Android powered Nokia phones are coming!

Beyond Nokia’s acquisition of the Withings wearable company last month, Nokia are in the market for making smartphones again (well almost)…

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Nokia acquires wearable company Withings for $191 Million

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GeekOnGadgets Editorial: So Microsoft thinks it can take a break from Windows Phones…

Yesterday at Microsoft’s annual Build conference, where all the upcoming goodies, feature updates and even new products are either announced or teased; Microsoft was eerily silent on the mobile end of the platform. When pressed for details about Windows 10 Mobile’s future, Terry Myerson admitted that it’s not the focus of the company at the moment, essentially saying that they were taking a break from working on the mobile platform for a while.

Read on below for our full editorial thoughts, over from GeekOnGadgets.

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HERE Maps support for Windows 10 to end, Microsoft to bring improved Drive mode to MS Maps

 

Last August, Nokia sold the mapping side over to Audi/BMW/Mercedes so they can focus on Networks and new technologies.

Nokia Maps then Ovi Maps, then Nokia Maps now HERE Maps was a thing intrinsically connected to Nokia now MS ‘Lumia’ phones. Remember that bought Navteq for 8 billion dollars. It was one of the main decisions behind Nokia not going Android and eventually going WP? When Nokia’s D&S got sold to MS, we thought that HERE would just always be a part of Lumia but that may not be the case. . Pino says.

we made the HERE apps compatible with Windows 10 by using a workaround that will no longer be effective after June 30, 2016. To continue offering the HERE apps for Windows 10 would require us to redevelop the apps from the ground up, a scenario that led to the business decision to remove our apps from the Windows 10 store.

http://360.here.com/2016/03/15/important-information-about-here-apps-on-windows-phone/

This means the HERE apps will no longer work on devices running Windows 10 mobile after June 30, 2016. To prepare for this change, we have also decided to remove the HERE apps from the Windows 10 store on March 29, 2016.

Microsoft will still get to use HERE’s mapping data.

And a member of the Microsoft team says there’ll be improved driving mode from their app.

 

Their Windows Phone 8 app will remain as it’s deeply integrated in that OS. Folks on reddit are speculating why things are changing. Perhaps now that HERE isn’t Nokia they don’t have the same level of access.

HERE on my Sammy Android is really good. I use a mixture of Waze/gMaps/HERE. For journeys where I know the address, or long journeys, HERE is a must. It simply has the best UI for navigation. gMaps is good for additional POI and Waze is better for finding quicker routes (especially when trying to avoid traffic at work). HERE Maps on Windows 10 was nice in that I could simply pin places to my homescreen, but there’s a work around to do that on Android. Speaking of work arounds, every now and again there are post that indicate apps that have been around on other platforms ‘being worked on’ for Windows based phones. It’s still all a bit sad that years on the platform is still treated as a bottom-class citizen.

I haven’t really used W10 since my 1520 refuses to update past a broken version of W10 from last year. HERE transit was such a lifesaver at Uni.

Source: HERE

Via: 1 | 2

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Deal Alert: Microsoft Band 2 for only $138

As if the Microsoft Band 2 wasn’t already a great device, not to mention the recent update Microsoft just pushed out. Amazon have just discounted it to an all-time low of only $138. Which is a huge discount on the original listing price of $250, or even the current sale price of $175. To put that in perspective the original Microsoft Band is till selling for ~$100 on most sites, so this is definitely a great deal.

Microsoft Band 2 $138.00

Currently the $138 price is only showing for the Medium sized Band 2, but if that size doesn’t suit you, you can always walk into any Microsoft store and replace it for a different size, no questions asked.

Anyone else jumping on this stellar deal?

 

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Video: Nokia OZO promo with Samsung VR

An always interesting turn of events as Nokia’s OZO promo here shows it being viewed with Samsung VR.

We took to the streets of Barcelona to share how virtual reality feels like. We captured some fun reactions to experiences shot with the Nokia OZO and can’t wait to share more of them with you!

On the positive side, OZO isn’t about being brand specific but about Nokia OZO working with others.

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End of an Era: MixRadio Cancelled.

Sad, but true. Line Messaging, the service that purchased the MixRadio service from Microsoft has officially ended the service. Stating in a press release that the service was not making them any money, and faced many financial challenges.

Farewell MixRadio. I think the song below is fitting:

Read on below for the full press release, as well as a history of MixRadio’s transitions through the Ovi, Nokia and Lumia eras.

