Nokia Finally Faces the Hard Truth [Smartphones]

Nokia CEO Stephen Elop is pissed the Finnish cellphone maker relinquished their market dominance to Apple and Google. Real pissed. Fearing the company has reached a point of no return, Elop issued a no-holds-barred 1,300-word memo to employees, and seems primed to make some bold moves in the next week to help Nokia regain some of its former glory. More »

Myriad ‘Alien Dalvik’ runs Android apps on any phone… starting with MeeGo (video)

You know that N900 you keep around, just because. The one that’s been hacked so many times you call it “leatherface?” Well, it’s about to get a lot more flexible. Built upon the app quickening Dalvik Turbo, OHA member Myriad just announced Alien Dalvik with the promise of running “the majority” of unmodified Android apps on non-Android platforms “without compromising performance.” A bold claim, no doubt. Myriad will be backing this up at Mobile World Congress starting next week with plans to release it later this year on MeeGo. But why wait until then? You can see it demonstrated right now running on a Nokia N900 in the video after the break (it’s running Google Maps in the picture above). Hey Mr. Elop, you want to build, catalyze or join a competitive ecosystem? Maybe this is your solution.

Continue reading Myriad ‘Alien Dalvik’ runs Android apps on any phone… starting with MeeGo (video)

Myriad ‘Alien Dalvik’ runs Android apps on any phone… starting with MeeGo (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 08 Feb 2011 05:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Engadget Podcast 231 – 02.05.2011

This podcast is so disgusting that #1 Digitimes bestselling author Paul Miller wants to take a shower. JK, not disgusting at all! Lots of cool stuff, actually. Just look at that topics list! It’s a real beauty, right? We’re not sure we COULD fit any more platforms into a podcast if we tried. Hang out with it. It’s the Engadget Podcast, just the way you like it, with especially special guest Chris Ziegler.

Hosts: Joshua Topolsky, Nilay Patel, Paul Miller
Guest: Chris Ziegler
Producer:
Trent Wolbe
Music: Sexy Chick

00:08:24 – Live from Google’s Android event!
00:08:37 – Android in-app purchases hands-on (video)
00:08:55 – Android Market gets a web store with OTA installations, in-app purchases coming soon
00:11:00 – Android Market web store hands-on
00:20:47 – Motorola Xoom first benchmark: 1823 in Quadrant
00:21:47 – Google shows off Fragments API for Android 3.0
00:25:00 – Motorola teases Xoom Super Bowl ad: ‘2011 looks a lot like 1984’
00:36:30 – Motorola’s Atrix 4G coming to AT&T on March 6th for $200, bundled with Laptop Dock for $500
00:51:35 – Verizon iPhone review
00:52:23 – Verizon can now throttle top five percent of bandwidth hogs, downres multimedia transfers
00:53:12 – Verizon breaks first day sales record with iPhone 4 pre-orders — in only two hours
01:01:43 – Nokia, Microsoft announcing partnership next week, possibly involving Windows Phone 7?
01:10:19 – Palm creating palmtop computer with detachable, dockable cellphone?
01:12:15 – HP CEO: New webOS products shipping weeks after February 9 reveal, another big announcement March 14
01:13:35 – Palm ‘Think Beyond’ teaser shows off glimpses of… something (updated with longer video)

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Engadget Podcast 231 – 02.05.2011 originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 05 Feb 2011 15:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Aava Mobile reportedly set to reveal Medfield-based Android / MeeGo phone at MWC

Eager for a way to forget about Moorestown? We wouldn’t be shocked if Intel was in the same camp, and if this here rumor pans out, it could be Medfield acting as the amnesia at Mobile World Congress. If you’ll recall, Intel briefly showed off a Medfield-based phone late last month, and now we’re hearing that Aava Mobile — the same company responsible for a WoW-crunching Moorestown demonstration at Computex — is poised to release a real stunner in Barcelona. Slashgear has it on good authority that Aava’s second-generation Core design will be officially rolled out in a matter of days, complete with Intel Inside, an 8.9mm-thick chassis, Android and MeeGo. You read correctly — both mobile operating systems will be supported. It’s said that Aava doesn’t actually plan on hawking these to consumers; instead, they’ll be shuttled off to developers in order to promote its integrated ACPU and modem platform. Hard to say if the shell we’ll (hopefully) see at MWC will remain final, but you can bet we’ll be digging for more once the show floor opens.

