MWC 2012: Nokia Lumia 900 Hands On – CES 2012 Award Winner Also Shown in Barcelona (Video)

We’re still checking out our video archive of hands on clips taken in Barcelona at MWC 2012 and it’s quite a rich collection of videos, apparently. We’ve also found a detailed preview of the Nokia Lumia 900, the 4.3 inch Windows Phone smartphone that everyone was talking about at CES 2012. That’s where the handset got an award for “best smartphone”, courtesy of the folks at CNET. I have to give it to the guy at the Nokia booth, he’s dressed all hip and has a good attitude… nice!

Back to the phone, this model comes with the same design as the N9 and the Lumia 800, but with a bigger diagonal, plus a front camera and an extra camera button (compared to the N9, since the Lumia 800 has one). The case is all polycarbonate, we have a microSIM slot available and the guy at the Nokia booth really went through all the features of this device and the OS on it, as shown in the video below. However, you shouldn’t expect any difference from other Windows Phone units, since there aren’t. And now here’s the specs list for the device:

• Dimensions: 11.5 mm thickness, 160 grams weight
• Display: 4.3 inch, 480 x 800 pixels, ClearBlack, AMOLED
• Memory: 16GB internal memory, 512 MB RAM, no microSD card slot
• Connectivity: HSDPA 21 Mbps, Bluetooth 2.1, NFC, microSUB 2.0, GPS
• Camera: 8MP, Carl Zeiss, autofocus, dual LED flash, 720p 30 fps video capture, 1.3MP front camera
• CPU: Snapdragon, 1.4GHz, Adreno 205 GPU
• Battery: Li-Ion 1830 mAh
• Other features: FM radio with RDS, accelerometer, gyroscope, compass

Nokia Lumia 900 was rumored to come to Europe with an improved camera, a 12 megapixel unit, but in the end it seems the resolution will be kept. I can’t say I’m sad about that, since the cameras on the Lumia handsets have excellent bitrate when filming, for example. The hands on and gallery below should convince you to buy this model, since it’s the best Windows Phone unit money can get and with Nokia logo on. Tempted by one?

Nokia Lumia 800 game: Toy Soldiers Boot Camp review

Atteeeen-shun! Right, you ‘orrible lot, the last in Microsoft’s Must Have Games selection is with us, and it’s a militaristic mini-game compendium called Toy Soldiers Boot Camp. Does it pass with flying colours, or do we have to give it a dishonourable discharge? Read our Toy Soldiers: Boot Camp review for Nokia Lumia 800 to find out.

Nokia Lumia 800 game: Chickens Can’t Fly review

Real war may be hell, but simulated war is top fun. Ask any paintballer, movie goer or video gamer. It’s a peculiar obsession that usually starts in childhood, with epic battles taking place on your bedroom floor between action figures and assorted other toys/pets/kitchen utensils.

That’s the kind of war Toy Soldiers: Boot Camp seeks to replicate on your Nokia Lumia 800, with only limited success. You take control of a bunch of action figures through three mini-games culled from the full Toy Soldiers Xbox 360 game.

The first mini-game on the list is Cardboard Theater. Here you’re in command of miniature rocket launcher, with which you must take out a series of pop-up targets within a strict time limit. Some will pop up from the bottom of the screen and sit still while you aim and shoot, but others will fly on and off the screen without pausing, which leads to the interesting bit.

You aim your cannon by dragging on the screen with your right thumb, while a tap of the virtual button on the left will launch a rocket. Press and hold this button and you’ll be able to take control of the rocket, guiding it to those moving targets. You can also adjust the speed of these guided rockets by sliding the fire button up or down. It’s fun, in a limited way, with the main appeal coming from climbing the online leaderboard and meeting certain pre-set challenges.

