Nokia had an unexpectedly good quarter at the end of 2012, seemingly surprising itself most of all.
Though the company initially had a pessimistic outlook going into the end of the year, the Lumia and Asha smartphone lines outsold expectations.
Nokia's mobile broadband service, Nokia Siemens Networks, also helped bolster profits.
The good news comes from preliminary financial info released by Nokia today. The report also contains a few non-legally binding predictions for 2013.
The Nokia numbers
Nokia had grim predictions when it came to its Devices & Service performance, expecting its operating margins to shrink about 6 percent.
But thanks to strong, unforeseen sales of the Lumia line, business mobile phone and lower than predicted operation expenses, Nokia is now expecting Devices & Services to break even or grow by 2 percent.
The department's net sales were about EUR 3.9 billion (US$5.17, UK£3.20, AUD$4.88), as it moved 86.3 million total devices for Q4.
Though Lumia phones did better than expected, Asha won the day.
Nokia reported it sold 9.3 million Asha smartphones for the quarter. Lumia sold 4.4 million units, and the Symbian comes in third with 2.2 million moved.
Nokia Siemens Networks also brought in EUR 4.0 billion (US$5.3, UK£3.3, AUD$5) in net sales. It grew about 13 to 15 percent in operating costs, which was expect to grow only 8 percent.
The service sold better than expected in some regions, as well as keeping operational costs low.
All of those numbers are using non International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), so the figures might change a bit when more standard accounting practices are followed. But we can't expect too much from a preliminary report like this.
2013 not looking so rosy
Though the last quarter went better than expected for Nokia, it hasn't improved the company's outlook on the first quarter of 2013.
But the pessimistic thing seems to be working for the company, so why stop now?
Nokia expects to lose some ground in the first part of the year due to competition in the smart device and business phone markets, weak seasonal demand and the "macroeconomic environment."
But part of the decline includes ramp up in production of Lumia and Asha phones. So maybe the company will recoup those losses later in the year.
Something cool this way comes
But Nokia is looking forward to at least one thing in 2013: something "very cool" involving its PureView technology, according to Nokia's official blog.
PureView was introduced a one year ago and was created to help with image stabilization and low light performance.
It was first used in the Nokia 808 PureView, a smartphone with a whopping 41MP camera.
But PureViews seems more of a state of mind, judging from what Juha Alakarhu, Nokia's head of imaging technologies, had to say about it.
"Well, I think it's important to underscore that PureView doesn't mean any specific technology," Alakarhu told the blog during CES.
"It's the latest and greatest in imaging. When you buy a Nokia phone with PureView, you are getting our highest quality imaging innovation."
Though he didn't drop any specific hints about what is to come, he seemed pretty jazzed about the future of PureView:
"We're really driving innovation in key areas to deepen and enrich the imaging experience," Alakarhu said. "I can't tell you about the specific things we're working on. Safe to say it's very cool."
Among Asus's considerable offerings at this year's CES convention in Vegas was a minor but well-made dock for Google's Nexus 7 Android tablet.
The Nexus 7 carries Google's branding but is made by Asus, and the Taiwanese company took special care to design an unobtrusive and sturdy dock for the 7-inch tablet.
The Asus Nexus 7 dock isn't going to win any beauty contests - it's got no bells and whistles, aesthetically or otherwise - but its design is simple and effective.
TechRadar stopped by Asus's suite at CES to check out the dock in person and weigh in with our thoughts.
The
Gets the job done
Asus's Nexus 7 dock is made of sturdy plastic with a rounded design and the word "nexus" emblazoned across the front in Google's familiar but attractive font.
Around the back you'll find a microUSB port for charging and an audio out for headphones or speakers, though the lack of an HDMI port will limit the dock's media-output capabilities.
An HDMI port would have been nice
It's definitely not meant to help you integrate the Nexus 7 into your home theatre system; rather, it's essentially a charging station where you can leave the tablet when it's not in use, propping it up in landscape orientation.
And at that it excels; despite its plastic material, the Nexus 7 dock is sturdy and heavy enough that the tablet is unlikely to tip over. A rubbery foot will help it stay in place as well.
