Hasta La Gadget!

Word on the street has it that Verizon will be launching a certain Nokia Lumia 929 in the near future, but apparently it will not be known as the Lumia 929, but instead will do away with the model numbers and will simply be known as the Nokia Lumia Icon. This is according to @evleaks who states that the rebranding could be a possibility. It is unclear if this is the new direction that Nokia will be headed with their devices, or if it will only be for Verizon, but either way if and when Verizon launches said device, take note that it could be called something different upon its release.

There’s still no date on when the phone will be launched, and so far we have only been treated to leaked photos that have been making their way around the internet. For those unfamiliar, the Lumia Icon is said to be a smaller sized version of the Lumia 1520 but will retain most, if not all of its specs. It has been rumored to sport the same Full HD 1080p display, except compressed to a 5” display, and will pack a quad-core chipset, a 20MP PureView camera, and will come with 32GB of onboard storage. It sounds like a great device for those who might not appreciate the phablet category of smartphone.

We will be keeping our eyes peeled so check back with us later for more details.

Verizon’s Lumia 929 Could Be Known As “Lumia Icon” original content from Ubergizmo.

Nokia has more or less successfully positioned their smartphones to be devices that offer a fantastic camera experience along the way, and the PureView technology which is part of the mix happens to play a large role in perpetuating that viewpoint, too. After all, who can resist the large words “41 megapixels” emblazoned in advertisements for the Nokia Lumia 1020? It is more or less bound to attract plenty of attraction for sure! Well, Nokia has also come up with a highly advanced Camera app in order to take advantage of the advanced cameras in select Nokia Lumia handsets, but today marks a new milestone. Nokia has announced that as long as you own a Lumia device which runs on the Windows Phone 8 mobile operating system, you will be able to download a public beta version of the Nokia Camera app.

This means the Nokia Camera app will no longer be an exclusive app on a PureView-powered camera in a Lumia handset. This particular app will arrive with similar features as that of the existing Nokia Camera model, and in due time, do expect experimental new features to be thrown into the mix, while existing ones will be refined. And when ready, expect these to end up in the stable, non-Beta Camera app via the standard Store update process.

Nokia Camera Beta App Arrives On All Lumia Models original content from Ubergizmo.

We did talk about how Nokia could very well be flirting with a variant of the Android mobile operating system sometime last week, with the device in question being the Nokia Normandy. Well, it does seem as though plans to roll out such a device with an Android derivative could very well be shelved for good. Having said that, Nokia must be commended for having been involved with Android-powered devices in a rather deep manner, considering how they already have a bunch of low-end Android devices in the pipeline, in addition to an affordable 7″ tablet with a Snapdragon 400 processor running underneath the hood.

Nokia’s Peter Skillman, who is head of user interface design, has been in charge of coming up with a variant for an Android-powered device, but it does seem as though his task has come to the end of the road. Nokia does seem to be shifting its focus on wearable devices in the same vein as that of Google Glass though. Do you think that Nokia should concentrate solely on Windows Phone 8 and the subsequent versions of the mobile operating system, or shift their attention to churn out the relevant hardware range for at least two mobile operating systems?

Nokia Could Pull Out Of Android Device Race original content from Ubergizmo.

If you’re looking for a motion tracking app for your Nokia Lumia device, perhaps as a way to keep track of your fitness and your daily activities, you might be interested in the recently released Motion Monitor app by Nokia. The app, as it stands, is currently in beta, but basically what it does is that it follows similar fitness tracking apps by monitoring the user’s physical activity, such as motion and steps. The app will be able to run in the background and reportedly consumes very little power because it uses one of the Lumia 1520’s cores to off-load sensor data, similar to how the Apple M7 chip works in the iPhone 5s.

As expected this means that the Motion Monitor app will be an exclusive to the Lumia 1520, although it wouldn’t be a complete surprise if Nokia and Microsoft eventually open up the API to third party developers who might be thinking of creating something similar as an alternative. In the meantime if you’re an owner of the Lumia 1520, you can head on over to the Windows Phone Store for the download, but like we said the app is currently in beta, so do expect the occasional bug every now and then.

Motion Monitor App For Nokia Lumia 1520 Announced original content from Ubergizmo.

Samsung makes a plethora of Android devices each year, devices that cater to high-end, mid-range and low-end markets. However, it doesn’t make as many Windows Phone devices. Microsoft certainly wants its mobile platform to flourish, and for that it needs to get major OEMs on board. It recently acquired the devices and services division of its biggest OEM, Nokia. While Samsung won’t be selling its hardware division any time soon, rumor has it that Microsoft is offering $1 billion in support to the company if it continues to make Windows Phone devices.

A deal of this nature isn’t unusual. Prior to its acquisition of Nokia’s division, Microsoft was paying the Finnish manufacturer $250 million per quarter in “platform support payments,” but it got money back as well since Nokia was paying it to license Windows Phone. However the deal might sound feasible to Samsung given the fact that it is being rumored that Microsoft is considering waiving Windows Phone licensing fees for OEMs altogether. There’s no official confirmation from either company that $1 billion is going to change hands, the rumor has spread through well known mobile blogger Eldar Murtazin, who is known to have connections. Though since nothing is official yet, its best to take this rumor with a grain of salt.

Microsoft Reportedly Offers Samsung $1 Billion If It Continues To Make Windows Phone Devices original content from Ubergizmo.