What’s not immediately apparent is the comparison you can make between the two charts, that being the fall of Google’s Android on one hand and the continued rise of Samsung (using Android, mind you) on the other. While Samsung and HTC continue to work with Windows Phone 8 as well as, in Samsung’s case, a tiny bit of their own home-made mobile OS, it’s still Android that dominates their ranks.

So once again we’re able to pull out a conclusion that was spoken about more than once in the past few weeks: Samsung is growing at a rate that’s not dependent on Google’s Android mobile operating system. The first big blast of understanding in this came with an “interest over time” chart made by Benedict Evans run on Google search terms – it showed the brand “Galaxy” to be gaining steam at a rate much faster than Google’s Android.

And now here in this ComScore report, we’re seeing Google’s total number of smartphone subscribers in the USA moving from 53.6% to 52.3% in the two three-month periods ComScore compares – a downward trend of 1.3 percent. Apple is the only entrant in this top 5 list that’s gone up in the ranks – BlackBerry, Microsoft, and Symbian took a turn from bad to worse.

Meanwhile we see both Apple and Samsung rise in the manufacturing world, with Samsung’s Galaxy line continuing to swallow up the market as a whole as Apple does with its iPhone lineup. Meanwhile the other three of the top 5 on this list sit below 10%, with LG being the only one to rise between these two 3-month periods, and only be a measly 0.3 percent.

So is this a perfect indicator that Google should be worried about Samsung eclipsing Android with their Galaxy lineup of Android-powered smart devices? Not exactly – but it’s not beyond possible that these two trends are related. Keep your eye on these two titans through the near future to see how they continue to team up.

[via ComScore]

The titanium case is hand polished bringing it to an incredible sheen. The company says that making the case involves nine separate stages. The polishing of the case is a six stage process on its own to begin with followed by three stage hand polishing phase at the end. Titanium is incredibly strong and the manufacturer promises that the case will withstand extreme loads and resist dents.

Each of the buttons on front of the mobile phone are hand polished. The screen is covered in solid tempered glass and uses a special tinting technology to make it appear a deep black color. The manufacturer says it takes 16 hours to create one Cruiser Titanium phone. The display on the phone is a TFT with the 240 x 320 pixel resolution measuring two-inches. The screen can only display 262,144 colors.

The phone runs the Symbian S40 operating system and operates on GSM frequency bands. The phone does have a microSD card slot for storage and only 30 MB of internal storage is available. The device has integrated GPRS and Bluetooth along with a two megapixel camera. This isn’t a phone you buy for functionality; it’s a phone you buy for style. The phone costs $2500 and is available to order right now.

[via Gresso]

“During our transition to Windows Phone through 2012, we continued to ship devices based on Symbian” Nokia wrote in its financial results. “The Nokia 808 PureView, a device which showcases our imaging capabilities and which came to market in mid-2012, was the last Symbian device from Nokia.”

Symbian had, in various iterations, lingered around since the late 1990s, though became near-synonymous with Nokia  after the company acquired it in 2008. However, despite attempts to make it finger-friendly for the growing breed of touchscreen devices, Symbian never quite caught up with its smartphone rivals; while fans highlighted its flexibility, iOS and Android were easier to use and more immediately user-friendly.

Ironically, as it faced its final few devices, Symbian had been refined into a reasonable mid-range platform. With the Belle upgrade, progressively rolled out to older devices such as the N8, it borrowed elements from Android and other OSes, polishing away some of the initial confusion-factor.

That redemption was short-lived, however, and Nokia’s wholesale adoption of Windows Phone meant Symbian had to go. The 808 PureView, Nokia’s 41-megapixel photography experiment, was stuck with Symbian since it would have taken the company too long to rework the five-year project to use Windows Phone instead, though recent rumors indicate a true PureView Windows Phone device, codenamed Nokia EOS, is in the pipeline for this year.

[via TechCrunch]

The charts this month show Samsung up top with an absolutely dominating 26.3% of the OEM market share, that being part of this study that’s a 3 month average ending in October 2012. The chart you’re seeing compares to a 3-month average ending in July of 2012, the point changes being compared therein. Also of note is the fact that this study is done on US Mobile Subscribers working not just with smartphones, but feature phones as well, and all of them 13 years of age or older. Not that there’s a gigantic amount of 8 year old smartphone users out there, but still – keep that in mind.

The Samsung share here went up between periods just under 1 percentage point at 0.7 while Apple went up 1.5 points. Apple’s share here sits at 17.8% and it’s quite likely that their percentage went up largely because of the launch of the iPhone 5, but it’s not entirely clear if those questioned were asked if they’d actually had their iPhone in-hand when asked – that could have a small but significant effect on the outcome of this test because of the amount of people that ordered the iPhone 5 at launch and had a brief waiting period in the three months this study takes place in (if they didn’t have an iPhone before now, that is).

Meanwhile the LG, Motorola, and HTC shares have been going down, with LG in the lead for loss as well as market share at 17.6% after a loss of -0.8 points. Motorola’s share this period sits at11% and HTC exists at the end of the list with 6%. Not included due to what we must assume is extremely low numbers is Nokia and RIM with BlackBerry.

Interestingly it does seem that RIM does exist in a low bot not nearly so insignificant place in the Top Smartphone Platforms list with 9.5% of the market to their name. Apple and Google (with Android) sit up top with a total 87.9% of the market to themselves, with 53.6% of the market belonging to Google and 34.3% of the market belonging to Apple. Meanwhile Microsoft is in 4th place with a tiny 3.2% of the market and Symbian (believe it or not) still exists on the list with a fabulous 0.6% of the market.

In the Smartphone Platform Market Share list it’s also Apple and Google that are devouring the market bit by bit with Google going up by 1.4 points and Apple heading upward by 0.9 points. Meanwhile RIM took the biggest dive with a loss of 1.7 points and Microsoft and Symbian slipped by 0.4 points and 0.2 points respectively.

[via ComScore]

Windows Phone 7 and 8 users get the most feature changes, gaining a segmented map that offers a more detailed image of a route. There’s a plan-ahead feature, allowing users to view routes and select route plans by entering a future travel date and destination. Users can toggle distances between miles and kilometers, depending on preference, and can view departure times by seeing how much time is left or the exact time something is scheduled to leave. In addition, users can easily pull up route history, or delete history if you need to keep your journeys private.

Symbian users get a different kind of update, with an overall improved user experience and search function. In addition, there’s the new ability to get over-the-air coverage updates, removing the need to download a fresh app whenever an area extension is pushed out. The new app is in beta, and is available via Nokia Beta Labs.

Nokia Transport presently covers over 550 cities and 53 countries, and, according to the company, “is constantly growing.” You can find out if the mapping/navigation platform covers an area you’re interested in by visiting Nokia’s comprehensive coverage page on its website. The company is actively soliciting feedback on the updates, so if you have an opinion to voice, head over to the company’s @heremaps Twitter feed.

[via Nokia]

This update to Nokia devices working with Symbian software is bringing on several rather fabulous upgrades including, first of all, a brand new web browser. This new web browser comes with HTML5 support for web apps of all kinds, and the release comes right alongside a brand new set of homescreen widgets as well. This update is also bringing on the previously released Microsoft Office Mobile App and Nokia Maps Suite 2.0 in one handy package.

With this update also comes a selection of new apps dedicated to imaging. You’ll get the update in one of several rollout phases that will be popping up very, very soon. Vanilla versions of devices will be coming first, those being the devices with no software variants depending on country or mobile carrier. After this software rollout is complete, the country and operator variants of the software will appear inside the next few weeks.

Users should be prepared – however one might prepare – for the possibility that certain 3rd party apps will not work immediately after updating to Nokia Belle Refresh. Nokia notes that “Just like after updating from Nokia Anna to Nokia Belle, some apps may not work due to compatibility issues. If you need more information on available apps, please contact your local Nokia Care support. Furthermore, you can also contact the respective App developer to enquire about the compatibility.”

The Apple vs Samsung trial may have had a verdict, but it’s far from over. Start with Samsung’s comment “we will continue until our arguments have been accepted.” Samsung is seeking permission to keep selling the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in the USA. One surprise beneficiary of this whole situation is Nokia as their stock springs up almost 11 percent. Perhaps the most damning moment post-verdict thus far has been a comment from a jury member saying that they’d aimed to “punish” Samsung – this being a direct affront on what penalties for patents are supposed to be.

There’s been a refresh of the Belle interface for Symbian devices, believe it or not. There’s a Samsung Android camera coming to IFA 2012. The HTC device called “proto” so far has been renamed HTC Desire X.

Hip-hop artist will.i.am is set to premiere his newest audio track on Mars via the NASA Curiosity rover. The new iPhone – code-named iPhone 5 for now – has been spotted sporting NFC capabilities – right behind the camera up top. There’s a Samsung hybrid tablet with keyboard headed for IFA with Windows 8.

Dropbox now has two-step verification for security strength. You’ll want to check out the column by Philip Berne entitled Fixing the Deadliest Gadget all about gun rights. Don’t forget also to see the specs that have been released thus far for a very non-dangerous gadget by the name of LG Optimus G. Also don’t forget to check out our hands-on with the recently released Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 4G LTE from Verizon – and ask any and all questions you might have about it!

