My Nokia Blog |
- So What Are Those Five Dots on the Top of the Lumia 1520 Anyways?
- Accessories: Nokia DC-18 portable Charger; First Look
- DHOOM 3: The Game….From India with love! and no, it’s not DOOM 3.
- Whatsapp for WP 7&8 Updated, Brings Text Size and Rotation Lock (WP7 Only)
- MNB RG: What will the post-D&S-sale Nokia look like?
- Dreamworks and Nokia’s Dragon Adventure, future of gaming? For Lumia and Lumia tablet
- Catfish Nev Schulman and Nokia Lumia 1020
- Finnish Word of the Day: “Heijastus” – Reflection – shot on Nokia Cameras across time
| So What Are Those Five Dots on the Top of the Lumia 1520 Anyways? Posted: 25 Oct 2013 12:55 PM PDT
The “dots” are actually the microphone openings for one of the four mics on the Lumia 1520. The mics are used for Nokia’s amazing rich recording as well as noise cancellation; the other three mics are on the front (top & bottom) as well as the bottom back of the device. You can catch their positions detailed in the video below at the 2:10 marker http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbpvYZsz6ns
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| Accessories: Nokia DC-18 portable Charger; First Look Posted: 25 Oct 2013 12:02 PM PDT
While at Nokia world, Nokia left us all a little surprise in our hotel rooms; a DC-18 portable charger.
The DC-18 which has a capacity of 1720 mAh comes in a nice square packaging, which although has a smaller capacity than the DC-16′s 2,000 mAh still gives you a boost at the end of the day. The square form factor is a bit “different” but it does have a very certain Nokia iconic design to it. The charging plug unlike the DC-16 is connected to the device and pops-out and retracts into the box. The battery icon on the charger itself, has the same four lights present on the DC-16, but with a nicer look, being displayed inside the engraved battery on the front. Either way the DC-18 is a pretty sweet looking device, and gets the job done nicely; although it probably would look a bit strange in your pocket. |
| DHOOM 3: The Game….From India with love! and no, it’s not DOOM 3. Posted: 25 Oct 2013 11:08 AM PDT
Hello MNB readers, While browsing the internet trying to find new information about Asphalt 8 for Windows Phone, I stumbled across an interesting article that deals with a new game, a new movie in a well established movie franchise and some great collaboration between Microsoft and the developers of DHOOM 3: The Game. Now, I won’t pretend to know anything about the DHOOM movies, I originally thought the article title had a typo and that Doom 3 had finally come to Windows Phone! I also won’t pretend to know anything about development scene in India, the developer 99Games Online Private Limited or Microsoft’s role in the partnership. I simply want to share the article and the game with whomever is interested in new games for the Windows Phone platform. First, a few quotes from the article on Business Today and some more information that is relevant to how DHOOM 3: The Game made its way to a Windows Phone near you:
About Microsoft’s involvement in bringing the game to Windows Phone:
If you have a few moments, please click the link “getting Indian content” as it provides great insight on some of the choices developers make, even on an individual level when choosing WP, iOS or Android as their platform to release their titles as well as the whole Free, Paid and Freemium battles. From the “getting Indian content link:
What about: The Game?
DHOOM 3: The Game (D3) is a solid game. By solid, I mean everything works as designed. It has good graphics, sound and gameplay and UI is easy to navigate and understand. D3 is described as an endless 3D racer and while that may fit the game into that category, what makes it stand out in my opinion is that you are actually “driving” the motorcycle instead of switching lanes and swiping left, right, up and down like most endless runners, racers, drivers, flyers etc. There are 2 control options in the settings menu, Tilt or Tap:
Historically, when playing racing games on mobile devices, I have leaned more towards the Tap controls where you tap the screen on the left or the right to control your vehicle as I have found that to be more precise in my experience. For D3, I find the tilt controls to be FAR, FAR, FAR superior than the tap controls when it comes to accuracy. The Tilt controls seem to measure subtle movements of my 1020 while the tap controls send the motorcycle veering left or right even after I have lifted my finger off of the screen, causing a round ending, busted by the cops, hopes and dreams dashing crash!  MAN DOWN!!!!!! MEDIC!!!!! Yes….that is my rider on the ground and I have fallen….and I can’t get up! Needless to say, I switched back to Tilt controls and I fared much better. Try each control type and find the one that helps you survive the longest distance.
