FCC dissects Nokia X7, tests only two of its five 3G bands

Sometimes the FCC tears a phone apart and we look on with ghoulish delight. The victim this time was the Nokia X7, which sports AT&T compliant bands even though we last heard that AT&T has lost interest in the handset.

There were even leaked photos of the Nokia X7 sporting the AT&T badge, but the external photos of the X7 unit tested by the FCC had no carrier markings, just the Nokia logo.

It’s curious that the FCC only tested the 850/1900 bands – the Nokia X7 is a penta-band device that should work with the AWS (1700MHz) band just as easily as with the 850/1900 bands.

There’s no hint of the X7 on Nokia’s US site for now, so no info on whether the phone will only be sold SIM-free or if the Finns have also managed to strike a deal with a carrier.

Symbian has never been particularly popular in the US and we suspect even the Anna update won’t help much. Still, a 4” AMOLED screen with Gorilla glass, 8MP camera with 720p video and free life-time navigation with Ovi Maps, uh, we mean Nokia Maps make for an appealing device. Any US citizens interested?

Nokia N810 Tablet Gets $90 Price Drop

The powers that be over at Nokia have officially dropped the price of their N810 tablet by $90, bringing it down to a slightly more affordable $389.99.

Via- [http://gizmodo.com/366681/nokia-n810-tablet-gets-a-90-price-drop]

Nokia launches user created "Yamake" games on N-Gage

Straight outta Espoo comes Nokia's Yamake (a mashup for "you make the game") for their N-Gage platform. With it, Nokia says players can "create their own games" from a range of "mini games" by adding user generated text, pictures, sound clips and movies. Games can then be shared via the N-Gage Arena and via MMS between N-Gage compatible S60 devices.

The press release specifically mentions the creation of mini games "such as" pictures puzzles and quizzes -- so no, we're not looking at user generated, 3D first person shooters upon initial release. In fact, without any images or video to accompany the press release, Yamake sounds more like a user customization platform than game creation platform.

Source- http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/14/nokia-launches-user-created-yamake-games-on-n-gage-bye-bye/

Give up: 77.3m Symbian phones shipped in 2007

Microsoft and Apple, you may have had some fancy smartphone sales this year in your cute little American way, but globally there's no question who's the real leader in this segment: the Symbian OS shipped on 77.3 million units in 2007. That's a 50% growth over 2006 sales, with over 141 different phone models from eight licensees. If the new hotness from Nokia this year at MWC is any indication, those numbers aren't going to go away very soon, but Sony Ericsson's adoption of Windows Mobile for its flagship XPERIA X1 certainly spells a modicum of trouble for Symbian land.

Of course, there are many more low-end Symbian smartphones than there are cheap Windows Mobile phones, and Apple's iPhone is still a premium product , but the line is becoming increasingly blurred.

Source- http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/12/give-up-77-3m-symbian-phones-shipped-in-2007/

Nokia N78- In European and North American flavors

The revamped Nseries lineup is coming fast and furious since the launch of the N81 and N82 late last year, and the latest candybar to get the updated industrial design is the N78, a midrange handset (by Nseries standards, anyway) with an integrated FM transmitter setting it apart from the crowd. Another notable feature is its picture geotagging capability, made possible by the 3.2 megapixel autofocus camera paired with integrated AGPS.

Other than that, it's pretty much your average S60 Third Edition Feature Pack 2 piece with Bluetooth and WiFi, though it's the very first Nseries model to be announced in both European and North American 3G versions simultaneously -- and if that's not progress, we don't know what is. Look for it to start stocking shelves next quarter for €350 (about $507).

Source- http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/11/the-nokia-n78-in-european-and-north-american-flavors/

Nokia puts back gaming service launch to new year

Nokia has again pushed back the launch of its gaming service N-gage due to delays in software testing, a spokesman said on Thursday, in the latest blow to the Internet services ambitions of the world's top cellphone maker.

