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Nokia N8 being announced mid-April

Chris Ziegler — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 15:24:00 +0000

We've just been told by a trusted source that Nokia will announce a new flagship device dubbed N8 in the middle of next month. That's not around any major trade shows that we're aware of, but it is just before the company's Annual General Meeting in Helsinki -- and naturally, it doesn't hurt their relationship with major investors to have just introduced a killer new device. For what it's worth, we just saw a leaked photo yesterday morning of a Symbian^3-based phone purporting to be the N8, so this lines up rather nicely, doesn't it? Announcement certainly doesn't equate to availability in Nokia's world, so until we hear otherwise, we'll assume that Eldar Murtazin's claim of a September retail launch is likely accurate.

[Image via IT168]

Nokia N8 being announced mid-April originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 24 Mar 2010 10:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nokia’s Symbian^3 touchscreen flagship leaked?

Thomas Ricker — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 12:20:00 +0000

What does that look like to you? Sure looks like a probable Nokia flagship candidate for the upcoming launch of Symbian^3 to ride. Remember, we've already heard about a N8-00 said to be sporting a 3.5-inch capacitive touchscreen, 12 megapixel camera, and HDMI-out. This unnamed device features a 12 megapixel camera with Xenon flash and Carl Zeiss optics, an HDMI jack next to a top-mounted 3.5-mm headphone jack, and a bottom-loading battery allowing the phone to keep a unibody design (a la the HTC Legend). The screen is big, at least 3.5 inches and possibly hovering around 4 inches. Oh, and a QWERTY is nowhere to be found. So Nokia, got anything you'd like to announce?

Update: Eldar Murtazin, a man who knows a thing or two about pre-production Nokia devices, says the N8-00 is real and due in September.

Gallery: Nokia's Symbian^3 touchscreen flagship leaked?

Nokia's Symbian^3 touchscreen flagship leaked? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 23 Mar 2010 07:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nokia Nuron for T-Mobile review

Chris Ziegler — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 05:01:00 +0000

When the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic was released a little more than a year ago, we thoroughly panned it in our review -- put simply, it felt undercooked and uncompetitive in a world where webOS, iPhone OS, and Android were all realities, regardless of Nokia's existing smartphone dominance through much of the world. More than a year later, we're now presented with the Nokia Nuron, a pretty close relative of that first S60 5th Edition device from back in the day; it's simply a carrier-branded version of the 5230, which itself is a lower-end variant of the 5800.

Despite its flaws, the 5800 has gone on to become a global success for Nokia -- but can the Nuron do the same in a market traditionally unfazed by Nokia's advances? More directly, has Nokia's first volley in the modern touchphone battle evolved enough to become a prime-time player in the States? Let's find out.

Gallery: Nokia Nuron for T-Mobile review

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Nokia Nuron for T-Mobile review originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 22 Mar 2010 00:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sygic Mobile Maps for Nokia N900 brings turn-by-turn to Maemo

Donald Melanson — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 05:33:00 +0000

Nokia may still not have brought turn-by-turn navigation to Maemo with its own Ovi Maps, but N900 users can now get their fix courtesy of Sygic, which has just released a version of its Mobile Maps app for the device. Available only in Europe to start with, the app costs €60, and includes maps of both eastern and western Europe, along with the usual "millions" of points-of-interest, speed camera locations and speed limit warnings, and plenty of customization options (including support for multiple languages). No firm word on availability outside of Europe just yet, but Sygic does say that additional regions will be announced "gradually." Head on past the break for a quick demo video.

[Thanks, Brad C]

Continue reading Sygic Mobile Maps for Nokia N900 brings turn-by-turn to Maemo

Sygic Mobile Maps for Nokia N900 brings turn-by-turn to Maemo originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 21 Mar 2010 00:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Niko, the N900-powered Lego robot, looks poised to take over Twitter (video)

Tim Stevens — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 17:01:00 +0000

While we've seen no shortage of smartphone-powered robots in the past, the Nokia camp has been sadly under-represented. But, there's a new one coming to balance things out, a machine called Niko that has Lego Mindstorm NXT 2.0 components for a body and an N900 for a brain. The bot has been under construction for a few weeks but it has just made its YouTube debut with the short video posted after the break, showing it roving around and taking a photo whenever it bumps into something. When all systems are go and the machine is set free Niko will be posting messages and pictures to Twitter describing its every move in thrilling detail. We can't wait for it to start picking fights with @CourtneyLoveUK.

Continue reading Niko, the N900-powered Lego robot, looks poised to take over Twitter (video)

Niko, the N900-powered Lego robot, looks poised to take over Twitter (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Mar 2010 12:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nokia’s Design by Community makes smartphone concepting a multiplayer game, with limits

Ross Miller — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 00:49:00 +0000

Nokia's community blog has opened up the crowdsourcing floodgates, at least in theory. For "Design by Community," users will be able to vote on smartphone features via a series of sliders, although within an arbitrary point allotment system. A new poll opens next week for size and shape, followed by materials, operating system (Symbian or MeeGo being the only choices, unsurprisingly), and so on in the weeks that follow, with the last poll starting April 26th. After that, a concept sketch will be voted on and later rendered -- but no plans to ever have it made into an actual retail product (boo). We can't exactly say we understand all the selections here: why is a touchscreen keyboard less ambitious than T9 text entry? Does saying capacitive is more ambitious than resistive serve as a subtle hint of trends to come? What in the world is the difference between hot key and one touch? It's interesting to see how X6, N900, N97 all come out as a Perfect Mixes, while last year's E75 and the more recent C5 all straddle the "less than ambitious" line. Oh, and just so we're clear... a 5-inch, 21:9 ratio display without touchscreen but with a touchscreen keyboard is a perfect mix. Go figure.

