10 August 2012

My Nokia Blog

My Nokia Blog

Lumiappaday #268: Dalton The Awesome demoed on the Nokia Lumia 900

Posted: 09 Aug 2012 03:02 PM PDT

There are plenty of running style games at Marketplace, but my favourite was the one we demoed on the Nokia N9 first, Dalton The Awesome.

This app is free (no ads) and plays the same as the N9 version.

Press the screen to jump. Long press to jump longer/higher. Get hearts to improve lives and powerups to kill enemies. Avoid touching them if you don’t have powerups.

#268) Dalton The Awesome 

Price:  Free

Link: http://www.windowsphone.com/en-US/apps/14d0ad90-fa39-48fa-93ec-e4d88bae0079

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Kqpt2X83UA

Developer Blurb:

Developed by colorbox

Do you love run n’ jump games or do you hate them? Whatever the case, Dalton – The Awesome is made for you! Be sure that you think twice before clicking buy this game cuz it’s insanely addictive!!!

Play as Dalton on his journey to kill all of the zombies standing in his way as he achieves TRUE AWESOMENESS

Rating:

Design: 9

Usability: 10

Performance: 9 

Price: 10

Cheers Aiki for the tip!

UnleashThePhones VideoCast- 808 PureView Special

Posted: 09 Aug 2012 09:15 AM PDT

Last night I joined the UnleashThePhones team in a videocast all about the 808, we were also joined by @MsJen who is completely in love with her 808 (at one point she started kissing it); there’re alot of great points made about the 808 from all prescriptives, plus I get a chance to clarify my stance on the 808, so check it out below:

*Note: It turns out that the issue with the one button upload to FB I mentioned is a Firmware bug, some 808 devices (in the US) have started receiving updates that fix the issue as well as the youtube share option.

Video: Jo Harlow on the BGR Show

Posted: 09 Aug 2012 08:17 AM PDT

Jo Harlow is interviewed on the BGR show and talks about Windows Phone strategy, Asha and PureView.

Asha will continue to be a competitor to lowest end Android. Harlow mentions  PureView all about quality – Nokia’s INTENTION is to bring that to the WP platform too but go further in solving consumer problems when taking photos.

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Via @BGR.

Family of MeeGo-Harmattan protoype devices?

Posted: 09 Aug 2012 07:32 AM PDT

I posted this over at MobilePhoneInnovation, so I figured I should post it here as well, since it is something a few readers may be interested in taking a look at.

I’ve been doing some digging and have come across an interesting quote by somebody that was a part of getting MeeGo-Harmattan to where it is today. I am not going to identify who they are, solely as I don’t want people to harass them. The information though is public, so people can find it if they look. When discussing an app feature modding the System, they said their “patch restores functionality that was originally intended to be in devices that have the hardware keyboard.” Since the “consumer devices with a hardware keyboard were canceled” the SW in the N950 was left locked to accomodate for the only consumer device, N9

Doing some more digging and using my own knowledge, there are approximately 7 devices designed (and apparently prototyped), incl. N9 & N950, made for MeeGo-Harmattan. I have only 2 images, one of a device, one of the concept drawings, but here is a list of different devices:

  • N9: This obviously made it to market and for good reason. It is gorgeous. No need to explain this further
  • N950: Again, this is a known device. Regulated to a dev-only device for various reasons
  • N9, but with a camera shutter, and improved camera
  • There is the silver N950 we have seen a few times, and that was featured on Transformers 3. It had an earlier version of MH (earlier than what came with N950s). It had support for its 12MP camera, but with lower internal specs, and was shelved rather quickly.
  • This was a device that looked very similar to the N8. It follows the rumours of there being a MeeGo succesor to the ex-CameraPhone King
  • Apparently this prototype matched the design of the Nokia One exactly.
  • Another QWERTY device with MH on board. No more info has been shared with me, but I assume it would have been the successor to N950

Here are the images I have of the initial N950, and design of N9 w/ physical camera. Trying to source more. Will update if they come to my attention.

    Showing blueprint for N9 w/ camera button

I am pretty annoyed personally. We could’ve had a family of MeeGo-Harmattan devices, and even a better N9 than what currently exists (even though many argue it can’t happen). What are your thoughts?

Video: A Day in London with Nokia’s Location-Based Apps (+ mini rant)

Posted: 09 Aug 2012 07:23 AM PDT

Here’s a video showing “A day in London with Nokia’s location based apps”. Pinning locations to homescreen is really useful for me. Saves having to open up the app and search.

 

 

You know what, it’s great to go around London on foot, travelling the underground to zip from one exciting place to another. Nokia Transport for the underground is pretty neat. Im not sure how well that works as the tube can be confusing.

When you are walking around, what else is a nice thing to have? Turn by turn, walk navigation with voice. Where is that, oh Nokia Location based apps? Have a guess what amazing everyday phone can’t do that and what oldie could.

What I don’d like is how we had to keep opening app after app after app to get the aim of the video done. I sometimes dislike having to open Nokia maps in order to do something Nokia Drive can’t.

