There’s no question that Nokia is betting big on the success of Windows Phone, and we have to admit that it has already unveiled several of the best Windows Phone handsets out there. But the Finnish phone maker is reportedly so convinced that Windows Phone will succeed that it doesn’t have a backup plan of any sort. ”Plan B is that Plan A is to succeed,” Nokia manager Victor Saeijs is said to have told Swedish financial newspaper Dagens Industri. We know Nokia is cooking something up for its low-end phones so all of the vendor’s eggs really aren’t in one basket, but its good to see Nokia so confident in its strategy. Nokia will reportedly unveil at least one new high-end smartphone later this month at Mobile World Congress, and we’ll be on hand to bring you all the news as it breaks,

[Via Engadget]

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LG recently began teasing a new smartphone that could very well make its debut during the Mobile World Congress trade show later this month. The device, dubbed the Optimus Vu, will offer a 5-inch display with a 4:3 aspect ratio, and rumor has it the phone will also come equipped with a 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, 8GB of storage, support for NFC, 1GB of RAM and an 8-megapixel camera. Unfortunately, the Optimus Vu will reportedly run Android 2.3 Gingerbread instead of the latest Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) operating system. So far we’re not seeing a whole lot to be excited about other than the massive screen, since most of the specs are similar to what we’ve already seen in the LG Optimus LTE phone. We expect LG will have more surprises up its sleeve during the show, however.

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Microsoft may be planning to launch a special bundle that includes the Nokia Lumia 800 and several accessories for $899. Citing unnamed industry sources, The Verge said the deal will kick off on February 14th and will include a Bluetooth headset, a Purity HD stereo headset and Nokia’s Play 360 wireless speaker. Microsoft will reportedly not be offering the Lumia 800 as a stand-alone product. $899 seems a bit steep to us, even considering that consumers will be getting an unlocked device and a bundle of solid accessories. After all, AT&T will be launching the sub-$100 Lumia 900 with 4G LTE support and a bigger screen just one month later.

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Nokia on Monday officially took the wraps off a white version of its Lumia 800 Windows Phone.  Nokia originally launched the device in black and cyan, and the white version adopts a gloss finish instead of the matte coloring of the other models. Nokia says the device will be made available later this month. “Since we began selling it late last year, the Nokia Lumia 800 has received rave reviews around the world,” said Ilari Nurmi, Vice President of Product Marketing, Nokia. “Now in white, the Lumia 800 brings with it an even more premium look and feel with its gloss finish, but packed with power and performance underneath its sleek body.” Nokia’s full press release follows after the break.

White Nokia Lumia 800 available this February

Espoo, Finland – Nokia announced today that the Nokia Lumia 800 will be available in white, beginning later this month.

With Windows ® Phone 7.5 software on board, the white Nokia Lumia 800 features head-turning design and the best social and Internet performance, with one-touch social network access, easy grouping of contacts, integrated communication threads and Internet Explorer 9. It features a 3.7-inch AMOLED ClearBlack curved display blending seamlessly into the reduced body design, and a 1.4 GHz processor with hardware acceleration and a graphics processor. The Lumia 800 contains an instant-share camera experience based on leading Carl Zeiss optics, HD video playback, 16GB of internal user memory and free SkyDrive storage for storing images and music.

Lumia smartphones include signature Nokia experiences optimized for Windows Phone, including Nokia Drive, which delivers a full-fledged personal navigation device (PND) with free, turn-by-turn navigation and dedicated in-car-user-interface; and Nokia Music introducing MixRadio*, a free mobile music-streaming application that delivers hundreds of channels of locally-relevant music. Windows Marketplace also gives Lumia users more than 55 000 apps to choose from.

“Since we began selling it late last year, the Nokia Lumia 800 has received rave reviews around the world,” said Ilari Nurmi, Vice President of Product Marketing, Nokia. “Now in white, the Lumia 800 brings with it an even more premium look and feel with its gloss finish, but packed with power and performance underneath its sleek body.”

More information about the Nokia Lumia 800 can be found at www.nokia.com/lumia800.

