Motorola has recently announced the availability of the Atrix HD LTE for AT&T customers in the US, and now it seems the handset will be coming soon to Canada via carrier Bell, but could prove costly for those who want a SIM free version of the handset.
As the Android Authority are reporting the Motorola Atrix HD LTE is believed to be releasing in Canada, and as soon as August 2nd. Inside sources are claiming that the Canadian carrier will begin offering the handset in less than two weeks, but unfortunately there is no information pricing of the handset with a contract.
There is a rumour though that the Motorola Atrix HD will be priced at $600 for consumers that want to pick up an unbranded version. There is a pretty could chance though that the handset could be priced at around the $99 level, which is the price that the HTC One S is available from the carrier, and also the price that AT&T are charging for the handset with a two year contract.
To recap the Motorola Atrix HD comes sporting a 4.5-inch TFT LCD display with 1280 x 720 resolution and ColourBoost that is protected by Gorilla Glass, and is powered by a dual core 1.5 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Krait processor. There is also 1GB of RAM, 8GB of on board storage that can be expanded by up to 32GB via the microSD port.
Camera wise it features an eight megapixel shooter on the back, while around the front is a 1.3 megapixel camera for video calling. There is Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, and the handset measures 69.9 x 133.5 x 8.4 mm weighing only 140 grams. Of course there is no reason why the Bell version of the Atrix HD should be any different from AT&T’s model.
Will you be considering the Motorola Atrix HD?
Motorola makes Google a fortune in Q2 - mobot.net
As far as the consumer is concerned, there’s next to no tangible evidence that Google’s $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola has had any effect whatsoever. To be fair, we were promised that Motorola wouldn’t be given preferential treatment.
However, behind the scenes, Google execs are reportedly rolling around in a big bed of dollars, as the Motorola money is rolling in.
Google says its acquisition has generated $1.25 billion, with roughly $843 million of that mammoth figure coming after the acquisition.
I’m no economist type guy, but, had Motorola soldiered on alone, it reportedly stood to lose $38 million. Zuh? While the Droid Razr Maxx was a success in the US, that was negated by a decline in sales of basic phones elsewhere.
CEO Larry Page yelled: “Google standalone had a strong quarter with 21% year-on-year revenue growth, and we launched a bunch of exciting new products at I/O – in particular the Nexus 7 tablet, which has received rave reviews.
“This quarter is also special because Motorola is now part of the Google family, and we’re excited about the potential to build great devices for users.”
If you’re into income and revenue and profit margins and that, you can read about Google’s Q2 results in massive – seriously massive – detail over at Google Investor Relations.
Nokia's smartphone sales fall by over a third - CIO UK
Nokia reported a 39 per cent drop in the number of smartphones it sold in the second quarter compared with the same period last year, to 10.2 million. The company's net loss more than trebled.
The company's total revenue for the quarter fell 19 per cent year on year, to €7.54bn (£5.88bn), while its net loss widened to €1.53bn (£1.19bn) from €492m (£384.2m) a year earlier.
The company sees little scope for improvement in the months ahead, forecasting that the operating loss in its phone business will continue at the same level through the third quarter, and could worsen.
"We have limited near-term visibility in the devices and services business," said CFO Timo Ihamuotila in a conference call with analysts.
€400m (£312.3m) of that revenue came from Nokia's patent portfolio, although that level of licensing revenue cannot be guaranteed in future quarters, said CEO Stephen Elop during the conference call.
Smartphone sales were the hardest-hit sector, as the company makes the difficult transition from its own Symbian operating system to Microsoft's Windows Phone OS.
Most of the 10.2 million smart devices it sold were older models running Symbian.
It shipped justfour million Lumia smartphones running the Windows Phone OS. Windows Phone has yet to make its mark, with Android and Apple's iOS still taking the lion's share of the market.
The conversation is still going on with operators about building a third ecosystem for Windows Phone OS alongside the networks of developers and app stores that already exist for Android and iOS, said Elop.
"We have also been encouraging other manufacturers to participate in the Windows Phone ecosystem [to compete with Android and iOS]", he said.
That Nokia is having more success in the US than in Europe is not surprising, said Carolina Milanesi, research vice president at Gartner.
"They're really trying to change the brand perception in Europe, where Nokia is seen as appealing more to parents than to kids. It's easier in the US because consumers don't really have a recollection of Nokia as a brand. It's easier to recreate the brand in a market that forgot you."
