Nokia Blogged, Nokia news, reviews information and more

Looks like we will get to see how the Symbian^3 looks and works when Nokia brings out the upcoming X10 (not to be confused with the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 –which is an Android Snapdragon smart phone).

The device has been leaked in a series of videos and still images and from what we have seen; this smart phone is still pretty much in its preliminary stages of development. Specs-wise the phone sits in the mid-spec range of devices. The Cortex A8 processor runs at 600MHz, which means that the new user interface will be radically dynamic in terms of animations and transitions.

The new phone is basically a touch screen device with a slide out keyboard. It’s a great template for attracting general and business user to try out the new operating system. No word yet on what exactly is different about the new OS, but with Symbian’s move to go open source, we can expect to see a lot of third party application support for the new phone.

The X10 is a continuation of the eXpressMusic series of Nokia devices. The last device was the 16GB version of the X6 which was a marketing upgrade over the older 32GB version. The 32GB version came with a “Comes with Music” unlimited download package with made the device unreasonably pricey.

Anyway, the X10 is also rumored to come with a 12 mega pixel camera that can record videos in 720p HD video quality. This will be the second Symbian device with HD video recording after the Sony Ericsson Vivaz.

Looks like Nokia has not abandoned the Symbian OS after all. There was plenty of news that the Finnish manufacturer might be dropping the OS after it adopted the Maemo for the N-series.

Read more about Nokia’s new smart phone at GSM Arena.

Nokia Nokia-X10

Apparently, that’s big news. According to certain reports, Nokia and Qualcomm have not exactly been the closest of buddies –so to speak. There has been plenty of talk about previous legal disputes regarding patents between the Finnish mobile phone manufacturer and the major chip manufacturer.

Now, there are news reports that a new Nokia phone is in the works. The phone will be using a Snapdragon processor and will be running the Symbian operating system. It is not surprising to know that Symbian will be the mobile platform of choice here. It was announced recently that the Symbian OS has gone open source; making it a very viable OS of choice for app developers.

Some are wondering as to why the Maemo operating system will not be running on the new high end Nokia smart phone, after all, they did announce that they will be using the Maemo on all their high end devices like the N-series. This new update confirms that the upcoming device is not an N-series phone, and that Nokia was serious when they said that they are not working on any Maemo devices for 2010.

The open source mobile platform Symbian has been around for many years but it was only a few weeks ago that the OS has gone open source. It is possible that this is the reason why Nokia chose the Symbian over the Maemo for the new phone.

In any case, it will be a long time before we actually see the new Symbian phone. With other major devices already out on the market and new Snapdragon phones from HTC, Sony Ericsson and Motorola on the way, it will be interesting to see how things shape up this 2010.

Read more about the upcoming Snapdragon Symbian phone and the Nokia – Qualcomm connection at Know Your Mobile.

Nokia Nokia-N900

USB slots are rarely the cause of issues for mobile phones; this is why the recent news on the N900 is pretty surprising. As it turns out, the micro USB slot on the device is prone to getting misaligned.

While this little technical hiccup may not seem so bad, some people have already complained that the slot has been misaligned so much that it borders on the verge of being unusable. Sadly for the N900, the device not only relies on the slot for data transfers, but also for charging as well.

So far, it has not been confirmed if this problem really is a common thing for all N900 devices or only for certain batches of the device. The bad thing is, since this is a hardware problem, no downloadable fix will be made available and users will have to send their phones in for repairs.

Should this problem be a universal defect on all N900 devices, it would be troublesome for Nokia to be able to fix all of this.

The Nokia N900 Maemo had a very interesting start. When Nokia first announced that it was adopting the Maemo operating system, many thought that they would be completely abandoning the Symbian OS. Nokia quickly released a statement clarifying that Maemo’s role as an operating system is strictly for the N-series of mobile phones.

The N900, upon launch enjoyed a pretty good sales performance and as seen with recent reports, many people are enjoying the Maemo operating system. Recent developments have allowed users to run computer code on the device allowing for games such as StarCraft to be played on the mobile phone. Emulators for various home systems are also available for playing.

Read more about the faulty micro USB slot on the Nokia N900 Maemo phone at Engadget.

N-series Nokia-N900

Nokia once said that they will be regulating the use of the two mobile operating systems they have. The Symbian platform will be used for most of their mobile phones, while the Maemo will be used only for this devices which are “similar to computers” such as the N-series.

While it is debatable if Nokia’s high end N-series line does come close to actually computers, it does have a lot of functionality not commonly found in other mobile phones. This included options for dual booting the Maemo and the Android OS, as well as a currently unusable install of the Mac OS on the N900.

Recently, a large amount of emulation software has been adapted for the N900 allowing users to run games that were meant to be played on other consoles. Some ambitious individuals even managed to run PC games such as Blizzard’s award winning RTS, StarCraft on the N900.

Naturally, emulation of Nintendo made, cartridge based consoles like the Super Famicom are easily found on the N900, Tomasz Sterna however, added an extra functionality, that combined with the N900’s video output port, turned the mobile phone into an impromptu console.

Using the Bluetooth technology of the phone and the Sony Playstation’s Six Axis controller, Tomasz made the Six Axis to connect with the N900, creating an instant joy pad accessory.

Originally, the Six Axis was meant to be used strictly for the Playstation 3 though some ingenious hackers were able to find a way for computers to use the device. It was only a matter of time before the method was adapted to the Nokia smart phone.

The controls are sluggish, but it is an amazing testament to the ingenuity and skill of these individuals who are always looking for more new ways to utilize the things around them.

Watch the video of the controller-N900 sync on Engadget.

N-series Nokia-N900

The Nokia X6 first came out last year in its 32GB form with the Comes with Music promotion. In paper, the offer sounded great; the X6 is an impressive music center mobile phone that delivered high end smart phone specs and of course, plenty of internal storage. Couple with the Comes with Music which enables users to download an infinite amount of music form the Nokia Music Store on the Ovi services meant that one can stay up to date with the latest hits anytime.

In the end however, not a lot of people were willing to shell out lots of money on a music smart phone and spend time downloading so many tracks. Also, music fans already have large libraries of digital music to use. The additional cost brought about by the download deal made the phone very unappealing even to its target market.

Now, Nokia is planning to revive the X6 with a new, more reasonable 16GB of internal storage and no Comes with Music package. This means that buying the device no longer meant paying extra for a service that would hardly be used.

A few weeks back, Nokia announced that all of its Ovi maps capable devices would be receiving free satellite navigation services with voice –increasing the value of many Nokia phones, including the X6.

As for the X6, it will be beefing up its digital content lineup with exclusive titles and content. Showcasing the X6’s music and video playing capabilities will be the new goal for Nokia regarding the device.

It has been confirmed that the phone will be released this coming February 24, 2010. No word has been given if any mobile network operator is offering the device.

Get the full news report on the Nokia X6 at Mobile Today.

X-series Nokia-X6