Got A Nokia Account Yet?

Nokia is converging all its services under one roof so that they can be accessed from a single user ID, which will be your new Nokia account.

This marks a gradual shift for the company from being only a mobile phone manufacturer to a service provider. While most of these services like Maps, File and Music Store were originally owned by different companies, they were eventually bought out by Nokia Originally, these services had different membership systems. With Nokia bringing all these services under one roof, it has decided to spare customers the inconvenience of having to use different IDs for each service. This is one of the reasons why Nokia is aiming for an unified account access system a la Google.

Nokia has also launched an umbrella brand for all these services. Known as the "Ovi" (Finnish for Door), the website can be accessed on www.ovi.com.

The services that can be availed currently include Maps, Nokia Music Store, Ovi Share, Ovi Files and N-gage. There is also a new chat application coming up. More on that on Nokia Chat Beta.

To create your account, all you need to do is visit http://accounts.nokia.com and sign up using a valid email ID. We did notice initial issues with sign up and webpage access, but hopefully these will be fixed soon.

source : http://www.techtree.com/

Nokia N96 special edition you take the challenge Face The Task: video

Nokia has launched a new promotion for the Nokia N96 special edition; they’ve even launched a new website for the occasion called Face The Task which is for highlighting the Nokia N96 basically.

Two points with this new website, first off for a donation of €759, which is approximately $1,206.00 you not only get the Nokia N96 special edition but will also be helping the WWF project which is to save red pandas in Nepal.

Secondly, the Face The Task website is worth a quick view for the high kicking girl alone, some good moves there. As far as we understand it there are to be 96 of these special edition Nokia N96 handsets specially packaged and up for grabs by forking over the donation.

The other way if you simply can’t afford the €759 is to enter the competition and try to win a Nokia N96 special edition which will be presented in a limited edition ash tree box inside a raw silk bag and an 8GB microSD card.

Is possessing a Nokia N96 worthy the €759, $1206? You will have to decide that for yourselves.

source : http://www.phonesreview.co.uk/

Nokia survey finds UK is world's top mobile recycler

The UK is leading the way in mobile phone recycling according to a worldwide consumer survey by Nokia.

The survey revealed that 10% of people in the UK recycle their old phones compared to a global average of just 3%.

The survey was based on interviews with 6,500 people in 13 countries including Finland, Germany, Italy, Russia, Sweden, UK, United Arab Emirates, USA, Nigeria, India, China, Indonesia and Brazil.

It was conducted to help Nokia find out more about consumers’ attitudes and behaviours towards recycling and inform of the company’s take back programmes and efforts to increase recycling rates of unused mobile devices.

Globally, nearly half of all respondents said they were unaware they could recycle their mobile, compared to one fifth in the UK.

Markus Terho, director of environmental affairs, markets at Nokia said: ‘If all of the three billion people that own mobile phones globally brought back just one unused device we could save 240,000 tonnes of raw materials and reduce greenhouse gases to the same effect as taking four million cars off the road.’

source : http://www.mobiletoday.co.uk/

Nokia Maps 2.0 Released

Nokia today announced an update to its Nokia Maps application, with improved car navigation, enhanced pedestrian navigation, added multimedia city guides, satellite images and a redesigned user interface.

Nokia's mapping and navigation application features local content and world maps. Using vector maps by Navteq and TeleAtlas, Nokia Maps 2.0 covers over 200 countries, with over 70 of them navigable. Maps can be downloaded directly to devices or through a PC. Updated features in Nokia Maps 2.0 includes:

- Improved optional Car Navigation equals PND-level car navigation experience with faster routing
- Easy-to-use, updated User Interface features including a new navigation carousel with pre-defined navigation views - i.e. navigation, arrow, bird-eye
- Top-of-the-line navigation features: signposts, multi-stop route planner
- Optional pedestrian navigation efficiently walks users from A to B with visual guidance including information about the surrounding buildings, streets and parks and, if the device supports it, notifies the walking direction
- Nokia Maps 2.0 includes public transportation information (station entrances) data in 17 cities with localized icons for stops
- Advanced multi-sensor positioning using A-GPS, and pedestrian orientation using the compass feature (Nokia 6210 Navigator needed for built-in compass usage)
- Satellite images with hybrid rendering overlays for selected cities worldwide provide real aerial views on the mobile
- Signature "one-box search" allows users to search through places, addresses, restaurants, nightlife, outdoor and accommodation
- New premium multi-media city guides including features photos, video and audio streams

Nokia Maps 2.0 and the current commercial version of the Nokia Maps Loader is freely available for selected devices.

source : http://www.mobiledia.com/

10 Designer Mobile Phones That Will Make You Cooler

Did you think it was bad when you found out that your girlfriend was spending $300 on each pair of jeans that she wears? Do you still argue with her about the fact that she thinks she needs $400 designer brand shoes and $1000 designer name handbags? Well, you can add another accessory to the list of items that you’re going to be footing a fortune for if you ever end up having to support the lady love of your life: the designer name cell phone. From Levi’s to Prada, designer mobile phones are making their way from the runway to the must-have category of every woman’s life. And you know what the worst part is? You’re probably going to actually like this expensive accessory.

