4A0-AI1 action - Nokia NSP IP Network Automation Professional Composite Updated: 2024

Nokia has announced that it has signed a new 5G patent license agreement with smartphone maker Honor, Nokia has said that this is the fourth major smartphone maker they have signed a smartphone agreement with in the last 12 months.

Susanna Martikainen, Chief Licensing Officer Mobile Devices at Nokia said: “We are delighted to have concluded an amicable patent cross-license agreement with Honor, one of the leading players in the Chinese smartphone market. It is the fourth major litigation-free smartphone agreement that Nokia has concluded over the past twelve months and highlights once again the strength of Nokia’s patent portfolio and decades-long contributions to cellular standards and other technologies.”

Wenyu Zhou, Head of Global Intellectual Property at Honor said: “As both 5G SEP holder and implementor, Honor highly respects IP rights and strongly believes that reasonable value of IP is important to the development of mobile industry. The conclusion of the patent cross-license agreement shows Honor’s commitment on innovation to enabling a smart life across all scenarios and all channels, for all people.”

Nokia’s industry-leading patent portfolio is built on more than €140 billion invested in R&D since 2000 and is composed of around 20,000 patent families, including over 6,000 patent families declared essential to 5G. Nokia contributes its inventions to open standards in return for the right to license them on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms. Companies can license and use these technologies without the need to make their own substantial investments in the standards, fueling innovation and the development of new products and services for consumers.

You can find out more details about the new patent agreement between Nokia and Honor for 5G smartphone patents over at the Nokia website at the link below.

Source Nokia

Image Credit: Pawel Czerwinski

Latest Geeky Gadgets Deals

Consumer tech is languishing in a limbo created by cliché marketing and a refusal to innovate. And this is why the past year too saw a flurry of products across various categories — especially smartphones — that were almost predictable. However, there were a few exceptions that came as a breath of fresh air. Here is our pick of the most innovative tech products of 2023.

Apple Vision Pro: Before its debut, many theories were circulating, suggesting that Apple was making a mistake by launching a headset with no clear purpose. However, after the headset’s announcement, those who were criticising suddenly had a shift in perspective. The success or failure of a product is one thing; the Vision Pro is set to launch early next year and will retail for $3,499. No matter what people may say, Apple has taken a risk with the Vision Pro mixed-reality headset when the iPhone is at its peak. Now, whether the iPhone will coexist or get replaced by the headset, we don’t know, but at least Apple has taken a bold step by switching to a platform that could be the beginning of the spatial computing era. Sure, early hands-on demonstrations of the headset (and those who tried it) seem positive, but the truly exciting part of the Vision Pro is how you interact with the device. Just like how the iPhone brought pinch-to-zoom and made it the default form of interaction on mobile, Apple has figured out a way to interact in 3D space using your eyes and without a control device. That is a head-turner, which is why the Vision Pro made it to our list of the most innovative devices of 2023.

The Apple Vision Pro headset (Image: Apple)

Humane AI Pin: Time is running out for smartphones – at least, that’s what Imran Chaudhri from Humane tends to believe. Chaudhri, a former Apple designer, shocked the world when he announced a $700 AI Pin, pitched as a smartphone alternative. However, there’s a catch – it’s only a viable alternative if you are willing to clip the AI Pin to your shirt. It uses voice controls, touch controls, and a camera to sense the wearer’s intentions, listens to your requests like Google Assistant, searches the web, translates your speech, and projects an interface right onto your hand. The AI Pin behaves like a smartphone but attaches to your shirt instead of being in your pocket. It could be a great hit and replace the smartphone with a clippable AI wearable, or become the biggest hardware failure of our times. Whatever outcome may come, the AI Pin does highlight the need for a replacement of smartphones, which have become predictable and boring. Alternatively, it could be the worst idea to replace our smartphones, which are already so good at what they do.

ChatGPT and Generative AI: The arrival of OpenAI’s ChatGPT AI Chatbot is both exciting and fearful at the same time. Unlike Google, ChatGPT can have long, open-ended text conversations on virtually any Topic using prompts, making the technology feel more human. However, the large language models behind this technology raise obvious questions about the future. Will AI take our jobs? What happens to human creativity? Despite fears of artificial intelligence and how one looks at where this technology is headed, generative AI—or conversational AI—will be embedded inside every product that’s going to be released in the future.