If you’re signed up for a daily deal service on your phone, odds are you’re from a high-income household. According to new data from comScore, 36.5% of U.S. phone owners who are signed up for a daily deal service have an annual income of more than $100,000. 19.6% come from households that have an annual income of between $75,000 and $100,000, 18.1% have a household income of between $50,000 and $75,000, 16.9% fall between $25,000 and $50,000, and 8.9% earn less than $25,000 per year. ComScore did not specifically name the mobile deal services included in the study, though Living Social and Groupon are among the more popular daily deal services.

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ASUS has confirmed that the company is planning to announce a tweaked version of its tablet-smartphone hybrid at Mobile World Congress on February 27th in Barcelona, Spain, according to Modaco. The Padfone — which combines a smartphone, tablet and netbook all in one — was first unveiled at the Computex trade show in Taiwan last year by ASUS chairman Jonney Shih. The innovative device is expected to feature Ice Cream Sandwich and Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon S4 processor. The PadFone consists of a 4.3-inch handset that has the ability dock inside a 10.1-inch tablet, which in turn can be docked into the Transformer’s (or possibly Transformer Prime’s) keyboard. When the device debuts next month, it is rumored to be redesigned with a slimmer form factor, and the the physical buttons seen on a PadFone prototype have reportedly been removed in favor of Ice Cream Sandwich’s on-screen controls.

[Via AndroidAndMe]

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The bathroom is a popular place to use a mobile phone according to the results of a new study. ”The writing is on the stall,” says Nicole Burdette of 11mark, the firm that conducted the survey. ”This study confirms what we all know – that the last private place is no longer private. And, that the ‘mobile-everywhere’ phenomenon is flushing out a host of new opportunities for savvy communicators.” 63% of those surveyed said they have initiated a phone call while using the bathroom and 38% have surfed the Internet. Android owners admitted using their smartphones in the bathroom more than any other group of smartphone users; 87% of the Android users responding to the survey said they have used a phone in the bathroom while 84% of BlackBerry users and 77% of iPhone users admitted the same. The full press release for “IT in the Toilet” follows after the break.

New IT in the Toilet Study Shows Americans Aren’t Spending Alone Time Alone

Study Highlights Americans’ Habits Behind Closed Stalls

ALEXANDRIA, Va.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Three-fourths of Americans with mobile phones report they use their phones in the bathroom, according to a new study by 11mark, a new integrated marketing agency. Americans are texting, emailing, and yes – as you may have heard – talking on the phone in the bathroom. Approximately one quarter of Americans report they don’t go into the bathroom without their phone. The new report, “IT in the Toilet,” uses the “bathroom benchmark” to examine just how connected we have become.

The survey of 1,000 Americans reveals that neither men nor women are going to the bathroom alone today – 74 percent of men and 76 percent of women report they have used their mobile phone in the bathroom. 63 percent report they have answered a phone call, and 41 percent have initiated a phone call. Many (67 percent) have read a text, and 38 percent have surfed the Internet. Men are a bit more attached, however, with 30 percent reporting, “I don’t go to the bathroom without my mobile phone,” versus 20 percent of women. Men also work more from the bathroom – 20 percent say they have participated in work-related calls versus 13 percent of their female colleagues.

Droid users are slightly more likely to use their phones in the bathroom overall; 87 percent have used their phone while indisposed, versus 84 percent of BlackBerry users and 77 percent of iPhone users. BlackBerry users are most likely to answer a call in the bathroom. 75 percent of BlackBerry users report they have done so, versus 67 percent of Droid and 60 percent of iPhone users. But, Droid and iPhone users are more likely to browse a social network or use an app (in the bathroom) than their BlackBerry colleagues.

As expected, Gen Y respondents are the heaviest IT in the toilet users. Ninety-one percent use their phone in the bathroom, but older generations are not far behind. Eighty percent of Gen X report they use the phone in the bathroom, as well as 65 percent of Boomers, and 47 percent of the Silent Generation (guess they are no longer silent.)

Americans are using apps to connect to their favorite content, quickly – 59 percent of Gen Y, 43 percent of Gen X, and 22 percent of Boomers have used an app in the bathroom. While online, they are doing more than just surfing; 16 percent of Gen Y report they have made an online purchase while in the bathroom. iPhone users are particularly likely to browse and buy in the bathroom – 22 percent have made a purchase, versus 10 percent of Americans with mobile phones overall.

