Tag: Nokia

Nokia Will Ship Its Last Symbian Phones This Summer

Nokia is set to ship its last batch of the outdated Symbian OS smartphones this summer, before devoting its smartphone production to Windows devices, The Financial Times reports.

Nokia pointed long development of Symbian devices as one of the reasons to halt their production. According to the manufacturer it takes 22 months to bring a Symbian product to the market, compared to less than a year for a Windows Phone handset.

“It took 22 months to get a Symbian phone out of the door. With Windows Phone, it is less than a year. We spend less time having to tinker with deep-lying code and more time on crafting elements of the experience that make a big difference, such as around photography, maps, music and apps in general.”

Of course, there is also the matter of the number of units sold. Nokia moved only 500,000 Symbian smartphones in Q1 this year – significantly less than the 5.6 million Lumia devices sold during the same period.

Nokia will supposedly sell the last of the Symbian devices only in developing markets, that too only until stocks last.

In the past seven months, the company has released seven new Windows Phones, and with Nokia EOS rumors swirling the company is clearly committed to Microsoft’s mobile platform.

June 13, 2013
Nokia, Microsoft Working Even Closer, Collaborative Effort Coming Soon

During a Lumia 925 briefing in the UK, Nokia revealed that they’ve tightened its ever-growing bond with Redmond-based Microsoft, makers of the Windows 8 (mobile and desktop) platform. Nokia UK’s Ray Haddow stated that the Finnish company has been “working even closer” with Microsoft and we can expect to see new collaborative efforts in the near future. Engadget reports that Nokia and Microsoft will work to raise Nokia’s profile.

Nokia and Microsoft first entered into a “broad strategic partnership” that made Windows Phone OS its “primary smartphone strategy,” but there have been rumours of Nokia coming to market with a tablet for years now.

The company went on to discuss marketing opportunities it’s seizing upon as a result of its Microsoft affiliation, so we very well might just be talking about plans for a new promotional blitz. What was less clear is if all that might be focused on a particular product (and we certainly expect the EOS to be a big win for both Nokia and Microsoft) or if it could be more broadly Lumia- or WP-focused in general.

Could this mean that Nokia might be ready to enter the Windows-powered tablet space? No telling what these two have in store but we should know in the next few weeks.

[Engadget]

June 12, 2013
Leaked : Nokia EOS 41-MP PureView Hardware Photos

The reliable leakers over at WPDang have trudged up some interesting shots of the hotly anticipated Nokia EOS, a Lumia-looking device, similar in size to the Lumia 920, with an enormous camera sensor and lens combination, like the PureView 808.

Like the PureView 808, this model appears to have quite a hump on the back of the phone to accommodate the 41MP sensor, which is believed to be identical to the one found in the original. There will be undoubtedly be improvements made to the lens system, however, and you can expect the inclusion of optical image stabilization and a host of other algorithmic optimizations as well.

The front of the device appears nearly identical in size and shape to other Lumia devices, but is not squared off like the recently-announced Lumia 928 and 925. It will apparently feature a 4.5-inch 1280×768 pixel AMOLED display, like the Lumia 928, along with wireless charging support and a full-sized Xenon flash.

The PureView 808 creates near-lossless photos, even when zooming, by using a technique called oversampling, or pixel binning, which combines the data captured by multiple pixels into one sharper, less grainy pixel. This works to create photos of sharable 5MP size from a much larger sensor. It seems the handset will also support wireless charging, and there are whispers even about variable aperture on the camera.

The veracity of these photos is not completely verifiable, but they look about as real as any leak can be.

The Nokia EOS release date is said to be July 9th and if true the official unveiling should happen very soon.

[Mobile Syrup, WPDang]

June 5, 2013
Rumor : Nokia EOS with 41 MP sensor to be launched on 9th July

According to reports and rumors, the next generation of Lumia with a PureView sensor will be launched on or around 9th of July. The most recent rumors claim the Lumia EOS would be similar to the Lumia 920 but build more like the 925, with a polycarbonate case and a 4.5-inch 720p display. The biggest differentiator will reportedly be the smartphone’s 41-megapixel rear camera with a Carl Zeiss lens and Nokia’s new “Pro Camera” application designed for Windows Phone.

The EOS is supposedly thinner than the original Lumia 920, but is said to be an “Engineering Marvel” because Nokia has stuffed in all the components into a very slim profile device.

