The 5MP camera with a built-in LED flash does a pretty good job, especially in daylight shots.  With Mango there were some added features given to the camera to improve contracts and saturation which has help a bit as well.

The impressive feature about the Samsung Focus that I see is often overlooked is the macro mode.  It is one of the few cameras on smartphones – let alone Windows Phone – that has a macro.  Even better though, it’s actually really good.  The photos in the post are unedited in any way and are as they were when I got them off of my Focus.

This first shot I took of my agenda and pen.

Focus Macro Image of Agenda and Pen

As you look at the photo up close you can see the etched serial number of my pen around the band and nice detail in the ink on the paper.  It is clear – pardon the pun – that the edges of the photos are a little soft so you will want to keep that in mind as you take macro shots with your Focus.  For this photo I was about 6″ away from the paper.

My second shot is a small model of the St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague, Czech Republic.

St. Vitus Cathedral Model Macro Shot

On this one you can see the fine ink details outlining the windows and doors and can even see where dust has collected on the base!  Details of the roof are also impressive.  Again, I was about 6″ from the model for this shot.

If you are a Samsung Focus owner and haven’t check out the macro mode you need to try it out for yourself.  If you are looking for this type of functionality on your next Windows Phone, the new Samsung Focus S has it as well as the HTC Titan.  The Titan is widely considered to have the best camera of the 2nd generation Windows Phones which is 8MP.
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This should make Chris pretty happy!

MetroRadio, the Pandora Radio app for Windows Phone has finally arrived.  It is available this morning in the Marketplace and is a free download.  The app takes advantage of the Metro Pandora SDK and really allows you to take full advantage of Pandora’s services.

MetroRadio is the first Pandora 3rd party application on Windows Phone 7.

The app has all the important features from Pandora, such as:
Streaming stations, likeing/dislikeing songs, making new stations, album art, and many more…

This app is Mango optimized; it will run in the background.

This app will be updated periodically, introducing new features such as pinning stations, auto login, etc…

While the app does require Windows Phone 7.5 it is clear by the description that other updates are coming to take advantage of some of Mango’s features.

Download it free in the Marketplace

Source:  WPCentral

Really?

Do I really need to say much more than the title?  Did you download the Xbox Companion yet?  Why not?  Go!

Just go get it!

Microsoft has updated the End User License Agreement, or EULA, for Windows Phone with the emphasis on data collection.  This change stems from a couple of things.  First, this new EULA requires that you tap “Accept” which is something that comes from a lawsuit that Microsoft is currently involved in (get more information on this here).  Second, it is a bit of a reaction in light of the Carrier IQ controversy that has been going on over the course of the last week.

The EULA itself is 19 pages long and is… dry? when it comes to reading it.  But it is important as it gives you an idea of what Microsoft is collecting data on.  While there is nothing personally identifiable in the data being sent, it is a lot of data.  But I think that the WPCentral team summed it up best in their post on this earlier today.

What we quickly learn is wow, a lot of info is being sent to Microsoft and it’d take awhile to turn off. But we also learn that information cannot be used to track you, identify you or reveal personal information. In light of the Carrier IQ controversy, Microsoft seems to be showing all of their cards on the matter.

If you want to read the EULA yourself, click this link or just download a new app from Marketplace.

Source:  WPCentral

With the release of Windows Phone 7.5, A.K.A. Mango, one of the new features was integration of Twitter into the People and Picture Hubs.  Up to this point it has worked just fine but it would only display text Tweets, not those with attached images.  It looks like this has changed now.

I started noticing yesterday on my Focus S that when I view the what’s new section in the People Hub that Tweet with photos started actually displaying the photos.  This morning I checked the Pictures hub and sure enough, under what’s new, I see Tweets with photos.

This highlights once again the effort Microsoft is making with Windows Phone to bring all of the social elements of the users life front-and-center in the phone experience.  I for one love it and have to say, with the integration of Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Windows Live in Windows Phone, I rarely open the native apps (in the case of Twitter and Facebook) on my phone.  There really isn’t much need.

Let me know if you are seeing this as well on your Windows Phone.  Re-Tweet me at @clintonfitch on Twitter or leave a comment here on the site.