Talk about timing… I just had a conversation with a couple of college students that were looking for a collection of applications that would benefit them most on their smartphones and I ran across GetJar. Apparently, it’s been around for a while and is the “second largest” (guess who’s first) app store and they specialize in applications for most any smartphone platform, not just one (again, guess who).

Today’s generation of tech savvy students is turning to mobile devices and digital gadgets, like the iPad to communicate with teachers and other students. GetJar—the world’s second largest mobile app store, has pulled together a list of the Top 5 Mobile Apps For Every College Student:

• Social Networking Apps – helps students network and make friends more easily. Whether it is a study group or a new friend from the bookstore, apps allow them to get connected. (SoMo, Social Bookmarks, Friends Connector, etc.)
• Map Apps to navigate campuses – helps new students find their way around campuses and local hubs, etc. (Zhiing, Vicinity, CitySearch, SpotMe!, etc.)
• Safety Apps – helps students stay safe while at school, walking home from late night classes, etc. (TaxiPal, Taxi V1.01, HandyNumbers, etc.)
• Activities Guide – helps students get involved around campus, school campus job postings, etc. (Management Society TSEC, etc.)
• Educational tools –educational apps now offer students language translators, word processors, etc. A financial tools app works well for the first time student learning how to budget. This year, reports show that the average student will spend over $1000 on textbooks, but mobile apps could help them save money. (Finance Calculator, Xeladico, etc.)

Covering Nokia, Blackberry, Android and Palm, it’s quite possible that they have everything that the other large online app store doesn’t have. And if you know the name of the application you’re looking for, you can use their AppIt! feature by typing in in their URL and the app name – http://getjar.com/gowalla (for example) and it will direct you to it without the need to search or fiddle around. Not bad at all.

[ Links: GetJar ]

Out with Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, a 30 year Nokia vet and in with Steven Elop, former president of Microsoft’s Business Division. Due to leave September 20th for his new digs as the Nokia CEO, no replacement has been announced at Microsoft to replace Steven Elop quite yet. Steve Ballmer has released a letter (see below) that announces Elop’s resignation and how Microsoft will continue forward.

CNET – In a late night press release, Nokia said it has hired Elop to replace Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, who will leave his position on Sept. 20. Kallasvuo, a 30 year Nokia veteran, will also leave the company’s board but remains non-executive chairman of Nokia Siemens Networks.

“The time is right to accelerate the company’s renewal; to bring in new executive leadership with different skills and strengths in order to drive company success,” Nokia Chairman Jorma Ollila said in a statement.

I wonder how this will effect the upcoming Nokia N8, Nokia N9 and MeeGo plans.

[ Links: CNET, Ballmer's Letter to Microsoft Employees ]

Earlier this week, Nokia announced a “big announcement” for folks. And here it is… a bloke wearing a standard fare cardigan, armed with probably comical looks and positions, it seems like Nokia is going to dive deep into the viral marketing pool with… a photo-based comic strip that sings the praises of the oft-maligned (by users) Nokia Ovi Store.

Today, we finally unveil (part of) the mystery.

Starting next Friday (July 30), we’re premiering an original comic series here on the Ovi Blog called “Old School”. We won’t tell you too much more about it, but it’s fun and we hope you love it.

And for those that were guessing, this isn’t a product launch or announcement. It’s just a thank you for everyone who loves Ovi and reads the blog. Share it, like it, comment on it, repost it: we’re looking forward to your reaction!

Here’s my chance to get on my soapbox.

Ok, I know I cannot be the only person that’s looking at the Nokia official blogs hoping that Nokia will finally start to do the things that they have not done in ages; effective marketing in North America. Nokia has gone from being perceived as a top notch handset manufacturer to something that you get when you want a free, subsidized phone on contract. Nokia N-series, largely unpopular with folks that don’t want to do any type of research – face it, most consumers are not willing to read more than a headline, pay more than a dime and learn more than a page of the user manual. Nokia N900, Nokia N97, Nokia N95… rare as hell in the US. Even more rare in Japan, yet another place where Nokia has stopped advertising.

So with the drama surrounding the current CEO, the fact that their stock has gone from ~$40 per share to under ~$9 per share in just two years, Nokia looks like a bust. But they’re not, they still sell millions of handsets and have open-sourced Symbian and have the open-source MeeGo partnership with Intel and the Linux Foundation. In fact, Nokia sells more than the next 2 manufacturers combined still. More than Apple, more than Blackberry. So what’s going on? Y’all can’t get advertising right? And… a friggin’ comic based on an office setting? Office Space came out in 1999, The Office (UK) came out in 2001. Nokia, it’s 2010. You guys can do much better than something so tried, so used up, so boring as an online comic.

“Old School” indeed. Nokia, get a clue.

