Austin.YNN.com

Waco / Temple / Killeen

Change region

  73º

You are not signed in  |  Sign in here  |  Help

You're viewing a lite version of ynn.com

Time Warner Cable customers: Sign in with your TWC ID for video access.

Get my TWC ID. | Get TWC service. | Read the FAQ.

Each Monday and Friday, tune in to Tech Beat to learn the newest high-tech trends in both industry and product development. YNN Tech Reporter Adam Balkin highlights the coolest and newest apps for your cell phone and mobile device every Thursday and Saturday in your App Wrap.



Updated 09/10/2012 01:59 PM

Tech Beat: New Windows 8 phone to contain innovative features

  To view our videos, you need to
enable JavaScript. Learn how.
install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.

Then come back here and refresh the page.


It's tough being a smartphone today if your name isn't either preceded by a lowercase "i" or followed by the name Android. But Microsoft is still charging forward and just teamed up with Nokia to start the launch of a new line of phones: Windows 8 phones.

Nokia's soon-to-be-flagship will be the Lumia 920, which boasts advanced navigation capabilities and wireless charging, where users can put the phone down on a base station or pillow to juice up. But perhaps the most innovative feature is PureView Imaging technology, which developers say makes the camera as good if not better than camera-only cameras.

"Inside this smartphone is floating lens technology that surpasses the optical digital stabilization systems of most digital SLRs," Jo Harlow with Nokia said. "The technology reacts to the minute movements in your hand to balance the lens so the shutter can stay open longer. And more light means brighter, clearer images without flash, even indoors and at night."

And certainly, apps are a big reason people choose one phone over another. So Microsoft is appealing to app developers by telling them they can create an app for any Windows 8 device (PC, tablet or phone) and that app will work on all the devices.

"We've done a lot of work to standardize the foundation, to give developers across the family of devices an opportunity to build applications that they can monetize in amazing ways," Steve Ballmer, the CEO of Microsoft, said.

As for when Windows 8 phones will be available on which carriers and how much they'll cost, all developers are saying is they'll be out by the end of the year.