Nokia Blog

The lanuch of Nokia Lumia in Poland was acompanied with this cool 4D projection on building. Check out the video...

Despite being interrupted by a Nokia ringtone during his concert in Orthodox Jewish synagogue in Presov, Slovakian musician Lukáš Kmit kept his cool and became a viral star, being feature on  Mashable, CNET and other sites and blogs. Video has over 850K views; here is why... :)

BTW, did you know that it the Nokia Tune is heard worldwide an estimated 1.8 billion times per day? Pretty amazing!

Heard of Grooveshark? Not? Grooveshark is an awesome service which allows you to listen any music on your computer for free. You can search artists, albums or individual songs and listen them while you are bored at work, or you can listen to online radios based on genre you prefer. What I love about Grooveshark is that I don't have to copy all my music from my home music library to my work computer. I simply listen to anything that I have mood for. And when I use my laptop or different computer I just login to Grooveshark and listen to my favorite songs, again, no need to worry about mp3 files. Another thing you gotta love about Grooveshark is that is available also in your country... not like competitive services (Spotify, R'dio, etc.).

What is super cool is that you pay a monthly fee and you can actually stream the music to your mobile phone and listen it on the go!!! The service is called Grooveshark Anywhere and they support Android, BlackBerry, Palm... and additinally jailbroken iPhones and even they say they do support Nokia devices, in fact they only do old Symbian S60v3 and S60v5 devices, NOT any of the latest devices, like so popular N8 :(

As a Nokia user I was disapponted that the application which Grooveshark provides for download is very old, it was designed for old Symbian S60 (e.g. Nokia N97, Nokia N86, Nokia 5800 XM, Nokia 5230, etc.) and not touched since then, I guess. I tried the app on my Nokia N95 8GB and it worked like a charm! :) Unfortunately it's an old phone and I don't use it as my everyday phone. I have way better user experience with Qt based apps on Nokia N8 and Nokia N9. BUT... there is no Grooveshark app for any of them! N8 is running newer version of Symbian called Symbian^3 (now updated to Symbian Anna), and N9 is running Linux-based experimental OS called MeeGo Harmattan.

Grooveshark folks probably didn't really understand what Nokia said on Feb 11, 2011, when they announced cooperation with Microsoft regarding Windows Phone 7. In the recent e-mail from Grooveshark support I was told that Grooveshark is not developing Symbian app anymore because Nokia dropped the OS from its line up. Whaaaat?! But when!? Maybe in 2 years? Plus Nokia claim they will support Symbian till 2016! There are updates rolling out, like Anna, Belle and more coming in 2012. I very sad that existing Nokia install base and a promise to ship another 150 million Symbian devices was somehow overlooked. I have tried to install existing old Grooveshark app for Symbian S60v5 to a Nokia N8 running Symbian Anna and it almost worked. I mean I was able to get to my playlists and favorited songs and listen to them, but unfortunately, the most important feature - search - didn't work. I really want to use Grooveshark Anywhere and it's a really good deal for $50/year, but I don't know how will I use it. I'm also sorry for iPhone and Windows Phone owners, I really wish Grooveshark is available on all major platforms - namely iOS, Android, Symbian (Anna/Belle) and WP7!

Everywhere I go, they tell me that Symbian is a burning platform and everything I read is that Nokia is dead and that HTC or Microsoft or whoever is about to buy them. Recently I read that Nokia is one of the top 10 brands that will disappear in 2012. I'm like WTF?! I think those people never saw market share numbers, never had one of the new Nokia devices with Symbian^3 or MeeGo in hands and have no idea about Nokia's patent portfolio. Nokia is among the most trusted brands in the world and in many countries Nokia's market share is over 60 %! In fact, in India, there are over 300,000 retail locations with Nokia banner above the door! Now beat this!

Below are some photos of user interface (UI) of MeeGo which I managed to play with yesterday, including from dialpad, contacts (with no contact added), settings of Swype and NFC .

Swype settings and languages:

NFC settings:

Current version: 10.2011.24

More infor about MeeGo UI and it's swipe contol on Nokia Developer website.

A new 3rd party app for Nokia devices appeared on blogs and Twitter today. 4squick is supposed to be much cooler than regualr Foursquare app because is a Qt app. The video looks great, and I downloaded it immediately. Now, in the night I came to install it on Symbian Anna. I managed to do it, but I can't log in. Try yourself and let me know if it works. Thanks!

