Nokia N810 Internet Tablet WiMAX

At the recent CTIA 2008, the new Nokia N810 Internet Tablet WiMAX Edition debuts amid a flurry of response. Its a beautiful piece of work with Wimax!

The Nokia N810 Internet Tablet WiMAX Edition is expected to be released in the U.S. during the summer of 2008 where WIMAX is available.

It features a big 4.13-inch touchscreen, a built-in webcam for video calls, slide-out QWERTY keyboard, Mozilla browser, integrated GPS , 2GB of internal memory and a microSD expansion slot. Nokia says this thingy can also “access the Internet over WiFi or via conventional cellular data networks by pairing to a compatible mobile phone via Bluetooth technology”.

The Nokia N810 Internet Tablet WiMAX Edition has the newly updated OS2008, which includes support for Chinese characters showing up in the browser , an enhanced e-mail client , RSS feeds and “Seamless Software Update functionality” too.

New Nokia N8 Smartphone

Nokia announced adhered until a certain time smartphone N8, fitted with a capacitive 3.5-inch screen, 12-megapixel camera, Xenon flash, and HDMI-output. Actually, the full specifications Nokia N8 became known yesterday, but now there are beautiful formal photographs - the device looks friendlier with his gay with bright flowers.

Nokia C3, C6 and E5 Smartphones

The first new product, Nokia C3, made in a candybar with a QWERTY-keyboard and is based on the platform S40. The phone has a 2.4-inch touchscreen display with QVGA, equipped with a 2-megapixel camera, a wireless interface module Wi-Fi and a slot for memory card format MicroSD. In addition, the presence of support services Ovi Mail, Ovi Chat and networks GSM / EGSM (850/900/1800/1900 MHz). Presumably, the model will go on sale in the second quarter of this year and will be available in three colors: gray, pink and golden-white. The cost of the device - 90 euros.

Next novelty, Nokia C6, - is a smartphone, made in the slider and is equipped with QWERTY-keyboard. The device has a 3.2-inch 640x360 pixels, integrated GPS-navigator, 5-megapixel camera with autofocus and flash, 3.5-mm audio connector and a slot for memory card format MicroSD. Also "on board" device contains modules Bluetooth 2.0 and Wi-Fi, FM-tuner, 200 megabytes of internal memory and slot Micro-USB. Smartphone running the operating system Symbian S60 5.0. For sale Nokia C6 appears in the second quarter of this year with an estimated retail price of 220 euros.

Following news of yesterday's events - Nokia E5. Like previous models, this has a built-in QWERTY-keyboard, and, except for "activists" of social networks, perfect for beznesmenov. Nokia E5 executed in a candybar, a 2.4-inch touchscreen display with QVGA resolution and runs under the operating system Symbian S60 3rd Edition. In the list of specifications of the device has built-in 5 megapixel camera with autofocus and LED-flash, Bluetooth 2.0 and Wi-Fi, jack 3,5 mm, GPS-receiver with A-GPS, 250 megabytes of internal memory, Micro-USB port and slot for memory card format MicroSD.

The new smartphone has the support networks of GSM / EDGE (850/900/1800/1900 MHz) and WCDMA / HSDPA / HSUPA. Sales of smartphone Nokia E5 scheduled for the third quarter of this year, the approximate retail value of new items - 180 euros. Creep.ru

DROID Incredible by HTC

[The DROID Incredible by HTC runs Android 2.1 with HTC Sense and features a 3.7" touch screen, 8.0 MP camera, wide selection of interactive widgets, and Friend Stream.]

Basking RIdge, NJ and New York -- Verizon Wireless announced DROID Incredible by HTC, the newest Android device on the nation’s most reliable wireless 3G network, will be available beginning April 29.Featuring a “topographic” design that demonstrates the powerful engineering just beneath the surface, DROID Incredible by HTC is designed with craftsmanship and precision while making it easier than ever to stay connected.
DROID Incredible by HTC features the newest version of the HTC Sense experience, a seven-panel home screen with a wide selection of interactive widgets so the most important content is immediately available at a touch. Customers will enjoy seamless integration with Exchange ActiveSync®, quick and easy access to Flickr for sharing and viewing pictures, video, and Android Market™ with more than 30,000 Google applications. DROID Incredible by HTC is the first Verizon Wireless phone that takes advantage of Qualcomm’s 1GHz superfast Snapdragon processor, and it’s the first available phone from Verizon Wireless to include an 8 megapixel camera.
Shortly after the phone becomes available, customers will be able to enjoy two of the latest exclusive apps from Verizon Wireless – NFL Mobile and Skype mobile™.
Additional Key features:
* Android 2.1 with HTC Sense experience * 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon™ processor for maximum responsiveness
* Friend Stream for unified Flickr, Facebook and Twitter updates
* “Leap” view for quick access to all seven home screen panels
* 8 megapixel camera with dual LED flash for crisp, detailed images
* Razor-sharp 3.7 inch WVGA (480x800) AMOLED capacitive touch display
* Optical joystick for smooth navigation * Dedicated, touch-sensitive Home, Menu, Back and Search keys
* Proximity sensor, light sensor and digital compass
* Integrated GPS
* Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g)
* 3.5 mm headset jack
Price and availability:
* DROID Incredible will be available for pre-order online at www.verizonwireless.com beginning on April 19 and it will be in Verizon Wireless Communications Stores on April 29. Pricing will be $199.99 after a $100 mail-in rebate with a new two-year customer agreement. Customers will receive the rebate in the form of a debit card; upon receipt, customers may use the card as cash anywhere debit cards are accepted.
* DROID Incredible customers will need to subscribe to a Verizon Wireless Nationwide Talk and an Email and Web for Smartphone plan. Nationwide Talk plans begin at $39.99 monthly access. Email and Web for Smartphone plans start at $29.99 for unlimited monthly access.

Mobile Phone Recovery Continues with Nearly 22% Growth in First Quarter, According to IDC

Mobile phone market rebounds 1Q10 as smartphones continue to fuel demand. RIM moved into the top 5 vendor rankings for the first time.]