Separating one major app into many can make it easier for users to get what they need to do but it could also add another layer of complexity.

What essentially are people trying to do? Get from A to B. They may need to get there through various routes that would require features from old Nokia maps (walk nav), Nokia transport for public transportation, city lens for some cool augmented reality thing. Where is the integration of that experience. This video feels disjointed, it feels unnecessarily complicated. As much as they hate the idea of having one main super location app, I think most people who want to find out where they need to go and how to get there would rather not be an app alchemist.

 

 

Vringo to acquire 500 Nokia patents…for $22m :/

Posted: 09 Aug 2012 07:10 AM PDT

 

DailyMobile reports that around 500 Nokia patents have been bought by Vringo for a sum of about  $22 million, of which Nokia gets 35% of any royalties should Vringo exceed a $22m revenue. I am not even going to try and pretend I understand the significance of which patents are up for sale, but the excerpt says:

Thirty-one of the 124 patent families acquired have been declared essential by Nokia to wireless communications standards. Standards represented in the portfolio are commonly known as 2G, 2.5G, 3G and 4G and related technologies and include GSM, WCDMA, T63, T64, DECT, IETF, LTE, SAE, and OMA.

http://www.dailymobile.net/2012/08/09/nokia-to-sell-500-patents-to-vringo/

Note, not all patents are of equal value, so we can’t just assume that such a more patents = higher value. In my extremely limited view, Nokia could be trying to monetize the patents that they have which could possibly be sitting idle, concentrating further into core aspects of smartphone production. Or, Nokia could be selling the silverware in preparation of minimising the losses from the duds that we’ll see in September. Got your wads of cash ready for your new iPhone/Droid?

More on this story:

Nokia Alpha with optimised BT4.0?

Posted: 09 Aug 2012 12:03 AM PDT

WMPU noticed some BT Certification by Bluetooth SIG for something from Nokia called an Alpha Engine subcontroller system.

https://www.bluetooth.org/tpg/QLI_viewQDL.cfm?qid=19734

This states that it has BT4.0, a very optimised low energy bluetooth which will become very useful for small devices that need to transfer information over BT (e.g. small health/fitness sensors).

N9 has BT4.0 right? I read on TMO that the hardware is there but limited in software to 2.1. That was an old post though.

Source: bluetooth.or

Via: WMPU

Cheers David for the tip!

Video: Nokia 110 TV commercial ft Ali Zafar

Posted: 09 Aug 2012 12:00 AM PDT

I’m guessing this is an advert from Nokia Pakistan given that the ad features Ali Zafar, a celebrity in Pakistan.

This is a TV commercial for the Nokia 110, a very basic but oddly feature packed Nokia.

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Digia buys Qt from Nokia

Posted: 08 Aug 2012 11:32 PM PDT

 

I can’t find anything on Nokia Press releases at the moment but Kauppalehti.fi reports this has already taken place. Original text in Finnish.

The acquisition includes 125 employees from Nokia, as well as Qt technology-related intellectual property rights, Trademarks and aforementioned Qt-business people. So Digia has now acquired the rest of Qt (the rest being that  last year, Nokia sold the Qt licensing and services business to Digia). So much for that facts clarification post denying offloading of Qt.

http://www.kauppalehti.fi/5/i/porssi/tiedotteet/porssitiedote.jsp?id=201208090007

Helsinki, 09.08.2012 8:00 CEST (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) - DIGIA PLC STOCK EXCHANGE RELEASE  08/09/2012 at 09:00     DIGIA HAS SIGNED purchase agreement to acquire Qt software technology and  BUSINESS from Nokia     Digia Plc (DIG1V) has signed a purchase agreement to acquire  Qt software technology and business from Nokia. On completion, Digia  will take over all of Qt technology-related activities, which  Nokia already has taken care of. These encompass product development,  commercial and open source licensing and service business.  The arrangement is to take place in the third quarter 2012  During normal trading päättämisehtojen after the operation.     After the Digia bought Qt licensing business by Nokia in March  2011, the business has developed favorably and has significantly increased.  In order to improve its position in the Qt ecosystem, Digia is now planning to acquire  Qt size of the software and related technologies, still in the Nokia  operations. The deal includes the Qt technology-related intellectual property rights,  Trademarks and Qt-business people. Following this acquisition, Digia  plans to introduce Qt software development environment, including the popular  operating systems such as Android, iPhone and Windows 8     The acquisition of up to 125 employees will transfer to the service of Digia. The majority  part of the workforce is in Oslo and Berlin. In addition to these workers is  USA, and Finland. Employees are transferred to local subsidiaries, Digia  service in Norway, Finland and the USA. In addition, Digia will establish a new  a subsidiary in Germany.     The company expects a transaction to be neutral effect on earnings and a slightly positive  effect of Digia's 2012 revenue. In the coming years Digia estimates  Qt-business to grow profitably. This arrangement contributes significantly to  Digia's product-based business and supports the strategic objective of Digia  to grow internationally.     Qt software technology used by more than 450 000 developers and thousands of major  more than 70 companies world-wide search in the development of innovative applications  kehitysteknologiana and user interfaces as an enabler. Commercially  Qt is licensed as a market leader in several segments, such as the automotive and  the pharmaceutical industry, advanced imaging and animation,  industrial automation, aerospace and defense industries. Digia estimates  Qt technology that will have a substantial role in building  world-class user experience and user interfaces for embedded  systems and consumer electronics.     Digia is planning to increase its business by expanding the Qt support  more than one operating system that aims to build a leading platform independent  application development environment for embedded systems as well as the workstation and  Mobile operating systems.     Helsinki, 9 August 2012    Digia Plc
Update: Siraj  has a link to an English press release:

