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June 17, 2011
Mobile

The Weekly Wrap: More U.S. carriers, Evernote arrives, and a handy new app-making tool



So many websites, so little time. Now you don’t have to worry about falling behind on Windows Phone news. Today we’re kicking off a new blog feature—a weekly news round up. Each Friday I’ll recap some of the posts and announcements around the web that caught my eye. Let me know what you think—and what interesting ones I missed. Have a great weekend!

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More U.S. carriers get Windows Phones

U.S. Cellular this week began selling the HTC 7 Pro, its first Windows Phone 7 device. The handset, available for $199.99 after a $100 mail-in rebate, features a 3.6-inch WVGA touchscreen, 1GHz processor, 5-megapixel camera (with 720p video capture), and a sweet slide-out keyboard. Buy it on their website

Cellular South, meanwhile, debuted its own HTC 7 Pro this week. Check their website for details

Evernote arrives

The much-anticipated note-taking app from Evernote is now available for Windows Phone 7. The free app lets you capture and save notes, photos, clippings, and other inspirations while you’re on-the-go, and can then seamlessly share them with your social profiles. Of the 13 or so versions of Evernote, “this is the most feature-rich debut we’ve ever had,” the Evernote crew said on their blog. 

Download it now from Marketplace

Evernote is now available for Windows Phone 7

Manage your server with Windows Phone

Wouldn’t it be handy if you could manage your home or small business server from your favorite coffee shop? As We Got Served reported, that’s possible now with the Windows Server Solutions Phone Connector add-in for Windows Home Server 2011 and Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials.  Once you’ve installed the Microsoft-made add-in—available only as a Release Candidate for testing at the moment— and a companion app on your phone, you can get alerts, stream media from your server, and monitor health status and free disk space from the app’s Live Tile. Test it now

Check out library ebooks with OverDrive

Readers at 15,000 public, school, and corporate libraries can now wirelessly download ebooks and audiobooks directly to their Windows Phone with the free OverDrive Media Console app, new this week in Marketplace (watch a demo).  The app’s Get Books feature makes it easy to find a local library, and then browse and check out titles. Another bonus: since digital library books automatically expire, you’ll never pay late fees. Download it now from Marketplace

Mock up apps faster with SketchFlow

Dreaming up new Windows Phone apps just got a little easier. This week Microsoft unveiled the SketchFlow Template for Windows Phone 7, which makes it super easy to mock up and prototype new apps with Expression Blend 4. The template includes common phone features such as pivots and panoramas, date and time pickers, and the application bar. It also includes full-screen mockups of the camera, Bing, the App list, and Start screen. Download it now

The SketchFlow Template for Windows Phone 7 makes it easier to mock up app UI.

The SketchFlow Template for Windows Phone 7 makes it easier to mock up app UI.

And finally…

Looking for the perfect Father’s Day gift for the avatar who has everything? How about a new Windows Phone 7! In case you missed this item last week, WPCentral described how to download a free WP7 handset for your Xbox alter ego. The caveat: the trick only appears to work for U.S.-based Xbox accounts.