Onto the next mini-game, Flyswatter. The premise here isn’t entirely dissimilar to Cardboard Theater, but this time you’re controlling an anti-aircraft machine gun emplacement. No fancy guidance necessary here, just spray and pray. Any hint of trickiness comes from the targets, which this time come in the form of successive swarms of house flies. Hit the tiny golden flies and you’ll snag a handy chain reaction, wiping out the surrounding insects. Ultimately, though, this one’s even more limited than the last one.

Finally we have the odd-one-out of the Toy Soldiers Package – Thread the Needle. Here you’re guiding a rocket down a tunnel, steering it between the gaps in a succession of spinning wheels. Along the way you can hit transparent stars to boost your score. It’s even shallower than the preceding two games, and its abstract tone is a little ill-fitting when you take the whole toy universe conceit into consideration.

We haven’t gone into too much detail on each mini-game – partly because we don’t want to bore you with a 1,000 word review, but mostly because there really isn’t much to write about. Toy Soldier: Boot Camp is a shallow game with little nuance or longevity. Leaderboard one-upmanship might bring you back a few times, but the games themselves won’t. They’re severely limited and really not all that much fun to play.

Maybe if the developer had included at least three times the number of mini-games we might have been able to give a cautious recommendation for Toy Soldiers as an effective time killer for the terminally bored, but with so many excellent alternatives on the Windows Phone Marketplace – many costing significantly less money than the £2.29 this costs – we really can’t. Toy Soldiers: Boot Camp – you are dismissed.

Top 5 apps the Nokia Lumia 900 is perfect for ! (Get them on your Lumia) !

The Nokia Lumia 900 is similar to the Nokia Lumia 800in many ways, but its key differences – that 4.3-inch screen and that front-facing camera – will considerably enhance a number of popular apps. Here are five such examples.Nokia Lumia 900 – the ultimate gaming smartphone?

If apps are what make a modern smartphone platform tick, then any new hardware feature that enhances many of those apps should be seen as something of a big deal. Right? Right.

With that in mind, here are five apps that will really show off the Nokia Lumia 900′s key strengths.

Skype Beta 

Skype has only just arrived on Windows Phone in the form of a pre-release beta – which essentially means it’s a work in progress. We’ve had a play with it on our Nokia Lumia 800 and Nokia Lumia 710, and it’s a fine app indeed. However, one element is missing – video calling. Oh, it will work on existing Lumia hardware, but without a front-facing camera you have to choose between seeing the person you’re talking to or them seeing you.

With the Nokia Lumia 900′s new 1-megapixel front-facing camera, two-way video calls will be possible through Skype.

Flickr

An even bigger deal than the front-facing camera is the Nokia Lumia 900′s 4.3-inch screen. Thanks to its impressive size and improved clarity (it uses a superior form of AMOLED matrix to the Lumia 800), it will be the best Lumia yet for viewing photos on. Flickr – the popular photo sharing service – has an excellent app on the Windows Phone Marketplace, and it will be even better here. Not only will pictures be bigger, but their edges will also be crisper and clearer.

Vimeo

Just as photos will be better on the Nokia Lumia 900, so video content will benefit from the phone’s improved display. And there’s no better video app on the Windows Phone Marketplace right now than Vimeo – at least when it comes to sheer picture quality. Of course, YouTube Pro is a fine app with a far greater range of video content, but Vimeo is the best showcase for skilfully composed high definition video. This means it will benefit the most from the Nokia Lumia 800′s larger, crisper display.

Amazon Kindle

Nokia’s bringing Nokia Reading – an app for purchasing and reading e-books, among other things – to its Nokia Lumia handsets in the not too distant future. As we’re talking about existing apps that will be improved by the Nokia Lumia 900, however, we’ll go with the Amazon Kindle app on this occasion. The popular e-book reader gives you access to hundreds of thousands of literary classics, ready to be downloaded in a few moments. These books will be even easier and more pleasant to read on that 4.3-inch AMOLED display.