This thing is not going to tip over
Questions remain
Asus did not have pricing or availability details to share with TechRadar, though several other sites have reported a U.S. launch at $40 and a £24.99 release in the U.K., possibly as soon as the end of the week.
Nexus 7 users hoping for more features in a dock could wait for a more versatile version to come out, but for those who simply need a place to prop up their tablets, this will do fine.
What's the smartphone world missing? Yep that's right, more handsets which come with a stylus – luckily the Alcatel One Touch Scribe HD is here to save the day.
Ok so maybe that's not what it's missing, but Alcatel has launched this 5-inch smartphone anyway as it looks to take on the S-Pen wielding Samsung Galaxy Note 2 as well as handsets such as the Sony Xperia Z and ZTE Grand S.
Sporting a 1.2GHz quad-core processor, 1GB of RAM, 5-inch IPS HD display and running Android Jelly Bean the One Touch Scribe HD certainly has the vital statistics of a high end mobile device.
Apparently the One Touch Scribe HD has been designed in such a way that its quad-core chip won't suffer from overheating, an issue Alcatel claims affects some of its rivals – zing!
Expected to launch globally the exact Alcatel One Touch Scribe HD release date and price is yet to be announced, with no guarantees on which countries will be treated to it.
The One Touch Scribe HD is clad in glossy plastic which doesn't really exude high-end, but the handset feels solid enough and at just 8.5mm thick it isn't overly cumbersome either.
We were easily able to wrap our paw round the One Touch Scribe HD and hit the volume rocker on the right and power/lock key on top without issue, while our thumb happily danced over the bright, crisp AMOLED display.
You can't get into the Scribe HD's chassis, meaning there's no access to the reasonably sized 2,500mAh battery and to reflect this there is a covered port on either side of the phone.
On the right, just below the volume switch is the microSD slot, while on the left is a port for your microSIM.
There's a groove above each of the plastic dust covers, making it easy to open them up and slide in a card.
You'll definitely be thankful for the microSD card option on the Scribe HD as for some reason Alcatel has only put 4GB of internal storage into the handset, with just 2GB actually available for use.
This shockingly low amount of storage on a handset clearly designed to consume media on is completely baffling and a poor choice by Alcatel in our eyes.
There are no touch buttons present below the 5-inch display with Alcatel opting to have the Android navigation keys on screen – just like Google would have wanted.
The screen was responsive to our various pokes and prods which meant we were easily able to navigate around the Jelly Bean interface.
As with its other handsets launched at CES 2013, the One Touch Idol and Idol Ultra, Alcatel has applied a simply design overlay on the Android system, changing the style of the icons and adding a couple of additional apps such as a compass and torch.
We were able to breeze through the homescreens and apps without any hint of slow down, probably thanks in part to the quad-core chip house inside the One Touch Scribe HD.
The stock Android keyboard is the default text input method on the Scribe HD which offers up a palatiable experience, but Alcatel has added an emoticon button above it, just in case you need to pop a winking smiley into your message. ;-)
With such a large screen the One Touch Scribe HD should be a joy for anyone who likes to watch video on the go, or at least that's what we hoped.
The reality was that video playback on the Scribe HD is a bit of a letdown as the clip we watched lacked the definition and sharp lines we've witnessed on other devices.
Alcatel has taken the liberty of fiddling with the Android camera application, giving you a new layout which we found pretty easy to use, although the video and shutter buttons were a bit too close together for our liking.
The 8MP camera on the back of the One Touch Scribe HD provides relatively decent images and there's a single LED flash to help with low light situations.
If you fancy a quick vanity shot or a video chat Alcatel has equipped the Scribe HD with a front-facing 1.3MP snapper which like the rear cam can shoot 720p video.
Stylus
It's not just the handset you get when you buy the Alcatel One Touch HD though, you're also furnished with a stylus.
We'll tell you where we stand with the stylus from the off, it's ugly, too big and basically pointless.
You'll notice it looks just like a pen and that's because it is… Yep twist the pointy end of this metallic stick and the nib will poke its head out of the end.
