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Ever wanted to design your very own mobile phone? Well, Nokia has you covered with their community building poll focused solely on giving users the power to choose which elements they want in a theoretical concept phone.

How does it work? Well, the Finnish company uploads three different designs or attributes and lets community members cast a vote on which particular element they would like to see on a Nokia mobile phone unit. Sounds simple, right? It is. And it does seem to get a lot of consumers buzzing about whatever popular part gets voted in.

This is a way to get consumer feedback on which designs are appealing as compared to others. In recent years, Nokia has not been able to garner bas much attention and support as the Cupertino based Apple and devices carrying the open source operating system, the little green Google Android. Fortunately for them, they have survived by tapping into the smart dumb phone market, releasing nice budget phones that will not make the headlines but will surely give the masses a practical option.

Of course, this does not mean that the Finnish company, which was once at the top of the game, is already happy with their success. According to July’s YouGov Poll, the interest in their brand of handsets has taken a nose dive. To be specific, the interest has gone down a whopping 12 percent.

The concept phone project will hopefully lift this number in the following months. Started in March, the number of design submissions has reached the 72,000 mark already, with winning designs sporting an 8 megapixel snapper (4x optical zoom), unlimited multitasking and a 4-inch capacitive display. The final sketch will be made into a 3D rendered model and will be showcased for all to see in Nokia’s Conversations blog.

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It has been quite a week for Finnish mobile phone manufacturer Nokia as sales results have been released, the upcoming Nokia N8 gets delayed once more and the folks at Espoo react to Apple’s statements last week regarding antenna issues with mobile phones.

The financial reports for Nokia show that sales are actually up compared to last year. Nokia’s devices are still very much in demand, however, prices for mobile phones are going down and the report also showed that despite selling more devices, Nokia actually made less in terms of profits. Since Nokia manufactures large volumes of mid to low end devices, it is not surprising that they are making less money now. Of course, Nokia will eventually be shifting most of its production capabilities to smart phones.

Smart phones such as the Symbian^3 N8 handset which was supposed to come out last April; the device has been delayed and while Nokia says it will be out ‘soon’, no one has yet to give out specific details. Earlier reports hinted at a possible launch next week -though judging from the fact that network operators are only offering pre-registrations for the handset instead of pre-orders, it is possible that the device might not be released until next month.

In the meanwhile, Nokia is ignoring Apple’s recently uploaded video of the N97 Mini which showed symptoms similar to the antenna issue that the iPhone 4 is suffering from. Nokia has already given a public statement regarding Apple’s emergency conference last week and stated that their mobile phones’ antenna technology is both stable and reliable.

Considering that the N97 Mini has already been out for a while and it has not had any complaints about dropped calls, then there is no need for Nokia to make a further statement regarding the issue.

Nokia antenna, Apple, Nokia, Nokia-N8, Nokia-n97-mini, Symbian-3

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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So many mobile phone industry companies are trying to win over their rivals by packing more capable hardware and introducing fancier, efficiency centered software. Aside from the difference in chassis shape and size, there are rarely any drastic changes made in terms of the underlying technology inside the mobile phone.

That is what makes the creation of Jeremy Innes-Hopkins so special. It revolutionizes the way we are notified of an incoming call or text message by using an electro magnet which uses the digital signal received with a call or message, causing the mobile device to stand up. What happens is that the unit changes the distribution of its weight and allocates it to its base, allowing the mobile phone to stand on its own.

If the caller is not someone you would want to talk to at that time, you can simply tap the mobile phone down to its initial position and it will automatically cancel the call.

It is not clear how the creative British designer got the idea but at the very least this will allow more discreet message or call notifications. It will also be quite an improvement from the vibrate function’s noisy reverb when placed on top of a desk.

The number of possible uses and advantages outweigh the negatives. For deaf consumers, it must be a dream come true. For those who hate hearing cheesy ring tones or are constantly in meetings, the discreet nature of the alert function will definitely be an advantage.
The only negative is the phone’s bulky shape. Since the actual electro magnet is housed at the bottom of the Nokia Kinetic, it may be too bulky to keep in the pant pocket. But as it is with any novelty concept, this gadget will have a niche market that will surely appreciate its unique features.

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For those who have tried out the Nokia C6, one would have to say that the device is an excellent balance of hardware and features. The phone design itself is remarkably simple but fully functional, and device really looks good to have. Anyway, it appears that on the Dutch Nokia website, a few teaser images of the upcoming Nokia C6-01 has been leaked, giving us a firsthand look at this unannounced smart phone.

If the details are to be followed, it seems that there is little that is different from the older C6 handset and this newer version. The main difference between the two phones is with the camera, but aside from that, it appears that the rest of the hardware configurations and the features are pretty much the same.

The newer Nokia C6-01 has an 8 mega pixel camera and dual LED flash. The older phone uses a lower 5 mega pixel snapper and basic LED flash –the update does seem favorable to any user who is quite picky about their built in digital cameras, but for regular smart phone users, the camera upgrade is not as important.

For those who have already bought a Nokia C6, there is no need to sell the old model and get the C6-01. But anyone who is considering the older Nokia C6 handset might want to check this phone out; and expect the price to be slightly higher too.

The device also comes with a 3.2 inch TFT resistive touch screen display. The 360 x 640 resolution provides users with a decent view of websites and videos, though it is not as responsive as a capacitive touch screen would be. Another nice feature in the device is that it comes with a slide out QWERTY keyboard which is perfect for any user who is not too fond of the virtual onscreen keyboard.

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While it is pretty much expected that mobile phone users would be more interested in the Apple iPhone 4 than any other handset (since smart phone just came out a couple of weeks ago), it is surprising how much Nokia’s public ratings has gone down.

