Nokia waves final goodbye to MeeGo and Symbian

Nokia announced in October it will be ending all developer support for MeeGo and Symbian on January 1, 2014. Well, the deadline has passed and the Ovi Store won't accept any more apps.

Nokia announced the end of the era via the official Symbian Team account on Twitter.

In case you've missed the news, the dropped MeeGo/Symbian support and app publishing means developers will be no longer capable of pushing new apps or updates in the Ovi Store. They will continue to receive revenue from their apps, of course, and all currently available apps in the Store will remain available for download.

So, if you are interested the Ovi Store is still open and your device isn't rendered worthless just yet. But maybe, just maybe, it's about time you jumped ship.

Source | Via

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Samsung unveils the Galaxy Camera 2 hybrid

Samsung has just unveiled the successor of the Galaxy Camera - the Galaxy Camera 2. The upgrade includes new design, faster processor, double the RAM and storage, newer Android version and NFC connectivity.

The Galaxy Camera 2 comes with a 1/2.3" BSI sensor with 16.3 MP effective resolution. There is also 21x optical zoom lens with and optical image stabilization. Going by the specs, this is the same sensor used in the first generation Galaxy Camera. Other features shared by the two generations include a pop-up xenon flash and a dedicated AF light.

Samsung Galaxy Camera 2

The video recording capabilities have remained unchanged too - you can shoot 1080p@30fps, 720p@60fps and 512p@120fps.

Yet, the Samsung Galaxy Camera 2 comes with a faster quad-core processor clocked at 1.6GHz (most probably of the Cortex-A9 variety), doubled 2GB of RAM and doubled 8GB internal storage. Unfortunately, according to Samsung, only 2.8GB of those are user-accessible, but you can always expand the storage with a microSD card of up to 64GB capacity.

Samsung Galaxy Camera 2

The last of the upgrades brought by the Galaxy Camera 2 are the NFC connectivity, the bigger 2000mAh battery and the newer Android 4.3 Jelly Bean version. Since the Galaxy Camera 2 runs on Android 4.3 and the latest TouchWiz UI, we guess it will support the Galaxy Gear smartwatch, althogh that hasn't been explicitly confirmed. We hope Samsung develops some kind of a remote shutter app for the Gear to make the two work better together.

Finally, the Galaxy Camera 2 employs the same 4.8-inch Super Clear 720p LCD display with 306ppi as the one we saw on the Galaxy Camera.

Unlike the first Galaxy Camera, the new one does not come with a SIM slot, so there is no 3G/LTE network support. It's not impossible that we get 3G-enabled Galaxy Camera 2 at a later state, though.

There is still no information on pricing and availability, but Samsung will be showcasing the device on CES (January 7-10), so we'll know more in a few days.

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Samsung VP: Galaxy S5 to be announced at MWC 2014

With the flagship launch cycle about to start a new round, rumors surrounding Samsung's next flagship, the Galaxy S5, have intensified over the past several months. The most recent one comes by way of Samsung's VP and Head of Design Strategy, Dong-hoon Chang.

While attending a New Year's party at the Shilla Hotel in Seoul, South Korea, Chang answered reporter questions regarding the anticipated S5 flagship.

He responded with "about right" in regards to a potential Galaxy S5 announced at MWC 2014, while also speculating about plans for a construction material (think: metal), and/or a possible variant that will feature a flexible display.

Obviously, unofficial statements made by Samsung officials should be taken with a huge grain of salt, although several of the things Mr. Chang said are in line with some rumors we've heard about the Galaxy S5. Some sources have been speculating about a new premium Galaxy F line, to feature smartphones made of higher quality materials to complement the plastic Galaxy S family.

Source (Korean) | Via

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Jolla outsells iPhone 5c and iPhone 5s at Finnish carrier DNA

Jolla began its retail journey in its home country Finland and a month later began selling across Europe. Initial sales data from Finnish carrier DNA, which is the only one to offer the Jolla smartphone at this point, shows that the phone is doing quite well. So much so that it managed to overtake the iPhone 5c and iPhone 5s on its network.

In DNA's top 10 list of best selling smartphones, the Jolla sits fifth. Right behind it is the Apple iPhone 5s in sixth place, while the iPhone 5c is eighth. In the period in which the Jolla started selling at DNA it's also the top selling smartphone above €300.

Above the Jolla in DNA's list sits the Nokia Lumia 520 with the top 3 spots taken by Samsung smartphones. From top to bottom they're the Samsung Galaxy Trend, Samsung Galaxy Y and the Samsung Galaxy S III.

Finnish carriers Sonera and Elisa, which currently don't offer Jolla, feature four Nokia smartphones in their respective lists of top 10 selling smartphones. In the case of Elisa, 8 out of 10 corporate customers carry a Nokia smartphone, so the Finnish company is definitely regaining its positions in its home market.

Source | Via

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Xiaomi sold 18.7 million smartphones in 2013

Occasionaly we report something like "Xiaomi sells X hundred thousand smartphones in Y minutes" but it turns out the young smartphone vendor did excellently for the whole year too. CEO Lei Jun posted on Sina Weibo that sales are up a whopping 160% in terms of units compared to 2012.

Those numbers translate to 7.2 million units sold in 2012 and 18.7 million units sold in 2013. That's more than the company's own 15 million units forecast. December alone saw 3.2 million Xiaomi smartphones fly off the shelves.

The cash Xiaomi raked in is up accordingly – 150% up from last year for a total of CNY 31.6 billion (5.2 billion USD). Lei Jun did not reveal net profits but posted a bullish estimate for 2014 - the CEO expects 40 million Xiamoi smartphones to be sold.

In an Apple-like fashion, Xiaomi announced very few devices, just four. They were often met with huge demand in the company's home country. Xiaomi is slowly expanding and opened a shop in Singapore to celebrate the New Year. That bit of news was broken by none other than Hugo Barra, former VP of Android at Google and current Vice President of Xiaomi.

Source (in Chinese) | Via

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Galaxy Note 3 Lite UAprof reveals 720p screen

The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Lite leaks continue as its alleged launch date approaches – the more affordable phablet is supposedly already being made in the factories and the LTE version will launch in Week 12 this year (that's mid-March).

The User Agent profile for the N750 has leaked giving us some more concrete details about the device. The screen will have 720p resolution (earlier rumors point to 5.5-5.7" LCD) and the phablet will run Android 4.3 Jelly Bean.

Keep in mind that the rumored model numbers for the Note 3 Lite are N7500 for the 3G version and N7505 for the LTE version. N750 is either a collective name for both (UAprofs don't show things like LTE) or it refers to the 3G version. Either way, the screen specs and OS version should be the same for both devices.

CES starts next week and MWC a month after that and there's always the possibility of a dedicated Unpacked event from Samsung to officially unveil the Galaxy Note 3 Lite.

Source | Via

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Samsung launches Galaxy Note 3 Rose Gold edition in Korea

Samsung recently unveiled two new colors of its Galaxy Note 3 flagship. This brings the total number of available color options for the phablet to five - Black, White, Pink, Red and Rose Gold.

The Merlot Red edition of the Galaxy Note 3 went on sale in South Korea a while ago and now, the global market leader has introduced the Rose Gold variant in its home country. The new hue will go on sale next week and Samsung is throwing in a car charger and a back cover for its early adopters.

Samsung' new color variants of the Galaxy Note 3 will be available globally, but there is no official word on when exactly.

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