This gives you the first clue that the stylus isn't much cop, making it clear to the user you're far better of writing on a piece of paper than trying anything fancy on the One Touch Scribe HD.
At the other end of the stylus pen is the main attraction – a large rubber dome which is almost the same size as your finger.
This means it doesn't provide you with any greater accuracy on screen and thanks to its enormous size it can't be hidden away in the handset like the S-Pen on the Galaxy Note 2.
Adding insult to injury there doesn't seem to be any dedicated apps on the One Touch Scribe HD which utilise a stylus.
We did asked about dedicated applications and according to the representatives on the booth the Scribe HD should come with a drawing app, although we found no evidence of this on the two handsets we played with.
Early verdict
The Alcatel One Touch Scribe HD feels like a device which is only halfway to becoming a decent smartphone.
The lack of internal storage, disappointing video playback and unnecessary stylus just screams of a product which was rushed out to cash in on the big-phone revolution which seems to be sweeping the industry.
We can't see the Scribe HD gaining any meaningful traction in the major global markets and you'd be best advised to spend your money elsewhere.
Gigabyte is boarding the the Windows 8 tablet train, unveiling two tablets at CES for both work and play.
The star is Gigabyte's S1185 tablet, an 11.6-inch tablet with an HD IPS display supporting 1080p powered by a third generation Intel Ivy Bridge processor and supporting up to a 256GB solid state drive.
The S1185 has a kickstand and can connect to an optional keyboard dock to take advantage of Windows 8 Pro's desktop mode, but the tablet also features an "optical finger navigation" sensor. The sensor is a small circle on the right side of the tablet, when held in landscape orientation, which allows for mouse control similar to a miniature trackpad.
Shutterbugs can use either the 5-megapixel rear camera or the 1.3 front-facing camera, and it comes packed with a wide range of ports including VGA, HDMI, both USB 2.0 and 3.0 ports, and an SD card slot along with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, and a 3.5G WWAN antenna.
A new challenger arrives
The firm also announced the S1082 Slate, a 10.1-inch tablet more geared toward business users.
To make the S1082 Slate a business tablet Gigabyte has given it a 500GB hard drive, with an option for a smaller solid state drive also be available. Faster storage will certainly benefit the S1082 Slate, which will run Windows 8 Pro on a 1.1GHz Intel dual-core processor.
It will sport the same optical finger navigation sensor as the S1185, with the addition of both right and left mouse buttons. For connectivity, it features a similar variety of ports with VGA, HDMI, ethernet, USB 2.0, and an SD card slot along with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, and a 3.5G WWAN antenna.
The pricing for either tablet has yet to be nailed down, but Gigabyte expects to launch the S1082 Slate in February, while the S1185 should begin shipping by late March.
Continuing its new foray into the 21st century, Polaroid has revealed two new budget Android tablets: the 7-inch Polaroid M7 and the 10-inch Polaroid M10.
Both tablets come running Android Jelly Bean 4.1 with a slightly unfortunate Windows 8-reminiscent Polaroid skin over the top.
Polaroid is at pains to assure us that the tablets come with all the mod cons, making a point of highlighting their "great features like Bluetooth and built-in cameras" - cutting edge stuff.
Spec attack
The cheap and cheerful M7 rocks an HD IPS display, 8GB of storage expandable via microSD and comes in at a Google Nexus 7-bothering $129 (around £80 but we doubt we'll see it in the UK for under £100, AU$122).
It comes with only a front-facing 2MP camera which probably won't win you any international photography awards.
The M10, meanwhile, is a quad-core slate, with a 10-inch HD IPS display, 16GB of space inside and this time Polaroid's spoiling us with two cameras - a 2MP front snapper and a 5MP sensor on the back .
The larger tablet will set you back $229 (around £143 or AU$ 217) when it goes on sale alongside its smaller sibling in spring 2013.
February is always the most exciting month of the year for mobile phone fans, as it's when the entire phone industry has a big, boozy party somewhere in Europe and shows off the new phones and tablets it'll be launching over the spring and summer.
