Here is a demo of the Face Unlock app, Facelock for Nokia N9. This isn’t new to Nokias – at least 2 Nokia Worlds ago I remember this app winning the dev contest for this idea and implementation.

I’m not sure how this will work with pictures, if like ICS on Android it might be fooled with a photo.

You have to swipe away the N9 lock screen first and then this facelock screen appears. The Android version has the face unlocker bit as soon as you press the lock screen which is good but then it obscures the information that you might want to read just by pressing the lock button (and not necessarily wanting to unlock the phone).

by nokiabrasil

Here’s some Nokia Asha adverts from Nokia Gulf that I randomly came across during a revision break.

They were uploaded last week though this channel doesn’t seem to be that prominent and doesn’t seem to have been watched a lot.

Anyway, there are two versions, one in English and one in Arabic.

by NokiaGulf

Tiki Towers is a great, addictive little puzzle game. You have to build structures (towers/bridges etc) for your monkeys to climb, get the bananas and reach their destination. Your building material at the start is bamboo but you’ll also get coconut and vines. The amount of material you have is limited so create wisely. It must support the weight of multiple monkeys crossing it and behaves with the usual expected set of physics (your structure might not even stand to begin with if you do it wrong, and then it might break if it’s not strong enough when monkeys get on it)

There are 5 different islands, 45 challenges in total. You’ll get a bronze/silver/gold medal depending on how well you complete each level

#183) Tiki Towers 

Price:  £2.29

Link: http://www.windowsphone.com/en-GB/apps/cdbc3c2d-7c24-e011-854c-00237de2db9e

Video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4WECtbnyB4

Developer Blurb:

 *** Winner of “Best Casual Game” – 5th Annual International Mobile Gaming Awards! *** Save the monkeys! Only you can lead them to safety in this amazing new puzzle game featuring construction, destruction and problem-solving! Travel between five tropical islands, leading your tribe of monkeys to safety by building bridges and towers out of bamboo, coconuts, and vines. If you’re not careful, your structures will collapse and your monkeys will perish. Clear all the levels to acquire the ceremonial masks of an ancient tribe and discover their mythical lost treasure. Tiki Towers is action and puzzle gaming at its best! – 5 different islands and 45 challenging levels – Build bridges and towers using bamboo, coconuts and vines – Realistic physics – bamboo structures will bend, break, and collide with the environment Monkeying around has never been more fun!

Rating:

Design:  9

Usability: 9

Performance: 9

Price: 9

Here’s a little film from Nokia China for the Nokia Lumia 800, starring Nicholas Tse.

There is no subtitles on the video but tipper, Z Z, kindly sent us a translation which reminds me of the strange dialogue that also accompanied the N9 promos in China. He says he’s Chinese but his main language is English so be aware the translation might not be perfect but it gives a better gist to us who haven’t got a hope at all of grasping anything.

Video Link: http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMzk2NzU2NDAw.html

From the first time I’ve tried, what have I learned?
Endurance, giving up or whatever..?
Not at all.

Trying it out is what gives me a clearer view.
It doesn’t matter who it is,
what’s important is…
what can it do.

When you’ve decided on the path to go,
courage is what’s needed to bring you to a greater heights

we can only look forward to what’s ahead of us

because every difficulties,
you’ll have to overcome it yourself

when everyone are only concerned about the result,
to me its simply a fresh start.

we only do what we are confident of,
how can we persist our inner strength

it doesn’t matter who you are,
what’s important is what life you’ve experienced
because there is only oridinary people, no oridinary life style
everything’s unordinary.

Nokia Lumia 800.

Source:TheNokiaBlog via WP7Connect 

Cheers ZZ for the tip!