News that existing Lumia models will not be compatible with Windows Phone 8, the next major upgrade to the OS, may dampen enthusiasm for the phones, although Nokia has promised that existing phones will receive many of the expected new features through an interim upgrade, Windows Phone 7.8.
Motorola Atrix HD LTE coming to Bell on August 2, could go for $600 outright - androidauthority.com
Just a week after being officially priced over at AT&T, Motorola’s newest flagship phone, the Atrix HD LTE, is ready to go outside the US borders. The 4.5-incher won’t go too far (for now) and will be landing to good ol’ Canada, where it’s expected to start selling as soon as August 2.
The information hasn’t been yet confirmed from official sources, but comes from Mobile Syrup’s more than trustworthy inside informants, who are usually spot-on with such news. Bell will be the Canadian carrier to start selling the Atrix HD in less than two weeks, according to the same sources, but unfortunately the pricing is yet unknown.
There is a rumor that the phone might set you back a hefty $600 if you choose to go for an unbranded model, without any carrier restrictions, but as far as on-contract pricing goes, mum’s the word for now.
If I were a betting man (and I am), I would place all my money, however, on a $99.95 tag for the Atrix HD LTE with a three-year contract, which is the exact same price as the HTC One S currently sells for over on Bell. That’s also what AT&T is planning to charge for Moto’s new “beast” in the US (albeit with only a two-year contract), and we see no reason why Bell would want to raise or drop a price mark that seems both fair for customers and lucrative for the carriers and phone’s manufacturer.
If you’ve missed Motorola Atrix HD’s US formal introduction, you should know that the super-phone is set to come with the following tech specs and features:
- 4.5-inch TFT LCD touchscreen with 1280 x 720 pixels resolution and ColourBoost
- Dual-core 1.5 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 “Krait” processor
- 1 GB of RAM
- 8 GB of internal memory
- MicroSD card slot for expanding the memory to up to 32 GB
- Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich with MotoBlur UI
- Dual 8 MP/1.3 MP cameras
- 1,780 mAh Li Ion Polymer embedded battery capable to go for up to 11 hours of 4G talk time or 8.5 days of stand by time
- WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n and Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity
- 140 grams weight
- 69.9 x 133.5 x 8.4 mm size
- DuPont Kevlar casing
- Scratch-resistant Corning Gorilla Glass display
- Accelerometer, proximity sensor, ambient light sensor
Naturally, there’s no reason to think that Bell’s version of the Atrix HD will set itself apart from AT&T’s model in any way, so we should expect pretty much the same tech specs and features over in Canada. That said, are you Canadians excited about the phone’s coming? Why? Why not?
SOURCES Mobile Syrup
No related posts.
Nokia Is Fundamentally Weak, But Cash Supports Bonds - Seekingalpha.com
Nokia (NOK) released its second-quarter earnings and, fundamentally, the results are nothing to cheer about. Here are some items from the release (emphasis mine):
- Nokia net sales in Q2 2012 were EUR 7.5 billion, up from EUR 7.4 billion in Q1 2012 but down 19% year over year.
- Nokia ended Q2 with gross cash of EUR 9.4 billion and net cash of EUR 4.2 billion. Net cash was lower quarter on quarter (-14%), after EUR 742 million annual dividend payment to shareholders. Nokia Q2 net cash from operating activities of positive EUR 102 million, including receipt of EUR 400 million prepayments from existing IPR licenses.
- Smart device volumes -39% year over year and 14% quarter over quarter, Smart device average selling price 7%-plus year over year and 6% quarter over quarter (author's note: average selling price, or ASP, will begin to increase due to Lumia sales).
- Devices and Services operating margin was -9.1% vs. +7.3% a year ago and -3% in the first quarter.
- Location and Commerce operating profit (-EUR 95 million) and operating margin (-34%) were stronger year over year and flat sequentially.
- Nokia Siemens Networks operating loss (-EUR 227 million -- margin -6.8%) was weaker year over year but stronger sequentially.
- On a year-over-year basis, the decline in Smart Devices net sales in the second quarter 2012 was primarily due to lower Symbian volumes, partially offset by sales of Nokia Lumia devices. In addition, Symbian ASPs decreased on a year-over-year basis. (Author's note: As Symbian becomes the OS of the lower end phones, volumes and ASPs will continue to fall.)
- Nokia went working capital positive in Q2, generating EUR 505 million from working capital. (Author's note: This is a good turn of events, but as discussed later, it is not as favorable -- in terms of continuity -- as it seems).
