Nokia sending out invitations to its MWC 2012 press conference

While browsing through our mailbox this morning, we came across something that got us excited. We have received an official invitation from Nokia, which is kindly inviting us to attend its MWC 2012 press conference. The event is scheduled for February 27 and starts at 8:30 AM local time.

For several years in a row, Nokia has been absent from the Mobile World Congress due to various reasons. In 2010, the Finnish manufacturer stated that instead of attending the expo, it will use the cash to fund other marketing related activities. In 2011, Nokia chose to focus on its Nokia World event. This year, however, the company is expected to return with a bang.

What we should expect seeing at the press conference is something we can only speculate about, but the chances of seeing a Nokia Lumia 900 tailored for the European market seem to be growing. A number of rumors that we came across the past few days point at that direction, and some retailers are even taking pre-orders for this top-of-the-line Windows Phone handset.

Well, whatever Nokia has to announce at MWC next month, we have a feeling that it is going to be worth some attention. And given that we will be attending the press conference, rest assured that we will tell you all about it.

Nokia Lumia 900 set for March 18th and only $99

We have heard rumors of a March 18th launch for the AT&T Nokia Lumia 900 but now we are seeing rumors on pricing for Nokia’s latest Windows Phone. BGR is reporting that they have received a portion of AT&T’s 2012 roadmap which shows the Lumia 900 hitting the shelves on March 18th. The roadmap also indicates the Lumia 900 will cost a meager $99 after contractual discounts.

The March 18th date does fit with AT&T’s previous releases that hit on either the first of third Sunday of the month.  The $99 price tag is a little surprising but a nice one if the rumor holds true.  Sporting a 4.3″ AMOLED Clearblack touchscreen, 8mp Camera, 1mp front camera, 16gb of storage, and 4G LTE networking the Lumia 900 is an appealing Windows Phone in its own right. Add a $99 price tag to it and it may be too hard to resist with the Samsung Focus S and HTC Titan going for $199.

NOKIA STORE CLIENT UPDATED TO V3.22.044, BRINGS IN-APP PURCHASE FEATURE!

Nokia app store beta client for Symbian Anna/Belle smartphones updated to v3.22.044. The latest version of client is now based on Qt 4.7.4 and Qt quick components 1.1, brings in-app purchasefeature and bug fixes.

Changelog Version 3.22.044:

• This release includes fixes for bugs found since the previous one
• New release now based on Qt 4.7.4 and Qt quick components 1.1
• Feature-wise, this release offers the next generation of in-app purchase based on QML.  Thisfeature is available through applications that support in-app purchase.

Compatibility:

• Store QML client is available for all devices running Symbian^3, Symbian Anna, or Symbian Belle software.

Read more at BetaLabs: – http://nokia.ly/vS3A9u

 DOWNLOAD HERE

Nokia Store v3.22.044

 

Nokia celebrates the sale of the 1.5 billionth Series 40 phone

Phones like the Lumia 900 or the N9 may be the ones that get their name in the news most often, but the backbone of Nokia is their Series 40 lineup. Today, S40 phones reached an impressive milestone – 1.5 billion (yes, with a b) of them have been sold.

The 1.5 billionth Series 40 phone sold was a Nokia Asha 303 to a 21-year-old woman in Sao Paulo, Brazil. We’re not quite sure if it’s a lucky coincidence or just good marketing, but the Asha 303 is the flagship of the current S40 phones.

It’s a far cry from the firstborn Series 40 phone, the Nokia 7110, which first went on sale in the distant 1999. Since then, S40 has added a touchscreen, Wi-Fi connectivity, 1GHz processors, Nokia Maps and other goodies to its repertoire.

Nokia actually go as far as calling the platform “Smartphone Lite”. While we’re not ready to call it that, the Asha 303 did come pretty close.

Either way, congratulations to Nokia and the S40 platform. Before it blows out the candle, we’ll make a silent wish for multitasking, document viewer and perhaps smart dialing. And who knows, a full-touch S40 phone may be in the cards too

FMOBI V2.5 NOW AVAILABLE FOR SYMBIAN^3/ANNA/BELLE DEVICES AT NOKIA STORE

The popular Facebook app for Nokia smartphones “fMobi” recently received major update, bringing tons of new features and enhancement to the client. The latest version 2.5 is now available forSymbian^3/Anna/Belle devices over Nokia Store.

CHECK OUT THE COMPLETE CHANGELOG OVER HERE!

