Nokia's turmoils and subsequent mass layoffs have freed up plenty of smart people in the Finnish workforce to do their own thing. Rovio with Angry Birds, Jolla with Sailfish and now Adaia. The 16-person startup, led by former Nokia employee Heikki Sarajärvi, has revealed that it plans to launch a range of premium Android handsets at some point in 2014 in the US, UK and of course, Finland. By premium, we're looking at anywhere between $1,300 to $6,500, in return for the promise of extra ruggedness and durability as well as potential satellite connectivity. Why Android? Heikki says "there is no alternative," something we assume Stephen Elop would strongly disagree with.
While there are no pictures to share today, local publication Digitoday got a chance to play with a prototype. They say the phone has a 4.8 inch screen and features the ability to hot-swap batteries without needing to turn the device off, though that feature hasn't been fully ironed out yet. One thing that might potentially turn some people off, aside from the exorbitant price, is the phone's weight -- final units are estimated to come in at between 240 and 250 grams, which is 60 grams heavier than even Nokia's tank-like Lumia 920. We've reached out to Adaia to request pictures and more info to find out what's the cause of all that bulk, so stay tuned.
Filed under: Cellphones
Source: Digitoday (Translated) (1), (2)
Today, Renesas is announcing that it's going to "discontinue" the wireless unit it acquired from Nokia. Finnish state media outlet YLE is reporting that all 808 of Renesas' employees in Finland will be let go, of which more than two-thirds are located in the northern city of Oulu. Three years ago, Nokia decided to focus on designing and manufacturing mobile phones. It sold its wireless modem division to the Japanese semiconductor firm Renesas for roughly $200 million. The idea was, with wireless modem R&D moved out of the way, the company could concentrate on developing blockbuster handsets.
Unfortunately, the sale took place half a year before Android phones outsold Symbian devices for the first time and Nokia announced that it was going to switch to Windows Phone -- this put Renesas in the awkward position of being a modem supplier to a company with collapsing sales. Nokia Siemens Networks has large offices in the same city where most of Renesas' employees are located. Though, engineers looking for a change of scenery might want to head south to Espoo where Samsung just opened its own R&D center.
Filed under: Nokia
Source: The Wall Street Journal, YLE
Jolla recently revealed its first phone, and now Finland-based carrier DNA has confirmed it will be the first operator in the world to offer the self-titled handset. Running the Sailfish operating system, these devices continue on a path blazed by Meego while also promising Android app compatibility out of the box. The Jolla phone features 4.5-inch "HD" display, dual-core CPU, 16GB storage with microSD expansion slot, LTE and an 8MP rear camera. Our hands-on demo should reveal a bit more about what it's bringing to the table (including an interesting split design that could allow future hardware augmentation), interested local residents can hit the source link to pre-order one now.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile
Source: DNA
Google has just secured the services of an entire 72MW wind farm in Maevaara, Sweden for the next ten years to keep its Finnish data center humming, according to the official blog. It brokered the deal through German insurer Allianz, which purchased the farm and will begin selling all the electricity it produces to Mountain View by 2015. The move is part of Google's quest to remain carbon neutral, and is along similar lines to a recent deal which saw the search giant purchase 48MW of energy from a wind farm in Oklahoma. The news follows Apple's announcement that it gets 75 percent of its power from renewable sources -- showing the arch-foes can at least agree on something.
Filed under: Misc, Internet, Google
Source: Google
Earlier today, we learned that Samsung had bested Nokia on its home turf by claiming the lion's share of phone sales in Finland last quarter, but its invasion of Nokia's territory won't end there. Samsung will soon unveil a new research hub in Espoo, Finland, and a company rep confirmed that the center will open its doors on June 13th. Though specifics about the nature of research are being kept under wraps, a recent job posting from Oikotie revealed what could be the center's name: Samsung Electronics Research Institute. SERI could potentially be related to Samsung's partnership with Finland's VTT Technical Research Center, announced last month, to explore energy efficient technologies. Beyond that, details are sparse, but we'll keep you posted as more information on Samsung's latest R&D endeavor trickles in.
Filed under: Cellphones, Science, Mobile, Samsung
Source: YLE
Nokia might have been bested by Samsung's global phone shipments for a while, but there was always one vanguard -- the Finnish public, who have patriotically stood by (and bought up) Nokia smartphones over the last few difficult years. It looks like rivals have very much broken through, however, with IDC reporting that Samsung was responsible for the highest number of phone sales in the last quarter, claiming 36 percent against Nokia's 33 percent market share. Third place was Apple, trailing with 14 percent, while other manufacturers soaked up the remaining 16 percent. According to Digitoday, the change was due to the continuing shift to smartphones, one that shows no signs of slowing down.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Nokia
Via: Android Beat
Source: Digitoday (Finnish)
Jolla's heavily teased launch day in Finland has already spilled some major news: pricing and specs for the first Sailfish OS handset. The phone seems to be called "The Other Half" -- or at least that's the working title for now -- and judging from Jolla's Facebook page it consists of a colorful plastic case, available in various shades including orange or green, which hooks onto the main chassis containing a 4.5-inch display (of unknown resolution), dual-core processor, microSD expansion with 16GB onboard, a "4G" modem, user replaceable battery and an 8MP rear camera. The chassis recognizes which case is attached and adapts the visual theme of the OS to match, creating "your other half, exactly as you want it to be."
Perhaps more usefully, the Sailfish operating system will also be Android app compliant out of the box, and we're currently on the ground in Helsinki trying to discover exactly how developers and users will be able to put that feature to work (while also chasing down the rest of the specs). Meanwhile, there's an emphatic video message from Jolla co-founder Marc Dillon after the break, seeking the world's assistance in taking the heritage of MeeGo into a new era.
Update: We now hear that the phone will simply be called the "Jolla."
Update #2: Jolla has just clarified that 4G means LTE. The display resolution has been vaguely described as "HD," which to our minds suggests 720p. Furthermore, it sounds like the way the "other half" interfaces with the main body of the device allows for much deeper functionality beyond just personalization. We've just added our own video tour with more information.
[Thanks, Toni]
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile
Source: Jolla
Who says smoke alarms need to be nondescript beige boxes? Helsinki designer Paola Suhonen sured doesn’t think so, with her unique smoke detector that looks like a gigantic house fly.
The Lento Smoke Alarm from Finland’s Jalo works just like any other smoke alarm, though you use the entire case of the alarm to silence the alarm or to test it, which is much nicer than trying to deal with that tiny pushbutton on most alarms. I wonder if you could use a fly swatter to turn it off.
I also like how it mounts to the ceiling using 3M tape instead of screws – it’s sort of like when a fly gets stuck in one of those gooey fly traps.
[via StrangeLine via Design You Trust]
