So you picked up a shiny new Nokia Lumia with Windows Phone 8 and you're happy as can be...until you get to maps. Nokia Maps is an excellent service, but compared to Bing Maps it's not quite up to snuff in terms of its speed and fluidity. Also, in recent weeks Nokia Maps has had a few issues generating detailed information for some areas where Bing originally worked just fine.

Well, it might surprise you to learn that Bing Maps is actually still ticking inside that new Lumia (just try searching for any Local results with Bing and it'll pop you right into the original Maps app). Nokia has simply chosen to hide Maps from the Lumia's app list.

For those who want the best of both worlds, there is now an ingenious solution: Mohammed Adenwala's Maps. Simply put, the app just functions as a shortcut to access the native Maps app that should have been there from the start. Just install it and you're good to go, plus there are no ads. Really, there's no 'app' — it just puts Maps back into your Lumia's app list so you can launch Bing Maps as you should. Kudos to Adenwala for the clever solution to Nokia users qualms.

Download Maps from the Windows Phone Store for free by clicking on the link below

Microsoft is releasing an over the air update for the HTC 8X that stops the phone from switching from a Wi-Fi connection to cellular when its screen times out. The behavior has been a constant thorn in the sides of Windows Phone users since Microsoft released Windows Phone 7 over two years ago. According to WPCentral, a user in Italy confirmed that after updating, a checkbox was available in advanced Wi-Fi settings to "Keep Wi-Fi on when screen times out." The first evidence of the new setting was spotted last week by WPCentral on a different handset, the HTC 8S. The new software also marks the first OTA update to Microsoft’s new Windows Phone 8 platform.

So far, the update hasn't arrived on our own US-based 8X and 8S devices, which could either mean that Microsoft is staggering the rollout, or that US carriers are holding back on the release. It also isn’t clear yet if the update includes VPN support — the other major feature slated for the Apollo Plus update — but we’ll let you know as soon as we hear anything.

Update: WPCentral has some more details on the so-called "Portico" update. Beyond the Wi-Fi fix, it adds at least three new features: the ability to reject calls with an SMS (recently seen in iOS 6), a "select all" SMS function for easier mass deletion, and SMS draft saving for messages you back out of before sending.

For Windows Phone users, the news out of Google today couldn't be much worse.

The company announced it's removing support for Microsoft's Exchange ActiveSync protocol for new devices from January 30th, 2013. Google Apps for business accounts will be unaffected and existing devices that are setup to sync mail, calendar, and contacts will work fine, but new devices will not be able to use the Exchange ActiveSync protocol with Gmail. It's a big blow to Windows Phone and part of a bigger feud between the companies over the past few months.

For iOS, Google's email solution is IMAP support and a dedicated Gmail app, CalDAV for calendar, and CardDAV for contacts. Apple and Google both support CalDAV and CardDAV natively, but Microsoft has chosen not to support either standard in Windows Phone 8… yet. This leaves Windows Phone users in a tricky position: at present, they’re offered two choices to set up a Google account. You can pick between email only or a combination of email, calendar, and contacts. The email-only option will set up an IMAP connection to Gmail which won't support push — it’ll sync every 15 minutes at best. The second option with calendar and contacts lets Windows Phone 8 users setup a Gmail connection using Exchange ActiveSync, with push email, calendars, and contacts. This solution will cease working from January 30th for new devices, leaving Microsoft little over a month to provide an acceptable alternative for end users.

Google is not providing a Gmail app for Windows Phone users, and the company recently revealed it has "no plans to build out Windows apps" beyond a search app available on Windows 8 and Windows Phone. "We are very careful about where we invest and will go where the users are but they are not on Windows Phone or Windows 8," says Google Apps product management director Clay Bavor. Meanwhile, Apple's situation is fine for iOS users as the company hasn’t opted to use Exchange ActiveSync by default and CalDAV and CardDAV are both supported natively. If Microsoft wants to fix Gmail support in Windows Phone, the company will need to provide CalDAV and CardDAV support to sync calendar and contacts. Alternatively, Microsoft could simply remove support for Gmail calendar and contacts sync on Windows Phone 8, but that would alienate Gmail users who wish to use Windows Phone and render the OS useless for anyone who requires Google’s ecosystem of services.

