Timeline: The fall of Nokia

The mobile world has changed rapidly in the last couple of years. While some mobile players pioneered these changes, others were quite slow and couldn’t adapt to the lightening-fast changes. Earlier this year, there were reports from HIS iSuppli how Nokia’s 14-year run as the biggest phone manufacturer finally comes to an end. Most of us have loved our Nokia devices and it brings in a lot of nostalgia to many users, but that’s the problem. The company introduced us to the term smartphone in 2002. Just five years later, the iPhone was launched, changing everything one may demand from a smartphone, but Nokia failed to see the changing consumer demand. Though Nokia builds quality hardware for phones, it moved too slowly to catch up with its competitors in terms of OS and app ecosystem. In mere 2-3 years, Google and Apple have managed to shake Nokia off its position to run a two horsed mobile race. While the question on everyone’s mind was whether Nokia will ditch Symbian for Android, the company surprised everyone by joining hands with Microsoft’s Windows Phone. After a lukewarn response for the Lumia series last year, followed by dipping shares and hundreds of lay offs, Nokia’s future still doesn’t seem stable. Here’s a timeline showing the fall of this once-mighty company.

Nokia may sue HTC over design similarities between 8X and Lumia 820

Two of the biggest companies to have showcased upcoming devices that will be running Windows Phone 8 are HTC and Nokia. And, according to Neowin, there might be a legal war between them. According to unnamed sources, Nokia might be preparing to file a lawsuit against HTC because of the similarities in design between the HTC Windows Phone 8X and the Nokia Lumia 820. The original report by PC-Tablet.com says, “The reports are saying Nokia is preparing to get HTC 8X banned in various parts of the world from going on sale when it will launch in November. Nokia has said in reports that the front-face of HTC 8X looks identically same as of the Lumia 820 followed by side-curves of the phone body.”

Nokia may price Lumia 920 at Rs 42,000 in India

At the Nokia World 2012 event held a few days ago, Nokia revealed everything about the new Lumia handsets except their launch dates and prices. Rumours indicated earlier that Nokia would launch the Lumia 920 in global markets by November. As per a recent report, this handset will be priced at Euro 600 ($758), which translates to approximately Rs 42,000. The author of WMPowerUser, Surur states, “The Nokia Lumia 920 will be released in Germany in mid-October and will retail for 600 Euro ($758, £476). The Austrian art magazine ‘Future Zone‘ reported that Nokia wants to deliver the Lumia 920 from the middle of October in Germany. They expect the handset to initially launch only in a few countries, much like the roll-out of the Nokia Lumia 800, before being available everywhere. The handset will be introduced first in Germany, France, Britain, Italy and Russia, before becomes available in late October in Poland. The Scandinavian countries, Portugal and Spain will receive the handset a short time later.”

Nokia Lumia 920 - first hands-on video

Nokia takes the wraps off the Lumia 820; wireless charging onboard

Nokia lifted the wraps off its Lumia 820 smartphone and it is now official. The Lumia 820 sports a 4.3-inch screen ClearBlack OLED display. The Nokia ClearBack display on the Lumia 820 comes with high brightness mode and Sunlight Readability Enhancements. The display features of the Lumia 820 include - polarization filter, Light time-out, Ambient light detector, Brightness control, Orientation sensor, Proximity sensor, High Brightness mode, RGB Stripe, Sunlight readability enhancements, Aspect ratio 15:9, Super sensitive touch and Color boosting. The super sensitive touch functionality allows you to use the handset even with gloves on. The Nokia Lumia 820 sports the same polycarbonate shell as the 920 and previous Lumia devices. It comes in red, yellow, grey, cyan, purple, white and black colour options. It will feature exchangeable covers and a microSD card slot to expand memory (one bonus we've all been looking forward to). The Lumia 820 is powered by a 1.5GHz Dual Core Snapdragon S4 processor and is powered by a 1650mAh battery with support for Qi wireless charging. It sports an 8MP camera with Carl Zeiss optics.

Nokia Should Use Android as its Windows Phone Backup Plan

Nokia chose Microsoft’s Windows Phone operating system over its Symbian platform for its newest smartphones. However, the company’s board chairman Risto Siilasmaa recently said that the company has a backup plan, just in case Windows Phone doesn’t work out. What is it? Forbes briefly suggested the backup plan could be Android, and we agree, although Nokia may also have in-house alternatives ready to go. Here’s why Android could be Nokia’s perfect backup plan.

Nokia Makes Killer Hardware :

Nokia is dead-focused on maintaining its status as one of the world’s largest smartphone makers. Google could help it achieve that status, and Nokia has the know-how to make a device that could stack up against the Galaxy S III and the HTC One X. If anything, Windows Phone is limiting what Nokia can do with smartphones. NFC, higher-resolution displays, HDMI-out, custom user interfaces, quad-core processors — all of this is available for Android now. Why should Nokia wait until Windows Phone 8 to include those features in its handsets?

