22 April 2012

My Nokia Blog

My Nokia Blog


Nokia Fluid/Qualcomm Fluid with Windows Phone 8/I.E. 10 for Verizon?

Posted: 21 Apr 2012 04:22 PM PDT

WMPU reports seeing Windows Phone 8 on DSLReport’s mobile speed test.

Right now it shows up just as Qualcomm; Fluid with IEMobile 10. But earlier WMPU captured this as saying Nokia Fluid.

This might sound familiar as that name was spotted at occasional gamer, March 27th.

http://mynokiablog.com/2012/03/27/nokia-fluid-spotted-at-occasional-gamer/

Both Qualcomm Fluid and Nokia Fluid appeared. The former might be a chip, the latter – a handset with that chip? But with Windows Phone 8? I don’t know much about it, but wasn’t there a 800MHz Qualcomm Fluid a couple of years back?  Unless there’s been an update, it might mean Windows Phone 8 on 800MHz? Recent rumours suggest WP8 is being tested on the Nokia Lumia 610.

The speedtest apparently suggested the Nokia Fluid possibly having LTE on Verizon.  You might still be able to see something on the google cached pages here and here. A WP8 LTE Nokia Lumia PureView is rumoured to appear on Verizon.

Source: WMPU

Cheers DKM for the tip!

 

 

 

 

 


Opinion: Lumia Devices WILL get WP8/Apollo

Posted: 21 Apr 2012 12:33 PM PDT

I honestly wasn’t planning on posting this here as it has no basis and is just speculations which is why I wrote it up on my side-project blog; but once I saw that Jay posted a bunch of rumors together I decided to hell with it let’s join in on the fun.

The whole basis of my assumption relies on one basic factor: “BT transfer”. Currently Bluetooth on WP 7.5 devices is almost useless beyond headset/car pairing and pairing to PC (not even sure if that’s possible); so why on earth would Nokia bother implementing NFC into the Lumia 610?

Let’s dig a little deeper, the current build of WP doesn’t even support NFC (which was the excuse used when Nokia was asked why it was excluded from the lumia 800); so why would you put something in a device if you can’t even use it? Short answer- because it will soon enough. Recently Stephen Elop went on record saying that one of the features to come along with WP8 is the ability to send V-Cards via BT (a perfect use of NFC- “tap to send V-Card”). At this point I’d like to point out that the C7 also had an NFC chip that was disabled until Symbian Anna supported it; so it wouldn’t be the first time that Nokia implemented technology that isn’t fully supported in a device with plans to activate/support it in a future update.

The last piece of “evidence” is the interesting timing of the NFC-Lumia announcement; if your going to make a modified version of a device shouldn’t you wait till the first version hit’s the stores at least?? Further more why not announce it at MWC which was less than a month before the 610 NFC announcement (which was also surprisingly pretty quiet). My thought on the matter is that they had a NFC 610 up and running but weren’t sure if it would run Apollo/WP8 but once they got the thumbs up from MSFT that it could support it (maybe there were questions about the lower RAM capabilities? or possibly MSFT had’t given them the complete requirements for WP8?) either way it does deserve the question to be asked, could it be that the 610 can run WP8.

Also just a reminder NFC support was one of the “leaked” features of WP8:

Support for microSD cards is also added, along with NFC support. The latter will work either via NFC built inside a smartphone or via NFC enabled SIM cards.- VIA

NFC and Wallet. Windows Phone 8 will allow users to securely pay and share via NFC and manage an integrated Wallet experience-VIA

And if the 610 can really run Apollo then by default that should mean that all other Lumia phones should run it too (considering that the 610 is the only one that’s under-powered).

Of course this little tweet just helps strengthen my case:

@MS_nerd

Time to drop the biggest effin’  bomb: Nokia & Microsoft are testing a build of Apollo on the Lumia 610. Not ‘performant’ enough. Yet.

Well of course I might be crazy or maybe it’s all the studying getting to me but I’m currently inclined to think that all 2nd gen WP devices will get the thumbs up to apollo. Your Thoughts?

