Pocketables

Intel to supply Nokia with chips for mobile devices

In a conference call scheduled for tomorrow, Intel is expected to announce a new deal it's penned that will see its mobile processors tucked inside upcoming devices by Nokia.

Exact details are still under wraps, but given Intel's recent showcase of Moorestown-based mediaphones at Computex and the partnership with LG it announced several months earlier, news of the PC chip maker's aggressive interest in the cell phone market is hardly out of left field. A deal with Nokia, on the other hand, is extremely significant, not to mention surprising in the very best way possible.

Could the rumored Nokia N900 be revamped to include a little Intel inside?

UPDATE: The announcement (press release) wasn't what many were hoping for, but I think the two companies entering a "long-term relationship to develop a new class of Intel Architecture-based mobile computing device and chipset architectures" that involves "innovative hardware, software and mobile Internet services" is great news.

[Bloomberg via IntoMobile]

Specs and photo of the Nokia N900 Internet Tablet leaked?

Fans of the Nokia line of Internet Tablets have been waiting for a successor to the N810 to appear. The rumored replacement received an unofficial and brief introduction at the Open Source in Mobile Conference last September where it was revealed that the new device would have integrated 3G, a faster Ti OMAP3 processor, and a high definition camera.

It's been a long seven months of relative silence since then, but it looks like our patience may have been rewarded. MobileCrunch, citing information from an inside source at Nokia, has just provided the blogosphere with most of the supposed specs of the next generation Nokia Internet Tablet. Not to be outdone, the folks at CellPassion have produced the first photo of the device and labeled it as the Nokia N900 Rover. According to the leaked information, the N900 will run Maemo 5 and will sport a 3.5-inch 800×480 touchscreen, OMAP3430 500/600MHz processor, 5-megapixel Carl Zeiss camera (with dual-LED flash, autofocus, and sliding cover), 1GB total virtual runtime memory (256MB physical RAM, 768MB virtual memory), WiFi, GPS, HSPA connectivity, and 32GB internal storage expandable up to 48GB via external memory.

The specs include support for quad-band GSM, which with the smaller 3.5-inch screen and lack of a D-pad make the device rather phone-ish. Last December, Nokia executive Ukko Lappalainen stated that the company may consider using Maemo for some of its high-end handsets instead of Android. Perhaps this leak is not about the Internet Tablet after all but about one of those handsets instead. With a potential announcement rumored for June, we may not have to wait much longer to find out what Nokia has planned for this rather interesting device.

This post was written by Kelly Hodgkins, long-time fan of mobile devices and news writer at The Boy Genius Report.

Hurry up, Nokia: Your window is closing

This guest article was submitted by Chris King.

It's hard to believe it's been nearly four years, but back in 2005 something was introduced into the market that was revolutionary. At a time when the iPhone was just a pipedream and the mention of an iPod conjured up an image of a click wheel, Nokia set out to develop a small, touchscreen device called the 770 Internet Tablet. It was a strange move for the company, considering that this new device would not have any cell phone capabilities, and yet Nokia was then the largest phone manufacturer in the world.

Based on an open-source version of Linux called Maemo, the 770 was released in 2005 and suddenly became a favorite among Linux fans and those who had tired of their Windows Mobile PDAs. Its main draw was the landscape-oriented, 800x480-pixel touchscreen that came in at just below five inches, which was unheard of at the time, and it made using the Opera-based web browser via WiFi or Bluetooth a complete mobile joy.

But even with a few new models and upgrades to the OS over the next three years, Nokia has been struggling to keep up with the many new competitors over the past few years, including the rather large one from Cupertino. As we inch closer to the new Maemo 5 and hopefully a new hardware device this year, Nokia needs to get moving quick before the window that they flung open back in 2005 shuts completely on the Internet Tablet.

Nokia Sparrow MID due in 2011

Alright, well, 2011 is an eternity away in tech years and the image you see above is just a mock-up, but if you're looking for something new and far away from realization to dream about, then how about a purported ARM Sparrow-based Nokia MID with a "multi-slide keyboard" that has different layouts/keys depending on the direction it's slid? The device is also rumored to have raised diamond-shaped keys, a tilting display, and a widget-based UI. By 2011, it should also be able to walk the dog, transform into an airplane, and raise your children. But that's just speculation.

In the meantime, I'll "settle" for a next-gen Maemo 5 Nokia Internet Tablet.

[Unwired View]

Nokia discontinues N810 WiMAX Edition

I don't think this will be too shocking to anyone, but Nokia has stopped producing/selling the N810 WiMAX Edition Internet Tablet it announced in April 2008.

Just two months ago, the device was in stock and shipping from Amazon. Today, though it can still be found online and the original N810 is still very much alive and well, a Nokia spokesperson confirmed that the WiMAX Edition will no longer be offered on the company's website. Reasons for the discontinuation were not given, but considering that you can pretty much count the number of cities with WiMAX-coverage on one hand, it isn't tough to figure out.

The good news is that according to Hack in the Box (via Crave), there are no hard feelings: Nokia isn't turning its back on WiMAX indefinitely. In fact, the company spokesperson acknowledges that "refreshed products with even better performance will be required" when WiMAX is more widespread.

Whether Nokia will be the one doing the "refreshing" is unconfirmed at the moment, but it sure seems likely.

Live photos of the Nokia N97

Nokia N97 prototype

There were two N97 prototype devices attached to representatives at the Nokia booth today. Security was in full force, with one guy telling us to stop taking pictures because "five is enough" and another guy stepping in front of someone who was supposedly "crowding" the demo area. The excessive guarding was a little unwarranted, if you ask me. The N97 looks a lot better in press photos than in person.

In any case, we met the Senior Communications Manager of Nokia (and chatted about my Xperia X1 actually; he used to work with SE), who was really nice and kind enough to let us take more pictures. UPDATE: See live photos.

:: Live at CES 2009 from the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 ::

Nokia N810 WiMAX Edition now in stock with free shipping from Amazon

The Nokia N810 WiMAX Edition is backordered at the Nokia USA Shop and currently listed as "temporarily sold out" at Buy.com (see below), but it's in stock for $445.98 at Amazon right now.

I generally make it a rule to wait until a gadget appears on Amazon before buying it because the prices are usually lower, there's no tax, and most items are eligible for free shipping. The last point is especially important for me because a lot of other retailers don't seem to know that Hawaii (where I live) is actually part of the United States. Expensive overnight shipping (which actually takes two days) isn't the only way a package can make it across the Pacific Ocean, other retailers; the U.S. Post Office delivers to our little grass shacks too.

Mobile Firefox alpha (Fennec 1.01a) for Nokia N810 now available

The real alpha version of Mobile Firefox (Fennec) is now available for download and installation on the Nokia N810 Internet Tablet. It popped up in my Application Manager as an update last night, but it was actually out since Wednesday if you knew where to look (thanks, jason). This is only a pre-beta release intended for testing purposes so there are obviously kinks to work out, but so far it's looking really good.

Mobile Firefox (Fennec 0.8) almost running on the Nokia N810

Though news broke just last week about an alpha build of Mobile Firefox (codenamed Fennec) being released sometime this week for the Nokia N810 Internet Tablet, many device owners have actually been demoing pre-alpha releases of the new browser for months. The last milestone was labeled M7, so when I saw today that version 0.8 was listed in my N810's Application Manager, I assumed it was the alpha build. I figured that if the last milestone release was 0.7, the alpha would be 0.8 so that the beta could be 0.9 and the final could be version 1.0.

So I decided to install it.