Nokia HERE Mapping Service Sold for $3.07 Billion to German Auto Consortium

Nokia is reported that the company has sold HERE mapping service for a figure of $3.07 billion USD to German auto consortium which consists of Audi AG, BMW Group as well as Daimler AG. The deal is expected to finalize in the first quarter of 2016 with profit of about $2.75 Billion.

One of the reasons that can be concluded on why the automakers are willing to purchase the service as such a huge amount is that they are expected to use the data generated from it for the cars that they are developing so that the cars can navigate themselves based on the data. The mapping service also expected to be available across multiple platforms.

With the deal went through successfully, Nokia is expected to concentrate on the bought over of Alcatel-Lucent which after this is finalized, it will make Nokia a world leading network technology and services business as well as licensing and innovation of Nokia Technologies as mentioned by Rajeev Suri, President and Chief Executive Officer of Nokia.

HERE is reported to receive about $606 million USD and had an operating profit of $30.7 million USD during the first half of 2015. This is definitely is a good news as the service suffered a loss in 2014. According to the last year’s report, the service received about $1.07 billion USD and written off certain things out of goodwill which cost about $1.33 billion USD and thus the company made an operating loss of $1.36 billion.

Moving forward, Nokia is expected to design and license smartphones in 2016 as per the agreement with Microsoft.

Nokia HERE Mapping Service Sold for $3.07 Billion to German Auto Consortium

Nokia Lumia Codenamed McLaren Cancelled by Microsoft Rumored to have Experimental 3D Touch Navigation System

It is reported from various sources that Microsoft was working on a project which potentially could be the successor of Lumia 1020. The project is internally known as Nokia Lumia McLaren. However, the end result suggested that Microsoft has cancelled the project last year, but this does not prevent the handset images or some information about the device to be leaked out.

In the leaked video, it shows that Nokia Lumia McLaren was supposed to come with an experimental 3D Touch navigation system. The technology allows users to navigate through the menu without actually touching the display screen of the device. However, in the end the project was cancelled due to the rumor of the hardware incompatibilities as well as the insecurities regarding the developer adoption.

Another rumor mentions that McLaren could be built on mostly metal whereby plastics can only be seen at the phone’s bottom which was believed to house the antenna. On top of that, what makes the device easily recognizable was the protruding camera bump design at the back of the phone. No wonder, it was mentioned as the successor of Lumia 1020 as it was speculated to come with a 50MP camera sensor. In case most of you did not know, Lumia 1020 supports 41MP camera sensor.

Other speculations such as it could come with quad-core Snapdragon SoC as well as 2GB RAM and a 32GB internal storage space. However, all the above information is just based on rumors and leaks. There is no official information about the device.

Nokia Lumia Codenamed McLaren Cancelled by Microsoft Rumored to have Experimental 3D Touch Navigation System

Nokia Technology to Unveil Virtual Reality Headset Next Week in a VIP Event

The last news that we heard about Nokia was that the company sold most of its phone business to Microsoft back in 2013. Another news is that Nokia is trying to sell its HERE Maps division to a consortium of German automakers. With all these selling happening, it seems that Nokia current strength is coming from its networking equipment division. This is strengthened further by the ongoing acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent, Nokia’s previous rival. However, this time, we heard good rumors about Nokia. The company is about to announce its first virtual reality product.

The announcement is expected to take place in a VIP event in Los Angeles next week. In the event, it is also rumored that Nokia is going to announce the development of the HERE Maps division. A few of other good news from Nokia recently such as, the company announced that it will start selling smartphone designs starting in 2016 and it is also involved in software projects development such as Nokia Z Android app launcher.

Virtual Reality products seem to be on the rise lately with major technology companies such as Oculus which is currently owned by Facebook, Microsoft, HTC and Samsung trying to come up with something related to virtual reality which hopefully would be the next big thing in the technology sector.

There is no further detail about the Nokia’s upcoming virtual reality headset and if the rumors turn out to be correct, the VR headset will be the first product from Nokia since 2013.

