The story so far... Ewan's got himself a Nokia N95 and, while at Global Messaging 2007, heard the N95 denounced for having the grand total of 18 physical keys or buttons. After all, if the iPhone's only going to need one.... It turns out that Ewan thinks the aforementioned buttons are actually quite useful...
Krisse gets a first hand experience of a GPS-equipped smartphone, unboxing the relatively cheap 6110 Navigator in Finland. Here are the first photos, with a review to follow...
As predicted last week on AAS, the long-awaited Nokia E90 has finally launched on the 12th/13th of June. The first Nokia E90s have been spotted in stock in various Finnish retailers including the electrical chain Gigantti and the online store Verkkokauppa. Nokia phones often appear in Finland first for obvious reasons, but the E90 should be available sim-free across Europe very soon if not right now. Network Operator locked versions may take some more time to appear however as the operators tend to alter the firmware before releasing a phone. The availability in non-European regions is still unclear.
The new 4GB SDHC microSD cards are now becoming available at a variety of online retailers. The cards will work with the Nokia N95, but may not work with other S60 phones. MyMemory currently has stock and is selling the cards for £51.99. 4GB is enough for 4 days of music or for you to take one 5 megapixel N95 picture a day for the next 10 years!
Nokia has today published the support pages for the upcoming E90. Going by past experience, this means the sim-free E90 will probably become available in European shops within the next week or two (many Finnish retailers have guessed at a launch date of 12th June). The release dates for network-locked and non-European markets are less predictable.
In response to criticism in PC Pro magazine(!) and lots of (well, ok, two) emails, I've added Windows Mobile smartphones back into my Grid of smartphone solutions. Now you can compare the best from the Symbian OS world and its main competitor. As ever, plug in your preferences and watch the magic 8-ball Javascript decide!
...In which I review the Proporta Wireless FM Stereo Transmitter, to let you play your smartphone's music tracks over your car radio. It's built down to a price and isn't unique in the gadget world, but it's small, stylish, works quite well and is unbeatable value.
It seems high profile blogger Robert Scoble has got himself a Nokia N95, with a clear month to assess it before his iPhone arrives. Yes, they're two different devices for largely different markets, but it'll still be interesting to see his analysis of the two, one after the other. (Via N95 Blog) (PS: Apple iPhone launch date 29th June, says the BBC - Ewan)
Having a virtual camcorder in your pocket (well, in your smartphone) means being able to grab ad-hoc moments for posterity. But how embarrassed will you be with the quality when these moments are later burned onto DVD and played back through a proper TV? I investigate....
Apologies to those of you who read my recent review of the BH-501 Bluetooth stereo headphones, I made a large error. It turns out that they CAN automatically connect to a paired phone, but (unlike some Bluetooth headphones) you have to press their main button a second time after using it to switch them on. For more details, and an improved score, see the updated BH-501 review.
In which I photograph an odd couple and muse on the trade-offs needed to get from Psion Series 5 to Nokia E90.... it's been quite a journey, and of course the E90 can do an awful lot more, but that old, old keyboard still impresses...
Krisse takes similarly-pitched Nokia S60 and Series 40 phones through a round-by-round battle to the death - is 'smart' better? - what are the downsides of S60? And what does Krisse think the future holds? As ever, battery life is a key differentiator - as Scotty used to say in Star Trek: 'Ye cannae change the laws of physics!"
...In which I review the Proporta Wireless FM Stereo Transmitter, to let you play your smartphone's music tracks over your car radio. It's built down to a price and isn't unique in the gadget world, but it's small, stylish, works quite well and is unbeatable value.
If there are ducks in the photos, it can only be another Krisse smartphone review, here looking at the Nokia 5700 XpressMusic, perhaps the ultimate High Street music phone but with the power of S60 3rd Edition under the hood.