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Between Vertu and the 8800, Nokia gives the world plenty of ways to flaunt its surplus cash — but not enough for Japan’s members-only CELUX department store, apparently. The ultra-exclusive “shopping club” will be offering unique versions of the Nokia 7360 — a member of the chic L’Amour Collection — for just a couple weeks this month. The new variants come in pink (a slightly different scheme than the regular version for us common folk) and black. No word on pricing, but c’mon, it’s just a color change… it’d better not be much more than the standard-issue piece.

[Via Hypebeast, thanks Eric]

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Sure, the details vary a little bit from jeweler to jeweler, but the result is always the same: a standard-issue phone that’s been taken to excessively opulent extremes thanks to an excess of gems and rare earth elements. This time around, the phone is Nokia’s already expensive 8800, and the culprit is ISSE of Russia. The handset is naturally covered in gold or silver, while optional heated enamel can add a shade of color to the phone that takes away any resemblance of precious metal. Tack on a few carats of diamonds, rubies, garnets, or whatever, slap it in a box made of “rare timber,” and call it good. In our opinion, any self-respecting individual with too much cash for their own good would seek out the newer Sirocco Edition of the 8800, but that’s just us.

[Via Unwired View]

Remember the twist-a-riffic Nokia XpressMusic 3250 – that S60 baddie with the rotating keypad? Apparently there’s some legitimacy to the odd form factor, because rumors are swirling that a new 5700 model will update the 3250 with some of the 5300’s thoroughly modern elements. The QVGA display, 2 megapixel cam, and UMTS radio are all well and good, but there’s nothing like a little S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 1 to brighten our day in the land of music-oriented mobiles. Since this is far from official, we’ve got no word on pricing or release date — but given the rather professional-looking stylized graphic here seemingly advertising the aforementioned model, our money is on it being real (just don’t expect it this side of the pond).

[Via Slashphone]

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As S40 phones go, the recently-announced 6300 from Nokia sits near the top of the hill — on paper, at least — with a stylish 13.1 millimeter profile and a reasonably well-stacked spec sheet. Does it hold its own in the real world, though? phoneArena put the thin candybar through an extensive battery of tests, coming away with a reasonably positive impression overall. As 2 megapixel cams go, the 6300’s was a bit weak, the volume rocker on the phone’s side was a bit funky, and we’re not too sure how we feel about a handset with a meager 9MB of internal storage these days, but for the uptight, non-smartphone-minded target demographic, the 6300 should fill the bill quite nicely. Click on for the full review, but don’t get too attached if you’re in the US — the lack of 850MHz is going to bum you out.

Update: There is a version of the 6300 with 850MHz support in the cards, though it wasn’t the version phoneArena rocked. Sorry for the confusion! [Thanks, Pablo]

Not to suggest there’s any… oh, you know, “service” you can subscribe to in these parts that rocks mobile TV over the DVB-H airwaves, but an FCC approval is always a good sign — and the presence of an upstart service provider working its rear off to get picked up by a carrier always helps, too. The 3.5mm jack-sportin’, S60-havin’ N77 from Nokia is the latest DVB-H equipped handset to get signed off by the FCC, and while we don’t have any word of a GSM 850, UMTS 850 / 1900 version floating around, we can’t help but hope that an eventual Modeo success could lead to phones like this magically gaining bands; until then, we’ll just be tooling around with our Foreseers.

After a rather lengthy “trial run” that really had all the markings of a released product, Nokia is calling its Software Update good and dialing up the publicity. The updater, which allows end users to re-up the bits ‘n bytes in their phones without the heartache of a trip to a service center — or worse yet, a mailing — supports a healthy percentage of Nokia’s modern mainstream models (at least, the ones complicated enough to warrant occasional updating) via a PC connection or, on a few handsets, a quick, painless over-the-air zapping. We trust the bricking incidents have been ironed out at this point, but as always, proceed with caution.

[Via Tech Digest]

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Well, well Nokia. You choose to go after shops selling the Nokir E828, but then politely ignore Brando, reseller of the infamous (and uniquely Nokia-like) “Nokir” brand based on the silliness of Chinese trademark and copyright laws. We guess if Nokia can’t get the Nokir handsets off the market one way, there’s always another way. We peeped the Nokia E828 just recently and from all looks, the Nokir unit was a semi-dead ringer for the actual Nokia N73 in terms of looks alone. But, while we weren’t able to peel back the Nokir cover, who knows what was really inside. Nokia doesn’t seem to care and just wants these Nokir E828 handsets off shelves in the Hong Kong area. So, if you’re really, really wanting one of these Nokirs and you’re in the Hong Kong area, better hurry before they’re all gone from your local wireless shop courtesy of Nokia.

[Via Gearfuse]

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According to Nokia chief designer Alastair Curtis, Nokia will be offering several — nay, a “lot” — more products in the US very soon. “In the next few months,” Curtis promised, “operators will carry a lot of new products from us.” While Nokia controls 40% of the worldwide handset market, they only have a 10% share in the United States. It seems they’re not happy with that and want a bigger piece of the American pie. Bring it on, Nokia. We’re ready to see these phones from you, say, in the form of an E71 or Tube?

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App certificates have long been a bane to S60 users and developers alike, causing pain, frustration, and an almost obligatory cash outlay to get your hard work certified to run on the very platform Nokia is so quick to call “open.” Finally, it truly is, thanks to the hard work of the Symbian hacking community that has developed an easy (or easy sounding, anyway) method of “jailbreaking” the Symbian 9.2 device in your life (S60 3rd Edition FP1 users, that’s you). After that, installed apps won’t need a certificate at all — let alone an invalid one — to do their dirty work. Open, indeed.
[Via Part-Time Phone Reviewer, thanks to everyone who sent this in]

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App certificates have long been a bane to S60 users and developers alike, causing pain, frustration, and an almost obligatory cash outlay to get your hard work certified to run on the very platform Nokia is so quick to call “open.” Finally, it truly is, thanks to the hard work of the Symbian hacking community that has developed an easy (or easy sounding, anyway) method of “jailbreaking” the Symbian 9.2 device in your life (S60 3rd Edition FP1 users, that’s you). After that, installed apps won’t need a certificate at all — let alone an invalid one — to do their dirty work. Open, indeed.
[Via Part-Time Phone Reviewer, thanks to everyone who sent this in]

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