Nokia

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bXq3V0wEgI

The Nokia Brand phone company that Microsoft subsumed may be on the verge of a comeback to phones if recent rumors prove true. According to a recent report, the new/old Nokia will begin producing phones as soon as it is contractually able to do so and those phones unsurprisingly will run a flavor of Android.

Unlike other patent houses that do little more than license intellectual property, Nokia Technologies has designed new products and licensed them to other companies. So far, these ambitions have been small in scale. The division has released just two products — an Android program called Zlauncher and the N1, an Android tablet design it licensed to another manufacturer that is selling it under the Nokia name in China. Its return to the market is likely to employ a similar tactic.

But insiders said those two products are just the beginning.

“They have a lot of great stuff in development,” said Richard Kerris, a former Nokia executive who also consulted for the company until last year as part of his last startup. “It gave me complete confidence that Nokia is a company that is not going away.”

While Kerris said he couldn’t go into specifics, he said people will be blown away if some of the stuff he saw comes to market.

If you consider Nokia’s N1 Android tablet, the first to use the newly popular USB-C type of interface, which apparently, it can release outside of its Microsoft agreement the rumor isn’t surprising. In fact, it is pretty obvious.

But this whole episode really stinks to me. Microsoft’s Stephen Elop moved to Nokia in 2010 from Microsoft. Within months, he wrote a frightening memo that the company had to shift courses and eventually move to Microsoft’s shifting phone OS which was as disastrous a decision as it could make. Then, as the value of the company was rapidly depleted based off of that poor decision, the smartphone part of the business with Elop in tow gets bought by Microsoft at a steep discount.

Now, a lifetime later in mobile phone years, Nokia is doing what it should have done a long time ago and move to Android. Perhaps there is still some life left in the company. We’ll see.
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Nokia releases HERE Maps for Android w/ offline navigation & real-time traffic updates

9to5 Staff Dec 10 2014 - 7:47 am PT

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9P3xf85R1w

After brief availability as a beta version, Nokia has now released the full version of HERE Maps for Android on the Play Store. The mapping app enables you to search, navigate or get directions around the world, with the ability to download interactive maps to your smartphone or tablet for offline navigation.
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Nokia announces N1 tablet, an Android-powered iPad mini clone launching first in China

Ben Lovejoy Nov 18 2014 - 5:55 am PT

Nokia has today announced its first new product since selling its devices and services division to Microsoft, the Nokia N1 tablet – a device bearing more than a passing resemblance to Apple’s iPad mini 3.

Aimed initially at the Chinese market, the $249 Android-powered tablet has decent specs, with a 2048×1536 resolution display, a 2.4GHz quad-core Intel Atom Z3580 CPU, 2GB RAM, 32GB storage, 8MP main camera and 5MP front-facing camera. It’s also one of the first devices to support the new reversible USB-C connector. Impressively, the company has managed to make it both slimmer and lighter than the iPad 3 it resembles.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwJmthxJV5Q]

But perhaps more interesting than the hardware is the software …
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Nokia’s HERE Maps now available for smartphones running Android 4.1 or higher

Mark Hearn Oct 21 2014 - 7:14 am PT

After a leak of a preview build, Nokia’s HERE Maps officially became available for select Samsung Galaxy devices and today the company is extending its app to additional Android smartphones. Still not available at the Play Store, HERE Maps requires Android 4.1 or higher, 1GB of RAM and a device with a screen size between four and six inches, which pretty much describes most modern handsets running Google’s mobile operating system.

Nokia’s HERE Maps now available for select Samsung Galaxy devices

Mark Hearn Oct 8 2014 - 7:06 am PT

If you abstained from trying the recent leak of Nokia’s HERE Maps for Android, you can now download an official release — as long as you’re using a compatible Samsung device. Available from the Galaxy app store, this Google Maps alternative packs some nifty features like turn-by-turn directions, public transit routes and its standout offline navigation support.

