Nokia Is Going Down!

It’s official, Nokia is going down. The one time telecom giant, who had its reputed products spread over 50 countries, has announced a cut of 10,000 jobs, and a shutdown of 3 facilities, by the end of 2013.

The Finnish Telecom Manufacturers three senior executives will also be departing from the company. The closing facilities include a research center, a factory in Germany, Canada and in its home land Finland.

The company had issued a warning to investors that its loss was likely to be greater in the second quarter of this year. It had posted a loss of $1.2 billion in the first quarter of 2012. Nokia also said the negative effects of its transition to a Windows-based Smartphone business would continue into the third quarter.

Once an undisputed leader in the mobile phone market, Nokia lose its charm over the years to Apple, Samsung and other handset makers based on Android.

The company, which announced its partnership with Microsoft in 2011 for making a range of Windows based Smartphones has since then saw a steep decline of sales and profit loss, mainly due to people and operators avoiding Nokia’s own Symbian based devices.

Nokia also announced the sale of its luxury handset business, Vertu to a European firm. With its streamlining efforts, the company is planning to save €1.6 billion by the end of 2013.

“These planned reductions are a difficult consequence of the intended actions we believe we must take to ensure Nokia’s long-term competitive strength,” said Stephen Elop, the Nokia chief executive and a former Microsoft executive. “We do not make plans that may impact our employees lightly, and as a company we will work tirelessly to ensure that those at risk are offered the support, options and advice necessary to find new opportunities.”  

Last week, rumors about a Microsoft takeover had made Nokia’s sinking shares rose six percent.

“The cost savings and job cuts were intended to return Nokia to profitability “as soon as possible,” Elop said.

Nokia to Launch Windows 8 Tablet Soon

Nokia will team up with Microsoft to enter in to the tablet market. Both the tech giants are planning to release a 10 inch Windows 8 based tablet, reports Digitimes.

The upcoming tablet will use a dual core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and is supposed to launch in the fourth quarter of 2012. 

Nokia Windows 8 Tablet

It will use Microsoft's Windows on ARM operating system. It is expected that the tablet will be produced by Compal Electronics with a first shipment of 200000 units.

Last year itself there were rumors as Paul Amsellem, Head of Nokia France, has said that the company will launch a Windows based tablet in June 2012.

Presently Android tablet rules the market, hope this partnership of Nokia and Microsoft brings a promising tablet breed for customers.

Nokia releases Transport app for its Lumia devices

Nokia had released its Transport application for the Symbian Belle powered smartphones last year and the company has now made the app available in beta phase for its Windows-based Lumia smartphones.

The beta version of Nokia Transport for the Lumia handsets is now available to download directly from Nokia Beta Labs. However, the app is pretty useful and offers local public transport details of around 46 countries and 460 cities. The important thing is the company is offering the app for free; you should try it once on your Lumia smartphone.

Nokia

Nokia releases Transport app for its Lumia devices.

According to the Nokia Beta Labs “With just a few taps you can instantly see the routes and connections you need, how long each leg of your trip will take, and even when the next train, bus, or tram will arrive.”

The app also provides its users to view multiple routes and users can easily browse the best one based on nearest direction. The beta version of the app has a number of new features which includes that a user will be able to save their favorite routes in their smartphone’s home screen, so user can instant access saved routes from everywhere.

The Nokia Transport Beta app is also offering worldwide simple routing feature, this feature will use Map data to provide heuristic routes to users.

Nokia 808: A Monstrous 41MP Camera Phone

The Mobile World Congress 2012 (MWC) kicked off at Barcelona on February 27 and Nokia announced a slew of new phones at the event. The company introduced a camera phone ‘Nokia 808’ with jaw dropping 41 megapixels of sensor.

Nokia 808

The Nokia 808 is the largest announcement by the company at MWC. The high density 41 megapixels sensor camera comes with Carl Zeiss lens, Xenon flash and a new oversampling technology. This sensor enables to select from various megapixels options while taking pictures like 5 MP, 8 MP and up to 32 MP. It means the image will be with more pixels to work after zooming and cropping the image.

