PDA Essentials magazine issue 69 is on the streets now in the UK, with a head-to-head of 'Smartphones under £250'. The Nokia 6120 Classic stole the show (and no, I didn't write the review) with the top score of 9/10 and with the editor declaring that it "is a great smartphone that simply works well and has the features to match".
A while back, Proporta kindly sent over the 'Freedom Mini GPS' for review, a tiny 30g GPS that could happily sit in the tiniest pocket or on a key ring - and I just hadn't got round to writing about it yet. Time moves on and there's now a 20g "Freedom Keychain GPS SiRF Receiver" that's even smaller. If you want to get your hands on either of these accessories, read on...
Channel 5 (in the UK)'s 'Gadget Show' has done a web-only video review of the Sony Ericsson P1i, highlighting its strengths and weaknesses in the four minutes of detailed footage. Quite critical in the end, but it's good to see some mainstream coverage of a UIQ 3 device.
Nokia has announced 'Comes With Music', a revolutionary program that enables people to buy a Nokia device with a year of unlimited access to millions of tracks from a range of artists from Universal Music Group (more publishers to be added). After the year is up, you still get to keep the music, too, on that device at least.
In practical terms this is a music subscription that is bundled with the cost of the device allowing for a consumer perception of a device that comes with unlimited free music. For more commentary read on.
Some commentators have reported that the camera photo quality on a Nokia N95 that's been updated to v20 firmware is worse than on one that still runs v12 firmware - I disagree, and here's why: the N95's camera is now capturing an image that's closer to real life and not presenting an artificially sharpened view of the world. Read on...
A number of sources are reporting that Motorola is to launch a range of high end multimedia ZiNE phones. This ties in with Motorola stated intent of using UIQ for high end multimedia phones. The rumours indicate that the first of the devices in this range will be the Z10.
Hmm.... other bloggers keep reading my mind. I had an editorial on Nokia N95 firmware half done and now Stefan Constantinescu has not only produced a very interesting article detailing this and throwing in other observations of N93 and N95 8GB, but he's also given the power user's verdict on the brand new N82, with which he declares himself 'in love', despite a number of design defects.
Apologies for linking to an AAS comment thread already half-linked below, but an AAS user has been doing battery benchmarks for two N95's, one with old v12 firmware and one with the new v20 with DVFS (Dynamic Voltage and Frequency Scaling), it seems that for low-CPU tasks like music playback, the battery is used more efficiently, with the underclocking resulting in 20% longer battery life from the BL-5F.
Smartphones Show 48 is out (in YouTube and H.264 MP4 form), the highlight of which is a real world head to head challenge between the two black and silver flagships, the Nokia N95 8GB and the Apple iPhone (on O2). Watch Matt Radford of AAS and I as we try and assess the devices on common, every day tasks. Oh, and here's the RSS and iTunes feeds.
Rafe and I look at Nokia's 'Refresh' of the Nokia E61i, in both text form and in AAS video podcast form - take your pick! The additional box contents will significantly help SMEs, as we explain in detail, although home users won't benefit significantly. Let's hope that 2008 brings a faster, FP1 E61-alike with much more RAM.
It's Out! Version 20.0.015 firmware for the Nokia N95 classic is now available via Nokia Software Update. This includes demand paging (!), so 30MB plus free RAM after booting, faster operation, N-Gage game store previews and portal stub, new camera software, integrated Search, new Welcome apps and more. Comments below!
A couple of weeks ago over on All About N-Gage, we asked you which technically compatible S60 3rd Edition device you most wanted added to the upcoming Next Gen N-Gage gaming platform. The polls have now closed. The most voted-for phone won by quite a wide margin, and it was quite a surprising choice too. To find out what it was, as well as the full results with a touch of analysis, click here...
Forgive the (now) monthly plug, but I've added the Nokia N82, N95 8GB and (non Symbian) HTC Kaiser/TyTN II to my infamous 'choose your perfect smartphone' grid. And hey, the iPhone's in there too, comments welcome on any unusual winners!
