Nokia

While the US smartphone market is still dominated by iPhones and Android devices, Nokia is still the worldwide leader and is aiming to grow their market share in the US. Last week, Nokia announced the creation of a new and unique app called Nokia Situations that will change your phone's behavior based on various situations in your day-to-day life. For example, based on your schedule, the phone's ringer can be silenced when the phone knows you're in a meeting.

Find out more about it when you continue after the break.

Proving no smartphone is immune to technical trouble, Nokia has announced that some users are experiencing problems with their N8 phones. The N8 is Nokia's most powerful phone, packing a 12MP camera, HD video capability, HDMI connection, and 16GB of built-in storage.

According to Nokia, some devices have been experiencing power issues; after a charge, they don't turn on. The problem is affecting a small amount of N8 devices, and Nokia is currently working on a solution for the problem.

Despite its problems, Nokia is still the world's smartphone leader. In the US, it still remains third behind Android and iOS devices.

Foursquare has apps for iPhone, Blackberry, Android, and Palm operating systems, and now a Nokia Foursquare app is on the way. The app, which will be available next week, was announced yesterday at Nokia's Nokia World Conference in London.

The Nokia Foursquare app will run on all Nokia phones, and looks and works similarly to the iPhone, Android, and other apps. While Nokia phones have declined in popularity in the US, they are still the top mobile devices worldwide. Now with a bigger international audience, perhaps Foursquare will see even more than 10 checkins per second. . . and maybe we'll see a new crop of internationally-themed badges!

Apple's impromptu press conference held on Friday at its Cupertino headquarters did more than just offer up a solution to the antenna problems of the iPhone 4 — it also called out the competition. During the presentation, Steve Jobs showed a video of other handsets — like the BlackBerry 9700, HTC Eris, Samsung Omnia — that appear to have the same reception problems as the iPhone 4, and even mentioned Nokia for having stickers on its phones that say "don't touch here."

Not surprisingly, all of these companies issued statements or reactions after the press conference, addressing their presence at the Apple event. Take a look at how Jobs compared all of these phones to the iPhone 4 and how each company responded below.

Nokia

• Steve says: You can go on the web and look at pictures of Nokia phones that ship with stickers on the back that say "don’t touch here."
• Nokia says: As you would expect from a company focused on connecting people, we prioritize antenna performance over physical design if they are ever in conflict. In general, antenna performance of a mobile device/phone may be affected with a tight grip, depending on how the device is held. That’s why Nokia designs our phones to ensure acceptable performance in all real life cases, for example when the phone is held in either hand.

See what Jobs had to say about RIM and HTC (and their reactions) after the break.

Nokia just announced the launch of its latest device, the Nokia N8. Featuring a 12MP(!) camera with xenon flash and the ability to shoot HD video, the aluminum-cased phone comes in five colors, including an amazing bright orange. It's also good for watching movies: it plays HD-quality videos with Dolby Digital Plus surround sound and is even able to connect to your home theater system via HDMI cable. Amazing! Social networking apps for Facebook and Twitter are available directly on the home screen for easy sharing, and the phone's calendar syncs easily with your social networking and online calendars.

It comes with 16GB of built-in storage space and space for up to 40GB of storage with a Mini SD card. The N8 will be available in late Summer or early Fall. The phone will cost around $500 unlocked and will be able to run on AT&T and T-Mobile networks in the US.

You always have something to say about the newest phones to hit the market, so why not share your opinions on what the next phone should look like before it's even made? Nokia is asking mobile enthusiasts to weigh in on what they would want the phone of the future to look like by selecting their ideal components for each of these categories: display and interface, size and shape, materials, OS, connectivity, camera, and enhancements. Every week you can vote on your ideal setup for different categories, and once voting is complete in May, Nokia will bring the popular specs to concept artists to work their magic into a visual representation of the perfect phone.

When the concepts are finalized, you get to vote again on which phone you'd want to use. Of course, it's no guarantee that our perfect phone would be made, but it's a pretty good bet that we'd all buy one if we helped bring it to life. Crowdsourced designing? Why not?

• 70-year-old DJ Ruth Flowers knows her way around a mixing board — Urlesque
• The Power Gig teaches you how to play a real guitar while gaming — Dvice
• Street View Awards show the best of the UK streets — Switched
• RGB pendant light pays tribute to color — Unplggd
• LEGO Star Wars watches coming soon, are awesome — Geekologie
• Nokia patents self-charging cell phone — Oh Gizmo!

• Viacom pulling The Daily Show and The Colbert Report from Hulu — Switched
• The Fail Whale speaks! — Urlesque
• How to DIY your own LED desk lamp — Unplggd
• Augmented reality app Layar is back in the iTunes store — Gizmodo
• World's largest solar-powered boat uses 5,000 panels — Dvice
• Nokia Neuron coming to T-Mobile for $70 — Crave
• Topeka, Kansas renamed themselves Google, Kansas in order to woo Google's high-speed fiberoptics — The Social

This morning in London, Nokia announced Ovi Maps, a free turn-by-turn navigation app that costs nothing and will immediately work with 10 of its GPS-enabled handsets (with more rolling out soon). Coming with high-end voice guidance for drivers and pedestrians alike, the app comes stocked with highly detailed maps for 74 countries, traffic information in 10 countries, and will be available in 46 languages. The best part is that all of the maps are free forever, so you won't have to buy new maps or apps if you're traveling to different countries — it's all included.

Starting in March, new Nokia devices will automatically come preloaded with Ovi Maps, along with Lonely Planet and Michelin travel guides so you'll not only be able to explore new and faroff places, but you can find cool things to do there as well. Check to see if your Nokia handset is compatible, and download Ovi Maps here. To see what Google has to say about Ovi Maps, just read more

It's true. This Stuart Hughes-designed Nokia 8800 is bedazzled with 12 karats of pink diamonds (about 1,225 of them), and set with a massive three-karat center-cut diamond to act as a stand in for your directional pad. Not to mention that it's custom set with 83 grams of platinum veneers. Remember when I told you that rhinestone BlackBerry cases still exist? Well, this takes things to the next level for sure.

We've seen our fair share of bling on everything from cell phones to gaming consoles, so I can't really be surprised that a phone like this exists. For those of you with a few extra bills in your pocket, this Nokia Supreme is a steal for $160,000.