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We're live from MWC 2018 in Barcelona!
Spring season is right around the corner, and that means it's time for Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the world's biggest phone show. This year, you can expect to be introduced to Samsung's next flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S9, as well as a slew of other handsets from big-name companies like BlackBerry and Nokia. Yes, you know you love BlackBerry and Nokia. Of course, we'll likely also come across a bunch of other tech products, such as wearables and others things that could be revealed at the show -- Facebook has a press conference, for instance. We're on the ground for the next week, which means you need to keep your eyes peeled to the site so you won't miss a thing from MWC 2018.
Nokia might give up on wearables (updated)
Less than two years after spending millions repositioning itself in the consumer health market, Nokia has announced a strategic review of its digital health business which comes after news that the company could shed up to 425 jobs in its home country of Finland. Nokia acquired French fitness tracker manufacturer Withings for $191 million in 2016 as part of its new digital health strategy WellCare, which is not dissimilar to Apple's HealthKit. The deal came amid a spate of acquisitions by Nokia, buoyed by investment from Microsoft following their Windows Phone agreement.
'Nokia' is introducing a 4G version of its old-timey phone
Nokia has been playing on our nostalgia with recent phones like the 3310 3G. Apparently, it's been working well for them because the company is now introducing a 4G version of the phone in China. According to CNET the device will be available in February.
How to buy a smartwatch in 2018
The smartwatch industry's identity crisis may be coming to an end. Familiar tech brands like Motorola, Microsoft and Pebble have retired from making wearables, while others like ASUS are rumored to be giving up on the category, leaving us with a shrinking selection of devices to choose from. But fitness and fashion brands have rushed to fill the vacuum, while more specialized watches are also on the rise. This means shoppers will need to prioritize some features over others. As it turns out, there's not yet a perfect solution.
Nokia will disable the key feature of its priciest scale
Nokia has announced that it will be disabling the headline of feature of its Body Cardio scale in a software update. The scale was sold with the ability to track Pulse Wave Velocity (PWV), essentially measuring the speed at which your blood flows through your veins. The slower and more constant the speed, the healthier you are, and vice versa. In a statement, the company said that the feature "may require a different level of regulatory approval," possibly risking the wrath of regulators.
Tech wants to solve our tech-related sleep problems
Technology is bad for sleep. It keeps us constantly exposed to an endless cycle of bad news, and the blue light emitted by smartphone and tablet displays suppresses our ability to produce melatonin. Combine that with the feelings of inadequacy generated by watching other people's picture-perfect lives on social media, and it's no surprise that we're all restless. Sleep technology exists to solve this issue, and there were plenty of companies exhibiting new devices here at CES 2018. Many of them intend to tell you how well, or poorly, you have slept each night, in the hope you'll make better decisions the following day. But, as well as becoming more commonplace, sleep gadgets are going to become far more diverse, at least according to what we saw at the show.
Nokia’s sleep sensor controls your smart home
Nokia has announced the Nokia Sleep, a bed sensor that sits under your mattress to provide you with data about what you get up to while unconscious. Like many of its rivals, the device will track your sleep duration, interruptions and the quality of the shut-eye you're getting each night. In addition, the pad integrates with IFTTT, letting you automate your smart home to operate in tandem with your rest periods. If you're having trouble sleeping, then you will also be entitled to try out an eight-week course on improving your sleep, designed by Dr. Christopher Winter.
The Nokia 6 is no longer an entry-level smartphone
Much like how HMD kicked off 2017 by bringing its first Android smartphone, the Nokia 6, to China, today it unveiled an updated model for the same region. Based on a similar aluminum unibody design, the most obvious changes on this second-gen Nokia 6 are the added colors on the chamfer, with the black version featuring copper highlights and the white version with rose gold. Similarly, the centered vertical camera bump has gained a shiny rim of the corresponding color. The old capacitive buttons below the 5.5-inch full HD IPS screen have also disappeared, with the rectangular fingerprint reader now residing on the back in a circular form.
BlackBerry will pay Nokia $137 million to resolve contract dispute
Today, BlackBerry accepted an International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) decision that the company pay Nokia $137 million due to a contract dispute. The latter allegedly accused the smartphone maker of failing to make payments on patent license contracts and brought the matter to the ICC's arbitration panel. While BlackBerry bowed to the ICC's ruling, the company affirmed that it is still bringing two patent infringement cases against Nokia in US and German courts.
The Nokia 2 is a very cheap Android phone with a huge battery
HMD continues to slide in more Nokia phones where it sees an opportunity. This time around? A very cheap smartphone that doesn't look awful and has enough battery to go the distance. The Nokia 2, priced at 100 Euros (roughly $120) walks that fine line between dreary specifications and the fact that it's just really really cheap. Oh, and a giant 4,100mAh battery that puts it ahead of a lot of flagship smartphones.
Verizon will allow 4K video streaming for $10 extra a month
Starting on November 3rd, Verizon customers who want to stream full 4K video on their phones can finally do so. Just two months ago, the company had split its unlimited plans into two tiers; one capped streaming at 480p, while the more expensive one was capped at 720p (1080p for tablets). Now, that restriction has been lifted, but only if you pay an extra $10 per month. That means that if you were paying $85 for the high-end tier, you now have to cough up $95 a month if you want the video quality cap lifted. It should also be noted that it's $10 per line, so if you have a family plan for multiple people, you'll need to figure out which one of you gets to have full-quality streaming (or just pay more money if you want more than one person to have it). Seeing that Verizon had reintroduced full unlimited plans back in February where none of these restrictions existed, the higher cost is a bit of a slap in the face. Sure, other carriers have similar quality caps as well, but Verizon is currently the most expensive of the big four.
