Nokia Lumia 800: First Real Windows Phone

This post will be updated as soon as more information is available..

Nokia Lumia 800

Nokia just announced the Lumia 800 at the Nokia World 2011.  This phone has a 3.7” Clear Black display (Super AMOLED) with a 480x800-pixel resolution. It packs a 1.4GHz processor with hardware acceleration and a separate graphics processor. 16GB onboard storage and free 25GB of SkyDrive space. Carl Zeiss optics, 8 MP camera, HD video. Nokia Lumia 800 is priced at around $580 and ships November.

Nokia Lumia 710

3.7-inch LCD display, same processor and memory at the Nokia Lumia 800. Has 5 megapixels camera. Nokia Lumia 710 is priced at around $380 and ships by the end of this year.

Nokia Windows Phones will have the exclusive Nokia Drive, Mix Radio, and ESPN Sports Hub.

Nokia

Smart introduces new logo

The logo change may be a part of their corporate and branding strategy come 2012 moving forward as they embrace fully the mobile age - considering that late 2010 to early 2011 was the period that smartphones outpaced PC sales for the first time, adding to that are those who are dumping their dumb phones and moving on to smartphones.

Check out my post on SMART’s recent redesign of their logo over at OneDesignPH.com.

New Smart Logo: Colorful Pimples

Windows Phone concepts Microsoft could actually use

Browsing over XDA, I noticed a link to the J&K Design blog by Jozef Kocur which has lots of graphical interface designs and ideas. I found that his Windows Phone 7 ones were curiously appealing and down-right practical. (click to enlarge the image)

His left-most concept shows what WP7 would look like after the Apollo update, which presumably would merge Windows 8 and Windows Phone. It looks great and now made me wonder why Microsoft never did allow different color tiles such as those seen in Windows 8.

On the middle, you can see his concept of Settings Toggle just below the volume and notification bar. Interchanges with Zune player controls with the volume keys.

I was also thinking about launching the Zune Part by pressing Volume-Up button, and launching Setting Toggles by pressing Volume-Down Button.

The last image also shows a gradient background under the unusually inverted dark tiles. It just goes to show that there is still lots of room for WP7 to showcase Metro UI in its full glory at the same time allowing users to customize their phones more that what is allowed today.

Check out his website for more hi-res images and concepts. Live Thumbnails and daily Bing lock screen wallpapers are just some nifty ideas that Microsoft should really consider making into a reality. Good job Jozef!

Galaxy Nexus Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich

Google and Samsung just announced the Google Galaxy Nexus (Nexus Prime was more kickass) running on Android 4.0 aka Ice Cream Sandwich. The Galaxy Nexus runs on 1.2 Ghz dual core processor and has a 1GB of RAM. The phone is still packing a Super AMOLED display bumped at 4.65” with a 1280 x 720 resolution. There is also an option of either 16GB or 32GB of onboard storage. The 5 megapixel camera of the Nexus S remains on the Galaxy Nexus (which is a little disappointing)

Some notable features of the Galaxy Nexus are:

1. Face Unlock – The phone can unlock itself using facial recognition. no more typing passcodes.
2. Android Beam – An NFC-powered  tap-to-share feature to send contacts, websites, apps, maps and links to other NFC-enable android phones.
3. Voice Typing – Voice recognition for text input on emails and SMS.
4. Improved Camera – Panoramic photo, 1080p videos at 30fps, edit and share.
5. New UI – New refreshed UI for Android 4.0 and lots of new features.

Matias Duarte, the UI guru of Android (also WebOS) clearly moved Android away from being the Apple iPhone wannabe and look-alike. It’s more like an iOS mixed with a little Windows Phone. Good-old icons intertwined with a whole new digital UI. His work with WebOS seems to crop up on some parts of the UI. The new circular lock screen is similar to WebOS’s lock screen. The side-swiping on the task manager is reminiscent of the swipe-to-close gesture on WebOS cards.

“There’s this thing that’s happening right now in user interface design that I find kind of shackling. The faux wood paneling trend, and the airport lavatory signage trend.” He laughs when he says this and pulls up a slide on his computer, a split screen of an Atari 2600 and… airport lavatory signage. It’s an obvious dig at both Apple and Microsoft.

- Matias Duarte via This is my Next

It’s pretty obvious that some new features of the new Google flagship phone were inspired by iOS and Windows Phone. Features like the People App which integrates your contacts and social connections similar to the People Hub of Windows Phones. Side swiping as seen on the current Android Marketplace and Music are very similar with the way side swiping works for Windows Phones. Camera Panorama and Instant Upload are reminiscent of Skydrive’s Instant Upload.

