In Insight #18 (AAS Podcast 67) Rafe, Ewan and Steve talk about this week's news (N-Gage First Access closing and Comes with Music). Rafe and Steve discuss their first impressions of the Samsung SGH-i450 and Samsung SGH-i550 (S60 phones) and afterwards Ewan talks about how he recorded and broadcast video on his trip to the USA.
Dubbed the 'poor man's N95', how does the budget Samsung i450 stack up? Pretty well for the price, actually. Rafe'll have an in-depth textual review here soon, but in the meantime I've done a video review in Smartphones Show 55, out today. There's also iPhone AppStore/Download! chat from AAS regular Matt Radford and a video version of my push GMail walkthrough.
Never mind the debates about which is best: clamshells, candybars, sliders, and so on. There's a wider debate going on - how large should a smart mobile device be? I argue that once you get beyond a certain size, you lose the 'take it everywhere' usefulness, you sacrifice robustness and you fail to achieve mass market sales.
Nokia's Official N-Gage Blog has now confirmed that the "First Access" beta testing phase will end on the 27th of March. It's unclear exactly when the full version of N-Gage will launch, but it should be "in the next few weeks". Nokia's also started a survey about the beta test and will give away the next gen version of Mile High Pinball to all beta testers who respond. You can also now sign up for SMS notification of the launch. Click on the headline for some important details.
A large screened S60 slider, 5 megapixel camera, Wi-Fi, GPS, 3.5G data - it's got to be the Nokia N95, right? But actually no, I just came across this recent video (see below) of the Samsung G810, which also adds a stainless steel case and genuine 3x optical zoom into the mix. Looks very good from here, we'll get one for review when it appears in the real world, never fear.
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...
