Nokia dishes out OS2008 Feature Upgrade for N810 / N800

Tuesday, June 24th, 2008 | News with No Comments »

The first official OS2008 update came to Nokia’s internet tablets late last year, and those yearning for yet another can finally breath a sigh of relief. Reportedly, the company has pushed out the OS2008 Feature Upgrade for the N810 and N800, but we are told that users will still need to “reflash the device in order to install this release.” Thankfully, future OS updates are slated to be provided over-the-air without the need to reflash. The changelog is actually quite lengthy, but the highlights include an open source email application based on Modest and the tinymail framework, simplified account setup and the introduction of Chinese character rendering support in email, browser and RSS feeds. Let us know how it goes, will ya?

[Image courtesy of Seartipy, thanks Ryan]

Nokia fesses to looming N95-3 software update, fails to mention specifics

Sunday, May 18th, 2008 | News with No Comments »

It’s been a solid tick since the North American N95, also referred to as the N95-3, received a software update. For those clamoring for a little love from Nokia’s dev team, listen up: an administrator over at the outfit’s forums has admitted that the Software Update crew has a new version in the works. We’re told that they’ve heard the demands for a fresh release, and they’re toiling away in order to bring it to N95-3 owners by early June. Unfortunately, we’re not told what new features we can expect, and even worse, “early June” seems like eons away, doesn’t it?

[Via Symbian-Guru]

Provoke’s 2012 concepts head to New York, Nokia hopes nobody notices

Tuesday, May 13th, 2008 | News with No Comments »

If you want to see the future of Nokia handset design then you have to go to the source. Finnish-based Provoke Design is one of Nokia’s main design contractors. As such, take a close look at the three concepts it’s showing off in New York at the HARDCORE New Finish Design exhibition starting May 17th. According to Provoke, its Express, Share, and Feel concepts (pictured left to right) represent its 2012 vision of mobile handset design. Each will be presented as fully functional prototypes “demonstrating the core innovation” proposed. The look of the Express concept can be changed electronically and customized to your personal tastes. The Feel handset pair are meant for couples and feature a specialized UI and touch simulation to enable, uh hem, “deep communication.” The Share concept allows cults and anarchists to communicate in personalized code formed in subgroups of like-minded weirdos… or something like that. Read for yourself in the press release posted after the break.

Nokia’s “Beautiful to use” 6600 slide, fold and 3600 slide

Monday, April 28th, 2008 | News with No Comments »

Nokia just announced a trio of “Beautiful to use” Nokia handsets with its Nokia 6600 slide, 6600 fold, and 3600 slide. The €250 6600 fold is said to smoothly arc open with the press of a button to reveal a 2.13-inch OLED display sporting 16 million colors. It also features tap commands. When off, a double-tap of the monolithic cover reveals the time, messages and missed calls. A double-tap also snoozes alerts and silences or rejects incoming phone calls. The €275 6600 slide (pictured left) features the same tap technology but bumps the digital camera up from 2 to 3.2 megapixels with a 2.2-inch QVGA display based on LCD tech, presumably. The 3600 slide offers the same camera with built-in background noise cancellation — a first for a Nokia handset — for a respectable €175. All three ship in Q3.