The Nokia X is here

It’s official: the Nokia X Android phone is here. Microsoft might be buying Nokia’s phone business shortly, but the Finnish smartphone maker is still pushing ahead with the launch of three Android-powered handsets today. The Verge first revealed details about Nokia’s plans in December, and the company is now ready to talk specifics about the X, the X+, and the XL. As expected, all three combine Lumia-style design with low-cost hardware aimed at the masses, from a large 5-inch screen on the 109-Euro XL to the 4-inch display on the 99-Euro X+. The X will be released for just €89 in Eastern Europe, Asia, South America, and a few other global locations, but it won’t be making its way to North America, Japan, Korea, or Western European countries. These aren’t competitors to Samsung’s Galaxy S4 or Apple’s iPhone 5S, and there are certainly no surprising hardware additions like a 41-megapixel camera or a giant 6-inch display. Instead, the standout feature of the Nokia X lineup is the software that powers it: Android.

Nokia Windows RT tablet

 

Nokia’s rumored Windows RT tablet is supposedly nearing launch, and The Verge claims to have more details of the slate beyond those tidbits that surfaced at Digi-Wo last month. Nicknamed Sirius, the finished design is believed to resemble a Lumia phone and weigh significantly less than the current iPad. Despite packing a Snapdragon 800, an outdoor-ready 1080p screen and LTE, the tablet would last a healthy 10 hours on battery. It would also include both 6-megapixel rear and 2-megapixel front cameras, and Nokia may complement the previously mentioned 32GB of storage with a microSD card slot. Pricing would be competitive with the iPad, according to tipsters. While there’s no way to verify the new rumors, the Sirius may launch at a September 26th event; if it’s real, we’ll find out soon enough.

Microsoft beefs up Windows Phone voice technology

But smartphone buyers may be less interested in Deep Neural Networks, and more keen to know whether Windows Phone 8 has their favourite apps

Windows Phone’s voice recognition technology is now faster

Nokia went with Windows Phone because it feared Samsung’s domination of Android

When it comes to hardware most people agree that Nokia makes good handsets, just look at the new Nokia Lumia 1020. But the problem is Nokia’s smartphones run Windows Phone which is still playing catch-up in terms of consumer acceptance. The question that is often asked is this, why didn’t Nokia use Android?

Nokia Lumia sales hit record 7.4 million

Nokia continues to improve on its Lumia sales figures worldwide. The latest Q2 earnings show another quarterly improvement, up to 7.4 million in the latest quarter. That’s a bump on therecord high of 5.6 million in the last quarter, and up from 4 million in the same quarter last year. Up to June 30th, Nokia has sold 27.3 million Lumias in total since shipping its first Windows Phone device, the Lumia 800, in November 2011.

Nokia buying out Siemens’ NSN stake

Nokia is buying out Siemens’s stake in their 50-50 telecoms equipment joint venture, Nokia Siemens Networks, for $1.7 billion ($2.2 billion). The move will give Nokia full control of a business that could survive even if Nokia’s mobile phone business passes on – and will also see Siemens exit a networking game in which it has played since 1847.

Nokia Lumia 720 – the best budget windows phone

Colorful and captivating with the power of Windows, Nokia presents yet another Lumia that can reduce the world to fit into your palm. The Nokia Lumia 720 is a single GSM SIM candybar smartphone that works on Windows Phone 8 operating system; the Live tiles are quite something, packing functionality with bright, bold style seamlessly. The phone draws its strength from a 1 GHz Qualcomm Krait Dual Core processor backed by 512 MB RAM and Adreno 305 graphics.

Nokia Lumia 925 – initial thoughts

The tech world had been waiting for quite a while for Nokia to unveil its next big offering, a smartphone that could take on the best of the best. Lumia 925 might have taken its time coming, but boy, was the wait worth it!I spent some time with the handset and was pleasantly surprised to find that Nokia has finally come onto its own. Check out my review of the latest offering from the tech giant.

What I want from my smartphone

Smartphones are in and feature phones are out. What is a smartphone? Well, it is a phone that is smart! Meaning it can do many things for you easily on top of making phone calls and managing a contacts list. With that change, the biggest loss has been to Nokia in terms of market share loss. The company was ruling the roost in the mobile handset arena and is now left playing catch with Apple and Samsung. So the smartphones have changed a lot of things. So what do I want from my smartphone? Let me tell you!