lumia

Nokia to offer more mobile apps for Lumia phones

Nokia has cooked up deals with a host of developers to lure more apps to the Windows Phone Marketplace for Lumia smartphone owners.

Announced at CTIA Wireless 2012 today, the new partnerships with several leading app developers are aimed at offering more relevant apps for Lumia users.

Games are hot on the list, with Angry Birds Space soaring onto Lumia phones. Though no launch date was revealed, Nokia said it's working with Angry Birds creator Rovio to design games specifically for Lumia devices. Electronic Arts is also joining the Windows Phone party, slated to offer such games as FIFA, … Read more

Nokia Lumia 900 white and cyan models now available from AT&T

Consumers eyeing Nokia's Lumia 900 can now find the phone in all three of its colors at AT&T's online retail store.

The black and white models are in stock and available immediately, while the cyan model requires a wait of five to seven business days.

Both the white and cyan models were out of stock at AT&T just a couple of weeks ago, so Nokia seems to be revving up its supply to catch up with demand.

A Nokia representative told CNET last month that the company was striving to ramp up production of … Read more

Nokia fixes purple screen bug in Lumia 900

Nokia seems to have solved the mystery of the purple hue.

The company's NokiaCare account tweeted the news yesterday, saying that it has identified the issue and promising a fix bundled into the next overall software update.

Plaguing some owners of the Nokia 900 Lumia, the bug displays a purple tint on the screen when the brightness is set low. Several posts at the XDA Developers Forum discussed the issue and displayed the actual problem, showing the difference in tint between a good model and a bad model.

Nokia acknowledged the glitch last month via its Facebook account and a U.K. discussion forum. Customers in Europe were advised to bring the phone to the nearest Nokia Care center where support staff could examine it.… Read more

Camera megapixels: Why more isn't always better (Smartphones Unlocked)

Editors' note: This article originally published May 6, 2012, and was updated on February 13, 2013, and again on May 4, 2013.

In a matter of months, the high-end smartphone camera spec rocketed from a respectable 8 megapixels to an altitudinous 13.

The Samsung Galaxy S4 and LG Optimus G Pro are the freshest examples of this megapixel push, but even last January's Pantech Discover (12.6 megapixels), last October's LG Optimus G for Sprint (13 megapixels), and especially mid-2012's 41-megapixel Nokia 808 PureView piled on the megapixels.

Yet even though the technology exists, quality can be just as uneven from phone to phone as it was when an 8-megapixel shooter was the "best" that money could buy.

Shootout!: Samsung Galaxy S4 versus HTC One and iPhone 5

Championing that perception head-on is HTC, the same company that not too long ago boasted about the 16-megapixel camera in its Titan II. Now, in its HTC One flagship, the smartphone maker dials down the megapixel count to 4 megapixels, which HTC fancifully terms "Ultrapixels," arguing that the lager pixel size throws back the blinds to let in much more light.

In this lies the reminder (something photography nuts will tell you) that it's quite possible for an excellent 5-megapixel camera to produce photos you prefer over a shoddy 12-megapixel camera. The number of megapixels alone is no guarantee of heightened photographic performance.

Instead, the formula for fantastic photos comes down to the entire camera module, which includes the size and material of the main camera lens, the light sensor, the image processing hardware, and the software that ties it all together. So let's dive in.… Read more

Nokia, execs hit with class-action suit over disappointing Lumia sales

Nokia has been hit with a class-action lawsuit charging the company with making promises it couldn't keep.

Law firm Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd yesterday filed a class-action lawsuit (PDF) against Nokia and its executives in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on behalf of those who owned the company's shares between October 26, 2011, and April 10.

"The complaint alleges that during the Class Period, defendants told investors that Nokia's conversion to a Windows platform would halt its deteriorating position in the smartphone market. It did not," the … Read more

Nokia: Fingers crossed we'll win with tablets, hybrids

Nokia is planning to unveil a host of tablets and "hybrid" smart mobile devices in an attempt to revive its sluggish mobile business.

In an interview published today by the Financial Times (registration required), bound-for-the-exit chairman Jorma Ollila tried to excite consumers and investors with promises of new "form factors" for mobile devices and exclusive new services. Such new devices were touted by Ollila as a way to help the company recover from its weakening financial situation.

Nokia recently reported an operating loss of $1.76 billion and a huge drop in sales for its first … Read more

How to enable group messaging on Windows Phone 7.5

Group messaging makes it easy to hold a conversation with multiple recipients all in one thread. Unfortunately, this feature is turned off on devices running Windows Phone 7.5 by default.

To enable group messaging:

Open the Settings app. Scroll to the right, where the Applications section is located. Open the Messaging option. Toggle the Group Messaging switch to the on position.

Going forward, when you're included in a group conversation, or send a message to multiple recipients, the conversation should appear in the same thread. Keep in mind, group messaging uses MMS messages instead of SMS in order … Read more

How to update the software on a Nokia Lumia 900

Nokia recently released a software update for the Lumia 900 that addressed the connection issues many users were reporting. So many users, in fact, that Nokia also offered $100 credit (the total cost of the device on a contract) to Lumia 900 owners.

If you have yet to update your Lumia 900, the process is easy; you just need a bit of time and access to a computer with an Internet connection.

To get started, you will need to make sure you have either the Zune (Windows) software or the Windows Phone 7 Connector (Mac) app installed on … Read more

S&P slashes Nokia's credit rating to junk

Just when things couldn't get much worse for Nokia -- the mobile phone maker's credit rating is taking it on the chin.

Standard & Poor's today cut the rating for the Finnish mobile phone maker to junk, anticpating lower sales ahead.

Following a similar move by Fitch Ratings earlier this week, S&P cut Nokia's rating to BB+ from BBB-. BB+ is considered the highest speculative grade, "speculative" being another word for junk.

S&P said that the weaker rating reflects a lower estimate for sales from Nokia's Devices and Services … Read more