Benchmarks are a big part of our reviews and Basemark X is one of the newer ones we’re using. The company behind it, Rightware, just announced that it has covered all three major smartphone OSes, which is a must-have for inter-platform comparisons.

The latest version, Basemark X 1.1, is based on Unity 4.2, a popular game engine and IDE. Read more »

Over the last few hours Rovio has released three teasers about a new Angry Birds game. The pictures are very clear – they even have the #NEWANGRYBIRDS hashtag in the corner, so it isn’t just another update.

There is no other information but the teaser pictures, which show popular birds watching something in the distance. There is the Stella logo plus the “Best Friends Forever…Most of the Time” message. Read more »

According to a report in The Verge, Microsoft is considering bringing support for Android applications to Windows and Windows Phone. Planning for the radical move is said to be ongoing and in early stages.

If materialized, the shift in strategy will aim to counter the lack of popular apps available on Microsoft’s OS platforms. Despite featuring mainstream titles such as Flipboard and Instagram, Windows Phone still lacks many of the popular iOS and Android apps and games. Read more »

The Windows Phone 8.1 SDK has leaked and it brings a bevy of software updates and added features.

The new layout looks like a bit like a combination of Windows RT and Windows Phone; the lines are blurring between the two platforms. Read more »

The Windows Phone 8.1 update is expected to come in a couple of months, bringing the widely requested notification center to the Microsoft platform. Yet, until now, we didn’t have a very good idea of what it will look like.

This changed today, though, thanks to a couple of leaked screenshots that allegedly come from an internal Microsoft document. It shows that the notification center will actually be called Action center and will contain connectivity toggles in addition to notifications. Read more »

Love Flappy Bird? Well we’ve got some sad news: turns out the game’s developer, Dong Nguyen, is taking the popular new title down.

He tweeted the information, which indicates that the game will be pulled offline tomorrow. Read more »

Microsoft’s recent investment of $15 million into popular location-based app Foursquare means that it will use the app’s data in its anticipated Cortana voice assistant as part of the upcoming Windows Phone 8.1 release.

The Windows Phone 8.1 update, with which Microsoft aims to get all of its major OSs to the same build number, is set to feature Cortana of the Halo universe as its voice assistant. Read more »

Gameloft in association with Marvel is developing the gaming version of the upcoming superhero movie Captain America: The Winter Solider.

Gameloft will be bearing all the production expenses and the popular gaming firm will be releasing the official game in March for the iOS and Android platforms. Read more »

Did you know that 50 Cent used to have a BlackBerry? That’s old news now – at an interview at CES the rapper mentioned that he switched to an iPhone because that’s where “all the cool stuff” is and mentioned the camera will be the primary consideration when he starts looking for a new phone.

Someone at Nokia’s marketing team caught wind of that and, of course, sent 50 Cent a Nokia Lumia 1020. Read more »

The arcade game Flappy Bird has become very popular recently. We already did a thorough review and found it indeed really addictive. It is free to play on both Android and iOS, supported by in-game ads.

The developer behind Flappy Bird was asked on Twitter when the game is coming to Windows Phone and it seems the Microsoft users will join the fun very soon. Read more »

In an interview for Trusted Reviews Archos CEO Loic Poirier said his company considers making a Windows Phone handset. However, he didn’t specify exactly when this might happen.

We will launch a Windows Phone handset when the time is right, said Poirier. He adds, that the Windows Phone market has become mature enough for Archos to enter, but for now, it’ll keep its focus on Android. Before anything else we are focused on Google, he notes. Read more »

With our review of the Lumia 1320 under way, we managed to run the smartphone through our battery life test gauntlet and we are now giving you the scores. With an endurance rating of 105 hours, its premium brother the Lumia 1520, set the bar pretty high leaving no room for mediocre performance on Lumia 1320′s side.

And at least on paper we shouldn’t expect the Lumia 1320 to flop. It sports an identical battery to the Lumia 1520 – a 3,400 Li-Ion unit as well as the same 6″ display, which is even of lower resolution this time. Read more »

Microsoft seems to have really bad luck with its SkyDrive cloud service. First a UK court ruled out Microsoft is infringing British Sky Broadcasting Group trademark last summer and Microsoft has agreed to change the name.

Just two days ago Microsoft announced the new name of the service – SkyDrive was re-branded to OneDrive. And as of today Microsoft is in trouble once again for the same reason. Read more »

Viber has brought the Sticker Market feature to the Windows Phone 8 version of its instant messenger. Available in the latest update of the app, this is Viber’s first attempt at generating revenue with its services.

On top of that, the update brings enhanced notifications, which the company says are now smarter. Viber users also have more options to customize their statuses. Read more »

Electronic Arts is currently running a promotion on some of its games for Xbox Live and Windows Phone. Xbox games are up to 75% off, while the Windows Phone games are up to 40% off. It’s not just EA either, Amazon has a long list of discounted games too.

The price cut for Electronic Arts games on WP will only last a week, check the list of games after the break. Read more »