Nokia signs its first official 5G equipment deal with NTT DoCoMo

FRANKFURT, GERMANY — Finland’s Nokia said on Friday it signed its first major deal to supply new 5G wireless radio base stations to Japanese telecom operator NTT DoCoMo, which boasts nearly half of the country’s mobile subscribers.

The contract marks Nokia’s first sizeable deal for its flagship mobile base station equipment based on official global New Radio (NR) standards for the fifth generation of wireless networks, which were only finalised in December 2017.

Financial terms were not disclosed.

The deal contemplates DoCoMo starting commercial 5G network service by 2020, in time for the Tokyo Olympics, Nokia said. Initial installations are expected in greater metropolitan Tokyo with a national roll-out to follow in subsequent years.

Nokia, a major supplier to DoCoMo in both the 3G and 4G network eras, has been working with the Japanese operator since at least 2014 on trials of 5G equipment, which promises far faster data rates, greater capacity and quicker response times.

The 5G antennas and related base stations act as the local connections between users of mobile phones and computing devices with the backbone of any operator’s network.

The new equipment also promises to enable DoCoMo to provide new services for autonomous driving, industrial automation and smarter homes by providing wireless links to millions even billions of wireless sensors. Nokia said it will work with DoCoMo to ensure a smooth transition from existing 4G networks.

source: interaksyon.com

Nokia revives the brand with launch of iPad lookalike

HELSINKI — Finland’s Nokia launched a new brand-licensed tablet computer on Tuesday which is designed to rival Apple’s iPad Mini, just six months after the company sold its ailing phones and devices business to Microsoft for over $7 billion.

Nokia, a name which was once synonymous with mobile phones until first Apple and then Samsung Electronics eclipsed the Finnish company with the advent of smart phones, said the manufacturing, distribution and sales of the new N1 tablet, will be handled under licence by Taiwan’s Foxconn.

The aluminium-cased N1, which runs on Google’s Android Lollipop operating software but features Nokia’s new Z Launcher intelligent home screen interface, is due to be in stores in China in the first quarter of next year for an estimated price of $249 before taxes, with sales to other markets to follow.

Sebastian Nystrom, the head of products at Nokia’s Technologies unit, said the company was looking to follow up with more devices and will also look into eventually returning to the smartphones business by brand-licensing.

“With the agreement with Microsoft, as is customary, we have this transition and we can’t do smartphones … We have a time limit, in 2016 we can again enter that business,” Nystrom told Reuters.

“It would be crazy not to look at that opportunity. Of course we will look at it.”

Microsoft last week dropped the Nokia name on its latest Lumia 535 smartphone, which runs on its Windows Phone 8 operating system, but still uses the brand for more basic phones.

After the Microsoft sale Nokia was left with its core network equipment and services business plus its smaller HERE mapping and navigation unit and Nokia Technologies, which manages the licensing of its portfolio of patents and develops new products such as the N1 and the Z Launcher.

Asked about rumours that Nokia was looking to re-enter the handset market, Chief Executive Rajeev Suri said last week he was looking into ways to bring the brand back into the consumer market through licensing deals.

source: interaksyon.com

New Microsoft-Nokia smartphone is… Android

WASHINGTON — Microsoft on Tuesday opted for the Android operating system from arch rival Google for its new Nokia smartphone, in a move aimed at regaining momentum in the competitive mobile sector.

Microsoft said the Nokia X2 was “designed to introduce the ‘next billion’ people to the mobile Internet and cloud services.”

The device is an updated version of a phone unveiled by Nokia before Microsoft acquired the handset division of the Finnish giant.

It will be sold worldwide as a dual-SIM phone at a price of $135 (99 euros), Microsoft said in a statement.

While Microsoft has been struggling to get a foothold in the smartphone market with its Windows Phone operating system, the X2 “provides access to a world of Android apps and popular Microsoft services,” the statement said.

Even though it uses the rival Android platform, the X2 offers “a gateway to Microsoft services,” including the Skype messaging program and OneDrive cloud storage.

The initial Nokia X was unveiled at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in February before Microsoft completed its takeover of Nokia’s handset division in April.

The new version cuts the price of a phone that has had success in some countries.

“The Nokia X family is going from strength to strength, with the Nokia X smartphone achieving top-selling status in Pakistan, Russia, Kenya and Nigeria, while earning the third best-selling smartphone spot in India,” said Timo Toikkanen, head of mobile phones for the Microsoft Devices Group.

With the Nokia X unveiled in February, Android applications work but users cannot access Google’s services, notably its applications store, Google Play.

Tuesday’s statement said users would have access to the Nokia Store as “the place for finding the highest-quality Android apps” for the device.

Windows Phone has managed to get only around 3.5 percent of the global smartphone market, while Android has more than 80 percent, according to recent figures from research firm IDC.

‘Brilliant’ move

Bob O’Donnell, founder of Technalysis Research, said Microsoft will get benefits from this strategy.

“It’s counterintuitive to most people but I think it’s a brilliant move,” O’Donnell told AFP.

“What they are doing is breaking the services from the platform and showing that services can exist on multiple platforms.”

This means that even though the operating system will be Android, revenue-producing services like email, search and maps will be from Microsoft instead of Google.

“It’s interesting and clever,” O’Donnell said. “Even as they build the Windows Phone share, they can build the Windows services share.”

Roger Kay, analyst with Endpoint Technologies, said the Android phone makes sense in view of the fragile position of the Windows Phone platform.

“Google has the dominant platform and Apple is number two, so there is a question about whether there is room for a number three,” Kay said.

He added that the Nokia unit appears to be maintaining some independence after being acquired by Microsoft and that “they want to sell as many phones as possible.”