Here are ten of the top designer brand mobile phones interesting consumers today:

1. Prada KE850.
This designer phone has gotten a lot of attention in the fashion world but has gained even more sidelong glances from the tech world. That’s because it is strikingly similar to the oh-so-popular iPhone and it was released around the same time last year. A touch-screen phone put out by LG, it is popular with European fashionistas. It was originally not-too-hot among tech fiends because it offered much the same experience as the iPhone at double the cost but now that prices are down, it’s considered a designer alternative that could work for trendy techies.


2. Levi’s Cell Phones.
The first Levi’s brand cell phone was released last year and tended to fall short of most reviewers’ expectations. Although it looked good, it lacked a lot of the advanced function that you would want from your primary mobile phone. Not to be discouraged, Levi’s is back again with a brand-new phone that seems to be a better alternative than the original. It’s a 3G slider phone that’s being sold in France through Orange and it seems to combine both style and function which is the major goal of a designer brand phone. Levi’s also has a new limited-availability diamond-encrusted designer phone for the rich called Red Tab.

3. Dolce and Gabbana Razr V3i.
If you’re dating a gal that has got to have only the best, then she’s bound to have at least eyed this phone. Considering that only 1,000 of these pricey babies were made and released into boutiques, it’s not too likely that she got her hands on one unless she happens to be Sharon Stone. If you really want to wow her, there are some unlocked versions floating around the market for around $400 each.


4. Georgio Armani Samsung.
This is considered to be the most stylish of the fashion cell phones. It’s also the one that is most suitable for men so if you’re a guy that’s looking to invest some money in a phone with a brand name attached to it, this is probably the phone for you. The drawbacks are that it’s a slow phone which lacks 3G capabilities but other than that it’s a highly functional phone that both genders are in love with.

5. Beyonce Upstage.
Beyonce isn’t a fashion designer but women are always eyeing what she’s wearing on the red carpet so it’s no surprise that they took an interest in the designer phone branded after her. Released late last year, this phone is primarily a music phone put out by Samsung that has some special features such as coming pre-loaded with Beyonce content. Leave this one to the girls!

6. MOTORAZR V6 Ferrari phone.
High-end fashion designers aren’t the only designers who have set mobile phone trends in the past. Car designers also raced to get in on the name brand phone action. Aston Martin and Lamborghini both came out with phones in 2006 but it was the Ferrari phone that really seemed to succeed at marrying style and function in a relatively affordable fashion. Released about a year ago in limited edition format, this phone can be found in the online market today for between $500 and $600. If you can’t have the car, you might as well have the phone.


7. Juicy Couture Sidekick II.
This was one of the very first fashion phones to hit the market back in 2005. It’s a really simple phone in terms of designer branding; it’s just got the Juicy Couture name all over the front screen. However it remains a popular choice in the United States as an affordable designer brand phone selling for between $100 and $200 online.


8. My411C LuluCastagnate Phone.
Here is something that’s truly different in the market. It is a designer phone for kids (primarily girls) created by a French fashion-and-more designer to provide youth with a phone that really stands out. Lulu Castagnette, the artist that designed the phone’s exterior look, is a fashion designer for women and children who has also designed everything from textiles to home accessories. The phone itself is simple but fashion-forward kids don’t really need function so much as looks.

9. Chanel Concept Phone.
The Chancel Choco phone isn’t actually available yet but people are impressed with the technological concept behind this mobile phone design. This super-slim, minimalist cell phone is intended to incorporate fiber optic technology that will reveal your keypad beneath two thin glass sheets. It’s something that’s still being worked on – and it will be expensive when it finally hits the shelves – but it’s something that Coco herself would wear if she was accessorizing in the twenty-first century.

10. Tommy Hilfiger / Ristomatti Ratia phone.
Falling into the category of well-kept secrets is a rumor about a Nokia phone designed in combination by Tommy Hilfiger and Finnish fashion designer Ristomatti Ratia. There is still no official press release about this phone but the rumors have been circulating for a few months and there seem to be regular hints here and there that the phone is indeed in the works. In terms of designer name phones that are producing curiosity, this one tops the list.

source : http://www.dialaphone.co.uk/

Nokia Introduces the Nokia 6122c Exclusively for CMCC

Today, Nokia announced the launch of the Nokia 6122c, exclusively available for China Mobile Communications Corporation (CMCC). As an S60 multimedia device, the Nokia 6122c offers CMCC customers rich entertainment features and powerful applications scalable ability. With CMCC keys specifically dedicated to the internet, customers have faster and easier access to all of CMCC's Internet services and contents.

