Editorials

When will the Nokia Lumia 900 be available and why is there no exact date? We tried to get some answers…

by Mike Macias 01.11.2012

Nokia got lots of buzz this week at the Consumer Electronics show in Vegas about their newly announced Lumia 900 smartphone for AT&T. The buzz wasn’t just about how nice it looks or how smooth Windows Phone is, there was also some chirping about the release date of the Lumia 900 — or lack thereof. Like I mentioned in the Lumia 900 announcement, the official word from Nokia is it will be available in ‘the coming months’. I’ve received confirmation that the 900 will arrive during Quarter 1 which ends in March. My source also assured me that this won’t be another N8 debacle and come at the very end of the quarter (literally the last day). With that said I expect the Nokia Lumia 900 for AT&T to be .....

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First time Android user — Where do I start? Recommend your favorite apps and utilities

by Mike Macias 12.05.2011

This is a call for help! I’ve been a mobile fanatic for over eight years, long before Android hit the scene. Years back I fell in love with Symbian, and because of Nokia’s awesome hardware and camera optics, I never felt the need the to venture to the Android side. I’ve dabbled with Google’s mobile OS, but haven’t ever owned my own device. That’s all about to change. Last week during Cyber Monday I scored a very well-rounded Android tablet on a deal that I couldn’t pass up. I was already interested in getting a mid-priced tablet such as the Kindle Fire or Nook Tablet, but a few things turned me off about both of those. I found what I needed in the Acer Iconia A500 Honeycomb Tablet. The Acer .....

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Nokia N9: Gone in 60 seconds

by Timi Cantisano 10.13.2011

Banned in multiple countries, available in limited supply, the Nokia N9 is possibly one of the most elusive devices of this holiday season. Although just released and available in certain countries the N9 is already a relic. The device runs an unsupported MeeGo OS and has been abandoned by the company that birthed it. Nokia has made it clear that the N9 is not a priority, it will not be the future of Nokia. This is the final offspring of “Old Nokia” and it’s something special.

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Hey Nokia: Where is Symbian “Anna” for North American customers?

by Mike Macias 10.10.2011

Update: Symbian Anna finally available in the US on October 24th. Regardless, keep reading to see how bad this debacle was. Nearly two months ago I wrote an article titled “Anna firmware for the Nokia N8, E7, Symbian^3 devices starts rolling out today“ – and boy was I excited! Anna is a much-needed firmware upgrade for the Nokia N8, E7, C7, and C6-01. Being a longtime Nokia user in North America I knew it might take a little longer for the firmware to hit my N8. US customers are used to getting firmware after the rest of the world, so a slight delay is no big deal. But this time around I didn’t have the appetite for waiting. After waiting a few weeks with no luck I got impatient and opted .....

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HTC x Beats? Let’s try harder for a better future

by Timi Cantisano 09.19.2011

HTC, one of the the worlds largest manufacturer of mobile devices, purchases Beats Audio, a company that has reinvigorated and rebranded quality sound products for a new and younger generation. While there is no doubt in my mind that HTC and Beats Audio will create something special, it’s still baffling on why HTC chose an audio company to partner with. While I can only infer from other Beats Audio partnerships, HTC will most likely utilize Beats Audio at what they excel at and harness their expertise in audio technology and hardware. This can range from physical changes in the way mobile devices utilize sound drivers, a return to independent sound processing chips that provide a better sound experience, or maybe it will as simple as a bundled pair of Beats .....

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Day 11: Android 2.3 from a long-time Symbian user’s perspective

by Alvin Wong 09.14.2011

This is Part 3 of Alvin’s Xperia Mini Pro Review. Shop: Find deals on the Xperia Mini Pro starting at $159 on Amazon.com. Reviewing an entire mobile operating system is no easy task at all, especially when it’s as complex as Android 2.3 Gingerbread. As usual, I won’t be boring you with endless verbose descriptions of every function in every app because Android 2.3 is a well-known entity by now. I’ll also strive to keep this review segment as succinct as I can!

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Day 9: Android – 5 things I love and 3 things I don’t

by Alvin Wong 09.12.2011

This is Part 2 of Alvin’s Xperia Mini Pro Review. I’ve now had more than a week to explore and get comfy with Android, and that’s pretty much all that I’ve been doing since I unboxed my new phone with shaking hands. So here’s the next installment of my Xperia mini pro review, a prelude to my forthcoming post on Sony Ericsson’s mix of Android 2.3 Gingerbread – 5 things I love about Android and 3 things I don’t quite like about it.

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The Nokia 600, 700, 701 and Belle: Symbian gets another shot of life

by Alvin Wong 08.26.2011

Earlier this week, Nokia held an event in Hong Kong where three new Symbian smartphones and a second update to Symbian^3, named Belle, were unveiled. These Symbian smartphones, like the Nokia 500 before them, follow the company’s new 3-number naming scheme and boast an upgraded internal specification. Not only do these devices pack in a 1GHz processor, there is also an upgraded graphics co-processor and 512MB of RAM.

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The future of Symbian in my life

by Alvin Wong 08.05.2011

I use a Nokia E5 as my everyday smartphone today. I bought it on contract on February 1st this year, just 11 days before Nokia’s “We’re dumping Symbian for Windows Phone” announcement. It’s got the distinction of being the last S60v3 device ever launched, along with the gaudy X5, aside from the recent C5 5MP (that doesn’t really count because it’s just a spec-bump of an existing device). For its price range, it doesn’t really have any major flaws apart from the cheap transmissive LCD with horrible viewing angles and the microSD card slot being located under the battery (which is just an annoyance at best). So far, I’ve been pretty happy with it; it fits my present needs perfectly well, and Nokia’s February 11 announcement hasn’t made my device .....

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Nokia’s Q2 earnings report is atrocious; CEO Elop not to blame

by Mike Macias 07.22.2011

Should Nokia’s current CEO Stephen Elop be entirely blamed for the mess his company is in? His new plan to make Windows Phone the primary OS for Nokia smartphones has only been in place publicly since February. Has Nokia’s marketshare tumbled that fast because of a newly announced game plan? Before I dive deeper into thought let’s first take a quick look at the numbers. The report was huge but I’ll only show you the main bullet points.

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