During the racing action, you can collect distance boosting Nitro and power-ups to help you stay in the game longer. You will also see Gold coins littered about the mean streets of Chicago that can be used in D3′s Store to buy Bikes, Costumes and Power Ups that will make your rider look cooler and drive even faster while outrunning the Law.
If you are low on coins and don’t have the time or patience to earn more for your Store purchases, you can partake in optional in app purchases (IAP) to fill your virtual bank accounts. Remember the article above about developers not making much money with their apps…..an IAP will is a win for your gaming needs and a win for the developers gaming aspirations.
In addition to the in-game racing action, there are various other things that you can do before and after the race. In the menu you will find Settings, Objectives, Statistics and About to get more information about the game.
The Objectives and Leveling system are similar in style the Achievements that you will see in Asphalt 7 on Windows Phone or almost any Xbox WP title and are a welcomed addition to D3 since the title doesn’t have any Xbox integration at this time.
All in all, DHOOM 3: The Game is a good game, it’s free, it has in-game objectives (not Xbox Achievements), the graphics are good, while not having the highest polygon counts or mind-blowing effects, they are smooth, with high-resolution textures and a great frame rate. The tilt controls are some of the best that I HAVE ever used as they are accurate enough to pick up a row of coins while rounding a curve. The sound is great for what is provided. For what it is worth, the title is considered as an endless runner/racer and the amount of content is within the realm of the likes of the big name Temple Runs, Rail Rushes, you can even “save yourself” after you crash your bike if you have the necessary items to do so. As with all games, there may be bugs and some things may be rough around the edges (Tap control!) but things can change with software updates. Personally, I would like to see a better quality Title Screen. It may seem like a small thing but with the high impact and hi-resolution artwork in the Windows Phone Store, the title screen just seems to have a low-resolution. Even the in-game menu seems to be of a higher quality, who knows, maybe it is my eyes….
With all of that said, feel free to take DHOOM 3: The Game for a spin..its uhhh…free! All of this talk of collaboration sparked my interest in the D3 movie. For those that are curious, here is a trailer for the movie:
DHOOM 3 looks like an interesting movie and I hope that it does well in theaters. Head on over to the D3 download page in the Windows Phone store via the link below: What do you think about D3: The game, Microsoft collaborating to bring games to Windows Phone or anything else related to this article? We often hear of Nokia working with companies to bring the big names to WP and that is great. Sometimes we have to remember that the big names started out as small names one day. Regardless if D3: The Game ever spawns into anything greater, it at least added a +1 to the Windows Phone app catalogue and for that I want to tell the developers, thank you for your time. As for you, our MNB readers, as always, thank you for your time and for continuing to support MyNokiaBlog! Have a great day, Deaconclgi
Related information found in this post: Business Today: Dhoom 3: The Game debuts exclusively on Windows Phone Business Today: Young and appy YouTube: DHOOM 3 Trailer
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| Whatsapp for WP 7&8 Updated, Brings Text Size and Rotation Lock (WP7 Only) Posted: 25 Oct 2013 08:30 AM PDT
The popular messaging app, Whatsapp has just received an update that brings several new features and enhancements to the service. For WP7 users the big change is the inclusion of a rotation lock in the settings and the option to change the text size in both the WP7 & 8 versions. Also included in the update are:
Grab the update from the link below:
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| MNB RG: What will the post-D&S-sale Nokia look like? Posted: 25 Oct 2013 08:13 AM PDT