Nokia has a killer hardware team. The Lumia series are a perfect example of what the company’s industrial design team is capable of building. I could also point you to the N9 or any of its flagship smartphones from the past several years. A slightly modified Android version of those phones could easily go head-to-head with the best from Samsung and HTC.

Nokia Launched Cheap Touch-screen Phone Models : Asha 305, 306, 311

Nokia has come up with its first three basic phone models with large touch screens and launched Asha 305, Asha 306 and Asha 311 in the market which are the cheapest touch-screen model produced by the manufacturer.

Nokia Asha 305, 306 and 311 : Nokia's Cheapest Touch-Screen Handsets

Nokia launches two new handsets under 'Asha' range - Nokia 305 and Nokia 311

NEW DELHI: Aimed at strengthening its mobile Internet devices portfolio, Finnish handset maker Nokia today launched two new devices in the country under its 'Asha' range of phones.

The Asha 305 and Asha 311 are equipped with cloud accelerated Nokia browser, which will compresses data by as much as 85 per cent, helping users browse the Internet faster and lower their spend on data charges.

"The Nokia Asha family has received tremendous consumer response. With the launch of Nokia Asha touchrange, we are strengthening our range of mobile Internet devices," Nokia India Director Marketing Viral Oza told reporters here.

Nokia 305

Nokia Lumia 900 proves it's hardcore in a nail-biting test

Nokia is currently in that place where they need to prove their mettle to the vast and ever mobile increasing mobile community, if they wish to get back into the game. Currently, the once king of the mobile hill, is running behind the pack and just about managing to stay visible. While they seem to be doing just as well as before in the lower budget segment, their higher end smartphones have been neglected in lieu of Google’s more popular Android platform.

But to prove to the world that their products are just as good as anyone else's, if not better, the Finnish company decided to showcase just how hardcore they can be. With kid gloves off, and to prove that their upcoming Windows smartphone, the Nokia Lumia 900, was as tough as nails the company took things to a very literal stage. As a demonstration to show the world that the Lumia 900’s display was capable of all kinds of pressure, demonstrators took a hammer and nails to it. 

Nokia 808 PureView to sell in India at Rs.29,999

For those of you who are eagerly awaiting the launch of the flagship Symbian handset, the Nokia 808 PureView and have already started saving up for this super shooter smartphone, then here is a price that you can expect it to feature once it's launched. According to a report by AndroSym, the handset that stole the show at the Mobile World Congress event that was held in Barcelona earlier this year will be available at a price of Rs.29,999. The website has received this information from a page source from the Nokia India store and it can be viewed on the Google Chrome browser. As per the report, “Today we stumbled upon this rather little secret – Nokia India’s online store has priced the 808 PureView at INR 29,999 (or 30,000 as a round figure). That’s about $561 at the current exchange rate.” This is probably the most concrete bit of information we have heard regarding the pricing of this Symbian smartphone.

Siri says Nokia Lumia 900 is best smartphone ever

Siri, Siri on the wall, Who's the best smartphone of them all?

Wait for it... Nokia Lumia 900! That's right, if you ask Apple's speech recognition software, Siri, what the best smartphone ever made is, the software betrays its maker and answers Nokia Lumia 900, the Windows Phone device. Siri's answers are based on search results from Wolfram Alpha, which gets its own information from user reviews. The Nokia Lumia 900 is a recently launched device, so it makes sense that there is a plentitude of sources for Siri to say that it is the best smartphone ever. Siri interprets the question as 'best mobile phones by customer review average'. The result even specifies the 4G version, a colour 'cyan' and AT&T.

Beginning of the end of feature phone: TMI survey

Among the top 25 most searched handsets, a whopping 21 models are smartphones.

There seems to be a growing interest and awareness among Indian consumers about smartphones, the Handset Hotlist survey (May, 2012) suggests. In the survey, brought out by The Mobile Indian (www.themobileindian.com), 21 of the 25 handsets that made it to the list are smartphones.

Almost every month, two smartphones are being launched in India and one of them is usually an entry level or mid-level phone. Notably, today smartphones are available in the market for as low as Rs 3,000 and they offer better utility than feature phones.

No tie-ups with local handset makers for Windows Phone

Over the last couple of years, the Indian market has shown significant growth. There have been several new players, who’ve cashed upon the openness of the Android platform. In India, we still have a slew of Java devices too. But maybe not everyone is looking to extent the reach of mobile phones to every segment. Bhaskar Pramanik, Chairman Microsoft India revealed in an interview that the company isn’t looking to tie up with local phone makers for its Windows Phone. “The Windows Phone requires a specification for the user experience. We want to give the same kind of experience that Apple has. This limits the number of manufacturers who can build a product around that,” Mr Pramanik said.

Nokia calls Windows 8 tablets report 'misconstrued'

Yesterday we reported that Jorma Ollila, the outgoing chairman of Nokia had revealed in an interview that the company would be launching a range of new tablets and ‘hybrid’ smart mobile models. However, he didn’t disclose a time frame. A recent report by eWeek now shows how Nokia has backed off from the comments made by Ollila and called them ‘misconstrued.’ Well, Nokia coming out with Windows tablets isn’t something new. News about Nokia coming out with Windows-based tablets has been doing the rounds for sometime now. Remember the possible Nokia Lumia tablet render that had surfaced sometime back. Ollila spoke about the importance of tablets and that it’s being considered.

