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Nokia reaffirms WP 7.8 support for existing Lumia handsets, announces handful of features
Nokia's legacy Lumia devices won't be graced with Windows Phone 8, but the company has reaffirmed its support for keeping them fresh with version 7.8 of Microsoft's handset OS. In addition to a revamped start screen, the introduction of City Lens and other expected perks, Espoo is tossing in a few extras. Among the new additions are the Cinemagraph GIF creator, a ringtone maker app, updates to Smart Group Shot and Bluetooth support for both file transfers and the firm's Contact Share application. Yearning to load up your smartphone with the raft of new features? Elop and Co. say the upgrades will be be rolled out in phases for the Lumia 610, 710, 800 and 900 models, but promise more details when their ETAs close in.
Nokia confirms Lumia 710, 800 to be knighted with mobile hotspot 'soon'
If you've pored over the specs of Nokia's Lumia 710 and 800 handsets during the last few months, you've likely noticed the duo's lack of mobile hotspot functionally. Of course, the Finnish phone maker didn't completely abandoned the feature in Windows Phone, as the ability to turn your device into a portable access point will ship with its flagship Lumia 900 and the recently announced 610 at launch. Nokia admitted that the feature would be coming to the 800 months ago, and now Elop & Company have announced that the 710 is also on the shortlist. A recent Q&A post on its Connects blog explained that software updates will be "coming soon" -- by way of Zune update -- to remedy the discrepancy between the old and new. No word on what Nokia's definition of "soon" is, but you can find all the available details at the source link below.
Nokia Lumia 800's CDMA cousin coming to China Telecom in March?
An employee of the Qingzhou branch of China Telecom went a bit camera-happy over the weekend, but we'd do the same if we were handed a CDMA Nokia Lumia 800. The since-pulled images and text confirmed our feeling that it's arriving in early Spring (i.e "March"). The tipster revealed to WMPoweruser that both the 800 and 710 would arrive at the same time, potentially joined by the 900 in April -- and that all three handsets would be available in black, cyan and white, as well as coming preloaded with Tango as standard. We'll take the latter claims with a pinch of salt until we see 'em, okay? As you were, China.
Lumia 710 makes an appearance on Nokia's US site without its Windows Phone counterpart
When Nokia made it known that the Meego-running N9 wouldn't be making any official tour to the US, the sound of crushed dreams could be faintly heard in households across the nation. Would the newly-announced Lumia series suffer the same fate somehow? Might Uncle Sam's invitation to the family BBQ get lost in the mail a second straight time? Thanks to Nokia's US website, we know that at least one of the two Windows Phones will leave Espoo and land somewhere between sea and shining sea, as the budget-conscious Lumia 710 appears front and center on the OEM's home page while the 800 is nowhere to be found. We're not giving up just yet -- if absence makes the heart grow fonder, we don't want to get enamored with the AWOL phone this fast. Update: Dampen down those hopes and dreams, kids. Nokia has said that it will be making a splash in the USA at the start of next year, but it won't be with the Lumia phones. The page went up just for your information.
Nokia Lumia 800 vs. Nokia N9: the tale of the tape
Sure, they might look the same, but are they actually the same? Inside that smooth, shapely polycarbonate shell lies internals that are actually significantly different between these two. How different? Well, the guy on the left, the newly-unveiled Lumia 800, has a 1.4GHz Qualcomm processor paired with 512MB of RAM and 16GB of storage. The guy on the right? That's the ill-fated N9, and it packs a 1GHz TI OMAP chip with 1GB of RAM and up to 64GB of storage. Inside the chart below lies the information you need, and the details you crave.
Nokia 800 press shots leak, Espoo's Windows Phone Mango lovechild now close at hand
Stephen Elop famously fumbled when shots of Nokia's "super confidential" Mango handset made their way to the interwebs. Since then, we've seen footage from the factory floor, and even teases of upcoming marketing materials outing the 800, or the phone formerly known as Sea Ray. Now, leaked press shots over on PocketNow, once again, treat us to a preview of the Espoo / Redmond mobile marriage and its candybar-shaped offspring -- available in blue, pink and black. From what we can see in these renders, the volume rocker, power button and apparent dedicated camera shortcut key are all placed on the right side of the handset, with a speaker grille located at the device's base. Of course, there's that familiar Windows Phone 7.5 live-tiled interface and three capacitive buttons on the handset's screen. For now, that's all she wrote, but is it enough to tide you over 'til its eventual reveal at Nokia World? Our trusty magic 8-balls says, "You may rely on it." We're inclined to agree.
