Microsoft just made it official that the next major update to the Windows Phone 8 family, the General Distribution Release 3 (GDR3) update will be heading out to all existing Windows Phone 8 smartphones within a few weeks. However, that was not the most interesting part of the announcements.

Microsoft just launched a new program through which, developers can install "Preview" versions of the upcoming updates on their Windows Phones -- irrespective of  carriers! That's a hurrah! The only thing is -- you need to be a developer or you need to have a developer unlocked phone to get these preview updates on your phone.

However, this is much simpler to achieve through the recently launched Windows Phone App Studio program where you can create Windows Phone apps without any coding skills. This program is open to all and is your key to get the GDR3 preview update and the future preview updates on your phone -- even if you are not a developer. So, how to do it? Its easy and it takes just a few minutes to get to the download.

Before you begin, know that this is not an official release and its just a testing phase. Through this program, you're just going to be a tester for the upcoming update and this means that there are somethings you need to know of before starting the update.

Advantages

Disadvantages

How to do it?

1. If you already have a registered App Studio account/Developer account or if your device is developer unlocked, skip to step 5. If you don't, then go to the Windows Phone App Studio page and select Start Building option.

2. Sign in with your Outlook/Hotmail account that you use with your Windows Phone.

3. You'll receive a page where you can change your display name. Check the 'I Agree' box and click Register.

4. That's it. You are now a registered Windows Phone App Studio developer. You don't need to create any app or do any other thing. Just simply sign out of the page.

5. On your phone, download the Preview for Developers app. You can scan the following QR code to get the link.

6. Tap on Install and wait till the install finishes. Then open the app and follow the instructions. The app then asks you to log in to your Microsoft account. Enter the details and tap on sign in.

7. The app will redirect you to the app and check the box that says 'Enable Preview for Developers' to enable preview updates. Tap done and voila! You are now eligible to download preview updates on your phone. If this screen didn't appear after you logged in and shows something like "You need to be a developer to download...", close the app and open the app after a few minutes to try it once again. You'll be able to get access by the time.

8. To download the updates, simply go to Settings > Phone Update and tap the Check for Updates button if it isn't automatically checking and after a while, you'll get notified of the update and you can download it ASAP.

That was easy, wasn't it? Feel free to explore the Windows Phone 8 GDR3 preview and check the cool features like the close button on the App Cards and the Driving Mode and other goodies. The official GDR3 update will roll out in the coming weeks. Till then, stay tuned. If you liked this article, subscribe and give feedbacks. Don't forget to share your opinion of the GDR3 update.

Tired of not having all those cool Nokia exclusives on your Windows Phone? Want to have the Pro Cam on your low-end Lumia or your Ativ S? Or are you a Nokia user wanting to have those exclusive Sammy apps like AppFolder on your Lumia? Fear not. You can do that with the help of an easy hack.

The process is simple and straight forward. We're going to change the Proxy server and port to a particular one to disguise our phones as some high end device of a different brand. So, when you access the Store, you will see the apps which were exclusive before. Did I forgot to mention that you will also see region locked apps? However, this doesn't just work directly and takes a little bit trial and error to score. But its easier and shouldn't take a long time.

Previously, you'd had to use Fiddler to hack in to the universal Store but now, there are a few public proxy servers some hackers have set up. So, there's no need of any additional piece of software or a device to achieve this. You just need your phone and a WiFi or a persistent data connection.

Prerequisites

This method would work for any Windows Phone 8 device irrespective of the manufacturer as you'd be seeing every single app on your Store while doing this. Nokia users would see apps from HTC and Samsung and vice versa.

Steps highlighted as Optional are not recommended as some of you may be able to do it skipping those steps. However, if it didn't work, you must do the Optional steps for a 100% success chance.

How to do it?

1. a. This method is for WiFi users. Connect to your WiFi network. Now, go to Settings>WiFi and tap on your WiFi network name. Turn on Proxy and at the Server/URL field, enter 117.135.139.179 and at the Port field, enter 8888. Tap on the tick button at the bottom to save the settings.

1. b. This is for users who are gonna access the Store via their mobile data. Note that you need a persistent and effective network connection to get the apps flawlessly. I'm stating here the steps for a Lumia phone. Other users may need to do it differently (since you wont have the Access Point option) Go to Settings>Access Point and tap and hold at the active access point and tap on edit. Scroll down and at the Proxy Address field, enter 117.135.139.179 and enter 8888 at the Proxy port field. Tap on the tick button to save the settings.