There’s also a new set of homescreen widgets, along with the previously released Microsoft Office Mobile App together with Nokia Maps Suite 2.0. N8 owners, meanwhile, will get a number of extra apps for imaging, though exactly what those will do is unclear at this stage.

Right now, Belle Update is being delivered to the Nokia N8, E7, C7, C6-01, X7 and Oro with version number 111.040.1511. Those with a Nokia E6 (version number 111.140.0058) will get it later in the week, while those out there with the Nokia 500 will have to wait for the next few weeks before they see the tweaked OS.

Those with unlocked, SIM-free handsets will get the update first, followed by country and carrier variants, though that could well depend on individual carrier approval Nokia warns. There’s also the possibility of some app incompatibility.

[via My Nokia Blog]

AdaptiveMobile’s Cathal McDaid attempted the exploit on Android, Symbian, Windows Mobile and BlackBerry devices and found that it worked on none of those. The reason for this is because most handsets step around the flaw by not showing the Reply-Address at all. McDaid warns that any devices which show the Reply-Address are less secure than those which don’t, so this problem isn’t necessarily exclusive to iPhone – it’s just that the majority of the devices tested don’t show the address in the first place.

After the vulnerability came to light, Apple made a statement to Engadget, instructing texters to use iMessage instead of SMS, as iMessage is more secure. “Apple takes security very seriously,” the statement reads. “When using iMessage instead of SMS, addresses are verified which protects against these kinds of spoofing attacks. One of the limitations of SMS is that it allows messages to be sent with spoofed addresses to any phone, so we urge customers to be extremely careful if they’re directed to an unknown website or address over SMS.”

Obviously, iMessage is an exclusive feature of iOS, so when communicating with other devices that aren’t an iPhone, SMS has to be used. It’s still a bit unsettling, but really, staying secure does fall on the shoulders of the users in this case. It kind of goes without saying that it isn’t a good idea to share personal information on your phone, and if you get a suspicious looking message, it’s probably a good idea to follow up before sending off information that could come back to haunt you (for instance, call your bank and check with it if you get a message claiming to be from it). It may not be the most desirable solution to these problems, but it’s a lot better than having personal information out in the open thanks to one bogus text.

Hardware

Miniaturization can only get you so far: if you want 41-megapixels – and Nokia really does – then you have to accept some heft with it. As a result the 808 PureView is a chunky phone, measuring in at 123.9 x 60.2 x 13.9 mm and 169 grams, though it’s biased toward the lens section with its oversized sensor. In the hand, though, it’s actually quite a pleasant thing to hold: the textured plastic back cover feels high-quality and sturdy, and your forefinger butts naturally against the curve of the camera hump.

That’s not to say you don’t notice it when it’s in your pocket. In contrast to the slimline devices we’ve grown used to, the 808 PureView makes for a considerable bulge; we could fit it into a jeans pocket, front or back, but it wasn’t the most comfortable we’ve ever been.

Controls include a three-button strip along the front, for call, menu and end/power, along with a volume rocker, lock switch and dedicated two-stage camera key on the right edge. Along the top there’s a micro HDMI port (for use with Nokia’s CA0198 HDMI kit) under a flap, a microUSB port for charging, and a 3.5mm headphone socket. Nokia includes a wired hands-free kit of decent audio quality, though we had no issues using third-party headsets with the phone.

Up front there’s a 4-inch AMOLED ClearBlack display clad in a sheet of Corning Gorilla Glass. As with all OLED-based phones it has great viewing angles, contrast and color saturation; however, it’s also running at a mere 360 x 640 resolution, and that means individual pixels are inescapable. The grittiness is visible from the outset, as soon as the start-up Nokia logo appears, and permeates throughout the phone experience. Considering the imaging focus of this phone, it’s a disappointment.

Inside, the 808 PureView packs one of the fastest processors to grace a Symbian device, a single-core ARM 11 running at 1.3GHz. It’s paired with 512MB of RAM and 16GB of storage, expandable with up to 32GB microSD cards. Connectivity includes pentaband HSPA (up to 14.4Mbps down/5.76Mbps up, networking depending) which means support for both AT&T and T-Mobile 3G in the USA, along with Bluetooth 3.0, WiFi b/g/n, NFC and quadband GSM/EDGE. Slot in the optional microUSB to USB Host adapter and you can attach peripherals like USB drives, and there’s A-GPS/GPS for navigation and photo geotagging.

Software and Performance

Software is the 808 PureView’s Achilles’ heel. Symbian, rebranded Nokia Belle in this latest iteration, is old in the tooth and considered outclassed by all but the staunchest of fans. With its UI borrowing some elements of Android – such as the drop-down notifications bar and the differently sized homescreen widgets – and sharing the squircle iconography of MeeGo on the N9 it’s certainly the best looking iteration of Symbian to-date, but day-to-day usability is still a pain.

What’s arguably the deal-breaker for Nokia Belle here is the performance. On the Nokia 700, which also runs Belle on a 1.3GHz single-core, we found ourselves conceding that it could make a reasonable entry-level device for the fledgling smartphone audience. Somewhere along the line, however, the 808 lost whatever turn of speed the 700 managed to squeeze from the processor.

The homescreen is fairly swift, but the 808 soon runs out of steam once you get into the apps. In the messaging app we’d sometimes have hammered out a half-word or so before the on-screen keyboard caught up; scroll fast through a full gallery and you’ll see nothing but placeholder thumbnails, turning navigating images into guesswork.

It’s the browser that’s the big nightmare, however, capable of paper of handling full sites but struggling with anything more complex than their mobile versions. Pinch zooming becomes trial and error, tedious since given the low resolution you’ll probably be doing plenty of it. Swipe around the page and you have to wait a second or two for the screen to catch up with you. Flip from portrait to landscape orientation, or back again, and the lag shows itself once more. Most annoying though is how prone to crashing it is, the app periodically shutting down altogether. We didn’t experience a full phone lock-up, but altogether it was enough to make us save our web browsing until we were home.

Oddly, we didn’t experience the same sluggishness on the 808 PureView units running non-final software on our trip to Carl Zeiss several weeks ago. Then, the Nokia seemed as responsive as the 700 had been. It’s possible that the final software tweaks have erred toward scaling back performance in favor of battery life, and if so we’re hoping Nokia sees sense and tips the balance back a little toward usability with a firmware update.

Camera

Make no mistake, the Nokia 808 PureView is all about photography. Nokia’s imaging team spent five years developing PureView – hence it being stuck with Symbian rather than getting Windows Phone like the Lumia series – and took the principles of mobile cameras back to basics in order to improve on quality.

We’ve covered the technology behind PureView on the 808 comprehensively here, but the brief version is that it’s a rethink of how lossless zooming can be supported on a phone. Traditionally that would demand an optical zoom lens, involving bulky moving parts; PureView does it instead with a surfeit of pixels. In PureView mode, the 808 uses its 41-megapixel sensor to capture more typical 2-, 5- or 8-megapixel shots, and in fact Nokia expects most owners to stick at 5-megapixel quality.

Nokia 808 PureView technology:

At 1x zoom, each pixel making up the final frame has around seven pixels on the sensor to feed into it, reducing the likelihood of a glitch or noise making it into the image. PureView can simply ignore any obvious outliers, making for more accurate shots. However, if you want to zoom in, the 808 can take a full-resolution (i.e. 2-, 5- or 8-megapixel) subset of the whole frame, similar to how a digital zoom magnifies a portion but with no loss in detail.

Exactly how much you can zoom depends on what PureView resolution you’re using – the 808 won’t allow you to get past the point where it can save a full-resolution image – so you get more range in 2-megapixel mode than you do at 8-megapixels. It averages at roughly 3x at 5-megapixels. The phone will also allow you to shoot at “full” resolution, either 34-megapixel 16:9 aspect images taken across the full width of the sensor, or 38-megapixel 4:3 aspect images taken across the full height of the sensor, though in that case you don’t get any zoom option.

The 808′s camera app has obviously changed from the Nokia Belle norm to accommodate PureView, and there are three key modes to choose between. Automatic strips you of all manual control bar toggling the Xenon flash between on/off/auto/red-eye modes, defaulting to roughly 5-megapixel frames, though you still get touch-focus. Scenes mode offers a choice of auto, landscape, portrait, sports, night, night portrait, spotlight and snow configurations, again with flash options and touch-focus.

Finally, there’s Creative mode, where the guts of PureView are opened up to more avid tinkerers. The 808 can be toggled between PureView mode – with the choice of three resolutions and both 4:3 and 16:9 aspect ratios – and Full Resolution mode – with either 16:9 or 4:3 settings – and save in either Normal or Superfine JPEG quality modes. Color tones can be switched between normal, vivid, sepia or black & white, and there’s optional bracketing, interval or self-timer modes. With interval, the 808 becomes a time-lapse camera, capable of shooting up to 1,500 images every 30 minutes (or as low as every 5 seconds).

Then there are sliders for saturation, contrast and sharpness, while icons on the preview screen control flash, exposure, lighting type, ISO (from 50 – 1600, with an Auto mode) and the ability to turn off the neutral density filter. Once you have a clutch of settings you prefer, you can save them to one of the three custom shortcuts for easier retrieval.