Samsung paid Microsoft $1B in patent royalties last year, but it now wants to void the contract

Chance Miller Oct 4 2014 - 12:08 pm PT

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Samsung and Microsoft initially inked an Android patent licensing deal back in 2011, but since then, Samsung’s dominance in the smartphone has grown incredibly fast. The South Korean company, according to court documents that become public on Friday, is now saying that it no longer wants to pay the royalties to Microsoft.

Nokia’s HERE Maps app for Android leaked, compatible with devices running Ice Cream Sandwich or higher

Mark Hearn Oct 3 2014 - 8:45 am PT

Nokia recently revealed plans to bring an Android-friendly version of its HERE Maps app to licensed partners, starting with Samsung, however a preview version of the software has recently hit the web and it appears to be working with handsets running Ice Cream Sandwich or higher. Reports are claiming that the application is fully functional, with HERE’s hallmark features remaining intact.

Android flagship phones given bend test, Moto X comes out on top

Mike Beasley Sep 24 2014 - 2:23 pm PT

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Earlier this week it was revealed that if you bend your iPhone 6 Plus, it will bend. This shocking news took the world by storm, but left some people wondering if other phones would also flex under pressure. To answer the question, YouTuber Unbox Therapy attempted to repeat his earlier experiment with iPhone 6, iPhone 5s, HTC One M8, newest Moto X, and Nokia Lumia.

After applying roughly the same force to each of these handsets, he discovered that the iPhone 6 Plus was in fact more flexible than the rest. The Moto X ended up coming out top of the pack, with next to no flexibility at all. The 4.7-inch iPhone 6 was also found to be much less “bendy” than the larger model, though it did get a very small curve with enough force.

You can check out the video of all five phones being tested below:

Samsung Galaxy S5 takes the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, nominates iPhone, HTC One, & Nokia Lumia 930

Jordan Kahn Aug 22 2014 - 6:34 am PT

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[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6w4Gqt-ljb4]

With just about everyone in the tech industry getting in on the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge to raise awareness for ALS (including Apple’s own Tim Cook and Dr. Dre), Samsung decided it would also be an appropriate time to mock the iPhone and others in the process.
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DVDs gathering dust on your shelves? Now it’s easy to watch them on your Android device

Ben Lovejoy Jul 21 2014 - 5:53 am PT

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Watching DVDs on an Android device just got easier, thanks to VLC for Android. No ripping, no transcoding, no issues with DRM-protected content – just view ISO images of DVDs directly.

Planet VideoLAN announced that version 0.9.7.1 of VLC for Android now has the same support for viewing DVD ISO images as the desktop version. Because it’s playing the image directly, it should work exactly as it does in a DVD player, including menus, subtitles, multiple audio tracks and bonus material.

Planet VideoLAN also says that the app runs well on low-spec devices, so a bunch of DVDs and a cheap Chinese tablet could be the easiest way to entertain the kids on a car journey. The app is a volunteer-run non-profit project, free to download but with a suggested $5 donation.

A little fun nostalgia for those of us old enough to remember featurephones …

Ben Lovejoy Jul 18 2014 - 5:45 am PT

If you’re as old as I am, you probably have fond memories of your first featurephone. They might seem prehistoric now, but some of them were very advanced for their time.

German website Curved has had some fun imagining what ye olde phones might look like running either Android or Windows Phone. They even show what Windows Phone would have looked like on an early Nokia monochrome LCD display.

Check out a few of the photos here, and the full gallery over on the Curved website.

12,500 of Microsoft’s 18k job losses will be in Nokia Devices and Services division; will abandon Android X

Ben Lovejoy Jul 17 2014 - 5:42 am PT

If Nokia staff were hoping that the acquisition of the business by Microsoft would safeguard their jobs, their hopes were dashed today in a letter from Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Nadella said that a major downsizing resulting in 18,000 lost jobs would focus on the Nokia Devices and Services division, where 12,500 jobs will go, most within six months.

The first step to building the right organization for our ambitions is to realign our workforce. With this in mind, we will begin to reduce the size of our overall workforce by up to 18,000 jobs in the next year. Of that total, our work toward synergies and strategic alignment on Nokia Devices and Services is expected to account for about 12,500 jobs, comprising both professional and factory workers. We are moving now to start reducing the first 13,000 positions, and the vast majority of employees whose jobs will be eliminated will be notified over the next six months.