“Microsoft is hanging onto the phone business by its fingernails,” he said. “One bump and they could be gone. You still have a whole phone business in Nokia so it makes sense to be on the dominant platform.”

Microsoft closed the deal in April with some adjustments from the announced price of $7.52 billion (5.44 billion euros).

Nokia was the world leader in mobile phones before the introduction of Apple’s iPhone in 2007 and the onslaught of Android phones, mainly from Samsung

source: interaksyon.com

Affordable Nokia Lumia to arrive in PH

MANILA, Philippines — The Microsoft Devices Group is giving more and more people access to its latest offering — a dual-SIM smartphone running on Windows Phone 8.1 operating system under the Nokia Lumia 630 model available in the Philippines starting May 30.

Tagged with an affordable price of P7,990, Lumia Devices global product marketing manager Raghu Khoduvayur takes pride in the customizability of the Lumia 630.

For starters, users can select from bright orange, bright green, bright yellow, black, and white for the device’s changeable shells, aside from an expandable memory through a built-in microSD card slot.

The latest Nokia smartphone can also install apps and games from its memory card, including maps and navigation tools that come free. While health buffs will be pumped up for SensorCore, a motion sensor which complements apps like Bing Health and Fitness.

In addition, the full Microsoft Office experience is also provided to users, including the MixRadio music streaming, which is dubbed as your “your own personal radio station.

Khoduvayur demonstrated what he described “the world’s fastest keyboard,” which learns from the user. With Filipinos’ penchant for using Taglish in daily conversations, foreign words will be included in the device’s bank after they are used once. Words are formed by gliding the finger from one letter to another.

When it comes to the smartphone’s dual-sim feature, the SIM cards are easily differentiated from one another by color, and switching between the two is “seamless,” according to the software giant’s press statement.

The Lumia 630 comes with the latest quad-core processor and a 4.5-inch Gorilla Glass 3 display protecting the screen against damage, while ClearBlack screen makes its contents visible even in daylight.

As for its look and feel, the phone is “super slick and super slim,” said Khoduvayur at the launch. He believes the Lumia 630, equipped with a 5-megapixel camera and high-definition video recording, will become one of the bestsellers of the line.

More Lumia apps, finally

Representatives from Microsoft’s partners in the Philippines were also present at the launch to showcase their apps, which come with the smartphone for free.

GrabTaxi Philippines assistant General Manager Natasha Dawn Bautista briefed the audience about the GrabTaxi app, which connects passengers to taxi drivers so the former can be transported with “safety, speed, and certainty.” As for the drivers, they have had a 30 to 300 percent increase in income through the app, she said.

AirAsia head of commercial Gerard Penaflor, on the other hand, said that AirAsia app allows passengers to book and manage their flights from their devices. Through it, they can also check in from 14 days to one hour before departure.

Furthermore, Globe Telecoms G-Xchange Inc. President Paolo Baltao talked about enabling users to pay their bills, donate to charity, send money to relatives, and buy load at a rebate using their mobile wallet GCash app. Also available for free is InterAksyon.com’s very own app for instant access on the latest news.

Karel Holub, Microsoft Mobile Devices Philippines general manager for sales, added that over 500 mobile apps were added to their roster each day.

source: interaksyon.com

Top 10 Big-Screen Games for Lumia 1320 and 1520

The Nokia Lumia 1320 and Nokia Lumia 1520 both have one thing in common; they both pack six-inch displays – ideal for pinning more tiles to your Start screen and adding an extra dimension to gaming, as these ten top titles prove.

GTA: San Andreas – Php 305.00

We all know Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, right? It’s one of the best-selling games ever, and now taking control of the streets, and the local gangs, is easier on the jumbo-screen Nokia Lumia 1320 or Lumia 1520.

Don’t just take our word for it, read this five-star user review:

“Simply awesome on the Lumia 1520… frankly any game you play on the 1520 is just amazing. The size and full-HD screen quality is out of this world.”

Lifestyle Feature ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch:

Wordament – Free

Wordament is a great game, regardless of which device you’re using. However, a bigger screen makes it even easier to pluck out those words from the game board.

Confronted by a four-by-four grid of tiles, each one containing a letter (or sometimes more), you must trace your finger across them to spell out words – as many as you can – in the two-minute timeframe.

Played completely online you compete against thousands of other players simultaneously, who are also locked into the same game board.

An addictive game where you’ll often find yourself muttering, “One more try…”

Halo: Spartan Assault – Php 305.00

Part of the Halo franchise, Halo: Spartan Assault throws you into a universe full of combat and survival.

Rather than the typical first-person-shooter view you’re familiar with in other Halo games, Spartan Assault delivers a new top-down view approach, which is ideal for mobile gaming.

On a bigger screen explosions look more destructive, lasers look extra intense, and you’re less likely to miss an alien sneaking up on you.

Angry Birds Go! – Free

When it comes to avian-related games, there’s little better than Angry Birds.

However, rather than the usual bird-catapult-pig-face interaction, Angry Birds Go! is a downhill racing game.

Starting with a standard soapbox car, you can add modifications as you progress through the races to eventually build a super car – even one that flies!

Each Angry Birds character has a special ability that, when used wisely during a race, will help you in your conquest for first place.

Playing on a bigger screen allows for a greater chance of noticing overtaking opponents, giving you plenty of opportunity to nudge them out of the way before you steam to victory.

Asphalt 8: Airborne – Free

What’s better than speeding around a virtual racecourse, performing stunts and surviving crashes? Doing it all on a bigger screen!

