Today marks the anniversary of one of the biggest partnerships the mobile world has ever seen. That’s right it’s already been a year since the worlds biggest mobile handset maker (Nokia) and the world’s biggest software maker (Microsoft) announced their partnership. Now that I have had sometime to accept the partnership, process what it really means and see some “MicroNokia” phones in action I can really access where Nokia has been, where it is now, and where it’s heading.  Coming along with me, won’t you?

Burning Platform:

From the moment Nokia’s CEO Stephen Elop came to Nokia it was clear there was going to be changes, and big ones. With Nokia losing smartphone market share, money, and consumer confidence in general something had to be done.  The once absolute king of the mobile mountain had been slowly but surely knocked off it’s throne in the past 4 years.  Nokia had been slow to change with the times, it’s huge “dumb-phone” sales, and fiercely loyal (but dwindling) base had insulated Nokia from reality.

It took “an outsider” from Canada coming  in with fresh eyes to come in look around and say “whoa what happened here?” For the company to release that Nokia needed to change and change quickly before they turned into another big name tech company that went under. Elop released that if something didn’t happen and happen soon Nokia was going to pull a “Napster”. (remember them?) He sent out his now infamous “Burning Platform memo” and started to look for a new course for Nokia to chart.

How did Nokia get in this spot anyway?

Before we look at Nokia’s future let’s see how Nokia got into this spot to begin with.  As I stated before it was about a lack of change, Nokia was just not keeping up.  But why tends to be the question.

There was period of time when Nokia was the leader in cool form factors and useful technology.  Nokia pioneered a lot of advances that we all take for granted today, GSM calls, (aka SIM card), text messages, etc.. I won’t say that Nokia stopped trying they just stopped listening to the customer and were slow to respond to what they called “trends” in form factor.

Nokia dismissed the flip phone form factor as a “trend” and was slow to get on that band wagon. This was the start of the demise of Nokia in U.S. which was made even worse by the Nokia missing the boat on the “touchscreen trend” started by the iPhone.

In both cases Nokia did eventually put out great phones in both form factors it was just too little to late in the consumers mind.  I personally have used some great Nokia flip phones and one of  Nokia’s first touch screens the 5800. The 5800 was/is a great phone but frustrating to use if you were not familiar with Symbian.

Even at the time the 5800 came out all was not lost for Nokia, they had N900 which had it’s specs that was well ahead of anything on the market in 2009. Plus it’s Maemo 5 operating system Nokia had a bright future ahead of it.  But factions inside Nokia itself sabotaged it.

According to reports there was massive infighting over operating systems, with Symbian guys fighting for their platform and Maemo guys fighting for their platform. What was the outcome of all this infighting? Neither platform getting the attention it needed, Nokia spending massive amounts of money on R&D, and Nokia falling even further behind in the smartphone race.

To little to late

Recently Nokia has made great progress with both the Symbian and Maemo platforms but it is too late to save either of them.  With Symbian it’s was the release of Nokia Anna last year and the more recent release of Nokia Belle.  I believe if Symbian would have gotten Nokia’s full attention and Belle would have been release a year or two ago Symbian would be a top smartphone platform.

The same thing for Maemo….Some of you are saying to yourself right now “What do you mean there was no progress made with Maemo it was the just the N900 right?”  Nope, the “MeeGo” powered N9 is actually MeeGo/Hartmann, which is in reality Maemo 6.

If either one of these platforms would have gotten Nokia’s full attention they would have been a success. But since neither one did, that left Elop with only one choice.

Jump-ship and move on:

Now that it was clear Nokia could not use Symbian or MeeGo going forward choices were limited, Android or Windows Phone.  While the details of either talk was never reveled it is clear from what have seen now that Microsoft offered Nokia more financially and support wise than Google.

So after weeks of rumors wondering and guessing Nokia came out announced that they had struck a deal with Microsoft to use Windows Phone as their OS of choice in their smartphones for the next five years. This did not sit well with the Nokia faithful around the world and with yours truly.

The Nokia Faithful React:

During the first few months after the announcement the outrage over this change was HUGE and vocal.  The Nokia community felt betrayed, everything that we were told about Symbian, Qt, and even the upcoming MeeGo OS was taken away in one handshake.

I have never seen such outrage from the Nokia faithful with any-other move Nokia has made so far.   It ranged from stuff I dare not even type here, too I will never buy a Nokia phone again, too why not Android since it’s an open OS, etc.. Slowly either people accepted it or moved on to other manufacturers of phones running the Android OS.

Where is Nokia today?