The camera can also record full HD videos at 1080 pixel and comes with Nokia Rich Recording that offers CD like audio quality. The Nokia 808 is the first mobile to have CD like audio quality without the support of external mic, previously CD like audio quality was only possible using an external mic.

The 808 is a Symbian Belle based phone, packed with 4 inch AMOLED touchscreen featuring its own CleatBlack technology for better viewing at sunlight. It’s powered by ARM single-core 1.3 GHz processor, 512 MB of RAM, 16 GB of internal storage, can be expandable up to 48 GB via microSD card. For connectivity it has Bluetooth, Near Field Connection (NFC), GPRS, Wi-Fi, 3G, micro USB and USB on-the-go support.

Along with Nokia 808 Pure View camera phone, the company has also introduced two new Windows Phone based Lumia smartphone – an entry level Lumia 610 and a high end Lumia 900.

The entry level Lumia 610 comes with 3.7 inch WVGA TFT touchscreen, 5 MP camera with autofocus and LED flash. It is powered 800 MHz processor and 256 MB of RAM. It also features 8 GB internal memory and for connectivity it has Bluetooth, USB, Wi-Fi, GPRS and GPS.

The Lumia 900 was already launched at Consumer Electronics Show 2012 in Las Vegas and now Nokia introduced the non-American version of Lumia 900 at MWC. 

The Nokia 808 Pure View is expected to be priced at Rs.29725, Lumia 610 for Rs.12484 and the Lumia 900 would be around Rs.31705. All these phones are expected to hit the market by May 2012.

Nokia Lumia 900 Coming to India

Nokia’s latest Windows Phone based smartphone Lumia 900 will be available in India till June.

Nokia showcased this smartphone at Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2012 in Las Vegas. The company has already prepared non LTE version of the smartphone and will launch in the market like India where LTE network is not available.

Nokia Lumia 900

The Nokia Lumia 900 has an admirable design which is slightly resembles the previous version of Nokia Lumia 800. The smartphone sports 4.3 inch touchscreen AMOLED ClearBlack display at 800x480 pixels of resolution.

Along with its beautiful design, brilliant touchscreen and operating system it is powered by 1.4 GHz processor, 512 MB of RAM and runs on latest Windows Phone operating system. It also has a stunning 8 MP rear camera with Carl Zeiss optics, LED flash and a VGA front facing camera. Officially Nokia has not yet revealed the price of this device but it is expected to be around Rs.30000.

Nokia Lumia Strikes Sales

Nokia has sold over 1 million Windows Phone based on its Lumia smartphone series in the fourth quarter of 2011, says Bloomberg. Bloomberg came up with this fact as result of a survey which was conducted on 22 different analysts, who predicted the sale of Windows Phone based Lumia smartphone in the end of 2011.

Nokia Lumia

 

Only one among 22 analysts predicted that Nokia has sold less than 1 million Lumia smartphones in 2011, so on an average analyst sales prediction ranges between 8 lakh to 2 million. Therefore the average sale of Nokia Lumia smartphone line ups could be 1.3 million units in the fourth quarter of 2011.

Nokia Lumia 710 and Lumia 800 were launched in U.S. and Europe in October 2011. In December Lumia was shipped to India with a price tag of Rs.19,000 for Lumia 710 and Rs.29,000 for Lumia 800. Lumia 900 is the latest addition in the Lumia line up, which was launched in CES 2012; its availability and price in Indian market is not revealed yet.

Within a short period Lumia smartphones have gained the respect which Nokia had lost with Google’s Android devices by other manufacturers like Samsung, LG, HTC and Motorola. Well Nokia has not commented anything on the prediction of analysts; we have to wait two more days to know the exact figures as Nokia is going announce its latest earnings on January 26.

