Nokia Superman: smartphone with a 5-megapixel front-facing camera

As is known, the company recently completed the acquisition of Microsoft's mobile division Nokia. Nokia under its new name Microsoft Mobile continue the development of mobile devices running the operating system Windows Phone.

The Internet got information about one of these models. Smartphone codenamed Superman is being developed, said resource The Verge, citing informed sources.

According to these data, the novelty will be the first Nokia smartphone with a 5-megapixel front camera. Front high resolution camera allows not just contact with friends in video telephony, but also make high-quality self-portraits ("self") - this is especially true now. Of course, to ZTE Nubia X6 with 13-megapixel front camera "Superman" away, but all the same and a 5-megapixel camera on the front - a tangible step forward.

It is also known that the model Superman get 4.7-inch touchscreen display and will refer to the average level, that is, it is - not a flagship. It is assumed that the device will hit the market later this year.

Financial results for the first quarter of Nokia

Nokia has in the last quarter of the existence of a fixed telephone division operating income at 304 million euros, representing 11.4% of net sales, which is considerably more than last year's results - 254 million and 8.1% of sales. In this case, it is worth noting that it was a telephone unit - this is the dead weight of the company, which is listed as discontinued operations, which brought in revenue of 1.93 billion euros, but euro 326 million net loss.
 And here the results pessimistic - in the previous year's revenue amounted to 2.67 billion euros, and a net loss of - € 120 million. Continuing operations brought Nokia 2,67 billion euros in revenues and operating income of 242 million euros. Most earned unit Nokia Networks - € 2.33 billion, but it nevertheless 17% drop from € 2.8 billion a year earlier.
Navigation unit HERE brought € 209 million (down from € 216 million) with operating income of € 10 million. The deal to sell Devices & Services was closed at around € 5.44 billion, up € 170 million more than the original. Liquid assets of the company for the year decreased by € 2.3 billion, mainly due to the production of huge debts, which in the first quarter amounted to 1.8 billion euros.

My Windows Phone 8 Start screen: Christopher Westerholm

Every single person who owns a Nokia Lumia smartphone has slightly different needs or requirements; you can see this on every Start screen. Like the ancient art of tasseography, each Start screen tells a story and about the individual and what’s important to them in their life.

We previously caught up with Christopher Westerholm to find out how he created a stunningly beautiful cinema-style video, shot entirely on a Nokia Lumia 920.

While filming may be Christopher’s passion, he likes to take time away from behind the camera, as his Start screen reveals.

Feed your Game of Thrones addiction with your Nokia Lumia

Million of fans will be suffering withdrawal symptoms over the next few weeks as the Game of Thrones season three finale is broadcast around the world.

This epic HBO production of power, war, family strife and mythical creatures is based on George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Fire and Icefantasy novels and has been thrilling global audiences since it first popped onto our TV screens in 2011.

Now, devotees of the show will have to wait at least a year before they can find out what happens next. Until then, you can always satisfy your cravings by trying out these Game of Thrones apps for your Nokia Lumia. They’re unofficial, made for fans, by the fans, and they’re all the better for it.

Game of Thrones DB, £0.79p

If you want to transform your Lumia into a Game of Thrones smartphone, this is the best place to start.

The exhaustive Game of Thrones Database has everything from the latest news, social media, ringtones and screen wallpapers. 

I particularly liked the interactive maps, which were extremely helpful, as even the most avid fan will tell you that staying on top of all plot twists require maximum concentration. 

Backing up your Nokia Asha

Phones like the Nokia Asha 308 have the ability to store a staggering amount of data – from your valued photographs, to personal phone numbers, to videos and music files. It means you stand to lose a lot more if you ever lose your phone, however, so it’s vital that you back up your files. Read on to find out how.

