10/09, 11:40am
Nokia ports Qt to Maemo 5, outs some Maemo 6 info
Nokia on Friday revealed early details of Maemo 6, its next-generation smartphone platform. The OS will be the first to natively support multi-touch and capacitive touchscreens and should finally put the Linux-based OS on par with modern platforms like iPhone or webOS. Until now, the software has depended on single-touch resistive (pressure-dependent) screens incapable of gestures or other more precise movements.
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10/09, 2:35am
Device sports an impressive UI and features list
Along with Nokia's Booklet 3G, Electronista at CTIA also had a chance to fondle the upcoming N900 smartphone. Despite criticisms of the predecessor, the N97, the N900 represents a fresh attempt for the company to edge ahead against its competitors in the smartphone arena.
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10/07, 10:30am
Android 2nd place in share in 3 years
Google's Android will be the second-largest smartphone platform in as little as three years, according to Gartner analyst Ken Dulaney estimated on Wednesday. While it trails today, the mobile OS is predicted to climb to 14.5 percent of the market, or about 76 million phones sold per year, by the end of 2012. As a consequence, it would whittle Symbian's market share down to 39 percent (203 million phones) and just slightly overtake the iPhone, which in this view would have 13.7 percent of the market or 71.5 million devices.
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09/11, 12:45pm
Nokia says no-customize story untrue
Nokia this morning reversed its seeming stance on excluding carrier customization from Maemo-based smartphones like the N900. Despite an executive claiming Nokia would at least partly follow the Android and iPhone models of giving less control to carriers over software in the OS, the company now says the argument is "simply incorrect" and that there are "many customization points" for carriers to alter the platform.
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09/09, 12:50pm
Nokia Maemo phones won't carry custom apps
Nokia will mirror Apple's approach to carrier software with all of its Maemo Linux-based smartphones, the company said on Wednesday. Rather than agree to include carrier-specific apps and modify the look of the OS to appease carriers, as it does with most of its Symbian phones, Nokia told Reuters it will insist that devices like the N900 come only with their default apps and interface. The choice is characterized as an attempt to focus on an ideal experience for the user and less an attempt to placate carriers.
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08/28, 5:15pm
Nokia World spoilers
Ahead of next week's Nokia World show, German site NokiaPort is claiming to have some news about the future of the world's largest handset-maker's future products. This includes a debut of two new series of devices, including the Cseries and Xseries, both of which the company trademarked earlier this summer. The first Xseries model will apparently be an updated version of the 5530 XpressMusic handset, with the addition of 3G network support. This indicates the XpressMusic line will be replaced by the Xseries-branded devices.
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08/27, 8:00am
Nokia N900 Official
Nokia this morning launched a new class of smartphone as its flagship. The promised N900 is a crossover between smartphones and Nokia's Internet tablets, and makes its biggest break in its change of operating system: although still a phone, the handset runs Nokia's latest Linux variant, not Symbian. Maemo 5 renders it one of the first smartphones to have true PC-like multitasking and not only lets it run "dozens" of app windows at once but gives it a simple, large dashboard for switching and closing apps.
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08/26, 8:25am
Nokia Maemo to Beat iPhone
Nokia is planning to dump Symbian for Linux as part of a concerted strategy to beat the iPhone, multiple sources said Wednesday. While the tips echo reports of the N900 using Maemo Linux for its interface instead of Symbian S60, Reuters now hears the shift is part of a larger strategy that will replace Symbian on many if not all high-end Nokia smartphones in the near future. The first fruits of the move are anticipated at next week's Nokia World show.
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08/24, 2:55pm
Nokia N900 Press Shot Leak
A single press shot of the Nokia N900 has been leaked that eliminates most doubts about the tablet's existence. The shot from BeGeek not only identifies the device but encompasses many of the assumed features of the tablet, including its use of Maemo instead of Symbian for the interface as well as its built-in phone functionality and a front video camera for two-way calls.
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08/24, 7:45am
Nokia Booklet 3G
Nokia on Monday entered the computer business in earnest with the Booklet 3G, its first PC of any kind and its first netbook. The system has some typical netbook specs, such as an unidentified Intel Atom chip and a 10-inch display, but aims to exploit Nokia's experiences with batteries and cellular technology. The Booklet is one of the longest-lasting netbooks and should last up to 12 hours on a charge, according to Nokia; it also has its namesake built-in 3G and GPS to give it an Internet connection and navigation when away from Wi-Fi, including the use of Ovi Maps.
