Nokia phones are currently enjoying a huge resurgence in what has become the ultra competitive mobile phone market. The Nokia name has been synonymous with the modern mobile industry for years and the new range of Nokia phones seem to be technologically advanced and very reasonable. One such phone which epitomises these qualities is the...

According to Gartner’s new Q2 2011 statistics, Nokia still has the biggest share in the mobile device market, even if they’re changing their strategies and continue losing market share.

Now Nokia owns 22.8 percent of the mobile device market – it’s 8 percent less than in the same quarter of the last year. Samsung is on the second place with 16.3 percent of market share, which, by the way, is also 1.5 percent less than in 2010. LG, Apple, RIM, Motorola, Sony Ericsson and other major handset manufacturers come next with really tiny market shares, but the “others” category owns 35.8 percent of the market, which is 7.7 percent more than in last year’s second quarter.

Overall, 428.7 million mobile devices were sold in Q2 2011, which is 16.5 percent more than in Q2 2010. According to Gartner, about the quarter of all sold mobile devices are smartphones, and it’s 8 percent more than in 2010.

The situation in the smartphone market is different, of course. Android has 43.4 percent of the smartphone OS market (it had only 17.2 percent last year, so it’s a huge progress). Apple’s iOS is also in a good position with its 18.2 percent of market share (against last year’s 14.1 percent). Symbian has 22.1 percent of the market now, but this number is decreasing from quarter to quarter. Microsoft’s sales have also decreased from 4.9 percent to 1.6 percent.

In my previous post I wrote about accessories that are necessary during any trip and mentioned the importance of having an extra battery – the more powerful the better.

Now let’s see what other phone or smartphone accessories can be useful during a trip.

Hands free headset

A hands free headset is another mandatory accessory during any journey, since it’s good when your hands are free when you’re raising on the mountain tops or riding a bicycle or driving a car.

There are two types of hands free headsets – wired and wireless (with Bluetooth). Of course, it’s much easier to use a wireless headset on the road, since the wires limit your movements. Besides, there are situations when wires can be damaged thus affecting the functionality of your phone.

Before buying a Bluetooth headset, try it on, shake your head, make sure it doesn’t interfere with your movements and doesn’t drop.

Durable Case

A thick and durable case is the next accessory you’ll need during your trip. Active rest is good for health, but it’s not always good for your smartphone or feature phone. For example, you can fall down and damage your phone if it’s in your pocket or even in your handbag – I’ve had this problem once. A good case will protect your phone, so don’t hesitate to spend some money on a new durable case before going to a trip.

Have you ever thought that during preparations for a trip you need to consider not only the set of necessary clothes and hygiene products, but also a set of accessories for your smartphone that will be necessary during any trip?

Let’s try to find out what accessories will bring comfort to any kind of trips.

Battery

First of all, if you’re planning a trip, you’ll need a new battery. I guess you have heard many heartbreaking stories about how a discharged phone battery became the reason of serious problems, since people couldn’t call for help and get timely assistance. To save yourself from repeating someone else’s mistakes, it’s better to buy a new battery — a more powerful one.

We all know that phone and smartphone manufacturers don’t usually equip their devices with the most powerful batteries possible. So it’s a good idea to buy a new battery that could maximize the talk time of the phone without needing to be recharged (it’s also a good idea not to waste your battery life on playing games on your phone or doing something like that). It’s best to buy a battery made by the same company that had manufactured your phone, since the batteries from other companies can overheat and even explode.

So I think it’s a good idea to have two batteries when going to trip. Just in case.

My next post will tell about other accessories you’ll need during a trip, so don’t miss it!

A very interesting robot made of old Nokia phones has appeared in Beijing, China. It sits on a bright colorful bench and reads a book (or is it a magazine?). The Nokia Robot is there to deliver an eco-friendly message and to encourage people to lead a low-carbon and green life.

Nokia is exchanging old phones for cinema tickets in Beijing, and the Robot was created to promote this deal. All the donated old mobile phones will then be recycled, and Nokia says no component will be directly reused.

Nokia’s had a hard time recently, but the ecological problems of the modern world have always been in the center of the Finnish company’s attention, and the phones manufactured by Nokia have always been recognized as the greenest phones in the industry. Have a look at this research published by O2 – three out of six “greenest” phones are created by Nokia.

Of course, the Nokia Robot is not a real functional robot – it can’t do anything other than sitting and reading (heh ). But I really like the idea. I even spent some 10-15 minutes trying to find familiar Nokia phones on the robot (or at least my old phone). Here is another photo of the Nokia Robot — he’s much closer on it. Maybe you’ll find your old phone on it?

It seems like Nokia is going to release a Symbian 40 (S40) feature phone with a 1GHz processor and 512MB of RAM. According to a recent tweet from Fernando Freytes, Nokia’s Manager of Marketing in Argentina, the phone will also have a ClearBlack touchscreen display.

Here is the actual tweet. Unfortunately, it’s in Spanish, but maybe some of you can understand it. By the way, this tweet was later removed from Tweeter for some unknown reason, but we have the screenshot, and you can have a look at it:

We have no idea why Nokia would make a feature phone, not a smartphone, with a hardware configuration like that. What will a feature phone do with a 1GHz processor and 512MB of RAM? No answer yet. Maybe Nokia will have answers, and maybe we’ll learn about them next week, during Nokia Connection 2011 that is going to take place in Singapore.

