Nokia says sayonara to Japan, one last time

Nokia has finally decided to pull out of the Japanese market entirely once and for all. Although Nokia stopped supplying handsets to Japanese carriers in 2008, Nokia’s luxury brand of handsets – Vertu – still had some presence in Japan.

However, now Nokia will be shutting down the Vertu stores in the Shibuya and Ginza districts of Japan by the end of July. As for their phone service, run on network infrastructure leased from NTT DoCoMo Inc. it will be discontinued when its contract expires at the end of August.

Meanwhile, Nokia’s Tokyo office will remain open till the end of the year to handle fee refunds and other matters but then that too will be shut down, thus ending Nokia’s presence in Japan completely.

Nokia N9 to miss on some major markets

The Nokia N9 certainly made a great first impression and a lot of people are eager to get their hands on it. That's why Nokia put up a webpage, that should help you find out when the device becomes available in your area. Interestingly though, the Finns seems to have no plans of releasing the N9 in some of the biggest markets in the world. Some of the countries, which will surprisingly miss on the MeeGo smartphone are USA, UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Canada etc.

Incidentally those countries are the ones rumored to be in the first wave to get the Nokia first WP7-powered device - the Sea Ray. It seems that Nokia doesn't want its two flagships competing against each other.

You can check out this link to see if your country will be getting some MeeGo love from Nokia or not. And don't forget that even if it's not you can always import the handset from elsewhere (though that will probably result in a price increase).

Stay tuned, we'll update accordingly if there are any new additions to the list.

Nokia releases lots of N9 camera samples, look good

We bet many of you are curious what the MeeGo-based Nokia N9 camera is capable of. Well, you can stop searching for leaked camera samples right now, Nokia has just released untouched official ones.

Two days ago when Damian Dinning discussed the N9 camera sensor and today we finally get to see what it's really capable of. So no more talking, here go the photos.

Nokia N9 camera samples (widescreen)

As it turns out the N9 camera produces really nice shots with lots of resolved detail and nice lively colors. The effects of the large aperture (f/2.2) lens are easy to spot in the shallow depth of field. This makes it easier (as far as easy is at all applicable to cameraphones) to separate the focused objects from the background.

The Nokia N9 processing seems really mature, though it cannot completely make up for the smaller (compared to the N8) sensor. For example the N9 doesn't render out-of-focus areas as attractively as its Symbian sibling.

Still the published N9 camera samples are pretty good even though they are taken with pre-release hardware and software. So the MeeGo smartphone will probably be end up a viable option for all cameraphone lovers.

Symbian 3.2 and 5.0 get a browser and navigation update

Nowadays taking care of its latest smartphones is mandatory for every manufacturer with any kind of long term ambitions. However releasing an update for three-year old smartphones, ranging from entry level phones to former high-enders, and showing their owners that they aren't forgotten should certainly earn Nokia some bonus points.

The Finnish company just announced through their blog that they will be releasing an update for their Symbian 3.2 and 5.0 platforms. There's a whole bunch of handsets running those - check out the lengthy list:

• Nokia E72
• Nokia E52
• Nokia E5
• Nokia C5-00
• Nokia 6700 slide
• Nokia C6-00
• Nokia C5-03
• Nokia 5230
• Nokia 5235
• Nokia 5250
• Nokia X6
• Nokia N97 mini
• Nokia 5800 XpressMusic
• Nokia 5530 XpressMusic
• Nokia 5530 XpressMusic

The update will bring the new Nokia browser v7.3 to the aging phones, which should significantly improve their browsing experience. This is the same browser that owners of newer Symbian phones will get when the Anna update is released. The benefits of the new browser include improved performance, support for International Domain Names (IDNs) and also supports non-ASCII letters such as Arabic or Chinese.

The other major feature of the firmware update is the updated Ovi Maps app. The software offering free voice-guided navigation will go to version Ovi Maps 3 SR4 on Symbian 3.2 devices, bringing indoor positioning through WiFi, as well as travel and recommendation services such as those through Lonely Planet. Those with Symbian 5.0 devices will get Ovi Maps 3 SR6, adding public transport lines and check-in services to social networking sites.

