MasHD Blog

The next major "installment" of Microsoft's operating system is official - Say hello to Windows 11. The new update, which will be free for windows 10 users during the end of 202, focuses on bringing a more clean and light operating system for millions of computers worldwide. New Features. Apart from the new design language - which now features a centrally placed start and app shortcut tray (you can move it to the left if you need to), the whole interface features a more "glass" inspired theme a la Windows 7 and enhances the flat iconography of Windows 10. Gone are the flat colors of most file icons and apps and instead you get a more 3d theme which borrows some elements from the linux camp in some ways. The new interface also features a "curved edge" to menus giving it a more clean menu and the tiles of yesteryear are finally gone in the start menu. - instead replaced with app icons and listings.  The new interface also features a quick notification si...

Microsoft's new flagship hardware are finally official , the Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL . The Lumia 950XL is Microsofts flagship device  and the Lumia 950 is the less expensive model but Microsoft has a cheaper $139 option called the Lumia 550 . The phone  which is set as  replacement for the Lumia 530 is powered by a Snapdragon 210 Soc clocked to 1.1 Ghz and it also has 1GB of RAM . The phone has 8GB of Storage which is expandable by MicroSD and it packs LTE support as well  .The phone has a 4.7" 720p display and it has a 5MP rear camera and a 2MP front camera listed .Other specs include a 2100 mAh battery and Windows "phone" 10 out of the box. Written by Rakitha for MasHD Source - GSMArena

Microsoft's new flagship hardware are finally official , the Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL . The Lumia 950XL is Microsoft's flagship device but Microsoft has a slightly affordable option - the Lumia 950 , the phone , made on familiar Nokia designs features a industrial polycarbonate design which comes in very thick color options .The phone replaces the Lumia 930 from almost two years ago and the new model brings Microsoft back in to the smartphone game as it so far had no flagship competitor to meet the Android and iOS competition.The new phone might not be a flagship as the 950XL,but it will certainly hold its ground and still remail cooler as it packs a slower Snapdragon 808 Soc. The Lumia 950 features a 5.2 "AMOLED display with 2560x1440p resolution and it comes with touch buttons rather than using capacitive buttons as the bigger flagship . The phone packs a Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 Soc and this features 3GB of Ram on board as well . The phone features a 20MP rear un...

Dell has unveiled a new hardcore Windows 8.1 tablet which is cutely named the Latitude 12 Rugged tablet . The device which on paper looks to be a 12" tablet is actually smaller as the display is only 11.6" - which by tablet standards is still pretty large , but this coupled with the 1366x768 resolution will surely make this device feel a bit out of place in a world filled with high pixel counts and mind blowing resolutions , but then again none of those tablets feature Dust , water , shock and Mud resistance as well as absorb drops from 4 feet and resist temperatures that can go from minus 20 to 145 degrees F , this then is not a tablet for your office - it as DEll intends is directly aimed at Military emergency responders and explorers . The Intel Core M powered tablet is running a full version of Windows 8.1 and it features a 512GB SSD flash storage and about 4-8GB of RAM .The tablet is expected to cost about $1500-2000 which is a lot for a Windows powered Core M tablet...

LG has unveiled a new budget Windows 8.1 handset for Verizon .The phone , which goes under the name as LG Lancet is the Korean companies first Windows handset since the pioneer days of windows Phone , the handset , which supports Verizon's HD voice facility costs $120 off contract on the network OS -Windows 8.1 Display - 4.5-inch LCD Display Processor -1.2 GHz Quad Core Processor LG Apps -Knock On: Turn the screen on and off by just double tapping it with your finger Quick Memo™: Capture screenshots and make notes, add comments, and drawings Camera -8-megapixel rear camera and VGA front facing camera Storage -8 GB internal storage (formatted capacity is less; 4 GB usable storage) Supports up to 128 GB microSD card (sold separately) Source - VerizonWireless

Microsoft has launched a "affordable" solution to their Surface tablet PC series . The newly announced Surface 3  is a scaled down version of the top of the line Surface Pro 3 , unlike previous Surface attempts , the new tablet is not running the failed Windows RT operating system , instead  it runs on the proper Windows 8.1 version with a promised Windows 10 update once it is launched . The device has a Intel Atom X7 64 bit Soc "Cherry trail"  Quad core Soc with 2 GB of RAM onboard . The tablet has 64GB of storage and it also has a MicroSD card slot for expansion .Display wise , the tablet has a 10.8" 1920x1080p IPS touch display with embedded magnets to support a external keyboard  cover . The tablet features 2 USB 3.0 ports and it has a MicroUSB for charging .The tablet weighs 622g for the Wifi version and a LTE variant is said to be down the pipeline as well . Pricing for the tablet starts at $499 with Pre orders starting today . Specs at a glance ...

