Mobile Updates: May 2012

31 May 2012

My Nokia Blog

Cyan Lumia 900 Case Out of Stock; Sign of 900s Still Selling Strong?
Nokia Store under maintenance – 808 to be added?
Update: O2 confirms- No 32GB Stormtrooper 900 :/
Lumiappaday #197: Photosynth demoed on the Nokia Lumia 800
Video: PhotoSynth Panorama app for WP (Seriously Awesome App)
“Something Big Coming This Week” – Probably the Magenta 900?
PhotoSynth (Awesome Panorama app) Now Available for WP (Gyroscope Preferred)
Magenta Lumia 900 Dummy Spotted in Italy; Real Thing Coming Soon?
Video: Nokia 603, multitasking 57 apps on Belle FP1
Nokia 808 PureView on Amazon UK drops in price, dated for 21st June

Cyan Lumia 900 Case Out of Stock; Sign of 900s Still Selling Strong?

Posted: 30 May 2012 08:16 PM PDT

Since Nokia refuses to release any exact number of how many 900s have been sold (cross fingers and think multi-millions?) we sort of end up reading a bit more into every “out of stock” notification; the latest item to go out of stock is the Cyan Bumper for the Lumia 900 (of course the Cyan 900 is the most popular and faces the most demand). I’m not sure what type of back-stock the online At&t store would have; but I would assume it’s huge considering that the device has been on the market for almost two months now (keep in mind the accessories were available before the actual device even).

Follow up question, wasn’t there a Black BUMPER case (no back cover) for the 900 available online as well? I can’t seem to find it anymore and I was hoping to grab one to protect the stormtrooper once it arrives without hiding it’s beauty, (the only other bumpers are Green & Cyan- neither of which match well with White); the black bumper would have made a perfect combo giving contrast between the two extremes.

Source

Nokia Store under maintenance – 808 to be added?

Posted: 30 May 2012 04:32 PM PDT

If you check out Nokia store’s page (oddly still with http://store.ovi.com/ and not redirecting to store.nokia.com) you’ll get the message:

We’ll be right back, folks

We’re just doing a bit of work on Nokia Store, which means it’s not available right now.
Come back in a little while or try re-loading this page.

Aymen who tipped this in speculates it might mean that Nokia is adding the 808 Pureview to the roster. Perhaps or it might just be the usual maintenance.

Cheers Aymen for the tip!

Update: O2 confirms- No 32GB Stormtrooper 900 :/

Posted: 30 May 2012 04:00 PM PDT

Well that was disappointing, after everyone got excited about the 32gb Lumia 900 that for sale by O2 Germany they went ahead and changed it back to 16gb; along with the tweet below denying they ever knew of it. Oh well…

mobi test.de @ mobi_test

@ o2de on the homepage, I think, but only the 16GB version of the 900th Lumia Where can I find the 32GB?Details

29 May O2 Germany @ o2de

@ mobi_test Currently we have no information whether this will also be offered. (HL)Details

original ad showing 32gb

Lumiappaday #197: Photosynth demoed on the Nokia Lumia 800

Posted: 30 May 2012 03:10 PM PDT

We’ve had a couple of posts from Ali today talking about this great little application called Photosynth by Microsoft. This allows you to create a panoramic photo. What’s different about it? Well you don’t just sweep in one direction – you can let Photosynth stitch any app together either moving up, down, left, right, diagonally etc and it will produce an interactive panorama which you can pan around later. It’s pretty cool if you can manage to connect together a 360 photo as it loops back around.

Now this will work without a gyroscope (e.g. would work best on 900) but I demoed this on the 800 and it did a good enough job.

PhotoSynth (Awesome Panorama app) Now Available for WP (Gyroscope Preferred)

Video: PhotoSynth Panorama app for WP (Seriously Awesome App)

You can also check out some interactive panoramas from other people, as well as share your panoramas online by signing in.

#197) Photosynth

Price: Free

Link: http://www.windowsphone.com/en-US/apps/ef860a79-5f68-4ed6-aa21-c038d1a55517

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qn74M1gnjF4

Developer Blurb:

Photosynth for Windows Phone is the panorama app that makes it easy and fun to capture and share interactive panoramas of the places, people, and events that are important to you. Using the latest in computer vision techniques, Photosynth is the acknowledged leader in mobile panorama creation. It is the only app available on any mobile platform that allows you to capture 360 degrees horizontally and vertically, making a perfect "sphere.”