Nokia Drive

Let’s finish with arguably our favourite pre-installed Nokia app – Nokia Drive. If it hadn’t already replaced our sat nav system through our Nokia Lumia 800 and Nokia Lumia 710, it definitely would once the Nokia Lumia 900 turns up. That 4.3-inch screen will make following Nokia Drive’s faultless turn-by-turn directions even easier, and that massive 1830mAh battery should last the course during those extended journeys. Of course, we might have to invest in a new phone holder for the job, but it’s a small price we’re willing to pay for what will surely be the best sat nav smartphone experience on the market!

Which apps do you think will benefit the most from the Nokia Lumia 900′s unique attributes? Let us know in the comments section below.

New application fchat for Symbian by Jiikoo !!

New “Facebook chat” application by Juuso Kosonen is now available in Nokia store

As we all know jiikoo by there most popular facebook client called fmobi, now they have developed a new chat client for facebook and its now avaialble in Ovi store.

Application features:

- Home screen widget
- Notification light when screen locked
- White and black theme!
- Adjustable font size!
- Audio alert!

So if you are social guy/gal and always want in contact with your friends or family members via facebook chat, then this application is for you. You can purchase it from Ovi store for 25rs only or click here “fchat“

Weather widgets for Nokia Belle updated! | MY NOKIA TWEET

Nokia Weather Widget

Hi All,

NOKIA released a new version of Weather Widget today. This version will enable you to uninstall the widget – once you install this new version, you can uninstall. For detailed instructions, please go to the Try It page.

Best,

Weather Widget Team; and

MY NOKIA TWEET TEAM.

The Nokia Weather widget displays the current weather and forecast in your current location or any other selected city in the world. This package contains two versions of the widget – Weather now and Weather forecast. Weather now displays only the current weather information, Weather forecast displays also a two day forecast.

Features

• Search and select a fixed location. By default the widget displays the weather information of your current location.
• Information is updated automatically every 3 hours for fixed locations and every hour otherwise.
• Tap the widget to open the Weather application (part of Nokia Maps Suite 2.0) that shows detailed forecast. If Maps 3.09 or newer is installed, weather application will open forecast of the same location as is shown in widget. If you have not installed Nokia Maps Suite 2.0, the Weather application will always open to the detailed forecast for your current location.

Installation instructions for Nokia N8-00

Homescreen widgets update for Symbian Belle

• Only Symbian Belle is supported.
• Installation may take few minutes, wait patiently.
• After the installation is done, reboot the device at earliest convenience

 (.sis, 1.1 MB)

Uninstall instructions:

If you have version 18.4, that is if you installed before 7 March and Weather Widgets are not in the list of installed applications:

Install version 18.5.

Then go to Menu -> Settings -> Installations -> Installed applications and remove Weather Widget

If you have version 18.5

Go to Menu -> Settings -> Installations -> Installed applications and remove Weather Widget

NOKIA BRINGS LIVE TRAFFIC INFO TO NOKIA MAPS WEB IN NETHERLANDS, MEXICO, AUSTRIA, SWITZERLAND & INDIA

Traffic on Nokia Drive and maps.nokia.com has been already available in USA,Canada, Brazil, South Africa, Belgium, Russia, Germany, Finland, UK, France,Spain, Sweden, UAE, and China. Now, we have increased the availability toNetherlands, Mexico, Austria, Switzerland, India, and Ireland as well.

Traffic is one of my favorite features on maps.nokia.com as it makes my life much easier. For instance, last week there it was again that feeling when the number from my kid’s school appears on my phone while I was in a meeting.  My mind races: Is one of the kids sick? Is it something worse? Usually it’s nothing too bad. But whatever the kids need, you always want to come to the rescue as quickly as possible. For me, maps.nokia.com plays a big role in easing my mind. Before I even hang up with the school nurse, I’m on maps.nokia.com, checking the traffic between my office and the school here in Berlin. Nokia Maps gives me real-time updates every five minutes, so I can scan the highways and roads nearby to find the quickest route—and swoop in to save the day! Because what could be worse than caring for a sick child during the middle of a hectic work day? Sitting in a traffic jam on the way to or from the school sure would be.

