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Nokia has been one of the biggest backers of MeeGo, a platform that both Nokia and Intel have been heavy investors in and has been dubbed as one of the most promising options for the next generation of smartphones and tablets.

While Nokia has and still continues to be the biggest cellphone manufacturer in the world, the company has been unable to make a major dent in the U.S or North American market for that that matter. The company has been working behind the scenes to establish its Symbian^3 platform and most recently MeeGo.

At first Nokia had planned to release its Meamo ^ on a TI OMAP processor. However, in light of its recent board shakeup mainly due to the company’s slumping sale, the new Canadian-born CEO has made several changes inclyding the decision to role Moblin into MeeGo. More importantly, the company has been working with Intel closely as we noted earlier and has since been considering using Intel’s Atom instead of TI’s ARM based OMAP chip. Intel has said before that the company’s Medfield-based smartphone processors which are a successor to Moorestown would be arriving in mid-2011.

All this has led a Finnish technology magazine, Prosessori, one that is well respected to reveal that the Nokia N( will be launched with a 1.2GHz Atom processor, more importantly, the device could be launched as early as next month at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona Spain.

Thanks to an Intel chip and an all new user experience, this could give Nokia that extra oomph to not only gain worldwide attention but some credibility in North America as well. This would be crucial to Nokia’s high-end lineup which the company has been revamping of lately with such devices as the N8 and the N700.

Thanks Engadget

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Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia is a pretty well established company in the industry, and this week, they are certainly changing the way people are seeing their company.

Most recently, a new Nokia concept phone design has been unveiled, the Kinetic. This interesting new smart phone may look a little odd with the slightly bulky lower body (though the rest of the handset is relatively slim). This mass below the device is actually what gives it a special feature: when the handset is laid flat on a table, it will stand upright to inform users of an incoming call, message, alert or any other important phone function.

Designed by Jeremy Innes-Hopkins, the Kinetic is a pretty impressive handset in the way that it makes use of electromagnetic technology to change the way weight is distributed below the handset –which allows the device to turn upright. There is also one other feature to the handset as well: users can give the device a slight nudge, and the phone will gently flop back on the table –this will cancel any alerts or dismiss any incoming calls.

Nokia has also responded to Steve Jobs’ comment that the antenna issue is a challenge to the entire mobile phone industry and that “all phones are equal”. Nokia has stated that their mobile devices do not suffer from the same antenna issues as the iPhone 4. Nokia is not the only mobile phone company to express a similar viewpoint: Motorola has also released a similar statement. Naturally, RIM, Samsung and HTC –whom Apple individually pointed out, have also reacted similarly to the issue.

Lastly, the Nokia N8 is expected to hit UK stores in a matter of days. Vodafone UK announced that the device will be available in the span of a week while T-Mobile UK’s official website is already offering pre-registrations for the Symbian^3 smart phone.

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Before the official worldwide launch of the Nokia N8, a prototype unit has found its way to the hands of a Russian journalist. Much like what happened with the iPhone 4 prototype, the mobile phone maker (this time, Nokia) was not happy to lose one of its units. This time around, instead of a covert raid of the journalist’s home, Nokia has openly contacted the Russian police in order to track down the missing pre-release device.

Eldar Murtazin, journalist from Mobile-Review.com, has written a poor review of the upcoming mobile phone. With his write up along with the photos posted on the review site he writes for, has given the impression that he has in his possession (or has had) one of the Nokia N8 handsets.

Nokia has contacted the journalist but Murtazin has apparently failed to return the prototype unit to the Finnish mobile phone maker. This angered Nokia considerably, since the N8 was meant to be their next flagship device in the NSeries. Now, they have decided to take legal action against the blogger in order to get back what is rightfully theirs.

“We have asked Murtazin for the return of all Nokia property in his possession. As he has declined to reply, we asked the Russian authorities to assist us.”

