Nokia cuts phone prices as market growth returns

“Nokia said price changes were part of its normal, ongoing business. The world’s top cellphone maker usually cuts prices across its portfolio a few times each year.Several industry sources told Reuters Nokia had cut prices by up to 10 percent.After the price cut Nokia’s cheapest smartphone model, the 5230, retails for around 170 euros ($239) in Finland. The model’s wholesale price is now below 120 euros.Demand for cheaper smartphones has helped the segment grow despite the recession, defying the broader, weaker industry trend. Sales jumped 30 percent in the October-December quarter according to research firm Strategy Analytics.Nokia said last week that revenue from smartphones jumped 26 percent in the quarter from the previous quarter to 3.9 billion euros, helping power its overall result. The average wholesale price of its smartphones dipped to 186 euros from 190 euros in the third quarter.The falling prices have hurt handset vendors like Sony Ericsson, who have focused on mid-range or feature phones, which often boast good cameras or music players but lack computer-like open operating systems.These have been cheaper than smartphones, but the price difference is declining fast.”This latest round of price adjustments sees Nokia taking its low-cost Symbian devices into new territory,” said Ben Wood, research director at CCS Insight, a British firm that tracks the wholesale prices of mobile phones in Europe.Nokia’s price cuts come as the industry returns to growth following a grim 2009 marked by recession-hit consumer demand. Nokia says it expects the cellphone market to grow 10 percent this year.” via reuters.com

LG GW620 Review at phonearena

“Android is an operating system that failed to bring about the eagerly anticipated revolution in the cell phone world, but has managed to become overwhelmingly popular. At this time, probably the only cell phone manufacturers that are not heavily preoccupied working on Android-based devices are Apple, Nokia and Palm. Many studies prove the platform is getting more widespread and influential by the day and most of them also indicate that Android will rank second to Symbian in just a few years. Android and LG. These are words that we don’t typically use in one and the same sentence. So far, the Korean manufacturer has introduced two Android-based handsets to be sold globally – the LG GW620 (also known as the Eve) and the GT540. What the company seems to be trying to accomplish with them is get a proper feel of the market and showcase its personalized S-CLASS interface on a brand new platform. Neither of these two comes with powerful hardware or contemporary software. LG GW620 hit the shelves equipped with somewhat obsolete software, because is runs Android version 1.5, while the current OS edition as the time of this review is 2.1.” Read more here:

Nokia E52 v31.012 firmware now available

Nokia E52 firmware update

“A new firmware update, version 31.012, is now available for the Nokia E52. The update is currently only available via Nokia Software Updater (PC). We’ve not noticed any major changes, but a number of bug fixes and small version updates to built in applications (Web, Email, Music Store, Maps) are included. The phone’s noise cancellation parameters have also been updated, which should improve audio quality of calls. Please let us know about your experiences in the comment thread.” via allaboutsymbian.com