Tag Archives: SYMBIAN

Nokia E7 now available for pre-order

Posted on March 24, 2011 by Shaun

The Nokia E7 is now available to pre-order direct from Nokia. Apparently you can also save £99 over at the Quidco site, but I can’t see the phone listed when I look. Thanks to Jah.

•Constructed from anodised aluminium with an AMOLED real glass display for improved outdoor viewing.
•Everything looks crystal clear on the high-quality 4″ touch screen.
•The tilting full-touch display sits at a natural angle for optimal viewing.
•Pinch your fingers to zoom in or flick to scroll on any web page.
•Slide the screen to reveal a QWERTY keyboard – ideal for fast typing.

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Nokia almost talks about Japanese earthquake impact

Posted on March 21, 2011 by Shaun

Nokia has released the most ambiguous of staements concerning the effect of the Japanese earthquake on its ability to supply product. I suspect this will be the first of many and that almost none of the smartphone manufacturers will avoid problems.

“Espoo, Finland – Following the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan, Nokia continues to evaluate the impact of this tragic event on its global operations. Although a complete picture is not available, Nokia expects some disruption to the ability of its Devices & Services unit to supply a number of products due to the currently anticipated industry-wide shortage of relevant components and raw materials sourced from Japan. However, Nokia does not expect any material impact on its Q1 2011 results due to this event.

“First and foremost, our thoughts are with those affected by the earthquake in Japan. We are working hard to support our employees, their families, as well as disaster relief efforts through the Japanese Red Cross,” says Niklas Savander, Executive Vice President, Markets, Nokia. “We are in constant dialogue with our suppliers and with their extended supply chain in the region. Nokia’s supply chain management system is designed to mitigate operational disruptions by using alternative sources for components and production processes. In an effort to minimize the impact, Nokia will continue working with suppliers inside and outside of Japan.”

Nokia will continue to monitor the situation and will provide more detailed information during its next quarterly results announcement on April 21, 2011 at the latest.”

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Symbian^3 UI update: more of the same?

Posted on March 16, 2011 by Shaun

Phone Arena has posted a video and some screens of the expected Summer Symbian^3 updates. The first update (video below) is just more of the same, but the images of the one after that look more promising.

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iOS App Store versus Ovi Store

Posted on March 11, 2011 by Shaun

App for App: iOS versus Symbian and Nokia’s Ovi Store is a good look at how the Ovi Store compares to the iOS App Store when comparing the apps you will most likely need. This applies to all of the app stores really and despite some not offering core apps such as GPS (webOS), they all offer the core functions.

“It’s a commonly held ‘fact’ that the apps in the iPhone (iOS) App Store blow away the competition, especially the young upstart that is the Ovi Store, with the latter having something like 10 times less bona fide applications. In the light of my recent editorials (e.g. here), I was curious as to how true (or false) this ‘fact’ is. Looking at the top selling and top freeware applications (and the best games) in the Apple iPhone App Store, how many are also available for Symbian, either directly or via an equivalent? More than you might think…”

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PocketLock for Symbian: Lock your phone without touching it

Posted on March 10, 2011 by Shaun

PocketLock is a clever little app available from the Ovi Store. The description tells you all you need to know- “PocketLock locks your phone when inside your pocket or bag, and unlocks when taken out. No more need for the lock button on the phone! PocketLock runs in the background, and auto-starts with your phone (can be disabled from the options). The application is very simple, yet powerful!”

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Opera launches multi-platform app store

Posted on March 9, 2011 by Shaun

Just in case you didn’t think there were enough app stores in the world, Opera has now launched one as well, but this one covers BlackBerry, Android, Symbian and standard Java handsets. Head on over to http://mobilestore.opera.com on your mobile to check it out.

“Oslo, Norway – March 7, 2011 – Opera Software, the leading provider of mobile browsers around the world, today announced that the Opera Mobile Store is now open and available at http://mobilestore.opera.com/. This storefront is a featured Speed Dial link in the Opera Mini and Opera Mobile browsers, which makes the storefront immediately accessible by more than100 million people who use an Opera browser on their mobile phones. The Opera Mobile Store has been built and delivered through a strategic partnership with Appia, the leading provider of open application marketplace technology. The Opera Mobile Store offers both free and paid applications for virtually any mobile platform and device.

