Nokia's Ovi app store demonstrated at Web 2.0 Expo

Even though Nokia is the biggest mobile phone maker in the world, the Finland-based company is yet to join in the party of selling apps with its own mobile on-line store: Ovi. There have been talks and rumors about Nokia's Ovi app store, but things are looking to materialized soon when Ubergizmo finally got a sneak peek of it at Web 2.0 Expo.

Nokia reps said that Ovi app store is planned to launch in early May this year, and will be available as a small downloadable file for S40 & S60, while it'll come integrated with the N97. After that, the Ovi app store will come pre-installed within every S40/S60 Nokia phones.

There seems to be some good reasons on why Nokia is taking its time to prepare Ovi app store, it is said will let your friends know what apps you've been downloading and the store will feature apps according to your geographical location. The Ovi app store will be more friendly for wireless carriers to customized it, where carriers can tailor the store design and feature apps that are approved by the carriers.

Head on to the Ubergizmo's gallery to see more live shot of Nokia's Ovi app store in action.

Nokia give up on WiMax (for now)

Nokia has stopped making and selling its N810 Internet Tablet WiMax Edition, the only portable gadget that can use the WiMax network without accessories.

According to AP (via TG Daily); Nokia spokeswoman Laurie Armstrong confirmed Wednesday that the company has discontinued the N810 Internet Tablet WiMax Edition on its web site. Armstrong didn't explain why the N810 WiMax was withdrawn, but she said Nokia is still interested in WiMax, and by the time WiMax networks are more widely deployed, "refreshed products with even better performance will be required."

Here's a quick reminder of what WiMax is and a bit about N810:

• WiMax, sometimes described as a long-range version of Wi-Fi, is a competitor to traditional cellular broadband technologies. It offers relatively fast data speeds, and its proponents hope that WiMax antennas will be built into a variety of gadgets, from small computers to GPS devices.
• Nokia's N810, which has a 4.1-inch touch-sensitive screen and a slide-out keyboard, is still for sale for $438 in a version without a WiMax modem.

Nokia N97 will arrive in U.K. on March 31st

For Nokia fans, especially for you who have been waiting for the N97 and live in U.K. then you'll be ecstatic to know that according to GSMArena, there's an on-line retailer called Play which has start accepting pre-orders for the Nokia N97.

The N97 is offered at 480 GBP (540 Euro or US$720), and supposed to hit the shelves at the last day of March.

Is the N97 really worth to be waiting for? Well, not according to some early hands-on reviews I've read. But that's why I started this post with: "For Nokia fans." ;-p

Nokia 6208c look sterlingly steel-beautiful

It's becoming a habit nowadays for mobile manufacturers to use simple design to provoke the beauty out, and Nokia has embodied such design into 6208c which is specially made for China market because of its unique shaped stylus combined with Chinese characters handwriting input on Symbian 40 Series platform.

ePrice has uploaded the Nokia 6208c review complete with plenty of detailed photo shots of the handset that could make you drool over for one, the face of 6208c gives out a strong sense of the metal while the border around the screen and keyboard parts are used with a high gloss silver coating. Although the overall of the design may seem a bit old for the young audience's taste, but it might hit the right love spot on business and more mature users' heart.

Of course, the main attraction of the 6208c phone is its stylus, which ePrice called its design as some kinda "ancient form of dart". Although it's hard to ignore how close we're to think of it as a bottle-opener on the first sight, the hole itself is to give room for the phone's 3,2MP camera on the back.

Still according to ePrice, the S40 doesn't support full touch operation, meaning the phone's touchscreen is only for handwriting text input and the same old buttons for usual menus navigation. This is a real shame, since Nokia is already starting to make the most of touchscreen feature in the next gen of its smartphones.

For more complete info and photo shots of Nokia 6208c, you can head on directly to ePrice website (via Engadget Mobile).

Nokia's Comes With Music is coming to Australia & Singapore

Nokia is planning to bring its music service called "Comes With Music" to Australia and Singapore later this quarter, according to ZDNet news report.

Tero Ojanpera, the head of entertainment and communities at Nokia, told the MidemNet annual digital music gathering in Cannes, France: "The next two countries which we are going to roll out in the next 10 weeks are going to be in Asia, in Australia and Singapore," he told the conference. "We'll be launching there in the first quarter of 2009, in February and March."

