My Nokia Blog |
- Sprint Finally Joins the Windows Phone Train; Lists WP8 As “Coming Soon”
- First iPhone 5S/6 Mock-Up Concept Looks Like a Blatant Lumia Rip-Off
- Video: Nokia City Lens in Action
- Rumor: Additional Update In the Works for First Gen S^3 Devices (Belle Refresh Devices)
- Rant: How Microsoft Are Killing Themselves (and Me) With Regional Restrictions
- Nokia Care Centers Flashing First Gen Lumias With WP 7.8
- Google caving in, working on a ‘fix’ to allow WP phones to access google maps
- Video: Awesome Nokia Lumia 920 Promo from Nokia China – Making of the 920
- MNB-RG: Lumia selling well in Finland
| Sprint Finally Joins the Windows Phone Train; Lists WP8 As “Coming Soon” Posted: 06 Jan 2013 01:50 PM PST
With Verizon’s adoption of the Lumia 820 and the HTC 8X a couple months back that left Sprint as the only one of the large 4 carriers that didn’t have a Windows Phone device on sale. Apparently that is changing soon, seeing how Sprint have put up a page titles “Learn more About Windows Phone 8″ with the simple caption”Windows Phone 8 is Coming soon”. Curious timing of course seeing how CES has just kicked off; perhaps we’ll see a new variant of the 820 heading to Sprint? Or maybe even a yellow 920 to match their logo? Although initial reports claimed that Nokia wouldn’t be at CES this year it appears they have a couple booths set up and are giving out Demos and freebies, so if anyone is around stop by and snap a couple pics!
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| First iPhone 5S/6 Mock-Up Concept Looks Like a Blatant Lumia Rip-Off Posted: 06 Jan 2013 01:22 PM PST
Does this look familiar?
That would be My Dream Nokia #70: Titanium Nokia Lumia FX800 the titanium bodied beauty that I would kill for… (plus I would kill for a large whatsapp tile too)
So I think it’s safe to assume that if by some miracle the next iPhone ended up looking anything close to this, then Nokia has a VERY good case to say the least. And if that wasn’t bad enough according to BGR the iPhone 5s/6 will come in a bunch of flashy colors; seeing how popular they’ve become now (first Nokia, then HTC, then Samsung with its poor taste in colors and now Apple?) *note: I’m not crazy enough to say that Nokia owns the right to all colorful phones and curved designs, but it would be nice to see some more appreciation for the beauty in the Lumia/Fabula design, that is all.
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| Video: Nokia City Lens in Action Posted: 06 Jan 2013 01:16 PM PST
Quick heads up on this video from Nokia showing City Lens in action on both Nokia Lumia 920 and 820. I wish these promos had someone narrating them to explain what is going on.
by nokia
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| Rumor: Additional Update In the Works for First Gen S^3 Devices (Belle Refresh Devices) Posted: 06 Jan 2013 12:59 PM PST
Considering that the change isn’t a major jump in the version number, no is it a minute change in the final digits (final digits are usually for small typos, minor bug fixes etc.) then it’s safe to assume that this update might add a couple features or perhaps fix some of the app incompatibilities that have been plaguing some users, but I highly doubt it’s anything ground-breaking; but hell we’ll take whatever we can get Source thanks for the tip Mahindar
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| Rant: How Microsoft Are Killing Themselves (and Me) With Regional Restrictions Posted: 06 Jan 2013 09:47 AM PST
And it seems the folks over at Redmond are dead on intent on boiling my nerves, as the regional selection of apps for the MEA and Gulf areas is beyond ridiculous (and it definitely doesn’t help that there aren’t that many apps to start with). The app selection is limited by some idiotic system that doesn’t seem to have any basis at all; and to make things even worse reviews, change-logs and screenshots aren’t shared throughout different marketplaces (example: Whatsapp on my marketplace only has 3 ratings vs. the thousands on the UK/US marketplace). Further complicating things is the limited payment options for different marketplaces; whereas most marketplaces have the ability to use a paypal card, Visa Card and sometimes Vouchers; Gulf & MEA marketplaces only accept bank cards, and the bank card MUST match the region you’re buying from (meaning I can’t purchase apps from the UK marketplace using a Jordanian bank card. Now according to @windowsPhoneSupport (the official support account for WP) these app restrictions and removal from regional markets is a choice done by the developer and not by Microsoft which I personally find extremely hard to believe, what sort of app developer would choose to limit his app availability/coverage? Especially when it comes to games that require no online/regional connectivity?