Company Provided Outlook:
- Nokia expects its non-IFRS Devices and Services operating margin in the third quarter 2012 to be similar to the second-quarter 2012 level of negative 9.1%, plus or minus four percentage points.
- Nokia continues to target to reduce its Devices and Services non-IFRS operating expenses to an annualized run rate of approximately EUR 3.0 billion by the end of 2013.
Items from the earnings call:
Most importantly, we are seeing progress in our Lumia numbers. We sold 4 million Lumia devices in Q2, which is up from about 2 million in Q1, with growth driven by the expanded availability of the Lumia 900 and the Lumia 610 across markets.
Plus, we anticipate that Microsoft will launch a bold and aggressive marketing campaign for Windows 8, which we believe will have a halo effect for Lumia.
However, to prepare developers for the new Windows Phone platform, Microsoft announced the Windows Phone 8 platform in June. As a result, we anticipate some impact to our Lumia business in Q3, although Lumia activations have been flat to up in the weeks following the announcement of Windows Phone 8.
Looking at the working capital dynamics in more detail, our Devices & Services business contributed approximately EUR 470 million positive. Our NSN business contributed approximately EUR 135 million positive, and Location and Commerce contributed approximately EUR 100 million negative. Within Devices and Services, the working capital improvement was primarily due to the IPR prepayments of EUR 400 million. (Author's note: Keep in mind the company has stated that the annual IPR royalty income run-rate is approximately EUR 0.5 billion -- this means we will not see the same effect during 2H 2012).
In Q2, we recognized approximately EUR 220 million of allowances in Smart Devices related to excess component inventory, future purchase commitments and an inventory revaluation. (Author's note: This implies inventory is too high and won't be used, not a positive.)
At the end of Q2, NSN's contribution to Nokia's gross cash was approximately EUR 1.8 billion, and NSN's contribution to Nokia's net cash was approximately EUR 380 million. NSN's net cash increased approximately EUR 120 million sequentially even after paying out approximately EUR 225 million related to restructuring. (Author's note: NSN cannot be overlooked. The restructuring is having an effect and the JV is adding cash to the group.)
A look at Nokia's cash flow and cash position:
Click to enlarge images.
Sequentially, net cash and other liquid assets decreased by EUR 675 million in the second quarter 2012, primarily due to the payment of the annual dividend totaling EUR 742 million, Devices and Services operating losses, cash outflows related to restructuring and capital expenditures, partially offset by cash flows related to IPR (including a EUR 400 million receipt of pre-payments from existing IPR licenses), a positive contribution from Nokia Siemens Networks and the receipt of a USD 250 million (approximately EUR 196 million) quarterly platform support payment from Microsoft.
(Source: Release linked above.)
Many people use the Microsoft (MSFT) platform payments as a basis for the Microsoft tie-up/takeover thesis, but it is important to realize the net cash flow is nearly flat. As the company states:
Over the life of the agreement, both the platform support payments and the minimum software royalty commitments are expected to measure in the billions of U.S. dollars. The total amount of the platform support payments is expected to slightly exceed the total amount of the minimum software royalty commitments.
(Source: Release linked above.)
The positive cash from operations and improvement in the rate of cash burn (when will they cut the dividend to reinforce the business?) will be favorably received by both the equity and bond markets as the cash burn is one of the biggest concerns in both markets. Any improvement in cash burn will give the company breathing room to get its house in order.
One sign that things are not going to change in the near future is the company's treatment of the deferred tax asset. In the second quarter of 2012, Nokia recognized EUR 800 million in valuation allowances related to its Finnish deferred tax assets in accordance with accounting standards. This points to the company's belief that taxable profits, against which deferred tax assets could be applied, may not materialize.
Bonds
The following is a current representation of the company's bonds:
NOKIA CORP 5.375% 05/15/2019 Ba1/BB+ (CUSIP: 654902AB1)
Current price: $77.52
The price history:
The 2019s keep grinding lower, but should find some near-term support with the better cash burn profile.
