For mobile phone users who need a quick secondary handset for basic calling and texting functions, Nokia has just released a second version of the 5233 handset that comes without the 3G and GPS functions. Of course, for a primary handset, this device will only be useful for people who have little use of a mobile phone, otherwise, it really only serves as a reliable but fancy backup handset.
Virgin Mobile has confirmed that they are offering the Nokia 5230 Nuron touch screen handset for a bargain cost of only 20 Pounds per month. The 18 month contract will give users about 200 minutes for talk time and unlimited text messages. Overall, it’s a pretty nice deal, and even if you do not get it from an operator, this touch screen device still makes for a pretty nice phone to have around.
The biggest advantage of this touch screen handset is that it actually uses the Symbian OS 9.4 (S60) and this means that users will be able to access most of the features that one would expect from a Symbian smart phone –with the exception of GPS maps and 3G access obviously.
Nokia’s 5230 might fool some people into thinking that it is a smart phone that comes with 3G, GPS and all the trimmings; the device’s 3.2 inch touch screen display gives it an appearance of a mid range smart phone –and it does come quite close, though the use of a stylus on a resistive display might turn off some users who are used to capacitive touch screen technology.
The Nuron also comes with a 2 mega pixel camera (with video recording at 30FPS), a basic ARM CPU clocked at 434 MHz, 70 MB of internal memory (but it supports 16GB SD cards), GPRS, Bluetooth and a 3.5 mm audio jack.
A facelift was given to Nokia’s Ovi Store and it brought along a few minor changes. Both the desktop and mobile clients got a makeover.
The Store desktop enhancements include a list view for search results and a fail-safe to confirm which device you are looking up content for in order to ensure that you are buying the right apps for the device.
How this works is that if the user is not logged in prior to viewing the content, the page is redirected to a Nokia Mobile Device Selector. This is simpler and more straightforward compared to the carousel-design interface previously implemented. The device option may be changed at any time simply by clicking on the mobile selection link found at the upper right corner of the store.
The mobile update focused on giving more organized app details while browsing the online merchandise. The browser for content and scrolling through sample screens is now streamlined to offer faster browsing
The rating system was increased to five stars instead of three as well. This decision was based on the user experience panels, wherein the result was that the preferred rating system was five stars instead of the existing three. This release also ensures more accurate reviews by giving only those who have already downloaded the app the ability to comment and rate on it. Details such as the time of the post as well as the device used by the reviewer will be included to help users decide better.
There are three goals for the update, according to the official Ovi blog. First, it is to make the store easier to browse and make searching for content simpler. Second, to give more accurate reviews by raising the number of the stars in the rating system and lastly, to provide a more detailed product description to assist their customers on which to buy.
Nokia is really connecting people with their new “design by community” system wherein users will be allowed to vote for a number of smart phone features through a poll. The users will be able to choose which aspects they like in a certain category and move the poll slider to add an arbitrary point to that feature. Every poll will be dedicated to one category. The poll next week will focus on size and shape, the next will be about materials, then about operating system, so on and so forth until May of this year comes.
Nokia seems out to get their users feedback on what they want in a smart phone. They segregated the sections to prevent people from creating an unfeasible phone. Every week, the tally will be posted as well as the top choices for each finished category to serve as the basis for the next poll.
Every week, Nokia designers and bloggers will be giving some insight regarding the updates as well as insider info about the production process involved. At the end of the polls, the Nokia design team will be posting some concept sketches and will then be turned into another public poll. The winning design will be rendered and then revealed in Nokia’s “Conversations”.
The actual goal is not to launch the voted concept but simply to show the public the amount of thought process and effort it takes to come up with a final product. Although this is a nice touch from Nokia, it would be nice if they actually got some of the feedback and made it into a final product (yes, considering the amount of time and effort). But who knows right? The fact that they even got the idea means that they want to pay attention to user demands and hear it straight.
Read more about Nokia’s Design by Community at Engadget.
