Microsoft sold 5 times more phones this Christmas season

With Microsoft being a major Qualcomm partner, last night Steve Ballmer dropped by Qualcomm's press conference and shared on stage that Windows Phones are enjoying increasing popularity.

Of course, he didn't mention any specific numbers, but what he did say is in November 2012 they've sold 4 time more smartphones than the same time last year.

And even better, around this holiday season, that number rose to 5 times the last year's Christmas sales.

Now we wouldn't count on this to be any serious number given that analysts have found Microsoft's market share to actually shrink in the US this November compared to August. And Windows Phone is still at the bottom of the mobile OS ladder besting only the dying Symbian breed.

Anyway, we guess even analysts don't know the exact number so these are just estimates. In fact, nobody will know anything certain before Microsoft themselves announce a proper number for smartphone activations - something, which is hardly going to happen anytime soon.

Update: AllAboutWindowsPhone.com has an intriguing calculation of the actual sales numbers. Their author reckons since analysts suggest roughly 2.5M Windows Phones have been sold last Q4, then worst case scenario, this year's number should be around 10M for the whole quarter.

While we were watching Qualcomm's press conference, we couldn't help but snap a few more screenshots with Steve Ballmer being such an expressive stage speaker as usual. We hope you appreciate the humor in the situation, we are by no means trying to belittle Microsoft's efforts and their otherwise top-notch mobile operating system.

 
Steve Ballmer presenting Windows Phone at Qualcomm's press event

Interested to hear the man speak himself? Checkout the video in the source link below. You might want to fast forward to 19:00m to get to the part about smartphones. It's only 2-3 minutes long.

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Lamborghini to launch luxury phones and tablet in Russia

Lamborghini has announced their new range of luxury phones and tablet for the Russian market.

The first of the bunch (above) is a simple feature phone called the TL688 Spyder that has a 2-inch QVGA display, 3 megapixel camera with video recording, front facing camera, 4GB internal memory and

GPRS/EDGE connectivity. Being a luxury phone, however, it has a hand-made leather body and a leather back. It also has a rather unique shape that looks more like a TV remote than a regular phone.

The second one (above) is also a feature phone called TL820 Spyder 2. This one has a 2.4-inch VGA resolution display, 5 megapixel rear camera and VGA front facing camera, 1GB internal memory that can be expanded up to 16GB and a 1,200mAh battery. The design of this phone is similar to its younger brother and also gets the same gold and leather treatment.

The third phone - the TL700 - (pictured above) is actually an Android smartphone but unfortunately runs on Android 2.3 Gingerbread. It runs on an unknown Qualcomm processor and has a 3.7-inch 800 x 480 resolution display. There is a 5 megapixel camera on the back and VGA on the front, 4GB internal memory and a 1,400mAh battery. The phone has a gold plated body, sapphire glass coating for the display and crocodile skin back.

Vertu announces the new Constellation Candy phones

As things go with Vertu, when they announce a new collection of phones, it usually means they are only releasing a new trim or, as is the case this time around, new colors.

Today Vertu is introducing some fresh new colors to liven up the established line-up.

The collection comprises of three colors, all combined under the Candy moniker. There's the Candy Raspberry, the Candy Mint Green, and finally, the Candy Tangerine.

Vertu claims these are "this summer's must-have colours" and they all come adorned with highest quality alligator skin and natural gem stones.

The Constellation series is not new, it was announced back in 2006. Around that time touchscreens were not as popular and the phones relied on the dated (yes, even back then) S40 user interface and it was all looks, no wits.

In October 2011 Vertu lift the curtain of their revamped Constellation series. The phones came complete with a full touch display and a smart OS. It's Symbian, if you've gotta ask. Unfortunately, the mobile OS was again, already dead in the water, even at launch. We guess prospective owners of the ultra-expensive phones didn't mind.

Actually, it's not a secret that the touch-enabled Constellation series is based on the popular Nokia C7. The phones share the 3.5-inch AMOLED screen, the 32GB of built-in storage, the 8 megapixel fixed focus camera with enhanced depth of field and the 720p video recording.

Vertu Constellation Candy collection

All fashionistas that shell out the cash for one of these exquisite mobiles will also get invitations to the most influential Fashion week shows. Of course, each phone comes with Vertu's customary services such as (and we're quoting) Vertu Concierge, Vertu Concierge Live, Vertu Club Access, Vertu Select, Vertu City Brief and Vertu.Me, all designed to make the owner's travel and social life a bit easier.

The Constellation Candy phone collection is available in the UAE, China, EU, Hong Kong, India, Macau, Russia, Singapore, Switzerland, Ukraine, and Vietnam.

Whatever the color, one thing is for sure, the chances of any of us buying a Vertu phone are as slim as it gets. Nevertheless, the luxurious segment represents a small, but entertaining part of this business, which seems to be ruled by 4+ inch big slabs of phones. We hope those rumors about the company being prepared for selling are not true.

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For Professional Look Samsung I8350 Omini W

Well, yes, some would call it a half-hearted effort. Or maybe, Samsung are simply waiting for the dust to settle from Nokia’s grand entry into Windows Phone. Obviously, they didn’t want – or need – a European flagship along the lines of their US-based Focus S with AT&T. With a single Windows-phone handset on the Old Continent, it may’ve made sense to focus on the midrange instead of making another flagship without a fleet. Bottom line, as long as we remember that it’s not an upgrade of the original Omnia 7, the Omnia W is an easy phone to live with, for all its strengths and shortcomings.

Amazing experience with Blackberry Bold 9790

Now, let's play spot the difference. The Bold 9790 is powered by a different processor and HD video is one of the first things scrapped. To make amends, the phone has what's probably the best BlackBerry still camera to date. Both the screen size and resolution have taken a cut but we haven’t told you the best part yet. The Bold 9790 looks no worse than the Bold 9900 and costs less.

Now, the BlackBerry Bold 9790 is merely the next-in-rank. It doesn't have the premium features of the flagship but it makes sense as a potential replacement of the year-old Bold 9780. What it does is add touchscreen to a classic package, aiming to keep the BlackBerry experience up to date