With Microsoft working hard to promote its Windows Phone platform , cutting corners and making phones accessible to the low end market is probably the best option they have on the table right now , With the announcement of the Lumia 520 , things looked good for the platform , but now its about to get a whole lot better thanks to the announcement of the new Lumia 430 . The Lumia 430 - which sits below the already cheap Lumia 5xx platform is priced at $70 off contract , the internals of the phone remind us of the Lumia 520 as this model is also equipped with the same 1.2 Ghz Snapdragon 200 Soc , but unlike the old model - this has 1GB of ram - making it eligible for the upcoming Windows (phone) 10 update . The rest of the phone is basically a mix of old parts and new ones , for starters , we have a 2MP fixed focus camera and a VGA front facing one for skype , the 4" display also has a low resolution of 480x800 - which by all means is still great for the price . You get 8GB of in...

Microsoft has unveiled two new Windows Phone devices today , the two mid range models - Lumia 640 and 640XL are technically replacements to the not so successful Lumia 630 .The new phones are said to pack features that were absent in the previous iteration which include front facing cameras , rear flash and better cameras Lumia 640  This is Microsoft's replacement phone for the 640 , it has a Snapdragon 400 Soc from last year's model , but you do get the same goodies like a MicroSD expansion slot and a removable battery along with a 1mp front facing camera and a 8Mp rear shooter with a single LED flash . The phone is said to be available with a option of having 4G LTE as well as dual sim support . The model is reportedly priced at a somewhat reasonable EUR 160 . Specs at a glance   *5" 1280x720p resolution IPS LCD , Gorilla glass 3 protection *Snapdragon 400 Soc , 1.2 Ghz  , Adreno 305 GPU *1GB Ram , 8GB storage , SD card expansion upto 1...

Microsoft has revealed new details about Windows 10 at a special Microsoft briefing  held today (21st) The new stratergy of windows 10 includes new ways of adding more users onboard by making the OS free for existing users who are already using Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 on their desktops or laptops . The move however only allows users to have it " Free" for the first year . Windows 10 brings new improvements to the somewhat of a unsuccessful Windows 8/8.1 ,The update brings things like the start button but instead of programs you still get a list of live tiles which is not as bad as the previous version , Cortana is also present in the OS so she can work as a desktop personal assistant .Windows 10 also says bye bye to the good old Internet explorer as it is now kicked down (THIS IS SPAARTAA!!) to the pit of death by the new Spartan browser which brings a Google chrome like interface and more fluidity to the otherwise laggy experience. The browser will have custom the...

USB Stick pc's have been around for quite a while in the Android camp , but sticks running desktop class operating systems are almost non existent until now .Introducing the new Intel Compute Stick - this $150 USB PC stick runs Windows 8.1 (Desktop version) and it has a twin Linux version which costs $90 and features a bit lower spec parts inside . Both models feature  a Micro USB 2.0 port  and a full size USB 2.0 port along with Wifi b/g/n  , Bluetooth 4.0 and a male-HDMI port for fixing the unit to your HDMI capable TV or display . The Windows 8.1 version will have 2GB of RAM  and 32GB of storage while the Linux version will have 1GB of RAM and 8GB of storage . Both versions will feature MicroSD card slots for expandable storage and they will have Intel Z3735F Quad core Atom (Bay Trail) processor . Written by Rakitha for MasHD Source - GSMArena

Some gadgets just refuse to die , the HTC HD2 is one example of such a device . The phone , launched in the last half of 2009 has lived on as the undisputed champion that overcame planned obsolescence.The phone , which originally started life as a Microsoft Mobile 6.5 smartphone ,had a 1 Ghz single core Snapdragon processor and just 448 MB of Ram . The phone - which became popular developer platform started to get custom ROM's and different OS versions including  Windows Mobile v6.1 to 6.5.5 , Windows Phone 7 , 8 and Windows RT  and Playstation 1 Emulators as well as a copy of Linux , Firefox OS , Meeego  and of course Android .  The First version of Android to run on the HD2 was 2.2 Froyo and this later expanded all the way from 2.3 -4.0.4 , 4.1 , 4.2 ,4.3 ,4.4 and today we have news that some guys at XDA successfully ported Android 5.0 .The developer however has only managed to get the touch screen and audio to work at the moment (Alpha build) bu...

Microsoft has been keeping a good update record for its Windows Phone smartphones after the backslash of Windows Phone 7 . The new crop of Windows Phone 8 devices have gone through 2 major updates and now according to sources , they are set to receive their third major update in the form of Windows 10 . The Windows 10 update is said to bring some major changes to the Windows phone field as it is the first update that is said to remove the "Phone" in Windows phone . The news of the coming update comes from Microsoft's "Lumia" twitter account and it boldly states that all current Windows Phone 8 handsets will receive the update although we are not quite sure as the confirmation is not given by Microsoft , but instead by a affiliated party . The update might rely upon certain hardware capabilities of smartphones and lesser Windows Phone makers might decide to omit the update altogether , but whatever it is , news of having a update for a series of devices that ar...

