Fans of VoIP app Viber will today have noticed that an update to their free calling and texting app of choice has popped up, assuming they’re using a Windows Phone 8 device that is.

If there’s one negative that is consistently levelled at Windows Phone, it’s the platform’s lack of any kind of unified notification system. Unlike Android or iOS, Windows Phone does not feature an area of the operating system that plays host to all new notifications, meaning it can be easy to miss something important.

With a bunch of new devices from Samsung, HTC and Sony joining an already crowded smartphone market, this Spring is certainly a good time to be upgrading your handset. With so many reviews offering varied, mostly opinion-based coverage on which deserves your hard-earned cash, PhoneArena has tried to keep things objective by posting a display performance comparison of each of the industry’s most sought-after handsets. Included in the line-up is the iPhone 5, Samsung’s current and upcoming Galaxy S4 and the current Galaxy S III, Sony’s waterproof Xperia Z, the HTC One, and Nokia’s Lumia 920. Check out the comparison after the jump!

Instagram is frequently mentioned as one of the many common apps yet to make its way to Microsoft’s Windows Phone platform, but as users continue to wait for the Facebook-owned app to make its way to the Windows Phone Store, several competitors have emerged looking to offer snap happy WP users a way of sharing snaps with friends and family. Joining the likes of Eye ‘Em in the ranks of so-called ‘Instagram killers’ comes Photoplay, a relatively new app was published to the Windows Phone Store little under a week ago. Compatible only with the newer breed of Windows Phone (8) at this point, a version for the older WP7.x is currently in the works, and with its clean, sleek interface fitting in rather nicely with the look and feel of the Redmond company’s mobile OS, it certainly has great potential.

Some claims just seem too much to believe, so when Microsoft’s Frank Shaw claimed that the company’s Windows Phones had in fact outsold Apple’s hugely popular iPhone in seven different markets, more than a few of us were a little skeptical. Turns out he was right, but he didn’t tell the entire story. More details right after the jump.

Microsoft likes to hold an event or two, and some of those events are held behind closed doors, with its own staff the lucky recipients of a look through the keyhole into what the Redmond outfit has up its sleeve. A few weeks ago, one such private event took place, and a handful of new technologies were shown off. Details after the jump.

When we think of streaming music services, a few spring to mind. As well as the likes of Grooveshark and Spotify, Pandora is seen as one of the go-to services for personalized radio, and although popular apps are hard to come by on Windows Phone 8, the official Pandora app for Microsoft’s recently-updated mobile platform is now upon us. Pandora for Windows Phone 8 has been a long time coming, but it would appear as though it has been worth the wait: it runs better than even the iOS and Android versions, and offers ad-free streaming until the end of the year.

The Samsung Galaxy S4 is finally here, and having already compared the device against the HTC One and iPhone 5, we’re back with another face-off. This time, the new handset will be pitting its wits against two devices which have been presented with the mammoth task of rejuvenating the fortunes of two once-mighty brands in the mobile industry. Both Nokia and BlackBerry have enjoyed vast successes over the past decade, but as both have struggled in the wake of iOS and Android, the Nokia Lumia 920 on Windows Phone 8, and the BlackBerry Z10 on the BB10 OS, have some real ground to make up if they are to compete with the Galaxy S4. Here, we compare them with yet another like-for-like table of the vital specifications.

Redmond-based Microsoft may only recently have pushed out Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 to the end user, but it has long since been the public knowledge that the company is looking at moving towards more regular release cycles. The days of completely revamped offerings arriving every five years or so will soon be a thing of the past, and incremental, annual improvements will then ensue. It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, then, that the software maker should be working on Windows 9 and Windows Phone 9, and as a recent job posting infers, the company is on the hunt for a few more specialist engineers to add to its team.

The fact that Windows Phone is far, far behind the likes of iOS and Android in terms of numbers of apps is one thing, but the fact that many “core” apps are missing only serves to amplify the problem. Instagram is one app which, for some, has hindered potential migration from the aforementioned big two platforms, and love or loathe the filter-laden network, its popularity is undeniable. For Windows Phone to take a decent cut of the market share, apps such as Instagram will need to materialize sooner rather than later, and whether it be wishful thinking or a legitimate claim, a screenshot has emerged depicting the Facebook-owned app on the Windows Phone Store.