"Working with top-ranking local operators enables Nokia to optimize services for local customers, and this product exemplifies our close collaboration with global leading telecom operaters," says David Tang, Vice President of sales, Nokia Greater China area. "Its sleek, compact design is iconic of the Nokia brand, now made exclusively for CMCC customers. This demonstrates Nokia's commitment to Chinese customers."

Taking pictures is convenient with the 2 megapixel camera equipped with easy-to-use camera keys, flash, and panoramic mode. A large 2.0" display with outstanding brightness and clarity adds more pleasure for internet browsing and video streaming. Stereo digital music players support a wide range of digital music formats and, combined with FM stereo radio, allow customers to enjoy music anywhere, anytime. The microSD memory card slot allows the user to expand the memory up to 8GB, which offers plenty of space for favourite images, videos and music.

Based on S60 and Symbian OS, the Nokia 6122c enables the user to download additional applications and content on the phone and enjoy various digital experiences including entertainment services. It also allows the user to run several applications on the device at the same time - making it easy to browse the Web while listening to your favorite music.

"The Nokia 6122c is another S60 device exclusively available for CMCC, demonstrating the continued collaboration between Nokia and CMCC," says Michael Hsu, Vice President, China Mobile Account, Nokia Operator Channel. "As a world leading mobile phone manufacturer, we highly value collaboration with CMCC. Together we will strive to forge long-term development of the domestic mobile telecom industry."

source : http://www.nokia.com/

Nokia’s new mobile music model takes on Apple’s iPhone

Apple’s iPhone may reign over the fledgling mobile music market in the United States, but in the rest of the world Nokia is No. 1 on the hit parade.

Last year alone, Nokia (NOK) sold 147 million music-playing phones worldwide, while Apple’s (AAPL) sleek touchscreen has sold 5.7 million units so far this year. And although the iPhone is now the top-selling music phone in the U.S. market, it doesn’t even make the top five in Europe where three of Nokia’s music-playing handsets are best-sellers. Now the Finnish phonemaker plans to launch a new service later this year that will let people download as many songs as they want for a limited time.

Unlike the iPhone’s pay-per-track model, Nokia’s new “Comes With Music” plan will offer several handsets that include a year’s worth of unlimited music in the cost of the phone. Once the year is over, subscribers will be able to keep their existing tracks on their phone or PC, and Nokia says they’ll have several options of extending their “Comes With Music” membership without necessarily having to upgrade to a new device. The company is still mum on what those other options may be, though it’s likely customers will have to start paying a subscription fee to keep the unlimited downloads service.

“The track-by-track purchase methodology was cumbersome to people,” says Liz Schimel, head of Nokia’s music business. “Consumers were looking for a more seamless way to access a lot of content.”

Subscription-based, all-you-can-listen-to digital music models have been around for a while. Companies like U.K.-based Omnifone and Rhapsody offer similar services and for years rumors have circulated that Apple itself will launch a flat-rate, unlimited version of iTunes. But Nokia is the first mobile giant to turn away from the a-la-carte model of selling mobile music, and, unlike other existing subscription-based services, its will allow people to keep their tunes on their phone and PC even after their subscription expires.

Of course, while customers won’t have to worry about losing their music library, they also won’t be able to transfer their songs to a new device unless that new device is another “Comes With Music” Nokia phone.

The company plans to launch several compatible handsets, as current Nokia music phones won’t work with the upcoming service. It’s not clear how much built-in memory those new phones will have, but one of Nokia’s most popular multimedia phones on the market today is the N95, which, like the iPhone, comes in an 8-gigabyte version.

Lucky for the Finnish phonemaker, analysts say content providers are eager to experiment with new ways of getting their music onto cell phones.

“They [content providers] want to at least try to shift the center of gravity away from iTunes and Apple,” says Mark Donovan, a senior analyst with mobile research firm M:Metrics.

Two of the world’s largest music labels - Universal Music Group and Sony BMG - have already committed to “Comes with Music,” and the company expects more will sign on before the new service launches in the second half of this year.

Nokia won’t disclose the details of the new business model, or say how much the “Comes With Music” devices will cost. Some media reports have suggested the phonemaker is paying $35 to Universal alone for each handset it sells. With more labels expected to join the partnership, that could end up cutting into Nokia’s profit margins, though M:Metrics’ Donovan says he believes the company has figured out a model “that has legs.”

“The idea that they would pay Universal $35 a handset doesn’t smell good to me at all,” says Donovan. “But of course the devil will be in the details.”

Schimel, head of Nokia’s music business, says the company put a lot of energy into crafting a model that makes sense for everyone involved - the music labels, customers, carriers and Nokia itself. The result, she says, will be able to compete with lots of players on the marketplace, including Apple.

“The mobile industry as a whole has enormous potential in digital music but up until now it’s only been unlocked to a limited extent,” says Schimel, who would not disclose the specifics of the “Comes With Music” business model.