Helsinki, Finland and Santa Clara, US – August 9th 2012, Digia, the software powerhouse listed on the NASDAQ OMX Helsinki exchange (DIG1V), today announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire Qtsoftware technologies and Qt business from Nokia. Following the acquisition Digia becomes responsible for all the Qt activities formerly carried out by Nokia. These include product development, as well as the commercial and open source licensing and service business. Following the acquisition, Digia plans to quickly enable Qt on Android, iOS and Windows 8 platforms.

One of Digia's key objectives with this acquisition is to improve its position within the Qt ecosystem by further strengthening Qt's R&D capabilities and expanding its reach on many more platforms than ever before. Since Digia acquired the Qt Commercial licensing business from Nokia in March 2011, the operation has continued to be successful and has grown substantially. Digia forecasts the acquisition's impact on its 2012 revenues to be positive. In the following years, Digia forecasts the Qt business to grow. As part of the transaction, a maximum of 125 Qt people from Nokia will transfer to Digia, mostly based in Oslo, Norway and Berlin, Germany. This business transaction will significantly strengthen Digia's product business and supports Digia’s strategic objective to grow internationally.

Digia encourages all current ecosystem members to continue working on improving Qt with full confidence in Digia's continued investment to make Qt the leading cross-platform development framework. Digia will work with ecosystem members to secure a successful release of Qt5 and is committed to continuing the Qt Project in order to maintain Qt's availability under both open source and commercial licenses.

"We are looking forward to welcoming the Qt team to Digia. By adding this world class organization to our existing team we plan to build the next generation leading cross-platform development environment." said Tommi Laitinen, SVP, International Products, Digia. "Now is a good time for everyone to revisit their perception of Qt. Digia's targeted R&D investments will bring back focus on Qt's desktop and embedded platform support, while widening the support for mobile operating systems."

“Nokia is proud of the contributions we’ve made to Qt over the past four years. We are pleased that we’ve been able to work with Digia to secure continued development of Qt by the current core team,” said Sebastian Nyström, head of Nokia Strategy. “Digia’s plans to acquire Qt mean that it can continue as a successful open source project and also offer continuing employment for many people in the community.”

Qt has been used by over 450,000 developers and thousands of leading companies worldwide in over 70 industries to power the most innovative, mission-critical and renowned applications and UIs. Qt Commercial is a leader in a number key market segments including automotive, medical, advanced visualization & animation, industrial automation and aerospace & defense. In the future, Digia expects that Qt will have a key role bringing world-class user experience and user interfaces to embedded systems and consumer electronics.

More information will be available shortly on qt.digia.com and qt-project.org which will be the main information-sharing sites for Qt.

Video: CNet US on Nokia 808 PureView – only for Symbian diehards with $700

Posted: 08 Aug 2012 11:15 PM PDT

For some reason, I thought I already posted this but it seems it was another female CNet presenter dying to talk about the Nokia 808 PureView.

They ask why would anyone want to spend $700 on this phone? The big seller is of course the camera. Incorrectly off the bat, we are told it can take up to 41mp shots.  es and we’re told at 5mp we can use the ‘fancy zooming’. Well, no it’s not just about fancy zooming. It’s about pixel binning/over sampling to utilise extra pixels to create super pixels i.e. performance. Not fancy gimmicks.

It is acknowledged that the pictures are amazing and it is a unique phone. In fact, in the video description it says the stunning camera demands notice.

Symbian will apparently take some time to relearn coming from other OSes, though fortunately that apparently wasn’t too hard. Unless you’re a Symbian diehard with 700USD, they recommend against this.

Again, let’s enjoy the idiots on youtube comments who fail to understand what PureView is about. What’s worse is that they’re the TOP comments which means there are plenty of other idiots agreeing with them. Idiots.

I have a camera, I have a DSLR. They are so inconvenient for taking photos in situations other than those I have pre-prepared for. But there are so many moments when you’re not prepared. Even so there are situations where DSLRs and pocket cams are just an extra bother. Why not just have your phone and super camera in one device?

OK, I get that some might have qualms with Symbian and might find it unusable for them. But to dismiss the high resolution purely for being high resolution in the 808 warrants a massive stamp on their forehead saying IDIOT.

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