Tag Archives: Nokia

App Stores, Devices, Games, General, HTML5, Mobile, Nokia, Nokia Developer, Windows Phone

Nokia unveils Lumia 920 and Lumia 820

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Nokia unveiled their new phones today in one of the awaited Nokia announcements of the year. These were the Nokia Lumia 920 and the Nokia Lumia 820 based on the Windows Phone 8 OS.

Nokia defines the Lumia 920 to be the “World’s Most Innovative Smartphone” with it’s 4.5 inch screen with an LCD display, Snapdragon S4 dual-core 1.5 Ghz processor, 2000 mAh battery, integrated NFC, Puremotion HD+, and the PureView camera with a Carl Zeiss lens. What also seemed attractive was a demonstration of their super sensitive touch technology that made a touch on the phone screen in any form be it with gloves or with bare hands very easy and intuitive.

A big thumbs up to the built-in Wireless Charging in the Lumia 920 which makes it easy to charge the phone using the Nokia Wireless Charging Plates, the Fatboy Pillow and even the JBL Power Up Speaker. They announced partnerships with Virgin Atlantic and Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf outlets to implement these wireless charging plates.

Another technology that powers the Nokia Lumia 920 is the PureView imaging technology that uses the optical image stabilization system which holds the camera still even if the hands are a little shaky giving more stable and less blurry videos and photos.

Speaking about the app market, the event had demos of apps including the City Lens demonstration of the Location Suite, Nokia Music, Angry Birds Roost and the Cinemagraph. It was said that the Windows Phone marketplace has grown from 7K apps to 100K and most of the demoed apps would be made available with the existing devices.

Nokia has a lot riding with this launch. It was an anticipated announcement because Nokia has been in the news for all the wrong reasons and they really needed something impactful in their announcement to get back into the game with their competitors. With the announcement today, the strongest has been their imaging technology with PureView and their wireless charging. The release dates for these devices are not out yet so we have to wait to try the devices and everything shown today.

Mariam

 

Games, General, India, Mobile, Nokia, Nokia Developer, Windows Phone

Apps Vs Apps – Nokia Connects yet again!

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When Nokia must have decided to recreate the successful Nokia AppTasting magic in Mumbai, they must not have anticipated the tremendous response they got from bloggers all over the city. A roomfull of 250 bloggers managed to get #NokiaAppTasting trending in a country which has 15 million Twitter users.

It sure shows that an “Indi-Blogger” power is strong enough to stir buzz when they get together. Sponsored by Nokia India, organised by the awesome Indiblogger team (completing 5 years) and hosted by the charming Vikas Khanna and the witty Rajiv Makhni, the event was great.

Going to a Nokia event always brings back great memories of the Nokia Developer events I’ve attended in the past. Although this one was not for developers, the passion of all the bloggers, tech and non-tech, was amazing. The Nokia AppTasting event was different and unique in it’s own way.

A lot of people I interacted with were not sure what to expect from the event.

“Technology and Food, Mobile Apps and Food App-etizers, Rajiv Makhni and Vikas Khanna, Tech Guru and Celebrity Chef?”

It was not long before the questions were answered. First by cheering with clenched fists in the air and then celebrating the evening by hugging another blogger sitting besides us. India’s tech guru Rajiv Makhni ensured the love continued by asking us bloggers to stare into our phones and then kiss it. I think it was a good way to break the ice and get started with the event.

As the evening unfolded, we were introduced to many useful apps on the Nokia Lumia and Nokia PureView phones.

The Nokia City Lens app showed a great use of compass caliberation and augemented reality. Depending on the direction the phone is held, the app locates the point of interest and visually shows them on the mobile screen. And because it uses GPS data, network connection is not always needed.

Nokia City Lens

Another app was the Mobile Sommelier by VinoMatch. The app has a complete menu of wine pairing features that helps improve the taste of a meal. Every menu selection is accompanied by a photograph of a generic wine group. This also seemed like a useful app when eating out or when having guests at home.

VinoMatch


Foodspotting was demoed on a Windows Phone. Foodspotting for those who haven’t used it is a food photo sharing app that has a community built around the sharing of food dishes. Vikas Khanna shared thoughts on how many chefs don’t approve their guests taking pictures of their dishes and then sharing them on social networking sites. But for him such apps are a good way to get critiqued.

I personally use FoodSpotting and find it very useful when I eat at a new place. Especially the reviews and rating others give to the food minimizes the trouble I face in deciding what to choose from a menu.

The app showcase was interspersed with some fun interactive sessions, witty comments, funny anectodes and informative quotes from the hosts.

I came back home wiser! I now know that Onion Halwa (a dense sweet desert made from onions) is a heritage of the Chadela Dynasty in Khajurao and there is a city called “Halwa City” in Tamil Nadu.

Nokia definitely scores with the Nokia PureView photography technology which is a strong reason why I will buy the phone.

Some pics from the event –

Nokia Apps take Centerstage
Moviemaking is no longer a painstaking business - Nokia Movie Maker App
An Adobe Photoshop like app for merging the best of multiple pictures into one
The Indibloggers that got Twitter trending

Indiblogger is a platform that brings together bloggers from all over India to share and communicate their thoughts. There are no specific categories that require bloggers to join the group. All that is needed is a passion for writing.

Mariam

General, HTML5, India, Mobile, Nokia, Windows Phone

Nokia Developer Champion 2011-12

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It feels great to be re-elected as the Nokia Developer Champion for 2011-2012; making it my fourth year this year.

Sending a big thanks to the Nokia Developer team for the re-election, running the Champions program and working with developers who they think can contribute to the platform.

