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Hands-on with Nokia's Asha 308 and 309 (video)
They're not the most compelling of devices, but for smartphone first timers, they should do just fine. Officially announced today, Nokia's updating the Asha Touch line with the 308 and 309 -- two new members of the Series 40 family that've moved past the feature phone designation and into smartphone territory. Priced at an affordable $99 (off-contract), this dual- and single-SIM pair are near identical with 3-inch WQVGA displays, 2GB of microSD storage (expandable to 32GB) and a 1,110mAh battery. We just happened to be onsite at the company's HQ in Espoo for the reveal of the diminutive devices, so follow on after the break for our first impressions.
Nokia reportedly scraps Meltemi, decides it's Series 40 or bust in basic phones
O Meltemi, we hardly knew ye. In fact, we didn't know ye much at all, since Nokia never made the OS official. Nonetheless, claimed insiders have told AllThingsD that the reputed Linux-running alternative to S30 and S40 won't ever see the light of day. Nokia's deep structural cuts are to blame, and we imagine Nokia's previous drive to whittle down its OS portfolio will have come into play. CEO Stephen Elop and other executives never directly acknowledged Meltemi's existence during the cutback-related conference call, although Elop did admit that some projects were screeching to a halt behind the scenes -- possibly the closest Espoo will come to saying that the platform was ever real. Sad, to be sure, but between the new Asha Touch line and ever-cheaper Lumia models, we're not too worried about whether or not Nokia has the low end covered.
Nokia 'sharpens strategy' by dropping three executives, laying off 10,000 and dumping Vertu
Nokia is still trying to turn things around after a slew of losses, and has made some tough decisions about how to move forward by announcing it will reduce staff by up to 10,000 people before the end of 2013. That's all part of a plan to close factories in Finland, Germany and Canada. as well as refocusing its marketing efforts, streamlining support staff and reducing "non-core" assets. Also on the outs are three executives including chief marketing officer Jerri Devard, executive VP of mobile phones Mary McDowell and executive VP of markets Niklas Savander who will step down from the company's Leadership Team effective June 30th. Replacing them July 1st are executive VP of mobile phones Timo Toikkanen, executive VP of sales and marketing Chris Weber and senior VP of communications Susan Sheehan. Additionally, it has sold the luxury brand Vertu to private equity group EQT VI in a deal that is expected to close during the second half of the year leaving just 10 percent of it in Nokia's hands. That's not the end of the bad news either, as Nokia will take a charge of 1 billion Euros ($1.3 billion) by the end of 2013 as a result of the restructuring and its efforts to return to profitability. Investments going forward including buying imaging company Scalado, extending its mapping technology to "multiple industries" and pushing more Series 40 and Series 30 devices. Check the press releases after the break for all the numbers and details currently available before it reports Q2 earnings July 19th, and we also may be able to glean more info from a call scheduled for 8AM ET.
Nokia releases Browser 2.0 update for Series 40 handsets with improved speed, multitasking in tow
Nokia announced earlier today the release of Browser 2.0 for its Series 40 devices, which of course includes the colorful Asha lineup. The update promises an overall speedier and easier browsing experience, this in large part due to the application condensing data by up to 90 percent. In addition to these enhancements, there's also a novel Download Manager in the refresh, giving users the ability to choose where they'd like to save content without leaving the app. Also included in the update is a new multitasking-while-browsing feature (finally!), as well as a social-sharing bit that lets you push out page URLs to sites like Twitter, Facebook, Sina Weibo and RenRen. Browser 2.0 will be native on future Series 40s, but for now those whom already own a small chunk of the 1.5 billion can grab the goods from the Nokia Store or wait for the OTA package to hit your device.