Journal app: Journaling is extremely personal; it holds some of the most haunting memories as well as memorable chapters of a person’s life. It’s a choice of habit, not a forced one. The practice of keeping a daily journal is nothing new, but when Apple announced a dedicated Journal app for the iPhone, journaling made it back into popular discourse. The purpose of the app is to get started with journaling and pen down personal entries whenever you feel like it. It’s a “feel-good” app which makes a point that you prioritise journaling over other mindless activities. The app may be too simplistic but gets better with suggestions and prompts based on your photos and locations. Journaling is a great way to heal your wounds when you pour out your thoughts with no filters.

Apple’s innovative new Journal app. (Image credit: Anuj Bhatia/The Indian Express)

Sony Access controller for PS5: Sony’s access controller for the PlayStation 5 might not have made as big of a splash as a highly-anticipated AAA title, but it definitely is a conversation starter. After nearly five years in development, the adaptive gaming controller, formerly known as Project Leonardo, is designed to make gaming easier for those living with a disability. Its design is more accessible than a DualSense controller for the PS5, featuring a joystick along with 22 swappable components that allow players to fully customise it. The controller is round, lightweight, and compact, and can be placed on any flat surface instead of being held or gripped like a traditional controller. Although not the first accessible gaming device, Sony’s access controller shows that our tech products should be designed in collaboration with disabled people and experts so that everyday tech limitations don’t impose barriers on players who don’t fit into a specific use case.

Nokia G22: In a tech landscape where brands have made smartphone repairs extremely complicated and expensive, here comes a phone that can be fully repaired in a few minutes, all by yourself. The Nokia G22 was born of the idea to make common smartphone repairs easy—be it replacing a broken screen, charging port, or battery—without needing to go to a specialist. It’s a big deal because smartphone manufacturers have intentionally made phone repairs overly complicated, leaving people with no choice but to upgrade to a new device if the older one breaks or stops functioning. That’s why the launch of the Nokia G22 was a stepping stone in making phone repairs accessible using just a few tools.

Nokia Product Marketing Chief Adam Ferguson with Nokia G22 (Image credit: Anuj Bhatia / Indian Express)

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom: If history has anything to tell, sequels of popular games have been hit-or-miss. But Tears of the Kingdom – the latest game in Nintendo’s Zelda series – was an exception. Nintendo spent six years on Tears of the Kingdom, and the hype was real. Not only did the game break many records and bring in billions of dollars, but Tears of the Kingdom also drew attention to a different mechanic that could have a mammoth effect on the franchise at large. What makes Tears of the Kingdom so different, and unlike other blockbuster games, is that it pushes the potential of open-world gaming and requires a tinkering mind to solve a huge sandbox puzzle.

Teenage Engineering TP-7: The TP-7 is made as a field recorder, meant for capturing audio during interviews, sampling sounds, recording music performances, or capturing voice notes, but using this device could be an experience in itself. Like Teenage Engineering’s other products, the TP-7 is weird, beautiful, and expensive. It gives you a vibe of an old-school device like a tape audio recorder. What’s intriguing about the TP-7 is the disc in the centre (or a wheel) that spins like a tape reel while the device is playing or recording. It’s made from a brushed steel case and an orange leather back that gives it a premium feel. The TP-7 comes with an iPhone app that transcribes spoken word recordings without any charge. The existence of TP-7, essentially a fancy dictaphone, shows that Teenage Engineering doesn’t conform to market norms. It feels like a product such as the TP-7 can coexist with a smartphone that can capture audio. But the difference between Teenage Engineering’s $1,499 tape audio recorder and what others are doing is the zest to do things differently on your terms.

OnePlus Open: Foldables are not yet so mainstream, and the OnePlus Open won’t change that immediately. However, the OnePlus Open has fixed certain things that had plagued past flagship foldables. That itself is positive news for foldables as well as for the smartphone market, which is going through a rough patch. OnePlus Open was the company’s first attempt to break into the foldable market, and the device didn’t disappoint. Not that the OnePlus Open was perfect; it too had issues, but what it did right was bridging the gap between a foldable phone and a normal phone. Users wanted a thin-and-light foldable with good multitasking support and a nearly crease-less screen, and OnePlus delivered on that front.

