nokia

Nokia is expected to push into China very soon e.g. within weeks and now we're starting to see some of that effort. In a screeenshot of the the Lumia 800c ('c' is presumably for China's CDMA system) we can see that this is now rocking a later version of "Tango" than build 8757 (which we've seen lately on some other phones e.g. TITAN II, Lumia 900) but it is the same OS as found on the Lumia 610, lending credence to the idea that 8763 may be close to the shipping ROM. (See below for updated info).

In our discussions with Nokia, they noted that there is no final-build of "Tango" though and in fact they don't refer to it internally as that. Evidently, they just get new builds which they use to address issues accordingly, which makes sense. Understanding that it makes sense that "Tango" is not a fixed build but rather a range of post-Mango updates and with certain ones reaching "shipping" status.

Also of interest is the later firmware build. Here the Lumia 800c is sporting firmware 12080 which is just slightly ahead of the recently released 12070--once again it's safe to say this has more to do with the radios on board than anything significant. There's little doubt Nokia has to customize things a bit for China's more strict ecosystem so these changes are to be expected.

Update: Now we have a second image with OS build 8765 and firmware 12090. Worthy of mention though is "Main_ship" implying that yes, this is the final ROM for China.

Source: WPXAP; Thanks, talan1314, for the heads up!

Okay, in a way we really don't recommend you do this, on the other hand we just did so who are we to judge. In short, with a few tools and about 20 minutes of your time, you can flash the latest build of Windows Phone (8107 with the keyboard fix) and the latest firmware (12070) onto your T-Mobile branded Nokia Lumia 710.

The latest firmware fixes the end-call bug in addition to giving other "performance enhancements" e.g. powering on from standby seems faster to us now, whereas before there was delay. We haven't run it long enough to see if battery life has improved, though we presume since this matches the Lumia 800's new firmware that it has some of the same tricks (we're idling at about 135mAh, for what it's worth).

How is this done? The files come from Nokia's servers where you can download various ROM packages. In this case, Nokia has available three variants (by color) of their latest 710 ROMs for India available. That's right, you'll be installing a ROM for India on your US phone. No worries though as it's unbranded and heck, it even has two pics of the Taj Mahal as a bonus.

Downside? Evidently in India you can't give an option to disable the camera shutter sound, so you'll literally lose that option in Settings. This is also a full-on flash, meaning you'll wipe your device and backups won't work (new firmware). Finally, we lost our "4G" icon which makes us wonder if we lost our HSPA+ speeds. Our browser download tests (compared to a T-Mo Radar 4G) show that no loss in speed has occurred and from normal use, it feels just as fast as ever for data.

In order to do this you'll need two pieces of free software: Navifirm and Nokia Care Suite 5.0. The former downloads the ROMs from the server, the latter via the Product Support Tool For Store 5.0, allows you to flash your phone. (Honestly, it's really easy once you read some instructions).

Unfortunately we're not going to give a step-by-step because this is a little risky (although you can just flash back the T-Mobile release ROM). Still, if you want to know more about how this works, just head over to ye'old XDA where you can read the similar instructions on flashing the Lumia 800 (yes, it works on that too). Or you could just wait for the T-Mobile version, which we imagine will be here in a few weeks.

Thanks, Robert, for the heads up

Nokia has finally finished up a ROM and firmware update for the Lumia 710 for India and Singapore (we also see one for Brazil's TIM network on their servers). This next update will finally bring the Windows Phone 8107 OS update which address the disappearing keyboard issue as well as security flaws. In addition, the firmware will fix the end-call bug and bring the ever vague ""minor performance and usability improvements".

Unfortunately, this update is dependent on "market requests" meaning we don't know who else will get this, though T-Mobile would seem to be a likely candidate (they did push out 8107 for the HTC Radar recently and the Lumia 710 is still rocking the old 7740 OS). We'll keep an ear out for any rumblings.

