With Nokia World just around the corner, it is a pertinent time for some of us commentators to divvy up some opinions and talking points on how far Nokia have come, and where they are headed.

If you write for a mobile based site or blog, why not join me in making some predictions?  It’s always good to shoot wide of the mark sometimes.  Who knows.

The keynote address from OPK this year is going to be particularly important.  Not only for his own personal role at the helm of the Finnish giant, but for the stock market value of the company as a whole.  The main focus of OPK’s strategy of Nokia has been one of realignment.  To move the company to a more diverse standpoint of being a services company,  rather than the sole hardware company of the past.  Sure, we are going to get the obligatory roundup of the success of services such as Ovi Maps, but maybe the markets will demand something slightly more extravagant than a mere notice of additional content hosts to the platform.  It is the overall performance of Nokia (and Symbian for that matter) when compared to their rivals which is where OPK is going to have to tread carefully.

There is a huge amount of pressure for Nokia to come up with something that will rival iOS and Android, and Nokia have staked their claim, along with Intel, in MeeGo.  That is all well and good, but now is the time to start seeing some fruit falling from the MeeGo tree, or at the very least ripening on the branches.  For this to not happen is unimaginable.  Some evidence of a cold, hard MeeGo device, being almost market ready is where Nokia needs to be.  Nothing less.

A few PowerPoint slides showing the interface is not going to cut it.

The Ovi Store could do with a refresh, and I am confident that there will be at least some announcement in this area.  We reported last week that Nokia were now offering to make the road to the Ovi Store both free and more speedy, and I’m sure Nokia will want to tell us about that, and any analysis of numbers.

We must also not forget the corporate and enterprise users that are shifting to the iPhone in their droves.  Nokia could really steal a march here as companies look to replace their ageing Nokia E71 fleet with something new and different, but not radical.  Maybe incorporating something along the lines of the ‘touch and type’ scenario with the highly popular form factor of the E71/72 would turn out to be a very successful product line.

One market that could really have an effect on Nokia’s future going forward is in the US.  For many reasons, Nokia has never done very well in North America, so any change in policy is likely to have any detrimental impact on their success.  Expect some more news on operator tie in’s, along the lines of the Nokia E73 Mode for T-Mobile.  I think T-Mobile is going to be the main operator of choice for Nokia,  as they have the expertise to overcome some of T-Mobile’s coverage problems with the UMA technology.

Whatever the outcome of Nokia World, I’m sure Nokia will treat us to a few surprises along the way.  Be sure to subscribe to our RSS FEED to keep up to date with all the Nokia news, and follow us on Twitter.

What do you think will be happening at Nokia World?  Care to make your own predictions?   Why not leave us a comment, or write your own blog post and I will update this post with a link to your thoughts.

Last week we reported to you the fact that you were now able to pre-order a Nokia N8 direct from Nokia themselves in many countries around the world.  Even, in the US.  The US!  Nokia and the US have always had a troubled relationship.

So why no pre-order availability in the UK from an official Nokia source?

Of course, any official response to this question would involve the words ‘out’, ‘roll’, ‘worldwide’, and ‘phased’.  Although not necessarily in that order.

Whilst this may well be the case, I’m praying that something more sinister isn’t going on.

You see Nokia like putting different product codes on their devices dependant on the territory they will be sold in.  This has a huge effect on when and how often, a particular device, in a particular country, gets it’s firmware update.

A few years ago, any SIM free unlocked Nokia device sold in the UK would usually come with a ‘Euro’ product code.  This was good.  The Euro product codes would normally be somewhere near the top of the list for firmware updates.  However, in the past couple of years the devices sent to the UK had something known as a UK CV (country variant) product code on them.  I know this because I bought an N82 from a Nokia Shop with the horrible little disease already infecting it.

The problem was evident right from the start.  The rest of the world seemed to be on v20 firmware, with my N82 languishing with V12.  The V20 firmware wasn’t just a couple of weeks behind like some would make you believe.  The Euro N82′s got upgraded to V30 before my N82 got to V20.

