Microsoft puts Nokia X platform and Asha series to rest , company to lay off 18000 employees as well

Nokia/Microsoft has decided to send the Nokia X and its entire family of AOSP (Android) as well as the S40 based Asha feature phones to the axe .This move comes right next to the biggest layoff of Microsoft's employee force with 18,000 employees scheduled to be sent home .

First off , we have the over hyped Nokia X line of Android devices . The Nokia X platform ,developed by Microsoft/Nokia was built on top of AOSP(Android open source platform) and this meant that Google services such as the App store , maps , mail and apps like Youtube were replaced by ones made by Microsoft (which didn't work well).

The Nokia X lineup was largely ill equipped and underpowered to the meet the demands of the power hungry smartphone consumers , who expected a lot from a Nokia running Android , and this armed with the lack of a dedicated home and menu button ,camera flash , front camera and a imitation -windows phone feel gave people a reason to turn away from the device , Microsoft quickly fixed the problem by announcing the Nokia X2 - which brought in a new processor , more ram , rear flash , front camera and a much needed home button , The phone also brought in Nokia X platform 2.0 ,which wasn't compatible with the older Nokia X devices , so technically the original Nokia X series was sitting ducks without any updates .But now , the Redmond giant has decided to pull the plug off the entire Nokia X project which means that Nokia will no longer work on Android powered phones . The Nokia X ,Nokia X+ and the XL have been scrubbed off and this will surely include the recently announced Nokia X2 as well . The company however has decided to keep the existing Nokia X devices afloat by converting them to Windows Phone devices with a major software update , all resources used on the Nokia X project will be diverted to a seperate project that aims to make a affordable Lumia device with Windows phone , rather than Android .

Quote -

"We plan to shift select Nokia X product designs to become Lumia products running Windows. This builds on our success in the affordable smartphone space and aligns with our focus on Windows Universal Apps," - Satya Nadella.

"In addition to the portfolio already planned, we plan to deliver additional lower-cost Lumia devices by shifting select future Nokia X designs and products to Windows Phone devices. We expect to make this shift immediately while continuing to sell and support existing Nokia X products "- Stephen Elop

With the Nokia X platform discarded ,Microsoft can finally pay attention to create a sub $100 Lumia device based on the now dead Nokia X platform . The move to scrub the Nokia X platform comes at a time when 18,000 Microsoft employees are sent a email notifying them of the biggest employee layoff in Microsoft's history . 12500 of these employees are from Nokia's Devices and Services division , whom they absorbed into the Microsoft umbrella when Microsoft acquired the company .

Nokia Asha platform has been scheduled to meet its maker as well , the Asha series was aimed at developing markets and is responsible for Nokia's success over the last few years , over a billion Series 40 phones have been sold and the Asha lineup also contributed heavily to it . Development of the S40 (Asha's operating software) will end in the next 18 months and Nokia has no plans to introduce any new Asha phones in the future .

Microsoft also plans in shutting down its Xbox entertainment studios

Microsoft also hopes to sell Nokia's MixRadio to a 3rd party , Nokia MixRadio is a online music streaming service

Written by Rakitha for MasHD

Article may be used in other blogs,but please be sure to link this article as a source

Sources - GSMArena ,TheVerge

iPad (2022) and iPad Pro with M2 announced

Apple has announced their latest iteration of the iPad (entry level model) and the iPad Pro lineup with the new M2 processor. The event, held on the 18th of October as a recorded session displayed the key features of the iPads with the most significant being the base model iPad which has now received an upgrade. iPad 2022 This model of the base model iPad ditches the almost 12 year old home button and display layout and goes for a cleaner display only design found on the iPad Air . The chassis, which now comes with flatter sides and a TouchID fingerprint sensor on the top has also abandoned the lightning port in favor of USB C and it also comes with a set of pogo style connectors for accessories including a keyboard with trackpad. Internally, the iPad comes either as a Wifi only (Wifi6) and a 5G cellular model and is offered with 64 or 256GB of storage. The processor has also been upgraded to the Apple A14 which is the same found on the iPhone 12 series and last year's iPad Air. L...

HTC One to sell as TD 101 at China Mobile

HTC decided to invest in such a brand by launching the One series of smartphones last year, although the company was not able to impose its own product names to certain carriers. Then, just a few days ago, the company launched the HTC One, which is going to be the company’s only One-branded handset this year, a make-or-break kind of project for the Taiwanese Android maker that’s still having a tough time fighting against the competition, especially Samsung. We were under the impression that HTC will further invest in its One brand and not budge to carrier demands anymore when it comes to changing the name of the product – in the U.S., AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile are going to sell it as the HTC One. But it looks like things aren’t necessarily so, and no, it’s not Verizon that’s going to get its way selling the One as the Droid DNA Plus, as it was recently rumored. We’re looking at China Mobile this time around, which has announced the HTC One as the HTC TD 101. That’s certa...

Google Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 pro along with Pixel watch unveiled.

Google announced their latest Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro smartphones along with the Pixel Watch - google's first wearable at a special launch event today. The devices, which are powered by Google's second generation Tensor SOC bring major improvements in photography which has always been Google's highlight. Google Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro. Google's Pixel 7 and the Pixel 7 Pro are Google's latest flagship phones for 2022. The devices, which have been developed around the Tensor G2 - Google's second generation processor developed on a 4nm architecture. The chipset, which consists of 2 Cortex X1 cores, 2 Cortex A78 cores and 4 Cortex A55 cores with a Mali G710 MC10 GPU cores and the chip is paired with 8GB of RAM for the Pixel 7 and 12GB RAM for the Pro variant. Both models come with 128 / 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage and the pro model comes with 512GB. The phones, which come with two different display sizes consist of a 6.3" 2400x1080 AMOLED display with 90Hz refre...

MasHD Blog

Search This Blog