Nokia Asha 303

The Nokia Asha 303 is a "Touch & Type" smartphone powered by Nokia's Series 40 operating system. It was announced at Nokia World 2011 in London along with three others Asha phones - the Nokia Asha 200, 201 and 300. The 303 is considered to be the flagship of the Asha family. Its main features are the QWERTY keyboard and capacitive touchscreen, the pentaband 3G radio, SIP VoIP over 3G and Wi-Fi and the ability to play Angry Birds which were all never seen before on a Series 40 phone.

History and availability

The Nokia Asha 303 was announced at Nokia World 2011 in London. It will be available shortly in China, Eurasia, Europe, India, Latin America, Middle East and Southeast Asian markets. The phone will be sold at a price of €115 subject to taxes and subsidies

Hardware

Processors

The Nokia Asha 303 is powered by the same 1 GHz ARM11 processor found in Symbian Belle phones such as the Nokia 500, 600 and 700 but lack the dedicated Broadcom GPU which is not supported by the Nokia Series 40 operating system. The system also has 128 MB of low power single channel RAM (Mobile DDR).

Screen and input

The Nokia Asha 303 has a 2.6-inch (66 mm) transmissive LCD capacitive touchscreen (1 point) with a resolution of 320 × 240 pixel (QVGA, 154 ppi). In contrast with the Nokia C3-00, the screen of the Asha 303 is taller than wider (portrait). According to Nokia it is capable of displaying up to 262 thousands colors. The device also has a backlit 4-row keyboard with regional variant available (QWERTY, AZERTY, etc. ...).

The back camera has an extended depth of field feature (no mechanical zoom), no flash and has a 4× digital zoom for both video and camera. The sensor size of the back camera is 3.2 megapixel (2048 x 1536 px), has a f/2.8 aperture and a 50 cm to infinity focus range. It is capable of video recording at up to 640 x 480 px at 15 fps with mono sound.

Buttons

On the front of the device, above the 4-row keyboard, there the answer/call key, the messaging key which brings up an onscreen menu (instant messaging and e-mail), the music key which also brings up an onscreen menu (last song/rewind, play/pause, next song/fast forward) and the end call/close application key. On the right side of the device there are the volume rocker and the lock/unlock button. A long press on the space bar brings up the wireless network menu.

Audio and output

The Nokia Asha 303 has one microphone and a loudspeaker, which is situated on the back of the device bellow the anodized aluminum battery cover. On the top, there is a 3.5 mm AV connector which simultaneously provides stereo audio output and microphone input. Between the 3.5 mm AV connector and the 2 mm charging connector, there is a High-Speed USB 2.0 USB Micro AB connector provided for data synchronization, battery charging and supports for USB On-The-Go 1.3 (the ability to act as a USB host) using a Nokia Adapter Cable for USB OTG CA-157 (not included upon purchase).

The built-in Bluetooth v2.1 +EDR (Enhanced Data Rate) supports stereo audio output with the A2DP profile. Built-in car hands-free kits are also supported with the HFP profile. File transfer is supported (FTP) along with the OPP profile for sending/receiving objects. It is possible to remote control the device with the AVRCP profile. It supports wireless earpieces and headphones through the HSP profile. The DUN profile which permits access to the Internet from a laptop by dialing up on a mobile phone wirelessly (tethering) and PAN profile for networking using Bluetooth are also supported. The device also functions as a FM Receiver, allowing one to listen to the FM radio by using headphones connected to the 3.5 jack as antenna.

Battery and SIM

The battery life of the BP-3L (1300 mAh) as claimed by Nokia is from 7 to 8 hours of talk time, from 30 to 35 days of standby and 47 hours of music playback depending on actual usage.

The SIM card is located under the battery which can be accessed by removing the back panel of the device. The microSDHC card socket is also located under the back cover (but not under the battery). No tool is necessary to remove the back panel.

Storage

The phone has 150 MB of available non-removable storage. Additional storage is available via a microSDHC card socket, which is certified to support up to 32 GB of additional storage.