Nokia Maps is also great when I just want to find my way around in cities I’ve never been before, on holiday with my family or on a business trip. maps.nokia.comhelps me figure out where to go in each new city, and the best way to get there – whether by foot, car, or public transport. I can plan my unfamiliar route in advance, checking the next train time or the traffic on a local motorway. And when I have time off to explore new places, Nokia Maps helps me manoeuvres unchartered territory when unpaved roads or ferries are more my speed. And as Nokia Drive is available in Nokia Maps Suite for Nokia Belle, I can take my route and my favorite places with me.

If  you live in one of the countries where traffic is available, check the traffic first inmaps.nokia.com or from your Nokia smartphone before you head out so you can spend less time commuting. If you have been already using this feature, tell us how it has helped you out in combating traffic!

REVIEW :- Nokia Lumia 710 app: Vimeo review

Watching videos on your Nokia Lumia 710 is clearly a popular pastime – just look at the number of unofficial YouTube apps on the Marketplace for evidence. There’s another major online video provider on the scene, though: Vimeo. And unlike YouTube, this one’s now got an official Windows Phone application. Check out our Vimeo for Nokia Lumia 710 review.

Nokia Lumia 710: How to upload, store and share video in the cloud

As hinted at in the intro, the lack of an official YouTube app is one of the few remaining gaps in the Windows Phone Marketplace line-up. Fortunately there are excellent third party offerings like YouTube Pro to make up for that shortfall, but Vimeo has definitely been smart in getting its own highly accomplished app out relatively sharpish.

Indeed, Vimeo is a sufficiently different service to warrant downloading even if you are a confirmed YouTube addict. It offers a more tightly curated approach to video, with a generally much higher standard of film-making. If YouTube is all about empowering the everyman to grab their camera, Vimeo is all about empowering budding Christopher Nolans to show their work where people can see it.

Onto the app itself. It’s a highly polished portal onto the classy Vimeo service, and it feels perfectly at home on Windows Phone and your Nokia Lumia 710. The opening page shows a featured video as well as the core options to search for video content, upload it and access various account options.

Scrolling right (in now-classic Metro UI style) brings up the Featured section, which splits the Vimeo video content into easily digestible themes. These things like Independent films, pin-sharp Vimeo HD content, Music Videos and the like. Going into any of these brings up a simple selection of thumbnails containing stills from the videos they link to. It looks good, but they’re a little too vague to give you an accurate idea of what’s contained within.

Back to the main carousel, and a further step right will bring you to the Explore section, which lets you filter videos by broad themes – Art, Comedy, Animation or Nature, to name a few examples. Go into one of these and you’ll find a far more helpful breakdown of the separate videos, complete with a title and often a small description.

The video quality itself is generally very good indeed, though obviously Wi-Fi is the preferable (though not essential) connection method. We also like the interface, which provides information in a portrait view, with comments scrollable to the right. Once you hit play the view automatically switches to landscape to give you a full widescreen view.

As for the quality of the videos (it’s a subtle difference), well, as we said, Vimeo isn’t found wanting for high quality content. There really are some beautiful offerings here that you just won’t find on YouTube. Not easily, at least.

But we’ve barely touched upon Vimeo’s ace in the hole – the ability to upload your own video. Go into the Upload manager and hit the New button at the bottom, and you’ll be taken to a simplified camera app. There are no exposure or zooming options here, but you can still get some decent 720p results with the Nokia Lumia 710′s camera. Once complete you can choose to upload to your Vimeo account.

There are a few drawbacks with the upload experience. For one thing, you can’t upload previously shot footage – only that captured through the Vimeo interface. Secondly, uploading can take ages if you’re on the bog standard (free) Vimeo package, as you’ll find yourself placed in an upload queue. You’ll have to pay to upgrade to Vimeo Plus if you want to speed things up.

