Nokia’s smartphones don’t have distinguishing names as other smartphones. Look at the same N8 or E7, they don’t have other monikers, but HTC, LG or Motorola always give some memorable names. Say, who will forget the HTC Incredible‘s or the Thunderbolt‘s names, or who will forget the Motorola Droid Bionic?

Do not think it is easy to choose a name for a smartphone. Not all smartphones succeed, and probably here its own role plays the NAME of the phone, too — Acer beTouch, Casio G’zOne Commando, HTC ChaCha. As you see it is quite important to choose the right name, and Nokia has entrusted this hard work to… its users.

Nokia’s Windows Phone smartphones will become available soon (2012?), so ever step the company now takes is very important. Each rash decision, each shortcoming can bring to a collapse. Of course, we welcome Nokia’s poll to choose one of 20 monikers that will become the name of the first Windows Phone handset of the company.

Currently, the leading ones are Genesis, Fusion, Evolution, Metro and others. I voted for the Destiny.

It’s buttonless, it’s beautiful, it’s unique and it’s MeeGo. I’m sure you’ve already guessed I’m speaking about the Nokia N9, which will soon head to Australia.

All three versions (black, blue and pink) of Nokia’s new MeeGo-based smartphone are most likely going to be sold in Australia via Telstra, Optus, Vodafone and some major retailers, and the recommended price for the unlocked version of the device is $799.
Andrew Volard, director of Telstra Mobile Products, said that the N9 is a special phone, so the Australian geeks have much to look forward to. “It’s fast, simple to navigate and features a beautiful design that sets the N9 apart in a crowded smartphone market,” he said.

What do we already know about this smartphone? Well, many things. First of all, it has a 3.9-inch (480 x 854) AMOLED display protected by Gorilla Glass, a 1GHz Cortex A8 CPU with PowerVR SGX530 GPU and TI OMAP 3630 chipset, an 8MP camera with Carl Zeiss optics, auto-focus and dual LED flash… But I guess it’s not really interesting just to read about a phone’s specs. So if you want to learn more about it, better have a look at our Nokia N9 Preview. And don’t miss the chance to find out how this upcoming smartphone manages to “withstand” in a fight against the Samsung Galaxy Ace, the Nokia N8 and even the iPhone 4.

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The release of Nokia’s first Windows Phone 7-based devices is expected to take place in October of this year. On October 26 the manufacturer is going to hold its annual Nokia World event. During this event Nokia usually speaks about its future plans and introduces its newest devices, so maybe we’ll hear something new about the upcoming WP7 smartphones there.

The most surprising fact that we just learned is that the Nokia Windows Phone 7 devices launched during the event will be exclusively for the European market. This means that the U.S. customers will have to wait for a while. Most likely, the devices will be released in the U.S. during Mobile World Congress 2012. This major event promising to give a large workspace for Nokia reps, will be held on February 27 – March 1 in Barcelona. So only after this event Nokia will ship WP handsets to U.S. carriers and retailers.

It’s really sad that the U.S. customers will have to wait for about 5 more months to get Nokia’s first WP7 device, but it’s a great chance to learn more about the handset from the European customer reviews. Besides, if something is wrong with the original device, all the problems will already be fixed by the time it goes to the U.S., so the U.S. customers will get an improved device

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NFC becomes more and more popular every day, and Nokia seems to be interested in this technology a lot. I am sure you are aware about the upcoming Nokia handsets offering such functionality — the Nokia 600, 700 and 701. But as we can now understand these smartphones, plus the Nokia Astound that activated its NFC capability after the Symbian Anna update, are not enough for the company, as yesterday in Hong Kong Nokia’s representatives said that from now on all Nokia devices will have an NFC chip inside.

This decision will help the NFC technology spread in the world, and since Nokia is the biggest phone manufacturer at the moment, I don’t doubt in their success. Moreover, the company has planned to sell about 100 million smartphones each year.

According to Nokia’s VP Ilari Nurmi, the above mentioned 3+1 smartphones will support this technology together with other NFC-enabled accessories like speakers, Bluetooth headphones and headsets.

All these decisions don’t refer only to Symbian-powered handsets, as Nokia’s main goals are related with Windows Phone, and when Nokia’s WP handsets are launched, the campaign will get a new stimulus.

