Following Microsoft’s acquisition of Minecraft maker Mojang in September, the mobile version of the well known game has now finally arrived on Windows Phone. Minecraft Pocket Edition can now be purchased from the Windows Phone app store for $6.99. It will only work on devices running Windows Phone 8.1, though, so if you’re stuck on an older version of the OS you should update (if you can).

The game lets you play it either as a single player or in multiplayer, and there are two modes to choose from: Survival or Creative. Read more »

The Here suite of apps for Windows Phone has been updated today. All of the apps have new versions waiting to be downloaded and installed, but perhaps the biggest changes are brought to the Here Drive+ app. It now supports voice-guided navigation in 18 more countries or territories.

These are Algeria, Angola, Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Cyprus, Iraq, Libya, Mauritania, Mauritius, Nepal, Paraguay, Saint Helena, Senegal, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. This brings the total number of countries and territories in which voice-guided directions are available to 118. Read more »

Just like last year, Microsoft is again organizing a 12 day long holiday promotion with price cuts on various devices. Much like an advents calendar the US tech giant will be unveiling the special offers one at a time, every day until December 19.

The campaign is, sadly, only available in the US and Canada and kicked off yesterday with the Toshiba Encore Mini tablet. Read more »

After initially only being available in the US, Cortana was enabled for China and the UK too this summer. And now Microsoft’s virtual assistant is making it to four more countries: France, Germany, Italy, and Spain.

Today, Microsoft has announced that it will start rolling out an update for the Windows Phone Developer Preview Program which will make Cortana available in these new places as an “alpha”. Read more »

The release of Windows 10 for Phones is likely a long way off and most likely won’t be officially rolled out until late next year. The Chinese website ITHome.com does however report an interesting new OS version popping up in their logs.

These builds all share a common base version of 8.15, which rumors state are an early internal builds of the new Windows 10. Read more »

The Nokia Lumia 1030, the successor of the Lumia 1020 cameraphone, was in our rumor section for quite a while. It was known as Lumia McLaren in the beginning, but later the Lumia 1030 name got accepted as almost official.

The most recent rumors had it that the Lumia 1030 cancelled in the wake of the Microsoft’s completed acquisition of Nokia. And while we heard the Redmond’s giant is still prepping a proper Lumia 1020 sequel, we are still getting various reports of the “leaked” Lumia 1030. Here is the latest batch. Read more »

Lumia codenamed McLaren has been in the rumorland for quite a while this year, but eventually it turned out Microsoft had cancelled the Lumia 1020 successor after the Nokia acquisition went through.

Nowadays the rumor has it Microsoft is already prepping a true Lumia 1020 sequel with breath-taking PureView camera, which should premiere at the upcoming CES or MWC expos early next year. But do you wonder what could have been if the Lumia McLaren, also known as Lumia 1030, actually made it to the market? Here it is. Read more »

Microsoft has slashed the contract-free price of the AT&T’s Nokia Lumia 635 to just $39. This is probably the manufacturer’s first deal for the upcoming Black Friday.

The Nokia Lumia 635 is indeed a great offer with a 4.5″ IPS display, Snapdragon 400 chipset, a 5MP rear cam and LTE connectivity, especially at such a low price. Read more »

After repeatedly bashing the MacBook Air in its Surface 3 commercials, Microsoft released yet another ad that takes a swing at Apple. The holiday themed video puts Nokia Lumia 830 side by side with Apple iPhone 6 Plus in a battle of virtual assistants.

The clip consists of showcasing Cortana’s unique features via rhetorical questions towards Siri. Read more »

Today Microsoft has unveiled a new free video editing app for Windows Phone 8.1. It’s called Movie Creator, and it’s available in beta in the Windows Phone app store, for Lumia smartphones. It also works on tablets running Windows 8.1.

It lets you create movies using up to 25 videos you’ve recorded on your phone, as well as photos, cinemagraphs, ‘living images’, and music from your mobile device. Read more »

The latest mid-range smartphone from Microsoft is finally here in the comfort of our office. Meet the Lumia 730/735 and its unmistakable Finnish design. The phone carries all the traits we’ve come to know and love in the Lumia family. In fact, it does look like a shrunken Lumia 1520, and that’s not a bad thing at all.

The Lumia 730/735 is build around a 4.7″ ClearBlack AMOLED screen with 720p resolution. This puts it in the same arena as the excellent Motorola Moto G, so while our review is in the oven, we offer you a quick hands-on of the device. Read more »

Microsoft Lumia 535 has finally put the Nokia logo to rest. The smartphone is an excellent budget offer with a 5″ qHD display and Snapdragon 200 chip with a quad-core processor and 1GB of RAM. Naturally, the Lumia 535 runs on the latest Windows Phone 8.1 OS with Lumia Denim enhancements. The Lumia 535 will come in a dual-SIM flavor, too.

So, the Lumia 535 should launch very soon and will set you back about €110 before taxes. And while you are waiting for the phone to hit the shelves, you can treat yourself with the official hands-on video. Read more »

Nokia Lumia 830 is surely one of the season’s highlights with flagship specs on affordable price, as Microsoft likes to advertise it. And this isn’t such an understatement – you get a 5″ IPS screen with ClearBlack tech and 294ppi, a Snapdragon 400 chipset with a quad-core processor and a 10MP camera with ZEISS optics and OIS.

We must not forget the highly valued features such as integrated wireless charging support, LTE connectivity, thin yet durable profile, plus the latest Windows Phone 8.1 Update 1 OS with Lumia Denim goodies. Read more »

Microsoft’s quest to rebrand anything Nokia continues and the latest one to change its name is the company’s Conversations blog. From now on, it’s called Lumia Conversations and lives on in Microsoft’s domain.

In addition to a slight redesign, the website will continue to serve a purpose on letting users know of the latest events, livestreams, product details and photos. Read more »

Microsoft is discontinuing the Nokia brand for its smartphones and is in the process of renaming Nokia-branded apps to “Lumia”. Some apps have already been rebadged but for some it’s a little harder – Nokia Cinemagraph used to host shared images on memories.nokia.com, but that’s shutting down and “memories” will be deleted come January.

Cinemagraphs stored on your phone will not be affected but if you have any on the Nokia site you’ll have to manually download a copy. Read more »