Archive for: Nokia
You have to hand it to Nokia. They’re really trying to take Symbian out with a bang. Look no further than their latest marketing push behind a Belle UI update for several “legacy” Nokia phones including the Nokia N8, Nokia E7, Nokia E6, Nokia X7, Nokia C6-01, Nokia C7 and Nokia Oro. (The Nokia 500 is getting the Belle update “within a few weeks”.)
Getting said update is easy enough; hook up to your computer and use the Nokia Suite to download the juicy new bits. Once finished, you’ll be treated to more homescreens (now up to 6), an Android-esque pulldown shade that houses notifications as well as system toggles for things such as WiFi, Bluetooth, etc., improved widget support, and of course, a much better/modern UI. Other notable mentions include the ability to shoot HD video @ 30fps and an enhanced browser.
Despite losing a decent mobile OS that had it’s heyday come and go, we’re glad to see Nokia has a new friend in Microsoft with Windows Phone, yet can still provide support for the army of low/mid-range hardware that really got their name out there. If you happen to update to Belle, let us know how it goes!
Nokia’s been pretty hot and heavy with the Windows Phone news the last year, and for good reason. Microsoft’s re-born mobile OS is the only thing that kept Nokia from complete collapsing into a pool of irrelevance. But Nokia’s old love, Symbian, is still around on the hundreds of millions of feature phones the Finnish company continues to sell to lower income markets. And even though Windows Phone has pretty much taken all precedence for Nokia’s high-end, there is one more “hurrah” coming in the form of a Symbian powered N8 successor.
Specs for this rumored device are still unknown. Though, if it’s anything like what Nokia’s pumped out over the last decade we can be certain it will look downright amazing and take awesome pictures.
Also of interest are claims that Symbian phone shipments are falling faster than Nokia expected. How that affects the overall death of Symbian and how quickly Windows Phone moves up the ladder of affordability remains to be seen. That said, Symbian die-hards can be rest assured the freebie phones (read: dumbphones) will still be Symbian powered for quite a while.
If the AT&T roadmap BGR’s source slipped them is correct, I’m going to have an awfully hard time keeping my two-year upgrade discount open for the next-gen iPhone. Reason being, AT&T is apparently planning to launch the 4.3″ and LTE equipped Nokia Lumia 900 on March 18th. This phone oozes gadgety sex appeal as well as a fresh take on the mobile OS compliments of Windows Phone 7. Of course, what’s even more exciting than a release a mere ~2 months away is the price: $99.
For a flagship phone from any manufacturer irregardless of OS, this is insane. Microsoft and/or Nokia must really be desperate to fast track marketshare. And what better way than a fire sale from the get go? Yeah. The duo could lose a fair chunk of change form practically giving their phone away because let’s face it, AT&T isn’t about to eat the cost. Ultimately, a move like this could be huge for the Windows Phone platform.
Consider my fingers crossed.
As for whatever else was on that leaked roadmap — BGR hasn’t mentioned anything yet. But if I had to guess, assume a few high-end dual and quad-core Android devices alone with a new iPhone too. But for now, my eyes are on the Lumia.
Does the thought of the larger 4.3″ display and LTE on the Lumia 900 drive you absolutely insane with gadget goodness? Well, don’t get too caught up on said device because according to the unlimited depth of Eldar Murtazin’s Nokia knowledge, the Finnish outfit is set to release a slightly upgraded Lumia 910 in Europe in May. The big change, according to Murtazin is the inclusion of a higher resolution 12-megapixel camera. While we’re careful not to jump on the “more is better” bandwagon concerning megapixels (same as was the case for stand alone point-and-shoot cameras), Nokia has generally focused on their cameras as being premium offerings compared to competitors.
That said, Murtazin does raise an interesting and valid point: Who’s going to pick up the Lumia 900 that by early summer will have outdated specs compared to the Galaxy S III, a phone that is rumored to pack a quad-core processor? Though, similar to the megapixel race from back in the early days of digital cameras, smartphone (particularly Android) manufacturers are currently embroiled in a battle of GHz/cores. Ultimately it will come down to which platform you like and not how boast worthy the spec sheet is.
For the time being, however, a 4.3″, LTE equipped, 12-megapixel packing Lumia 910 sounds pretty damn awesome. Now if only we could some higher resolution displays.