Janne’s been looking further into the topic of a New Nokia without the Devices and Services segment. Though Nokia is known for phones, they’ve also been famous for their reinvention. The remaining segments, NSN, Here and Advanced Technologies are still three strong pillars at Nokia. And what’s to say that once the dust settles and Nokia’s healthy again that they wouldn’t ever return to creating phones? (hence, MS NOT allowed to have the branding for smartphones, nor the ownership of patents). But would it even make sense and would it even be worth it? Do take the time to check out Janne’s latest post. Cheers Janne! ________ What will the post-D&S-sale Nokia look like?Let’s assume for a while that the Nokia Devices & Services unit (D&S) sale with Microsoft will meet shareholder approval on November 19th and that the necessary regulatory approval(s) will follow, say, by first quarter 2014 and the hand-over of the business follows in quick succession. Lumia and Asha ranges, the design and manufacturing, and assumedly plenty of hardware and software development related to them will move over to Microsoft. What will that remaining Nokia look like then – let’s call it the “new Nokia” as Nokia does – in early 2014 or maybe realistically, later in 2014? So far, officially Nokia has announced that it will consist of three business areas: “NSN, a leader in network infrastructure and services; HERE, a leader in mapping and location services; and Advanced Technologies, a leader in technology development and licensing”. What follows is my summary of what I believe is known or rumored of the future of these business directions at this time. NSN (formerly Nokia Siemens Networks, now Nokia Solutions and Networks) Nokia has said they will continue to foster NSN, which they bought full 100% control in the summer, as an independent entity. To me this suggests that Nokia doesn’t plan to build its future around networks alone. Although buying full control of the business could lead to its significance in future strategy rising, it could also mean Nokia is keeping open an option to sell it and focus on something else. Or they could keep it separate, because they don’t want to “rock the boat” or don’t see such strong synergies between NSN and rest of the business. At one of the previous AGMs Nokia said they felt networks business is already quite separate from their other businesses and strong synergies that may have once been there no longer exist as much. Obviously with the D&S sale, this may be even more true now. This said, NSN continues being the “new Nokia’s” cash cow. NSN is a remarkable turn-around story in recent years, from a loss-making, faith-killing enterprise into a solid, profit-making machine. It would be foolish to think NSN isn’t important to Nokia, but it remains to be seen if they want to realize that importance through bringing it closer to the core or perhaps looking to unlock its value on the open market, be it through a sale or even listing the business in a stock exchange. Finally, an interesting anecdote in NSN is the rumoured acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent, which would increase NSN’s market share significantly and help combat Ericsson and the Asian player(s). However, the deal would also come with its own baggage. Alcatel-Lucent is a loss-making business desperately in need of repairs, much of it in the strongy unionized fun-land called France. One thing about Alcatel-Lucent, though, mainly for you American readers: No, I seriously don’t think buying Alcatel-Lucent would result in Nokia’s return to the smartphone market or be related to it. Whatever smartphones are currently sold under the Alcatel branding are actually under license by a Hong Kong Android maker and not a business Alcatel-Lucent deal would really bring into Nokia. HERE What’s curious about HERE – Nokia’s location business formerly known as Nokia Maps formerly known as NAVTEQ – is that so far it seems like a fairly crappy business, but now it is actually on the forefront of the entire Nokia core. It is the only tangible element that can be identified as a core product strategy for the new Nokia. Yet, as it is, it is still quite small a business and not really generating money anyway. What’s going on here (no pun intended)? At the end of this article I offer links to a few MNB stories this past week (and two older) that provide some speculation on the activities surrounding the future of HERE. At the center of this expected future seems to Nokia’s self-stated goal of become the “where” company, to location what Google is to search. Of course, Google (and to a lesser extent Apple) is also competing strongly in this space. Nokia does have one edge, though, and that is automotive where 4 out of 5 in-dash systems are said to use Nokia’s maps. In the Microsoft D&S sale leaks, it was said Microsoft tried to acquire HERE as well, but Risto Siilasmaa was adamant it wouldn’t be sold because – as an example that was mentioned – Nokia has plans to sell their future location products to automotive makers. Way back when Elop described Nokia’s