The show has been dominated in recent years by the vast number of new Android models that continuously swamp the market, with the big players like HTC, Samsung and Sony using the event to thrill punters with their newest ranges.
Last year saw HTC unleash its impressive One series, LG debuted the Optimus 4X HD and even Nokia decided to go large at the tech event for once, showing off its bonkers 808 PureView model complete with 41MP camera.
In short, if you care about the mobile arms race, MWC is the most exciting time of the year.
Previously held in Barcelona's palatial Fira Montjuic halls, this year's MWC is switching venue to a less glamorous (but more convenient for stressed journalists and marketing managers) spot a little nearer the city's airport. And in a building twice the size. Imagine how many cheap Android tablets it'll be able to contain this year.
MWC 2013 kicks off on 25 February. We'll be there, sobbing into a laptop in an unlit corner somewhere. Here's what we're expecting to see from the big names of mobile.
LG
Back at MWC 2012, LG wowed attendees with the Optimus 4X HD, a powerful 4.7-inch phone that helped signal the start of the race to stick quad-core processors in mobiles.
It also showed off the Optimus 3D Max and the oddball Optimus Vu, but the less said about those the better, as with 2011's reveal of the original Optimus 3D.
As for 2013, LG's already carried out a bit of teasing, with an updated Optimus G expected to be shown at some point, and the maker using the recent CES event to announce plans to show off a "tier one" smartphone at MWC 2012.
Given that the original Optimus G was a quad-core monster that LG soon rebranded as the Nexus 4, any sequel arriving so soon is unlikely to be much of a leap above the first phone, as even in 2013 we'd still be impressed by a quad-core phone with a 4.7-inch display.
But has the Nexus 4 done enough to make LG a respected brand name and a major player?
Yet more generic black slabs on the way from LG.
Sony
Sony's just announced a new flagship model at this year's CES tech show, so it's unlikely to have anything hugely new and exciting at MWC. But it will give the media a chance to play with its new Xperia Z, the exciting, quad-core, 5-inch monster the hardware maker is set to launch this March.
Sony Xperia Z release date: when can I get it and where?
In fact, it looks like Sony's following the same hardware launch plan as last year. In 2012, the Xperia S was announced at January's CES event prior to MWC, with Sony using MWC to launch the Xperia P and U, a couple of smaller models based on the same design.
So pick a couple of letters of the alphabet Sony hasn't used yet (F and R are free), take an inch off the Xperia Z's screen size, and that's a good bet as to what Sony will have at MWC 2013.
HTC
HTC unleashed the One series of phones at last year's MWC, showing off the One V, One S and the glorious One X as it tried to reinvigorate its line up.
But in 2011 it disappointed us a little, showing minor upgrades of its old HTC Desire range, the awful Wildfire S and the niche Salsa and ChaCha models to a very, very quiet fanfare. In fact, it wasn't even a fanfare, just a mouse playing Three Blind Mice on the recorder.
2013, however, looks like being another good year for HTC, as we've already seen fairly concrete details of one of its new models leak.
We expect HTC to bring along its HTC M7 mobile, which, as we've previously seen, is believed to be a quad-core device with a 5-inch 1080p display and 13MP camera.
Loads of companies will be showing phones of a similar size and power level, but we'll always have a soft spot for HTC's lovely old Sense interface.
The star of MWC 2012 for most, HTC's stonking One X.
Samsung
Samsung disappointed the nerds of the world last year, when it opted to announce its flagship Galaxy S3 model a couple of months later at its own private event. But even if it repeats that trick this year and doesn't show off the Galaxy S4, it's guaranteed to be bringing along plenty of other Android phones.
Last year Samsung underwhelmed us all by using MWC to announce the Samsung Galaxy S Wi-Fi, a Galaxy S2-styled media player, plus the rather odd and niche Galaxy Beam, complete with integrated media projector.
So either we see the Galaxy S4 and Samsung has a stormer, or it brings along some cheaper models and we write it off.