Is it worth taking the time to play? Oh yes, yes it really is. We reluctantly left Carl Zeiss and our last experience with the 808 PureView wowed by quite how capable the new Nokia is, and nothing from our review unit has convinced us to think otherwise. This isn’t just “good for a phone-camera” either; the 808 is easily able to produce shots that put dedicated point-and-shoots to shame.

Noise is almost non-existent, colors are as accurate as we’ve ever seen from a phone, and – as long as you take the time to tap the screen to set focus – crisp detail. Low light performance is hugely impressive, even before you bother turning on the (excellent) Xenon flash, as PureView squeezes all the extra pixel data into the final image.

In full resolution mode, meanwhile, you lack zooming ability but you get images of a scale that would traditionally demand a dedicated camera. There’s something near-magical about being able to glance across an image, think “what’s going on there?” and zoom in without facing a screenful of pixelated mush. At 34/38-megapixel resolution there’s no PureView finessing going on – there aren’t the extra pixels to enable it – but it does demonstrate just how capable the sensor and companion Zeiss optics are.

As for video, the 808 PureView will record in Automatic, Scenes (auto, low light, sports, spotlight and snow) or Creative modes, at 360p, 720p or 1080p resolution. A choice of 15, 24, 25 and 30fps frame rates are supported, plus the same color tone options as in stills mode, together with exposure and contrast. Since even 1920 x 1080 Full HD resolution doesn’t come close to what the 808′s sensor is capable of capturing, the same PureView oversampling is used to improve video quality, and just as with stills the evidence of that comes through in the final frame.

Nokia 808 PureView 1080p HD video sample:

Our only complaint is the somewhat sluggish continuous autofocus, which has a tendency to wander and is occasionally slow to refix. You can, however, tap to manually set a focus point. While your fingers are near the screen, it’s worth playing with Nokia’s clever zoom control: you can pinch-zoom, of course, but we found it easier to use the single-finger zooming where sliding your thumb up and down adjusts the degree of magnification. It’s easy to keep both hands steadying the 808 and still zoom in, and when you’re zooming during video capture the actual magnification doesn’t happen until you lift your finger, allowing you to precisely frame without the hunting of regular systems. Alternatively you can use the zoom rocker, and unlike the stepped zoom levels of some devices, it’s a silky-smooth transition.

Nokia 808 PureView 1080p HD video sample:

Audio during video recording is often overlooked, but Nokia has saved a little magic for that, too. The PureView has twin microphones for capturing stereo sound, but it also includes Rich Recording, a way to capture high-volume audio without suffering from distortion or clipping. In fact, Nokia claims the 808 is capable of handling four-times louder sound than regular phone microphones, without having to introduce the sort of filters that can leave the audio track weedy.

Going by Nokia’s spec sheet, the 808 PureView should be able to capture the sound of a jet engine from 100-feet away without any stereo distortion. Topping out at 145dB, in fact, it’s beyond the point where human ears would likely suffer permanent damage even if they’re equipped with hearing protection. An average rock concert, meanwhile, at a more humble 115dB should be no problem at all for the 808 PureView, though we’ll need to schedule one on our jam-packed social calendar to actually test that out.

Getting photos and video off the 808 is reasonably straightforward. The phone can be set to show up as a Mass Storage device when plugged in via USB, appearing on your PC or Mac as an external drive (rather than demanding a management app as per Windows Phone). However we were surprised to find transfers very sluggish to our test Mac: shuttling just over 440MB of photos and video took around five minutes, in fact. There’s no native option to automatically upload images to an online gallery.

There are more 808 PureView camera samples here

The Future of PureView

Nokia has already confirmed that PureView technology won’t be limited to just the 808. However, that’s already prompted confusion around just what sort of resolution sensors we can expect in future Lumia Windows Phones. PureView does not necessarily mean 41-megapixels – Nokia picked that number to satisfy headlines and deliver a 3x optical zoom equivalent for 5-megapixel frames – but instead refers to the oversampling technology; a lower-resolution sensor would still deliver a lossless zoom, albeit with a smaller range, while allowing for a thinner device.

Phone and Battery

Nokia has a strong track record with phone radios, and the 808 PureView is no exception. We had no issues with keeping a signal, and the dual-microphones meant in-call audio was clear. The 808′s 1,400 mAh battery is rated for up to 6.5hrs of 3G talk time or 540hrs of 3G standby, though the actual sort of longevity you’ll see from it is very much dependent on how much you play with the camera. The Xenon flash in particular will chug through battery in short order. In practice, we managed a day of relatively eager use before we had to reach for the mains adapter.

Wrap-Up

Viewed as a modern phone, the 808 PureView is a recipe for frustration. It’s heavy and chunky, the screen lacks pixels, Nokia Belle is short on apps and long on aggravation, and even those apps that are onboard run with varying degrees of wretchedness on the wheezing processor. When the 808 starts to make more sense is when you flip it around, and consider it not so much a phone with an amazing camera, but an amazing camera with a 3G internet connection.

With such mundane matters as messaging, internet browsing, multimedia and apps left to a more flexible (but less photographically-capable) platform like iOS or Android, that frees up the 808 PureView to do what it undoubtedly does best: take awesome photos and video. If you can find space in your pocket or bag for two phones, and you’re a keen shutterbug, then there are huge advantages to using the 808 rather than your regular phone camera.

Therein lies the rub: at $699 unlocked and SIM-free in the US, it’s an expensive second device. That would get you a good Micro Four Thirds camera, though blind testing suggests the 808 can produce photos as good as, or better than, such compacts. It would also be enough for an entry-level DSLR, though you’d lose any semblance of pocket-friendliness in that case.

In the end, though, even the fact that we’re comparing the 808 PureView to DSLRs is testament to Nokia’s achievement. Few people will actually go out and buy it themselves, but then the 808 is really a test bench for PureView technology, a proof-of-concept. Now that it has convinced us of its merits, Nokia can leverage the branding to differentiate its Windows Phone range. Frankly, the sooner it can do that, the better.

We’ve received our 808 PureView here at SlashGear and are currently busy putting it through its paces, but so far we’ve been impressed with the quality of the camera output. Reviews and samples from across the internet also indicate just how good that camera really is, although for the price Nokia is asking we should certainly hope so. Unfortunately, it’s all held back by the inclusion of the Symbian operating system, but hopefully we’ll see the technology make a jump to Windows Phone in the not too distant future.

The phone will be sold unlocked in the United States as well for around $699, with a slightly later release of July 8th. Good news for those on T-Mobile USA though, as the handset will be compatible with the carrier’s 3G bands in addition to AT&T’s. We’ll be bringing you a full review of the phone shortly, so stick around to find out if the PureView is worth the high asking price.

Inside the custom printed Golla bag is the PureView phone itself, accompanied by a flexible-legged GorillaPod style tripod and phone clamp (the 808 lacks a proper tripod screw of its own), and a rubber skin protector. Nokia also threw in an external battery, the slimline DC-16, for topping up charge on the go, and a CA0198 HDMI kit, which hooks up the 808′s microHDMI to a full-sized HDMI connection.

Altogether it’s the ideal setup for a mobile photographer who wants a camera with a built-in 3G connection, though disappointingly there’s no sign that Nokia will actually be offering this as a pre-collected kit. Instead there’ll be various bundles – ranging from the 808 PureView alone, up through packages pieced together according to carrier, retailer and promotion – which is a shame as we can imagine PureView enthusiasts would flock to the branded bag.

Still, part of the joy of PureView, as we’ve already seen on our test mission to Carl Zeiss, is the ability to fit a camera capable of taking outlandishly good photos into the pocket of your jeans (as long as you don’t mind a few “pleased to see me?” jokes through the day). This isn’t a DSLR that demands a bag or neck-strap; it’s a phone that, from what we’ve seen so-far, blows away most camera-phones on the market.

The photography side is one aspect of the new Nokia. It’s what’s happening on the other side that we’ll also be focusing on: how it holds up as a phone. Symbian – in its latest Nokia Belle iteration – has built up something of a reputation for itself, and not a great one, though in recent builds its been approaching Android levels of usability. The big question is whether it’s sufficient to prevent you needing a second smartphone for your other pocket, for those times when you’re not playing shutterbug.

Nokia is keen for us to put the 808 through its paces, and with PureView set to show up – not in 41-megapixel form, but with the core technology in place – in future Lumia Windows Phones there’s a lot riding on it. We’ll have photo and video samples for you soon, along with a full review.

Big sensors in smartphones aren’t new, but neither have we seen a vast improvement in mobile photography. Backside-illuminated sensors, such as are included in the iPhone 4S and HTC One X, have certainly improved low-light photography, but we haven’t seen a ground-shaking difference stepping up from, say, 5- to 8-megapixels. Moreover, even with a good mobile camera like on Apple’s smartphone, it’s all too easy to shoot a bad frame, and that’s before you even get to things like resolution-shedding digital zooms.

Listen to Nokia and Carl Zeiss, however, and you soon start to realize that rival phone manufacturers simply aren’t thinking big enough. “The art and science of making a really good digital camera lies in combining a lens of convincing performance with an adequate imaging sensor and capable imaging algorithms” the two firms said all the way back in 2006, before deciding that “we need to set the standard in imaging in phones” the following year.