The letter says that Microsoft will tackle the redundancies “in the most thoughtful and transparent way possible.” All employees losing their jobs will be offered severance pay, with job-transition help “in many locations.”
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Microsoft appears to be blocking Google as default search option on select Lumia devices

Mark Hearn Jul 15 2014 - 10:08 am PT

Microsoft is reportedly blocking Google as a search engine option on some of Nokia’s new Lumia handsets. Windows Phone devices ship with Bing as their default search engine without an option to change platforms. Prior to Microsoft’s acquisition of Nokia’s phone making division, the Finnish company provided users with an option to change a Lumia’s search engine via its web browser, but this appears to be gone from some devices.

Nokia announces the X2, a quasi-Android smartphone with mid-range specs

Mark Hearn Jun 24 2014 - 11:15 am PT

Today Nokia announced the X2, the Finnish company’s second attempt at producing a smartphone that plays nice with Android. Not to be confused with Motorola’s flagship circa 2011, Nokia’s new device features a 4.3-inch ClearBlack WVGA display, a 1.2GHz Snapdragon processor, 1GB of RAM, 4GB of storage space and a 5-megapixel shooter with an LED flash. Available in a broad range of colors, including green, orange and black, additional hues are scheduled to be launch after its release.

Now back at Microsoft, Stephen Elop says Nokia X’s forked Android is here to stay

Jonathan Kizer Apr 28 2014 - 9:34 am PT

As Microsoft completed its acquisition of Nokia’s smartphone and handheld business this past week, Stephen Elop — the former Microsoft executive turned Nokia CEO — has made various comments about the future of the Android-based Nokia X line. Many, including ourselves, expected Microsoft to cancel the device the moment the acquisition was officially approved, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. Stephen Elop, now the Vice President of Microsoft’s Devices and Services unit, stated the following:

Microsoft acquired the mobile phones business, inclusive of Nokia X, to help connect the next billion people to Microsoft’s services. Nokia X uses the MSFT cloud, not Google’s. This is a great opportunity to connect new customers to Skype, outlook.com and Onedrive for the first time. We’ve already seen tens of thousands of new subscribers on MSFT services.

We are using AOSP to attack a specific market opportunity, but we are being thoughtful to do it in a way that accrues benefit to Microsoft and to Lumia.

The Nokia X is a low-cost device that runs a heavily-modified version of Android. The device is part of Nokia’s strategy to target emerging nations and the low-end device market.

This position makes sense, in light of Microsoft’s most recent strategy of focusing on services but you can’t help but wonder what it says about Windows Phone OS that Microsoft actually needs an Android product.
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Samsung opens Innovation Museum, starts with electricity, ends with 180-degree 4K screen

Ben Lovejoy Apr 21 2014 - 4:59 am PT

Samsung has been around for a while. From a grocery company and noodle manufacturer in 1938, it created Samsung Electronics Devices in 1969, with a black-and-white television set its first ever product.

To celebrate its 45th anniversary, the company has opened the Samsung Innovation Museum in Korea, a combined museum of technology and Samsung product showcase, reports Engadget.

The museum is undeniably stylish (and it helps that it’s brand new), but what I liked the most was the realia; the for-real artifacts from history. Not just a StarTAC and the first slimline TV, but an Edison filament lightbulb, the first ever TV.

Unsurprisingly, the museum becomes increasingly Samsung-focused as you move through the years, but does include products from rival manufacturers like Motorola, Nokia, Sharp and Sony. There’s even an Apple II in there, described as “the first home computer.”

Photo: The Verge

Google, Android manufacturers agree to participate in “Smartphone Anti-Theft Voluntary Commitment” program

Mike Beasley Apr 15 2014 - 3:34 pm PT

Google has agreed to back a new initiative along with a host of Android manufacturers and all of the major U.S. cellular carriers that would require all smartphones manufactured after July 2015 to come with specific anti-theft features. The program is the latest attempt to prevent theft of smartphones, which some have blamed for increasing crime rates.

