If you've been desperately seeking some Snakes Subsonic gaming partners on that N82 of yours, your pool of potential playmates just got a little (emphasis on "little") wider. The N78, N96, and XpressMusic 5320 have now been added into the N-Gage client compatibility mix -- though of the three, the N78 is the only one that's really widely available at this point. The 5320's just now starting to trickle into distribution around the world, and if you happen to end up playing System Rush with an N96 owner in the next few weeks... well, you're playing with a very special individual, indeed.

[Via All About Symbian]

Nokia's already putting some serious commitment into soliciting comments, complaints, and suggestions for new products from the hive mind through its Beta Labs program, but apparently, that's not quite enough. Nokia Pilots is the name of the next phase of that effort, launching in September with the goal of allowing average Janes and Joes to take "an active role in the development and testing that will help shape Nokia's next generation of products and services." The Pilots page actually says that "recruitment" for the program will begin in September, indicating that there'll be some sort of application and acceptance process for hopping on board this time around, rather than the free-for-all that is Beta Labs. If that means Espoo intends on doling out fancy new unreleased hardware to eager testers, count us in -- but if that means there'll be new software betas out there with limited access, let us be the first to express our utter outrage (sorry, Nokia, we know we're being unreasonable here, but we may as well get a head start here and hedge our bets while we wait for September to roll around).

[Via All About Symbian]

A heaping handful of fresh alleged screen shots of S60 Touch's user interface are floating around, apparently yoinked off the platform's PC-based theme editor -- not as cool as if they'd been lifted from a Tube, granted, but still good enough to give us some clutch insight into where Nokia's taking this thing. As revolutionary as the move to touch control might be for S60 as a platform, the UI looks shockingly evolutionary so far; in fact, to the untrained eye, there are portions that are virtually indistinguishable from S60 revs of yore. That's good news (we suppose) for S60 diehards who aren't interested in learning a new paradigm -- and we're all for the VGA support here -- but it's bad news for anyone who was planning on having their noodles positively baked by Espoo's engineering manpower and massive R&D budget. Let's all just hold off on the negativity until Nokia gives us something official to ogle; for the time being, though, our boring UI-dar is definitely on high alert.

[Via Symbian Freak, thanks Misha]

Call it a hunch, but you shouldn't have to wait too awfully long (like, hours / days / weeks) to secure Nokia's North American E71 today. Said handset is now available at the company's flagship store in Chicago, complete with a QWERTY keyboard and US-friendly 3G. Eager to grab one? Total cost will be $483 (plus tax) in addition to a roundtrip ticket to Chi-town, considering the store won't ship to out-of-towners (or so we hear).

[Via IntoMobile]

Looks like that agreement between Nokia and Qualcomm to postpone the dozen or so lawsuits they've filed against each other worldwide while an arbitrator tries to help sort out the mess is starting to bear some fruit -- the two cellphone giants are headed to court in Delaware on Wednesday to start the healing. In essence, Qualcomm says that Nokia still owes license fees on a CDMA agreement that expired in 2007 since it's been using the patented tech, and Nokia says that it doesn't owe anything because it's shelled out over $1B since 2001 and giving Qualcomm any more cash would be unfair. Not surprisingly for these two, it's likely that the outcome here will essentially be a draw, with the judge ruling that Qualcomm can charge whatever it wants, but that Nokia didn't extend the agreement. We'll see how things go, though -- this is just the beginning of what could very well be the early start of close to the end. Video summary of the entire dispute after the break.

So apparently a healthy exchange of cash and a captive audience glued to one of the biggest flicks of the year are all it takes to land early dibs on Nokia's elusive Tube. The Tube -- which will likely be branded either XpressMusic or XpressMedia and carry model number 5800 -- represents Nokia's first serious foray into the wide world of touchscreen smartphones (don't even try to pull the Series 90 card, people), so there's quite a bit of buzz building around it. Just like there's lots of buzz aroudn this new Batman joint. Coincidence? We think not!

We've been hearing whispers about Nokia's touchscreen "Tube" phone for what seems like ages, and now it appears that the wait is almost over... with potentially less than inspiring results. In a statement released today from the company's head of devices, Kai Oistamo, the phone-maker says it will be launching a series of touchscreen devices in the second half the year, with the first model -- likely the Tube -- aimed at the "volume market." Oistamo claims that the mid-range market (not the high-end sector that devices like the iPhone 3G occupy) account for 50 percent of the total value of the touchscreen phone game. Essentially, it looks like Nokia's strategy will be business as usual, likely flooding the field with unspectacular mid-range phones, rather than taking on pricier competition like recent Apple and Samsung devices head-to-head, at least initially. Of course, who can argue with the company that shipped 122 million units in Q2 2008?

Notice that your freshly-purchased N75 smells more like a week-old head of cabbage than a bundle of brand new plastic, glue, and circuitry? That's gross, and no, we don't want to touch it (seriously, get that thing away from us). Turns out you may not be alone, though -- a new class-action suit filed in federal court alleges that CommClub, an independent retailer in California, was selling used Nokias for AT&T's network as brand new devices. For whatever reason, AT&T and Nokia are also named as defendants in the suit, though we're not sure exactly what role they played in CommClub's potentially nefarious dealings; at any rate, the class is looking to bring home some bacon for "injuries" suffered as a result of the bait-and-switch. You're going to go smell your N75 now, aren't you?