P.S. Nokia is doing its best to promote this NFC technology, but not all companies are doing the same. Apple, for example, is going to choose Bluetooth 4.0 instead of NFC. So what do you think, which company is choosing the right direction?

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Before Nokia completely switches to Windows Phone 7 platform, the company actively develops its current operating system and all the institutions related with it. Now we have very interesting news for those who own a Symbian^3- or S60 5th Edition-powered smartphone — Nokia’s Ovi Store for Symbian apps is now powered by Nokia Drop which has included a new feature allowing users to wirelessly push apps, themes, ringtones and wallpapers to your handset.

This means you can now easier install content on your phone because you won’t be asked to send an SMS for confirmation or use an external plugin. To access your phone wirelessly you must use Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome browsers. Unfortunately, the developers don’t offer a support for Mac’s Safari.

Moreover, all Symbian users can turn auto installation on, and it will help them not to confirm whether they would like to install this or that app on their handsets.

Nokia Drop’s job isn’t the only attractive offer during the last days. Not so long ago Symbian Anna update was released and the next Belle update was announced.

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It seems like the Nokia N9 will be available via one of the major retailer, Carphone Warehouse, which owns mobiles.co.uk. At the moment, the price and the release date of the N9 remain known, but on the webpage devoted to the device you can leave your e-mail address. Carphone Warehouse promises to send you any kind of information about the Nokia N9 as soon as it’s available.

The list of countries where the model will be officially available via the online retailer includes Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, China, Croatia, Finland, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Malaysia, New Zealand, Portugal, Poland, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Singapore, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates and Vietnam.

In addition, you will find the following countries on Nokia’s website: Italy, Philippines, Indonesia, Belgium, Brazil, South Africa, Turkey, Czech Republic, Mexico, Argentina, Thailand and Norway.

The Nokia N9 is a cool smartphone running MeeGo operating system. With great design, the Nokia N9 is a winning combination of form and functionality. The new model comes with a 3.9-inch touchscreen display, 8MP camera with Carl Zeiss optics, LED flash and 720p HD video recording capabilities, 16GB of internal memory for storage, 1GB of RAM, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, HSDPA and built-in navigation system.

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Nokia announced the new version of Symbian^3 OS four months ago. Currently the manufacturer’s smartphones are getting their Anna updates, and yesterday Nokia announced the new version of its mobile platform, Belle. It brings Symbian-powered devices to a new level, and I think that the famous “Symbian is a burning platform” has become an anachronism.

Now Belle looks “alive” with its live resizable widgets. It means you can set the main widgets like clock, e-mail, music player, favorite contacts and the calendar in different sizes. Moreover, if Symbian Anna allows you to have three homescreens, Belle offers 6 homescreens.

The notification bar is now like an Android one, i.e. when you pull it down it shows incorporating settings and notification of incoming messages, missed calls and so on.

That’s right Symbian has no relation with Microsoft, but Nokia’s deal with it affected not only on Windows Phone-powered smartphones. Now, thanks to Microsoft, Symbian Belle includes such apps as Lync, Sharepoint, OneNote, Exchange ActiveSync and PowerPoint Broadcaster.

Several days ago we introduced you new Symbian Belle smartphones, they all have an NFC functionality, I guess you caught up it became available due to Belle.

Those phones that can be updated to Belle (I mean the Nokia N8, the E7, the C7, the C6-01, the X7, the E6 and the 500) will receive their update at Espoo time. For more details check out the videos below and let us know what you think about this update.

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Right after the announcement of three high-end devices Nokia introduced two low-end devices — the Nokia 100 and the Nokia 101 that are becoming the 100 series members. Now these two devices are so far the cheapest devices from Nokia.

The Nokia 101 comes with Dual-SIM card, small 1.8-inch TFT display with a resolution of 160 × 128, dual-band GSM connectivity, MP3 player, FM radio and microSD support for up to 16GB.

The Nokia 100 is lacking dual-SIM card capabilities, doesn’t support microSD cards and MP3 player, the rest of the specs are the same as the Nokia 101′s.

“We recognize that for many of the next billion people, a phone purchase is an investment. People are looking for a phone that offers great features but also one that is dependable. When paired with powerful and locally relevant services such as Nokia Life Tools, the Nokia 101 and Nokia 100 offer a unique experience that is simply unmatched in their markets at these price points declared,” said Mary McDowell, Executive Vice President, Mobile Phones, Nokia.