Aava Mobile reportedly set to reveal Medfield-based Android / MeeGo phone at MWC originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 03 Feb 2011 15:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceSlashgear  | Email this | Comments

Visualized: Nokia R&D spending, almost 3 times its peers

Our initial reaction to the
Bernstein Research chart above is to wonder what value Nokia’s massive R&D spending has achieved. Sadly, that’s our second and third reaction, too, having spent some time with the company’s Symbian OS. Let’s just hope all that money was poured into MeeGo or some other megaprofitable ecosystem that it will “build or join” in 2011.

Update: Added a snapshot of Nokia’s R&D spending from 2007 and 2008 (when the company topped the EU with
US$7.24 billion spent on R&D) after the break.

Continue reading Visualized: Nokia R&D spending, almost 3 times its peers

Visualized: Nokia R&D spending, almost 3 times its peers originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 03 Feb 2011 07:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nokia’s leaked MeeGo device resembles dual-core ST-Ericsson U8500 reference platform

Yesterday’s leaked image of a purported Nokia tablet device seems to have been more informative than we initially believed it to be. An eagle-eyed forum member over on mobile-review has spotted the similarity between it and a reference platform for ST-Ericsson’s U8500 system-on-chip. Last we heard, that little powerhouse was running a pair of 1.2GHz ARM Cortex-A9 cores, so excuse us if we find the prospect of it driving Nokia’s next flagship a rather exciting one. You can see video of the reference device in question after the break — it ends on the delicious and unequivocal assertion from the ST-Ericsson rep that Nokia has signed up to deliver the U8500 in an upcoming device. Bear in mind, however, that the video is from November of last year and we still don’t know for sure that the Nokia slate above is its MeeGo progenitor or just a prototype. Either way, the U8500 is expected in smartphones at some point in the first half of this year, which kind of fits Nokia’s roadmap, no?

[Image credit: Cor72z]

Continue reading Nokia’s leaked MeeGo device resembles dual-core ST-Ericsson U8500 reference platform

Nokia’s leaked MeeGo device resembles dual-core ST-Ericsson U8500 reference platform originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 25 Jan 2011 08:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Is this Nokia’s tablet-shaped MeeGo device?

Consider this little slice of photography uncorroborated for now, but we just couldn’t ignore a device that’s ostensibly running MeeGo software while sporting a bold Nokia logo front and center on its shell. This mysterious slate has cropped up over at the mobile-review forums, where amateur sleuthing has already noted that the landscape centering of the Nokia logo is atypical — both the N97 and N900 have it off-center — which may well suggest this is a landscape-centric tablet first and a phone second (if at all!). Assuming the brand name imprint is the same size as on the N8 (Nokia loves to standardize those), we could be looking at a 4.5-inch screen on what is either an internal test device, or, more optimistically, a prototype for actual hardware. It’s worth noting that the MeeGo seen on board is of the stock variety, whereas Nokia intends to ship its new flagship device(s) with an as-yet-unseen set of UI customizations collectively known as Harmattan. So we’re certainly not looking at anything close to a final hardware / software pairing, but we are looking at something.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Continue reading Is this Nokia’s tablet-shaped MeeGo device?

Is this Nokia’s tablet-shaped MeeGo device? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 24 Jan 2011 03:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink @chilko (Twitter)  |  sourcemobile-review forums  | Email this | Comments

Nokia N9 to bust loose with MeeGo on Intel Atom power?

Nokia has to do something big if it wants to crack the US smartphone market. We can agree on that, right? And believe us, Nokia wants this — nothing will make the mighty Finns (and the company’s global investors) prouder than to gain some traction in the home of Apple pie and Google desserts. So how will the company do it? With
Symbian? Oh, hell no.
By introducing another MeToo handset? Nope, with MeeGo on a rockin’ platform like the rumored N9 slider pictured above.

