Nokia 8.1 DS supports Japan’s contact verification app?
As a part of the country’s on-going fight against the new Coronavirus, Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare (MHLW) recently developed an app that notifies users of close contact with COVID-19 positive users. The app, which they call contact confirmation application (COCOA), will be able to recognize close contacts within 1 meter, in about 15 minutes or more. It also promises privacy features that make sure every user’s information is protected against possible attacks.
While the app does sound interesting and innovative, one of our avid readers from Japan noticed something on the bottom of the official government page that is even more interesting. One of the eighteen devices that officially supports and confirms to work with the new app is a Nokia phone – specifically, the Nokia 8.1 DS (TA-1119).
So, what makes this list so special for the Nokia 8.1 DS? Nokia’s presence in Japan is mostly absent nowadays. Like currently, Nokia Mobile offers no variant of any of its lineup for the Japanese market – at least officially. So seeing the Nokia 8.1 DS (by the way, listed as TA-1119) on the list, is quite intriguing.
Our reader suggests two possible things why this happened. It’s either the unreleased, and the uncertified device actually works just fine in Japan, or some developers overseas have tested this app to work on Nokia 8.1 DS, and so the Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare decided to include the phone on the list.
Either way, it is great to see the device supporting something innovative, over a year after it launched – albeit in the least possible country.
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