Install Android on Nokia mobile

If you love Nokia hardware but wish for a better operating system, consider what some enthusiastic developers have done.

As part of a project called NITDroid, the developers have created a compatible version of the Android operating system for Nokia’s internet tablets. The result is a device that has the body of Nokia and the brains of Android.

“Nokia’s hardware is fantastic but their software is suboptimal, slow, buggy and not always the best user experience,” says Terrence Eden, a U.K.-based mobile consultant who installed Android 1.6 “Donut” on his Nokia N810. “Android is a much better software environment for Nokia hardware than what Nokia provides.”

Eden’s Nokia-Android hybrid works well except for access to Google Market and apps, he says.

Meanwhile developers have created a stable version of Android 2.2 Froyo for the Nokia N900, which ships with Nokia’s Maemo operating system. They have been able to get calls, data and Google apps going on the hacked device. The only missing feature is camera support.

This is not the first time a phone has been hacked to run an entirely different kind of operating system. Eager to experience Android’s features, some intrepid smartphone users hacked their Windows Mobile phones to run Android.

With Android for Nokia phones, the NITdroid project has had varying degrees of success. So far, they have attempted to port Android for Nokia’s tablet range of devices — which means the Nokia N770, N800, N810 and N900.

“On the N810, everything is pretty much functional. It isn’t a phone so there’s no call functionality to deal with,” says Eden.

But with the N900, users have found themselves unable to use the Android-powered device to make calls on a 3G network or change the screen brightness.

Tweaking the Nokia phones to change its operating system to Android isn’t for everyone, says Eden.

“It’s not something anyone off the street can do,” he says. “It’s a bit like installing Linux on the PC that you bought off Best Buy.”

But for those who are willing to take the risk, Eden has written a step-by-step guide on his blog for getting Android on the N810 (http://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=18). The NITDroid wiki also has an installation guide for other Nokia phones.

Contents and photos from : http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/08/nokia-phones-android/

Android 4.0. Bringing your world closer to you…

In with the new. Android 4.0 is our latest free Android software update, and will be made available on all 2011 Xperia phones*. The update builds on everything you already love about your phone, maximising its features, display and ease of use.

Life’s a busy thing, full of stuff. Android 4.0 helps you keep your social, work and activities all in one place. Short on time? Make the most of fast browsing; with simplified bookmarking and voice controlled URL searches. What’s more, updating to Android 4.0 is free and to make life easier for you, we’ll back-up any data saved on your phone, so you won’t lose a thing.

Embrace the change and say hello to Android 4.0, by updating your software today.

* The following phones will receive the update

Xperia™ arc

Xperia™ arc S

Xperia™ PLAY

Xperia™ neo and neo V

Xperia™ mini and mini pro

Xperia™ pro

Xperia™ active

Xperia™ ray

Sony Ericsson Live with Walkman

Reference : 

http://www.sonymobile.com/global-en/software/upgrade-to-android-4/#updatetoandroid

XOLO X900

About XOLO

LAVA, one of India’s fastest growing handset brands, brings you an unbelievably responsive smartphone experience with XOLO.

XOLO X900, XOLO’s introductory offering, is the world’s first mobile phone with the power of Intel inside®.

Committed to empowering every discerning user with quality and innovative mobile devices, XOLO endeavours to provide an unbelievably great smartphone experience to the premium and the newly emerging smartphone consumers of today.

The stylish and sleek new XOLO X900 is a result of commitment to quality and innovation, designed to provide a superlative, immersive and engaging experience to address the need for a dynamic smartphone for today’s generation.

The brand has invested in a state-of-the-art R&D Centre in Shenzhen (China) and Bangalore (India) and aims to carve a unique niche for itself by focusing on innovation in Product Development, After-Sales Service and Distribution.

See it. Feel it. Use it. You won’t believe how good it is.

