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Nokia sues shops carrying Nokir E828, ignores manufacturer
Well, well Nokia. You choose to go after shops selling the Nokir E828, but then politely ignore Brando, reseller of the infamous (and uniquely Nokia-like) "Nokir" brand based on the silliness of Chinese trademark and copyright laws. We guess if Nokia can't get the Nokir handsets off the market one way, there's always another way. We peeped the Nokia E828 just recently and from all looks, the Nokir unit was a semi-dead ringer for the actual Nokia N73 in terms of looks alone. But, while we weren't able to peel back the Nokir cover, who knows what was really inside. Nokia doesn't seem to care and just wants these Nokir E828 handsets off shelves in the Hong Kong area. So, if you're really, really wanting one of these Nokirs and you're in the Hong Kong area, better hurry before they're all gone from your local wireless shop courtesy of Nokia.[Via Gearfuse]
Nokia Siemens Networks to open doors on April Fool's Day
Everyone stay calm -- we're just talking boring back-end equipment here, not handsets. Nokia Siemens Networks -- formerly Nokia Networks -- will officially open its doors for business here in a few weeks on April 1, 2007. It's no joke (we think) that the new company chose that particular date in light of Siemens having a horrible run of luck in the wireless biz lately, even indirectly assisting with bankruptcy issues with certain benefactors of its old handset division. Nokia's strong presence in the GSM network infrastructure market will be bolstered by having Siemens' lengthy customer call caddy nearby as well as being able to more fully compete with wireless telecom heavyweights Alcatel-Lucent and Ericsson.
Nokia to enter mobile advertising arena by end of 2007
As cellphone hardware margins dwindle downwards (ask Motorola about this), Nokia has tried to get its revenue diversified beyond just that phone you may have holding in your hand right now (unless you are typing). The world's largest handset maker has said that it will be entering the mobile advertising biz sometime this year with a few new software platforms just for the occasion: "Nokia Ad Service" and "Nokia Advertising Connector." Will Yahoo!, Google, MobAds and other mobile ads companies become a little miffed? Doubtful, but with a customer now being a competitor, who knows. We like the Nokia Advertising Connector best, which lets advertisers target different types of mobile ads to the actual handset model being used.
Nokia releases BH-200 and BH-700 Bluetooth headsets in Japan
Ready for a new slew of Nokia's eerily designed Bluetooth headsets? Nokia is said to have that new style that "it dresses stylishly" from our sister site over at Engadget Japanese, and we're all in agreement here. The newer Nokia models BH-200 and BH-700 are now available for sale in Japan. While the BH-200 is an "outside the ear" headset, the BH-700 models are of the "inner ear" persuasion without any kind of common earhook. The BH-200 comes in at a rather stout 14 grams and can pair with eight simultaneous devices while the BH-700 comes in at 10 grams. Both are pretty close in talk and standby times in hours at 5:30 / 150 and 6:00 / 160, respectively.[Via Engadget Japanese]
Nokia turns cellphone stylus into a joystick
Not that we're not a fan of pop-out joysticks on mobile phones (just think of the gaming consequences), but Nokia has semi-joined that party now with an even better patent (application): a stylus that is inserted into a socket in what appears to be a d-pad that really has the capability to turn a phone into an ultra-sensitive and tactile gaming platform. We'll save the patent application legalese and descriptive words for you here, but out pals over at Joystiq have all the goodness for your enjoyment if you're ready and willing to be imbued with true gaming goodness on your mobile.[Via Joystiq]
Nokia 7373 gets re-dressed by Giambattista Valli
Nokia has announced a special edition of the 7373 handset with design touches by fashion designer Giambattista Valli. You join those two and something svelte is going to come up -- and look, it has. The 7373 here comes in two serene and contemporary colors -- powder pink and black chrome. The powder pink version gets gussied up with the "grand architecture of the L'Amour Collection" and comes with a nice, miniature pink skull. You know, since nothing says fashion like a pink skull. And the black chrome edition? Well, that one "fuses its elegant glossy black appearance with an en vogue gros grain and onyx-like crystal strap." Ahh -- the power of delightfully chitzy marketing adjectives. Not to be outdone by powder pink, the black chrome version comes with a much more commanding black skull for that next Harley ride.[Thanks, Allen]
Nokia and Qualcomm ready to play nice because of WiMax?
