Another element in the collaboration will be the cooperation in open source software initiatives. The companies will be coordinating their Open Source technology selection and development investments, enabling common technologies to be developed for their Moblin and Maemo platforms.

Intel will also be taking a license for Nokia’s HSPA/3G modem technologies to create new mobile broadband opportunities. These complement Intel’s existing offerings and the aim is to enable advanced mobile computing solutions with a wide range of communication capabilities.

This collaboration isn’t a deal to use Intel chips in Nokia devices, rather an expansion of an existing relationship designed to open up a new world of possibilities for mobile computing and connectivity. Of course, there’s no shortage of speculation as to what all this means in terms of devices. As ever, we don’t comment on rumour or speculation. That doesn’t mean we’re not as excited as you about the possible consequences though.

MIT Technology review highlights that such technologies have only previously been found in very niche applications. If successful, and deployed, this could be one of the first consumer applications. However, it is early stages and the challenge to the NRC team is a big one, with many believing it hugely difficult, or impossible.

I reckon if it’s possible, then it’d be something pretty spectacular. The notion that you could just put your phone down and it’d be charging itself would be pretty awesome. What do you think?

[UPDATE 11jun09 - There's been a gross misunderstanding that this tech will soon be going into a phone or what not. Folks, this is just a research project and not a product program and there is no indication that there is or is not coming into a future product (we wouldn't really tell you anyway). Keep in mind that we do a ton of research to explore potential new tech. This is one of them. - CS]

The new Nokia Research Center in Berkley is tasked with some fascinating projects coupled with important ambitions that could help alter (for the better) what our devices are capable of achieving in the future. One of the core areas of research is the alchemy of squeezing better performance from mobile products using less power consumption. Read on to find out more about this and the other fields of research that will be explored at Nokia’s latest research facility.

Increasing the performance of a mobile device while lowering power consumption grants the obvious benefit of enabling you to do more with your phone for longer before it starts gasping for more juice. And the team at NRC Berkley will also be investigating how to achieve this goal in both active and idle modes. One of the other main areas of research is accelerating the mobile web browser and runtime environments. The benefit of this research to many folk in emerging markets, and in particular, people using devices in rural areas where recharging a device can mean having to travel to the nearest town to get it plugged in and powered up could be significant, as Dr. John Shen, head of NRC Palo Alto and now also running NRC Berkley, explains:

“The results of these research areas can greatly improve consumers’ mobile device experience particularly in emerging economies where electricity is limited and access to the Internet is primarily or solely via the mobile device. NRC is pleased to provide a laboratory environment that will enable us and UC Berkeley to collaborate in areas that are important to both of us.”

Let us know what you think. Post your thoughts in the comments section below.

Photo from danielle_blue

The field of mobile gestures is a fascinating one that Nokia is keenly exploring and researching, with explorative designers Younghee Jung and Joe Macleod on the frontline. Last week we had the opportunity to chat to them at The Inside Story design day in London about their ideas on mobile gesture design, the research they’ve been doing, and the tools that have been developed to help test how well future mobile gestures might work.

Click through to watch our video interview with the duo, in which they talk about the creation of the gesture phone prototype that they use to explore this new dialect of physical interaction designed to let you perform tasks and communicate in very new ways.

With gestures it’s easy to label it as a gimmick or a trend, but the reality is these aren’t cold-blooded replacements cannibalizing traditional interfaces, but rather natural and optional alternatives. For example, just because two people working in London might naturally default to using Bluetooth to share a photo, in rural Ghana the gesture of an intricate handshake and pressing two phones together to transfer content (a la Near Field Communication) might be the more suitable option here, and hence the gesture in this scenario suits the task in a place where Bluetooth mightn’t be front of mind or even seen as an option.

This is a concept that Younghee and Joe have a great deal of first-hand experience in researching. As part of their fieldwork they ask people from many countries and a broad spectrum of cultures to play out scenarios of how they might perform a task with a gesture that feels natural to them, using simple plastic mono block phones as props.

They set out a series of tasks for people, such as silencing a ringing phone. Sure, the flip-to-silence gesture is already alive in a number of devices, such as the Nokia 8800 and N97, but it was great to hear examples of some of the physical gestures people suggested in their research. A few of my favourites that Younghee and Joe mentioned were people wanting to squeeze the phone to shut it up, while others put their index finger over their mouth to shush it or simply covered the phone with their hand. The strangest, but my pick of the bunch was simply staring at your phone with a rather annoyed look, as if it were a naughty child that needs to be quiet.

One of the most interesting points discovered during the design process is that there must be a metaphorical or physical relationship between a gesture and a task. A form or emotional and rational alignment that is enjoyable and socially appropriate, as Younghee and Joe explain it. So, for example, if you’re giving something to someone, the concept of gravity comes into play, as typically in the physical world you drop an object into someone’s palm in the exchange process, so this movement, and the fact that gravity dictates that the giving hand is above the receiving one, could be applied in similar mobile data transfer scenarios. It’s not that this is the answer, but rather this is the sort of thinking that helps guide Nokia’s designers towards solutions.

Once a collection of potential gestures are agreed upon, they’re then taken out into the real world and played out using a smart gesture phone prototype (see video to hear Younghee and Joe talk about it’s creation).

It’s certainly an area of design that I’m keen to witness develop and evolve. And of course there are a bunch of interesting questions and debates that gestural interaction raises. Such as personalised gestures. Could we (or should we) be given the option in the future to create and evolve a custom set of mobile gestures to suit our personal behavioral habits, or should we work towards a shared and recognized lexicon of worldwide gestures as it were? What do you think?