NOKIA CORP 6.625% 05/15/2039 Ba1/BB+ (CUSIP: 654902AC9)
Current price: $74.00
The price history:
Equity
Nokia's equity was up after hours as the company beat by a penny, but it has not found a floor until the earnings -- and this may be short lived:
Bottom Line: While on the surface the earnings look decent, digging a little deeper and we see that many of the positives are one off in nature. For the bonds and the equity, the cash burn rate is paramount and it was decent in the second quarter, but again, I question the repeatability of the results. 2012 will continue to be difficult for the company as Symbian sets fall in price and volume and Lumia could see the "wait until 8 (Windows, that is)" falloff effect. The company continues to be focused on managing for cash and NSN has continued to add value to cash and to overall results, both of which are a positive and should help support bond prices. I continue to believe that the best way to position this company is through the 2019 debt (unfortunately, I don't have pricing for the EUR issues), as the yield is 10% and there is significant upside should the company get through their transition sooner than later.
Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only, it is not a recommendation to buy or sell any security and is strictly the opinion of Rubicon Associates LLC. Every investor is strongly encouraged to do their own research prior to investing.
Nokia N9 Smartphone Hacked to Run Android 4.1 Jelly Bean - Gotta Be Mobile
The Nokia N9, an experimental smartphone released by Nokia with the MeeGo operating system, has been recently hacked to run Google’s latest Android 4.1 Jelly Bean operating system. Ironically, while many Android smartphones are still awaiting an Android 4.1 Jelly Bean upgrade from carriers and device manufacturers, Windows Phone-maker Nokia’s N9 is among the first to run Android 4.1.
According to Phone Arena at this time, it’s still unclear what is functional on Android 4.1 on Nokia’s N9 hardware or how well the performance of Jelly Bean is on the N9. What is clear, however, is that developers are interested in hacking the Nokia N9, which served as the reference hardware for Nokia to build the Windows Phone-powered Lumia 800 and Lumia 900 smartphones.
In the past, developers had devised a dual-boot solution for the Nokia N9 that allows the device to run Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.
In recent news, the venerable and aging Windows Mobile-powered HTC HD2 had also been hacked to run Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. In that hack, most components were working, though a few things were not working properly still in the early port.
Comments (3)
Motorola ATRIX HD review: Motorola finally got one right - YAHOO!
Years from now when people reflect on Android and its meteoric rise to the top, Google’s (GOOG) Motorola Mobility will absolutely be among the companies credited with pushing the Android platform to the next level during its early days. HTC (TPE:2498) lays claim to the first Android smartphone — the T-Mobile G1, or the HTC Dream as it was known internationally — but Motorola and Verizon Wireless (VZ) had the first Android-powered smash hit when they launched the Motorola DROID ahead of the holidays in 2009.
From the series of BGR exclusives to the cryptic “iDon’t” teaser commercial and on to the device’s launch, the DROID was the device that put Android on the map. The phone was billed as being everything Apple’s iPhone wasn’t — it had a physical QWERTY keypad, true multitasking, a 5-megapixel camera with a flash, widget support and more — and a massive marketing campaign coupled with the hype already surrounding the device sealed the deal.
Motorola Mobility has launched dozens of devices since the DROID hit Verizon in November 2009. Motorola’s contributions to the “DROID” family have been numerous, and other devices like the CHARM, BRAVO, Photon 4G, ATRIX, RAZR and XOOM-series tablets have attacked various markets at competitive price points. But even the RAZR, the eagerly anticipated Android phone that revived the iconic RAZR brand, was unable to generate the same amount of hype and success enjoyed by the DROID.
There are a number of reasons for the lukewarm responses Motorola’s various Android offerings have received for the most part, but one in particular seems to surface again and again: software.
Motorola’s DROID featured Android in its raw form, but Motorola knew it would have to distinguish itself from other emerging Android vendors if it hoped to see continued success with the open source mobile platform. Its repeated attempts at software differentiation were not well received, however, and Motorola’s various iterations of its custom “MOTOBLUR” user interface were often the focus of complaints among users.
Motorola is now owned by Google, which is a good thing for the struggling vendor, which never quite managed to turn a profit selling Android smartphones. The long-term impact this merger might have on other Android vendors like Samsung (005930KS), LG (066570KS), HTC (TPE:2498) and Sony (SNE) remains to be seen, but if the new ATRIX HD is any indication, Google’s acquisition is already having an impact on Motorola’s products.
In a nutshell, Motorola’s work with Android 4 Ice Cream Sandwich is a complete reversal from its earlier efforts with the OS.
Motorola still calls its user interface layer on top of Android MOTOBLUR, but this is far and away the most tame iteration of the company’s software. In fact, I’ll go as far as to say Motorola’s software tweaks actually enhance Android — and anyone who has used an early MOTOBLUR device knows just how crazy that sounds.