Nokia halts development of its $45,000 VR camera
Nokia created the Ozo spherical camera to get into the virtual reality market without having to compete with head-mounted devices like the Oculus Rift. Alas, things didn't go as well as the company wanted despite not having to compete with a plethora of VR goggles -- it's halting Ozo's development and cutting up to 310 jobs in the process. Nokia said the "the slower-than-expected development of the VR market" forced it to optimize its investments in virtual reality, and the rig happened to be one of the casualties. It now plans to focus on its digital health projects, particularly the ones it acquired when it purchased Withings, and its profitable patent licensing business.
Microsoft canceled an 'all-screen' Windows phone in 2014
All-screen phones may be all the rage in 2017, but Microsoft apparently had chance to beat everyone to the punch 3 years ago... and whiffed it. Windows Central has obtained the prototype of an unnamed Windows phone (believed to be the precursor to the Lumia 435) that had extremely thin display bezels save for the bottom, where a chin held the front-facing camera. The performance would have been modest by 2014 standards with a 5-inch 720p screen, a Snapdragon 200 chip, 4GB of expandable storage and a 5-megapixel rear camera, but you'd have had an eye-catching design for under $200. To put it another way, you wouldn't have had to buy a Sharp Aquos Crystal to impress your smartphone-toting friends while sticking to a budget.
Nokia remakes its remade 3310 with... 3G
As companies continue to pull open our wallets through the nefarious magic known as nostalgia, Nokia is back with another attempt to syphon some more disposable income from millennials and... whichever generation came before them. The re-reheated Nokia 3310 3G has, yes, 3G, which upgrades the 2.5G of the relaunched dumbphone, but still trails the LTE (4G) speeds we're used to. (Not that technical specs matter if you're interested in buying one.) It'll arrive with new Azure and Charcoal color options -- and silver buttons -- but that's pretty much the only other things that have notably changed.
The Nokia 8 flagship is available to pre-order in the UK
There's a new Nokia flagship in town. Okay, so the "Nokia" name is a bit of a red herring, given it's now HMD Global, a young Finnish startup, using the brand for a fresh suite of Android phones. (Oh, and a reborn Nokia 3310.) Still, the Nokia 8 is a top-end phone bearing the old iconic logo. And starting today, it's up for pre-order in the UK. You can reserve the handset in steel or "tempered blue" for £499 from Carphone Warehouse, EE, Virgin Mobile and Nokia.com. It'll then hit store shelves on September 13th in every retailer you would expect, including Amazon and John Lewis.
Nokia 8's dual-camera is good, but rival phones offer more
The Nokia 8 broke cover in the run-up to IFA 2017, so while it wasn't officially launched at the show in Germany, it's one of several phones vying for your cash ahead of a certain company's next phone. It's the most accomplished Android phone that Nokia has made, but with Nokia's tradition of pushing mobile-imaging forward, how does it fare against the mighty cameraphone competition in 2017? We took an early device around Berlin to see how it fared.
Nokia got a lot right with its first Android flagship
"Nokia" and "return" are two words that have been forever glued together since I joined Engadget six years ago. Over the past decade or so, this publication has talked plenty about the company's smartphone ups and, in particular, its downs. Today, it lives on as a brand owned by fellow Finnish company HMD. Eight months since it started making Android phones in the Nokia name, it's revealing a big-screened "flagship" to go up against the Galaxy S8s and iPhones that dominate the smartphone world. As soon as you see the copper-finished Nokia 8, you'll probably agree it's a gorgeous device, as ever. It also offers plenty of camera tricks, again, and it's aimed at young creative types, yet again. But if the plan was to succeed, what was Nokia to do differently this time?
The wearables battlefield is strewn with casualties
In business, the phrase "we are reviewing strategic options" is a useful sign that shutters are being drawn. Wareable reports that those words were uttered by TomTom CEO Harold Goddijn when discussing his company's wearables division. Sales of its running watches have fallen by 20 percent in a year, and Goddijn wants to "focus" on TomTom's core businesses. It's likely that TomTom will exit the wrist-worn hardware market at some point soon, and it won't be alone.
Nokia will unveil its first Android flagship next month
Finnish startup HMD Global will give the world its first official look at its Nokia-branded Android flagship on August 16th. The manufacturer is sending out invites for a London event on that date, reports The Verge. The news comes just over a week after renders of the handset, dubbed the Nokia 8, were leaked online.
Here’s a sneak peek at Nokia’s first high-end Android phone
Finnish startup HMD Global resurrected the Nokia name with a new line of Android smartphones unveiled back in February. Undaunted by lack of carrier deals, they've kept expanding it throughout the year, including releasing the Nokia 6 in the US back in June. But a few leaks have revealed images of and specs for the next smartphone in the series, the powered-up Nokia 8, which looks to be HMD's first stab at a higher-end smartphone. And yes, it will reportedly come with Zeiss optics.
