In Nokia’s own words, what we’re looking at is a “piezoelectric kinetic energy harvester.” Working along the same principles as kinetic wristwatches have done for a long time already, Nokia’s idea is to capture the energy generated by the phone’s movements and to refashion it into beautiful, clean-as-a-whistle electric power. By allowing the heavier internal components to move on rails within the phone as part of a “force-transferring assembly,” the Espoo think tank has figured out a way to capitalize on all the small forces of acceleration and rotation that we subject our phones to on a daily basis. It would seem overly ambitious to expect this to replace the trusty old charger, but we give credit to Nokia for even thinking about it. Check out some schematics of how this would work after the break.

Ovi Maps has been a focal point for Nokia in the last few weeks since they gave it all away for free, so it’s not surprising a hardware company wants to use their turn-by-turn navigation for cars. If you’ve got an Alpine car system with a dashboard or speakers, then you’ll be able to connect your Nokia handset by either Bluetooth or USB, with navigation displayed by Ovi Maps on the dashboard. Navigation updates and music can come through your car’s speakers rather than the Nokia’s puny little speaker, and even information about the fuel levels and engine health can be integrated into Ovi Maps, so if you’re in need of fuel for example, Ovi Maps will tell you where the next petrol station is. No products have been shown off just yet, but this Terminal Mode will be available on Nokia phones soon apparently—and with well over 3m downloads of the free Ovi Maps , upgrading your car system could prove very tantalizing for some. [ Alpine via Engadget via SlashGear ]

What’s the one biggest hurdle to throwing out your dedicated GPS nav unit and going ahead with the free turn-by-turn navigation offered by your smartphone ? If your answer was that most phones don’t have the great big screens or easy installation systems of some satnav devices, look out, because Nokia’s about to shake up your world all over again. Alpine has just announced its partnership with the Finnish giant aimed at integrating Nokia handsets — complete with free Ovi Maps navigation — into car dashboard systems. Yes, that means you can use your superb six-amp speaker systems to boom out music or voice nav instructions from the phone, as well as your in-dash 7-inch LCD for showing you the right way home.

Nokia’s picked the beta version of the Skype app up off the floor, dusted it off, and granted it a shiny new spot in its Ovi Store , for all Symbian^1 phones. Your network can kiss goodbye your money. It works over Wi-Fi or a data connection on these handset models: Nokia E71, N96, N85, 5320, 6210 Navigator, 6220 classic, N78, N79, E63, E66, N82, E51, N95, N95 8GB, N81, N81 8GB, E90, E72, 5800 XpressMusic, N97, N97 mini, X6, and the 5530. While it only works on Nokia handsets at the moment, Skype plans on launching the app on other manufacturers’ Symbian phones, with Sony Ericsson next in line to get the free Skype-to-Skype calls, IM ability and sharing files functionality. It’s available now through the Ovi Store , however whenever I click on it it says the item is no longer available.

Alright, we know there’s a big old watermark covering it up, but the HD2’s price when it makes its eagerly awaited US debut on T-Mobile has been identified as being $199 after rebate, presumably as part of a two-year commitment with the carrier. As usual with such screen grabs, we can’t be 100 percent sure, but that number seems to be in the right ballpark, and is joined by a $129 price for Motorola’s Cliq XT and a $69 sticker for Nokia’s Nuron handset. All three are expected to arrive at some point this month , though we urge caution with the HD2 — it’s still only a Windows Mobile 6.5 device, in spite of Microsoft’s equivocations about Windows Phone 7, and should be obtained solely on the basis of what you know. That is to say, you’d better really love HTC’s Sense UI and that 4.3-inch screen, because you’ll be buying into an OS with a very short remaining shelf life, no prospects of future app development, and no guarantees about upgrades. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in] HTC HD2 and Moto Cliq XT pricing revealed in T-Mobile database? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Mar 2010 07:45:00 EST

Along with the fairly staid C5 phone , Nokia today announced a new structure for its phone series—as we heard a few weeks back . Now, all Nokia phones will come in four different classes—the classic C-series, entertainment and media-themed X-series, business E-series and flagship “high end” N-series. [ Nokia Conversations ]

Along with the fairly staid C5 phone , Nokia today announced a new structure for its phone series—as we heard a few weeks back . Now, all Nokia phones will come in four different classes—the classic C-series, entertainment and media-themed X-series, business E-series and flagship “high end” N-series. [ Nokia Conversations ]

While not widely touted, Nokia’s Ovi Music store is on track to make Nokia’s music catalog DRM-free globally. This was first mentioned in December at Nokia’s Capital Market Days event. Keep in mind that we’re talking about Nokia’s a la carte music download service, not its all you can eat Comes with Music offering that lets you keep all the tracks you can download in the first year but locks them to a single Nokia handset and PC for life. Russia’s Ovi Music store was the first to go DRM-free back in November while adding single sign-on with other Ovi services during the revamp process.

It’s subconsciously getting drummed into us from all sides, but just in case you haven’t heard it yet: the Nokia N900 is the most hackable phone around. It may not be the best phone, but it sure is open source. A blogger at DoItDifferent created a widget for the N900 using Shutter—which uses LIRC to control the Nikon remotely—and Flashlight, which turns the N900’s flash into a torch. Then, using the IR transmitter in the phone, it paired up with the Nikon D40’s IR receiver for the remote shutter release . When the widget was clicked on the N900, the LED flash strobed and the D40 was triggered, taking a photo instantly. The video below shows the hack at work, but for a more detailed explanation head on over to the blog.

Maybe it’s the lack of a banging soundtrack , but we’re finding ourselves somewhat underwhelmed by these first video appearances by the highly anticipated Symbian^4 user interface. What we’re shown is a now familiar layout for touchscreen devices, with a trio of home screens that can be customized with widgets and live information trinkets such as a clock and a weather app. It is, as promised , very touch-centric, but it is by no means revolutionary. Both videos are titled as mere “first glimpse” offerings, however, so the eternal optimist in us likes to believe that there’ll be plenty more to get excited about as we move closer to that early 2011 launch. See them after the break and let us know what you think