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Nokia has finally released the much anticipated 2.0 version of Nokia Drive for it’s Windows Phone line of Lumia handsets today which includes Offline navigation, speed alerts, on the fly rerouting and multiple routes suggestion. This update essentially fixes every single issue I had with the initial version. The dashboard has also been updated to display the time until arrival for example. I just got my hands on it and will shoot a short hands on video in the coming hours so make sure to come back here.
Nokia Transport aka Nokia Transit is also out of beta (hands-on video) and available right now in the marketplace.
Nokia Maps has also been update with several new features and enhancement which I will cover shortly once I finish playing with Nokia drive. UPDATE: Live traffic is available in the following countries: USA, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa, Belgium, Russia, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Finland, UK, France, Spain, Ireland, Netherlands, Sweden, India and UAE. Unfortunately this feature isn’t present in Nokia Drive 2.0. You can grab both apps directly from the Nokia Collections section of the Windows Phone marketplace.
Microsoft and Nokia have just announced the unification of the their mapping services design. This one of the first result of the partnership signed last year between both companies that outlined the integration of Nokia’s Navteq assets into Microsoft’s Bing Maps service. As of today, Bing Maps and Nokia Maps have a unified map elements and color palette and the same Nokia Pure font. Frankly you won’t really notice much of a difference in Bing Maps but Nokia Maps unfortunately looks a bit washed out now. You can compare both offerings directly on you windows phone if you have a Nokia handset via the OS’s Maps application and the Nokia Maps app. Nokia Drive will get the same color treatment in the upcoming 3.0 update coming out in the coming weeks.
Continue reading Unified Bing Maps and Nokia Maps design launched →
Nokia has just announced a new version of Nokia Drive for Windows Phone (and Meego too I guess) which will finally fix most of the issue that many like me have complained about with the first iteration of the software released back in November. Offline support is finally in with some other changes:
Now Nokia Drive on Lumia gets full offline support, with offline search and routing from calculating a route, to navigation and re-routing. A newly designed dashboard now shows speed limit alerts, as well as the speed you’re travelling at, as well as estimated time or arrival, time to destination and distance to destination. You can also access a list of recently saved destinations through a single tap, and then start turn-by-turn navigation..
No availability date has bee given but I’m sure that we can expect it to see it pop up in marketplace in the coming weeks.
Update: Nokia Public transport will be made available in the coming days while the newly announced Nokia Reading hub will materialize in April (UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Russia)
Using Nokia Reading you can choose your own favourite authors, or select from bestselling novels and an extensive selection of top local books in your own language. The service integrates beautifully with the Lumia in the same “hub” and panorama experience we’ve seen working so fluidly with other services.
Once you have chosen a book, large, clear, smartphone screens like those on the Nokia Lumia make reading an enjoyable experience. It’s great for reading on an underground train or plane, as you can read everything offline after downloading beforehand.
In coming months you’ll also be able to create a personalised magazine page called “my stream” that automatically updates content across the most popular categories, and adds web content from your chosen sites.
Nokia Maps is also getting a update with a new modified layout in the coming days.
Continue reading New version of Nokia Drive for Windows Phone announced: Offline mode, traffic and re-route support →
It has been a while since I posted any Android related news here so there you have it: According to an official Samsung statement the hotly anticipated Samsung Galaxy SIII will be announced in the first half of 2012 closer to its retail launch and not during MWC later this month unlike it’s predecessor the Galaxy S III which was announced there and released nearly 6 months later.
“Samsung is looking forward to introducing and demonstrating exciting new mobile products at Mobile World Congress 2012. The successor to the Galaxy S2 smartphone will be unveiled at a separate Samsung-hosted event in the first half of the year, closer to commercial availability of the product.”
I would also like to point out that I unfortunately won’t be able to go to MWC this year because of my full time job (unless something changes between now and then..).
