Mihăiță Bamburic

In an effort to improve the Facebook experience on the tiled smartphone operating system, Microsoft just released a new update for its homebrew beta app which now finally allows Windows Phone 8 users to unfriend and unlike added folks and pages, respectively.

The latest Facebook Beta version (5.0.2.1) also fixes an issue which prevented the notification counts from updating and comes with the common "stability and performance" enhancements. The latest features will likely make their way to the stable Facebook app in a future update, after the obligatory testing is conducted.

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US mobile operator AT&T just announced that BB 10.1 will finally be available for its branded BlackBerry Z10 handsets, nearly two months after the Canadian maker unveiled the latest operating system iteration.

Folks who have purchased the aforementioned variant of the smartphone can install the latest software version by heading to BlackBerry's "Software Download for AT&T" page and following the provided instructions. At the time of writing this article, however, the required BB 10.1 file is not yet available (AT&T says that it should be listed "starting today" -- Tuesday).

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Microsoft just released a new Windows tablet video ad, which pits Dell's XPS 10 against Apple's popular iPad. This time around the action takes place at a baseball field, with the software giant emphasizing the multitasking benefits available to the users of its tiled operating system.

The video ad shows two agents trying to sign a new baseball player, with one using the iPad and the other the XPS 10 to video chat with the boss and obtain relevant stats. Needless to say, the Apple slate user struggles to multitask, having to switch between apps to communicate and find the needed information, while his rival takes advantage of Windows RT's built-in snap feature to run two pieces of software at the same time.

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Finnish maker Nokia announced, on Tuesday, that its HERE Drive, Drive+ and Transit Windows Phone 8 apps will receive an update later this week, which adds new navigation tools and improves the user interface.

HERE Drive and Drive+ get the most noteworthy enhancements, with the latest versions introducing an overview of traffic conditions in surrounding user areas and My Commute, a new feature which allows folks to view the estimated time of arrival to a set destination on the adjacent live tile.

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Jelly Bean is currently the most popular Android distribution, finally surpassing long-time ruler Gingerbread, based on the number of devices visiting Google Play during the 14 days ending July 8.

Jelly Bean (the first and second iteration) accounts for 37.9 percent (32.3 percent and 5.6 percent, respectively) of all Android devices, besting Gingerbread's 34.1 percent distribution level. The latest sweet in the family also outpaced its predecessor, Ice Cream Sandwich, which currently ranks as the third most popular version with 23.3 percent share.

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With an increasing focus towards beefier hardware -- faster processors, more RAM, larger and higher-resolution screens -- it's easy to lose sight of an important part in having an enjoyable smartphone experience -- battery life. The sheer performance has significantly increased over time due to a drastic technological advancement in chip making, but batteries are mostly the same now as they were a couple of years ago (only bigger).

It's no surprise then that smartphones quickly run out of puff after a mere couple of hours of intense use. So what if you want a top-of-the-line handset that is also an excellent battery life performer? Well, according to Which.co.uk, you should get a Samsung Galaxy S4 and look past the Apple iPhone 5 or Nokia Lumia 920.

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Finnish phone maker Nokia is slowly rolling out its new Lumia 925 Windows Phone in major markets across the world. Following Germany and UK, the smartphone will also arrive in Australia later this month.

Nokia's Australian arm revealed the upcoming local availability of the Lumia 925, earlier today, in a Facebook posting. The Windows Phone 8 device will be offered by "all major retailers" starting July 17, with mobile operators Telstra and Optus selling the handset from July 30 and August 1, respectively.

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Cloud storage locker Mega has turned a blind eye to the ever increasing popularity of mobile devices, offering no official app for Android or iOS (let alone BlackBerry or Windows Phone) to complement its security-oriented service. Now, though, Mega looks to finally fix the oversight.

The cloud storage locker just introduced its first mobile app called Mega which, at least at the moment, is only available for Android devices. The offering, according to the changelog, was "acquired by MEGA and is now being maintainted [sic] by MEGA contractors". Let's take a look at the features.