Asphalt 8: Airborne puts you in the driving seat of 47 high-performance cars. It uses a clever physics engine that gives an experience of what it might be like to be behind the wheel of one of these cars. From the comfort of your couch, of course.

Dungeon Hunter 4 – Free

Immerse yourself into a world of role-play, dungeons and demons, all of which looks simply glorious on a big-screen Lumia.

Choose from four character classes, each with a unique combat style, then fight shoulder to shoulder with other players from around the world. Play in co-op mode, or come face-to-face with opponents as you show off your battle skills in PvP mode.

As with many RPGs, you kill, you loot, you win to save the kingdom – hopefully. Onwards!

Doors – Free

An unusual game but one that, once you start playing, you won’t put down.

The premise is this: you’re stuck in a room, the only exit is out through the closed door in front of you. In order to open that door you must first complete a task by solving hidden mysteries.

Some levels may require you to turn the phone upside down, enter the right keypad combination, or correctly match eight pairs of animal cards without getting one wrong. As you’d expect, the difficulty level increases as you progress.

The more screen space you’ve got, the more details you’ll notice to complete the tasks ahead.

Battle Monkeys – Free

Imagine a world that’s not ruled by humans, but monkeys (we reckon that’ll make a good film…). Can’t picture it? No problemo, that’s why Battle Monkeys was built.

To become the most powerful primate you must fight with other apes to show your strength and dominance.

With 3D graphics and multiplayer action, this is a joy to play on a large-screen Lumia.

Tetris Blitz – Free

A classic game that’s stood the test of time. The latest iteration, Tetris Blitz, is just as much fun as the game of old, but comes loaded with added extras.

Like before, position the falling bricks to stack nicely against other blocks. When a line is complete, it’s bye-bye row! What’s new is the ability to collect power-ups, such as lasers, magnets and time shifting properties to clean up the board faster.

Watching the vibrant blocks, explode when you complete a level, replete with celebratory fireworks look wonderful on a large six-inch screen.

Strata – Php 130.00

 

This is a uniquely elegant puzzle game that requires you to overlay colored ribbons onto a colored canvas. Unusual-sounding? Yes. Calming and cathartic? Absolutely.

As you interact with the screen and position the ribbon into place, softly played piano keys deliver a meditative sense It’s brilliantly done and works really well on a large screen.

If you’ve got a Nokia Lumia 1320 or Nokia Lumia 1520, take advantage of their super-sized screens and give all of these games a try – you won’t regret it.

Nokia Lumia 1320 and Nokia Lumia 1520 are now available in the Philippines for (SRP) Php17,900 and Php34,990 respectively.

source: philstar.com

Finnish engineers discover there is life after Nokia

TAMPERE - The decline of Finnish mobile phone manufacturer Nokia has encouraged a whole generation of local engineers to venture on a new and riskier path: that of entrepreneurship.

Housed on the top floor of a building located on the main avenue of the southern city of Tampere, the office of local start-up TreLab exudes ambition and optimism.

"We just sent our first five-figure invoices. It feels good!" 44-year-old chief executive Kimmo Saarela said.

This former Nokia employee joined four colleagues to create in December 2011 a start-up specializing in wireless measurement devices which can be used in sectors such as health care, logistics, and personal wellness and training.

"Even if I sometimes miss the comfort of a regular salary and the job security provided by Nokia, I feel freer here. One can make decisions quickly, without going through all the bureaucracy of a big firm," he said.

In the early 2000s, when Nokia reigned supreme in the global mobile phone market and contributed four percent to Finland's gross domestic product, the job security offered by the company had no match.

"When you were a Finnish engineer starting at Nokia, you knew you would leave Nokia only when retiring. Your future was clear," recalls Tommi Uhari, who left his management position to found Uros, a mobile wireless Internet provider for international travelers.

Everything changed when the financial crisis hit and Nokia fell behind in the smartphone race after Apple launched its first iPhone in 2007.

Trapped in a failure spiral, Nokia started to lay off white-collar staff and ended up agreeing in September to sell its mobile phone division to US giant Microsoft for 5.44 billion euro ($7.5 billion) in a move considered by local media as "the end of an era for Finland."

When it began to need to downsize a few years back, the firm launched an uncommon initiative named the Nokia Bridge program, through which it helped its former employees to create their own companies.

TreLab, the Tampere start-up, benefited from the program, which allowed former employees to leave the company with up to 20,000 euros ($27,573) each.

Some engineers, the founders of TreLab among them, even got the right to use certain technologies they had developed at Nokia without having to buy any expensive patents.

"Without this support, we probably wouldn't have been able to create our company," Saarela said.

'People are ready to take risks ... do what really excites them'

According to Nokia, more than 1,000 start-ups had access to the Nokia Bridge program, 400 of them in Finland.

The most famous one is Jolla, which has taken over Meego, a free mobile operating system abandoned by Nokia. The company is expected to launch its first mobile phone by the end of the year.

The start-up model does not suit everybody, though.

"Sure, there are a lot of engineers coming out of Nokia, with a long and brilliant career behind them. But very few know how to sell a product, which is a necessary skill when you're creating a start-up," said Tiina-Maria Siipola, president of the Association of Engineers of Oulu, a city in western Finland that was hit hard by Nokia's job cuts.

In Oulu, more than a third of all start-ups created in 2011 did not survive their first year.

Some nostalgics in Finland still dream of the arrival of a "new Nokia," a top world-class company that will boost Finnish pride again.

This is not a pipe dream. Finnish entrepreneurs have had an uncanny knack for turning from underdogs into greyhounds.

Take for example Rovio, whose Angry Birds games exploited the new touchscreen features of smartphones and tablets to launch itself to success.