Microsoft was having a rough time with Windows 8 , the new Tiled based interface was not favored by many as it lacked a start button and most of the UI worked well on a Tablet rather than a full size computer . The shortcomings of Windows 8 was quickly addressed by Windows 8.1 which offered a reasonable offering that was a lot better than the earlier version , but even after all these additions ,the platform was still lacking in some features that can woo in the users who are still clinging on to Windows 7 , so Microsoft was quickly working on releasing a newer version of Windows - Aka Windows 9 so that they could unify their Mobile platform and their desktop solution to work together ,but as it turns out , Microsoft - for reasons unknown , has decided to jump Windows 9 "aka Windows Threshold" and rename it as Windows 10 . The move is a giant leap as this is the first time Microsoft attempted to "jump" a series , The new Windows 10 is said to include the best of...

Acer is one of the lesser known Android OEM's in the market , but their history of releasing Android products run as far back as the  era of Honeycomb tablets .Acer , who has a long line of Iconia tablets running Android and now Windows 8 are designed to be affordable and powerful at the same time , the newly announced Iconia  One 8 ,W8 and the Iconia 10 tablets are the latest Intel based additions to the tablet list Acer Iconia One 8 - This , as the name suggests is a 8" tablet running Android , this is also the cheapest of the three Display - 8" 1280x800 IPS panel OS - Android 4.4 Kitkat +Acer's ui modifications Design - Tablet - Unibody , available in green, yellow, orange, blue, pink, purple, blue, red, black, and white. Processor - Intel Atom 3735G Quadcore Bay Trail cpu Ram - unknown Storage - 16GB + Micro SD card slot Camera(s) - Unknown , possibly a 720p front camera , 5MP rear camera , No LED flash Battery - unknown Other - HDMI Out P...

Nokia/Microsoft landed a perfect hit with the Lumia 520 last year , the affordable phone , which retailed for about $110 in most developing countries proved to be a the "great push" for Windows Phone , which was virtually still at that time . With 12 million units sold , the Lumia 520 , and its US variant - The Lumia 521  made up 30% of all Windows Phone devices sold to date . The phone however has been since replaced by the Lumia 525 and both devices will meet the Axe once the upcoming Lumia 530 is introduced , overall ,Microsoft/Nokia's stratergy of launching affordable Windows Phone handsets payed off , and hopefully , it will keep working in the future  in order to push the platform beyond its stagnant  4% global market share . Written by Rakitha for MasHD Article may be used in other blogs,but please be sure to link this article as a source GSMArena

Microsoft at first hoped that their Surface tablets will woo in many customers who were in the market for high end tablets , but sadly the effort was in vain as large quantities of unsold Surface tablets are still piled up in warehouses , the biggest flaw in Microsoft's policy was the addition of the Windows RT system into the brand name Surface , this move not only confused the average Joe , but also brought in a bad reputation to Microsoft  which now faced a sitiation similar to one they faced during the launch of the Kin . The Surface "Pro" lineup fared better , but the RT failure confused many potential buyers of the Pro to turn away , making the Entire Surface lineup feel like a disaster .but Microsoft , in its policy of "never giving up" decided to give a second shot at the Surface lineup with the Surface 2 and Surface 2 RT , as usual , the RT model was completly ignored by the general public  , the Pro on the other hand was sold better , but their pric...

After completing a decade of service , Microsoft has finally pulled the plug on the aged Windows XP operating system today , the move was scheduled in advance , but many companies have not upgraded most of older their work terminals , so the software still exists in a Zombified form . Microsoft  has agreed to provide such companies with a Custom service support suite -which will help them migrate their devices to a never version of Windows (TM) but this is sadly not available for consumers ,so if you haven't switched from Windows XP yet ,it is high time you consider a upgrade . SlashGear

Today , Microsoft announced their new API for DirectX 12 , the new version will allow developers better control on their graphics and allow more complex rendering features which will bring better games for consoles like the Xbox One ,Pc's and future mobile devices . Microsoft however , wants the Directx 12 API to exist as a console like API because devs can work with consistency and have better predictability . Direct3D 12 however will spread the work load across multiple cores , lowering the strain on the hardware , according to Microsoft ,40% of existing Directx 11 hardware will be ready for DirectX 12. Chipmakers like Intel were pleased with the anouncement and said that their new 4th Gen Core i7's will support it at launch.Nvidia said that their current Kepler,Fermi and Maxwell architectures will support DirectX 10 , but AMD was not impressed with the presentation . Although Direct3D 12 added efficient resource handling , the presentation did fail to show any ma...

The deadline for software support on Governmental and private computers will end next month as the Windows XP platform winds down after 13 years of service on the 8th of April (Next Month) . The move to widthdraw support for the platform was known to many ,but due to the slow process of upgrading computers the platform still runs on 10% of governmental computers many ATM and other business terminals which are now at risk of being hacked . Microsoft however has decided to offer a $50 gift card to any one still holding up with the obsolete platform and promises free services and data backup if they purchase a pc running a newer version of Microsoft Windows Sources - Infowars.com , PC World