Omio News Blog

New Nokia Lumia Makes Sneaky TV Appearance, Shows Off A Lot Of Camera

Eagle eyed viewers of last night’s Channel 4 showing of The InBetweeners Movie were treated to a little more than they bargained for, as an ad during the break revealed our first official look at an all-new Nokia Lumia device.

Due to be revealed in full on the 14th of May, the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it spot showcased the secret device’s slightly bulbous rear – no doubt housing some serious camera clout – reinforced with a tagline of ‘more than the eyes can see’.

Let’s hope it’s the much-touted ‘Catwalk’ device we’ve had no shortage of leakage about…

Check the swift clip below for a first peek at the future of photo-snapping phones.

UPDATE: Nokia Lumia 510 with Windows Phone 7.8 coming to the UK – Nokia confirms; Phones 4u proof found

Finnish phone manufacturer Nokia will be shipping the low cost Windows Phone 7.5 run Lumia 510 in the UK, after initially denying it would not be available.

The Nokia Lumia 510 was announced in October 2012, before the Windows Phone 8 budget Lumia 620 was unveiled.

That is the entry-level device that replaces the Lumia 610, where the 510 now sits beneath that model and is thought to be updateable to Windows Phone 7.8.

It has a 4-inch 800 x 480 TFT screen, driven by a single core 800MHz Snapdragon S1 processor, with 256MB of RAM, 4GB of internal storage and with a 5-megapixel camera.

When we contacted Nokia on the day of its announcement, we were told: “We have no plans to launch the Lumia 510 in the UK”.

With a later statement of – “It’s intended for markets such as China, India and South America, no plan to stock here in the UK.”

Phones 4u has now listed the Lumia 510 on its Coming Soon page – here.

Omio has been in touch with Nokia, which has stated – “Following many requests from consumers we are currently considering ranging the Lumia 510 here in the UK.”

UPDATE:

Phones 4u has now removed the Nokia Lumia 510 from its Coming Soon page.

UPDATE 2:

Nokia has been in touch with us this morning, with the following statement that confirms the Lumia 510 will be arriving in the UK.

“[We] can confirm that we will now be ranging the 510 here in the UK. As yet, we haven’t announced who will be ranging it”

We have also managed to obtain proof of Phones 4u listing the device, thanks to Google cache – see below.

HTC 8S Now Available Free From £21 With Phones4U, Pushed Back To Never In US

Those eager to experience Windows Phone on a budget will be glad to see that UK retailer Phones4U has put the HTC 8S for sale from today, priced at an affordable cost of free from £21 per month.

Draped in a choice of two-tone black/white and black/purple colourways, as well as packing a pair of free Dre UrBeats headphones, the sleek device proves an appealing choice to smartphone first timers, with £21 netting them 300 minutes and 250MB of data each month.

A sad postscript for those on the other side of the Atlantic is news that the 8S won’t actually see a release in the US, with a litany of carrier testing delays and doubts on market interest in the cheaper blower to blame.

As an HTC bod told Engadget: “The Windows Phone 8X by HTC is our signature Windows Phone available at AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless in the U.S. With our focus on the Windows Phone 8X by HTC, the Windows Phone 8S is not currently planned for distribution in the U.S. market.”

Shame.

Nokia updates Windows Phone 8, Windows Phone 7 and Symbian app

Finnish mobile phone manufacturer Nokia has released an update to its Nokia Transport application, for Symbian, Windows Phone 7 and the latest Windows Phone 8 OS.

Nokia Transport, also known as Nokia Transit in America, has now been redesigned for the Windows Phone 8 platform interface in 3.0 – and is said to be more intuitive to use.

It is available in 53 countries and with over 550 cities covered and this number is constantly updated, while providing public transport information.

The company has also brought out a new beta of the application for Windows Phone 7 (3.1.1), which has a similar look and feature set to WP8s – and there’s an update to the Symbian app.

Nokia has noted that the interface has been improved in the Microsoft platform variant with the introduction of a segment map, for a detailed view along a travelled route.

There is also an advanced search feature in this version, for planning a journey ahead of leaving. This has options such as the entering a date and a time to depart.