2. (Optional) Go to Settings>Location and turn it off.

3. (Optional) Go to Settings>Language+Region and from the Country/Region drop down list, select United States. Restart your phone.

4. (Optional) Go to Settings>Date+Time and select an American region from the Time Zone list like Arizona.

5. Go to Store and select the exclusive Hub for your Windows Phone from the list. For example, Lumia users tap on Apps from Nokia. This comes in different names for different manufacturers. Voila! You'll see all the apps (irrespective of the region and device) on your phone. Tap on an app you want to install.

6. This is the tricky part. If you're seeing an error when you view the app like "This app is not available for your device...", then tap the back button, select another app (any app), tap back and again tap on the app you want to install. Do this a few times until the Install option pops up at the bottom. For some lucky ones, you'll get the Install option easily without further delay. For others, keep trying. It took me a lot of time to install some Sammy apps. Once the Install button appears, tap on it.

7. Not yet done. You'll get an 'Attention Required' error and the app wont download. At this point, tap on the Windows Button and go to Settings. Don't close the Store by pressing back button multiple times.

8. a. For WiFi users, go to WiFi and tap on your network. Turn off the Proxy option and tap on the tick button to save the settings.. Hold the back button to see opened apps and tap on the Store app. Now, tap the app and tap retry. The app will begin to download.

8. b. For mobile data users (Lumia users), go to Access Point and tap and hold at your Access Point and tap edit. Remove the Proxy Address and Proxy Port fields and tap on the tick button to save the settings.

9. That's it! The app will now begin to download and once the download's complete, you can access it without any problem. Do the same for other apps by turning on Proxy again and doing the above mentioned steps. Multiple downloads may not work.

10. Once you've finished downloading the apps, revert the location, regional and time settings to original. Restart the phone once.

Known Issues

The first one -- apps wont work the way you want them to work. This is not true for all cases but there are some apps that are hardware specific like the Nokia Pro Cam. Even though you will be able to adjust and tinker with most of the features, you will face bugs due to hardware incompatibility as this app is hardware specific.

The next thing -- Play on the safe side. If you are experiencing any weird behavior after you installed an app, uninstall it quickly. Don't expect any support.


If this worked for you and you're happy with this, don't forget to give feedback and don't forget to subscribe to get more cool hacks and stuff.

Sources: WPCentral Forums, Myself!

A major limitation that still exists in Windows Phone is probably the slow growth of the app ecosystem. No, I personally don't believe this as Windows Phone is just a newer platform and as far as I'm concerned, the platform is growing at a decent rate every day. However, for the current customer, waiting is not an option. Perhaps this is the reason why Windows Phones are still considered a 'growing' smartphone platform instead of a leading one.

From the normal app side, its okay to say that Windows Phone is definitely having a good growth. However, if you look more closely, its the game section that needs attention. Apps can still be ignored but games are still a strong demand for any platform. And when it comes to games, I can't but admit that the growth is slow. But there are reasons -- pretty much notable ones to reason this.

So, why are games delayed all the time for Windows Phones? Recently, WPCentral posted an article to explain this. I already researched before the arrival of this article but I failed to post within time. Moreover, this will allow me to save several keystokes. The reasons given in WPCentral are accurate and they match with the ones I found. If you are interested, you can check the in-depth article to know eveything.

Brief Explanation

In a nutshell, it is so because of two factors -- time and money. About the time factor, Microsoft promised that with its tools, apps can seamlessly ported from iOS or Android to Windows Phones. But the reality is not so. To be exact, a game can be ported from iOS to Windows Phone in half the time it takes to actually develop a brand new iOS game of the same kind -- without Xbox Live ofcourse. If its an XBL game, it takes double the time.

In short, it takes about 2 to 3 months to port the game from Android or iOS to Windows Phones. If the game's bigger, it takes more than that. Not so easy now, wasn't it?

Now, you must be asking -- "Why not develop the WP game in parallel with iOS and Android versions?". Here comes the money factor. No, developing a new game for Windows Phone is not a difficult job and can take the same time for creating a new iOS and Android game. But you need to consider the budget too and the profits you get from this. Right now, Android and iOS are the most popular platforms and just like any gaming company would do, these games would always be at first released on the popular platforms and later to other platforms. Developing in parallel requires more workmen and more money. Normally, no company would take risk in doing so and its quite natural. This is why most games arrive late for Windows Phones.

No need to worry! We're growing!

