Custom ringtones for Wp7 on Mango Confirmed!

Ringing in Mango

According To the link above, which is the official windows phone blog, Wp7 will feature custom ringtones in the next big update code named 'Mango', although there are a few expected rules here:


To qualify as a ringtone, a sound file must be:

• 39 seconds or shorter
• smaller than 1 megabyte (MB)
• saved in MP3 or WMA format
• not copy-protected (i.e. DRM free)

The post also explains how simple it is to install a ringtone, as listed below:

In short, custom ringtones can be installed using the Zune software on your PC. Once you’ve created an audio file that meets the ringtone requirements, find it in your Zune music collection, right-click the file, and change the Genre field to Ringtone. Then just sync the file to your phone like you would any music track.

Looks like Mango just gets riper and riper, and all Wp7 users cant wait to harvest it soon.

Archos G9 Honeycomb Series

Not so long ago, Archos announced a series of "Internet Tablets" that ran android 2.1/2.2, and the questions being asked about it was, "is it going to be upgradeable to honeycomb?" Today Archos has debuted 2 new models for a new series of tablets, the G9 Series, the 101 G9 and the 80 G9, both tablets feature Android 3.1, a dual core OMAP 4 processor running at 1.5ghz, and a 250 gb seagate hard drive.The 101 G9 will cost $349, an affordable price compared to the other honeycomb tablets out there.(Asus Transformer, Motorola Xoom,Acer's Iconia,etc.)The 8" 80 G9 will run an attractive $249, which is an incredible price to pay for a honeycomb tablet. Both models can have the additional optional accessory of a $49 3g usb laptop stick to come with it. They begin shipping at the end of september.

Archos G9 official specs
Video for the G9 Series
More Features:


Adobe Flash Player support
Built-in features: Compass, GPS, speakers, G-sensor, Vibrator, Built-in kick stand, Built-in Microphone
Innovative 3G – The ARCHOS Gen 9 tablets have the ability to receive 3G mobile broadband signals using a USB 3G stick, it’s a $49 optional upgrade.
Camera – 720p front camera with 720p encoding
Battery life – Music playback time: up to 36 hrs; Video playback time: up to 7 hrs ;Internet navigation time: up to 10 hrs
Weight – ARCHOS 80 G9; 465g (17 oz) for 16GB flash model and 599g (21.9 oz) for the 250GB HDD model. ARCHOS 101 G9; 649g (23.8 oz 16GB flash model and 755g (27.7 oz) for 250GB HDD model.

The Zune's Legacy

See that picture up there? to those of you who've owned a ZuneHD,you know what this is already. To those who are not sure what your looking at, this is the now playing screen for the ZuneHD Operating System, and the 'Metro' Os Design. Now look at this:

Looks similar right? those who own a Wp7 Device know what this is, and those who own a ZuneHD probably know what this is too. This is the now playing screen for the Wp7 Operating System, and the 'Metro' Os again. Now look towards the future at these:

Those 2 pictures are the future-Windows 8 and the Xbox 360 dashboard update. expected 2012 and fall(?) 2011, respectively. Donesnt this 'Metro' design seem like it stemmed from the Zune's Operating system? with its starky 2d blocks of color and Oversized elegant font? I personally loved the Os of the Zune, and love how widely its being adapted, even to the desktop software Omnimo 4, which i personally use, shown below.

With The 'Metro' design hitting windows big product's one by one, one would wonder: whats happened to the Zune players?
Well, the answer is simple really. They arent dead, but the prospects of new hardware isnt looking incredibly well either. The last firmware update for the Zune Hd was 4.5, released in april of 2010 i believe. The platform for the Zune HD is still surviving, as far as apps go anyways. Before I obtained my Lg Quantum, I was in the beta app testing program for the Zune HD, and there are some surprisingly useful apps still coming. I wish I could say more on them, but they havent been released yet, so I dont want to spoil the surprise. Anyway The 'Zune' Brand name is currently viewed by a majority of people as a failure sometimes compared the windows kin phones. Some argue that it was Microsoft's marketing strategy, some that it was the lack of apps, ,Some would say:it has a tegra chip in it! why are there no great apps!? even though the purpose of the tegra chip in the Zune HD, according Dave Mac, is for HDMI output. But one thing no one would disrespect about the Zune HD was the look, sleekness, Amoled screen, or Music and Video Quality of the OS. Yet, news about the Windows Phone 7 Platform seems to be positive for the most part, with a dab of negativity only here or there(See Below for Wp7 news.). So as I wait, mainly for Windows 8 to start up, and for the Xbox 360 dashboard update, It's nice to remember where this sleek, elegant design that will soon be connected across most of my devices came from.

