Hasta La Gadget!

Representing a letter of the Greek alphabet can be a daunting task. The Nokia 700 “Zeta,” however, is busy getting primed for the massive duty on hand, indicated by a pair of possible press shots that surfaced from Indian site KnowYourMobile. A comparison of these new pics with the spyshots grabbed last week show very little difference besides the obvious color change, with the 1GHz, Symbian Belle-powered Zeta opting for a white front and chrome back instead of the black and candy-apple combo we saw previously. This could mean that, like many Nokia handsets before it, a rainbow of various hues will be available to choose from the moment the device launches. We sure hope that’s soon, because nobody wears white after Labor Day.

[Thanks, Mark]

Nokia 700 ‘Zeta’ gets classy, dresses in white for leaked press shots originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 05 Jul 2011 20:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nokia will be entering Q3 free of any direct-to-consumer sales channels in the US and UK. The Finnish smartphone maker shuttered its remaining UK retail stores earlier this month (with the exception of Heathrow Airport, which remains open), and also discontinued sales on its US and UK online stores — joining France, Spain, and The Netherlands, which all went offline last month. We spoke to a former Nokia UK retail employee, who cited poor marketing, high prices, slowing traffic and a high product return rate as a few of the reasons that the stores closed — returns of the N8 and E7 dominated other handsets, with customers complaining of device crashes and corruption, hardware failures, and usability issues. He reports that the stores were also only able to sell devices on Vodafone and T-Mobile, and only Vodafone allowed customers to upgrade in a Nokia store. The majority of customers came into the store for support, rather than to make a purchase.

“The last two months were particularly quiet. Even if the shopping centre was busy, the Nokia store would have perhaps no more than 30 people through the door a day, usually for technical assistance. And that was that, all stores were closed abruptly on June 20th.”

We imagine pricing played a large role in the decision to close the UK and US online stores, just as it did with UK retail and online stores in other countries. Both country’s online stores have been replaced with a closure notice, with the US store directing customers to Amazon, and the UK store referring visitors to eight retail partners, instead.

[Thanks, Karl]

Nokia shutters online and retail stores in UK, US web store originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Jun 2011 11:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Is have been dotted, the Ts have been crossed with a flourish, and pretty soon Nokia will have very little indeed to do with its formerly beloved Symbian OS. Oh sure, the company promises to keep it going with such standout devices as the Oro, but responsibility for developing and supporting Symbian is being wholly handed over to Accenture, along with 2,800 employees. When announced back in April, the deal called for 3,000 Nokia worker bees to make the jump over, so we suspect a few more (hopefully voluntary) redundancies are making up the difference with the new number. Now that everything’s been finalized, you can expect the switchover to take place in “the early part of October.” Accenture promises to care for its ailing patient through 2016, after which point even the most die-hard of fans will have to make the switch to a mobile OS from the 21st century. Full PR after the break.

Continue reading Nokia and Accenture seal Symbian handover deal

Nokia and Accenture seal Symbian handover deal originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 22 Jun 2011 02:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It isn’t easy being a US-based Nokia fan in 2011. The Finnish handset manufacturer just doesn’t get a lot of love from stateside carriers. Thankfully, however, the company’s phones do pop up unlocked through sites like Amazon, which, as it so happens, has opened up pre-orders for the Symbian Anna-rocking E6. You can get your thumbs on the smartphone’s QWERTY keyboard for $446, when it start shipping in one to two months, chock full of Ovi-branded goodness.

[Thanks, Matthew]

Nokia E6 hits Amazon unlocked, loaded, and available for pre-order originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 16 Jun 2011 16:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Still rockin’ a Symbian phone from Nokia? Don’t let Android and WP7 owners hog all the media streaming fun. Nokia Play To brings DLNA’s push features to Symbian^3, albeit in beta form. Hit up the source link, install the app, and you’ll imbue your handset with the surprisingly rare ability to beam videos, photos, and music to any DLNA-capable receiving device jacked into your TV — heck, it could be your TV. Check out the video after the break if you want to see it in action before you click download.

Continue reading Nokia Play To adds DLNA streaming to waning Symbian (video)

Nokia Play To adds DLNA streaming to waning Symbian (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Jun 2011 03:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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