Nokia Technology to Unveil Virtual Reality Headset Next Week in a VIP Event

The Next Lumia Flagship Smartphone Rumored to be running on Windows 10

It has been awhile since we heard about Lumia flagship smartphone. The latest Lumia smartphone was released before Nokia acquisition by Microsoft has been finalized. It was Lumia Icon / 930. After the company was acquitted by Microsoft, we only heard about entry level or midrange level type of devices. Well, all of that is about to change.

According to some reliable sources, a new flagship for Lumia line will be announced soon after Microsoft launch Windows 10 OS. It is expected that the new smartphone will be running on the new OS and it is going to be named Lumia 940. However, nothing can be confirmed as of now.

Lumia 940 is rumored to be made of metal body and the handset is expected to be slim.  On top of that, it is expected to be running on Qualcomm’s dual-core Snapdragon 808 chipset which is clocked at 1.82GHz as well as a 32GB internal storage and a 3GB RAM. As for the camera, the rear camera will be as of 20MP which also comes with optical image stabilization and Carl Zeiss optics and the front camera will be as of 5MP.

It is rumored that Lumia 940 will be officially launched in the third quarter of 2015.

The Next Lumia Flagship Smartphone Rumored to be running on Windows 10

Rumored Nokia Lumia 1030 Front Panel Image Leaked

Nokia Lumia 1020 which was released a few years ago was one of the best Windows phone available in the market.  Since Nokia and its Lumia line up has been bought over by Microsoft, it has not release a really high-end device. Well, it is going to change.

According to the rumors, there will be two high-end smartphones released soon that we can look forward to, Lumia 940 and 940XL. Recently, the picture of the front panel of Lumia 1030 surfaced, hinted yet another possible high end smartphone going to be released soon. There is not much information that can be derived from the picture but looking at it closely, there is ‘Microsoft’ wording found on the left beside the earpiece and camera holes. This could hint that Microsoft took part in the development of Lumia 1030 which is obvious since Nokia has been bought over by the company. On the other hand, there is a Verizon logo visible in the picture, suggesting that Verizon might be the carrier.

Lumia 1030 is rumored to have 5-inch display size with 1080 x 1920 resolutions.  It will run a quad-core CPU processor and pre-installed with Windows 10. The release date is expected to be in the third quarter of 2015.

Rumored Nokia Lumia 1030 Front Panel Image Leaked

Nokia is leaning to German Carmarkers to Buy for Their Maps Unit

Nokia is looking for companies to buy their HERE mapping unit. It is reported that the price tag for selling the unit is for $4 billion with final bid due this week. It seems like the Finnish company is leaning towards to a group of German car manufacturers such as Audi, Daimler, BMW as the buyers. However, nothing can be confirmed as of now. Nokia even could be selling the unit for different bidder.

There are a lot of companies which are interested in buying the unit. One of them is Baidu Inc which previously had teamed up with Apax and Uber Technologies Inc. Baidu Inc is the largest search engine in China and the company may need the mapping technology in case if they want to expand their business in China. Other companies include Tencent Holdings Ltd (China), NavInfo Co. and EQT Partners AB (Swedish) as well as Hellman & Friedman, Silver Lake Management and Thoma Bravo. The last three companies are U.S private equity firms. It seems like even Microsoft and Apple is also interested in buying the mapping unit.

There is no official announcement from Nokia regarding this matter. Nokia shares fell 1.4 percent to 6.24 euros at 11:12 a.m. in Helsinki.

Nokia is leaning to German Carmarkers to Buy for Their Maps Unit

Nokia set to produce Android smartphones in 2016, to shift R&D to China

There have been several rumors and speculations suggesting that Nokia was planning to re-enter the smartphone market as soon as its contract with Microsoft allows it to do so. Well, those rumors are proving to be true and the company is indeed planning to return but it will join the Android bandwagon and not return to the Windows platform.

According to the non-compete clause in the agreement between Microsoft and Nokia, the Finnish company could not produce any smartphones under its own brand name up to 31 December 2015 and feature phones up to a decade. Nokia has already started working on Android smartphones which it will launch in 2016 after the non-compete clause ends.