This year is especially important because of the Microsoft Nokia partnership which will be key in getting the Windows Phone platform on Nokia handsets and further building the mobile ecosystem. The Nokia Lumia smartphones announcement is already a start to the exciting things in the future, so looking forward to it.

Mariam

 

General, IGameStudio, Mobile, Nokia, Series60

Blog app now available on OVI Store

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My blog is now available for Nokia devices and can be downloaded from the Nokia OVI Store.

I used the OVI App Wizard to create this application which had a very simple procedure to follow. I was required to be the copyright owner for my own content, which I was, so I could easily submit the blog feeds. I then created my blog banner/logo images as per the blog design, set the mobile application color schemes and let the wizard do the rest; i.e create the mobilized content without any more input from my side.

The process did come with it’s share of minuses as well, such as a wait before the content went live on the store, besides from other minor issues without which the wizard could have performed better.

Overall I think the App Wizard is an extremely easy way to mobilize web content without having to manually write a code.

You can read about the OVI App Wizard on the OVI Blog.

Blog as seen on 5800 XpressMusic
Blog as seen on 5800 XpressMusic

Mariam

Devices, Flash Lite, Nokia, Nokia Developer, Series40, Series60

Updated Spreadsheet of Nokia Devices with Adobe Flash Technologies

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Bill Perry recently made an updated spreadsheet available to developers working on the Flash technology for Nokia mobiles. The spreadsheet is useful in understanding the devices in relation to Flash Lite such as Flash Lite version supported, screen resolution, platform, content type, regions and more.

Currently Nokia provides Flash Lite support on 3 different platforms –

Maemo – 3 Models
Symbian S60 – 62 Models
Series S40 – 55 Models.

You can download the spreadsheet from this link –
Updated Spreadsheet of Nokia Devices with Adobe Flash Technologies (PDF)

Mariam

Devices, Flash Lite, India, Mobile, Nokia

Nokia 5800 XpressMusic launching in India in November

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Nokia plans to launch it’s first touch screen device – the 5800 XpressMusic, in India before the end of November (tentatively third week) and is most likely to be priced at Rs. 20,000 ($425). According to news, this phone is initially planned to launch in selected 7 countries by the year end before a seeing a launch in other countries.

Says Nokia India’s MD, D Shivakumar for the launch, “What iPhone did was to bring the touch element to a multi-media converged device. Since we are already the leader in converged devices in India, Nokia 5800 will be a revolutionary launch from our stable“.

For the uninitiated, 5800 XpressMusic is Nokia’s first offering to run on Symbian S60 5th Edition OS and has 8GB memory, stereo loudspeakers, 3.2 megapixel camera, motion sensor and GPS.

For the developers, Forum Nokia recently launched the S60 5th Edition SDK with APIs to extend and support various runtimes.

As a developer, i seem to be a little concerned, because the 5800 is said to support Flash Lite 3.0, but the product page in India makes no mention of it! I hope Nokia won’t disappoint us with the launch, because we need to see more Flash enabled handsets entering the market in India, thus enabling us to prepare and present a stronger Flash Lite user statistics chart.

Mariam

Adobe, Flash Lite, Mobile, Nokia, Series60

With S60 5th Edition, Nokia provides ActionScript extensions for Flash Lite

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During a Forum Nokia Code Camp in Bangalore earlier this year, we had witnessed samples of an excellent set of APIs to use with Flash Lite on Nokia handsets. These APIs provided all those features that Flash Lite does not have complete support for at the moment.

Now officially announced is the S60 5th Edition platform for mobile developers with all the supported runtimes (Symbian C++, Open C/C++, Java technology, Web Runtime, Flash Lite and Python) having those additional API’s/enhancements.

To describe the S60 5th Edition platform, it is based on the Symbian OS v9.4. It’s UI now supports 640×360 Quarter High-Definition(QHD) in addition to the 240×320 Quarter Video Graphics Adapter (QVGA) screen resolution. It also has a touchscreen capability with tactile feedback. The first device to support this platform is the 5800 Xpress Music.

So what is available for Flash Developers? Read the note below to find out more –

“Developers of Flash Lite from Adobe applications benefit from the UI enhancements in S60 5th Edition, with more screen real estate and touch interaction enabling users to more easily and intuitively navigate Flash Lite content and applications. The on-screen keyboard also is available for text and data entry.

S60 5th Edition continues to support Flash Lite 3.0, with the addition of ActionScript extensions to take advantage of S60 Platform Services. These extensions provide access to:

  • The application manager.
  • Calendar records.
  • Contacts records.
  • Log information.
  • SMS and MMS messaging.
  • The media gallery.
  • Device location.
  • Landmarks.
  • System information.
  • Sensors.

These new APIs enable Flash Lite developers to access device-application data, such as that held in Calendar and Contacts, as well as information on a device’s location.
Together, the UI- and platform-access enhancements enable Flash Lite developers to create a completely new breed of context-aware applications and services that provide users with information unique to their own experiences.
”

Read what the S60 5th Edition has to offer to developers
Download the S60 Platform SDK for Symbian OS

Mariam

Flash Lite, Nokia, Series40

Nokia releases the Nokia Flash Lite (NFL) Package Format for S40

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Forum Nokia today released a document outlining the procedure to create .NFL format for distribution of Flash Lite content. This format will be supported by Series 40 5th Edition, Feature Pack 1 or newer devices.

The advantages of this packaging format include –

  • Allowing launch of a swf file directly using it’s own icon (overriding the default Flash icon), from the Gallery.
  • Allow localization of the application name in the Gallery instead of the file name.
  • Allowing DRM protection.

The creation of the .NFL format is really simple (similar to WRT Widget packaging) with the requirement only being the inclusion of a couple of mandatory files (including .swf) in the NFL package.

You can download the pdf here.

Mariam