Nokia World 2011 announcement round-up

Nokia World 2011 has come and gone, and with it brought some major announcements from the company. If you missed anything from the two day show, check below for all the news from both days.

Nokia announced the Lumia 800

This is the company’s first Windows Phone, and is very similar to all the leaks. Below is an image of the device and its specifications

• Polycarbonate shell available in three colors: black, cyan and magenta
• 3.7-inch curved ClearBlack AMOLED display at 480 x 800
• 1.4 GHz Qualcomm MSM8255 single-core processor
• 512 MB of RAM
• 8MP rear camera with F2.2 Carl Zeiss lens, flash and 720p video recording
• 16 GB of internal user storage
• WiFi b/g/n
• HSPA 850/900/1900/2100
• 116.5 x 61.4 x 12.1mm; 142g
• Price point: 420 euros

Nokia announced the Lumia 710

Along with the Lumia 800, Nokia also announced another cheaper Windows Phone device known as the Lumia 710. Below is an image of the 710 and its specifications

• 3.7-inch LCD ClearBlack Display at 480 x 800
• 1.4 GHz Qualcomm MSM8255 single-core processor
• 512 MB of RAM
• 8 GB of user storage
• HSPA 900/1900/2100
• WiFi b/g/n
• 5 MP rear camera with 720p video recording
• Exchangeable back covers
• Price point: 270 euros

We have a spec shootout of both the Lumia 800 and Lumia 710 against some other new Windows Phones on the market.

Nokia announced four new Asha featurephones

Along with the Windows Phone devices announced, Nokia also showed off four new featurephones running S40 in a new line called “Asha” . The Asha 200 and 201 are cheap QWERTY devices; the 200 is dual-SIM where the 201 is not. The Asha 300 is a resistive touchscreen/numpad combo with a 1 GHz processor, and the Asha 303 is the flagship Asha device with QWERTY keypad and capacitive touchscreen.

Along with these devices, Nokia announced that Angry Birds will be coming to some Symbian devices, so all those with cheap Nokia phones can now fling birds at pigs whenever they like.

Nokia announced new exclusive Windows Phone apps

Along with the new Windows Phone devices shown off, Nokia also demonstrated some new applicationsthat will be available exclusively on their Nokia Lumia device range.

Nokia Drive is a fully-fledged and free voice-activated turn-by-turn navigation system powered by Nokia Maps with 3D maps and everything. While Bing Maps does include some navigation features, it looks like Nokia’s version is much more solid and packed with features.

MixRadio is available as well, which creates “mixes” of songs from Nokia Music’s massive song library, and streams them directly to your phone. You will also be able to download mixes straight to your phone, free of charge, to use when you are out of 3G/WiFi coverage.

Finally, Nokia showed off their new ESPN app, that allows direct access to all of ESPN’s data on sports around the world. You can even pin leagues, sports and teams directly to your start screen as live tiles for on-the-go access to sporting information.

Nokia shows off flexible, controllable displays

Nokia showed off something called the “Nokia kinetic device” that allows you to twist and bend your display to control the content on it. It’s a very cool concept that is shown off in more detail in the video below.

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Microsoft Research working on "HoloDesk" project

Microsoft is adapting its Xbox 360 based Kinect motion controller camera to be used for more than just console gaming. A new post on the Microsoft Research site  shows that the Kinect device is part of a new project that Microsoft is calling the "HoloDesk". The name suggests something similar to Star Trek: The Next Generation's HoloDeck. Indeed, the HoloDesk is about as close as you can get to creating real, interactive 3D environments with today's technology.

The HoloDesk uses a screen that sits above a flat surface. In between the screen and the bottom is a beam splitter which helps to create the 3D effect when you view the objects through the beam splitter's surface. The Kinect camera is used for both face tracking of the person using the HoloDesk along with the hands. In short, the combination of all these elements as well as others allows the HoloDesk user to appear to be touching and moving the 3D objects on the screen.

The video below shows off the HoloDesk's various uses. While it certainly can be used to create cool 3D games (imagine the alien chess game in Star Wars: A New Hope come to live) it could also be used for more practical applications . One possible use is being able to make and then operate virtual prototypes of hardware devices to see if they will work before an expensive real world hardware prototype is built. It could also be used for physics simulations and even for teleconferencing.

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Iris voice control app for Android like Siri

Apple’s Siri system is one of the flagship features of the iPhone 4S, but a team of Android developers reckoned they could match the voice command system – or at least rival it – with just eight hours work. Dexetra  came up with Iris for Android , a tongue-in-cheek reversal of the Siri name, and pulling together Android’s existing voice input and text-to-speech capabilities with some online search and a dash of arch humor.