Nokia Lumia 900

Nokia and AT&T announced the first LTE (Long-Term Evolution) enabled Windows Phone, Nokia Lumia 900 for the U.S. market. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer who made a surprise appearance at AT&T developer summit in CES 2012 said that AT&T would be the first to offer LTE with Windows Phones.

Nokia Lumia 900

Lumia 900 looks very similar to Lumia 800 and has 4.3 inch touchscreen AMOLED ClearBlack display at 800×480 pixels of resolution. Lumia 900 is powered by 1.4 GHz processor and 512 MB RAM. It also has a stunning 8 MP camera rear camera with Carl Zeiss optics, LED flash and a front facing camera. Officially Nokia has not yet revealed the specification, availability and price of this device.

Along with Nokia Lumia 900, AT&T announced HTC Titan II to have LTE network with Windows Phone OS for the U.S. market. HTC Titan II features 16 MP rear camera with dual flash and 1.3 MP front facing camera for video chat. It’s powered by 1.5 GHz Snapdragon processor and 4.7 inch touchscreen display. This phone also features HSPA+, Wi-Fi. Bluetooth and more detail specifications are not yet revealed by HTC. It is expected HTC Titan II will hit the market before Nokia 900.

AT&T has also announced other six new Android devices with LTE network including Samsung Galaxy Note and waterproof tablet from Pantech.

Nokia’s Lumia 800 (Rs.29,999) has already reached Indian market and we expect to see Lumia 900 soon, but Indian customers will not able to use the device’s full potential due to the lack to 4G technology in India.

Nokia Launches Dual-Sim Phones in India

Targeting the middle and low level segment in India, Nokia has launched three new affordable mobiles devices in India. Nokia introduced its first Asha series to the Indian market with Asha 200 and Asha 300 along with an addition to X series, X2-02.

Nokia Dual-Sim in India

Asha 200 is Nokia’s first dual-sim with QWERTY keypad with 2.4 inch display powered by S40 operating system. Other features like 2 MP camera with 4X zoom, dual-sim capability with dual stand by, Bluetooth, enhanced stereo FM radio with recording. Asha 200 is now available in India at Rs. 4349.

It also has dedicated keys for sim management and messaging. With sim management key you can manage and personalize up to 5 sim cards with specific ringtones and themes, by this you can simply change the sim card and no need to set up every time. The dedicated messaging key offers one click access to email and chat through Nokia messaging or social networking sites Facebook.

Asha 300 features 2.4 inch QVGA resistive touchscreen display along with keypad and 5 MP camera, powered by 1 GHz processor, 128 MB RAM, 140 MB of internals storage and it can be expandable up to 32 GB. This touch and type is available at the price of Rs. 7,409.

The other mobile Nokia X2-02 is launched along with Asha series, it also offers dual-sim with sim management options as in Asha 200. It also features 2 MP camera and FM radio, 32 GB expandable memory and runs on S40 OS. This device is available for Rs. 3,599.

Nokia also offers 3 months subscription to Nokia’s Music Store with the purchase of all these handsets. These three mobiles come with DRM (Digital Right Management) music service which gives access to 40 lakh legal digital sound track from Nokia.

Software Bug in Nokia Lumia 800: Affects Battery Performance

The entry of Nokia into the Smartphone market faced its first jolt when it got comments from customers from different social media stating that some Lumia 800 devices is showing lower battery capacity than expected.  After doing and immediate research on the matter the company accepts that there is a software problem in certain variants of Lumia 800 which is preventing the phones ability to access full battery capacity. They state that there are no issues with the battery or the hardware.  Nokia says the problem persists only in the Lumia 800 and not in the cheaper Lumia 710.

Nokia Lumia 800

 

Nokia confirms this to be a software bug which can be fixed easily and they plan to release the updated software by early 2012 which will also include many new enhanced applications for the device. Company also underlines the fact that they are ready to give replacement for those who do not want to wait for the software update.

Indian customers will be least affected by this bug as Nokia Lumia 800 reached Indian market a few days back and the shipment is just commenced. Nokia spoke person says “The units we are selling in India are from fresh stock and don't have any battery bug”.