But while these annoyances are a little disappointing, they don’t detract too much from what is an excellent video player client. It really feels like you’re hooking into a community of film lovers every time you boot the app up and take a look around. Your move, YouTube.

                                THIS DETAILED INFORMATION IS DIRECTLY REVIEWED BY “MY NOKIA TWEET” WEBSITE ONLY !

How to reset your Nokia Lumia 800

,

The Nokia Lumia 800 is one of the most stable smartphones we’ve ever used – and believe us when we say we’ve tried a lot. However, as is the case with all complex computers (because that’s what a smartphone is), there may be a time when you find that the system has enough and seizes up. What then? Follow our Nokia Lumia 800 reset guide to get things back on track.

How to update your Nokia Lumia 800

Of course, the time-honoured reset method for most mobile phones is to physically remove and replace the battery, starving the phone of power and starting things up afresh. However, that’s not an option with the all-in-one Nokia Lumia 800 and its sealed-in battery.

Fortunately Nokia has included a couple of reset options, both initiated by a combination of button presses. Here’s how you initiate them both, starting with the so-called ‘soft’ reset, which is the equivalent of pulling out the battery in any other phone with a battery cover.

To initiate a soft reset, simply hold the volume down and power buttons down until the Nokia Lumia 800 restarts. Like we said – simple!

The hard reset is a bit more elaborate, which is a good thing really – hard resets completely wipe your phone and reset them to their starting state! We’d advise you to back your stuff up before doing this, but we guess the problem itself might prohibit you from doing that. That’s why it’s best to make a back-up while things are going well!

Anyway, the hard reset. If your phone can limp to the settings menu, then simply enter that and go to About, then Reset your phone. Easy. If your phone is completely unresponsive, though, you’ll need to hold down the camera button, power button and volume down button simultaneously. When the phone vibrates, hold down the volume down and camera buttons (removing your finger from the power button) for a further few seconds.

Your phone should restart in the same condition as when you very first booted it up.

Like we said at the outset, this is an extreme measure, and not one you should have to bother with if you have a fully up to date Nokia Lumia 800. At least, we’ve never had to! There are always exceptions, so it’s good to have this useful bit of knowledge ready for just such an eventuality.

Have you ever had to use either of the Nokia Lumia 800 reset methods? Did it work okay? Let us know in the Comments section below.

Nokia Asha 201 versus Nokia C3 Hands-On Photo Comparison! (Howz our logo) ??

We’ve been playing with a brand new Nokia Asha 201- the latest Series 40 QWERTY phone. By coincidence, we happen to have a Nokia C3, too. The Nokia C3, another Series 40 phone built for those that love to text, email and generally keep in touch. Here we take a look at the Nokia Asha 201 and Nokia C3 side-by-side.

Nokia Asha 201 tech specs and official photos

The Nokia Asha 201 and and Nokia E6 are two Series 40 QWERTY devices aimed at those that love nothing better than sending instant messages, texts and emails. Both look similar, but there are many subtle differences.

Both are well designed in their own right. On first glance the Nokia Asha 201 if anything looks like a more playful version of the Nokia C3. Its curves feel great in the hand and somehow make it feel and look smaller than it is.

By comparison the two-toned Nokia C3  has a very functional look about it, although it does look slightly more high-end, owing to its busier design. Both feel solid, and light at the same time. The Nokia C3 weighs 114 grams, with the Nokia Asha 201 weighing only slightly less at 105 grams.

Lets get straight to that QWERTY keypad. One of the first things you’ll notice is the bigger keys of the Nokia C3. The spacebar on the Nokia C3 is also larger, giving you that little more space to type on.The Nokia Asha 201 has pretty much the same keypad, bar the size difference, but is perhaps unsuited to those with larger fingers.