The Opera Mobile Store is available to Opera users and users of other mobile browsers, on all popular mobile phone platforms in more than 200 countries. The Opera Mobile Store uses Appia’s storefront commerce technology and leverages a wide catalog of applications for phones with Java, Symbian, BlackBerry and Android operating systems. The storefront experience is customized to each user’s phone, providing a tailored catalog based on the phone’s operating system, local language and currency.”

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Review: Nokia E7, part 6 (Navigation, Utilities, Homescreens, Wrap-up)

Posted on March 9, 2011 by Shaun

Steve Litchfield has wrapped up his extensive review of the Nokia E7 and concluded that the hardware is excellent, but that it isn’t quite the ultimate communicator.


“The homescreen setup is the same as on the other Symbian^3 phones, with six widget panels per homescreen. You’ll have read elsewhere that for my N8 I eventually opted to just stick to the one homescreen, for ease of access to information, to get everything at a glance while in-hand and on the move. For the E7, I wouldn’t go this far, because I’d be far more likely to be using the E7 in ‘opened’ mode, either sat on a desk or briefcase or just a lap. In this mode, it’s quite natural to swipe homescreens and access extra sets of online information.

The E7 comes with suggested widgets in all three homescreens, though there’s a heavy emphasis on online content services and the first thing you should probably do when starting out with the E7 is take off all the services you don’t need – they’ll be draining your device’s bandwidth, your processor and your RAM. I ended up with two full homescreens on the E7 and I can easily see how others might want to overflow (or simply re-categorise) widgets to part fill the third.”

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Boo! Symbian gets it’s own AudioBoo

Posted on March 7, 2011 by Shaun

Do you remember AudioBoo? The app that us iOS users tried out for a few weeks and then forgot about. Well, Symbian users can now do the same.

From The Nokia Blog- “Audioboo is now available at the Ovi Store. The app allows you to record and upload audio for your friends or family. After recording, you have options to share it on Twitter, Facebook, Posterous, Friendfeed, or Tumblr. Best of all, it’s free!”

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Nokia C3-01 review

Posted on February 24, 2011 by Shaun

Nokia continues to dominate certain areas of the mobile phone market and with very good reason. When I think of a standard Nokia mobile phone, I think of good build quality, reliability, easy to use software and general performance that the others often struggle to match. At first glance the Nokia C3-01 embodies all of the above with ease.

It is a beautiful looking phone with a large 2.4” and outsize keys that are larger than any other comparable Nokia S40 phone. It looks like a premium handset, but retails for under £100 and this makes me wonder why anyone would choose anything else. Of course the Orange San Francisco also retails below the £100 mark and there are a few smartphones that are priced similarly, but few match the C3-01 for the high quality materials used.

The main differentiator here is that a touch screen is included which is highly unusual in a candy bar phone and my initial conclusions were that it would be problematic to use. The BlackBerry Torch, even with its slide-out keyboard, didn’t feel quite right when using it to type and in my mind a front facing keyboard needs to be the full QWERTY style to work effectively. I couldn’t have been more wrong.

Symbian S40 is employed so you won’t need to scroll around the environment too much and my initial impressions were that the touch screen worked extremely well for choosing apps and general navigation. It gets a little trickier when scrolling lists of media because it seems to be pressure sensitive and this takes some getting used to. The shape of the phone and screen size also make the touch experience feel somewhat alien if you are used to something like the iPhone. This should not, however, detract from the way the touch screen has been implemented because it works very well and proves that it is perfectly possible to make a candy bar phone that is touch and type.

Connectivity is well catered for with HSDPA and Wi-Fi included alongside Bluetooth 2.1. The inclusion of Wi-Fi is unusual in an S40 phone, but I’m not going to complain. When browsing and checking emails etc. the HSDPA speeds were blazingly fast and I was more than impressed with the mobile data performance. There is a quirk though in that holding the phone at the bottom, or using it two-handed, can decrease the 3G and Wi-Fi signals markedly. It didn’t cause me to lose connection and the signal is excellent in normal use, but it shows that Nokia still continues to house the antennas in the bottom of the phone. There are also still some quirks in the software- I connected to my router and the Wi-Fi worked perfectly. All I needed to do then was turn the Wi-Fi off. Um, this proved to be problematic because I could not find a setting anywhere to do this and eventually ended up on Google where I found many others asking the same question. In the end I left it and it seemed to turn itself off although I’m still not entirely convinced.

