Nokia cutting another 800 jobs in Finland
On top of the 1,800 job cuts announced back in October, Nokia has announced this week that will be cutting another 800 positions right in Finland, the company's home turf. The good news is that the announcement was made only after negotiations with the affected employees were wrapped up, and they'll be getting anywhere between 5 and 15 months of severance pay -- and at least some of the staffers will be offered different positions elsewhere in the company. Nokia is in the midst of a fairly significant restructuring from top to bottom as it tries to claw its way back into the hearts and minds of consumers: it's got a new CEO , a new operating system , a new relationship with the Symbian Foundation , and some freshly trimmed fat, so let's hope Espoo's got a killer 2011 in the cards.
Categories: Mobile Phone, Other Tags: consumers, cuts, engadget, engadget-mobile, espoo, layoffs, mobile, nokia, operating, restructuring, result, symbian, turf
Nokia X7 preps for its unauthorized preview
After seeing the Symbian-based Nokia X7 leak into the wilds with its quartet of speakers a few weeks ago, you just knew that it was only a matter of time until Eldar Murtazin got his hands on the device for a preview. Last time he did this he burned the then unannounced Nokia N8 to the ground
Categories: Mobile Phone Tags: att, backside, break, burned-the-then, leak, nokia, nokiax7, quartet, symbian, time
Weird Nokia ‘N00 Prototype C’ shows up on eBay, possible N86 8MP successor?
With the N8 and the E7 stealing most of Nokia's Symbian -flavored spotlight right now, it's easy to forget that numeric keypads and sliders aren't necessarily dead and gone -- but a strange prototype that's shown up on eBay's German site suggests that Espoo might still be hard at work on the form factor currently championed by the N86 8MP .
Categories: Mobile Phone Tags: element, giving-it-most, mobile, numeric, result, sensor, symbian, weird-nokia, wiped-off-nokia
Nokia toys with context-aware smartphone settings switch, Jigsaw provides better context for apps like this
If Intel prognosticated correctly , context is the future of apps -- your device's array of sensors will determine where you are and what you're doing, and clever programs will guess from there. Problems arise, however, when one tries to run those accelerometers, microphones, radio antennas and GPS tracking devices constantly on the battery life of an average smartphone and determine what the raw data means, and that's where a group of Dartmouth researchers (and one Nokia scholar) are trying to stake their claim. They've got a bundle of algorithms called Jigsaw for iPhone and Symbian that claims to be able to continually report what you're up to (whether walking, running, cycling or driving) no matter where you place your device, and only pings the sensors as needed based on how active you are.
Categories: Android, Mobile Phone Tags: accelerometers, api, battery, coordinates, jigsaw, nokiasituations, s603rdedition, symbian, walking
Opera Mobile 10.1 for Symbian turns to a brilliant shade of gold
Opera has done a pretty commendable job of keeping its latest, greatest wares up to date on most of the major mobile platforms, and here's another checkbox they can tick: Opera Mobile 10.1 has now gone final for Symbian. Of course, this isn't to be confused with the lighter-weight Opera Mini product that went into beta for Symbian last month -- this is the full package that's capable of operating without a proxy. What's new?
Categories: Mobile Phone, Other Tags: available-now, Checkbox, commendable, date-on-most, engadget-mobile, entry, mobile, opera, opera-mini, operamini, result, services, symbian, times
Nokia C2-01 and X2-01 break cover: cheap to the max, launching soon
Symbian and MeeGo might be getting all the attention, but for Nokia, Series 40 is still very much a meat-and-potatoes part of the operation -- and to that end, they've announced a pair of new models today that go exceptionally easy on the pocketbook. First up, the C2-01 (pictured left) is claimed to be the cheapest 3G handset in Espoo's lineup, featuring a 3.2 megapixel camera, FM radio, Bluetooth, and memory expansion up to 16GB atop a 2-inch display; it'll be available in the first quarter of 2011 for around €70 ($95). Next up, the X2-01 certainly looks like a Symbian device from a distance -- but don't be fooled, it's still straight-up Series 40 with a full QWERTY portrait keyboard.
Categories: Mobile Phone Tags: attention, c2-01, dedicated-music, launching-soon, meat, nokia, nokia-c2-01, operation, qwerty, radio, result, symbian, wifi, x2-01
Ovi Store hits 3 million downloads a day
Nokia's chatting up the fact that it just broke the 3 million download per day milestone in its Ovi Store , backed up by 400,000 new developers in the last 12 months alone and a total of 92 developers who've crossed the 1 million total download mark. Interestingly, the download rate pales in comparison to Apple's App Store, which is raking in over 17 million downloads a day at last count -- despite the fact that Nokia still dominates market share and boasts Ovi Store compatibility with some 126 (yes, 126) models
Categories: Mobile Phone Tags: central, engadget, meego, mobile, offerings, ovi, ovi store, ovistore, source, symbian, times
Nokia SVP of Symbian Smartphones talks portrait QWERTY, Symbian ‘bashing,’ and MeeGo devices
Jo Harlow, Nokia's Senior VP of Symbian Smartphones was in Amsterdam for the kickoff of the Symbian Exchange and Exposition, giving us the chance for a sit down with the seven year Nokia veteran.
Categories: Mobile Phone, Other Tags: appeal, approach, features, graphics, improvements, including-split, joharlow, meego, nokia, smartphones, stephen-elop, symbian, talks-portrait, transcript
Nokia taking over Symbian development, Foundation responsible for licensing
So it seems the Symbian Foundation isn't necessarily going away, but it's transitioning its role in a big, big way. They're undertaking a "strategic change" that will involve the Foundation moving to a new role where it controls the product's patent portfolio and licenses the Symbian brand and its research and development activities, but the meat of the operation -- the actual platform development -- will move over to Nokia beginning the end of March next year.
Categories: Mobile Phone Tags: amsterdam, breakingnews, Change, engadget, entry, meeting, nokia, patent, portfolio, presence, press, releases, result, symbian
Editorial: Should your next mobile OS update cost you?
Will that fancy new smartphone you're looking at buying run a version of Android that hasn't even been announced yet?
Categories: Android, Mobile Phone Tags: editorial, importance, mobile, operating-system, smartphone, sprint, symbian, upgrade