Thus was PureView born, not a single camera-phone but an umbrella technology consisting of three strands: a high-performing sensor, complementary lenses and optics, and proprietary Nokia processing. It’s important to remember that PureView doesn’t necessarily mean a 41-megapixel sensor, though that’s the headline-grabbing figure Nokia opted for with the debut model to wear the brand.

It wasn’t a random choice, either. Nokia’s goal was a lossless zoom with the quality benefits of optical but the convenience and reliability of digital, and according to the company’s market research, head of imaging Juha Alakarhu told us, a 3x zoom with a 5-megapixel final image was the sweetspot for consumers.

For that to be possible – taking out a section of an overall frame, equal to a 3x enlargement, and still end up with a 5-megapixel image – Nokia needed a 7728 x 5368 sensor, or 41-megapixels. It also made for a relatively huge chip, at 1/1.2-inches, and allowed for the oversampling we discussed in our previous hands-on report.

Therein lies the cause of the 808 PureView’s bulk, Vesa Jutila, Nokia’s head of product marketing, explained. The sensor itself is, while wider and longer than that of 2010′s N8 for instance, not especially thicker. However, it’s when you take into account the required lenses that the size begins to mount. It all comes down to the laws of physics, Jutila says. “If you want high resolution sensors, you need lenses with sufficient focal length.”

Sat in the camera module is a complex five-lens assembly with a range of aspheric surfaces, capable of playing light out over the full extent of Nokia’s pixel-rich sensor. It’s that lens stack which creates the heft, topped with a Gorilla Glass lens cover to match the similarly-toughened touchscreen. It’s also the lens stack which presents the biggest hurdle for slimming PureView technology down, since it involves more than just trimming a sensor.

Nonetheless, Nokia is definitely looking to slimmer iterations, targeting the sort of buyers that might not be so photo-centric in their obsession, and who want decent images but also a more pocket-friendly handset. Set to likely run both Symbian and Windows Phone, depending on model, these upcoming devices will bear the PureView brand but deliver it in different ways, albeit with Nokia sticking to a few core tenets.

Keeping the oversampling of the PureView algorithm and fighting off any sign of interpolation is arguably the most important, Alakarhu told us. Fitting a tiny sensor and then relying on software guesstimation doesn’t fit with the PureView brand, he says. There’s a reason, after all, that professional cameras haven’t followed their cellular cousins in adopting smaller and smaller CMOS sensors, in the name of shedding bulk. A big sensor means more light hitting it, which adds up to more information to pump into the final frame.

PureView is all about information: the sensor may be 41-megapixels, and the 808 capable of 38- or 34-megapixel stills, but Nokia’s goal is actually a new level of brilliance in 5- and 8-megapixel images. What could be an option, however, is doing away with the lossless zoom requirement, in fact ditching the zoom altogether, and opting for a compromise of sensor bulk and resolution with perhaps 20-megapixels rather than 41. That would allow for a diluted four pixel oversampling, combining four individual pixels for each “superpixel” from which the eventual 5-megapixel image was constructed.

Not every future Nokia device will bear the PureView brand, Jutila said. It will instead be used on a subset of devices for those who demand better quality imaging from their handsets, and who are willing to compromise on some degree of size. “Thinner PureView handsets are coming” Jutila insisted, but there’s a broad scope for just how thick they could still be between the slimline Lumia 800 at 12.1 mm, and the 18.07 mm of the 808 at its thickest point. Perhaps even more exciting, Jutila also said that higher resolution PureView devices are also a possibility, declining to discuss any specific roadmap details, but suggesting that more pixels than even the 808′s forty-one million could be on offer.

Ironically, even the 808 PureView doesn’t feel so large after a while. We had a brief chance to revisit the Nokia today, and what had felt chunky and swollen – albeit also pumped full of promise – when we first saw it earlier this week, had evolved into a more familiar shape. The phone fits neatly into the hands, the curve of the casing and the protruding lens bulge allowing your fingers to wrap around it comfortably, and the side buttons fall under your fingertips. There’s no need to take one hand away to use pinch-zooming, either – there’s a single finger slide-zoom instead – and that helps keep shots steady. Sure, it’ll never be considered a small phone, but whether it’s a side-effect of the growing respect for its imaging capabilities, or simply regular old familiarity, what initially appeared vast somehow becomes less objectionable.

PureView is, for Nokia, a vital point of differentiation. On the one hand, it singles out the company from its smartphone rivals across the board – “It took us five years to do it,” Jutila pointed out, “now we’re happy to say to the others, ‘do the same’ … It’s a huge benchmark for the industry, what imaging performance should be” – while on the other it, like Nokia Drive and Nokia Music, will offer something unique from the rest of the Windows Phone status-quo. In Lumia, Jutila reminded us, photography is one of the three core pillars Nokia is focusing on; the company has no current plans to license PureView technology out to its rivals, and as the five year incubation suggests, it’s not just a case of slapping together a big sensor and a powerful GPU to crunch data from it.

If anything will keep Nokia relevant, it’s this sort of investment. As Huawei, ZTE and numerous others have demonstrated, it’s incredibly straightforward to create a cheap smartphone from off-the-shelf hardware and software. It’s equally simple to customize a generic OS, like Android, until it looks suitably different for your brand. Where key products from companies like Apple, Samsung and others succeed is in the areas of user-experience that aren’t so readily replicated: more complex features, time-consuming in their conception and requiring specialist skills or supplies, which help them stand apart from the crowd.

Apple has its famed holistic ecosystem, making the iPhone predictable enough for first-time smartphone owners, but also flexible enough for hundreds of thousands of developers to push the envelope with apps. Samsung, meanwhile, has its supply chain majesty in its favor: incredible displays, cutting-edge processors and high-speed memory.

PureView sample images:

Nokia’s differentiator used to be Symbian. Over time, though, that proved to be a difference that consumers didn’t actually want; now, with Windows Phone, the company is in what for it is the unusual situation of not having the pool pretty much to itself. Apps like Nokia Drive were the quick-fix to that, cooked up in the few months in-between adopting Microsoft’s OS and launching the Lumia line-up; now, we’re seeing the more long-game strategy appear, with technologies like PureView that throw down the gauntlet to rivals and challenge them to compete on truly innovative, distinctive features.

Five years was a long incubation for PureView, but the 808 isn’t the end product of that development: it’s just the first of many. You can find the fruits of our photo journey with the 808 PureView in our full sample gallery.

 [Hint: check the file names to see the image resolution, flash status and other settings details; only three images have been cropped, the rest are as-is from the 808 itself. Photos from the Lumia 900 are all at 8-megapixel resolution]

In a sense, the 808 PureView is two different camera-phones. On the one hand, there’s the raw resolution of the sensor itself: 41-megapixels on paper, but, because Nokia opted to deliver true 4:3 and 16:9 without cropping the former for the latter, as other cameras usually do, actually delivering 38-megapixel 4:3 shots and 34-megapixel 16:9. There’s no zooming in this mode, the PureView team not allowing any interpolation anywhere near the phone.

Arguably the way Nokia expects the 808 PureView to be used, however, is in the dedicated PureView mode. There’s a full-auto option, which leaves the camera to its own devices and outputs roughly 5-megapixel frames, or the choice of manually setting it to deliver either 2-megapixel, 5-megapixel or 8-megapixel PureView images. At 5-megapixels, there are roughly seven pixels for each final pixel in the frame, meaning Nokia can use the best image data from each, and drop out any unexpected glitches (without a loss in end-picture quality), in a process it refers to as oversampling to create “superpixels.”

Nokia told us that it considered using a huge 5-megapixel sensor that would match the 41-megapixel chip in the 808 PureView for physical size, but it ran into aliasing issues. It would also lack the oversampling support, along with the ability to use those extra pixels for the 808 PureView’s other trick: a lossless digital zoom.

Anyone who knows about digital photography has learned to shy away from digital zooms, normally. They work by in effect cropping out and blowing up a section of the image, with a resulting loss of quality and generally an increase in noise. PureView, however, has pixels to spare in its 2- to 8-megapixel settings, and so it can use those extras to grab a full-resolution subset of the overall frame that’s both lossless and zoomed-in.

Nokia 808 PureView zoom comparison:

Lossless zooming and oversampling is a trade-off: the closer you dive into the image, the fewer spare pixels there are for oversampling. The higher resolution picture you’re trying to take, reduces the amount you can zoom, too: so, you can zoom the furthest into the frame when in 2-megapixel mode, a little less in 5-megapixel mode, and less again at 8-megapixels. As with interpolation being banned, so is any form of lossy-zooming, hence there being no option for it at maximum 38/34-megapixels settings.

Of course, the useful thing about PureView is that the zooming needn’t be when you’re taking the image: you can come back to it later and do some post-zooming instead. Panning through an existing shot and cropping out a section of it into a new frame is straightforward, meaning you could feasibly find several good images out of one original picture.

And you won’t struggle to find good images, either. We’ve been consistently amazed by the output from the 808 PureView today, with the phone being capable of some astonishingly good shots both at maximum resolution and at the lower resolutions too. Colors are rich and accurate; noise is incredibly low.