Naturally the Windows Phone announcement effectively stated that Symbian is a “dead platform” and Nokia’s Symbian/smartphone sales plummeted quickly.  This meant not only only did Nokia start losing money at rate never seen before but they also had to develop and bring to market a Nokia Windows Phone quicker than anyone has ever seen before.

They did just that with launch of the Nokia Lumia series last year and the more recent launch of the Lumia 900.  Nokia has come charging out of the gate with a trio of Windows Phones.  The Lumia 800 has received critical acclaim and had sold well in the limited market that it was released in.  In fact according to some reports the Lumia 800 is far in away the most widely used 2nd Gen Windows Phone on the Market today.  Reports have the 800 as having sold well over one million units and blowing “experts” sales projections out of the water.

While this is nice start for Nokia, Nokia is still losing money at an alarming rate, and need to make massive cuts in workforce and ship all of Symbian’s R&D to Accenture just to remain competitive.

Nokia’s Future:

So what does all this mean for Nokia’s future? No one knows for sure… it all depends the success of  Windows Phone. As Nokia has stated many times “Plan B is that Plan A works”.  Plan A is Windows Phone which makes Plan B also Windows Phone.

So will Windows Phone succeed?  Ironically that all depends on Nokia, they need to take their”mobile know how” and make the Windows Phone experience better somehow.  Stephen Elop has stated that “..Windows Phone is just a platform to build off of..”  This means that with leeway Microsoft has given Nokia they plan on Nokiafying Windows Phone.

I believe that is “Nokiafication” of Windows Phone will happen with Windows Phone Apollo release and it will be the most important release Nokia has ever put out.  Nokia’s success as a company will hinge on that release, as Apollo goes Nokia goes.

Final Thoughts:

Now having a year to reflect on the Windows Phone move do I love it?  Not really but it is what it is.  I would have rather Nokia went forward with MeeGo and let the chips fall where they may. But ask me in a year again when Apollo is in full swing.

This game is just pure brilliance. Z0MB1ES (on teh ph0ne) will keep you playing for hours, racking up a kill count, beating different monsters, and seeing how far you can go. What’s the best part of the game? The background musics lyrics! We’ve demoed this application in the video above using a Nokia Lumia 800, and for the dollar it costs, it’s well worth the purchase. Also available on Android and iOS!

The last time I checked, the internet was full of custom ROM para-mercenaries thinking they’re getting away with murder by developing and distributing these codes of sweetness without “permission” and so many users thinking they’re getting away with murder for using the custom ROM’s.

A ROM (Read Only Memory) is the programming of any cell phone (yes, any, and not just smart phones) that tells the phone how to operate. The ROM, or firmware, contains everything you need to crank the phone up and use it, which includes the operating system (i.e. Windows, iOS – iPhone, WEBOS – Palm, Android, Symbian, and Blackberry OS), carrier-added applications, and drivers, which is software that tells the hardware how to operate. When you turn any phone on, for the first time out of the box, the ROM is what you will see. Then you start adding on your own applications, email accounts, etc.

A sprawling section of the forum world on the internet has hosted a harbor for custom ROM developers. These are people dedicated to altering the factory ROM to meet certain needs. Some of these needs include writing in capabilities that were not intended by the carrier, such as tethering, and some just want less “junk-ware” or other carrier-added applications so that there is more available memory. Even though this may sound like a little clandestine group of super-geekers who are just getting their hacking hormones out of their system, there is actually a “big show” goal for the more ambitious ones.

Most of the custom ROM writers will provide a path to “donate” to their efforts with a PayPal link or some other payment portal and they may be able to compile enough change to satisfy their coffee shop tab. Some, however, get the attention of enterprise level forum stalkers.

So what happens? This is the really cool part. These brainiacs who have been working for peanuts (aka: PayPal donations) have now made it to the big show. The big companies have a Microsoft, Android, Blackberry, or iOS – Authorized ROM written by these lucky people and they have all of their standard mobile device apps written into the ROM. This, of course, usually includes a remote assistance app, maybe the company’s sales app (also custom written), and possibly a GPS tracking app. After the ROM is complete, the writers will get the go ahead from the OS and OEM hardware manufacturers, then somebody makes a deal for the device and carrier and, a few hundred thousand bucks later, employees are issued their custom designed mobile device.

That’s how it goes. So don’t think these folks have nowhere to go. It’s a race to the big show for them. Not a whole lot make it in, but the ones who do benefit greatly. It’s kind of like actors. So many aspire, and so few make it big.

- Matt Allgood

HTC has announced officially via Facebook that they are almost ready to start releasing the Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) Update for their phones. You can check all the details after the break.