Continue reading Samsung Galaxy S III to be announced in first half of 2012 but not at MWC →
Another bites the dust. Microsoft has added LG Electronics to its long list of Android manufacturers who are now paying the Redmond software giant every time the build a Google powered device. Samsung, HTC, Acer, Viewsonic, Compal etc the list goes on and Microsoft is most probably making more money through Android than windows Phone right now. As usual terms of the agreement were not disclosed but Microsoft is happy to announce that “more than 70 percent of all Android smartphones sold in the U.S. are now receiving coverage under Microsoft’s patent portfolio”. Full press release after the break:
Continue reading Microsoft signs Patent agreement with LG covering Android and Chrome OS devices →
I just came across the best in-depth explanation regarding the well known UI performance issues that Android exhibits even on really high-end devices compared to modest hardware running Windows Phone 7 or iOS. The lengthy post was written down by Andrew Munn (in response to Google’s Dianne Hackborn’s earlier post about GPU HW accel in Android here) who was an intern on Android team (and who is interning on the Windows Phone Team at Microsoft next month). There are a couple of errors in his description of the way iOS handles the UI thread so keep that in mind when reading him. Other than that it’s a fairly accurate view of why Android is and most probably will never be ass efficient as iOS and Windows phone when rendering UIs simply because of early design choices when the framework was created. Throwing more processing power seems to be the only solution so far (plus the addition of HW acceleration in so parts of the OS in Honeycomb and ICS).
There are three main causes:
- The UI rendering isn’t done in a separate dedicated high priority thread but in the main thread with normal priority instead
- GC (Garbage Colector) / Timing issues.
- Lack of Hardware acceleration in the vast majority of the OS and the way UI rendering is handled: “On iOS, each UI view is rendered separately and stored in memory, so many animations only require the GPU to recomposite UI views. GPUs are extremely good at this. Unfortunately, on Android, the UI hierarchy is flattened before rendering, so animations require every animating section of the screen to be redrawn.”
Continue reading Why Android is laggy compared to Windows Phone 7 and iOS →
I’m sure that you’ve all already hear about the Carrier IQ mess that’s been making the headlines today and which started earlier last month after Trevor Eckhart over at the XDA-Devs forums found out about the tracking software on most Android handsets. As it turns out more than 121Million devices have the Carrier IQ installed logging phone usage, keystrokes etc and sending everything to the carriers or OEMS. HTC, Samsung Sprint AT&T Apple (prior to iOS5) etc are all involved. If you are a Windows Phone users you should then be happy to know than none of the WP7 devices are “infected” by this according to Joe Belfiore. Nokia has also issued a statement saying that none of their devices have it either (this includes S40, Symbian, WP7, Meego phones)
Continue reading Carrier IQ not present on Windows Phones →
I’m a bit late on this one…yesterday Microsoft launched a a new promotional service/mobile website that allows iOS (iPhone iPod) users and Android smartphones to get a taste of windows phone directly on the beloved devices. To do this you’ll just have to head over here ( http://aka.ms/wpdemo ) and the HTML5 webpage will transform your non-windows phone into a Metro filled device. Most of the core OS functionalities can be tested so users can really have a good idea of how the OS UI and UX work.
I’m guessing many of you have been wondering why I recently said that Nokia Drive on windows Phone was far inferior to Google Navigation on Android. Well, simply because it’s an undeniable fact. The only thing that Nokia Drive currently has over Google Navigation is the Offline maps but even this is render useless simply because the application currently requires an active data connection to do the routing calculation (Nokia has recently sated that they will “fix” this in a future version..). Everything else is simply superior on Google Navigation or even most of the other GPS navigation offerings out there. Here’s a list of what’s currently missing in Nokia Drive:
- No remaining time until arrival displayed during navigation (it’s only noted during 5 secs on summery screen before the navigation starts)
- No Directions breakdown list: WTF? Even Bing Maps and Nokia Maps have it.
- POIs are useless: You can’t tap on them
- No way to save or favorite a location: only recent destinations/searches are automatically saved in a history list that can be manually cleared
- No traffic data, No Public Transit Data
- No way to have more than one itinerary unless you stop/cancel the current one and manually re-calculate another one (wtf again?)