Download Here

FMobi for Symbian

Nokia Lumia 710 available in the UK on February 1st

We’ve already covered the Lumia 710 landing on British shores soon enough, but according to the Nokia Lumia Momentum Map (for world domination), we should be looking at a date of February 1st. Three UK is one carrier who has made public their plan to stock the 710, and have the status set at “coming soon”.

Sporting a 3.7″ display, 5MP camera and 8GB storage, the 710 is the baby of the Lumia family with the 800 and 900 the “beefed up” brothers. Although the specifications don’t match the high end handsets, it does sport a 1.4Ghz chip that will ensure your Windows Phone experience is top notch.

Should you be looking forward to the 710 and reside in the UK then the wait is almost over for you to snap on your favourite back plates and rock out with the Lumia Windows Phone. We expect other major UK carriers to jump on board with Three to provide further choice for customers.

Nokia Lumia Windows Phone production in photos

Nokia has published a number of photos in an album on their Facebook account. The album (“Nokia Lumia Production”) allows the viewer to see how the Lumia family of Windows Phones are produced before heading out to owners across the world.

The workers who make all this magic happen were also in the spotlight at Nokia World 2011 with a live feed being broadcasted to the audience. Check out some more shots from the album after the break.

Sweden begins airing colorful Nokia Lumia 800 ad

Nice to see the Nokia Lumia 800 getting some air-time, especially up in Sweden who just official launched the device, well, yesterday actually.

The above ad is from Swedish carrier Halebop, which we’re told is owned by Telia (the largest carrier in Sweden). We’ve also been informed that, roughly speaking what is being said in the commercial is  “Dark and cold outside? Then I think it’s time for a surprise, a mobile that is also social“.

Certainly using the Lumia 800’s colors against the black and white snow gives a great contrast and is quite eye catching.

Harmattan PR 1.2 beta available for Nokia N950 !!

 

Just a quick heads up folks that Nokia has released the Harmattan 1.2 beta for Nokia N950. N9 version should be out soon. Remember around February 29.

http://www.developer.nokia.com/Community/Blogs/blog/n9-developer/2012/01/25/harmattan-1.2-beta-now-available-as-ocf-for-nokia-n950

As you may have noted in our earlier blog post, we are now releasing the MeeGo 1.2 Harmattan 1.2 beta version number 3.2012.02-6_PR_RM680 for Nokia N950 Developer Device. The release is available as OCF (One Click Flasher).

Harmattan 1.2 comes with a number of user experience improvements making it appealing for consumers. Five new supported languages, face recognition, enhanced copy-paste, software update notifications for applications and games in Nokia Store, folders in application view just to name a few.

There are a few additional things for you to consider before taking this upgrade. Read on…

No downgrading to Harmattan 1.0 or 1.1(.1)

The N950 (or Nokia N9) software version cannot be downgraded. This unfortunately means, that it is not possible to go back and forth between different releases. Once you take an update you are stuck with that release until there is next version available. The challenge a developer is facing is that big portion of consumers are still running Harmattan 1.0 or 1.1 where personally one would always love to run the latest and brightest release.

A majority of all users are already running Harmattan 1.1 instead of 1.0. The penetration of Harmattan 1.1 over 1.0 is steadily growing as more and more people are updating their devices, and factories are pushing new devices with latest software. And in China, all (003 variant) devices are running minimum Harmattan 1.1 as we never shipped Harmattan 1.0 there.

This means that you as a developer, should always ensure your app is running smoothly on both Harmattan 1.0 and 1.1, depending on your target demography. If you have only one device on your possession you have a dilemma. Will you update to Harmattan 1.2 and enjoy all cool new stuff but simultaneously risk missing a glitch on 1.0/1.1, or will you stick to Harmattan 1.0/1.1 for now?

Naturally you can buy a stock of Nokia N9’s for your testing needs. But if that is not working for you then you can rely on the Remote Device Access (RDA) service as well as the SDK QEMU tool.

Upgrading your N950 to Harmattan 1.2 beta

Due to the above reasons, the upgrade from Harmattan beta 2  (same as 1.0) or 1.1 is not offered as over the air SSU on N950. A developer needs to make a conscious and informed decision to go and flash the device with latest software.

While at it, the OCF will erase the device, you can use backup-restore from Harmattan 1.0 (1.2011.34-2) and 1.1 (2.2011.39-5) but not from beta 1 (1.2011.22-6 or older). Sorry for the inconvenience.

Included fixes, limitations, known issues and so on

We have listed the most significant bug fixes in release notes and marked the fixed items in bugzilla. We excluded a long list of fixes e.g. on localization / terminology. Also, we put together information about known issues, limitations and differences between Nokia N950 developer Device and Nokia N9 for your convenience in the Release Notes. Suggest you read it carefully.