 

Click on Settings, and scroll down to Sync & Backup. Click on ‘Create Backup’, and you’ll get the following message:

8 useful Nokia Lumia Windows Phone 8 features you might not know about

One of the things we love best about Nokia Lumia and Windows Phone is that we’re always discovering fantastic little features we didn’t know about.  Whether it’s a new camera trick, a clever software innovation or a little update that makes a big difference, these constant marvels always put smiles on our faces. To share some of this childlike glee with you, we’ve showcased some features, you might not yet have noticed. Get your Nokia Lumias at the ready!

1. Make your music sound better

Nokia Lumias are famed for being amazing music making machines. But did you know that if you pop in your headphones you can adjust the sound quality via the audio option under general settings? You have the option to choose a selection of pre-determined settings, or fiddle about with the equaliser yourself. Otherwise, you can go full DJ and enable Dolby playback by swiping right and hittingplayback. Nokia Music just got even funkier!

2. Create a Group Live Tile

Groups are a brilliant way to mange your social networking stuff and stay in touch with the people who matter, whether that’s your footballing buddies or your family. When you create a Group, it shows up at the top of your contact list. Tap it, and you’ll see the Group members’ Live Tiles and social networking updates, along with options for group email, texting, and chat. You can also pin it to your Start screen. What’s more, it’s super simple to create. On your Start screen tap People, flick to All, tap New and then tap New Group. Tap a contact name then Save and you’re off and away!

3. Change your text size

No matter how big the screen size, sometimes it’s nice to have your font a little bigger too. If you want to resize your Nokia Lumia’s text, simple Go into Settings then Ease of access and you’ll find five different size settings for the text. You need never squint again.

 4. Share your location in a text

Meeting a buddy in a bar or hooking up with your girlfriend for afternoon coffee, but they don’t know how to get to your location? Don’t worry. Write a text message and you can add a map of your location. Just tap the paperclip icon and choose location. If your buddy or girlfriend has a Nokia Lumia it will open your location in their HERE Maps, otherwise it will open in their browser.

5. Hide your caller ID

Sometimes you’d just rather not have people see your caller ID. If you happen to be in one of those situations you can change your settings with in a couple of taps. Just go to caller history, tap the fullstops icon at the bottom right, and hit Settings. Then choose who gets to see your caller ID by default, everyone, your contacts, or no one at all.

6. Get a room

Imagine if you could get a digital room where all your nearest and dearest could share pictures, chat, make appointments or broadcast their locations to everyone inside. Well, imagine no more. Go to the People Hub on your start screen, side swipe and you’ll find the word together. From here press the ‘+’ key at the bottom and then select room choose a name and hit the floppy disc save button at the bottom. Windows Phone 8 will now set the room up. When you’ve added everyone you want to include, press the tick and your friends with Nokia Lumias or other Windows Phone 8 devices will now be invited to join.

7. Search a web page

Find the info you need from a web page isn’t always a straightforward task, especially if you’re using a smartphone screen. Fortunately, with Windows Phone 8, within the browser,  is a search tool called find on page. When in Internet Explorer, press the fullstops icon and select find on page towards the bottom of the list. Type in your search query and press enter. Hey presto! All text found in the search will show up in your chosen accent colour, and there’s an arrow key to scroll through all the findings at the bottom of the display.

8. Make searching simpler

If you’ve got a lot of friends in the People Hub or a lot of apps in your apps list it can sometimes take time finding what or who you want. For quicker navigation you can just tap the header letter of a section, the “a” at the top, for example, and get a large overlay of all the letters in the alphabet. Tap one and hop over to that section for all your contacts beginning with each letter. It really makes searching simple.

These are just a few of the cool features that you might not have known about. If you have any others you’d like to share, please drop them in the comments below.

iOS 7 vs Windows Phone – Nokia Hong Kong Takes A Swipe At Latest iOS From Apple

There are people that said the iOS 7 from Apple looks like the Windows Phone especially from the design. One of those out there with such perception is Nokia Hong Kong. The Finland based company’s branch in Hong Kong takes a swipe at Apple’s latest operating system.

Nokia Hong Kong posted a series of images that comparing the iOS to Windows Phone. Those from Nokia Hong Kong are definitely going after the iOS 7 since it was announced earlier on yesterday.