The final good bit about this update is the addition of a set of emoticons to the listed devices, which can be used when sending MMS.

Nokia C6-00 and Nokia 5230 are already eligible for the update, while the rest of the smartphones will get it in the next few weeks. So make sure you have the software update autocheck switched on in your phone.

Nokia quietly unveils the Symbian-running C5 5MP

Recently Nokia quietly added the specs of C5-00 5MP to its multiple websites. The candybar Symbian smartphone is virtually identical to its C5-00 sibling, but for the doubled RAM and boosted camera.

The name of the Nokia C5 5MP says it all. It's an 5MP version of the good old C5 smartphone. It has the same measurements, processor, Symbian S60 OS and features. There are just two differences - more memory (256MB RAM and 512MB ROM) and higher-resolution (5 megapixel) camera sensor.

Nokia C5 5MP

Perhaps Nokia is mum on this fella because the Finns think there's nothing to talk about here. Well, there might be no reason to call a press conference and heap praise on it, but it wouldn't have hurt anyone.

Anyway you may head this way to full specs or compare it to its older 3MP C5 sibling.

The Nokia C5 5MP should become available some time in the next quarter, but we don't have any information on its pricing just yet.

We have photos of the Nokia 700 (Zeta), Symbian Belle inside

A tipster just sent us photos of the Nokia 700, a.k.a. Zeta, along with some specs though they didn’t confirm if there really is a 1GHz processor inside. In one of the photos you can see the new homescreen of Symbian Belle, the successor of Anna.

They did give us some specs though - a 3.2" nHD AMOLED screen, which points to this being a Nokia C6-01 replacement. The Nokia 700 is also reportedly quite light (a bit over 80g) and measures 110 x 51 x 10mm, which doesn’t quite mesh with the "thinnest smartphone ever" claim, but those measurements can change as its design is still being developed.

Nokia 700 spy shots

From the photo, you can see that the camera is a 5MP unit and has a LED flash. We can't guess at whether or not it has autofocus though. Also, the Nokia 700 has NFC connectivity, which Nokia seems to be warming up to following the Nokia N9 announcement.

Other specs that the tipster managed to get out of the Nokia 700 (which as we speculated might be called N7) is that it runs Symbian Belle (an update to Anna) and packs Wi-Fi b/g/n. There's also fast HSPA speeds (10.2Mbps or 14.4Mbps downlink and 5.76Mbps downlink). The battery was a 1080mAh unit.

That's all we've got for now. We're not quite sure what the differences between the Nokia 700 and the N5are yet or the other devices from the leaked specs sheets.

Nokia to launch four new 1GHz Symbian smartphones?

Yesterday, we saw the Nokia N5 making a brief appearance on camera, running an updated version of Symbian Anna, otherwise known as Symbian Belle. We also found out that it will be followed by the N6 as well as the N7. Today we came across specifications of four new yet to be announced Symbian handsets and they all seem to be running on a 1GHz processor, a first for any Symbian device.

The first and the one with the best specs out of the bunch is the Helen or Nokia 701. It will have a 3.5-inch ClearBlack LCD, which is a bit curious as ClearBlack was limited to AMOLED displays so far. It will also have an 8 megapixel camera and is apparently a successor to the Nokia C7.

The second is Zeta or Nokia N700, which is supposed to be very thin and will have a 3.2-inch AMOLED display and NFC technology.

Next is Cindy, which too has NFC tech and a 3.2-inch AMOLED display, along with a 5 megapixel camera and will be a youth focused device, along the lines of the current Nokia X7, probably.

Lastly, there’s the Fate or Nokia 500, which will be the cheapest of the lot with the only redeeming features being its low price and a 5 megapixel camera.

We have a suspicion that the N5 that was leaked yesterday is actually the N500 and the N6 and N7 that are supposed to arrive later are the N600 and N700 (the Nokia 701 could be N7-01 or something). The fact that the N500 is going to be low-priced means it will be replacing the current low-end Symbian smartphones, which is exactly what we speculated about the N5 yesterday.