It’s fast, too: lower-res captures are pretty much instantaneous, and you can keep bashing away at 5-megapixel frames one after the other thanks to the dedicated imaging processor Nokia has used. Even 38-megapixel shots are surprisingly quick; there’s a little lag as the frame is saved, but the image itself is captured as soon as you press the button, so there’s none of the “when can I move the phone” uncertainty we’ve seen from laggy rivals.

Nokia asked us not to share samples of the 808 PureView’s video functionality yet, though it’ll shoot up to 1080p Full HD footage (with 4x lossless zoom), or alternatively 720p (with 6x lossless zoom) or 360p (with 12x lossless zoom). Video also gets a clever slide-zoom control, which means you can trigger a zoom from the touchscreen while filming that’s only actually completed when you take your fingers away: that means no hunting and overshooting as is often the way in cellphone video. Finally, there’s the all-important Xenon flash, twice as powerful as the Xenon in the old Nokia N8.

Sharing options are mixed. Nokia Belle now has Facebook and Twitter support pretty much baked-in, with the PureView team rebuilding the gallery app to add a quick “Share to Facebook” button directly to the image-view screen. A sharing menu, Android-style, can be used to upload to Flickr or other third-party services, assuming there’s an app for it in the download store.

The 808 PureView probably isn’t the phone for Instagrammers, though – if you’re going to slap retro filters on your shots, then you’re unlikely to need the Nokia’s superlative image quality – which offsets its relative paucity of “feature” camera apps. That’s something that could well change in the meantime, however; Nokia has already committed to opening up access to the PureView technology to third-party app developers, which means we could see more software that takes advantage of the pixel-packing sensor. Still, the skeptics among us still suspect we won’t see PureView-centric apps reach any sort of tipping point until the first Windows Phone based Lumia PureView models reach the market.

Nokia Lumia 900 sample images:

Exactly what the timescale for that to happen is unclear, with Nokia only saying it’s a case of “when” not “if” in the future. PureView is a brand, not a specific technology – three elements of a high-performance sensor, matching high-quality optics and proprietary Nokia processing, coming together in a single device – and so the eventual Lumia PureView devices are likely to offer a bigger compromise between bulk and photographic abilities. Again, Nokia isn’t giving details, but a lower-resolution sensor and ensuing reduction in lens-bulge is pretty much certain.

We’ve come away from our early playtime with the Nokia 808 PureView just as excited about the technology as we were when the company first sprung it on us at Mobile World Congress several months ago. It’s certainly unlike anything else in the phone-camera market, which has generally chased megapixels and only recently shown any sign of putting thought into the lenses and data-crunching those sensors are paired with. If ever a phone could encourage people to reconsider Symbian, the 808 PureView is probably it, too. We’ll save our full opinions for the SlashGear review, but until then enjoy our live photo galleries!

When asked about the phone directly by PCMag, Weber said the following: “We’ll figure out a way to make that available in the U.S. in the next couple of months.” The handset would be sold unlocked and unsubsidized, and feature support for AT&T’s 3G bands. No word on if the device will also work on T-Mobile’s AWS bands.

The phone might be coming to the United States after all, but we imagine only the most die hard Nokia fans would be willing to drop a large sum of cash on an unlocked handset (~$711 in Europe), even with the 41-megapixel sensor. The PureView still hasn’t been released in Europe either, with a launch expected later this month. India and Russia will be among the first countries to be see the phone launch.

If you don’t like the idea of picking up a Symbian handset purely for the camera tech on offer, then a Windows Phone handset with the technology may be coming in the future. Nokia has hinted that they’re planning on launching a Windows Phone with the PureView tech, and a recent job listing seeking an imaging expert backs that up.

[via PocketNow]

The promotion is called “Magenta Deal Days,” and T-Mobile is using it as an opportunity to boast about its 4G network. Even though T-Mobile’s 4G is markedly slower than the LTE-powered networks on AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon, it has nationwide reach, and anyone upgrading from a 3G phone will still notice a difference. And that points to what kind of customers are really the target here.

The trade-ins break down like this – $200 for an iPhone, $100 for a phone powered by Android, Blackberry, Windows Mobile/Phone, or Symbian 9.0+, and $50 for any other phone. $200 for an iPhone is nice, but $50 for a three-year-old, free-after-rebate flip phone is ridiculous, and clearly the bulk of this attention is going to those customers. The following quotation from T-Mobile marketing SVP speaks clearly to that: “No matter how old their phone, and even if it’s valued less, T-Mobile will offer customers a guaranteed minimum trade-in value so they can get rid of those old devices gathering dust and move up to a newer, faster T-Mobile 4G smartphone.”

The video features a mixture of photos from the 808 PureView, from well lit situations to low-light scenarios too. For the most part, the photos look good, although Nokia did skim over the low-light ones a little too quick for most people to appreciate them, possibly because they’re not quite as flattering.

Sample footage shot using the 808 PureView can also be found towards the end of the video, although in our humble opinion it doesn’t fare quite as well. It looks fairly similar to what you would find on your typical smartphone, with lots of shakiness from unsteady hands to boot. Kudos to Nokia, though: most companies wouldn’t dare do the same with their own products.

The 808 PureView is expected to cost around £500 (~$805) and is expected to be released in the UK on May 14th. The handset won’t be hitting the United States, though.

[via AllAboutSymbian]

These scores show that surprisingly Nokia’s Symbian still does exists as a numerable portion of the market, but that such titans as Google and Apple just do not compare. Google is currently controlling 50.1% of the smartphones in the USA while Apple’s iOS sits on 30.2% of the market – all of that on any number of different model iPhones alone. Google also had the largest point change positive at 3.2%, eating RIM’s loss alive.

In addition to this, it appears that Samsung is the hardware leader amongst all USA mobile data subscribers, with LG in second, the former having 25.6% of subscribers and the letter coming in with 19.4% of the market. This part of the study includes feature phones, of course, or we’d expect the third place entry, Apple, to be higher on the list – they accounting here for 13.5% of all mobile subscribers in the USA.

The folks at comScore also found that more than 104 million people in the USA owned at least one smartphone during December, January, February. That three month period beats the previous three month period by a whopping 14 percent. People are getting connected!

[via comScore]

IT168 note that the phone is rather chunky, and not particularly light either, but believe the assorted colours on offer (including black, white, and red) will go down well with consumers. Like others, they express concern over the pricing of the handset, rumored to be around €450 (~$600) when the phone does debut sometime in May.

Does the potentially high price tag justify the image quality coming out of that 41 megapixel sensor? In our opinion, yes. IT168 posted some sample pictures up on their website, and taking a look through them, we have to say they look excellent. Detail is strong, colors are well balanced, and there’s no signs of any pesky noise reduction or aggressive sharpening. While these aren’t full-size images, even the scaled down versions make the 808 PureView out to be the best cameraphone.

Nokia said back at MWC 2012 that it combined its knowledge of sensor technology and image scaling capabilities to try and make the best camera on a smartphone possible. Pixel oversampling means the most amount of detail possible is retained in photos, with Nokia expecting most people to shoot pictures around 8 megapixels.

[via Unwired View]

Set to begin in May 2012, the AppCampus program will consist of training in mobile technology, guidance around design and usability, along with funding to create new mobile apps and services. Aalto University will throw in a physical location along with coaching and an established network of academic and business contacts. The end result apps will turn up in the Windows Phone Marketplace and the Nokia Store.

“Mentored by veterans in the mobile industry,” Microsoft and Nokia say, “program participants will be given insights and business coaching to help them commercialize their ideas while retaining the full intellectual property rights for their innovations.”

Although a flawed metric, the number of apps available for each platform has become a shorthand for its popularity and standing. The Windows Phone Marketplace recently surpassed 70,000 titles, but the achievement was overshadowed by developer Rovio announcing it had no plans to bring Angry Birds Space to the OS. Shortly after that, Rovio had a change of heart, saying that it was indeed working on a port to Windows Phone; it’s unclear if Microsoft or Nokia had a hand in persuading them.

Surprising, yes, although it makes sense given the wide range of countries polled. Nokia’s strength is still in developing countries: while Symbian certainly isn’t impressing anyone compared to iOS or Android, Nokia’s handsets are far cheaper than their rivals. Vuclip also took a look at the five most popular phones in each country during February 2012, and found that in Kenya, every single one was a Nokia handset.

Meanwhile, Apple came in a second in that particular poll with 24.8%, with Blackberry third at 20.8%. Samsung, meanwhile, grabbed around 12.5%, with LG coming in dead last with just 3.8%.

Another interesting fact from the survey? When asked if consumers would switch away from their current brand when purchasing their next device, 90% of Apple users said they would stick around. Unfortunately for Sony, 30% of their users in the survey want to jump ship to Apple.

[via Nokia Conversations]

According to the research, 2.5% of UK consumers bought a Windows Phone handset compared to 2.4% for Symbian over a three month period that ended on February 19th. Not only that, but the Nokia Lumia 800 accounted for 87% of all Windows Phone sales in Europe. Windows Phone apparently does best in Germany, with it accounting for 3.1% of the market.

The stats also show results from operating systems like iOS and Android. In the UK, Apple has seen an increase from 22.7% a year ago to 28.7% today. Android, meanwhile, dominates the charts, owning 48.5% of the market, up from 37.8% this time last year.