The phone also expected to be available soon after, and sales to begin in the US almost Immediately.

[VIA]

May 24, 2013
Nokia’s new Smart Camera app adds filters, will come to every Lumia device with Amber update

Nokia has just launched the Nokia Lumia 925, the phone features a new Smart Camera app that adds to the imaging capabilities of the Lumia series.

The Smart Camera app has improved low-light performance and noise reduction, and will burst capture at 5-megapixels, with the full 8.7-megapixels available in single-shooting mode.

Nokia will be pushing out “Amber,” an update that’ll bring Smart Cam, amongst other apps, to the company’s wider range of Windows Phone 8 devices especially the recent high end Lumia Devices.

See some of the apps features below.

[youtube id=”BkPM9pPO9NI” width=”100%” height=”300px”]

[youtube id=”GAbGd8VlNlg” width=”100%” height=”300px”]

[youtube id=”pTZ3em5U84k” width=”100%” height=”300px”]

May 14, 2013
Nokia Launches Aluminum body Lumia 925 in London, € 469, Available June

Nokia has launched the new Lumia 925 in London at a press conference today. While all Lumia phones till date have been plastic the new Lumia 925 has a completely Aluminum Frame. While most of the specs remain same and the phone has the same dual-core 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4 Pro processor, 1GB RAM and 8.7-megapixel OIS camera of the 920, the Lumia 925 is almost 50 grams (1.8 ounces) lighter than last year’s Lumia 920.

Even with the 8.8mm profile, there’s an identical 2,000mAh battery but the Wiless charging has been removed to accomodate the profile of the new Lumia 925. For those who are disheartened, an accessory cover can be had which will re-enable said wireless features. The colors include red, yellow, black and white. The Lumia 925 model also sports an 4.5-inch AMOLED screen with the resolution of the Lumia 920 (1280 x 768px) it will enjoy superior black levels thanks to the Amoled tech in the display.

The display also has Gorilla Glass 2, with ClearBlack tech and a high-brightness mode for improved outdoor visibility and hopefully the same hyper touch tech that lets you use the Lumia 920 with gloves on.

The Camera is the same 8.7-megapixel backside-illuminated sensor, but Nokia has added another lens to make it a 6 Carl Zeiss Lens camera, this 6th lens element improves sharpness of images.

Lumia 925 Camera Samples

The Lumia 925 will launch in parts of Europe and China this June, priced at 469 euros (roughly $609 or INR 33500), India should see similar pricing and availability this summer.

[toggle title=”Read Press Release”]Nokia introduces Nokia Lumia 925

New interpretation of world’s most innovative smartphone captures the best low light images
London, UK – Nokia today introduced the Nokia Lumia 925, a new interpretation of its award-winning flagship, the Nokia Lumia 920. The Nokia Lumia 925 introduces a metal design and showcases the latest PureView camera innovation, new features and third party applications coming to the Nokia Lumia range.

The Nokia Lumia 925 includes the most advanced lens technology and next generation imaging software to capture clearer, sharper pictures and video, including the best low light images. The Nokia Lumia 925 also introduces the new Nokia Smart Camera mode, coming as an update to all Lumia Windows Phone 8 smartphones. Nokia Smart Camera offers an easy way to capture ten images at once and edit the pictures with options like Best Shot, Action Shot, and Motion Focus for creating the perfect high quality image.

Nokia also announced Hipstamatic will arrive on Nokia Lumia smartphones, allowing people to share their high quality pictures with like-minded enthusiasts on social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare and Instagram.

“We keep innovating,” said Jo Harlow, executive vice president of Nokia Smart Devices. “We’re advancing experiences on Nokia Lumia portfolio whether that means great new benefits for an existing Lumia owner, or bringing new showcase devices like the Nokia Lumia 925.”
The Nokia Lumia 925 introduces metal for the first time to the Nokia Lumia range, bringing appeal and unique benefits like increased robustness.

The polycarbonate back comes in white, grey or black. A wireless charging cover can be clipped onto the back of the phone to take advantage of Nokia’s extensive wireless charging accessories and ecosystem. Covers, sold separately, come in white, black, yellow, and red.
Leading Nokia services, such as the HERE suite of integrated location and navigation services and Nokia Music for unlimited streaming of free music playlists, add to the great proposition offered by Nokia’s latest smartphone.