“The writing is on the stall,” says Nicole Burdette, principal, 11mark. “This study confirms what we all know – that the last private place is no longer private. And, that the ‘mobile-everywhere’ phenomenon is flushing out a host of new opportunities for savvy communicators.”

The “IT in the Toilet” study is based on an online survey of 1,000 Americans with mobile phones in October 2011. To learn more and download the full free report, please visithttp://www.11mark.com/IT-in-the-Toilet.

Jon Rubinstein, the former CEO of Palm, has left HP. AllThingsD broke the news Friday afternoon, noting that Rubinstein had served his promised 12-24 month tenure with the company before leaving. “Jon has fulfilled his commitment and we wish him well,” HP spokeswoman Mylene Mangalindan told AllThingsD. Rubinstein led the team responsible for the original iPod and left Apple in 2006 to eventually join Palm as CEO in 2009. While at Palm, Rubinstein was responsible for, among other projects, the development of the Palm Pre and Palm’s webOS mobile operating system, both of which were transferred to HP in 2010 When it acquired Palm for $1.2 billion. HP has since open-sourced the mobile operating system after failing to gain traction with its Pre, Pixi, Veer and TouchPad products.

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BlackBerry owners tend to be older and wealthier than other smartphone users according to a new report released this week. Data from comScore Data Mine suggests BlackBerry users are “more likely to have a household greater than $75,000 when compared to average smartphone owners.” BlackBerry owners were also more likely to have at least part of all of their monthly mobile bill paid for by their employers. We’re not surprised, taking into consideration the vast number of enterprise users that still own a BlackBerry for work. “BlackBerry users over indexed in all age segments 35-64 in November 2011, with the 55-64 age bracket showing the highest index of 120,” comScore said in its report, which found the fewest number of Blackberry users between the ages of 18 and 24.

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HTC said recently that it will focus on the quality of its top-of-the-line “Hero” smartphones moving forward instead of pumping out a large number of devices across multiple price points. “We have to get back to focusing on what made us great – amazing hardware and a great customer experience,” HTC’s UK head Phil Roberson said in an interview with Mobile Today. “We ended 2011 with far more products than we started out with. We tried to do too much… We make great phones, but it is hard to do that when the portfolio is spread too much.” Roberson also noted that he wanted each customer to be purchasing “something special” when he or she buys a new HTC device. The company is currently expected to unveil a quad-core smartphone during Mobile World Congress, which kicks off next month. If it does announce the phone, it will no doubt be one of the company’s first “Hero” devices moving forward. 

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LG announced on Wednesday that it has sold more than 1 million Optimus LTE handsets. A version of the device landed in the United States as the Nitro HD on AT&T, although it’s unclear if that phone is figured into the count. “The combination of LTE connectivity with LG’s True HD IPS display has resonated with the public regarding the potential of LTE technology,” said Dr. Jong-seok Park, President and CEO of LG Mobile Communications Company. LG said it sold 600,000 Optimus LTE units during the first three months the phone was available. The company also sold 8,500 units in Japan on the phone’s launch day. The Optimus LTE features a 4.5-inch 1280 x 720-pixel True HD IPS display, a 1.5GHz dual-core processor and an 8-megapixel camera. LG’s full press release follows after the break.

LG OPTIMUS LTE RECORDS ONE MILLION IN SALES
Innovative Smartphone Demonstrates LG’s Leadership in Nascent LTE Market

SEOUL, Jan. 25, 2011 – LG Electronics (LG) announced today that sales of its Optimus LTE smartphone have exceeded over one million units, putting it at the forefront of the emerging LTE era. The world’s first HD LTE smartphone, the Optimus LTE is currently available in the US, Canada, Japan and South Korea.
First launched in Korea in October 2011, the Optimus LTE hit sales of 600,000 units there in the first three months, making it the most popular LTE-capable phone in a highly competitive market. On the first day of its launch in Japan, the Optimus LTE also recorded sales of 8,500 units. The phone is now available as a premium smartphone through three major mobile carriers in North America, the most advanced market in terms of LTE coverage.

