Nokia phone to use Maemo software

The Nokia N900 handset will run on Maemo software previously found in Internet tablet devices, and it plans to use the technology in other high-end models.
The model lets customers multitask and browse more easily than previous smartphones, the Espoo, Finland, company said in a statement. The touchscreen-and-qwerty device will cost about $713 without subsidies and ship in its first markets in October, Nokia said.

Nokia has used Maemo since 2005 in touchscreen tablets wihtout built-in phone functions. The system is based on Linux open-source software, which may help Nokia attract developers in competition with Google’s Android, which is also based on Linux, and Apple’s iPhone.

Nokia 5800 magically starts working on 3G

Olde NAM 5800 XpressMusic today, and the weirdest thing happened: it worked on 3G. This comes after a day of frustration trying to get it hooked up to UMTS yesterday -- a sentiment echoed by several others who took the plunge. The only theory we can come up with is that we were in Chicago yesterday at the Nokia flagship store -- a place where many of the "defective" units were sold -- and today we're elsewhere, so it's conceivable that there's an issue with AT&T's 3G network in Chicago. We've noticed an uptick in 3G loss on other devices in Chicago the past few days, so it's possible that the 5800 is just particularly sensitive to crappy networks; then again, there seem to be others in New York that have the same issue, so it's anybody's guess. All we know for sure is that we're showing a big, fat "3.5G" logo in the upper left corner of our unit at the moment -- and we're going to cross our fingers that it stays that way.

Nokia's 6212 with Bluetooth NFC

While the 3G Nokia 6212 classic doesn't look like much, what it lacks in style is more than made up by the genius of Bluetooth-enabled Near Field Communication. If you remember the video we showed you way back in March of 2007, the combo makes device pairing and transferring content like photos, video, music, calendar data, contacts, etc. as easy a touching the phone to a NFC-enabled picture frame, cellphone, speaker, or headset like Nokia's own NFC-variant of the BH-210. It will also work with NFC payment systems. According to Jeremy Belostock, the Head of Near Field Communications at Nokia, "NFC-capable handsets such as the Nokia 6212 classic are set to change the way mobile phone users interact with devices and services in their surroundings." You said it Jeremy, you said it. Expected to start shipping in Europe and Asia in the Q3 for about €200.

Nokia's Health guard

It is quite an understandable fact that there is an obvious necessity to help the elderly. Due to their age they often get things wrong, so it's almost impossible for them to do everything by themselves. Thus, all of us who do love them and want to keep them around for as long as possible try to use all the means in order to help them. With that in mind, the creators of the "Health Guard" concept for Nokia believe that the best way to keep them around is to track their every movement.

The new gadget designed by Marcela Kawka and Izabela Cichecka represents a two-piece monitoring station that controls (via RFID - Radio Frequency Identification - a technology that uses tiny computer chips to track items such as consumer commodities at distance) what the elderly consume: expired foods, medicine, possible allergens and nutritional information. In case some problems appear you can easily find out an exhaustive explanation for the reasons that caused them. Given concept attaches to any refrigerator and features a detachable RFID reader for trips to the local market, as well as a touch display base with easy to recognize universal icons.

As other features of the gadget are concerned a memo pad and voice recorder for leaving long messages should be mentioned. In addition to that this station has quite a high end design that would probably satisfy both young and old people.

Nokia E90 gets some sparkle

Seeing fashion-centric devices bedecked in jewels all the time, but the E90 is pretty much exclusively the domain of the business set, and we're having a hard time imagining Joe Stock Broker going, like, totally crazy over this pimped version. The Nokia phone has been set with 408 diamonds and an 18 carat white gold shell by Peter Aloisson and retails for around $80k. Yeah, Joe Stocks is really going to flip. We have nothing more to add, other than our traditional, time-worn plea to Nokia: please release a 3G version of this in the States, we swear it's not to late.