30 January 2014

My Nokia Blog

My Nokia Blog


Google sells Motorola Mobility to Lenovo for 2.91B USD

Posted: 29 Jan 2014 04:09 PM PST

moto

A surprise move indeed. Google has sold Motorola Mobility to Lenovo for 2.91 billion USD. Lenovo was previously rumoured to be buying Nokia. Turns out, they were after another old giant.

Google was said to have picked up Moto (12B USD) for the patents to protect Android. It was initially feared that Google was going to give preferential to Moto treatment now it owns its own phone manufacturer. Whilst there were some privileges, that wasn’t always the case with Moto devices often not launching with the latest build that was available for Nexus and other Droids.

Lenovo isn’t just getting the phone business, but about 2000 Moto patents. Google also retains the rest.

We believe that Motorola will be better served by Lenovo – says Google.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-25956284

Perhaps we might see MS sell off Nokia D&S once Nokia D&S manages to serve its purpose for them? (or not? Motorola unit has been costing Google a fair bit with their losses)

Larry Page says this does not signal a shift to Google’s hardware efforts.

What does it mean for Lenovo’s Android/Windows efforts?

Lumiappdates: Nokia Story Teller Beta, Bing Sport, 6Snap, Asphalt 8, Viber

Posted: 29 Jan 2014 03:52 PM PST

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The updates above were just pushed to my Nokia Lumia 1520 (Nokia Story Teller Beta v1.8.1.10,  Bing Sport, 6Snap v 2.5.1.0 and Asphalt 8).

Viber also got an update today. That was from my 1020

Nokia Lumia 520 Disassembly & Assembly – Digitizer Display Screen Replacement

Posted: 29 Jan 2014 01:05 PM PST

unnamed

Of course, from none other than LE55ONS, we have another Nokia disassembly and assembly video. This time of the super popular Nokia Lumia 520. Another one of my friends recently purchased one after my recommendations for Nokia Lumia. At just £75, he’s loving that device.

Note: You will void your warranty if you do this.

01:42 Back Cover Off
02:30 Loudspeaker/Buzzer
02:54 Mainboard Removal
03:45 Mic & Usb Port
04:21 Display Removal
05:29 Headphone Socket/Jack
06:13 Earpiece Speaker
07:09 Proximity Sensor
07:46 Digitizer & Frame Separation
10:53 Genuine vs Aftermarket Digitizer
11:34 Double sided tape or Glue
18:17 +Tips

Nokia’s OIS available for other OEMs as ST Microelectronics exclusivity ends

Posted: 29 Jan 2014 01:00 PM PST

Lumia 920 OIS. Image Credit: The Verge

Lumia 920 OIS.
Image Credit: The Verge

When Nokia introduced Optical Image Stabilisation to smartphones (920), it changed how mobile photography was perceived. Low light became another battle ground. Who could do it better? Phones had become quite similar in daylight (only a few shining through, e.g. Nokia). In low light without flash, Nokia’s PureView Phase 2 was a clear winner.

Nokia has been famous for its optical image stabilization on smartphone cameras since the Lumia 920. We've tested it against every other smartphone you can think of, and there's no denying that Nokia is superior.

http://pocketnow.com/2014/01/29/nokias-ois-tech-available-to-others?

With flash, the xenon equipped N8/808 had previously shown the power of a real flash. The 1020 had both OIS (different ball-bearing based one), PureView phase 1 41MP oversampling and PureView phase 2 OIS.

Whilst others have made attempts at also adding stabilisation (digital or optical), none were reaching what Nokia could do.

Recent reports suggest that other OEMs may now utilise Nokia’s OIS as Nokia’s exclusivity deal with the chip maker that contained the OIS has finished.

I wonder what Nokia’s Juha thinks? Knowing his passion for imaging at Nokia, this will spur more improvement as challenges of the past have driven tons of exciting innovations in Nokia cameras.

 

Source: TheRegister

Via: PhoneArena via: pocketnow.com

Video: How to Insert the Nano SIM into the Lumia 1520 (and Micro SD Card)

Posted: 29 Jan 2014 10:43 AM PST

DSC04859In the past I’ve found that these tutorial guides on how to insert the SIM into Lumia’s or simply, how to remove the back cover to be wildly popular on Youtube; so here’s a quick one showing how to do just that with the Lumia 1520.

http://youtu.be/Rq6nmUuLe30

The Lumia 1520 is actually the first Nokia ever to use a Nano sim (and one of only a handful of other phones to use it, besides the iPhone I believe only one or two other phones have adopted Nano so far- Moto X I think?); and it’s actually a lot more difficult to cut your Sim into a Nano sim than it is to make a Micro sim, so word of advice, don’t waste your time as you’ll probably end up with a ruined sim and a wasted hour of your life (I cut my SIM fine, and even grinded it down since Nano sims are also thinner than normal Micro sims, however it seems I cracked a connector in the Sim’s microchip while cutting so I had to get a new one).

