Are you a big fan of the most popular game for now — Angry Birds? The NFC-version of the game will be made available on the upcoming Nokia C7!

There are 20 levels in the game. Reaching the fifth level of the game is quite easy. But then you’ll find out that you stuck there… if you don’t have a buddy with an NFC-enabled device! When you touch your phone with his, other five levels will be unlocked.

There is one more way to unlock the latter levels of the game — use NFC tags. This is something fresh. But some claim that this way makes the game less interesting. The thing is that the person who wants to play the game after the fifth level is getting excited with the idea to find a person who has an NFC-enabled gadget to continue the game.

The Ovi Store reps are working over the idea of getting the full version of the Angry Birds. It will allow to get to the higher levels of the game and to feel all of the charm of the NFC experience.

“Angry Birds Magic is a great demonstration of NFC technology and we’re delighted to have it exclusive to Nokia. It represents an exciting opportunity for developers to create new, innovative apps and games.”

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I guess you want to see this app working, here you are:

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The Nokia E7 has already traveled around the world. Now the “all-in-one business smartphone” goes to New Zealand!

Steve Lewis, Nokia New Zealand’s head of sales, said that “The smartphone is now the primary business device for many New Zealanders, but business users — like all consumers — don’t just want functionality.”

The Nokia E7 is distributed in New Zealand via Vodafone exclusively, and its price is 1,299 NZD (about $1,025) at the moment. However, you have a chance to get a discount or some tempting promotional offers with a Vodafone promotional code.

Let me remind you that several days ago the Nokia E7 was released in the UK for £499 ($818) for an unlocked version. Yeah, rather expensive, especially if we compare it with previous Nokia phones. But the UK operators have very attractive offers and data plans for their customers (and besides, voucherseeker codes will give you extra discounts). Vodafone, for example, offers you the phone for free if you sign a two-year contract and pay £35 ($57) per month. Plus monthly you’ll get 600 minutes, unlimited texts and 500MB of data.

If this offer isn’t good enough for you, consider T-Mobile’s or Orange’s offers: T-Mobile will give you the device for £35.74 ($58) per month, plus 1200 minutes, 500 texts and “unlimited” mobile Internet. Orange offers you the phone for free with a two-year contract, monthly cost of £23 (about $37) and 400 minutes and unlimited texts. And with an Orange promotional code you’ll be able to save even more.

The Nokia E7 is a great business smartphone with amazing specs. It’s worth a shot, so don’t miss your chance.

Did you think the Nokia C7 is the next mid-range smartphone with specs that don’t excel in any aspect? But the Nokia Astound (aka Nokia C7) is the only Nokia device that supports Swype keyboard in portrait mode. There are other high-end smartphones running Swype, like the Nokia N8 and the Nokia E7, but all they come with a landscape version of Swype.

Here we have a video introducing the Nokia Astound with Swype in a portrait mode. When I watched it I was so impressed so much that I wanted all Symbian^3 smartphones to get it.

The portrait mode of Swype allows you to tap faster and easier, because instead of traditional taping it offers another, a more comfortable method. If you think I am not right because taping with fingers of two hands is easier, remember that when you work with the portrait version of this keyboard you have less space to travel. The Swype is so smart that it understands what you mean when you swipe along the screen. Its’ very comfortable when you type when moving or walking.

Anyway, though other Symbian^3 smartphones released by Nokia don’t provide such a feature, we have one that could be an experimental handset for Swype and if it succeeds, I am sure we’ll see it on all popular Nokia smartphones.

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We have heard many rumors that Nokia was going to launch a consumer tablet. Now it seems like those were not just rumors: According to Rodman & Renshaw’s analyst Ashok Kumar, who is close to Nokia’s technology partners, Nokia is really going to launch a touchscreen tablet, and perhaps it is going to happen this fall.

Not much is yet known about the tablet, and Nokia doesn’t hurry to give any official comments. According to some rumors, the device will probably run an updated version of Symbian or even Windows Phone 7. But there are also rumors that it will most likely run the MeeGo Linux OS, since it is designed for low power devices and is highly customizable. And besides, they say some Android applications can run on the MeeGo Linux OS!