According to their Facebook page, the ICS update roll-out should start by the end of March, being these the phones that are going to get it by then:

• HTC Sensation
• HTC Sensation 4G
• HTC Sensation XE
• HTC Sensation XL (HTC said for this specific model “Followed soon” which might mean April)

HTC also announced that the following list of phones will also be getting the ICS update but only “later this year”:

• HTC Rezound
• HTC Vivid
• HTC Amaze 4G
• HTC EVO 3D
• HTC EVO Design 4G
• HTC Incredible S
• HTC Desire S
• HTC Desire HD

There is no word about the remaining models, so it’s not clear if they are going to get also Android 4.0 update but apparently not. Seems like the owners of older models will have to trust on the strong Android community to get their hands on the latest cookies.

[Source]

Check out today’s featured mobile wallpapers!  You can download these wallpapers for your favourite device in our wallpaper gallery and customize your mobile to suit your unique personality.  We are always updating our wallpaper galleries with the freshest content.  You can find the very latest wallpapers in the sidebar, so make sure to check that out every time you visit us!

Todays 360×640 Wallpapers

You can download todays 360×640 Wallpapers from our 360×640 Wallpaper gallery.

Todays 800×480 Wallpapers

You can download todays 800×480 Wallpapers from our 800×480 Wallpaper gallery.

Todays 240×320 Wallpapers

You can download todays 240×320 Wallpapers from our 240×320 Wallpaper gallery.

Today’s 320×240 Wallpapers

You can download today’s 320×240 Wallpapers from our 320×240 Wallpaper gallery.

Today’s 640×480 Wallpapers

You can download today’s 640×480 Wallpapers from our 640×480 Wallpaper gallery.

Today’s 960×854 Android Wallpapers

You can download todays 960×854 Wallpapers from our 960×854 Wallpaper gallery.

Today’s 960×800 Android Wallpapers

You can download todays 960×800 Wallpapers from our 960×800 Wallpaper gallery.

Today’s 480×800 Windows Phone Wallpapers

You can download todays 480×800 Wallpapers from our 480×800 Wallpaper gallery.

No, I’m not asking about your favorite U.S. Republican candidate!  This has to do with something you may or may not have done with your Android Smartphone.

The question bears some explanation.  If you’re anything like me then you spend at least some time perusing the Android Market for what’s new.  Perhaps you’ve run across an application or two that says “Root Only” or something like that.  You may have wondered what they mean by “root”.  Simply put, root refers to the highest security permissions available on your phone.  Users who obtain such access are said to have “rooted” their phone (iPhone users call it “jail breaking”).  Having root access to your phone means that you have complete control over all programs and data.  Our esteemed mobile carriers generally wish to keep such control to themselves.

So why root in the first place?  Well, there are those who wish to tweak the bejeebers out of their phone.  They do extreme tech things like “flashing ROMs”, updating radios and the like.  Doing so let’s them do stuff with their phone that the rest of us only read about on blogs.  By the way, ROM just means Read Only Memory.  It’s the place where providers put the Android operating system and any “built-in” applications.   Trying out custom ROMs is tempting to be sure, but not for the faint of heart.  You’ll need to obtain detailed instructions specific to your phone and, no pressure here, if you make a mistake you might “brick” your phone.

About now you might be thinking “thanks, but no thanks” and no one would blame you.  But I’m here to tell you that there are some very compelling reasons to root your phone even if you never intend to tweak anything (much).    Those reasons come in the form of what I suggest are “killer apps” that make the pain of rooting your phone worth the effort.   Here’s a few of the “root required” applications I have found most valuable:

1. Titanium Backup – If this were the only thing you could get with a rooted phone it would be worth it.  This app lets you back up your phone’s programs & data to your SD card and optionally to a DropBox location.  It also lets you remove “bloatware” programs that carriers have rammed down our throats but that we never use.
2. Root Explorer – This is a file management app that lets you explore your phone the way you would a desktop PC.  Also supports moving, renaming, deleting, copying, etc.
3. Open Garden – This is a free WiFi tethering app.  It lets you use your phone as a wireless hub.  When Verizon locked down and began charging for this capability, this free app saved my bacon.
4. ROM Manager – In case you’d like to try on a custom ROM for size, this program makes it about as safe and painless as possible.  Including letting you put everything back the way it was in case you’re not pleased with your adventures.

Ok, so that’s who I’m rooting for.  How about you?

If you are an owner of a Symbian^3 phone, you probably have already updated to Nokia Belle. Many of those who updated are wondering how they can find more widgets or where are the ones that Nokia had presented but not released with this firmware update.