This is where I hope Nokia is not going.  Is the delay with the UK because they are up to their same old tricks and developing a country variant product code firmware solely for the UK?

I sincerely hope not.

If there is any official response from Nokia available, please try to word your answer ommiting those examples I used earlier. KTHX.

What do you think the delay is?  Am I just paranoid that Nokia will drop the ball?

Let us know in the comments or via Twitter @thenokianetwork

You can subscribe to our RSS Feed HERE.

Today, Nokia have released details of their latest S60 5th Edition smartphone in the guise of the Nokia 5250.

At a glance it looks like a cross between the 5800 and the X6, but with Nokia being what they are, it’s never as simple as that is it?

The 5250 is not aimed at your discerning mobile phone geek, but instead at the low cost markets primarily in the teen and emerging markets.  With it’s launch price of 115 Euros, this is bringing a touchscreen Symbian experience to a whole new demographic.  Obviously to bring this device in at such a low price point, a few items have been missed off the specification sheet such as WiFi, 3G and GPS.

What it does have though, is a 2.8 inch TFT touchscreen running at a resolution of 640 x 360, support for up to 16Gb of storage using a microSD card, and a 3.5mm audio socket.

It has a reasonably respectable 1000mAh battery which should see you with over 7 hours of talk time, and 18 days of standby time, although the usual caveats apply here.

You will find your usual range of applications available from the Ovi Store, and in some countries the Nokia 5250 will be available with the Ovi Music Unlimited service (formally known as Comes With Music).

I am sure this phone will sell by the absolute bucket load, and be an extremely popular device.  I do have my concerns about Nokia omitting both 3G and WiFi when it comes to items such as downloading applications from the Ovi Store, or uploading any photo’s taken with the 2 megapixel camera.

It certainly looks a nice device, and has a fantastic battery life.

The Nokia 5250 will be available to purchase in Q4 2010, and will come in 5 colours, dark grey, blue, red, purple and white.

What do you think of the Nokia 5250?  Will you consider picking one up?

Let us know in the comments or via Twitter @thenokianetwork

You can subscribe to our RSS Feed HERE.

Everyone handles their each individual email account differently, so it is vitally important that the user is given as much choice of how they perform tasks as is humanely possible.  Without forgetting to ensure the UI is simple yet effective, and also throw in support for a whole host of the most popular email handlers.

This is where this video from the Nokia Messaging Team comes in useful (there is also an accompanying blog post).  Whilst we must remember that the client possibly still isn’t completely finished, it still looks pretty nice to me.

From the start Nokia Messaging has in built support for Ovi Mail, Yahoo Mail, Gmail, Hotmail and Mail for Exchange along with a manual setup for any other particular host.

There is kinetic scrolling throughout the application, rich HTML fucntionality and support for up to 10 homescreen widgets.  You will also be pleased to see the multi-touch elements of the capacitive touchscreen on the N8 has been utilised, with pinch to zoom within the email content.

Also a new feature which has been added is remote contact lookup directly from the server on Gmail and Hotmail.

So go ahead and watch the video below, and see what is coming on the Nokia N8.

Do you think of what you have seen in the new Nokia Messaging client for the N8?  Anything they have missed out?

Let us know in the comments or via Twitter @thenokianetwork

You can subscribe to our RSS Feed HERE.

News has been slowly trickling out over the past few days in different countries of the Nokia N8 becoming available for pre-order.

Italy, Spain, France and Germany were last week, with an average price between them all of around £390.

Today, it looks like the USA became the next market to have the pre-order functionality made available from official Nokia sources.  It is also the bargin of the bunch at $549 or £350.

So what about the UK?

Well, upon checking the UK online Nokia store tonight, it would seem that it still isn’t available.  However, Play.com do have the N8 available for pre-order on their website sporting a fairly hefty £419.

What is slightly more alarming is that Play state that the RRP of the N8 is actually £479, and due for release in the UK on 8th October!  Now, this date is sure to change in the near future, so don’t worry too much.