Above the QWERTY keypad the Nokia Asha 201 and Nokia C3 have menu buttons with shortcuts for accepting and ending calls, mail and browser, and the navigational D-pad. The main difference here is the confirm and back keys on the left and right side. On the Nokia Asha 201 these are vertical. On the Nokia C3, they are horizontal. If we’re being honest we prefer the latter, which in use are easier to press when needed.

The screens of both the Nokia Asha 201 and Nokia C3 won’t amaze anybody, but they perform well: displaying bright colours, and menus that are easy to read. Although web browsing tends to take a hit on a screen so small. But we can’t hold that against either handset too much. Both are entry level handsets more suited to those that simply want to stay in touch than view films and play games.

Elsewhere there isn’t a lot to set the two apart. Connectivity ports and memory card slots are well protected, and both have 3.5mm headphone jacks for which to securely insert a pair of headphones. 

The Nokia Asha 201 and Nokia C3 are both good phones that serve their purpose well, are nicely designed and offer some of the functionality you’ll find on pricier smartphones.

Which do you prefer the look of? Take a look at our Nokia Asha 201 versus Nokia C3 photo gallery below:

                                                          STAY TUNED FOR MORE REVIEWS OF NOKIA PHONES !

Nokia Lumia Windows Phone Spring Showcase games line-up revealed!

Just the other week we brought you news of six more exciting Xbox Live games coming to a Nokia Lumia near you this Spring. Now Microsoft has revealed its full Spring Showcase lineup, with a couple of exciting new additions. Read on to find out more.

6 more reasons for Nokia Lumia 710 gamers to get excited!

After February’s Must Have Games selection brought us such treats as BulletAsylum and Chickens Can’t Fly, we’re all set for another batch of addictive games this spring.

As we’ve told you already, this new line-up will include popular strategy board game Carcasonne, tower defence sequel GeoDefense Swarm, physics-based puzzler Gerbil Physics, Pinball FX 2 (you don’t need us to tell you what that’s about), old school blaster-with-a-twist Shoot1UP and revamped word puzzler Wordament.

You can add to that already impressive list Civilization Revolution, Dondonpachi, Pro Evolution Soccer 2012 and Pirates! We’re not shouting at you – that last game is just spelt with an exclamation mark. Here’s how the newbies shape up:

Civilization Revolution

If you’re a certain age of PC gamer, then you’ll know all about Sid Meier’s Civilization series. It’s a ridiculously engrossing strategy game series that can easily strip hundreds of hours from you. Now the series is coming to Windows Phone and Nokia Lumia – albeit in streamlined form. Choose from 16 civilizations and bid for technological, military, economic or cultural domination. Pac-Man this is not.

DonDonPachi Maximum

This is one of those crazy Japanese bullet-hell shoot ‘em ups, as made by the current king of crazy Japanese bullet-hell shoot ‘em ups – Cave. You know the kind of game: one that fills your phone’s screen with gorgeous neon lasers and hundreds of enemies to blast. The iPhone version, DonDonPachi Resurrection, went down very well indeed, but this will be an all-new and exclusive version. It’s out on March 7 – that’s tomorrow!

Pro Evolution Soccer 2012

Whether you like playing footy games on your touchscreen smartphone or not, there’s no denying that the arrival of Pro Evolution Soccer on Windows Phone – the first major footy title to hit the platform – is big news. Konami’s series always plays a tight, fluid game, and could well provide the portable kick around you’ve been hankering for ever since picking up your Nokia Lumia phone.

Pirates!

As you might expect from a game called Pirates, 2K Games’s forthcoming title lets you live the life of a 24th century astronaut. Only joking. It’s all about living the life of a scurvy sea dog, getting into sea skirmishes, exploring tropical islands and clashing cutlasses with rivals – all in a lovely and lively open world. Pirates! should bring home the booty when it arrives on Windows Phone this spring.

Which of these new titles are you most looking forward to? Let us know in the Comments section below.