Qualcomm and Nokia, the two heavyweight fighters in a long and drawn out nasty battle over intellectual property rights are possibly burying the hatchet (just not in each other's backs.) Both companies are having a press conference along with Sprint Nextel a week from tomorrow (Feb. 28). Now, when you get Qualcomm and Sprint Nextel together, nothing seems out of place. Inject Nokia in there and there is something afoot -- but what? With Sprint Nextel committed to WiMax for its 4G plans and Nokia shaking hands with Sprint Nextel on that turf, maybe Nokia and Qualcomm are close to shaking hands in some form after years of issues that left Nokia holding an expensive but worthless 1xRTT bag of, well, nothing. Maybe WiMax will be the glue that reseals that relationship.
Cingular's replacements for the Nokia 6030 and 6102i?
Are the oddly-named Nokia Ram and Samsung Cardinal for Cingular about to drop? According to a recent Cingular product intro sheet supplied by the Boy Genius, they both are. What will they be replacing in the Cingular lineup, though -- if not just being added? How about the entry-level and aging Nokia 6030 bar non-cameraphone being replaced by the Samsung Cardinal and the Nokia 6102i entry-level cameraphone being replaced by the newer Nokia Ram? We still have no idea what those funky codenames mean -- outside of the truck and bird world, that is. A reader gave us this detail and added that he was unable to get any pics of both phones since Nokia Vendor was closely guarding these, umm, top-secret phones.[Thanks, pappie]
Nokia gives away Smart2go mapping software starting now
When we first learned of Nokia's pending Smart2Go mobile mapping program, we were quite enthused. That is to say, Nokia wanted to follow the business model of giving certain mobile users a taste of mobile phone-based navigation (for free) but having available a turn-by-turn satellite navigation option (for a fee). Well, Nokia has now made its Smart2Go navigation software -- with downloadable maps from TeleNav and Navteq as well -- freely available as of tomorrow morning, and surely we'll see customers from all 150 countries that Smart2Go contains maps for start flooding Nokia's special download website to get the app right onto their phones. In the process, maybe Nokia's servers will get flooded and bring the entire system down. Ok, there's a little dramatic license there. But seriously, if you want to get this new app onto your Symbian or WM5 device -- yes, it'll eventually be available for both platforms -- get in virtual line for www.smart2go.com tomorrow and get your download on.
Nokia's N95 gets FCC approval
The lovingly gracious FCC has yet again spoiled the secret party on another handset, as we spied the Nokia N95 with all its technical and RF detail at the FCC website. This means, umm, the N95 will probably be here in the U.S. by maybe June (or not). With the average delays we see from FCC approval to hitting carrier shelves being months (many months sometimes), the N95 should wash ashore by early summer -- and maybe late Spring. With the N95 being such a high-end handset, though, maybe Nokia is planning to sell it directly from its new retail storefront(s) instead of going straight to a carrier. Both T-Mobile and Cingular (err, at&t) are not that known for carrying manufacturer flagships (and the N95 may be that in some form), so will Nokia shun the carriers this time around with this UMTS / HSDPA unit? Most likely, yes.
Nokia N95 gets fully peeped from top to bottom
Although this review of the new Nokia N95 is labeled as a first impression, all the scuttlebutt was fleshed out (well, most of it) and the N95's guts were examined with clarity and precision. Thinking of picking one up? Take a look over at AllAboutSymbian. The nerdy details on the N95 are pretty decent -- but is it a smartphone? A digicam? A DAP? A....keypad? Just what is this thing, or is it everything? Well, we know it's a Symbian S60 (3rd Ed.) smartphone that sports dual-slider action (keyboard and music controls) and looks pretty chunky svelte for what's under the hood; but Nokia, what is up with those apparently-stringy earbuds? Is that rubber casing on the wires? We prefer the non-gangy set o'phones please. Let's hit up the good based on AAS's touchy-feely on the N95 -- very good-sounding stereo speakers built into the sides, a diet form factor compared to previous N-series units, every wire-free connectivity option you could ever need, and a 5 Megapixel cam with Zeiss optics and even VGA video capture -- what's not to love? AAS's overall impression of this unit is very good -- all the way to how the keypad looks and feels (ridgy and tactile). Need we say more?