Philips

The Philips Company was founded in 1891 by Gerard Philips and his father Frederik. Frederik, a banker based in Zaltbommel, financed the purchase and setup of a modest, empty factory building in Eindhoven, where the company started the production of carbon-filament lamps and other electro-technical products in 1892. This first factory has been adapted and is used as a Museum devoted to light sculpture

In 1895, after a difficult first few years and near bankruptcy, the Philipses brought in Anton, Gerard's younger brother by sixteen years. Though he had earned a degree in engineering, Anton started work as a sales representative; soon, however, he began to contribute many important business ideas. With Anton's arrival, the family business began to expand rapidly, resulting in the founding of Philips Metaalgloeilampfabriek N.V. (Philips Metal Filament Lamp Factory Inc.) in Eindhoven in 1907, followed in 1912 by the foundation of Philips Gloeilampenfabrieken N.V. (Philips Lightbulb Factories Inc.). After Gerard and Anton Philips changed their family business by founding the Philips incorporation, they laid the foundations for the later electronics multinational.

Philips Radio

On 11 March 1927 Philips went on the air with shortwave radio station PCJJ (later PCJ) which was joined in 1929 by sister station PHI. PHI broadcast in Dutch to the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) while PCJJ broadcast in English, Spanish and German to the rest of the world.

The international program on Sundays commenced in 1928, with host Eddie Startz hosting the Happy Station show, which became the world's longest-running shortwave program. Broadcasts from the Netherlands were interrupted by the German invasion in May 1940. The Germans commandeered the transmitters in Huizen to use for pro-Nazi broadcasts, some originating from Germany, others concerts from Dutch broadcasters under German control.

Philips Radio did not resume after liberation. Instead' the two shortwave stations were nationalised in 1946 and renamed as Radio Netherlands Worldwide, the Dutch International Service. Some PCJ programs, such as Happy Station, continued on the new station.

History
1945 to 2001

After the war the company was moved back to the Netherlands, with their headquarters in Eindhoven. Many secret research facilities had been locked and successfully hidden from the invaders, which allowed the company to get up to speed again quickly after the war.

In 1949, the company began selling television sets. In 1950, it formed Philips Records.

Philips introduced the audio Compact Audio Cassette tape in 1963, and it was wildly successful. Compact cassettes were initially used for dictation machines for office typing stenographers and professional journalists. As their sound quality improved, cassettes would also be used to record sound and became the second mass media alongside vinyl records used to sell recorded music.

Philips introduced the first combination portable radio and cassette recorder, which was marketed as the "radiorecorder," and is now better known as the boom box. Later, the cassette was used in telephone answering machines, including a special form of cassette where the tape was wound on an endless loop. The C-cassette was used as the first mass storage device for early personal computers in the 1970s and 1980s. Philips reduced the cassette size for the professional needs with the Mini-Cassette, although it would not be as successful as the Olympus Microcassette. This became the predominant dictation medium up to the advent of fully digital dictation machines.

In 1972 Philips launched the world's first home video cassette recorder, in England, the N1500. Its relatively bulky video cassettes could record 30 minutes or 45 minutes. Later one-hour tapes were also offered. As competition came from Sony's Betamax and the VHS group of manufacturers, Philips introduced the N1700 system which allowed double-length recording. For the first time, a 2-hour movie could fit onto one video cassette. In 1977, the company unveiled a special promotional film for this system in the UK, featuring comedian Denis Norden

2001 to 2011

In 2004, Philips abandoned the slogan "Let's make things better" in favour of a new one: "Sense and simplicity".

In December 2005 Philips announced its intention to sell or demerge its semiconductor division. On 1 September 2006, it was announced in Berlin that the name of the new company formed by the division would be NXP Semiconductors. On 2 August 2006, Philips completed an agreement to sell a controlling 80.1% stake in NXP Semiconductors to a consortium of private equity investors consisting of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR), Silver Lake Partners and AlpInvest Partners. On 21 August 2006, Bain Capital and Apax Partners announced that they had signed definitive commitments to join the acquiring consortium, a process which was completed on 1 October 2006.