Sales are expected to start in UK, Germany, Italy, Spain and China in June, followed by the US and a number of other markets. The Nokia Lumia 925 will be priced around 469 EUR before taxes and subsidies. Country-specific pricing and availability will be announced locally.[/toggle]

May 14, 2013
Nokia Lumia 925 Leaked in low-res Press Shot

Just hours before their official launch in London, Nokia’s Lumia 925 aka Catwalk has been leaked. Following along with the leaks of the past the design is fully metallic and appears to be much slimmer than the previous generation Lumia devices. The overall design of the back shell also appears to be a bit different compared to the existing Lumias, with the front to back taper towards the edges, The edges also appear to be more squarish compared to the usual rounding seen on Nokia phones.

Nokia will full Launch the phone in a couple of hours, so stay tuned for the specs.

Update : An image of the back panel has leaked too.

[via]

May 14, 2013
Nokia Chat Beta For Lumia And Asha Devices Released

Nokia has released the first public beta of its Nokia Chat app for Windows Phone 7.5 and 8 devices. Similar to software like WhatsApp, Kik, Kakao Talk and Facebook Messenger, Nokia Chat allows cross-platform messaging between Windows Phone, Asha, Symbian and S40 devices.

The first beta includes Canada, along with the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Nigeria, South Africa and a few others, to ease the company’s servers into the load before opening to a wider audience. While the app likely won’t get much play in North America, it stands to be quite popular in countries with established bases of Symbian, Asha and S40 devices, of which there are hundreds of millions still in use.

Windows Phone 8 users can take advantage of lock screen notifications, but all WP users will receive toast push notifications and live tile updates. The app also integrates with Yahoo Messenger, but it would be nice if Nokia could integrate Google and Facebook, as the current solutions on the platform are pretty terrible.

For Windows Phone 8 users, the app can also take advantage of voice dictation, voice commands — example “Chat with Michael Jordan” — as well as lockscreen notifications. The last feature displays a counter informing you of the number of unread messages.

Nokia Chat for Windows Phone is available to download through Nokia Beta Labs.

April 26, 2013
Nokia Posts QWERTY Phone Teaser, Wednesday Announcement Expected

Nokia has released a teaser image today for an upcoming announcement, potentially revealing a new QWERTY smartphone, although all the signs point to this device falling under the Asha range of low-end quasi-smartphones, as opposed to their flagship Windows Phone Lumia line-up.

The teaser reveals rounded corners for the prospective device, showing a Z key and contoured Shift key.

The phone is apparently decked out in the vibrant primary colours that are the signature of Nokia’s Windows Phone-powered Lumia smart phone range. But a Qwerty Lumia is unlikely, and with Nokia’s mobile devices making the announcement it appears this will be a feature phone, perhaps an Asha phone.

You won’t have to wait long to find out.

On Wednesday morning at 7am GMT we will be announcing something new, followed by a Q&A session with Neil Broadley from our Mobile Phones team and a special guest.

Other than a yellow color option and a seemingly thin bezel, there’s nothing we know about the upcoming device. There should be more teasers until Wednesday, maybe even a leak so stay tuned!

There have been Windows Phone devices with QWERTY keyboards in the past, like the now- extinct Dell Venue Pro. It would be nice to have that option again.

Nokia’s new teaser ad comes close on the heels of the company’s 2013 Q1 results which reported a steep decline in Asha sales. “Asha full touch smartphones Q1 volumes decreased 46% quarter-on-quarter to 5.0 million units, reflecting intense competitive industry dynamics as well as lower seasonal demand,” said the company.

April 22, 2013
Nokia Reports $196 Million Loss In Q1 2013 Earnings

Nokia posted an operating loss of €150 million (PDF), or around $196 million, today on around $7.65 billion in revenue, with a total revenue for the quarter reaching €5.85 billion ($7.65 billion), which is down from €7.35 billion ($9.6 billion) during the same time last year.

However, despite the losses, Nokia Lumia sales have hit a record high of 5.6 million in Q1 2013. This is up from 4.4 million during the previous quarter. In the same quarter last year, Nokia only sold two million Lumia smartphones, so that’s less than double of what they’re selling now. Since shipping their first Windows Phone device in November 2011, Nokia has just under 20 million Lumias.