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Vine, the popular Twitter-owned video-sharing service, just released an update for its iPhone app, which is designed to increase user engagement and provide beefed up sharing options.

"This is our biggest, most exciting update yet -- and we've got even more coming soon", says Vine cofounder and CTO Colin Kroll. The iPhone app now offers access to 15 channels, including Arts & Experimental, Cats, Comedy, Dogs, Family and others, which users can browse and post to straight from Explore. Each channel comes with a custom theme and Popular feed.

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"Many features, most of which are available everywhere" is the tagline Microsoft should use for Windows Phone 8. Why? Well, because the complete functionality provided by the tiled smartphone operating system is not offered or fully working in all markets. For instance, until two months ago the complete photo and video backup feature was available in just a limited number of regions and, only yesterday, did the software giant expand Bing Audio support to a larger number of countries.

"Bing Audio is one of those Windows Phone features that, once you know it's there, you find yourself using all the time", says Microsoft's Michael Stroh. It allows users to identify tunes, similar to Shazam and SoundHound. "The good news is that now more of you will have a chance to try it", adds Stroh. "More" but not all.

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On Wednesday, UK mobile operator EE (formerly known as Everything Everywhere) announced that, tomorrow, it will enable faster 4G cellular connectivity in twelve major local cities, with theoretical download speeds topping 150 Mbps.

The UK cities are Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Derby, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Nottingham and Sheffield. EE says that, in practice, users should see "double the current average speeds to 24 - 30 Mbps". The UK mobile operator claims that this should make its 4G network "unequalled" on the old continent, "faster than mobile networks in the US and Japan, and equal to the best in South Korea".

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Every Friday, my colleague Martin Brinkmann details the best Windows 8 apps that surface in Store during the week. I have closely followed the series mostly to check new arrivals (since I use Windows 8) but also to get a feel of the quality and value that developers bring to the new ecosystem.

As some of you have mentioned in the comments, the highlighted apps are not exactly up to par with offerings available on Apple App Store or Google Play. The most noteworthy ones are few and far between, something that is immediately noticeable after browsing through the available selection on Windows Store. The most resounding apps come, for instance, from Microsoft, Nokia, Shazam, Twitter and a couple other major players. There is more to it, of course, but the quality and value are still inadequate these days.

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On Monday, Microsoft released an update for its homebrew Facebook Windows Phone 8 app which introduces new features and a redesigned user interface, finally bringing the latest iteration in line with the Android and iOS counterparts.

In terms of design, the app is similar to the beta version that arrived in late-April. Facebook for Windows Phone 8 drops the infinite horizontal scrolling and instead adopts a simpler layout which is comprised of three tabs. The main one displays the news feed. The other two can be accessed by swiping to the left and to the right, just like on the Facebook-developed Android and iOS apps.

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Microsoft released the 256 GB Surface Pro in Japan almost a month ago and, since then, it left potential buyers puzzled as to when the new model arrives outside of the land of the rising sun. Well, the date is today, as Microsoft just expanded the availability of the latest Surface Pro version to include new major markets. There's a catch though.

Microsoft tells me that "there will be limited availability of a 256GB version of Surface Pro in the U.S. exclusively through the commercial channel and the authorized Surface resellers". This model runs for $1,199, making it $200 more expensive than the 128 GB Surface Pro which goes for $999. And, at least at the moment, the former cannot be purchased from Microsoft Store or any retail shop.

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In an effort to boost the adoption and sales of its two Windows slates, on Monday, Microsoft introduced a new channel program (simply called Microsoft Devices Program), which allows authorized resellers to commercialize Surface Pro and RT devices.

"Today, we’re announcing the first phase of our expansion into the business channel that allows customers to purchase Surface and commercial services through authorized resellers", says Microsoft. "In addition to offering Microsoft's extended warranty and accidental damage, resellers bring a variety of additional value-added services to the Surface family, such as asset tagging, custom imaging, kitting, onsite service and support, device recycling and data protection".

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