Go ahead and check out my original post here: http://bit.ly/HYpkgw

SOURCE


Lumiappaday #158: AppFlow App Discovery demoed on the Nokia Lumia 800

Posted: 21 Apr 2012 11:10 AM PDT

 

As you can guess from the title, AppFlow is an app to find more apps. App Discovery is a very important feature to address in an app store (well, as is discovery in any store). When you have a wealth of items, you’re going to want to make sure the consumer gets to everything that will interest them. Marketplace is quite decent in that regard, but there’s much improvement to be had (e.g. games section related apps always used to be the same list of Xbox games, no matter what game you were looking at). App stores should focus on bringing the better apps to the surface and burying the crapapps.  Nokia has their own version called App Highlights.

AppFlow is quite nicely designed, as you might expect if you learn that they’re the same folks who made cocktail flow.

Sorry this is late – computer was not up to task last night + a lot of uni stuff just caught up with me.

#158) AppFlow App Discovery

Price:  Free

Link:  http://www.windowsphone.com/en-GB/apps/578ef361-c265-46b7-b6f4-63cbd7fbefe0

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oku0o0KIzMQ&feature=youtu.be

Developer Blurb:

 

Browse and discover apps in a new, engaging and beautiful way. AppFlow presents a unique way to explore the marketplace via its Lists, Discovery and Stats features.

 

Browse a dozen unique app lists, such as Indie Games, Rising Stars, Forgotten Legends, Hidden Gems and many more.

 

Discover apps for social networking like facebook, skype, kik, icq, messenger, games like angry birds, fruit ninja, need for speed, music like pandora, spotify, radio, flash, search tools like google, bing, yahoo, navigation tools with GPS, maps and lots of more such as weather apps and books.

 

Get AppFlow now and you’ll never want to explore apps the traditional way again.

 

v2.3: Added support for different Marketplace regions and implemented Mango fast app switching support.

Rating:

Design: 9

Usability: 9

Performance: 9

Price: 10


Nokia 808 PureView site with tiles, Coming soon in Finland?

Posted: 21 Apr 2012 09:48 AM PDT

We got a tip that the Nokia 808 PureView was officially up on Nokia Finland as coming soon. I don’t know if this is new, but apparently it is and it’s coming in May (though I can’t find the precise link).

Something else that is interesting is the use of tiles in the promo site above.

http://www.nokia.com/fi-fi/tuotteet/puhelimet/808/use/

Source: nokia.com/fi-fi via  symbiansuomi

Cheers Timo for the tip!


Bloomberg Video: Nokia `Very Far’ From Danger Zone With Strong Cash, S40 update for June?

Posted: 21 Apr 2012 08:10 AM PDT

Roger Windsor, analyst from Nomura talks to Bloomberg about Nokia. This was just some hours prior to the Q1 2012 earnings.

They’re not saying much from what we don’t already know, but then there’s not a lot in the Nokia scene you guys aren’t already aware of. They’re looking at this from a broader, more general view.

  • When asked about how close Nokia is to danger, Roger Windsor explains Nokia still has a very strong net cash position. Nokia may burn a lot of cash but in the grand scheme of things ‘very far’ from dangerous territory. However we are warned that ratings agencies will look on this as simply straight line trajectories and Nokia may see further rating downgrades.
  • Own Thomas asks why the ‘Lumina’ models have not attracted the the sort of customers Nokia’s looking for. Pros and Cons of WP – it’s very very different and that it’s very very different. It’s too polarising, and on the whole extremely unfamiliar to users who would prefer the safer route of what they’re familiar with. Although it’s great for us to know that when people use it, on the whole they like it – there’s no point being likeable after trying when we can’t get people to try the handsets in the first place.
  • They reckon the release of the Windows 8 touch based UI will educate people towards Metro (well hopefully, unless they are also alienated). Nomura is hoping that familiarity developed in the tablets will then go on to the phones.
  • Nokia apparently have priced lower end smartphone wrong.  At the moment they are saying it is difficult to find a sub $100 smartphone from Nokia and competitors are apparently outdoing Nokia there.
  • Waiting for what Nokia will do to refresh their feature phone OS. They say this low end OS update is due in June. Competitors also eating up the very low end segment. This is said to be very, very important.
Looking at it a year ago, next billion strategy of turning S40 users instantly to smartphones sounded like a good idea. That’s no longer just a smart idea. It is critical that we see this transition soon.
Nokia better have plans to do exactly this. Now we’ve had discussions before on what is a ‘smartphone’. What ever the exact or recognized definition of ‘smartphone’ is Nokia has to meet that, but also deliver a very intuitive, pleasant, fast, smooth, stable user experience at the low end too.