Needless to say, the call quality is excellent and so is the loudspeaker which is one of the best I have ever heard. This is impressive when you consider how slim the phone is and puts paid to the argument that some high-end smartphones have weak external speakers because they are so thin. Music quality is also very good through the external speaker and offers a feeling of coming from places outside of the phone which is always a good trick to pull off.

The various apps included are as you would expect- alarm clock, calculator etc and a selection of games that work really well with the touch screen. It took me back to a time when sliding puzzles and simple word games were good fun, and in many ways they still are suited best to a smaller screen. Ovi Store is there so you can purchase a download from a wide range of (basic) apps and games, but let’s not kid ourselves and expect a full app experience under S40.

Surprisingly Ovi Maps is not present which I would have expected. Even on my wife’s Nokia, which is only £40 to buy, it can use Ovi Maps so why not here? I understand the lack of GPS, but it could still be offered using triangulation even if the ultimate solution isn’t 100% perfect. It’s not a huge problem of course, but I would expect a consumer phone priced under £100 to offer GPS before Wi-Fi. The camera is rated at 5 Megapixels, but doesn’t get close to that level of performance and I would place it at equivalent to what you would expect from a mid-range 3 Megapixel phone snapper.

Anyway, that one small blip is a personal want and not enough to detract my view of this phone. The battery is excellent and everything else is pure Nokia. Symbian S40 is really showing its age these days, but is still a competent and easy to use environment for most people and just about succeeds. The hardware is wonderful and the phone itself is a joy to use. With the usual high performing battery and call experience we expect from Nokia, I have no hesitation in recommending this phone as a back up for a smartphone or as a full-time caller. My wife liked it so much she is now using it as her main phone and has no intention of moving from it anytime soon. Even I pick it up now and again just to experience it and to enjoy the way it has been put together. Well done Nokia.

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Is the next version of Windows Phone going to shed hardware restrictions?

Posted on February 18, 2011 by Shaun

The news that Nokia will not be adopting the current version of Windows Phone 7 is a bit of a surprise, but it probably makes sense in the technical world that these people work in. I suspect that this means that the restrictions on hardware will be much more flexible in the next version of Windows Phone which could well have been a demand from Nokia to adopt the platform. Why else would Nokia want to use the platform if it couldn’t differentiate itself from the competition?

So, what will Nokia do for the next 6 months? I presume it will be working on new hardware for the next version of Windows Phone. If that is the case, I wonder what HTC and the rest think about that…

UPDATE: This article sheds more light on what will happen. So, fell free to ignore the above…

“Nokia is not adopting Microsoft’s current Windows Phone 7 platform – which means that there is no chance of any handsets running Microsoft’s software before the end of October. It is likely to be a lot later.

Rather than using the current version of the Windows Phone platform, first released last October, the mobile phone company is going to wait until a major release of the operating system, codenamed “Mango”, is made available this coming October – and that is expected to have a slightly different name from the current Windows Phone 7 name.

Stephen Elop, the former Microsoft executive who since September has been chief executive of Nokia, and announced dramatically last week that Nokia will abandon its market-leading in-house Symbian smartphone platform, has been careful throughout the week to refer to the adoption as Windows Phone – and not Windows Phone 7.”

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More Nokia / Microsoft detail

Posted on February 11, 2011 by Shaun

A new press release further details the tie up between Nokia and Microsoft, it’s embedded in between the silly corporate speak…

Nokia and Microsoft intend to jointly create market-leading mobile products and services designed to offer consumers, operators and developers unrivalled choice and opportunity.

As each company would focus on its core competencies, the partnership would create the opportunity for rapid time to market execution.  Additionally, Nokia and Microsoft plan to work together to integrate key assets and create completely new service offerings, while extending established products and services to new markets. 

Under the proposed partnership:

- Nokia would adopt Windows Phone as its principal smartphone strategy, innovating on top of the platform in areas such as imaging, where Nokia is a market leader.