Share your thoughts in the comments section below. But while you mull that over, watch our video with Nokia designers Younghee Jungand Joe Macleod below.

Read on to find out more about what’s going on with Nokia’s indoor positioning research and development after the break.

The trial at the Kamppi Shopping Center in Helsinki kicked off earlier this year in March, and saw shoppers armed with the ability to explore indoor maps, get discount vouchers and bite-size chunks of info served to them directly through their Nokia phones.

This new phase of the trial sees more services heaped onto the indoor positioning platter. These additions to the trial will enable shoppers to keep track where they are at any time in the shopping center, as well as hone in on wherever it is they need to go. Plus, sharing has been thrown into the mix, meaning that should you want to share your location with anyone - say, if you’re family is having a coffee and you want them to come and find you easily - you can share your position via a simple integrated SMS feature.

If you happen the be based in Helsinki and fancy trying it out, you can get access to the indoor positioning service on your S60 web savvy handset by visiting http://kamppi.nokia.mobi.

Christian Prehofer is Senior Manager and Research Project Leader at the Nokia Research Center, and had this to say about the indoor positioning trial:

“The results from the trial so far have been extremely positive; since March the indoor maps, vouchers and information service attracted over 30,000 hits and had more than 6,500 unique users. With the launch of mobile indoor positioning we are not only conducting a unique large scale experiment but aim to demonstrate the capability and potential uses for indoor positioning services, as well as bringing consumers a different and exciting experience. Kamppi Shopping Center provides us with an excellent place to test this”

Watch the video showcasing the indoor positioning trial here >>

What do you think? Is this sort of indoor positioning service with contextual info an exciting prospect, and do you think you’d use it? Share your opinions in the comments section below.

To enter, all you need to do is contribute useful tips and info about user interfaces, visual approaches and interaction design to the Forum Nokia community. The idea is to create a deep resource of material that’ll help develop best practice and make life easier for the wider design community. The challenge runs until the end of this month and any contribution to Forum Nokia which includes the category “Mobile Design” added between May 7 and May 31 2009 will be considered as a competition entry (make sure your Forum Nokia contact details are included in your posts).

Forum Nokia is looking for contributions across the key aspects of designing for Nokia devices including design patters, UI components, CSS styling tips, jQuery info, mobile web design information and anything else you think might be intertesting to the wider community.

This is a great opportunity to share your knowledge and experience, and garner that of others whilst you’re creating applications and widgets for Nokia devices.

You can check out the full details of the competition on Forum Nokia and don’t forget to give the rules a quick run down as well.

The competition is open to ideas now, so developers should get on down to Forum Nokia and enter. The Forum Nokia folks are looking for an idea for an “innovative mobile application that harnesses the power of Ovi Maps”. The winner will bag the $30,000 prize fund and get premium placement for the application on the soon to be released (it’s still May!) Ovi Store.

With a range of possibilities on the table, this competition looks set to harness the power of open source, and a raft of developers to create new and innovative uses for Ovi Maps. Gaming, travel, news or entertainment could all benefit from a smart new Ovi Maps based apps. I’m looking forward to seeing what comes out of this.

If you’re not a developer, but have an idea, please feel free to drop it in below and we’ll highlight the best ones next week. If you are a developer, however, we suggest you keep your idea to yourself for now and get on over to Forum Nokia and enter the competition. Good luck!

What’s more, the site now ties up with Nokia accounts, so your login for Nokia or Ovi will work on Betalabs now as well. This makes it much easier for users to leave feedback, or if they haven’t already registered for one, set up a Nokia account.

On the mobile version users can search and download the latest apps (or older ones from the archive), read the blog and leave posts in the forum.

If you haven’t already, check out Betalabs at betalabs.nokia.com

The innovations will also receive funding to the tune of €8million, including €4.5million coming from public funding. Local cities in Finland are also involved and hope to drive ICT in their local regions. The end game is to help more Finnish businesses become competitive on the international stage.

What’s more Nokia’s involvement is without compensation, enabling the businesses involved to benefit from the contribution without having to deliver a return to Nokia.
I think this is an awesome initiative. It can be hugely frustrating (I’m sure) for scientists and developers to come up with great ideas but not see them come to fruition. I don’t believe this is a fault of Nokia as it’s bound to happen when so much is invested in research and development. The process of filtering ideas and distilling them into finished products has to be super selective. Not only is it a question of turning only the best innovations into products, but also fitting in with consumer needs, and the company’s strategy.

Giving ideas a new lease of life shows the new (is it still new?) openness Nokia is driving. We could make a gag about corporate responsibility and recycling too, but we might be taking things too far there. There is a direct link to corporate responsibility though. Not only does this impact consumers (more ideas developed into products) but it also impacts employees (see the previous note on scientists and developers seeing their ideas come to life) alongside giving more local businesses a helping hand. This initiative can’t be underestimated for its potential impact. It’ll be interesting to see how it pans out over the next three years. We’re hoping to keep tabs on those ideas that get passed out and what happens to them in the next stage of their development cycle.

Together with local cities, Nokia Technopolis and Tekes have already started the process of evaluating ideas and companies to find the best matches and get the ball rolling.

Let us know what you think about this in the comments below.

Benoit Schillings, Chief Technologist and Thiago Macieira, Senior Product Manager, Qt Software, part 2

Benoit Schillings, Chief Technologist and Thiago Macieira, Senior Product Manager, Qt Software, part 1