Nokia does away with Ovi services brand, replaces it with Nokia services

In another major move since Elop joined, Nokia has announced it will rebranding its growing brand of Ovi services to Nokia services, i.e., Nokia Store, Nokia Maps, etc.,. While no direct reference was made to the Nokia-Microsoft deal, it is no doubt linked to plans of integratingWindows Phone Marketplace and the Ovi Store.
The Ovi Store has been doing reasonably well, in the recent past, hitting about 5 million app downloads a day. In a blog postentitled “The evolution of Nokia and Ovi,” the announcement had Nokia’s EVP and CMO, Jerri DeVard, say:

“We have made the decision to change our service branding from Ovi to Nokia. By centralizing our services identity under one brand, not two, we will reinforce the powerful master brand of Nokia and unify our brand architecture – while continuing to deliver compelling opportunities and experiences for partners and consumers alike.”

 The rebranding will rollout starting with fresh devices shipped in July and August, and the full list of Ovi services will become Nokia Services by 2012. Current Nokia owners will begin receiving software updates to the effect in the near future.

HTC Thunderbolt Android 2.3.4 Gingerbread Update: Download

The HTC Thunderbolt Android 2.3.4 Gingerbread (Test Build) is now ready for download for all rooted users to flash.
Apparently according to Droid-Life the camera could possibly be busted but all is not doom and gloom because the rest works, this update will give you the Android 2.3.4 upgrade and will upgrade the version of Sense to 2.1 (Thanks @TeamAndIRC).
Thanks to Droid-Life by way of Android Police you can now download, to start off with you will need to download the ROM and the Radio. Once you have done this you will need to change the name to PG05IMG_gingerradio.zip to PG05IMG.zip and drop it onto the root of your SD Card, then put mecha_gingerjane.zip onto the root of your SD Card the boot into recovery, Flash mecha_gingerjane.zip, DO NOT REBOOT, then Using ADB, reboot to bootloader (adb shell and reboot bootloader), then If in fastboot mode, switch to bootloader mode and allow the updated radios to flash
The source above has updated its site to say: If the zip you downloaded from above is version 1.2, you’ll also have to flash this file to fix activation and that the camera will not work after flashing this. How is your HTC Thunderbolt?

The Touchpad Keyboard Could Revolutionize Laptops and Become a Standard

If you’re like me, it’s pretty hard to find a keyboard that satisfies your needs. Everyone likes the keyboard’s buttons to have a specific distance between them, needs some specific buttons while other disturb him. Fortunately this touchpad keyboard concept is able to fulfill everyone’s needs by allowing you to customize the buttons as you like. And everything is just fine as long as you don’t have anything against using a touchpad keyboard instead of a physical one.

The Fujitsu Keyless Lifebook concept allows you to customize everything on the touchpad. You can choose your preferred layout, you can include or exclude specific keys and even choose a color for each key. And you can even place the trackpad wherever you want. I am not a big fan of this idea, because I still  find it pretty hard to use a virtual keyboard instead of a physical one, but this one might make me change my mind.

Another great featured of the Fujitsu Keyless Lifebook touchpad is that it allows you to save keyboard profiles which you can change depending on what you have to do. You can set a profile for gaming, one for working with number where you can include a numpad and an ergonomic one for typing faster and easier. You can even set profiles for different languages, so if you are bilingual, you can easily choose to another language without having to remember where all the other symbols must be. It’s exactly like having multiple physical keyboards.

And if you still aren’t convinced this keyboard can prove to be very useful, think about the plenty of ways you can use it. It can be used as a graphic design tablet, you can easily switch from left to right-handed and it could also feature swype.

Unfortunately you won’t find this in stores yet, but it’s also not a science fiction concept and all the technologies used already exist, so it’s possible to become available in the near future. And if Fujitsu doesn’t decide to take this step, I am confident another company will use this idea and start working on it.

And a fact that Fujitsu didn’t specify, but I believe it’s true, is that you can use the Fujitsu Keyless Lifebook as a twin-display tablet, which makes it very attractive.

The Fujitsu Keyless Lifebook concept has been submitted to Fujitsu’s 2011 Design Awards, so currently it’s just a rendering.

Download Android Music 3.0 Cloud-Based Music Player Free

Somehow Google and Amazon are stuck in an Android war even though the OS is Google’s property. If Amazon is launching an Android cloud-based music player, then Google is also working on a similar application called Android Music 3.0.

The application is available for download via a dev version of Android Market, but TechFrom10 quickly decided to put the app up for download and thousands of users quickly decided to get it and the site went now.

Now everything is back to normal and you can download Android Music 3.0 free here.

Don’t be too surprised if this cloud music player resembles the design of the conventional Android music player, though the user interface has been enhanced and it’s easier to use. In the menu Android users now have access to an online streaming service and lots of streaming settings, but we’ll need some more information from Google before getting the most of these options.

The TechFrom10 squad made other interesting discoveries in the Android Market developer version including a clock app called Google Desk Clock 10, another app called Google Gallery 3D New 10.2, and a new camera app called Google Camera v12. Among carrier apps they’ve found T-Mobile Game and Verizon Billing.

All of the above apps didn’t start when they tried to launch it so I guess the apps are restricted to some areas around the globe, however, what’s up with the so-called Sony test apps? These might be some game apps specially developed for the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play aka the PlayStation Phone.

If you have a spare Android smartphone at your disposal, then go ahead download it at the link above and let me know what do you think about it.