Nokia’s effort to keep up its pride in the mobile handset market is struck with another blow now. But as for now the problems are identified, accepted and solutions are on the way, so the hope remains that the issues will be dissolved in 2012.

Nokia Makes a Re-Entry to U.S. Market with $50 Smartphone

Nokia re-enters the U.S. market with the launch of Lumia 710, an entry–level Smartphone. The handset is targeted to the cost conscious buyers, as it can be availed for $50 from 11^th January onwards. The smartphone, offered by T-Mobile, is powered by Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 software.

Nokia

Lumia 710 features a 3.7-inch screen, 1.4GHz single-core Qualcomm processor, 8 GB of storage and a 5-megapixel camera. The Nokia handset can also be availed with a turn-by-turn navigation built in as well as an ESPN app that is exclusive to Nokia's Windows phones. The device will be able to access speeds of 14.4 megabits per second on T-Mobile’s HSPA+ network. The T-Mobile version of the Lumia 710 will also have pre-loaded Netflix along with T-Mobile TV, a great video service. The phone can be availed mostly in White or Black.

The Lumia 710 is T-Mobile's second handset powered by Mango, which will accompany two other windows 7 devices, the HD7, T-Mobile’s first WP7 smartphone, and $99 HTC Radar 4G, marked already on sale. The Lumia 710 is the lower priced one of the two handsets already released in Europe and Asia with a price tag of 270 euros, equivalent to $351.

Nokia to Sell Its Subordinate Vertu

Nokia seems to sell its most magnificent subordinate mobile brand Vertu, which makes the luxurious handmade phones. Though the value is yet to be finalized but the annual revenue is estimated to be in between $268 million and $402 million.

Nokia Vertu

Along with unveiling the Nokia Lumia Windows Phone based smartphones which has been well known for its wide range of products, now is also looking forward to enhance its focus for the betterment of the smartphone business. By selling this premium mobile brand Nokia is all setting to overcome and renovate its smartphone business globally which will make it capable to compete well with the others in race. The finance earned from this deal may help Nokia to expand its smartphone business.

With the launch of newer devices like Lumia, and the recent Windows 8 based tablet as well, Nokia is all planning to set itself financially to be in the race of smartphones. It is uncertain that how much the selling of vertu world help Nokia but by considering the brand image worldwide Vertu is not going to be cheap.

It is not yet finally announced by the Finnish device manufacturer, Nokia. So we may have to wait for the final announcement.

Nokia Unveils Lumia 710 in India

Nokia flagship Windows Phone, the Lumia 710, will be available in stores directly from next week. Nokia has started shipping the Nokia Lumia 710 device globally and thus the device will be available in the Nokia stores world over including India within the next seven days.

Nokia Lumia 710

 
Nokia 710 is expected to be available in India for a price of Rs. 20,000 approximately. Nokia Lumia 710 is an entry level Windows Phone. Its 3.7 inch ClearBlack TFT LCD screen offers an 800 x 480-pixel resolution. At the rear, there is a 5 megapixel auto-focus camera with an LED flash. The camera can also shoot HD video at 30 frames per second.

Lumia 710 has a similar 1.4 GHz processor along with a 512 MB of RAM and 8 GB of storage memory along with a micro SD card slot. Also available to purchase separately are a range of complementary audio accessories co-designed and co-developed with Monster.

The in-ear Nokia Purity Stereo headset by Monster, providing high-performance in-ear style and the on-ear Nokia Purity HD Stereo headset by Monster for the best mobile audio experience. Both products provide a fresh listening experience and are the first output of the exclusive long-term partnership between Nokia and Monster, intended to introduce a range of premium audio accessories to reflect the outstanding quality and bold style of the Lumia range.

With Lumia, Nokia hopes leadership in smartphones

With the launch of its Lumia series, Nokia is eyeing the leadership position in the smartphone segment, it said today.

“We are positioning it (Lumia) as more than a smartphone. This will help us to achieve leadership position,” Nokia India Director and Head (Smart devices) Vipul Mehrotra told reporters here.

