humor

The clip that went viral within AT&T's latest 4G LTE advert showing off the Lumia 920 has caused quite a stir over at Deadspin, a sports website which publishes commentaries, recaps, as well as sports-related anecdotes, rumors and YouTube videos.

It’s never fun to take things too seriously, which is why we like this video of a purported Surface unboxing. Performed with a mock Russian accent, the video takes a jab at the “old” Microsoft (or rather what some people still perceive as being Redmond’s problem: clunky, non-working software and hardware).

We won’t say too much more on this because it speaks for itself. But we definitely got a chuckle out of it.

Source: Puppet Shed; Thanks, 47project in comments for the tip!

President Barack Obama has been known to be a die-hard BlackBerry fan for years now, even as the Waterloo company is scrambling for its life to stay afloat. While he can wait for BlackBerry 10 to arrive sometime next year, we think he should start considering other options. (After all, that platform won’t have 100,000 apps, right?)

In a somewhat humorous moment this past weekend, the President started to use an iPhone, presumably either as a backup, transition device or just someone else’s. Either way, he evidently wasn’t at all familiar with neither the phone nor the OS and he scrambled a bit when trying to dial out.

As things are heating up on this Labor Day weekend, Nokia appears to be still having some fun with Samsung—or at least that is one interpretation of the oddly placed image above.

Appearing on Nokia’s Facebook page, the photo shows two toy dump trucks—one offloading coins, the other carrying away a Lumia—with the caption ‘Which do you prefer?’.

So why is it funny? It appears to be an inside tech joke that made the rounds last week regarding the Apple v Samsung trial.

Siri, the personal assistant found on the iPhone 4S, has been making headlines for Apple today, but for all the wrong reasons. The image above explains what's going on better than any words in this article. Should you happen to ask Siri "what's the best cell phone ever?", you'll be greeted with a surprising response. Not only does Siri choose a device that's not an Apple product, but it chooses the Lumia 900 Windows Phone. 

This result is produced by taking the mobile phone that's rated the highest by consumers and the cyan AT&T Lumia 900 just so happens to fit the bill. Siri found the above answer by using Wolfram Alpha, which lists the Windows Phone when visitors type in the same query. The launch of the Lumia 900 was met by an extremely high level of satisfaction from customers who purchased the handset, regardless of the issues that appeared.

We gave it a shot with Ask Ziggy to see what the Windows Phone Siri-like assistant thought of all this. Unfortunately, it appeared to be slightly smarter than Siri with leading us to a Bing SERP listing articles covering "top ten mobile phones", etc. Smart move Zig-meister. Smart move.

Does anyone find it even remotely humorous how the Windows Phone community (and tech media) have jumped on this story? At the end of the day, Apple can take something away from this - Siri has proven to be relatively accurate.

Source: Techtudo; thanks to everyone who tipped us!

Nokia and AT&T have gone forward with another "Beta Test" commercial. The controversial ad campaign started off my mocking the iPhone (those videos have since been pulled) and have now moved on to teasing how all other smartphones look the same.

In their latest TV blip, a smarmy gentleman is seen proclaiming how his phone defines him as an individual. Moments later a nerdy girl runs up squawking how she has the same phone.

It certainly elicited a slight chuckle from us and it goes to the heart of how a lot of us feel about Android and iPhones, specifically that they're not unique anymore due to their domination in the market. Here in New York City having an iPhone is about as original as being a Yankee's fan, so pushing the line that Nokia's are "beautifully different" could work.

Heck, even we've been critical of the Black-Slab™ phenomena going back to 2009 which may be why we're so enamored with Nokia's Cyan and Glossy White Lumia 900's. (Bonus: the Glossy White Lumia 900 peeks out at the end of this new ad for the first time).

Of course attacking your opponent, even without naming them, can be risky. However, we do think this is one safe area for Nokia to spear their competition as the Finnish company has always been ahead on design. And this type of marketing works. Just look at Nokia's "blown away" campaign and the reaction from Samsung. The company is making waves, my friends and that is effective advertising.

By the way, we're not sure why those original Beta Test iPhone videos were pulled, though we imagine it was due to negative feedback. Luckily, you can still view them here, here and here.

Source: YouTube; Thanks, Travis for the new ad link and Yonkit for the old Beta Test commercials

Nokia has been aggressively marketing their Lumia family of Windows Phones on a massive global scale, with events sporting 4D projections, augmented reality experiences, and live music performances the manufacturer appears to have extraordinarily deep pockets for the marketing budget, something that Microsoft needs from an OEM with its new mobile platform. 

As well as Nokia we've seen Microsoft pushing hard with carriers and the famous Smoked by Windows Phone campaign. Following on from this successful array of stunts, Nokia has kicked off "Blown away by Lumia" in India, which hasn't gone down too well with Samsung, who is backing the Galaxy family of devices. The Finnish manufacturer also took to the streets in the UK with the "Lumia Challenge", sharing the same concept.

Back to the "Blown Away by Lumia" campaign in India, check out the following video, which is one of many adverts Nokia has where competitor handsets are literally 'blown away' by Lumia Windows Phones.

As with the Smoked by Windows Phone challenges, contestants have to try and best the Windows Phone (a Lumia handset in this case) with general smartphone tasks, such as taking a photo and uploading it to Facebook. Which ever device completes the task first wins. Should the contestant lose, they have to hold up a sign that reads: 'My phone just got blown away by the Nokia Lumia'.

Nokia explains the challenges were validated by Nielsen, with Nokia India Director of Marketing, Viral Oza, commenting the following on the accusations of unethical campaigning:

"The Lumia 800 emerged as a clear winner by winning 94% of the total 104 challenges timed by Nielsen. This challenge has not been created to target competition but to highlight the social media capabilities of the device."

Samsung, however, shares a different view and an Indian spokesperson stated that the campaign is "clearly unethical". The complaint is based on the view that the video clips Nokia has uploaded mostly target the Korean manufacturer's popular devices. It's a fierce battle between the two handset makers in India so it'll be interesting to see how this plays off in the future, especially with Samsung's Windows Phone lineup.

What do you guys think of Samsung's claims?

Source: India Times