I know, the name is pathetic. If you have a better idea, let me know. Anyway, so I’ve brought to your attention an app called Home Screen Settings. It is truly the greatest home screen hacking tool out! Currently, it can;

• Unlock/Lock devices orientation
• Remove the weather widget from events view
• Show only white text (changing the events and switcher screen to have brighter and more visible text)
• Change the background of the homescreens to a single image/wallpaper
• Change background to “Sine Waves” – Dynamic wallpaper like PS3/PSP

Now, the developer has sent me the latest version, currently awaiting Store QA approval. With this version, there are more wallpaper related features. This update brings with it;

•   A new dynamic wallpaper known as horizon. Update: The Horizon dynamic wallpaper will dynamically change its color
  scheme based on the time of the day
•  A “glitter” effect on Sine Waves, which looks even more like the PS3 wallpaper, and
•  Also the ability to have three Images, one for each of the Screens (Events, Launcher, Switcher)

"Horizon" wallpaper. Has a very desert feel to it

"Sine Waves" with "Glitter". Sorry that Glitter is a bit hard to see

This update should be in the store soon.

Cheers Vesuri!

Michael

After the widely reported story that Apple’s Siri was crowning the Nokia Lumia 900 as the best smartphone, Apple swiftly remedied this with a patch.

I’ve no comment really for Apple. I’m just happy to see this Nokia smartphone keep appearing in the news. Some great exposure once by accident from Siri and now again because Apple got embarrassed and had to change the results to be more pro-apple (as if it needed it).

This is actually front page Reddit news. Both this and the original story appeared there. You know how much I love Nokia stuff getting on Reddit Way to go, Nokia. Being on Reddit NOT for the indestructable Nokia meme

http://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/tohwj/apple_has_to_patch_siri_to_stop_saying_the_nokia/

According to Reddit, if you asked what’s the fourth best smartphone, it will also say it’s your iPhone. :s

Nokia apparently joked that if Apple didn’t liked Siri’s answer it would be edited. It was already mentioned by various commenters that people would try to go around the answer my manipulating Wolfram Alpha.

As mentioned, there’s no significance to what Siri recommends or doesn’t. It’s just some nice publicity either way, and now twice thanks to Apple

Sources:

http://www.theverge.com/2012/5/14/3019960/apple-siri-best-smartphone-ever-answer-patched

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-18071342

http://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/tohwj/apple_has_to_patch_siri_to_stop_saying_the_nokia/

http://thenextweb.com/apple/2012/05/15/nokia-accuses-apple-of-overriding-siri-to-remove-lumia-900-endorsement/

Cheers Kaizer Allen, mamos and Reddit for the tip!

This is Gartner’s 2012 Q1 results. Above is for mobile phones which there is about a 3.4M difference between Nokia and Samsung. As summarised in their title:

Gartner Says Worldwide Sales of Mobile Phones Declined 2 Percent in First Quarter of 2012; Previous Year-over-Year Decline Occurred in Second Quarter of 2009

http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=2017015

Whilst there’s still massive amounts of units being shipped, the overall sales of mobile phones is in total decline. Less smartphones were also sold but that’s in comparison to holiday Q4 season. It’s still more than Q3 2011.

All the OSes have sold less than their holiday season (Q4 2011). In total, about 4.6M less smartphones from Q1 2012 than Q4 2012.

But more so than Q3, except BlackBerry and Symbian. Symbian is at least expected 12m+ sales

• Android has decreased from Q3 to Q4 but increased from Q4 to Q1 (though still less than their Q3)
• iOS has increased from Q3 to Q4 but has decreased from Q4 to Q1 (2012)
• Bada has increased from Q3 to Q4 and increased from Q4 to Q1 (2012)
• WP has increased from Q3 to Q4 and remains steady from Q4 to Q1 (2012)
• Blackberry decreased from Q3 to Q4 and decreased from Q4 to Q1
• Symbian decreased from Q3 to Q4 and decreased from Q4 to Q1
• The total sales of ‘others’ in Q4 only amount to 0.9M. What is ‘others’? Where’s MeeGo/N9? Is can’t be lumped into there right?

These tables could quickly turn on their heads if Nokia simply made S40 refresh into what is technically a smartphone by all current fuzzy definitions. That would at least ease some pressure from Nokia to try and arbitrarily get back the smartphone crown and focus on making great devices.