According to a report in the Chinese website politics.scdaily.cn, this has been confirmed by Nokia China’s president Mike Wang himself. Wang has revealed that the company will be manufacturing the Android-powered smartphones in its Sichuan facility in China. He also mentioned that the company’s global R&D center will be shifted to Sichuan, China.

In China, Nokia will get the opportunity to enter the Chinese smartphone market and compete with the likes of Lenovo, Xiaomi, ZTE and Oppo.

Nokia has already launched its powerful Nokia N1 tablet powered by Android Lollipop. The tablet has been designed by Nokia and produced under brand licensing agreement by Foxconn who will also take care of its marketing and distribution.

So, are you looking forward to Nokia’s re-entry into the smartphone market?

Nokia set to produce Android smartphones in 2016, to shift R&D to China

Nokia planning to sell off its Maps business to focus on its Network business

Nokia is exploring the possibility of selling off its HERE maps business as it wants to focus on its wireless network business according to sources. The move would help the Finnish company to improve its debt rating. Readers may recall that Nokia had sold its mobile phone business to Microsoft in April last year.

Bloomberg reports that Nokia has already approached a few prospective buyers such as Uber Technologies that operates mobile app-based transportation, and other private companies. Sources say that German automakers such as Daimler, BMW and Volkswagen also seem interested in buying the app and the bidding may even begin this month.

Nokia’s HERE Maps business is currently valued at around €2 billion ($2.1 billion) which is much lower than the $8.1 billion the company paid to acquire it from US-based Navteq Corp. in 2008. It is said that if Nokia doesn’t get adequate price for its maps business, the company may not go ahead with the sale.

HERE Maps come pre-installed in the Microsoft Lumia phones that run Windows Phone OS. HERE Maps app for Android phones was released last year and it has already been downloaded by over 2.5 million users till date. Now the HERE Maps app is also downloadable in iOS since March this year. Besides Microsoft, Nokia’s maps division also provides data to other big companies such as Amazon, Yahoo and “four out of five car-navigation systems”.

According to the annual report, HERE Maps achieved full year sales of €970 million with an operating loss of €1.24 billion. The company expects the sales to grow further in 2015. Besides Maps and Networks, Nokia also has an R & D unit that looks after the patents licensing business.

Nokia planning to sell off its Maps business to focus on its Network business

Nokia 215 for just $30

Microsoft still haven’t not terminated feature smartphones. The new Nokia 215 is launched coming with single/dual-sim variants for just $30. It is offering amazing battery backup along with essential Internet connectivity (without contract excluding taxes and other subsidies).

The Nokia 215 is having preinstalled Opera Mini for web browsing and other social networking apps like Facebook, Facebook Messenger, Twitter,Bing Search,MSN Weather etc. It is having 2.4″ QVGA screen (240 x 320p) supported by 2G and EDGE (dual band) including Bluetooth 3.0 with SLAM (for easy file sharing).

Moreover , Nokia 215 is powered by 1,100mAh battery which has a standyby time of 29 days for single-Sim model. The dual-Sim variant has 21 days and while playing MP3 audio it lasts for 50 hours. It also having 0.3 MP camera capable of recoding QVGA resolution videos with 15fps. It supports FM connectivity and also having microSD card slot expandable upto 32 GB.

The Nokia 215 and 215 dual-SIM are expected to go on sale in selected markets, starting with Asia, Europe, Aftrica and Middle-East.

Nokia 215 for just $30

Lumia 1330 (RM-1062) pays a visit to GFXBench, 14MP rear camera and other specs confirmed

A few days back, there were rumors about a successor to Nokia Lumia 1320, the Lumia 1330, and it was supposed to have a big bump in the camera department along with upgradation in other specs . The rear camera supposed to go from 5MP to 14MP, while the front-facing camera from 1.2MP to 5MP.

Later, there were reports that two variants of Lumia 1320 successor – single SIM handset RM-1066 and dual SIM handset RM-1067- were spotted at the FCC. Now we find that Lumia 1320 successor (which might be named as Lumia 1330 or not) Model RM-1062, has been benchmarked at GFXBench.