Android purists may find this hard to believe (I did, too) but Motorola did a wonderful job with Ice Cream Sandwich in a number of key areas.
For one thing, the UI is very nicely done. I like some of Motorola’s recent phones, most notably the RAZR MAXX, but I’m definitely not a fan of the job Motorola did on Android 2.3 Gingerbread. With Ice Cream Sandwich, it’s a completely different story.
The general appearance of Google’s ICS interface is not disturbed. Instead, Motorola enhanced it with a number of subtle refinements, simple animations and slick custom icons that fit well with the overall look of Android 4.0.
An example of UI highlight on the new ATRIX is Motorola’s “Circles” widget, which is the equivalent of the HTC clock/weather widget made famous by HTC’s Sense UI.
The widget consists of three circles: a large circle on the left houses a digital clock that can be flipped over to reveal an analog clock or tapped to open the phone’s alarms app. A second large circle in the middle shows the current whether, and it can be swiped to cycle through various saved cities. Finally, a third small circle on the right shows the phone’s remaining charge as a percentage, and it can be flipped once to show data usage in the current billing period or twice to reveal the widget’s settings button.
Things like Android 4.0′s folder support are left mostly untouched, but Motorola did add a nice feature to some of its icons. Apps like Phone, Text Messaging and Calendar are represented on the ATRIX HD’s home screen by actionable icons that lie somewhere between normal, static icons and widgets. For example, a swipe on the Text Messaging icon reveals a list of recent messages, and a swipe on the Phone icon pops up a window with the device’s call log.
I also still absolutely love Motorola’s Smart Actions feature, which I wrote about at length in my Motorola RAZR MAXX review. The feature allows users to configure the phone to perform any number of functions automatically based on variables such as time, location and much more, and I wish every smartphone shipped with this functionality out of the box.
In terms of hardware, the ATRIX HD isn’t fooling anyone — it feels like a $100 smartphone.
The Kevlar-covered back on the device has a great soft-touch feel to it but the rest of the plastic case feels cheap and hollow. The buttons are also made of cheap-feeling plastic, and they have so much play that if you’re not looking at the phone’s display when you press them, you might not know if a push even registered.
The aforementioned display, however, is anything but cheap.
The ATRIX HD has one of the most impressive displays I’ve seen on a smartphone in recent history. Not on a Motorola smartphone or a $99 smartphones, on a smartphone. Period.
Motorola bills the 4.5-inch 720 x 1,280-pixel panel on the new ATRIX as a “ColorBoost” display, and its performance is true to its name. Colors are remarkably rich and vibrant, and the clarity of this 326 ppi screen is likely bested only by Samsung’s Super AMOLED Plus displays and Apple’s Retina display. It really is a sight to behold.
My one complaint regarding this phone’s panel is its touch performance. Whereas most modern touchscreens register even the lightest touches, I often find that the ATRIX HD display stops registering my finger presses before my finger completely comes off the display. This is most annoying when I’m scrolling through a list, as it often results in phantom taps registering and list items being selected unintentionally.
Nokia’s Lumia 900 is a fantastic value at $99.99, but it was a wise move for AT&T to cut the phone’s price in half on the same day it launched the ATRIX HD. In terms of build quality and feel, the Lumia 900 has Motorola’s new Android phone beat by a mile. Where value, performance and overall user experience are concerned, however, the ATRIX HD is the clear winner.
At a hair under $100, the Motorola ATRIX HD packs an incredible 4.5-inch high-definition display, a dual-core 1.5GHz processor, 1GB of RAM, a decent 8-megapixel camera, microSDHC support in addition to 8GB of internal memory, 4G LTE connectivity and a 1,780 mAh battery that somehow managed to last me more than a day during usage that included tons of email, voice calling, music streaming, text messaging, Twitter checking, news reading and plenty more.
Motorola’s new smartphone feels inexpensive, but concessions clearly had to be made somewhere in order to hit that magic sub-$100 price point. As terrific as the display is and as enjoyable as the user experience is, it’s not a bad trade-off at all.
The Motorola ATRIX HD is available immediately from AT&T for $99.99 on a two-year contract.
Very Good dual maza.
Waaaw ! ^__^
is it fully working ?
How to do it on my N9 64GB ?
Thanks
Waaaw ! ^__^
is it fully working ?
How to do it on my N9 64GB ?
Thanks
N9 rocks ^_*