OnePlus Open is currently the fastest charging foldable phone in the market. (Express Photo)

iPhone 15 Pro’s Action Button: Not the camera, the performance, but a little programmable Action button was the most innovative thing about Apple’s flagship iPhone 15 Pro. It may not be fancy technology — it’s just a button — but its impact was so huge that it changed how one could use the iPhone differently. Think about using ChatGPT or your favourite app by pressing the Action button. By default, the Action button on the iPhone can only trigger one action at a time but can be additionally programmed to activate other features, including the camera or opening a note. The Action button is both a clever and interesting hardware feature in years and perhaps the best feature of the iPhone 15 Pro.

Sonic Lamb headphone: Created by an Indian startup, Sonic Lamb is a high-fidelity headphone that rethinks how audio is delivered to the user. It uses an additional proprietary driver that converts audio signals into mechanical impulses, transforming its unique earpads into a virtual diaphragm. This means users and listeners can now feel the music through what it calls “wooferpads”. To innovate in the audio space is difficult, and for an Indian company to do that is laudable.

Even though foldable devices have arrived on the market and the occasional space age 200 megapixel sensor pops in here and there, the smartphone market has become quite consolidated. We're not just talking in terms of market share, but creatively, as most manufacturers seem to be in relative agreement on what kind of experience a modern smartphone should be able to deliver to the consumer.

Yes, the days of Nokia releasing phones that directly challenged your sense of reality are truly over, but that doesn't mean there aren't winners and losers every single year. The point is that it's harder to decide who's who, and it's usually price, availability and software preferences that are the deciding factors.

Therefore, this year's winners are probably some you would have seen coming from miles away, and that says something about how stagnant things have become. But at the same time, you can turn it around and realise that it is now very, very difficult to go wrong with a smartphone that is a complete waste of money and time.

Okay, that's enough market analysis, so let's take a closer look at which phones impressed us the most over the past year.

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Winner: iPhone 15 Pro Max

While Apple usually wins on the robustness of their extensive ecosystem, as well as how long they support older devices and maintain fairly broad functionality across a massive range of products, this year actually saw quite a lot change from generation to generation.

First and foremost, the new iPhone 15 models arrive with USB-C - all of them, and so iPhones now support a host of accessories, from LAV microphones to other USB-C based smartphone gadgets. The new Action Button gives enthusiasts more ways to use their phone, especially since it supports Shortcuts, which allows you to perform a string of actions at the touch of a button.

The new rounded edges also ensure a very comfortable shape in the hand, and the fact that the Pro Max model now has 5x optical zoom may not make it directly competitive with Samsung's Galaxy S23 Ultra, but it certainly helps matters.

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Winner: Google Pixel 8 Pro

Google has made waves because it can do something other companies can't. It's not just because their pure form of Android is so endlessly expressive, colourful, simple and personal, it's because Google knows how to design hardware that feels good to use.

And the Pixel 8 Pro is so insanely enjoyable to use, almost no matter what you're doing. The new Actua displays are bright, colour-correct and responsive, the new camera finally hits the mark when it comes to video recording, and the cohesion from build quality to software is really satisfying.

If you want a mobile butler of sorts, someone who knows you, looks after you and keeps track of your life, then the Pixel 8 Pro is the ultimate Android.

Winner: OnePlus Open

As you may have already seen, the OnePlus Open has won quite a few awards at this year's Hardware Awards, so at the risk of repeating ourselves a little too much, this is just a pretty amazing smartphone on almost every parameter that matters.

Great OxygenOS software, cool cameras with versatile settings and options, solid build quality, fast charging via a charger that comes with the phone, excellent displays both inside and out, and lightning-fast performance thanks to cutting-edge components.

And yes, it folds out into a mini-tablet when needed. That's really the essence here; the OnePlus Open is just a great smartphone without the foldable part, and when you add that as some kind of extra value, well, it starts to look like something.

Winner: Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra

There's not much new under the sun to be honest for Note fans in this year's S23 Ultra, but if you look closely, it's a collection of everything that matters to the so-called "power user"; a gorgeous screen, great camera that beats most others, and that's for stills, 4K video, night and zoom. There's plenty of space, Samsung's UI works brilliantly, it's easy to transfer and manage files, and the S Pen is just that little bit nicer to use than before - and yes, once you get used to it, it's hard not to have it, combined with a very impressive battery life, even with heavy gaming, on a bright and colourful AMOLED screen. It really is the whole package.

