Author Archive: Gareth

The Nokia N97 mini now official

Nokia has now officially announced the N97 mini at Nokia World 2009, with smaller screen and overall form factor, full-width keyboard (no d-pad) and a focus on social media (‘life casting’). Significantly, they’re also talking about a whole new memory map and kinetic scrolling across the whole interface, all of which is also to come to the N97 itself in October.

Nokia’s press releases:

"Lifecasting (a partnership with Facebook) will premiere on the new Nokia N97 mini, companion to the successful Nokia N97. Designed with a social and style-conscious consumer in mind, the Nokia N97 mini is a smaller mobile computer with stylish stainless steel cues, featuring a tilting 3.2” touch display, QWERTY keyboard and fully customizable homescreen that makes each Nokia N97 mini as unique as a fingerprint. The Nokia N97 mini delivers a truly personal internet experience in a compact handset based on the iconic design of the Nokia N97.

Lifecasting with Ovi will be available for both the Nokia N97 and Nokia N97 mini via Nokia Beta Labs. The Nokia N97 mini features new software which will be released in October as a free update for the Nokia N97. The new software brings compelling new experiences to both devices, including new homescreen widgets and additional usability improvements including flick scrolling.

The Nokia N97 mini is powered by a new Ovi Maps experience which makes searching, finding and navigating even easier. In addition to global pedestrian navigation, people can access premium content from Lonely Planet, Michelin and Wcities, turning the Nokia N97 mini into the world’s smallest travel companion."

The Nokia N97 mini is expected to begin shipping in October 2009 for an estimated retail price of EUR 450 before taxes and subsidies.  See the video here

Nokia X6 launched

Nokia’s next S60 music device, the X6, has been announced at Nokia World in Stuttgart this morning. It’s going to be marketed as a music phone and the 32GB of storage is going to allow a huge amount of music to be downloaded, and is only available in a Comes with Music variant. But the 16:9 ratio touch-screen (at 3.2 inches in size) is going to be great for video playback and media browsing. More details as we get them.

The Nokia X6 could be seen as the phone that addresses feedback from the 5800 and 5800 Comes with Music editions. From Nokia’s press release:

"Pioneering new ways for the world to experience music, Nokia today announced the launch of the new Nokia X6. Capable of playing up to 35 hours of music, the Nokia X6 is a powerful entertainment device, combining 32GB of on-board memory with a slick 3.2" finger touch interface.

The ultimate device for music lovers and social butterflies, the Nokia X6 has a 16:9 widescreen optimised for photos, videos and browsing. With direct access to Ovi Store, the Nokia X6 is a hive of activity that brings 20 friends and virtual communities, like Facebook, to your homescreen."

The X6 is endowed with a capacitive screen expected to arrive in Q4 2009 for the unlocked price of 459euros.

Check out the video for more. Nokia X6

Phonearena looks at the Nokia Booklet 3G

A netbook that seems to be gaining a lot more attention than most is Nokia’s new Booklet. It’s an impressive little machine and Phonearena have had a chance to sit down and have a look at it. 10.1-inch 1280×720 pixels display, smooth 720p video playback, 1.6 GHz Intel Atom Z530 processor, 1GB DDR2 533 MHz RAM, 120 GB hard drive, Wi-Fi, 3G modem.

HTC Touch2 for sale at Clove

You may have already heard, but if you haven’t, HTC have today announced the HTC Touch2.  The upgrade to the original HTC Touch, the Touch2 keeps a similar form factor but comes with some enhancements, most noticeably, Widows Mobile 6.5!

Codenamed HTC Mega, the HTC Touch2 is available for order from Clove today!