by 

 

 


N9 Apps: Spotify demoed on the Nokia N9

Posted: 20 Apr 2012 11:41 PM PDT

 

Here is Spotify demoed on the Nokia N9.

I recorded this two days ago during my lunch break, just after recording the Lumia version. It wasn’t planned but I thought I needed to give it another go. This means that it was the first time I had used the N9 version. It’s only posted now because these demoes take ages to do:

Recording, Processing (which can take up to 3 hours), Uploading (which can also take 3 hours, or more if YouTube decides to give you ‘upload failed’. Also I can’t always just upload when I want as it kills the internet connection for the rest of my house.

I thought this was worth mentioning as I keep getting asked the same question about doing N9 videos. If you want to share your demoes with us, please do so :) You know if I find a N9 video, I share it asap :) .

http://store.ovi.com/content/213756

  • It’s markedly different from the Lumia version, though quite appropriately, very in line with the N9 UI.
  • You will need a Spotify Premium account
  • Can also store tracks offline – has neat progress bar to tell you how much
  • Not a spotify feature, but N9s – the scrollbar, for quickly jumping to a particular area on your playlist
  • Tabs at the bottom to switch between the features
  • Currently playing button at the top
  • Very easy to go back to your playlist
  • Quick button to view currently playing
  • Has the Spotify Radio option but I can’t get it to work
  • Has Search but I can’t get it to work :/
  • No quick music controls (Lumia versin – it integrates to volume buttons so you can pause/skip anywhere)
  • No lockscreen music controls (Lumia version has spotify controls on the lock screen).
  • Not sure why scrolling stutters sometimes.
  • There’s social integration which I’ve not tried – or at least I thought I had not since I told spotify not to connect my facebook account and share all my music. After looking at reviews, apparently this is not set up well and everything you listen to is shared on facebook (if you connected them).
  • Not been using long enough to talk about stability but I’ve not really encountered

 

I just noticed my video template doesn’t have linked titles. The word Spotify only got updated for the end screen. :(

 

 


Video: Nokia Lumia 900 in AT&T Advert (but it’s not about the 900)

Posted: 20 Apr 2012 11:05 PM PDT

Here is an interesting advert/commercial. In this video you can see glimpses of the Nokia Lumia 900. Many times. But it’s never mentioned.

That’s a good thing.

Why? Because this advert isn’t even about the Nokia Lumia 900. It is simply a generic spot to talk about AT&T.

This spot celebrates an example of how AT&T helps people do what they do better with the advantage of having AT&T’s Mobile to Any Mobile plan. It opens on an aspiring actress named Alex, who is in her mid-twenties, talking on her phone as she walks down a busy city street. We follow Alex through her busy day as she excitedly calls her family and friends to share her good news — that she booked her first acting part. Because AT&T gives you unlimited calling to any mobile on any network with their unlimited messaging plan, you (and Alex) can call everyone. AT&T. Rethink Possible.

So, out of all the possible choices and, more often than not, the overwhelming susceptibility by many to simply choose iPhone, it’s refreshing to see something else, and more so, that something else be a Nokia.

by 

Source: Windows Phone Daily via NokiaInnovation


WP8 for WP7/Lumia devices rumour round up.

