Nokia has just released its financial report for Q1 2013, and things aren't as rosy as the Finns might have hoped for. Despite making €5.9 billion in net sales, the company Nokia Group still reported a loss of €150 million.
On the brighter side, Lumia handset sales have gone up by 27 percent quarter-over-quarter to 5.6 million units in Q1 2013.
The report shows an overall device volume shipments of 55.8 million units (smartphones and feature phones), or 30 percent less than what the company managed in Q4 2012. As a result, net sales in Devices&Services alone are down 25 percent QoQ to €2.9 billion.
Nokia Siemens Networks, which is part of the Nokia Group, reported a 30% decrease of net sales QoQ to €2.8 billion, but its operating margin went up by 7%. It managed to contribute €210 million net cash to Nokia Group.
Nokia CEO Stephen Elop chimed in with his opinion on the results:
At the highest level, we are pleased that Nokia Group achieved underlying operating profitability for the third quarter in a row. While operating in a highly competitive environment, Nokia is executing our strategy with urgency and managing our costs very well. We have areas where we are making progress, and areas where we are further increasing the focus. For example, people are responding positively to the Lumia portfolio, and our volumes are increasing quarter over quarter. Nokia Siemens Networks delivered another strong quarter and contributed to an overall improvement in Nokia Group’s cash position. On the other hand, our Mobile Phones business faces a difficult competitive environment, and we are taking tactical actions and bringing new innovation to market to address our challenges. All of these efforts are aimed at improving our financial performance and delivering more value to our shareholders.
Geographically, Nokia did best in Europe and in the Asia-Pacific region with net sales of €895 million and €724 million, respectively. In Europe, the company shipped 11.8 million mobile devices, while in the Asia-Pacific region it has shipped nearly double that at 23.1 million devices.
All regions, except North America, saw decreased net sales on a year-on-year basis. The North-American growth is primarily contributed to the successes of the Smart Devices business unit, meaning that Lumia smartphones have finally started to make a difference across the pond.
The Finns remain optimistic for the second quarter of the year, expecting a wider availability of its Lumia smartphones and a higher sequential growth compared to Q1.
BlackBerry 10 has been around for a few months now and while it's had a couple of minor updates we're starting to learn what the first major upgrade will bring.
The folks over at CrackBerry have been doing some digging in the BlackBerry 10.1 SDK and have managed to uncover some juicy morsels of information on what the update has in store for us.
First up the camera app will be getting some love with the inclusion of a HDR mode, allowing you to take better snaps with your BlackBerry Z10 or BlackBerry Q10.
A World of change
BlackBerry World is also getting a small refresh, with an easier way to check for app updates - which really is a welcome addition as it's a real pain at the moment - plus the inclusion of a voucher code box, suggesting BlackBerry will go down the Apple and Google route of offering coupons in stores.
Pin-to-Pin messaging has also been added to the BlackBerry Hub, allowing you to easily send encrypted missives to your fellow BlackBerry buddies.
A number of smaller cosmetic and functional additions and tweaks will also be included in the update, such as the ability to paste a number into the dialler and new help demos when someone boots up their device for the first time.
More new features will likely surface as the BlackBerry 10.1 update approaches a release - although that date is currently unknown.
With iOS 7 and Android Key Lime Pie both expected to arrive later this year BlackBerry needs to make sure its BB 10 platform can keep pace with the dominant forces in the mobile market.
The Samsung Galaxy S4 mini has been tentatively confirmed by two official sources – Samsung SVP Lee Keon Hyok and Samsung’s support page. We can add one more to the list, the User Agent profile.
The profile confirms the qHD (540 x 960 pixels) resolution of the screen, which is 4.3" in diagonal according to rumors, working out to 256ppi. It’s most likely going to be a Super AMOLED screen, so here’s hoping it’s not the same PenTile unit used in the Motorola RAZR i or the HTC One S.
That’s all the info we can tease out of the profile, but the rumored specs of the Galaxy S4 mini include an 8MP camera, 1.6GHz dual-core processor (possibly a Cortex-A15 packing Exynos 5250 like in the Galaxy Megas), Android 4.2.2 and latest TouchWiz. Versions with LTE and dual-SIM should be available too.
Now there's no excuse for forgetting to pick up the kids from school
Make list. Tick things off list. Lose list. List-making apps for smartphones are myriad, but so far have taken longer to use than a pen and paper.
Available on different platforms and devices - such as iOS, Mac OS X, Android, Chrome, Gmail and Windows-flavoured operating systems - and often synced via the cloud, we've enlisted some of the best free apps for this super-test.