Small Editorial

Technology

Wp7 Conundrum
So I read an interesting article on one of my favorite wp7 sites, wpcentral today. The article was about a summary of a statement made by Microsoft, stating that wp7 is their only mobile gaming platform(Wp7 is microsoft's only solution to portable gaming.). That statement actually worried me, due to the latest problems Microsoft's been having with its app's.
Wp7 Marketplace spam
Wp7 marketplace spam again?
The spam problem already seemed bad from before, but now that Microsoft has made it clear that this is their direction platform wise, the spam problem, combined with another problem I've been seeing and considering as of late, is the quality of the app's. I've seen a few articles about the quality of the app's, but IMO if Microsoft is going to use wp7 as its solution to mobile gaming, it needs to step up. These are the people who gave us gears of war, halo, etc. So why aren't we seeing any good exclusive titles besides the harvest(i didn't see it for IOS or Android.)? Right now all I am seeing is ports, which to be fair, Android did start out similarly. Hopefully we'll get some better titles after the developers conference for gamer's in London, Seattle, And Tokyo coming soon.(Developers Conference) But as far as the wp7 gaming situation is concerned right now, I'm still pretty worried since I haven't heard of any great exclusive titles yet.


Btw all of this was typed with my LG quantum, except this sentence.

Lg Quantum Hardware Review

Technology Review

the 2nd technology review of a product on this site!

HARDWARE

The LG quantum has some extra girth to it due to the landscape keyboard, but it still looks nice. The internals are 16GB storage(unfortunately there is no micro sd expansion option, but 16gb should be okay for the average user.), 256 MB RAM, 512 MB ROM,1 GHz Scorpion processor . On the outside however, the front of the handset sports a speaker, with a mic next to it. Below that is a 3.5” wvga capacitive touch screen, next is a tactile windows button That gives a nice audible click when pressed. Below that is the required two capacitive buttons for search and back.
The back of the handset features the 5 mega pixel camera in the middle. On the right side of the device is a volume rocker, and a dedicated camera button. Atop the handset is the power/lock button, and the standard 3.5mm jack. One problem I have with this phone is that when the device is locked, pressing the central windows button on the phone does not unlock the phone or show the screen saver. Instead you have to tap the power button to take you to the unlock screen, its an inconvenience to the user.

SOUND

The speaker that is located on the back of the phone is average at best. Music sounds slightly tinny. You'll probably find yourself using headphones with media more than the speaker.

Camera

The 5mp camera is located on the back of the handset. The camera takes surprisingly nice pictures in the dark thanks to the nice LED flash located underneath the lens, along with nice 720p footage. Since this is my first review, I'm not sure how to review the camera other than to post actual sample pictures, so I guess that's what I'll do! Look below to find the pictures, some of them are on my new blog for pictures taken with this device, ShadowPicture555

Keyboard

The LG Quantum features a fully fledged, qwerty landscape keyboard. The keyboard has a set of directional keys, along with a emoticon, and symbol key. The keyboard shortcuts actually make the keyboard surprisingly easy to use. Each key has a alternate symbol on it, and all you do is hold down the key to add whichever symbol you wish, this method is fast and easy to use, as opposed to pressing the function button whenever you would want a single symbol.

Phone entry

Yep this is a raw shot with my LG quantum, I really like it, might post more on the blog now that I can use my phone :D

Sent from my Windows Phone

test

Got My New Wp7 device

Tech

I got my wp7 handset, the Lg Quantum on june 1st, and am working on a review of it right now, I posted one review pic below, along with one pic taken by the phone.

Taken With Iphone

Taken With Lg Quantum