Nokia 306 manual hints at keyboard-free Asha handset
The team at Unwired View has bagged a PDF that purports to be the user manual for Nokia's 306, the first full-touch member of the keyboard-loving Asha family. None of the images in the document (we've collated a handful above) show a handset with a hardware keyboard, but it's not clear if it's running S40 either. The images show that the device can support multiple home screens, an Android-style notifications bar and pinch-to-zoom, but this could either be evidence of the S40 re-skin (codenamed "Sonic") or, fancifully, the first appearance of Espoo's Linux-based Meltemi OS for low-end phones. The big question now is, will Nokia confirm its existence (perhaps at its Asian conference in June?), or will the secretary deny all knowledge?
Nokia Reader comes to Series 40 'touch and type' devices
This week, everyone's favorite Finnish phone fabricator announced the availability of Nokia Reader for Series 40 touch and type devices. Those familiar with the software know that Reader provides a flow of local and international headlines -- customized by you -- directly to your device's home screen. Nokia boasts that users of its C2-02, X3-02, C3-01, Asha 303 and Asha 300 handsets will be able to stay abreast on all the news without having to worry about battery consumption, thanks to Nokia Notifications. If we've piqued your interest, mosey on past the break to see a video of the bits in action then hit the source link to grab the goods.
Nokia's extreme dieting continues as it kills off Nokia Money
If you thought Nokia had finished its program of slimming down, think again. The axe is being wielded on Nokia Money as the company seeks to reinvent itself as a lean'n'mean mobile player. The mobile payments and cash management service was launched in India late last year, but both complex financial regulations and the fact it's outside of Nokia's core business prompted its early closure. Instead, it'll concentrate its efforts on its smartphones designed for emerging markets like the Asha: with the aim of connecting the "next billion" people to the internet.
Hands-on with Nokia Asha 202, 203 and 302 at MWC (video)
There's no doubt that the smartphone is a truly empowering device, but for individuals unable to afford such high-end gear, Nokia believes it has the solution with its latest line of Series 40 handsets -- the Asha 202, 203 and 302. Like the previously-released Asha 200, the Asha 202 features dual-SIM functionality and the ability to hot-swap the secondary SIM card. Sadly, its connectivity is limited to 1800MHz / 900MHz GSM. The Asha 203 is similar in every way to the 202, save for its single SIM design, better battery life and quadband GSM support. Both feature rather unresponsive 2.4-inch QVGA touchscreens, 2 megapixel cameras and up to 32GB storage expansion via microSD.Meanwhile, the Asha 302 is a non-touchscreen device that offers a physical keyboard, 1GHz processor, 2.4-inch QVGA display, 3.2 megapixel camera, quadband GSM and pentaband WCDMA support with 14.4Mbps HSPA connectivity. Even as feature phones, none of the offerings are terribly impressive. Still, Nokia hopes the internet capabilities of each handset will be instrumental to help connect the "next billion consumers" to the world at large. So join us as we delve into an extended video tour of the Asha 202 and 302, where we'll explore the features and functionality of each device.
Nokia Asha Series 40 lineup expands with 202, 203 and 302 (hands-on)
The Nokia Asha Series 40 phones were introduced at Nokia World last fall and today it expands by a few models, with the 202, 203 and 302. The 202 model is designed for "easy swap" SIM changes without powering off the phone, while the 203 is a single SIM model. Both expand the lower end line with access to 40 free games ( including Bejeweled, Need for Speed, Tetris, Sims Medieval) and Nokia Life services. The 302 (pictured above) will be the first to bring Microsoft Exchange support on Series 40, a feature that will also be added to the older 303. It does not have a touchscreen, but does bring a 1GHz CPU and 14.4Mbps data speeds for 95 euros, shipping now. The 202 and 203 do have 2.4-inch touchscreens, and are shipping in the next few weeks for 60 euros. Follow along with our liveblog of Nokia's MWC 2012 press conference for more details, or check out the press release after the break.Myriam Joire contributed to this report.