- Requires an active Data connection to do the routing calculation even-though it has offline maps loaded on the device
- More missing stuff that I can’t remember right now
Anyway check out my hands-on video below (after the break):
Continue reading Nokia Drive on Windows Phone: It’s lacking a whole lot of features →
I just came across a post on Neowin today which must have been inspired by what I have been saying all along and especially this editorial I wrote back in February after I came back from Mobile World Congress. To put it simply: things haven’t changed since I originally posted what I did and people are now finding out that what I have been preaching all along may be somewhat true. Throwing endless numbers of processor into a device isn’t going to make the user experience any better especially the OS (hello Android) or app is bloated / badly coded or simply doesn’t take advantage of the hardware horsepower under the hood. Yes I everybody wants 1080P video encoding/recoding but nobody’s going to do this 90% of the time with his phone and that’s the point: if what I’m principally using isn’t perfectly smooth (OS, browser, apps) why should I care about one single great feature?
Continue reading I don’t care about what’s inside your phone as long as the user experience is great →
HTC has just unveiled the name of the phones included in the first wave of Ice Cream Sandwich update roll out. The handsets listed below will receive the ICS Android 4.0 in early 2012:
- HTC Sensation
- HTC Sensation XL
- HTC Sensation XE
- HTC Rezound
- HTC EVO 3D
- HTC EVO Design 4G
- HTC Amaze 4G
You will also note that they are all based on the MSM826X platform.
Continue reading HTC announces first wave of phones that will receive Ice Cream Sandwich →
Want to know what’s really inside the latest and greatest Android handsets? Engadget, with the help of Android developer Francois Simond compiled the full list of all the hardware found inside the Samsung Galaxy Nexus :
Silicon
- CPU: Texas Instruments OMAP4460 (same as the Droid RAZR), 2047.7 BogoMIPS
- GPU: Imagination Technologies PowerVR SGX 540 (highler clocked version than the one in the HummingBird SoC)
- WiFi / Bluetooth module: Broadcom BCM4330 (same as in the Galaxy S II)
- Audio codec: Texas Instruments TWL6040
- HDMI: Silicon Image MHD SiI9234 transmitter over MHL (same as Infuse 4G and GSII)
- USB Switch: Fairchild semiconductors fsa9480
- Framebuffer controller: Samsung S6E8AA0 MIPI LCD with Gamma correction driver
Sensors
- Geomagnetic sensor: Brand new tri-axial Yamaha YAS530
- TouchScreen sensor: Melfas MMSxxx touchscreen
- Optical / proximity sensor: GP2A (same as Galaxy S and Nexus S)
- Barometric pressure sensor: BOSCH BMP180
- Triaxial acceleration sensor: BOSCH BMA250
- Triple Axis MEMS Gyroscope: InvenSense MPU3050
- Fuel Gauge (algorithm to track battery’s state of charge): MAXIM MAX17040
Misc. internals
- Facial recognition elements (Face Unlock): left eye, right eye, nose base, head, face
- Available resolution for standard apps: 720 x 1184px
- Refresh rate: 60Hz
- LCD Density: 320
- Default display color depth: 32bit
- Camera uses OMAP Ducati Subsystem, on-screen preview size is 768 x 576
- Linux kernel: 3.0.1 compiled for SMP with voluntary kernel preemption for best interactivity
- Android ROM: version 4.0.1, built October 13, 2011
- Device name: Maguro
- Main input/output type supported: Headphone, Speaker, Microphone, Bluetooth, Voice, FM, S/PDIF over HDMI; USB Audio DAC (digital-to-audio converter with USB input and stereo outputs) should also be supported
Continue reading What’s inside the Samsung Galaxy Nexus →
Good day folks! The Samsung Galaxy Nexus has now been made official a few hours ago alongside Android 4.0 aka Ice Cream Sandwich. In terms of hardware specifications there’s nothing we didn’t already know yesterday so please refer to this post for the full comprehensive list of the device’s internals and externals. Does it look sexy ? Well that 4.67″ HD Super AMOLED screen is definitely a winner even though the overall design looks relatively close to last year’s Google Nexus S. Inside the beast is a TI OMAP 4460 SoC which includes the well regarded PowerVR SGX540 GPU (clocked higher than the original version) similar to what is powering the just announced Motorola Droid RaZR (early benchmark results here). As we have seen in the full specification yesterday there’s also going to be an LTE version of it which will launch later and bit a tiny bit thicker that the regular GSM variant launching in Asia, Europe and North America in November. The only thing missing is the internal MicroSD slot which isn’t mentioned in the official press release.