We're big Note fans on the editorial team, and while it's very clear that the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra isn't a revolution, it's still a noticeable improvement from last year's model. Ever since the introduction of the Ultra variant, Samsung has struggled to find a balance in their line-up, and with the S23 Ultra, they've come full circle - a phone that's expensive but returns the favour with features.

vivo is all set to launch the vivo X100 series smartphones in India tomorrow, January 4th. We have the vivo X100 Pro, the top-end model in the series that comes with Industry’s first ZEISS APO Certified Telephoto Camera that promises the next level of Imaging. Let us check out some of the portrait camera features of the phone.

The phone packs ZEISS camera with the Industry’s Largest Sensor – Sony’s IMX989 sensor with Zeiss T* coating, and promises SLR-level Image Stabilization co-engineered with ZEISS.

ZEISS Multifocal Portrait

The phone has ZEISS Multifocal Portrait powered with multiple professional focal lengths of 24mm(1x), 35mm (1.5x), 50mm (2.2x), 85mm
(3.7x) and 100mm (4.3x).

In addition, there are unique ZEISS Style portraits like Distagon, B-Speed, Biotar, Planar, and Sonnar that have different background bokeh/blur effects for different scenarios.

The X100 series supports five golden focal lengths for portraits and combines each with the ZEISS Style Portrait to meet the diverse
needs for everyday life and travel photography.

Here are some camera samples that show the phone’s portrait camera in action.

Telephoto Sunshot

Thanks to the telephoto hardware and vivo Imaging Engine, X100 Pro is calibrated for scenes like sunrises and sunsets, by enhancing the warm tones and ensuring vibrant colors. With X100 Pro, capturing sun shots is a lot easier.

This offers the full power of the X100 Pro’s sun-capturing prowess within the 10x-30x zoom range. This sweet spot unlocks the most dramatic and detailed solar close-ups, bringing you closer to the sun’s captivating brilliance.

The Telephoto camera can go up to 100X for some really interesting zoom shots

The vivo X100 Pro cameras pack a lot of interesting features, and we would be sharing more in the coming days in our complete review.

Every year, we review a lot of tech at Gizmodo Australia, and 2023 was a particularly big year for phones. Apple, Samsung, and Google are constantly pumping out new models, and even as we write this article, we’re anticipating another big launch at the start of next year.

Now that 2023 is coming to a close, it’s time to go through the phones that came out this year, just like we did last year. We obviously didn’t have time for every phone, but these were all the phones that we reviewed this year, and what grabbed our attention about them, for better or worse.

The Apple iPhone 15 range

Phone news in 2023 was dominated by the iPhone’s switch to USB-C, a change years in the making that we expected several generations ago. The iPhone 15 range, including the standard 15, the 15 Plus, 15 Pro, and 15 Pro Max (our reviews focused on the Plus and Pro Max models), didn’t bring generational leaps in terms of power, but across the product family, battery life, displays, cameras, and performance remained strong – the Pro models even got a whole new ‘Action’ button and a powerful new processor for gaming. The iPhone 15 Plus starts at $1,649, while the iPhone 15 Pro Max starts at $2,199, but you could easily skip either phone if you bought last year’s models.

The Samsung Galaxy S23 range

The Samsung Galaxy S23, S23+ and S23 Ultra all debuted in 2023. We loved the base model and the S23+, claiming the entry-level model was one of the best small phones out there right now for its features and design, but battery life could be better (it’ll set you back $1,350 for the base model, $1,650 for the Plus). Meanwhile, the Galaxy S23 Ultra proved once again that Samsung means performance at this end of the market, especially for its 200x zoom camera. But $1,949 for a phone is a lot.

The Google Pixel 8 range

The Google Pixel 8 and the Google Pixel 8 Pro are both tremendous phones, and are some of the best of 2023, however price bumps for both models dimmed our impressions a bit ($1,199 and $1,699 respectively). The AI features are cool, if a bit creepy, but ultimately both devices can be skipped if you bought phones in the Pixel 7 family. Additionally, the temperature sensor on the Pixel 8 Pro was a total gimmick, but at the very least, we like the stylistic changes Google made with the flat screens.