Nokia announced its hardware plans for Maemo 6 a long time ago. At that time, the company was clear that it would continue using TI OMAP processors. Much has changed since then, however. In addition to several key leadership changes including a new Canadian-born CEO who spent much of his time working in the US, Nokia has joined Intel to roll up Maemo 6 and Moblin into MeeGo with Nokia’s first Maemo 6 MeeGo/Harmattan handset pushed into 2011. Simultaneously, Intel has also been doing its best to show its new Moorestown platform as a powerful ARM alternative, even showing off MeeGo handsets exploiting a Lincroft SoC and Atom processor core.
And Intel has said that Medfield-based smartphones (Moorestown’s
successor) would arrive in the middle of 2011.

So why the build-up? Well, we’ve just been tipped to a claim by
Prosessori, a respected Finnish technology magazine, that the Nokia N9 will launch with a 1.2GHz Atom processor. Better yet, it could be unveiled as soon as Mobile World Congress in February, presumably during Stephen Elop’s keynote. Do we believe it? Not entirely, but it is possible given the chain of events that have taken place. And you can bet that the first commercially available Intel smartphone with a brand new Nokia user experience would certainly grab headlines in the US and around the world. Something that should translate into high-end market share (and profits) if it’s as “exciting” as Elop claims.

[Thanks, Janne]





Nokia N9 to bust loose with MeeGo on Intel Atom power? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 20 Jan 2011 07:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Evolve III Maestro slate triple-boots Android, MeeGo and Windows 7 (video)

We inevitably miss things at tradeshows, and here’s one we regret — we didn’t catch this obscure Australian tablet in the flesh at CES 2011. Apparently, this Evolve III Maestro was casually chilling at Intel’s booth with Android, Windows 7 and a 1.83GHz Atom N475 CPU inside, but representatives were willing to reveal grander plans if you spent a little time with the device. You see, come Q2 2011, the slate will graduate to a dual-core Oak Trail CPU, and add MeeGo to the stack for a grand total of three operating systems. TabletPCBuzz says Windows 7 and Android are getting eight and sixteen hours of battery life on the Oak Trail chip respectively, and the tablet weighs less than two pounds.

It’s hard to say what other features the Oak Trail version will have, but even the existing tablet isn’t a pushover, with a 10.1-inch, 1024 x 600 capacitive touchscreen, 2GB of DDR3 RAM, up to 32GB of solid state storage, 3G and 802.11 b/g/n WiFi and a pair of full-size USB ports on one edge. Sources suggest the original will find a $500 price point, with the Oak Trail commanding an additional $100. After the break, you’ll find a disappointingly static video, but follow the links below for a walkthrough of the MeeGo UI and all the specs you could want.

[Thanks, Garf]

Continue reading Evolve III Maestro slate triple-boots Android, MeeGo and Windows 7 (video)

Evolve III Maestro slate triple-boots Android, MeeGo and Windows 7 (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 17 Jan 2011 00:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Geek.com, Liliputing  |  sourceEvolve Three, pcchan54 (YouTube)  | Email this | Comments

KDJ-One is a gigantic Game Boy with an audio workstation inside

Cyberstep’s KDJ-One, a portable digital audio workstation currently in prototype mode, is a noisy little wrinkle in time. While we’re fairly certain it will never see the light of day in your local Guitar Center, we really do want to wish it the best. It combines the aesthetics of a few of our very favorite things: the D-pad, button layout, and chunkiness instantly reminded us of the original DMG Game Boy. The keypad on bottom looks a lot like a tweaked version of a Roland TB-303. And the software inside — pure MeeGo — reminds us of a Tungsten-era Palm device crossed with a laptop from 1999. (But in a really good way!)

A five-inch resistive touchscreen — complete with stylus — sits on top of an Atom E640 CPU, 512MB of RAM, a 4GB SSD drive, and a pair of 2000mAh batteries. Oh, and it’s got a rumble pack on the backside: Cyberstep assures us the QW Vibration System adds “a whole new element of force feedback to your music production experience.” The sampler / looper / sequencer production software itself seems super-basic and pretty fun, although we could probably squeeze a lot more production flexibility out of a $300 netbook. But just look at that dude and tell us you don’t want to squeeze its little white cheeks. Yeah, exactly. Video after the jump.

Continue reading KDJ-One is a gigantic Game Boy with an audio workstation inside

KDJ-One is a gigantic Game Boy with an audio workstation inside originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 14 Jan 2011 12:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceCyberstep  | Email this | Comments