There are a plethora of paid apps, too, with the likes of Firetask, ToDo and TaskPaper costing a staggering £27.99/US$39.99, £10.49/US$4.99 and £17.49/US$24.99 respectively, but to us that seems like the digital equivalent of spending a week drawing a revision timetable. Here's some of our favourite free or cheap task apps from the hundreds now available.
1. Wunderlist 2
Free (Android, iPad, iPhone, Mac, Windows)
The best-looking app around is also the king of the cloud. Tasks can be entered and later filed into folders (work, DIY or anything - it's free text entry), or smart lists created for today, the current week, or for anything starred. It's familiar, it's simple and it's enormously useful.
We especially like the way each entry can be expanded upon; a simple 'buy bread' instruction can be created that just sits there until being digitally crossed-off (by ticking a box), or it can be given a due date whereby pop-ups appear on a smartphone and desktop - and even via email. It goes deeper, with a notepad available for each entry that can store reams of simple text.
Our only complaint is that anything pasted into the notepad loses all formatting, and there's not even bold/italic/underline functionality within the apps. Other than that, it's not far off being a task-based Evernote. Everything is stored on the cloud, and lists can be shared between people, too, so it's just as good for a weekly shared shopping list as it is for a work project.
2. Remember the Milk
Free (Android, Gmail, Google Calendar, iPad, iPhone, Outlook, Twitter)
It looks basic and, design-wise, a little dated, but in practice Remember The Milk is one of the better task apps, largely because it's available across so many platforms.
King of the cloud sync, Remember The Milk is as comprehensive - or not - as you want it to be. If you just want to make a simple list of things not to forget, the default sections for Today, Tomorrow and Overdue are probably enough. Exact due dates and times can be set and reminders (via email or text message) come through promptly, though it's also possible to set daily, weekly or even yearly tasks that could cover birthday present-buying or annual job tasks (such as filing tax forms).
Its availability across almost every device and platform is another bonus, but think twice about installing it everywhere - it works for you, remember, not the other way around.
3. Clear
£1.49/US$1.99 or £4.99/US$6.99 (iPhone or Mac)
Last year's hit task app and surely a design inspiration for the popular Mailbox http://www.mailboxapp.com app doing the rounds this year, Clear is all about swiping instead of tapping.
Folders and individual tasks are created by side-swipes, with left and right gestures completing or deleting them, while a long swipe downwards returns to the main screen. The interface relies on blocks of colour, though several simple themes are available.
Clear is a product of the 'less is more' mantra, and while that will be a plus for some, others will sorely miss the chance to set reminders, create timed events or program recurring tasks. Although it's thoroughly modern and thoughtfully designed, it's not much more than an electronic version of a paper notebook - although the cloud-syncing introduced with the birth of a Mac app version does change that.
There is some unnecessary clutter, with empty folders graced by pithy rent-a-quotes from the likes of Thomas Edison, Carl Sagan and, err, Bruce Lee, which can be posted by Twitter. That gives it a slightly amateur dimension that doesn't sit well with its price, though overall the core simplicity of Clear will be just what some users are after.
4. ITA
69p/US$0.99 (iPad, iPhone)
Most to-do list apps hinge on a smartphone app, but ITA - though for iOS only - is also optimised for the iPad. Like Clear, ITA is another very simple app that does away with scheduling or recurring tasks and instead presents text-only entry boxes for tasks.
Once grouped together under a heading - say, Work, Home or DIY - tasks can all be reordered, edited, completed (and thus put to the bottom) and entire lists shared by either email or - unusually - by text message, most often by a tap or a drag. The master list of, err, lists can also be reordered, but across the app there's a mishmash of different fonts, sizes and backgrounds that give it a slightly disjointed look.
Although all lists can be stored locally, there's a cloud-based option if you want to access and alter tasks from both an iPhone and iPad.
5. Any.DO
Free (Android, Chrome, iPhone)
Probably the most beautiful-looking task app, Any.DO works across iOS and Android devices as well as via an almost identical Chrome extension, though there's an email action plugin for Gmail, too.
The elegant interface is divided into Today, Tomorrow, Upcoming and Someday. When entering a new task on Any.DO there's a speech-to-text option that works reasonably well, though it only makes one attempt; if it misunderstands you it's back to the keyboard. Notes can be made for each task - again, there's a speech-to-text option upfront - and tasks can be shared with others via email.
Reminders can be set for specific times, while tasks can recur daily, weekly, monthly, or even yearly. However, the app's daily reminder at 10am to 'take a moment to plan your day' does grate; who wants to be hassled by an app?