According to an independent study by YouGov, the number of people interested in getting a Nokia handset has gone down by at least 12%. Only 34% of phone buyers are considering getting a Nokia.

While the drop is mostly attributed to Apple’s new iPhone launch, but many also believe that Nokia has failed to keep public interest in their devices by failing to come up with truly innovative handsets in the past few months. With most of Nokia’s mobile phones still concentrating on the low end users, many high end smart phone users pass up Nokia devices in favor of phones from LG, Samsung, HTC and other big name phone manufacturers.

The Espoo based company needs to ramp up its game. Not only is Nokia currently the largest phone manufacturer in the world, they are also the most eco-friendly (with Sony Ericsson ranking in second place) as reported by Greenpeace.

Nokia has previously led the industry by setting new standards for mobile phone makers. Also, the close ties between the Finnish phone maker and the Symbian foundation has led to the creation of several iconic devices as well. Unless they are able to come up with a phone that is truly able to compete with the Android, iOS and Windows Phone 7, Nokia stands to lose plenty of ground in the next generation of smart phones.

This means that the upcoming Nokia N8 which uses the new launched Symbian^3 OS and the Nokia N9 which uses MeeGo which was developed by both Intel and Nokia are going to determine what happens to the company in the next few months.

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Nokia is bringing several new updates to the Nokia X6 through the version 21.0.004 update. According to Nokia developers, the update is bringing a lot of small changes to the existing features of the OS, but most importantly, the update is meant to improve the performance of the handset. Stability, speed and overall performance is the key to the optimization that the new patch promises, though we will have to wait and see from existing users if the patch achieves this goal.

In the meanwhile, Nokia X6 owners might want to look at the following changes that the update will also bring. The Ovi Store is getting some component specific updates. This includes the Ovi Store itself which will be getting Ovi Music, Ovi Store 1.5.6, Ovi Contacts 1.50.8, and Ovi Sync 2.0. These are mostly optimization updates so users should not expect to see any drastic changes to the user interface.

New apps have also been added into the system as well. A 30 day trial for Shazam has been added along with the Rihanna service launcher. The appshell itself has been improved with better kinetic scrolling (which probably takes out the occasional skipping during the scroll). The Flash player on the X6 is also getting a quick update with Flash Lite 3.1.7x.

The phone’s user interface is getting a slight adjustment with the enabled Slide Lock Key function that will be used in the swipe UI. In the meanwhile, users of Exchange might be happy to know that Mail for Exchange is getting updated to version 2.9.210

The browser is getting a nice improvement with version 7.2. This update not only makes the browser load pages faster, but it also enables gestures like pinch zooming –though some users who have downloaded the patch are claiming that pinch is not enabled.

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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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In what is probably a tech industry faux-pass, Nokia has indirectly placed the Symbian^3 OS on the side and is putting more focus on the upcoming MeeGo OS as well as the possibility of the eventual launch of the Symbian^4.

With that said, Nokia has already confirmed that the N8 smart phone will be the only Symbian^3 handset to be used in their N-series lineup. In the meanwhile, their new MeeGo OS will be the main focus of their high end N-series lineup. With two strong operating systems already available (the Symbian Foundation’s S-series and the Intel-Nokia MeeGo) Nokia is not looking at other operating systems.

This means that die-hard Nokia users will not be seeing any Android smart phones from the Finnish phone manufacturer any time soon –or even in the distant future. Nokia’s support for the Symbian Foundation is a pre-established given in the industry, and even with the development of a proprietary Nokia OS, the Symbian still remains as a primary OS for Nokia’s other phone lineups (such as the X, C and E series of handsets).

As for the Symbian^4 operating system, there is still no news as to when the OS will finally be made. With the Symbian^3 still not yet out, it is unlikely that version 4 will be released this year, though it is rumored that development on the new OS is already underway.

The Symbian OS has been suffering from performance issues –particularly with the major bugs that plagued the Nokia N97. Even established Symbian supporters such as the Guru have acknowledged the situation and are starting to slowly withdraw their support from the OS. The Symbian^3 OS needs to bring back the confidence and trust of users in the platform, and according to Anssi Vanjoki there is plenty to look forward to with the upcoming N8 –for Symbian’s sake, he better be right.

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It seems that the leaks have skipped a phone. Recent images of the Nokia C7 smart phone have made it to the internet –completely skipping the C5.

As you might have heard, Nokia’s early C series devices starting from the C1 all the way to the C3 have already been officially announced. The impressive handsets range from standard candy bar mobile phones to a sleek portrait keyboard bearing handset. Now, a fully dedicated smart phone has been introduced to the C series, the Nokia C7.

At first glance, you might mistake this device for an earlier Motorola Android handset (it looks a lot like the old XT 800). Sadly, the device is packing only the Symbian S60 5th instead of the Symbian^3, so if you are picky about what operating system to have, you might want to pass this up (unless you are a Symbian/Ovi fan that is).

Overall, it is a pretty impressive little handset for its size and tech range. As stated, it looks a lot like the XT 800 which means that you get that same super-flat phone face and the extra shiny screen border. The ends of the devices curve out giving it a very rounded look while the dark gray body gives if a sense of weight.

Nokia has yet to detail the specific features of this handset, but we do expect the device to come complete with support for standard WAP and HTML websites (hopefully the Opera Mini browser which has been making its way as a staple for many Symbian handsets), decent media playback capabilities (support for the usual files, MP3, AAC, WAV, MP4, WMV and maybe even H.264 video).

With most of the other Nokia C series handsets coming out this year, we can probably expect the C7 to start showing up sometime during the third quarter of 2010.

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