Both devices will come pre-equipped with great batteries that provide up to 25 and 35 days standby time (correspondingly for the Nokia 101 and Nokia 100).

The Nokia 101 will be available by the end of September with a cheap price of 25 Euros ($36), while the Nokia 100 will be priced only 20 Euros ($29) and will be available at the forth quarter of this year.

Now it’s the best time to have a look at the Nokia 100 and the Nokia 101:

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Not so long ago we informed you about Symbian Anna that is already available for four Nokia flagships, the Nokia N8, E7, C7 and C6-01. But as I understand it is not enough, because users want more, they want the new update, Belle. Probably, when Symbian Belle running on the Nokia N8 leaked, they “smelled the scent of blood,” and now no one can stop them. Nokia doesn’t even try to stop anyone, moreover, yesterday the company announced the new version of Symbian OS will be available for the Nokia N8, C7, E7, C6-01, E6 and X7 from the fourth quarter onwards.

Today we’ve already seen three Nokia smartphones running Symbian Belle, but they are all mid-range smartphones and probably won’t appear in the U.S. Now the Nokia N8 owners are eager to know whether their favorite cameraphone, the N8, will get Belle.

As it is an official announcement, we have no reason not to believe it won’t happen, but what does “onwards” mean?  Maybe the company meant fourth quarter and beyond? Who knows? However, we’ll hope for the best.

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Yesterday was a great day for Nokia as it announced the new version of Symbian^3 OS, Belle, but it is not all, as the company unveiled three new smartphones running Belle and sporting 1GHz processors. We were aware about these devices earlier, so let’s have a closer look at them.

The first handset is the Nokia 600 that is designed especially for music lovers. The Nokia 600 is equipped with a 106phon loadspeaker, which means there is no other handset able to compete with this “beat.” It allows us to say the Nokia 600 is the loudest smartphone that Nokia has ever produced. Moreover, the device is equipped with a built-in FM transmitter for broadcasting music to a car stereo or other FM receiver (plus, an FM antenna is built into the phone’s body, which helps users not to plug in headphones when using it), a 3.2-inch nHD touchscreen with a resolution of 360×640 pixels, a 1GHz processor, 2GB of internal memory that can be expanded up to 32GB with a microSD card, a 5MP full-focus camera with LED flash that also can record HD videos at 720p and a 1200mAh battery providing 15 hours of talk time and 23 days in stand-by mode.

The Nokia 600 measures 111x53x13mm and weighs 100g. Moreover, the phone sports 3G cellular radio and supports GPS, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connections.

The Nokia 600 will be available in black, white, pink and lime, and consumers will be able to get their hands on it in Q3. The device comes with a price tag of €180 (US$260) which is quite an affordable price, I think.

The second handset is the Nokia 700 which is going to be the smallest smartphone in the world (as it measures 110×50.7×9.7mm and weighs 96 grams). It’s a world phone that can be easily used in any network due to Symbian Belle and a pentaband radio. The phone is packed with a 3.2-inch ClearBlack AMOLED display, which is also protected by GorillaGlass technology. So we can assure you it sports one of the best touchscreens ever. Other features include 2GB of internal memory, a 5MP full-focus (with LED flash) and a VGA front-facing cameras, a 1GHz processor, Bluetooth, FM radio, GPS, compass and others.

The Nokia 700 will be available in grey, silver/white, coral red, peacock blue and purple starting from Q3 with a price tag of €270 ($390).

The third handset is the Nokia 701 which sports the brightest smartphone screen out there in terms of nits. Though there are many other handsets with perfect screens, the Nokia 701 boasts a brighter 3.5-inch IPS-LCD display powered by the ClearBlack technology.

This smartphone is similar to the Nokia Astound in design and some features, as the Nokia 701 sports an 8MP camera, a 1GHz processor and 8GB of internal memory. The phone measures 11×56.8×117.3mm and weighs 131 grams. The battery is rather attractive as it provides 9 hours of talk time in 3G mode and when we take into account the fact it is a pentaband smartphone, we can conclude how long it will “withstand” in other networks.

The Nokia 701 will be launched in steel dark, silver light, amethyst violet and white, and will be priced at €290 ($420).

P.S. All these smartphones have an NFC functionality that Nokia promotes actively, and all prices are set for unlocked versions.

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