The GFX Benchmark listing reveals specifications about the upcoming Lumia 1330. It is a phablet with a 5.7-inch 1280 x 720p display powered by a quad-core Snapdragon 400 (ARMv7) chipset and Adreno 305 GPU for graphics. For memory, the device will have 1GB of RAM (the screenshot shows the available memory which is 0.38GB) and 32GB of internal storage. As already mentioned, there is a 14MP shooter (4176 x 3120 resolution) at the rear and a 5MP selfie cam at the front.

Since the Lumia 1330 has passed through both GFXBench and FCC, its unveiling doesn’t seem far away. FCC certification had revealed that the phablet will have a new back cover and wireless charging. Model nos. RM-1062, RM-1063, RM-1064, RM-1065 of the Lumia 1330 have been earlier found in Adduplex database.

 

Via NPU

Lumia 1330 (RM-1062) pays a visit to GFXBench, 14MP rear camera and other specs confirmed

Prototype of possible Lumia 1020 successor, Microsoft McLaren makes an appearance

Even as everyone is waiting for the next Lumia flagship from Microsoft, a new Nokia prototype device has popped up on a Chinese auction site Taobao. The phone listed on the site is Nokia RM-1052 and by the looks of it, seems to be a Lumia 1020 successor.

As you can see in the image below, the words “Prototype Property of Microsoft-Mobile” and “Not for Sale” are clearly printed on the back of the device.

 

As per the information seen on the screen, details of the prototype Nokia RM-1052 are:

• Nokia Model: RM-1052_1000


• OS: 8.10.14090.0


• Firmware: 03024.00000.14195.26..


• Hardware Version: 0.1.0.3


• CPU Core: 4


• RAM: 1.9GB


• Storage space available: 26.3GB


• Current application uses memory: 58.3MB


• Maximum memory available to applications: 780MB


• Expansion card: none


• Display Resolution: 1920×1080


• Capacitive touch

We see that the phone has an aluminum body and a display of about 5-inch with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels, a quad-core CPU, 2GB of RAM and 32GB internal storage, and it runs Windows Phone 8.1. Its camera bump is similar to that of Lumia 1020. So the Nokia RM-1052 may have a 41MP camera just like the Lumia 1020.

There is a speculation that this prototype might be that of Microsoft’s flagship “McLaren” handset that was supposed to use the contactless zoom in/out 3D Touch technology to control the device with gestures, without touching the screen. However, Microsoft later cancelled the plans to release McLaren. There is also a possibility that this is just some other Windows Phone prototype.

You can have a look at the pictures below:

Via GeekOnGadgets

Prototype of possible Lumia 1020 successor, Microsoft McLaren makes an appearance

Opera Mobile Store to replace Nokia Store for certain Nokia devices

It hasn’t been long since Microsoft dropped the Nokia name from Lumia phones and re-branded them as Mocrosoft Lumia. A few days back, Microsoft also re-designed and re-named the official Nokia blog as Lumia Conversations. Now, it’s the turn of the Nokia Store which Microsoft is soon going to replace with Opera Mobile Store for some of the Nokia phones.

Microsoft and Opera Software have entered into an agreement under which Nokia Store will be replaced by Opera Mobile Store as the default app store and all the Nokia feature phones, Symbian-based phones and Nokia X smartphone users will be migrated to Opera Mobile Store. The change will begin from Q1 of 2015 and users of Nokia Series 40, Series 60, Symbian, Asha and the Nokia X handsets will be re-directed to the Opera Mobile Store. These users will be able to access thousands of apps from there. The migration process is expected to be completed by mid-2015 after which the Nokia Store will be shut down.

“We continue to sell and support classic Nokia devices, which remain popular in many parts of the world,” said Rich Bernardo, Vice President (Phones) at Microsoft. “We’re delighted to partner with Opera Software and continue to provide a reliable app store experience for consumers and developers alike.”

According to Opera Software, Opera will become the 3rd largest app store with respect to downloads, after the transition is complete. Opera Mobile Store has about 300,000 apps and games and supports over 7,500 different kinds of devices. About 40,000 developers from all over the world have contributed apps to the store.

