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Showing posts with label Operating Systems. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Operating Systems. Show all posts

Microsoft kills Nokia X Android phones, lays off 18,000 people

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced today in an email to employees that the company is preparing to layoff a total of 18,000 people within the next year.





Additionally, Stephen Elop, chief of Microsoft devices, also announced that the Nokia X Android project is over. Future Nokia X designs and products will be shifted to Windows Phone devices. He notes that the company will make the shift immediately, but support and sales for existing Nokia X products will remain.

There's no further information on what's the destiny of the recently announced Nokia X2. It's an existing product technically, so it should go on sale, but given the new developments Microsoft might as well cancel it. After all, we doubt anyone will be interested in buying into the platform now that it's officially pronounced dead.

Here's an excerpt from Elop's email.


In addition to the portfolio already planned, we plan to deliver additional lower-cost Lumia devices by shifting select future Nokia X designs and products to Windows Phone devices. We expect to make this shift immediately while continuing to sell and support existing Nokia X products

.



Out of the total of 18,000 planned job cuts, the Nokia Devices and Services unit will lose 12,500 people. Each one of them will be notified over the next six months and will receive a severance package. Those 12,500 jobs are comprising of both factory workers and IT professionals.

Satya Nadella said that the workforce reductions are dictated by the need of work simplification and strategic alignment with the Nokia Devices and Services integration.

Microsoft's phone engineering efforts are expected to be concentrated in Salo, Finland (for future, high-end Lumia products) and Tampere, Finland (for more affordable devices).

SourceSource (2)


Windows Phone 8 supports 128GB microSD cards

SanDisk has announced the availability of the world’s first 128GB microSD a few weeks ago at the MWC in Barcelona. It is the world’s highest capacity microSDXC card. But is your device even accepting 128GB memory cards?



Well, if you own a WP8-running Nokia Lumia 1520, then you can insert and use such card.

A user from the WP Central forum called NoRomBasic has tested SanDisk’s latest breakthrough – the128GB microSD card – and it was fully compatible with a Nokia Lumia 1520. This means Windows Phone 8 supports cards up to 128GB capacity.

Even though the OS may know how to use such a big microSD card, some smartphone-specific requirements still may apply, so if you have another WP handset make sure you double check before you fork out the cash.

Source | Via

Nokia X family official videos are out

Nokia’s X family of Android smartphones are headlining today’s morning at the MWC 2014. To get people more familiar with the X, X+ and XL, the Finns have launched an official hands-on video where the company details the most important features of the phones.





The trio of Nokia X smartphones are built on top of the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) and feature an interface similar to the Windows Phone 8 one. There’s Nokia Glance Screen, which gives you information of the time and pending notifications without the need to unlock the phone.


As you’ll see on the video, Nokia X, which will be available in six colors, runs Android like a champ and everything runs quite well. However, don’t expect to see anything Google on it, as Nokia and Microsoft have preloaded Skype, OneCloud, Nokia HERE Maps.


The Nokia X+ boasts more RAM than the Nokia X and as a result, the user interface runs a bit smoother. Nokia’s task switcher is based on cards that stack on top of one another, so its easy to switch between apps.


Finally, the Nokia XL with its 5″ WVGA display is the largest of the lot. At the back, it packs an 5MP camera with LED flash. Nokia boasts the phones as super affordable starting at €89, €99, €109 for the Nokia X, Nokia X+ and Nokia XL, respectively.


Check out their performance on camera below.
Also, here’s a couple of Nokia X advertisements to get you even more excited.

BBM coming to Nokia Lumia [Update: And Nokia X]

Nokia has taken to the stage at the MWC 2014 and the announcements are coming in thick and fast. One of the first announcements is some new apps for the Lumia platform, including BBM for Lumia.



BBM or BlackBerry Messenger has traditionally been limited to BlackBerry devices until it was made available on iOS and Android last year. Now BBM will also be available on Lumia devices, bringing it to an even wider audience. The app will be available ‘in the coming months’.