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The Microsoft Lumia 950 XL: a Bleak Review

After a few weeks of having the Lumia 950 XL I finally got around to finishing up the video review, it definitely wasn’t an easy task. Not because I was overwhelmed with work, simply because I really couldn’t bring myself to actually use the phone and review it; and that is honestly the essence of the Lumia 950 XL’s problems, it has so little appeal that I really couldn’t be motivated to even try it.

Check out the video below for the full review (as well as a quick history lesson in Greek mythology).

Truth be told, the most fascinating part about the Lumia 950 XL is certainly the camera, 20 MP shooter with a triple LED lens and Zeiss lens. A camera that takes some great photos, especially when paired with the rich capture and manual adjustment of flash exposure (it even edges out the LG V10’s camera too). The problem is the camera is one of the few redeeming features of the phone (in the face of way too many obstacles). The Iris scanner is slow, and unnatural to use (to properly unlock you need to raise it to eye level about a foot away from your face; making it absolutely ridiculous to unlock while talking to someone, or in public). Continuum is a great concept, once again however it defeats logic, the idea of being able to edit your spreadsheets and powerpoints on any screen anywhere you go is great. In reality though the idea of taking along the continuum dock, a mouse a keyboard and 2-3 cables (one to connect the Lumia to the dock, the dock’s power source, and possibly and HDMI cord) is ridiculous. Once again, similar to the idea of the iris scanner, it’s easier to grab your laptop or tablet and get the job done rather than buying these accessories (the dock alone is $99, the foldable keyboard another $99 and the mouse $60) and carrying them with you along with all the cables.

Overall the Lumia 950 XL is an exercise in futility, the OS lags and stutters in most places, not to mention the general lack of apps that will probably ever be filled at this point; meaning unfortunately the Lumia 950 XL is a very hard phone to recommend, to anyone, ever.

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Video: Nokia – OUR VISION

 

A promo from Nokia about their vision as a company, designed for people, distinctively Nokia.

An introduction to Nokia: who we are, our purpose and what we do.
Nokia is a global leader in the technologies that connect people and things.

Powered by the innovation of Bell Labs and Nokia Technologies, the company is at the forefront of creating and licensing the technologies that are increasingly at the heart of our connected lives.

 

BTW what is that in the thumbnail?

 

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GeekOnGadgets Review: The LG V10

Over at GeekOnGadgets, we’ve finished our review of the LG v10, a phone that’s gathered a lot of interest, especially here on MyNokiaBlog; where it seems some of our readers are eyeing the device due to a lackluster Lumia 950 XL performance (the 950 XL review should be up very soon). Anyways read on below for our review of the LG V10, as well as the full video review:

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8 inch Windows 10 Mobile Phone

If you you thought 6 or a 7 inch phone was too big, well check out this goliath. This is going no where near any pockets. But it’s something that actually interests me as I’ve wanted a Windows 10 Mobile TABLET at around 8 inches so I could bring that to work and have an ultraportable Windows 10 with me. But this is also a phone.

The specs are alright I guess given the fact that it’s only $199.

Source: WC

 

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Cancelled Nokia #SmartWatch Prototype

Another one of those coulda/woulda beens – it’s a Nokia SmartWatch prototype. I still haven’t bitten the bullet myself and probably wouldn’t wanna opt for a quadrilateral one anyway as I think the circular watches just look a lot more stylish.

What’s it even running on? Also is it me or does the display look LCD (vs AMOLED – more useful if Nokia used their always on sleep screen thingy).

Cancelled #NOKIA #smartwatch prototype… https://t.co/DCXkKGvQ6b pic.twitter.com/KYpusuP2WK

— Steve Hemmerstoffer (@stagueve) January 4, 2016

Cheers Alvester for the tip!

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Nokia in control of Alcatel-Lucent

This morning facebook’s Memories feature highlighted a post from 5 years ago, a little package from Suomi, Finland. How swiftly things have changed since then, but Nokia’s still making news in other ways. Today, Nokia’s move to take over Alcatel-Lucent (at a cost of 17 BILLION USD) becomes the biggest transaction in Finland’s corporate history.

Back in 2013, Nokia took over their network partner, Siemens (after getting a cash injection from selling D&S). Last year, HERE got sold of to the big German auto-manufacturers, thus focusing Nokia’s attention to just advanced technologies pursuits and of course, the network business.

Source: Reuters

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Microsoft Lumia 950 XL Vs LG V10: Fight!

With two 5.7″ monster flagships from LG and Microsoft, it only makes sense to pit them against each other and compare what they both bring to the table, check out the full comparison and my thoughts on each aspect in the video below:

In terms of design, as mentioned before, the V10 is the clear winner; a quick glance at the images below reflect which phone has more appeal to it, and the silicone grippy back of the V10 clinches it versus the plastic cover of the Lumia 950 XL.