In response to this, Murtazin criticized the mobile manufacturer phone. He said that Nokia was only trying to get back their device due to the nature of his article. He also denied having sold any information to competitor companies and claims, calling the suggestion “puerile slander”.

The journalist has also clarified that the prototype is not currently in his possession. He was only able to gain access to the prototype due to one of his sources who is neither a Nokia nor mobile phone company employee. Did he mean perhaps that he was able to view the prototype from a production facility insider? If there is anyone who can solve the mystery, it is the authorities.

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With all of the details being released about the N9, the most interesting fact that is being left out is the device’s actual name and designation. Aside from that, we can all tell at this point that this is going to be one Symbian^3 smart phone to look out for.

It has already been confirmed pretty early on that the new Nokia handset will be using a well equipped camera for those who love taking high resolution images and videos. The 8 mega pixel snapper will certainly be a welcome feature for amateur photographers while the ability to record videos in 720p will give users plenty of reasons to make use of the HDMI output port on the handset.

The phone has been popping up in a series of rumors and media content online showing off what the handset look likes and the Symbian OS. Recently, the N9 was compared side by side with the HTC EVO 4G and the Apple iPhone 3G. This allowed people to get a quick estimate of the screen size on the Nokia N9 –a nice big 4 inch TFT capacitive touch screen display. It has not been confirmed if the handset will be using other display technology such as AMOLED screen though some sources have hinted that Samsung’s new display technology, the super AMOLED screen might be used in the N9.

In the meanwhile, Nokia is set in the development of the development of the MeeGo operating system which they and Intel have been working on together. The new OS is a combination of the Moblin and Maemo operating systems. Currently, the developer version of MeeGo is already being made available in order to provide the Os with plenty of app support when it launches this coming October.

According to Nokia, the N8 smart phone will be the last Symbian OS based device for the N-series, leaving the N9 with a possible upcoming name change in the future.

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There is a new Nokia smart phone in town and rumor has it that this Symbian^3 handset will be showing off how far the mobile platform has come since its shift to open source.

So far, the biggest piece of news that we have heard regarding the N8-00 is that it will be using a 12 mega pixel camera and that it will be DivX capable. The DivX feature sounds quite the practical addition; with Samsung’s Galaxy S and Wave smart phones already being the first to bring portable HD DivX to users, it makes perfect sense that Nokia’s own video-centric device should also have the same feature.

Anyway, back to the 12 mega pixel snapper, it is said that it will have a Carl Zeiss lens and Xenon flash (no word about video LED lights) so users can expect to be able to grab some high quality images on this smart phone. For video, it is said that it will be able to record in 720p and the playback can deliver up to 1080p. It has also been reported that the phone has an HDMI port for displaying videos and images on an HDTV or a compatible monitor.

As for the rest of the specs, everyone is still guessing what else Nokia will place in this smart phone. Many are already stating that it will be running on an ARM CPU –some believe that it may also be a new version of the A4 processor.

The Symbian^3 operating system has yet to prove itself, though it seems like Nokia is placing a lot on this smart phone. It was originally said that all the new N-series devices would be using Maemo. For Nokia to move back to Symbian for this phone, it may have plenty of amazing surprises for us to see.

Get to know more about the upcoming Nokia N8-00 at GSM Arena.

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According to rumors, there is a new Nokia Symbian^3 device coming this September. From the looks of it, video buffs will certainly enjoy this impressive smart phone.

People have been eagerly awaiting the release of the very first Symbian^3 handset ever since the OS developer announced that they will be shifting to open source. Initial images of the new mobile platform have also been quite intriguing –sporting a new look that seems to have a lot more dynamic elements that it’s previous iterations. News about new applications for the OS is still on the down low, but we expect to see plenty of support for the device in the coming months.

The new handset featuring Symbian^3 is being called the N8-00 or the Nokia N98. Images of the device feature a large touch screen form factor with a single button on the bottom of the screen.