Another example from the same industry: Supercell, which was founded only 2010 and recently sold 51 percent of its shares to Japanese investors for $1.5 billion.

Entrepreneur Tommi Uhari thinks it is better for Finland to stick with Davids rather than Goliaths, however.

"When Nokia was successful, it was very hard to hire talented employees, because they all worked there! Now it is much more interesting. People are ready to take risks, and to do what really excites them," Uhrari said.

source: interaksyon.com

Nokia launches tablet to join Microsoft gadget push

ABU DHABI — Nokia has unveiled its first tablet and large-screen smartphones, which will form part of Microsoft’s global push to become a leading player in consumer devices when it takes over the Finnish company’s handset business.

The Lumia 2520 tablet, along with the Lumia 1320 and 1520 phones are among the last products Nokia developed before deciding to sell the devices unit to Microsoft in a deal that is due to close in the first quarter of next year.

Nokia, once the global leader in mobile phones, arrived late to the smartphone race and has struggled to catch up with Apple and Samsung, who dominate the increasingly crowded market for large-screen smartphones, known as phablets.

The Lumia tablet, which has a 10-inch screen, will also face tough competition from the likes of Apple, which is expected to unveil slimmer, faster iPads on Tuesday. The phablets, which both have 6-inch screens, will take on a multitude of similar devices from Samsung.

Analysts said the new products, which will retain the Nokia brand after the Microsoft handover, are priced low enough to attract interest.

The Lumia 2520, which comes in glossy red and white as well as matt cyan and black versions, is expected to start shipping in the fourth quarter for about $499.

“The tablet is a nice design, it’s a good-value proposition,” Gartner analyst Annette Zimmermann said, though she doubts that Nokia’s first foray into the tablet market will bring billions in sales.

Possible clash

Others also questioned whether the new launch is enough to lure consumers back to Nokia and Microsoft, while Forrester analyst Thomas Husson said the Lumia 2520′s position for Microsoft is unclear, particularly after the software giant launched its own tablets.

At midnight on Monday, Microsoft started selling its Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2 tablets. Still feeling its way in the computer hardware business, the company is banking on the lighter and faster models boosting the lackluster sales of its touch-screen devices.

“Despite a more affordable price, the respective positioning of Nokia’s tablet versus the Surface 2 is not obvious and will have to be dealt with after the Nokia acquisition,” Husson said.

The new devices will help Microsoft to increase the number of Windows users, but Husson said he expects it to remain a long way from “a significant installed base of consumers”.

Nokia’s former chief executive Stephen Elop, hired in 2010 to turn round the company, decided in early 2011 to drop Nokia’s own operating system in favor of the Microsoft’s untested Windows Phone software.

The Lumia devices have been well received by technology blogs and critics, but sales have been slow to pick up, partly because of a lack of Windows Phone apps and a limited marketing budget.

source: interaksyon.com

Why Nokia didn’t sell its patents to Microsoft

SAN FRANCISCO — Nokia may have sold its handset business to Microsoft Corp, but by hanging on to its valuable patent portfolio, the Finnish company could also get a big future payoff at the expense of Android phone makers.

Microsoft agreed on Tuesday to pay 3.79 billion euros ($5 billion) for Nokia’s handset business and another 1.65 billion euros for a 10-year license for Nokia’s patents, considered some of the highest-quality patents in the mobile market.

“This involves the right to, in effect, make use of Nokia’s inventions,” Microsoft general counsel Brad Smith said on Tuesday. “It doesn’t involve the transfer or ownership of the patents itself.”

Until now, Nokia has not widely licensed many of its patents, preferring instead to use them to protect its handset business against competitors, Nokia spokesman Mark Durrant said in an email to Reuters.

“Once we no longer have our own mobile devices business, following the close of the (Microsoft) transaction, we would be able to explore licensing some of those technologies,” he added.

Once the world’s dominant handset maker, Nokia has failed to close a huge lead opened up by Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd in the highly competitive market for smartphones. It will now concentrate on its networking equipment unit, navigation business and technology patents.

The Finnish company has long been a savvy player in the intellectual property market. It sued Apple in 2009 and then reached a licensing deal with the iPhone maker. The terms were not disclosed, but the deal was believed to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars to Nokia.

For Microsoft, taking a license for Nokia’s patents rather than buying them serves a strategic objective as well. Microsoft has already convinced about 20 Android manufacturers to pay patent royalties as part of its effort to raise the cost of Google Inc’s mobile operating system.

Now, Nokia remains free to go after the same Android manufacturers for royalties as well, although Nokia spokesman Durrant did not reveal specific targets.

“It wouldn’t surprise me at all to see litigation filed by Nokia in coming months,” said one senior IP executive who has dealt with both companies, but did not want to be identified to maintain those relationships.

Had Microsoft bought Nokia’s patents outright, the pincer movement against Android likely would have been precluded, the executive said.

Nokia also gave Microsoft the option to convert the 10-year agreement to a perpetual license, which Smith said Microsoft would exercise.

The market for high quality mobile patents, such as Nokia’s, could be quite strong judging by past deals. Google, for instance, paid $12.5 billion in 2011 for Motorola Mobility, a transaction largely driven by the patent value.

“For Nokia to sell the business, and not sell the patents, there must be something else cooking to recover value,” said Michael Pierantozzi, a partner at Lumen SV, an intellectual property advisory firm.

Nokia could decide to try to sell its patent portfolio as a whole if the company thought it could get a price approaching the Motorola deal, Pierantozzi said, adding that Microsoft likely was not willing to pay that much.

