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September 5, 2008
Lumia

A fake Nokia Chinese fake and more on The 1100 Club and VoIP (BONUS: S60 and Ovi events, too)



ESPOO, Finland – First we had real phones available in real shops spurning real fakes. Then real phones that weren’t available, being faked. Now we have phones that aren’t even real being faked. Go figure. I found out via Unwired View that Mobile Mentalism found some pics of a Chinese phone that is based on nothing more than a Nokia patent.

Knowing all the patents Nokia comes out with, I know that there are a ton of things we get patents for that we don’t put into products. So, you can’t really tell if this is an upcoming device. Also, since we don’t comment on un-launched products, I can’t really tell you if this is or isn’t a real product (if I knew, I couldn’t tell you; and as I don’t, it doesn’t matter). But, this is getting funny. And I hope to touch upon it in a future post.

That aside, read on for more interesting things I stumbled upon today.

Some good VoIP sleuthing

TechCraver did some digging of their own to find out more about what’s happening with VoIP and Nokia. They ended up talking with Truphone to see how they have been impacted by the removal of the SIP client on two Nokia devices. I totally agree that the silent and unexpected way Nokia made this change on these two devices has caused most of the confusion (though some others have helped).

And folks are starting to see that it’s not a VoIP thing after all, but an issue with the platform development (as mentioned on Mobile Phone Development). Both TechCraver and Mobile Phone Development hope that as Symbian becomes more open, hopefully there will be some transparency in the platform development that will avoid these surprises.

The 1100 Club has legs

I got a lot of comments on the 1100 Club post (thanks all!) and even got a journalist asking questions, doing an article on the Nokia 1100. Cool. But, I’d be remiss not to point out a nice article at MobileJazz reviewing the amazing Nokia 1200. The review stresses the simplicity and durability.

In all the discussion of the 1100 Club idea here at the office, we noted how all the buzz is about the high-end Nseries and Eseries devices and the higher-numbered flashy Nokia phones. We also noted that most of the complaints come from the high-end, rather than the low-end. I think it’s partly because the high-end devices get more complicated and more prone to getting messed up somehow. Also, it’s partly because the expectations on the high-end devices is so great. It’s certainly not because there are more users, since the low-end phones are the bulk of the market.

And speaking of simplicity and durability…

Jason Goh on the Nokia Blog gushes about a simple USB charging adapter for many of the latest Nokia phones. I use it all the time – it’s a lifesaver.

And the guys at the Near Future Laboratory reference a simple security shield for RFID cards.

Simplicity does not mean ‘dumb’ but an economy in design to get the job done. And the 1100 Club celebrates such simplicity in design.

BONUS: Events events events

Saara, who runs the S60 blogs, told me that they are hosting another “Evening with S60”, this time at the Flagship store in NYC on 17 September. For more info, go read Saara’s post announcing it.

Also, for those who are interested, Nokia is giving an Ovi update with demos and Q&A with some Ovi experts. It’s an online event with two sessions: Tuesday, September 9 at 15:00 CET, and Wednesday, September 10 at 07:00 CET. To participate, go to events.nokia.com.