The Philips physics laboratory has scaled down. As of 2010, the company does not try to be innovative in consumer electronics through fundamental research, but continues to improve its many consumer lifestyle products.

2011 to present

Due to the fact that net profit slumped 85 percent in Q3 2011, Philips has announced to cut 4,500 jobs to match part of an €800 million ($1.1 billion) cost-cutting scheme to boost profits and meet its financial target.

Due to the fact that net profit slumped 85 percent in Q3 2011, Philips has announced to cut 4,500 jobs to match part of an €800 million ($1.1 billion) cost-cutting scheme to boost profits and meet its financial target.

Philips has recently made gains in corporate social responsibility: in its 2012 report on progress relating to conflict minerals, the Enough Project rated Philips the fourth highest of 24 consumer electronics companies.

In March 2012 Philips announced its intention to sell, or demerge its television manufacturing operations to TPV Technology. 

In 2011, the company posted a loss of 1.3 billion euros, but earned a net profit in Q1 and Q2 2012, however the management want 1.1 billion euros cost-cutting which will be an increase from 800 million euros and may cut another 2,200 jobs until end of 2014. 

Samsung

SAMSUNG

History

In 1938,  Lee Byung-chull (1910–1987) of a large landowning family in the Uiryeong county came to the nearby Daegu city and founded Samsung Sanghoe (삼성상회), a small trading company with forty employees located in Su-dong (now Ingyo-dong). It dealt in groceries produced in and around the city and produced its own noodles. The company prospered and Lee moved its head office to Seoul in 1947. When the Korean War broke out, however, he was forced to leave Seoul and started a sugar refinery in Busan named Cheil Jedang. After the war, in 1954, Lee founded Cheil Mojik and built the plant in Chimsan-dong, Daegu. It was the largest woollen mill ever in the country and the company took on the aspect of a major company.

Samsung diversified into many areas and Lee sought to establish Samsung as an industry leader in a wide range of enterprises, moving into businesses such as insurance, securities, and retail. Lee placed great importance on industrialization, and focused his economic development strategy on a handful of large domestic conglomerates, protecting them from competition and assisting them financially.

In 1948, Cho Hong-jai (the Hyosung group’s founder) jointly invested in a new company called Samsung Mulsan Gongsa (삼성물산공사), or the Samsung Trading Corporation, with the Samsung Group founder Lee Byung-chull. The trading firm grew to become the present-day Samsung C&T Corporation. But after some years Cho and Lee separated due to differences in management between them. He wanted to get up to a 30% group share. After settlement, Samsung Group was separated into Samsung Group and Hyosung Group, Hankook Tire, and others.

In the late 1960s, Samsung Group entered into the electronics industry. It formed several electronics-related divisions, such as Samsung Electronics Devices Co., Samsung Electro-Mechanics Co., Samsung Corning Co., and Samsung Semiconductor & Telecommunications Co., and made the facility in Suwon. Its first product was a black-and-white television set.

1990 to 2000

Samsung started to rise as an international corporation in the 1990s. Samsung's construction branch was awarded a contract to build one of the two Petronas Towers in Malaysia, Taipei 101 in Taiwan and the Burj Khalifa in United Arab Emirates. In 1993,Lee Kun-hee sold off ten of Samsung Group's subsidiaries, downsized the company, and merged other operations to concentrate on three industries: electronics, engineering, and chemicals. In 1996, the Samsung Group reacquired the Sungkyunkwan University foundation.

Samsung became the largest producer of memory chips in the world in 1992, and is the world's second-largest chipmaker afterIntel (see Worldwide Top 20 Semiconductor Market Share Ranking Year by Year). In 1995, it created its first liquid-crystal display screen. Ten years later, Samsung grew to be the world's largest manufacturer of liquid-crystal display panels. Sony, which had not invested in large-size TFT-LCDs, contacted Samsung to cooperate, and, in 2006, S-LCD was established as a joint venture between Samsung and Sony in order to provide a stable supply of LCD panels for both manufacturers. S-LCD was owned by Samsung (50% plus 1 share) and Sony (50% minus 1 share) and operates its factories and facilities in Tangjung, South Korea. As on 26 December 2011 it was announced that Samsung had acquired the stake of Sony in this joint venture.