Q2 sales should improve across the whole front with Lumia 900 available in USA and 610 hopefully making that expected assistance in numbers, along with possibly the 808 helping towards end of May/June.

Source: gartner

Cheers jiipee for the tip.

Getting super busy what with exams and such so I missed this video from Monday.

Here’s the advert we heard was coming back in March when John Kruk was reported to be advertising the Nokia Lumia 900.

http://mynokiablog.com/2012/03/20/john-kruk-recruited-for-nokia-lumia-900-advert-thom-gruhler-as-corporate-vice-president-wp-marketing/

It’s OK I guess. The angle here is the ESPN app, but they also talk about the camera (then snapping a quick picture subtly) and then mention the screen that’s visible outdoors (though no mention of Clear Black Display or actual demo of the screen, instead a simulated one (but I guess everyone does this).

What strikes me as funny at the end is the contrast to the very first (and poor ads) about Windows Phone, the one that shows everyone engrossed in their non-windows phones which gets them into trouble or lose sensory perception of things around them. (John goes to the Women’s bathroom, late for the Mexican wave) But that’s what we want to see. Being engrossed in the experience of the phone. A balance should be struck however – especially what with the future being all about that quick glanceable information and ‘heads up’ as Marko Ahtisaari likes to point out (in all of Nokia’s portfolio, especially N9 but making its way to WP too). We see a bit of that here, hence why John could still avoid those snacks being thrown around him and still catch that ball (though that’s also because he’s an athlete, in particular a baseball star) with a nice gesture to pass it onto the little girl (even though it’s just an ad, it’s still nice)

by NokiaUS

Somewhat of an odd shooting game I came across. It’s a mix between classic arcade shooting style with some 3D-esque environment. As noted in the review comments, it’s pretty much Space Harrier from the Sega Mega Drive.

#182) Gridrunner Girl 

Price:  £0.79

Link: http://www.windowsphone.com/en-GB/apps/19c6d4f1-ee63-e011-81d2-78e7d1fa76f8

Video:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_JD7mIfzX0 

Developer Blurb:

classic arcade space shooter action meets modern 3D cel-shaded graphics! You are a Gridrunner, and it is your job to patrol the hostile borderlands, clearing the region of enemy combat units.

 

Update 1.4:

+POWER UPS and NEW WEAPONS!

+5 Power Ups to level the playing field and help you last longer

+Shield Reset – resets your shield to maximum

+Energy Shield – a time limited shield that is invulnerable to all enemy fire (but not obstacles!)

+Particle Beam – a beam of energy that destroys everything in its path

+Tachyon Cannon – rapid fire, accurate, large proximity energy projectile

Anti-Matter – a ball of anti-matter is sent down the field, destroying everything it its huge radius

 

-30 levels of classic, pulse pounding arcade space shooter action

-Modern cel-shaded 3D graphics done in an anime art style

-Driving, edgy soundtrack that keeps pace with the action

-Power Ups: 5 power ups provide additional weapons and shield upgrades

-Massive big boss battles and mini boss battles

-Almost 2 dozen enemy types and obstacles, each with several different attack patterns

-Increasingly difficult stages with bonus rounds

-Online leaderboards (can be filtered by daily, weekly, overall)

-2 game modes: Arcade and Survival – each with independent leaderboard

-Save your progress at any time

-Virtual joystick and accelerometer support

Rating:

Design: 7

Usability: 8

Performance: 8

Price: 9

Just a heads up. There’s now 90,000 Apps for WP marketplace. Rafe has the usual breakdown of the details as always:

http://allaboutwindowsphone.com/news/item/14819_Windows_Phone_Marketplace_pass.php

This makes it a total of (probably?) over 200,000 apps available collectively for all Nokia devices, were we to measure it like that – I mean, Nokia Store is itself a collection of apps for different mobile OS and variants.

To reiterate however, I’m not fussed on numbers. I care more about quality. Numbers might just be a useful thing to attract devs (well, once it reaches that threshold where it’s no longer described as anaemic in comparison to competition).

Source: allaboutwindowsphone.com