Posts tagged Nokia at Switched

Posts with tag nokia

AT&T Retailer Accused of Pawning Used Nokias as New

by Chris Ziegler, posted Jul 17th 2008 at 2:01PM

Notice that your freshly-purchased N75 smells more like a week-old head of cabbage than a bundle of brand new plastic, glue, and circuitry? That's gross, and no, we don't want to touch it (seriously, get that thing away from us). Turns out you may not be alone, though -- a new class-action suit filed in federal court alleges that CommClub, an independent retailer in California, was selling used Nokias for AT&T's network as brand new devices.

For whatever reason, AT&T and Nokia are also named as defendants in the suit, though we're not sure exactly what role they played in CommClub's potentially nefarious dealings; at any rate, the class is looking to bring home some bacon for "injuries" suffered as a result of the bait-and-switch. You're going to go smell your N75 now, aren't you? [Source: RCR Wireless News]

Most People Don't Recycle Old Cell Phones

by Will Safer, posted Jul 11th 2008 at 9:02AM

All those old cell phones sitting around forgotten and unused in desk drawers could add up to a whole lot of valuable raw materials. Turns out that most of us don't take the time to gather up those our used mobile units and send them on to be recycled, according to a new survey by Nokia.

Nokia polled 6,500 people in 13 countries nationwide, and found that only 3 percent of people actually recycle their old cell phones.

We already know most discarded cell phones just pile up in landfills, but the news from Nokia suggests that there would be a huge environmental benefit if cell phones were properly recycled. "If each of the three billion people globally owning mobiles brought back just one unused device," said Nokia's Director of Environmental Affairs, Markus Terho, "we could save 240,000 tons of raw materials and reduce greenhouse gases to the same effect as taking 4 million cars off the road."

According to the Nokia survey, most people simply don't know how they can easily recycle their old devices. The company aims to make the process easier, for example, with drop boxes placed in easily accessible locations.

The survey also revealed that although 72 percent of people think recycling is important, 74 percent didn't know their old mobile phones could be recycled. In fact, up to 80 percent of any Nokia device is recyclable and precious materials within it can be reused to help make new products such as "kitchen kettles, park benches, dental fillings or even saxophones and other metal musical instruments." [Source: Textually.org.]

Nokia Promises to let N-Gage Users Transfer Games

by Donald Melanson, posted May 24th 2008 at 1:13PM

Well, that didn't take long. Just as the mini-brouhaha over N-Gage games being tied to handsets was starting to percolate, Nokia has now come out and said that users will be able to take their games with them to a new handset after all, eventually. According to Nokia communications manager Oskar Södergren, some "miscommunication" on Nokia's part is apparently to blame for users being left up in the air on the matter, something that apparently led to some "mixed messages" being passed around inside Nokia as well. He went on to add that Nokia has in fact "been working on a way for this to work since the relaunch, but it is taking some time for everything to fall into place." [Source: PCWorld]

N-Gage Users N-Raged by Nokia Handset Lock-In

by Thomas Ricker, posted May 23rd 2008 at 7:01AM

N-Raged... see what we did there? Sigh. Anyway, Nokia's strategy of handset lock-in has its N-Gage subscribers in a fit. Seems somebody didn't read the EULA and now is upset that they must re-purchase N-Gage titles when they switch Nokia handsets. The terms and conditions do state that, "Content shall be... limited to one private installation on one N-Gage compatible Nokia device only." Forever.

Come on Nokia, we're all for reading, but purchased games should at least be transferrable to newly purchased, substitute Nokia devices. After all, that's what you claim for music downloaded from your forthcoming Comes with Music service. Don't turn N-Gage v2 into another sidetalkin' fiasco. [Source: BBC]

T-Mobile Gets Nokia's XpressMusic 5310

by Chris Ziegler, posted May 21st 2008 at 1:54PM

T-Mobile's no stranger to Nokia's XpressMusic series of funky little music phones, and the tradition continues today with the introduction of the 5310. This colorful candybar has some pretty solid street cred as a viable music player, too, with a microSD slot, svelte 9.9mm body and -- most importantly -- a real 3.5mm jack for the headphones of your choosing. You've also got a 2 megapixel camera and a QVGA display to play with, both of which'll surely come in handy for entertainment while you're waiting for data to pull down over the EDGE radio (sorry, T-Mobile, we couldn't help ourselves). It'll run $49.99 on contract starting May 28 in black with your choice of purple, orange, or red accents. [Source: T-Mobile]

What Does Your Cell Phone Say About You?

by Will Safer, posted May 15th 2008 at 1:19PM

First impressions mean everything.