“With brisk sales for a high-end smartphone, the Optimus LTE reaffirms LG’s leadership in mobile LTE technology,” said Dr. Jong-seok Park, President and CEO of LG Mobile Communications Company. “The combination of LTE connectivity with LG’s True HD IPS display has resonated with the public regarding the potential of LTE technology.”

The Optimus LTE delivers the ultimate HD multimedia environment with a 4.5-inch 1280 x 720 (16:9 ratio) True HD IPS display and fast LTE connectivity. The True HD IPS display features an incredible 2.76 million sub-pixels as well as superior color accuracy, clarity, natural color and battery efficiency.

Ensuring peak performance, the Optimus LTE runs on a 1.5GHZ dual-core processor and includes a 1,830 mAh battery, 8MP camera, and multiple connectivity options including DLNA(Digital Living Network Alliance), to provide users a truly best-in-class smartphone experience.

According to a report by Jefferies & Company, LG is the global leader in LTE patents with ownership of 23 percent of approximately 1,400 LTE patents filed worldwide, with a financial value of almost USD 8 billion. LG demonstrated the world’s first LTE technology in 2007 and developed the world’s first LTE modem chipset in 2008. LG introduced the world’s fastest LTE technology in 2010 and conducted the world’s first video phone call on a LTE network in 2011.

A Microsoft spokesperson recently suggested that the Redmond-based firm is working to bring its Xbox Live games to other platforms. Microsoft’s Xbox Live titles are currently limited to the Xbox and the company’s Windows Phone mobile platform. “While the Xbox Live experiences and games always work best on the Windows platform, we understand that some Xbox fans may be using other types of devices,” a Microsoft spokesperson told Forbes. “To satisfy that need, we are working to extend a few of our Xbox experiences and titles to other platforms.” Microsoft didn’t come out and say specifically that it’s going to target Android and iOS, but it would make sense for Microsoft to target the two largest mobile platforms.

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IBM and HTC are working together to make Android a more attractive platform for the enterprise market. Executives from both companies recently demoed IBM software running on HTC smartphones and tablets during IBM’s Lotusphere and Connect conference, TechWeek Europe said recently. “It’s only been really relatively recently that HTC has broken into the enterprise space,” HTC’s executive director Global Enterprise and Services David Jaegar said. “We’re driving toward that magic 100-million device number globally. We see IBM as the gold standard for an enterprise partnership. We want to make sure if IBM is talking about Android or tablets, HTC is in the conversation.” HTC is focusing specifically on security applications, Jaegar explained recently. The Taiwan-based phone and tablet maker also said it is working with third-party developers and businesses to help firms create custom applications for HTC tablets.

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Smartphone retailer Carphone Warehouse has confirmed that the Nokia Lumia 900 is “coming soon” to the United Kingdom, and recent reports suggest the phone could launch as soon as this June. The Lumia 900 was announced during the Consumer Electronics Show for AT&T as Nokia’s latest flagship Windows phone device. It’s equipped with a 4.3-inch ClearBlack AMOLED display, an 8-megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics, a 1.4GHz processor, 4G LTE connectivity support, a 1,830 mAh battery, 16GB of internal storage and 512MB of RAM. Carphone Warehouse did not reveal pricing for the phone and Nokia has not made any announcements outside the U.S. at this point.

[Via WPCentral]

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AT&T’s two newest 4G LTE devices, the Pantech Burst Android smartphone and the Element Android tablet are now available for purchase. BGR exclusively revealed the Pantech Element ahead of this year’s Consumer Electronics Show and it features an 8-inch display with a 1024 x 768-pixel resolution, 16GB of storage, a 1.5GHz dual-core processor and Android 3.2 (Honeycomb). It’s now available for $299 with a new two-year AT&T contract. The Pantech Burst smartphone is equipped with a 4-inch Super AMOLED screen with an 800 x 480-pixel resolution, a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, a 5-megapixel camera capable of recording 720p HD video, a 2-megapixel front-facing camera for video chats and 16GB of storage. The phone is now available for just $49.99 with a new two-year AT&T contract.

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