MasHD Blog

At October's Windows Phone 8 launch event, Microsoft's Joe Belfiore stood on stage and eagerly announced a laundry list of popular apps that were confirmed to be coming to the platform in the coming months. To the delight of many, Pandora was on the list -- and to top it all off, the music streaming service would come ad-free for the first year. The question then shifted to when it would actually make it to the Windows Phone Store, and we finally have an answer: today. The free app will take advantage of a Live Tile in all three possible sizes, the two largest showing which song is currently playing, along with its album cover art. Pandora's arrival also marks another milestone: not only will it be available on Kids Corner, it's also the first app capable of automatically filtering out explicit content when the feature is activated. The service will only be available for Windows Phone 8 devices, but anyone accessing Pandora through alternate apps on Windows Phone 7.x...

For Windows Phone 8, which first hit the market – and thus started its lifecycle – on December 14, 2012, Microsoft’s official support will run until August 7, 2014. As for Windows Phone 7.8, that saw its lifecycle begin on February 9, 2013, and so will be supported until September 9, 2014. As for what “mainstream support” actually means, Microsoft defines it as a period of updates and fixes, though warns that what firmware changes actually arrive on individual phones will depend on manufacturer, carrier, and location. “Microsoft will make updates available for the Operating System on your phone, including security updates, for a period of 18 months after the lifecycle start date” Microsoft The decision to detail exactly what Windows Phone users can legitimately expect from Microsoft is a commendable one, though it’s still no commitment to timely updates or, indeed, any guarantee that the smartphone you buy today may get an upgrade to the next version of the platform. There’s als...

Nokia’s CEO Stephen Elop says he isn’t worried about Microsoft making its own Windows Phone 8 hardware. In fact, Elop says that Nokia encourages all other companies, including its competitors, to make Windows Phone devices, and that a Microsoft-made WP8 Surface smartphone would be “a stimulant to the ecosystem.” Though Microsoft has yet to announce plans to make any phone hardware, there are rumors that Redmond will get into the smartphone hardware market. In an investor call on Thursday, Elop appeared to welcome the potential of a Surface smartphone, which would share a brand name with Microsoft’s Surface tablet. The Nokia CEO made his statement in response to questions about whether a Surface phone would be seen as a competitor. “We’re encouraging of HTC and Samsung and Microsoft or whomever to have devices in the market and to be making whatever investments that helps spur the ecosystem on,” Elop responded. Nokia is Microsoft’s most committed partner when it comes to Window...