Well, we have good news for you. We have tons of widgets for you on our Forum and if you want to pick some, just head out to this topic.

Don’t forget to keep following us because we will bring more for you!

[Thanks to all DM Community that have contributed]

Have you ever come across a feature that stops you operating your device in a manner you would prefer? You are required to ignore it or take extra steps to avoid it; perhaps it exists as a mechanism to enhance marketing or company reputation. This is called an ‘Anti-feature’.

Anti-features are features deliberately added to a design to reduce the functionality of a hardware or software system.
[There is a short section at the bottom explaining the subjective nature of anti-features]

An anti-feature is not a bug. A bug is a software design fault, caused by complacency, oversights or a misunderstanding of the design specification.  Anti-features are a subset of features, they are documented functionality.

Most of the anti-features listed below are implemented by manufacturers rather than Google.  That said, they are common to Android handsets regardless of the brand, hence the title.

5. External GPS Support

Kicking off with the most subjective anti-feature on this list, Android has never supported external GPS devices and Google are happy to keep it that way. Their documentation on Location Services states ‘external GPS receivers are unsupported for use with Google Maps for mobile at this time’. Internal GPS receivers are accurate enough for road navigation at best. Activities such as mountain climbing, geocaching and hiking require a strong GPS signal that isn’t assisted by network triangulation or Wi-Fi. In recent months, several patches adding support for external GPS modules have been submitted to Google for review, I wonder if any are accepted.

Solution:
There are plenty of apps on the Market to provide external GPS Support via Bluetooth.

4. ‘Converting to Multimedia Message’

In 2008, when Android was in development, a member of the design team came up with an idea, ‘why not automatically convert SMS to MMS when they are too long’? Monthly price-plans offering unlimited SMS were uncommon and prepaid users had to fork out a princely 4 to 20 pence per message. It was a good idea at the time and it saved users money.

In 2012, price-plans offering unlimited SMS are everywhere and many users now see it as a form of instant messaging. Users don’t need their phone to automatically convert long SMS messages anymore, however a quick search of the Internet reveals plenty who can’t escape the problem.
Google implemented a patch in Android 2.2 Froyo (2010) giving users a choice to enable or disable the automatic conversion. The patch seemingly got lost on the way to every major manufacturer including HTC, Samsung and Sony. They even omitted it from major updates like  2.3 Gingerbread.  This feature hasn’t been useful for years yet manufacturers and networks insist on including it without a method of disabling it. Why? If you have 5000 free SMS and 0 free MMS, who benefits from converting your free SMS messages to a paid MMS?

Although this isn’t confirmed, I have spoken to several Galaxy Nexus users who suggest this feature is present in Ice Cream Sandwich.

Solution:
The quickest solution is downloading a free app I maintain called BigSMS. It provides you with a simple front-end to send SMS messages of almost unlimited length. It’s compatible with the standard Android Messaging System, supports delivery reports and has a tiny footprint. If you want to replace the stock messaging app entirely, check out Handcent or Go SMS.
Alternatively, you can root your device and modify the Messaging APK. It’s quite a tough job and varies depending on the device you use but there are plenty of tutorials on the Internet.

3. Alternatives to Android Market

This would be number one if there were no ways around it. A growing number of manufacturers have started replacing the standard Android Market with device specific alternatives. Hannspree’s Hannspad and Barnes & Noble’s Nook Tablet are two popular Tablet devices shipped without the Android Market. Instead, they are sold with specialist App Centres offering a limited number of apps most of which are supplied by affiliate companies. There tends to be a greater number of paid apps and sealing off users from the official Android Market results in a disappointing user experience.
Alternative app sources cause unnecessary fragmentation due to inconsistent updates, erratic technical support and different price structures. Branded App Centre’s destroy the centralized nature of mobile app distribution. In laymen’s terms, two or more app sources have to be maintained otherwise a mismatch in versioning and functionality will occur. While standalone apps are probably safe those connecting to servers or other devices will function improperly; if one source isn’t updated on time, a whole user base will suffer.

Solution
You can search the Android Market via the Browser and download the APK manually .
Another solution is to install a modified version of the Market from the Internet. A quick Google Search for ‘tablet install market‘ yields hundreds of results. There are some that don’t require you to root your device.
A more desirable way is to root your device and install the full Market. This should enable you to receive important updates to the Market app, something you might not get with a modified version.
The hardcore solution is flash a custom ROM. Custom ROM’s will have the Android Market integrated by default. You’ll get all the benefits of the Market and probably enjoy several performance enhancements. You’ll need to install ClockWorkMod recovery for this.