When it comes to the display, both devices have a 2K 5.7″ display, the V10 an IPS LCD, while the 950 XL sticks with the Amoled screen Microsoft have been using for a while now. The Amoled on the 950 XL is great for getting true blacks, as well as running glance screen in the background without sucking power, however Android in general and LG’s great LCD screen have a more vibrant and colorful look to them. That is all of course without mentioning the V10’s secondary ticker display up top near the front facing cameras, which provides great quick access to shortcuts, apps, other toggles. The Cameras however is where things get a bit tricky, the Lumia 950 XL has a 20 MP zeiss lens, alongside a triple LED flash at its disposal, paired with a f/1.9 aperture, while the V10 (has the same lens as the G4) with a 16 MP f/1.8 lens, laser auto-focus and LG’s “color spectrum sensor”. Thanks to the Lumia’s flash control, where you can determine the flash exposure after taking the shot, the camera isn’t afraid to be a bit flash “trigger-happy” cancelling out the white-washing affect of the flash in post-processing, which leads to some great closeup and indoor images for when you only need a tiny bit of light to get the perfect shot.

Expect a full camera comparison soon (hopefully). In terms of new features and technologies, neither phone is short-handed in that area. The V10 comes with a secondary ticker display as well as two front facing cameras, one narrow angled and one wide angled (although to be fair the phone would’ve done just fine with only the wide angle one). The Lumia 950 XL on the other hand comes with Windows 10 Mobile, which brings the power of the PC to your phone, thanks to Continuum, as well Iris unlocking thanks to Windows Hello, and a future proof USB Type-C connector (the V10 sticks to standard Micro-USB).

Although both devices come with plenty of “interesting features” the Lumia 950 XL focuses on new ideas and technologies, while the V10 works on enhancing and playing with ideas already available.

*Note: for biometrics the V10 has a fingerprint scanner built in to the rear facing power button

So which of these two flagships would you prefer? Given the similar scree size and great cameras in both, it will most likely boil down to design and OS choice in most cases, sound off below! 

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How to remove the back cover of the Lumia 950 XL & insert the SIM, SD Card & Battery

If there’s one thing I’ve learned as a phone reviewer (and surprised by) it’s how incredibly popular how to guides on removing the back cover of the phone are, (My Lumia 520 back removal guide has over 110K views, and the Lumia 625 one has over 95K). Regardless the Lumia 950 XL has a removable back cvoer that you need to get beneath to pop in your SIM, SD card and battery, so here’s a quick video showing the how to.

*You’ve been warned your nails will curse you for this, it really is pretty difficult. *

After popping off the back the battery actually slides out from beneath the raised camera hump/platform, meaning the camera looks like it’s in a very vulnerable position; beyond  that however it’s smooth sailing popping in the SIM & SD card as standard. Hope someone found this useful!

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Video & Gallery: Lumia 950 XL Unboxing + Continuum Dock & More

The folks over at Lumia Voices hooked us with a trial of the Lumia 950 XL as well as some pretty awesome accessories to get the most out of it, including the powerful Continuum dock which brings the power of a PC to your phone. Check out the unboxing video below, as well as the gallery; then head over to GeekOnGadgets to read our full first impressions in detail.

http://geekongadgets.com/2015/12/31/special-lumia-950-xl-continuum-essentials-unboxing-lumiatrials/

In terms of design and looks, there really isn’t much worth mentioning about the Lumia 950 XL; calling it “just a phone” would be going easy on it. The design is a bland as it can get, hardly worth a mention (as you can tell from the video above), and to be brutally honest if I was going to comment about it, it would likely be to mention the “creaky” build quality that gives it the feel of a $150 phone, not a $600 one. Best summed up in the tweet below:

The Lumia 950 XL is the Ann/Egg (from aArested Development) of phones.

— Ali Al-Qudsi (@AliQudsi) December 30, 2015

Read the full first impressions HERE

…

[cincopa AwPAgI98nXY-]

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Continuum Tips and Tricks: Change the desktop background

 

Hello MNB Readers!

Continuing our Continuum Tips and Tricks episodes, we will now demonstrate how to change the desktop background when using Continuum for phones.

The video also contains a few tips about the types of backgrounds that may work best, horizontal vs vertical backgrounds and a few minutes of rambling about why the Windows Hero image may be important when using Continuum for phones.