Finally, British consumers are increasingly interested in buying smartphones, which accounted for 73.2% of phone sales over the past three months. Over half the population now reportedly owns a smartphone: 51.3%, to be precise.

[via Bloomberg]

That means AT&T and T-Mobile USA users should be able to drop in a SIM and get online at 3G speeds, though it seems neither carrier is going to get the opportunity to offer the smartphone officially. Nokia has offered unlocked, SIM-free devices in the US for some time now, though without the traditional subsidies they’ve been a tough sell.

Nokia 808 PureView hands-on:

The limited availability is a mixed blessing, in a way. The five year development time of PureView – which uses a super-dense CMOS sensor and custom processing algorithms for better clarity of shots – meant the Nokia imaging team responsible was forced to use Symbian; thus, the 808 PureView runs Nokia Belle, the latest iteration of that OS, rather than Windows Phone.

Still, PureView-style technology is coming to Windows Phone at some point, which should brighten up the North American market no end. More on the Nokia 808 PureView in our full hands-on.

[via PhoneArena]

What we’re going to do here is separate everything by brand. First there’s a big set of smartphone and tablet manufacturers, then we’ve got Google, then the big processor manufacturers, Microsoft, and the rest. I should also let you know that we’re not quite done yet here, with a selection of other oddities still up our sleeves set for release over the next few days as well. Continue checking our [MWC 2012 portal] for the full pack!

One of the first events we attended was an LG booth preview, this meeting / miniature keynote had us also able to check out the full line of devices announced the week before MWC 2012 by LG. We were able to check out the full LG Optimus L-Style family including the L7, L5, and L3 in all their mid-range glory. Next we had a peek at the all-powerful LG Optimus 4X, a Tegra 3 toting next generation smartphone following up on the original world’s first dual-core smartphone, the LG Optimus 2X. Another follow-up nest-generation device we got to handle was the LG Optimus 3D Max, and the LG response to the Galaxy Note, the LG Optimus Vu, a massive smartphone / tablet hybrid with a 4×3 height x width ratio.

Sony decided to doll out a couple more Xperia devices, each of them slightly unsurprising to a fine degree. We first got official word that the Xperia P existed, then got a hands-on experience with the device. We also finally got to handle the fabled Sony Xperia U in all its square goodness.

If there was one smartphone manufacturer that brought their A-game and threw it all out on the floor, drew a line in the sand, and said “let’s do this thing”, it was HTC. They both introduced and described their brand new hero line of devices, HTC One. This line of devices features high-quality sound from Beats Audio, fabulous high resolution and sharp displays, HTC ImageSense for fabulous photos inside of Sense 4.0, and a high quality overall experience in each device. The devices dropped like this: first there’s the HTC One V – the lowest spec’d device with a classic shape.

Then there’s the HTC One S international version and the T-Mobile HTC One S as well – note here right away that the HTC One naming scheme will stick around no matter which carrier these devices are on, HTC holding strong to their hero line guarantees. Plus there’s the HTC One X as well as its AT&T relative by the same name. HTC One X is the hero of heroes and comes with either an NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core processor or a Qualcomm Snapdragon dual-core processor depending on if you get the international or AT&T version, respectively. We got hands-on looks at the HTC One V, the HTC One S, and the HTC One X as well.

Nokia was another fantastic force this year at MWC 2012, not least of all because of their awesome set of booths which both showed off their devices and provided press and brand friends an excellent place to work and relax during the week’s madness. The devices Nokia dropped were pretty neat too, starting with the Nokia Lumia 900 DC HSPA Global Edition which we also got hands-on time with. There was also the physical keyboard toting Asha 202, 203, and 302 which we also got hands-on time with right after the release event. There was but one mid-range touchscreen device from the group in the Lumia 610 (hands-on), then the giant game-changing device that rattled the whole event was the Nokia 808 Pure View complete with an undeniable 41 megapixel camera on its back – have a look at our hands on with 41 megapixels as well, and head to our Nokia MWC 2012 round-up for a different guide to the awesome madness.

Three companies that brought one device each that triggered our “must touch” sensors were ViewSonic, Toshiba, and Panasonic. For the first manufacturer it was for the ViewSonic ViewPhone 4S, complete with an ultra high-resolution display and the ability to use two SIM cards. Then there was Toshiba with their unnamed NVIDIA Tegra 3 toting tablet complete with 7.7-inches of HD display and an ultra-thin profile. Then for Panasonic we got two hands-on looks t the ELUGA device, first in a classic hands-on experience, then with the dunking of the device in the water for good fun had by all.

The folks at ZTE surprised us with several new devices including both Windows Phone and Android in a wide array of configurations. Perhaps the most impressive of these was an NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core processor toting smartphone by the name of ZTE Era. We got hands-on with the ZTE Era as well as the Windows Phone Tango smartphone ZTE Orbit.

Samsung had a highly odd set of devices on hand for us to get hands-on experiences with including the Samsung Galaxy Beam with its cool projector top and the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 with its Galaxy Note abilities, S-pen (the tablet having no slot despite the silo on the original Galaxy Note,) and Galaxy Tab 10.1 stylings. For those of you looking for one solid device with no such super odd abilities on top, check out our hands-on with the T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S Blaze, complete with everything you need for speedy daily living.

Two more groups that surprised us with some super excellent devices running high-powered processors were Huawei and Fujitsu. With Huawei we got hands-on with both the MediaPad 10fhd and the Ascend D Quad, a device which you’ll also see a massive amalgamation of this weekend in a post about the model they made specifically for and of this device. It’s a horse ascending into the air, all made out of the Ascend D Quad smartphone! Then there was the Fujitsu unnamed NVIDIA Tegra 3 smartphone which despite it having no finalized features just yet, seemed pretty impressive at the time.

ASUS revealed several new tablets in their now-named Transformer Pad series including the brand new 300 series as well as the high powered ASUS Transformer Pad Infinity 700 LTE. Then of course we got another glimpse of the ASUS Padfone, this time with a release date and a stylus headset!

We covered the Google keynote for the Mobile World Congress main series of keynotes, of course, it having Eric Schmidt speaking on the development of the world for countries and communities that have no access to the internet at all. He also spoke on privacy and how Google Chrome as well as Android have it and continue to allow you the control to keep yourself as private as you like. He also spoke of legal matters and there were quite a few above-average quotable moments also, especially in the Q and A section of the keynote. Schmidt mentioned Google Bucks and 3D-capable personal robots as well. Check out our round-up of the Google keynote for all of this information arranged once more.

For processor power we go to see great offerings from each of the big powerhouses, first up Texas Instruments with their OMAP 5 2x dual-core SoC as well as information on how they’ll be teaming up with Harman and iRobot for future OMAP 5 toting devices. Qualcomm took some awesome shots at the competition with the Snapdragon S4 and Gobi 5th gen while we took a look at the Qualcomm Snapdragon MDP for S4 and spoke with the team, this resulting in the note that Intel is still uncompetitive in the mobile marketplace.

Intel certainly does appear to be taking a good run at the market recently, on the other hand, here at Mobile World Congress with the Orange Santa Clara Medfield phone in all its glory. Then there’s NVIDIA, which if you simply take a peek at our hands-on with Shadowgun Deadzone multiplayer, you’ll only see a tiny fraction of what we’ll be publishing soon – and don’t forget about the massive amount of Tegra 3-toting smartphone released this past week alone.

Microsoft took each of these chipmakers and put them all in one room together with the Windows 8 Publishers Preview, having a tablet each from each manufacturer to show off Windows 8 for the consumers of the future. We also saw the preview on a wide variety of computers and saw how it all works together as you would expect it to. The app interface was incredibly fast and fluid, the shoe system worked extremely well on tablets as well as any PC with the ability to run a USB stick. You can also download the Windows 8 Consumer Preview right this second if you’d like to.

Of the oddities we’ve posted thus far, I recommend you check out the following: Skype for Windows Phone and MTV’s under the thumb Social TV for starters, then FXI Cotton Candy the world’s smallest PC to keep your sweet tooth hungry. You of course then must also view our look at the Neonode 3D touch for tablets and phones hands-on experience we’ve got along with the one vehicle we checked out: RIM’s own BlackBerry vehicle, the QNX Porsche 911 complete with BlackBerry phone and PlayBook tablet integration.

Again there is a selection of content still coming from our Mobile World Congress 2012 crew at the time of this posting, and you can catch all the action through our [MWC 2012 portal] for access to it all!

Nokia had announced its unforeseen struggles with developing markets back in January, admitting that Symbian shrinkage was taking place at a faster than predicted rate. New smartphone buyers, it seemed, preferred budget Android phones than the menu of S40 and Nokia Belle handsets the Finns had to offer, and Nokia warned that the Symbian long-tail could be significantly curtailed.

The new Asha series may not set North American or European tongues wagging, but they’re still vital to Nokia’s line-up in financial terms. The company is targeting “the next billion” after all, and a billion sub-€100 Asha handsets still adds up.

That’s not to say Western carriers aren’t keen to get their hands on them. UK operators still have a soft spot for Nokia’s entry-level featurephones and dumbphones; one exec speaking to SlashGear recently pointed to the perennial success of affordable prepaid handsets like the Nokia C3, popular both among those looking for a straightforward talk-and-text device, and because of the relatively broad range of color options it’s available with.

