I may start a site all to do with smartphone battery problems such is the current trend to moan about how long our poor mini laptops last.

*I am wholeheartedly one of those people.

2nd update to solve problem:

So now it seems Nokia have again released an update aimed at solving the Nokia Lumia 800 battery problems that have plagued so many new Nokia Lumia Windows Phone 7 device owners.

One of the main issues that Nokia acknowledged at the back end of 2011 was that the device was not reporting the full capacity of the battery.

Some other improvements are mentioned and they include performance improvements such as “Wi-Fi connectivity enhancements” though it is unclear if there will be an update to Windows phone 7.5 as many hope. This update will however bring with it another solution to the disappearing virtual keyboard bug that has also been a cause for concern for Nokia Lumia owners.

The roll out has already started with owners getting a notification on their device o show they can indeed go ahead and do the update, this will require access to a PC or Mac and will be delivered via Microsoft’s Zune software to finish off the installation and all being well result in an improved overall experience for Lumia 800 owners.

With Samsung not particularly acknowledging reported battery issues on their various devices affected until a recent statement saying that all 2012 Samsung smartphones will last a full day on one charge it is quite nice to see Nokia actually have a go and stand up to the reports and actually look like they care while taking some action…fingers crossed it all works.

Have you had issues with your Nokia Lumia 800, if so please do let us know any ways you have manged to rectify or avoid problems moving forward.

And here is the video to show you how to do that:

Source: Nokia_UK Twitter,

What would you think if you received a Xmas card with a picture of a Nokia Lumia 800 or 900 on it for Xmas?

Well, if you are in the UK and suspect it to be a Lumia 800 from your local phone shop then you know that they are just being friendly and keeping in touch with you after you have perhaps bought one of the new Nokia Windows phones, or perhaps are due an upgrade, in which case, have you seen the new Nokia Windows 800’s?

Either way, make no mistake, the shop does not care about your Xmas but would like to sell you a new device.

But what if you received this as a savvy US consumer and noticed that it had AT&T on it and a front screen camera!

If so, this could be more intriguing, is this a new device that is yet to emerge called the Nokia Ace?

Nokia Ace due at CES?

Americans usually need a name for their devices, and not a number, presumably on the advice of device manufacturers marketing departments.

So with a pinch of salt we wonder if this was a slip up by an over zealous Microsoft employee, or just a photo-shopped image that snaps together a few layers to create a perfectly good Nokia Ace rumour image.

Some noticeable features anyway:

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• AT&T Logo
• 4G Icon
• Front facing camera

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AT&T are on schedule to release three LTE enabled phones this year one of which will be the Nokia Ace, but exactly what the Nokia Ace will be is another story best left to rumor right now, it could even be Tango and not Mango that is used as its operating system.

The other two LTE enabled phones due for release will be the Samsung Mandel and HTC Radiant.

What do you think to this picture? A hoax? Or, nicely timed rumor picture that will get people talking?

Your comments as always greatly appreciated.

With the recent launch of the new Nokia Windows range with the arrival of the Nokia Lumia 800 here in the UK, it was only a matter of time before the highly anticipated Nokia Lumia 710, codenamed “Sabre” was released to the UK and US, but, it has not arrived quickly.

As the device was aimed at emerging markets, it has already been released in certain European and Asian countries, but has yet to find a home in the US or UK, so what is it, and when will it be released?

So what is the Nokia 710?

Way back when, we did a review of the Nokia Windows Smartphone Range and discussed the various Nokia Lumia’s that would appear on sale over time.

And many have forgotten that there was also going to be a budget priced Lumia, and that is exactly what the Lumia 710 is. A cut-price, scaled down Lumia 800 for emerging markets like India, Hong Kong, Russia, Singapore and Taiwan and people on a tighter budget.

Nokia Lumia 710 to arrive in early 2012:

The main differences that the Lumia 710 will have when compared to the Lumia 800 is this:

[arrowlist]

• Camera quality (5MP)
• Single flash
• No hardware navigation buttons
• LCD instead of AMOLED display
• Smaller 8GB of on board storage

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Having said that it will still boast the same Windows Mango O/S, and the nifty 1.4GHz processor and stunning 3.7 inch display, I have to say after using the Nokia Lumia 800 briefly in store, that I really like the device in general, as the whole phone just works so well.

