Nokia's Windows Phones will feature dual-core ST-Ericsson U8500, says STMicroelectronics chief

As you'll no doubt be aware, Qualcomm currently enjoys a stranglehold on processing hardware insideWindows Phone handsets. Its Snapdragon chip stars in both Microsoft's original and updated chassis spec for the platform, but its hegemony may soon be coming to an end. STMicroelectronics (the ST in ST-Ericsson) boss Carlo Bozotti is cited by Forbes as saying that Nokia will use ST-Ericsson hardware to power at least some of its Windows Phones. The dual-core U8500, a long-time Nokia favorite, is touted as the first such system-on-chip to appear, with its successors helping to populate Nokia's expansive WP lineup in 2012. The only intel we've had so far on Nokia's initial handsets for the new OS revolved around Qualcomm-based devices, so even if ST-Ericsson is indeed going to infiltrate the Windows Phone ecosystem, it doesn't look likely to be among the very first Nokias out of the gate

FCC approves Kyocera Echo, BlackBerry PlayBook

Just like it did last week the Federal Communications Commission gave the nod to a lot of new cell phones and tablets this week. Among the highlights were Sprint's quirky new Kyocera Echo, the LG Revolution and the RIM BlackBerry PlayBook.

Because the FCC has to certify every phone sold in the United States, not to mention test its SAR rating, the agency's online database offers a lot of sneak peeks to those who dig. And to save you the trouble, Crave has combed through the database for you. Here are a selection of filings from the past week on new and upcoming cell phones. Click through to read the full report.

HTC Desire 
Huawei G7205
Huawei U3220
Kyocera Echo
LG Revolution
LG VS760
Motorola WX345
Nokia C7
Pantech P6010
RIM BlackBerry PlayBook
Samsung Galaxy S II
Samsung GT-5660
Samsung GT-BT7510
Samsung GT-E3213K
Samsung SGH-i7078
Samsung SGH-T839

Top 5 Security Apps (Nokia)

F-Secure Mobile Security (Free)

F-Secure (previously known as Data Fellows) has been providing antivirus products since 1994 for Windows PCs, since then it’s needed to provide security for mobile phones too. This app provides malware protection from dodgy internet sites and blocks them with the Browsing Protection feature, and should you unfortunately lose your phone or have it stolen, you’ll be able to find your phone again with the help of the GPS location feature. It’s free for 7 days, once the trial has expired and you wish to continue to use the service, you’ll be required to purchase a full license from their website, currently costing £29.95.

Kaspersky Mobile Security (Free)

Again, with the ability to locate your phone using GPS if it’s lost or stolen, this proves to be a recurring feature that has began to appear on these types of apps only recently. If your phone has been stolen but you don’t want to risk the information on it falling into the wrong hands, you’ve got the option to remotely block or wipe your device. The Privacy Protection feature lets you hide certain contacts, text messages or call even logs and with Data Encryption you can choose to hide sensitive files or folders too. Another handy tool is that you can block unwanted calls or texts, so you needn’t be bothered by those hoax calls again. The free trial last 30 days, after which a full license will cost £19.99, from their website.

Theft Aware 2.0 Trial Version (Free)

If somebody has stolen your phone, Theft Aware 2.0 makes it very difficult for the thief to get away with it unnoticed. You can send a series of text messages to the phone that will lock it, produce a loud siren noise, display a message on the phone telling the thief that the phone is being tracked by GPS and even wipe the phone if you want to go that far. If they change the sim card, this app will also invisibly send all the details of the thief back to you, so you have evidence should you want to report it to the police. The trial is free, however a full license will cost you £8.00.

Track and Protect (£8.00)

Losing your phone to theft is traumatic and inconvenient, Track and Protect uses the GPS of your phone – or the cell ID from the network if GPS isn’t available – to locate your phone. Logging onto the Track and Protect website lets you send the alarm activation to the phone, so the thief will get unwanted attention from anybody near him or her. What’s great about this app, is that you can take a picture of the robber too using the front facing camera that’s built into the phone, giving you unequivocal proof that they had your phone.

