Whoa.

I’m a fan of the N8′s camera. I’m also a fan of pretty girls. So I have to give two thumbs-up for the December issue of PiX magazine, whose cover model was shot entirely with the Nokia N8. That’s right. A CELL PHONE.

Sure, in a photo shoot you can control all of the variables: the lighting, the subject, and the post-processing. But this is still a pretty amazing feat. Apparently, it’s also a world’s first, and I’m not too surprised.

Check out the behind-the-scenes YouTube video:

“It’s a CELL PHONE!”

The full article (ok, it’s a short one) can be found over at PiX Magazine – December/January 2011 Cover Shoot Using the N8.

Thanks Alan.

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Nokia and Android smartphone market share rose in Q2.

iSuppli has released the latest set of smartphone quarterly statistics, and it’s an interesting read: Nokia and Android models both made significant market share gains in Q2, with HTC taking the largest chunk.

Nokia’s smartphone market share increased to 39.7%, an increase of 11.6%. Apple’s share actually decreased from 15.7% to 13.9%, a 4% loss.

But HTC was the company that knocked the ball out of the park: at the end of Q2, HTC’s smartphone market share was 8%, an increase of 63.1%. They’re currently the fourth largest smartphone manufacturer (by market share), trailing Nokia, RIM, and Apple.

It’s interesting that Nokia made the gains that it did considering the company shipped only two mid-tier smartphones in the second quarter: the C3 and the E73 Mode. The first quarter saw the release of the X6 16GB and the 5230 Nuron.

Check out iSuppli for the full report:
Android Becomes Smart Phone Market’s Secret Sauce for Success in Q2 – iSuppli

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Expect PR1.3, complete with MeeGo, quite soon.

It’s good to see that Nokia hasn’t left the N900, its signature hackable smartphone, by the wayside. Behold this quote by Harri Hakulinen, team lead for the MeeGo on N900 project:

On the Maemo side, there have been interesting, supporting developments going on, as well. The PR 1.3 update is quite close now, and with that you can easily dual boot between Maemo and Meego on your N900. There is also a possibility of developing applications supporting both operating systems, based on Qt and Qt Mobility APIs on the Maemo side. It means that you can develop once in PC with Qt Creator, and test your applications on both Maemo and MeeGo, directly on your N900 device!

The videos and screenshots that I’ve seen of MeeGo have been pretty impressive so far, but it’s hard to say how well it will be received. It’s the last player in the game to arrive, so to speak, and the market is far different now than it was six months ago, what with the new batch of Windows 7 phones announced and other smartphone manufacturers pulling out all of the stops.

MeeGo Calling – on N900

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The PR1.3 update is here, minus the dual-booting.

PR1.3 was quite close, all right: the update was made available yesterday. Could Nokia really have added MeeGo dual-booting a whole month before the MeeGo conference? (short answer: nope!)

Now that we’ve gotten the joking out of the way, let’s look at the meaty changelog, courtesy of Nokia Europe:

- Nokia Ovi Suite support added
- Performance improvements

And straight out of the Maemo DP team blog:

This is primarily a consumer update containing many tweaks and improvements to the N900 user experience. It also aligns the Qt application and UI framework with the planned version for the MeeGo 1.1 platform (Qt 4.7). Qt Mobility 1.0.2 APIs for mobile development are also included.

Personally, I haven’t really noticed much of a difference, except for all of my applications disappearing. That didn’t happen with previous firmware update for some reason. I highly recommend using the Backup application beforehand.

Grab the PR1.3 update from the Nokia Software Updater or over-the-air.

PR1.3 just released – now with Qt4.7 and Qt Mobility
– Maemo DP Team Blog

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A MeeGo 1.1 “project release” has been released by Nokia. But what is it exactly?

As answered by the official Nokia Conversations blog in a post titled “for developers’ eyes only: MeeGo version 1.1″:

So what is a “project release”? Let’s start with what it isn’t. This isn’t a finished product for you to load up on to your phone and use on a day-to-day basis. The user interface is neither finished nor is it representative of what the experience will look like on future Nokia devices (we’re creating our own unique experience using Qt). What it is, is a generic version intended to allow developers and device manufacturers to get familiar with the code and the capabilities of future devices.

The last paragraph in the same post, nestled under some screenshots, contained some telling information for the future:

So that’s version 1.1. Version 1.2 is scheduled for April 2011, by which point the MeeGo handset user experience software should be pretty much complete. For all the technical details, jump to meego.com. And as ever, let us know what you think in the comments below.

Here’s how I read this post:

• MeeGo 1.1 is an unfinished version of the final OS. It will probably look completely different by the next version.
• MeeGo 1.2 might – or might not – be the full retail version for handsets.
• 1.2 is coming somewhere around April 2011.
• There won’t be any MeeGo phones before April 2011.

Oof. Pretty disappointing news, to say the least. I’m disappointed not just because this means a huge delay for my N9, but because this is some seriously bad news for Nokia. Essentially, it’s going to take another six months to get out what I’d consider to be Nokia’s best chance in the smartphone market.

For developers’ eyes only: MeeGo version 1.1 – Nokia Conversations

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