Posted: 20 Apr 2012 10:51 PM PDT

The will it, won’t it drama of whether any current WP devices will get an update to Windows Phone 8 continues.

I say, is the phone you’re looking at a decent proposition for the price? If you’re happy with the current performance, do you know if it will remain like this a year down the line? As a reader and commenter here once said,

To be completely fair, I don't get this obsession with OS "updates" which essentially change the OS from the ground up and make it more difficult to run on old hardware.

If you buy a phone, it's best to do so going by what it can do right now, at this very moment, than by what a company promised or hasn't promised for the future.

Dr_Zorg

For some, however, they do feel updates are important. Regardless of Dr_Zorg’s advice, they will still pick up a phone in the hopes that certain improvements will come in a software update, OR they simply want to be included in future releases. With contract phones, you may be stuck for 2 years so updates may add longevity to your phone.

Either way, it’s up to you whether it matters or not.

Let’s go through some of the news related to this that I’ve come across:

1) WP7 apps are compatible with WP8. The original rumour cleared up, apparently the source was confused with compatibility and updates.

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9226381/Microsoft_evangelist_corrects_comment_that_Windows_Phone_7_devices_will_get_upgrade_to_Apollo_?

Microsoft are keeping a tight lip on information about Apollo/WP8.

2) Nokia Lumia 800 being tested with Apollo?

This site is relatively new, but after checking another tip, it was also talked about by WMPU.

http://www.insideris.com/windows-phone-8-features-vpn-uncertain/

http://wmpoweruser.com/rumor-windows-phone-8-being-tested-on-nokia-lumia-800-new-features-detailed/

Now, insideris seems to be a new site and despite being self acclaimed ‘insider information you can trust’, well we can’t just trust because it tells us to.

3) Ignore this because it’s a hoax. Someone posing as Joe Belfiore to ‘clear up rumours’.

Hey guys ! Sorry I’m so busy ..Well no problem, don’t worry.. I've been using lumia 800 & 900 for weeks and it rocks! ;) Lumia 800, 710, 610, 900 and others will get WP8. That’s my Xbox avatar on lumia screen. Do you like it? ahahaha Stay tuned for the final victory.. Great news for you bye ;)

https://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?fbid=294706937271024&set=a.136048169803569.33739.135109193230800&type=3&theater

 

For a verified Joe Belfiore:

https://twitter.com/#!/joebelfiore

He is aware of the rumour mill surrounding WP but generally, things as high profile as this is not talked about. Not unless there’s a major source already discussing it, i.e. one of their partners.

For example, Verizon talked about backing Windows Phone.

Going back to insideris, MS are apparently keeping a tighter lip on anything to do with Apollo? Why? Because of the nature of the smartphone market, popular things get copied by your competitors. If you announce too far away from launch, then by the time your products are out, competitors might already have that feature on their own devices. It’s about that WebOS moment when Palm announced something completely unexpected and groundbreaking. That however, also shows that a good OS will die with bad execution to market. His source is msnerd, who did a ‘Ask Me Anything’ at reddit. Now that again is another source we can’t just trust without question – all rumours in general must be remembered as just rumours. MSnerd has cleared up himself that a lot of his info is already known and he’s just repeating it. A little better than certain others who like to claim to ‘predict things’ that we already read about.

http://www.reddit.com/r/casualiama/comments/r4q5l/iama_someone_who_leaks_information_about/c4413z0

4) I just glanced at this but didn’t have a chance to save it. I read more rumours that WP7 handsets will still get some form of Apollo. Apollo ‘lite’. Not actual Apollo but many of the features, like how some of the older Nokia phones got new Anna browser and such, but not actually Anna.

I have no link for this. But if you feel the need to click on textbox links and whilst I’m talking about mobile browsers, I have some cute for you, courtesy of Reddit also

http://i.imgur.com/5LfGD.jpg

http://imgur.com/IKlLE

Thank you everyone who sent these tips in.

 

 


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