Roll that beautiful bean footage:

Word of the day in the video: Personalize

Say it with me now! per·son·al·ize

(I’ll eventually say it right)

Speaking of backgrounds (also known as wallpapers), Windows Central has a nice article that helps us gather the Windows Spotlight backgrounds if you have clicked “I want more” after clicking “Like What You See?” on your computer’s lock-screen.

You may have to enable Windows spotlight on your Windows 10 computer by accessing the personalization settings as pictured below. After enabling Windows Spotlight, you can favorite the images and collect them via Windows Central’s steps in the article.

How to save Windows Spotlight lock-screen images

Once saved, you can then copy them to your phone or OneDrive and use them as backgrounds for Continuum for phones as described in my video.

What’s your opinion of desktop backgrounds in general. Do you go for solid colors, buildings, landscapes, people, plants or animals? What is your current desktop or smartphone background? Where do you get your backgrounds from and do you mind sharing them? Do you make your own desktop backgrounds or have any favorite apps or sites to build a collection from? Please share you thoughts in the comments section.

Have a great day everyone, be safe and Happy New Year to all!!!

 

Demitrius

 

 

 

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Lumia 950 now free with At&t contract via Amazon (limited quantities)

Amazon have discounted the price of the Lumia 950 with a standard At&t contract to $0.00, meaning you save $150 off the At&t face price if you were to buy it directly from them. Currently the offer only appears to be for the black version of the device, with no sighting of the white on Amazon’s site.

For anyone considering the Lumia 950 this is a great deal, but be aware that as of posting this article there are only 6 left in stock, so act quickly.

Nokia Lumia 950, Black 32GB (AT&T)

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Microsoft’s Lumia “Honjo”/850 leaks online with front facing flash and metal trim

Earlier today a number of sources leaked a new Lumia from Microsoft code-named “Honjo” which could possibly be the Lumia 850 (cancelled or alive depending on who you ask). The phone appears to have a rather slim profile, paired with a metal trim (avialbale in gold, bronze, pink or black/grey), as well as a front facing flash and an iris scanner.

 

Read the full article over at GeekonGadgets or in the frame below

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Continuum Tips and Tricks: Episode 2 – How to use Continuum without buying an adapter

Dear MNB Readers!

Welcome to another episode of Continuum Tips and Tricks! I would like to demonstrate how users can use Continuum for phones without having to buy a Miracast Wireless Display Adapter (or wired Continuum Dock) by utilizing devices that you may already own.

Continuum utilizes a technology called Miracast (my wife says it sounds like I am saying Meerkat!) to connect to devices wirelessly. The best thing about Miracast is that it is a Wi-Fi standards technology, aka, not owned by Google, Microsoft or any tech company and therefore, should work with most devices that have Miracast hardware built in. This keeps companies from limiting device or software compatibility (hint: Chromecast only works with certain Android devices, certain Android versions and certain apps since Chromecast doesn’t use Miracast technology).

From the official Wi-Fi organization website:

Miracast is an industry-wide solution, so the technology works well across devices, regardless of brand. Connections are easy to set up and use since the devices choose the appropriate settings automatically. Miracast supports premium content—like Blu-ray feature films, live television shows and sports, or any other copy-protected premium content—allowing you to watch what you want, where you want.

Since Miracast is a standards driven technology, some devices that you may already own have the ability to receive or transmit data (images, videos, sound and more) via Miracast from device to device and this is where the ability to enjoy Continuum, without having to spend extra money, comes in:

Back in time:

Once upon a time, a wired connection was the ONLY affordable way to mirror the content of  a device. Here are a couple of videos I made years ago of Symbian and Maemo devices using a wired connection to mirror the display to a larger screen.

I actually still have the 3.5mm AV cable from Nokia that came with my N900. Those are some of the best built cables that I have ever used and I still wish more devices supported the non-HD connection as not everyone has a HDMI enabled display. We all know that new sub HD connections aren’t going to happen though as we are firmly in the HD+ digital age now. The wired, sub-HD (VGA) video out was fantastic for the time but I sure am thankful for the ultra-fast, high-definition, wireless Miracast Wi-Fi standard that we have today.

Do any of you regularly wirelessly connect your mobile display to a second display? If so, what device do you use? Do you see Miracast being useful and if so, what ways would you or do you use Miracast? If you currently do not have a device that enables you to wirelessly display content from your mobile device, what wireless display device would you buy?

Do you prefer a wired or wireless Continuum setup and regardless of your choice, what are the benefits and disadvantages of that choice?

As always, thank you for visiting MyNokiaBlog and have a great day!

Sincerely,

Demitrius Harris

 

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