Update: BBM will also be available on the new Nokia X series phones, but that is not that big a deal since BlackBerry already has an Android app.

Source

Android-powered Nokia XL is official, costs €109

Much to everyone's surprise, Nokia announced a third addition to the Nokia X family - the 5" Nokia XL.



The phone is made of plastic and at the back there's a 5MP snapper with LED flash. At the front, there's a 2MP camera perfect for Skype calls.

The Nokia XL+ is powered by a 1GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 chipset with 768MB of RAM and 4GB of internal storage, which is expandable via the on-board microSD card slot (up to 32GB).

Nokia also throws in 1-month free of Skype premium for every Nokia X-family customer. Users will also get 10GB of free storage to the OneDrive cloud service for storing their files online.



The Nokia XL will be available in early Q2 for €109. The phone will start making its debut in growing markets, but Stephen Elop didn't specify which ones.

Nokia announces Android running Nokia X and Nokia X+

Nokia announced its first Android-app running smartphones - the Nokia X and Nokia X+. The phones pack a 4" LCD display and come with Nokia and Microsoft app preloaded.



The Nokia X, X+ and XL are powered by a 1GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 8225 chipset with 512MB of RAM and 4GB of internal storage. Happily, it's expandable via the microSD card slot and supports up to 32GB cards.

The Nokia X and X+ feature a 4" 800x480 IPS LCD capacitive touch display making up for a pixel density of 233ppi. However, the Nokia X+ and XL get a bump in RAM to 768MB.

At the back of the Nokia X and X+, there's a 3MP fixed focus camera with both phones weighing 129 grams and pack 1500mAh battery. It's good for 10.5 hours of 3G talk time and have a maximum standby time of 17 days. Both phones are also capable of maximum music playback of up to 26 hours, while video playback is rated at 8.4 hours before the battery needs a recharge.



The Nokia X features the signature Nokia Glance Screen. A swipe to the right reveals a list of installed apps, and another one gets you to fastlane. You can reorganize the tiles similarly to Windows Phone 8 UI. They are resizable as well and the larger the tiles get, the more information they display.

Unsurprisingly, the phone doesn't have the Google Play Services installed, so the Play Store isn't available on the Nokia X or Nokia X+. However, Stephen Elop highlighted that users can take advantage of the Nokia store for Android apps as well as the popular Yandex Store.

Microsoft considers bringing Android apps to Windows and Windows Phone

According to a report in The Verge, Microsoft is considering bringing support for Android applications to Windows and Windows Phone. Planning for the radical move is said to be ongoing and in early stages.



If materialized, the shift in strategy will aim to counter the lack of popular apps available on Microsoft’s OS platforms. Despite featuring mainstream titles such as Flipboard and Instagram, Windows Phone still lacks many of the popular iOS and Android apps and games.

Microsoft threw a lot of efforts in luring developers to create apps for Windows Phone. However, the OS is still well behind iOS and Android as their choice of platform.

To make the process work, Microsoft will need to make installing Android apps on Windows Phone an easy exercise. BlueStacks – a company which enables users to run Android apps in Windows environment might be the key factor on this instance.

In addition to increasing the WP market share and device shipments, Android support will also help Microsoft raise the profile of, and build consumer base for its enterprise and cloud services such asOneDrive. The upcoming Nokia X will employ similar tactics as well.

Everything considered, a final decision on the matter will be left to the newly appointed CEO of MicrosoftSatya Nadella.

Source

Nokia X A110 photo gives us first peek at new UI

For a company that purposefully steered away from Android, Nokia sure is making a lot of fuss about its upcoming Android phone.

The device in question, the Nokia X A110, was caught in China. It's supposed to join the Asha line and it looks the part – it has a single back button below the screen. That's because the A110 will run a customized version of Android.


Nokia X A110 spy photos

The UI certainly looks quite different – obviously inspired by Windows Phone's live tiles. The Store shortcut will lead to an separate app repository (not the Play Store) but so far little is known about it.