As the SIS files is currently not been available on the official developer's page, I uploaded them here:

Nokia N9 with MeeGo comes with pre-installed apps like Facebook, Foursquare, Twitter, Vimeo. Thanks to accounts manageryou can integrate your N9 with other accounts, including Flickr, Picasa, GMail or VOIP. But, people are asking about other apps. There will be thousands of apps available for N9 because it supports Qt and currently there are tens of thousands of applications in Nokia Store (former Ovi Store), so all the devs has to do is to convert them with a simple tool to MeeGo compatible format. No other platform had so many apps available when launched, so eveything is good!

While the N9 is for public, Nokia silently introduced N950, available for developers only. It's a different device than N9. Maybe you thought it's N9 with keyboard, but no. One of the main differences is camera, which is also 8MP but without autofocus. It's not a photo mobile, it's just developer's toy, so it's not necessary. Also, N950 supports regular SIM card, while N9 only supports microSIM.

Nokia N9 is a beautiful device. I love that it's crafted from a single piece of polycarbonate and it has a huge 3.9 inch screen even the size of the phone is similar to N8, actually is smaller, and N8 has "only" 3.5 inch screen. The AMOLED display with the Nokia's technology called CBD (Clear Black Display) makes this the best display I've ever seen on a smartphone. Love it! You can read it easily, it's very bright! The display is covered with curved anti-scratch Corning® Gorilla® Glass.

The UI is lovely as well. I like the simple design of fonts and icons.

MeeGo, unlike Windows Phone, comes in lot of languages, so I think it may become very popular on markets where devices not localized. It includes Swype kayboard with lot of languages to choose as well.

What is missing and Nokia fans are used to... HDMI port, dedicated camera button, microSD and I guess there is no FM receiver and transmitter. HDMI port is missing because of space, there was not enouch. Nokia tried to make the unibody without too many buttons and holes, that's the reason why also dedicated camera button is missing. The camera is controlled by touch... both - autofocus and shot.

Comparing the size of Nokia N9 with Nokia E7.

As we know Nokia is trying to be as local as possible. It's part of their strategy to work on localizations, working with local retailers, as well as developers to deliver localizes applications. And actually that's why Nokia is still so big, especially in 3rd world countries like India, China or Africa. In Slovakia, there are only few developers, so there are actually not too many local apps... pretty shame :-/ I would love to have apps like search for public transport lines, taxi app, local TV streaming, learning apps, mobile banking apps, etc.

Obchodný register

Dráčik - akciové ponuky

TV program

ZlavaDna.sk

obedovat.sk

Zlaté stránky SK widget

IIHF World Championships 2011 (will be changed to Slovak hockey league)

hockey-LIVE.sk

Mau Mau

LCG PhotoBook

X-plore

MobilMania.sk

Zive.sk

IT portal Kusi.sk

ITnews.sk

Omobiloch.sk

fony.sk

Techbox.sk

TVnoviny

iMeteo.sk

Nočná hudba

Alternatívny osud

Today I had a chance to touch and try out a brand new Nokia E6 for the very first time. I have seen it live over a month ago for a few seconds, but today could play with it for about 15 minutes. Nokia E6 started shipping last week and it just arrived to Slovakia for first reviews.

The phone is thin (only 10,5 mm!) and comfortable to hold in hand. It has a huge Li-Ion 1500 mAh battery (Nokia BP-4L), which should be enough power for few days usage. The official stand-by time is 31 days, so I can't wait to receive it for testing in a couple of weeks, because for me... battery really matters. I use 3G connection all the time, GPS also very often to track my bike rides, check-in with Foursquare or navigate with Ovi Maps.

I was very pleased by 4 home screens operated by fingers, as E6 is a touch screen device. It has 4 times higher resolution than its ancestors E71 and E72 so you can really see all details on 2.46 inch capacitive TFT touchscreen display. Additionally, the display is made of Gorilla glass, which means it's anti-scratch! I also like new design of icon set which comes with Symbian Anna. Calendar view not only shows the monthly view but also list of events for the specific day, thanks to a a high resultion (640x480 px) screen.