Lars Boilesen, CEO of Opera Software says,“When the current users of the Nokia Store are migrated to Opera Mobile Store, they will continue to get fresh, interesting apps for their Nokia phones.”

Microsoft and Opera had signed an agreement in August this year under which Opera mini will be made the default browser on Nokia feature phones including Series 30 and Series 40, Asha phones and Nokia X devices.

 

 

Source: Opera Software

Opera Mobile Store to replace Nokia Store for certain Nokia devices

Nokia Reveals Free Z Launcher Beta- Available in Play Store

Finally, Z Launcher Beta is released for the users by Nokia that is available on Google Play Store for free. The original full version of Z Launcher will be announced in June but Nokia has provided the beta version for the users.

Z Launcher is the app from Nokia that can omit the multiple home screens in your Smartphone. The app will represent you the list of the apps that it ‘THINKS’ you may need every day. However, Nokia will need more time to give the accurate result with the prediction based app to the smartphones.

Secondly, the Z Launcher will also provide you the quick search for any particular app by its starting character. For example, you want to search Temple Run app and you need to scribble a “T” on your home screen and this will present all the apps starting with the letter “T”.

However, there is no specific result where the latest Nokia’s revealed free Z Launcher Beta will be helpful or not. Most of the users are familiar with multi-screen scrolling to find the app when needed. But, the point is, scrolling the screen will be faster than type a couple of letters in screen to find the app or not.

If you are interested, you can download Z Launcher Beta free from Google Play Store at any time.

Nokia Reveals Free Z Launcher Beta- Available in Play Store

Nokia N1 Android Tablet running Android 5.0 Lollipop unveiled

Finnish company Nokia is back in the consumer electronics business just months after it sold its mobile phone business to Microsoft. Nokia has announced its “first Nokia-branded AndroidTM tablet” Nokia N1 on Tuesday at the Slush technology conference in Helsinki. The new tablet will be produced under a brand-licensing agreement with OEM partner Foxconn who will take care of its manufacturing, distribution as well as sales.

Sebastian Nyström, Head of Products at Nokia Technologies said, “We are pleased to bring the Nokia brand back into consumers’ hands with the N1 Android tablet, and to help make sophisticated technologies simple.”

The N1 is a thin, light and sleek 6.9mm thin aluminum tablet available in Lava Grey and Natural Aluminum colors. It features a 7.9-inch laminated display, the Nokia Z Launcher and the Android Lollipop operating system. The Nokia Z Launcher allows users to “scribble a letter or two to find their content quickly. Over time the Z Launcher learns what applications are in use, and predicts and highlights the applications consumers are expected to want based on time of day and location.“

Technical Specifications of the Nokia N1 Tablet are as follows:

• 
  Display: 7.9-inch (4:3) , 2048×1536  resolution IPS panel with LED backlight, Gorilla Glass 3 and fully laminated zero air gap display


• 
  Processor:  2.3GHz 64-bit Intel Atom Z3580 processor


• 
  Graphics:  533 MHz PowerVR G6430 GPU


• 
  Memory: 2GB RAM, 32GB storage


• 
  Camera: 8MP rear camera with Autofocus, 5MP front-facing camera fixed focus; 1080p video recording


• 
  Connectivity: Wi-Fi, (802.11a/b/g/n/ac); dual channel (2.4GHz & 5GHz) with MIMO, Bluetooth, BT 4.0


• 
  Connections: 3.5 mm audio; Micro-USB 2.0 with a Type-C reversible connector


• 
  Speakers: Two 0.5 W Stereo speakers


• 
  Battery: 5300mAh rechargeable Li-Po battery


• 
  Body : one-piece aluminum design with surface anodization


• 
  Dimensions: 200.7mm x 138.6mm x 6.9mm


• 
  Weight: 318 grams


• 
  Colors: Available in two colors – Natural Aluminum or Lava Gray


• 
  Software: Android 5.0 Lollipop; Nokia Z Launcher

Nokia plans to launch the Nokia N1 tablet in China in the first quarter of 2015 with a price tag of $249.  The tablet will be made available in other international markets later.