You can see from the images above that the user interfaces (UI) of the iOS 7 and Windows Phone are the same from some aspects. Windows Phone is popular with its LiveTiles, but iOS 7 has its own tiles as well. When receiving a call, the iOS 7 has the tiles design like Windows Phone.

At second set of images, Nokia Hong Kong showcased the weather app of Windows Phone. The weather app of iOS 7 looks 90 percent like the one in Windows Phone. But it is hard to determine who is the copycat. In additional, the notification bar of iOS 7 combines both Windows Phone andAndroid. 

http://gsminsider.com

Asha App Spotlight: Ministry of Sound

While Daft Punk’s global smash hit, Get Lucky, may have introduced a whole new generation of fans to the genre, many other people will have discovered their love of dance music from partying the night away at discos and clubs.

The Ministry of Sound is a legendary London nightclub, which also hosts club nights at venues all over the world.

Dance music fans, whether old or new, will be eager to get theMinistry of Sound (free) app for their Nokia Asha. 

The chief attraction of this app is that it enables you to listen to the Ministry of Sound live radio stream on your Asha, no matter where you are in the world.

With its roster of superstar DJs, listening to the Ministry of Sound on your Asha is a super way of discovering new tunes and keeping yourself in the loop with the latest dance music trends.

One warning though, which is repeated when you open the app, is that the sound quality will be better if you have WiFi or 3G, and if you are using a mobile data connection, then beware of potential costs.

The radio stream is on 24-hours a day and there’s a handy daily schedule available in the app to tell you which show is currently playing and what’s coming up.

As well as listening to the radio stream, this app is great for the latest news and interviews with DJs and artists.

Plus, if all that music is getting you in the mood to attend one of the Ministry of Sound club nights for yourself, there’s an events listing as well.

Nokia Lumia 920 images lights up London gallery for ONE Campaign

Evocative images inspired by protest songs, many taken with Nokia Lumia 920 smartphones are being projected onto the exterior of the Tate Modern art gallery in London.

This event, on the evenings of 11-13 June, marks Nokia’s new partnership with the ONE Campaign, which works to eradicate extreme poverty around the world.

Prominent photojournalists, bloggers, amateur photographers and celebrities have taken the special images that are being projected onto the Tate Modern.

We’ve got a selection of the images here: 

By Daniel Skornicka


By Duncan

By Goncalo Figueiredo


By Coralie Grassin

By Tom Price

By Benjamin Price

agit8

Alongside the Tate Modern projections, a new music-based campaign, agit8, is being launched to showcase the progress that has been made against poverty, and to amplify calls for further action.

Nokia is helping to spread word of the campaign by capturing images from around the world. People are being encouraged to share images, stories and experiences that support the theme of ‘Progress through protest.’

The images are available to view and can be shared on Twitter using#nokiaxONECampaign or uploaded to Nokia’s official Facebookpage.

The ONE Campaign says that extreme poverty has been halved around the world in the last 20 years and it could be virtually eliminated altogether by 2030 – if we act now.

The agit8 campaign features new video recordings of classic protest songs and impromptu live performances. A new film will also be projected on the iconic façade of the Tate Modern.

Artists taking part in agit8, include Ed Sheeran, Mumford and Sons, Elvis Costello, Angelique Kidjo, Rokia Traore, Tom Morello and Macklemore.

Exclusive videos of their performances, plus beautiful images that reflect the power of the protest song, are available atone.org/protestsongs.

How Nokia Music can turn you into a new music maestro

Ever feel like you’re drowning in a tsunami of new music? Well, now it’s time to turn on, tune in and rock out—all with the help of your Nokia smartphone! Nokia Music is an interactive, intuitive and, most importantly, free service with more than 24 million tracks for Nokia Lumia and Asha customers; it’s there to help you keep abreast of the ever-expanding and always exciting world of up-and-coming (and classic!) tunes. With turntables of fresh tracks at your fingertips, you’ll soon be able to give the professional DJs a run for their money…

Makes you a mix master

The killer attraction has to be Nokia Mix Radio—a smartphone music streaming service that offers you access to millions of songs without having to sign up, sign in, or listen to endless, disruptive adverts between tracks. When you click through to Mix Radio, just select your preferred genre—indie, jazz, country, spoken-word comedy, chart, rock, just to name a few—and you get to listen to a free mix-tape that’s been especially compiled for Nokia listeners.