The gaming service, together with a music shop and mapping services, is one of the cornerstones of Nokia's drive into mobile Internet services under its new "Ovi" brand.

Nokia has also pushed into next year expansion of its digital music store offering. Also Warner Music Group Corp has been withholding content from Nokia's only store in Britain.

At the same time it has signed up Vodafone, Telefonica and Telecom Italia for Ovi.

Nokia unveiled the gaming service in August, saying at the time it would be available globally in November. But in November it was delayed into December.

Nokia's spokesman Kari Tuutti said the service would be opened in early 2008.

"We found one more issue which had to be solved before we could open the service," Tuutti said.

Nokia is the first handset maker to move strongly into the content space with services like music or filing sharing site Mosh, where millions have downloaded audio or video files, programs or documents.

Shares in Nokia were 0.2% higher at 27.04 euros by 5:13 a.m. EST, in line DJ Stoxx European technology index.

Source- http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071227/wr_nm/nokia_gaming_dc;_ylt=AqhV6yZjFgPi2d8y0.nwU6UjtBAF

Translating menus with your phone

Help could be at hand for millions of travelers who have previously ended up with some unexpected delicacy when ordering their meals in foreign restaurants.

Over at the Nokia Research Center in Helsinki they are looking at utilizing the camera in the phone to take a picture of the text on a menu and to translate it for you. A particularly challenging task will be the Asian market, where the literal translations often found on menus often offer no help at all.

Of course for some this would take the adventure and fun out of travel, but they don’t have to use the feature, whereas for many I feel it would be absolute godsend!


Source- http://www.gadgetell.com/2007/12/translating-menus-with-your-phone/

Nokia N800 Internet Tablet - Mobile Phone Gadgets

The Nokia N800 Internet Tablet is exactly what it sounds like, a mobile internet device. It is not a cellphone, not a Smartphone, not a mobile computer/UMPC. The N800 is designed to be used to access the internet and internet application while on the go.

Nokia N800 is designed to stay online so you can enjoy the benefits of the Internet, whether you’re at home or on the go. Browse your favorite sites. Stay in touch with the people you love with Internet calling. Chat with your friends. Check your email. Relax with your favorite songs and videos.

Source- http://www.gadgetell.com/2007/12/gadgetell-giveaway-nokia-n800-internet-tablet/

Free subscription service from Nokia's - "Comes with Music"

Nokia just launched a "Comes with Music" program. No, not software, but a deal which allows you to buy a Nokia device with a year of unlimited, subscription access to "millions of tracks." Once the year is complete however, customers can keep all their downloaded music -- it doesn't disappear just because the subscription is ended.

What's the catch? Don't know yet. We know it's limited to Universal Music Group tracks for the time being but there's no mention of any fees, DRM, advertising, or other boundaries. We'll update you as soon as we get more.

Update: It's free for one year! All the Universal Music tracks you can download for 12 months can be yours. The offer doesn't begin until mid 2008, just as long as the deal doesn't fall apart by then.

Source- http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=5431626253859045813

Nokia N96 Mobile Phone Looks

Nokia N96 Mobile Phone - Everyone is saying - Hey, what a cool phone



GSMhelpdesk.nl has some renders of what could possible be (but probably isn't) the Nokia N96. These renders confirm a 3.2-inch, 16 million color touch-screen display, a dual-sliding QWERTY keyboard, and a one-way sliding dialpad keyboard. There's also a 6-megapixel camera on board, with 3G, Wi-Fi, GPS and Bluetooth 2.0.


What's really cool about this rendering is the dual-sliding keyboard—the major thing that's missing from the current Nokia N95 models. (Notice it works upside down? Guess there's theoretically an accelerometer in there for direction sensing.)