location plans as five steps, where they were perhaps only on the second prong. And clearly it is true, that on this “early” level, Nokia’s location business isn’t that big. There isn’t that much money to be made on location today, but Nokia apparently believed this will change in the future. What makes this plausible are two concepts: the Internet of things and the Internet of roads. Let’s discuss the latter first, the Internet of roads. In the not so distant future, all the cars in EU will be required to know their location and call emergency services in the case of a crash. In Finland this being taken further with plans (headed by former Nokia CEO and chairman Jorma Ollila no less) to base future car taxation and/or rush-hour payments on location data collected from all cars, all the time. However, taking this thinking even further: In the future cars will drive themselves. This is a big potential business, Google is already prototyping it in the U.S. And at the core is location and the location cloud, information about not only where you are, but where everyone else is. Collision avoidance, optimizing traffic and so forth. This will not only be a device business within the car, it will also potentially be a massive infrastructure business – and only very few players in the world do location well. Nokia is one of the few. Most interesting for those interested in Nokia gadgets, though, is the potential future in Internet of things. What started as an idea of identifying every object, the concept of Internet of things has grown into almost all things connecting in the Internet and the potential that opens. Location is a very important part of the equation, because connection merged with location is a powerful tool. There has thus been speculation – and indeed some confirmation from Nokia HERE boss Michael Halbherr – that there would be future Nokia hardware products within this space. Combined with other potential cloud services, such as content services, there could be a compelling market for new kinds of products. Here is what HERE boss Micheal Halbherr had to say about future Nokia products after the Microsoft D&S sale news: “We have sold our device business for a reason, but that doesn’t keep us out of the device business. We are not prohibited from making any communication device. We will concept and think about new forms of device. It would be wrong now to think about this from a phone perspective. With the cloud and the internet-of-things, we’re seeing a convergence of form factors where you do a few things well in a totally seamless way. We will still surprise people with leading-edge hardware.” It has been speculated that the upcoming Nokia Guru and Nokia Treasure Tag products could be examples of future devices that “do a few things well” and that might remain at Nokia even after the D&S sale. Nokia Treasure Tag is the better understood one of the two, apparently hooking up with your phone and allowing you to locate the tag on your phone (the tag has GPS so it knows where you’ve lost it), or from the treasure tag help find your phone by calling for an audio signal from the phone. Nokia Guru is said to be a screenless music player, but the most unbelievable rumors included voice-guided navigation. Another example of a speculated future HERE device would be in-car products and in-car software. Will HTML5 be involved or Qt on automobile? And then, of course, there is all the wearable technology. Could some wearable technology development remain at Nokia? Related to HERE is potential to get Nokia name (or HERE branding or both) more prominently displayed in cars, which has been mentioned by Nokia as possible now that in-car systems are now more and more connected to cloud services. It has been speculated Nokia might retain content services such as Nokia music even after the D&S sale to be able to power their new location ecosystem. HERE is also expected to up their efforts to sell Nokia’s location information and navigation solutions to new customers. This was already on-going during the Windows Phone strategy, but now that Nokia is moving away from that, expect the pace to increase and the reach of HERE to widen. Nokia may also be interested in creating their own application software to new platforms to further their location and cloud services, but of course all this is still very much speculation. Advanced Technologies Advanced Technologies is, really, what remains of Nokia’s Future Disruptions, CTO office and Nokia Research Center after the tumult of the last few years. Nokia dubbed it “a leader in technology development and licensing”, the latter part meaning