One thing Nokia has been clear about is that music and other services are an important part of its overall strategy. In 2006 the company acquired digital music player Loudeye, which enabled it to launch a pay-per-track mobile music store (similar to what’s currently available on the iPhone), now available in nine countries.

But it’s Nokia’s “Comes With Music” service that has the potential to disrupt the prevalent iTunes way of selling digital music - at least when it comes to mobile downloads.

Despite Apple’s dominance in MP3 player sales, Nokia’s got a global headstart when it comes to the mobile phone market. It’s got 40% of the global handset market and is especially strong in regions that have been quick to embrace mobile content, including China and Europe.

Of course, providing a viable competitor to Apple’s iTunes means succeeding in the U.S. market as well. Currently, Nokia has just 7% market share in the United States, and its total North America sales accounted for only 2.6% of its overall, global revenues.

Nokia’s Schimel says although it won’t be one of the launch markets Nokia has every intention of eventually bringing its “Comes With Music” service to the United States.

But it’s possible Apple will be pressured into change its tune — and offering a subscription-based iTunes service — long before that happens.

source : http://techland.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/

Nokia and T-Mobile Collaborate on Mobile Services

Nokia and T-Mobile announced on Friday they will work together to accelerate the development of Internet services on mobile devices.

The deal will work both ways: T-Mobile customers will be able to access all of all to Nokia's Ovi services, and Nokia will also customize its devices to provide T-Mobile services.

Ovi is Nokia's portal for Internet services, which amongst other things includes music, maps and games. Ovi is at the heart of Nokia's push to supply content for its customers.

The announcement doesn't come as a surprise to Mark Newman, chief research officer at market-research company Informa Telecoms and Media.

"Nokia has already signed Ovi deals with Telefonica, Vodafone and Orange, so it was expected that T-Mobile fell into line," Newman said. "I think Nokia will have an easier time working with T-Mobile, since it has a more open strategy to services, compared to the other operators."

Nokia and T-Mobile will also work on widgets, web-based applications that give access to information, and the mobilization of social networks. Together they plan to enhance T-Mobile's community-oriented MyFaves service, according to a statement.

The companies didn't supply any details over how they will share revenue.

source : http://www.pcworld.com/

Nokia 5320 XpressMusic mobile phone - First Look review

Continuing its music theme, Nokia has launched its latest handset, the Nokia 5320 XpressMusic handset, but can this match up to the latest offerings from Sony Ericsson? Pocket-lint was given a chance to have a quick play with a prototype at the launch of the new handset in the UK.

The new Nokia 5320 XpressMusic is one of two new handsets launched and while it doesn't feature the "Street Cred" found in the Nokia 5220 XpressMusic design, you do get more features for your cash.

On the phone side there is HSDPA connectivity for downloading tracks on the go as well as uploading images or surfing the web, Bluetooth 2.0 so you can connect wireless speakers and a 2 megapixel camera around the back for snapping your mates at a gig.

On the music front, the 5320 includes dedicated XpressMusic keys which are down the left-hand side of the bright, crisp screen. Here you get fastforward, skipback, play and pause, with volume controls on the other side.

Outside a 3.5mm audio jack completes the easy access to music from a hardware perspective.

Inside and there is the promise of 24-hours of playback from one charge and 8GB storage keeping it in line with Sony Ericsson and Apple offerings (this is supposed to be budget/affordable after all).

Aside from the new "rounder" design in keeping with N82, Nokia has added a new service called "Say and Play". A voice-controlled feature, the idea is that you can say the artist that you want to play and then the phone springs into action playing the first track of the spoken band.

In practice we had mixed results, although it's not surprising that it worked better when it was quiet. In our brief test the prototype at times made us feel like we were on one of those cinema ticket services where you have to say the town you are looking for.

Out of 10 goes trying to say a name of various artists the phone recognised our request 7 times suggesting it might have issues with our dialect (Queen's English of course) or still has someway to go before being released to the public (only fair as it's not due out till Q3).

Via the internet browser, users can get access to the usual Nokia offerings: Ovi and Nokia Search 4.1 while the dedicated N-Gage gaming keys and landscape view are said to "deliver a true gaming experience" meaning that as promised Nokia has expanded the N-Gage platform's availability beyond its Nseries range.

source : http://www.pocket-lint.co.uk/

Mobile phone Goliath to battle sounds of iTunes

THE great online music war is about to break out in Australia.

Nokia, the world's largest mobile phone maker, will launch a local frontal attack on Apple's iTunes, the biggest music service in the world, with the first shots fired next Tuesday.

Nokia announced the launch of the service in Sydney yesterday, showing off the local internet browser-based library of more than 2 million songs, including local artists such as the John Butler Trio, Pete Murray and veterans such as Jimmy Barnes.

Customers will be able to download songs, priced at $1.70 a track, or $17 an album (a cent more than Apple charges in each case), directly to their 3G mobile phones or, much more cheaply, to their PC for later loading into a mobile phone fitted with an MP3 player.