XOLO X900 Overview

Superior Intel technology and Lava’s innovation come together to bring you the new XOLO X900, the first smartphone with Intel Inside®. Experience fast web browsing with the 1.6 GHz Intel processor. Based on Intel patented Hyper Threading technology this processor also enables smooth multi-tasking with optimum battery usage. A 4.03” hi-resolution LCD screen, dedicated HDMI output, full HD 1080p playback and dual speakers ensure an unmatched multimedia experience. Click upto 10 photos in less than a second on the 8MP HD camera which boasts of certain DSLR like features. With XOLO X900’s 400 MHz Graphics Processing Unit, 3D and HD gaming turn immersively realistic. Everything you have always wanted, and more, now comes in a blink into your pocket.

Technical Specifications

Network	Frequency Bands	GSM: 850/900/1800/1900 UMTS/HSPA: 850/900/1900/2100 HSPA+: 850/900/1900/2100
	Edge/GPRS	Class 10
	WCDMA	Yes
	HSPA+	up to 21 Mbps (DL)
		up to 5.7 Mbps (DL)
Processor	Chipset	Intel Atom Processor Z2460
	CPU	1.6 GHz Intel® Atom™ with Hyper Threading
Graphics core	Clock speed	400 MHz
	Triangles per second	40 million/second
Design	Dimensions	123 x 63 x 10.99 mm
	Weight	127 grams
	Hard Keys	Power key
		Volume key
		Camera key
	Slots	SIM card slot
		micro USB
		micro HDMI
		3.5 mm audio jack
Display	Display Size	4.03"
	Resolution	1024 x 600
	Colours	16M
	Display Technology	TFT LCD Capacitive touch
		Corning Gorilla Glass
Operating System	Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) (upgradable to Android 4.0)
GPS	Yes
Camera	Rear camera	8 MP
	Front camera	1.3 MP
	Flash support	Yes, single LED
	Auto focus	Yes
	Touch focus	Yes
	Digital zoom	8x
	HD recording rear	1080p
	Video chat front	480p
	Burst Mode	15 fps, 10 images in <1 sec
	Modes supported	Auto, Sports, Potrait, Landscape, Night, Night Potrait, Fireworks, Text
Sensors	Accelerometer
	Gyroscope
	Magnetometer
	Ambient light sensor
	Proximity sensor
Audio	Dual Speakers	Yes, 0.3 W each
	Digital Microphones	2
	Ambient Noise Cancellation	Yes
	Voice Recording	Yes, 3GPP
	Audio codecs supported	MP3, MIDI, WAV, 3GPP
Video	Video recording & playback	Full HD 1080p@30fps
	Video codecs supported	MPEG4, 3GPP, WMC, H.264, VP8
	Video Player	Android Video Player, doubleTwist
Sync	Drivers for Windows XP	Yes
	Drivers for Windows 7	Yes
	OTA support	Yes
	Firmware download via PC	Yes
Connectivity	USB	2.0 Hi Speed
	Bluetooth	v2.1
	Wi-Fi	802.11 b/g/n
	NFC	Yes
	NFC Antenna	13.56 MHz
	WLAN support	Yes
	Modem	Intel XMM6260
Memory	Internal Memory*	16 GB
	RAM	1 GB
Browser	HTML5
Messaging	MMS	Yes
	SMS	Yes
	Email	Yes
Document Viewer	Yes
Battery	1460 mAh, 3.7V
	Talk time (2G)	up to 15.5 hours
	Talk time (3G)	up to 7.8 hours
	Music playback (earphones)	up to 43.9 hours
	Video playback (earphones)	up to 6 hours
	Total standby time	up to 14 days
* The actual available internal phone storage may differ depending on the software configuration of your phone.
Features and specifications are subject to change without prior notification.

Reference and contents owner:  http://www.xolo.in

Intel Inside® and the Intel Inside® logo are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries.

Intel Inside® is a trademark of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries.

What is NFC?

What is NFC?

