Nokia | Fone Arena

Micromax and Karbonn take top positions as the Indian Smartphone market surges ahead with the Phablet revolution

You might have seen us reporting on various marketshare reports each month coming from a company called IDC. Usually, the company provides a wider perspective of the global market for mobile phones as well as smartphones, but this time, they have focused on the second fastest growing mobile phone market in the world, India. We saw in June that the overall shipments of Smartphones in India was at just 6.1 million devices, but in a quarter, it has risen to 9.3 million shipments, according to IDC. And over half of the shipments were from local players like Micromax, Karbonn and the others, with the former taking the no. 2 and 3 positions of the Top 5 Smartphone vendors in the Indian market respectively.

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Nokia Lumia 1520 with 6 inch 1080p display appears in leaked image

Nokia’s intentions to introduce a large screen device are fairly obvious by now. It has been long rumored that the Finnish smartphone company is working on a phablet class device that would bring a large 6 inch screen to Nokia’s Lumia hardware. The image leaked earlier today corroborates all that we know about the device. Placed next to the Lumia 1020, the handset appears positively gargantuan.

With the screen switched on, we also seem to be getting our first look at the upcoming GDR3 update that would bring support for 1080p screens, faster processors. To make use of all that screen real estate, Windows Phone will now allow you to place a double wide tile next to a medium sized tile. Additionally, a third row of tiles can be placed on the homescreen. The leaked image closely resembles an image that had earlier this year that claimed to depict the front panel for the upcoming device. Additionally, the engraved proto.nokia.com text is true for all Nokia prototype devices. Continue reading “Nokia Lumia 1520 with 6 inch 1080p display appears in leaked image”

Nokia 515 revealed, brings aluminum construction to feature phones

Nokia today announced a brand new S40 device, the Nokia 515, that has been designed as a throwback to classic handset designs from Nokia’s past. The body has an anodised, sandblasted aluminum construction and the 2.4″ QVGA display has Gorilla Glass 2 protection over it. The Finnish company claims to have developed a new hardened polycarbonate resin for the keymat that has a gentle curvature to it. The entire handset is 11mm thin and weighs in at 101.5 grams. Continue reading “Nokia 515 revealed, brings aluminum construction to feature phones”

Nokia Pro Cam on the Lumia 925 – a Walkthrough

Much has been said about the Nokia Lumia 1020 and its amazing camera prowess, but what made it fun was using the camera interface. Yes, the interface, also known as the Nokia Pro Cam, provided the much needed control and versatility for the robust camera hardware that Nokia packed in the Lumia 1020. But the other PureView devices are no exception either and Nokia made sure that 920, 925 and 928 users get the Pro Cam, and eventually they did. We immediately installed it onto the Nokia Lumia 925 and found it to work really well, just like how we found it on the Lumia 1020 earlier. So, we made a video to show you how awesome it is, take a look at the video walk through below and go past the break for a detailed walk through in images and text with bonus samples –

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCw1v1gnVrY

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Nokia’s Windows RT tablet detailed, Codenamed Sirius

We’ve previously brought you details and leaked images of Nokia’s Windows RT tablet. Following a spate of reports published today, the tablet is all but confirmed. As expected, the tablet will follow the same design language as seen on the Finnish company’s Lumia range of devices. The device will run on a Snapdragon 800 processor and will be equipped with a 1080p display that is expected to have the ClearBlack technology as seen on its phones. This technology helps makes displays much more readable even under direct sunlight. Continue reading “Nokia’s Windows RT tablet detailed, Codenamed Sirius”

Nokia CR-200 Wireless Car Charger Review

Given the larger screen sizes and increasing processing power in smartphones, they’re fast replacing dedicated GPS units and even in-car entertainment systems. While phones have become more powerful, battery technology hasn’t really caught up. The Nokia CR200 tries to solve multiple probles in one go by acting as a sturdy car charger, providing built in wireless charging capabilities. Let’s take a closer look at the car holder. Continue reading “Nokia CR-200 Wireless Car Charger Review”

Nokia Lumia 925 officially launched in India for a price of Rs. 33,499

We just witnessed the Nokia Lumia 925 go on sale from the official Indian online store for Rs. 34, 169 but curiously, without much fanfare. Well, Nokia has compensated for that now, with their launch event in New Delhi today. Yes, the Nokia Lumia 925 is finally official, and comes with a price tag of a slightly lesser Rs. 33, 499. The latest all rounded flagship from Nokia is aimed at fixing the few hardware problems the Lumia 920 had, for instance, the design, build and weight. Sporting an all new aluminium build with some hardware improvements like the six element camera lens, the Lumia 925 is for people who didn’t want the Lumia 920 because of the bulk or the used up design.It is kind of interesting to see that Nokia has built a nice little portfolio of Windows Phone devices for India with over 12 devices being introduced in the market so far.