Nokia “probably just weren’t getting the price they were looking for,” he added.

source: interaksyon.com

Second Nokia Lumia Windows Phone 8 arrives in Phl

MANILA, Philippines - The second and most affordable Windows Phone 8 smartphone, the Nokia Lumia 620, is now in the country.

The much-awaited addition to the Nokia Lumia range offers a more fun, youthful appeal, and compact design.

The Nokia Lumia 620 comes with exchangeable shells that use a dual-shot color technique to deliver new color combinations. Dual shot adds a second layer of colored, transparent or translucent polycarbonate on top of a base layer to produce secondary color blends and depth effects.

Like the Nokia Lumia 920 and the Nokia Lumia 820, the Nokia Lumia 620 boasts exclusive camera lenses that transform the creative power of its five-megapixel main camera and VGA front-facing camera.



Cinemagraph adds simple animations to still photographs, while Smart Shoot creates a single, perfect shot from multiple images, even removing unwanted objects from the picture.

Also new to the Nokia Lumia 620 is PhotoBeamer, a free app that makes it easy for photos from the smartphone’s camera roll to be shared instantly on any Internet connected screen by pointing the camera at the PhotoBeamer QR code.




The Nokia Lumia 620 also features the full suite of Nokia navigation applications, including Nokia Maps and Nokia Drive.

Hold up the Nokia Lumia 620 and the exclusive Nokia City Lens will instantly display information on the local surroundings overlaid onto buildings as seen through the camera viewfinder.

Aside from these exclusive experiences, users can get the most out of this new Nokia Lumia smartphone with Windows Phone 8. Do more with Microsoft Office, Xbox Live, 7GB SkyDrive cloud storage and surf the Web faster and safer with Internet Explorer 10.

Also enjoy customizable Live Tiles update direct from the Start Screen, People Hub that brings all personal contact information in a single location, and the Me Tile that allows people to check into their location, post an update, set chat status, and monitor notifications across Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

The suggested retail price of the Nokia Lumia 620 is P11,600. Make a statement in black, cyan, green, white and yellow.

source: philstar.com

Smart and innovative smartphone design

MANILA, Philippines - People are always after the latest and greatest technology that powers smartphones. Each year, millions of purchases are made to upgrade to the latest smartphones.

However, technology is just a part of the reason that fuels the mobile crowd to upgrade their gadgets. Design is also an important factor. It’s not just the design of looking good but design being functional for everyday use.

Who gets to judge the greatest designs in the world? One of the prestigious awarding bodies is the International Forum (iF) Design based in Hannover, Germany. For the last 60 years, it has assembled an authoritative body composed of experts to judge a slew of products to recognize design excellence and award merit for design functionality.

In 2012, Nokia bagged seven awards for outstanding achievements in design on its products and associated accessories. Here is a list of what iF Design judged to be creative and bold and wowed the jury:


 Lumia 800, Lumia 920

 Despite its launch two years ago, the Nokia Lumia 800 still resonates a visually stunning look to this day with its sleek form and curved 3.7-inch AMOLED screen.

relevant Windows Phone 7.5 OS and is powered by a 1.4 Ghz processor. The classy design is not just a visual delight; it also provides comfort when using the phone due to its thin form factor and solid engineering.

An improvement over its predecessor, the Nokia Lumia 920 continues to dazzle consumers and the iF alike. The use of vibrant colors and a slight curved back plate is both easy on the eyes and in the users hands. The comfort in design is both functional and attractive. It gives each phone a personality with the best innovative technology that measures up to how it is perceived.

The Lumia 920 has a slightly bigger screen at 4.5 inches and runs on a 1.5 Ghz processor that backs the design with the latest and greatest on mobile technology.

Wireless charging plate

If science fiction authors H.G. Wells and Jules Verne were alive today they would certainly be amazed by how far technology has progressed. These days, it is certainly obvious if a device is left alone near a wall socket — it requires charging among a mess of cables.

With the advent of wireless charging, Nokia has paired color, function and design with these wireless charging plates. Mobile users do not have to worry about where to place their mobile phones for charging. Nowadays, one can just simply place the device on the wireless charging plate and your phone starts charging.


 Bluetooth headsets


For the better part of the last decade, wireless is no longer a buzzword. Connections made sans the wire make mobile lifestyles easier and untangled.

The iF awarded Nokia’s Bluetooth Headset BH-118 for its colorful and subtle design. Listening to music or having a conversation without worrying about the cables that may strangle you is no longer a concern. Absolute clarity is essential when listening and talking on your mobile device with crystal clear signal without interruption. The BH-118 makes it seem effortless with color and design that match your phone.

 JBL PlayUp, JBL PowerUp


Portability and convenience is one of the core design goals of a mobile device. JBL recognizes what Nokia brings to the world of design and its no wonder this great accessory bagged another award from the iF Design awarding body.

Form and functionality are very important for both companies so they have come up with two stylish products that seamlessly integrate with their surroundings. The JBL PlayUp is a portable speaker that has several colors to match the color of your phone.

Additionally, the design echoes the best sound quality that JBL is known for and includes wireless transmission of music from phones to speakers. Great tonality, a solid bass and balanced treble make Nokia phones a great music device you can easily bring around.

JBL PowerUp for Nokia is another result when great minds think alike. Besides piping music from a mobile phone, it also features a tap-play option when you place your phone on the speaker surface.

Taking its cue from JBL PlayUp, it also features wireless charging while playing music. Simply placing the phone on the top surface charges the phone and the ability to play music continuously without cables is a very innovative idea that merges design and function in one product.