Source- http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/cellphones/nokia-n96-rendering-looks-fake-but-interesting-327141.php

Comparison Between Nokia N82 V/S Nokia N95 - Mobile Phone Gazette

How do you follow up a success like the Nokia N95? Well, one way to do it is to follow the path of the Nokia N95 8GB and give it more memory and a larger screen. If you wanted to go further, then you'd probably dream up something even more superlative than the N95 and call it the Nokia N96. So, the Nokia N82 is a surprise, because it's not really what we would imagine a successor to the N95 to be like.

The very first thing that strikes you about the Nokia N82 is just how ordinary it looks. Where the N95 was frankly a bit mad with its two-way slider, the N82 is a straightforward monoblock design with an uncluttered keypad and large QVGA display.

Pretty much everything from the original N95 has been directly ported over to the N82. There's a five megapixel camera with Xenon flash, autofocus and a Carl Zeiss lens, 3G support with HSDPA, WiFi, microSD expandable memory (with 2GB in the sales package), A-GPS (Assisted GPS), a video calling camera, FM radio and stereo Bluetooth.


This is a Symbian S60 smartphone, so it comes with a web browser, email client, document viewer, advanced multimedia player and the N82 also has a set of personal information management (PIM) applications. Nokia Maps is preinstalled for basic GPS use, although expect to pay a fee for more advanced mapping functions. Video capture is an impressive 640x480 pixels at 30 frames per second.

Because this is based on the N95, you can anticipate everything to work well (yes, some of the early N95s were buggy, but owners can easily update their phone's firmware now). The camera quality should be excellent, and that's generally down to good optics rather than raw megapixels.

One nice new feature is an iPhone-style sensor that changes the screen orientation when the phone is rotated.

There are a couple of drawbacks. The uncluttered look of the Nokia N82 means that there are no dedicated multimedia keys, and the display is smaller at 2.4" in size, compared to 2.6" on the N95 (and 2.8" on the N95 8GB). We anticipate that the newer Nokia N95 8GB will continue to be sold alongside the N82 as the N95 8GB is somewhat more highly specified.

The model name is a bit of a giveaway - Nokia are positioning the N82 in a slightly lower product range along with the new N81. This leaves the N95 8GB and Nokia E90 as the flagship devices in Nokia's lineup.

Perhaps the Nokia N82 is a little disappointing in some respects. If you already own a Nokia N95 then there's no real reason to change your handset. However, if you're in the market for a quality 3G phone with a first rate camera, then the Nokia N82 is going to be very hard to beat.

Nokia say that the N82 is available now from selected retailers at an unsubsidised cost of around €450 (or approximately £300).

Source- http://www.mobilegazette.com/nokia-n82-07x11x14.htm

Hot Christmas gadgets: Nintendo Wii, sat nav and iPods

Christmas, of course, comes earlier every year. For retailers it starts earlier than most as they try to identify the year’s 'must have' gifts. In order to give them a bit of a hand, some predictions for what HITWISE think about this year’s hot gadgets, entertainment, toys and fashions.

Search term analysis provides great insight into people's habits and desires, so we analysed the top 2,000 search terms that sent traffic to a Hitwise Custom Category consisting of the top 100 online retail websites in the UK during the four weeks ending 22nd September 2007. Gadgets are up first, and our definition encompasses a range of consumer electronics products including mobile phones, computers and peripherals, games consoles, in car entertainment and navigation systems, and audio-visual equipment.

Nintendo Wii is the most searched for gaming console in the UK, ranking as the sixth most popular gadget heading into Christmas, ahead of the Xbox 360 at number 7 and the Nintendo DS at number 8. There were 5 times as many searches for the Nintendo Wii as the Sony Playstation 3, which did not make the top 10 gadget list.

Top gadgets by share of searches-

Mobile phones are the most popular gadgets in the UK, capturing 46% of all searches, followed by computers, iPods, satellite navigation systems and high definition televisions. The success for the TomTom brand of satellite navigation systems continues with the number of searches for 'tomtom' double that for the generic term 'sat nav'. Searches for 'external hard drive' have increased by 15% year on year, reflecting a desire among UK consumers to back up their precious collections of digital music, photos and videos.