Keeps on discovering

Bristol Musicologists Jethro Borthwick, Mark Lampo and Nick Pointon are the brains behind most of the mixes, and these data-crunching genuises, and their support team, are keen to make sure Nokia customers get a satisfying musical experience that’s both global and locally oriented, with artists and tracks sourced from all around the world. The mixes are continually updated, and they’re a great way to discover new music.

Fires your creativity 

If you want a slightly more personalised experience, you can Create a Mix by selecting three artists and letting the virtual DJ tailor a totally new playlist based on those choices. And if you like what you hear, you can download up to four mixes at a time to your handset to listen to offline any time you like, so you don’t have to worry about WiFi connections and data allowances—and none of it will cost you a penny!

Puts you in store for more

There’s a regular music Store, too, of course, in case you fall in love with the latest chart-topper and want to feast your ears on more; simply click through and use your Nokia account to purchase individual tracks or the whole album. While you’re in the Store, you can play samples from any song, and meanwhile take note of all the quick info you’ll need to show off your advanced musical knowledge (artist, genre, label and release date).

 Tells you all you need to know

Click on the artist’s name, and you’ll get a flood of useful trivia: not only convenient lists of all their albums, singles, most popular tracks and related artists, but a bio and image gallery as well, courtesy of Wikipedia, not to mention a handy Artist Mix, plus a list telling you which Mix Radio playlists that currently feature that artist. Back to the tune you’re actually listening to, though: scroll right and you get another list—this time, other music recommended to you based on the tune you’ve navigated from. Talk about comprehensive…

Gets you to gigs

So, now you’ve heard the single and downloaded the album—but no respectable music junkie would call themselves a true fan unless they’ve seen the band live. Not a problem: with Nokia Music’s Gig Finder, your smartphone can search for local live music listings based on your GPS location. Once you’ve found a kick-ass concert, you can pinpoint the venue using HERE Maps, get directions, buy tickets, check out what else is happening at that venue, and, in case this gig has sold out, you can see where else that band or act is playing. Phew! A one-stop-shop for gig-goers.

Gives you something extra special

Finally, if that isn’t all enough, for a teeny monthly subscription fee (€3.99/$3.99), you can access Nokia Music+, which is an enhanced version of all the above. It lets you skip unlimited tracks in the Mixes (as opposed to the free version’s six skips an hour), download as many Mixes as you can fit on your phone, listen at a higher quality, and see the lyrics to your favourite songs, karaoke-style, on your smartphone’s screen.

With all this combined, you’ll be a new music maestro before you can say top tune. And if you’ve already been using these brilliant features, we’d love to hear what new music gems you’ve unearthed so far.

WP8 discourages producers and the high cost of the license competition from Nokia

Resource DigiTimes reported that the information they have smartphone manufacturers refuse to release or platform models from Microsoft, or delaying their release. The reasons for the unpopularity of Windows Phone 8 operating system there are a few. The worst factor for manufacturers is the fact that the OS yet managed to win only 3% of the market, despite the fact that Microsoft has been making great efforts to promote it. The company also manufacturers impose very substantial license fees, and the competition is named by Nokia, whose brand retains a hefty popularity. worth mentioning that Nokia is the highest priority among buyers of smartphones on Windows Phone. As of May this year, the Finnish company managed to receive 80% of all sales, which leaves the rest is not too attractive market share. Companies like HTC, Samsung and Huawei initially were enthusiastic about the opportunity to build devices based on the new operating system, but unlike Nokia after the first announcement of the continuation of them are not followed. And manufacturers such as Acer, ASUS and ZTE have abandoned their plans to release devices or transferred them to a later date. So they are trying to achieve from Microsoft to reduce license fees. Moreover, in their view, Microsoft too severely restricts the opportunities for developers to differentiation of smartphones, not allowing anyone to distinguish their product.