Nokia will also be replacing Google's Maps with its own HERE suite and the Nokia X A110 will come with a free navigation license for one country. Nokia also has its own music service, so we'll probably be seeing that too.


Heavily customized Android with Nokia services replacing Google's

Anyway, this is clearly the dual-SIM version of the phone, but there will be a single-SIM option too. The price target is under CNY 700 ($115 / €85), and there should be a minimal price difference between the single and dual-SIM models.

Meanwhile, Nokia's Weibo account posted another teaser image – this time it features a UFO (with the ubiquitous green X) abducting a puppy. Hopefully, the idea behind these images will be explained when Nokia unveils the X at the Mobile World Congress in less than a week.

Source 1 (in Chinese) • Source 2 (in Chinese) | Via

Windows Phone 8.1 Action Center demoed on video



Windows Phone 8.1 is expected to go official in April during the annual BUILD conference. Meanwhile, thanks to Microsoft's WP8.1 SDK, various screenshots and videos have gave us a taste of the upcoming update.



WP 8.1 is expected to bring the long awaited Action Center, Cortana voice assistant, Swype keyboard, better multi-tasking, burst shots for the camera, Internet Explorer 11 with password manager, minor UI enhancements, etc.

Today, after various leaked screenshots we finally get to see the Action Center in action in a live video. There aren't many surprises here, but then again there's no need to reinvent the wheel.

April isn't that far away, so it won't be long before we see the WP8.1 update go official.


Source | Via

Nokia Black update rolling out for Lumia 520



Nokia tested the 512MB RAM waters for the Black update with theLumia 625 and now it's rolling out the software for the most popular Windows Phone device out there, the Lumia 520.

Nokia Black builds on top of Windows Phone GDR3 and brings various improvements. From GDR3, it gets Bluetooth 4.0 LE support and the ability to close apps from the app switcher menu, there's a rotation lock too.

From the Nokia goodies, there's a new drive mode and Nokia Storyteller. The Lumia 520 already has the Nokia Camera app. Since the device only has 512MB RAM, it will miss out on Nokia Refocus and Nokia Beamer (this is why it's so important that the Lumia 525 has 1GB RAM). Glance Screen will not be available either.

Anyway, you can check if the Nokia Black update is available for your Lumia 520 for your region and carrier by going into Settings > Phone update or check this list. The update is still listed as Pending review for many carriers.

Update: MyNokiaBlog reports that the Lumia 520 and 720 are getting double tap to wake with the Black update, even though it wasn't available with Amber.

Source | Via

Screenshots reveal Nokia Normandy user interface



Fresh Nokia Normandy information made the rounds on Twitter thanks to @evleaks. The latest pieces of the puzzle are a couple of screenshots revealing the potential user interface of the phone. With live photos and press renders out and about, the Normandy looks to be a real deal after all.

The screenshots reveal what looks to be homescreen and notification area of the Normandy. The left screenshot is the homescreen, which is reminiscent of the Windows Phone 8 live tiles. At first, we were suspicious if this is Android at all, but the BBM app icon gave it away. The tiles look to be configurable and can either take a third of the screen (three on a row), or two thirds, like the Photo tile on the third row.

The notification area, which is on the right side of the photo, is a cross between standard Android notification area and the app launcher. There are alerts for the alarm clock, calendar, Skype, missed calls, gallery and SMS. In a true Android fashion, some of them are expandable, too, like the calendar, gallery, phone and SMS texts. They also give you quick action shortcuts with contextual menus for each notification.

Below the photo @evleaks states that there are "two ways to interact with Normandy", which could mean that those are the only two screens from the whole Android users are going to get. That's highly unlikely though, as it looks like those are two different views of the same thing - the homescreen with tile and list modes.

You can also see that the Nokia Normandy is going to be available in a dual SIM version, as shown in the status bar.

