Our subsidized Symbian superphone dreams remain squashed, but it looks like we might have a different party to blame — the Wall Street Journal‘s anonymous sources say it was Nokia itself who decided to pull plans to launch the X7 exclusively on AT&T. Originally, the phone would have waved the white globe banner at Mobile World Congress next month, but Nokia reportedly decided that AT&T didn’t have its back, and wouldn’t provide sufficient marketing support — and cheap enough subsidized prices — to make it worth the company’s while. If you simply must have the handset and live in the US, though, we’re sure you’ll still find a way. It’s only a matter of time before Nokia launches in countries more willing to play ball… and unlocked models appear on eBay.

WSJ: Nokia X7 canceled for AT&T, but at Espoo’s behest originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 19 Jan 2011 21:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Just gaze upon those curves up above and tell us what they remind you of. Yes indeed, the Nokia N98 — which seemed so futuristic we were inclined to dismiss it as the product of a hyperactive imagination — is today looking all too credible thanks to the obvious design similarities it shares with the officially released N8. Starting with the distinctive tapered edges with contrast coloring, moving through the black bezel-sporting display, and jotting down to the positions of the Nokia and N00 logos as well as the Options menu, the viewer can’t help but be convinced that this February leak came with no small portion of truthiness to it. Now, we don’t live anywhere near Espoo, so we can’t tell you whether this was just a precursor to the N8, which lost its physical keyboard and N9x naming scheme to become the beastly media phone we know today. But wouldn’t it be lovely to believe Nokia’s working on all cylinders and planning to introduce a 4-inch QWERTY variant of its new flagship?

Nokia N98 leak validated by N8, is there a QWERTY slider brewing up in Espoo? originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 02 May 2010 04:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nokia’s community blog has opened up the crowdsourcing floodgates, at least in theory. For “Design by Community,” users will be able to vote on smartphone features via a series of sliders, although within an arbitrary point allotment system. A new poll opens next week for size and shape, followed by materials, operating system (Symbian or MeeGo being the only choices, unsurprisingly), and so on in the weeks that follow, with the last poll starting April 26th. After that, a concept sketch will be voted on and later rendered — but no plans to ever have it made into an actual retail product (boo). We can’t exactly say we understand all the selections here: why is a touchscreen keyboard less ambitious than T9 text entry? Does saying capacitive is more ambitious than resistive serve as a subtle hint of trends to come? What in the world is the difference between hot key and one touch? It’s interesting to see how X6, N900, N97 all come out as a Perfect Mixes, while last year’s E75 and the more recent C5 all straddle the “less than ambitious” line. Oh, and just so we’re clear… a 5-inch, 21:9 ratio display without touchscreen but with a touchscreen keyboard is a perfect mix. Go figure.

[Thanks, Pratik V]

Nokia’s Design by Community makes smartphone concepting a multiplayer game, with limits originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 18 Mar 2010 19:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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[Thanks, Matija]

Continue reading Nokia N900 and the case of the best unboxing ever

Nokia N900 and the case of the best unboxing ever originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Dec 2009 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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