Nokia
Symbian, the world’s most widely used smartphone platform, is now open source
By Darren Quick
18:48 February 4, 2010 PST

When Nokia acquired the former Symbian Software Limited in 2008 a new independent non-profit organization called the Symbian Foundation was established. One of its main goals was to create the Symbian platform used on more than 330 million mobile phones worldwide as a royalty-free, open source software. Now, less than two full years later and four months ahead of schedule that goal has become a reality with the foundation announcing the completed open source release of the Symbian platform source code. Read More
Free turn-by-turn navigation coming to all Nokia smartphones
By Tim Hanlon
03:04 January 21, 2010 PST

Nokia has announced the upcoming release of a new, free version of Ovi Maps for all its smartphones, which includes turn-by-turn voice navigation for 74 countries in 46 languages, real-time traffic updates for 10 countries, and maps for over 180 countries. Read More
Nokia's N900: Potential Unrealized
21:20 January 17, 2010 PST

From the first time we saw Nokia's N900 handheld computer we thought that it would be the ultimate communications device. With a large screen, fast processor, open OS and Firefox based browser, it seemed destined to become one of Nokia's major success stories. This was early September 2009, Nokia was showing off the device at their NokiaWorld conference, along with a new version of their N97 Symbian smartphone, and it looked like the N900 was the flagship product the the N97 SHOULD have been when it came out a few months earlier. We jumped on the bandwagon and were early supporters of the device. Read More
USD160,000 Diamond-encrusted Nokia Supreme (mobile phone)
By Mick Webb
11:18 January 13, 2010 PST

The folks at Goldstriker International – courtesy of designer Stuart Hughes – have unveiled their latest precious metal-laden creation. Not content to rest on his laurels after crafting the limited edition gold plated Wii Supreme, the English engineer of excess has turned his attention back to mobile phones and bought us the Nokia Supreme. Featuring 12.5 carats of pink diamonds and a 3-carat diamond as the phone’s navigation button, the sparkling unit also incorporates 83 grams of platinum. The price? A cool US$160,000. Read More
Nokia launches USD1 million Growth Economy Venture Challenge
By Gizmag Team
21:42 January 8, 2010 PST

The mobile phone and not the Personal Computer, has become the device which democratises information and communication and liberates much of mankind from poverty. With 4.6 billion connections from 6.8 billion people, the mobile phone now touches two thirds of humanity, and as Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo said in his keynote at CES today, “for the majority of the world's people, their first and only access to the Internet will be through a mobile device, not a PC, and this access is spreading very, very fast. In China, every month more than 7 million people gain access to the Internet for the first time, and mostly on mobile devices. This trend shows no signs of slowing. The mobile device has become a necessity for upward mobility." Kallasvuo used his platform to announce the “Nokia Growth Economy Venture Challenge” - a USD 1 million fund to encourage developers to come up with innovative software to accelerate development in these growth markets. Read More
Storyplay: Nokia and Sesame Street create video conferencing in a book
By Paul Ridden
16:49 November 3, 2009 PST

Nokia has teamed up with Sesame Street to create an interactive reading experience that can involve grandparents and grandchildren no matter how far apart they may find themselves. The Storybook research project melds the tactile and visual pleasures of reading a real book with video conferencing technology which allows distant relatives to take an active part in a child's literacy development. Read More
First look: Nokia's Booklet 3G
05:10 October 6, 2009 PDT

Recently at Nokia's NokiaWorld 09 event, the company unveiled what appears to be the first in a line of netbook devices, the Booklet 3G. Dave Weinstein was there to get a first hand look at the device. Read More
SurroundSense uses your phone's sensors to figure out where you are
17:02 September 30, 2009 PDT

Smartphones use GPS locating for a variety of functions but mainly they're used on the road where their accuracy - only within 10m - is basically a case of 'near enough is good enough'. But try using one indoors. They don't work! Nor can they distinguish between two adjacent environments, however different. And 10m can make a big difference inside a shopping complex or multi-roomed office block. In a research jointly sponsored by Microsoft, Nokia, Verizon and the National Science Foundation, a group of computer engineers from Duke University is working on achieving better indoor localization using a combination of sounds, lighting and accelerometer data picked up by a mobile phone. They hope it will supplement the use of GPS systems, which most users know, have their limitations. Read More
Nokia's E72 smartphone is a credible upgrade from the E71
07:21 September 6, 2009 PDT

