Source: WPCenteral; thanks to mPrince for the tip.

Allow me to start off by saying I have no idea how reliable these rumors are; according to a ‘source’ the exclusivity of the 900 to At&t is only a temporary matter; in fact only 45 days (starting on March 18th). According to the source once the exclucivity period is over Nokia will release a modified 900 to all carriers packing a 12MP camera.

These improved versions of the 900 will allegedly include an improved, 12 megapixel camera, the source revealed.

Let me just say that I think these rumors are just crazy, first of all At&t would never agree to it, what’s the point of exclusivity if everyone else is going to be waiting for a better version of what you have?? (like saying spring will get the iPhone 3GS as an exclusive as soon as the 4S hits all carriers), And of course the 900 is Nokias Flagship for the states, why would they release a 8MP version as the flagship when they have a 12MP less then 3 months away (if so it should be ready by now).

One other thing is that I haven’t seen any camera sample of the 900 yet, but if it’s anything like the 800 then it sure could use a 12MP overhaul.

Source thanks to Prashant for the tip

Now according to Eldar (our favorite here at MNB) the only way HTC pulled this off is by getting special ‘Camera APIs’ from Microsoft that weren’t available to any other WP developers?

I don’t think that’s true considering Nokia were promised more exclusivity and customization but you never know, point is the heat is on Nokia now, the N8 successor better be amazing (and it seems to be).

*Side note: Sony also released an Android phone the ‘Xperia Ion’ rocking a 12mp camera and 1080p camcorder (personally I think this is larger threat than HTC, considering Sonys track record for cameras).

Any thoughts?

So a link from Nokia promoting Facebooks CES event… Interesting? There have been multiple rumors and reports of a “Facebook phone” which FB have continuously shot down

FBs official response to the rumors: Facebook is not building a phone. Our approach has always been to make phones and apps more social

There have also been some third party attempts at making FB phones (HTCs ChaCha comes to mind, I don’t think I’ve ever seen one EVER!- Maybe it’s the name? or just the crappy build quality?); regardless one could say this is exactly what FB meant, Nokia builds the phone and they do some Exclusive app thigny.

Ok, I’m going to let the gears start spinning and say something crazy that has absolutely no basis so turn back now if you want something with proof leave now (please don’t I spent alot of time writing this).

The facts:

• Facebook will NOT be making a hardware phone
• Nokia have freedom to customize WP more than any other manufacturer
• WP is supposedly built around being more social (people hub and all) –> it’s one step closer to a FB friendly platform
• A Facebook centered device is that something special that would make one standout amongst other devices running on the same platform.

So using my Sherlock Holmes like skills of deduction (who’s birthday is today! Happy Birthday Holmesy!!) My crazy guess would be that FB teamed up with Nokia to produce a Facebook centered Skinned version of WP (that’s where Nokias special relationship with Microsoft would come in).

Now that I’ve written it down it doesn’t seem so crazy anymore, almost all reviews of the Lumia 710 said that it needed that X-Factor to distinguish it from the rest, and so far from the leaked specs of the 900 it also seems to lack that special something (Internal-wise not design); after all almost all WP devices have the same inards, meaning so far the only REAL differentiating factor were Manufacturer preference (not Nokias strong suite in the US) and Design (thankfully Nokia got that part handsdown). By adding something besides that design that can only be found on a Nokia phone would truly give them an edge over any other WP device, as a matter of fact it would give them an edge over any other OS (It took FB almost two years to release a Tablet version of their app for the iPad, which was considering an achievement- imagine a whole phone with constant FB support!). Of course so far they’re have only been whispers about a second device that is to possibly be released at CES: The Lumia 719, could it be a FB phone? (it would make sense considering that a FB phone would HAVE to be a midrange device and not a high-end flagship).

Ok crazy speculations are done now- Normal service is resumed, now the sensible part of my brain says that everything I wrote above is almost impossible, for two main reasons: 1)- FB is a Ginormous business with loads of employees, we would have heard something of this before 2)- What would compel FB to join up with Nokia? (what would they benefit??)

Your thoughts are as always extremely welcome, am I crazy?? let me know below (include psychiatrist number please)

Nokia Mobile Blog Thnaks to KF for the tip!

“We’ve put these rumours to rest a long time ago. The focus for Nokia is on executing on our partnership around Windows Phone and growing the ecosystem, and each company has the tools they need to do so”

Basically Eldar knows nothing please focus on the awesomeness of our phones, seriously though; Nokia UK responded to slashgears post about Eldars ramblings clarifying that Nokia doesn’t mix Business with more Business, their relationship is basically with the windows phone ecosystem, not even Microsoft (I know it’s the same thing but those words can make a huge difference).

Update: For those of you interested I tracked down the ‘orginal tweet’ that put these matters to rest along time ago, By “Mark Squires” Comm Director of Nokia, this reply was after the Nokia being bought rumors surfaced the first time (early May)

Unrelated topic but I didn’t think it was worth a second post, yesterday Engadget posted what to look forward to at CES, with barely a mention of Nokia (hidden inside a link under WP), so the Nokia twitter people took it upon themsleves to remind them.

We’ll be there too! RT @engadget Engadget’s 2012 CES Preview nokia.ly/AjQEAc

— Nokia (@nokia) January 4, 2012

Which brings a random point, Nokia had a trend of not replying to anything being said about them, carrying an aura of silence except when they wanted to release a product, it’s nice to see how they’ve changed; be it reading Nokia fan Blogs (simplest example is giving Jay an N9 when a commentator asked) or replying to rumors and chiming in at random times; I like the new Nokia.

Slashgear

Ok for those of us coming from Symbian no OS would be complete without the ability to sideload apps onto a device, recently Chevron Unlocker tool has been the answer to that on WP7.5 (allowing you to purchase a semi-developers licence for a penny under $10; enabling you to sideload up to ten non-marketplace apps).

Now according to chevron their agreement with Microsoft was to make the $9.99 unlock available for a limited amount of lisences/tokens (10,000); two days ago on the news year Chevron announced that they had already sold all 10,000 tokens (which according to the original agreement would mean the end of the $9.99 offer)

Now most people read the first tweet and interpreted it as the end of this wonderful tool, and there have been loads of rumors flying around that the complete Chevron is being discontinued! However the second tweet clearly says:

We’re discussing if we want to up that number

And accroding to “withinWindows.com” (first time I hear of it, but apparently the developer is tight with Chevron makers), the developers haven’t even asked Microsoft for more tokens; yet people are already crying about it’s death.

Microsoft isn’t involved in our discussion yet. And they can’t provide us with more unlocks because we haven’t asked yet. If we do request more, we’re sure Microsoft will respond positively – as they have in the past.

Now I’d love to go into more details about what this means but Finals mean I hardly have enough time to write this, feel free to discuss it below, and check out the full details at the source link below.

Source

Did you hear the hubbub about Amazon supposedly being interested in buying RIM? What’s that got to do with a Nokia blog? Well it’s quite big news but something closer to home is that apparently Microsoft AND Nokia were going to make a JOINT bid on BlackBerry makers RIM.

According to WSJ, Nokia and Microsoft were both flirting with RIM. Now this time last year, Nokia were in discussions with all three already but for a different sort of partnership. We all know what happened there. This time, Nokia and MS were supposedly going to make a joint bid for RIM says ‘people familiar with the matter’. lol.

What’s to gain from this? Patents? Key BlackBerry services? What additional special treatment would Nokia get being a joint owner? Interesting things to speculate. Quite likely not to happen.

From what I’ve read on the Amazon-RIM stories, RIM’s board wants RIM to get back to its own feet on their own, capitalize on remaining assets rather than be taken over.

Source: online.wsj via winrumours

We had a few tips on this yesterday but I didn’t have much to go on other than trusting ‘an industry insider’. That post was later updated to show that the source is someone who works at Nokia. Exactly what, we’re not sure. Could be the cleaner. Joke. Point, take with pinches of salt.

http://dgui.wordpress.com/2011/12/20/insider-reveals-tango-apollo-dates/

Here’s basically what’s supposedly happening:

• Nokia’s Tango phones are being announced at CES and MWC.
• Nokia’s Apollo phones are appearing at Nokia Connection in June.
• Nokia Windows 8 tablets in June

Source:  dgui via GSMArena

Cheers all for the tip.

The PocketNow guys have apparently received a manual about the Nokia N8′s successor.

Clear in the image is a large hump. That’s apparently a Nokia 803 with Symbian Belle.

However, it’s not squircle like the N9 shaped case we saw before and is not in keeping with the Nokia N9′s design.

If the screen is 3.5″ then the camera hump is quite large. The xenon looks positively large, but more so, the cutout for the camera.

I’m not sure if this is a joke or where this image came from but we were tweeted this blurry cam pic. I cannot tell what it is as I’m on a mobile connection and the pictures are being auto-compressed by T-Mobile. What I can see is either some robotic mouth or a huge camera hump. That’s apparently a Nokia Lumia with 12mp (820/830?). If 8XX is getting 12mp, 9XX better be having that as a minimum.

Source:   PocketNow (via DGUi), @OdaNobunaga3

Cheers salakka and OdaNobunaga3 for the tip!

The current crop of Windows Phone 7 devices from Nokia is not even widely available yet, but the rumours for the next generation devices are already surfacing.

Nokia France’s head might have spoken a little too soon about upcoming products. In a recent interview with the French newspaper Les Echos he said that the current Lumia 800 is Nokia’s BMW 5 series and the line will soon be completed just like BMW has the 3 series and 7 series. The 3 series leaves little to be guessed about, that is most likely the 710, but the 7 series will be the future high end for Nokia.

This news doesn’t really bring any new information, after all it was expected that we would see something above the Lumia 800 in a short while anyway, but there was a little more. Nokia is working on a tablet that would run Windows 8. Great news I’d say, but it was reported that we would see that sometime around summer of 2012. That seems to contradict other news related to a Windows 8 launch date of fall 2012. Eitherway, there is a pretty good chance we will see a Nokia tablet sometime at the end of 2012.

Via
Source