2. Totalitarian Style Root Prevention

Android devices are regularly advertised as free and open. Customization is encouraged and as a user, you control the phone, not the other way round. It’s blissful… Unsurprisingly, the utopia Google envisioned didn’t quite match that of major manufacturers who promptly locked down their devices and developed new ways to prevent any kind of modification. To genuinely customize a device, you need root access.
Simple protection is expected but some devices are almost impossible to root. Bootloader protection, updates to reverse root procedures and heavily restricted permissions all stink of some totalitarian regime where users operate the device in a manner satisfying the manufacturer.

Solution:
Research your device. See if the bootloader can be unlocked via an official (or unofficial) method. HTC have just announced a large number of their phones can now be unlocked via their website for free. Better yet, check the ease in which a device can be rooted before you buy it.

1. System App Bloatware.

Bloatware installed as System Apps was always going to be top of the list and you knew it. What do most people do when they buy a new PC? Uninstall the unnecessary OEM software that is included. That’s not possible on many Android devices as manufacturers (and networks) include bloatware as System apps. Without root access, bloatware installed as a System App cannot be removed from an Android device. What makes it worse is quite a large number of bloatware apps require you to pay a fee to use them. You can’t remove them and you can’t use them unless you pay…
Go Team Dictatorship.

Solution:
There is only one, root your phone. User apps are sandboxed preventing you from modifying internal data… such as system apps.

Anti-features continued:

The definition of Anti-feature is open to interpretation as many consider the term anti-feature to be subjective. What exactly constitutes an anti-feature?

In my opinion, an obvious example of an anti-feature is Microsoft’s original Zune blocking content that didn’t use Microsoft’s DRM (Digital Rights Management). It was a feature, but it didn’t benefit the majority of users and was included as a marketing ploy. Therefore, it was an anti-feature. Yet, some will look you straight in the face and tell you it was useful, important, ‘maintained stability’ etc.

A more ambiguous example is this:

Konica Minolta Laser Printers prevent users installing imitation toner cartridges by checking a microchip that verifies it’s a legitimate replacement. As a secondary function, the chip also monitors the levels of toner within the cartridge. When the cartridge is empty, the chip expires forcing the user into purchasing a replacement. You cannot reuse the cartridge by refilling as the microchip has expired and this process is irreversible.

The example above is tricky. You can understand why Konica Minolta want to block users installing imitation cartridges but is it necessary for the chip to expire? I’ll leave that up to you.

Leaked ICS ROM for the Galaxy S II has been making its rounds around the internet for quite a while now, and the nerdier ones among you might already have your hands wet with it. Here’s good news for the rest of us; it seems the wait wouldn’t be long before Samsung officially rolls out the update.

Eldar Murtazin, one of the biggest names when it comes to leaks, has broken the news that Samsung will start updating its line of Galaxy S II smartphones to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, starting from the 1^st of March. As usual, the update will roll out as OTA packages or via Samsung’s Kies PC client.

The ever-present catch, as always, applies – the exact date the update releases for your device will depend on your country and carrier. Considering that Galaxy S II has nearly a dozen variants across carriers, this might potentially turn out as a bummer. At least, we have something solid to hold on to – we’ll now have to see how long it takes for carriers to respond.

[  Source  ]

Check out today’s featured mobile wallpapers!  You can download these wallpapers for your favourite device in our wallpaper gallery and customize your mobile to suit your unique personality.  We are always updating our wallpaper galleries with the freshest content.  You can find the very latest wallpapers in the sidebar, so make sure to check that out every time you visit us!

Todays 360×640 Wallpapers

You can download todays 360×640 Wallpapers from our 360×640 Wallpaper gallery.

Todays 800×480 Wallpapers

You can download todays 800×480 Wallpapers from our 800×480 Wallpaper gallery.

Todays 240×320 Wallpapers

You can download todays 240×320 Wallpapers from our 240×320 Wallpaper gallery.

Today’s 320×240 Wallpapers

You can download today’s 320×240 Wallpapers from our 320×240 Wallpaper gallery.

Today’s 640×480 Wallpapers

You can download today’s 640×480 Wallpapers from our 640×480 Wallpaper gallery.

Today’s 960×854 Android Wallpapers

You can download todays 960×854 Wallpapers from our 960×854 Wallpaper gallery.

Today’s 960×800 Android Wallpapers

You can download todays 960×800 Wallpapers from our 960×800 Wallpaper gallery.

Today’s 480×800 Windows Phone Wallpapers

You can download todays 480×800 Wallpapers from our 480×800 Wallpaper gallery.