Likewise, the Lumia 800 is currently getting the 12070 firmware update which we detailed the other day. That too has an official changelog which is similar to what we reported. That update also is dependent upon "market request" so we'll just have to wait and see who gets it:

• Enhanced battery standby and talk time performance
• Battery capacity icon instead of question mark on top right of screen
• Improved bass in audio performance
• Soft-key illumination at all brightness levels
• Fixes for device performance issues including self-reboots, freezes and call-ending

Read more on the Lumia 710 update here and the Lumia 800 update here.

via: MyNokiaBlog

The HTC TITAN II and Nokia Lumia 900 are rumored to drop on Sunday, March 18th and last we checked it's getting close to that date.  Two things have happened within the last few hours to make us think that AT&T is starting up their Windows Phone gears again:

1. The AT&T site is teasing something big as "Coming Soon" on their site with signups to be notified
2. The Microsoft Windows Phone site now lists the TITAN II and Lumia 900 as "coming soon"

Sure, it's no firm pricing (Lumia 900 is rumored for $99) or official release date but c'mon, if those phone aren't launching in the next two weeks then we'll eat our vegetables. Start saving your pennies, folks.

Source: AT&T, Microsoft; Thanks, Mario and PLeX™, for the tips

Rumor has it that Nokia is working on two new handsets due to arrive on AT&T later this year.  Unnamed sources have told The Verge that the Prodigy and the AC/DC will be the first of Nokia's Windows Phone 8 handsets.  The Prodigy, as the code name implies, will be a high-end "superphone," along the lines of the Lumia 900, while the AC/DC is expected to be more of a mid-range offering.  Sadly, this vague report came without any details on hardware or features, though a Nokia-partner video has recently revealed that multi-core processors and a NFC-based "wallet experience" could all be part of the equation.

With Apollo's likely arrival later in 2012, the rumors will be flooding in.  Hold on to your hats, folks.  We've only just begun.

Source: TheVerge; Thanks for the tip, damthman!

Nokia has announced the dates and location of this year's Nokia World - the event that covers everything 'Nokia'. While Nokia World 2011 in London was a blast, we're looking forward to the next event from the manufacturer as it's most probable that Windows Phone 8 ("Apollo") handsets will be unveiled. All we know for the moment is that it's going to be a fairly sizeable show with it being held on Nokia's home turf in Helsinki, Finland.

September 25-26 are the set dates and the Helsinki Exhibition & Convention Centre is the designated venue. 2012 will be the first year that the event has been held in Finland, which couldn't be better timed with Helsinki being officially titled as the World Design Capital for the year.

For more information, be sure to hit the links below.

Source: Nokia, Nokia Conversations

An unlocked white Lumia 900 is available on eBay with expected shipping dates between April 3rd-9th. The handset joins the black and cyan versions that were previously available on the auction site back in January. The only difference separating the previous listings and this new one is the colour and price tag. The white Lumia 900 4G Windows Phone will set you back $829.

You never know with eBay listings such as this so proceed at your own risk. Check out the auction (and make your purchase) by following the source link to the item listing.

Source: eBay; thanks Cole for the heads up!

Although one would think the Lumia 610 goes far enough to compete with low-end Android devices for emerging markets, according to Niklas Savander, executive vice-president at Nokia, covering Brand, Marketing, Sales, Supply Chain, Customer Care and Information Technology, they still need to go lower:

"We are competing with Android, Android is in many markets at the €100 price already, so that would suggest that if we are at €189 with the Lumia 610 we still have work to do when it comes to creating a lower-end first-time user smartphone."

That's certainly a tall order as the Lumia 610 already ditches things like gyroscope (compass?), ClearBlack, some RAM, CPU speed and more. Other areas where Nokia could reduce costs though would be to newer-but-low-cost SOC chipsets, even cheaper screens and overall leveraging of existing production lines.

When we heard Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Google, speak at the Mobile World Congress last week, he mentioned how the sub-$100 smartphone will come next year, so clearly even Google has their eyes set on that milestone too. The question is will Nokia have to reduce features or will production of smartphone parts become cheaper to reach that point? More likely a combo of both.

Source: Pocket-Lint

Vodafone Australia has the Lumia 800 available (only in black unfortunately) on contracts starting at just $29 /mo (cheapest plan includes a $10 /mo handset fee). The Windows Phone, which was reportedly hitting Australia in all four colours - black, white, cyan and magenta. 

While a strong choice of colour is not present at Vodafone AU, the Lumia 800 is a superb Windows Phone that has received positive reviews across the board. Should you be interested in cyan though, Optus is sporting this choice on their product list and at a more attractive price of just $19 /mo.

Source: Vodafone, Optus; thanks to the anonymous tipster!