These seven innovative products from Nokia certainly made an impact on the International Forum Design 2012 jury. For more products that aim to inspire design and functionality, visit Nokia’s webpage at http: / /www.nokia.com.ph.

source: philstar.com

 

Get the perfect gifts with Nokia’s pre-holiday sale

MANILA, Philippines - Nokia is holding a pre-holiday sale with up to 50 percent off on nine phone models today and tomorrow only in select Nokia Stores.

Take your pick from the entry-level Nokia 1280 for consumers who need a basic, no-frills mobile phone.

The Nokia X1-01 is a slightly higher upgrade that provides the same simplicity but gives you clear, long-lasting music and Dual SIM feature.

Also included are select models from the Asha line, all with Easy Swap Dual SIM. Choose from the entry-level Nokia Asha 200, a colorful QWERTY messaging device; the Nokia Asha 202, with intuitive touch screen; or the Nokia Asha 305, a full touch-screen phone with 40 free EA games ready for download from the Nokia Store.

The 1GHz processor in the Nokia 500 with full touch screen gives you faster access to what you need — apps, Internet, social networks. Plus you get Nokia Maps and a five-megapixel camera.

On the high-end, there is the much talked about Nokia 808 Pureview which boasts of a 41-megapixel camera sensor with Nokia PureView imaging technology and Carl Zeiss optics.




There are also select Nokia Lumia models up for grabs. Take your pick from the Nokia Lumia 800 and Nokia Lumia 900 running on Windows Phone OS.

Both models have the same unibody design with the Lumia 900 boasting a bigger 4.3-inch AMOLED ClearBlack display and 1.4GHz processor.  They come in black and white and standout colors like cyan and magenta.

The two-day sale happens only in Nokia Store SM Mall of Asia, Nokia Store Festival Mall and SM Dasmariñas. It’s first-come, first-served and strictly no reservations.

The sale is open for cash and straight transactions and only those in-line and in-store are entitled to avail themselves of the promo.

For more details, go to http://www.facebook.com/NokiaPhilippines.

source: philstar.com

HandyGames now available for free on Nokia Asha Touch

MANILA, Philippines - Enjoying your fun and affordable Nokia Asha Touch smartphone? Wait till you hear about the 35 new titles released by HandyGames and Nokia to ensure an even better mobile gaming experience for you.

Based in Giebelstadt, Germany, HandyGames is a developer and publisher of mobile games and has been producing award-winning games on various platforms since 2000.

Through its partnership with Nokia, HandyGames hopes to continue expanding to keep everybody entertained in the future.

To whet your appetite, here are some of the 35 new titles you can now discover and download for free from the Nokia Store:





• Aporkalypse. According to an old prophecy, the four Pigs of Doom should proclaim the end of the world in a distant future. But something went terribly wrong and the gates of heaven and hell have already opened. Now it is up to the greedy Hunger Pig, the heavily armed War Pig, the contaminous Pest Pig and the ghostly Death Pig to stop this madness.

• Arcadius. Stardate: 3024. The Earth has been attacked by hostile individuals and has been entirely destroyed; few survivors managed to board freight ships to safety. You are a spaceship fighter pilot. Avoid the security drones and pick up energy sources to upgrade your weapons. Prepare to fight for your life or to the death against the galactic invaders.

• Cyberlords – Arcology. It’s the year 2173. The power of government is in decline and the world is controlled by gigantic mega-corporations. People may have no political power, but they still have control over their own bodies. Powerful NanoGear implants grant superhuman abilities and transform bodies into deadly weapons.

• Guns’n’Glory. What would the Wild West have been without its charismatic villains? Boring. So take a walk in the cowboy boots of Billy the Kid, Jesse James or Butch Cassidy to become a real, low-down bad guy. Form your own gang by recruiting cool cowboys, crazy Mexicans and brave Indians.

• IQ Knights. Enter a chivalric fortress and face the challenging tasks that await you within each area of the castle. Solve all puzzles within these halls to convince the nobles that you have what it takes to be their new king! Arm yourself with your ancestors’ dice and use logic to win the day.

• My Model Train. You always wanted to become a train driver, but never had the space or the money for your own model railway in your hobby room? Then download My Model Train, the first highly detailed mobile train-simulation, to your handset. It’s your task to solve logistic problems as fast as possible by operating switches, signals and reversal-tracks.

• Panzer Panic. War has broken out on your notepad and your leadership ability is needed to beat the enemy in ferocious tank battles. Make use of the environment and move various obstacles to protect yourself from opposing ink fire or to block your enemy’s path. Destroy all opposing panzers by accurately shooting your ink bullets while making sure that you don’t run out of ink fuel.

• Romans and Barbarians. Render Rome a service and build up your own realm as a mighty emperor. Set up a powerful army and become a great general because of the threatening menace at the horizon: Wild barbarians are moving toward Rome to destroy your city and to steal your precious Sucus. Be well prepared for their warriors, shamans and hungry wolves.

• Tattoo Tycoon. Look behind the scenes of the tattoo culture and build your own tattoo empire. Set up a perfectly furnished studio and prove your skills at handling your employees and tattoo machine.

• The Egyptians. After an immense earthquake the land lacks a ruler and discontent leads to bloody battles among the tribes. An ancient god awakens and sends the lord of the scarabs, Khepera, back to earth. It’s time for an alliance of the tribes to fight together against the forces of evil and to free the land. It’s up to you to lead them and to accomplish a victory by using constructions, inventions and tactical warfare.

• Townsmen 4. The dark age has cast a spell over you. You find yourself in a small monastery, surrounded by pagan settlements and hostile monastic orders. Besides brewing and baking bread, it’s your daily task to convert as many souls as possible. You deal with sacred writings, say masses and recruit enough monks, who will help you lead the monastery to wealth and prestige.

