The launch of Nokia's new marketing campaign for the likes of the US-spec N95, "Open to", is also made notable by the availability for sale in consumer electronics shops (well spotted Stefan), independent phone shops and chains (in addition to Nokia's own flagship stores). So far only stores in New York and San Francisco are listed, but you can bet this list will expand...
Samsung's S60 GPS phone, the SGH-i550 which has been rumoured for some time and was recently spotted at the IFA show in Berlin has now been officially announced. The i550 boasts an impressive specification with a built in GPS, 3.2 megapixel auto-focus camera, HSDPA connectivity, and a 3.5mm audio jack which suggests it will be positioned against the N95 as a multimedia all rounder. More information and pictures in the full story.
Kudos to Darla Mack for scoring a prototype N95-3, the official USA model with 80MB free RAM and beefed up 1200mAh battery. More editorial to follow from Darla, no doubt.
I'm sure Phil S of S60 is serious with this review of a new Nokia accessory, the CP-218, but I really, truly am not sure I'd trust a £500 N95 to the Nokia Wrist Band while I'm out flailing my arms around in the act of trying to jog/run....
As a Nokia E90 user, I was tipped off by a reliable but unnamed source that new firmware that includes Assisted GPS and (I think) Quickoffice 4.5 is due out in the first week of October. I wonder what else they'll throw in? There are a few bugs in Calendar and Web that I'm keen to see cleared...
Official developer site Forum Nokia has published its detailed tech spec pages for the Nokia E51 and the Nokia N95-3 NAM, aka the American N95. Amongst other things, it reveals that the E51 has 96 megabytes of RAM (with 50 MB free for user applications), while the N95-3 NAM has 128 megabytes (with 81 MB free for user apps).
I don't know him personally, but TV/media star Stephen Fry and I have been seemingly bumping along through the Psion/Palm eras together. And now he's started a blog, with a huge and interesting essay on smartphones. He looks at the HTC Touch ('thundering nuisance'), the Sony Ericsson P1i (less responsive than 'a dead walrus') and the Nokia E90 (a 'good product'), before loving but finding flaws in the iPhone.
With Nokia's flagship coming in for a lot of (justified and unjustified) criticism in recent weeks, I've been exploring some of the accusations in detail and acting as counsel for the Nokia E90's defense. What should Nokia put into upcoming firmware, what did they do right already without people 'getting it' and how are they doing on supporting the E90 hardware?