Once you've created a Photosynth, you can share it as an interactive panorama experience on Facebook and Twitter (using the free Photosynth.net service) or as a simple image. You can also publish your panoramas to Bing where millions of people will see your panoramas, on Bing Maps and in Bing search results for the places you’ve captured. And check out our featured list, where we show off the best of what you and your fellow users create and share.

Rating:

Design: 9

Usability: 10

Performance: 8

Price: 10

Video: PhotoSynth Panorama app for WP (Seriously Awesome App)

Posted: 30 May 2012 11:08 AM PDT

As we just posted Phot0Synth was just released for WP bringing awesome 360 panorama capture to all WPs; here’s a quick Hands-On preview of the app I filmed a few minutes ago:

And here’s the panorama I captured in the Video: http://photosynth.net/view.aspx?cid=2d6ce554-5609-4584-a8ed-dad490ad147a (phone was shaking while capturing so it’s a bit messy)

Anyone else try it out yet?

*this is the first app video to be recorded with the iPad, what do you guys think of the quality? Stick with it or back to the N8? (It was hell trying to pan/focus the phone while mimicking the same movements on the iPad with only one hand- had to refilm about 5 times.)

“Something Big Coming This Week” – Probably the Magenta 900?

Posted: 30 May 2012 09:05 AM PDT

Nokia Philippines just Shared this photo on their facebook wall along with the caption:

Something BIG is coming this weekend. What do you think it is, Nokianatics? (^_^)

Most people were speculating that it’s the Pureview launch; but I think otherwise, first of all The pureview was never confirmed for Philippines (was it?) Secondly each tile in the image represents one of the now trademark four colors of Lumia line (Stormtrooper White, Cyan Blue, Flashy Magenta and Matte Black); also recall that they did something similar with the nail polish in the picture to the left to tease the white Lumia 800. This added to the Magenta Dummy we saw earlier makes me 96% sure that’s what we’re seeing. Any other thought?

VIA; SOURCE

Thanks for the tip KF

PhotoSynth (Awesome Panorama app) Now Available for WP (Gyroscope Preferred)

Posted: 30 May 2012 08:52 AM PDT

Photosynth

PhotoSynth is a really cool app that was just released for WP; it basically allows you to do full 360 degree and spherical panoramas (Currently Nokia Creative Studio only allows a maximum of 4 shots per panorama); anyways it’s a really cool app that you guys should check out. However it does claim it needs a gyroscope in the device and apparently the Lumia 800 doens’t have one (First I’m hearing of this); it’ll still works fine on it but supposedly it’ll give you better performance on a device with a gyroscope (Does the 900 have one?)

Also unfortunately this is yet another app to be added on the list of things that won’t run on the Lumia 610; I’m honestly having a very hard time finding a “selling point” of this phone as it’s priced similar to the Lumia 710 and in some areas even more expensive, yet the 710 a better camera, more Processing power and more available applications. I know the number of apps that won’t work isn’t THAT serious; but I feel like Nokia kinda shot themselves in the foot with this one as it throws away half the reason they went to WP; EcoSystem.

Anyways go ahead and download it for you non 610 Lumias here:

QR: Photosynth

VIA

Magenta Lumia 900 Dummy Spotted in Italy; Real Thing Coming Soon?

Posted: 30 May 2012 08:28 AM PDT

WP Central

So far the 4 new colors of Nokia that we’ve become accustomed to has been suspiciously missing it’s Pink member when it came to the Lumia 900; earlier we thought it was coming out on mothers-day but that turned out to be a pink case. This time it’s popped up again as full bodied non-functioning dummy unit somewhere in Italy; so hopefully a new color is coming soon (Still wouldn’t be as weird as releasing a BROWN version of a phone more than 1 year after it’s launch; Still haven’t seen one of those BTW).

On the other hand back at MWC I asked the guys why there wasn’t a Magenta colored one, and if they had decided to “drop” the color from the line- their reply was the current colors are what you see; we might add more later you never know; is it possible that Nokia have been so impressed with the sales of the 900 that they added another color in the mix to keep things spicy?