We don’t have any further details about these phones or any pictures. As usual, we will be looking out for them and when we find them, you’ll be the first to know.

Nokia camera guru D. Dinning reveals the N9 camera secrets

The 8 megapixel snapper at the back of the Nokia N9 might not be as much of a selling point as the 12 megapixel monster that the N8 packed, but that doesn't mean that its development took less effort. If you doubted this fact, you should definitely check out the interview with the Nokia Senior Manager for Solutions Planning Damian Dinning.

The man who played a key role in developing the imaging experience and the camera/video quality for a series of Nokia flagships including the N95, N86 8MP and, of course, the Nokia N8 camera, stepped on stage to reveal some of the secrets that the N9 snapper hides. Here are some of the key points that Mr. Dinning talked about.

Now you might have noticed that earlier, but the N9 camera isn't exactly 8 megapixels. The number MeeGo flagship sensor actually has 8.7 million active pixels and an unorthodox 1.45:1 aspect ratio. This allows it to shoot in both 4:3 and 16:9 modes without much resolution loss.

So while the N8 loses a quarter of its 12 megapixels to produce a 16:9 image, the N9 only sacrifices 1.6 megapixels to go widescreen. The price that the Nokia N9 paid is that it's unable to shoot at its full 8.7 megapixel resolution at all and 8 megapixels is the best it can do. Check out the illustration below to see how this actually works.

Next, Damian Dinning, highlighted that Nokia has equipped the N9 with a sharp Carl-Zeiss lens that offer the largest aperture (f/2.2) in business. A larger aperture (indicated by a smaller F-number) allows more light to reach the sensor, which usually results in better low-light images. You see with a brighter lens the camera can choose to use lower ISO or higher shutter speed, which results in less noisy or less shaky images.

And to those of you wondering just how bright f/2.2 is, it is 75% brighter than the N8 lens. So if the two cameras decide to use the same shutter speed the N9 will be able to pick a significantly lower ISO setting than its sibling, and still get the same exposure. So while the N8 does pack a 70% larger sensor, you should expect a similar image quality from the N9.

By the way the Nokia N9 camera also packs 28mm wide-angle lens, so you will be able to fit more in the frame with it.

The N9 flash unit also got some attention. Now it's no xenon, but it's the most powerful LED produced by Nokia yet. The gain compared to the previous best is 20%, which isn't bad at all considering its compact size.

We'd like to remind you that the first batch of Nokia N9 camera samples surfaced earlier today. You should definitely go and check them out in our blog if you haven't done so already.

And if you feel like reading more about the Nokia N9 camera, feel free to follow the source link for more from Mr. Dinning.

Nokia N8 to get a camera fix in the upcoming Anna update

Nokia N8 users will finally get the camera enhancements they've been waiting quite some time for. Nokia's Damian Dinning said in a tweet that there's an N8-specific update in the works which will add couple of features to the already brilliant camera of the N8.

@nkumar_ @Harkison not quite. There wil be an N8 specific update coming which will. You need the code from Anna though.less than a minute ago via Gravity Favorite Retweet ReplyDamian Dinning
PhoneDaz

What Mr. Dinning is referring to is the implementation of continuous autofocus to the N8. This will help you change the focus in videos dynamically. Another addition to the camera app is going to be the ability to shoot 30fps HD videos as opposed to the current 25fps clips. Those two features will be included in the upcoming Symbian Anna update for the N8.

Unfortunately, no further information on an exact date for the release of Symbian Anna is known. However, it shouldn't take Nokia long to release the over-the-air update, as devices like the E6 and X7, which have Symbian Anna out of the box, are already shipping.

Nokia might be closing its UK online store at the end of June

Nokia's online stores are shutting their virtual doors - stores in France, Spain and the Netherlands were the first to go, and now the rumor is that the Nokia UK store hasn't got much time left in this world either.

A Nokia Spain representative explained the closing of the Spanish online store at the end of May was due to too much competition from carriers, which subsidize the phones they're selling. The representative assured that the regional Nokia sites will continue to provide support for Nokia owners.

A Nokia affiliate received a notification that the Nokia UK online store will be closing at the end of this month. There's no official confirmation of that yet, but it sounds credible since this isn't the first store to close down.