of course licensing of the vast Nokia patent portfolio to other players. Even after the D&S sale, Nokia will retain most of its patent portfolio, so it will remain a significant licensing party on the market. Some have suggested the cessation of Nokia’s own activities in the phone market, combined with its vast patent portfolio in the same market, will make Nokia one of the strongest patent trolls in the world (at least for several years) – because it no longer needs to license the patents of others back, making for a very unusual and one-sided patent circumstance. I expect Advanced Technologies being more than a patent troll, though. No doubt various kinds of development work will remain there and results of which will be licensed to others. Nokia will undoubtedly also continue their research co-operation with academia. I expect the areas to revolve around wireless (the presence of NSN would guarantee such needs, but I’m thinking even beyond that), battery technologies and materials. One substantial area is graphene, the wonder material that is expected to rock our worlds in the future. Nokia has placed some significant bets into graphene research. Very little is known of Advanced Technologies. When discussing future Nokia devices, Nokia’s HERE boss Michael Halbherr mentiones the Advanced Technologies and said: “Nokia is three things. The first is NSN [Nokia Solutions and Networks]. We all know the numbers, it’s profitable and it’s 100 per cent owned by Nokia. The second is our Advanced Technologies Group: it does the research and development, and it has some product capability, to some extent, to experiment. It’s an amazing generator of intellectual property – and that’s a technology-licensing business and it’s growing. Then there’s HERE. All intellectual property in all aspects of HERE is being retained.” What is most intriguing about Advanced Technologies, though, is that now that phones are gone, will Nokia form some new coherent strategic narrative for the business unit – and will they make it public? Because when phones were the target, it made sense to do research in all these areas for future phones. But what about now? Will “the new Nokia” re-invent itself around some new strategic goal, that would play visibly on the strengths of its Advanced Technology unit? Or will they simply keep it as an independent research unit that creates product prototypes and patents and then licenses them to others – and thus of very little direct interest to consumers. Incidentally, the only answer so far comes from another HERE boss Christof Hellmis (see how Nokia puts these HERE people in the forefront now), who was interviewed this week (my translation): “Q: …if HERE’s direction is clear, what about the whole of Nokia as a company? A: We are currently developing the new Nokia’s strategy. Once it is ready, we’ll be telling everyone what we are doing.” Could Nokia return to phones? Finally a word on Nokia’s potential return to phones. When the Nokia Bridge program – with initial support from Nokia – floated the dinghy of Jolla into free’er (how free remains to be seen) waters, it was speculated Nokia was actually helping to launch their own plan B. When the D&S sale was announced, it was also reported Microsoft would have ten years to use the Nokia branding in basic and Asha phones, but it is widely assumed this doesn’t apply to Lumia smartphones – they will become just Lumia or something else. Also, Nokia wouldn’t be allowed to use their own branding in smartphones until after end of 2015. So, for the next couple of years only new Nokia phones will soon be basic phones and Ashas, but after 2015 Nokia theoretically could start making their own. Now, of course, they will sell all the factories, all the design etc. to Microsoft, but not most of the patents. Manufacturing these days is easier with the help of companies like Foxconn, not even Apple has their own factories, so that’s not really a problem, but with all the staffing (about half of Nokia) having been moved to Microsoft by then, it seems like a long stretch of road. They could of course invest or partner with someone like Jolla to get a rolling start, so if they really wanted to, nothing would stop Nokia from going into phones. I guess theoretically they might even be able to do it before 2015, if it were under some other brand – I’m voting for Mobira Cityman with a Mobira Talkman phablet. All that said, I find a hard time seeing how returning to phones would make sense to Nokia, even if they get their house in good order between now and 2016. The smartphone as we know it is all about ecosystems now and that market seems