Microsoft’s new Windows Phone platform turns one year old this week, and despite a simultaneous launch of nine devices last year, it didn’t really make much of a dent in the Smartphone universe. In fact, thanks to poor marketing efforts, the platform just spent the whole year being ignored by just about everyone instead of getting the attention it deserved. Well the good thing is, the Microsoft and its partners aren’t standing still and are adamant on pushing forward in hopes of taking a sizable chunk of the market from Android and maybe Apple’s iOS.

Remember the good old Android days — when HTC used to be the one leading with innovation and bleeding edge devices? Yes I’m talking about back when the likes of HTC Hero or the Google Nexus One (manufactured by HTC were ahead of the curve, and every other Android OEM was trying to follow suit. That was until Samsung came out with its Galaxy S line, and things never remained the same for HTC.

Google Plus - stylized as Google+, is all the Buzz right now (pun intended). However, the service is invite only for now, so you’d have to snoop around your social Circles to score an invite.  But what if you already have an invite for the desktop and want to use it on your phone? Well then you have two options – an HTML5 based mobile version for Android and iOS devices and a native Android app with additional features.

Unfortunately though, the Android app isn’t available worldwide right now so you’d have to aquire it via other means. Here’s what you can do to get your hands on the official Google+ app if its not available in your market.

Just as Microsoft and Rovio had promissed earlier this spring, Angry Birds is now finally available in the Windows Phone 7 Marketplace, as a part of the Must Have Summer Games series on Xbox Live. The game’s arrival follows a series of legal disputes between Microsoft and the game developer Rovio which began in September 2010.

About one year ago around this time, HTC released their high end Android smartphone – the HTC Desire, which went on to become one of the most popular Android devices of the yesteryear. Sure it was a Nexus One variant, but it offered a customized experience, and frankly performed much better in the market compared to the phone it was based on. Along with the 3.7” Desire, HTC also launched their mid-range 3.2” Android offering, the HTC Legend (which continued the protruded chin design) and the 4.3” flagship HTC Desire HD. The screen sizes clearly defined HTC’s market segment approach – 4.3” for the flagship, 3.7” for the high end and 3.2” for the mid range.

So you might be wondering that why are we doing an HTC Desire HD review when its been almost six months since the phone came out. But bear with us because this isn’t going to be just another typical review. What we are going to do instead is to give you the usual hardware tour and then take a trip down modding and customization avenue, because lets face it – the Desire HD happens to be the last HTC Android super phone that the community has been able to crack open and customize. All the recent announced devices like the HTC Incredible S have a rather tight NAND lock on them which prevents permanent rooting and all other types hackery – for now.

With that out of the way, lets take a look at the Desire HD itself.

Now that HTC Incredible S has started to roll out into the hands of the consumers (more specifically - here locally in Pakistan), I thought it would be a good idea to put it up head to head with another Android giant, the Samsung Nexus S. The reason I’m choosing to compare it to the Nexus S is becuae Samsung is also gearing up to launch the device here in the coming weeks.

The following chart compares the most basic hardware specs of both the devices. If you want more detailed numbers on the Incredible S then take a look at my in depth review over here.

Its that time of the year again when smartphone manufacturers finally start to deliver on the promises they make at the Mobile World Conference – you know – the yearly show where everyone comes to show off their latest creations. And from the past couple of years, Mobile World Congress has increasingly been dominated by the Android OS. That’s partly because Android is now becoming the ubiquitous operating system for all things that fall under smart electronics – and partly because both Apple and Microsoft – which happen to be Android’s main competitors have established a release cadence for their own platforms which are summer and fall respectively. So this now leaves the spring season open to the followers of the Google religion to show of their stuff and boy they sure don’t disappoint.

There used to be a time when Nokia’s name was synonymous for high end quality phones, and the Symbian platform was considered among the most sophisticated mobile phone operating systems in the world. But in 2007, a certain computer manufacturer decided to try its luck in the smartphone arena and ended up revolutionizing the smartphone world for ever. Nokia failed to realize the potential of a fully touch based mobile device in the beginning and has been struggling ever since. In fact the last truly successful Nokia flagship I remember is the N95, which came out back in 2007.

Over three years down the road, Nokia and Symbian are still struggling to maintain their lead as the No. 1 smartphone platform in the world. While Nokia did move to a full touch interface in 2008 (dubbed Symbian^1), the idea of retrofitting the Symbian OS with touch support was mostly met with negative reactions from the community, while the underlying hardware platform wasn’t industry leading as well. Two years and a couple of failed attempts later, Nokia has – at least on paper – done the job right with Symbian^3 and the new Nseries flagship Nokia N8.

The only reason that PC gaming is still alive and thriving is because it offers customizability and adaptability beyond any other gaming platform around. From custom game mods to custom tweaked hardware, true gamers prefer the PC platform over anything else. That’s why there’s a lot of burden on gaming peripheral manufacturers to deliver high quality, extensible and customizable hardware to keep the market alive, and the SteelSeries Shift gaming keyboard is a prime example.

Read on to see it’s detailed review.