Source

Nokia Lumia Black software update features overview

There’s a hands-on video showing off the features of the Nokia Lumia Black software update on the inter-webs. In it, a Nokia rep goes over all of the new things your Nokia Lumia smartphone can do.


The first feature they show off is the new and improved “glance mode”. There are now new notifications that you can see on the ‘always on’ screen of Lumia smartphones, without having to wake your phone.





There’s also an updated Nokia Camera app, that allows for three shooting modes: Video Recording, Nokia Camera, and Nokia Pro Camera. With the Pro Camera mode, you can fidget with light sensitivity and other camera settings more in-depth, as well as get a preview of the photo before you actually take it.


Another new intriguing app as part of the update is Nokia Storyteller. This basically groups the photos you’ve taken chronologically, and then displays where the photos have been taken on a map, all over the world.


The Nokia Beamer application has been updated as well, which allows you to share your screen with other Lumia devices on an internet connected TV or computer screen.

Below is a list of the phones that are compatible with the Lumia Black software update.

•Lumia 1020
•Lumia 925
•Lumia 920
•Lumia 820
•Lumia 720
•Lumia 625
•Lumia 620
•Lumia 520



Source


Nokia Lumia Black update is now seeding worldwide

Nokia’s long-awaited Lumia Black update is now seeding to devices worldwide. The first Nokia smartphones to get the treatment are the Lumia 1020 and Lumia 925. More Nokia Lumia models will receive the update in the coming weeks.



The Nokia Lumia Black update brings a host of new features to the Finnish company’s Windows Phone range. They include the ability to organize apps into folders, improved Glance screen, Bluetooth 4.0 support, and Nokia Beamer. The latter is available to devices with at least 1GB of RAM. It allows users to share documents and any type of multimedia content to any HTML5 capable display by scanning a QR code.

Naturally, the already stellar imaging capabilities of the Nokia Lumia range have been further enhanced by the latest update. Previously available only for PureView devices, Nokia Camera has been brought to the rest of the Lumia range. Nokia Storyteller will also be preloaded.

Even more importantly, Nokia Lumia Black update brings improved imaging algorithms. They are said drastically improve the image quality, particularly on the Nokia Lumia 1020.

You can check out an official Nokia video of the Lumia Black update below.



If you are a Nokia Lumia 1020 or Lumia 925 user, you can find out how to update your device over here.

Source

Nokia waves final goodbye to MeeGo and Symbian

Nokia announced in October it will be ending all developer support for MeeGo and Symbian on January 1, 2014. Well, the deadline has passed and the Ovi Store won't accept any more apps.





Nokia announced the end of the era via the official Symbian Team account on Twitter.





In case you've missed the news, the dropped MeeGo/Symbian support and app publishing means developers will be no longer capable of pushing new apps or updates in the Ovi Store. They will continue to receive revenue from their apps, of course, and all currently available apps in the Store will remain available for download.


So, if you are interested the Ovi Store is still open and your device isn't rendered worthless just yet. But maybe, just maybe, it's about time you jumped ship.


Source | Via

GDR3 with Lumia Black now seeding on AT&T Lumia 1020

Microsoft and Nokia has just launched the GDR3+Lumia Black firmware update for the Lumia 1020 cameraphone on the AT&T network. The whole process requires downloading five Microsoft and one Nokia update and will take a while before the installation is over.

The Windows Phone GDR3 firmware build is 3051.40000.1346.0001, while the OS version goes at 8.0.10517.150. The update is available on all flavors of the Nokia Lumia 1020.



Windows Phone 8 GDR3 update brings option to turn the automatic rotation on/off, option to close apps from the app switching interface, Driving Mode, tethering over Bluetooth, better storage management, custom ringtone support for messages, and new accessibility options.

The Lumia Black update adds two new color options for the Glance Screen (green and blue), Glance Screen notifications, Bluetooth 4.0 LE support, RAW camera support (DNG format), and new camera processing algorithm (same as 808 PureView) for better white balance and noise reduction.

