Hasta La Gadget!

If you’ve been eagerly awaiting September 23rd so you can grab your very own Nokia N9 in America, the company’s first (and last) MeeGo smartphone may not be shipping in your region after all. We’ve been reaching out to Espoo in recent weeks in an attempt to nail down a US ship date for the drop-dead gorgeous handset, and much to our chagrin, we received a rather disheartening reply:

“After the very positive reception to the launch of the Nokia N9, the product is now being rolled out in countries around the world. At this time we will not be making it available in the US. Nokia takes a market by market approach to product rollout, and each country makes its own decisions about which products to introduce from those available. Decisions are based on an assessment of existing and upcoming products that make up Nokia’s extensive product portfolio and the best way in which to address local market opportunities.”

Bummer. Moreover, the folks over at The Inquirer were fed an eerily similar line regarding a ship date in the UK, leaving us to wonder where exactly this thing is planning to launch. Regardless, we’re still doing our darndest to get ahold of one for review, but it’s becoming all the more obvious that it’ll hardly matter to folks situated in the US of A. And that, friends, is a crying shame.

Nokia: the N9 isn’t coming to America originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Aug 2011 10:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Until now, mobile app developers have followed a pretty predictable MO: develop for iOS first, Android second, and everyone else after that. Since last year, many of you code monkeys out there have been tapping into Nitobi’s PhoneGap, a project that makes it easier to churn out apps for almost every OS, all at once. It’s been picking up steam, with about 40,000 downloads per month, 600,000 in total, and a steady stream of donations. That all culminated this weekend with the release of PhoneGap 1.0, which lets devs use HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to write and deploy apps for iOS, Android, BlackBerry, webOS, Bada, and Symbian. That’s a long list indeed, but we see one glaring omission: Windows Phone 7. Hit the source link to download it for free and check out the promo video below for an oh-so quick overview.

Update: Oops! Looks like WP7 is included! Our apologies, and feel free to celebrate accordingly.

Continue reading PhoneGap 1.0 lets devs write apps for seven platforms (video)

PhoneGap 1.0 lets devs write apps for seven platforms (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Aug 2011 11:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink TheNextWeb  |  PhoneGap  | Email this | Comments

Look at the chart above and you’ll see two things happening. First, Apple has overtaken Symbian to become the top smartphone platform in the UK (with a 27 percent market share). And secondly, Android has grown 634 percent year-over-year to shoot into second place, with less than half a percentage point keeping it from the top spot (other reports already place it ahead). As you might expect, much of that growth isn’t coming from folks switching from one smartphone to the other, but from new smartphone users — Comscore found that 42 percent of all mobile users in the UK used a smartphone in May of this year, compared to just 27 percent a year ago. Of course, that also means that 58 percent of UK cellphone users are still potential smartphone users (to say nothing of those that still don’t have a cellphone at all), so there’s certainly still plenty up for grabs for all involved.

Comscore: Android’s UK market share explodes as Apple overtakes Symbian originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 22 Jul 2011 15:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Comscore Data Mine  | Email this | Comments

There’s something bittersweet about watching a Symbian phone march through the FCC knowing that Nokia is slowly thinning the herd. This particular model, the N5, made its requisite Mr. Blurrycam debut last month and now we’ve got some details about what the glossy white exterior is hiding. You’ll find Bluetooth and WiFi radios inside, which isn’t surprising, as well as NFC for all the contactless purchasing your Finland-loving heart can handle. On the mobile broadband side of things, there’s support for the 850MHz, 1700MHz, and 1900MHz bands, which means it’ll work with either T-Mobile or AT&T. Besides price and release date, the big question on our minds is whether or not anyone will buy a Symbian phone knowing the platform is destined for extinction?

Nokia’s N5 makes Symbian-powered procession through the FCC originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 21 Jul 2011 19:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  FCC  | Email this | Comments

Hard to believe the last great Communicator was launched but a few months back, huh? In the time since, Nokia has bestowed upon us the first image of its forthcoming WP7 handset, rolled out the MeeGo-based N9 and flaunted the dev-only N950. That said, Symbian’s still claiming a staggering piece of the market from a global perspective, and even though Elop and co. have largely given up on it for their future smartphones, we’re pretty certain at least a few of you sprung for the oh-so-gorgeous E7. So, now that you’ve had a few months to put it through its paces, what say you? Would you change the keypad in any way? Is that panel dense enough for you? Would you have preferred a different OS? How’s about a non-EDoF camera? Shoot the breeze down in comments below, but let’s keep it civil, okay? It’s Sunday, after all.

How would you change Nokia’s E7? originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 17 Jul 2011 22:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments