There is a possibility that Nokia E97 will never be released, but such a situation does not bother the Chinese craftsmen. According to the source, the “clone” is called NOKLA E97-1.

The slider is equipped with: 2,4 inch touch screen with the capacity of 320 x 240 pixels, 88 MB internal memory, microSD slot supporting memory cards of up to 4 GB, two slots for SIM module, providing connection in the networks of second generation GSM 900 / 1800 MHz.

The square NOKLA E97-1 is equipped with a QWERTY-keyboard, thanks to which text typing should be convenient. There are two color resolutions – white and pink. The price is only $ 80. Let’s hope that Nokia will never release something like that.

Nokia has conducted a survey among users as to what capabilities they would  like mostly to see in the new operating system Symbian ^ 3. In accordance to the opinions of the survey participants ranking of functions was compiled: with a fairly large margin its leaders became two positions – a graphics of new generation (28%) and multitouch control (19%). Indeed, these functions are very popular in the latest multimedia smartphones and thus it might be the main factor to influence the ideas.

A limited number of users opted for a new start screen (14%), better capabilities to manage memory (9%), support of HDMI (4%) and so on. In turn, a number of positions were on little demand. Apparently, Nokia will take into account the wishes of its fans during the formation of the operating system Symbian ^ 3, as well as mobile devices based on it. It is assumed that they will enter the market in the second half of this year. It is likely that the first or one of the first will be the rumored flagship Nokia N8.

Only a few days ago Nokia has renewed contracts for the supply of mobile phones in China. The company has signed two new contracts totaling nearly $ 2 billion with two major Chinese distributors. In the statement, Nokia said that China PTAC company will buy phones in the coming year for 741 million euros, or $ 1 billion, roughly the same amount of purchases will be implemented by another Chinese vendor – Telling Telecom Holding.

The company said that the peculiarity of the Chinese vendors is that they operate on annual contracts, pre-specifying lines of payment and shipment of products. In most countries, Nokia, like other manufacturers of handsets, operate on the fact. Meanwhile the company has been cooperating for several years with the Chinese vendors on such a scheme. And so far the cooperation was rather fruitful.

Last year, Nokia signed a contract  only with China PTAC of about 1.7 billion dollars.

Independent analysts say that since 2007 the volume of contracts of Nokia in China are falling, but packages of orders from other major manufacturers also fall. On the one hand, this reflects the impact of the global crisis, but on the other hand it is a sign of growing competition in the market of cellular phones.

Nokia says that the share of Mainland China accounts for about 16% of global sales. Experts from the brokerage FIM say that over the past two years Nokia is faced with increasing competition from Apple and Research in Motion in Asia.

Confirmation on the development of two Nokia phones code named RX-99 and RM-614 have recently appeared on the web. Western resources suggest that the flagship N9 and budget C3 are hidden behind these names.

Nokia N9 can lead the line of Nseries, based on the new platform MeeGo (it is created jointly by Nokia and Intel). Specifications, as well as design, are still unknown. The phone will appear on sale at the end of the year.

Nokia C3 is a phone witha bar form factor with QWERTY-keyboard for those who are looking for an inexpensive device for convenient work with messages. Several months ago we wrote about Mystic. Perhaps this is the same device. So it feels like no one doubts about the future raise and fulfillment of the N and C series which are so far considered to be the leaders in terms of sales.

At MWC 2010, which was held in February, Intel and Nokia have joined forces of Moblin and Maemo developers in a joint mobile platform MeeGo. Now developers have access to early release of the new platform.

Open platform is proposed for Nokia N900, netbooks based on Intel Atom and devices on the platform Intel Moorestown.

Now the repository of MeeGo contains only the base of operating system in the form of coverage from the Linux-kernel to the layer of middleware. Thus, the announcement is interesting to quite a small number of developers.

It is alleged that affordable MeeGo manner allows to load with either USB-media or CD-ROM. In the absence of a graphical environment operation with the system is made through the terminal.

The final release of MeeGo will take place very soon – in May.

Fulfilling the promises made last year, Nokia updated the design of Ovi Store, introducing a number of new features that are said to make it easier to access and use the shop in desktop and mobile environments.

Now Ovi Store offers “selector of mobile devices”, allowing users to see what applications and games are available specifically for their devices, even if the entrance to the store with the account has not been fulfilled. The ranking system has been improved, which offers to assess programs by the five-point scale, and these estimates can be displayed only if the application has been downloaded. Search design has been optimized inside Ovi Store: the results are displayed in the form of a list to help you choose the right application.

Nokia Ovi Store is available from a browser of conventional computer and via phone.

In our articles we have already mentioned about Nokia mobile devices of C-series. About a month ago at the CeBIT 2010 exhibition Nokia has unveiled its C5, which is an inexpensive smartphone based on S60 3rd Edition, made in the classical bar form factor with a digital keypad. The device is intended, to a greater degree for communication in social networks and instant messaging and emails. It is inexpensive; its cost will be only 135 euros. The release of Nokia C5 is expected in the second quarter.

And now it is known that another representative of the line – Nokia C3 is on the way to be released. Little was known about that device until now, but judging by the name, it is an even simpler model than the C5. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has approved the device code named RM-614, which is assumed to be the very C3. Judging by the sketch, this is a candy bar form factor phone, but it is not clear whether it has a hardware keyboard and what are its specifications. Clearly, Nokia C3 will also have social functions, and its value should be lower than that of C5. The new device may be focusing on emerging markets.

Nokia Beta Labs, the research and development unit of the Finnish giant has issued a release of new application-client Ovi Contacts for S60 5th Edition platform.

The new version includes not so many updates: first, a pop-up notification of incoming messages in a chat, and secondly, support for additional file sharing has been added – contact and presentations cards.

Ovi Contacts (previously Contacts on Ovi) is a Jabber-client, which is embedded in the contact and works with account records on @ovi.com server. In the list of contacts you can add friends from Yandeks.Online, GoogleTalk, QIP Infium and other XMPP / Jabber-compatible services. Service allows you to share messages, files, information about the location and status.

The Finnish giant has acquired Novarra company, which technology can compress and show websites for their adequate display on the screens of mobile phones in a various formats, and the Canadian producer bought Viigo, software developer for the delivery of syndicated content to phones.

Technologies of Novarra will facilitate the strengthening of expertise of Nokia in matters of internet surfing on low-cost devices, such as on the Series 40 platform. Nokia is interested in promoting mobile internet access in developing countries, where cheap phones are available, which users still like to get a full mobile browsing.

The software products of Viigo are presented by the user mobile client, which aggregate and deliver to the phones a variety of information including weather forecasts, news briefs, sport events, stock quotes, etc. There is also an enterprise-level solutions for the subscription of staff at the information business flows of the company.

The first information about the new smartphone Nokia N8-00 has appeared in the middle of last month. But so far all the data on the functionality of this device have appeared only in the form of rumors. And you know that these rumors are not reliable.

The source of new information has become XML-file, downloaded from nokia.com. So this information may be considered if not official, but at least semi-official.

According to the file, Nokia N8-00 runs Symbian ^ 3 and can offer users AMR processor, Wi-Fi module and display with a resolution of 360 x 640 pixels.

From the same file it became known that the new smartphone has support for GPRS / EGPRS / EDGE and WCDMA / HSDPA networks.

All other data about the Nokia N8-00 are rumors. Recall that according to those data the new smartphone has a 3.5-inch capacitive touch display, 12-megapixel camera with Xenon flash and video recording high-definition resolution of 720p, and HDMI-port.

However, nothing is mentioned of the presence of 12-megapixel camera in the smartphone in the XML-file.