22 February 2013

My Nokia Blog

My Nokia Blog

Press Release: Mall of America switches from BlackBerry to Nokia Lumia 920

Posted: 21 Feb 2013 11:12 AM PST

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Mall of America switches from BlackBerry to Nokia Lumia 920

Espoo, Finland – Mall of America, the United States’ largest retail and entertainment complex, is switching from BlackBerry to the Nokia Lumia 920 because of the tight integration with Microsoft services and built-in Microsoft Office suite, offering Mall of America management team members greater productivity and flexibility in a very dynamic workplace.

The Nokia Lumia 920 is built on the Microsoft Windows Phone 8 platform, which allows out-of-the-box access to Microsoft apps and services, including Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote and SkyDrive, all brought to life on the smartphone’s large PureMotion HD+ super sensitive touch screen. These apps integrate with the mall’s existing Microsoft services, enabling Mall of America management team members to review and edit Outlook emails and Microsoft Office documents on their smartphones, wherever they happen to be.

“Switching to the Nokia Lumia 920 has increased productivity for key team members. The combination of a great smartphone with built-in Microsoft Office suite enables our team to work collaboratively, and SkyDrive ensures we can back up and access our work, wherever we are and whenever we want,” says Janette Smrcka, I.T. Director at Mall of America.

“With more than 400 events every year, from music acts to celebrity book signings, the ability to capture, edit and share images from the Nokia Lumia 920′s PureView camera enables team members to provide instant high-quality imagery and real time updates to social media fans and our business customers. When you combine this with all of the Windows Phone 8 platform’s business capabilities, at a price we can afford, we’ve got a device we’re really proud to use,” concludes Janette.

The Nokia Lumia 920′s Live Tiles offer intelligent, interactive apps, showing the latest emails, news, documents and people updates as they happen, so that at one touch of a tile, management team members can reach key people, stay organized and collaborate with colleagues. The People Hub in Windows Phone 8 further helps organize teams, allowing staff to set-up groups, work together innovatively, and stay in touch with co-workers across text, Facebook, Twitter, instant messaging and email.

“Mall of America is a great example of how all the business features of the Nokia Lumia 920, combined with its social capabilities, can make a great work device,” said Stephanie Mosticchio, enterprise sales manager for North America at Nokia. “The Windows Phone 8 platform has meant the company’s employees have been able to transition quickly, due to its built-in and familiar Microsoft Outlook and Office Mobile applications. From the intuitive integration with Microsoft services, to Live Tiles and People Hub making it easy to stay close to what matters, all wrapped in the beautiful polycarbonate body of the Nokia Lumia 920, it offers everything a mobile workforce could ask for.”

Nokia for Business
With the Nokia Lumia range, Nokia offers business users the ability to work on their mobile as they would on their PC. With the Windows Phone 8 platform, Microsoft Office and Outlook are built in allowing employees to create and edit PowerPoint, Excel and Word documents wherever they are whilst seamlessly syncing their files and email. Combined with a design that stands out, business level security as standard, and a range of Qi standard wireless charging solutions, the Nokia Lumia is the most innovative smartphone for businesses.

Portico Update Now Rolling Out to More Devices (Including my UK Unlocked 920)

Posted: 21 Feb 2013 08:23 AM PST

wp_ss_20130221_0008I saw a couple tweets in my timeline excited about finally getting Portico (plus a couple of readers yesterday announced its availability in Finland and Indonesia); and surprise surprise it turns out my 920 decided to finally get it as well (Bought in UK unlocked; and in Jordan). WPC also reports that Portico is rolling out in a second “wave” to multiple new devices and areas (also including non-Nokia WP devices such as the 8X).

I took a couple of pre-update shots and will be sure to upload a comparison of the two once my update is done.

* Apparently my phone doesn’t have enough juice in it to update so I have to wait a while- I’ve hooked it to both the wall charger and the put it on the fatboy in hopes of a faster recharge :P

 

Major Update for WP Whatsapp; Brings Chat Backups, Brodacasts, Wide Live tile and Lockscreen Notifications and Much More

Posted: 21 Feb 2013 07:44 AM PST

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Whatsapp for WP8 (possibly Wp7 too?- I’ve loaded my 900 to a friend so no way of checking Thanks to our readers we cna confirm this update is available for WP7 as well; but some features such as lockscreen notifications probably won’t be available); has just received a pretty nifty update. The new version 2.9.2 brings some long awaited features that have been available on other OSes from quite some time. Mainly the ability to broadcast chat messages, Backup chat history and “enter to send” option as well as the long awaited lock screen notifications. The live tile also now supports the Double wide view that takes the full width of the screen; and the icon changes to match your phone’s theme color.

I’ve also noticed a new sharing feature which uses a much nicer Metro UI to get you your options; plus you can send Screenshots now!

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After updating the app claimed to be “Optimizing chat storage” which should hopefully fix the long wait times for resuming/booting the app.

