the nokia phone blog

Nokia to Buy Navteq?

In late-breaking actual honest-to-goodness Nokia news, the Wall Street Journal reported that the phone manufacturer is currently in talks to purchase mapping company Navteq.

Navteq provides digital maps and content for use in software applications (Nokia Maps, Microsoft Flight Simulator) and web sites (Google and Yahoo maps to name a few). The company is valued at $7.61 billion dollars.

Tele-Atlas, Navteq's chief (and only) competitor, was recently acquired by TomTom, a navigation software company, for the paltry sum of 2 billion euros.

Nokia in talks to acquire Navteq: report - Reuters

Will Nokia acquire mapping company Navteq?

Permalink | Comments (0) | September 30, 2007

Apple's New Firmware Bricking Hacked iPhones

Apple's new firmware update doesn't play nice with unlocked iPhones: thanks to the latest 1.1.1 update, numerous iPhone users with hacked handsets found themselves with "bricked" phones - aka mere paperweights.

The good news (according to engadget), is that it's now possible to downgrade an iPhone on a software level so you can still use third-party applications. Unfortunately, this does not allow you to unlock your phone again - so if you locked your iPhone due to the "upgrade", you're still stuck. At least for now.

Earlier this week, Apple sent out a warning that hacked iPhones may not work as intended afer the optional update.

engadget: Downgrade your iPhone to 1.0.2

You might want to hold off on updating your unlocked iPhone.

Permalink | Comments (0) | September 30, 2007

Preview: Palm's Centro Smartphone

Well, after getting home from the two days of revelry in Los Angeles that included a stint at a Nokia Nseries-themed mansion and a short tour around the city, all I can say is: it sucks to be back. Having wasted most of my day sleeping, I'm hoping that tomorrow I'll be able to write up the full-length account of what actually went down in LA.

Until then, you'll just have to read up on my newly rehashed news, starting with: the Palm Centro phone.

Palm's new Centro smartphone.

Permalink | Comments (0) | September 29, 2007

So where will I be tomorrow?

I'll give you the answer in the form of a picture:

That's a really inviting pool.

Tomorrow will be a pretty crazy day to say the least - I'll be flying to LA to attend a Nokia Nseries event at a mansion deep in the heart of Beverly Hills, CA - and all on Nokia's (or is that WOMWorld's?) dime. Very cool.

So what's this exciting, star-studded (maybe) event about? I can't say for sure, but I'd expect it to be a first-hand look at Nokia's sexy new devices announced in the past couple of weeks: the N81, the new N95, and who knows - maybe some Prisms too.

With some wi-fi access and some luck I'll be blogging from Cali late tomorrow night after the event.

Permalink | Comments (0) | September 26, 2007

Review: Nokia N76 Phone

The Nseries line is known for fully-featured mobile phones that just happen to ignore normal size restraints. Handsets such as the N90, N93, and N80 set the bar with impressive feature sets but took some criticism for being just way too BIG.

With the N76, Nokia's aiming to get into the thin market, one that's been long dominated by the RAZR. Touted as a music smartphone, the N76 combines the Symbian operating system with stereo speakers and a 2 megapixel camera in a device that's actually thinner than the RAZR.

So how does it fare? More inside.

Review: Nokia's N76, a music phone with a slim profile.

Permalink | Comments (2) | September 25, 2007

Unexpected: Motorola RAZR2 Sales are Actually Good

Forbes reports that an RBC analyst named Mark Sue upgraded shares of the #2? #3? cell phone manufacturer. According to the analyst's research, sales of the RAZR2 are doing well, and Motorola's "business has stopped deteriorating."

Sue said Monday that the Razr2 is living up to its predecessor's name. He said that a poll of 125 retailers shows that so far sales of the new phone have been good. The phone was released in July.

Mr. Sue also recommended a price cut to stimulate more sales of the Razr2 for the upcoming holiday season.

Could this be the beginning of a ninth-inning comeback?

Shares of Motorola rose 1.2% on the news.

Motorola Back On Track

Is it comeback time for Motorola?

Permalink | Comments (0) | September 24, 2007

Apple's Next Update Could Disable Unlocked iPhones

Now this is funny. Apple actually issued a warning today that the company's next iPhone update - to be released later this week - may disable any handsets that have been unlocked through software hacks.

Unlocked iPhones could be disabled by the next software update.

Permalink | Comments (0) | September 24, 2007

Software: Nokia Conversation for Symbian 3rd Edition

A couple of days ago, Nokia released the beta Conversation application for Symbian 3rd Edition smartphones. It's a nifty add-on that extends your current texting features by grouping messages by Name instead of a huge blob of a list that is just hell to deal with if you've got lots of text messages. Kind of like the way gmail handles emails by turning them into conversations...