Windows Phone 7.5 Refresh to bring Internet sharing to Lumia 710, 800

With the launch of their Nokia Lumia handsets late last year, the brand had partnered with Microsoft and launched a couple of handsets namely the Lumia 800 and the Lumia 710. The handsets have done fairly well in the market and since then Nokia have unveiled two more handsets under the Lumia banner which are the Lumia 900 and 610 that are yet to reach our shores. The Lumia 610 is expected to land here by the end of this quarter. A feature the Lumia 610 will have when it launches is Internet sharing capability, something that is lacking on the Lumia 710 and Lumia 800. However, reports by Nokiapoweruser states that this feature will now become available to these handsets with the Windows Phone 7.5 Refresh update.

Windows Phone 7.5 Refresh a.k.a Tango slated for a June release

Nokia’s Lumia 610 will be the first Windows Phone 7.5 Tango or Refresh as it will be officially called, to hit Indian shelves for an estimated price tag of just Rs.11,000. If this actually happens then it’s going to give stiff competition to the mainstream Androids that are currently enjoying the limelight in this price segment. We’ve now learnt, through a Windows centric Spanish blog, that Microsoft will be officially launching Windows Phone 7.5 Refresh sometime in June. This update is designed for low-end WP7 devices that are fitted with 256MB RAM and slower processors making them cheaper to produce while delivering similar experience as Windows Phone Mango.

Nokia Lumia tablet render lets us peek into the future

We just happened to stumble upon a brilliantly made design of a Nokia tablet running Windows 8 and we thought, why not gaze through the crystal ball. We couldn't stop wondering about what could happen if this tablet did come into existence in the near future. But wait, before we get our thinking hats on, we’ll mention an important development. As reported by My Nokia Blog, an interesting article was spotted in a Finnish newspaper “Kauppalehti Optio” that spoke about Nokia working on a revolutionary new device. Could be a phone, could be a tablet, could be anything. But here’s what the article spoke about. Basically, Nokia Design Chief, Marko Ahtisaari has been working in full swing on Nokia’s upcoming revolutionary new device (or technology) that could change the way user interfaces currently exist.

Drool!

Nokia promptly rolls out bug fix for Lumia 900

Nokia’s flagship WP7 device, the Lumia 900 which became recently available to AT&T users in the U.S, developed a major bug. Many users started reporting loss of connectivity to the LTE network as the connections would randomly cut out. They also issued an apology letter to those who had already bought the device. It read, "We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. As a gesture of good will, every individual who has already purchased a Nokia Lumia 900 — or who will purchase one between now and April 21st – will receive a $100 credit to their AT&T bill from Nokia. We believe the Nokia Lumia 900 is unlike any other smartphone on the market. It represents an exceptional balance of power, ease of use and value, all wrapped in one of the most stylish, striking designs ever."

Nokia N9 runs ICS - Going to be First Nokia's Android Phone

When Nokia first announced their collaboration with Microsoft’s Windows Mobile, it’s safe to say that the Android community, in all probability seemed a little disappointed. Most mobile users appreciated the overall build quality and design sense of Nokia, but the Symbian and MeeGo OS just didn't seem to make a too big an impact. Symbian refused to change too much with the times and MeeGo didn’t really appeal to the masses. Hence, handsets like the Nokia N9 never really made it to our side of the pond. But for those who managed to get a device and aren’t too happy with MeeGo, here’s some good news - the guys down at the NitDroid Forums have a little trick that they’ve been working on, code named "Project Mayhem". 

Project Mayhem entails porting Android’s Ice Cream Sandwich onto a MeeGo running Nokia N9. SO far the port has been reported as successful, however it's still in Alpha phase, so cannot be used as a daily driver. This was not an easy task as finding the Android drivers for Nokia N9 was tough. There aren’t any  Android-powered phones with similar hardware specs from whom the developers could have taken the code for the drivers from.

Nokia's latest patent says get tattooed for mobile notification

Get Connected with Tatoo

The vibration aspect of mobile phone notifications is definitely a very relevant setting for cell phone technology. It allows for discretion to a large extent and bears a certain professionalism and courtesy depending on the environment i.e. at work, during lectures, meetings etc. However, there are a few handsets whose vibration settings tend to be just a little stronger than most and that, in contrast, can get a bit embarrassing at times. A recent report showcased a new patent by Nokia that might just change the game of how one gets discreet alerts via their cell phones. The patent filed states that Nokia would enable their users to be notified of phone alerts by vibrations on their skin via a ferromagnetic tattoo. The way this innovation works is quite simple - whenever you receive a message, IM, e-mail, call, essentially any notification your phone will send out a signal in the form of a magnetic field set to a particular frequency, which will be detected by the tattoo on your body.