If you want something to worry about, then it’s the price.  We know the N8 isn’t likely to be the all-out flagship for Nokia, but they are certainly starting to look like flagship prices!

Are you planning on getting a Nokia N8?  Have you already placed your order?

Let us know in the comments or via Twitter @thenokianetwork

You can subscribe to our RSS Feed HERE.

Yes, you read the title correctly.

We are finally back!

I have firmly came to the opinion that Nokia may well be back on the path to the good old days.  First off is the Symbian Foundation.  I was very sceptical to start with, but now that it’s fruits are finally about to come into season, from what I have seen so far the harvest will be mediocre this autumn.  But a marvellous bumper harvest next year!

Now, I am not going to sit here and blow smoke up your proverbial that Nokia is now perfect and can do no wrong.

Their services strategy in the form of ‘Ovi‘ is brilliant in some areas, and enormously wide of the marker in others.  Think Ovi Maps, and Ovi Share for this.  I don’t need to explain.

Their marketing team (at least in the UK) in the form of WOMworld, ran by the guys n gals at 1000heads have done a great job of trying to keep the buzz alive surrounding Nokia, even in the dark ages about 6 months ago when nothing positive seemed to be coming from the Finnish behemoth.

I am also very excited about the upcoming release of the Nokia N8.  The first Symbian^3 device to hit the mainstream market.  Sure, the software will not be point perfect on the first attempt, but the hardware?  Wow!  That hardware looks phenomenal!

I look forward to getting my sticky fingers on one sooner rather than later, but I doubt I will be top of the list for the review devices seeing how critical I have been of Nokia over the past 12 months or so.  Maybe I should try the blackmail, or blatant bribery route with the WOMworld folks and see how I get on.

So for now, stick around and lets hope the future is bright.  I REALLY need a decent Nokia device back in my possession.  Android really isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

We also have a brand new Twitter account @thenokianetwork so please head on over and add us as a friend, so our follower number doesn’t look too pathetic.

Thanks.

Yesterday saw Nokia unveil two new things.  Firstly, the Nokia C5 smartphone, and secondly, with it, the start of the C-Series range of devices.

The Nokia C5 is a T9 candybar smartphone sporting a 2.2 inch screen, and Symbian S60 3rd Edition FP2.  Whilst this is nothing new to the world of mobile devices, the fact that the device is running Symbian, and will retail for 135 Euros before any operator discounts marks a definitive stage in the Nokia product cycle of bringing a smartphone to market at a previous featurephone price point.

So let’s have a look at the specifications, after the jump.

The C5 has a 3.2 Megapixel camera, using the new EDOF technology (which I was actually quite pleasantly surprised with on the E52) and VGA video recording capability at 15 frames per second.  3G, GPS, Bluetooth, a 3.5mm audio jack, and a 1050 mAh battery can also be found packed into the featherweight 90g device.

Battery life should be pretty good with a standby time quoted as 28 days, or up to 12 hours talk time.  Real world scenarios will probably get close to 4 or 5 days operational time under normal conditions.

The software has also been improved over previous Nokia devices, including greater integration of social networks into the operating system, and the latest Ovi Maps with lifetime free navigation.

The Nokia C5 will be available in Q2 2010, in either white or warm grey.

If you want the full run down of specifications, check out the DATA SHEET.

Keep up to date with our posts by subscribing to our RSS FEED.

Follow me on Twitter: @steverowlands

I’ve just received a Nokia N97 Mini on loan from the great folks over at WomWorld Nokia, for me to review.  The N97 Mini will be a difficult device for me to review, mainly down to the fact that I was an actual N97 Classic owner, and really didn’t get on with that device.

So, has the N97 Mini changed my initial impressions?  Lets find out.

The box that the N97 Mini comes in is small.  And I mean, really small.  I haven’t done any maths, but in terms of volume, it’s got to be getting close to the same size box as the Apple iPhone.  I think this really shows Nokia’s push towards the greener and more efficient side of life.  There is still a bit of empty space in the N97 Mini box, though, so there is always room for improvement.  I have also got plenty of micro USB cables and chargers, so i would like Nokia to move towards an option policy of say getting a £20 reduction in retail value of a device for example if you opt out of having a wall charger and/or a USB cable included with your device.