Unfortunately, Iris’ speedy construction means there are still some rough patches, and in a brief trial this morning I had more problems than I did with Siri. It started well: asking “What is Android?” brought back a potted definition from online, read out loud to me; asking what time it was in Hong Kong pulled up the time, though Android’s text-to-speech mangled the numbers (the on-screen version was fine).

After that things went downhill. Iris decided that “12 + 3″ came to 144, and when I asked “What is 10 UK pounds in US dollars?” – something that Siri also struggled with – Iris misunderstood the question and then told me “It’s a bird.” As far as I’m aware, there’s no Cockney slang for “bird” and cash. Finally, asking Iris to “Open SlashGear.com” failed to load the site in the browser, with the app instead saying the cryptic “Open-source.” Siri may have got questions wrong too, but it at least gave those wrong answers speedily. Iris took a while to do its online searching.

It’s worth remembering that this was just a quick test with a system that took 8hrs to put together and is released as an early alpha  in the Android Market. The takeaway message is that Apple can’t afford to stand still: if a small team of developers can create something like Iris in less than a day, the combined mass of Google’s developers is capable of much, much more. Ice Cream Sandwich is just the start of it.

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Google TV 2.0 screenshots leak out

Google is still trying to get its Google TV project to become more attractive to mainstream consumers. The effort to merge televisions with a Google-developed operating system has so far only brought in two hardware partners. One is Sony, who put Google TV inside three models of its Bravia TV line. The other is Logitech, which created the Revue set-top box with the operating system inside. Sales for both companies have not been up to expectations. Google has been promising a major update for Google TV  devices for a while but so far it has yet to be released.

This week, Zatsnotfunny.com has posted up some new screenshots showing off the new user interface of Google TV 2.0. As promised, this new version is based on Google's Android 3.1 operating system, also known as Honeycomb. It will allow Google TV owners to download and use a number of new apps, including the Wall Street Journal and more. Google TV owners can also rate the apps they use just like their Android app counterparts.

Google has announced it is seeking more hardware partners for Google TV, but so far the company has yet to reveal any new companies that will offer Google TV on their products. There's also no word on when the big 2.0 update will actually be released, although it should be any day now. Google's executive chairman Eric Schmidt recently affirmed the company's support for Google TV, saying, "We're absolutely committed to staying, to improving Google TV."

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Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich announcement round-up

For Google and Android fans around the world, yesterday has been a big day, as Google teamed up with Samsung to announce the Galaxy Nexus and Android 4.0 “Ice Cream Sandwich”. Many new features were shown off today at the event, including the Galaxy Nexus, so i have compiled a list of everything to know from the Google event in case you missed it or were asleep.

The Galaxy Nexus specifications were fully leaked an hour before they were unveiled at the event in Hong Kong. They include:

• A 4.65-inch 1280 x 720 HD Super AMOLED display
• HSPA+ or LTE (depending on region)
• 1.2 GHz dual-core processor (TI OMAP 4460)
• 1 GB of RAM
• 16 or 32 GB of internal storage
• 5 MP rear camera with flash; 1.3 MP front camera
• Full HD 1080p video recording at 30 FPS; zero shutter lag
• Bluetooth 3.0 and dual-band WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n
• NFC and a barometer
• 8.94mm thin; 135g light
• 1,750 mAh battery

We also have a convenient comparison table between the Galaxy Nexus and the Galaxy S II, iPhone 4S and HTC Sensation. In most cases, the Galaxy Nexus is the victor.

The Galaxy Nexus will be available in the United States, parts of Europe and Asia starting in November; more regions to follow. You can register your interest in the device at Google's Nexus website.

Android 4.0 “Ice Cream Sandwich”

Google announced a plethora of new features in Android 4.0, and while many improvements are visual, there are still core enhancements being made. Below we have listed some of these new features so you can quickly get an idea what Google has introduced in Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS).

• Honeycomb-styled interface
• New Roboto typeface used throughout the UI
• New lockscreen featuring quick unlock to camera and notification pane access
• Improvements to multitasking and the notification pane
• Resizable widgets
• Quick SMS responses when rejecting incoming calls
• Improvements to text input, autocorrect and copy & paste
• Real-time voice-to-text input
• Full control over data usage, including usage notifications
• New contacts app featuring better social integration and “Me” profile
• More advanced Calendar and Gmail apps
• Improved Gallery featuring a photo editor
• Improved Camera app including panorama mode and easy sharing
• Cloud connectivity with automatic Google Chrome bookmark sync
• Offline access to emails (past 30 days by default) and web pages (when you save them)
• Face unlock using facial recognition technology
• Android Beam for NFC sharing of loads of content
• Integrated visual voicemail and appropriate APIs
• Integrated screenshots from hardware button combination
• Support for high-density mobile displays such as the Galaxy Nexus’ 720p display
• Many, many new APIs

For developers out there, the Android 4.0 SDK with all the improved and new APIs is now available from Google’s developer website.