Nokia's "Comes With Music" service offers unlimited music from the four major music labels and many independents. The music can be kept after the yearly contract has expired. The individual tracks can be downloaded to the phone and a single computer and are free, though the cost of the music is reflected in the price of the phone itself.

Nokia's "Comes With Music" service has previously already launched in the U.K., but seems to have not showing signs of success. Ojanpera declined to say how the phone was selling in Britain but said the service would gain momentum as it increases the number of handsets on which it is available.

Nokia Mobile Email out from Beta

I'm getting confused by Nokia here, Davis Fields from Nokia Messaging team has announced that Nokia Messaging is graduating from Beta Labs. But the banner (pictured on the left) says it is Mobile Email, not Nokia Messaging.

Anyhow, the now official Nokia Email service which was first released as beta in August 2008 is available on a country by country basis starting with Australia, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Singapore, Spain, the United Kingdom and Venezuela. You are free to continue using the service until it’s commercially available in your location. Here are the highlights of this release:

• Support for Yahoo! Mail
• Support for more Nokia S60 phones
• Support for up to ten email addresses
• Support for subfolders for IMAP email accounts
• Support for Google Apps hosted email and other vanity domain email addresses
• Flagged messages will automatically become starred messages in Gmail
• More intuitive inbox navigation via a discoverable control bar
• Faster opening of inbox
• Sent email will be synced to your webmail’s sent folder for all email addresses

Just go to http://email.nokia.com/ to download the latest version if you're in one of the above mentioned countries, and remember you'll need to pay for the service. Source are Nokia Beta Labs blog, via Engadget Mobile.

This could be Nokia's next gen touchscreen handset

Symbian Freak (via BGR) has found a mockup image of possibly Nokia's next generation touchscreen handset, here's the rest of the rumor taken from BGR: "The above image is reportedly a marketing slide from Nokia Capital Markets Day in Brooklyn yesterday. It allegedly depicts an upcoming touchscreen-only handset with a UI that looks absolutely nothing like S60 and gesture support complex enough to warrant a notation beside the mock ups."

A warning before you drool too much from staring too long at the image above, this could be as far as a photoshoped 3D image made by a Nokia fan or a serious designer. But let's just enjoy the tease while it lasts... ;-p

Nokia takes seriously of the saying "No pain, no gain"

For you who loves to work out in the gym, or perhaps for you who do extreme sports, then you must've familiar with the saying: "No pain, no gain."

As for me, I'm just trying to figure out how to throw away the main idea of torturing myself every time I went to the gym and do some weight lifting. ~LOL~

Ohkay, back to the topic again. Yesterday, Nokia has been sending a set of pictures that tell how they tested out their handsets in some of the more than 200 mechanical tests.

Those tests include bending the handsets under great pressure, twisting them till they break, pushes the keypad million of times, drips your kind of hand cream & gels on it, bathes them into a pool of hard & sharp little plastics, drops on a solid of concrete, and other tests that are too mean to be mentioned... ;-p

But as I'm watching the video torture that I've embedded below this post, I was wondering if through those tough test can Nokia's handsets still have the hair-line cracks which found on Treo Pro and iPhone 3G? Perhaps Palm and Apple should copy those torture tests from Nokia, to avoid having cracks on the body of their handsets in the future.

The tests might cost a fortune to be done, even for a big mobile manufacturer like Nokia, but like the saying above goes; I think it might be worth it if the reports on the hair-line cracks of Treo Pro & iPhone 3G are escalating every day.

Personally, I would be more than happy to be a torture test for any Palm's or Apple's products. Don't you? ;-D



Sources are from GSMArena & Gizmodo.

Nokia E63 is official

I've got to stop my own pessimistic attitude against Nokia, because when I thought Nokia is about to take a rest for awhile with no more new releases for its E business handsets line-up; Nokia just proved me wrong with the announcement of E63 on yesterday November 12th, 2008.

How could we forgot the alluring thin E71 with its sturdy metallic body? The strong astonishment that you get after you held E71 in your hands, is hard to be forgotten just like that.