The two devices, Lumia 800 and Lumia 710, launched last month are the first devices from the handset major’s partnership with software major Microsoft.

 The newly launched Nokia phones are priced at around Rs 29,999 and Rs 19,999, respectively.

Asked about the company’s target customers for their new smartphone series Lumia, Mehrotra said, “I cannot give you specific numbers, but (the figure) is significant.”

Stating that there was “significant” number of youth, who prefer to buy such mobile phones, he said the new phones are being shipped to India from Europe and will be available in a few days.

“They are being shipped to India from Europe. We expect them to be out in the next few days,” he said, adding the phones would be available across its 5,000 retailers.

 

The Nokia Lumia 800 is a high-end device that comes with a 8 megapixel camera with dual LED flash, and has 16 GB internal user memory and 512 MB programme memory.

 

The Lumia 710, has a 5 megapixel camera with LED flash, 8 GB storage capacity with 512 MB RAM and comes with exchangeable back covers. Both touchscreen devices run on Windows Phone 7.5 ‘Mango Operating System’.

Nokia Brings New Music Feature Phone

Nokia India has announced a new dual SIM phone, Nokia X2-02. Nokia X2-02 was unveiled globally for the first time in India. The phone's dimensions are 113 x 50 x 15 mm and it weighs 93 gram including the battery. The display is 2.2-inch, 240x320 pixels, and it comes with a 2-megapixel camera. This device is available at Rs.4000 for the users.

Nokia

 

With an internal FM antenna, MP3 player, dedicated music keys, recording capability, an in-built loudspeaker for music playback, and 32 GB of memory space, the Nokia X2-02 lets you store and play thousands of songs. The Nokia X2-02 also offers a special audio processing feature that brings you the clearest sound.

And its "Play via Radio" feature allows you to record songs directly from the radio, and then share playlists through your home music system or with other mobile phones. The Nokia X2-02 comes loaded with dedicated Facebook and Twitter clients as well. The phone can be chosen from five exciting colours - Bright Red, Dark Silver, Orange, Violet and Ocean Blue.

As well as connecting to the internet through the Nokia Browser, the phone offers easy access to social networks, email, chat and IM. There are also thousands of apps and games to enjoy in the Nokia Store. The Nokia X2-02 has a standby time of up to 18.5 days and a talk time of up to 9.7 hours.

Top 5 Wi-Fi Plus 3G Phones Under 10,000

Phones have been packed with enormous features concentrating more on the needs of end users. Now there are mobile phones featuring Wi-Fi and 3G connectivity for the lowest price in the market. Users opt more on such phones in order to download videos and many more.

Through 3G connectivity one can access fast internet to get needed information. Here are 5 phones which has both features that makes it a more adorable by the users in the trend existing.

Micromax Q80

MICROMAX Q80

The Q80 is a Smartphone, but it has a marked improvement over the Q75 and with added 3G and Wi-Fi support for almost the same price, offers really good value. The Java-based phone comes with a host of built in apps like Nimbuzz, Newshunt, Ngpay and Bloomberg.

It is available at the price of Rs.4,900. The keypad is fairly comfortable to type on and the optical trackpad is a change from the trackball used in the Q75. Overall it’s a good phone for the price with plenty of features to boot. The packed in features of the Q80 has a 2.4-inch TFT display with a 240 x 320 pixel resolution,3G, EDGE/GPRS, Wi-Fi Bluetooth and USB 2.0.

It also has a 3 megapixel camera, a video capture up to 640 x 480 resolution, VGA resolution secondary camera, a 3.5mm earphone socket and an expandable memory up to 8GB.

Lava S12

LAVA S12

Lava S12 is certainly worth a phone to be chosen by the users. The phone sports a unique design and texture. Having a 600MHz processor and running a fancy 3D UI, the interface is pretty slick. Homescreens engages cool 3D transition effects that add to the visual appeal. It is available at the price of Rs.9,999.

