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The shunning of Windows and Windows Phone by the US banking industry continues in earnest.  After Bank of America dropped support for their Windows and Windows Phone applications earlier this month, Chase has followed suit.  Over the weekend, Chase users who attempted to use the app were greeted with a notification that the app was no longer supported and that users needed to go to the Chase website through their browser.  Like Bank of America, users of Chase also found problems using the mobile website in Internet Explorer on their Windows Phone.

It is just the latest in a series of high profile and important apps being dropped for Windows Phone at a time where the future for the platform and universal apps is as bright as it has ever been.

As part of the new Windows 10 for Phone, Microsoft is making sure that it includes the latest and greatest in Bluetooth Hands-Free Profiles for improved sound and voice quality.  As part of the wide range of announcements they made last week at WinHEC in China, Microsoft announced that the new mobile platform will support the Hands-Free Profile (HFP) standard 1.6 which requires, amongst other things, the support for high definition audio.  Microsoft is referring to this as Wideband speech but you may also know if it as HD Voice and it should significantly improve the audio quality of calls and using voice activated services like Cortana on the new platform.

Continuing their dive to the bottom of the price barrel on smartphones, Microsoft today has announced the new Lumia 430.  This $70 Windows Phone 8.1 powered device has minimal specs as you would expect for that price point but does has a few things going for it in that it is upgradable to Windows 10 for Phone and it is a Dual-SIM device.  Otherwise this phone is not going to set the world alight but that really isn’t want Microsoft is intending with the Lumia 430.  It is a budget friendly phone aimed at specific markets (APAC, IMEA, Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Belarus) to go after the “next billion” in Microsoft plans.

That means we will likely never see the Lumia 430 here in the United States.

If you know me, you know I have an Angry Birds addiction problem.  Need proof?

No, I do not have an @AngryBirds addition problem. Leave me alone. pic.twitter.com/lMSTRriCKG

— Clinton Fitch (@ClintonFitch) December 10, 2014

Yeah, I know. Intervention time. Anyway, for those of you who share my addition, you will be pleased to hear that there is an update for Angry Birds Star Wars II in the Windows Phone store today.  The update, version 1.8.1 for those keeping score at home, brings 32 new levels to the game and, as always, the update is free.

Angry Birds Star Wars II – Free (In-App Purchases) – Download Now