[ Links: Nokia Ovi Blog ]

Intel/Nokia have uncovered their upcoming MeeGo v1.1 handset UX developer preview for all to see to entice developers and get the buzz going about their handset OS that’s equal parts Intel Moblin and Nokia Maemo. This preview includes:

• MeeGo Handset Dialer is MeeGo’s Handset dialer application
• MeeGo Handset SMS is MeeGo’s Handset SMS application
• Fennec Browser is MeeGo’s Qt based web browser for Handsets
• MeeGo Handset Photos is MeeGo’s Handset photo viewer
• MeeGo Handset People is MeeGo’s Handset contacts management system
• Kernel Version 2.6.35
• MeeGo Touch Framework is MeeGo’s framework to assist in rapid touch based application development
• QtContactsTracker is MeeGo’s back-end contracts storage management engine
• Virtual Keyboard is MeeGo’s virtual touch based handset keyboard

Odd part, I don’t see mention of the Nokia N900 images for download as of yet. Perhaps that’s an oversight.

UPDATE: Nokia N900 image for download has been listed now.

Hit up MeeGo.com for more information.

[ Links: MeeGo v1.1 Handset Developer Preview, MeeGo Handset Screenshots ]

According to the rumors, Nokia will give Nokia N900 owners their first look at the upcoming MeeGo UI for the handsets – the UI for the tablets has already been shown in a very beta version already.

UPDATE: The MeeGo Handset UX GIT repository has been updated and filled up with… well, stuff. No announcement but one is expected later today from Nokia.

[ Links: MeeGo Handset UX, MeeGo ]

Not sure how I feel about this. The commercial feels cheap and unfinished and it looks far too much like the Nokia N8, which is a Symbian device, not the purported Nokia and Intel MeeGo device that will replace the Nokia N900/Maemo 5 device. Just looks like a N8 with a very thin slider keyboard. Rumored specs include:

MeeGo OS
HDMI connector
USB (host mode)
CPU:1Ghz Cortex A8
Camera: 12MP, with flash
Video: 1024 x 600
Support 720P video format, and 1080P HD playback
64G internal storage

Just putting the rumor out there. More updates later.

Seems like the patient – or in some cases, rather impatient – owners of the Maemo 5 (Linux) based Nokia N900 cellphone has finally gotten the update they’ve been looking forward to for quite some time, PR1.2 or 10.2010.19-1.

New games join the veritable arcade already on offer in Ovi Store. Jurassic 3D Rollercoaster, Zen-bound, Angry Birds (level pack), Sygic, Kroll, Weatherbug, and GoGadget are all available to keep you entertained. Important to note though that Ovi Store will do a full switchover this week Thursday, May 27, so these games and other for-purchase apps will show up then.

The prior leaked version was 10.2010.12-9, so that’s at least 7 weeks of testing and bug fixes. Let’s see how the rest of the week shakes out. And lets see if the apps based on Qt 4.6 also start flooding out too.

[ Links: Nokia N900, Nokia Conversations, Nokia PR1.2 Leaked ]

Nokia is still putting the pieces together to make their Ovi Store and Ovi Navigation packages as world class and competitive as possible against other (read: Google) offerings out there and have teamed up with Yahoo to do so. As part of the alliance:

• Nokia will be the exclusive, global provider of Yahoo!’s maps and navigation services, integrating Ovi Maps across Yahoo! properties, branded as “powered by Ovi.”
• Yahoo! will become the exclusive, global provider of Nokia’s Ovi Mail and Ovi Chat services branded as “Ovi Mail / Ovi Chat powered by Yahoo!”
• Nokia and Yahoo! plan to work on ID federation between their services, beginning by making it easy for people to use their Ovi user IDs across select Yahoo! properties to easily access the online content and services they need.

Although it’s good to see that Nokia is dedicated to improving their Ovi branded offerings… but seriously. Yahoo?

[ Links: Nokia, Yahoo, Nokia/Yahoo Press Release ]

Apparently the long-awaited update for the Maemo based Nokia N900 has been leaked as a global PR1.2 update and has finally updated a lot of stuff after the prior PR1.1 and PR1.1.1 updates; which ushered in a few updates and bug fixes. What’s been confirmed so far is:

• Qt updated to 4.6.2
• Portrait Browser Mode
• Updated Application Manager
• Skype and Google Talk video calling
• Improved virtual keyboard
• USSD call codes now work
• Improved camera options
• Build No: 10.2010.12-9

Among other UI and software updates, unfortunately there’s not an update for the Flash version but it’s not the 10.1 Flash Player (version 9.0.260.0). PR1.2 is apparently quite the update.

As it stands though, Nokia has not officially released the PR1.2 update and this build is 4 weeks behind the latest known PR1.2 update, but as it stands this leaked version is a global release that has plenty of bugfixes and features that many Nokia N900 owners have been waiting for. I’m impressed with the Skype video calls… that’s a killer app in my mind. More over at Talk.Maemo.org (TMO).

Update: Ovi Maps 3.0 also confirmed.
Update: Flash Player has been updated from 9.0.246.0 to 9.0.260.0.