Continue reading Samsung Galaxy Nexus is officially official →
That’s it folks, we finally have the full hardware specifications of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus formerly known as the Nexus Prime. As previously guessed the SoC powering the handset is a Texas Instrument OMAP4460 Dua-Core CPU clocked at 1.2Ghz coupled with a PowerVR SGX540 GPU (clocked higher than the one initially found in the Hummingbird SoC of the Original Samsung Galaxy. The Galaxy Nexus also sport a gigantic 4.7inch Super AMOLED HD screen (1280×720 but only 1196×720 usable throughout the OS because of the onscreen hardware buttons). It also packs 1GB or RAM, 32GB of internal Storage and a MicroSD expansion slot. On the imaging front the The Galaxy Nexus has a 5MPx camera on the back which can shoot 1080P videos plus a 1.3MP camera on the front. Check out the full specs after the break:
Continue reading Samsung Galaxy Nexus Hardware Specifications →
Someone using a prototype or developer version of the soon to be announced Samsung Galaxy Nexus (or Nexus Prime) has submitted GLBenchmark scores indicating that the handset is powered by a TI OMAP 4460 Dual-Core SoC clocked at 1.2Ghz. This may be disappointment to some but unfortunately the way it is because TI is the development partner for Android 4.0 aka Ice Cream Sandwich (similar to how NVIDIA’s Tegra was Android 3.0‘s primary platform etc.) You can also note that the screen resolution is reported to be 1196 x 720 instead of 1280×720 because of the on-screen “hardware buttons”.
Continue reading First Samsung Galaxy Nexus Prime benchmarks →
Google and Samsung have re-scheduled the canceled October 11th launch event of Android 4.0 aka Ice Cream Sandwich and the Samsung Google Nexus Prime (or Galaxy Prime aka Samsung i9250 ) to October 19th in Hong Kong at around 10PM EST. Inserting times ahead… I’m really eager to see how the Honeycomb UI has be shrunk down to work on smartphone. The early look we had last week didn’t really seem exciting to me but let’s wait until we have more info before passing judgment.
Just a few minutes after the Samsung Google Nexus Prime blurry video leaked Samsung and Google have announced in a mail statement that the Android 4.0 and Google Nexus Prime (Galaxy Nexus..) launch event was postponed / canceled:
Samsung and Google decide to postpone the new product announcement at CTIA Fall. We agree that it is just not the right time to announce a new product. New date and venue will be shortly announced.
There’s still no way to know if today’s leak is in any way related to the decision to cancel / postpone the event. Wild speculation on my part: If it isn’t because of hardware / software issues then it may be related to Steve Jobs death. If his funeral service is set to be on October 11th then Samsung took the right decision. /speculation
Update: It now appears that Jobs death is the reason of the event cancellation according to sources. The new date hasn’t been set yet.
Update: Samsung’s official statement:
“We believe this is not the right time to announce a new product as the world expresses tribute to Steve Jobs’s passing,”
The blurry cam is back in full force today with the first video of the Samsung Google Nexus Prime (or Galaxy Nexus or Samsung i9250..) alongside a handful of Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) screenshots. It definitely looks like the the screen curvature is similar to the Nexus S (only the glass is curved not the display panel itself). The are tons of conflicting hardware specifications floating around lately so I won’t post them here the only thing that is somewhat confirmed is the 1280×720 screen resolution. I’m not really sure about that but the 3 “hardware” buttons and the bottom of the screen seems to actually be onscreen icons ? Anyway, everything will be known on October 11th anyway. Hit the break to check out the video and the Android 4.0 screenshots:
Continue reading Samsung Google Nexus Prime hands on video and Android 4.0 screenshots →
Want an HTC Titan but with Android instead of Windows Phone 7.5 Mango ? HTC got you covered with the newly announced HTC Sensation XL.The handset is essential nothing more than the Google version of the Titan as most of the hardware specifications are identical. You get the same aluminum uni-body frame, same 4.7″ SLCD screen , MSM8255 clocked at 1.5ghz etc. The only difference is the Beats audio (*cough*Software*cough*) audio equalizer/optimization and a pair of YourBeats in-ears. The Sensation XL should be available in November only in Europe. Press release after the break (in french sorry for that..):
Continue reading HTC announces the HTC Sensation XL with Beats audio →
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