Not so long ago Nokia sent two requests to the United States Patent and Trademark Office with a description of two tablets, one of which looks like the Nokia N8 a bit.

By the way, we can’t say it’s going to be Nokia’s first tablet ever. The N700, N800 and N900 devices were something in the middle of a phone and a tablet. Those phone-tablets weren’t that popular though. Let’s hope a brighter fate is waiting for the first official Nokia tablet.

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First Blackberry had problems with the Indian government, and now Nokia seems to be going to join the party. This time the issue is caused by the feature of the Nokia devices known as “push email service.”

“In view of the Intelligence Bureau’s report, Department of Telecommunications is requested to advice the Telecom Service Providers not to launch Nokia’s proposed pushmail/powermail service without putting in place monitoring facilities to the satisfaction of the LEAs,” was stated by the Ministry of Home Affairs of India in a message directed to the Department of Telecom.

The main thing is that more than the half of Nokia’s E-series devices have already been sold with the service on, this means that the users might be required to return their devices and get them back only after the service is officially turned off. There are even rumors that Nokia started to sell the current devices without this feature, unless the situation is solved.

The only way to avoid this situation is to push Nokia to satisfy the requirements of the Indian government. Blackberry, which had the same problem, is still struggling against the claim. They do not consider the idea of giving more access to the message exchange to the government to be a proper one. And it’s quite reasonable. This is just a mean of violating the rights of the customers.

So far Nokia didn’t give an official response to the situation. But it’s obvious that the manufacturer cannot avoid having one. Let’s just wait for more news.

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At the event on April 12 Nokia announced its new smartphones — the Nokia X7 and the Nokia E6. You may think there is nothing to tell about them as they were discussed much earlier and almost everything is known about their specs. That’s right, but every Nokia fan has been waiting for the PR2 update that now comes with a name of Symbian Anna. It sounds very nice and now I can say the improvements it brings are also quite nice.

As any good software update, it focuses on improvements in both performance and usability. One of the goodies we can find in the update is the web browser.

The Symbian Anna is not meant only for the new announced Nokia X7 and Nokia E6, but for the other high-end Symbian^3 powered smartphones of the company — the Nokia N8, C7, C6-01 and E7. So this post will be useful for the owners of the aforementioned devices, too.

The new browser (version 7.3) has a cool interface, and the icons at the bottom of the window are replaced by an arrow running different commands like calling bookmarks, history or the exit button. It’s very comfortable to call for an address bar and search row.

Thanks to the Official Nokia blog, we can see the difference between the browsers on the Nokia N8 and the Nokia X7. As you can see the newer version of the Symbian browser has more place for text (the Nokia X7’s image is the right one).

This browser uses a new JavaScript engine called WebKit that allows to browse the Web 30 percent faster compared to its previous version. For example, during a HTML 5 test it got 111 points from 400. For comparison I can also mention that the previous version got only 29 points. This is a real progress, and we think the developers have worked really hard.

The next big improvement is the Portrait QWERTY keyboard that makes it easier to input URLs and keywords.

I guess Nokia has included all possible improvements in the Symbian Anna browser, and if you dont agree with me, it’ll be interesting to hear about your complaints.

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The Nokia X7 has not appeared in the U.S. market and will probably never appear there, but the U.K. customers are very lucky — they’re getting the gadget via the Three UK mobile operator.

The Nokia X7 will come up with a list of cool features: Symbian^3 Anna OS  (this version of the Symbian is enhanced with 50 new features!!!), a 4 inch AMOLED display with a resolution of 640 × 360, an 8 megapixel camera with dual LED flash that can capture 720p videos and a 1200 mAh battery. The storage of the gadget is 1GB, but the extension card of 8 GB comes in the package of the gadget. The connectivity of the Nokia X7 includes Wi-Fi b/g/n and  Bluetooth 3.0.

It also has a stainless steel body. The device is equipped with a QWERTY keyboard, which can be used in the Portrait view, which is usually more comfortable. As a result, you can always have a more comfy use of the mailing, messaging and map.

The direct access to the most used applications is also supported, including Facebook, Foursquare and Twitter access from the homescreen of the Nokia X7.

