The Technology Inventory
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Nokia reported a 39 percent year-on-year drop in the number of smartphones it sold in the second quarter, to 10.2 million, while its net loss more than trebled. - Peter Sayer for ARN
Nokia has been struggling financially as it tries to keep up with the smartphone industry currently dominated by Samsung’s mobile devices running on Google’s Android platform, and Apple’s iPhone, which is rumored to release the latest version, iPhone 5, next month. The company faces challenges in its transition to the Windows Phone operating system from the previous Symbian OS. Only in the US has Nokia’s Lumia 900, created to compete with the Android phones and Apple’s mobile devices, has sales been good. Demand for the Lumia phones are still uncertain despite a 2% percent increase in feature phones sold.
Read more about Nokia’s smartphone sales here
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Finnish mobile phone manufacturer Nokia is planning to launch three smart phones, including its Pureview model with 41 megapixel sensor camera, in India, this year. The company’s Sriperumbudur facility, near Chennai, which saw an investment of about $500 million so far, would also start manufacturing and marketing its two new models of feature phone series Asha in 2012, according to a senior executive from the company.
Microsoft and Nokia will invest up to $24 million in a new mobile application development program at Finland’s Aalto University during the next three years, with the goal of helping create applications for Windows Phone, the two companies said on Monday.
The program is called AppCampus and will kick off in May, at which time interested entrepreneurs can start applying for grants. The two companies will split the bill in half. How much they will eventually invest will depend on the quality of the applications, according to Kai Öistämö, executive vice president at Nokia, said.
Read more about the Nokia-Microsoft collaboration
Nokia’s long-talked-about collaboration with Microsoft, the Lumia 800 smartphone, has finally arrived on New Zealand shelves.
It was well worth the wait. Of the four Windows Phones I have trialled during the past 18 months the others being the HTC Trophy, the LG Optimus 7Q and the Samsung Omnia this is the fastest and the best.
It follows hot on the heels of a slightly lower-spec Lumia 710.
My first question was: “Where’s the battery?” Emptying the box of the accessories and finding the instructions, I found it was integrated into the handset. This means the handset, like the Nokia N9, is about as slim as they get. The 3.7” (800 x 480) touchscreen is black and shiny, and delivers a crisp picture when it’s on.
The Micro-SIM the Lumia 800 uses slips into a SIM tray at the top of the phone and is easy to fit.
Accessories include a rubber sleeve that slips over the handset, protecting it from scratches in your pocket and helping it bounce if you drop it.
You can’t remove the SIM with the rubber sleeve on, but you can connect the USB lead to a power outlet or your computer for charging.
From a power socket, it’s a two-hour charge, and longer from a USB port depending on the power of your PC.
While we’re talking about PCs, you can transfer videos and music too, and from the Lumia 800 using Microsoft’s free Zune software from zune.net. It’s a trendy media player that’s worth a look, even if you don’t have a Lumia 800.
The Lumia 800 handset also comes with earbuds, and Nokia is also about to release a very nice set of padded headphones designed to complement it.
Finnish group Nokia aims to revamp its feature phone offering this year and add more and cheaper Windows smartphones to fight back against the fast-rising popularity of Google’s massmarket Android phones.
“We are addressing this with our planned introductions in 2012 of smarter, competitively priced feature phones with more modern user experiences,” the company said on Thursday in its annual report.
Though smartphones - such as Apple’s iPhone, which provides a platform for third-party application developers - are where the industry’s growth is concentrated, feature phones - which have only limited support for third-party software - still account for most units sold.
Smartphones make up less than a third of industry volume.Nokia has also been working on a new Linux-based software platform, code-named Meltemi, to replace its Series 40 software in more advanced feature phones, industry sources told Reuters.
After LG, HTC and some of the other manufacturers have had their fun, it was Nokia’s turn to take to the stage at the Mobile World Congress 2012 in Barcelona and make some new announcements. Everyone was expecting Nokia to release a successor to the Nokia N8 and Nokia didn’t disappoint. The Nokia 808 PureView, as it is called, blew everyone’s mind with its astonishing 41 megapixel sensor, which is not only ridiculously high by mobile phone standards but even by professional digital camera standards.