The first device to be loaded with ICS is, obviously, the Galaxy Nexus, but the OS is also heading to the Nexus S at some point. It is unclear, however, if ICS will make its way to the older Google Nexus One. It is also unclear whether smartphone manufacturers will update their devices to ICS, or which devices will end up being updated. Hopefully carriers and manufacturers will announce their intentions soon.

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RIM introduces new BlackBerry OS – BBX

Research in Motion is trying to generate a positive spin on things following a truly horrible week for the company last week. Today at RIM's DevCon event, company executives have officially announced its new operating system, which it is calling BBX. According to RIM's co-CEO Mike Lazaridis, the new BBX platform will combine the best features of its long running Blackberry mobile operating system with QNX, which RIM used as the basis for its recent Playbook tablet device.

BBX has also been certified as POSIX (Portable Operating System Interface for Unix) which should open up BBX to be used by more developers. It will give app creators over 100 open source libraries to use with the operating system. During the company's keynote address RIM also announced its full support behind HTML5 which it says is the "obvious choice for modern application development."

Additional announcements and highlights from BlackBerry DevCon Americas 2011 include:

- BlackBerry WebWorks and HTML5 apps compatible with current BlackBerry smartphones and tablets will run on future BBX-based devices

- Native SDK for BlackBerry PlayBook goes gold; released for general 

availability

- SDK for Adobe AIR Now Supports Adobe AIR 3.0

- BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 Developer Beta now available, includes BlackBerry Runtime for Android Apps

  

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Droid RAZR officially announced

After all the rumors and speculation, Motorola has finally made it official. During its press event in New York City today, the company announced its latest Android-based smartphone. It's now officially called the Droid RAZR which brings back the well known RAZR mobile phone branding. The first flip-phone RAZR devices were launched in 2004,  and were known for their thin and stylish design. During its life span Motorola sold 130 million units of the device, more than any other flip phone ever made.

For the new Droid RAZR, Motorola is sticking with the thin theme of the original. It's only 7.1mm thick which could be the thinnest smartphone that has yet to be produced. But it also has a lot of powerful hardware inside. It has a 1.2 GHz dual-core processor, 1 GB of RAM, an eight megapixel camera with support for 1080p video, 16 GB of storage with another 16 GB via a MicroSD card, and a 4.3 inch Super AMOLED qHD display. The device will be sold by Verizon Wireless in the US and will support its faster 4G LTE network.

Motorola also announced a number of accessories for the Droid RAZR including two different Laptop docks that, when the smartphone is attached, can let the device be used much like a PC notebook. Verizon said the Droid RAZR will be released in early November for $299.99 with a two year contract. By the way, the phone will be called simply the RAZR in the rest of the world.

Image via Motorola

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Microsoft Research working on "Any Surface" touch screen

Science fiction movies and TV shows that show people using holographic touch interfaces on their PCs may be closer to reality than previously thought.  The official Microsoft Research web site  has announced that it has been working on two different types of touch interfaces. One of them is called OmniTouch and enables nearly any kind of surface to be used as an user interface.

Microsoft's Hrvoje Benko said, "The surface area of one hand alone exceeds that of typical smart phones. Tables are an order of magnitude larger than a tablet computer. If we could appropriate these ad hoc surfaces in an on-demand way, we could deliver all of the benefits of mobility while expanding the user’s interactive capability."

The prototype is supposed to be wearable by a person, using a combination of a camera created by PrimeSense with a laser-based pico projector. As you can see from the pictures above, the projector creates the image of the user interface which can be interacted with via the camera. While the prototype camera is pretty bulky to use, the web site claims the projector and camera combo could be made as small as a matchbox at some time in the future.

Another way of creating a different kind touch interface is called PocketTouch. It's a design that allows a smartphone or other device to be accessed without the user taking it out of his or her pocket. The site says, "It uses the capacitive sensors to enable eyes-free multitouch input on the device through fabric, giving users the convenience of a rich set of gesture interactions, ranging from simple touch strokes to full alphanumeric text entry, without having to remove the device from a pocket or bag." You can see examples in the pictures above.

So how does this process work, especially since smartphone users generally have no idea how their device is oriented in their pocket or bag? The site says, "The team resolved this by using an orientation-defining unlock gesture to determine the coordinate plane, thus initializing the device for interaction. Once initialized, user orientation can be from any direction as long as it’s consistent. PocketTouch then separates purposeful finger strokes from background noise and uses them as input."

Images via Microsoft

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