 

Here’s the video for the Nokia N1 Tablet:

 

Nokia N1 Android Tablet running Android 5.0 Lollipop unveiled

Nokia Camera Comes Back As Lumia Camera On The Windows Phone Store

Microsoft recently removed the Nokia Camera app from their online app Store. They changed the app and released the Lumia Camera and Lumia Camera Classic apps in its place. Although these are new apps, if you are looking for new features, you won’t really find them here.

It turns out that they just wanted to rebrand the app so that the name is changed but the app remains the same. The old Nokia Camera app is now rebranded as the Lumia Camera app. The Lumia Camera app lets you change the camera’s capture settings. It is set to auto by default, but you can change various settings from the app to customize the way your photos are taken.

If your device’s camera has not received the Denim firmware update then you will need the Lumia Camera Classic app instead. The Lumia Camera Classic app used to be known as Nokia Camera Beta.

Of course, both the Lumia Camera app and the Lumia Camera Classic app are available for free in the Windows Phone Store.

This step is part of the process of removing the Nokia branding off Lumia products. There is also news that Nokia is working on an Android phone, which explains why Microsoft wants to keep the two separate.

• Download Lumia Camera for Windows Phone (free)


• Download Lumia Camera Classic for Windows Phone (free)

Nokia Camera Comes Back As Lumia Camera On The Windows Phone Store

Nokia’s Comeback might be a Flagship Android Device

This unconfirmed story was ignited by China-based report sites, which argue that the Nokia team responsible for the existence of the N9 is currently crafting an Android handset for Nokia. This might seem uncomplicated in a nutshell. However, if you were keeping track, Nokia has already sold the rights to its logo to Microsoft. Nokia is not restricted to design new device and handsets, however, all products would be recognized for Microsoft.

Let’s leave the copyrights matter first. Do you still remember the N9?

It is a very interesting handset, not to mention very handy s well. It was a pioneer of the new Nokia and an introduction to what the company has in store for us. Well, here’s a retrospect of the brand’s flagship phone and also what might be a glimpse to the rumoured flagship Android device.

 

 

 

• N9 created a buzz mainly because of its small size, which did not define its capabilities.


• It was made of polycarbonate and perhaps change the way we look at the material positively.


• Has impressive battery life considering its processor.


• The first Nokia phone to run on MeeGo OS.


• It has a really reliable continuous Autofocus.


• Housed an ARM Cortex A8.


• Displays 854 x 480 pixel resolution.


• An energy efficient device with automatic screen brightness adjustment, Power Save mode and Unplug charger reminder.

All in all, the N9 received a positive feedback from the market, which raises the expectation for the rumoured flagship Android device. On one tweet, Nokia gave a hint about the reveal on November 17. However, we can only wait for now.

Nokia’s Comeback might be a Flagship Android Device

Nokia’s Conference Call on Q3 2014 Results and Future Plans

Nokia has reported the company’s Q3 2014 earnings report during a conference call on Thursday.  The conference call was started by Matt Shimao, Head of Nokia Investor Relations then continued by Rajeev Suri, President and CEO. Timo Ihamuotila, EVP and Group CFO was also present during the conference call.

The conference call started with a reminder for investors who are planning to attend Capital Markets Day on November 2014 to register as soon as possible so that the venue logistics can be optimized. Any question can be sent to cmd2014@nokia.com.

It is continued by releasing the company’s planning regarding the future business and financial performance of Nokia and its industry. Shimao also explained further that this planning is going to involve risks and uncertainties and the actual result can be differ because of internal and external factor. The complete interim report can be found in the company’s website which includes the detailed explanation of the contents of non-IFRS information and reconciliation between the non-IFRS and the reported information.

The conference calls then continued by Rajeev Suri who explained that Nokia has delivered both growth and strong profitability in this quarter. On top of that, he further explained that the three businesses have grown on a year on year basis with overall performance of 13% year-on-year net sales growth.