“The Nokia X7 is a great multimedia device, combining picture, video and mobile internet needs into one savvy smartphone. With a best-in-class four inch AMOLED ClearBlack display, superb camera and fully customisable operating system, our customers will have a great entertainment experience on this phone using out super-fast 3G network,” Sylvia Chind, Head of Handsets, said.

The price and the release date of the device are not announced yet.

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Ovi Maps v3.07 is now available at Beta Labs, so all Symbian^3 phone users can get and test it.

Many changed were made to the application; let’s try to find out more about them. First of all, Ovi Maps was modularized into four components — Maps, Drive, Check-in and Guides, and the access these modules has been made much easier.

The search option was also improved and a new tab was added to make it easier to access your favorite locations.

The Place pages and Guides were redesigned and the weather info was integrated into the Guides section (displayed on the top of it now). When you open the Guides section, you see all the available guides and services, including the weather forecast, depending on your location, which is automatically determined. You can also tap there to get more info about the weather forecast.

Additionally, it is now much easier to switch between different views – just one click is needed.

Mark Guim made a video demonstrating the new Ovi Maps v3.07 on his Nokia E7. Here it is:

Don’t forget to share your opinion about the new Ovi Maps v3.07 with us. Oh, and don’t forget to leave your feedback at Beta Labs, too, so that the developers can continue improving the application!

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I guess we are all interested in when the cooperation between Nokia and Microsoft will give its first results. When Stephen Elop moved to the Finnish company leaving his position in Microsoft, everyone began to talk about the fees the Nokia CEO had been promised. Later it was surfaced Stephen Elop had cost more than $6 million to Nokia. So after such buzzes it’s interesting to know when we can see Windows Phone-powered Nokia smartphones in the market.

Not long ago a Russian tech analyst Murtazin unveiled some details about upcoming Nokia devices, namely the Nokia W7 and the Nokia W8.

First of all, I want to surprise you: Nokia’s devices running Microsoft’s platform will be packed with Qualcomm chipsets, but all those geeks who are familiar Microsoft’s policy probably know this is the company’s requirement and all WP7 smartphones work on such processors. The next news refers to the first WP7 Nokia smartphone’s launch date, and, according to Stephen Elop, it will be available at the end of January/early February of 2012. So let’s see what we can expect from this cooperation.

The prototype of the first Nokia WP7 handset is going to be the Nokia W7 that looks like the Nokia X7. But this one is equipped with a WVGA screen and uses QSD8250 chipset that is one of the first chipsets released by Qualcomm (though I tend to think the company will replace it in the final product). Since it’s a WP7-based handset, it is not surprising it has an 8MP camera with flash and auto-focus, because the Symbian smartphones mainly sport cameras with fixed focus.

The next Windows Phone 7-based smartphone is the Nokia W8, which is assumed to be the successor of its high-end (probably the highest-end ) N8. If it’s really so, the W8 is going to be the most powerful device in the market running Windows Phone 7. One of its possible advantages is the Qualcomm dual-core chip with Adreno 320 graphics, but it is not confirmed since Nokia is not in a good relationship with Qualcomm.

It’s also rumored Nokia will launch a portrait QWERTY candy bar handset. If it is true, the phone will be from Nokia’s E series, so its popularity can be transferred to the new Windows Phone handset. Taking into account the fact that Nokia works hard on a business-oriented subscription service, we can assume this service can appear in this phone, too. This device is going to be available in March/April and will cost about $500 (350 euro).

Don’t think Nokia will launch only expensive smartphones running WP7, because the company understands that not everyone can pay big money for a smartphone. This means we will see an affordable touchscreen phone similar to the Nokia W7, but it will probably be made of cheaper materials and equipped with weaker features. Perhaps the phone will have a distinguishing full-focus camera. Probably this phone will be launched at the beginning of 2012.

Looks like we won’t get any Nokia Wp7 device until 2012, but it is not surprising because it was announced earlier. I have another question, however: Are these the four smartphones we talked about earlier? If you remember, there was also a Windows Phone-powered tablet… I guess the rumors are turning into facts.

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