- Nokia would help drive the future of Windows Phone.  Nokia would contribute its expertise on hardware design, language support, and help bring Windows Phone to a larger range of price points, market segments and geographies.

- Nokia and Microsoft would closely collaborate on joint marketing initiatives and a shared development roadmap to align on the future evolution of mobile products.

- Bing would power Nokia’s search services across Nokia devices and services, giving customers access to Bing’s next generation search capabilities.  Microsoft adCenter would provide search advertising services on Nokia’s line of devices and services.

- Nokia Maps would be a core part of Microsoft’s mapping services.   For example, Maps would be integrated with Microsoft’s Bing search engine and adCenter advertising platform to form a unique local search and advertising experience

- Nokia’s extensive operator billing agreements would make it easier for consumers to purchase Nokia Windows Phone services in countries where credit-card use is low.

- Microsoft development tools would be used to create applications to run on Nokia Windows Phones, allowing developers to easily leverage the ecosystem’s global reach. 

- Nokia’s content and application store would be integrated with Microsoft Marketplace for a more compelling consumer experience.

“Today, developers, operators and consumers want  compelling mobile products, which include not only the device, but the software, services, applications and customer support that make a great  experience,” Stephen Elop, Nokia President and CEO, said at a joint news conference in London. “Nokia and Microsoft will combine our strengths to deliver an ecosystem with unrivalled global reach and scale. It’s now a three-horse race.”

“I am excited about this partnership with Nokia,” said Steven A. Ballmer, Microsoft CEO. “Ecosystems thrive when fueled by speed, innovation and scale. The partnership announced today provides incredible scale, vast expertise in hardware and software innovation and a proven ability to execute.”

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Nokia delivers its future plans

Posted on February 11, 2011 by Shaun

Nokia has released details of its future plans and as expected, the tie up with Microsoft is now official.

London, UK – Nokia today outlined its new strategic direction, including changes in leadership and operational structure to accelerate the company’s speed of execution in a dynamic competitive environment.

Major elements of the new strategy include:

- Plans for a broad strategic partnership with Microsoft to build a new global mobile ecosystem; Windows Phone would serve as Nokia’s primary smartphone platform.
- A renewed approach to capture volume and value growth to connect “the next billion” to the Internet  in developing growth markets
- Focused investments in next-generation disruptive technologies
- A new leadership team and organizational structure with a clear focus on speed, results and accountability

“Nokia is at a critical juncture, where significant change is necessary and inevitable in our journey forward,” said Stephen Elop, Nokia President and CEO. “Today, we are accelerating that change through a new path, aimed at regaining our smartphone leadership, reinforcing our mobile device platform and realizing our investments in the future.”

Nokia plans to form a strategic partnership with Microsoft to build a global mobile ecosystem based on highly complementary assets. The Nokia-Microsoft ecosystem targets to deliver differentiated and innovative products and have unrivalled scale, product breadth, geographical reach, and brand identity. With Windows Phone as its primary smartphone platform, Nokia would help drive the future of the platform by leveraging its expertise on hardware optimization, software customization, language support and scale. Nokia and Microsoft would also combine services assets to drive innovation. Nokia Maps, for example, would be at the heart of key Microsoft assets like Bing and AdCenter, and Nokia’s application and content store would be integrated into Microsoft Marketplace. Under the proposed partnership, Microsoft would provide developer tools, making it easier for application developers to leverage Nokia’s global scale.

With Nokia’s planned move to Windows Phone as its primary smartphone platform, Symbian becomes a franchise platform, leveraging previous investments to harvest additional value. This strategy recognizes the opportunity to retain and transition the installed base of 200 million Symbian owners. Nokia expects to sell approximately 150 million more Symbian devices in the years to come.

Under the new strategy, MeeGo becomes an open-source, mobile operating system project. MeeGo will place increased emphasis on longer-term market exploration of next-generation devices, platforms and user experiences. Nokia still plans to ship a MeeGo-related product later this year.
In feature phones, Nokia unveiled a renewed strategy to leverage its innovation and strength in growth markets to connect the next billion people to their first Internet and application experience.

New leadership team, operational structure

This new strategy is supported by significant changes in Nokia’s leadership, operational structure and approach. Effective today, Nokia has a new leadership team with the commitment, competencies and innovative thinking needed in today’s dynamic environment.

