In All About Symbian Insight 88 (AAS Podcast 150), Rafe and Steve talk about the release dates for some upcoming devices and preview the Nokia 5730. Rafe reports back from the Ovi Developer Day and Steve shares news of the latest Nokia 5800 firmware and upcoming firmware for the N86. There's also discussion about the Ovi Store and Vodafone 360. You can listen to AAS Insight 88 here or, if you wish to subscribe, here's the RSS feed.
In the first part of my coverage of the Nokia 5730 XpressMusic, I compare three slide-sliders (two of them Symbian) and reckon that a) on the whole, you get what you pay for(!) and b) that the 5730 XpressMusic contains a number of, at first sight, strange hardware design flaws. Rather surprisingly, too, I'd been really looking forward to trying this phone. The saving graces come when the sun goes down, as you'll see from the last photo in this initial impressions piece, when the 5730 exudes 'geek cool', and when you spot the 'extras'... Watch this space for a full, detailed multi-part review.
Exclusive: as shown in the screenshots below, the next firmware for the Nokia N86 8MP includes a 'Face Detection' option, a feature not seen in a Nokia-branded camera phone before. With this, as you may have seen on some consumer Samsung phones, the Camera application can scan for human faces and will automatically focus on any that it finds. Also present in the next firmware will be significant photo quality improvements (less artefacts, better colours, also demonstrated below), a new Ovi Store client and, hopefully, a mountain of stability fixes - the N86 8MP v11 firmware is reckoned by some to be not fit for heavy use. [Updated with extra info and new screenshots]
After the morning keynotes and interviews at Nokia World 2009, I decided to take a quick look round the 'experience lounge' at Nokia World. Following on from part 1 of the video, the tour of the show floor continues in part 2. You'll see the Nokia X6, Nokia X3, Nokia N97 Mini, Nokia 5230, Bounce Evolution running on the N900 and more software and services. There's also a quick look at some of the show floor features including a Twitter screen and side theatres.
After the morning keynotes and interviews at Nokia World 2009, I decided to take a quick look round the 'experience lounge' at Nokia World. In the video below you can join me on my first tour round the show floor, where I share my first impressions and analysis. You'll get a feel of the atmosphere on the show floor and there's a quick overview of some of Nokia's new service solutions, the Nokia Booklet 3G, Nokia Internet Stick (CS-18) and some third party software.
Just for completeness, note that The Phones Show 89 is now live, with video coverage of the news of the last month, plus critical hands-on reviews of the Nokia E52 and E55. Note also the iTunes subscribe links, here's the right one for the VGA (high res) version.
Red Bend, the company behind the Firmware Over The Air update system in most of the smartphones covered here (with the notable exception of Samsung, which doesn't appear to have FOTA yet), has just announced that its FOTA software is now used by just over half a billion mobile devices worldwide, over 413 different devices. This represents a 60% share of the FOTA-enabled mobile phone market. See Red Bend's site for more information.
In All About Symbian Insight 85 (AAS Podcast 147), Rafe, Steve and Ewan discuss the glut of Nokia news ahead of this week's Nokia World. We cover the Nokia Booklet 3G, Nokia 5230, Nokia Money (an under appreciated announcement) and the Nokia N900. There's also some discussion of Maemo 5, service strategy and the Sony Ericsson Satio. You can listen to AAS Insight 85 here or, if you wish to subscribe, here's the RSS feed.
Steve Litchfield explores the Nokia N95's continuing legacy in something of a tribute to the original dual-sliding smartphone... In terms of features, build quality and longevity, how do its successors stand up? And is there an 'ultimate' N95? Find out here. I look at the N95, the N95 8GB, the N96, the N85 and the N86 8MP - it's a veritable N95-fest!
Following on from my review of the Nokia E52, it transpires that Nokia do intend to make a black(ish) version (with less keypad visibility problems) - here's their official photographic proof. Also, although Internet Radio isn't in the firmware, the version for the 6210 Navigator apparently works perfectly (official download here). Now, what about Podcasting, ladies and gents? (thanks to kazutoyo and WizzMob)
Following on from my Nokia E55 review, I look at its sister device, this time with traditional keypad - is there anything to complain about in the perfectly formed little E52? Don't worry, I manage to find quite a bit - you can't read the keys in some light conditions and there are significant omissions from the initial firmware - though it's still a triumph of S60 miniaturisation. Here's my review of the Nokia E52.
One of the highlights of our coverage of each new Symbian-powered phone are Rafe's in-depth photo galleries. And here's his extensive photographic take on the Nokia E52. Explore it in as much detail as if you had it in your hand. And watch this space, my full E52 review will be here imminently.
Ricky Cadden is definitely one of the most respected reviewers in the Symbian/phone world and, as official AAS-friend-in-the-USA, he brings us all a detailed, seven part review of Nokia's new budget qwerty slider, the 6790 'Surge', complete with extensive AT&T cripplingcustomisations. Here, for your reading pleasure, are his unboxing, his first impressions, 5 things he hated about the device, 5 things he loved, the (anti)social 6790, and finally Ricky's opinions of the 6790's hardware and software.
Ahead of my own, slightly more formal AAS review of the Nokia E52 and of Rafe's video review, Asri al-Baker has also been using this new ultra-slim Eseries phones and here he reports back on his impressions after two weeks. Highlights for him are 'the best keypad in Nokia's smartphone history', the new, faster version of Web and all the Eseries interface tweaks.
It's, hand-down, the smallest and lightest and - almost - most powerful QWERTY smartphone ever created. But is the E55 any good? Find out in my full review. Of its two Unique Selling Points, I was impressed by the tiny EDoF camera, which produces results beyond expectations, but I was left feeling that the 'half QWERTY' keyboard implementation needs a little more software intelligence behind it. A great value smartphone overall, but the bottom line is that its fiercest competition will come from its own sister phone, the E52.