But, apparently Nokia thinks not everyone want to enjoy the luxury of E71 along with its quite hefty price tag. It is a business mobile phone after all, not a fashion statement kinda phone for a quick flash.

So Nokia has released a cheaper model that looks like E71, codenamed below it: the E63. The look & the slim waist line at only 13mm are all still there, but the casing is replaced entirely with plastic. GSMArena says the E63 will have touch sensitive Navi wheel functionality that lacks in the E71. Here's a quick rundown list of the specs inside E63:

• Quad-band GSM up to UMTS connectivity
• 2.36 inch screen
• 16M color QVGA display
• 110MB internal memory
• microSD slot
• microUSB port
• Bluetooth with A2DP & EDR
• WiFi
• 3.2MP camera with autofocus
• 1BG online storage for Ovi Files

If you still interested in the E63 with its plastic body, no GPS but better camera resolution; then you can grab one home for the price of 200 Euro (around $US250) before taxes & subsides. Two colors will be available to choose from: red and blue.

[blogged with my Treo 750v]

Orgy sightings of Nokia handsets in the "How to Rob a Bank" movie

[after grabbing ringing cell phone from Jessica's pocket] Jason 'Jinx' Taylor: "What's this?"
[removes tape from Jessica's mouth] Jessica: [sarcastically] "That's what they call a cell phone."

---quoted from "How to rob a bank" movie

Soon after the opening scenes, the above conversation took place between the two main characters in the "How to rob a bank" movie. Which pretty much give an early clue of what you'll see in the movie, right from the start to the end.

I didn't want to do anything tonight, only but to relax after a hectic day and watch a movie. Any movie will do, I thought, and so I picked this movie with a title that intriqued me most.

Basically, this movie is an 'orgy' of Nokia handsets sightings. Pardon my language there, but it is true. It looks like the movie is funded and directed by Nokia, because the talking between characters in the movie is done mostly with mobile phones; and there's no other branded phones in there beside Nokia's.

The first Nokia phone to appear is the 6103, if I'm not mistaken. This phone belongs to Jessica, played by the sexy Erika Christensen. And it's being used from the start until the very end of the movie, amazing if the phone's battery can actually lasts that long. ;-p It's a movie after all...

After that the 9300 also makes few clear appearences, like you can see in the middle picture above; the 9300 is shot in close up for several times. This one also brought by Jessica.

The villain named Simon, played by Gavin Rossdale is using 5140i, again if I'm not mistaken. There's a funny scene, where he throws the 5140i to the police when it's battery died. In contrast with the 6103 up there, perhaps this act is to tell the truth about 5140i's battery real life? ~LOL~

And then Jinx, the main character played by Nick Stahl, pulls out his own Nokia's phone: the 6630. But this one doesn't shot clear enough, only partial shoots while in use and often blocked because of Jinx's face.

The last but not the least, is the N90 used by Officer DeGepse played by Terry Crews.

It's funny for me, and a pity that there's no expensive Nokia's handsets seen in the movie. For example like the 8800 series, or the business series such as the E61/62.

Overall, the movie's idea itself is interesting and gives a true fact about how banks are literally "rob" us even only in the amount of cents. But too bad, the conversations are nerve wrecking. Apart from those conversations are all done with mobile phones, the audience must see the same room and same places over and over again.

Personally, the only reconciliation for me to bear keep on watching this movie is because of Erika Christensen... ;-)

Nokia U.K. soon to launch N95 & N5310 Comes With Music edition

For you who are eagerly waiting for Nokia's 'Coming With Music' service offering that comes with its first touch-screen handset; the N5800 XpressMusic, you know from my previous report here at PalmAddict that the N5800 won't reach developed market soon. So you may miss having the chance to give it as Xmas present this year to your loved ones...

But fret not, if the 'Coming With Music' service is what you're after and you live in U.K., then you're in luck. Nokia U.K. is soon to launch N95 (8GB) & N5310 XpressMusic Comes With Music edition, in fact they're already taking pre-order SIM-free for those handsets.

Thanks to Chris1187 for the heads up!