Its results can now be displayed in miles or kilometres, along with further tailoring of departure times. These are the likes of showing actual times (2pm) or what Nokia calls relative times, such as 13minutes.

The Symbian beta of Nokia Transport now offers over the air updates, with better searching functionality.

Check out the new Windows Phone 8 version of Nokia Transport, below.

Windows Phone 7.8 arriving this week; details leaked and support for 18 months

Seattle software developer Microsoft has reportedly completed the updated to Windows Phone 7, known as Windows phone 7.8 .

Windows Phone news website WMPoweruser.com has published an article off the back of a Nokia and Microsoft developer’s event in Singapore.

It noted: “There our tipster, and all the other attendees, were told by the head of Nokia Asia Pacific Developer himself that Windows Phone 7.8 has RTM’ed this week, and that we should expect the update to be released to devices in a matter of days to weeks, but certainly not all the way into 2013.”

“He also confirmed Windows Phone 7.8 will not receive IE10 as the browser was fully hardware accelerated, which Windows Phone 7.8 hardware did not support.”

Chinese Windows Phone online new site winp.cn has run details of Nokia’s Windows Phone 7.8 training material, which contain what is coming in the OS update.

That website has stated that it will have the same choice of live titles as Windows Phone 8, where there are 20 different colours and three sizes; IE browser security upgrades; support for editing MP3 music files as ringtones; lock screen set to Bing wallpaper and so on.

“In addition, the Nokia Lumia series phone for more new features: support Bluetooth to share multimedia files (DRM-protected); increase in mobile phone ringtone editing application; contacts transfer / sharing application upgrade.”, added the title.

Russian Windows Phone news website WinPhoneLive.ru notes there will be 18 months of support for Windows Phone 7.8. This is from details released to Twitter, from the official Windows Phone account within that country.

This information is supported by a piece on the German Windows Phone online site WParea.de. It has published a leaked slide from a 25-page Nokia document that has details of a Windows Phone 7.x update coming, after the 7.8 refresh rolls out.

Virgin Media offer unlimited Wi-Fi calls from an app

Entertainment giant Virgin Media is allowing its customers to use their landline allowance on mobile phones through Wi-Fi, via an app called SmartCall.

The application will initially be available for Android, iOS and will be coming to Windows Phone devices.

It is powered by a third party company and delivers line-land quality calls over Wi-Fi, with a view to deliver better quality.

These allowances are from Virgin Media telephone packages such as the talk weekends, talking evening and weekends, talk unlimited and talk unlimited extra.

They offer unlimited calls to UK landlines, Virgin Mobile numbers and 0870 phone numbers – as their names suggest, at the weekends; evening and weekends; all the time and the last, includes all UK mobile phone numbers and not, just Virgin ones.

All apart from the first carry a cost, starting from £4.60; £8 and £15 a month – respectively.

The SmartCall app works on phones on any mobile phone network and identities if the number being called is a part of the package, before dialling.

Calling only takes place over Wi-Fi at home, out and about and even when outside of the UK.

SmartCall will be available in the next coming weeks to select customers and will be accessible to all Virgin Phone users, in early 2013.

Nokia Lumia mobile phone update arrives; Nokia Lumia 510 confirmed

Finnish mobile phone manufacturer Nokia is now rolling out an update to its low-end Lumia 610 Windows Phone handset, while the yet-to-be-announced Lumia 510 mobile has been confirmed.

Nokia enthusiast online response SymbianTweet.com has published the update information, along with how to update the Lumia 610 through the Microsoft Zune software.

It has noted: “The latest firmware 8779.12340 brings usability, performance and Camera improvements to the device.”

The site also added that the build number would be SW 1066.0000.8779.12340, after the installation has taken place.

Nokia’s Lumia 610 was unveiled at Mobile World Congress in February this year, along with the flagship Lumia 900, but it only became available to buy in June.

It arrived with a 3.7-inch 800 x 480 LCD screen, with an 800MHz processor, 256MB of RAM, 8GB of internal storage and a 5-megapixel camera.

At the start of the month, Omio reported the Lumia 510 had appeared online in a captured photo.

Now, the mobile phone news site Pocketnow has covered its first test picture being published, with the accompanying data confirming its details.

