Rafe Blandford

"I'd have some search for user function or similar (e.g. like Twitter or Facebook). Or maybe an add friend dialog (like an IM client). I think this is necessary given you can't openly browse for people on the service. From what I can see, so far the only way to come across new people to follow is in the leaderboards... or by following the list pages from apps (i.e. what people have put an app on a list), which feels a bit convoluted. That's going to tend to favour already popular people. What might be really cool is if you collected people's phone number at registration... and then used this like Whats App and other such services do to automatically generate a friends / following list the first time you start the app (by comparing with address book). I do appreciate this would be legally complex though. Am enjoying using App Highlights Social. Is there anywhere we can provide additional feedback, aside from the NPS option in the app?" - Rafe Blandford

"I agree, I'm using this for radio instead of iPlayer, just because it seems I get to what I want faster. Great when falling asleep for example." - Rafe Blandford

"I don't disagree that it annoyed some users, but I think the impact gets overplayed a bit. And this does tend to happen elsewhere too. And of course you have the balance it against the benefits gained (especially in the WM6 to WP7 case). It was ever really a secret that this was going to happen." - Rafe Blandford

"I thought Nokia and HTC both used AHJ but maybe not. I can confirm that Nokia is definitely AHJ (and OMTP on the WP8 handsets) and that they follow the standard. It tends to be other manufacturers that mess around with things. This can be on the headset port, or on the headset itself. My guess is that HTC are doing something with their remote control unit, but can't be sure. I would assume Jays is going to do the AHJ version and use the standard remote control features." - Rafe Blandford

"Glad you found it useful. The easiest option is of course getting a manufacturer branded one, but if you're careful you can get a third party one." - Rafe Blandford

"Its interesting what has become regarded as enough space. I'm sure lots of people still remember the fuss around Gmail and 1GB of space. As more gets stored online, and we all have bigger archives (years worth of photos), I can only imagine numbers will go up. I've no idea what the average is, but I comfortable have 10GB of digital photos. Then there's video which I don't really store online much. Music.. and of course files to are increasingly going online too." - Rafe Blandford

"This has now been changed. Looks like they are actively editing the ToS." - Rafe Blandford

"I added that bit to the story, based on the Flickr FAQ. It appears that detailed stats for your own photos are going away, but maybe views will remain?" - Rafe Blandford

"I know some other phones do this too for the same performance reasons. I'd have to check, but I think some lower spec phones use this more (for obvious reasons). I assume this is set for the 512MB RAM devices, but you do wonder why it's necessary on the 1GB devices." - Rafe Blandford

"I guess that's the thing about a beta. But yes filtering out app you can't access from you own region from lists would be a good thing to work on before a formal release. It's also not very easy to follow a specific person on the service if they don't appear on one of the top lists (even if you know their username)." - Rafe Blandford

"I suspect it could be a bit of both. Certainly the API access isn't as deep (in some areas), but that should probably balanced against superior security as a whole. It doesn't get much attention yet, but Windows Phone is fairly decent in this area (corporate system and security). Still you are right, Microsoft needs to support third party providers.. and polish support for its own services. It's only with WP8 that things got reasonable mature for exchange and device management. Lots more to do." - Rafe Blandford

"The official Flickr app is OK, but I also like Pixl." - Rafe Blandford

"It does have dimples that should help with the muffling issue with rear mounted speakers." - Rafe Blandford

"There's a speaker channel (i.e. an indentation), which is designed to "funnel" sound. In theory this can work better than a hole and it will direct sound out the bottom. You can see this indentation in the picture of the cases (rectangular area at the bottom)." - Rafe Blandford

"SIM-free devices should be available, but I've not got any specific information on availability." - Rafe Blandford

"It's about self interest. I don't suppose Google is that scared of Windows Phone in particular, but Microsoft is one of their big competitors. Depending on your point of view Google may be seen as particularly anti-Microsoft, and its not unreasonable to argue part of that comes from Google's leadership team view of Microsoft as an "old" company, but it's not exactly a love with Facebook (and many others) either. In the longer term view Windows Phone (or rather Microsoft platforms in general) are probably the most likely long term competitor to Android and Chrome OS. You can obviously see in desktop market share, but less so in smartphones... However, they are really the only two platforms that are seeking to address the whole market (iOS seems likely to be focused on the upper half). In that light Google may see Windows Phone, or more particularly Microsoft, as its biggest competitor. Microsoft isn't necessarily any better, but some of its excesses have been curbed by the experience..." - Rafe Blandford

"Yes the extra lens element could contribute a little, but it is a relatively minor impact. The Nokia spokespeople also said that the improvements were mostly down to the improved software processing and I don't have any reason to doubt that." - Rafe Blandford

"Yes. Or rather it can not be enabled for FM radio." - Rafe Blandford

"That was on the Lumia 925, not sure whether it is more broadly applicable." - Rafe Blandford

"As we mention in the article there's possible more to come. A play via option would be a great addition." - Rafe Blandford

"That's likely to be in GDR3 later in the year." - Rafe Blandford

"Probably because the FM radio chip, if present, is not connected to an aerial." - Rafe Blandford

"I guess that's a good example of where looking at the overall image should also (arguably) be part of any assessment. I've done blind tests where people pick out one image when cropped and another when zoomed out as "best" and were convinced they were from the same device. Cropping generally make it easier to see differences, but it may not always shows what people consider, subjectively, to be the better image." - Rafe Blandford

"As long it get left in the comment. No hunting Steve down please." - Rafe Blandford

"That's not low light - there's a light on in that capture ;) Maybe I should have said ultra low light. An edge case - http://allaboutwindowsphone.co..." - Rafe Blandford

"Or any capture test that involves shake (e.g. taking a picture in a moving car). :)" - Rafe Blandford

"You have to set some parameters for a comparison... and understand the results in the context of those parameters. The 8MP setting for the 808 is open to debate, but as explained in the story there's a good reason for doing this. Camera Pro, as explained in the story, was only used for one image." - Rafe Blandford

"Yes it's worth saying that the test in this comparison (which gives us the scores) probably favour the other devices over the Lumia 920 (and the 808 PureView to an extent). My own experience would rate SGS3 and 920 very closely, but it does seem that the SGS4 is a step forward. So congratulations to Samsung. Steve can only call the results as he sees them, but I'm sure he would be the first to say a different set of pictures could give a different result. Though I'd expect the order to be broadly similar (may be 1st 808, 2= N8 and SGS4, 4= SGS3 and 920)... but then you could design a 920 favoured test, which would see it come out on top. That's why its important to think about the sort of picture you take before deciding what camera will be best for you." - Rafe Blandford

"The S4 does have a new camera module, so there is room for software improvement, but it could also be a side effect of increased pixel count." - Rafe Blandford

"Bear in mind these results are only for this set of photos. You could shoot a different set and get a different score. The S4 does deserve praise, but in reality the score (being equal to the 808) is flattering. A lot depends on what you photograph." - Rafe Blandford