OnePlus has shown that Chinese manufacturers can create great devices for reasonable prices. A few big OEMs including Lenovo and Elephone backed up ZUK in their efforts to deliver its first device, the Z1. Head over to this article to learn more about this smartphone.
While Sprint’s M9 5.1 update rolled out on the first of the month, the AT&T M9 is having its OTA roll out tomorrow, bringing extra camera improvements. Both the T-Mobile and Verizon updates are on track to roll out on the 20th. As of yet, Mo Versi did not comment on the international versions.
Nokia took to a blog post today to comment on their mobile device strategy going forward.
For over a decade, Nokia was far and away the largest cell phone OEM in the world. Nokia had plenty of fans and was a common household name. Unfortunately, after Apple and Android’s relentless growth, Nokia was squeezed out of the market it once dominated.
Take a look at Nokia’s personnel numbers over the last several years:
Additionally, here is Nokia’s financial situation:
It’s obvious that the past several years have been rough over at Nokia.
In April of 2014, Nokia sold their Devices & Services business to Microsoft. This left “Nokia” as we know it without an actual hardware group. However, the remains of Nokia did, confusingly enough, release a tablet: the Nokia N1. The N1 is an Android tablet produced by Foxconn. There have also been near constant rumors of Nokia going with Android on phones for years now. The N1 confused the issue, and Microsoft’s Nokia X confused it even further. A little over a month after the N1 was release, the Nokia X was released, by Microsoft. The X is a budget device that runs a heavily skinned, very obscured, and Google Service-less version of Android.
Meanwhile over at Microsoft, the last premium Lumia flagship was released in July of 2014, and we’ve not heard concrete news regarding a successor. Microsoft is currently laying off 7,800 employees with a large percentage of them coming from its phone division. Neither Microsoft’s Lumia line, nor the remains of Nokia seem to be releasing an Android flagship.
So then, what is going on with Nokia and Mobile devices?
Well, according to Nokia themselves:
The right path back to mobile phones for Nokia is through a brand-licensing model. That means identifying a partner that can be responsible for all of the manufacturing, sales, marketing and customer support for a product.
This is exactly what they did with the N1 tablet.
It sounds as if we may yet see more (non-Microsoft) Nokia devices in the future. They will continue to look for a partner that can do the heavy lifting: manufacturing, sales, marketing and support. Nokia itself says not to expect them back in phone form until Q4 2016, at the earliest. So, if you were hoping for a Nokia Android flagship; it looks like the wait may be a bit longer than we’d like.
With the latest Google Play services 7.8 release, Google has made Nearby Messages API available to all developers (both iOS and Android.) Nearby uses a combination of phone connectivity, sensors, and inaudible sounds from the speaker and microphone to establish device proximity.
MKBHD has posted a photo on Google Plus that was taken by the OnePlus 2. Some new details are sensor being a 13MP unit with an f/2 aperture and the model name “A2001″. The photo itself looks great with a crisp focus on what looks to be an overcast day.
HTC has announced the dates and locations of their upcoming Vive VR headset’s World Tour event, which started on July 9th in San Diego and will end on November 1st in Paris. The Vive is HTC’s take on virtual reality, announced in collaboration with Valve Corporation.
Xiaomi’s Mi 4i has finally ditched the flash sales model and will now be available via open sales. Moreover, the phone will also be available via multiple online retailers like Flipkart and Amazon.in and offline retailers, as well as from Xiaomi’s own Indian E-Commerce Portal, Mi.Com/In, for a price of Rs. 12,999 ($205).