Nokia's Conversation software for Symbian 3rd Edition phones.

An application that should come standard in every Nokia phone: Conversation.

Permalink | Comments (4) | September 23, 2007

Software: Pro Session Golf for Symbian 3rd Edition

A long time ago Nokia released the N93 Golf Edition. While I don't know how much of a hit the phone-turned-golf-video-analyzer was (my guess is not that much), I do know that the software is now available for individual sale. So no, you don't have to purchase an outdated N93 to break down your crappy golf swing, you can now buy it for your soon-to-be-outdated Nokia N95.

Fix your broken golf swing with Pro Session Golf.

Permalink | Comments (0) | September 23, 2007

Another 5300 XpressMusic Contest: UK Only

This time UK residents get all of the glory. Nokia's RockUpandPlay website is taking names (and email addresses, and you know what the means...) for its 5300 (Black) XpressMusic phone contest.

Of course, by entering the contest, you're also registering for the site, which appears to be a Nokia Unwired-ish site for the UK. Basically it's got the music videos, the band info, and the frightening ability to upload yourself onto the site.

The contest ends on September 24, so that leaves you with a measly 2 days to get cracking.

Nokia's RockUpAndPlay.com

Permalink | Comments (0) | September 23, 2007

Software: Speccy 1.5 Released

Marat Fayzullin is droppin' it like it's hot with the release of Speccy v1.5, a ZX Spectrum emulator that runs on Symbian 3rd Edition devices.

Bold new changes include network play, a new zoom mode, support for .DSK files, and lots of bug fixes.

You can find the trial version for download on Marat's site below. Or you can get the full version free with coupon code CPN32 when ordering something else.

Speccy 1.5 for Symbian 3rd Edition Devices

I've never actually used a ZX Spectrum, but it sure sounds old.

Permalink | Comments (0) | September 22, 2007

Preview: Nokia 6301 UMA Phone

Take the Nokia 6300, add in a dash of wi-fi, sprinkle with a slight color change, and presto! It's the Nokia 6301 UMA phone.

The short summary: Nokia's newest thin candy bar provides a "seamless transition" when fielding calls over GSM or WLAN.

It's the 6301, aka the 6300 with some orange thrown in.

Permalink | Comments (0) | September 21, 2007

Cool Phone Sweepstakes Try #789230 (5300 XpressMusic)

Back for another round, the Cool Phone Sweepstakes' top prize is now the 5300 XpressMusic phone, delivered to you along with a $70 check. That $70 is supposed to pay for two months of wireless phone service (hah!), but we both know that money's going right into your late-night White Castle Fund.

You have until October 15 to fill out the form and hope that you're one of the lucky winners (3).

The 5300 XpressMusic phone is a handset that I like to affectionately call the "XpressPlastic". Pick one up and you'll see why.

Cool Phone Sweepstakes for a 5300 XpressMusic Phone

Three People will win, Many Others will be Complete Losers

Permalink | Comments (1) | September 21, 2007

Preview: LG Viewty KU990 Phone

I rarely write about non-Nokia phones (something that I am seriously trying to change, honest). You can see this just by looking at the number of entries I've accumulated in the "Other Mobile Phones" category: a grand total of 12, and probably a third of those don't even belong there.

Meanwhile, I stumbled upon LG's latest press release for it's newest touch-screen phone: the Viewty. If you can get around the lousy name, the Viewty is actually quite an interesting device.

This is the picture of a 5.1 megapixel, 120 fps video recorder.

Permalink | Comments (1) | September 20, 2007

Next iPhone: 3G + GPS?

TheStreet.com reports that the next version of the iPhone will come standard with 3G and probably a GPS, and will be available in early 2008. Sources included "people familiar with the production plans."

The rumor also says that Apple is looking to Broadcom's Global Locate division to manufacture the assisted GPS chips for the iPhone.

The news follows yet another rumor that Apple is increasing production of the iPhone, from 1.54 million to 1.7 million units. Apparently the $200 markdown created plenty of new demand for the device, and Apple is on track to sell 3 million iPhones, according to an analyst for UBS. Another market research firm, iSuppli, expects the company to move 4.5 million phones.

Apple, as usual, did not say a word.

Apple to Introduce Faster iPhone Next Year - TheStreet

TheStreet says there's a new iPhone in town: and it's got a GPS.

The next iPhone: complete with 3G and GPS.

Permalink | Comments (0) | September 20, 2007

Latest Featured Entry