Although it syncs with Google Tasks, a unique angle of Any.DO is a Gmail plugin that monitors the language in all incoming emails in an attempt to extract a task to add to Any.DO. In practice, the suggested action is often way off the mark, but it's a cinch to add free text in the 'What's Next?' box and set a time to follow up.
As well as a rather simple Chrome extension, there's a new location-based feature that uses your phone's GPS to set geographical alerts. However, it's only available if you go through the process of inviting friends to use Any.DO, which for us is a task too far.
6. Taskulous
Free (iPhone)
Designed solely for the iPhone, Taskulous is similar in structure - if not in scale - as Any.DO.The basic front screen groups things into Today, Scheduled and Someday, which might be a bit prescriptive for some, but in practice covers anything. That last folder - Someday - can become a dumping ground for tasks that don't fit anywhere else, but can be just as exhaustively scheduled as anything else.
For each task there's a free-text Notes tab and a Due Date and - best of all - the option to add it to a linked Calendar, such as iCal or Google Calendar. It's a clever way to both extend the reach of this one-device app and meld with your existing ways of organising your life. As well as appearing in the Scheduled tab, any event or task can be shared via email.
However, even if you give exhaustive due dates for tasks they don't appear in the Scheduled section, just the folder you originally created them in, so you have to make that decision beforehand. The empty Logbook section, which is presumably for completed tasks but remained empty during our test, reinforces our feeing that Taskulous isn't quite as polished or as flexible as it first appears.
Super-sized smartphones are all the rage these days with the Huawei Ascend Mate, ZTE Grand Memo and the ridiculously big Galaxy Mega following in the footsteps of the Samsung Galaxy Note - and Nokia is apparently next in line to get in on the action.
According to sources talking to the Finanical Times, the Finnish firm is cooking up a large-screened handset of its own.
This phone-tablet crossover device is said to be a similar size to the Galaxy Note, but will be technically more advanced - however, there were no details on specs, release date or even a name.
More where that came from
There's more than just a super-sized smartphone on the cards over at Nokia though, with people "familiar with Nokia's plans" claiming it's readying several high-end flagship products for 2013.
Only yesterday did we hear further rumours surrounding the Nokia EOS and it's 41MP PureView camera and these reports have been reinforced by the sources who reckon we could see the handset arrive in July.
Caught on the Catwalk
There have also been murmurings surrounding another Nokia device, dubbed Catwalk, which is thought to be a leaner Lumia 920 - something which is mentioned in the FT report.
Over on Sina Weibo - China's version of Twitter - the Nokia Catwalk has apparently appeared in a number of snaps, revealing that it is indeed both lighter (by 50g) and slimmer (by 2.3mm) than the Lumia 920.
According to the report the Lumia Catwalk will feature a 4.5-inch display, 1.5GHz dual-core processor, 16GB of internal storage, 2000mAh battery and an 8.7MP camera.
WPCentral claim these details have been "confirmed" by one of its own sources, but we're staying cautious on all these rumours - although it does seem Nokia is working on some big things.
Samsung is having a golden run in the market and it looks like the company is all set to extend its run at the top. Samsung, the makers of smartphones, tablet, memory chips and flat-panel TV's, is expected to achieve a record 10 trillion won (about $8.98 billion) in operating profits in Q2, according to analysts.
The operating profits of the company for the period April to June are expected to rise to 62.2% year-on-year, according to the data compiled by a financial information provider.
Prediction are that the latest Galaxy smartphones and the launch of the company's latest flagship will play key part in the success, boosting Samsung's sales significantly.
We have heard rumors in the past of Nokia working on a successor to the Lumia 920 with an aluminum body. The Lumia 928, as it turned out, however, did not actually have an aluminum body, at least according to the leaked image. But it seems there is something else that just might.
What you see above are allegedly pictures of an upcoming Nokia Lumia phone known only by the codename 'Catwalk'. This phone features an aluminum frame but with a plastic back. This would seem like something they would do to prevent attenuation of radio signals but the frame has strips near the top that suggest that Nokia is already using the frame as an antenna, the way Apple did on the iPhone 4/4S. The plastic back then is probably for wireless charging support.
Looking around the phone we can see the SIM slot, headphone jack and microUSB port on top and the power and volume control keys on the right. On the back is the camera lens with a sizable hump and an LED flash. The hump suggests that the phone is either extremely thin or that the phone is using a particularly large sensor (PureView?). Near the bottom is the loudspeaker.
Not much else is known about this phone at the moment. It remains to be seen if this device sees the light of day or was just a prototype.