Lowering the entry-point of existing smartphone platforms has also been a trend, with ZTE and Huawei delivering low-cost Android and Windows Phone devices. Both companies have ambitious plans for scale in 2012 and beyond, and while they’re not adverse to headline grabbing devices, it’s economy of scale that they’re relying on to earn them a place in the top five manufacturers rankings. Nokia too had a sub-€200 Windows Phone in the shape of the Lumia 610, notable for being the first fruits of Microsoft’s loosened grip on minimum specifications for its OS. Our hands-on play with the 610 also demonstrated that it’s equally noticeable for the quality of its user-experience, even with those truncated specs.

What’s distinctive across all the manufacturers is the advances in so-called smartphone technology, into devices more typically expected to be featurephones or less. The increasing prevalence of persistent data connections makes cloud services like the Nokia Life suite of social networking apps and tools for S30 and S40 devices more feasible, reducing the dependence on potent local hardware by offsetting the effort to remote servers. Meanwhile, we’re seeing advanced features such as enterprise-level messaging trickle down to what previously might have solely been simple call and SMS platforms.

There’s arguable a place for such devices on Western store shelves just as much as in developing markets. Operators are hunting for ways to increase average revenue per user, and driving up data revenues is one such way of doing it. Smart-device users are known for consuming more data, if only for uploading images to social networks like Facebook, and if semi-simplistic (and affordable) handsets encourage those wary of actual smartphones to do just that, it’s a winning situation for carriers.

The mobile news industry moves at breakneck pace: every day a new product – or the rumor of one – to push the boundaries in technology and capabilities. In contrast, the phone retail market moves at a glacial pace, contract users locked, for the most part, into 24-month agreements. With that in mind, it’s perhaps little surprise that Nokia, ZTE, Huawei and others have looked to translating their experience of smart-device development to markets a few steps more naive than the US and Europe. Mobile World Congress had its share of superphones, but it’s the affordable and the boundary-pushing that are big news in 2012.

For all the news from Mobile World Congress 2012, check out our full show hub.

Economy of scale and a track-record of pumping out cheap phones that still maintained solid build quality was cited in Nokia’s initial Windows Phone announcement. Microsoft’s first generation of handsets, though reasonably broad in number, clustered around a mid- to high-tier price point, predominantly because of the software company’s own stringent specification requirements.

Microsoft knew it would need cheap Windows Phones to capture the entry-level market, users upgrading perhaps from feature-phones, and Nokia offered a gateway to that. The Lumia 710, though comparatively cheap for a Windows Phone 7 device versus what had gone before, was still targeting that middle tier, however.

There’s no doubting Nokia had an ambitious roadmap of devices to address that. Problem is, the playing field has evolved in the meantime, since that roadmap was drawn up. Symbian has been feasted upon by Android, cheap devices running Google’s platform being far more popular in markets traditionally welcoming to Symbian than Nokia had ever expected. That evolution in demand is likely to have an impact on revenues as early as this year, the company has warned.

Although the geeks and enthusiasts among us would love to see a true Nokia flagship Windows Phone – something with the bells & whistles to adequately compete with top-tier devices from Samsung, Apple and HTC – it’s the mass market that the company needs to tend to if it wants to turn about its dwindling fortunes. Despite a reasonable start to Lumia sales, erosion to Symbian holds the potential to undo all of Nokia’s good work.

According to Reuters, Nokia is indeed readying the Lumia 610 to do just that, though exact details of the new entry-level handset are still unclear. The 610 might struggle to hold the headlines at Mobile World Congress – the tech audience preferring to concentrate on more ambitious specifications – but if Nokia can price its new Lumia competitively, it stands a chance in the longer game. Previous leaks have tipped somewhere in the region of £100-150 (around $150-235), with a focus on the pre-pay market currently dominated by inexpensive Android handsets.

Not only would that be the cheapest Nokia Windows Phone so far, it would also present a significant challenge – and potentially open a new market – for other OEMs using Microsoft’s platform. Companies like HTC and Samsung have been somewhat coy about Nokia and Microsoft’s partnership, preferring to highlight the increased attention the Finns’ involvement brings to the OS, and the inevitable ad campaign for the Lumia 610 could well open them up a new price bracket to target too.

Nokia’s window of opportunity is small, though. The company needs to impress at Mobile World Congress, not just in its hardware, but in how it strategizes for the future. Slick polycarbonate casings and neat value-add apps are great, but it’ll take a bomb to the budget end of the market to secure Nokia’s bottom line.

The second version is the Pure Black Carbon that has Italian carbon leather on the back. The case of both phones are made from titanium, with the case being covered in layers of ceramic finish for durability. The ceramic coating gives the surface a matte appearance and soft touch feel. The screen is covered by 42-carat sapphire glass and polished crystal.

The keyboard on the phone is made from surgical steel for durability and lasting style. Gresso will offer these phones in a limited edition of 100 units starting this month. The phones will sell for $2700 each and run Symbian S40 for the operating system. For that price, Gresso should really move Android to provide more functionality.

Nokia Belle – the latest iteration of Symbian, and arguably the upgrade that brings the platform within spitting distance of rival smartphone OSes – was released for the C7, among other handsets, earlier this week. A sizable upgrade, weighing in at around 250MB, it demands users plug their phone into their PC and use the Nokia Suite app to load it.

Still, all that effort is worthwhile. Belle irons out some of the numerous issues and flaws found in the Astound as we reviewed it at launch, leaving a more flexible homescreen, more useful notifications bar with settings shortcuts, vastly improved widgets and a polished browser.

Responsibility for the decision not to give Astound owners what the C7 will get is presumably down to T-Mobile USA, though whoever is to blame it’s unlikely to leave users – less than a year into their two-year agreements – with particularly positive feelings to either the carrier or Nokia.

[via IntoMobile]

With a 4-inch display, and a body to match plus a sensor that puts the rest of the mobile world in a tizzy, this device could very well be aiming to take the part of the market looking to stick with the odd man out, Symbian, whilst still having the benefits of the iPhone 4S in shape and photo power. There’s no denying that the iPhone 4S still has the photo finesse when it comes to working with millions across the globe, even if comparable devices might contend, but Nokia bringing some fire to the camera department here is good news for everybody. If a dying operating system can work with the world’s best camera, so should everyone else!

This device, the Nokia 803, currently has a time frame of release set for somewhere around May of this year. If this device does pop up with Symbian and the world’s largest camera sensor in a mobile device, you can bet this publisher will be grappling for it. Nothing like a strange operating system to get your juices flowing and your camera finger snapping!

[via BGR]

There’s also a much tweaked and enhanced browser, as we saw on the Nokia 700, with increased support for in-page streaming video. A pull-down notifications menu borrows some of Android’s style and throws in some quick-access shortcut toggles for things like wireless power, and the iconography is updated to the “squircle” style.

Altogether, it’s the upgrade Symbian users have been waiting semi-patiently for, and something we wish Nokia had delivered two years ago. As it stands, although Nokia has been preloading Belle onto its recent Symbian devices for the past few months, it’s arguably too late for the OS overall. Nokia’s focus is resolutely on Windows Phone moving forward, with S40 for the entry-level and developing nations.

You’ll need Nokia Suite v3.3 or above in order to install Nokia Belle, which you can find here. More details of what to expect in the video above, and in our Nokia 700 review. The update is available for the Nokia N8, Nokia E7, Nokia E6, Nokia X7, Nokia C6-01, Nokia C7 and Nokia Oro, with the Nokia 500 getting Belle “within the next few weeks.”

Nokia Belle has already been seen on the market in the shape of the Nokia 700 – our review of which is here - but the upgrade for earlier handsets was a little longer in coming. The company had originally expected to release Belle in Q4 2011, bringing Anna-based phones up to speed, but that was subsequently delayed.

Nokia 700 hands-on:

Belle brings with it an arguably more Android-style interface, with greater flexibility over widgets and iconography on the homescreen, a pull-down notifications bar with settings shortcuts, and a generally more polished user experience. Nokia’s decision to yank the launch page could be a change in strategy, a sign of a premature reveal, or just housekeeping: after all, as you can see in the screenshot above, the E7 is mentioned twice.

[via My Nokia Blog]

To recap: Nokia and Microsoft shake hands and agree to make the beast with polycarbonate backs in February 2011, shelving MeeGo and confirming that the end is nigh for Symbian. The news prompts months of speculation and will-they-deliver-on-time controversy, until Nokia World 2011 in October and the unveil of the Lumia 800 and Lumia 710, only slightly blunted by Nokia reusing the industrial design for its de-facto flagship from the N9 several months before.

Fast forward to today, and Nokia has its all-important sales figures for the new Lumia devices – “well over 1m” in a little over two months of availability – and plenty of bad news too. Loses nearing a billion Euros, device sales down 29-percent, and Nokia making less on each smartphone it sells. Meanwhile the developing market Steven Elop had counted on providing the Symbian long-tail decided to rebuff the offer of cheap Nokia smartphones in favor of cheap Android ones instead.

