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Mobile Nokia

Pre-Order Nokia E7 In Finland At €599

Ever since it was unveiled back in September last year, the Nokia E7 has impressed us. The device comes with a 4″ touchscreen ClearBack display, a full QWERTY keyboard, an 8-Megapixel camera with HD capture and 16GB mass memory. However, Espoo has failed to bring the device to the market on time. After initially announcing a Q4 launch, it was pushed to ‘early 2011. There were some speculations that the device could launch by January 10th, but that was not to be.

Despite these roadblocks, Nokia has finally managed to put the device up for launch- although it appears to be only in Finland for the moment. Starting now, Finland customers may place a pre-order for the Nokia E7 at the company website for a price of €599. The device is available at the moment in just two colors – Silver white and Dark gray – although alternate offerings in green, blue and orange are expected soon. All pre-ordered units are expected to be shipped by February.

Interested? Hit this link to order a device for yourself.

Categories
Nokia Software and Apps

Free Music With Nokia Ovi Music Unlimited To Discontinue In Certain Countries

If you have been enjoying the free music downloads on Nokia Ovi Music unlimited, here is some bad news. The Finland based company has decided to pull the plug on unlimited free music in as many as 27 countries. The Nokia Ovi Music Unlimited service was launched in 2008 in partnership with popular music labels like Vivendi, EMI, Warner Music Group and Sony, and was seen as a viable alternative to Apple’s iTunes.

While not much information has been revealed about the reason for discontinuation, the company has noted that lack of interest in music tied with DRM is one of the primary reasons. DRM-free tracks will continue to be sold in all 38 countries Nokia Ovi is available on.

There is however a silver lining here if you are from India, China, Indonesia, Brazil, Turkey or South Africa. Nokia Ovi users in India, China and Indonesia will continue to enjoy 12 month free music subscription while those in Brazil, Turkey and South Africa will enjoy six months’ subscription.

If you are a user in one of the countries where the service has been plugged, do note that existing tracks will continue to be available. It is the newer tracks that you will be unable to download.

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Mobile Nokia

Nokia X7 Launch In USA Affected Due To AT&T Cancellation?

Nokia may no longer be the most preferred destination for high-end phones. The company’s decision to stick with the Symbian platform despite its waning popularity in the US may not be doing Espoo any good as a recent report has found. According to sources, AT&T may have decided to cancel its planned launch of Nokia X7 – the first Symbian^3 phone on the carrier – in February this year.

There is no word on what the exact reason might be but speculations are rife that AT&T may be planning on focusing its resources on the popular platforms including iOS and Android for the time being.

Having said that, Nokia X7 has some exciting features as well. The phone is targeted at gamers and comes with a 4″ touchscreen, a 640×360 pixel resolution and an N8-like processing power. We will wait and see how Nokia plans to bring the phone to its customers in the United States.

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Mobile Nokia

Nokia E7 Launch Postponed To Early 2011

We have been anticipating the launch of the Nokia E7 for quite a while now. There were speculations in September this year that the release could be happening only on January 10, 2011. This was despite announcements that the  launch was scheduled for Q4 2010. Now that we are already into December, Nokia has finally confirmed that the launch has now been pushed back to 2011. A Nokia spokesperson has said,

“To ensure the best possible user experience on the E7 we have decided to begin shipping in early 2011”

Nokia E7, along with N8 is one of the most anticipated devices from Espoo. Like the N8, the E7 is expected to come with a ClearBlack Display, an 8 Megapixel camera, 16GB storage and 350 MB memory. It additionally has a slide-out keyboard.

So it looks like UK retailer Expansys – who posted the January 10 launch date in the first place might actually turn out to be right. There is no doubt however that this delayed launch could affect Nokia dearly given that the majority of shopping is expected to be wrapped up this holiday season. What do you think?

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Apple Gadgets Wireless

World’s Largest Phone Manufacturers By Units Sold

The mobile phone segment is very competitive with every quarter bringing some sort of a surprise. Back in May this year, I had written about an IDC report that had listed the world’s five largest mobile phone manufacturers. Nokia, quite unsurprisingly, had the top slot while Research In Motion and Sony Ericsson had their spots in the top five secured.

Just a few months and a few launches later, there seems to be a complete revamp of the last three positions. Thanks to a robust growth in sales despite a number of reported bugs, Apple has notced a spot in the top five. LG has had a lackluster period and has seen the number of units sold drop. Sony Ericsson is out of the top five.

