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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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For mobile phone users who need a quick secondary handset for basic calling and texting functions, Nokia has just released a second version of the 5233 handset that comes without the 3G and GPS functions. Of course, for a primary handset, this device will only be useful for people who have little use of a mobile phone, otherwise, it really only serves as a reliable but fancy backup handset.

Virgin Mobile has confirmed that they are offering the Nokia 5230 Nuron touch screen handset for a bargain cost of only 20 Pounds per month. The 18 month contract will give users about 200 minutes for talk time and unlimited text messages. Overall, it’s a pretty nice deal, and even if you do not get it from an operator, this touch screen device still makes for a pretty nice phone to have around.

The biggest advantage of this touch screen handset is that it actually uses the Symbian OS 9.4 (S60) and this means that users will be able to access most of the features that one would expect from a Symbian smart phone –with the exception of GPS maps and 3G access obviously.

Nokia’s 5230 might fool some people into thinking that it is a smart phone that comes with 3G, GPS and all the trimmings; the device’s 3.2 inch touch screen display gives it an appearance of a mid range smart phone –and it does come quite close, though the use of a stylus on a resistive display might turn off some users who are used to capacitive touch screen technology.

The Nuron also comes with a 2 mega pixel camera (with video recording at 30FPS), a basic ARM CPU clocked at 434 MHz, 70 MB of internal memory (but it supports 16GB SD cards), GPRS, Bluetooth and a 3.5 mm audio jack.

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A facelift was given to Nokia’s Ovi Store and it brought along a few minor changes. Both the desktop and mobile clients got a makeover.

The Store desktop enhancements include a list view for search results and a fail-safe to confirm which device you are looking up content for in order to ensure that you are buying the right apps for the device.

How this works is that if the user is not logged in prior to viewing the content, the page is redirected to a Nokia Mobile Device Selector. This is simpler and more straightforward compared to the carousel-design interface previously implemented. The device option may be changed at any time simply by clicking on the mobile selection link found at the upper right corner of the store.

The mobile update focused on giving more organized app details while browsing the online merchandise. The browser for content and scrolling through sample screens is now streamlined to offer faster browsing

The rating system was increased to five stars instead of three as well. This decision was based on the user experience panels, wherein the result was that the preferred rating system was five stars instead of the existing three. This release also ensures more accurate reviews by giving only those who have already downloaded the app the ability to comment and rate on it. Details such as the time of the post as well as the device used by the reviewer will be included to help users decide better.

There are three goals for the update, according to the official Ovi blog. First, it is to make the store easier to browse and make searching for content simpler. Second, to give more accurate reviews by raising the number of the stars in the rating system and lastly, to provide a more detailed product description to assist their customers on which to buy.

See screens of the update at OnlyGizmos.

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Nokia is really connecting people with their new “design by community” system wherein users will be allowed to vote for a number of smart phone features through a poll. The users will be able to choose which aspects they like in a certain category and move the poll slider to add an arbitrary point to that feature. Every poll will be dedicated to one category. The poll next week will focus on size and shape, the next will be about materials, then about operating system, so on and so forth until May of this year comes.

Nokia seems out to get their users feedback on what they want in a smart phone. They segregated the sections to prevent people from creating an unfeasible phone. Every week, the tally will be posted as well as the top choices for each finished category to serve as the basis for the next poll.

Every week, Nokia designers and bloggers will be giving some insight regarding the updates as well as insider info about the production process involved. At the end of the polls, the Nokia design team will be posting some concept sketches and will then be turned into another public poll. The winning design will be rendered and then revealed in Nokia’s “Conversations”.

The actual goal is not to launch the voted concept but simply to show the public the amount of thought process and effort it takes to come up with a final product. Although this is a nice touch from Nokia, it would be nice if they actually got some of the feedback and made it into a final product (yes, considering the amount of time and effort). But who knows right? The fact that they even got the idea means that they want to pay attention to user demands and hear it straight.

Read more about Nokia’s Design by Community at Engadget.

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According to recent reports, Nokia has just patented kinetic energy conversion technology for their mobile phones. Not to imply that Nokia will actually develop the new technology, but considering that Nokia is one of the most environmentally friendly companies on the planet, it is not surprising to see that they have taken the steps into creating what would be the first self-recharging battery.

By combining kinetic energy and piezoelectricity, this technology would convert movement (such as walking around or lifting your phone) into energy. Of course, when applied to other devices or other activities, there is great potential to be gained in this. When attached to exercise equipment, transportation vehicles and clothing, the technology would be able to gather chunks and bits of electricity that can be stored and used by small electronic devices such as smart phones.

Getting energy from movement gives the technology plenty of sources as we humans love to move about in our lives. If attached to a small device on our arms or legs, the technology would have the benefit of being able to use the excess energy we generate while at work or at play. It can even be attached to devices that are perpetually in motion such as cars and bicycle wheels for powering small things like signal lights and others. In a children’s playground, the technology can be used on swings and merry-go-rounds as it generates power to be used for park lights in the evening.

Of course, charging by this method would never give you a full charge even after a while day of running around, but being able to convert some of that energy would still be useful in the long run.

So far, experts are not expecting to see this technology actually being applied anytime soon. While the concept can be quite helpful, the actual technology itself is far from perfect with current energy conversion rates being a little too low to support commercial distribution.

Get to read more about the new technology patent from Nokia at Stuff TV.

Nokia Nokia-Self-Charging-Battery

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.

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