Nokia is Now Officially Owned by Microsoft

[dgstorm]

Today is the day folks. Friday, April 25th, 2014 is the date in which the Nokia buyout by Microsoft officially finalized. Nokia's whole Devices & Services division is now a Microsoft entity. The final price was a tad higher than the initial agreement. Instead of $7.2 Billion, Microsoft had to pony up $7.5 Billion. This was due to a more positive estimate of Nokia's net working capital and cash earnings.

Microsoft has yet to offer any clues as to what they plan to do with the mobile device maker, but we will keep you informed when they do.

 

[TunaSurface]

I really don't know what to think of this, I have a lot of memories with the first nokia phones.
It's kinda sad.

Here's hoping Microsoft doesn't screw this up.

 

[TeknoBlast]

Bring on the Surface Phone!

 

[kundas1]

^^ my sentiments exactly...

 

[oion]

I suppose it's better that I root my Android phone (4.1.1 Heartbleed) and wait for anything else coming out of Nokia... But my problem is that I hate how the upcoming phones are big. Even the Sony "compact" one is the same size as my old phone. I much prefer iPhone size, without the iPhone part. Why can't there be high-quality Windows and Android phones in the smaller screen space... Bring it, MS-Nokia!

 

[daniielrp]

I suppose it's better that I root my Android phone (4.1.1 Heartbleed) and wait for anything else coming out of Nokia... But my problem is that I hate how the upcoming phones are big. Even the Sony "compact" one is the same size as my old phone. I much prefer iPhone size, without the iPhone part. Why can't there be high-quality Windows and Android phones in the smaller screen space... Bring it, MS-Nokia!

I felt the same (and to an extent still do, the main reason I still have my iPhone is the screen size is perfect for me) but when I was writing my review of the the Lumia 1520 (the big 6" one) I got to use it as my main phone for about a week before sending it back to Nokia, and I have to say I almost loved it. There is not a chance I could use it one-handed, but having actually used it properly for a few days made me see how I could adapt my usage habits and switch to such a large phone.

So now, I'm going to be going in between, and getting the Lumia 930 when it comes out

 

[oion]

I felt the same (and to an extent still do, the main reason I still have my iPhone is the screen size is perfect for me) but when I was writing my review of the the Lumia 1520 (the big 6" one) I got to use it as my main phone for about a week before sending it back to Nokia, and I have to say I almost loved it. There is not a chance I could use it one-handed, but having actually used it properly for a few days made me see how I could adapt my usage habits and switch to such a large phone.

So now, I'm going to be going in between, and getting the Lumia 930 when it comes out

These days there are now bluetooth mini-handsets that pair with phablets and can be used properly against your face. But that means manufacturers expect you to get a bigger phone and a "companion" device too? Meh. Six inches? Good grief. I have my Surface 2 for a reason, heh. Pocketable and one-handed are what I'm after (edit: in a phone, natch).

The Nokia Lumia 620 isn't available for my carrier but the size looks manageable, so I toyed with the idea of buying unlocked. That and the Nokia Lumia 520/5 are a bit on the budget side, though, a downgrade from my aluminum-glass HTC One S (about as big as I like it).

The only reason why I'm considering Nokia at all is how it integrates with MS Office, and WP 8.1 has something like Android's Swype, right? I can't use a phone without that now. The Nokia X looks interesting, but it's a very specific custom flavor of Android, and 75% of Android apps work on it; not sure how Office integration works with that, either.

While I'm rooting my Android phone, though, something occurred to me. Just how often do Windows Phone patches and updates get pushed, and is that under Microsoft's control and not the manufacturer/carrier? The super long or nonexistent updates for Android is annoying, but I suppose that's what rooting is for.

 

[daniielrp]

These days there are now bluetooth mini-handsets that pair with phablets and can be used properly against your face. But that means manufacturers expect you to get a bigger phone and a "companion" device too? Meh. Six inches? Good grief. I have my Surface 2 for a reason, heh. Pocketable and one-handed are what I'm after.

The Nokia Lumia 620 isn't available for my carrier but the size looks manageable, so I toyed with the idea of buying unlocked. That and the Nokia Lumia 520/5 are a bit on the budget side, though, a downgrade from my aluminum-glass HTC One S (about as big as I like it).

The only reason why I'm considering Nokia at all is how it integrates with MS Office, and WP 8.1 has something like Android's Swype, right? I can't use a phone without that now. The Nokia X looks interesting, but it's a very specific custom flavor of Android, and 75% of Android apps work on it; not sure how Office integration works with that, either.

While I'm rooting my Android phone, though, something occurred to me. Just how often do Windows Phone patches and updates get pushed, and is that under Microsoft's control and not the manufacturer/carrier? The super long or nonexistent updates for Android is annoying, but I suppose that's what rooting is for.

I'd be against a companion device purely as it means carrying another device
Having used Lumia's a lot, I will say the integration with Office is very nice, but using office itself is not terribly exciting - the experience is about as basic as it gets (and what is feasible on a mobile device really) but it works excellently.

My girlfriend has the Lumia 520 and while it does the job, it doesn't do it the best and is certainly a bit slow at some tasks, so I would agree with you and avoid the low end.

As for the Nokia X, we had a guy from Nokia in our office a few weeks ago and we asked him about the Nokia X, and from what he said it sounded like some bizarre hybrid of their old Symbian devices with a big chunk of the Android code so that it could run Android apps. Unfortunately I've not seen a device in person but will be interested to see how it works.

Updates so far have always been good, you can look here:

Software update for Nokia Lumia with Windows Phone 8 - Nokia

To check if your carrier has authorised the update, and when looking at Europe almost every carrier has signed off on the latest update, and even the U.S where I've heard terrible things about Android updates there is only one carrier not to have authorised it. I assume the 8.1 update will be just as smooth too.

And yes, 8.1 does include Word Flow - basically Swype.

 

[kristalsoldier]

Slightly off-topic, but still relevant. As MS attempts to swallow up Nokia and has to deal with potential digestion problems, the scene at Apple may not be better. For an intriguing insight, take a look here:

'Apple: An empire without an emperor' - The Times of India

 

[oion]

Well, rooting my Android didn't go so well p), but I was fully prepared for that possibility and had everything off-phone already and was shopping around at the same time. I was this close to buying a Nokia 925, mostly for the camera and build quality, but it was still bigger than I wanted... so I thought about it and instead downgraded to a Samsung Galaxy Light for the pocket size (and removable battery and microSD slot). And bought a separate Sony 20MP camera that altogether came out cheaper than the Nokia.

When there's a pocketable high-end non-iPhone, though, I'll be one of the first in line. Still waiting for my perfect phone.

 

[Omni]

On the updates side you can always enrol for the developer program and get updates straight away. Although my HTC 8x' battery isn't as good now I'm running WP8.1. . Still worth the update its much better than WP8.

 

[daniielrp]

Well, rooting my Android didn't go so well p), but I was fully prepared for that possibility

Off topic, but what went wrong, I've rooted three Samsung Androids no problem.