As well as direct downloads, the Nokia library will offer, for $10 a month, an "all you can eat" music streaming service that will allow subscribers to listen on their phone to any track from the entire catalogue of music without downloading it for later playing.

Nokia's chief executive in Australia, Sean Colligan, said distribution deals had been done with three of the four global record companies — Universal, Sony-BMG and EMI — and negotiations were under way with Warner Music.

"We aim to be number one in music here and in the world," Mr Colligan said.

source : http://www.theage.com.au/news/

Mobile phone giants make LTE technology licensing agreement

A number of the world's largest players in mobile technology have come together to agree on a licensing framework for their patents dealing with an emerging mobile technology. Long Term Evolution (LTE) promises to make everything from downloading videos to content sharing faster, although the first networks are not expected for at least two years and some operators may opt to wait longer until the technology matures.

"Today's announcement is a step towards establishing more predictable and transparent licensing costs in a manner that enables faster adoption of new technologies," Ilkka Rahnasto, head of Nokia's intellectual property rights said in a statement.

The companies have committed to keeping royalty levels for essential LTE patents in handsets below 10 percent of the sale price, and have agreed a maximum royalty in LTE-enabled notebooks must stay below $10. Nokia, Ericsson, Alcatel-Lucent, NEC Corp, NextWave Wireless, Nokia Siemens Networks and Sony Ericsson were among those involved.

source : http://www.afterdawn.com/

592Kbps EDGE Downloads Offered by Nokia Siemens Networks Upgrade

Today Nokia Siemens Networks announced the launch of its new Dual Carrier EDGE upgrade for its 2.5G network base stations. This new software upgrade will allow networks using Nokia Siemens equipment to boost EDGE data speeds on their networks by 100%, bringing EDGE into proper 3G territory. Nokia Siemens has claimed that its new Dual Carrier EDGE solution will be able to offer mobile EDGE devices download speeds that reach 592Kbps. The new software upgrade will be available to carriers in Q3 of this year.

Nokia Siemens also says that it is already working on the next generation of EDGE, EDGE Evolution (also known as EGPRS 2). The company claims that EDGE Evolution devices will enjoy download speeds of up to 1.2Mbps and upload speeds as fast as 473Kbps, which by most standards today would qualify as mobile broadband connectivity.

No word yet from Nokia Siemens Networks as to what type of additional hardware or software support cell phones will require before they will be able to enjoy the faster EDGE data rates, but we do not expect that the upgrades will work retroactively on existing devices.

source : http://www.mobileburn.com/

A Mobile Future

Imagine having internet access anywhere, every minute of every day. Or being able to pull up any document or presentation, and get directions to the local coffee shop--all without a computer.

With today's smartphones, all these things are possible. A recent study from In-Stat found that 8 percent of regular business travelers have ditched their land lines and rely solely on their mobile phones. And while some people do consider mobile phones little computers, the current phones are only glimpses of their true potential.

Reaching People

For starters, mobile phones offer huge advertising potential. "As larger screens become more common, we're going to see new opportunities in mobile marketing," says Michael Gartenberg, analyst at Jupitermedia Corp.

According to the Mobile Advertising Report from Nielsen Mobile, 58 million U.S. mobile users said they were exposed to advertising over a 30-day period. Between the second and fourth quarter of 2007, mobile users exposed to ads jumped 38 percent.

Networking via smartphone is also bringing people together. Established networks like LinkedIn, Facebook and Friendster are joining the mobile social network. Other startups like Dodgeball, which is now owned by Google, Loopt and Socialight use location-based software, which takes advantage of mobile phones' ubiquity.

"Much of mobile today is replicating the functionality in some stripped-down format of what people have on the desktop," Gartenberg says. He predicts that mobile phone applications will soon rely less on desktop replications and be optimized for their unique form.

Software Magic

Since they're small enough to fit in your hand, mobile phones also offer unique software opportunities. GestureTek Mobile was recently awarded the GSM Association's Mobile Innovation Global Award for its EyeMobile Engine, which uses the phone's camera to create a gesture-based interface. Users shake, rock or move the device to do things like answer calls or flip through pictures, similar to playing the Nintendo Wii.

KnfbReading Technologies allows users to capture text items with the phone's camera and have the text read aloud. This technology was developed to help the visually impaired. Imagine being on a business trip ready to make yourself a cup of coffee in your hotel room, except that you can't read whether the package says decaffeinated or caffeinated. Problem solved.

PC Mobilizr from Rove Mobile allows users to connect to their home or work PC remotely and use their mobile screen to navigate, access and modify any file they want from their phone.

If you've ever punched in an address on a tiny mobile keyboard you know it can be cumbersome. Ask.com Mobile launched a new service at the beginning of this year that allows users to receive directions on their mobile device simply by speaking their start and end points.