We bet the international Lumia 1020 GDR3+Black update is just around the corner and will probably launch next month.

Source

WP 8.1 Blue to premiere on Nokia Goldfinger and Moneypenny

While Nokia and Microsoft are yet to roll out the GDR3 update with Lumia Black customizations, the rumor mill is already looking ahead for the next year's WP 8.1 Blue release.

The WP 8.1 Blue has been in the rumorland for a while and all reports so far suggest it will finally bring notification center, better multi-tasking and a Siri-like Cortana voice assistant. The WP 8.1 is expected to be announced at the upcoming MWC in Barcelona early next year.

The famous @evleaks tipster struck again today with another juicy rumor - the upcoming WP 8.1 Blue will debut on two Lumia devices codenamed Goldfinger and Moneypenny. There are no specifications of either of those provided just yet, but it is believed the Goldfinger will be the flagship model with the Nokia's long developed "3D Touch" technology.





The 3D Touch is something similar to Galaxy S4's Air Gestures, but it will be much more advanced. Different dedicated hardware sensor will track and recognize your hand movements for advanced gesture controls.

Will that be enough to finally make the smartphone game the three horse-race Elop was talking about when Nokia switched to WP? Only time will tell, we guess.

Source 1 | Source 2 | Via

Software updates for Lumia 920, 820, and 620 on the way

Three of the fairly recent Nokia devices running Windows Phone, which include the flagship Lumia 920, as well as the Lumia 820 and Lumia 620, are set to receive software updates within the coming weeks.



The Nokia Lumia 920 and Lumia 820 firmware will be updated to version 1232.5957.1308.00xx, which will have the usual stability and performance fixes, as well as improved automatic brightness adjustment, and a fix for the occasional screen blanking during a call which some users were experiencing.

The Nokia Lumia 620 will be getting a bit more with its 1030.6407.1308.00xx update, including improved touchscreen functions, better voice quality over Bluetooth headsets, and enhanced camera performance when flash is used.

The update should roll out in phases within the next couple of weeks, so keep an eye out for notifications on your device.

Source | Via

Press image of Nokia Lumia 928 for Verizon Wireless leaks out

A press image of the previously tipped, long-awaited Nokia Lumia 928 for Verizon Wireless has made the rounds on Twitter. The Big Red's upcoming Windows Phone 8 flagship will likely be officially released by the end of this month.



As its name mildly suggests, the Nokia Lumia 928 will be closely related to the AT&T exclusive Lumia 920 - it is expected to share the same CPU and display. The Verizon offering however, will one-up its AT&T counterpart by packing a xenon flash in addition to the standard LED one. It is also expected to ditch the 920's polycarbonate unibody for an aluminum outfit.

Source

Windows Phone 7.8 update is now back seeding

Owners of older Windows Phones will be happy to know that Microsoft is finally seeding the latest Windows phone 7.8 update for their devices.

The Windows Phone 7.8 update was previously halted due to bugs with the newly introduced Live Tiles on the homescreen. Users were reporting poor battery life due to a constantly active internet connection by the active tiles on the homescreen.



It seems that now these issues have been patched up. If you have previously updated your phone to WP 7.8, then consider this a bug-fixing release for your phone.

The current Windows Phone 7.5 users however will finally be able to enjoy some new visual features, carried over from Windows Phone 8. The official WP 7.8 release log mentions the Live Titles, some new UI colors, and an updated lockscreen.

Source | Via

Nokia 808 PureView and 701 get a firmware update

If you thought the Symbian platform was already dead, you though wrong. Nokia has just pushed a "Telephony update" for the Symbian OS on Nokia 701 and 808 PureView.

The update is small in size and you can get it over-the-air.



According to the log, the update is called Telephony update and brings "quality improvements". There are no new features to come with it, but the fact that Nokia pushed it probably means you better get it. It will most probably fix those network-switching glitches that some people were experiencing.Source

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