Nokia E6 is a candybar wirh full QWERTY keyboard, but I didn't have time to write something, just setting up date and time and choosing location on first phone start up.

I was happy to see JoikuSpot Premium as preinstalled app, which is cool, because many Nokia users (just like my boss on N86, until I told him) didn't know their phone can actually do it. It's a very convenient way how to get connected with a tablet without 3G module.

Finally it's here... Ovi Store now with application updates, known from Android or other mobile operating systems. Run Ovi Store now to get Ovi Store update now (about 5 MB) to get updates about all installed apps. Detailed info brought by AllAboutSymbian.

A couple of weeks or months ago I came across a text messaging service called FishText. It allows me to send cheap text messages (SMS) worldwide from internet (FishText website) and from my mobile phone. The service is cheap because all text messages are sent as data. That means mobile internet is also required on your handset. There is special version for iPhone available in App Store, but also all Java phones are supported. For the Java app, simply point your mobile browser to http://wap.fishtext.com/FishText.jar and download the JAR file directly to your phone memory or memory card. Installation is quick and easy. I have the app running on my Nokia N95 8 GB phone with operation system Symbian S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 1. I also tested the app on Symbian S40 device (Nokia 5310 XpressMusic).

For creating account, you will have to go to FishText official website. This is where you register and verify your number. The initial free credit as tryout is 0.30 EUR, which is good for up to 20 text messages. Yes, the rates goes from as low as 0.015 EUR for one text message (e.g. to Egypt, india, Slovenia, Kenya, South Africa, Serbia, Thailand and some selected networks in various countries, etc.), the most common price is 0.020 EUR (including to Argentina, USA, Hong Kong, Canada, Singapore, Czech Rep., Slovakia, Denmark, Lebanon, Russia, Venezuela and many others), but there are networks and countries with prices 0.030 EUR (e.g. UK), 0.050 EUR (e.g. China), 0.070 EUR (e.g. Spain, France) up to 0.100 EUR for SMS to CCT (Caribbean Cellular Telephone) in British Virgin Islands and Claro (Albra Telecommunicacoes Ltda) in Brazil. All prices and supported networks available here. As I said, the application requires an internet connection. I currently use wnw 1500 (1500 MB data pack from T-Mobile SK), which allows me to be connected anytime I want and never even come close to the limit. Ask your mobile operator for data packages to avoid surprise. I also want to point out current prices of SMS without using FishText. Normally I pay 0.100 EUR per SMS to national number (Slovakia), but with FishText I only pay 0.020 EUR - 5 times less. I also frequently send messages to Ecuador, which normally cost me 0.150 EUR. With FishText is as low as 0.020 EUR (7.5 times less). That's a significant difference.

Website overview The FishText website provides full control of your account. You can send text messages, add contacts (Web contacts), or purchase credit. PayPal, Google Checkout and credit cards are accepted. As a bonus, you get 5 EUR free credit when you purchase 20 EUR credit. The credit does not expire, just logining in at least once in every 6 months is required to keep the account alive.

Mobile application On my Symbian handsaet the application has Symbian-like design. The main screen has 2 input fields. The first one is for phone number of the recipient, the second for the message itself. You can add recipent from your phone book (Add from Contacts), choose one of the pre-defined Web contacts or write the number. The disadvantage is that you can only choose 1 recipeint from your phone book at a time. To have the Web contacts available in your mobile device, you have to synchronize the application with your online account by clicking Options > Symchronise. When sending a message, you can choose one or more Webcontacts. Unfortunately, only 1 of 3 methods of selecting recipients is available at time. Hopefully, in the future it would be possible to select contact from phone book, add web contact and type new recipent's number for the same text message.

Very useful is the function to check the remaining balance, price of the SMS and even buy credit (credit cards only) directly from the application user interface.

Highly appreciated are also features like choosing your own registered number as sender or sending the SMS anonymously and delivery reports, which tells you if the text message was delivered succesfully or not.

I'm not in any way related to FishText or its developers. I just want to let you guys know about this awesome app which saves me money. Of course mobile internet connection is necessary for running the app on your handset, so I would recommend a data pack with at least a couple of megabytes per month. I haven't tried other than Nokia phone, but I guess the app runs on almost any phone as Java is supported by most mobile phone manufacturers.