Today Nokia released a new update for the HERE Drive+ navigation suite. It adds real-time traffic information, a route overview list with turn-by-turn directions and more.

The new version of Drive+ brings lots of new traffic features. You get real-time traffic info, which helps you to get very precise arrival times. You can also check entire traffic overview on your map. Read more »

Gameloft has released their latest hit game, Asphalt 8: Airborne, on two new platforms. Launched initially on iOS and Android, the game is now also available on Windows Phone 8 and even Windows 8.1.

We reviewed Asphalt 8 when it was initially released and found it to be pretty enjoyable, although in some ways, not as much as its predecessor, which is still a really fun game. Having said that, Asphalt 8 is a marked improvement in terms of visuals and should be great on Windows 8.1 with a powerful desktop GPU (it wasn’t very smooth on mobile). Read more »

Nokia has released its Refocus app in the Windows Phone app store. The app captures a series of images (2-8 to be precise) with different focus points and then allows you to create the coveted selective focus effect of large-sensor cameras.

In order to get the app you’ll need to own a PureView Lumia (920, 925, 928 or 1020 quality) with the Amber software update installed. The Nokia Lumia 1520 phablet will be joining the list, too, once it hits the shelves. Read more »

The Nokia Lumia 1520 is the first Windows Phone 8 phablet (alongside the mid-range Lumia 1320) and the take advantage of the newly extended hardware support of the WP devices. We are of course talking about the upped resolution cap and the extended choice of chipsets.

The Nokia Lumia 1520 is on par with the best Android-land has to offer – a 1080p screen and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 chipset with 2GB of RAM. Read more »

The much-awaited Vine for Windows Phone platform has finally launched and you can now capture and share moments in short video clips from your WP powered smartphone.

The popular service, which is owned by Twitter, allows you to create looped videos by just tapping and holding your finger against the screen of your WP device. Read more »

NimbleBit and LucasArts has just released Star Wars: Tiny Death Star for most major mobile operating systems.

The game was announced exactly one month ago, and is based upon Tiny Tower – a popular block stacking game with a city building theme. Read more »

Nokia Poland came up with an interesting way to showcase the camera chops of the Lumia 1020. Instead of the typical walk around town, the smartphone boarded a radio controlled copter for a flight around Krakow.

A historically rich city, Krakow turns out to be a perfect location for the exercise. Read more »

Nokia is doing some very interesting things for mobile photography and I don’t just mean the PureView hardware – software like the recent Refocus app creates impressive results. You know how you can zoom in and reframe photos on the Lumia 1020 after the fact? Nokia Refocus lets you do that with focus.

Nokia published the first samples from Refocus that you can play with in your browser. Read more »

Nokia undertook an extensive campaign to get Instagram on Windows Phone. The popular photo sharing social network has over 150 million users, so you can see why it’s a big deal to have a native app on your mainstay OS.

Now that Instagram is officially coming to WP8, Nokia takes some time to revel in its success and to thank all the people who used the #2InstaWithLove app to shower Instagram with hashtag-based desire. Read more »

At the Nokia Lumia 1520 announcement in Abu Dabi, the Finns spent quite a lot of time praising the phablet’s screen – a 6″ ClearBlack IPS LCD with Apica’s Assertive display technology. It essentially brings the screen’s sunlight legibility capabilities to a whole new level, without draining the battery while doing so.

To show just how good the technology actually is, YouTube reviewers from GadgetBoys have put the Lumia 1520 next to the the Sony Xperia Z Ultra, the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 and the iPhone 5s for a mouth-watering show-off. Read more »

Quite an amazing story coming out of Sweden today. A Nokia Lumia 800 smartphone was found after spending three and a half months in a lake and it was still working!

The news comes by way of Facebook user Roger Nilsson who even captured some pictures of the device in question. Read more »

If you’re an Angry Birds fan and have a Windows Phone 8 smartphone then there is some good news for you. Rovio has made some of the Angry Birds titles free on the Windows Phone Store for a limited time.

Now the choice of games is not consistent across regions get the original Angry Birds, along with the two Star Wars themed games for free, certain other regions are also getting the Angry Birds Rio game for free. Read more »

Nokia is going to launch the Nokia Black update (previously known as Bittersweet Shimmer) with the Windows Phone 8.1 (GDR3) firmware early next year. The update will be compatible with all WP8-running Lumia phones, but 1020 will benefit the most.

The oversampling algorithm in the Lumia 1020 was altered compared to the 808 PureView phone resulting in oversaturated colors and noisier images. Well, Nokia is bringing back the old algorithms with the Nokia Black update. Read more »

Contrary to previous information coming from Joe Belfiore it turns out that the third live tile on Windows Phone 8.1 depends on the screen size only, and not the resolution.

The correction comes straight from Windows Phone guru himself over Twitter, saying that the third live tile column is set by the manufacturer depending on the screen size and not the resolution. Mr. Belfiore apologized for his mistweet and clarified the situation. Read more »

The revamped Nokia Camera app has made its way to the Windows Phone Marketplace. The refreshed photography application made its debut during the Nokia Lumia 1520 announcement in Abu Dhabi.

Nokia Camera brings the Smart Cam and Pro Cam apps under the same roof. Read more »