Near Field Communication (NFC) technology makes life easier and more convenient for consumers around the world by making it simpler to make transactions, exchange digital content, and connect electronic devices with a touch.

Key Benefits of NFC

NFC provides a range of benefits to consumers and businesses, such as:

Intuitive: NFC interactions require no more than a simple touch

Versatile: NFC is ideally suited to the broadest range of industries, environments, and uses

Open and standards-based: The underlying layers of NFC technology follow universally implemented ISO, ECMA, and ETSI standards

Technology-enabling: NFC facilitates fast and simple setup of wireless technologies, such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, etc.)

Inherently secure: NFC transmissions are short range (from a touch to a few centimeters)

Interoperable: NFC works with existing contactless card technologies

Security-ready: NFC has built-in capabilities to support secure applications

History

NFC traces its roots back to Radio-frequency identification, or RFID. RFID allows a reader to send radio waves to a passive electronic tag for identification and tracking.

1983 The first patent to be associated with the abbreviation RFID was granted to Charles Walton.

2004 Nokia, Philips and Sony established the Near Field Communication (NFC) Forum

2006 Initial specifications for NFC Tags

2006 Specification for "SmartPoster" records

2006 Nokia 6131 was the first NFC phone

2009 In January, NFC Forum released Peer-to-Peer standards to transfer contact, URL, initiate Bluetooth, etc.

2010 Samsung Nexus S: First Android NFC phone shown

2011 Google I/O "How to NFC" demonstrates NFC to initiate a game and to share a contact, URL, app, video, etc.

2011 NFC support becomes part of the Symbian mobile operating system with the release of Symbian Anna version.

2011 RIM 2011 is the first company for its devices to be certified by MasterCard Worldwide, the functionality of PayPass

2012 March. EAT, a well known UK restaurant chain and Everything Everywhere (Orange Mobile Network Operator) partner on the UK's first nationwide NFC enabled smartposter campaign. (lead by Rene' Batsford, Head of ICT for EAT, also known for deploying the UK's first nationwide contactless payment solution in 2008) A specially created mobile phone app is triggered when the NFC enabled mobile phone comes into contact with the smartposter.

References: 
http://www.nfc-forum.org
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near_field_communication

Sony Xperia neo L

Read complete specification on http://www.gsmarena.com/sony_xperia_neo_l-4647.php

Smartphones getting the ICS update

HTC
HTC Sensation XE, Sensation
Evo 3D, Sensation XL

LG
Phones getting updated in Q2 2012:
Prada Phone by LG 3.0
LG Optimus 2X
LG Optimus LTE
LG Optimus Sol
my Touch Q
LG Eclipse

Phones getting updated in Q3 2012:
LG Optimus 3D
LG Optimus Black
LG Optimus Big
LG Optimus Q2
LG Optimus EX

Motorola
Motorola Razr

Samsung
Samsung S II LTE
Samsung Galaxy R
Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1
Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9
Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7
Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus

Sony Ericsson
Phones getting the update in early April 2012:
Xperia arc S
Xperia neo V
Xperia ray

Phones getting the update in end April/early May 2012:
Xperia arc
Xperia Play
Xperia neo
Xperia mini, mini pro
Xperia pro
Xperia active
Sony Ericsson Live with Walkman


Read more on http://asia.cnet.com/smartphones-getting-the-ics-update-62211863.htm

Samsung Galaxy S III

Good news everyone! Samsung has finally made known when its much anticipated handset, the Galaxy S III, will be launched. While rumors had earlier pegged the event to be held on May 22 in London, the official invite sets a much earlier date of May 3. 

While no specs have been revealed so far, earlier rumors suggest it'll sport a 4.6-inch Super AMOLED Plus display with a quad-core Exynos chipset. There's also talk of a ceramic finish, similar to the HTC One S. These are all merely speculations and not much more has been revealed by the official invite--it shows just blobs of a blue and white liquid and the words "Come and meet the next Galaxy"

Original Contents : http://asia.cnet.com/crave/samsung-galaxy-s-iii-invite-now-official-62214307.htm

First Intel-powered smartphone

Read complete information on http://asia.cnet.com/crave/first-intel-powered-smartphones-could-be-due-this-week-62214328.htm

Update :  The Indian company Lava, with whom Intel partnered to make Atom based Android phones, has already announced their intentions to launch the Xolo X900 tomorrow, April 19, in India.