The phone also comes pre-loaded with India specific apps like SAAVN and Times of India news app, among many others. It even has a decent camera, but lacks auto-focus. The battery life in the S12 will easily last you two days without a charge.

It features a 3.2 inch TFT capacitive touchscreen with a 480 x 320 pixel resolution, a 3G, EDGE/GPRS, Wi-Fi with hot spot creativity, GPS with A-GPS support, Bluetooth v2.1 with A2DP and USB 2.0,

It has a 5 megapixel fixed-focus camera, video capture up to 640 x 480 resolution, 3.5mm earphone socket and an expandable memory up to 32GB.

Samsung Galaxy Fit S5670

SAMSUNG GALAXY FIT S5670

The Galaxy Fit from Samsung is another phone with a slightly larger screen and runs on Android 2.2. The bundled music player features DNSe sound enhancements along with SWYPE pre-installed. The phone also features a 5MP auto-focus camera with plenty of settings to choose from like Shot Mode, Photo Effects Smile Detection, etc.

With a price of Rs.9,100, Samsung has also provided its TouchWiz 3.0 UI, which makes the phone simpler to use with plenty of shortcuts and tweaks. Other main features of the Fit are its 3.3 inch TFT capacitive touchscreen with a 240 x 320 pixel resolution, 3G, EDGE/GPRS, Wi-Fi with hot spot creativity, GPS with A-GPS support, and a Bluetooth v2.1 with A2DP and USB 2.0.

It is packed with a 5 megapixel auto-focus camera, video capture up to 320 x 240 resolution, 3.5mm earphone socket and an expandable memory up to 32GB.

Nokia E5

NOKIA E5

The Nokia E5 is one of the best phones under 10K and fits in for user needs. With both 3G and Wi-Fi support, the Symbian v9.3 running Smartphone sports a very comfortable QWERTY keypad and a simple functional design. It is available at the price of Rs.8,700.

Some of the features include the audio quality, which is crisp and loud, a good selection of productivity apps. A very good battery life that makes most Nokia handsets a worth product. Other features includes a 2.3 inch TFT display with a 240 x 320 pixel resolution, 3G, EDGE/GPRS, Wi-Fi, GPS with A-GPS support.

It also features a Bluetooth v2 with A2DP and USB 2.0, a 5 megapixel fixed-focus camera, video capture up to 640 x 480 resolution and a 3.5mm earphone socket with an expandable memory up to 32GB.

Micromax A70

MICROMAX A70

This one is a Smartphone, and a rather good one for the users who are selective. The A70 has a 600MHz processor, and the phone is quick and fluid to use. The handset is comfortable to use and sports a decent 3.2-inch TFT capacitive touchscreen with a 480 x 320 pixel resolution that responds well to touch. It is available at the price of Rs.6200 .

The battery life gives much back up, and the phone runs on Froyo. It features expandable memory up to 32GB, and has a front facing camera. It comes pre loaded with a bunch of useful apps. It has 3G, EDGE/GPRS, Wi-Fi with hot spot creativity, GPS with A-GPS support, Bluetooth v2.1 with A2DP and USB 2.0.

It is also packed with a 5 megapixel autofocus camera, video capture up to 640 x 480 resolution, VGA resolution secondary camera, and a 3.5mm earphone socket.

Nokia to Launch its First Tablet

Mobile maker Nokia has stepped into the tablet market by announcing its first windows 8 tablet to be launched in June 2012.

Paul Amsellem, head of Nokia France, said, "In June 2012 we will have a tablet running windows 8." He also mentioned updates about Nokia's plans for the Windows Phone smartphone platform as well and we can soon expect Nokia to launch powerful, smarter smartphones under the Nokia Lumia product range.

Nokia's First Tablet

  

While, not much information about the hardware specification of the new device were revealed but the device expected to feature a new 1.4 Ghz processor with 1 GB of RAM along with the regular fanfare from Nokia.

Going by the recent trend, Indian Nokia fans can also expect the device at around the same time as the rest of the world.