To this end, Google introduced the Android Device Manager application last year, allowing users to locate or wipe lost or stolen devices. Today’s agreement between the carriers and handset manufacturers essentially states that all parties will ship this type of system on new phones.

Specifically, the required anti-theft measures are broken into four kinds:

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There’s a dual-boot Android/Windows Phone smartphone on the way – we’re just not sure why

Ben Lovejoy Mar 3 2014 - 4:31 am PT

Image: Gizmodo

The Times of India reports that local phone maker Karbon Mobiles is launching phones that can run both Android and Windows Phone, with the first handsets expected to be available by June.

The company has just signed the licence agreement with Microsoft to make Windows-based phones and will put this along with its existing Android system to bring out the dual-OS phones in about six months, the company’s chairman Sudhir Hasija said.

While I can see the sense in a dual-boot laptop/tablet that can run both Windows 8 and Android, a dual-platform phone seems rather more of a ‘because we can’ gimmick. The explanation may be as simple as Microsoft waiving the license fee to help grow the platform, especially after Nokia announced its (kind of) Android handsets. Hasija commented:

Microsoft has eased the regulations and is opening up its platform for other players.

Karbon gets a cost-free talking point for its new handsets, Microsoft gets a bit more market share in a growth market. We’re just not sure what consumers get …

The rumors were true: Nokia X phones run Android … but only just

Ben Lovejoy Feb 24 2014 - 5:36 am PT

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Rumors of Nokia launching an Android phone seemed unlikely for a company acquired by Microsoft, but the company today announced not just one Android device, but three: the Nokia X, X+ and XL. The company’s flirtation with Android does, however, appear to be a token one – not that Microsoft is pleased.

The three budget phones are effectively hybrid devices. Not only have they been given an overlay designed to make them look like they are running Windows Phone, they aren’t even running a standard version of Android and won’t be able to run apps from the Google Play store …

Leaked photos claim to show Nokia’s Normandy Android smartphone in the wild

Jordan Kahn Feb 20 2014 - 6:24 am PT

We’ve already seen a few leaked press shots claiming to show Nokia’s much rumored Android smartphone and UI often referred to as the “Normandy” project. Today we get what appears to be the first shots of the device in the wild and better look at the device’s mix of Lumia and Asha design traits. The images above come from a thread on Coolaxap.com where leaked images of Windows devices have popped up before.

While nothing is official, recent reports said the device could debut as early as this month at the Mobile World Congress event that runs through February 27. We’ll be bringing you coverage from MWC next week and updates on Normandy as we find out more.
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Nokia teases ‘X’ phone ahead of expected Android announcement at MWC next week

Zac Hall Feb 18 2014 - 11:35 am PT

Ahead of its scheduled announcement at Mobile World Congress on Monday, Nokia is teasing what we expect to be its first venture into Android handsets.

What has been codenamed Normandy, an Android variant with a Windows Phone-like user interface seen on Nokia’s recent smartphones, is being branded as Nokia X according to information shared by evleaks and mirrored by Nokia’s promo (seen above).

Nokia X. pic.twitter.com/meA05ALusT

— Evan Blass (@evleaks) February 17, 2014

WSJ: Nokia’s Normandy Android phones finally coming this month

Zac Hall Feb 10 2014 - 11:31 am PT

Nokia could finally show off those Android-based “Normandy” smartphones we’ve been seeing surface lately. The company will debut its rumored fork of Android later this month at Mobile World Congress, according to The Wall Street Journal. The event kicks off in two weeks in Barcelona, Spain, and runs through February 27th.

Nokia, whose devices and services division was acquired by Microsoft last fall, had been working on the Android phones ahead of the acquisition, WSJ says. Nokia has been the primary handset maker for Windows Phone OS-based smartphones since dropping its own OS years ago, and even its Android fork borrows heavily from the signature Windows Phone design as seen in recent leaks.
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Are these images of Nokia’s Normandy Android fork UI?

Seth Weintraub Jan 8 2014 - 9:52 am PT