MYMobile Protection (Free)

With malware and antivirus protection, MYMobile Protection offers real-time monitoring of your phone activity, protecting your credit card details from being stolen online and allowing you to keep your identity for yourself.

The Nokia X1-00 is here

GLOBAL – It’s orange and it’s loud. Today Nokia launches a brand new mobile phone aimed at music lovers and the next billion, the Nokia X1-00. This device is intended to retail at less than €35 and offer the maximum boom-per-buck with special hardware features for users in growth markets. Read on to find out how it stands out from the pack, even without its distinctive colouring.

This is a music lovers’ phone. You probably guessed that anyway from the massive speaker on the back, rated at 106phon (a phon is a measure of perceived loudness – 106 of them is enough to rattle your window frames, apparently). The frequency response has been tweaked somewhat, though, so that the sound remains undistorted at higher volumes, unlike most mobile phones.

the Nokia X1-00 comes with a 3.5mm audio jack, so you can plug it into speakers (or headphones, of course). Music-orientated hardware features are completed with three dedicated player keys and a nifty single-key playlist creator. There’s also support for MicroSD memory cards for extra music storage up to 16GB. There’s also an integrated FM radio for access to news and entertainment.

Also making a welcome reappearance is the dedicated torch on the device. This is fairly rare in devices intended for Western cities, where there’s always some ambient light, but pretty important if you live in a places where the power supply is unreliable or where there is no electricity at all. For similar reasons, the standby battery life is rated at a whopping 61 days max.

Another unusual feature is provision for up to five phone books. Why would anyone want that? Because this is a phone that might be shared between an entire family or even neighbours. Less than €35 isn’t very expensive for people in Western markets, but if you can divide that five ways, then it becomes accessible to people for whom that’s nearly a month’s salary.

Otherwise, the specification sheet doesn’t hold a lot of surprises: this is super-inexpensive and needs to be pretty simple. It uses the Series 30 operating system, so it’s got the basics people need, with a souped-up music player app, calendar, clock and calculator, pre-loaded games and so forth, but no, it’s not designed to be a smartphone competitor. It measures 112.2 x 47.3 x 16mm and weighs 91g.

The Nokia X1-00 is scheduled to be available in selected markets beginning in April. Before taxes and operator subsidies, it should cost around €34.

Here and now- App in Focus (Nokia)

This app has been created by Nokia and offers easy-to-use web services related to your current location as determined by the GPS chip in your mobile phone. You’re able to check the weather where you are at a glance as well as get other local information such as movie times or details of local restaurants.

It’s not just restricted to your current location though, you can search for information on anywhere you choose. You can also get information on local events too and we were pleasantly surprised at the accuracy of this information – a local market was listed, for example, as well as several good local restaurants.

We clicked on the name of a local museum and we were given a description as well as basic contact information. We expect you’d be able to phone from the app, but the phone information didn’t show properly. You are, however, able to click the map icon on any local location to be taken directly to the Nokia map app. This all works exceedingly well as is how local information should be presented. What’s more, it’s far more comprehensive and effective than if you just searched in Google.

Download this app: Here and now for Nokia

[How-To] Use Your Symbian Smartphone as Web Cam on PC

Do you know that your Nokia (symbian) Smartphones can easily be converted and used as a webcam. The symbian-powered phones has the capability to be used as a PC web cam through a app called “WebCam” by Mobiola Inc.

To turn your nokia smartphone into a high-quality wireless Bluetooth-based web camera all you need to do is to install and configure Mobiola Web Camera.

When you download the app, you’ll get two different versions of app, one for the client applicatoin that resides on the phone, and a webcam PC driver compatible with any Windows application that can receive video feeds from a web camera.

With the Mobiola application you can transform your Nokia symbian based phone in a webcam and connect by USB, WiFi or Bluetooth to your PC.

How to Configure:

1. Download Mobiola Web Cam.

2. Install the application in the computer first.

3. Transfer and install the .sis file in your mobile phone.

First run Mobiola in the PC, then in your Nokia. Choose the connection mode (USB, bluetooth, Wifi) and see thecamera of your phone running on your PC screen.