The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 and Z Fold 5

Samsung updated its foldable category this year with two new devices – the Z Flip 5 (a vertical flip, like an old flip phone) and the Z Fold 5 (horizontal, like a book), and we had thoughts on both. The Galaxy Z Flip 5 is a total dopamine dispenser, focused on being fun and sweet, with a fairly alright camera, but we were disappointed in its battery life, and, obviously, $1,649 for a phone (even if it folds), is a lot of money. Meanwhile, the Galaxy Z Fold 5, the most expensive phone in Australia with the highest internal storage offer ($3,149), perplexed us. It’s one of Samsung’s most powerful phones, and it’s encouraged as an all-rounder for work and personal use, but we weren’t so thrilled with that framing, nor the $2,599 entry-level price.

The Oppo Find N2 Flip

Of course, Samsung couldn’t be the only foldable phone-maker in 2023. Oppo also released its first foldable for the international market, the Find N2 Flip, and we loved how cute it was. It’s priced competitively against the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 at $1,499, and its performance was about on par, but its operating system is a bit of a let-down, as it doesn’t feel entirely optimised for a foldable design.

The Samsung Galaxy S23 FE

The Samsung Galaxy S23 FE was released late in the year, just after Apple and Samsung held their big new phone releases, and it saw the return of the ‘FE’ phone – a nerfed version of Samsung’s flagship Galaxy devices. We actually did two reviews of this phone – one closer to release, and an Australia-specific review, and we found that the $999 device was definitely a contender among cheaper-than-flagship devices. It’s a solid phone for the cost, although it’s not as cheap as Google’s Pixel 7a.

The Google Pixel 7a

The Google Pixel 7a is, all things considered, probably the best phone of 2023. At the budget price point of $749, the Pixel 7a is almost as good as the Pro, with a camera on par with its premium-oriented ‘Pixel 7’ brother, and a much more accessible RRP. Its performance is brilliant, and aesthetically we loved it much more than the other Pixel 7 devices. It’s so hard to beat the Pixel 7a.

The Samsung Galaxy A54

In April, Samsung released the latest update to its most popular product internationally, the ‘A50’ device, with the Galaxy A54. This is a budget-oriented smartphone that seriously impressed us on the specs side, and we said that it was so good that it could be ranked among the company’s flagship ‘Galaxy S’ range. The cameras weren’t too impressive, but a $699 price tag is hard to beat for what you get.

The ASUS Zenfone 10

The ASUS Zenfone is a phone I look forward to every year because I love what ASUS is doing – a premium-level phone with terrific specs in a considerably smaller body, and the ASUS Zenfone 10 continues this. Its cameras are still quite lacking, but performance is still up there with the best, and the device aesthetic is fairly distinct too. This year, however, ASUS raised the price to $1,300, up from $1,000 last year, which makes it a little bit more difficult to justify against the similarly priced Google and Samsung devices, but it’s still a solid contender.

The Lenovo/Motorola ThinkPhone

Motorola threw a curveball in 2023, collaborating with parent company Lenovo on the ThinkPhone, a mobile version of its ‘ThinkPad’ laptop range. For $999, it’s a terrific device with great performance and a mastered operating system, but its cameras were lacking against the cheaper Pixel 6a at the time, and its chassis design makes it look a little cheap. Still, it was a great phone.

The Nokia G42 5G

So Pink! That was the name of the Nokia G42 5G model we reviewed. It was released at a time when everyone was super Barbie-pilled this year, and it’s fitted with some fairly alright features at the $450 price point. It’s also completely self-repairable, with Nokia partnering with iFixit on official guides and parts distribution. It’s not the best phone on the market, but for less than $500, you’re getting a pretty good all-rounder.

The TCL 30 5G

TCL knows what it’s doing when it comes to budget phones, and the 30 5G was no exception. Cheap, well-performing, and with fairly capable cameras, the TCL 30 5G is perfect for somebody after a new smartphone that won’t break the bank at $499.

The Google Pixel Fold

Oh, why not? Once more for 2023. The Google Pixel Fold didn’t come to Australia in 2023, though we wish it had. It’s Google’s first foldable with a horizontal book-style fold, and our colleagues in the U.S. reckon it has some wrinkles to work out, in particular around the whole folding thing and having an OS that translates well to the form factor. $US1,800 is also a steep price for any phone, and the centre crease is particularly noticeable when watching videos. We just wish it was in Australia.

And that’s it for the phones of 2023. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all, tech lovers.

Image: Gizmodo Australia

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