[ Related Links: Maemo "PR1.2 Is Released" Thread, Nokia N900 PR1.1 Update ]

Nokia has finally shown of their low-cost mobile handset C5, part of the new C-series during CeBIT 2010. The C5 features the current Symbian OS, a 2.2 inch QVGA display, HSDPA, Ovi Maps 3.0 and a 3.2 megapixel camera.

It will be available in Q2 2010 in Europe market with no word about the American markets yet.

Link to the original article…

Nokia is known for a lot of things, marketing hype sometimes being one of them; however when I heard about the Nokia BH-905 “high performance” Bluetooth headphones with active noise reduction, my cynical side immediately kicked in. I mean, what could be so “high performance” about Bluetooth headsets?

So let’s see… Nokia states this about their headphones:

Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, Headset Profile (HSP) 1.2, Hands-Free Profile (HFP) 1.1, A2DP 1.2
3.5mm Nokia AV (3.5mm standard jack) connectivity
Frequency Response: 15Hz to 20kHz
Advanced Wolfson Microelectronics myZone Ambient Noise Cancellation for up to 99% noise reduction
10 microphones – 8 for noise cancelling, 2 for capturing speech in loud surroundings
Talk Time: 24 Hours, 15 Hours with noise cancellation active
Music Playback: 25 Hours, 16 Hours with noise cancellation active
Standby Time: Up to 600 Hours

The kind folks from Nokia and WOMWorld met my cynicism head-on and sent a pair of their Nokia BH-905 and a Nokia N97 to test things out. Upon opening the box, you get a good look at the size of these headphones. Of course, these are quite a bit more bulky than your typical in-ear solution; however the noise cancellation feature for calls as well as voice capture easily place the Nokia BH-905 top of it’s class. In the future, remind me to temper my cynical side.

Mind you, my normal Bluetooth earpiece is now a Motorola Endeavor HX1 with “Crystal Talk” and before that, an Aliph Jawbone 2 with their “Noise Assassin” noise cancellation. So making simple phone calls, people could still hear some road noise or if I were in the office, they could hear the server fans with the Jawbone or my Motorola. With the Nokia BH-905, I was constantly asked if I were being still, if I were still there or if I had turned off everything in my background; which wasn’t the case.

Another test happened while downtown, I sat down on a bench across from the street from some construction, decided to listen to some music. Instead of the normal reaction by some of the more inexpensive noise cancellation headphones where they just make the music louder and call that “noise cancellation”, the headphones pushed out the noise and allowed me to listen to my music from the phone without incident. Just flick the switch on the bottom left headphone and active noise cancellation kicks in noticeably. Since I decided to use a phone the entire time, I received a few phone calls while downtown and while they could hear some things in the background – it does not mute your surroundings to a point of where it’s unnatural, they could easily hear me over everything.

Note: Since these cover both ears, I would not suggest using these while driving. But using these in the workplace, in the home, while you travel on airplanes, I’d consider these headphones the first thing I’d grab before travel.

There’s a lot of technology that goes into the Nokia BH-905. Noise cancellation, superior Bluetooth compatibility, connectivity with just about any device that has either a headphone plug (yes, even the Apple iPhone) or your home stereo, to a pretty cool but huge carrying case to safely secure your attachments, charger and secure your player or phone in its exterior pocket… ok, I’m beating around the bush. The Nokia BH-905 isn’t cheap. But it’s not built cheap. It doesn’t feel cheap. It doesn’t look cheap. And it doesn’t work cheaply either – meaning, it actually does what Nokia says. Which, forces my cynical side to say that these headphones are definitely better than the Bose QuietComfort 3 headphones for about $100 less.

Nokia, I’m impressed by these headphones. There, I said it. It’s a shame that I had to send these back too…

The only cons to the Nokia BH-905 would be the fact that Nokia didn’t use the Micro-USB connector for recharging, much like the Nokia N97 or even my Motorola Endeavor HX1 headset and the price being another possible detractor. With that said, I still give the Nokia BH-905 a 4.5 out of 5 (Highly Recommended) score.

[ Links: Nokia, Nokia BH-905, WOMWorld ]

In a move that more than likely caught the entire world – well, the people that actually care about open source on phones, pocketables, netbooks, televisions (upcoming) and so forth – by surprise.

I’m sure you’ve heard the news: Moblin and maemo are merging! We are taking the best pieces from these two open source projects and are creating the MeeGo software platform. Both teams have worked for a long time to support the needs of the mobile user experience – and MeeGo will make this even better. We want it to be fun, focused, flexible, technically challenging and ultimately, something that can change the world.

As far as how this fits into the Nokia Linux based Maemo handset platform, which so far has produced the Nokia N900 to date, has yet to be discussed. But products are to be released in the second half of 2010 based on the MeeGo open source OS, of which “MeeGo” is copyright the Linux Foundation.

[ Links: MeeGo ] [ Discussion: Talk.Maemo.Org ]