Nokia Lumia 800 getting update for its camera

The camera on the back of the Nokia Lumia 800 is supposed to be taking great pictures. After all, it has an 8MP sensor and a Carl Zeiss-certified lens. But something is not working out right and Nokia's Damian Dinning sent out a tweet to say that an update is coming although there is no specific date in mind. Last month, when Nokia stated that an update had repaired a problem that the phone was having with the battery, the Finnish based manufacturer admitted that there was an issue with the camera and that it would not be overlooked.

Apparently the problems with the camera are a software issue which is why Nokia is hopeful that this update on the way will allow the camera to reach its full potential. Late last month, word started leaking out about problems that Nokia Lumia 800 users were having with settings to the camera.

Recently we told you about a camera cowboy shootout between the shooters on the Nokia Lumia 800, the Sony Xperia S, the Samsung Galaxy S II and the Apple iPhone 4S. The Lumia 800's camera made a good showing, but finished behind the Sony Xperia S as far as how quickly the camera app took to open on the phone.

Nokia Lumia 800 Windows Phone 7.5 smartphone live hands-on:

Samsung expects to rob Nokia of top maker title this year

The time of Nokia's unquestionable reign in the mobile phone market is drawing to a close it seems, as the Finns lost the smartphone shipment race last year. Samsung are reportedly gunning for the top, confident they can outsell Nokia in all categories in 2012.

They've beaten their 2010 sales records, moving the impressive 300 million phones in 2011, which seems to set them on the right track. They were on top in terms of smartphone volumes, but still trail Nokia when you consider all phones.

Analysts from Gartner are less certain that the South Koreans can steal the crown, saying that Nokia's strong position in emerging markets will allow it to maintain its lead. Especially, because the growth of the smartphone market is expected to slow down this year, except in emerging markets where Nokia reigns supreme. This is something Samsung will need to address if they really want the top spot, analysts say.

Reuters is predicting Nokia will sell 388 million phones in 2012, with Samsung following close by with 359 million. Their predictions for 2011 were 418 million and 320 million respectively, so predictions aren't always exact.

We'll see how things go. Samsung is pushing forward with Android, Bada and maybe Tizen, while Nokia is making Symbian (now Nokia OS, previously the top OS by market share) play second fiddle to their new love Windows Phone, which both Nokia and Microsoft expect to really pick up this year.

Nokia Q4 results are out, Lumia sold well over 1 million units

It's Nokia's turn to sum up its financial Q4 and we finally got to learn more about the market performance of the Lumia smartphones. As it turns out the sales aren't too bad, but the company still lost a huge amount of money in the holiday quarter.

In what Nokia described as very solid performance, the Lumia duo sold "well over 1 million" units, which is less than the 2 million targets, but better than the half million predictions of some analysts. You should keep in mind, though, that this number includes Lumia sales until today and not just in Q4.

A million sales is hardly enough to justify everything that the company went through after it announced its major change of strategy in February, but it's still a start and hopefully things will only get better from now on.

Also, Nokia finally started receiving the subsidy that was put in its contract with Microsoft when it started making WP smartphones. The company got $250 million this quarter and will be looking for much more in the future, if reports of a deal worth north of $2 billion are to be believed.

Still, according to the IFRS numbers (IFRS is the international standard for such reports), Nokia lost €954 million (about $1,260 million) this quarter alone or a total of €1,073 million ($1,413 million) for the whole 2011.

The company experienced year-on-year decreases in almost every one of its businesses, including the total number of phones sold. Average selling price also went down, so we can hardly attribute to the transition to smartphones alone.

Things are looking a little brighter if you compare them to Q3 of 2010, but the holiday season is bound to lead to some increase in sales.

So, Nokia obviously got their start in the WP game, but the verdict is quite clear - they need to step up their game. Of course, it would be nice if Microsoft did its part, too and brought the platform up to speed (multi-core support, FullHD video and higher display resolutions immediately spring to mind).

If you can't get enough of those numbers, you might want to follow the source link for the complete Nokia Q4 and full 2011 report.