The really disturbing part about this is I’m not referring to little known apps/titles; but MAJOR titles and applications (you know the ones Microsoft keeps boasting they have 48/50 from iOS and Android?); for example here’s a simple list of apps not available in multiple marketplaces (compiled by @nabkawe5):
As you can see most of these apps are completely region independent; and have no reason to be blocked in some regional marketplaces; so i don’t care who’s fault it is (be it MSFT or the developers) get your $h!t together people, this is ridiculous… (oh BTW Angry Birds Star-wars is also unavailable). Point is as dismal as the Windows Phone marketplace is; developers MSFT aren’t making it any better, especially in markets like the Gulf which are fresh for picking (trust me people in the Gulf love finding new trends to jump on, and have no problem switching phones on a monthly basis, so there’s some free market-share right there, if only someone would people their stuff together).
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| Nokia Care Centers Flashing First Gen Lumias With WP 7.8 Posted: 06 Jan 2013 09:04 AM PST
After the initial rollout of Windows Phone 7.8 to some devices, which then were clarified to be “developer devices” there is no sign of when Windows Phone 7.8 will be available to the masses. However if you’re itching to get your hands on the fabulous new start screen and some of the other goodies packed in you can try your luck at your local Nokia Care center, as we’re hearing reports that Care centers in Lebanon, India and some Gulf countries (Dubai mainly) are flashing Windows Phone 7.8 onto customers devices upon request.
*I would try my luck at my local care center, but unfortunately the first gen Lumias (as well as the WP8 ones) have never been officially on sale here; so I doubt the care center would be any help :/.
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| Google caving in, working on a ‘fix’ to allow WP phones to access google maps Posted: 06 Jan 2013 04:07 AM PST
At the start of the weekend, there was a flurry of news about Google actively prohibiting their services onto Windows Phones.
Whilst some sites said WP wasn’t able to use Google Maps in I.E. some others tested this, and showed that well, actually it does work as long as you switch the user agent to anything other than Windows Phone. Though, Google does stand by the claims that maps didn’t work on WP so they sent all users to redirect. The statement on he Next Web via engadget from Google:
Google also acknowledges recent improvements in I.E. Mobile. What recent improvements? All I recall is google maps suddenly not working.
Cheers Arun for the heads up!
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| Video: Awesome Nokia Lumia 920 Promo from Nokia China – Making of the 920 Posted: 06 Jan 2013 03:51 AM PST
I can’t read Mandarin, but you can see it explains what certain features are, rather than their haphazard arty nonsense videos. Like, come on, seriously Nokia Advertising People, how are consumers meant to buy your product if they don’t know what it does?
It might be a tad long for a tv commercial/advert but it could totally work in 30s to 1minute clips where they shorten down to focus on just one feature. Bit of the destruction/construction sequence to show the coolness inside and then show it in action.
by vipinj· The 920, 820 and 620 can also be seen together at the end.
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| MNB-RG: Lumia selling well in Finland Posted: 05 Jan 2013 05:26 PM PST
We saw last week that the Lumias were selling well with Elisa. Otto has sent in his article about the progress of Nokia in Finland this year. Finland is a very interesting market what comes to Nokia. It should be their home ground, but getting a smartphone to Top5 most sold devices list seems to be behind quite a battle. Sonera full year 2012 most sold phones: Elisa full year 2012 most sold phones (consumers): DNA did not give exact full year ratings, we shall see if they will. Press release had short mention saying: So it seems that Lumia 800 has been the only Nokia smartphone to top sales lists on all three operators, even above iPhone. Sonera full year 2011 most sold phones: Elisa full year 2011 most sold phones (consumer): DNA full year 2011 most sold phones: (* Nokia C2-01 is a feature phone in sub-100€ price range) And as everyone is looking towards the sales of Lumia 920, we know something about that too. On December most sold devices list, Lumia 920 was in Top5 on all operators. In DNA stores it was even selling more than iPhone 5. Lumia 920 also sold better than Galaxy S series on all operators, which may be due to SGS3′s longer time on market: Sonera top5 most sold phones in December 2012: Elisa top5 most sold phones in December 2012 (consumer): DNA top5 most sold phones in December 2012: Source: press releases of Cheers Otto! |
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