Grab the App from here: http://www.windowsphone.com/en-us/store/app/whatsapp/218a0ebb-1585-4c7e-a9ec-054cf4569a79

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Thanks for the tip AKA_P

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Q&A With Nokia Design Team

Posted: 21 Feb 2013 07:24 AM PST

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We had a chance to put some questions forth to the Nokia Design team; of course there were some obvious things we couldn’t ask about; but all in all i found it pretty interesting to finally speak to one of the guys that works behind the scenes in Nokia’s labs.

-Rumor followers might find the question about Aluminum bodies interesting ;)

Hey there, it's Ali from MyNokiaBlog.com; first off we're huge fans of all your work (duh!); so what's your Name/ Position at the top secret Nokia Design lab?

I'm Jonne Harju, and I'm a Senior Design Manager in Nokia Design!

 

How long have you been working as part of the Nokia Design team?

7+ years

What type of degree does someone have to have to be part of a phone design team? Arts? Engineering?

We have multiple roles inside the Design Team, but most people have Design Degrees (BA / MA) in different areas like Industrial Design, Product Design, Fashion Design, Graphics Design, UX design etc. We also have people working on different areas like research, trend analysis, technical support etc. and these people can have an education outside Design also.

 

What's the coolest/weirdest thing about working in a confidential/top secret design lab? Do you work in some sort of underground bunker?

J We are working on future global mobile innovations and design, and it has to be taken seriously when it comes to keeping secrets. That said, there are no bunkers – actually, we need to always keep our eyes open and see the surrounding world to understand where it is moving.                       

 

The toughest question I could think of, what's your all-time favorite Nokia (or other!) phone design? And why?

This is actually easy — I love the Nokia N9 and Lumia 800. The whole process of how they were done and what it triggered has been important for us in Nokia Design. The devices changed the way how we create phones and set the bar higher.

 

Some less personal more work involved questions…

When designing a phone do you start with the external look then try and fit the insides (camera, processor, antennas etc.) in it; or do they start with the internals and then try to make a design to accommodate the internals?

Designing inside-out is really our way to create new mobile devices. We do not work in silos: best results come from fluent co-operation with industrial designers, color and material specialists, mechanic designers, engine architects, antenna specialists, material specialists, etc. It is the only way to create magic.

 

Comparing the screens of the 900 and the 920, the 920's seems much easier to swipe/drag your finger across; besides the fact that the 920s screen is curved is there a reason for this? (some have speculated that there's a slight oleophobic coating on the 920 which helps)

We started our curved front glass design with polycarbonate unibody already with Nokia N9/Lumia 800, and were able to continue that with the Lumia 920. Swiping your finger outside the display is easier when there's curvature on the edge – that naturally supports the movement.

There are reports of dust getting trapped under the Front facing camera of the Lumia 920, are you guys aware of this?

(Image link: http://discussions.nokia.com/discussions/attachments/discussions/Nokia_with_Windows_Phone/25541/1/_DSC0215.JPG)

We have heard of this, yes, and are looking into the matter. We take all such concerns seriously.

 

Aluminum bodied devices such as the N8 were pretty cool, any reason why you’ve moved away from them? Are signal reception and body heat a major factor in aluminum bodies (hence the plastic lens cap on the N8)

All materials are important and can be cool if used in right way. We wanted to take a step forward and bring simplicity and new innovation to the phones – with a polycarbonate unibody we can bring more vibrant colours and simplicity. By using pc unibody we have less challenges with very demanding antenna requirements compared to conductive materials such as metals.

 

Where would you draw the line for a phone to be considered "too thick" or "too heavy" especially in lights of the (honestly ridiculous) criticism that the 920 is overweight?

We're extremely happy with the 920 – we think it's the world's most innovative smartphone. We design our devices to pass complex and demanding tests do consumers can enjoy the device without being too afraid of it breaking easily.

 

I know Nokia doesn’t have a tablet device, but theoretically how much more difficult is it to design a tablet than it is a smartphone? Especially when tablets all have the same general "look" which is a large rectangle?

I have to say, my main focus at the moment is on devices and what we can do in that space.

 

If possible could you take a quick look at some of the DreamNokias and just give us a quick estimate to how Possible/improbable designing one would be (from a viewpoint of specs/internals/shape/material budget etc)?

Since these are obviously 3D renderings and not existing devices so it is tough for me to comment for a number of reasons. However, I think it is great to see such passion in terms of designing Nokia devices.

Video: Roope Tonteri introduction – Shot with a Nokia Lumia 920

Posted: 21 Feb 2013 07:17 AM PST

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Our new team member – professional snowboarder Roope Tonteri. Guess what was Roope’s first phone and win Nokia Lumia 920. #NokiaxRoope

Roope is one of the best snowboarders of his generation and a keen filmmaker, Nokia’s now helping him prepare for the 2014 Winter Olympics.

COMPETITION:
Guess what was Roope’s first phone. Answer below in Youtube comments or tweet #NokiaxRoope. If you guess right, you could be closer to win a Nokia Lumia 920. The competition will open on Wednesday 20th February 2013 and close at midnight GMT on Wednesday 13th March 2013. We will be announcing the right answer and contact winner in March 2013.

NOTE:
The present footage (not Roope’s home footage) has been entirely shot with a Nokia Lumia 920. Sound from interviews were recorded with Zoom 4Hn and video edited with Adobe Premiere CS6

 

 
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