At the highest level, we are pleased that Nokia Group achieved underlying operating profitability for the third quarter in a row. While operating in a highly competitive environment, Nokia is executing our strategy with urgency and managing our costs very well.

We have areas where we are making progress, and areas where we are further increasing the focus. For example, people are responding positively to the Lumia portfolio, and our volumes are increasing quarter over quarter. Nokia Siemens Networks delivered another strong quarter and contributed to an overall improvement in Nokia Group’s cash position. On the other hand, our Mobile Phones business faces a difficult competitive environment, and we are taking tactical actions and bringing new innovation to market to address our challenges.

All of these efforts are aimed at improving our financial performance and delivering more value to our shareholders

Nokia’s total smartphone volumes in Q4 2012 were 15.9 million units – 9.3 million Asha full-touch ‘smartphones’, 4.4 million Lumia smartphones and 2.2 million Symbian smartphones. That was noteworthy as it was the first that Lumia device numbers had exceeded those of Symbian.

[The Next Web]

April 18, 2013
Nokia Joins Apple In Bid For Samsung Ban

In a surprising twist, Windows Phone device manufacturer Nokia has filed a brief with US courts in support of Apple’s ongoing legal battle against Samsung.

Acting as an amicus curiae (friend of the court, a party who offers information to a case they are not directly involved with), Nokia has filed a brief on behalf of Apple to the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit this week.

In the brief, Nokia asked the court to permit permanent injunctions on the sale of Samsung phones that were found to infringe Apple’s patents.

As part of its ongoing legal battle with Samsung, Apple has repeatedly requested the courts to impose an injunction on the sale of Samsung products that have infringed on the iPhone maker’s patents.

As noted by Reuters, the brief itself is currently sealed, but an accompanying motion supplies an overview of Nokia’s argument. The company questions Judge Koh’s December ruling requiring a patent holder to first establish a “causal nexus” between a patented feature and customer demand before securing a permanent injunction against offending products. If such a precedent were set, Nokia asserts, the ability of patent holders to obtain sales bans would be crippled.

[quote]The “causal nexus” requirement as applied by the district court here, making the evidentiary standard for obtaining a permanent injunction so burdensome and strict that it may rarely, if ever, be met, will essentially lead to a compulsory-licensing system wherein patent holders are forced to license patented technology to competing firms, which could in turn harm incentives to innovate.[/quote]

In her ruling late last year, Judge Lucy Koh said that sales bans on Samsung products will not be given, and they can only be removed from sale if the feature deemed to infringe on a patent is one that is solely responsible for consumer demand for the product.

[Apple Insider]

March 7, 2013
Windows Phone Store Crosses 130,000 Apps

Microsoft announced some new Windows Phone app statistics today as part of its Mobile World Congress press push. One of those stats concerns the total number of apps worldwide. Microsoft now says there are 130,000 apps available for download in the Windows Phone Store.

Making the announcement on behalf of Microsoft, manufacturer Nokia, which utilises the Windows Phone 8 platform for its flagship Lumia range, including the newly unveiled Nokia Lumia 720 and Nokia Lumia 520, confirmed the Windows Phone 8 app milestone during its MWC 2013 press conference.

[quote]“Today we are proud to announce that we have achieved the level of 130,000 Windows Phone applications,” Nokia CEO Stephen Elop said. “That’s 130,000 applications tailor made for the Windows Phone experience.”[/quote]

Microsoft said that the number of downloads of its Windows Phone 8 SDK has now exceeded 500,000 since its launch nearly four months ago. It added that Windows Phone developer registrations were up by over 40,000 users, 90 days after the Windows Phone 8 launch.

Microsoft is also launching its new Dev Center app, which allows app developers to see how their apps are performing.

Microsoft is still a long way behind rivals such as Android and Apple in the apps market, both boasting over half a million apps.

Nevertheless, the rise will be welcomed by those at Microsoft and used as evidence that while it has been slow to enter the mobile market it’s moving fast to catch up with its rivals, with most high-profile apps now available for the operating system, such as Spotify.

February 26, 2013
Leaked : Nokia Lumia 720, Lumia 520, Expected To Be Announced At MWC

Days before Nokia has a chance to unveil its Mobile World Congress lineup, apparent leaks of its two upcoming smartphones, the Lumia 720 and Lumia 520, have already surfaced to go along with some bubbled-up specs.