In low- and middle-income countries where smartphones are not that spread yet, feature phones (especially Nokia’s feature phones, thanks to their good quality) are still very popular, that’s why I personally think that a more powerful feature phone will no doubt find many buyers. So the idea of making an S40 phone with a powerful processor and 512MB of RAM is a bit strange maybe, but not bad at all.

Nokia has announced a new device – the dual SIM Nokia X1-01, which is radically different from all other dual SIM devices you have ever seen.

The dual SIM Nokia X1-01 can remember the setting for up to five different SIM cards (you can even give each of them a logo, a ringtone or a music signature), and it won’t cause the phone any problems. The Nokia X1-01 is also a Dual-Standby device, which gives you the chance to “choose which SIM card to use for calls, messages and other functions, and switch between them easily from call to call,” as Nokia Conversations describe it. Besides, you will always receive notifications of messages and calls on each SIM of yours without having to switch between them.

Besides, the Nokia X1-01 is a “music device,” and it can deliver up to 106 phon (a unit of perceived loudness) – it’s very loud, believe me, especially for a mobile device. The speakers of the device are very good, too, designed so not to distort the sound even if it’s very loud. They say it’s Nokia’s clearest and loudest speaker ever.

The Nokia X1-01 supports up to 16GB of storage, so you can store many thousands of songs on it – a very important feature for a music device. I think you have already guessed that it has an MP3 player, an FM Radio and standard 3.5mm jack, too

This phone will most likely ship this quarter, and we have heard it will cost €34 (about $48).

If you try to think about what interesting things happened last week, I am sure many things will come to your mind. And of course Nokia’s achievement will also be in the list of the most interesting news. What achievement am I speaking about? Oh, don’t say you haven’t heard that Nokia has shipped the 500 millionth phone last week!

Most of Nokia phones are being produced in India, in the manufacturing plant located in Chennai, and from there the phones are being shipped to other countries all over the world. So the 500 millionth Nokia phone was produced in Chennai and was shipped from there. 500 million is a serious number – it’s about the 12th of the whole world’s population, which means that theoretically every 12th person in the world has or will have a Nokia phone.

So this event was very important for Nokia. And not only for Nokia, of course – it was really important for India’s electronics manufacturing industry development, too.

“We have created a unique record across the world. This is not only a proud moment for us at Nokia, but a major highlight in India’s young and rising electronics manufacturing industry,” said Prakash Katama, Operations Director of Nokia’s Chennai factory.

“This achievement only proves that with the right kind of organization focus, employee contribution and government support, India can deliver world-class manufacturing standards and set new benchmarks,” he added.

Nokia’s Chennai manufacturing plant has 8,000 employees, and all of them received a special present on this event – a Nokia C3-00 handset.

Source

Nokia’s Q1 2011 financial results are ready, and we can have a look at them. Let’s now try to find out what the company has accomplished during the first three months of the current year.

Sales

According to Nokia’s Q1 2011 financial results, the company’s sales were up 9 percent, totaling 10.4 billion Euros (about $15 billion). This result was, however, down 18 percent if compared to Q4 2010.

Profits

The profits of the Finnish company made up 439 million Euros (about $640 million), which is 10 percent less than it was in the same quarter in 2010 and 50 percent less than in Q4 2010.

Phones and Smartphones Sold

Nokia sold 108.5 million mobile phones in the first quarter of 2011, and it’s 1 percent more than in the same quarter a year ago and 12 percent less than in the fourth quarter of 2010. 24.2 million of those 108.5 million were smartphones, which is up 13 percent if compared to the same period a year ago and down 14 percent compared to the Q4 2010.

In total, 374 million phones were sold in the mobile industry last quarter, so Nokia’s 108.5 million made up the 29 percent of them. 92.3 million of those 374 million phones sold worldwide were smartphones, so Nokia’s 24.2 million smartphones made up 26 percent of the smartphone market, which is 41 percent less than in the first quarter of 2010 and 31 percent less than in Q4 2010.

Phone Prices

In Q1 2010 the average price of a Nokia phone was 62 Euros (about $90.5), while in Q4 2010 it cost about 69 Euros ($100.6). In Q1 2011 the average price of a Nokia phone made up 65 Euros ($94.7). As for the Nokia smartphones, their price has dropped to 147 Euros (about $214), which is 6 percent less than in last year.

Future?

How will the financial results of the rest of the year look? No one knows it, though Nokia’s expecting much from the future. “We expect a more challenging second quarter,” says Nokia CEO Stephen Elop. Yesterday the company signed an agreement with Microsoft, so let’s wait and see where the partnership will lead them.

Source

Not so long ago the Taiwanese HTC announced about the event the company was going to organize on April 12. The rumors say HTC plans to introduce some new products during the event. Seems like Nokia has also prepared an event on that very day, and the company’s main purpose is to show some new Symbian smartphones. Both Nokia and HTC events will be held in London.

The most interesting thing in this situation is the fact that something very similar took place last year. The same manufacturers simultaneously announced their products during the events that took place in the same city at the same time. That time many journalists preferred to visit the HTC event, and it wasn’t good for the Finnish manufacturer at all. This year, however, at least the time of the events is different – Nokia will present its Symbian smartphones a couple of hours earlier, which makes us think that the journalists will manage to visit both events.

Currently no one knows what devices both manufacturers are going to present on April 12. But we expect Nokia to announce the Nokia X7-00 and the Nokia N8-01 smartphones, and as for HTC, they’ll probably introduce the GSM versions of the HTC EVO 3D and the HTC Pyramid. And who knows, maybe we’ll hear some Windows Phone 7 news, too.

Anyway, less than a week is left till April 12, so we won’t have to wait for a long time to find everything out.