It's not clear how these closures will affect Nokia - even if people prefer to buy subsidized Nokia phones from carriers rather than from Nokia itself, they're still buying Nokias. But the profit margin might be different - and it's not like Nokia is in a good position to be lowering its profits even more.

Court battle ends, Apple to pay Nokia royalties

Nokia and Apple have just announced that they signed a patent license agreement, which settles all the patent litigation between the companies. Apple will make a one-time payment to Nokia and on-going royalties for the term of the agreement and both sides will withdraw their patent complaints.

After several months of court battles and several lawsuits filled by the parties it all ended with a settlement, rather than a court order. Obviously it was Nokia that had the stronger arguments in their favor as Apple has agreed to make pay an undisclosed amount upfront as well as on-going royalties to the Finnish company. Unfortunately, given the confidential nature of the agreement we'll probably never learn the actual numbers.

Here is the relevant part of the official Nokia press release:

The financial structure of the agreement consists of a one-time payment payable by Apple and on-going royalties to be paid by Apple to Nokia for the term of the agreement. The specific terms of the contract are confidential.

"We are very pleased to have Apple join the growing number of Nokia licensees," said Stephen Elop, president and chief executive officer of Nokia. "This settlement demonstrates Nokia's industry leading patent portfolio and enables us to focus on further licensing opportunities in the mobile communications market."

So, the Nokia vs. Apple thing is over for now. Now would everyone just focus on making better smartphones?

Nokia E6 finally hits the UK shelves, X7-00 lands in the US

Two of the latest Nokia Symbian smartphones have just become available. The handsets that started leaving the Nokia factories at the end of last month have finally reached retailers. User in the UK are now able to experience the QWERTY magic of the E6, while those in the US can get their hands on the 4” AMOLED-packing X7-00.

The Nokia E6 has been listed at the Finish company UK website as available. Sold on both Pay as you go for £339 and on a £25/month contract for free the smartphone costs just as much as it did when it went on pre-order. You can also get a “Phone only” deal for £10 above the Pay as you go offer. If you take the plunge, you get to pick between three different colors for your shiny new Nokia E6 - black, silver and white.

The Nokia X7-00 on the other hand has even managed to cross the Atlantic and is now listed as in stock with several US online retailers. The asking price is $535.95, which is a bit steep, but early adoption fees usually do that to highly popular smartphones.

The Nokia X7 is currently only available in its Dark Steel color version so if you wanted the Silver one you will have to wait a while longer.

Nokia is on route to posting next quarterly results at a loss

We already knew Nokia was expecting a lower profit in the second quarter of the fiscal year, but according to analysts, Nokia won't even make any profit whatsoever. According to a Reuters report, the mobile phone manufacturer will report a loss for this (Q2) and next (Q3) quarters.

Apple's iPhone and Google's Android are to be blamed for the current Nokia situation. Even at the market of lower-end devices and feature phones the Finnish company is losing ground to a tough competition coming from China.

However, the company should pick itself up and dust itself off for the Q4 by announcing its first batch of Windows Phone 7.5 powered devices at Nokia World in October. While there's no official announcement, Nokia and Movistar Equador have teamed up to offer an app competition. The winner will grab a ticket to London for the Nokia World event so we know both the place and month of Nokia's biggest event in the year.

Dual-SIM Nokia C2-06 slider surfaces again, called the C2-02

We know a new dual-SIM, sliding feature phone is waiting in the wings, courtesy of a (possibly intentional) leak from Nokia. But this time around we get new photos and a new suggested name, the C2-02.

Being a feature phone there's not a vast amount in the way of versatility here. Besides the dual-SIM support in the C2-06 (or C2-02 if you prefer) there's no Wi-Fi, GPS or 3G, but there is EDGE, Bluetooth, a 2MP camera on the back, a music player, an FM radio and a 3.5mm headphone jack. The C2-02 also has a QVGA TFT display and data can transfer via Bluetooth or USB.

With no expandable memory the C2-06 only gets downloadable Java games to expand its repertoire but there is also the Ovi browser that Nokia are trying to drum up interest about for your online browsing needs.