However, there's a small chance we may see something really exciting. Samsung's working on hardware powered by the new Tizen OS, a supposed Android rival that Samsung claims it'll be bringing to market some time in 2013. Good luck with that.
One of the low key oddities from Samsung's 2012 MWC showing, the Galaxy Beam
Nokia
Nokia's had a wide selection of phones at last year's MWC, showing off the bonkers Nokia 808 PureView and its 41MP sensor, alongside the rather less exciting budget Windows Phone powered Lumia 610 and the high-end Lumia 900.
One Nokia-based rumour claims it's working on a slimmer update of the Lumia 920, which would use an aluminium body to reduce the weight of its hefty flagship phone. Nokia's traditionally preferred to show phones off at its own events, so it's hard to guesstimate whether it'll have new stuff at MWC or not. It's a maverick. It makes its own rules.
Huawei
Huawei's really made a name for itself in the UK over the last year, thanks to its winning budget Ascend G300 and the recent Ascend G330 update, plus the powerful Ascend P1.
At last year's MWC it announced the impressive looking Ascend D Quad, a 4.5-inch model in a slim 8.9mm case, alongside a 10.1-inch version of its MediaPad tablet. Neither of which made it to the UK officially, so we were left a bit disappointed by its commitment levels.
Huawei's also just announced a tasty pair of smartphones at CES in the form of the Ascend D2 and Ascend Mate, so it's likely to elaborate more on these at MWC 2013 rather than announce many new phones.
Huawei's Ascend D2. Already announced, bound to be popular in February
RIM
MWC 2013 is going to be absolutely critical for RIM. The troubled BlackBerry maker is revealing its BB10 hardware and software at a standalone event at the end of January, so MWC will be a chance for the masses to properly fiddle with the new OS and the two phones it'll initially be running on.
Last year's MWC was a bit of a disaster for RIM. All it managed to show was the BlackBerry PlayBook 2.0 OS update for the super-flop tablet. This year it ought to have significantly more buzz surrounding its presence, although it should have already announced the phones that will be running BB10 by the time we stumble off the plane onto Spanish tarmac.
ZTE
MWC 2013 should be another good year for the budget makers, as we're expecting to see bigger screens and more powerful processors hitting the cheaper end of the market.
Last year ZTE announced the ZTE PF112, a 4.5-inch device said to be running on the dual-core Snapdragon S4 chipset, but that pretty much sunk without trace and is yet to go on sale.
And the ZTE Era, a promising 4.3-inch quad-core model, is also missing presumed never to hit the UK.
One MWC 2012 phone that did arrive was the Mimosa X, which ZTE renamed the Grand X for the UK. It was a bit of a disappointing mid-range model that undid much of the maker's hype.
So don't get too excited by what the ZTE man is waving around, it might just be a balsa wood model that'll never see the light of day.
In fact, ZTE's started making its pledges for 2013 already, with the promising ZTE Grand S just announced at CES. It's another member of the 5-inch / 1080p / quad-core club, which ought to be a big winner... if it ever appears on the shelves.
Acer
Niche smartphone maker Acer always has a packed show stand, with the company using MWC 2012 to announce its Liquid Glow models, which were a vast improvement on the Liquid E and Liquid MT it took to MWC 2011.
Since then, Acer's launched a few decent mid-range Android models, like the CloudMobile and Liquid Gallant, although we'd expect to see it make more of a deal about its tablet ranges at MWC this year, seeing as that's where the Android hot money is going these days.
Asus
Last year's MWC was a big winner for Asus, which updated its winning Transformer tablet range with a couple of impressive quad-core models.
10 best tablets in the world today
But now, in 2013, flush from its success making the Nexus 7 for Google, we expect Asus to reveal something a little cheaper. Plenty of rumours have suggested it's planning a "$99" Android tablet, which may or may not end up on sale in Europe.
Asus also made a big deal of its PadFone hybrid at MWC 2012, which teamed a 4.3-inch phone with a bizarre 10-inch docking tablet display. Given the lukewarm reception that oddity received, we'll eat this crusty Dell keyboard if any more phone/tablet hybrids appear this year.