Here is the latest top five list along with the units sold in the quarter Q3 2010. The corresponding worldwide market share is in the brackets.

1. Nokia : 110.4 million (32.4%)
2. Samsung : 71.4 million (21.0%)
3. LG Electronics : 28.4 million (8.3%)
4. Apple : 14.1 million (4.1%)
5. RIM : 12.4 million (3.6%)
Others : 103.8 million (30.5%)
Total : 340.5 million (100%)

Categories
Mobile Nokia

Buy Nokia N8 Online In UK From October 15 – Store Launch On Oct 22

If you are not one of those who had pre-ordered the new Nokia N8 Symbian^3 smartphone, you can finally make a direct purchase starting later this month. Espoo has announced that the upcoming N8 shall be available for sale online via the Nokia web store in the UK starting October 15. The device will further hit the retail stores from the 22nd of this month.

Nokia has teamed up with a number of retailers for this launch. Users looking to purchase an N8 shall be able to do so from any of the major carriers in the UK in addition to Tesco Mobile and Virgin Mobile. Retailers who will keep stock of the N8 will include Carphone Warehouse and Phones 4U.

It is believed that the Nokia N8 will also hit the rest of Europe on October 22. There is no confirmation on that at the moment.

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Mobile Nokia

Revised Nokia E7 Price And Launch Date Revealed

Earlier this month, Nokia revealed their new Symbian^3 smartphone, the E7 at the Nokia World 2010 event at London. The device is extremely likable with a 4″ ClearBlack display, an 8-megapixel camera, 720p HD video playback, 16GB storage and 350MB memory,etc. From what we had heard from Nokia back then, the device was expected to launch in Q4 of this year at an estimated price of around €495.

Apparently, Nokia has reportedly exceeded their window on both counts. According to information posted on the website of popular UK retailer Expansys, Nokia E7 is expected to launch only in January 10, 2011. Also, the price is much higher than the older estimate and is apparently available for pre-orders at a price of £584.99. That’s more like €687.

Of course, the final subsidized price – that you can get from the carriers – should be much lower. But if you are the kind who prefers to have unsubsidized SIM-free version of your phones, E7 is more expensive than what you thought. If you are still looking to make an order, go ahead and do so here.

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Mobile Nokia

Nokia Windows Phone 7 Smartphones In The Works?

Nokia EVP Anssi Vanjoki had stated earlier this week that adopting Android was a short-term solution to a long term problem. Well that does not technically imply that Nokia is planning to stick to Symbian and MeeGo alone to compete against the likes of iPhone and Android handsets. According to a report on the VentureBeat, Stephen Elop; the new CEO of Nokia has given the go-ahead for his team to explore Windows Phone 7 as a possible platform alternative for their handsets.

With Symbian enjoying continued patronage from Nokia, the arrival of Windows Phone 7 handsets could mean Nokia could be compromising on its MeeGo adoption. Of course, these are still speculations at the moment. However it is unlikely for Espoo to compromise on Symbian given the high popularity of the platform in Europe and Asia.

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Gadgets Nokia

Turn Any Display Into TouchScreen With Nokia Plug And Touch

Nokia has showcased some pretty cool upcoming technology at the recently concluded Nokia World conference in London. One such technology that is yet to be available for public consumption is the “Plug and Touch” system that lets users transform any display into a touchscreen display.

Plug and Touch is basically an application that runs on Nokia N8 and it uses the 12-megapixel camera on the phone to detect users’ finger movements over the HDMI-connected display. Based on these finger movements, the application can let users pick selections and process the requests. Check out this video demo for a greater understanding.

Nokia believes that the technology can be made much more sophisticated in the future with the help of Wi-Fi streaming over DLNA that will make it easier for the system to be used without having the phone clamped into position. This definitely looks very interesting.

Categories
Gadgets Nokia

Nokia Building Google Street View Rival For 3D Games

Nokia is learned to be developing a 3D version of Google Street View in association with its mapping partner Navteq. According to a report, the company may be using images built with the system to be ported to gaming applications to be used as a backdrop for realistic games.

The whole technology is expected to be much more sophisticated than the Google Street View application. Unlike the latter where users can only navigate linearly over a predefined path that Google displays, users on Nokia’s 3D street view application may seamlessly navigate in the environment thus offering much more realistic navigational experiences.

Nokia demonstrated an early stage version of the product earlier this week at Nokia World in London. Espoo is expected to dispatch its cars to London and other major European cities starting in November this year and they are expected to be incorporated in navigational products starting next year.