 

Poll: What size memory card do you use in your main phone?

Posted: 29 Jan 2014 09:32 AM PST

Memory cards. Nokia fans have been taking advantage of them for a long time, and it was something to differentiate against the iPhone in the early days of ‘smartphones for average Joe’.

The 6600 was one of the first mobiles with expandable memory. I sure loved filling up my MMC card on my 7610 with ‘ebaumworld’ videos :/ and super compressed films to watch on smartmovie.

1520WP_20140129_16_05_37_Pro

The likes of the N9, early WP and the 92x range were unfortunately missing this feature too. For most, it’s not an issue. The N9 in some markets had a 64GB version. As does the 1020. But for others, being able to add more memory later should they want to is a must. Shooters like the 1020 should have joined the likes of the N8/808 with expandable memory.

Fortunately the 1520 has one (as does 1320, 520, 620, 720, 820 etc. Just not the 920/925/1020). Nokia camera eats quite a bit of storage on the 1020. Quite a bit less so on the 1520 but still nice to have more space for apps (especially those big games with some requiring 3GB+ just to install) and other space for pictures, videos and music. 

 

 

Video: Nokia Lumia 1320 video sample (1080p) and Review

Posted: 29 Jan 2014 08:54 AM PST

Screen Shot 2014-01-29 at 16.49.27

Whilst the big name suggests it might be ‘better’ in all aspects, including camera in comparison to the 9xx range, the 1320 sports a standard ‘Lumia’ 5MP camera. Not PureView, No OIS etc.

But it’s decent. AF appears quick and accurate. Sound is not compromised (HAAC mics in all Lumias).

Gogi Rana

The description has a link to a 1320 review.  I guess that should be the main bit of this post but the video is what’s new to me.

If you love the windows phone OS and don't have any issue with the size, the Nokia Lumia 1320 could be the perfect companion. It is loaded with powerful hardware capable of playing many high end games. The screen is big (6 inches) and the camera quality is very good plus you can watch and record full HD videos. It is an excellent device for reading, watching movies and browsing.

http://www.gogi.in/nokia-lumia-1320-review.html

 

Accessories: Nokia Lumia 1520 with 64GB Sandisk MicroSD XC Class 10

Posted: 29 Jan 2014 08:44 AM PST

1520WP_20140129_16_19_24_Pro

This is the first time I’ve actually gone all the way up to 64GB on a memory card before. I usually just stick with 32GB (in 820) and in my 60D.

With the 1520, the first of Nokia’s Lumia ‘FLAGSHIPS’ to have a MicroSD, I wanted to shove in some more memory on top of that 32GB. 32GB worked well on my 920 but less so on the 1020 due to the super large files, I occasionally had to reduce the number of pictures I had. Nokia Camera and the likes of Smart Camera do store much more than the 5MP shot that you view on the phone.

This should also hopefully mean I can make more use of Nokia Storyteller, now that I don’t have to remove pictures from the phone too often due to memory constraints.

This came in Amazon Frustration Free packaging. Cheaper if you go down that route. Here’s the amazon blurb.


1520WP_20140129_16_20_23_Pro

1520WP_20140129_16_00_48_Pro

Very small card.
1520WP_20140129_16_05_37_Pro

It slots into the tray of the 1520. No need to turn the phone out or remove batteries. My SIM tray for the nano sim is still empty even though I did receive my SIM pack in the house yesterday. It was unfortunately misplaced. I’m yet to see a nano-SIM.

The N8 is still around in case any MicroSD card needs saving.

http://mynokiablog.com/2010/11/16/n8-saves-the-day-formats-josh-topolskys-fried-memory-card/

1520WP_20140129_16_06_51_Pro

When you pop it in, the card is instantly recognised. It just asks you if you wish to store NEW pictures, music and videos to the card. I don’t know if it needs formatting. I certainly don’t know how to do it from the phone if I needed to do that.wp_ss_20140129_0003

And then, 90GB memory total.

1520IMG_2800

This card comes with an adapter to use in a full size SD slot. I’m not quite sure what the read/write speeds are but they are hopefully more than adequate being Class 10 standard.

I still remember one of the first memory expansions I got.  I think it was a eMMC card for my 7610. 128/256MB. And then my parents got me a 512MB card. So much memory! (1GB was the max support I believe).

The only real WP8.1 image so far, says Tom Warren

Posted: 29 Jan 2014 04:49 AM PST

SavedPicture-2014129124930.pngWith the flurry of supposed images of WP8.1, Tom Warren has tweeted to say that the only one that has been real is the blurry notification centre settings that we saw some time ago.

It did look odd at the time due to it appearing to be a screenshot and then the blur purposely added. Tom also adds that it might be just an early version of the settings.

https://twitter.com/tomwarren/status/428164191279538176

 

 

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