One good update deserves another, apparently, because the European version of the Nokia N78 has just received its second firmware update in just a small handful of weeks. Version 12.046 concentrates the improvements on "softkey selection, Bluetooth stability, video playback, email sending and alarm clock functions," so it seems like a reasonably important update in which to partake -- particularly if it sorts out the blasted right softkey, which has a tendency to get confused with the end key at an alarming frequency. Once again, owners of the North America-friendly N78-3 get left out in the cold, leaving us to ask: what the hell, Nokia?

Services like Loopt and Whrrl are trying to break the door down on a potentially huge new market by convincing phone users that it's totally cool for your friends to know exactly where you are at any given time. Potentially scary, yes, but the benefits are obvious -- and when all the security and privacy issues have been squared away, it could be a big deal. Nokia's diving into the fray now with Chat, an IM client currently in beta that integrates with your contact list and allows selected friends to see one anothers' locations in real time. That in itself isn't novel, but the app also allows you to mark off landmarks which will automatically trigger broadcast messages to your friends with zero involvement or interaction with the phone. Kinda nifty for letting folks know when you show up to work or school, for example -- as long as you're not chronically late, anyhow. Follow the break for a video intro of the system.

Sure, you might be the biggest Christian Bale fan in the world right now, but what about this time next year when The Dark Knight DVDs are already collecting dust on bookshelves around the globe? That was the million-dollar question on our minds when we heard that Verizon was commemorating the launch of its Nokia 6205 and the latest Batman flick with a tied-in version of the low end flip. Turns out it's all good, though -- a look through the custom packaging revealed a grand total of two battery covers, one with the Batman logo and one without, so it should be pretty easy to avoid those embarrassing "what's with the batphone?" queries in a few months' time. Otherwise, there's very little to say about the phone -- it truly is a minimalist flip -- though we're definitely excited to see Nokia's apparently renewed commitment to working not just with CDMA, but with CDMA carriers in North America.

Nokia's latest promotion isn't the most enthralling we've ever seen, but two aspects in particular stand out. First, those fortunate enough to be able to drop €759 ($1,206) on an N96 will be helping the WWF project to save the red pandas in Nepal. Secondly, the Face The Task website designed to highlight the limited edition kit is worth viewing for kicks alone. From what we can gather, 96 well-packaged N96 mobiles will be made available at the aforesaid price, but nothing about the device itself will be special. You will, however, receive a limited edition ash tree box in a raw silk bag along with an 8GB microSD card. Worth it? That's up to you.

[Via TheNokiaBlog]

It was already all but a done deal once the shareholders gave the thumbs-up and EU regulators gave the go-ahead, but Nokia has now announced that it has officially wrapped up its acquisition of NAVTEQ -- a move that, coincidentally, comes just a few days after TomTom and Tele Atlas finalized their own deal. As you might expect, both Nokia and NAVTEQ have nothing but praise for the $8.1 billion deal, with Nokia President and CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo saying that, "Nokia and NAVTEQ together make a powerful combination, and customers will benefit as the transaction enables NAVTEQ to accelerate its expansion into new regions and introduce innovative new content." NAVTEQ President and CEO Judson Green further added that, "Nokia has a deep understanding of the requirements for the industry," before dishing out the usual line about how the deal will benefit the customers most of all.

Who would've thought that Nokia's first Series 40 dual slider would be for CDMA networks? Well, not so fast -- these two aren't exactly Series 40, it seems. Nokia hasn't announced either the 3608 flip or 8208 dual slider officially, but official specs and pictures have popped up on an Espoo-owned domain that reveal the China-bound handsets to operate on CDMA 800 / 1900, and in the case of the 8208, we can say with certainty that there's EV-DO Rev. A on board. Anyway, as we were saying, Nokia lists both as having "Series 40 Nokia like UIs," with "like" being the key word there; we suspect these are either still being manufactured for Nokia by a third party, Series 40 can't rock CDMA in its current incarnation, or a little bit of both. Trust us, though, Nokia -- that doesn't mean you shouldn't take these cute little guys global.

[Via MobileBurn, here and here]

Read - Nokia 3608
Read - Nokia 8208

It's been a while since we've heard anything about Nokia's Haptikos tactile touch screen technology, but with the unearthing of some juicy patent details, we finally know what's going on here. Basically, the tech uses layers under the touchscreen to allow control of surface roughness and friction. The patent describes a "plurality of closely space voltage controllable protruberances" that can raise or lower based on where the user is touching the screen, resulting in what feels like resistance and tactile feedback. Filled with fluid, the protruberances increase fiction and help users feel like they're actually touching something rather than poking at a plane of glass. No word on any devices with the new haptic tech, but we wouldn't be surprised to see this show up in some of their new touchy-feely handsets in the near future.

[Via Unwired View]

Read - Patent Application (warning: PDF)