An HDMI port has been spied on the edge of the device hinting at HD quality video output to TVs and monitors. It has also been said that the new phone will have a 12 mega pixel camera (with Xenon flash and Carl Zeiss lens) and video recording at 720p HD quality. We are hoping they would also add LED video recording light since the phone already has a good flash.

Nokia however, has yet to actually confirm that they are working on the device. The 98 will be one of the things many of us will be looking out for when the Finnish manufacturer makes their scheduled announcement this April.

The Symbian^3 is making a remarkable comeback this year after its recent troubles last 2009. The OS was bumped off by Maemo on the N series and several Symbian devices suffered from major software issues (such as the SE Satio and the N97).

Find out more about the rumor N98 smart phone at Know Your Mobile.

N-series Nokia-N8-00, Nokia-N97, Nokia-N98

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

Most of our regular readers, as well as those at Nokia Conversations, weren’t too sure as to whether to believe the 2 sets of leaks of pictures and details of the Nokia N97 Mini but a live preview of the phone, which is available online, put all these to rest, along with the official announcement by Nokia at Nokia World ’09. The Mini is a slightly downgraded version of the Nokia N97, which is the flagship of Nokia. Nokia N97 Mini Reviews haven’t been too bad, so let’s have a look at it.

As a pared – down version of the original Nokia N97, the phone will come with about 8 GB of inbuilt memory, rather than the 32 GB of its big brother. The D-pad is absent in the phone and the size of the keypad has been reduced, which makes it a tad uncomfortable for people with bigger fingers to use it. Though the camera module has remained the same, the Mini doesn’t have a cover for the camera, thereby exposing it to fingerprints, dust and scratches.

However, if you look at the positive side of things, the Mini has a nice metal battery cover rather than the plastic one used in its big brother. The phone also has a more solid feel to it. Kinetic scrolling is also present in the phone, just like in the Nokia 5530 XpressMusic, thereby enabling you to go through the menu with ease.

However, some reviews have a problem with the pricing, saying that the fact that it is only 100 euro less isn’t enough. However, we can’t agree with this. Admittedly, the Nokia N97 is a bit more expensive than we would have liked, but we just can’t help but feel that the price difference isn’t so bad. The original handset is nearly 400 euro, so it would be quite daft to expect its younger sibling to retail at less than 300 euro, in our opinion.

Expect it to be released in October, so make sure you have your cash ready! At that time there will be plenty of great Nokia N97 deals on offer.

N-series Nokia-n97-mini

Even the limited nature of the blog sometimes challenges us. What’s that Samsung? You’re releasing a new phone that is identical in every way to your previous phone in this line, only there are 0.8 more megapixels on the camera and it also comes in Cobalt Jack Flash Blue Tints? Whoop-de-doooo, let us get straight on and write a blog post about that pronto. Or, what say you over there Mr S Ericsson, you’re releasing a brand new super exclusive new phone that is in just about every single way identical to Samsung’ and Motorola’s and HTC’s and etc. and so on’s brand new super exclusive phone in the same category? Then again, let us wheel out our magic blog dictionary and find some words to jumble together for.

But then, every now and then – and even less, these days, unfortunately – something comes along and you’re like, wow, good lord, hello, nice to meet you, very nice to meet you indeed. Something that is so… so… just… yeah! Something that for all your excitement about it, for all the incredible stats you find and trials of prototypes you have and videos you unearth that you can’t find yourself thinking: we want one of those. More than anything else, we gotta get one of those things in pocket.

Then, suddenly, when that too-rare day arrives, you realise that you’ve waffled on about absolutely nothing, that the end of the blog is drawing near and you haven’t even mentioned the name of the remarkable product. You haven’t even given your patient reader the slightest bit of information about the thing that’s got you so excited. You panic, start shouting N900! It’s the Nokia N900 that we want you to know about! Quick! Go read this Nokia N900 review! Go look at these official stats! Before it’s too late!

Phew… just about made it there. And just in time to squeeze the video in:

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