Source

Video: Nokia 603, multitasking 57 apps on Belle FP1

Posted: 30 May 2012 08:09 AM PDT

Quick demo of some intensive multitasking on the Nokia 603 with Belle FP1.

Sorry for the bad quality. This video shows a short demonstration of the multitasking capabilities of the Nokia 603 running on Belle FP1. Even with 57 open apps, the phone runs pretty smoothly, with only slight lags here and there. You may notice that the number of open apps goes from 57 to 56 at one point, this is because I accidentally pressed the red key and closed dungeon hunter 2 instead of putting it in the background.

by knksnk

Cheers lordstar for the tip!

Nokia 808 PureView on Amazon UK drops in price, dated for 21st June

Posted: 30 May 2012 01:40 AM PDT

Hey, check it out – the Nokia 808 PureView has dropped in price at Amazon UK and has been given a date of 21st June 2012.

Nokia 808 PureView for £499.98

As expected the price is lower than the original 695.03

http://mynokiablog.com/2012/05/07/nokia-808-pureview-listing-at-amazon-uk/

Cheers Dave² for the tip!

GSM Dome - Mobile Phone News

ASUS PadFone Gets Reviewed by Our Sister Site; Here’s What They Concluded! (Video)
iPhone 5 Cases Pictured, Could Adopt New Colors
China Telecom Approves HTC One X Local Version for Sale
Thomson 5.3 Inch X-View 2 Is a Dual SIM Android 4.0 Device Coming to France
Sony Announces Xperia Go and Xperia Acro S, Two New Android Waterproof Smartphones

ASUS PadFone Gets Reviewed by Our Sister Site; Here’s What They Concluded! (Video)

Posted: 30 May 2012 01:32 PM PDT

As you may know, if you check out the upper part of our website, Tablet-News.com is our sister site and they’ve had the chance to review the famous ASUS PadFone, that we’ve also played with for the past week. In case you’ve been living under a rock for the past year, the ASUS PadFone is a 4.3 inch handset that goes inside the PadFone Station tablet to create a hybrid device.

The combo costs 699 euros and it’s available in parts of Asia, suffering delays in most countries because of Snapdragon S4 that’s very sought after. Tablet News gave this device an 8.66 out of 10 and praised the originally of the design and the dynamic switch between phone and tablet. They called the camera “a pleasant surprise”, with an efficient interface, great photo taking ability and stunning 1080p videos. The Padfone itself is nothing to laugh at, since it has a beautiful teardrop profile case, metallic edge and nice texture of the battery cover.

It’s got a glassy and glossy facade with 3 virtual buttons and Android 4.0 as the OS with some minor ASUS customizations that you’re used to seeing on tablets. The PadFone Station is a 10.1 inch unit with 1280 x 800 pixel resolution and it shares the CPU, camera and internals of the PadFone, but it brings as extra its display, SonicMaster speakers and its very own phone and GPS antenna. You can make calls from the tablet and phone and the 6600 mAh battery on the slate expands the battery life of the phone five fold. More info in the video below!

iPhone 5 Cases Pictured, Could Adopt New Colors

Posted: 30 May 2012 12:52 PM PDT

Another week, another pair of leaked iPhone 5 cases, this time with a change in colour. A little while ago we saw the front bezel for the Apple iPhone 5 leaking and then some connector, but now it’s the turn of the case to leak online. The rumors about the screen size on the new iPhone continue, but this doesn’t do much to bring them to a halt, sadly.

All we have here is a glance at the phone’s back and we get black and white rear shells from two different sources. When two different sites publish pics of what appear to be similar devices, then you know you have a problem. Both leaks show docking connectors reduced in size, a fact about the iPhone 5 that we’ve been hearing about for a while. Rumors say that the connectors were reduced in order to allow for larger and louder speakers to be integrated.

The headphone jack has also apparently moved at the bottom of the device. At the top there’s room for a larger camera element now. What’s really interesting here is that the sources behind the image also say that Apple is planning more color options for the new iPhone, something new to them. Usually it’s the iPod that’s colourful, while the iPhones are merely black or white. Could they go with colours this year?