The Nokia N95 multimedia phone captures almost one in ten searches for mobile phone models in the UK, making it the most popular handset. It is followed closely by the stylish Nokia 6300, with 8.7% of searches, and the Samsung G600 5 mega pixel camera phone, with 8.5%.

Top mobile phone models by share of searches-

The top mobile phone manufacturer by share of UK Internet searches is Nokia, which receives 35% of searches across the top 5 brands, followed by Sony Ericsson with 29% and Samsung with 24%. Motorola is at number four with a 6% share, followed by LG with 5%.

There are 14 times as many searches for the Apple iPod as for all the other MP3 players combined. Two thirds of searches are for the generic iPod, while one in five searchers is looking specifically for the iPod Nano, which has seen searches increase by 67% year on year.

Most searched for gadget brands-

The new iPod Touch and the UK release of the iPhone were announced too late to have a significant impact on the retail search data, but there is a massive amount of internet buzz about both products. For example, the volume of searches for ‘iPhone’ sending traffic to News and Media websites has increased 5 fold over the last month. With Apple the most searched for gadget brand in the UK, it seems likely that both products will find eager fans amongst British consumers. Dell is the second most searched for brand, receiving almost four times as many searches as its nearest rival HP.

Source- http://weblogs.hitwise.com/robin-goad/2007/09/hot_christmas_gadgets_nintendo.html

Nokia N-Series N82 - The Smartphone

This new Nokia has great 5 megapixel camera with optics from Carl Zeiss and a xenon flash (no optical zoom yet though), GPS and Wi-Fi.

Press release below-
It’s what cameras have become - the new Nokia N82

Nokia introduces a leading edge connected camera, navigation device and multimedia computer in one

Espoo, Finland, November 14, 2007 - Nokia unveils the Nokia N82, the latest multimedia computer optimized for photography, navigation and internet connectivity. With the tools to discover the places and moments worth capturing, and the capabilities to capture and share them instantaneously, the Nokia N82 offers photography enthusiasts an enhanced camera experience.

Discover, capture and share-
The Nokia N82 enables you to explore your surroundings and find your way with navigation and routing; document your adventures with the high quality imaging capabilities; and instantly share your experiences with one click upload to the web.

Featuring A-GPS, 5 megapixel camera, Xenon flash, Carl Zeiss optics and internet connectivity, the Nokia N82 also incorporates all the multimedia computer features common to Nokia Nseries. Like its predecessor the Nokia N95, the Nokia N82 is the latest epitome of a truly converged device that is not one thing but is many.

“The evolution of camera capabilities in mobile devices has been extremely fast over the past years. With the Nokia N82 we have reached such a superior level in image quality, speed and ease of use that not only does it outperform any other cameraphone on the market, but it’s also a very credible alternative for single purpose digital still cameras,” says Satu Ehrnrooth, head of Nokia Nseries Cameras Category, Multimedia, Nokia. “In addition to the high-end camera, the Nokia N82 also enables you to navigate and discover new places, enjoy your music, browse the web, play games, chat online and be part of the global web 2.0 community wherever you go. Thanks to the wireless broadband connectivity, convergence and yet again increased performance, the Nokia N82 is all you need in your pocket!”

Discover the world-
The powerful A-GPS and preinstalled* Nokia Maps help you explore and locate new places, whether in another country or just around the corner. All Nokia N82 standard sales packages come with a free voice guided navigation trial*, and you can purchase additional features, such as city guides and longer subscription to the navigation.

With access to more than 15 million points of interest, you can locate and navigate to the most interesting sights, bars or restaurants wherever you are. You can also send map excerpts and routes to friends by MMS or save map screen shots to the gallery.

Capture your experiences-
With a 5 megapixel camera, powerful Xenon flash and Carl Zeiss optics, the Nokia N82 delivers remarkably vivid photographs, even in low-light conditions. Fast camera activation, autofocus with a dedicated autofocus assist lamp, fast reloading between shots and DVD-like quality video capture make it a truly convenient and credible tool for capturing and telling your life stories.

