The Nokia N9 and "Sea Ray"

It's been an odd couple of weeks for Nokia. On the 21st June they announced the new N9, which is the first smartphone to run the MeeGo operating system. This was always gong to be a strange product launch, as Nokia had already stated that this would be the first and last MeeGo device they ship, as their strategy is to transition all of their smartphones to the Windows Phone 7 operating system. 

However this is where the story gets interesting, because instead of the N9 being dead on arrival (like many had predicted), it has actually been very well reviewed, with high praise going to the MeeGo operating system. Meaning that ironically, the company that has been desperately searching for a competitive smartphone operating system to replace Symbian, may have had what they were looking the entire time.

Unfortunately, regardless of the potential of the N9 and MeeGo, it looks like this ship has sailed, as Stephen Elop (Nokia CEO) has firmly placed the future of Nokia in Microsoft's hands. Although this may still turn out to be the right move for Nokia in the long run, personally I would have taken more interest in MeeGo, which looks like it could be very competitive and Nokia could have directly controlled its destiny, making it their own operating system (instead of being tied to Microsoft).

Take a look at the short video from Engadget of the N9 and MeeGo below:

So what about Windows Phone 7 and Nokia? Well, in what feels like an attempt to prove that the partnership between Nokia and Microsoft is real, a few days after the N9 annoucement Elop gave us a sneak peak at the first Nokia Windows Phone device, codenamed "Sea Ray". The unveiling of the device can be seen below in a very odd PR video, where Elop pleads with the crowd not to film their "top secret" work, before hours later officially releasing the full video online.

Overall it looks like the Sea Ray hardware is similar to the N9, except it is running Windows Phone 7 (Mango). Like the N9, the device looks very nice and as for Windows Phone 7, well, it's Windows Phone 7 (you've seen one, you've seen them all). I guess we'll have to wait and see how Nokia's Microsoft driven strategy plays out over the next few years, but it is starting to feel like a move that will favor Microsoft, and after all, it would take a bold person to buy a device that has already been given its death sentence.

Windows Phone 7 "Mango" Announced

Today Microsoft held a press event to formally announce the next generation version of Windows Phone 7, codenamed Mango. We have already heard a fair amount about Mango at previous Microsoft conferences, but Steve Ballmer made a bold claim earlier in the week that Mango would include 500 new features, so I was excited to see what's new.

The result, to be honest, was a little disappointing. Don't get me wrong Mango looks great, but the majority of features that were shown at the press event we had either already seen or knew about. So in reality there were probably only a handful of new features announced, none of which were what I consider "game changers".

So let's take a look at what Mango will bring:

Communications:

• The ability to toggle between Facebook Chat, Windows Live Messenger Chat and Messages, all in one conversation.
• Contact groups can be turned into personalized Live Tiles for a quick glance of recent status updates as well as a fast way of interacting right from the Start screen.
• Twitter integration as well as LinkedIn integration with Contacts. 
• Facebook check-ins with better face detection and easy tagging.
• Linked inbox for combining several accounts with grouped messages and conversation view.
• Hands-free messaging with speech-to-text and text-to-speech.

Applications:

• Multitasking with some applications having the ability to run in the background. The user can easily toggle between them.
• Improved Dynamic Live Tiles allow for easy information retrieval and update without the need for the corresponding app to be open.
• Applications will be featured on Search results and Hubs and will be displayed when necessary.

Internet:

• Internet Explorer 9 brings PC browser power to your smartphone with HTML 5 and hardware acceleration.
• Local Scout gives you local recommendations for restaurants, shops, activities in your vicinity while displaying them in an easy to read manner.
• Improved Bing featuring Bing Vision, Music Search and Voice for easily recognizing images, tags, songs and your speech.
• Quick Cards will bring you a relevant summary and applications while searching for a product, movie, event or place.

The Ecosystem:

• The platform and ecosystem will be further improved by welcoming three new hardware partners: Acer, Fujitsu Ltd and ZTE. These OEMs committed to delivering Windows Phones on a global scale by the end of this year.  

Microsoft have also put togther a short teaser video showing off some of the new features:

Mango is expected to be released late 2011 and will be compatible with all previous hardware models. It will also come with a host of new models (with faster hardware), including the highly anticipated Nokia release. As always with Microsoft the branding is a little confusing, although Mango is the codename the final product will likely be called Windows Phone 7.5, which internally at Microsoft it will be known as Windows Phone 7.1. Only Microsoft could make the name so complicated!

Windows Phone 7 "NoDo" Update

After months of delays and a couple of false starts, Microsoft have finally released the first Windows Phone 7 update, known as NoDo.

The update (which was expected in January) is build 7390 and released under the "Windows Phone Update – March 2011" push. It includes the following new features and improvements, with comments straight from Microsoft:

Copy and Paste - "In many cases you just tap a word, slide your finger to highlight any additional text, then tap the Copy icon. To insert this text in a message or app, just tap the spot where it should go, then tap the Paste icon."

Faster Apps and Games - "Nobody likes to wait. That’s why we've whittled down the time it takes for apps and games to start up and resume. It’s all part of our focus on getting you to the things you love, easier and faster."

Better Marketplace Search - "We've streamlined Marketplace search to make it easier to find specific apps, games, or music. Press the Search button in the apps or games section of Marketplace and you’ll see only apps or games in the results."

