Are two new Nokia smartphones on their way?

The Nokia XL is one of the few Android-power devices the company was able to put out

Spotted on mobile benchmarking tool Geekbench are two Nokia devices that could’ve possibly made it out of Nokia’s stable had they continued on making phones for Microsoft. And while people may speculate that these could be new Android-powered devices from Nokia, which is now being licensed to HMD Global Oy (for mobile devices), the specs are too old to warrant a new release. The first one is the Nokia 5320. It runs on Android 4.4 KitKat, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 chipset, and 2GB of RAM. The second one is the unusual Nokia RM-1490 that runs on an AMD A8-5545 APU quad-core chip, Android 4.2, and 2GB of RAM. We haven’t seen an Android device run on AMD before. And GSMArena is speculating this could’ve been a laptop.

But while we might not be getting these, there are Nokia devices in the works. According to Nokia executive Mike Wang there will be three to four Nokia-branded mobile devices (encompassing smartphones and tablets) running on Android that will come out in the fourth quarter of this year. The announcement might be made before the year ends with a launch date set for early next year, depending on how testing and development goes.

Nokia in talks to buy Withings for US $191 million

Nokia is reportedly in talks to buy French fitness gadget and wearable company Withings who made some waves a few years ago with its Activite fitness trackers which resembled classic timepieces. Nokia is apparently interested in investing into the health tracking aspect of the company, similar to Apple's HealthKit initiative.

Withings was founded in 2008 and has brought to market various connected health appliances, including smart watches, fitness trackers, thermometers, and baby monitors, among other gadgets. Nokia, who famously sold their phone business to Microsoft as well as their Here maps to a consortium of carmakers, is focused on Internet of Things and connected lifestyle products and ecosystems. 

"We have said consistently that digital health was an area of strategic interest to Nokia, and we are now taking concrete action to tap the opportunity in this large and important market," said Nokia CEO Rajeev Suri.

Source: Nokia

WhatsApp to drop support for BlackBerry and other old platforms

If you use WhatsApp, the time has come to finally let go of that old BlackBerry or Symbian device. By the end of 2016, WhatsApp will only support Android 2.3+, iOS, and Windows Phone 8.1+. Those who use BlackBerry devices, Nokia S40, Nokia Symbian S60, Windows Phone 7.1, Android 2.1, and Android 2.2 won’t be supported after that. WhatsApp didn’t say if they were taking the apps out of the app stores or will just halt support for the apps. What’s clear though is it might be best to get a newer device.

Source: The Next Web

Nokia buys Alcatel-Lucent, will sell HERE maps to Microsoft?

Nokia seems ready for a comeback of sorts. The company reportedly agreed to buy Alcatel-Lucent for US $16 billion and while the deal will be finalized in Q2 2016, it makes for some intriguing speculation on where Nokia might be going with its new acquisition. 

"The combined company will have unparalleled innovation capabilities, with Alcatel-Lucent's Bell Labs and Nokia's FutureWorks, as well as Nokia Technologies, which will stay as a separate entity with a clear focus on licensing and the incubation of new technologies," a press release by Nokia states.

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