Despite these amazing innovations, the iPhone or Google's upcoming mobile platform Android lead us further into the future of mobile phones.

The Future According to Giants

Big-name companies have picked up the trend of mobile smartphones. In less than a year, the iPhone garnered a 28 percent smartphone market share, according to Apple CEO Steve Jobs. That puts the iPhone behind Research in Motion, maker of the BlackBerry (41 percent), and ahead of Palm (9 percent).

"If we were having a conversation a little over a year ago, we wouldn't be talking about Google or Apple because neither one of them were in the mobile market," says Gartenberg. "Today, these are the companies that dominate the conversation. There's no doubt in my mind that 2008 is going to become a very pivotal year. The rate of growth and acceleration, if anything, is getting faster and not slowing down."

In the first week of March, Apple announced it was adding enterprise features to the iPhone, like compatibility with Microsoft Exchange and remote wiping of the device. It also announced it was opening the iPhone platform for outside software developers to create original phone applications.

In response, VC firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers announced a $100 million fund, appropriately called the iFund, to encourage entrepreneurs to build new software for the iPhone.

While information on Google's Android is still pending, and the phone is set to release later this year, Gartenberg says the mere fact that it is a Google product gives it immediate legitimacy in the market.

One thing we do know is that touchscreen, motion- and location-based technologies, synchronization with the web, widgets and more are the immediate future of mobile devices. However, these phones still have a way to go.

"You look at the core experience of the phone, which is to make voice phone calls and there hasn't been a whole lot of improvement in that experience," Gartenberg says.

A Different Spectrum

That said, the FCC has begun the process of auctioning off a spectrum of airwaves that has companies such as Google, AT&T and Verizon all vying for the waves that can send signals farther, with less power, over wider territories and with the capability of penetrating dense walls. Gartenberg believes a lot of focus will be on improving the phone experience and says this spectrum will be a major catalyst for tomorrow's smartphone innovations.

While you wait, it's nice to know that the innovations are coming fast and furious.

source : http://www.msnbc.msn.com/

Google sees surge in Web use on hot mobile phones

Google Inc has seen an acceleration of Internet activity among mobile phone users in recent months since the company has introduced faster Web services on selected phone models, fueling confidence the mobile Internet era is at hand, the company said on Tuesday.

Early evidence showing sharp increases in Internet usage on phones, not just computers, has emerged from services Google has begun offering in recent months on Blackberry e-mail phones, Nokia devices for multimedia picture and video creators and business professionals and the Apple iPhone, the world's top Web search company said.

"We have very much hit a watershed moment in terms of mobile Internet usage," Matt Waddell, a product manager for Google Mobile, said in an interview. "We are seeing that mobile Internet use is in fact accelerating.

The growing availability of flat-rate data plans from phone carriers instead of per-minute charges that previously discouraged Internet use, along with improved Web browsers on mobile phones as well as better-designed services from companies like Google are fueling the growth, Waddell argued.

Google made the pronouncement as it introduced a new software download for mobile phones running Microsoft Corp's Windows Mobile software that conveniently positions a Google Web search window on the home screen of such phones.

Similar versions of the search software which Google introduced for Blackberry users in December and certain Nokia phones in February have sped up the time users take to perform Web searches by 40 percent and, in turn, driven usage.

The software shortcuts the time it takes for people to perform Web searches on Google by eliminating initial search steps of finding a Web browser on the phone, opening the browser, waiting for network access, and getting to Google.com. By making a Google search box more convenient, mobile phone users have begun using the Internet more, the company said.

"We are actually seeing a 20 percent increase in the number of searches by people," Waddell said.

Google's mobile plug-in software lets users customize their phones to feature Google mobile services instead of relying solely on software features network carriers have pre-installed on the devices.

"Faster is better than slow, especially on a mobile device, where fast is much better than slow," Waddell said. "Not only are we are seeing increased user satisfaction but also greater usage."

Microsoft expects to have sold 20 million Windows Mobile devices by the end of its fiscal year in June, which together with Blackberry and Symbian-based phones represent upward of 85 percent of the Internet-ready smartphones sold in the world.

Users of phones based on software from Research in Motion, Nokia's Symbian-based phones and now Microsoft Windows Mobile can download the software at mobile.google.com/.

Google officials said in August that they had seen a similar surge in usage of Google.com via mobile devices following the launch of the Apple iPhone last year. The iPhone offers a full-featured Internet browser unlike many phones.

Waddell said Google had seen iPhone users perform as many as 50 times more Web searches on these computer-phone devices as users of standard mobile feature phones typically do.

source : http://www.reuters.com/

Nokia Signs US$2 Billion Deal Mobile Phone Deal In China

Nokia (NOK) has signed an agreement for China P&T Appliances' China Postel Mobile Communication Equipment Company to purchase mobile devices valued at approximately US$2 billion from Nokia in 2008.

In addition, both parties have agreed to strengthen strategic ties, especially with regard to channel development, resource investment, and marketing management.

