Last week, we reported that Nokia has started rolling out the Nokia Belle FP1 update for three of its handsets, the Nokia 603, 700 and 701. The FP1 update will not be rolled out to the first generation of Symbian^3 handsets, including the N8 because of their slower processor and low RAM.

However, one of the developers over at DailyMobile forums has managed to port all the new goodies in Belle FP1 to the Nokia N8. This includes a new music player, the new web browser, the new widgets and the new task manager. The custom firmware also includes other goodies like improved image and video quality, more free RAM and overall faster performance.

N8 owners can get all these new Belle FP1 and other features on their phone by flashing the Nokia N8 Pro Edition v8 CFW from Taylor. Keep in mind that flashing this CFW file will void the warranty of your N8, so please proceed with caution. Head over to this thread on DailyMobile forums for the download link and further discussions.

The Nokia Lumia 800C is the first CDMA Windows Phone in China. Apart from the Lumia 800C, Nokia also announced the Nokia Lumia 610C smartphone. It is also the CDMA variant of the Nokia Lumia 610 smartphone. The Nokia 610C is specially targeted at the youngsters for social networking and fast communications.

“We’re excited to introduce our first Lumia smartphone, the Nokia 800C, to this important market with our exclusive launch partner, China Telecom. Working closely together, we’ve created a compelling, locally relevant experience on the Nokia 800C especially tailored for people in China.”


Nokia Lumia 800C features a 3.7 inch AMOLED display, sporting a resolution of 480 × 800 pixels, 1.4 GHz single core processor, 8 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics, HD (720p) video recording and playback, 512 MB RAM, 16 GB internal memory, Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1, up to 335 hrs of stand-by time and a 1450mAh battery.

Nokia Lumia 610C features a 3.7 inch LCD display with 800 x 480 pixels resolution, Windows Phone 7.5 Mango OS, 5 megapixel auto-focus camera with LED flash, 256 MB RAM, 8 GB internal memory, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, XBOX Live Hub, up to 720 hrs of stand-by time, up to 9.5 hrs of talk-time and a 1300 mAh battery.

On Tuesday, Nokia announced that it will be holding its annual Nokia World conference on home turf for the first time since the conception of the event in 2006. Set to take place in Helsinki, Finland, the conference will be happening in a city that was just dubbed the World Design Capital of 2012 by the International Council of Societies Of Industrial Design.

Nokia World 2012 will be taking place on September 25 through the 26th, which is interesting timing given that the Windows Phone 8 ‘Apollo’ update is set to touch down at the end of this year; Nokia will almost certainly be showing off, or at the very least discussing its plans for the new software update during the event. It’s only right that they do, it is a conference centered around the company’s latest products.

The event isn’t open to the general public, but it is to bloggers (among analysts, carriers, developers, partners, and Nokia employees of course), so there definitely will be coverage about what the company discusses during the event. Let’s just hope that there’s less Symbian, and more Windows Phone in Nokia’s future.

No, that’s not a typo. I did not mean to type 14 megapixels in that headline there. It indeed is 41 (forty one) megapixels. Anyway, let me inform you all what this is all about. At the on going Mobile World Congress at Barcelona, Spain, Nokia has made one of the most outrageous announcements ever seen in the mobile industry. Perhaps this might turn out to be the most significant advancement in mobile imaging technology since 2002 when the first of the cameraphones started rolling out.

Lest I go on talking gibberish about this, let me talk about the new launch in detail. We are talking about the Nokia 808 PureView – a quite unassuming looking smartphone that runs the “dead” Symbian OS – albeit the renamed, sexed up version of the same called Belle.