Source: http://www.gsmarena.com/intel_atom_based_smartphones_to_go_on_sale_starting_tomorrow-news-4110.php

iOS

The operating system was unveiled with the iPhone at the Macworld Conference & Expo, January 9, 2007, and released in June of that year (November in the United Kingdom). At first, Apple marketing literature did not specify a separate name for the operating system, stating simply that the "iPhone runs OS X". Initially, third-party applications were not supported. Steve Jobs argued that developers could build web applications that "would behave like native apps on the iPhone". On October 17, 2007, Apple announced that a native Software Development Kit (SDK) was under development and that they planned to put it "in developers' hands in February". On March 6, 2008, Apple released the first beta, along with a new name for the operating system: "iPhone OS".

Apple had released the iPod touch, which had most of the non-phone capabilities of the iPhone. Apple also sold more than one million iPhones during the 2007 holiday season. On January 27, 2010, Apple announced the iPad, featuring a larger screen than the iPhone and iPod touch, and designed for web browsing, media consumption, and reading iBooks.

In June 2010, Apple rebranded iPhone OS as "iOS". The trademark "IOS" had been used by Cisco for over a decade for its operating system, IOS, used on its routers. To avoid any potential lawsuit, Apple licensed the "IOS" trademark from Cisco.

iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system developed and distributed by Apple Inc. Originally released in 2007 for the iPhone and iPod Touch, it has since been extended to support other Apple devices such as the iPad and Apple TV. Unlike Windows CE (Mobile and Phone) and Android, Apple does not license iOS for installation on non-Apple hardware. As of March 6, 2012, Apple's App Store contained more than 550,000 iOS applications, which have collectively been downloaded more than 25 billion times. It had a 16% share of the smartphone operating system units sold in the last quarter of 2010, behind both Google's Android and Nokia's Symbian. In May 2010 in the United States, it accounted for 59% of mobile web data consumption (including use on both the iPod Touch and the iPad).

The user interface of iOS is based on the concept of direct manipulation, using multi-touch gestures. Interface control elements consist of sliders, switches, and buttons. The response to user input is immediate and provides a fluid interface. Interaction with the OS includes gestures such as swipe, tap, pinch, and reverse pinch, all of which have specific definitions within the context of the iOS operating system and its multi-touch interface. Internal accelerometers are used by some applications to respond to shaking the device (one common result is the undo command) or rotating it in three dimensions (one common result is switching from portrait to landscape mode).

iOS is derived from Mac OS X, with which it shares the Darwin foundation, and is therefore a Unix operating system.

In iOS, there are four abstraction layers: the Core OS layer, the Core Services layer, the Media layer, and the Cocoa Touch layer. The current version of the operating system (iOS 5.1) uses roughly 770 megabytes of the device's storage, varying for each model.

Note: Contents from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IOS

Symbian

The Symbian platform was created by merging and integrating software assets contributed by Nokia, NTT DoCoMo, Sony Ericsson and Symbian Ltd., including Symbian OS assets at its core, the S60 platform, and parts of the UIQ and MOAP(S) user interfaces.

In December 2008, Nokia bought Symbian Ltd., the company behind Symbian OS; consequently, Nokia became the major contributor to Symbian's code, since it then possessed the development resources for both the Symbian OS core and the user interface. Since then Nokia has been maintaining its own code repository for the platform development, regularly releasing its development to the public repository. Symbian was intended to be developed by a community led by the Symbian Foundation, which was first announced in June 2008 and which officially launched in April 2009. Its objective was to publish the source code for the entire Symbian platform under the OSI- and FSF-approved Eclipse Public License (EPL). The code was published under EPL on 4 February 2010; Symbian Foundation reported this event to be the largest codebase transitioned to Open Source in history.