Nokia's E72 incrementally builds upon its excellent predecessor, the E71. Improvements and refinements can be seen all over the device, including a faster 600MHz ARM 11 processor (versus the 369MHz E71), a new touch enabled D-pad, 5MP camera, and an update to the already best-in-class keyboard. Read More
Nokia unveils sleek X-series range with two new models
By Paul Lester
04:07 September 6, 2009 PDT

Nokia's recently announced ‘X-series’, which currently consists of the X3 and X6, looks to build on the success of the XpressMusic series with some funky new styling and a healthy set of features. Read More
Nokia's N97 gets a little brother, the N97 mini
03:45 September 6, 2009 PDT

Another key announcement to emerge from Nokia World in Stuttgart was a new version of their flagship N-series multimedia device, the N97 mini. The N97 mini owes its diminutive size to a reduction in the overall keyboard size made possible by removing the D-pad and adding navigation keys to a slightly redesigned keyboard. Read More
Hands on: Nokia's N900 Internet tablet may be their best 'phone' ever
23:21 September 3, 2009 PDT
So Nokia has gone and done it. It's been years since anyone has built a handset that I felt was a "must have" executive device, and Nokia has delivered with their upcoming N900. Based upon their previous N-Series Internet tablets, the N900 is a Linux based device with a large 800x480 display, but adds a quad-band 3G radio where previous products have been limited to WiFi only for communications. There's also full support for Exchange syncing, and a customized version of the Mozilla browser used in the desktop version of Firefox. With a slide-out three row qwerty keyboard and a large screen this device is ideal for corporate e-mail, and does a credible job of displaying formatted e-mail as well as a full weeks worth of calendar entries at a time. Dave Weinstein reports from Stuttgart, Germany. Read More
Nokia looking to get in the money
By Darren Quick
00:23 August 27, 2009 PDT

Nokia’s new Nokia Money service will let users send money, pay for products, recharge prepaid SIM cards and pay utility bills just by using the payee’s mobile phone number. Designed to be as simple as making a phone call or sending an SMS, the Nokia Money services will be accessible 24 hours a day anywhere there is mobile phone coverage. Read More
Concept bracelet phone leaves electricity behind
By Jeff Salton
20:53 August 25, 2009 PDT

For fashionable folk who enjoy the simple life but still need to be in contact with the rest of the world, comes the Leaf wearable bracelet phone concept. Great if you’ve run out of pockets or don’t want to carry a handbag, the Leaf is a wearable bracelet phone that incorporates solar cells for power on its front panel. Inspired by photosynthesis, the Leaf is pretty basic - good for making calls and texting only. However, designers Seungkyun Woo and Junyi Heo say it’s main objective is to “remind people that they can contribute to energy efficiency.” Read More
Nokia to join the netbook fray with the Booklet 3G
By Darren Quick
19:49 August 24, 2009 PDT

They’re known as netbooks, ultraportables, subnotebooks, mini-laptops or even kneetop computers in some circles. Now consumers have yet another moniker to contend with as Nokia announces its upcoming Nokia Booklet 3G. Featuring a glass 10.1-inch HD display and Intel Atom processor, the Booklet 3G is a Windows-based unit that promises the performance of a full-function PC alongside a rated 12-hour battery life. Read More
Mobile makers agree on standard micro-USB charger for Europe
01:18 June 30, 2009 PDT

Are your cupboards full of old phone chargers? They seem to accumulate with every new mobile, and are rarely useful again. Hoping to change this wasteful scenario, the European Union have proposed – and ten leading manufacturers agreed to – a new standard that will see micro-USB charging devices used for all data-enabled mobile phones. The hope is that, within three to four years, mobiles and chargers will be sold separately in Europe, and they’ll all be compatible. Read More
Recently on The Mobiler - Nokia E71 review
By Tim Hanlon
23:20 June 15, 2009 PDT

If you haven't checked out The Mobiler recently you might've missed Samsung's TouchWiz 2.0-powered Jet, the IRS planning to tax employees for their business phones, Nokia working on the ability to charge phones using ambient electromagnetic radiation, Samsung's inexpensive Crest Solar E1107 for emerging markets, and our review of the Nokia E71. Read More
Recently on The Mobiler
By Tim Hanlon
20:06 June 9, 2009 PDT

Recently on The Mobiler we've looked at the iPhone 3G S vs the Palm Pre, the Nokia N97 going on sale in the U.S., the MoGo Talk Bluetooth headset for the iPhone, AT&T's plan to offer tethering for iPhone OS 3.0, Qik coming pre-installed on the Nokia N97, a Wi-Fi hotspot for the Volkswagen Routan, a roundup of Opera Mobile 9.7 reviews, Postino for the iPhone turning pictures into postcards, the Fujitsu F-09A touchscreen, a security breach at T-Mobile, and Verizon's "COLT" portable cell site. Read More
Today on The Mobiler - The CrunchPad nears completion
By Tim Hanlon
05:00 June 4, 2009 PDT

