You can download the app from the Windows Phone Marketplace.

The first piece of information is a fairly small piece but perhaps one that will be welcomed. In Tango Microsoft apparently plans to tweak the design of the media controls in Windows Phone so that it takes up less room on the screen. In the first release of Windows the media player controls were inconsistently placed across the OS but with Mango Microsoft changed this problem with a revised UI for the media playback. However, the new design has received complaints that it takes up too much vertical space on the screen. In Tango the design for the media controls will appear like a notification and therefore take up less space at the top of the screen. I wonder if any Microsoft certifications could help the designers of this.

Sadly I have no images of how this looks but it’s an interesting piece of information and something I am keen to see how it actually looks.

The other piece of information about Tango is perhaps more substantial and it is that the update will supposedly allow users to create “folders” on their start screen. This will allow users to group applications together for a tidier start screen and I would guess quicker access to apps. Again I have no images to show how this feature looks, nor do I have information on quite how this works. I would imagine, though, that the “folder” tile would show notifications from all the tiles held within.

Both of these additions to Windows Phone are things that I have seen requested before so this should please some people. Obviously though until Microsoft actually announce any of this we shall just have to wait and see

As expected Androids were there in numbers to meet us on the battle ground but our allies came in with the heavy machinery. Nokia arrived with the Lumia 900 to fire off some LTE rounds in the Android general direction, this now brings us up to weapon parity with the Androids. The 900 also brings with it 4.3’ deflectors rather than the 800’s 3.7’.

Thankfully though we also had HTC on hand who provided additional LTE cover with their new TITAN II which has built upon the spec of the original TITAN. The new TITAN has much improved optical equipment offering 16MP and it even has 4.7’ deflectors.

Nokia has now mobilised its forces on the North American front after joining us on the European front only a few months ago; the Lumia 710 weaponry will be going online tomorrow. In the near future Nokia will also be backing us up with the Lumia 800 which has proved to be an extremely powerful weapon over on the European front. Nokia announced it’s arrival on the North American front with its leader announcing that “there has been a shift from the Battle of Devices to a War of Ecosystems”. We are pleased to welcome them to this war with us and look forward to further developments in what they are calling “Rolling Thunder”.

We were hoping that Samsung and LG were going to pledge additional resources to the operation but that support has not materialised.

Other good news came just before “Operation CES” swung into action as it appears that several very influential members of the aristocracy appear to have come round to our way of thinking.

Our economy has continued its growth reaching 50,000A a few weeks ago. We are now adding over well over 1000A a month and should be able sustain increasing growth in our economy for the foreseeable future. This kind of growth sees us matching that of the iOS at the same point in their campaign.

Until next time sir, when I hope to be in a position to tell you about our plans for “Codename MWC”.

"The shroud of the dark side has fallen. Begun, the Ecosystem War has."

I don’t just want to reiterate the great news coverage that can easily be found across the internet so I thought I’d do something a little different. If you want to know more about Windows Phone and other Microsoft news from CES I’d recommend that you read the Verge, Engadget, Neowin or Liveside.

The Geek Tech Blog is also reporting that the device is expected to arrive in Q1 2012 which is line with pretty much all other rumours about the device. It is thought that the Lumia 900 will the be the flagship device for Nokia in the US when it launches there which is thought to be very soon after CES which is held in early January.

It remains unclear what else the Lumia 900 could bring, there have been rumours that the next version of Windows Phone, codename Tango, will bring support for LTE which the 900 might take advantage of. What with an expected demo and announcement from Microsoft about the new features of Windows 8 and it looking increasingly likely that Nokia will announce a new Lumia at CES I can’t wait for the event to start. It’s not often I look forward to CES, in recent years very little of significance has been announced at the show.

By the way, sorry for not having posted recently, I’ve been very busy with university studies. However, I do have a couple of editorial pieces I want to write over the next few days.

You can download the three lock screens from DeviantArt.

