Running S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 2, Nokia has launched the 5730 XpressMusic, with E75-style side-sliding qwerty keyboard. There's a 3.2 megapixel camera, Wi-Fi and GPS, plus the “Say and Play” feature first introduced in the Nokia 5320. It has the same customised home screen to directly access contacts and Ovi services, as seen in the Nokia 5630. More below, including photos.
The UK's Gadget Show has always had a soft spot for covering phones and, in the episode embedded below the break here, presenter Jon looks at the Nokia 5800, proclaiming a litany of positives, but with the music DRM, and the fiddliness of some of the touch-adapted dialogs coming in for some stick.
In All About Symbian Insight 62 (AAS Podcast 118) we briefly discuss the recently released S60 5.0 SDK (and consider broader uses), follow up on kinetic scrolling on the N97, get Ewan's view point on Monopoly for the N-Gage. In the last part of the podcast Steve and Ewan relate their experience of video recording on the N85 versus the N95. You can listen to AAS Insight 62 here or, if you wish to subscribe, here's the RSS feed.
Six months on, it's time for another update to my semi-definitive(!) table of S60 hardware through the ages, over at 3-Lib. As ever, it's not perfect, so be gentle with me and if you can fill in any of the 'Unknown' blanks then please get in touch at slitchfield@gmail.com. Thanks.
The Nokia Events site is showcasing an upcoming Nokia virtual launch (online only) event, which is related to music. It's likely we'll hear about new XpressMusic device(s), as well well as updates around Nokia's music strategy. The announcement will be made at 10am CET (9am GMT). DRM-free music in the Nokia Music Store, updates to Comes with Music, new market roll out plans, price cuts? Let the speculation begin!
Having spent an entire feature slamming Touch in general and perhaps the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic in particular, I think it's only fair to give Nokia some credit and balance the equation with a breakdown of Ten Things that Nokia Did Right in the 5800, things which they didn't have to do but which impressed me nevertheless. Are these ten plus points enough to make the 5800 XpressMusic a must-buy? Maybe, maybe not, but their very existence speaks well of Nokia, of the 5800 and of sister devices to follow.
Here's the final batch of high resolution images from Mobile World Congress 2009 from Rafe. Immaculately done as usual, click through any image for the full size JPG. Featured here are the Nokia E55 (compact qwerty keyboard), the Nokia E75 (side-sliding qwerty) and Nokia 5630 XpressMusic (mid-range music phone, with 'Say and Play'). Enjoy. See the comments threads on the individual galleries.
One great camera phone produces an image that's full of detail. Another great camera phone produces an image with similar detail but totally different colouring - but which is 'right'? In this postscript to my Camera Nitty Gritty series of features, I explain that 'right' is somewhat subjective and that what you see from a digital camera is always heavily influenced by what the manufacturer thinks you'll prefer to see.
Fancy plugging your Nokia N95 8GB (or similar) into a battery-powered portable projector and having your own mobile cinema? Thought so. James Burland (Nokia Creative and iPhone buff) has been reviewing the Optoma Pico PK101, using it with both N95 8GB and iPhone, and delivers his verdict here in both text and video form (the video bit is also embedded here below the break).
When the N97 was announced at Nokia World last year, some 8 months ahead of its retail release, it was clear that the software was a work in progress. At MWC, it was equally clear that progress had been made. For example, Nokia were showing off a number of fully operational homescreen widgets, including one for Facebook. A new addition, which caught my attention, was the implementation of kinetic scrolling (finger flick) in the browser, which improves its usability. Read on for (extensive) further discussion and example video.
In All About Symbian Insight 61 (AAS Podcast 117) we look back at some of the software highlights of MWC (including a quick N97 mention), discuss the Nokia Netbook rumours / ideas, talk about Ovi Contacts and go over the latest N-Gage developments. You can listen to AAS Insight 55 here or, if you wish to subscribe, here's the RSS feed.
There are fifty, that's right Five Zero, Samsung Omnia HD smartphones (8mp cam, huge OLED screen, S60 5th, etc) available to each person accepted as a Omnia HD 'ambassador' next month. If you run a blog or media outlet and can get some buzz going about this latest Symbian OS super-phone then you've got a good chance of early access to the HD and a free device - apply now! The ambassadorial activities are due to start on April 4th, although Rafe and I should be able to bring you quite a bit more hands on Omnia HD coverage before then.
In an admirably thorough and even-handed way, Mobile-review.com has investigated the 5800's earpiece problem to find its cause, and they've also got a lengthy official response from Nokia detailing what went wrong and how they've fixed it. In short, the cause was humidity gradually getting inside flawed earpieces. Nokia changed earpiece suppliers in late January so that 5800s made in February 2009 and later should be okay. Anyone with an older 5800 can get their old earpiece replaced with the new version at an authorised service centre. If you're unsure when your 5800 was made, the service centre should be able to tell you over the phone using your IMEI number.
Rafe's been busy sorting through his snaps again - in these three gorgeous galleries he brings us close-up photos of the Nokia N86 8MP (great build materials, arguably best camera ever in a phone), the 6710 Navigator (GPS, compass, zoom strip) and the 6720 Classic (active noise cancellation), all launched at the event. Click through and enjoy each of these. And then buy Rafe a humungous beer the next time you see him.
One thing which Rafe witnessed at MWC was Stantum's demonstrations of some insanely responsive multi-touch applets working on a standard resistive touchscreen. Leaving aside the demo applets (and also Rafe's own comments, he's still writing up MWC as we speak), then surely this type of technology is what Nokia should be building into its touchscreen phones, so that text input can be increased over the currently limited speeds? Demo and more below.