According to recent reports, Nokia has just patented kinetic energy conversion technology for their mobile phones. Not to imply that Nokia will actually develop the new technology, but considering that Nokia is one of the most environmentally friendly companies on the planet, it is not surprising to see that they have taken the steps into creating what would be the first self-recharging battery.
By combining kinetic energy and piezoelectricity, this technology would convert movement (such as walking around or lifting your phone) into energy. Of course, when applied to other devices or other activities, there is great potential to be gained in this. When attached to exercise equipment, transportation vehicles and clothing, the technology would be able to gather chunks and bits of electricity that can be stored and used by small electronic devices such as smart phones.
Getting energy from movement gives the technology plenty of sources as we humans love to move about in our lives. If attached to a small device on our arms or legs, the technology would have the benefit of being able to use the excess energy we generate while at work or at play. It can even be attached to devices that are perpetually in motion such as cars and bicycle wheels for powering small things like signal lights and others. In a children’s playground, the technology can be used on swings and merry-go-rounds as it generates power to be used for park lights in the evening.
Of course, charging by this method would never give you a full charge even after a while day of running around, but being able to convert some of that energy would still be useful in the long run.
So far, experts are not expecting to see this technology actually being applied anytime soon. While the concept can be quite helpful, the actual technology itself is far from perfect with current energy conversion rates being a little too low to support commercial distribution.
Get to read more about the new technology patent from Nokia at Stuff TV.
Looks like we will get to see how the Symbian^3 looks and works when Nokia brings out the upcoming X10 (not to be confused with the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 –which is an Android Snapdragon smart phone).
The device has been leaked in a series of videos and still images and from what we have seen; this smart phone is still pretty much in its preliminary stages of development. Specs-wise the phone sits in the mid-spec range of devices. The Cortex A8 processor runs at 600MHz, which means that the new user interface will be radically dynamic in terms of animations and transitions.
The new phone is basically a touch screen device with a slide out keyboard. It’s a great template for attracting general and business user to try out the new operating system. No word yet on what exactly is different about the new OS, but with Symbian’s move to go open source, we can expect to see a lot of third party application support for the new phone.
The X10 is a continuation of the eXpressMusic series of Nokia devices. The last device was the 16GB version of the X6 which was a marketing upgrade over the older 32GB version. The 32GB version came with a “Comes with Music” unlimited download package with made the device unreasonably pricey.
Anyway, the X10 is also rumored to come with a 12 mega pixel camera that can record videos in 720p HD video quality. This will be the second Symbian device with HD video recording after the Sony Ericsson Vivaz.
Looks like Nokia has not abandoned the Symbian OS after all. There was plenty of news that the Finnish manufacturer might be dropping the OS after it adopted the Maemo for the N-series.
Read more about Nokia’s new smart phone at GSM Arena.
Apparently, that’s big news. According to certain reports, Nokia and Qualcomm have not exactly been the closest of buddies –so to speak. There has been plenty of talk about previous legal disputes regarding patents between the Finnish mobile phone manufacturer and the major chip manufacturer.
Now, there are news reports that a new Nokia phone is in the works. The phone will be using a Snapdragon processor and will be running the Symbian operating system. It is not surprising to know that Symbian will be the mobile platform of choice here. It was announced recently that the Symbian OS has gone open source; making it a very viable OS of choice for app developers.
Some are wondering as to why the Maemo operating system will not be running on the new high end Nokia smart phone, after all, they did announce that they will be using the Maemo on all their high end devices like the N-series. This new update confirms that the upcoming device is not an N-series phone, and that Nokia was serious when they said that they are not working on any Maemo devices for 2010.
The open source mobile platform Symbian has been around for many years but it was only a few weeks ago that the OS has gone open source. It is possible that this is the reason why Nokia chose the Symbian over the Maemo for the new phone.
In any case, it will be a long time before we actually see the new Symbian phone. With other major devices already out on the market and new Snapdragon phones from HTC, Sony Ericsson and Motorola on the way, it will be interesting to see how things shape up this 2010.
Read more about the upcoming Snapdragon Symbian phone and the Nokia – Qualcomm connection at Know Your Mobile.