Things aren't slowing down over at our mobile blog The Mobiler, with news of Mike Arrington's CrunchPad tablet nearing completion, a (French) review of a pre-production Nokia N97, cell phone use being linked to cubital tunnel syndrome, RIM patching a BlackBerry PDF vulnerability, INQ planning a Twitter phone, BenQ's latest 12-inch Joybook, Qualcomm's Snapdragon chipset getting bumped to 1.3GHz and the Sony W995a getting a price and release date. Read More
Recently on The Mobiler
By Tim Hanlon
01:23 May 25, 2009 PDT

Over at The Mobiler, we've recently looked at Lenovo's NVIDIA ION-based IdeaPad S12 netbook, Microsoft clarifying its Windows Marketplace app sharing policy, the Android Cupcake OS 1.5 being released for US T-Mobile G1s, leaked details of Nokia's N900 Maemo tablet, Virgin Mobile offering Wi-Fi on every flight, and AT&T's subsidized netbook program going US-wide this summer. Read More
This week at The Mobiler
By Tim Hanlon
01:17 May 15, 2009 PDT

This week on The Mobiler we've looked at iUnika's solar-powered UMPC, Novatel's MiFi 2200 personal hotspot coming to Sprint, AT&T and Apple crippling SlingPlayer Mobile for the iPhone, Peggle for the iPhone, the £24,495 solid platinum iPhone 3G, AirTran partnering with Aircell to offer Gogo Wi-Fi on every flight, the Samsung Alias 2 using E-Ink keys to solve dual-hinge usability issues, and the Nokia E71 arriving on Telstra Next G. Read More
WildCharge expands wireless charging compatibility with new Universal Adapter
23:00 April 8, 2009 PDT

Boosted by the buzz surrounding wire-free charging at CES earlier this year, solutions for powering up portable devices without the hassle of messy cords and multiple chargers are making the transition from curious concept to viable consumer product. One of the obvious problems with the early examples of this kind of technology was that each solution is tailored to a particular device, but now early mover WildCharge has released a Universal Adapter for Cell Phones which works with multiple devices across multiple brands. Read More
Nokia unveils N86 8-megapixel cameraphone with Carl Zeiss optics
05:01 February 19, 2009 PST

It looks like Nokia has pulled out all the stops in delivering a potentially paradigm shifting N86 cameraphone with a camera that they claim has SLR-like optics and is good enough to replace your current compact digital one. With 8GB of internal storage, and a lens system from Carl Zeiss, this device can capture still images at 8 megapixels, as well as 640x480 video 30 frames per second. The camera has a F2.4 aperture (so it's able to handle low light conditions) and includes a high intensity dual LED flash. Nokia is also using the internal GPS in the device to geo-tag all the photos. Read More
Nokia releases new E series messaging phones: the E55 and E75
18:15 February 16, 2009 PST

Nokia has announced two new E series messaging devices; the E55 and E75. Both devices feature 320x240 displays and Series 60 Symbian OS and build upon the excellent E71 device Nokia released last year. The E55 device has a"two letter per key" keyboard similar to the Bleackberry Pearl that it's targeted to compete with while the E75 includes a slide out QWERTY keyboard as well as an exterior 12 key keypad and is aims to be the successor of Nokia's iconic Communicator devices. Read More
Blind and illiterate users can outsource reading and translation with Kurzweil's kReader
By Loz Blain
00:57 January 29, 2009 PST

Ray Kurzweil is one of the most amazing intellectuals and inventors of our time. From his teenage years he's been building a long list of extraordinary achievements, from his early work teaching computers to compose music, to his world-first font-independent optical character recognition system, to his pioneering electric synthesizers that are so accurate that even musicians can't discern them from a real piano in listening tests. In 1976, blind music legend Stevie Wonder bought the first production model of the Kurzweil Reading Machine, a tabletop-sized device that was able to scan text documents and read them out using a text-to-speech engine. Last year, Kurzweil teamed up with Nokia to integrate the reading machine and its synthetic voice into the N82 mobile phone, letting blind or illiterate users read documents, menus, bills, and anything else they could capture on the phone's inbuilt camera. Now, Kurzweil has announced that the kReader phone can translate text it captures that's in another language and read it out to you in your language. It also has new text-tracking abilities to make it even easier to capture all the text on a page. Read More















dariusvons
- February 10, 2010 @ 00:56 UTC