• Voodomino. Learn black magic and play for your life. Voodomino spices up the traditional game of Dominoes with dark rituals and deadly curses. Play against your friends and lure them into sneaky traps. With luck on your side you can influence your future. Each tile has its own motif, from poisonous snakes to powerful Voodoo dolls. Can you acquire all the magic tiles?

So if you own a Nokia Asha Full Touch device such as the Nokia Asha 305, Nokia Asha 306, Nokia Asha 309 and Nokia Asha 311, visit the Nokia Store (http://store.nokia.com/) and download these exciting games.

source: philstar.com

Nokia to ship new Windows Phone 8 Lumia smartphones this week

HELSINKI — Nokia late on Monday said its high-end Lumia 820 and 920 phones, which will run on Microsoft’s Windows Phone 8 software, will this week reach first operators and retail outlets in France and Britain and later in Russia and Germany as well as other select markets.

In the United States, AT&T will start selling the devices in early November. Verizon Wireless will begin selling Lumia 822 and T-Mobile will offer Lumia 810, Nokia said.

source: interaksyon.com

Nokia cuts smartphone prices before new models arrive

HELSINKI — Struggling phone maker Nokia has knocked 10-15 percent off the prices of two of its top of the range smartphones, hoping to boost sales before newer models arrive in markets in November.

Nokia has cut the price of the Lumia 800 by around 15 percent and the Lumia 900 by 10 percent in Europe, according to device pricing data compiled by British research firm CCS Insight. Nokia declined to comment.




Earlier this month, Nokia launched Lumia 820 and 920, which many see as crucial for the Finnish company’s survival. But the newest models will only go on sale in November, leaving the company’s sales team struggling with older smartphone models for over a month.

Nokia had already slashed the price of the Lumia 800 by around 15 percent earlier this month and made smaller cuts for its other Lumia models.

Once the world’s biggest mobile phone maker, Nokia fell behind rivals in smartphones and has racked up more than 3 billion euros ($3.86 billion) in operating losses in the last 18 months.

In early 2011, it bet its future on Microsoft’s Windows Phone software. Windows accounts for only around 3 percent of global smartphones, while Google’s Android platform controls two-thirds of sales and Apple has around a quarter.

Competitive pricing is considered crucial for Nokia to lure back customers, even though pricing does not seem to be an issue for rival Apple. In Belgium, for example, more than 10,000 people have pre-registered for the latest iPhone even before a local price has been set.

source: interaksyon.com

Nokia unveils new Windows Phone 8-powered Lumia phones

MANILA, Philippines — Finnish phone manufacturer Nokia on Wednesday unveiled its latest bid at regaining smartphone market share bannered by the Lumia 920, one of the two phones powered by Microsoft’s Windows Phone 8 mobile operating system.
In unveiling its latest flagship phone, Nokia underscored its need to differentiate in a quickly saturating smartphone market worldwide, as it pins its future on two key areas: photography and navigation.
The new Lumia 920, which features a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor and 4.5-inch display, will come packed with an 8-megapixel camera sporting Nokia’s proprietary PureView technology, which Nokia claims takes better photos and videos than any competitor smartphone.
PureView, which debuted along with the Symbian Belle-powered Nokia 808 PureView this year, is a technology developed in-house by Nokia that purportedly takes better images, even in low-light conditions.
Nokia is claiming the PureView image sensor included in the Lumia 920 captures “between five to ten times” of light than any other smartphone, comparable to most dSLRs today.
On the navigation front, Nokia announced the availability of City Lens, an augmented-reality application that shows overlaid details on places as viewed through the phone’s camera.
The augmented reality feature extends to the popular Nokia Maps application, where the user would simply hold up the phone at eye level to see an overlay of map directions.
The new phones also come with wireless charging capabilities.
The Lumia 920 will come pre-packed with Windows Phone 8 (WP8), which is a re-worked version of WP7 that ties in the core development kernels of Microsoft’s next-generation PC operating system, Windows 8, set to be launched in late October.

Meanwhile, Nokia’s Lumia 820 features a 4-inch display encased in a polycarbonate body, and a first for Nokia’s Lumia devices, a removable back cover that gives access to the 1,650mAh battery and optional microSD storage.
It will be powered by a capable 1.5GHz dual-core processor paired with 1GB of RAM. It also comes with an 8-megapixel Carl Zeiss optics and a VGA front-facing camera.
The new phones come with wireless charging capabilities, although the feature is available on the Lumia 820 only via an optional detachable shell accessory.
They will come pre-packed with Windows Phone 8 (WP8), which is a re-worked version of WP7 that ties in the core development kernels of Microsoft’s next-generation PC operating system, Windows 8, set to be launched in late October.
The new Lumia phones will reportedly enter the market by the last quarter of the year, in time for Microsoft’s launch of Windows 8. Pricing details, meanwhile, have yet to be announced.

Nokia reportedly sold 7 million Lumia phones in 54 countries since it launched last year, with more than half of it being sold in the last quarter.

source: interaksyon.com

Nokia Asha 311: Now Available

Nokia has announced that the Nokia Asha 311 is now available for purchase in the Philippines. The Nokia Asha 311 is a fast and fluid 3.5G capacitive touchscreen device, powered by a 1GHz processor to provide a great internet experience to consumers who want to be set free from excessive data consumption costs and short battery life.

The engaging, fully re-designed Nokia Asha Touch interface sits at the heart of an incredibly rich mobile Internet experience. With just a single swipe, users are able to:

Enjoy faster and more affordable web browsing. The Nokia Asha 311 takes full advantage of the Nokia Browser 2.0, a major recent update which uses Nokia’s cloud technology to make Internet browsing up to twice as fast and 85% cheaper than with comparable browsers.