It's a tricky situation for Microsoft and one that the company should have predicted. Google has been updating its help pages to remove references to Exchange ActiveSync recently, leading us to speculate that the company would drop it shortly. Google and Microsoft are locked in a battle in several business areas, namely search, browsers, mobile, productivity, and the future of the PC itself. Chrome is slowly taking IE market share, Google dominates web search, and its Android OS is the biggest rival to Windows Phone. Manufacturers license Windows Phone, but they’ve also been forced to effectively license Android from Microsoft thanks to a number of patent deals the company has struck with manufacturers. Google’s attacks on Microsoft’s various core businesses have forced Redmond to respond.

Google’s announcement comes at a time of heightened competitiveness and attacks from Microsoft. In addition to the Gmail issues, Microsoft recently launched an anti-Google "Scroogled" campaign designed to highlight "unfair pay-to-rank shopping practices" in Google Shopping. Microsoft has also launched "Bing it on" to challenge Google’s search results and the company previously attacked Google's privacy changes with newspaper ads and a Gmail man video.

Battles between the two companies boiled over late last year after Google claimed Microsoft and Apple had got "into bed together" in a patent war against Android. A war of words over Android patents and an antitrust complaint from Microsoft against Google in Europe all appear to have soured some relationships between the firms. Mixed with Google’s lack of Windows apps and Microsoft’s claims that Google "blocked Microsoft’s new Windows Phones from operating properly with YouTube," and the situation is clearly dire.

We've reached out to Microsoft to understand how the company plans to address Gmail support ahead of the January 30th deadline and we'll update you accordingly. If the company doesn't have a plan already in place, it's going to be a busy month over the holiday season to test and deploy a fix in time. Meanwhile, Windows Phone users who want to take advantage of Google's services are the ones that miss out — regardless of who's to blame.

This morning at 10AM PT (1PM ET), Nokia and Microsoft along with their carrier partners Rogers and AT&T have officially begun to roll out the OS and firmware updates for the Nokia Lumia 920 (and Lumia 820 on AT&T).

The much anticipated update was revealed to us to be coming this morning and unlike T-Mobile, we have absolute confirmation that Nokia and their partners are on track for this update. Read on for all the exclusive details.

OS Update features and fixes

The OS update is expected to address stability issues that left some users with an occasional device reset or freezing of the operating system. The problem appears o have originated from issues with Bluetooth pairing, which has been refined in this update.

In addition, an improved startup sequence is also included, which most likely addresses an issue some reportedly had when factory-resetting the device, resulting in their phone being unable to restart. Though these incidents were isolated, it’s great to see Nokia and Microsoft addressing these problems.

The OS update, 10211 aka ‘Portico’ also brings new features to the table, including keep Wi-Fi alive (under the Lock screen), SMS enhancements (call reject, mass delete) and automatic Wi-Fi Hotspot detection. There are also some general performance enhancements as well and fine-tuning of the OS.

New Nokia Firmware

For its part, Nokia is including a new firmware maintenance release (build 1249) that will fix and enhance user function. The main thrust of that release is to greatly increase sharpness in photos taken with the 8.7MP Pureview camera and front-facing camera. We did a side-by-side comparison yesterday and demonstrated that indeed Nokia is listening to users, doing an excellent job at improving image focus.

We’re also told that power-management has also been improved, resulting in some minor boosts in energy efficiency in the device, which is also a welcomed addition.

Availability (AT&T and Rogers)

The over-the-air update is expected to be “live” on Microsoft’s servers right now. Users can go into Settings – Phone Update to manually check for the OS and firmware, or they can wait for the notification to come to them.

The update should be all at once for Rogers and AT&T users meaning we are not expecting a delayed or regional roll out.

Availability for International Lumia 920 and other carriers

Now for some not-so great news. For those who are not on AT&T or Rogers, the Portico OS update and firmware enhancements are not expected to go live until early February 2013.

Nokia is working with carrier partners to make sure the experience is top notch and that there are no issues when installing the update, resulting in damaged or sub-optimal performance. Of course schedules can change and unbranded devices may get it earlier than carrier-supported ones.