Compared to other major Korean companies, Samsung survived the 1997 Asian financial crisis relatively unharmed. However,Samsung Motor was sold to Renault at a significant loss. As of 2010, Renault Samsung is 80.1 percent owned by Renault and 19.9 percent owned by Samsung. Additionally, Samsung manufactured a range of aircraft from the 1980s to 1990s. The company was founded in 1999 as Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI), the result of merger between then three domestic majoraerospace divisions of Samsung Aerospace, Daewoo Heavy Industries, and Hyundai Space and Aircraft Company. However, Samsung still manufactures aircraft engines and gas turbines. 

2000 to present

Samsung Techwin has been the sole supplier of a combustor module of the Trent 900 engine of the Rolls-Royce Airbus A380-The largest passenger airliner in the world- since 2001. Samsung Techwin of Korea is a revenue-sharing participant in the Boeing's 787 Dreamliner GEnx engine program.

In 2010, Samsung announced a 10-year growth strategy centred around five businesses. One of these businesses was to be focused onbiopharmaceuticals, to which the Company has committed ₩2.1 trillion.

In December 2011, Samsung Electronics sold its hard disk drive (HDD) business to Seagate.

In the first quarter of 2012, Samsung Electronics became the world's largest mobile phone maker by unit sales, overtaking Nokia, which had been the market leader since 1998. In the August 21st edition of the Austin American-Statesman, Samsung confirmed plans to spend 3 to 4 billion dollars converting half of its Austin chip manufacturing plant to a more profitable chip. The conversion should start in early 2013 with production on line by the end of 2013.

On August 24, 2012, a U.S jury ruled that Samsung had to pay Apple Incorporated US$1.05 billion dollars in damages for violating its patents onsmartphone technology. Samsung decried the decision saying that the move could harm innovation in the sector. It also followed a South Korean ruling that said both companies were guilty of infringing on each other's intellectual property. In the first trading after the ruling, Samsung shares on the Kospi index fell 7.7%, the largest fall since October 24, 2008, to 1,177,000 Korean won. Apple then sought to bar the sales of eight Samsung phones (Galaxy S 4G, Galaxy S2 AT&T, Galaxy S2 Skyrocket, Galaxy S2 T-Mobile, Galaxy S2 Epic 4G, Galaxy S Showcase, Droid Charge and Galaxy Prevail) in the United States.

On September 4, 2012, Samsung announced it plans to examine all of its Chinese suppliers for possible violations of labor policies. The company said it will carry out audits of 250 Chinese companies that are its exclusive suppliers to see if children under the age of 16 are being used in their factories.

NOKIA

Nokia is a Finnish multinational communications and information technology corporation headquartered in Keilaniemi, Espoo, Finland. Its principal products are mobile telephones and portable IT devices. It also offers Internet services including applications, games, music, media and messaging through its Ovi platform, and free-of-charge digital map information and navigation services through its wholly owned subsidiary Navteq Nokia has a joint venture with Siemens, Nokia Siemens Networks, which provides telecommunications network equipment and services.

Nokia has around 122,000 employees across 120 countries, sales in more than 150 countries and annual revenues of around €38 billion. As of 2012it is the world's second-largest mobile phone maker by unit sales (after Samsung), with a global market share of 22.5% in the first quarter. Nokia is a public limited-liability company listed on the Helsinki Stock Exchange and New York Stock Exchange. It is the world's 143rd-largest company measured by 2011 revenues according to the Fortune Global 500.