However, some important components within Symbian OS were licensed from third parties, which prevented the foundation from publishing the full source under EPL immediately; instead much of the source was published under a more restrictive Symbian Foundation License (SFL) and access to the full source code was limited to member companies only, although membership was open to any organization.

In November 2010, the Symbian Foundation announced that due to a lack of support from funding members, it would transition to a licensing-only organization; Nokia announced it would take over the stewardship of the Symbian platform. Symbian Foundation will remain the trademark holder and licensing entity and will only have non-executive directors involved.

On February 11, 2011, Nokia announced a partnership with Microsoft which would see it adopt Windows Phone 7 for smartphones, reducing the number of devices running Symbian over the coming two years. As a consequence, the use of the Symbian platform for building mobile applications dropped rapidly. Research in June 2011 indicated that over 39% of mobile developers using Symbian at the time of publication were planning to abandon the platform.

By April 5, 2011, Nokia ceased to open source any portion of the Symbian software and reduced its collaboration to a small group of pre-selected partners in Japan. Source code released under the EPL remains available in third party repositories.

Symbian is a mobile operating system (OS) and computing platform designed for smartphones and currently maintained by Accenture. The Symbian platform is the successor to Symbian OS and Nokia Series 60; unlike Symbian OS, which needed an additional user interface system, Symbian includes a user interface component based on S60 5th Edition. The latest version, Symbian^3, was officially released in Q4 2010, first used in the Nokia N8. In May 2011 an update, Symbian Anna, was officially announced, followed by Nokia Belle (previously Symbian Belle) in August 2011.

Symbian OS was originally developed by Symbian Ltd. It is a descendant of Psion's EPOC and runs exclusively on ARM processors, although an unreleased x86 port existed.

Some estimates indicate that the number of mobile devices shipped with the Symbian OS up to the end of Q2 2010 is 385 million.

By April 5, 2011, Nokia released Symbian under a new license and converted to a proprietary model as opposed to an open source project.

On February 11, 2011, Nokia announced that it would migrate from Symbian to Windows Phone 7. Nokia CEO Stephen Elop announced Nokia's first Windows phones at Nokia World 2011: the Lumia 800 and Lumia 710. These phones were launched on November 14, 2011. On June 22, 2011 Nokia made an agreement with Accenture as an outsourcing program. Accenture will provide Symbian-based software development and support services to Nokia through 2016 and about 2,800 Nokia employees will be Accenture employees at early October 2011. The transfer was completed on September 30, 2011.

Note: Contents from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symbian

What is Android?

What is Android?

Android is a software stack for mobile devices that includes an operating system, middleware and key applications. The Android SDK provides the tools and APIs necessary to begin developing applications on the Android platform using the Java programming language.

Features

• Application framework enabling reuse and replacement of components

• Dalvik virtual machine optimized for mobile devices

• Integrated browser based on the open source WebKit engine

• Optimized graphics powered by a custom 2D graphics library; 3D graphics based on the OpenGL ES 1.0 specification (hardware acceleration optional)

• SQLite for structured data storage

• Media support for common audio, video, and still image formats (MPEG4, H.264, MP3, AAC, AMR, JPG, PNG, GIF)

• GSM Telephony (hardware dependent)

• Bluetooth, EDGE, 3G, and WiFi (hardware dependent)

• Camera, GPS, compass, and accelerometer (hardware dependent)

• Rich development environment including a device emulator, tools for debugging, memory and performance profiling, and a plugin for the Eclipse IDE

Android Architecture

The following diagram shows the major components of the Android operating system. Each section is described in more detail below.

Read more information about Android on http://developer.android.com/guide/basics/what-is-android.html
Note: The contents and pictures in this post are from 'http://developer.android.com"