With the recent launch of “HERE” maps for Android which boost the growth up to 12% and other technologies with 9% growth.  Whether Nokia wants to go back to the businesses of smartphones in the future, it is still not confirm yet. After all, the branding itself is an important asset to own.

Nokia’s Conference Call on Q3 2014 Results and Future Plans

Windows Phone Brand to be re-named as Windows confirms a leaked image

There are a lot of rumors these days in the tech industry about Microsoft working for unifying Windows. Recently a leaked photo arriving from My Go GoPhone GF47W, shows the back of the Windows Phone handset that shows just the word Windows instead of Windows Phone and confirms much about the Microsoft plans.

Reports show that this change has been incorporated with the decision to give HTC’s new model the name HTC One M8 for Windows and not for the Windows Phone. Moreover, there are other claims coming from the industry that show Microsoft might also plan to remove the Nokia branding from its handsets.

This means after some period of time, there is possibility that there would be no Nokia handsets after few years. This may be certainly a jolt for all the Nokia fans out there. However, its just a matter of time as Microsoft makes things official.

Windows Phone Brand to be re-named as Windows confirms a leaked image

Nokia"s first selfie phone:Lumia 730

Nokia Lumia 730 known as “Superman” to be launched in last week August 2014 in US. The device will come with new Firmware called “Debian Red”, running on Windows Phone 8.1 Update 1 out of the box.

The Lumia 730 will be a phone for selfie lovers as rumors suggest a 5-megapixel front-facing camera. Other unofficial specs include a 1.2GHz Snapdragon 400 processor, 4.7-inch display with 720p resolution, 1GB of RAM, 8GB of internal storage, and a 2000 mAh battery.

The selfie smartphone from Nokia will be available with Dual Sim variant. It has a unibody polycarbonate build and an 8-megapixel rear camera with Zeiss optics as well as on-screen software buttons.

The Lumia 730 might be heading to Verizon and AT&T in the US before the end of August, with further markets to follow. As dual SIM smartphones are particularly popular in countries such as India and China, there are likely to be plenty of potential buyers waiting to see if the phone will release in their region.

The smartphone has been leaked in green and orange color variants till now. No details on pricing yet, but we can estimate the price around 300$-350$ for the amazing selfie device from the Microsoft powered Nokia.

Nokia"s first selfie phone:Lumia 730

Cortana And Toy Robots Combined Into Nanabot

Along with its high intellectual abilities even, windows phone’s voice auxiliary, cortana, is nothing greater than a lot of animation talking to you. A project by Indiegogo – named Nanabot – offers something different than Cortana. By joining the excellence of WowWee’s robo toys with technical abilities of Lumia phone by Nokia, the inventor Robert Oschler made the combination so unique which is quite fascinating. The robot does not have any control by itself and the Cortana doesn’t have a body, so Oschler planned a mixture which is yet to be invented but it has been named Nanabot already. The question that arises is that although it is a great idea, the name of the project is good but what it will do and how it will work?

Oschler planned a Windows mobile app along with codebase which will be formed similar to the voice recognition system of the Cortana and he also devised Smartphone-powered robot system named RoboME. The application portion would run on Lumia that would be attached to WowWee robot. For the robo, it will allow plenty of tricks to be accessible at a time. Some specialty of the nanabot would be that it will have the ability to play unique games with you. Your room would be guarded by it, it would ask questions to the people who are they and when they got in. It would be able to remember DVDs and books that you will show her, it would be able to identify even your cat’s face and so many other fun features it will have.

If Oschler achieves the amount of funds he requires to complete his goal, then he thinks of launching open-source toolkit which will make it easy for developers to produce RoboME applications. It will help in buying and playing easily with RoboMe robot and a windows mobile phone. By using Oschler’s toolkit, a developer will be able to control RoboMe’s actions, infrared object sensors, core LED and auditory entry. It would be quite interesting that what this Nanabot will become in future how far it will go. Still the responsive robots which will be moving around us are really far to come in future.

www.youtube.com/embed/Ov1uXi_sZk4

Cortana And Toy Robots Combined Into Nanabot