Nokia Music shares your tastes

Last week saw the arrival of the latest update to Nokia Music and with it comes a great new feature that will bring that extra spark to your music profile on your Lumia.

The trail-blazing service and its Bristol Musicologists were recently cited as a key disruption in the music industry by experts MusicAlly. So we had a quick chat with Daniel Roberts and Martin Banham, two of the guys behind Nokia Music, to find out more.

“Providing an easy to use music streaming service was just a starting point. Nokia Music is now like a VIP lounge for music users. We listen to what they need and change accordingly.”

Nokia Music can intelligently assess people’s music preferences and past listening history to build up a profile of their likes and dislikes with minimal effort on the user’s part.  The latest version now allows users to scan the music collection directly on their Nokia Lumia smartphone to create or update their music profile. There is also a separate scanner application which allows users to update their music profile by scanning the collection on their PC or Mac.

 

The music profile will work across different Windows platforms, from Windows Phone to Windows 8 and the web store- so you can build up a profile in your Nokia Music account and access it anywhere you want.

 

“We want to make music discovery and playback as personalised and intuitive as possible. Personalisation is a key part of our road map and we are currently developing contextualized experiences based on each user’s unique taste in music. We’re really excited about this.”

Details:

Platform support & availability

Nokia with Windows Phone 8.

Roll-out countries

V3.10 of the application will be made available to all existing countries.

Localization

50 languages

So what did the guys think of the recognition of their hard work by MusicAlly?

“We’ve been getting fantastic reviews from the media ever since we launched the service, which is always nice to see. I remember when the Daily Star newspaper here in the UK reviewed Nokia Music and said  ‘Sorry Apple, looks like iTunes has some serious catching up to do!’ There were a lot of happy faces around the office that week. But yes, the MusicAlly report showed that we’re building something special. The most important thing though is the users, who seem to love it even more.”

Nokia Music+ users will now also be able to pay for their subscription using their operator bill. Operator billing will make the whole Nokia Music experience even easier to access and enjoy.

So what are you waiting for? Start scanning your music collection for a proper personalised music service and get the music you want to listen to. All killer; no filler.

What’s new in the Windows Phone desktop PC apps?

The Windows 7 and 8 versions of the desktop and Metro-style PC apps for Windows Phone have recently been updated. If you haven’t already, you should pick up the newest versions.

Desktop version for Windows 7 or Windows 8

Full screen version for tablets and Windows 8

Why upgrade? Well, there’s the normal bevy of fixes and enhancements under the hood, but also a couple of feature enhancements, too.

On the full-screen version, there’s a new mechanism to transfer documents to and from your phone. Personally, I’d use Skydrive for this purpose (or quite often, good old email), but more options are always welcome.

On your desk

There’s a bit more going on with the newest version of the desktop app.

The first thing to note happens when you first start the app. You get the choice to use either iTunes or Windows libraries as the basis for synchronising media, including music, movies and podcasts. This isn’t a permanent decision, though. You can alter your synchronisation source in the ‘settings’ menu at any time.

The second key feature is that you now have more options when it comes to podcasts. If you go down the route of synchronising with Windows libraries, because you don’t use iTunes, then you can still sync podcasts that have been saved to your hard drive by synchronising the relevant folder.

And finally, like the full screen app, the desktop app will now detect and allow you to install any future updates to the software without visiting the web site.

There’s one last option, too. Your Windows Phone shows up as a connected drive in Explorer, with folders for music, documents and so forth. You can simply cut and paste media to and from your phone if you want to.

Not sure which option you need? Microsoft also has an online wizard to show you how to achieve what you want.

A picture paints a thousand words

Photography is a powerful tool. Images have an ability to connect with us on a deeper level than words, drawing out thoughts and emotions that can make us laugh, cry or even drive us to affect change in the world.

