nokia

Judge dismisses one of nine Nokia patent gripes against HTC

An administrative law judge for the U.S. International Trade Commission has dismissed one of Nokia's nine patent infringement claims against HTC, patents blog Foss Patents reported today.

HTC argued that the patent, which deals with routing data to an app, is a standards-essential patent. ITC Administrative Law Judge Thomas B. Pender agreed, dismissing the one complaint.

Standards-essential patents are ones that companies must offer to other companies on a fair, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory (FRAND) basis. The idea is that fair licensing of intellectual property is needed for devices from different manufactures to work together properly. Most of the … Read more

Nokia Purity Pros are light and compact

Headphones like the Nokia Purity Pro Stereo Headset by Monster don't come along every day. At $349.99, this advanced pair of headphones is expensive but nets a long list of advanced mobile audio technologies. The result of a partnership between mobile phone maker Nokia and sound equipment company Monster Cable, the Purity Pro's impressive skill set includes wireless Bluetooth and active noise canceling. The device even relies on NFC hardware for effortless pairing, unique for a stereo headset. More compelling, the Purity Pro also serves up these capabilities for $50 less than the $400 Parrot Zik, another … Read more

Nokia Lumia 520, 720 phones pop up in regulatory filing

Is Nokia getting ready to launch Lumia 520 and 720 smartphones? A regulatory filing seems to point in that direction.

The Lumia 520 and 720 were both on the list of a regulatory filing in Indonesia picked up by blog site PhoneArena.com.

The 520 would be the likely successor to the current Lumia 510, while the 720 would take over for the Lumia 710. Their inclusion on the list indicates that both won certification from Indonesia's equivalent of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission on Wednesday, according to PhoneArena.com.

The regulatory document doesn't spill any details … Read more

Tweak these settings to boost the battery life on your Windows phone

It doesn't take much searching on Google to find out that the battery life on a couple of the top-of-the-line Windows Phones -- the Nokia Lumia 920 and the HTC Windows Phone 8X -- are less than spectacular. Forums are rampant with angry user complaints about how quickly their phones are draining, turning their phones into useless bricks by each day's end.

But WP8 isn't alone -- mediocre battery life is an issue that plagues many phones. Remember when users freaked out about the iPhone 4S' battery life? (We had a fix for that, too.)

Decreasing brightness … Read more

T-Mobile nixes Windows Phone 7.8 update for Lumia 710

Owners of Nokia's Lumia 710 who expected an update to Windows Phone 7.8 are out of luck.

The phone's sole U.S. carrier, T-Mobile, confirmed the news in a statement sent to CNET today:

At this time, the Nokia Lumia 710 will not receive the Windows Phone 7.8 software update. T-Mobile is committed to enhancing customers' experience with our devices, including providing upgrades to the latest operating systems, and T-Mobile aims to deliver software upgrades when it will provide a better experience for our customers. We'll share additional information on upgrades for the Nokia Lumia … Read more

The top six wireless charging handsets (roundup)

Whether you think it's just a trendy party trick or the next feature we should all come to expect from high-end handsets, wireless charging is catching on and has been featured in a number of top-tier devices.

And while the future of its popularity still hangs in the air, we rounded up the best phones (in no particular order) that are available now and feature the technology. All these handsets, save for one Lumia, feature the capability natively and don't require a special phone case.

In addition, if you're looking at this list with envy while holding … Read more

Nokia looking into tablets with eye on Windows 8

Nokia could tiptoe into the tablet market as the next step beyond its Windows Phone-based Lumia lineup.

Nokia CEO Stephen Elop told reporters in Sydney, Australia, yesterday that the company is looking "very closely" at tablets but has yet to announce anything official, according to the Australian Financial Review.

"We are studying very closely the market right now as Microsoft has introduced the Surface tablet, so we are trying to learn from that and understand what the right way to participate would be and at what point in time."

Elop also dangled the possibility of an … Read more

New PlayStation may debut this month

Friday's CNET Update deciphers the shapes:

Stories from today's tech news roundup:

- Sony expected to unveil a new PlayStation this month -- before E3

- Verizon has new prepaid plans for 3G smartphones

- Nokia is researching a new material called graphene

- HBO Go may be coming to Apple TV

- Amazon beefs up its Prime Instant Video streaming with Downton Abby and is also creating original kids shows

- Netflix premiered the series, "House of Cards," and all 13 episodes are available now

- CNET's Download team highlights free alternatives to the new Office 2013 and Office 365 … Read more

Nokia begins work on graphene, world's strongest material

Forget diamonds, graphene is now the world's hardest material. And all sorts of developers most likely want to get their hands on it.

Nokia looks to be ahead of the game in this graphene race. The Finnish mobile-phone maker announced today that it was one of the recipients of a $1.35 billion grant from the European Union to do research and development on the supermaterial over the next 10 years.

"Nokia is proud to be involved with this project, and we have deep roots in the field -- we first started working with graphene already in 2006,&… Read more

Nokia spin-off plans $10,000 'luxury' Android phone

If you were planning to drop several thousands of dollars on a "luxury smartphone," what operating system would you insist such an elite device rock?

According to one Russian blogger claiming knowledge of British snobphone maker Vertu's plans, the company -- which was once a division of Nokia before the company sold all but 10 percent of it last year -- is looking to launch a fancy Android phone starting at 3,000 euros and running as high as $10,000 if you want a model made from unobtainium or some such silliness, I suppose.… Read more