The Lumia 800 will be the premium Nokia Windows Phone which the company has called the “first real Windows Phone” and makes use of the N9 fantastic design. This device features an AMOLED screen and 8MP Carl Zeiss camera, it will go on sale next month in a few countries in the Europe for about €420. The phone will be available in some Asian markets later this year and the US early next year. In fact some networks and retailers in the UK are already accepting preorders for the phone.

The Lumia 710 is the slightly less powerful, more competitively priced Windows Phone from Nokia that features a 5MP camera and an LCD screen. This phone will be available in some Asian markets before the end of the year and will come to Europe next year. It will cost about €270.

I like these two new phones but they are quite as good as I had hoped for. I would go as far to say the Lumia 800 is not the “first real Windows Phone”, it could well be the closest device to taking that title but I think that it missed out on two things. The device should have a front facing camera. Now that Microsoft owns Skype and as there are plans to integrate Skype into Windows Phone it not great if Windows Phone’s flagship device isn’t really the best device to video chat on. Another thing I think is probably wrong with the Lumia 800 is that it uses capacitive buttons which time and time again I see moaning about. (Thankfully my Windows Phone has physical buttons.) It’s worth noting that the Lumia 710 has physical buttons. I’ve also heard some people grumble about the screen size of both devices although personally I have no problem with it.

Don’t get me wrong both of the Lumia devices look great and they should certainly go some way to establishing Windows Phone as the credible third ecosystem but I just don’t think we have seen the best Windows Phones yet. If the rumours are to be believed, and I see no reason why they shouldn’t, Nokia is hard at work on several other Windows Phones that could well be announced early next year, we might then see the “first real Windows Phone”.

Find out more about the Lumia 800 and Lumia 710.

Here’s Nokia’s video introducing the Nokia Lumia.

I asked earlier on Twitter what people thought of the Lumia 800 and 710 and most people seem very pleased with the devices and want to get one. What are your thoughts on the new Lumias?

If you open the calculator app on your Windows Phone and type in “1 + 2 * 5” it will give the answer of 15 which is wrong. As I am sure you are aware there is an order in which mathematical expressions are calculated and multiplication comes before addition. However, in Windows Phone it would appear that this is not the case as it does the addition and then the multiplication.

But that isn’t the best bit, now try that same equation in landscape mode…you will now get the correct answer, 11.

I can’t quite believe that this actually happens, I don’t understand why the calculator should be correct in landscape and wrong in portrait. It also shows that there must be two calculation functions within the calculator, which seems weird to me.

What are your thoughts on this? I think Microsoft should fix this ASAP!

Update: Well I have been told many times now on Twitter that this is not a bug but is by design. The portrait calculator uses emulates a “4 function calculator” where as the landscape calculator is scientific and therefore uses the BODMAS order. This still feels wrong to me, but it is correct.

What do you think of this new ad?

Now this is exciting as their could more ads to come form Windows Phone UK, maybe also print and radio ads. Let’s hope so. I also hope that Microsoft UK will talk about these new ads and upload them to YouTube, it is what they have done in the past which is why I was surprised to hear of this ad.

The Windows Phone UK team are doing an excellent job at the minute of generating buzz about Windows Phones and if you want to share a review of your Windows Phone running 7.5 you could win a goody bag.

It wont just be Windows Phone UK who choose the winning review as they have enlisted the help of Stuart Miles from PocketLint and also the US Windows Phone site WPCentral to help select the winner. Of course to make this competition worth entering there is a nice prize up for grab, its a Windows Phone goody bag that includes:

- A square umbrella

- USB stick

- Notebook

- Stickers

All you have to do is go to the Review page or go to the Facebook page and write your own review of a specific Windows Phone running Windows Phone 7.5. Let me know if you submit any reviews for this competition.

When using the app a user can:

- View recipes and stats for all craft items.

- Look up info on how to get materials and crafting recipes.

- Use the Materials Calculator to determine which items you can build with the materials you have.

- Check out the community’s most popular items and vote for your favorites.

This app is only available for Windows Phone 7.5 devices so I am unable to test out this app myself despite being a player of the PC game. Will you be downloading this app?

You can download the game from the Windows Phone Marketplace.