In Insight #17 (AAS Podcast 66) Rafe, Steve and Stefan talk around Apple's recently announced SDK and Application Store and what Nokia and Sony Ericsson do in this area. We also talk about our favourite form factors where we recognise that device robustness is the most important factor.
No, no, not the v21 firmware for the Nokia N95, we're still waiting for that. But Nokia has officially unveiled the black N82, with availability quoted in 'weeks' and with a price of 400 Euros (300 pounds) before sales taxes. For the N82, the colour change from silver is not just cosmetic. The black finish solves the huge usability problem of white key legends on silver background, plus it should reduce the fingerprint problem quite a bit. Read on for pics etc.
Take a real mobile power user (Leon), with years of Windows Mobile expertise behind him and a top of the range HTC Athena. Now give him a Nokia E90 and give him a few months to really get to grips with it. This post over on the XDA Developers forum goes into detail about Leon's real world findings. Find out how the Symbian/S60 communicator fared against the behemoth of the Windows Mobile world.
A few links of interest that caught my eye yesterday. Mr. Lock is a freeware, customisable auto-lock utility that's worth investigating if the inflexible built-in auto-lock frustrates you (via N82 blog). The E90 blog has a mini-review of Boxwave's Nokia E90 deskstand sync/charger/spare-battery-charger. And SymbianWorld has published an interview with one of the software heroes of the Symbian OS world, Antony Pranata, developer of Screenshot, used on every site and blog you read.
Good to see Nokia continuing to care for the E90 (though where's the new firmware??), with the availability (via Amazon Germany, at least) of the new "Nokia Carrying Case CP-285" – "made from high quality polyurethane helps protect your device while giving you access to its buttons, ports and speakers." Photo below the break. (via Symbian World)
I've been taking a look back and forward at four of the competitors to the Nokia E90. What's it up against in the market for qwerty-keyboarded clamshells? And how does it compare, spec for spec, blow for blow? It's certainly an interesting form factor and one which is apparently increasing in popularity.
Bery95 has spotted a new N95 edition, set to hit the streets in Germany in April. All very mysterious though - the published specs all refer to microSD and attributes of the N95 'classic', yet the photo seems to show an N95 8GB. The new edition is touted under the label 'Navi', which could either mean a free navigation voucher or an extra software bundle. Wish my German was better...
The LG KT610 S60 clamshell, announced at Mobile World Congress, has popped up for 'preorder' on Expansys web site, with a fuller spec list than was available at the event. Read on for highlights and link.
You'll probably have spotted in the last few days that there have been reports around the 'net that Nokia's black N95 8GB monster smartphone is now fully available with USA frequency support over the pond. Andrew Leung has done an unboxing, notable mainly for the revelation that Nokia are including a voucher for 6 months free voice navigation in every box.
Err yes. Engadget Mobile is reporting that AT&T in the States, not content with calling the Nokia N75 by its Nseries moniker, have dreamed up the "Tab Top" name, referring presumably to the strip of icons across the top of the standby screen. What next? Suggestions on a postcard, to...
With Ewan somewhere in America still, Rafe recording an Insight with me and then taking a well deserved long weekend break himself, it's been an odd 24 hours, centred around the big news from Cupertino and smartphone industry reaction to it. Read on for some analysis on this and other interesting weekend reading links.
Following on from our textual preview of the Nokia N78, here's a comprehensive hands-on video preview of the device, covering all the major areas using video and pictures from MWC 2008. The N78, as the entry level Nseries device, looks set to replicate the sales sucess of its immediate predecessor, the Nokia N73. Video (podcast 27) below the break.
Nokia has announced the 6650, an S60 phone which will be available exclusively to T-Mobile International Customers. The 6650 has a 2 megapixel camera (with LED flash), integrated AGPS, a microSD card slot to supplement the 30MB of internal memory, FM radio and HSDPA connectivity. Rather than using Nokia's own Ovi services it will use T-Mobile services. The 6650 will be available in the third quarter on a number of European T-Mobile networks. More details below.
Nokia has announced the launch of a new S60 smartphone, the '6124 classic', in conjunction with Vodafone in most markets, calling it a 'compact multimedia device offering Vodafone customers faster and easier access to all of Vodafone's high speed Internet and entertainment services'. It is good to see this sort of collaboration happening and to see S60 hitting the true mainstream yet again. Read on for more information.
It's Monday and it's time for our new Insight podcast. In number 15 (aka AAS podcast 63), we look at news, geotagging privacy concerns, recent handset designs from Nokia and Ewan reports on truly mobile software. Give it a listen on the way home from work. Here's the RSS feed if you want to subscribe regularly.