Bundled Windows 8 Metro apps detailed

Includes all the regular stuffOperating systems News By Kate Solomon Wednesday at 15:10 UTC | Tell us what you think [ 3 comments ]

Tweet Windows 8 apps - Metro-tastic

Windows 8 will come with a number of pre-installed apps, which look set to include things like messaging, mail and contacts.

The apps will be in the Windows Phone Metro style and some, like messaging may incorporate mobile aspects like SMS support.

The full list, acquired by The Verge, includes camera, messaging, mail, calendar, SkyDrive, people, photos, video and music.

Soon, soon

We should see all these apps and, possibly, more in the Windows 8 beta set for this month.

None will be branded WIndows Live, as some Windows apps like Messenger currently are, but the Music and Video apps are said to be branded Zune at the moment, with plans to move this to Xbox Live for Windows in the long term.

Speaking of Xbox Live, there's also a possibility that a Windows Phone-alike Xbox Live Companion app will come bundled in the consumer preview too.

So, not exactly groundbreaking information, but rather another blank filled in in the great tech crossword puzzle that is Windows 8.

From The Verge

Tags: Windows 8, apps, Metro, MicrosoftTweetreddit!StumbleuponComment on this article  Your comments (3) Click to add a new commentbartw78

Thursday at 09:36 UTC

3. @bradavon

I am hearing different noises. The Zune brand is going away and will be Xbox (Live?).

Windows Live essentials will be for Windows 7/Vista.

Windows 8 will have Metro apps for Mail, Messenger, People etc etc. So similar to Windows Live Essentials. It is not known however, whether the apps will be build in to Windows 8, or whether these apps can be downloaded (for free?) from the Windows Store.

All in all I expect Windows Live Essentials to go in the end, but that is just a guess. Microsoft so far has not released any news on the future of Windows Live Essentials.

Its wait and see and hopefully we will now more by Feb 29th

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bradavon

Wednesday at 17:12 UTC

2. Windows Live apps are specifically Desktop apps. It goes something like this:

1. Zune: Are Metro and Windows Phone apps

2. Windows Live Essentials and Windows Media Player: Are Desktop apps

3. And just to make it even more confusing, there is also a Zune Player for Desktop too.

It makes sense they'll be labelled Zune as that's what Windows Phone labels them as.

In short and going forward, it seems Zune is Metro (Windows 8/Windows Phone) and Windows Live Essentials is Desktop (x86). So despite confusingly having different brand names, you're covered no matter where you're using Windows.

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bradavon

Wednesday at 17:07 UTC

1. It's weird Microsoft specifically removed these apps in Windows 7 (after putting them in with Vista) and are now putting them back into Windows 8.

It looks there will be cross over, with Windows Live Essentials still being alive for the Desktop.

I suspect these will all be Metro apps, meaning Windows Live Essentials will live on in Desktop Mode (probably in more advanced form) and also still being needed for Vista/Windows 7.

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Nokia Lumia 800 UK release date and price detailed

UPDATE: Check out our Hands on: Nokia Lumia 800 review

The Nokia Lumia 800 UK release date has been set as 16 November – with the next generation Windows Phone 7 handset attracting widespread interest.

Nokia's Windows Phone is seen as a key step for both the Finnish phone giant and Microsoft – as it looks to take on rivals Apple and Google.

Windows Phone 7.5 Mango has won plaudits, and Nokia will be looking to trade on the familiarity of its brand to bring a whole new audience to the smartphone market.

AMOLED

The Nokia Lumia UK release date of November has been confirmed by several major players, although the early indications are that there may be a bit of a wait for the more colourful options.

The Nokia Lumia 800 boasts a 3.7 inch AMOLED screen, a 1.4GHz processor and Carl Zeiss optic in the camera.

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Disappointing Android apps for PlayBook functionality detailed

Details of the Android apps that BlackBerry PlayBook owners will be, or rather, will not be able to access through the device's long-promised player have been revealed.

Sadly for RIM fans, the long wait appears to be in vain, with the BlackBerry Runtime for Android apps player eliminating a huge array of potentially enticing features.

Presenting the details at the Droidcon conference in Romania, RIM engineers explained exactly what Android functionality PlayBook owners won't be using.

Anything that uses Google Maps, offers in-app billing, SIP VoIP is a no-go, and live Android wallpapers won't be brightening up your tablet.

"Rendered unusable"

The Thinq blog, reporting from the event, says: "Key features which will be unavailable to Android apps running under the compatibility layer on the PlayBook and future BlackBerry devices include Android's famed battery-sucking Live Wallpaper, SIP and SIP VoIP, anything built using the Native Development Kit, apps containing only App Widgets, and apps containing more than one activity tied to the Launcher.

"In addition, any packages which rely on Google Maps, in-app billing services, Android's text-to-speech engine, or the cloud-to-device messaging system will all be rendered unusable under the company's runtime system."

The news comes as a massive blow to BlackBerry PlayBook owners hoping that the long-promised, and now evidently over-hyped, Android player would breathe some life into the ailing tablet.

Start the Fire

For RIM, the disappointment is compounded by Wednesday's Amazon Kindle Fire Android tablet announcement.

The Kindle Fire boasts a very similar 7-inch form factor, full Android Honeycomb compatibility at under half of the retail price of the Kindle.

It's difficult to see how the PlayBook, still without a native email client, can compete with the Kindle Fire even if the price points were similar.

RIM has begun to cut the price of the PlayBook in a bid to turn some inventory into cash, but it now appears that the BlackBerry tablet may have to go the way of the HP TouchPad in order to shift those units.

Even with Wednesday's revelations, the company still hasn't revealed when the BlackBerry Runtime player for the QNX platform will arrive, more than six months after the PlayBook launched.

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The A8-3530MX contains a dual-channel memory controller that supports DDR3 RAM up to 1600MHz, as well as a PCI-Express 2.0 hub that can handle discrete graphics. Despite cramming all of those components under one roof, the A8-3530MX is said to have a thermal envelope of 45W. DananimHaber mentioned that the Fusion chip will be paired with one of two southbridge chipsets: the A60M or the A70M. Both are largely identical, except the former lacks native USB 3.0 support.