Beside the disappointing camera. I think this is a solid upgrade from the Nexus S that I’m using on a daily basis. I’m just thinking, with all these hard work on Android Ice Cream Sandwich UI, what will it look like when operators and manufacturers slap their own skins and customizations? That’s the problem of Android. Fragmentation. The best bet for now would be getting the untainted, vanilla flavor, Galaxy Nexus.

http://www.google.com/nexus/

Microsoft Store’s panoramic display is awesome

The above Windows Phone 7 Mango motion graphic was created by Ryan Boyle for Microsoft. This 57000x1080 resolution video is being shown off the multiple large screen displays that wraps around the store. You can also check out his work on Skype wall.

Microsoft has recently been awarded a trademark for the design of its 14 Microsoft Store’s in the US. They are planning a rollout of 75 more stores in the coming months.

The mark consists of three-dimensional trade dress depicting the interior of a retail store with four curved tabletops at the front and rear side walls and a rectangular band displaying changing video images on the walls. The matter shown depicted in the drawing in broken lines is not part of the mark and serves only to show the continuous stream of changing video content on the video band and the position or placement of the mark. (http://tarr.uspto.gov)

There is no Microsoft Store in the Philippines yet, as there is no official Apple Store either. It would be great if they would launch here and showcase a complete Windows Phone experience that, Smart’s JUMP, doesn’t seem to have. Add to that Xbox, PC’s and the Microsoft Surface. That would be a great shop attraction.

Photo and video credits:
http://vimeo.com/sketchypictures
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sketchypictures/

Thank you Steve Jobs

It’s rare that I get sad on a news of someone, a celebrity, or politician passing away. But today’s news made me a twinge a little bit.

I have always kind of favored both Steve Jobs and Bill Gates and their classy competition in the 80’s more than the competition we’re seeing right now. The web leaders from AOL, Yahoo and even Google didn’t do nearly as much as both of the guys did. Probably because they already had it laid out for them while Jobs and Gates both started nearly from scratch.

Thank you for pushing technology as far as you could. Without you, we’d probably be still using dumb phones, or less smartphones. We’d probably be still using a slow Windows on a tablet. We’d probably still be forced to buy less appealing hardware and software. You have been able to mix liberal arts and technology as it should have been. You raised the bar.

Thank you for your Stanford commencement address. I still hold some of the thoughts there and personally quoting a number of your statements over the years, on my heart and sharing it to others. Your thoughts on life, design and technology has inspired me and a lot of people.

Steve Jobs - one great innovator and brilliant businessman. May you rest in peace.

Thank you.

Bye, see you Zune!

No officially word yet from Microsoft but basing on the quote taken from the Zune Player Support Service Page, the Zune portable media player can be considered dead. The Zune has really ended its run. This time, it’s not just a rumor.

“We recently announced that, going forward, Windows Phone will be the focus of our mobile music and video strategy, and that we will no longer be producing Zune players. So what does this mean for our current Zune users? Absolutely nothing. Your device will continue to work with Zune services just as it does today. And we will continue to honor the warranties of all devices for both current owners and those who buy our very last devices. Customer service has been, and will remain a top priority for us.”

They have removed the hard disk based players and retained Zune HD. They’re just probably slowly selling remaining stocks of these and will not be making any more new ones especially new models. If you’re really into the Zune HD line, better buy one before it goes out of stock, forever.

It a sad outcome to a product line that gave us Windows Phone and Windows 8. The Zune was where Metro was fully appreciated first. We hope Microsoft would reverse their decision and produce an updated Windows 7 player. Not a phone, but just a storage multimedia player for music and video lovers. Maybe they could also license Zune Metro (like Windows Phone) to Sony, Sandisk, etc. :)

[via] WM Power User

Nintendo 3DS - The Perils, The Possibilities, The Trials And The Triumphs

How the Little Gaming Handheld That Could seeks to reclaim its fame following initial infamy.

The Nintendo 3DS has had a unbecoming beginning, that much is certain. We’ve all heard the stories; the slow-selling portable headache inducer that, signifies that Nintendo has finally lost the plot.

Really? Or is the world’s most unpredictable videogame manufacturer merely the victim of complacency bred from its own success? Wii fever and DS love across the planet surely did much to raise both Nintendo’s and fans’ assumptions of the 3DS before it launched. Several months of short sharp shocks later, and it seems Nintendo are finally getting the message, responding with the franchises fans are crying out for.

Sony’s enticing box-of-tricks, PlayStation Vita, flaunts it self at every opportunity. Undeniably late to the touchscreen party, Vita nonetheless offers plenty to court the more power-hungry portable gamer. Success story in the making, or just PSP all over again? Time will tell!

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