But what if you declare yourself by the cell phone you use? What do these handheld packages of personality say about you? The folks at Forbes.com say the answer is obvious depending on how stylish, functional or simply fun your cell phone is designed to be.

Take, for example, the Nokia N95, a sleek-looking phone designed to capture and upload images and text to Web sites or blogs. If you're carrying one of these capable devices around, chances are you're a "mash creative," a term used by Jonathan Steuer, a vice president at cultural trends researcher Iconoculture, to describe the personality type seemingly compelled to share all daily events with everyone, with constant updates via mobile capture.

What if you use a Blackberry, iPhone or Palm smartphone? Then you're a "pioneer," since you're using your phone to organize your life and more. Pioneers likely utilize every feature on their phones, tapping in to the scheduling, communicating and organizing capabilities to the extreme.

Though it's old news by now, the Motorola Razr still holds some cachet, since it comes in many colors and can be accessorized.

Each type of phone is designed for a different kind of user, whether your interest is fashion, function or simply making a dramatic statement. Take the LG Prada phone for example. This one says you've got money to burn and, let's face it, you've got no time for those of us with regular mobile devices.

Don't hate the player, hate the game. [Source: Forbes, via Textually]

"Comes With Music" Plan Expected to Cost Nokia a Bundle

by Chris Ziegler, posted May 7th 2008 at 2:52PM

The latest round of rumors regarding the goings-on behind the scenes of Nokia's lofty Comes with Music paint a bleak picture for profitability -- but even scarier, they suggest that the company could be simply blown out if the initiative takes off. The Comes With Music plans to offer a year's worth of free music tracks to anyone who buys certain Nokia phones.

The problem stems from the claim that Nokia's deals with labels represent a huge gamble: The deals assume that buyers of Comes with Music-compatible phones won't download more than a certain number of songs, believed to be 35. Above that, Nokia is no longer covered by a flat fee and has to pay the wholesale per-song rate for each downloaded song above 35 for each consumer.

Clearly, either the rumor's wrong or Nokia seems to be betting against its own success here -- but the recent departure of a key exec involved with Comes with Music lends some credence to the latter. Maybe we don't speak for everyone here, but if we're paying a premium on our phone to earn a full year of all-you-can-eat tracks, you'd best believe we're taking full advantage. [Source: The Register via mocoNews]

Nokia's "Beautiful To Use" 6600 Slide, Fold and 3600 Slide

by Thomas Ricker, posted Apr 29th 2008 at 8:03AM

Nokia just announced a trio of "Beautiful to use" Nokia handsets with its Nokia 6600 slide, 6600 fold, and 3600 slide. The €250 6600 fold is said to smoothly arc open with the press of a button to reveal a 2.13-inch OLED display sporting 16 million colors. It also features tap commands. When off, a double-tap of the monolithic cover reveals the time, messages and missed calls. A double-tap also snoozes alerts and silences or rejects incoming phone calls.

The €275 6600 slide (pictured left) features the same tap technology but bumps the digital camera up from 2 to 3.2 megapixels with a 2.2-inch QVGA display based on LCD tech, presumably. The 3600 slide offers the same camera with built-in background noise cancellation -- a first for a Nokia handset -- for a respectable €175. All three ship in Q3.

Gallery: Nokia's "Beautiful to use" 6600 slide, fold and 3600 slide

Read -- Press Release
Read -- Promotional site

BMG joins Universal on Nokia's (delayed) Free Comes with Music Service

by Thomas Ricker, posted Apr 22nd 2008 at 2:12PM

Step aside Universal Music, Sony BMG is now offering its catalog of music on Nokia's Comes With Music service. You know, the freebie, all you can eat music download service expected to launch ~~mid-2008~~ (oops) "second half" of 2008.

Remember, you'll have to buy a Comes with Music device first and the free download period from the Nokia Music Store (to your PC or phone) only lasts for 12 months. Still, consumers keep the downloaded (and DRM'd) tracks at the end of the period and "can transfer their downloaded material by substituting their new [Comes with Music] device or computer for the original devices" later on. While no Comes with Music devices have been announced yet, we certainly wouldn't be surprised if Nokia's touch-screen Tube or some other S60 touch device was first. [Source: Nokia]

1 Billion Mobile Phones Sold Worldwide In 2007

by Will Safer, posted Feb 28th 2008 at 4:38PM

One billion mobile phones were sold worldwide in 2007, according to a report by Gartner, with 435 million of them sporting the Nokia brand name.

This is the first time mobile phone sales have passed the billion unit mark in a single calendar year, with the largest engine of sales growth coming from China and India, as these emerging markets tap into an apparent societal need in emerging markets.

Samsung, Sony Ericsson and LG all increased their market share to the detriment of Motorola, which lost its second-place market position to Samsung during the fourth quarter.

Total sales actually surpassed 1.15 billion units in 2007, a 16 percent increase from 2006 sales of 990.9 million, according to the market research firm.

While emerging markets account for much of the growth, it's the North American market that Nokia is focusing on to expand its dominant market share, which surpassed 40 percent for the first time this past quarter.

Gartner, however, suggests that Nokia will have to improve its lineup to include touch-screen models if it wants to stay competitive. Apple's iPhone has captured that American consumer's interest and seems to be influencing how other companies plan their product offerings.

Palm, for example, has had touchscreen models for a long time now, but its Centro model is the first decent effort the company has made to compete in the "stylish" category that Apple pretty much owns.

While Nokia has had a tough time cracking the U.S. market, Motorola's troubles may spell opportunity for the Finnish company.

From Textually.org.

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Nokia 'Remade' Phone Built Entirely Out of Recycled Materials

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Feb 15th 2008 at 8:07AM

At the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona this week, Nokia unveiled a handset made entirely of recycled materials. The green-minded handset is pieced together from old cell phones, tin cans, and recycled plastics. Unfortunately, the phone, called Remade, is currently only a concept and can't place calls. We doubt this particular handset will ever hit the market, but we wouldn't be surprised to see a Nokia handset made at least partially with recycled materials somewhere down the line.

From Engadget

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Hot New Phones Unveiled at Barcelona Congress

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Feb 13th 2008 at 2:11PM

Mobile World Congress Coverage and Highlights

We couldn't make it out to the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona -- a big international cell-phone conference focused mainly on GSM-style world phones -- but our good friends over at Engadget were able to make the trek and are sending back reports from the front line of cellular and mobile computing technologies.

All the usual suspects are there, Samsung, Nokia, even Motorola are showing off some of their 2008 handset lineups. The most innovative stars of the show, however, are unquestionably the new Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1 and the Google-backed, Linux based smart phone operating system Android.

Take a look at Engadget's comprehensive coverage, and check back here for some more selective highlights.

From Engadget

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High-End Nokia N96 Multimedia Device Unveiled

by Ian Rowan, posted Feb 13th 2008 at 10:10AM

The much anticipated, and much rumored, double-slider N96 Multimedia Device has finally been unveiled at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Designed as a video powerhouse, the N96 includes an integrated TV tuner, a stunning 2.8 inch QVGA display, and a clever kickstand for setting the device down for viewing. It also has more memory -- 16-gigabytes of memory for up to 40 hours of stored video (with a microSD slot for even more memory). With Digital Video Broadcasting-Handhelds (DVB-H) capability, the phone can tune in to live TV broadcasts aimed specifically at mobile phones (right now, only available in Europe, alas).

Much like its predecessor, the high-end N95, the N96 has Carl Zeiss Tessar lens with a 5-megapixel camera and DVD-like video by recording at 30 frames-per-second. It also has UPnP, which means you can easily play back your photos or videos on your television via the included TV-out cable.