China Telecom Approves HTC One X Local Version for Sale

Posted: 30 May 2012 11:25 AM PDT

China Mobile and China Unicom have already scored their versions of the quad core handset HTC One X and it’s not up to China Telecom to also get its share of HTC’s latest flagship. And so they did, by getting the needed regulatory approval for the device.

The version here is the X720d, that looks very much like Sprint’s version of the handset, the HTC Evo 4G LTE, although it replaces the red highlights from Sprint and the kickstand with a golden motif. On the hardware side, a clear difference between the X720d and the HTC EVO 4G LTE is the support for global roaming on GSM networks, available on the Chinese version. The roaming completes the already available support for China Telecom’s CDMA network.

The thing here is that the X720d is actually packing the dual core MSM8660 Snapdragon S3 processor, rather than the new 28 nm Krait SoC, which is a bit of a bummer. Other than that the specs are pretty much the same with the Evo 4G LTE, including the 720p display, 8 megapixel camera and 16 GB of storage. It will run Android 4.0 and be released locally in mid June.

Thomson 5.3 Inch X-View 2 Is a Dual SIM Android 4.0 Device Coming to France

Posted: 30 May 2012 04:15 AM PDT

Thomson isn’t the kind of name that says anything to me, but apparently they have some nifty devices in their portofolio, including an IPTV tablet (PoMMeS) and now an interesting 5.3 inch device. Meet the X-View 2, that’s actually a dual SIM gizmo with Android 4.0, headed to the French market.

This phablet features a qHD 960 x 540 pixel display, a mystery single core 1 GHz processor, 512MB of RAM and a 2500 mAh battery. The phablet will debut in France this summer and we have no idea how much it will cost, but I reckon it will be cheaper than the Galaxy Note from Samsung. It also looks very bulky in these pictures and strangely enough it has 4 capacitive buttons below the display, not 3 like modern Android 4.0 devices usually do now.

There’s also an 8 megapixel camera at its back, 512MB of RAM on the specs list, a microSD card slot and the ability to work on GSM and CDMA networks. It also supports 7.2 Mbps HSDPA connectivity, Bluetooth 2.0 and e-book reading. For the right price, this model could become a popular phablet in some areas in Europe.

Sony Announces Xperia Go and Xperia Acro S, Two New Android Waterproof Smartphones

Posted: 30 May 2012 02:10 AM PDT

Sony just announced two brand new Xperia models that have two main defining aspects: they run Android and they’re waterproof. The newcomers are the Sony Xperia Go and the xperia Acro S, both resilient to water and dust. They feature Reality Display screens with Mobile Bravia engine technology, for better clarity and quality.

These models will go on sale starting with Q3 2012. Xperia go and Xperia acro S feature screens that are resilient to scratches, being made out of mineral glass. The phones are bundled with Music and Video Unlimited services from the Son Entertainment Network, so users can get their share of Hollywood blockbusters. Sony Xperia Go features a 3.5 inch touchscreen, a dual core 1 GHz processor, a faster camera (loading in less than a minute) and Android 2.3 Gingerbread as the OS, with the option to upgrade to Android 4.0 ICS.

The Xperia go model will be available in black, yellow and white and it will debut on the American market as the Xperia Advance. This smartphone measures 9.8mm in thickness, weighs 110 grams and offers 3D Sweep Panorama as camera feature, it uses a 5 megapixel camera sensor and does HD video recording, It also offers 3D surround sound, 50 GB of free cloud storage (BOX offer), DLNA, aGPS and Glonass support. Its 3.5 inch display supports a 480 x 320 pixel resolution and other internal specs include 8 GB of internal storage, 512MB of RAM and a microSD card slot. The battery inside the device is a 1305 mAh unit with up to 6 hours and 30 minutes of GSM talk time.

Moving on to the Xperia Acro S, this model measures 11.9mm, weighs 147 grams and it’s better specced than the Go. It offers a 12.1 megapixel camera with 3D sweep panorama, 1080p capture and video stabilizer, plus DLNA, Glonass, HDMI and a 4.3 inch 720p screen. It also has 16GB of storage, 1 GB of RAM, microSD card slot, NFC, HSPA+ connectivity and a 1910 mAh battery, good enough for 6 hours and 40 minutes of GSM Talk time. This model runs Android 4.0 ICS from the box and comes in black, pink and white. No prices were mentioned yet.