Microsoft’s Windows Phone 8 has only been around for six months, but a job posting over at the Redmond company’s listings page suggests its successor will be hitting devices later this year. With most competitive operating systems churning out annual revisions, it was always presumed Microsoft would indeed offer a significant update to its smartphone firmware, but now, the job posting all-but confirms those suspicions.

Windows Phone 8 is still a fledgling mobile ecosystem, and Microsoft has been working hard to try and establish a solid underpinning of apps for users to download. The number of basic apps missing, such as Instagram and banking utilities, is certainly a cause for alarm, but at least the native Twitter app is starting finally to look the part. When I had my first interaction WP8 via the Nokia Lumia 820, I found the native Twitter simply paled in comparison to its iOS and Android counterparts, but today, the social network has released a significant update. More details after the break.

The Mobile World Congress 2013 is well and truly underway, with a number of companies using the event to launch some of their newest and most exciting products. As well as launching a bunch of new smartphones to accompany the Lumia 820 and Lumia 920 on Windows Phone 8, Nokia has also made some key software alterations and enhancements to its broad range of apps.

Anyone who’s ever purchased a stock device – computer, notebook or cell phone – from any OEM, is bound to have come across bloatware. Essentially, this is bundled software that the manufacturer chooses to incorporate within the device for certain purposes; sometimes, the software may be useful in some cases. Either way, bloatware isn’t something that’s usually welcomed by end users, because they’d, for the most part, make the device slower, underperform, and take up unnecessary resources on your device.

Nokia has just announced the release of Windows Phone 7.8, which begins rolling out to supported devices immediately. The software, which offers those on Windows Phone 7.x a taster of the new features enjoyed by those on Windows Phone 8, has been quite a long time in waiting, and starting today and running through the next couple of weeks, users will receive a notification prompt regarding the update being ready for their handset.

If you cast your minds back a couple of weeks, you may remember my tentative pledge to take on the challenge of using a Windows Phone 8 device for an entire two weeks, in place of my beloved iPhone. This, on its own, is not much to shout about, but considering I had never previously acquainted myself with Windows Phone in any way, shape or form, I suspected my fortnight with the Nokia Lumia 820 would be one of trials and tribulations.

There is no doubt that smartphones are becoming everyone’s favorite digital cameras, capable of taking pictures more easily and quickly while still maintaining an acceptable level of quality. According to a new report, Nokia is taking this to a whole new level by introducing a new Nokia Lumia smartphone, running Windows Phone 8, which sports a 41-megapixel camera on the back.

Back in the late 90s, Nokia was the first mainstream phone company to allow customers to snap out their default phone cases and snap their own cases on, creating a custom look: this was back with the Nokia 5110. Adapting to passing times (in quite a huge way, we must say), Nokia is now allowing customers (at least those with 3D printers lying around, or able to afford a one-off print-off) to print their own cases for the Lumia 820.

Because of the fact that we live in such a connected world with our digital devices, and we do a great deal of our work and communication courtesy of an internet connection, the ability to test that connection and check various characteristics of it has become so vitally important. It’s also equally important to see if our Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are living up to their promises and giving us what we pay for. Windows Phone 8 users can now see how their internet and cellular connection is performing directly from their devices thanks to the official release of the Speedtest.net experience on the Windows Phone Store.

The gaming industry is one of the largest ones out there, and no, I am not talking about the casino one. The one I’m referring to are the computer games that you and I have grown up with and developed a liking for, so strong that it, at times, borders on obsession. Computer games have redefined what powerful hardware and graphics could be used for and can achieve, and rightly so, because the level of detail that today’s popular titles deliver is as close to motion picture as you might imagine. Couple that with immersive storylines and realistic gameplay, and you may find yourself hooked to the screen for hours upon hours.