This is unlike many Android phones I have also used, which just lack that certain “on the ball” quality when it comes to typing in passwords and generally using the device, call me lazy, but I just like stuff to work well, and I am really not into hacks and workarounds to get extra pizazz out of my phone, life is too short.

Nokia 710 release date:

Here in the UK it is DigitalPhone.co.uk who seem to think that the Lumia 710 will see UK store shelves after the 6th of January when they seem to suggest that stock is due to arrive, we are currently unsure when the US will see their Lumia 710 or 800 devices but expect them to be pretty soon around this date. This is assuming that they release these models and do not develop a purpose built model for the US. The carrier is rumoured to be T-Mobile by the way for the US Nokia Lumia series. Though we have talked about the even smarter looking Nokia Lumia 900 coming the US way soon.

Of course in the case of the UK release date, this is still all very much rumourville, but really makes a lot of sense, as this was the ball park date that was muted ages ago.

With the Lumia 800 said to be under-performing in sales one minute, and doing really well the next, it still makes sense for Nokia to get a budget version out ASAP as their marketing campaigns are starting to get noticed in various locations and on different mediums.

It is likely that the Lumia 710 will be sub £250 for a SIM free device, which is around £150 cheaper than the current Lumia 800.

What do you think of the Lumia series, are you tempted yet?

US citizens will be happy with news just in from BGR, who are claiming to have obtained information about the release of the new flagship Nokia Lumia model which is likely to offer a slightly larger display than the current Nokia Lumia 800, the name of which is likely to be simply a Nokia Lumia 900.

What other features are offered:

[arrowlist]

• 1.4 Ghz processor
• 8 megapixel camera
• 4,3 inch ClearBlack AMOLED display
• Windows Phone Tango

[/arrowlist]

US to see a huge marketing drive for the new Nokia/Windows marriage:

January and February look set to see a huge marketing drive from the Finnish device manufactures, which suggests that the launch of the new phone will be some time after the CES show in January 2012.

It looks like exciting times ahead for Nokia despite rumours that they are not selling units of the Nokia 800 series very well here in the UK.

With the launch of the Nokia Lumia 800 in the UK last week, Nokia are only expected to ship around 500,000 units globally before the end of 20122.

Now forgive me but that actually seems like quite a large number for a device that has just entered the market. Most people on the high street are unaware of Nokia’s need to save face in the smartphone arena, so this figure actually seems to be pretty high considering there are only a few weeks left in 2011 and it only just got released, and we seem to be in a global meltdown financially!

So let us look deeper into the findings and opinions of the Bernstein research and others:

An analyst at the firm going by the name Pierre Ferragu has indicated that the Google trend activity seems to be roughly the same as what was surrounding the Nokia N8 which was the Symbian powered older brother to the Lumia 800.

Why are they predicting lower sales?

Bernstein Research reckons that the Nokia Lumia 800, which launched in the UK last week, will only ship half a million units before the end of 2011.

Similarly, another research company called Pacific Crest says it has revised its forecast for units shipped from two million by the end of 2011 to the figure quoted above of half a million, so why have both of these companies ended up with pretty much the same figure?

Pierre Ferragu is quoted saying:

“We don’t believe Lumia phones are competitively priced…..and with no breakthrough innovation, we believe Nokia’s new phones are unlikely to get traction in a highly concentrated high-end…..we have seen evidences of lack of traction for the Windows operating system over the last 12 months and challenge the idea that the Nokia brand can make a meaningful difference today.”

In my own opinion and from speaking to people at recent events I have to say that my own theory is that Nokia will bounce back slowly with their new product ranges as the device does look very appealing running Windows O/S, and the general public seem impressed.

Time will tell.

Have you used a new Nokia Lumia device? And if so, were you as impressed as me at it’s overall look and feel? Though for me the browser seemed sluggish and average.