Unlike the N95, the N96 is optimized for on-the-go video games as well, with dedicated gaming keys on the second slider panel. This will come in handy since Nokia recently launched its N-Gage gaming platform, which will feature dozens of titles, including EA Sports FIFA 08, Asphalt 3: Race Rules, Snakes Subsonic, and for the gambling junkie the World Series of Poker.

The N96 is crammed full of other cutting-edge features, including assisted-GPS with maps, Bluetooth 2.0, Wi-Fi, High Speed USB 2.0 connectivity, FM radio, dual-LED flash (for photos and video), a secondary camera for video calls, and the ability to surf the Web/transfer data and talk on the phone at the same time.

Pricing and availability are to be announced, but it's likely the device will come out in Europe first, then make its way to the U.S. in unlocked form for T-Mobile or AT&T. We'll let you know.

From Engadget

Gallery: Nokia N96 Multimedia Device

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This Cell Phone Reads to the Blind

by Tim Stevens, posted Jan 28th 2008 at 12:32PM

The blind have long been criticizing our bills of various denominations thanks to their identical size, shape, and feel, which makes them impossible to tell apart for those with limited or no sight. Now, a potential solution is coming from a very common source: the camera phone in your pocket.

Computer software has long been able to identify characters or faces in pictures, meaning telling a $1 bill from a $100 bill is easy to do if you're a computer with the right programming. What hasn't been done on a large scale before is building this programming into smart phones with cameras and combining that with text-to-speech software. This enables the phone to verbalize what it's reading; a boon to those who would otherwise be unable to read the text.

The $2,100 smart-phone from the National Federation for the Blind and text-to-speech pioneer Ray Kurzweil is able to read currencies as well as just about any other printed words like menus or business directories. It's based on the Nokia N82 smart-phone, which can be used with AT&T and T-Mobile in the U.S. But, you won't be able to walk into your local AT&T store and buy one with this configuration. For a listing of retailers in the U.S. and abroad, plus some more details, head on over to the phone's page.

From AOL News

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1.1 Billion Cell Phones Sold Worldwide In 2007, Says Study

by Alon Avdi, posted Jan 25th 2008 at 2:16PM

A recent study concludes that about 1.1 billion cell phones were sold in 2007. Strategy Analytics, a market research firm, says that the number of units sold marks a ten percent increase from the previous year. It also forecasts a ten percent increase in cell phone purchases this year, with regions such as Africa and the Middle East picking up the slack for saturated Western markets.

Finland's Nokia took the top sales spot with a market share of about 39%, or 437 million units sold. The study also noted that Apple's iPhone took about a 0.6 percent market share, which translates to about 2.3 million phones sold. Those numbers are slightly disappointing, says Strategy Analytics, pointing to the reluctance of European consumers to pay for the relatively expensive iPhone with the same fervor as the frenzied American public did last summer. Interestingly, Apple CEO Steve Jobs recently offered a more flattering figure, saying that the number of iPhones sent out numbered closer to 4 million. Somehow, we just don't see the pricey iPhone being a smashing success in economically-troubled Africa this year...

From AFP Via Textually.org

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AT&T Retailer Accused of Pawning Used Nokias as New

Most People Don't Recycle Old Cell Phones

Nokia Promises to let N-Gage Users Transfer Games

N-Gage Users N-Raged by Nokia Handset Lock-In

T-Mobile Gets Nokia's XpressMusic 5310

What Does Your Cell Phone Say About You?

"Comes With Music" Plan Expected to Cost Nokia a Bundle

Nokia's "Beautiful To Use" 6600 Slide, Fold and 3600 Slide

Gallery: Nokia's "Beautiful to use" 6600 slide, fold and 3600 slide

BMG joins Universal on Nokia's (delayed) Free Comes with Music Service

1 Billion Mobile Phones Sold Worldwide In 2007

Nokia 'Remade' Phone Built Entirely Out of Recycled Materials

Hot New Phones Unveiled at Barcelona Congress

High-End Nokia N96 Multimedia Device Unveiled

Gallery: Nokia N96 Multimedia Device

This Cell Phone Reads to the Blind

1.1 Billion Cell Phones Sold Worldwide In 2007, Says Study

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