While we can’t tell specs from the official renders provided by @evleaks, it’s a safe bet that these phones will be announced next week at Mobile World Congress. It’s also safe to assume that the Lumia 720 will have slightly toned-down specs from the 820, but will maintain its colourful heritage. Nokia appears to have done away with removable back plates on the Nokia Lumia 720, making for a thinner and likely lighter smartphone.

And though we can’t tell scale from this particular photo, a 4.3-inch 800×480 resolution ClearBlack screen is in the cards, alongside a 1Ghz dual-core Snapdragon S4 Plus SoC, 512MB RAM, 8GB internal storage, an 8MP rear camera and a 2MP front camera.

Rumoured specs of the Nokia Lumia 520 put the device at 4-inches, with 512MB RAM, 8GB internal storage and a 5MP rear camera.

The two devices should slot in directly above and below the Nokia Lumia 620, leaving Nokia with a full spectrum of Windows Phone 8 devices at every price point. However we are still waiting for the launch of the Lumia 620 in India!

[EVLeaks]

February 23, 2013
Nokia : Blackberries Make a Great Snack, But For The World’s Best Business Smartphone Try a Lumia

The big news today comes from the company-formerly-known-as-RIM and their new OS and flagship smartphone. Blackberry has always been loved by businesses for it’s many business features, but in the past few years the competition, such as Windows Phone, has made big strides to be business ready. This has lead a lot of businesses to adopt “bring your own phone,” which lets employees use many different popular smartphones, not just Blackberry devices.

Nokia has taken to Facebook to point out that Lumia devices are just as business-ready, if not more, than Blackberry devices.

[quote]Nokia Canada’s Facebook page stated that “Blackberries make a great snack, but for the world’s best business smartphone try a Lumia.” This is of course part of the new “Make the Switch” marketing campaign that encourages people to use the Lumia.[/quote]

Windows Phone has native Skype support along with Office applications, plus SkyDrive for backup. BlackBerry is known in the industry for having the best, probably most secure, email support for businesses, but Windows Phone 8 also added many modern security protocols. In addition, BlackBerry has SAP support, Box and Dropbox for cloud storage and will soon be adding Skype to their list of apps.

It’ll be very interesting to see who wins the battle for 3rd place.

January 31, 2013
End Of The Road! Nokia 808 Pureview Was Last Symbian Phone

Nokia has confirmed in its Q4 financial results that the 808 Pureview smartphone will be the last Symbian device it will ever produce.

This morning Nokia reported operating profits for the first time in six quarters of €439m on revenues of €8.04bn and chimed that its strategy to turn its fortunes around is working.

An essential part of that turnaround strategy has been an alliance with Microsoft to produce smartphones based on the Windows Phone operating system.

That strategy is paying dividends with over 4m Lumia devices shipped during the busy Christmas sales season. The casualty of this strategy, however, is Nokia’s longstanding use of the Symbian operating system.

[quote]In its fourth quarter and full year 2012 Interim Report (spotted by the eagle eyes at TechCrunch), Nokia states: “During our transition to Windows Phone through 2012, we continued to ship devices based on Symbian. The Nokia 808 PureView, a device which showcases our imaging capabilities and which came to market in mid 2012, was the last Symbian device from Nokia.”[/quote]

The news, which shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone really, means the transition to Windows Phone is complete from a hardware perspective, although we suspect Nokia still has plenty of Symbian handsets still on shelves around the world for those that want a piece of history.

Symbian OS on Nokia devices has played a key part in the smartphone game over the past ten years, but its significance was severely reduced once the touchscreen revolution started. Some of the most notable phones to come out of Nokia were powered by Symbian – beginning with the 9210 Communicator. The Nokia E61 started a messenger phone hype that peaked with the E71, making Symbian OS the only viable competitor to the then-strong BlackBerry portfolio of messengers.

The 808 PureView, Nokia’s last Symbian device, picked up the Best New Mobile Handset Award at the Mobile World Congress in 2012. The device created quite a stir at the time because it came with a 41-megapixel camera lens from Carl Zeiss as well as NFC capabilities.

Nokia is rumoured, and almost expected, to include PureView technology in a new Windows Phone 8 smartphone out later this year.

We will keep you posted.

January 24, 2013