[blogged with my Treo 750v]

Q&A on Nokia's Comes With Music service by C|NET

There is nothing to talk about the touch screen feature in Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, sure it's a new feature in Nokia's phone line-ups. But touch screen had becoming a standard in smartphones, and it's already been around long before N5800 arrived.

And if you still wish to know more about how the touch screen feature works in Symbian platform, then the best way to describe it; is for you to see it for yourself on the video demo I've embedded at previous post...

Aside from the touch screen hype being cooked at Nokia's marketing kitchen, there's on more spotlight we should consider to look at: Comes With Music (CWM) service. Now some of you, who have been following the news around mobile world must've knew about it already. But for you who haven't here's a simpler way to find out.

I'll cut through the crap about the origin and history of CWM service from Nokia, and go straight to the Q&A about it which is compiled by the knowledgeable Bonnie Cha from CNet networks with help from a Nokia representative:

• Q: Comes with Music lets customers buy an unlimited number of tracks from the Nokia Music Store but are there any limitations or restrictions? A: Comes With Music gives people a year of unlimited access to the Nokia Music Store catalog--from millions of tracks from a wide range of artists, including international hits and local talent--with the capability to keep all downloaded tracks.
• Q: After a year, what's the cost to continue the service? A: Once the Comes With Music first year service has expired, users can keep all the music they've downloaded and continue to update their collection with a la carte purchases. Pricing of a la carte depends on the Nokia Music Store pricing in the various regions.
• Q: Will the tracks just be limited to use on the phone or can they be downloaded to users' computers as well? A: Nokia provides seamless access to a world of music--people can download music directly to their Comes With Music device or via their compatible personal computer. Plus, people can easily transfer tracks and playlists between their Nokia device and computer using the Nokia Music for PC software.
• Q: Will the tracks come with DRM protection? A: Tracks and playlists can be shared between registered Comes With Music users (subject to confirmation that the user holds an active Comes With Music license). Users can play downloaded songs on the mobile device and personal computer that have been registered with the Comes With Music account, and transfer tracks between the registered devices. Users can purchase additional rights for the songs via the Nokia Music Store link, if they wish to burn tracks to CD or to sync to unregistered devices.
• Q: What's available in the Nokia Music Store catalog? A: All the major labels--including Universal Music Group, Sony BMG Entertainment, Warner Music Group, and EMI--have signed up to support Comes With Music, as well as a range of independent labels.
• Q: What are the rollout dates for Comes with Music? Specifically, the US? A: The United Kingdom will be the first market to offer Comes With Music with sales planned to start on October 16. Nokia is planning to announce additional Comes With Music markets in the coming months, but has not made that specific announcement at this time.

[blogged with my Treo 750v]

No Xmas sales for Nokia 5800 XpressMusic at developed markets

If you wish to feel the excitement from Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, the first fully powered Symbian S60 5th gen for touch screen, then I'm affraid you must go to these following countries: India, Indonesia, the United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Russia, and Spain by the end of the year.

Although Nokia has promised during the launch of N5800, that the touch screen smartphone will be available Europe and Asia during the fourth quarter of this year; Reuters (via Crave) is reporting it will miss the Christmas shopping season in most developed markets. Those are countries including the United States and Canada, will have to wait until 2009.

JP Morgan analyst Ehud Gelblum said "This is disappointing as we had expected the device to be shipping in the critical holiday season for most developed countries."

Anyone feels like flying into my little country here? ~LOL~

[blogged with my Treo 750v]

Nokia 5800 XpressMusic

The Symbian strikes back! With pressure now coming not only from Apple side, but also from Android, Nokia has to move fast before losing the ongoing trend in the mobile market these days: touch screen smartphone.

Why did I mentioned Symbian, instead of Nokia at the beginning line there? Because what Nokia has been waiting for all these times before introduce a touch screen product, was to wait until Symbian platform is prep & ready to power up a full touch screen powered device for Nokia. The wait is now over, when Nokia finally announced officially Nokia 5800 XpressMusic yesterday at London & Singapore.

