Image via Wikipedia
Microsoft and its manufacturing partners continue to gear up for the release of “Mango,” a wide-ranging update to Windows
Phone.
As part of that, HTC plans on releasing a pair of Windows Phone devices in October. The first, the Titan, includes a
4.7-inch screen and a front-facing camera. The second, the HTC Radar, encloses
its screen within an aluminum shell and also includes a front lens.
“A lot of you have asked us whether Mango
will support front-facing cameras—and now that these HTC phones have been
formally announced, I can confirm officially that Mango does support these,” Joe
Belfiore, corporate vice president of Windows Phone program management, wrote in
a Sept. 1 posting on the Windows Phone Blog. “We’ve included support for
‘switching to FFC’ for photo/video shooting into the native camera experience,
and we’ve added API support to the application platform.”
Even as Microsoft emphasizes this new
camera functionality in the Mango release, it faces a lawsuit, filed in Seattle
federal court by a Windows Phone user. The suit alleges the smartphone camera
software transmits users’ location data even
after they try to switch that function off.
Microsoft has insisted to Congress it only
collects smartphone users’ geolocation data with consent, something the lawsuit
alleges is “false.” According to Reuters, the case in U.S. District
Court, Western District of Washington was filed by Rebecca Cousineau,
individually on her own behalf and on behalf of all others similarly situation
v. Microsoft Corp., 11-cv-1438.
Related articles
- Seattle Snippets: Windows Phone, Expedia, Bungie Aerospace (xconomy.com)
- Hands on: Windows Phone 7.5 “Mango” forward facing cameras [video] (winrumors.com)
- Windows Phone codenamed “Mango” offline Training Course (Beta 2) now available (obieosobalu.wordpress.com)