The Nokia Leadership Team, previously the Group Executive Board, will consist of the following members: Stephen Elop, Esko Aho, Juha Akras, Jerri DeVard, Colin Giles, Rich Green, Jo Harlow, Timo Ihamuotila, Mary McDowell, Kai Oistamo, Tero Ojanpera, Louise Pentland and Niklas Savander.

Alberto Torres has stepped down from the management team, effective February 10 to pursue other interests outside the company.

The renewed governance will expedite decision-making and improve time-to-market of products and innovations, placing a heavy focus on results, speed and accountability. The new strategy and operational structure are expected to have significant impact to Nokia operations and personnel.

New company structure

As of April 1, Nokia will have a new company structure, which features two distinct business units: Smart Devices and Mobile Phones. They will focus on Nokia’s key business areas: high-end smartphones and mass-market mobile phones.  Each unit will have profit-and-loss responsibility and end-to-end accountability for the full consumer experience, including product development, product management and product marketing.

Smart Devices will be responsible for building Nokia’s leadership in smartphones and will be led by Jo Harlow. The following sub-units now in Mobile Solutions will move under Smart Devices:

- Symbian Smartphones
- MeeGo Computers
- Strategic Business Operations

To support the planned new partnership with Microsoft, Smart Devices will be responsible for creating a winning Windows Phone portfolio.

Mobile Phones will drive Nokia’s “web for the next billion” strategy. Mobile Phones will leverage its innovation and strength in growth markets to connect the next billion people and bring them affordable access to the Internet and applications. The Mobile Phones unit will be led by Mary McDowell.

Markets will be responsible for selling products, executing compelling marketing and communications, creating a competitive local ecosystem, sourcing, customer care, manufacturing, IT and logistics across all Nokia products. It will be headed by Niklas Savander.

Services and Developer Experience will be responsible for Nokia’s global services portfolio, developer offering, developer relations and integration of partner service offerings. Tero Ojanpera will lead the Services and Developer Experience unit in an acting capacity.

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Nokia Said to Be Near Software Partnership With Microsoft

Posted on February 11, 2011 by Shaun

Stephen Elop will today detail Nokia’s proposed route back to dominance and Bloomberg has posted some more commentary on the tie up with Microsoft. I was told yesterday that it is definitely happening, but the source wouldn’t bet his life on it:) I still believe it is going to happen.

“Nokia Oyj is close to announcing a software partnership with Microsoft Corp., a bet that together the two companies can better challenge Google Inc. and Apple Inc., according to a person with knowledge of the discussions.

Nokia Chief Executive Officer Stephen Elop has held talks with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer about putting Microsoft’s mobile operating system on Nokia phones, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the discussions were private. Elop also held talks with Google CEO Eric Schmidt about using Google’s Android software, the person said. Those discussions are unlikely to lead to an alliance, according to another person familiar with the matter.

Elop will unveil a new strategy for Nokia at an event in London tomorrow, laying out his comeback plan for the smartphone market. The partnership with Microsoft, if clinched, would be aimed at helping both companies claw back ground lost to Android and Apple’s iPhone at the high end of the market.”

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Nokia drops the next MeeGo phone

Posted on February 9, 2011 by Shaun

A credible source, the same leaked internal memo detailed below, is stating that Nokia has dropped the upcoming MeeGo phone. Sometimes leaked internal memos are a good thing and it would make sense if large companies leaked them deliberately to phase in big changes. I am sure that didn’t happen here though…

The last line of the article from Yahoo! is interesting- “One good thing about Stephen Elop is that he is not emotionally attached to any platform.” Add the words “unless it comes from Microsoft” and it would be more accurate.

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Stephen Elop making the right noises

Posted on February 9, 2011 by Shaun

It is fairly easy for Stephen Elop to make noises about the recent history of Nokia, but to make the noises still makes a lot of sense. Personally, I think that the leak of his memo could work to Nokia’s benefit. More at the BBC.

“The first iPhone shipped in 2007, and we still don’t have a product that is close to their experience,”

“Android came on the scene just over two years ago, and this week they took our leadership position in smartphone volumes. Unbelievable.”

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