As WPCentral mentioned at the end, the time for worrying has come to an end. Right now, Windows Phone app ecosystem is growing at a stable rate and we are seeing new games pop up in the marketplace including free Xbox games from EA and other major game makers. Even though we had a rough track, it seems Windows Phone is finally gaining some momentum after all. Moreover, good news is that some of the future titles like Angry Birds: Star Wars 2 will be launched for Windows Phone too on the first day.

So, chill up and expect for more games and apps in the coming weeks. If you believed this app ecosystem would never survive, its high time to correct that error.

Okay, this is the second bug that's irritating me in my Nokia Lumia 920. Well, if you were hoping that Windows Phones were a bug free platform devices, you're wrong. Its not short of bugs, not yet. Infact, there are still others coming soon which I'll post once I get a good proof. I can't bring out much proof here as its not a problem I can visualize.

The Problem

This is not a problem with the Nokia Amber update like the last one. This one was present since I ever started using the phone. However, I never mentioned this as I thought it could be due to bad music files or some other mistakes. I even tried resetting my phone once and doing all the possible updates but this was still there.

And for those who're wondering -- yes, this exists even on older Windows Phone 7.X devices.

The problem is that at weirdly random moments, when you try to increase or decrease the volume of the music you are playing, it won't do so. Well, you can of course see that the volume level is increasing but in reality, the volume never gets bumped up or down when you decrease it. Yes, the numbers will change but the real volume wont change at all.

Again, I was glad to find a couple of threads in the web mentioning the same problem and yes, it happens at weird times. At these times, the volume is stuck at a particular level and you can only change the level once you skip to the next song and go back to the previous one you were listening to.

Its not as easy like that. Say, I want to increase the volume to 27 from 20 for a particular music and the bug occurs, it won't increase the volume automatically. Sure, the number says 27 but the volume will be the same. Now, if I skip to the next song, the new volume will be applied and if I go back, the new volume will still be there.

Symptoms

Again, this is not just a user-interface bug -- i.e, not one which affects user control only. Normally, when an incoming call occurs whilst you are hearing the music, the default effect is that instead of a sudden pause, the volume decreases to the lowest and you start hearing the ringtone in Windows Phones.

So, if the bug is present at this moment and I am not able to change the volume, the same bug prevents the system from lowering the music volume for that fade effect. More elaborately, when the call appears, the music pauses all of a sudden since the system tried to lower the volume but it didn't actually lower it and the ringtone starts. Again, once I end the call, the same fade in effect wont be felt. The music starts all of a sudden instead of fading to original volume.

Workarounds

After listening to some of the threads, I tried switching to Nokia Music and playing the music from there and yes, gladly, it works for the moment. The same bug never occurred here so far and this points to the fact that the problem could be associated with the Xbox Music app. Probably.

Again, this bug is random and you may not experience it all the time. It occurred mostly when I'm listening to music through a headset.

So, what now?

I don't think there's a need to post again in the Windows Phone forums across the web to notify this problem. However, I will still try a post at Microsoft forums to see if I get an official response.

Meanwhile, if you are frustrated with this and need some fix, I can only think of Nokia Music as the best option so far. It works well without any glitches and is a decent alternative for your Xbox music app. Just hope to see a fix soon. Will keep this thread updated.

Update #1: I've posted a query at Microsoft Answers to notify this problem. There were other threads but none had an official reply to the problem. I hope I will get an official statement from someone soon.

This was intended to be published a few months back but I failed to do so due to my heavy schedule and I almost forgot that I finished writing down this post.


I totally forgot to update this on my blog as the excitement made me forget of the real world and drove me into somewhere else. Yes, its official and I recently made the #switch to Lumia 920 - -so to say. Yaay!

I know -- I should've updated it on my blog even though I did it on my Facebook account, the site's Facebook page, the Twitter page and each and everywhere else except in my most precious little blog. I'm so sorry blog, but I just got super-excited.

Some people have many different e-mail account to manage -- for work or for personal use. And its really difficult to manage all these accounts one by one. You lose a lot of time and you get tired of going through all those inboxes.

Luckily, in Windows Phones, there's an option that gives you less pain for checking new emails and manage different accounts efficiently. You can group or link different accounts into one to quickly view and send emails. This is indeed a helpful option for those who use e-mails very often and have different accounts.

You already got the idea how it works. Simply, instead of going to different accounts, Windows Phone creates one universal account for the specific accounts you selected so that you only need to go into that place to see all your emails from those different accounts. This cleans some space on your menu as well as home screen.

Now, let's see how we combine different email accounts. I have two email accounts as you can see from the screenshot given beside. Let's see how we combine these two accounts into one so that I can easily manage them.