It's the first dual-SIM Touch and Type in the family, weighing in at 115 grams and measuring 103 x 51.4 x 17mm. Despite its flaws it's another dual-SIM that fans will undoubtedly appreciate.

Nokia leaks C2-06 Touch and Type accidentally, dual-SIM fans rejoice

The first dual-SIM member of the Nokia Touch and Type family has just made its unexpected public debut. The Nokia C2-06 (or C2-02 according to some sources) appeared on the Nokia Conversation blog, starring on an image dedicated to the IPv6 transition of the company's OVI browser.

As you can imagine, given the nature of the leak, there were no phone specifications mentioned, but this image is more than enough to confirm the existence of the handset.

Before this confirmation, there was always the chance that the leaked prototype we saw earlier was just a dead project that will never see the light of day. Well, it's not.

Now this "accidental" appearance of the unannounced C2-06 could be either a PR move by Nokia attempting to generate more interest to the Ovi browser article, or just an honest mistake, but whatever it is, we are sure the dual-SIM fans around the world will be glad it happened.

It was only recently, that we saw the first Dual SIM phones by Nokia, the Nokia X1-01 and C2-00, finally ship.

So how about an official announcement now so we know what exactly to be looking forward to?

Nokia X7 goes on pre-order in the UK, first taste of Symbian Anna

The Nokia X7 has now appeared alongside its QWERTY launch partner the E6, available for pre-order in the UK. Slated for release at the end of June, both devices are running the latest version of Nokia's Symbian OS - Symbian Anna. This will come as great news to any UK based die hard Nokia fans who still hold a special place in their hearts for the Finnish Symbian kings.

We've already seen the E6 and X7 available for pre-order in Germany but the UK have been given a genuine estimate of when they can actually get their hands on these devices, late June, which more accurately probably translates to June 30 going by Nokia's typical rigamarole .

The X7's design gives it a more aggressive look that could have evolved from the N8. It runs a 680MHz ARM 11 processor with a Broadcom BCM2727 GPU in tow. Media features include an 8MP camera with a dual-LED flash that can shoot 720p video at 25fps, an FM radio and access to the Ovi Nokia Store naturally. Connectivity promises Bluetooth 3.0, HSDPA at 10.2 Mbps and HSUPA at 2 Mbps, WiFi b/g/n and a physical connection via microUSB (2.0). Memory onboard translates to 256 MB RAM with 1 GB ROM and an 8GB microSD card comes included but this is upgradeable to 32GB if you need it. Of course all of this plugs into Symbian Anna which you view on a 4" AMOLED 360x640 display.

It's a pretty standard affair hardware wise so the X7 is clearly for those who want to get their hands on Symbian Anna more than anything else. The pre-order page on Nokia's own UK store prices the X7 at £399 sim-free with monthly contracts from £25.00 a month (and a free handset) or if you prefer £359 on pay-as-you-go.

Want to be one of the first in the world to have a Symbian Anna device? Pre-order the phone here or check out Nokia's press gallery for more shots here. Are you interested in the X7 or is Symbian not worth your time anymore?

Nokia PC Suite Cleaner completely uninstalls all traces and Components

Nokia PC suite is a commonly used application by all Nokia users to back up and synchronize their phone data and contacts on computer. But while uninstallation these backups are not completely removed and if you wanted a total new installation without previous data stored, that could be a problem. Nokia PC suite cleaner is a free application released by Nokia to perform these tasks.

It searches your computer for Nokia PC suite and starts removing any component within Nokia PC suite folder, even if you place your personal files within this folder those will be deleted. It also cleans any registry entries related to Nokia pc suite. After the cleaning has been done it also provides a detailed report of removed files which can be viewed directly or saved to computer.

My Verdict

This is a useful application by Nokia and can be used if you are facing trouble using PC suite. Just make a clean uninstall and then reinstall the application again.

Download: Nokia PC suite cleaner

Stephen Elop talks about Nokia's prospects in D9 interview

Stephen Elop, Nokia's CEO, was in an interview today with Walt Mossberg where he answered some pressing questions about Nokia, whether it's the transition from Symbian to Windows Phone 7 or about the rumors of Microsoft buying Nokia and about entering the tablet space, he was grilled.