Here's the quick rundown on the specs inside this baby with latest installment of Symbian platform that has reached the 5th generation:

• 3.2" touch screen with 640x360 pixels resolution
• 3.2MP camera Autofocus Shooter for VGA video at 30fps
• Quad-band GSM up to HSDPA
• WiFi
• GPS
• 3.5mm audio jack
• TV out
• microSD slot (comes with 8GB microSD card)
• Comes With Music service

Will soon available at this quarter 2008 in black, blue and red colors. There will be three versions: with North American HSDPA, with European HSDPA and GSM only; and the price will be around 279 EURO (US$390).

Sources are from

GSMArena & PhoneArena, head on to Nokia's Ovi website for more video demo like the one I embedded below this post.

[blogged with my Treo 750v]

An early peek at N85 & N79

It doesn't feel complete without talking news & rumors about one of the biggest brand in mobile phone industry; Nokia. Nokia latest handsets to be are the N85 and N79, both have received extra promotions due to the rumors leaked around the net.

But what you're seeing on the left, is the picture of N85 that's set to be announced officially tomorrow at 10:00 CET. The specs are already bleeding out everywhere as I speak, here they are according to GSMArena:

Nokia N85 will have dedicated game keys and support for N-gage platform for a great gaming experience. The handset will pack an exiting 2.6” 16M AMOLED display, which will be the largest of its kind among GSM phones. In addition the N85 will feature a 5 megapixel camera, WLAN and 3G with HSDPA support. A microSD card slot will allow expanding the built-in memory. The built-in GPS will allow geo-tagging of the photos taken with the camera.

The Nokia N79 is supposed to be a fashion-oriented handset with replaceable back covers. It will also come with a 5 megapixel camera, which will be complemented by a dual LED flash and a protective cover. Among the other features are Wi-Fi, GPS and 3G as well as a microSD card slot. A 4GB card is expected to come in the retail package.

[blogged with my Treo 750v]

Nokia 8800 Carbon Arte introduced

I don't really quite know what to do when I caught this news at GSMArena, to post or not to post... that's the question.

I remember it well enough, when my sister bought the 'ludricious' N8800 SE, which at that time is one of the exclusive mobile phone around; then Nokia broke all of N8800 owners by releasing the Luna version. After that, there's Arte and then Saphire too.

And now, like it's not enough to re-fire the old flame. Nokia has announced Nokia 8800 in Carbon Arte serie, and as like the name imply; the body is using carbon fiber with etched 3D patterns dominating the exterior.

It'll also get the better specs compared to its older siblings such as a 3.2 megapixel camera, 4GB of flash memory, 2" OLED display with anti-fingerprint coating, microUSB & Bluetooth. But the most stand out feature is the turn-to-mute and tap-for time, these features use the built-in accelerometer to show the time by simply taping twice on the case or mute calls by turning it over.

The N8800 Carbon Arte is set to be released on the 3rd quarter of the year, priced at 1,100 Euro or around $1,600. Head on to Nokia's photo web page to see more pictures of this expensive mobile phone in all of its glory. Sources are from GSMArena & Engadget Mobile.

[blogged with my Treo 750v]

Nokia's Dark Night & the premiere

Super-heroes have came and gone just like that, but Batman aka. the Dark Night has been proven to be the most sucessful super-hero movie franchise after Spiderman. And Nokia sees the opportunity to ride on the DC's icon popularity by releasing the "Dark Night" edition, which basically is the Nokia 6205 (pictured above, click to view it larger) with a Dark Knight logo imprinted on the front-flip back. Those lucky boys at Engadget Mobile got their hands-on this minimalist flip phone, head on their page to see more pictures the unboxing.

This black-colored CDMA flip handset from Nokia is offered throught Verizon network, equipped with wallpapers, voice tones, animated screensavers inspired by the film, and a full movie trailer. Besides that Nokia 6025 Dark Knight offers access to Verizon Wireless’ V CAST Music service, a 1.3 megapixel camera with flash and 4x digital zoom, 58 MB internal memory, VZ Navigator and Mobile Web for access to the latest news, sports, weather.

The phone is offered in a unique package, with iconic images drawn straight from Gotham City and a Joker playing card. The code written on the Jocker playing card may bring a $10,000 prize to its owner. According to Verizon, the price of the Nokia 6205 The Dark Knight edition will be available online for $69.99 after a $50 online instant rebate with a new two-year customer agreement.

