Audible has released a sophisticated audio-book app for the Windows Phone 7 platform. The app runs briskly and intuitively, letting users buy their favorite audio books on the move. Amongst the highlights of the the Audible app are a primary Live Tile that flips over to display recent history and secondary Live Tiles based on the book's title - this tile enables one-touch audio playback of the book, and on the flip-side of this tile is the user's bookmark history. Another great feature is the configurable "jump back" option, which lets you re-listen to the last section (the default is 30 seconds). Button-less playback makes use of gestures instead of buttons to let users control [...]

Acer has launched the Acer Allegro, a Windows Phone 7 handset and it's aimed at the bargain end of the market, though is fairly decently-equipped for all that, even if the screen resolution is a bit mediocre. The Acer Allegro brings a 3.6-inch WVGA display to the mix and runs on a 1GHz single-core Qualcomm processor. There's 8GB of onboard storage included and a 5MP rear-facing LED-flash camera. The 1300mAh battery features Fast Charge functionality, allowing it to be charged two-and-a-half times quicker than standard batteries. Now for the negatives; it's somewhat chunky at 13mm, and there's no front-facing camera. So video-conferencing is gonna be a bit tricky... [...]

Nokia has launched the Lumia 610, the most inexpensive Windows Phone 7 handset offered by the company so far. It's an entry-level smartphone which should offer full WP7 functionality at a very affordable price. Nokia actually collaborated with Microsoft to relax the stringent system requirements for the WP7 operating system, but the Finnish company was forced to assure Microsoft that functionality - responsiveness, reliability and so on - would not suffer. As a result Nokia can target a younger consumer base with less cash to throw around, and is using the XBox Live tie-in to further tempt potential buyers. The Nokia Lumia 610 is priced at $189. Among the advantages of the WP7 experience, [...]

ZTE has showcased quite a few very interesting devices at this years MWC in Barcelona. ZTE has brought ERA, their quad-core ICS smartphone, ZTE PF200, 4.3-inch qHD ICS phone with 1.5GHz processor, lower specced N910 as well as some interesting ZTE PF100 and ZTE PF98, quad-core Tegra 3 tablets. At CES in January ZTE has shown us their new Windows Phone ZTE Tania. Now we get all new ZTE Orbit. It's not a mouthwatering piece, but at a low price point Orbit should be a very attractive option to many. Orbit had been designed to just satisfy the minimum Microsoft Windows Phone requirements and to expand on a WP client base of Chinese ZTE. ZTE Orbit sports nice 4-inch WVGA display and runs [...]

Here’s something that should make the grade for Windows Phone users who were feeling down in the dumps for their not-so-updated Facebook app. After making many arch their shoulders for a long time, Windows Phone has now finally received the much-needed Facebook App Update for users out there. The recently unleashed version 2.3 features a host of new features and significant changes that have been recommended by Windows Phone Facebook users. Now that should certainly be a load off for a lot there! Interestingly, the revamped app will now come embedded with a novel, attractive panorama design and a fresh profile layout. This may tickle pink those who want to stay knitted with others with [...]