"As the largest mobile phone manufacturer in both the global and Chinese markets, Nokia considers China a strategic market and a significant base of manufacturing, R&D, and innovation" said David Tang, vice president of sales, Nokia China. "With its impressive product portfolio, in-depth localization strategies, successful channel construction, and constantly improving brand loyalty, Nokia has been a leader in the Chinese mobile phone market since 2004."

As a subsidiary company of China P&T Appliances, China Postel has become a provider of mobile phones and is actively involved in China's telecom service industry. With a comprehensive distribution network for both products and services, China Postel has been the leading distributor on the China mobile phone market for many years, and enjoys a current market share of nearly 30%.

source: http://www.chinatechnews.com/

Nokia's handsets to support Microsoft's Silverlight

Nokia's millions of handsets will support Microsoft's webvideo technology Silverlight, media reported Wednesday.

The Silverlight would first be available for S60 software platform, used in more advanced phones, but later also for S40, which is used in many of Nokia's cheaper phones.

The S60 is used in every second smartphone sold globally, and is in more than 150 million phones sold so far.

Nokia's S60 software, built on UK-based mobile phone software firm Symbian's operating system, is used extensively in Nokia's line-up, but also in advanced cell phones of LG Electronics and Samsung Electronics.

Its closest rival is Microsoft's own Windows Mobile, with just over 10 percent of the market.

In 2005 the two companies signed their first co-operation agreement to put Windows Media player on to Nokia phones, raising eyebrows as the two had been fierce competitors in the mobile software industry.

In 2007 Nokia also started to use Microsoft's copy protection software PlayReady and added access to Windows Live services to its cell phones.

Silverlight is a rival to Adobe System Inc's Flash technology. "We continue to support Flash and several other technologies," Nokia spokesman Mark Durrant said.

source: http://news.xinhuanet.com/

Nokia 6650 Introduced for T-Mobile European Markets

Today T-Mobile announced the Nokia 6650, an easy-to-use device optimized for T-Mobile services. Available exclusively for T-Mobile International customers, the 6650 is equipped with an integrated GPS and multimedia player, allowing customers access to a services such as web'n'walk, MyFaves, Mobile Jukebox and NaviGate.

The stainless-steel clamshell design is equipped with high-speed HSDPA data connectivity for fast web browsing and downloading. The 2.2-inch TFT QVGA color display can display up to 16 million colors, for comfortable browsing and viewing photos, videos and menus. T-Mobile MyFaves service keeps users in touch. Mobile Jukebox gives consumers access to music through dedicated keys for the music player. The Nokia 6650 has built-in AGPS (assisted GPS) for quick positioning with NaviGate route management.

The 6650 comes with a 2.0-megapixel camera with flash, 30 MB of internal memory and a microSD card slot, FM radio and many other features. Images and videos can be uploaded to the web, sent from phone to phone via a wireless Bluetooth connection, or viewed in full color on the device's large display.

The Nokia 6650 will be available from T-Mobile during the third quarter at T-Mobile sales points across Europe.

source: http://www.mobiledia.com/

Nokia 6124 Classic

This brings us to the Nokia 6124 Classic, a device that actually is exclusive to the Vodafone network.. but one that is almost exactly identical to last year's Nokia 6120 Classic.

Well, when we say identical, we mean apart from the 6124's looks. It's a glossier, smarter looking device than the 6120 and it looks very similar to the upcoming Nokia 6220.

This is an HSDPA smartphone with a 2 megapixel camera plus flash, microSD expandable memory (up to 8GB), a 2" 240 x 320 pixel display, FM radio and Bluetooth. We would have hoped that Nokia could have improved the camera, but overall the 6124 is based on the well regarded 6120 and it will offer most of the features that anyone could want.

Nokia and Vodafone say that the 6124 Classic should be available during the second quarter of 2008.

source: http://www.mobilegazette.com/

Global mobile phone sales increased by 16% in 2007 - Gartner

Worldwide sales of mobile phones to end-users surpassed 1,15bn units in 2007, a 16% increase from 2006 sales of 990,9m, according to Gartner. Mobile phone sales at the end of the year were consistent with the yearly trend, as fourth quarter sales reached 330m units.

"Emerging markets, especially China and India, provided much of the growth as many people bought their first phone," says Carolina Milanesi, research director for mobile devices at Gartner, based in Egham, UK. "In mature markets, such as Japan and Western Europe, consumers’ appetite for feature-laden phones was met with new models packed with TV tuners, global positioning satellite (GPS) functions, touch screens and high-resolution cameras."

"After another strong year, we expect the growth in sales of mobile devices to end-users will decelerate in 2008 and fall to about 10% growth as mature markets become more saturated," adds Milanesi. "However, the global mobile devices market will remain relatively immune to a recession in the US and Western European economies as the majority of growth in 2008 will come from emerging markets. The mature Western Europe and North America markets are driven by operator contract terms and replacement cycles and will account for just 30% of the global mobile devices market in 2008."