to be splitting between three or so ecosystems. It is questionable if there is room for more, so returning to phones would probably require joining Android, which would probably make even less sense a couple of years from now than it would today, because Nokia would not have any of their current competitive edges. No, I don’t think Nokia will be returning to phones. More likely this move is more reminiscent of Nokia exiting a number of businesses in the 1990s, including televisions, rubber boots and tyres – they ain’t going back. About the only way I could see Nokia returning to phones in the foreseeable future is, if (when?) the devices and/or disruptive future form-factors mentioned in the HERE chapter grow telephony functionality. But then we wouldn’t be talking about phones in the traditional sense of the word, but something else. Things that “do a few things well in a totally seamless way”. Links to past relevant stories on MNB New Nokia HERE interview – and what is Nokia Guru, really? Video: Nokia Music & Mix Radio In-Car System Concept Will cars soon be tracked by Nokia black boxes? Jorma Ollila heads a car tracking taskforce Nokia Multi-Faced Smart Watch Patent and Prototype Demo Appear LeakyLeak: Nokia Smartwatch? How Nokia Location drives Audi Next important dates on the Nokia watch Nokia will announce their Q3/2013 results on October 29th, 2013. The extraordinary meeting deciding on the Microsoft D&S sale will be on November 19th, 2013. |
| Dreamworks and Nokia’s Dragon Adventure, future of gaming? For Lumia and Lumia tablet Posted: 25 Oct 2013 12:07 AM PDT
Here’s a look at the Dragon’s Adventure that utilises HERE maps location to fully immerse you into the world of Dragons as you play interconnected on a Nokia Lumia phone or tablet.
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| Catfish Nev Schulman and Nokia Lumia 1020 Posted: 25 Oct 2013 12:06 AM PDT
I think this was one of those posts we meant to write about but must have been stuck in the to-do. If you’ve ever watched the film ‘Catfish’ or the TV show ‘Catfish’ you know it stars Nev. Nev is a film maker, and the first film, ‘Catfish’ was their self made documentary. Here he is using the Nokia Lumia 1020.
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| Finnish Word of the Day: “Heijastus” – Reflection – shot on Nokia Cameras across time Posted: 25 Oct 2013 12:05 AM PDT
As part of learning a little Finnish a day, I’ve come across the word heijastus which means ‘reflection’. I believe one of the Nokia twitter channels was running some sort of promo where folks shot pictures with that theme which made me think about sharing other pictures of reflections shot by Nokia peeps. The first one above is shot by Topolin70. It looks like a painting, no? I love these water shots. It reminds me of a picture I took on the N82/N95 a long long while ago of a bridge that was beautifully reversed by the stillness of the water. Pic hosted on photobucket, darn!
I love the warmth on this one by Kalervo Pohjanen
This is cute. Shot by Nev Schulman, shared by Nokia US. This reminds me of a post I should make about Nev.
Very pretty water shot by Richard Dorman
Majestic little thing, by Mario on the N8.
Portal in a puddle. Nokia 808 PureView shot by Richard Marshall.
Another from the 808, again on the theme of the unsuspecting reflection.
Who knew Nokia handsets would be taking these on in the future? N95 in the reflection. Annie Hall
Mirror of the forest. N86.
Another by Annie.
I like how the sky continues with the window. N93 by Alan Reiter
More windows. House in a building. Davide Giordano
A bit like the puddle picture but this one actually looks like there’s now a hole in the floor. N90, Mauro Coc..
This reflection was of the 1020. Not a clear reflection but enough to fit in the little box. The 1020 is indeed one of the gems of the world
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If you like the game and have 99 cents (or your local currency) to spare , support the developer in the form of a virtual wallet boosting IAP. Even if you don’t spend any real money, I hope you enjoy the game. I think it is nice to see Microsoft (as is Nokia) helping developers bring games, experiences and exposure to Windows Phone. D3 isn’t Asphalt 8, it never set out to be and I may have not found any new information on Asphalt 8 for WP but I am glad that I found out about D3 and more importantly what goes on around the world, in other cultures, countries and by many teams working together to provide software on the platforms that we love.
Another by the N8. Piercing eyes. by 
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