Microsoft Gifting Free Windows Phones to Users That Share Worst Android Malware Horror Stories

Android, as an open source mobile operating system, is considered more prone to malware attacks than closed platforms such as iOS — the iPhone, in particular — or Windows Phone. Microsoft is looking to take advantage of that fact by relaunching a marketing campaign on Twitter, in which users are invited to share their worst Android malware horror stories, using the hashtag #DroidRage, for a chance to win a free Windows Phone.

Microsoft is expanding its reach this year by using its official Windows Phone account on Twitter, which has over 220,000 followers, to promote the marketing campaign. Last year, it ran the campaign using the Twitter account @BenThePCGuy, which only has around 18,000 followers at the time of writing, and generated thousands of tweets in response. This year, that number will presumably be much higher.

The social campaign will certainly involve its fair share of illegitimate entries, as people attempt to win a free Windows Phone by making up an imaginary malware nightmare. But, as The Next Web notes, Microsoft will be pleased just to get the Android malware conversation going, in an attempt to make its flagship Windows Phone 8 smartphones sound more appealing to consumers.

[The Next Web]

Nokia’s Lumia 620 is Here, Features 3.8″ Screen and $249 Price Tag

Nokia today unveiled its latest Windows Phone 8 smartphone, the compact Lumia 620, at the LeWeb conference today in Paris. The Lumia 620 features a 3.8-inch screen, 1 GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor, 5-megapixel camera with LED flash, NFC technology and 512 MB of RAM; moreover, the handset is Nokia’s cheapest Windows Phone 8 smartphone yet at $249.

As with Nokia’s other Windows Phone 8 smartphones, the Lumia 620 is available in a wide variety of mix-and-match colors. The handset has dual-colored shells in lime green, orange, magenta, yellow, cyan, white and black, giving the device a creative edge. And unlike its Lumia 920 sibling, the smaller Lumia 620 is softer and rounder for a more playful appearance.

According to Nokia, the Lumia 620 will be shipping to the Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa in January, while launches in Canada and Europe will follow shortly thereafter. This smaller smartphone should help Nokia in its attempt to cater to the low- and mid-level range in emerging countries, where the Finnish handset maker has also been highly promoting its Windows Phone 7.5 devices.

[TechCrunch]

Nokia Lumia 920 Experiences Strong Sales, But There’s a Catch

High demand, low supply. That has been the trend since Nokia’s flagship Lumia 920 smartphone hit markets in early November. Because of the supply shortages, it has been difficult for analysts to determine just how well the Lumia 920 has been selling a month after launch. Despite the confusion, investment firm Canaccord Genuity recently performed channel checks and determined that Lumia 920 has indeed been attracting a considerable amount of consumer attention.

While the iPhone 5 was undoubtedly the highest selling smartphone in the United States last month, with the Galaxy S III trailing behind in second place, the Lumia 920 managed a respectable third-place finish in November sales. The Lumia 920 was the top-selling Windows Phone smartphone on AT&T last month, whereas the HTC Windows Phone 8X took the top spot on both T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless.

“While our checks indicated the Lumia 920 was the top-selling Windows smartphone at AT&T and #3 selling device at that channel, we believe iPhone dominated AT&T’s sell-through volume,” Walkley wrote in his research note.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has noted in the past that he plans on positioning Windows Phone as a legitimate third-place competitor, so the third-place Lumia 920 has already hit the sweet spot. It’s unlikely that any Windows Phone will ever surpass the iPhone or top Android smartphones in the foreseeable future, but Microsoft has proved that it can willingly compete alongside the two major platforms. And as a consumer, that’s music to my ears.

Nokia Isn’t Switching to Android — Not Yet, At Least

Last week, it was suggested that Nokia might be planning on switching to Android as its mobile operating system of choice for the smartphone lineup it carries. This claim was based on a job offering that Nokia had posted on its LinkedIn page, in which the company was looking for a software engineer that would focus on “Linux device software and hardware drivers for our exciting new products.”

Android is open-source software based on the Linux kernel, which fueled speculation that Nokia might switch to the platform in the foreseeable future. As reported by Zach Epstein at BGR, however, Nokia spokesman Doug Dawson on Sunday confirmed by tweet that the job listing is tailored towards Nokia’s mapping service in particular. “Our recently posted job is linked to our HERE Maps support for other platforms, including iOS and Android,” Dawson tweeted.

Nokia does have a backup plan in place should its Windows Phone experiment turn sour, but it doesn’t look like they’ll be executing it right now. Due to widespread supply shortages and constraints on popular Windows Phone devices, including Nokia’s own Lumia 920, it has been difficult to gauge just how successful demand has been for devices running Microsoft’s Windows Phone 8 software. As the holiday shopping season wraps up, sales figures should become clearer.

[Twitter via BGR]

AllThingsD Reviews the Nokia Lumia 920

Walt Mossberg for All Things Digital shares his viewpoints on the Nokia Lumia 920 smartphone:

“I’ve been testing the Lumia 920 and consider it a handsome, high-quality phone with attractive features that worked well for me. Not only that, but it costs half of what most other top-of-the-line smartphones set you back, and yet gives you twice the typical memory. It is greatly improved from the first flagship Lumia, last spring’s Lumia 900.”

Although it’s rather late, the full review is worth checking out. Mossberg provided some great points.

[AllThingsD]

Microsoft is Aware of Windows Phone Rebooting Issue, Hopes to Release Fix in December

Just over a week ago, we reported that early adopters of Windows Phone 8 smartphones have been experiencing random rebooting issues and, sometimes, poor battery life. Soon after, Microsoft confirmed that it was looking into the reported issues; today, the Redmond-based corporation has delivered on that promise by confirming that the rebooting issue does indeed exist and that it hopes to release an over-the-air software update in December to resolve the problem.

“We’re continuing to investigate some reports of phones rebooting and have identified a cause with our partners,” Microsoft said in a statement on Tuesday. “We are working to get an over-the-air update out in December.”

Both the HTC Windows Phone 8X and Nokia Lumia 920 are affected, so users of those smartphones can expect to receive a software update pushed to their devices by next month. Microsoft will likely release the fix on “Patch Tuesday,” the day of the week that it typically releases software fixes and firmware updates for its products. We’ll be sure to let you know when the update drops.

[AllThingsD]