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08/19, 5:05pm
Nokia N900 reviewed
Leaked images of a pre-production version of the Nokia N900 Internet tablet, known internally as RX-51, have prompted a review of a prototype unit to surface, confirming many of its specs and revealing a few new ones. For one, the tablet will run on an as yet unreleased version of the Linux-based Maemo operating system instead of its own Symbian S60. The photos also confirm that the device will have an 800x480 resolution resistive touchscreen, 32GB of storage onboard, be powered by an ARM Cortex A8 processor of unknown speed and sport a 5-megapixel camera. The N900 will also double as a cellphone, and is strong enough that it's suggested it could replace the N97 in Nokia's lineup.
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08/07, 5:55pm
Nokia T-Mobile Tablet FCC
Rumors of a Nokia 3G tablet for T-Mobile gained credibility today through an FCC entry for what may be that device. The posting shows a product likely too large to be a phone that uses the 1,700MHz AWS (Advanced Wireless Spectrum) band for its 3G, leaving only T-Mobile USA as the candidate for the hardware. Little else is shown about the device other than that its working RX-51 codename differs from the usual RM prefix given to Nokia handsets.
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07/20, 11:40am
Nokia C X and Booklet
Nokia is registering a number of trademarks that suggest a major effort to expand and relabel its phone lineup, as well as to introduce new types of devices. The company has filed for trademarks on the names Cseries and Xseries that imply two new phone lines. At present, its phones are divided into the Nseries media and Eseries work smartphones as well as its four-digit numerical devices like the 5800 XpressMusic.
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07/06, 10:00am
Nokia Denies Android Plans
Nokia on Monday tried to deflect rumors that it's developing an Android smartphone. A company spokesman said that there is "absolutely no truth" to the claim, which would have a touchscreen device appear in September at Nokia World. The representative maintained the company's official choice of Symbian for all its smartphones.
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07/05, 11:35pm
Nokia May Turn to Android
Nokia is breaking from Symbian and about to use Android for one of its next smartphones, according to industry sources. A touchscreen, smartphone-class device is claimed by the Guardian to be later in development and likely to be unveiled at Nokia World in September. Its features are unknown beyond the use of the Google platform.
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06/24, 10:30am
Nokia Atom Netbook Soon
The first fruits of the Intel-Nokia partnership could come within a matter of weeks, the Taiwan-area Commercial Times newspaper claimed today. Stating the rumor as fact, it insists that reports of Nokia netbooks are true and that a portable based on Intel Atom chips could come as soon as this summer. Its details aren't known, but Quanta would be contracted to build the computer.
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05/25, 9:30am
Nokia N900 Leak
Nokia's long-in-progress sequel to the N800 series tablet may largely be a more advanced version of the N97 smartphone, a leak on Monday hints. Possibly called the N900, MobileCrunch claims it would have a 3.5-inch touchscreen and a slide out (if non-tilting) QWERTY keyboard but would carry a much sharper 800x480 resolution, a faster TI OMAP processor and 1GB of memory thanks to a 768MB virtual memory cache. It would run the Linux-based Maemo OS instead of Symbian.
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05/19, 4:30pm
Nokia OS image leaked
The first image of the user interface of the operating system Nokia is developing for mobile devices has been leaked recently. The operating system, dubbed Maemo Harmattan, is due to come to a new generation of gadgets by the end of 2010, and is expected to be a refined version of software used for the company's existing Internet tablets. Evidently designed for widescreens, the home screen pictured here scrolls vertically, showing a number of user-selectable widgets.
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05/15, 3:25pm
Intel and Nokia Make oFono
Intel and Nokia have been discovered as teaming on a new, Linux-based operating system for mobile phones. Labeled as the oFono project, the effort is separate from both companies' usual Linux projects and is meant to provide an open-source alternative in the same vein as Android. The foundation would be minimal but heavily extensible, letting companies add their own network stacks and other features rather than requiring oFono to supply most on its own.
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04/24, 4:05pm
Nokia N810 Ubuntu and Qt
Nokia today revealed to Ars Technica that it will soon add support for new apps and also a new version of Linux to its Nseries tablets, such as the N810. Following the company's acquisition earlier this year of Trolltech, the Finnish device maker now says the Linux-based Maemo operating system on the Nseries will support apps written for the Qt framework; this will permit not just apps written for Qt on other versions of Linux but also cross-platform apps. Eventually, a single program should work with both Symbian phones (such as Nokia's N95) and Maemo devices, the company explains.
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