The market has spoken, anyway: Nokia’s share price is up over 4-percent today, though you’d still struggle to confuse it with that of Apple or Samsung. Windows Phone has an above-average track record of striking a chord among tech reviewers, and that – taken with the fact that many have a soft-spot for Nokia, and that the Lumia 800/900 are genuinely tactile, delightfully designed phones – has resulted in a shiver of positivity despite the diarrhea of cash.

It gets harder from here, though. To succeed at this point, Nokia had to show up with a device or two, get them onto the market before the end of 2011 so as to prove its new CEO could keep his word, and sell more than a handful. Three boxes ticked. But Nokia has plucked a lot of the low-hanging fruit now: the true “Nokia faithful” have gone out and grabbed their slice of Finnish history, and much of what’s left is a market obsessed with Apple and Android.

It’s also unfamiliar territory for the company. In the past, Nokia has had both unique hardware and software to rely on: after a few tentative – and quickly aborted – attempts to use Symbian by other firms, the Finns were pretty much left to their own devices. Now Nokia faces not only Android and iPhone, but a raft of other Windows Phone OEMs keen to make some return on the licensing and marketing budgets Microsoft has squeezed out of them. If it makes a success of Windows Phone, if all those color-block adverts promoting the platform take hold, there’s no guarantee that the WIndows Phone shoppers leave the store with will necessarily have a Nokia logo on it.

Apathy works in its favor; HTC, Samsung, LG and others are all distracted by their Android investment, whereas Nokia knows its future is dependent on Windows Phone clawing market share. The risk of failure is obviously higher, too.

Nokia’s strength has always been in economy of scale: making lots of devices that use the same core hardware and driving down pricing that way. As its Windows Phone effort ramps up, there’s a decent chance that will increase gross margin per handset. Still, it needs demand to justify producing warehouses full of Lumias, and that means a compelling range for the US, Europe and Far East markets where smartphone choice has us jaded, along with affordable models for developing markets that, crucially, won’t cannibalize cheaper device sales too quickly.

Mobile World Congress is late next month, and Nokia is likely to have at least one more Windows Phone to show us. Shortly after that, the Lumia 900 will launch on AT&T and give the US its first decent taste of Nokia in some time. We’ve already said our piece on why AT&T should go against form and hammer down the sticker price of the LTE Lumia if it wants to stand a chance at getting traction.

Wielding a firehose of cash that’s gushing like a sick snake isn’t a great way to begin 2012, but Nokia has had it worse. This time last year, for instance, it had slumping profits and nothing compelling in its line-up whatsoever. The end is nowhere near in sight, but then again it never really is: there’s always something shinier and cleverer just around the corner. If Nokia can grab even a minority share of that roller-coaster then its prospects are good.

“The increase in our Smart Devices volumes in the fourth quarter 2011 was primarily driven by the broader availability throughout the quarter of the Nokia N9 and the shipments during the quarter of the Nokia Lumia 800 and 710 in selected markets, as well as increased seasonal demand for our devices” Nokia

The importance of the N9 in Nokia’s sales results, however, could be significant. The company confirmed to us that the “well over 1m Lumia sales” soundbite referred to Windows Phone sales to-date, rather than solely for the Q4 2011 period; that’s a small chunk of Nokia’s 19.6m unit smartphone sales that quarter.

However, Nokia includes Symbian^3 handsets in its “smart devices” category, and without knowing exactly how many of those phones – such as the C7 and E7 - were snapped up, we can’t fudge an overall estimate for the N9′s share of the segment.

“Nokia launched the Nokia N9, the outcome of efforts in Nokia’s MeeGo program. The Nokia N9 is a pure touch smartphone which introduces an innovative new design where the home key – typically located at the bottom of the device – is replaced by a simple gesture: a swipe. Under Nokia’s new strategy for smartphones, MeeGo will place increased emphasis on longer-term market exploration of next-generation devices, platforms and user experiences” Nokia

Nokia repeated its mantra from late 2010 on MeeGo’s future in the company, that it would be marginalized as a research platform for “next-generation devices.” Meanwhile, the open-source OS has also been folded into Tizen, an Intel and Samsung led project.

Unfortunately that sort of mod is going to take more than just access to the bootloader information; in fact it will take a fair amount of code tweaking and modification, certainly if all the various hardware elements of Symbian devices are to be enabled for a different platform. Whether there is anybody left with the time, patience and skillset to do that – and, most importantly, for Symbian devices – remains to be seen.

Still, as we said repeatedly during reviews of the E7, N8 and other phones from Nokia over the past eighteen months or so, the company makes beautiful hardware and we’d love to see Android or another platform running on it. Heck, we’d even take MeeGo if it were offered. Nokia is yet to unveil a hardware-QWERTY Windows Phone, so Microsoft’s platform on the sturdy E7 would be something many would covet.

Smarterphone’s platform was updated to v3.2 back in October, with features including multi-SIM support, Facebook chat, comments and video upload, a streamlined Twitter experience and the ability to upload footage to YouTube. In fact in many ways the OS exceeds some of what we’ve seen on the recent S40 phones from Nokia, like the Asha 303, 300 and 200.

Whether or not Nokia really is planning to sell its smartphone division off to Microsoft, there’s no doubting the importance the company is placing on developing nations and their increasing hunger for mobile devices. Back at Nokia World, CEO Stephen Elop described how Asha was intended to sate the hunger for smartphone-style functionality at a budget the audience there could actually afford.

The Asha 201 kicks off at €60 ($76) pre-subsidies and taxes; Smarterphone’s OS is targeted at $25-$75 devices, even cheaper again. Yet having seen some of these demos, there’s a lot the company could use to improve S40- and even Symbian – for the better.

Facebook Contacts Sync:

Facebook App:

Internet and Multimedia:

[via My Nokia Blog]

The sapphire parts are resistant to scratches and the sapphire in the device weighs in at over 135-carats. The smartphone is 12mm thick, making it one of the thinner devices in its class according to Gresso. The keys on the device are made from gold using precision cutting tech.

The Grand Premiere is a limited edition device with only 30 of each made and the number is engraved on the rear of the phone. The phone is set to launch this month at a price estimated at $50,000 per unit. The device measures in at 121 x 46 x 12mm and weighs 190 grams. The looks is all that matters on this phone with little mention of the features outside of the fact that Symbian S40 is the OS.

Those who have already bought a Nokia N8, Nokia E7, Nokia E6, Nokia X7, Nokia C6-01, Nokia C7 or Nokia Oro will have a couple of months at least to wait, however. This isn’t likely to go down well with Nokia fans, who saw similar delays in updates when Symbian Anna was released earlier in the year. Several complained that Nokia was prioritizing availability for new owners and leaving loyal users hanging.

Nokia Belle is a considerable improvement over the Symbian interface so far, as we discovered in our Nokia 700 review back in October. An Android-style notifications bar, “squircle” iconography, improved and more flexible widgets, and six homescreens are all included.

Nokia 700 hands-on:

You can clearly see the hump for the smartphone camera and the flash along with controls for the device. The manual gives up a few details on what is inside the smartphone. The device has Symbian Belle for the OS, NFC, HDMI output, and DLNA capability.

There are no details on the hardware inside that smartphone; some rumors are claiming this is a flagship update for the Nokia N8. The Nokia blog reckons the screen is 3.2-inches. So far, it doesn’t really sound like a high-end device to me, what do you think?

[via TheNokiaBlog]

Among the top five smartphone manufacturers, Apple ranks fourth with 10.2 percent US market share and has continued to experience growth over the last several months, with a 1.3 point change since June of this year. Rival Samsung takes the lead but its 25.3 percent market share has plateaued while second place LG now at 20.6 percent continues to slide along with third place Motorola at 13.8 percent and last place RIM at 7.1 percent.

When it comes to smartphone platforms, Google’s Android continues to surge, now leading at 44.8 percent market share, a 4.6 point change over the last 3-month period. Apple follows in second at 27.4 percent with steady growth and 0.8 point change during the same period. RIM, now at 18.9 percent, continues to experience the most loss in market share with a negative 4.6 point change, while Microsoft at 56 percent and Symbian at 1.8 percent round out the top five, each with a negative 0.2 point change.

With the iPhone 4S having launched in October and making record sales on its opening weekend, it will be interesting to see how the data shifts for the next comScore report. Despite not having a cosmetic upgrade, the iPhone 4S is still high in demand for its updated hardware internals, including the much faster A5 dual-core processor and the new 8-megapixel camera. The new Siri intelligent assistant feature is also exclusive to the device.

However, Google also has its new Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich devices launching in November, kicking off with the Samsung Galaxy Nexus smartphone. Other Android 4.0 devices should follow in the weeks after, although many may not ship until early 2012.

Java ME takes third place, with 12.84-percent – a slump from over a quarter of browser hits less than a year ago – while Symbian’s performance is even more dreary. Browser use has apparently more than halved since December 2010, down from 8-percent to 3.48-percent. BlackBerry dipped to 2.48-percent and fifth place.

The stats are gathered from approximately 160m monthly hits across its partner network, Net Applications claims, along with search engine referrals. Android and iOS are constant rivals in terms of “biggest, brightest, best” metrics like browser share, app availability and downloads; last month, it was announced that iOS led the field in mobile ad impressions, but that Android devices saw more apps downloaded.