Microsoft Windows 8 Consumer Preview (Public Beta) Released. Download Now!

Posted by Andreas Christodoulou

Description :

Here's what we know so far...

It's not been a long time when Microsoft released a free Developer Preview build of its upcoming OS "Windows 8" to public. We all were pretty much excited to give it a test drive. Some of us liked it but some of us got disappointed with it. There are many things which have been changed or added in Windows 8 such as new "Start Screen" which has replaced the good old Start Menu in Windows 8, Microsoft Office 2010 like Ribbon UI in Windows Explorer and many other things.

Today Microsoft has released a free Consumer Preview build of Windows 8 to public. You may consider it as a public Beta build, Microsoft has decided to call it as Consumer Preview build.

Since its a Beta build, you should get better performance and lesser bugs compared to the previous Developer Preview build. There are many noticeable changes in this Consumer Preview build such as removal of Start button, a little bit modified Ribbon UI in Windows Explorer, new login screen, better Start Screen, etc.

Interested people can download Windows 8 Consumer Preview (Beta) build using the following download link:

Download Windows 8 Consumer Preview (Public Beta)

Download Windows 8 Consumer Preview (Public Beta) ISO Images

Windows 8 Consumer Preview Setup will check to see if your PC can run Windows 8 Consumer Preview and select the right download. Setup also features a compatibility report and upgrade assistance. Built-in tools for creating an ISO or bootable flash drive are available for some previous versions of Windows (excluding Windows XP and earlier).

So, what’s new in the build?

Some of the more noteworthy improvements include OS-wide spell check (this is huge, it’s a feature that has been requested by a lot of people for years), the replacement of the Start button with what is called a "Start preview thumbnail" – which displays a preview of the start screen on top of an interface that allows you to cycle through all of your open apps – and the introduction of "Flyout" notifications. 

One thing that I found to be quite humorous is that Microsoft actually added a feature called "boot forward"; see, due to the vastly improved boot times in Windows 8, it would be tough or impossible to pull up a boot options menu (i.e by pressing F8). They actually had to implement a feature that lets you set boot options prior to restarting.

It would appear that Microsoft finally hired a plumber to solve their constant leak issues as, surprisingly, there have been no Windows 8 build leaks during the interim period from September to now (of roughly five months).

Also, little information has unofficially trickled out since; much of what we learned about the OS during that period is thanks to the notoriously long Building Windows 8 blog posts by Steven Sinofsky.

For further support  check also Microsoft's:

Windows 8 Consumer Preview FAQ's

Windows 8 Consumer Preview Forum

Windows 8 Consumer Preview Compatibility Center

*by andreascy* 

Featured Windows 8 Metro Wallpapers Collection

Posted by Andreas Christodoulou

Description : 

We heard you might like a great Collection of Wallpapers for Microsoft's latest Operating System Windows 8, so here's a little present. Visit the links below and get your own versions, from the creators profiles, on DeviantArt, and for FREE.

We want to thank these artists for their creativity, talent, and their offer to our most active followers and to the entire THE OFFICIAL ANDREASCY community! 

Wallpapers Collection

By Taiketsu0099:

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By Andreas Christodoulou (andreascy):

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By PegasusKnight:

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By LordReserei:

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By Draganja:

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By frosbe:

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By Silviu-Eduard:

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By CianDesign:

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By Bogas04:

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We hope you like them. Share this post with your friends and family and make sure to send us your own creations and suggestions for our future topics. 

Bookmark us for more. 

📌

*by andreascy*

Microsoft News : Download now Windows 8 Consumer Preview Product Guide for Business

Posted by Andreas Christodoulou

Description :

Microsoft released a detailed guide to the new and improved features in the Windows 8 Consumer Preview. In the document, they talk about AppLocker, BitLocker, Windows To Go, measured boot, Client Hyper-V.

From the download page :

The Windows 8 Consumer Preview Product Guide for Business provides a detailed look at the many new and improved features in Windows 8. The guide is designed as an accurate source of information that can help businesses understand how Windows 8 enables users to be ready and productive practically anywhere, allows for a personalized user experience, and provides IT with more secure, easy-to-manage intelligent infrastructure.

It's begun.

You can download the document (Windows-8-Consumer-Preview-Product-Guide-For-Business.pdf 555 KB) here

*by andreascy*

MWC 2012 : Fujitsu Quad Core Smartphones

Posted by Andreas Christodoulou

Description :

We've finally managed to get some time with Fujitsu's incoming quad-core handset and it's pretty close to completion. The quad-core phone's approaching its very final model, with just a bit of finishing and tightening of what we're seeing here at Mobile World Conference 2012. It's still water-friendly, wielding a Tegra 3 chip and brandishing a 13.1-megapixel camera. 

