Tech News and Reviews
Posts tagged Nokia
Did Nokia just confirm a MeeGo tablet?
Jul 6th
We’ve heard the rumors, hell, we’ve even seen Intel reference designs (pictured) running the MeeGo OS. But now we seem to have confirmation that a proper MeeGo tablet built by Nokia is on the way. Anssi Vanjoki, Nokia’s newly crowned chief of Mobile Solutions, said the following in an interview captured by the Wall Street Journal
Due to the spread of cloud computing and new advances in electronics and network technology, mobile devices will increasingly move beyond smartphones to include other computer-like gadgets such as tablets, and the MeeGo platform will be an important asset for Nokia.
Remember, Nokia already makes a netbook and the smartphone qualifier would seem to remove any speculation that Anssi is referring to its Internet Tablet class of Maemo devices. So maybe, just maybe that rumored 7- or 9-inch Nokia tablet is real. Did we say maybe?
Nokia N8 launching August 24, we hear; Amazon Germany taking €470 pre-orders
May 24th
We know, we know, you were banking on taking an N8 with you when you go summering in Cape Cod in July, but that might be a tall order because we’re hearing from a trusted source that August 24 has been pegged as the big release date for Nokia’s Symbian^3-powered beast. Pricing had already been announced at €370 ($465), but if you’re interested in shedding an extra hundred for no apparent reason, Amazon Germany is now officially taking pre-orders for €469.50 ($590) in black — just one of the five N8 shades Espoo will be pushing around the world. We think we’d recommend holding off on signing up for Amazon’s enticing deal here, quite honestly — especially considering the magnetic attraction we’ve got to that totally unapologetic orange version.
Nokia’s New York flagship store closes today
May 21st
Imagine our luck: we just happened to stroll into Nokia’s New York flagship store today on 57th between 5th and Madison Avenue, only to discover that it was practically torn down and set to close permanently today, a move that Nokia announced late last year. A representative approached us as soon as we entered and said, “the only phones we have are from this point forward; there’s nothing else in the store.” Interestingly, a call over to Nokia’s other North American flagship in Chicago confirmed that it isn’t closing today and no date has been set (at least, not a date that anyone is talking about) — so there’s one more outpost in the States if you want to get your Nokia on one last time. Needless to say, the overwhelming majority of Americans won’t be shedding any tears over the closure, but it’s always disappointing to see a neat and beautifully-designed place to geek out go belly-up. And where are we going to play with an N8 before we buy now, anyway?
Nokia E73 ‘Mode’ coming to T-Mobile next month?
May 20th
This is totally out of the blue, but we were just hit up with a screen shot suggesting that T-Mobile USA will be launching a portrait QWERTY handset from Nokia on June 16 known as the E73 ‘Mode.’ As is evidenced with the Nuron, T-Mobile has a tendency to assign trademarkable names to Nokias in its lineup that are known elsewhere in the world by their model number only, so we imagine that this phone will end up launching globally simply as the E73 as it takes over the E72′s throne as Espoo’s top productivity beast. More on this as we get it, but in the meantime, check out a bigger shot of the phone after the break.
Nokia N8 hands-on
May 12th
Good old London, full of little wonders and flagship devices for you to discover. We were at Nokia’s local HQ this morning to talk to the company’s Head of Design Marko Ahtisaari, and the good gent happened to bring with him a prototype N8 for us to play around with. It was stressed to us that it’s a prototype, so small cosmetic changes might still occur, but we are for most part looking at the hardware that will be hitting retail shelves in Q3 of this year. Speaking of Q3, Marko was adamant that that will be when Nokia “turns on” the Symbian^3 housed within the N8, which — disappointingly — meant that we couldn’t get to grips with the new UI experience in person. Ah well, there are plenty of pictures to be devoured in the gallery below, and we can provide you with a few observations of our own to tide you over till then.
Nokia Head of Design Marko Ahtisaari talks about priorities, competition, and future direction
May 12th
Marko Ahtisaari will be a familiar name to Dopplr users, being both the CEO and one of the major investors in the startup’s social networking software. Having been acquired by Nokia in late September 2009, his team now works to help Symbian regain its world-conquering ways while Marko himself has returned to Nokia to helm its Design group — an outfit that, judging by the world’s disappointment with the N97 and other devices, is frankly in need of some fresh ideas. So, when we were invited to meet him this morning for a journalist get-together where Marko hoped to “begin the conversation” about Nokia’s future direction, we grabbed our pen, paper and DSLR and rushed off to go have a listen. The camera came in use when we got to handle a Nokia N8 prototype for the first time, but do join us after the break to see what else we learned.
How would you change Nokia’s N900?
Mar 15th
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.
Nokia 5230 Nuron excites the T-Mobile nervous system
Mar 4th
The US will wake up to a fine howdy do from Nokia’s 5230 Nuron now that it’s officially announced for T-Mobile. The device first introduced by Nokia back in August will be available to middle America “in the coming weeks” on T-Mobile’s 3G network. And unlike yesterday’s wee C5, Nuron features a reasonable 3.2-inch, 640 x 360 (nHD) touchscreen for your Ovi Store apps and free Ovi Maps with turn-by-turn navigation to dance upon. Hell, it even has an onscreen keyboard if you want to do something productive like tap out a few emails, enter a URL to surf the web, or update your social networking status(es). While no price or specific date was announced, we’ve seen rumors of a 17 March launch for $70 on contract, or $180 without. Just remember that Nuron runs S60 5th; and with the improved Symbian ^3 touchscreen UI just around the corner (and no clear upgrade path) you’d better really want this device to make the jump whenever it does launch.
Update: Nokia’s own Joe Gallo has confirmed that the Nuron will sell for $69.99 on a 2-year contract at T-Mob.
Nokia serves North American X6 up for pre-order: $455 unlocked
Feb 25th
Nokia’s downright seductive X6 just started shipping to those across the pond, and shortly after the company announced a Comes Without Music edition, along comes this: a NAM version for those who call North America home, sweet home. The pre-order page (which is live this very moment, by the way) makes no mention of a Comes With Music requirement, giving you complete freedom to shove whatever you darn well please onto what’s left of that 16GB after the OS install and a hidden ‘thank you’ note from Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo. So, is that $455 peeking out of your Fifth Pocket really that important to you?
Vertu taste on a Nokia budget: meet the N97 Mini Gold Edition
Feb 25th
Phone manufacturers usually leave the gilding to jewelers and other specialty shops that are more willing to show complete disregard for taste and common sense than themselves, but once in a while, pure, unadulterated emotion gets the better of someone in a position to make product decisions — yes, even at Nokia — and something like this slips through the cracks.Meet the N97 Mini Gold Edition, which is pretty self-explanatory: it’s an N97 Mini with 18-carat gold on the important bits. It’s coming to Europe, the Middle East, and Asia at the beginning of next quarter; pricing in Poland will run 2,499 zloty (about $851) unlocked, which is a bit of a premium over the 1,999 zloty ($681) charged for the standard model.