Yesterday I forgot to post a celebrity who uses mobile phone, so today I'm gonna treat you guys with the photo shot pictures below (click to enlarge it) from The Dark Night premiere night at AMC Loews Lincoln Center-NYC on Monday evening on July 14th. The movie’s casts such as Christian Bale, Morgan Freeman and Maggie Gyllenhaal were joined by Hollywood guests. Like Blake Lively who posed her sexy legs in front of the bat-mobile (yowza!), and Lauren Conrad shyly crossed her legs. ;-D

The normally red carpet was turned into black colored instead, in order to honor the late Heath Ledger who played the role of the Joker in the movie. Every casts of the movie were saying good things of their fallen comrade, like Christian Bale who plays Batman said: "“He was wonderful. He was talented beyond belief, his immersion in the character was a greatly satisfying thing to work opposite.” Bale then added, "I would love to be right here with him. And I thought I would be..."

Maggie Gyllenhaal, who plays attorney Rachel Dawes in “The Dark Knight”, added: “He did something that is difficult even for every great actor. It’s still very unusual to hit a stride that is so free that you can really do no wrong. There’s no way to judge what he did. He was absolutely free.”

Yes, you're a great actor Heath. A Salute to Heath's magnificent play, for portraying the Joker character perfectly. But you're free now, and we're going to miss you... ;~

In the mean time, to cheer you up, why don't you watch a video below about Bale revealing his "Dark" secret. Source is from GossipGirls.

[blogged with my Treo 750v]

Nokia launched Supernova line-ups

The announcement of Nokia's Supernovas didn't surprised anyone at all, one thing is because there are many rumors and leaked shots of the Supernova line-up handsets. And secondly, we've often seen how fast Nokia release newer handsets and refresh the old ones.

But nevertheless, we should look at the flagship of the bunch: Nokia 7610 Supernova. There are some "exciting" specs under the hood of those glossy body of this baby, here they are:

• Symbian S40 OS
• Quad-band GSM, only up to EDGE data network
• 2-inch screen with 16M colors at 240x320 pixels
• 3.2MP camera along with autofocus and LED flash
• FM Radio with RDS
• Bluetooth with A2DP
• microUSB slot
• 30MB internal memory
• microSD card slot
• XpressOn covers

According to GSMArena; the really cool feature of the Nokia 7610 Supernova allows the keypad illumination color and the theme to be changed automatically depending on the current environment.
There are three more handsets from the Supernova line-ups, they are: 7510, 7310 & 7210. And if you're interested on more details of them, head on to GSMArena page and I've compiled some of their pictures like you can see below.

[blogged with my Treo 750v]

Nokia expand its social network

What is it that connect social networking activities with mobile phone? If mobility is your answer, then you're only got the half answer right. Because the other answer is: GPS, the newest feature that is being integrated more and more everyday into modern mobile phones.

An easy example was invisioned at one of my post here at PalmAddict, although at there the handset mentioned is iPhone. But the basic idea is the same, using GPS and cell towers triangulation to pin-point your current location, etc.

And now, Nokia is planning to enfuel social networking into its vast handset models by acquiring Plazes, a privately-owned German company. Plazes is developing a social networking platform which is used to plan, share and record social activities, using both PCs (Windows as well as Mac OS X operating systems) and mobile phones, via SMS (Short Message Service). Its motto is: right "plaze," right people, right time. For example, users can create activities and let friends know what they are doing, where and when, and see what friends are up to.

As reported by PCW Business Center, the acquisition worth is not disclosed yet. "If all goes well, in the near future Plazes will be made available to millions of Nokia customers both online and on millions of mobile devices," wrote Plazes co-founder Felix Petersen in the company's blog. He also reassures users that despite the acquisition, the development of a new version of Plazes will continue, and the company will still release a client for the iPhone.

A quite surprising move indeed, to help one of Nokia's toughest competitor: iPhone, by providing a Plazes client for it. But then again, perhaps they have their own hidden agenda by doing so. We'll see...

Nokia expects the deal to close in the third quarter 2008. After closing, Plazes will become part of Nokia's Services and Software unit, according to a statement.

[blogged with my Treo 750v]