Nokia achieved its long-term target of 40% market share in the fourth quarter of 2007 when it sold slightly more than 133m phones across the world. Despite some component shortages, Nokia increased its market share sequentially in all regions except North America, which remains a challenging market for the vendor. In emerging markets, products such as the 1110, the 1600 and the 2630 were in demand by consumers, while in mature markets such as Western Europe high-end phones like the N95, N82 and N73 were sought-after devices. In 2008, Nokia will need to continue to improve its portfolio, offering not only more applications and functions, but also novel designs and improved user interfaces.

In the fourth quarter of 2007, Samsung maintained second position, and, although its market share slipped slightly, the gap widened between it and third-placed Motorola. Its success relied on its Ultra and Ultra II family of products. In 2008, Samsung needs to diversify its portfolio further with more form factors and colours so that single products stand out from the overall line-up.

The problems that beset Motorola in the third quarter of 2007 continued through the fourth quarter, and it recorded sales of 39m phones across the world, taking 11,9% of the market. It retained second place in terms of annual sales to end-users in 2007, largely thanks to the inventory it disposed of in the first half of the year. Nevertheless, the extent of Motorola’s troubles can be seen in the 9,7 percentage-points market-share drop in its fourth quarter of 2007 result from the same period in 2006.

Sony Ericsson ended 2007 with another positive performance, growing its market share on a quarterly basis to 9% from 8,7%. Its Cyber-shot and Walkman products, such as the K850i, K610i, W910i, K550i and W300i, remained popular among consumers around the world. As Sony Ericsson widens its reach, adding features such as Wi-Fi and GPS, as well as more low-tier products, it will stay competitive in the coming quarters.

LG’s mobile phone sales totalled 23,5m units in the fourth quarter of 2007, maintaining its 7,1% market share despite the increase of more than three million in sales volumes. The success of the Viewty, the Venus and the Voyager helped LG gain brand awareness across the world as well as improve its margins. Milanesi comments: "In 2008, LG will need to continue strengthening its high-end portfolio for mature markets as well as its mid tier. In the low tier, LG will increasingly be challenged by vendors such as ZTE, which has already been eroding its market share in key markets such as India."

The market saw three new entrants into the top ten in the fourth quarter of 2007. These vendors included Research In Motion (RIM), ZTE and Apple. "On one hand, we have aggressive pricing and a focus on emerging markets (ZTE), and on the other, RIM with targeted functions and Apple with brand and design," says Milanesi.

"Phone manufacturers need to continuously adapt their portfolios to respond to operators’ demands for open platforms, lower pricing and more personalisation," recommends Milanesi. "They should also try to meet consumers’ desires for fashionable, easy-to-use phones."

Source: http://www.computingsa.co.za/

Nokia N810 Internet Tablet Review

With the announcement of the N770, Nokia created the new “Internet Tablet” class – small tablet-like devices, intended mainly for Internet usage. This idea evolved, and now we are reviewing the third model of this family, the N810. It upgrades the N800 to increase its functionality, and the Tablet now has integrated QWERTY hardware keyboard for messaging, GPS receiver, for using it also as navigator.

Although it has the typical form-factor for such device (landscape oriented, with large display), the design language is very different from the one of the N800. The polished metal front and battery cover help for the stylish look.When compared to its predecessor, the N810’s dimensions have been decreased in every aspect, but it still manages to pack the same 4.13” touch screen with 800x480 pixels resolution. The image reproduced by the display is slightly different from the one of the N800, but this can be noticed only in a direct A-B comparison. What is important is that it has excellent quality and previewing websites, images, or watching videos is a great experience.

As expected, everything comes at a price. The pop-up, swiveling camera is replaced with immobile one. There are Home and Back keys on the front, but the D-pad is missing. It is relocated on a slider that opens from the bottom. Here also is the 4-row QWERTY keyboard, which although a fast method for text input is not the best. There are a few drawbacks: it is flat, the keys are rather hard to press, and the top row is very close to the upper slider. If you input numbers often, the fact that there is no separate row for digits would be another drawback. We preferred to use the on-screen keyboard for short texts, but opened the slider when there was more text input.

On the top are situated the light indicator, and a few keys, including fullscreen, zoom out/in rocker and the power button in the middle. Added is a switch that locks the display, which acts similarly to the one of the N81 8GB we reviewed earlier, but doesn’t produce the same unpleasant sound. At the end is the stylus, which is now more comfortable to get in and out.

The stereo speakers are symmetrically located on the left and right sides, and on the latter, there also are the 3.5mm jack and the charger input. When the stand integrated in the bottom is extended, the microUSB on this side is revealed, as well as the SD slot and the lock for the battery cover on the bottom. Unlike the N800, the N810 has only one slot for a full-sized SD.

Source : http://www.phonearena.com/