When asked about the move away from Symbian, Elop said it was definitely painful. The reason they decided to move away from Symbian was because that wanted to catch up with iOS and Android and with Symbian it would have taken a lot of time. Elop also described Symbian as being "crufty".

A similar problem was faced when deciding to go with MeeGo. So it was then decided to go with Windows Phone 7 as it would allow them to catch up with the other two platforms at a faster rate. They could have gone with Android but Nokia felt it would have been difficult to differentiate themselves with other Android OEMs and they would not have had the same influence as they do now with Windows Phone 7.

Commenting about the competition, Elop also expressed his wish to see Samsung become more successful with Windows Phone 7 as that would increase the popularity of the platform and make Nokia's goal of establishing Windows Phone 7 as the third major smartphone platform easier.

As for the rumors of Microsoft buying Nokia, Elop said that “the rumors are baseless” and that “there’s absolutely no discussion”. The reason for this is that it would not make sense for Microsoft to buy Nokia because smartphones only form half of Nokia’s business as they also sell a lot of feature phones and “that business does not align with Microsoft’s business”.

About losing market share in US, Elop said that Nokia had 30-40% share of the US market in 2004 but then the people there moved to flip phones and Nokia didn’t think they were very important. He mentions this as a major cause of the drop in popularity for Nokia in the US.

When inquired about when the first Nokia Windows Phone 7 will hit the market, Elop mentioned they are targeting the fourth quarter of 2011, just in time for the holidays.

Regarding tablets, Elop said "We'll have to address that space." But then again, that's no news, is it?

Nokia lowers Q2 outlook, promises WP7.5 smartphones in Q4

Nokia revised its smartphones and services outlook for Q2 and full 2011 and there are some good news and some bad news to investors and users alike. The company will generate substantially less revenue from smartphones and services in Q2, but the Windows Phone smartphone development is going ahead of schedule.

With the sales of the Nokia current portfolio apparently not going according to plan the company says that it won’t be able to achieve its target revenue of €6.1 billion. The estimated operating margin of 6% to 9% will obviously be beyond reach for Nokia too with the revisited forecast suggesting a breakeven quarter.

The company is so far away from its targets that it has given up on its full 2011 forecasts altogether. It says that it will do everything it can to arrest the fall though including some restructuring that should be able to save about 1 billion a year from 2013 on.

On the positive side, the development of the first WP smartphones carrying the Nokia brand is obviously going well and the company is getting increasingly optimistic that it will be able to launch them in Q4.

As you can see the partnership with Microsoft is now vital to the future of Nokia so we really hope it works out. The software giant has already brought its mobile platform a huge step forward with the Mango update so we are now to see if Nokia will deliver on the hardware end.

Symbian Anna running Nokia E6 and X7 now shipping, slowly

The first Symbian Anna phones, the Nokia E6 and the Nokia X7, are now shipping. Announced back in April, these two have been on pre-order for a while and now you can buy one, if you don’t mind a stretched out delivery date.

The touchscreen/QWERTY E-series messenger, the Nokia E6, will be available in Europe, Eurasia, Asia/Pacific, the Middle East and Africa. Nokia Germany’s online store still have it on pre-order for €429 while Italians can pre-order it for €399. The Nokia UK online store still lists it as available on pre-order for £349 (€400) SIM-free.

It is shipping now if you want to get it on a contract (phone is free with a £25/month contract with Vodafone or T-Mobile) or on pre-paid for £339 with Vodafone, T-Mobile or Orange. There’s a note saying you should allow 11 days for delivery.

The Nokia X7 and its 4” AMOLED screen will be headed to Europe, Eurasia, China, India and other Asia/Pacific countries. Its pre-order price in Germany (according to Nokia’s online store) is €459 and €429 in Italy, which is quite steep despite all of Symbian Anna’s improvements. It’s missing from the UK store right now.

We’re expecting Nokia’s online stores to switch the Nokia E6 and X7 status to “available” soon.