News

Recap: My NYC Trip with Nokia as they launched the Lumia 900 loud and proud at Times Square

by Mike Macias 04.08.2012

Nokia and I have quite a history that goes back many years. I’ve always been amazed at how “social” they are, always at the forefront of social meeting and innovating new ways to get the word out about their products. With the launch of the Nokia Lumia 900, they decided to keep their social media roots, while at the same time going more contemporary and having hit music artist Nicki Minaj perform live outside on Times Square! Nokia invited me to their big event and I barely made it to New York just in time. The streets, airport, and airwaves were filled with ads about the Nokia Lumia 900, and they really had people buzzing about the new phone. Nicki Minaj surprised the crowds and played a remix of one .....

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Nokia Lumia Product Manager: Tethering will be “coming soon for 800 and 710 via Zune update”

by Mike Macias 03.15.2012

Tethering is a must-have feature on my phones, and right now it’s not possible available on select Windows Phone devices. The functionality has already been confirmed for the upcoming AT&T Nokia Lumia 900, which is due to be released next month. It’s sorely lacking on my Nokia Lumia 800, and one of the main reasons I’m not perfectly happy with this device. But Lumia 800 and 710 owners might have good news. In a recent Q&A session interview posted by Nokia, the product managers of the Nokia Lumia 900 confirmed for us that the Lumia 800 and 710 will both be getting tethering, also known as mobile WiFi hotspot. Without going into much detail, here is the exact quote: “Q: When will the tethering update for the Lumia devices be .....

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How might a Nokia tablet running Windows 8 look? Marko Ahtisaari, head of design, ‘working on it’

by Mike Macias 03.15.2012

Almost every tech site, big and small, has come to the determination that the Nokia Lumia 800 (and N9) have one of the best hardware designs on a phone. Now what if we took that same design and applied it to a Nokia tablet running the upcoming Windows 8 operating system? It might look something like this… Reuters is reporting that Marko Ahtisaari, head of design at Nokia, is spending a third of his time on a Nokia tablet. While some would like to think this tablet will run MeeGo, I have to think that this beauty will be running Windows 8. And I sure hope it is too! From Reuters:

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AT&T Lumia 900 release delayed to April 22nd for $99.99, according to BGR

by Eddie Fu 03.09.2012

The Lumia 900 blew our minds with its gorgeous 4.3-inch display and 4G LTE capabilities when we first saw it at CES, but it looks like you’re going to have to wait a little longer to pick up Nokia’s first US flagship Windows Phone. BGR is reporting that the device is set to launch April 22nd on AT&T for $99.99. Apparently the Lumia 900 has been pushed back from the original March 18th release date because it’s still “awaiting technical acceptance.” There’s a lot riding on this release for AT&T and Nokia (not to mention Microsoft), so perhaps it’s being put through more rigorous tests than usual. Regardless, at $99.99, it’s practically a no-brainer for anyone looking for a new 4G LTE smartphone. Source: BGR

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AT&T and Microsoft preparing for Nokia Lumia 900 and HTC TITAN II launch

by Mike Macias 03.08.2012

Back in January we talked about the Nokia Lumia 900 pricing and availability. A March release at $99 has been widely reported, and here we are in the third month of the year and waiting eagerly for the two latest devices powered by Windows Phone. Yesterday, the folks at wpcentral reported that both Microsoft and AT&T are preparing their websites for the launch of Nokia’s Lumia 900 and the HTC TITAN II. The image above is posted at microsoft.com/windowsphone and both devices recently labeled as “Coming Soon!“.

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Need a job? Nokia hiring 100 people in Southern California; raffling off Lumia 900 to job fair attendees

by Mike Macias 03.07.2012

This is just a quick bit of news for those looking for work. Here in my home state of California, the world’s biggest phone manufacturer needs to hire 100 people, and they plan on doing it as soon as possible. Nokia is having a jobs fair in San Diego, CA next week and they are looking for a wide array of skills. Besides getting a chance to have a new career, you can also land yourself a brand new phone. As my pal Mark from The Nokia Blog pointed out, Nokia will be giving away a handful of Lumia 900s‘ during a raffle at the job fair. Interested? Keep reading to see what positions are available…

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The new iPad, not called the iPad 3, has been made official

by Mike Macias 03.07.2012

Today in San Francisco, Apple announced the newest member of their tablet lineup. While we all thought it was going to be called the iPad 3, Apple instead decided to keep things simple and call it — iPad. No extra numbers or words. I usually like keeping things as simple as possible, but as someone who talks about gadgets all the time and runs this site it would’ve been nice to have it numbered. People will instead just call it the “new” iPad. I mean, just image… Your friend asks which iPad they should get. The first iPad, the iPad 2, or the iPad. Of course they are going to drop “new” in front of it. What will the next iPad be called? OK enough rambling on my part. It is what .....

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Verizon phones that will get Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich officially announced

by Mike Macias 03.07.2012

If you own a Android-powered Verizon phone then you are probably wondering when/if your device will get the latest version of Android. Yesterday, Verizon did you all a favor and cleared the air with an official list of phones that will be upgraded to Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0). Have a look to see if your device is on the list… HTC: HTC ThunderBolt™ DROID Incredible 2 by HTC HTC Rhyme™ HTC Rezound™ Motorola: Motorola XOOM DROID BIONIC™ DROID RAZR™ DROID RAZR™ MAXX™ DROID 4 DROID XYBOARD 8.2 DROID XYBOARD 10.1 Samsung: Samsung Galaxy Tab™ 10.1 Samsung Galaxy Tab™ 7.7 LG: Spectrum™ by LG Are you in luck? Right now the Galaxy Nexus is the only phone that runs Android 4.0 on Verizon. Amazon has the Galaxy Nexus for $99 .....

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Report: Apple to announce new iPad with 4G LTE, 1080p Apple TV

by Eddie Fu 03.07.2012

Today’s Apple keynote has been the subject of speculation for a while now, with rumors of new iPad and Apple TV models. If a report on The Verge is to be believed, it looks like many long-expected specs may come to fruition: the iPad 3 (or iPad HD) will purportedly feature a 2048 x 1536 Retina Display, bump up the amount of RAM, and have 4G LTE capabilities — at least in the US. Since AT&T and Verizon’s networks are incompatible, there will be two separate LTE models. A third 3G-only version for international users will include a CDMA / GSM radio similar to the one used in the iPhone 4S. The system-on-a-chip powering the tablet — as well as the new Apple TV — will be updated to the .....

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Firmware update hits my Nokia Lumia 800

by Mike Macias 03.07.2012

I woke up bright and early this morning and was greeted with a notification for an update to my Nokia Lumia 800. I just finished the update and I’m not 100% sure about the changelog. It definitely doesn’t have the camera features I mentioned last week such as panorama mode, group shot, and self-timer. That is very unfortunate, but I suppose those those updates will come at another time. I went through the entire phone and haven’t found any new features. So I’m assuming this is just a big performance update. I hope it has battery life improvements and camera improvements in the actual photo quality. Those are the two big things that drastically need updating on the Nokia Lumia 800. Things I’ve noticed since updating: Camera seems to be .....

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Nokia N9 PR1.2 update brings GTalk video chat, folders, Maps favorites sync, continuous shutter, & more

by Mike Macias 03.06.2012

Nokia N9 fanatics will be delighted to hear this bit of good news. The month of March brings the newest firmware update for their MeeGo-based smartphone. N9 update PR1.2 is now available in most countries and brings a handful of really good updates and features including updates to camera, folders, Nokia Drive, DNLA, Google Talk video chat, and more. Let’s cut to the chase and take a look at what’s new in PR1.2…

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