Lumia Amber is finally starting to roll out beginning with the Nokia Lumia 920. Right now, almost all 920's are receiving the Amber update. Amidst all the new cool features that came along with the GDR2 update, it seems that Amber has nixed Google for the default search provider option in IE.

No, Microsoft hasn't considered removing Google out of the platform, not yet. Google has ditched and declined Microsoft many times over the past months for providing access to its glorious collection of web apps and software. Right now, Google fired up Microsoft by resisting to give permission for the YouTube app raising statements that the app wasn't built purely on HTML5. The funny thing though is that iOS and Android apps for YouTube are still not built entirely on HTML5. Clearly, its a personal grudge against Microsoft.

Nokia has started rolling out the Lumia Amber update (finally!) for all Nokia Lumia 920s across the globe. Yes, that includes me too and I'm glad to announce that I updated mine to Amber -- too.

The update began to roll out here, in India, on August 15th -- Independence Day midnight. Good time for an update and a wise choice. Kudos to Nokia for that. :)

Back to Amber. I started the update August 16th as I was forced to because I was in the hangover of celebrations and slept for a long time. Anyways, the next day, I began the update and it took about 2 hours to download but that's because of the 256Kbps bandwidth I have right now. Still, the update is about 1 GB and it should take time to get on your phone if you are in India. Installation was pretty long -- about half an hour. Another 5 minutes was spent for setting up the phone (migrating data and stuff!). Even at a time, I thought the phone bricked because it got stuck for a long time at the turning cogs.

The Nokia Lumia Amber Update or the PR 2.0 has been leaked into the internet and is ready for download for all the die-hard enthusiasts. Nokia pushed out the update on their servers at the beginning of the week and thereafter, the news soon popped out. What this means is that the OTA will be imminent and we can expect it around the corner of this week or the next.

The French Nokia Lumia phones are already receiving the OTA update it seems according to a tweet from a Nokia correspondent. Hence, we can expect the arrival of OTA across the rest of the world anytime soon.

Credit: MyNokiaBlog

Even if Windows Phones are one of the smoothest and fastest mobile platforms I've ever seen in my entire life, its not short of random freezes and hang-ups. Its really frustrating to see your phone freeze randomly while making important calls or while using an app or while updating an app. Its natural for all phones to hang up sometime or the other. Maybe due to an unhanded exception or a bad call or an app trig erring the glitches.

Here's the Nokia EOS -- As big as you imagined it'd be. Source: Vizileaks

One of the hottest rumours spreading around the Windows Phone world is the highly secret smartphone from Nokia that's reportedly under works -- the Nokia EOS or Elvis as 'they' call it. For the past few days, images have been pouring in showing off the body of EOS and even a wide hump around the back that would accompany the 41MP sensor from the Finnish phone maker's arsenal. And now, there are more and more leaks but this time, we get all the angles.

I would rephrase the same dialogue that I saw in a Malayalam movie with a twist -- "Even if I did fell in love with many apps out there, its the first time I'm feeling the app as a wonder." Well, not executed perfectly as you wont get the same essence of the dialogue if you translate it. But anyways, it works for this app too. Camera360 is the most beautiful and well-designed app I've ever seen in any platform so far.

Not just that is beautiful but it eliminates one of the biggest problems in the Windows Phone world -- lack of Instagram. To be frank, I've felt the absence for the first few days but once I got this app, I never gave a damn about it. Because this is a way better alternative than Instagram if you're just focusing on the camera features. But yeah, socially too, this app is an outstanding performer. I love it, I love it, I love it!

Today, I'm gonna give all the Windows Phone users who are reading this blog a very essential app that I find to be in the Store -- the WPCentral app. I don't know how many of you folks around here have it on your device as most maybe shy to reading updates out of a website. Yeah, I too thought of it like that till when I realized it was more than a handbook for a Windows Phone user.

As you might know or might not, WPCentral is one of the best Windows Phone room in the web and its one of the largest Windows Phone user forums. True, there are other sites like WMPowersuer, WinSupersite etc but this one has an app of its own and its the most comfortable one in the Store. WPCentral is associated with Mobile-Nations, a group of websites dedicated towards each of the leading platforms like Android, Blackberry, Apple etc.

Nokia isn't shy to show off what's coming next in the Lumia series. The Finnish company has recently teased the next Lumia across the UK channels and now its live on YouTube. From the teaser, it very well matches with the highly rumoured Windows Phone, codenamed 'Catwalk'.