The hardware is very light -- almost uneasily so. The 4.6-inch display that dominates the phone is bright and crisp and Fujitsu has finally cemented more of the specifications; we've been told it's a full HD (1080p) display, although the spokesperson was unable to confirm the screen technology, we suspect it's a high resolution LCD display. Fujitsu's NX UI is a very lightly skinned version of Android Ice Cream Sandwich, with some addition features courtesy of the "human-centric engine."

In a bid to differentiate itself from legions of other smartphone manufacturers, it adds Fujitsu's own type of voice canceling processing, alongside dual mics, while a "slow voice" mode adds spacing in the gaps between speech. Unfortunately, we weren't able to try this functionality out -- the phone wasn't connected to networks here in Barcelona. Another feature that looks to be aimed squarely at the hearts of the older smartphone shopper is frequency adaptation. 

This adjusts the output of the speaker so that it's easier to hear when audible hearing frequencies start to thin out. There's also some Sense-like functionality also included here; the phone should turn off its screen when it realizes it's not in your hand. The fingerprint sensor found on the device has been given some extra skills too, and can be used to "lock down" corporate apps and other compatible stock apps.

Fujitsu's own Milbeaut image processor adds some (post-processing) extras to the 13.1-megapixel camera, including fish-eye lens, infinity burst mode and even glare removal when the camera senses a whiteboard (which should eliminate those issues with your corporate smartphone-based espionage). The camera UI generally retains that ICS stock sensibility, meaning that it's simple and uncluttered. 

There's still some things that Fujitsu is attempting to ready for its new flagship, including a possible Fujitsu-powered cloud storage provision and a fast-charging dock, a real possibility given the contacts for charging on the waterproof device. It's still no completely finalized on the software end, we found the keyboard was particularly sticky and caused a lot of problems when we attempted to type anything out.

The phone is still being pitched to phone carriers across China, Europe and the US, and hardware changes could occur depending on carrier interest. At the moment, the demo model included an 8GB microSD card, but we were told that details like this could certainly change before it arrives this summer in Japan. The phone's being readied for a Q4 release in its other target markets - hopefully with a name in tow. 

*by andreascy*

MWC 2012 : Asus PadFone

Posted by Andreas Christodoulou

Description :

Howdy guys! ASUS lifted the veil over its long-awaited redesigned 9.2mm thin Padfone at the Mobile World Conference 2012. 

The ASUS PadFone is an incredible 4.3" smartphone featuring a Super AMOLED qHD display, the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 1.5Ghz dual core processor and an ultra-sharp 8 megapixel digital camera, all wrapped in an exquisite design optimized for AndroidTM 4.0.

When placed inside the optional PadFone Station, it transforms into a 10.1" tablet with five times the battery life. 

The PadFone offers supreme versatility via Dynamic Display technology, which allows seamless transition between PadFone and PadFone Station screens. 

In addition, the PadFone Station offers an optional keyboard dock that essentially turns the PadFone into a full notebook PC. 

The PadFone also comes with the optional PadFone Stylus Headset, which is a Bluetooth stylus pen that turns into a headset for easy call pick-up.

More on :

http://www.asus.com/Mobile/PadFone

http://www.engadget.com/2012/02/27/asus-padfone-formally-launched-4-3-inch-super-amoled-display-s

http://www.engadget.com/2012/02/27/asus-padfone-hands-on-video

*by andreascy*

MWC 2012 : Android 5.0 Jelly Bean arriving in June

Posted by Andreas Christodoulou

Description :

Although Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich hasn’t even been deployed on all compatiblehandsets yet, the Android 5.0 Jellybean rumors and speculations seemed to immediately start churning out of the rumour mill. It seems that Google itself is now taking part, as The Verge reports that Google has stuffed a giant bowl of Jellybeans in the middle of their massive Android booth at Mobile World Conference 2012.

I highly doubt this is coincidence or some tongue-in-cheek statement. It seems that Google is giving us a little wink, foreshadowing the next Android OS iteration. 

The new version of Android, Jelly Bean will be arriving in June 2012. If this is accurate then Google is planning to give a tough competition to Microsoft by releasing the operating system at the same time as the Windows Phone 8 platform.

There are not much details about the Android 5.0 but this will be the major release and will add more useful features to the tablets. The current version, ICS was launched at the end of the last year but only few handsets have the Android 4.0. The manufacturers are typing too hard to throw the ICS to their devices.

Already we know that the Jelly Bean update will focus on the computers and netbooks from the smartphones and tablets. Also it is rumored to have the dual boot facility that can make it compete with the Windows Phone 8 operating system. 

This has been displayed at the MWC 2012 happening at Barcelona, Spain.

Source : The Verge

*by andreascy*