Photographs that changed the world

© Michael Fleshman

When you think about pictures that have had a significant political or social impact, chances are that you’ll remember Jeff Widener’s shot of Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in June 1989 when a brave figure stood in protest against four enormous tanks. 

TIME magazine reported that he “revived the world’s image of courage”.

Considered by many to be one of the most iconic images of the 20thcentury, the photograph instantly transcended linguistic and cultural barriers and opened the world’s eyes to the injustices that were occurring under China’s political regime. Even those who had never heard of Mao Zedong could immediately understand the significance of the “tank man”.

The picture not only spurred criticism from governments in Europe and America, but also inspired street protests in cities around the world.

Raising awareness can make a difference

Photography that brings global issues to centre stage has helped persuade governments to support effective programmes and policies that are making a measurable difference in fighting extreme poverty and disease.

Heart-breaking images that demonstrate on-going suffering have been key to raising awareness of the issues facing third-world countries. Charitable organisations, such as grassroots advocacy group ONE, have used photographs and videos to create a visually striking call-to-action.

As a result, almost 4 million Africans now have access to life-saving AIDS medication, up from only 50,000 people in 2002. Malaria deaths have been cut in half in countries across Africa in less than 2 years and 46.5 million more children are now going to school.

The social media revolution

Traditional media has undergone a dramatic transformation over the last five years. The advent of smartphones has put the power to create and share news and images into the hands of the people.

Citizens, armed with cameras and social media apps, are now providing the first images and reactions of news as it happens.

This democratisation of the media has strengthened the voice of citizen activists.

Nokia Lumia: making your (visual) voice heard

                

The days of blurry, out-of-focus or poorly lit smartphone camera pictures are history thanks to Nokia Lumia 920 and 925PureView technology and Optical Image Stabilisation, taking professional-quality photographs has never been easier.

Now you can capture powerful images and drive awareness for the causes you feel passionately about by sharing them on Facebook, Twitter and beyond. 

What changes do you want to see in the world? Let us know using the comments section below or share your photos with us on Facebook (www.facebook/Nokia) and Twitter.

Nokia Lumia 925 sales start in Germany

The recently launched Nokia Lumia 925 goes on sale for the first time today in Germany, with other European markets, China, U.S. and other countries worldwide to follow.

The Lumia 925 has a beautifully crafted design with a polished metal frame, which not only looks great, but also allows the phone to be thinner without losing any robustness.

The phone also features a 4.5-inch AMOLED display that lets you enjoy your content in vivid detail, even in direct sunlight, from almost any viewing angle.

As a surprise, we’re now introducing a beta version of a long anticipated feature, the clock on the standby screen. After receiving a large number of requests to bring back this favourite feature, it now comes as part of the Nokia Glance Screen, included first on the Lumia 925.

The Nokia Glance Screen also notifies you when your battery level is low, and you can switch on a night mode for reduced glare in the dark. Double tapping the screen will make it easier to unlock the phone, even when the phone is on a wireless charging stand, car holder or on the table. As it currently is a beta version, you can always select to turn the Nokia Glance Screen off in Settings by selecting ‘display & touch’ and ‘glance screen’.

Once the commercial version of the Nokia Glance Screen is released, it will become available to most Windows Phone 8 powered Lumia smartphones in conjunction with the upcoming Lumia Amber software update. 

Despite its slim (8.5mm) body, the 8.7-megapixel PureView camera boasts the same clever Optical Image Stabilisation technology as the Nokia Lumia 920. This provides a great cure for shaky hands, and together with the most advanced lens technology and latest Nokia imaging software, it also lets you to take better shots in low light.

Additionally, the new Smart Camera app, with features like Best Shot and Action Shot extends your photo opportunities with amazing effects. To make even more out of the Nokia Smart Camera, you can also download the Motion Focus feature from the Store to create more stunning pictures.

This week, we’ll be revealing more about how to make the most of your new Nokia Lumia 925, answering your questions about the phone, and showing off some of the innovative software features that are new to the range. Stay tuned.