[Thanks, Pratik V]

Nokia's Design by Community makes smartphone concepting a multiplayer game, with limits originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 18 Mar 2010 19:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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How would you change Nokia’s N900?

Sat, 13 Mar 2010 03:47:00 +0000

Maemo 5 didn't stand on its own for long before being mashed together with Intel's Moblin, but Nokia's N900 still stands as one of the best handhelds for web browsing. It's hardly the world-beater that Nokia (may have) hoped it to be, but that's not because the internals aren't impressive. We're guessing that only a handful of you made the effort to fork over wads of cash in order to pick an unlocked version up, but if you did, you no doubt have some opinions post-purchase. Is the display living up to your expectations? Are you and Maemo getting along alright? How's that keyboard? We're eager to know how you'd tweak the N900 if you had the keys to the design kingdom, and with MeeGo already being announced, we're forbidding you from suggesting the obvious. Or you can, but we'll be plugging our ears, closing our eyes and humming annoyingly.

Filed under: Cellphones

How would you change Nokia's N900? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Mar 2010 22:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nokia C6 is actually a 5230-ish landscape slider?

Chris Ziegler — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 23:38:00 +0000

We hate to turn your entire world -- nay, your very belief system -- on its end, but it's at least conceivable here that the so-called Nokia Mystic with the portrait QWERTY keyboard may not be the upcoming C6 after all. Instead, Tom's Guide is submitting this bright white exhibit as the device lucky enough to wear the C6 name, a phone that looks a whole hell of a lot like a 5230 with a QWERTY slider tacked on for good measure. That would make sense considering Nokia's goal of turning the freshly-introduced Cseries into a midrange, consumer-friendly brand; this phone could easily slot in below the N97 Mini, for example, particularly in light of rumors that the phone will lack the N97's beefy internal storage. Word is the C6 is pegged for a European release by Summer, so start cleaning off those 5800s and 5230s for eBay right now, why don't you?

Nokia C6 is actually a 5230-ish landscape slider? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Mar 2010 18:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nokia asks court to dismiss part of Apple patent lawsuit

Nilay Patel — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 19:57:00 +0000

How do we know we're years away from a final resolution to the Nokia / Apple patent lawsuit? It's been six months since Nokia first filed its complaint, and the two parties are just now starting to argue about which specific substantive claims they're eventually going to argue about. Let's do a quick refresh: at the heart of the lawsuit is a conflict over Nokia's wireless patents, some of which are almost certainly essential to how cell data and WiFi operate. As a member of the ETSI and the IEEE licensing groups which oversee GSM and WiFi, Nokia's required to license its patents to anyone who asks on fair terms, but those terms aren't set in stone -- Nokia can negotiate separate licenses as it sees fit, and it apparently wanted Apple to cross-license its touchscreen patents as part of the deal. Apple said no, and now we're all in court, with both sides alleging patent infringement in three different lawsuits (one of which is on hold) and Apple claiming that Nokia is also liable for breach of contract, because it promised fair licensing terms and didn't deliver. Got all that? Right.

So that brings us to yesterday, when Nokia asked the court to dismiss all of Apple's contract-related claims, saying that they're simply a distraction from the real issue, which is patents, and that its license offers aren't unfair simply because Apple doesn't like them. In short: Apple and Nokia's patent lawsuit is currently not really about patents at all, but about whether or not it should also be a fight about contract terms in addition to a fight about patents, and that question won't be resolved for months. And that's why ~~vigilante justice is the future of America's tarnished civilization~~ something like 90 percent of patent cases eventually settle out of court.

P.S. Oh, and in case you're wondering, today Reuters reported that the first trial date isn't expected until 2012. So, yeah.

Nokia asks court to dismiss part of Apple patent lawsuit originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Mar 2010 14:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nokia Symbian^3 UI demonstrated in detail, seeks multitouch devices (video)

Thomas Ricker — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 08:05:00 +0000

Nokia VP, David Rivas, was in San Francisco yesterday touting Symbian^3 improvements. While we've heard and seen plenty about Symbian Three's enhanced user experience already, it's still worthy of another look considering Symbian's dominant marketshare. Besides, David provides a very detailed look as he walks us though elements like the customizable (and more finger friendly) homescreens meant to provide quick access to call features and at-a-glance data. Rivas also reiterates speed improvement claims over existing S60 5th devices (about a 3x improvement in graphics performance) that should "very very pleasantly surprise" users. Naturally, a faster UI coupled with a Symbian device running on something better than ARM 11 will also help here -- Nokia's only Cortex A8 device is the N900 running Maemo, not Symbian. David takes a veiled shot at Microsoft's new WP7 platform when discussing Symbian's true multitaking capabilities without any "tricks" -- apps are actually running in the background, not just freezing their state until you return. Multitouch screen control on capacitive and resistive (really?) touchscreen displays with Cover Flow-like album art navigation? Yup, it's all in there, as are hundreds of usability improvements (and fewer nags!) that should bring Symbian^3 up to the level of what everyone expects from a modern smartphone, according to Rivas. In other words, we'll have to wait for S^4 on early 2011 devices to see any real innovation. While the live demo was run on a laptop, we suspect it won't be long until Nokia starts showing off its live OS on a production handset. Until then, check the video after the break -- it's all we've got.

[Thanks, Rafael C.]

Continue reading Nokia Symbian^3 UI demonstrated in detail, seeks multitouch devices (video)

Nokia Symbian^3 UI demonstrated in detail, seeks multitouch devices (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 03:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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