Goodbye, Nokia

The story of Nokia is far from over, but Friday marks the end of its most enthralling chapter thus far. The company was founded nearly 150 years ago and it went through a number of iterations before it became the cell phone giant most of us think of now. But as of April 25th, Nokia is no longer a cell phone company.

Nokia’s devices and services business moved over to Microsoft on Friday morning as part of a deal worth more than $7 billion. The deal values Nokia’s handsets division at around $5 billion, which is obviously a painfully small fraction of what it was once worth.

The cell phone maker’s failure to react when Apple first launched the iPhone back in 2007 led directly to the company’s collapse. I remember it like it was yesterday — especially when one Nokia executive told me in 2008 that “Apple is like the annoying fly buzzing around the fisherman’s head. Nokia is still the fisherman and we’ll still catch all the fish.”

But enough about my story. The far more interesting tale on Friday comes from a Nokia employee who penned an open letter to say goodbye to the Nokia he knew.

John Kneeland is Nokia’s product manager for emerging markets, and he posted a letter on Thursday evening to discuss the Nokia-Microsoft deal from his inside point of view. His letter is interesting, moving and at times, saddening.

“Today (April 24 2014) was the last day of Nokia as we knew it. The staff of Nokia’s Silicon Valley office went to the restaurant down the street and had one last celebration together. We had fun and said our goodbyes,” Kneeland wrote. “On April 25, that Nokia ceases to exist, and in its place are two companies that officially have nothing to do with each other: Microsoft Mobile Oy (where the heart of the company will go) and Nokia Oyj (where I will be).”

He continued, “Tomorrow I will still be an employee of Nokia. I will go to my office in Sunnyvale. It will be the same building it was yesterday. It will still say NOKIA on its facade basking in the California sun. But half of the people I’ve worked with will be gone. Up through today we shared everything. Tomorrow we will share nothing but our memories. I am not writing another piece to lay blame for who is responsible for the decline and fall of this iconic company. I am writing to reflect on what Nokia has meant for the world, and for me.”

Kneeland’s full letter is a fantastic read and it’s linked below in our source section.

Source: BGR

Nokia 3310 given 41-megapixel camera upgrade on April Fools' Day

Just when one thought that Nokia will launch even more products in its Nokia X family running Android or new Lumia devices based on Windows Phone 8.1, April Fools' Day comes and Nokia announces its heritage 3310 in a new avatar.

The Nokia 3310, which was initially launched in 2000 and is one of the most successful phones ever released by Nokia, has made a modern-day comeback.

The Finnish giant has introduced its 3310 sporting a 41-megapixel PureView sensor with Zeiss optics and Xenon flash. Further, the 3310 is seen boasting a huge camera hump at the back panel, much like Nokia 808 PureView and Nokia Lumia 1020.

The company claims that the Nokia 3310 now runs a modified version of Windows 8 (yes, you heard it right) with a new 'ClearDiamond' 3-inch WXGA (768x1280) display.

The Nokia 3310 PureView will be available in Blue, Dark Blue, Green, Red and Yellow colour variants.

The revamped Nokia 3310 is a touchscreen device and also sports three soft-touch navigation buttons, alongside a Windows Phone 'home' button.

Other specifications of the Nokia 3310 include a 1.5GHz dual-core processor; 2GB of RAM; 1430mAh battery; 32GB inbuilt storage; Bluetooth 4.0; Wi-Fi and 3G.

The yesteryear device Nokia 3310 comes with pre-loaded with four games - Snake II, Pairs II, Space Impact and Bantumi. Other pre-installed apps include MS Office, Xbox Games, Outlook and OneDrive.

Nokia notes that the Nokia 3310 will be rolled out with 3G connectivity, while LTE-enabled devices will follow later this year.

Commenting on the Juha Alakarhu, Nokia's Head of Imaging Technologies said, "I'm really excited that we've found a way to marry our innovative PureView technology with such a beloved device. With its durable design and iconic look, we think even more people will enjoy our signature PureView magic."

Earlier on Tuesday, HTC and Samsung both showed off smart-gloves on April Fools' Day.

Samsung hit the hammer first, announcing its first 'all-over-hand' wearable device dubbed Samsung Fingers that features a flexible Super Emo-LED for the technology-sensitive consumer. HTC on the other hand teased its HTC Gluuv, which is also a smart-glove.

Google, despite being one of the biggest tech companies showed off its unique sense of humour and that's most apparent on April 1 every year. The Mountain View giant has a long list of gags that include Google Pokemon Maps, Gmail Shelfie, Emoji Translate in Chrome, Auto Awesome Photobombs, Google Magic Hand, Nest Total Temperature Contro and WazeDates.

Source: NDTV

Nokia's Android operating system pops up in leaked image

Evidence that Nokia is working on an Android phone is mounting. First, we got a glimpse of the hardware, codenamed Normandy, and today we're getting a first look at the software and operating system that will run on this rumored device.

The first images of the company's Android user interface were leaked by frequent Twitter tipster @evleaks. The images show a series of three design mockups of a what appears to be heavily-modified version Android on a Nokia device, but it's not clear that this operating system is in fact Android.

Cell phone manufacturers often modify the "pure" Android operating system released by Google to include their own designs and software features, such as Samsung's TouchWiz interface and S Voice voice-control service. Looking at the leaked photos, the OS looks more like a newer, more feature-rich version of Nokia's Asha operating system, which Nokia uses on its lower-cost Asha phones sold in emerging markets. It certainly doesn't look like any form of Android I've seen before, and it's nothing like Windows Phone either.

The leaked images reveal a few features inside the alleged Normandy phone, including support for two SIM cards (a popular feature in Europe, Asia, and South America), a pre-installed Skype app, and some sort of notifications system.

The notion that Nokia would be building an Android phone is a bit strange, considering Microsoft is poised to purchase Nokia's mobile business in a $7.2 billion deal announced in September 2013. It's entirely possible that Nokia was working on Normandy and its own version of Android before any sort of deal was discussed. It's also plausible that as Nokia has become more popular in emerging markets, where customers are seeking low-cost smartphones, Microsoft sees an opportunity to continue that vision with Android instead of the lesser-known Asha OS. Whatever Nokia's reason to build an Android phone, we'll keep you updated on this device as we learn more.

We've reached out to Nokia about the leaked photos, and the company said it doesn't comment on rumors or speculation.

Source: CNET