nokia

BARCELONA, Spain--Nokia is going green.

The No. 1 cell phone maker in the world is showing off a conceptual cell phone design at the GSMA Mobile World Congress that is made of entirely renewable and recycled parts. The phone, called "Remade," was unveiled here during a keynote speech given by Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo on Tuesday.

The phone is being developed in Nokia's labs. And yesterday was the first time the thin, silver handset, had been shown publicly.

The device, which has an outer case made of renewable materials rather than petroleum-based plastic, doesn't yet make … Read more

Yesterday, U.K. music download provider Omnifone announced a forthcoming program, MusicStation Max, that will offer cell phone buyers unlimited free music downloads. Of course, "free" is never free, and in this case, Omnifone is enlisting handset makers to subsidize the estimated cost of the downloads and pass that cost along to you in the form of a higher up-front price for the phone. So far, LG Electronics is the first cell phone maker to sign up for participation in the program. No confirmation yet on carrier partners, but the service builds on Omnifone's existing MusicStation subscription-based … Read more

Hey, go take a walk, why don't ya? That is, with Nokia Maps 2.0. Nokia announced at GSMA 2008 that its newest version of the mapping and software application is now available in beta form, and it brings a number of enhancements, including more advanced pedestrian navigation. This makes complete sense to me, given that cell phones and smartphones make for better handheld navigators than in-car GPS. Of course, I realize not everyone lives in a place where you can walk to your destination, but for those who do, the new features of Nokia Maps 2.0 are … Read more

February 11 has come and gone, and it turned out to be a busy first day at the GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. Before the show even began, Senior Editor Kent German gave us a little preview of the convention scene, and Bonnie Cha tells us her woeful tale of her stolen wallet. But work must go on, and Kent managed to get a hands on with the Samsung Soul, a slider handset packed with HSDPA, a 5-megapixel camera, and a new navigation pad with a display that changes its icons depending on what feature is being used.… Read more

Nokia acquired media-sharing start-up Twango last year, and now it's finally doing something with it.

Twango has been folded into Ovi, a new brand for Nokia's mobile Web services such as gaming, social networking, and mapping.

"The Twango brand will be a fond memory," a blog post from Twango director of service development Jim Laurel reads. "We are now Share on Ovi."

Nokia made the announcement Monday, though Laurel's blog post is dated last Monday, February 4. Go figure.

Twango originally pitched itself as a more functional alternative to photo-sharing sites like Flickr; … Read more

BARCELONA, Spain--Nokia pushed its mobile navigation service to the next level on Monday with the announcement of the latest version of its Nokia Maps service at the GSMA Mobile World Congress here.

The initial version of Nokia Maps, which was announced at last year's edition of this wireless show, was developed for people who wanted navigation while driving, essentially replacing the need to have a separate navigation device, like those offered by Garmin or Tom Tom. On Monday, Nokia took the navigation service a step further by announcing Nokia Maps 2.0, which is geared toward pedestrians. This version … Read more

In addition to the Nokia N96, the N series welcomed another addition to the family today at GSMA 2008: the Nokia N78. Like the other models in the series, the N78 has a heavy focus on multimedia. It has a 3.2 megapixel camara with Carl Zeiss optics, an MP3 player, an FM transmitter that allows you to stream tunes to an FM radio, whether it be in your car or home, and it will be compatible with Nokia's Music Store and N-Gage gaming platform. The N78 is also outfitted with GPS, and what's really cool is that … Read more

Man, I could really use this cell phone right now. Today, along with a slew of other devices, Nokia introduced its Nokia 6210 Navigator phone at GSMA 2008. Like its predecessor, the Nokia 6110 Navigator, which was announced at 3GSM last year, the 6210 Navigator has built-in GPS (integrated and assisted) but adds the new Nokia Maps 2.0 application and an integrated compass for pedestrian guidance. There's also an accelerometer onboard to more accurately track your position on the map as you're walking around town. (Seriously, I wish I had this phone in hand right now as … Read more