Windows Phone Overtakes Symbian In The UK

According to a recent report from Kantar Worldpanel, Microsoft’s Windows Phone platform has overtaken Symbian here in the UK, although the report shows that Microsoft’s mobile platform still only makes up a small percentage of overall smartphones.

The period covered in the report are the twelve weeks up to the 19th of February 2012, and Symbian has now dropped down to 2.4 percent of the smartphone market, where as Windows Phone has now risen to 2.5 percent of the market. Of course Microsoft still has a lot to do if it wants to get anywhere near the two most popular mobile platforms, Google’s Android OS and Apple’s iOS.

According to the report 87 percent of the Windows Phone sales for the period are down to one smartphone, the Nokia Lumia 800. "The fact that WP7 sales have overtaken Symbian based on one handset is encouraging,” said Dominic Sunnebo, global consumer insight director for Kantar Worldpanel. However, Nokia will need to expand the range quickly in order to keep up with the slew of next generation competitor products being launched in quarter two.”

The report also released the share held by Android and iOS, showing that Google’s Android OS is the most popular platform in the UK with a 48.5 percent share and Apple’s iOS is in second place with a 28.7 percent share, in third place is RIM with a 17.1 percent share.

Android vs. WP7 vs. Symbian3 browser smoothness test:

Windows Phone Launches In China

The first Windows Phone smartphone has gone on sale in China today, the HTC Eternity, which is basically a HTC Titan, and the device comes with a 4.7 inch display and front and rear facing cameras. Microsoft have also shown off their new Chinese language interface for Windows Phone, and we can expect more devices to launch later this week with the latest version of Microsoft’s mobile OS Windows Phone Tango.

To mark the arrival of Windows Phone, Microsoft China held an event in Beijing for press and phone industry executives Wednesday to show off the Chinese-language interface. If you’re curious, here are a few shots (shown in a generic handset) providing a taste of Windows Phone in simplified Chinese. The software also supports traditional Chinese. The ones we are most interested in seeing are the new devices from Nokia, who are holding a special press conference in China next week on the 28th of March.

Stephen Elop interviewed in China (sina.com)- Nokia Windows Phone Q4 2011:

ProTube HD Lets You Experience YouTube As It Should Be On Your iPad

A few weeks ago the reinvention of the YouTube application for the iPhone was made public as it was imagined by developer Jonas Gessner. This is available to all those who have a jailbroken iPhone and is available through the Cydia store. This new app has a number of features and additions that many feel should have been native in Apple's stock implementation of YouTube. ProTube has been a huge success for jailbroken devices and following on from this Gessner has released a HD version of the app for the iPad. If you are not familiar with the ProTube app then all you need to know is that it is a complete reinvention of the YouTube application which combines a professional look with a powerful feature set.

ProTube HD is not just another tweak, it is a full self sufficient application and when you launch it ProTube presents the standard mobile version of the YouTube website with some really powerful features. By taking advantage of the mobile version of YouTube and then coupling this with the iPad screen and the recognized interface controls, ProTube HD represents what many people are saying is a superior alternative to the native experience. This application has some great features including all of the expected YouTube activities such as commenting, sharing and rating videos, you gain control over your user account, you get high and standard definition video downloads and the option to save only the sound track of a video in high quality MP3 format. There are plenty more features built in and you can view the full list in the Cydia store.

ProTube HD is a bargain price at just $1.49 and it is available now through the Big Boss repository. It is compatible with iOS 4 and above.

ProTube:

iRise Studio App Prototyping Software Arrives On Mac

If you have an idea for a new smartphone application, then you might be pleased to learn that iRise Studio App prototyping software has now arrived on Mac systems. iRise Studio has been designed to enable ideas for the next block buster smartphone application to be drafted together to enable investors and designers to get a much better idea of whats involved before fully committing. Watch the video after the jump to see iRise Studio in action.

iRise Studio has been created to work like a desktop publishing program geared toward mobile interfaces. It ships with a large library of app elements for iOS, Android, Blackberry, Windows Phone, WebOS and tablet development.

Enabling you to combine the elements to mock-up screens and can share the results with a viewer that simulates the target device and works on most platforms. Allowing other to be able to see a much more detailed working representation of your application. Rather than just a handful of typed pages explaining it. Unfortunately no information on pricing for the Mac version of the iRise Studio software has been released as yet, but as soon as more information is released we will keep you updated as always.

iRise Studio App :

SAP iRise Video Preview from iRise Video on Vimeo.

HTC Adds More Devices To Bootloader Unlocking Tool

Back in December HTC added a number of new devices to their bootloader unlocking tool, and now HTC has added a couple more devices to the list which include the HTC Hero, Legend, Droid Eris and the myTouch 3g and myTouch 4G. The HTC bootloader unlock tool allows you to unlock your HTC smartphone so that you can instal a custom ROM on your device.

We plan on releasing the updates that will allow you to unlock your bootloader in the coming months, please keep an eye on this website for more details on which devices will be adding this feature. We are extremely pleased to see the energy and enthusiasm from our fans and loyal customers, and we are excited to see what you are capable of. HTC eagerly anticipates your innovations. The HTC bootloader unlock tool is available as a free download from HTC and you can also find a full list of supported devices over at the HTC website.

How to Unlock a HTC Aria (Liberty, A6366) with unlock Code:

HTC One V To Join Mobile World Congress Party

Here’s another reason to watch out for the upcoming Mobile World Congress: HTC One V. The new phone was previously called the HTC Primo. It’s the third device HTC will be unveiling at the Mobile World Congress, with the HTC One X and the HTC One S also reported to be the names for HTC’s new line of phones.

The HTC One V is one of the company’s music-centred phone and as such, will come with Beats Audio, which is part of HTC’s collaboration with the brand known for their bass-pumping headphones. Other details for the One V is that it will come with Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich), a 5-megapixel camera, 1.0 GHz processor and 1GB of RAM, not really top-end specs but more than enough for the average user. Besides, it’s targetted for those who often use their phones as their music player.

MWC 2011 - HTC Press conference - part 1/15: