Nokia at MWC 2012 – The Verge

The Verge Interview: Stephen Elop ‘more confident than ever’ about Windows Phone

2012-02-28T07:45:41-05:00

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Nokia CEO Stephen Elop is on hand at MWC this week to help spread the company's message to business partners, carriers, and the press. Ever gregarious and approachable, Elop gave us a few minutes of his time today to discuss the first year of Nokia's transition, which got started with the announcement of a strategic alliance with Microsoft in February 2011. He was candid about the downsides of this fundamental change in strategy, noting the number of jobs Nokia has had to cut in an effort to streamline operations.

Today, Nokia remains very much in the middle of its transition, says Elop, but a lot has been accomplished in those short twelve …

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The Verge Interview: Nokia’s Damian Dinning on the 808 PureView’s history and future

2012-02-27T05:45:29-05:00

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Nokia rather blew the doors off MWC 2012 this morning by announcing a 41-megapixel camera sensor ensconced within the confines of a smartphone, the 808 PureView. The product of five years of development work, the collection of technologies under the PureView umbrella is only starting off with the Symbian-based 808 and should make its way to other devices and platforms over time. Nokia is promising amazing image quality from this camera thanks to some oversampling wizardry - taking data from seven pixels in order to fill just one - that uses the full 41-megapixel canvas to generate excellent 5-megapixel stills. At the same time, as a sort of …

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Nokia launches 808 PureView with 41MP camera: hands-on pictures, video, and preview

2012-02-27T03:08:08-05:00

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It's rare that we have to put news about a smartphone in our photography hub, but that's just what Nokia has merited today with the introduction of the PureView 808. The headline spec is that the brand new camera sensor inside it is composed of 41 million pixels, however as you might have surmised, this handset doesn't take full 41-megapixel stills. Instead, it oversamples - taking the image data from seven neighboring pixels and consolidating it into one pixel's worth - and generates pictures roughly 5 megapixels in size. That's still plenty of dots for most uses, and the image quality you can obtain from such a system is frankly ridiculous …

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Nokia Drive 2.0, Reading, and Transport apps coming to Lumia range

2012-02-27T03:05:54-05:00

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Nokia is announcing two new Windows Phone apps and a Nokia Drive 2.0 update for its range of Lumia devices today at Mobile World Congress 2012. Nokia Drive 2.0 will be released on the Windows Phone Marketplace as a free update for existing Lumia devices and includes speed limit notifications, an advanced dashboard view, and offline capabilities. Windows Phone Nokia Drive users can now use the application offline, one of the biggest drawbacks to the original release, in the same way as existing Symbian users of Nokia Drive.

Nokia Reading, a brand new Windows Phone app for Lumia devices, will work as an integrated hub like the existing Nokia …

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Nokia Lumia 610 pictures, video, and hands-on preview

2012-02-27T03:03:51-05:00

Gallery Photo: Nokia Lumia 610 hands-on photos

MWC 2012 isn't quite Nokia World, but the Finnish company has kept interest going with a number of important announcements. Chief among them, in terms of Nokia's long-term strategy, is the Lumia 610. This device drops the entry-level price for the Lumia range down to 189 euros before taxes and subsidies, which is precisely 70 percent of the launch price of the Lumia 710, Nokia's previous cheapest Windows Phone.

An upcoming update to the Windows Phone OS is what will make the 610 possible: a lighter version of the software will be capable of running on only 256MB of RAM and support slower processors than the 1GHz Snapdragon that has so far b …

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Nokia Lumia 610 announced with 800MHz processor, 256MB RAM, Windows Phone 7.5

2012-02-27T03:02:35-05:00

Gallery Photo: Nokia Lumia 610 hands-on photos

Nokia is announcing its latest Lumia device at Mobile World Congress 2012 today. The Nokia Lumia 610 is designed to be a low-end affordable Lumia Windows Phone, priced at just 189 euros. With a focus on China, the Lumia 610 introduces a new price point and markets for Microsoft's mobile operating system. The Lumia 610 includes an 800MHz processor, 256MB of RAM, and a 5-megapixel camera - pushing Microsoft's Windows Phone specifications to the lowest point in the platforms short history.

Nokia describes the Lumia 610 as "hugely important" for both itself and Microsoft in terms of scale and reach. Although features like Bing Local Scout and a …

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Windows Phone 7.5 update will support 256MB RAM and slower processors in April

2012-02-27T03:01:52-05:00

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Microsoft is planning to support a new minimum hardware specification for its Windows Phone platform from April. Codenamed Tango, the software giant has engineered its latest Windows Phone 7.5 update to target new price points and emerging markets like China. The update is the first significant change to the Windows Phone codebase as a result of the unique partnership between Microsoft and Nokia. Nokia is promising to bring a number of low-cost Lumia products to China thanks to lower specifications.

One of the first devices to demonstrate the Windows Phone 7.5 update in action is Nokia's Lumia 610 device. Announced today at Mobile World Con …

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Nokia Lumia 900 coming to Canada with LTE, Europe with HSPA+, everywhere in white

2012-02-27T02:54:26-05:00

Gallery Photo: Nokia Lumia 900 in white, hands-on photos

Nokia's big CES debutant, the Lumia 900, is making headlines again today with the company revealing it'll launch in Canada and Europe in the second quarter of this year. An AT&T exclusive in the US, the 900 is yet to be released anywhere, but now we know it'll enjoy a more international reach when it does show up. The Canadian version will offer LTE just like in the US, while the Euro variant will be equipped with 42Mbps HSPA+ connectivity. Either way, Nokia is showing a definite awareness of the need to compete with fast mobile broadband options. International pricing has been set at 480 euros before taxes and subsidies.

Otherwise, the Lum …

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Nokia expands low-end Asha series with 202, 203, and 302

2012-02-27T02:43:44-05:00

Gallery Photo: Nokia Asha 202/203 and 302 hands-on photos

While the Windows Phone-powered Lumia line gets the lion's share of Nokia's spotlight, the company's emerging market aspirations are starting to unify under the Asha brand that was first launched with four models at Nokia World last year. Now, they're back at it again with another three - the Asha 202, 203, and 302 - all of which run Series 40 and are said to be key players in Nokia's so-called "Next Billion" strategy to get a new demographic connected with mobile devices.

The 302 (pictured above) is arguably the most interesting of the three, a full-QWERTY device that is said to be the first non-smartphone with support for Mail for Exchange …

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Skype for Windows Phone beta released, full version due in April

2012-02-27T02:38:06-05:00

Skype for Windows Phone official

Microsoft is releasing a beta version of Skype for Windows Phone today, with a full release due in April. Skype for Windows Phone beta allows users to make audio and video calls to Skype contacts over 3G, 4G, and WiFi. Skype users can also make calls to landlines and mobiles with the application. Microsoft has certified a number of devices for Skype Windows Phone, including the Nokia Lumia 710, Lumia 800, HTC TITAN, HTC Radar , Samsung Focus S, and Samsung Focus Flash, providing the "best performance" on these particular handsets.

The Skype Windows Phone beta builds on Microsoft's new user interface, utilizing the best parts of Metro style. …

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