Snake ’97 transports your Nokia Lumia into the 90s

The Nokia Snake game is a classic that kickstarted the whole mobile-gaming scene back in 1997. If you had a phone in the late 90s, the chances are you had this game – or several of your friends did. You can still play our online Nokia Snake game, but what if you’re offline? Snake ’97 is available for your Nokia Lumia and recreates the old favourite, right on your phone.

There are lots of snake games on the market, but none of them capture the feel that you had with the classic game on the old Nokia phones. Besides, Snake ’97, that is.

As far as interfaces are concerned, this one is just perfect. Your touchscreen is transformed into a replica of a Nokia 5110, with the keys positioned at the lower part of the screen. It turns retro gaming into an art form.

 

The black snake appears above the keys on the bright green screen, as it did back in the 90s. To control the snake, use the buttons below to navigate the snake in the direction of the black dots, which it will eat. Careful, though, crash into the walls and your game is over.

You can control the difficulty level by hitting the settings key on the virtual keypad. By increasing the level, your snake will travel faster.

 

Check out the new Nokia Lumia 900

All about our biggest, thinnest smartphone.

Exclusive to AT&T in the USA

This is the most realistic Nokia Snake game we’ve ever come across. The sound effects are identical, the gameplay is exactly as it was back in the day and the replica Nokia phone interface makes you feel nostalgic.

Grab Snake ’97 from the Windows Phone Marketplace for £0.79 and get retro-gaming.

Are you finding this as fun as we are? Let us know, below.

WordPress for Nokia Lumia and Nokia N9

GLOBAL – WordPress is the world’s biggest and – many would say – best content management system for websites. Many of the sites you read on a daily basis are based on the system – including this one.

Easy for beginners but almost infinitely customisable, WordPress has a lot of fans. And a lot of those fans want to be able to edit their blogs using their smartphone. Happily, there are apps for both Nokia Lumia and the Nokia N9 (and also Symbian, of course –find out more here).

To be honest, until our phones evolve pop-out full size keyboards and project 14-inch holographic screens, you aren’t likely to be writing major blog posts using your smartphone. It’s great, though, for a couple of particular uses:

1. You’ve just posted something, left the house and realised it contains a mistake. Dive into your smartphone app and correct it before anyone sees it!
2. You’re at a live event and you just want to put up a photo and a caption, for the bragging rights.
3. Your blog is more of a tumblog, where quick single-sentence quotes or posts are often the norm.
4. You moderate the comments on your blog and you need to let some through – or block something – while you’re out and about.

So let’s get started. First on the Nokia Lumia.

WordPress by Automattic

 

Developed by the people who made the original computer software, the Windows Phone version of the system looks smart. It takes good advantage of the Metro UI, dividing the available functions into five screens as you swipe to the right.

The first is Actions. Here you can choose to add a post, moderate comments, add a page or get into your blog settings. The second screen is Comments, allowing you to moderate on the move. The third is a list of your recent posts and the fourth is a list of your pages. The last allows you to see your blog’s current stats.

The editing options are a little basic at present. The posts appear in HTML rather than WYSIWYG format and while there are buttons for basic formatting, links and inserting a picture from your gallery, you’ll have to remember the code for more advanced features.

I’m not sure that’s such a big deal. As I said, blogging on the move is most likely to be about short posts, corrections and moderation. In many respects, I’d rather have a clean UI with all the basic functions than a cluttered one that allows me to build tables and so forth.

Although, that said, the Nokia N9 option seems to strike a good compromise…

Cutepress for Nokia N9

 

On the Nokia N9, Cutepress is the best bet for mobile blogging. It’s actually a QML version of the Symbian software we reviewed last year – and so also involves Automattic’s support, though this new version was released by ShowStopper. This is again a well-written and designed app which is suited to the likely scenarios involved in blogging on the move.

There’s a bit more functionality here. As well as the basics, you can edit the time stamp, add a password to posts, and insert a video from your phone. Perhaps most importantly, there is a visual cue to show which posts are published and which are in draft status. But the increased functionality comes with losses both in terms of aesthetics and usability.

Final words

It’s hard to choose between the two apps. Fortunately, in the real world, no-one really has to, because you’re extremely unlikely to be in my lucky situation of having both phones in your pockets. Suffice to say that both platforms are well-served, and also that the apps are both under active development and so are likely to mature in design and functionality as time goes by.