Everything you need to know about CTIA 2008

[slitchfield]

You were right to save your money and not go to CTIA in Las Vegas - everything you need to know about what was shown is represented in Rafe's comprehensive CTIA 2008 image gallery, with pertinent analysis and commentary where needed. It's all here, from tweaks to new Symbian OS-powered hardware, to software innovations, from WiMax and LTE to demos in the sky.

Read on in the full article.

Am I missing something or was there a rumour that Nokia might announce a new Communicator at CTIA? Jeez, man. I've been holding my breath for far too long! With a contract upgrade coming up there is no way that I want to be stuck for two years with an old device. The E90's firmware upgrade just doesn't cut the cake for me. I want 16gb internal and at least a 5Mpix

[krisse]

As some people pointed out, Communicators have traditionally had long gaps between new releases because they're such a niche product.

The switch to S60 on the E90 could shorten the gaps in theory, but as this is the first S60 Communicator we don't know how short the gap would really be.

[Rafe]

I suspect the rumour may have been talking about the N810 WiMax Edition. A new communicator this year is possible, though I'd have thought 2009 might be more likely.

Well, I know the e90 (and n95's) will support up to 32gb via microSD.. whenever they come out. They can make them right now, but sansdisk wants to milk as much profit as they can.. 12gb just came out.. next is 16gb.. so on and so on... I mean I have 8gb.. I'll spend another $100 when 16gb comes out.. and another $100 when 32gb comes out.

[bills2north]

The lastest tweak on E90 is the new flat keyboard shipping out to curb complaints about messy inner screens. Yes, it´s true(!). Sweden has them. Funny thing is I prefer the corrected un-flat keyboard (v.2).

With this kind of "trickle down" economics and trouble with fw updates it´s unlikely Nokia will put out another whole brick, touch screen or not, for some time. Tweaking s60 was already a hassle.

Another drawback/proof is that Nokia hasn´t put out new fw, except that "freak" accident last week. Many brick owners are in need of an update, especially those who got the 1st batch of commies. Afterward, the 2nd fw update messed some 1st gen commies up even more! Again, mine has latest 7.24 fw already. There´s been no problem so far. Once a week browser shuts down but I just start it up again. Guys talk about linking contacts to calendar and stuff like that which I don´t use. They´re true power users. I enjoy the multimedia most but I´m learning other great things too.

In my opinion the camera is already fine enough for photos when setup properly. And video quality is already on par with the best of them which in itself is amazing. Just not in stereo like my N93.

In short the E90´s re-released version is fine and after using the brick almost 5months I will never go back to any screen smaller than 4" again. I´ll gladly haul this brick for at least 2-3 years. It really does replace my laptop sometimes.

Folding bricks to date: 9300i, N93, E90

[krisse]

Folding bricks to date: 9300i, N93, E90

Maybe Nokia should use Folding Brick as a trademark? As in "the Nokia E90 Folding Brick (TM)"?

[davidmaxwaterma]

I like the AA ad - the last photo in the series. Here's Rafe's comment :

The US has a bit of reputation for being backwards in mobile terms. The reality is, of course, much more comples than that... The US operators have a stranglehold of the market and haven't been much inclined to embrace openess or non-voice usage on mobile. Thus it was a bit of a surpise to find this advert in DFW airport on the way home. It featured an N82 (not available on any US carrier) and showcased the American Airlines mobile site. It even included a bar code for quick access to the mobile site in case you didn't want to type in AA.com.

Perhaps typing 'aa.com' into your browser is easier than starting up your qr-code reader, but that aditional thing at the bottom of the ad ...

To receive a link, text "mobile" to 22808.

Well, that's just stupid....11 letters, in addition to all the keys to start up, compose, send, receive and read the SMS.

How many keys are needed to startup the qr-code reader, which doesn't need any additional typing at all; or web-browser, which only requires an additional 'aa.com' - 6 letters?

Only in America.