Humble Indie Bundle moving towards $1 million, still being pirated
The Humble Indie Bundle that we posted about the other day is doing quite well -- they've raised almost US$800,000 by selling five indie games (playable on Mac, Linux, and Windows) for pay-what-you-will. In fact, they've done so well that they've added another game into the mix -- you'll also get Samorost 2 if you pick up the bundle. And a little birdie pointed out to us that if you pause their trailer video at about 1:16, they'll be adding another bonus to the mix if they reach a full million dollars raised. [Spoiler: They say they'll actually release the source code of Gish, Lugaru, and Penumbra Overture.] Is there any bad news about this giveaway? Well yes: people are still pirating it. The developers claim that 25% of the bundle downloads are "pirated" -- people who didn't pay anything at all for it. They didn't secure the link, authenticate the downloads, or protect the game with DRM (and they didn't ask users to pay any more than one cent for it), and people are still just rolling up and downloading the games for free. Unfortunately, that doesn't solve any arguments -- those for DRM would say that real security would prevent that, and those against DRM would claim that it won't. At any rate, those are five great indie games that are worth your money -- if you downloaded them for free, put a few bucks in the pot.
Sonnet FireWire dongle gives your MacBook Pro the gift of FW400
When Steve Jobs announced the new MacBook Pros, Apple received a lot of criticism for excluding a FireWire 400 port, despite the addition of FireWire 800. While most people were sitting around and griping, one company actually did something to reconcile the situation. Sonnet has created a dongle that allows you to use FireWire 400 devices in your MacBook Pro's FireWire 800 port. The Sonnet Simply Fast dongle works with standard 6-pin male FW400 cables. This dongle can be bought from the Sonnet online store, or from other retailers (i.e. Amazon) for around $14.24US. You can visit the Sonnet website for more information about the FireWire adapter. If you are looking for solutions to this FW 400/800 mystery then you might also want to check out FireWire 800 to 400 cables which are very plentiful, and might be slightly cheaper.
More details on the Palm Treo 800w uncovered?
According to some dedicated -- and, might we add, thorough -- Palm fans, it looks like we've gotten a few more bits of data about the (rumored) forthcoming Treo 800w. If you believe the data, FCC documents detailing emails between Palm and the agency reveal the code names and corresponding FCC IDs of four phones... including one we've never heard of with "co-locating WiFi and radio." Hear that? There's no current (or announced) Palm phone with WiFi, so this device, referred to as the "Zeppelin" in the .pdf could likely be the upcoming new phone that folks have been speculating on lately. The document also makes reference to a "Centro 685," which is another clue in this mystery, a variant of the Centro (690 is the official Palm "number" of the Sprint version) which might be headed out on AT&T. Only time, and Palm, will tell if this thing becomes a reality -- c'mon dudes, give us something.[Thanks, Greg D.]
More blurry pictures of the Palm Gandolf -- the Treo 800 series?
Man, this thing just gets uglier every time we see it. This here is apparently the very latest, piping hot batch of blurry shots of the Palm Gandolf, the multifaceted new platform that Palm appears to be readying in both Garnet and Windows Mobile flavors with the carrier's choice of either GSM or CDMA under the hood. Unfortunately, it doesn't appear to be getting any prettier as it gets closer to an official debut -- quite the opposite, actually, and the keyboard is said to be a good deal smaller than its predecessors', eliminating one of Palm's few remaining talking points for the Treo line. The device is now rumored to be taking on the "800" moniker, a move which appears to call this out as being the Treo line's new king of the hill. Anyone else think this abomination of industrial design looks more like a "500" at best?[Via Slashphone]