Nokia was the world's largest vendor of mobile phones from 1998 to 2012. However, over the past five years it has suffered declining market share as a result of the growing use of smartphones from other vendors, principally the Apple iPhone and devices running on Google's Android operating system. As a result, its share price has fallen from a high of US$40 in 2007 to under US$3 in 2012. Since February 2011, Nokia has had a strategic partnership with Microsoft, as part of which all Nokia smartphones will incorporate Microsoft's Windows Phone operating system (replacingSymbian). Nokia unveiled its first Windows Phone handsets, the Lumia 710 and 800, in October 2011.

The predecessors of the modern Nokia were the Nokia Company (Nokia Aktiebolag), Finnish Rubber Works Ltd (Suomen Gummitehdas Oy) andFinnish Cable Works Ltd (Suomen Kaapelitehdas Oy).

Nokia's history started in 1865 when mining engineer Fredrik Idestam established a groundwood pulp mill on the banks of the Tammerkoski rapids in the town of Tampere, in southwestern Finland in the Russian Empire and started manufacturing paper. In 1868, Idestam built a second mill near the town of Nokia, fifteen kilometres (nine miles) west of Tampere by the Nokianvirta river, which had better resources for hydropowerproduction. In 1871, Idestam, with the help of his close friend statesman Leo Mechelin, renamed and transformed his firm into a share company, thereby founding the Nokia Company, the name it is still known by today.

Toward the end of the 19th century, Mechelin's wishes to expand into the electricity business were at first thwarted by Idestam's opposition. However, Idestam's retirement from the management of the company in 1896 allowed Mechelin to become the company's chairman (from 1898 until 1914) and sell most shareholders on his plans, thus realizing his vision. In 1902, Nokia added electricity generation to its business activities.

   Financial difficulties and restructuring

Amid falling sales, Nokia posted a loss of 368 million euros for Q2 2011, while in Q2 2010 had still a profit of 227 million euros. On September 2011, Nokia has announced it will lose another 3,500 jobs worldwide, including the closure of its Cluj factory in Romania.

On 8 February 2012 Nokia Corp. said to cut around 4,000 jobs at smartphone manufacturing plants in Europe by the end of 2012 to move assembly closer to component supplier in Asia. It plans to cut 2,300 of the 4,400 jobs in Hungary, 700 out of 1,000 jobs in Mexico, and 1,000 out of 1,700 factory jobs in Finland.

On 14 June 2012, Nokia announced to cut 10,000 jobs globally by the end of 2013 and shut production and research sites in Finland, Germany and Canada inline with continues loss and the stock fell to the lowest since 1996. Today, Nokia's market value is below $10 billion.

In total, according to actualized and planned laid-offs Nokia will have laid off 24,500 employees by the end of 2013. Nokia has already laid off 7,000 employees in the first stage: 4,000 staff and transferred also 3,000 to services firm Accenture. Nokia also closed its factory in Cluj, Romania that decreased the workforce by 2,000 employees, and restructured the Location & Commerce business unit that decreased the workforce by 1,200 employees. In February 2012, Nokia unveiled a plan to cut 4,000 more jobs at its plants in Finland, Hungary and Mexico as it moves smartphone assembly work to Asia. The most recent plan is to cut further 10,000 jobs globally by the end of 2013. Nokia had 66,267 personnel in its Devices&Services, NAVTEQ and Corporate Common Functions units combined, this has been calculated by subtracting the personnel of Nokia Siemens Networks from the total personnel of Nokia Group based on the full year report of 2010. Therefore, the personnel would decrease by approximately 36 percent by the end of 2013 when compared to the end of 2010 that best depicts the lay-offs that have resulted from the strategy change in February 2011 and competition in the central mobile phone business units recently.

On 18 June 2012 Moody’s downgraded Nokia rating to junk. Nokia CEO admitted on 28 June 2012 that company's inability to foresee rapid changes in mobile phone industry was one of the major reasons for the problems company was facing.

On 4 May 2012, a group of Nokia investors filled a class action against the company as a result of disappointing sales of Nokia phones running on the Windows Phone platform. On 22 August 2012, it was reported that a group of Finnish Nokia investors were considering gathering signatures for the removal of Elop as CEO.