Video features of the Nokia 808
The Nokia 808 PureView smartphone not only captures stunning still-pictures, it also includes Full HD 1080p video recording at 30fps with 4X lossless zoom. When recording 720p HD videos, you can use up to 6x lossless zoom. In addition, video autofocus was an area that needed to be dramatically improved. Because of the much larger image sensor of the Nokia 808 PureView, the optics give you a relatively shallow depth of field. What’s more, oversampling techniques in video are used to achieve a holy grail of low visual noise with extremely high levels of detail. As a result, the autofocus system for the Nokia 808 is more precise and sensitive. 
Now if you are wondering how Nokia managed to do this seemingly impossible task, well, let us tell you that in reality, the phone makes use of some very smart (like really smart) “over-sampling” techniques that runs a magic wand on the pixels – grouping seven of them together which go on to become a super-pixel. The phone also gets the ability to film full HD videos with 4x zoom and that too, lossless. If you choose to record in 720p, you can zoom without any loss up to 6x! In the still image mode, you can zoom 3x times! The 808 also becomes the first Nokia handset to feature high-definition audio recording which the company claims can produce CD quality sounds. If that was not all, it features Dolby Digital Plus too.

“Nokia has given more than 4000 ad spots to the Lumia 800 on TV” – complained the promoter of a rival brand. “If only our products were equally promoted ….”While the jury is out, I am certain that the Lumia 800 is breaking no sales records and is far from turning the tide for Nokia. Microsoft getting Nokia to adopt WP was a mutually beneficial move, one which would see Windows phone finally get some traction with a dedicated hardware manufacturer who has equal skin in the game. Nokia so far has not disappointed by launching two handsets in a span of just six months.

The Lumia 800 is best priced at Rs 28,300 (in Mumbai) and that’s competing with the likes of HTC Sensation, Samsung Galaxy SII and a plethora of lower priced Android phones. At a time when dollar rates are surging, it would be unfair to expect price cuts on a top end smartphone from Nokia and I won’t even ask for that (hint: it may still happen). Hence the Lumia 710 has been my bet since long because of the price advantage it has over the rest which also opens up a bigger segment for the device. The QUESTION: Would Nokia promote its dark horse?

I got a glimpse of the 710 during the Lumia 800 launch last year and that’s the last I saw of the 710. And so far there have been no seed units for media, no aggressive in store promotions, no painted Jets, no sky parties, no flash mobs, no TV slots. In my opinion, the 710 actually has the potential to sell way more than the Lumia 800, now if only Nokia pushed this device a little more.A sub Rs. 20,000 smartphone with a beautiful and refreshing OS like WP Mango is indeed a lucrative prospect. And the 710 has a Nokia brand name to back it up. That’s not all, the 710 has the same processing power as the 800 and developers can deliver equally well.

Another way to look at it is Microsoft’s interest. At this point Microsoft cares less about beating the top end iPhone or Android on the market. The biggest criticism of Windows Phone is lack of great apps and MS needs millions of users to entice developers. What Nokia is doing, is at best creating a feel good factor (Yes, the Amazing every day and all). But for the Windows platform & Nokia to be Amazing a year later the requirement is simple: lots of users and a whole lot of quality app which comes from developers making money from the platform.

Last year, Nokia launched the Asha series of entry-level phones at the Nokia World 2011. The Nokia Asha phones are currently available in more than 100 markets globally. Today, the company unveiled the new Nokia Asha 202 and Nokia Asha 203 Touch and Type phones at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2012 in Barcelona. The specs of both the handsets are almost similar. However, the only difference is the dual-SIM feature packed in the Nokia Asha 202. These handsets allows you to access your Facebook and Twitter networks from the preloaded social application.

“Since outlining a new strategy a year ago, we’ve taken significant actions to deliver against it,” said Mary T. McDowell, Nokia’s executive vice president for Mobile Phones. “We’ve been connecting the next billion people to the mobile world and its benefits through contemporary feature phones and internet services. Today, we are taking another step in that direction, with a compelling combination of smarter mobile devices packed with innovative services.”

Nokia Asha 203

Nokia Asha 203 features a 2.4 inch QVGA, resistive touchscreen display, Symbian S40 OS, 2 megapixel camera, 3.5 mm headset jack, music player, Nokia Life, Nokia Maps, inbuilt speaker, social networking apps, Bluetooth 2.1 with EDR, 10 MB internal memory, microSD card slot, 32 GB expandable memory, MicroUSB, dedicated SIM manager, up to 27 days of stand-by time, up to 5 hours of talk-time, and a 1020 mAh battery. This handset measures 114.8 mm x 49.8 mm x 13.85 mm and weighs just 90g. The Nokia Asha 203 will be available in 3 colors – Silver White, Dark Red, and Dark Grey.