Thanks to the 2GB microSD card in the standard Nokia N82 sales package*, you can store up to 900 high-resolution photos or up to 84 minutes of high quality video on the device.

“The Nokia N82 gives the best ever camera and navigation experience in one stylish premium device. Just imagine what kind of possibilities this will open up and how much richer your every day life experiences can be! The sophisticated design and glossy looks appeal to men and women who are conscious of their style and want to impress with the latest in technology,” Satu Ehrnrooth continues.

Share your stories-
With high speed Wi-Fi connectivity and one-click upload to online communities, the Nokia N82 makes sharing your experiences and discoveries easy. When viewing a picture or video, simply one press of a button starts uploading it while you carry on using the device for other purposes.

Or you can impress your friends with multimedia slideshows - complete with music and effects - on the high resolution display or on a compatible TV.

The Nokia N82 comes with the new content driven 3D multimedia menu and includes a convenient orientation sensor that rotates the user interface automatically between horizontal and portrait mode. For quick and easy access to entertainment content, the Nokia N82 also supports the Ovi family of Nokia internet services, including Nokia Music Store, N-Gage games** and Nokia Maps.

The Nokia N82 is available now in key markets with an estimated, pre-tax, unsubsidized sales price of approximately 450 euros.

Source- http://www.loopygadgets.com/nokia-n82/

Nokia N82 press shots leaked ahead of tomorrow's launch

In years to come the history of the Nokia N82 rumours, leaks and final launch may well be studied as an example of blogging and online tech journalism circa 2007.

We've had rumours, then prototype image renders, then blurry spy shots, then review device leaks, and now finally, ahead of the official launch tomorrow, we bring you the press pics.

It's like seeing an old friend once you've changed your spectacle prescription. The same, but very much in focus.

So, any regular readers will know the drill by now, but the N82 will be the most recent addition to Nokia's premium N-series device range.

It will be a 3G HSDPA handset, offer Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and boast that now famous 5-megapixel with Zenon flash and autofocus.

Keep it tuned to Pocket-lint tomorrow sometime after 12 noon to catch the final instalment of the saga after we get the official release from Nokia's launch event complete with pricing and availability.

Source- http://uk.news.yahoo.com/pocketli/20071113/ttc-nokia-n82-press-shots-leaked-ahead-o-57dbc65_1.html

Mobile and Fashion: The Bond is Getting Tightened

Last week when I stepped into a retail mobile outlet at Camden market, one of the most happening places in London, I saw advertisements of Levi's mobile phones which are all set to be released soon. I was a bit dumb thinking “is it the clothing company Levi's or a new kid on the block?” One of the persons in the outlet came into rescue my curiosity and told me that it's the same Levi's whose jeans are popular worldwide and trusted for years now. He even told me that the device will be manufactured under licence by the Paris-based ModeLabs. I came to know that the steel framed Levi's phone with "shiny silver" and "shiny sand" finishes for the ladies and "metallic silver", black and "brown copper" for the lads will be available in the UK very soon.

I didn't buy anything but came out of the outlet with much satisfaction. To tell you the truth, I am a bit fashion conscious and love to be in sync with the latest trend. So, the news about the launch of a Levi's phone was definitely a! Currently I'm using the the Nokia 6111 Cath Kidson with flowers on it while my brother is using the stylish and elegant LG Prada, both designer phones. Some of my friends have even got the Motorola RAZR V3i Dolce and Gabbana. Yes, the mobile industry is also getting fashionable each passing day. Mobile manufacturers have roped up with some of the most prestigious fashion houses thus unveiling eye catching fashion mobile handsets.

Fashion and mobile technology are now more akin than ever. Mobile phones now don't work as mere communication gadgets, they also work as good medium to show off one's fashion quotient. And the entry of fashion labels into the mobile market has helped further in igniting the the stylish mobile trend.