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Nokia Asha 501 – Made in India, by India, for India

Sriperumbudur, a quiet town outside of Chennai, is now increasingly known for its sprawling automobile factories, electronic SEZs(Special Economic Zones), and of course, hot job opportunities. Several automobile and mobile phone giants are part of this story. It all started 10 years back, when automobile companies like Hyundai saw the proximity to a harbour huge enough to handle exports and set up bases here, quickly gaining this city the name “Detroit of India”.

In the same “Detroit of India” lies one of Nokia’s biggest production facilities. The opportunistic Nokia of the past saw the booming mobile market in India in the 2000s, and started setting up their assembling facility here, right in the heart of Sriperumbudur’s SEZ. The logistics for exports had already become robust, thanks to the omnipresent automobile industry in that area, so the opportunity was ripe.

On a surprisingly overcast day, I was on my second visit to Nokia’s Chennai facility with several other bloggers. Having already witnessed the marvel of a huge production facility the first time, I couldn’t wait to see what new tricks Nokia had up their sleeves. Spoiler: It’s the Nokia Asha 501.

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Call and SMS blocking now available on Nokia Lumia Windows Phones running Amber

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Here’s a surprise. Nokia has added one of the most wanted features to Windows Phone through a simple Extras+info update on Lumia devices running on the Amber update. It was previously revealed that Microsoft had added hooks to its Windows Phone GDR2 release for developers to latch on, and those were of the call and SMS blocking features that didn’t exist before. While we were hoping for some third party developer to do it, Nokia itself has come to the fore and added these much requested features to Windows Phone, which is much welcome. Yet another indication that Nokia is doing the work for Microsoft when it should be the other way in an ideal world.

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Nokia Lumia 820 3600 mAh Mugen Power Batteries extended battery review

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The Nokia Lumia 820 is at the fag end of its life cycle, waiting to be succeeded by a more capable Lumia 825 or something, but it is still present in the hands of lots of people, who unanimously face the single most annoying issue on the 820, the disappointing battery life. I know I face it, because I have been using one for the past 7 months and I can tell you outright that the in-built 1650 mAh battery is bad, period.

Seeking respite from the incessant battery drains, my eyes grew wide when the well known Android “extended battery” maker, Mugen Power Batteries, announced that huge extended batteries for the Lumia 820 are in the works. There were two variants announced, and one of them was the 3600 mAh one with a special battery door. Needless to say, I got the biggest one. What follows is my experience with the accessory over a comfortably long term of 2 months to see if it is really worth it or not.

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There Are Six Major Problems with Windows Phone, and Apps Isn’t One of Them

I keep running into this same sentence, over and over again “Windows Phone lacks apps”. Every single review of a Lumia for example ends with the same foregone conclusion: “it’s a great phone but there are no apps”. I usually shake my head at this statement, but the recent talks about Nokia blaming Microsoft and the lack of apps have me worried.

If anyone — at Nokia, or elsewhere — thinks that this is the culprit behind Windows Phone’s failure to gain market traction, then they’re clearly disillusioned. It’s not as if the release of Instagram will be the magical panacea to the platform’s issues.

While the app problem is partly true, it is in no way, shape or form, the sole reason why Windows Phone isn’t gaining traction. As a matter of fact, you will likely find 80-90% of the same or equivalent apps that you are used to on Android or iOS, and the community is very active — and creative — in trying to fill the remaining gap, so the app problem is only minor, if anything.

Windows Phone’s issues run way deeper than that. The apps are a symptom of the problem, an outward expression of it, if you will, but they are not the underlying cause. And while I don’t claim to be an expert on mobile phone markets and strategies, there are six problems I can see with Windows Phone that I will explain below.

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Is Nokia launching a tablet at the September 26-27 NYC event?

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It’s been long rumoured that Nokia is launching a Windows tablet, and that might actually come true if the recent leaks are to be believed. Windows Phone Central reports that Nokia is having a launch event in New York on September 26th and 27th spanning two days, for a rumoured tablet announcement. The above image is a screenshot of a purported event invite that is doing the rounds internally. Is this actually the Nokia World event this year? Quite possibly.

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Google extends Windows Phone calendar and contact syncing deadline to December 31st

There was huge uproar after Google announced its plans to drop EAS support for all non-corporate GMail accounts, mainly because that affected Windows Phone, which has no in-built support for the new CardDAV and CalDAV technologies. Hence Microsoft and Google decided to extend the support for Windows Phone devices until July 31st, yesterday, a date from which devices without the GDR2 update would have stopped supporting syncing to Google servers. Thankfully, the companies have extended the date yet again, to December 31st, since most devices haven’t got the update yet.

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Nokia’s upcoming “Treasure tag” Bluetooth accessory lets you find lost items with an app

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Nokia is reportedly working on a range of Bluetooth 4.0 low power accessories, ever since they revealed that their phones will support the technology starting with the Amber update. One of them has been detailed by The Verge, citing sources familiar with this device. This accessory, called the “Treasure Tag” apparently is a small box that connects to the phone with Bluetooth 4.0 and NFC, and once paired lets the phone track it using Bluetooth as well as GPS using a special app.

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