Framingham, MA -- The worldwide mobile phone market grew 21.7% in the first quarter of 2010 (1Q10), a strong rebound from the market contraction in Q1 2009. Growth was fuelled by increased demand for converged mobile devices, more commonly known as smartphones, and the global economic recovery. According to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker, vendors shipped 294.9 million units in the first quarter of 2010 compared to 242.4 million units in the first quarter of 2009.Converged mobile devices, which allow consumers and business people to trade wireless e-mails for example, have become increasingly popular as a wider and more powerful array of devices have become available. The device class and a recovering traditional mobile phone category helped the market avoid a repeat of 1Q09, when the market declined 16.6% in the midst of the global economic recession.
Growing demand for smartphones also helped Research In Motion (RIM) move into the top 5 vendor rankings for the first time. RIM, which replaced Motorola in the top 5, tied Sony Ericsson for the number 4 position in IDC's 1Q10 vendor rankings. RIM shipped 10.6 million units in the first quarter while Motorola, which had been a top 5 vendor since the inception of IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker in 2004, shipped 8.5 million units. Motorola, the number 2 overall vendor in 2004, registered a fifth place finish last year by virtue of its overall strength in the lower-growth traditional mobile phone category. Motorola has steadily lost share since 2004 when the market started its shift toward higher-end feature phones and smartphones. The ongoing shift has given rise to converged mobile device vendors such as RIM and Apple.
"The entrance of RIM into the top 5 underscores the sustained smartphone growth trend that is driving the global mobile phone market recovery," noted Kevin Restivo, senior research analyst with IDC's Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker. "This is also the first time a vendor has dropped out of the top 5 since the second quarter of 2005, when Sony Ericsson grabbed the number 5 spot from BenQ Siemens."
"That the mobile phone market has rebounded by double digits year over year in a post-holiday quarter is definitely good news for the industry," said Ramon Llamas, senior research analyst with IDC's Mobile Devices Technology and Trends team. "Whereas last year we saw much uncertainty around demand and overall reluctance to introduce new devices, vendors have been very vocal about their intentions this year, with some even launching new devices in the first quarter of 2010. In addition, the continued emphasis on converged mobile devices points to greater revenue generation and profitability opportunities for vendors, which is a welcome change compared to the same quarter a year ago."
Market Outlook
IDC believes the worldwide mobile phone market rebound will continue in 2010, though not at the same growth rate as the first quarter. "It should be noted that the market's first-quarter growth, while impressive, is relative to one of the worst quarters in mobile phone industry history (1Q09)," noted Restivo. "The market's growth should not be taken as a proxy for future quarters nor annual growth. In fact, the results essentially match our first quarter projections. We are still expecting growth of 11% for 2010."
Regional Analysis
* The Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) region started the year off with a strong quarter driven mainly by Greater China. Overall, a wider array of low-cost smartphones available across the countries is driving penetration. Touchscreen-enabled devices remained a hot segment of the market, helping to drive the demand for converged mobile devices across the region. * The Western European mobile phone market continued its rebound from the recession last quarter. The region's growth was driven by strong smartphone shipments compared to a year ago. New high-end devices were launched while inventories were cleared from the previous quarter. This paved the way for smartphone growth in the first quarter at the expense of the traditional phone category. Nonetheless, touchscreen feature phones and low-end devices, particularly from the Korean manufacturers, sold well in the first quarter. * As expected, the United States mobile phone market declined sequentially. User interest, however, remained high for smartphones thanks to the rollout of Google's Nexus One and new devices from Motorola. Meanwhile, feature phone shipment volumes, which have declined steadily in previous quarters, were buoyed by sustained interest in quick messaging devices. * In Canada, the first quarter was similar to that of the U.S. as significant Android phones, namely the Motorola Milestone and Samsung's Galaxy Spica, were introduced. There was also a continued emphasis by suppliers on quick messaging devices in the traditional mobile phone category. * The Latin American mobile phone market also rebounded in the first quarter due to higher demand from partners for feature phones and converged devices. Country currencies have stabilized as well, helping boost consumer spending on phones. Manufacturers and operators included social networking features in more phones sold in Latin America. Vendors are also planning for regional growth with the creation of local assembly plants.
Top Five Mobile Phone Vendors
Nokia started the year with a strong first-quarter unit shipment performance, driven by its top-selling 5130 and 2700 models. Shipments of 107.8 million in 1Q10 represented a nearly 16% improvement over the same quarter last year. The overall figures, however, fell short of the first-quarter high it set in 2008. Converged mobile device shipments increased sharply on a year-over-year basis due to top-selling models such as the 5230, 5800, 5530, and X6. However, average selling prices for converged mobile devices dropped to €155 in 1Q10, compared to €186 in the previous quarter. Nokia plans to ship the N8 (the first converged device to run the Symbian 3 operating system) in the third quarter. The N8 will cost €370, according to Nokia, and is expected to boost Nokia's overall ASP.
Samsung held steady as the number two vendor worldwide for the twelfth consecutive quarter with total shipment volumes greater than those of the next three vendors combined. Driving its results was a combination of new devices launched and expansion of distribution channels within emerging markets. Moreover, efforts to bring high end devices, including touchscreen phones and converged mobile devices, pushed ASPs higher. Samsung plans to launch more Android and bada-powered devices later this year while launching more touch-enabled devices for the mass-market.
LG Electronics remained the number three vendor worldwide with year-over-year shipment growth of nearly 20%, but declining revenue and profit due to seasonality and reduced prices. The abundance of feature phones at varying price points kept the company in good stead with carriers and customers, particularly within emerging markets where LG reaped triple digit growth. Still, the lack of a broad and deep smartphone portfolio made it vulnerable to competitor share gains, particularly within North America. LG plans to introduce several Android, Windows Mobile 6.5, and Windows Phone 7 devices later this year while expanding its global platform to reach new markets.
Research In Motion makes its first appearance among the top five vendors worldwide, with total shipments surpassing those of Motorola by nearly 2 million units. Research In Motion is the only vendor in the top 5 with a singular focus on smartphones, and as a result, the company enjoys the highest average selling prices within that group. Key to its success in the first quarter was the popularity of its BlackBerry Curve 8520 and BlackBerry Bold 9700 across multiple markets as well as its global prepaid offerings. Strong consumer adoption, particularly among text-crazy teens, has also fuelled demand for BlackBerry devices.
Sony Ericsson returned to profitability in the first quarter due to cost cutting and new product introductions. The joint venture launched six new handsets including three new Greenheart models - Aspen, Elm, and Hazel - as well as the Xperia X10 and Vivaz converged devices. Average selling prices rose 12% as Sony Ericsson pruned several less-profitable products from its lineup. However, overall shipments in the first quarter fell 28%. Three new converged devices – the Vivaz pro, Xperia X10 mini, and Xperia X10 mini pro – will ship towards end of the second quarter.

Global Smartphone Shipments Jump 50 Percent to 54 Million in Q1 2010

[According to the latest research from Strategy Analytics, global smartphone shipments grew a huge 50 percent year-over-year, to reach 54 million units in Q1 2010.]

Boston -- Tom Kang, Director at Strategy Analytics, said, “Global smartphone shipments reached 54 million units during Q1 2010, accounting for 18 percent of handset volumes, and growing a huge 50 percent from 36 million in Q1 2009. This was the strongest period of growth for almost 3 years and the high-value smartphone market is leading the handset industry out of recession. Sales are being driven by healthy operator subsidies, vigorous competition between vendors and a growing tide of lower-cost models using operating software like Symbian and Android.”Neil Mawston, Director at Strategy Analytics, added, “The global smartphone market will head in two broad directions this year. Some smartphone vendors, such as Nokia, will chase growing mid-tier volumes in emerging markets such as China and India. Other brands, such as Motorola, will focus on mature markets like the US and explore a new wave of services beyond Internet browsing and email such as high-quality video and navigation.”
Other findings from Strategy Analytics’ Q1 2010 Global Smartphone Market Share Update report include:
* Nokia shipped a record 21.5 million smartphones worldwide in Q1 2010, rising an above-average 57 percent from 13.7 million units a year earlier. We believe China, South America and Africa Middle East were regional hotspots for Nokia, while North America remains a problem-child and one that is crimping profits and still badly needs attention; * RIM shipped 10.6 million smartphones worldwide in Q1 2010, comfortably beating Apple’s record 8.8 million units during the quarter. RIM has become the largest mobile device vendor of North American origin, ahead of rivals Apple and Motorola. However, RIM’s annual growth rate slowed to just 45 percent in Q1 2010 and its new Blackberry OS 6.0 upgrade due in Q3 2010 is badly needed.

Steve Jobs Issues Thoughts on Flash

Apple has a long relationship with Adobe. In fact, we met Adobe’s founders when they were in their proverbial garage. Apple was their first big customer, adopting their Postscript language for our new Laserwriter printer. Apple invested in Adobe and owned around 20% of the company for many years. The two companies worked closely together to pioneer desktop publishing and there were many good times. Since that golden era, the companies have grown apart. Apple went through its near death experience, and Adobe was drawn to the corporate market with their Acrobat products. Today the two companies still work together to serve their joint creative customers – Mac users buy around half of Adobe’s Creative Suite products – but beyond that there are few joint interests.

I wanted to jot down some of our thoughts on Adobe’s Flash products so that customers and critics may better understand why we do not allow Flash on iPhones, iPods and iPads. Adobe has characterized our decision as being primarily business driven – they say we want to protect our App Store – but in reality it is based on technology issues. Adobe claims that we are a closed system, and that Flash is open, but in fact the opposite is true. Let me explain.

First, there’s “Open”.

Adobe’s Flash products are 100% proprietary. They are only available from Adobe, and Adobe has sole authority as to their future enhancement, pricing, etc. While Adobe’s Flash products are widely available, this does not mean they are open, since they are controlled entirely by Adobe and available only from Adobe. By almost any definition, Flash is a closed system.

Apple has many proprietary products too. Though the operating system for the iPhone, iPod and iPad is proprietary, we strongly believe that all standards pertaining to the web should be open. Rather than use Flash, Apple has adopted HTML5, CSS and JavaScript – all open standards. Apple’s mobile devices all ship with high performance, low power implementations of these open standards. HTML5, the new web standard that has been adopted by Apple, Google and many others, lets web developers create advanced graphics, typography, animations and transitions without relying on third party browser plug-ins (like Flash). HTML5 is completely open and controlled by a standards committee, of which Apple is a member.

Apple even creates open standards for the web. For example, Apple began with a small open source project and created WebKit, a complete open-source HTML5 rendering engine that is the heart of the Safari web browser used in all our products. WebKit has been widely adopted. Google uses it for Android’s browser, Palm uses it, Nokia uses it, and RIM (Blackberry) has announced they will use it too. Almost every smartphone web browser other than Microsoft’s uses WebKit. By making its WebKit technology open, Apple has set the standard for mobile web browsers.

Second, there’s the “full web”.

Adobe has repeatedly said that Apple mobile devices cannot access “the full web” because 75% of video on the web is in Flash. What they don’t say is that almost all this video is also available in a more modern format, H.264, and viewable on iPhones, iPods and iPads. YouTube, with an estimated 40% of the web’s video, shines in an app bundled on all Apple mobile devices, with the iPad offering perhaps the best YouTube discovery and viewing experience ever. Add to this video from Vimeo, Netflix, Facebook, ABC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, ESPN, NPR, Time, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Sports Illustrated, People, National Geographic, and many, many others. iPhone, iPod and iPad users aren’t missing much video.

Another Adobe claim is that Apple devices cannot play Flash games. This is true. Fortunately, there are over 50,000 games and entertainment titles on the App Store, and many of them are free. There are more games and entertainment titles available for iPhone, iPod and iPad than for any other platform in the world.

Third, there’s reliability, security and performance.

Symantec recently highlighted Flash for having one of the worst security records in 2009. We also know first hand that Flash is the number one reason Macs crash. We have been working with Adobe to fix these problems, but they have persisted for several years now. We don’t want to reduce the reliability and security of our iPhones, iPods and iPads by adding Flash.

In addition, Flash has not performed well on mobile devices. We have routinely asked Adobe to show us Flash performing well on a mobile device, any mobile device, for a few years now. We have never seen it. Adobe publicly said that Flash would ship on a smartphone in early 2009, then the second half of 2009, then the first half of 2010, and now they say the second half of 2010. We think it will eventually ship, but we’re glad we didn’t hold our breath. Who knows how it will perform?

Fourth, there’s battery life.

To achieve long battery life when playing video, mobile devices must decode the video in hardware; decoding it in software uses too much power. Many of the chips used in modern mobile devices contain a decoder called H.264 – an industry standard that is used in every Blu-ray DVD player and has been adopted by Apple, Google (YouTube), Vimeo, Netflix and many other companies.

Although Flash has recently added support for H.264, the video on almost all Flash websites currently requires an older generation decoder that is not implemented in mobile chips and must be run in software. The difference is striking: on an iPhone, for example, H.264 videos play for up to 10 hours, while videos decoded in software play for less than 5 hours before the battery is fully drained.

When websites re-encode their videos using H.264, they can offer them without using Flash at all. They play perfectly in browsers like Apple’s Safari and Google’s Chrome without any plugins whatsoever, and look great on iPhones, iPods and iPads.

Fifth, there’s Touch.

Flash was designed for PCs using mice, not for touch screens using fingers. For example, many Flash websites rely on “rollovers”, which pop up menus or other elements when the mouse arrow hovers over a specific spot. Apple’s revolutionary multi-touch interface doesn’t use a mouse, and there is no concept of a rollover. Most Flash websites will need to be rewritten to support touch-based devices. If developers need to rewrite their Flash websites, why not use modern technologies like HTML5, CSS and JavaScript?

Even if iPhones, iPods and iPads ran Flash, it would not solve the problem that most Flash websites need to be rewritten to support touch-based devices.

Sixth, the most important reason.

Besides the fact that Flash is closed and proprietary, has major technical drawbacks, and doesn’t support touch based devices, there is an even more important reason we do not allow Flash on iPhones, iPods and iPads. We have discussed the downsides of using Flash to play video and interactive content from websites, but Adobe also wants developers to adopt Flash to create apps that run on our mobile devices.

We know from painful experience that letting a third party layer of software come between the platform and the developer ultimately results in sub-standard apps and hinders the enhancement and progress of the platform. If developers grow dependent on third party development libraries and tools, they can only take advantage of platform enhancements if and when the third party chooses to adopt the new features. We cannot be at the mercy of a third party deciding if and when they will make our enhancements available to our developers.