- January 15, 2012 12:10 pm
The wait will be over sooner than you think — A new post on Nokia’s developer website appears to have spilled the beans on the flagship Lumia 900′s release date. March.
“The Nokia Lumia 900 phone runs Microsoft Windows Phone 7.5. It is the biggest and fastest smartphone yet. And it will become available exclusively through AT&T in March.”
Last week at CES Nokia president and CEO, Stephen Elop, would only commit to the Lumia 900 hitting the market “in a few months”.
Now that we’ve got a somewhat credible release timeframe, the next thing to track down is a price. While iOS and Widows Phone are perfect examples of specs not being everything, we don’t think Nokia should charge more than $199-$249. Of the company truly wants to re-gain lost market share, they’re going to have to go in low and win people over once again. That said, we’d pick up a Lumia 900 even at $299. You?
Nokia used CES as the launchpad for the North American push, and what a push it was. While the Lumia 900 is more or less a slightly larger, but nearly spec-for-spec copy of the Lumia 800, it intrigues nonetheless. The downright sexy hardware of the Lumia 900 is a testament to the fact that despite being down and beaten repeatedly over the last couple of years, they still know how to design a beautiful piece of hardware.
At CES 2012, Nokia and Microsoft are beating the war drum proudly (and perhaps naively), acting as if Apple and the best Android manufacturers have to catch them. While that topic is certainly debatable, there’s no denying that the Nokia Lumia 900 is a gadget worth remembering. Everything from the solid construction to the seemingly impenetrable colored polycarbonate oozes sophistication.
Hop past the break for Gadgetsteria’s Lumia 900 hands on.
Nokia was on the way to certain death just a few short months ago. But a newly revealed partnership with Microsoft and focus on Windows Phone moving forward have rekindled interest in the Finnish phone maker. Today, the company talked about their continuing strategy moving forward, while also showing off the one phone every Nokia/WP7 fan has been waiting for — the Lumia 900.
- December 29, 2011 6:29 am
T-Mobile users stopping by T-Mobile.com this morning will find a nice, new treat — the Nokia Lumia 710. The U.S.’ first Nokia smartphone packing Windows Phone 7 is officially (almost) here. If we were to go by mere specs alone, the 710′s 1.4 GHz single-core processor and smallish 3.7″ display wouldn’t win any awards. But that’s the great part about Windows Phone; it doesn’t need an insanely powerful hardware core to perform basic functions smoothly.
Besides all the great Windows Phone 7.5 functionality, the Lumia 710 will also be a big deal for all parties involved thanks to the super low $49.99 price (with a 2-year contract). At that price, Nokia and Microsoft are aiming at the crucial mid and low-range markets — an area where Android currently dominates, but does so simply because there isn’t really any other viable option.
Now that T-Mobile customers will have a great choice in the sub-$50 market, we’ll have to see if Nokia can reclaim their crown of mobile phone giant. It all begins January 11th.
- December 20, 2011 11:24 am
The Lumia 800 is hands down one of the company’s most important products in recent years as it’s the (current) flagship phone the Finish company has, as well as the first big phone to showcase the Microsoft-Nokia partnership. Reviews of said device have been mostly positive, though a brewing issue regarding an improperly recorded battery percentage is causing grief for early adopters. Initially, Nokia wouldn’t immediately fess up to the issue at hand, though quickly reveresed course with a small update. According to continuing complaints, the update did little (if anything) to fix the issue, eliciting a more detailed response from Nokia whom cites a forthcoming update in early 2012:
“On Monday 12th December some of our customers started to comment in various social media that the preloaded diagnostics tool in some of the Nokia Lumia 800 phones was showing lower battery capacity than expected. We immediately started to investigate these reports and can now confirm that while the battery itself is fine, a software problem on certain variants is limiting the phone’s ability to access the full battery capacity. We want to stress that this issue has not been found to affect the recently introduced Nokia Lumia 710.
The good news is that as this is a software problem it can be easily resolved. The planned software update in early 2012, as well as including many performance enhancements, will also include a fix that will enable the affected phones to access the total battery capacity. For anyone who does not want to wait for the software update, Nokia can arrange for a replacement phone.”
In the meantime, those interested in knowing if they have an affected device can simply dial “##634#” and look in the phone diagnostics menu at “Battery Status”. If it says anything lower than 1,000 mAh, you’ve got a dud that according to Nokia may need to be charged “more frequently than normal”.
Did you make it through the fire?