Enjoy a world of entertainment.The Nokia Asha 311 comes with 15 levels of Angry Birds as a free, pre-loaded app, as well as a gift of 40 free-to-download*EA games including Tetris®, Bejeweled®, Need for Speed(TM) The Run and EA SPORTS(TM) FIFA 12. Nokia Store makes it simple for users to find and select from more than 32,000 content items, including apps, available for Asha devices.

Stay in touch and informed. The pre-loaded social application allows users to keep track of their friends and family on Facebook and Twitter directly from the home screen. Messaging apps like WhatsApp make it easy to communicate in real-time, while the pre-loaded Nokia Maps means that users need never get lost again.

The Nokia Asha 311 features a 3.2MP camera and can support up to 32GBof expandable memory. The device is available in four colours: Sand White, Blue, Dark Grey and Rose Red.

“Consumers have told us that they want a fast mobile Internet experience and access to thousands of apps, all packaged in a powerful, beautifully-designed device – and we’re confident that we’ve delivered exactly that,” said Dharmesh Goshalia, General Manager, Nokia Philippines. “The Nokia Asha 311brings a quick and responsive full-touch experience to Filipinos at an attractive price, packed with benefits for cost-savvy and style-conscious consumers.”

source: mb.com.ph

New world record set at mobile-phone throwing contest

HELSINKI — A Finnish teenager has smashed the world record — and probably his phone — in this year’s annual mobile-phone throwing contest in Finland.

Eighteen-year-old Ere Karjalainen launched a phone the “amazing” distance of 101.46 metres (332 feet 10 inches), Finnish public television network YLE said after Saturday’s event.

Second place went to South African Jeremy Gallop, who threw a phone 94.67 metres.

According to contest organisers, the competition offers mobile phone users a unique opportunity to “pay back all the frustrations and disappointments caused by these modern equipments.”

Finland is the home of Nokia and is awash in obsolete phones, organizers said.

“There will be no doping tests,” organisers said on their English website.

“However the jury can rule out the contestant if his/her mental or physical preparedness is not adequate for full a performance.”

The event has been held in the southeastern town of Savonlinna since 2000.

article source: interaksyon.com

Nokia unveils cheap touch screen models

HELSINKI — Struggling mobile phone firm Nokia unveiled on Wednesday its first three basic phone models with large touch screens, filling a gap in its suite of products.

Consumer demand for such devices has been rising fast especially in emerging markets. Last year 105 million low-end touch screen handsets were sold globally, according to Strategy Analytics.

Nokia said its Asha 305 model would go on sale this month for 63 euros ($78.52), excluding subsidies and taxes. The Asha 306 and Asha 311 models will go on sale next quarter for 68 euros and 92 euros, respectively.

source: interaksyon.com

Nokia hits back at Google in latest patent war tussle

HELSINKI — Nokia struck back at Google on Friday over its accusation that the cellphone maker was colluding with Microsoft to make money out of their patents.

“Though we have not yet seen the complaint, Google’s suggestion that Nokia and Microsoft are colluding on intellectual property rights is wrong,” Nokia spokesman Mark Durrant said on Friday.

“Both companies have their own intellectual property rights portfolios and strategies and operate independently.”

He also said that some Android devices had “significant (intellectual property) infringement issues” relating to Nokia’s patents.

Google, in a formal complaint to the European Commission, said Microsoft and Nokia had transferred 1,200 patents to MOSAID, a so-called “patent troll” which makes money by taking legal action over patent infringements.

Nokia and Microsoft cooperate on smartphones that compete with Google’s Android devices. The Finnish phone maker shifted from its own Symbian software in favor of Microsoft Windows in February 2011.

Google’s accusations highlight current cut-throat competition in the mobile phone business where companies, including Nokia, are fighting to assert intellectual property rights over wireless technologies.

Nokia’s patents have become valuable and stable assets for the company, particularly at a time when falling handset sales and a loss of market share threaten its future.

Nokia has already sued Android device makers HTC and ViewSonic for infringing its patents and is expected to go after others.

Nokia already earns 500 million euros ($618.22 million) a year from its patent royalties in key areas of mobile telephony and some analysts have said a more determined application of its patent rights could boost its income by hundreds more millions of euros a year.

Microsoft said earlier that Google’s complaint about antitrust in the smartphone industry was a “desperate tactic” from a company that controls more than 95 percent of mobile search and advertising.

source: interaksyon.com

Nokia feels out tattoos that vibrate with incoming calls

SAN FRANCISCO — Mobile phone maker Nokia is seeking a US patent for tattoos that vibrate to let people know when they have calls on their mobile phones.

Technology laid out in a patent application available online Wednesday would enable tattoos to receive magnetic waves emitted by mobile phones.

Waves would trigger tattoos to generate “perceivable stimulus” to alert them to calls, messages, or batteries running low.

“The perceivable stimulus may comprise vibration, a vibration on the image on a user’s skin, for example,” according to the application filed with the US Patent Office late last year.

The application described an ink enhanced with magnetic compounds used to make visible or invisible images “attached to the skin.”

Sensations caused by tattoos, permanent or temporary, could be customized depending on the content, suggesting vibrations could vary in intensity and timing depending on who was calling or whether it was a text message.

“The magnetic field, when detected by the apparatus, will cause a different effect based on its characteristics,” the patent application read.

“For example, the magnetic field may cause vibration of one short pulse, multiple short pulses, few long pulses, mixture of short and long pulses, strong pulses, weak pulses, and so on.”

People would be able to recharge tattoos using strong magnets, according to the application.

source: interaksyon.com