This becomes even worse if the third party is supplying a cross platform development tool. The third party may not adopt enhancements from one platform unless they are available on all of their supported platforms. Hence developers only have access to the lowest common denominator set of features. Again, we cannot accept an outcome where developers are blocked from using our innovations and enhancements because they are not available on our competitor’s platforms.

Flash is a cross platform development tool. It is not Adobe’s goal to help developers write the best iPhone, iPod and iPad apps. It is their goal to help developers write cross platform apps. And Adobe has been painfully slow to adopt enhancements to Apple’s platforms. For example, although Mac OS X has been shipping for almost 10 years now, Adobe just adopted it fully (Cocoa) two weeks ago when they shipped CS5. Adobe was the last major third party developer to fully adopt Mac OS X.

Our motivation is simple – we want to provide the most advanced and innovative platform to our developers, and we want them to stand directly on the shoulders of this platform and create the best apps the world has ever seen. We want to continually enhance the platform so developers can create even more amazing, powerful, fun and useful applications. Everyone wins – we sell more devices because we have the best apps, developers reach a wider and wider audience and customer base, and users are continually delighted by the best and broadest selection of apps on any platform.

Conclusions.

Flash was created during the PC era – for PCs and mice. Flash is a successful business for Adobe, and we can understand why they want to push it beyond PCs. But the mobile era is about low power devices, touch interfaces and open web standards – all areas where Flash falls short.

The avalanche of media outlets offering their content for Apple’s mobile devices demonstrates that Flash is no longer necessary to watch video or consume any kind of web content. And the 200,000 apps on Apple’s App Store proves that Flash isn’t necessary for tens of thousands of developers to create graphically rich applications, including games.

New open standards created in the mobile era, such as HTML5, will win on mobile devices (and PCs too). Perhaps Adobe should focus more on creating great HTML5 tools for the future, and less on criticizing Apple for leaving the past behind.

Nokia's Comeback - The Nokia N8 Smartphone

[The Nokia N8 will be available in the third quarter and runs Symbian 3 and features a 12 MP camera, the ability to make HD-quality videos and edit them and Web TV services and is integrated with Qt.]

Espoo, Finland -- The Nokia N8, Nokia's latest smartphone, intuitively connects to the people, places and services that matter most. With the Nokia N8, people can create compelling content, connect to their favorite social networks and enjoy on-demand Web TV programs and Ovi Store apps. Available in select markets during the third quarter of 2010, the estimated retail price of the Nokia N8 is EUR 370, before applicable taxes or subsidies.The Nokia N8 introduces a 12 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics, Xenon flash and a large sensor that rivals those found in compact digital cameras. Additionally, the Nokia N8 offers the ability to make HD-quality videos and edit them with an intuitive built-in editing suite. Doubling as a portable entertainment center, people can enjoy HD-quality video with Dolby Digital Plus surround sound by plugging into their home theatre system. The Nokia N8 enables access to Web TV services that deliver programs, news and entertainment from channels like CNN, E! Entertainment, Paramount and National Geographic. Additional local Web TV content is also available from the Ovi Store.
Social networking is second nature to the Nokia N8.
People can update their status, share location and photos, and view live feeds from Facebook and Twitter in a single app directly on the home screen. Calendar events from social networks can also be transferred to the device calendar.
The Nokia N8 comes with free global Ovi Maps walk and drive navigation, guiding people to places and points of interest in more than 70 countries worldwide.
Symbian^3 in action
Powering the Nokia N8 is Symbian ^3, the latest edition of the world's most used smartphone software, which introduces several major advances, including support for gestures such as multi touch, flick scrolling and pinch-zoom. The Nokia N8 also offers multiple, personalizable homescreens which can be loaded with apps and widgets. The new 2D and 3D graphics architecture in the platform takes full advantage of the Nokia N8's hardware acceleration to deliver a faster and more responsive user interface. Symbian^3 also raises the bar in performance by delivering greater memory management allowing more applications to run in parallel for a faster multi-tasking experience.
Getting Qt for Developers
The Nokia N8 is Nokia's first device to be integrated with Qt, a software development environment that simplifies the development and makes it possible to build applications once and deploy across Symbian and other software platforms. Nokia has also made the powerful and simple to use Nokia Qt SDK available, in its initial beta, to enable developers to start realizing the potential of Qt.