Nokia Series 40: over 1.5 billion served
Nokia has announced a major mobile milestone: over 1.5 billion (with a b) Series 40 handsets sold since the first device -- the 7110 -- was introduced in 1999. "We are incredibly proud to reach this milestone," wrote Nokia's Executive VP of Mobile Phones, Mary McDowell. "It is gratifying to consider how Series 40 devices have made mobile technology accessible." Breeze on past the break for the official PR with more information about the Asha 303 handset knighted number 1,500,000,000, then feel free to weigh in on how long will take the Lumia line to reach the same milestone.
Nokia spreads a brimful of Asha 201 across the FCC
Well, what do we have here? Looks like the Commission's "surgeons" got their rubber-gloved mitts on Espoo's pretty in pink (or is that purple?) Asha 201. Bearing the model number RM-800, the filing for this low-end, Series 40 handset made for emerging markets does a lot of showing, but not much telling. The report's chock full of testing photos and even the device's user manual. But, aside from Bluetooth, there's nary a hint of the radios onboard. No matter, we know this Easy Swap-less portrait QWERTY's headed for an around the world GSM tour in myriad colors. Feel free to rubberneck the exposed internals at the source link below.
What's in a name? Nokia's new Lumia and Asha line explained
What rhymes with Nokia? Why, Lumia, of course. And there, fellow gadget freaks, lies the poetic branding key to Espoo's first, great Windows Phone. Alright, it's not that simple, but the company's marketing team did make a concerted effort to find a moniker ending with a vowel sound. Of course, before this catchy, albeit odd, name could be settled upon, a list of potential winners had to be cross-checked with over 300,000 tech trademarks. After broaching that hurdle, "only a handful" survived and were then parsed by linguistic experts to avoid any embarrassing malapropisms and pronunciation difficulties across 84 dialects. Despite finding "lumi" to be an out-of-date Spanish slang term, resulting surveys found most Spaniards associated the term with "'light' and 'style'," and thus it was saved. We know how this genesis story ends, so we'll spare you the obvious marketplace conclusion. And as for that new Asha range? Well, the thinking there is quite simple. It's the word for hope in Hindi, and as the line is intended for emerging markets, that just seemed apropos. Click through to the source for a more detailed walk through this mobile origin story.
Nokia World 2011 wrap-up
Nokia had something to prove at its annual event, and an eight-month turnaround of its smartphone arm is certainly nothing to be sniffed at. While Nokia's first Windows Phone devices were undoubtably the stars of the two-day expo, there was plenty more to investigate -- Nokia's legion of development labs certainly didn't let us down. Check out a veritable world of coverage neatly arranged below the break for everything Nokia World had to show us, and few more tidbits we found for ourselves. %Gallery-137879%
Nokia Asha brings Angry Birds to the developing world, Mighty Eagle soars (video)
Well we're pretty Angry ourselves, being that Nokia nearly foiled our liveblog plans and made it all but impossible to transmit photos and video thanks to an absolutely miserable attempt at providing internet access. But Nokia World is not without mobile gaming opportunities, and a few minutes with the Birds seemed to do the trick (shifting our moods, at the very least -- there's still no reliable internet). We met up with Mr. Angry Birds himself, Peter Vesterbacka, who took us through a demo of the game on one of Nokia's new Asha Series 40 devices. The game, which has already seen an absolutely massive 400 million downloads, will come preloaded on the Asha 303, giving Vesterbacka and Rovio a chance to bring the game to emerging markets in China, India and Africa, where touchscreen devices are currently priced out of reach. The game seemed to perform just as well as it does on other platforms, so expect the same Angry Birds experience here as well. Jump past the break for a hands-on with Rovio's Mighty Eagle.
Enter at Your Own Rift: Tackling the question of which is better
From the first day that RIFT launched, an endless debate has erupted around one central issue. Players have chosen their sides and dug in deep defending them. It's led to countless arguments and a six-month battle that gets worse with each passing day. For this week's Enter at Your Own Rift, I've decided to tackle this debate head on and really look at what divides the two sides. That's right -- the time has come to finally decide which is better: Guardian or Defiant.