That publication states: “the image’s EXIF data reports it as coming from the Lumia 510, as well as [confirming] that the phone isn’t yet running Windows Phone 7.8″

“By all accounts, the Lumia 510 will be a budget-priced Windows Phone handset targeted at developing markets. From what we’ve heard about the hardware, it sounds like a slight upgrade to the Lumia 610, giving the phone a larger four-inch display”, added the site.

Nokia Xpress web browser available for Windows Phone mobiles

Finnish mobile phone manufacturer Nokia has released its previous S40-only Xpress data compression web browser, for its existing Lumia range of Windows Phone handsets.

Nokia Xpress for Lumia web browser is a cloud-based platform that essentially allows you to get the best out of your phone’s accompanying data plan.

The app automatically shrinks the data streaming to the mobile, by up to 85 per cent. This in turns delivers web pages quicker, saving on the battery life and the tariff’s data allowance.

It also comes with other features, such as a Windows live tile for monitoring data usage. This is along with the ability to save pages locally or even videos to SkyDrive, for viewing later.

Omio predicted the Nokia Xpress for Lumia was about to be released for Microsoft phone operating system-based devices, last week.

This came from the launch of two new low-cost Symbian Series 40 mobiles, the Nokia Asha 308 and 309.

We enquired whether or not these would be coming to the UK, where we were informed they won’t be – but it was worth picking up on the new Xpress browser.

That showed the web surfing tool wouldn’t be confined to the remit of these handsets, but it would be coming to the Windows Phone range.

Nokia Xpress for Lumia is available now to download, albeit in beta form.

Check out the hands on video below, of a walkthrough of its features.

Nokia Lumia 510 Windows Phone picture leaked with specifications confirmed

Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia’s yet-to-be-announced Lumia 510 has appeared online, in a captured photo.

Popular mobile phone news website GSMArena has published the image of the device, with confirmation from its source of the specifications of the handset.

The site has stated that: “the low-end smartphone would sport a 4-inch display, have 4 GB of internal memory, and run on just 256 MB of RAM.”

“Those specs have just been confirmed by our own source, who … hinted that the initial price will be $150.”, it added.

It went on to note that the Lumia 510 will likely first arrive in China, and as an entry-level smartphone. This will be in time for Christmas, with a possible global release in early 2013.

There is no word on which version of the Windows Phone operating system will run the device, but it is highly unlikely that it will be Windows Phone 8.

It could run the upgrade to Windows Phone 7.5 Mango, known as Windows Phone 7.8. Nokia has confirmed to Omio that the current entry-level Lumia 610 is due to receive the update. Therefore, the 510 might run that OS as well.

Samsung Vs Apple Trial: New Samsung Windows Phone 8 Handsets Revealed

Samsung have inadvertently revealed two upcoming Windows Phone 8 (Apollo) handsets in the ongoing Samsung vs Apple legal battle in California.

The two phones revealed in legal documents and spotted by eagle-eyed reporters at The Verge, are codenamed ‘Odyssey’ and ‘Marco’. Both are marked for release in Q4 2012, alongside the upcoming Windows Phone 8 OS, known as ‘Apollo’.

Image via The Verge

Fan’s of Microsoft’s unique take on the mobile OS will be bolstered by the continued support of the world’s largest mobile handset.

Whilst Windows Phone 7 restricted processing to a single core and screens to a low resolution, these two new Windows Phone 8 devices will be packing dual-core 1.5gHz processors via the Qualcomm MSM8960 chipset, and high resolution Super AMOLED screens.

Details are wafer thin at the moment, but we do know that ‘Odyssey’ will have a huge HD 4.65 inch display, 8MP rear camera and NFC, whilst the ‘Marco’ will have a 4 inch WVGA screen and a 5MP rear camera.

Each handset will be compatible with the fourth generation LTE data networks in the US, and 21 Mb/s HSPA+ for anywhere like Britain that is STILL awaiting the 4G goodness.

Whilst on paper this dual-core system still lags behind quad-core handsets like the Samsung Galaxy S3 or the HTC One X, it should be noted that the Windows Phone OS is a lot less CPU intensive than Android, and so less power goes further.

As soon as we find out anything else on these two new handsets we will let you know.