Android Music Player

Android 2.3 Gingerbread Desire HD and Incredible S OTA Update Released

Well folks, for all you Android faithful that own the HTC Desire HD or HTC Incredible S and have been waiting to get updated to Android 2.3 Gingerbread, the good news is that HTC has begun the roll out of Gingerbread to both smartphones over the air.
According to an article over on Android Central by way of Engadget, the HTC Europesupport website has posted that the Android 2.3 Gingerbread update for the HTC Desire HD and HTC Incredible S has begun OTA roll out.
This means that if owner head to Settings>About Phone>System Software Update, they should be able to download Android 2.3 Gingerbread to their device. If you own the HTC Incredible S you should receive version 2.12.405.7 while HTC Desire HD owners should get version 2.36.405.5.
Reports have it that many are gaining the Gingerbread update, so if you haven’t yet received it just hang on as it will hit your smartphone before too long as if you handset is carrier subsidised the OTA update requires their approval.
However feel free to shout out your joy if you have already gained Android 2.3 Gingerbread to our comments area below.

Sony Tablet – S1 and S2 Honeycomb Tablets announced

Tokyo, Japan – Sony Corp has announced the Sony Tablet and has shown off 2 devices the S1 and S2 which are Android Honeycomb tablets. The S1 is a tablet aimed at rich media entertainment while the S2 is aimed at mobile communication and entertainment. Bear in mind that these devices are just codenames and we will know the real names once the company launches them in Fall 2011.

Update: Video added

Both the devices have WiFi and 3G/4G connectivity and run on Android 3.0 . The S1 has a 9.4 inch display and has a special off-center of gravity form factor.

S2 has 2 5.5 inch displays has a dual screen presentation and usability.  The Sony Tablets can act as a remote control to other Sony entertainment devices.

While details are pretty scant at the moment enjoy the awesome pics below. The devices certainly look interesting. So who likes the S1 and S2 ?

Samsung Galaxy S2 India Launch in May at Rs.30000-35000

Samsung is holding  their Samsung SWA FORUM 2011 on April 13 & 14th in New Delhi and the company just announced the launch of the Galaxy S2 launch for India.

The Galaxy S2 is likely to launch in India in May at a market price of Rs.35000 approx. We are not sure if Sammy is going to launch the 1GHz version or the 1.2 GHz version like in UK.

May is not far away and we expect official confirmation shortly.

Mr. Ranjit Yadav, Country Head, Mobile & IT unveils Samsung Galaxy S II at Samsung SWA Forum 2011

UPDATE: Samsung actually said mid-30k for the price and did not quote an exact price.

Nokia Symbian Anna aka PR 2.0 Announced

Nokia has announced the much awaited update to the Symbian OS. It is called Anna and was previously known as PR 2.0.

Symbian Anna will be made available for the Nokia N8, C7, C6-01 and E7 over the coming months.However no specific dates have been announced.

One of the first changes that you notice are the new icons. The text input has been improved and the much awaited portrait QWERTY keyboard  along with split screen entry is now available.

The new browser offers faster performance and is easier to use.

The photo gallery has also received a few updates. The other applications that have been updated are OVI Maps, OVI Store, OVI Suite and Social.

Nokia announces E6 and X7 with New UI

Nokia has officially announced Nokia E6 and Nokia X7. E6 is the successor of Nokia E72 that is a business phone and Nokia X7 is entertainment device. These devices will have new UI that is named Symbian Anna.

Both E6 and X7 has stainless steel body and slim design. E6 has 8GB internal memory and good battery life. X7 has large 4 inch AMOLED display. Both these have 8MP fixed focus camera.

Specs of Nokia E6

• 2.4 inch (640 x 360) 16.7 million colour TFT LCD Capacitive touch screen
• QWERTY keyboard.
• Accelerometer, Proximity sensor and Ambient light detector
• Dimensions: 115.5 x 59 x 10.5 mm
• Weight: 133 g
• 8 MP camera with dual LED flash and video recording at 720p (25 fps)
• 256MB RAM and 1024MB ROM
• 8GB internal memory, expandable up to 32GB -- MicroSD
• Micro USB 2.0 and USB On-the-Go support
• Wi-Fi b/g/n, 3G HSDPA -- 10.2Mbps, HSUPA -- 2.0Mbps
• Bluetooth v 3.0, GPS with A-GPS
• 3.5mm audio jack, FM Radio
• 1500 mAh battery

Specs of Nokia X7

• 4 inch (640 x 360) 16.7 million colour AMOLED capacitive touch screen
• Accelerometer, Proximity sensor and Ambient light detector
• Dimensions: 119.7 x 62.8 x 11.9 mm
• Weight: 146 g
• 8 MP camera with dual LED flash and video recording at 720p (25 fps)
• 350 MB internal memory, expandable up to 32GB -- MicroSD (8GB included)
• Micro USB 2.0 and USB On-the-Go support
• Wi-Fi b/g/n, 3G HSDPA -- 10.2Mbps, HSUPA -- 2.0Mbps
• Bluetooth v 3.0, GPS with A-GPS
• 3.5mm audio jack, FM Radio
• 1300 mAh battery

Nokia X7 comes preloaded with games like Galaxy on Fire HD and Asphalt 5 HD. As announced previously, both these devices comes with new enhancements like new icons, improved text input, faster browser, hardware accelerated encryption and new e-mail client.

This new software update would be pre-installed for the newly shipped devices like Nokia N8, Nokia E7, Nokia C7 and Nokia C6-01 and the update for current Symbian ^3 devices would be available soon.

E6 comes in Black, Silver, White colors and X7 comes in dark steel and silver colors. Price and availability of these device yet to be announced.