Features of HTC Touch2

• Slim, compact and lightweight
• Weighs just 110g, with battery.
• Windows Mobile 6.5 for an improved user experience
• 3G/HSDPA high speed connectivity
• Quad Band network connectivity
• 3.2 megapixel camera
• WiFi
• Bluetooth
• On board GPS receiver
• 2.8" touch screen
• 3.5mm audio jack
• MicroSDHC Memory Card Slot

Nokia’s Plan Digested and Explained

Long time Symbian analyst Chris McFann and senior editor at Symbian Freak has published an article that does its best to explain the sometimes confusing direction Nokia is heading and why decisions made nearly 3 years ago have now put them in the position to execute what Nokia hopes will be market dominance and to infect every part of your digital world with the services portal, Ovi.

An enlightening read even if your remotely interested in the mobile landscape and ammo for Nokia fans the world over. Just be sure your drink is ready as the incisive read spreads over two pages.

Symbian Freak

Nokia N900 Video Preview

The Nokia N900 gets previewed by the Italian blog kiamanokia.it. It was about time someone uploaded a real video of the N900 on YouTube with a nice run through of the desktop and browser. Expect more videos and pictures of the N900 tomorrow when Nokia World 2009 starts!

You can find the HQ version here

Via Daily Mobile

Got a PS3? You might like this phone!

What are you offering PlayStation3 users in your upcoming range of phones?
Aino is one of the first handsets in Sony Ericsson’s new Communications Entertainment proposition. It offers a unique multimedia experience for all PlayStation3 fans as they can seamlessly access and control their PS3 media content anywhere, anytime using Remote Play.

Remote Play with Aino lets you turn your PS3 on and off, browse and control the XMB and access the internet browser from anywhere in the world. Remote Play also lets you control and access the HD Drive’s media content on PS3 using the built-in WiFi or 3G connections via Aino.

You can also access PlayStation Store via Remote Play or chat with friends via PlayStation Network. It is also possible to buy and download a new game from the Store via Aino so it is ready and waiting for you when you get home.

Android HTC Desire coming to Verizon

Looks like HTC will be releasing a new Android device according to this post from Phonearena. Hopefully this will not just be another Magic/Hero combination and will be something new.

We just received a new screenshot of a Verizon computer and guess what – it looks like there is a new Google-powered HTC device on its way! It is dubbed the HTC Desire 6200 and according to our source, it will be Google-branded, which unfortunately means that we don’t have a chance of seeing the manufacturer’s good-looking Sense interface on top. No other information is currently available about the Desire, but we promise to keep you posted when we know more. Are you excited about new Google-powered devices coming to Verizon? Sound off in the comments!

Windows phones are Coming on October 6th!

In just five weeks, you’ll have a bunch of new Windows phones to choose from. But before we show you some of the cool, new phones that will be coming out, I want to explain how we’re trying to make phones even better with Windows.

When we started work on Windows phones, we met with people all over the world who were likely to buy a smartphone and talked with them about what’s important to them in their phone. Looking at the U.S. market, for example, we found that about 15 million people in the next year will buy a new smartphone.

Samsung app store coming soon

Apple has a huge one, Palm has a little one, Nokia has a decent looking one, and Microsoft, well, we’re still waiting for them to finally reveal theirs to the public. What are we talking about? It’s app stores of course. Aside from those we’ve already mentioned, you can now also add Samsung to that growing list as they’ve just announced their Application Store set to be launched on September 14th. It will initially be available in the UK and France will roll out to Germany, Spain and 30 more countries thereafter. Sadly though, only two devices will be compatible with this new service at launch time, the Samsung Omnia and Omnia HD in particular. Both the upcoming Omnia 2 and Omnia Lite will follow later on. More than 300 apps will be readily available when it goes live next this month, but they are, however, already boasting that it will top 2,000 when 2009 comes to a close. With industry giants like Gameloft, Electronic Arts, and TAITO already on-board Samsung’s latest venture, we’re pretty sure they won’t have a hard time reaching that goal of theirs.

Safe to say, the mobile app market game just got a lot more intense with Samsung now joining the fray.

[unwiredview via PMP Today]