Another thing which is small is the N97 Mini itself.  It really doesn’t do it justice in the photo’s.  Even when sat next to another device, the full story is not told.  The ergonomics of the relatively minor reduction in size over the N97 Classic are exponentially magnified.

The keyboard feels good in my first couple of tests, and there is definitely more space between the keys.  Although, I actually quite liked the D-pad on the Classic, so I feel the direction arrows on the Mini to be a slight irritation, and find I actually have to look at the keyboard to check I am hitting the correct arrow sometimes.

The great Nokia build quality is apparent from the moment you first snap the device open and closed.  The edges seem slightly more rounded, and the addition of some extra metal in the construction is much appreciated.

It is not overly clear how to insert your SIM card when first setting up the device.  However, Nokia have printed a small diagram in the battery tray to assist with this.  It still doesn’t make the process any less fiddly and unnecessarily cumbersome.

It’s also a shame to see that Nokia haven’t managed to squeeze to BP-4L 1500 mAh battery in this time, and have instead opted for the BL-4D 1200mAh version.  I have yet to test it’s endurance though, so will hang fire on a judgement, and am willing to give it the benefit of the doubt.  The reduced overall size of the device has had to come from somewhere though, so it may ultimately end up being a price worth paying.  We will see.

Overall, so far my first impressions are good.  I look forward to giving the N97 Mini a good workout over the next couple of weeks, and writing my review accordingly.

If you have any specific areas you would like me to investigate for you, then please feel free to leave a comment, or shoot me an email to steve@thenokiaetwork.com or twitter me.

Keep up to date with our posts by subscribing to our RSS FEED.

Follow me on Twitter: @steverowlands

Today the Symbian Foundation announced that they have finally made their entire Symbian operating system source code available to everyone, completely free of charge, under the EPL (Eclipse  Public License).

This release has been a cornerstone of the Symbian Foundation’s business strategy, and comes four months ahead of schedule.

It is hoped that by moving to an open source model, developers will get involved, inspire a community, and the speed of innovation around the Symbian ecosystem will increase proportionately.

So what will this mean to me as a consumer?  Well essentially it means that any hardware manufacturer can download the code, and build a Symbian device.  Chances are that this scenario won’t really come to fruition in the short term as many of the large scale manufacturers who were interested have already joined the foundation.

What you should see though, is a quicker development of the OS to bring it up to speed with it’s competitiors, as in some areas Symbian has fallen behind somewhat.

This release is no small mean feat by any standards, and there is lots of extra reading if you are so inclined.  The announcement is HERE, the press release is HERE and the relevant post on the Symbian Blog is HERE.  Or, if you are feeling really brave, the code is available for download HERE.

What do hope to see come out of this announcement?  Are you a developer interested in taking up arms?  Let us know in the comments, or shoot me an email steve@thenokianetwork.com

Keep up to date with our posts by subscribing to our RSS FEED.

Follow me on Twitter: @steverowlands

Looks like there was a slight problem releasing the N97 v2.1 update which should have happened yesterday.  No bother, as it’s now been confirmed that it will infact be upon us from Monday 1st February instead.

The update will ONLY be available initially be using the Nokia Software Updater application on your computer.  Nokia say they need more time to test the OTA (Over the Air) functionality, so that will be delayed slightly (again).

RM-505 will be updated to v21.0.045 and RM-507 versions will be getting v21.2.045.  RM-506 models will not have the update available in the short term.

Generic product codes, as always, will be updated first with country variants, and then operator variants coming along at maybe some point in the future.

Specified changes include:

Improved call reliability, smoother scrolling, browser and music player improvements and upgrades to photo and video stability.

Let us know when you find the update available, and whether you find it an improvement.

Keep up to date with our posts by subscribing to our RSS FEED.

Follow me on Twitter: @steverowlands

Via – [Here]