Wi-Fi Improvements - "We now display your phone’s Media Access Control (MAC) address in Settings. We've also removed the limit on the number of Wi-Fi profiles that you can store and reduced the time it takes to start your phone if you've stored lots of Wi-Fi profiles."

Outlook Improvements - "We've improved the experience of viewing iPhone photo attachments you receive from a non-Exchange-based email account (such as a Google Mail, Hotmail, or Yahoo! Mail account), using the Global Address List (GAL) when connecting to Exchange Server 2003 using Exchange ActiveSync, and working with email display names that contain brackets (for example, "David Alexander [Contoso]")."

Messaging Improvements - "We've improved the experience of receiving Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) messages if your phone uses a PIN-locked SIM."

Facebook / Camera / Audio Improvements - Microsoft has improved the experience of syncing Facebook accounts and the stability of switching between camera and video modes in the camera application. The company has also improved the use of Bluetooth headsets during calls or playing music and videos.

Overall "NoDo" looks like a good update, it's just a shame that it's taken this long to get it to users. Hopefully future updates will happen on a more regular basis (although initial rumors don't look good). I'll keep you posted.

Windows Phone 7.5 (Mango)

During this year's Mobile World Congress and right off the back of the Nokia / Microsoft announcement, Microsoft gave us a sneak peak of the next major update to Windows Phone 7, codenamed Mango.

The key new features demonstrated were:

• Multi-tasking
• Internet Explorer 9
• SkyDrive integration
• Twitter integration into the people hub

The most exciting of these new features is definitely the multi-tasking. This has been a big topic for mobile devices and we have seen a number of different implementations from the main players. Although Apple did a good job with their multi-tasking, I still believe the gold star goes to webOS. Let's see how Microsoft plans to solve the issue:

Overall I think the solution looks good. It feels like a combination of the iOS and webOS multi-tasking, which in theory could offer the best of both worlds. Some people will probably be disappointed as they are expecting multi-tasking on mobile devices to work like it does on the desktop, however I don't think that is a viable option. The desktop and mobile worlds are very different and therefore need a different experience to work effectively. Mobile devices simply don't have the correct display to run two applications side by side and therefore it is is more important that they are able to switch between applications quickly and easily.

As we are currently still waiting for the copy and paste update from Microsoft, don't expect to see "Mango" anytime soon. However, Microsoft seem to be aiming for a late 2011 release, which will be free for all existing Windows Phone 7 users. I'll post more information as it becomes available.

Nokia & Microsoft

The biggest news inTECH over the past week was from Nokia's Capital Markets Day event held in London, where Stephen Elop (Nokia CEO) announced the widely rumoured strategic partnership between Nokia and Microsoft.

I've had a feeling this was coming since October, when Steve Ballmer mentioned at the Microsoft Cloud Development conference in London, that he had just returned from Finland (the home of Nokia). 

This could have a massive impact on the mobile market and is a significant change for Nokia, both strategically and culturally. I have done my best to summarise the main points of the partnership:

• Nokia will adopt Windows Phone (replacing Symbian) as its primary smartphone strategy, innovating on top of the platform in areas such as imaging, where Nokia is a market leader.

• Nokia will help drive and define the future of Windows Phone. Nokia will contribute its expertise on hardware design, language support, and help bring Windows Phone to a larger range of price points, market segments and geographies.

• Nokia and Microsoft will closely collaborate on development, joint marketing initiatives and a shared development roadmap to align on the future evolution of mobile products.

• Bing will power Nokia’s search services across Nokia devices and services, giving customers access to Bing’s next generation search capabilities. Microsoft adCenter will provide search advertising services on Nokia’s line of devices and services.

• Nokia’s content and application store will be integrated with Microsoft Marketplace for a more compelling consumer experience.

• The Nokia / Microsoft deal is not exclusive, however does grant Nokia the ability to make deeper customisations to Windows 7, if required.

The full press announcement from the event can be seen below:

Personally, I believe this is a great opportunity for both companies. Nokia have been struggling to compete in the smartphone world since the launch of the iPhone, primarily because they didn't have access to a decent smartphone operating system. Nokia do however have a truly global reach, with a wealth of knowledge on how to operate across the different countries.

Microsoft, on the other hand, have the foundations of an excellent smartphone operating system (Windows Phone 7), but have a mixed past when it comes to hardware and up to this point didn't have the correct channels to market and sell their mobile products globally.

Therefore, Nokia can hopefully bring iconic hardware design and global reach, while Microsoft can bring the competitive smartphone operating system and synergy with other key products, such as enterprise integration, office, search and Xbox.

To show what is possible, the following concept designs have already been released and I must say, they are looking good!

Since the launch of the iPhone, the mobile industry has been in overdrive and this partnership could be another game changer. Will this secure Microsoft's place as the number three operating system? Could they even start to directly compete against Apple and Google? Willl this be the turnaround Nokia has been waiting for, or will the change in culture be the beginning of the end for the company? And what about HP (Palm) WebOS, where does this other great mobile operating system fit? So many questions, but one thing is for sure, this heated competition is perfect for the consumer, resulting in faster innovation and more competitive pricing.

For more information head over to Nokia's "Conversations" blog.