Nokia are best known for their range of mobile phones, and the way in which they have developed them over the last few years. Having been around from the very beginning, Nokia have influenced the mobile phone market hugely, and continue to release new and intuitive ideas. Their newest release is slightly different from their normal range of phones, but is Nokia’s way of reaching out and expanding their range of products.
The Nokia Booklet 3G is a small and compact laptop designed by Nokia. Designed with business men in mind, the laptop is ideal to be used on journeys on the train or on a plane. With 3G technology, you can connect from wherever you are, and you can send emails, files, videos and pictures. The internet easily accessible, as well as access to Nokia’s own download site, Ovi.
The Booklet 3G even comes with a built in digital camera installed, to allow you to take a photo if you ever need to, or perhaps video a conference for viewing at a later date. If you ever need to do online conference calls, this can be achieved, as the laptop features a built in microphone, allowing you to be heard with clarity. Available in a choice of colours, there is bound to be a place for this mini laptop in your house.To find out about the Booklet 3G on contract you can look online to see what deals are available.
Everyone likes checking out the latest in mobile hardware, but not everyone wants it. This is why news about the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10, Google Nexus One and HTC Bravo are all over the news but people would still rather go out buy a cheap and decent Nokia smart phone. So it is not a surprise that with MWC just a few days away and many major devices are expected to launch this 2010, companies such as Nokia are still looking into the mid to low end market for most of their sales.
The Nokia X6 first came out last year with some pretty impressive offerings; most importantly, the “Comes with Music” deal which granted users unlimited downloads from the Nokia Music store. It is a great deal that maximizes the phone’s music playing capabilities and the large 32GB of internal memory. Of course, the phone is pretty pricey, and considering that there are plenty of other high end phones to chose from, the X6 was not exactly a great choice.
Now, Nokia has re-released the X6, but with only 16GB of memory and without the “Comes with Music” service. Instead, buyers will get 25 free tracks to download. It is not that big a loss, considering that even if you had unlimited downloads, it would not matter if you already had a large music library to begin with. Of course, this means that the new 16GB version of the X6 will also be much cheaper.
Everything else remains the same; the phone will still have a 3.2 inch TFT capacitive touch screen with a resolution of 360 x 640 pixels and 6 million colours, a 5 mega pixel camera with Carl Zeiss lens, autofocus and LED flash as well as support for Bluetooth, AGPS, and micro SD cards.
Nokia have long since had a good reputation for producing great phones which prove to be sell outs and become huge in the mobile phone market. As one of the first major mobile phones companies in existence, they have lead the scene from the beginning in Creating and designing new phones, and Nokia continue to produce new and exciting releases. Their latest model, which is due to be released in the first quarter of 2010, is the Nokia Slide phone 6700. You cannot miss this phone; literally, as it comes in 6 bright and wacky colors, perfect for any age or sex, as you can easily find your personal preference.
Focusing specifically on social networking, the phone comes built in with 3G, allowing you to instantly connect to certain sites such as Facebook, MySpace and twitter. This allows you to update your friends and family from wherever you are in the country. With a huge 5.0 megapixel camera, you can take snaps at any time you want, whether it be of a favorite image or location, or a treasured family moment or a funny incident. There is a special camera button, which allows you to take photos directly, saving you the effort of going through all the menus and such to get to the application. After the photo has been taken, you can edit it on the phone and then transfer it to your computer via the USB port, or even email them across using the 3G capabilities.
The 6700 Slide is expected to retail for around £140, and is expected to be available on the major phone networks as a contract plan as well as pay as you go. So if you like the look of it, then hang around until 2010, and you will get a set release date.
Individuals that would like to be able to watch live television directly on their handset might find the Nokia 5330 Mobile TV Edition to be the ideal mobile phone for them. Users are able to watch television programs, both standard and premium channels, right on their mobile phone. Now, it is possible to almost never miss a game or program. While this is definitely the phone’s biggest draw, it’s not its only appeal. It is a standard multi-media phone with all of the perks.
The 5330 comes with a 3.2 megapixel camera with a LED flash. While this is not the best camera phone on the market, it is definitely one of the better ones. All photographs can be stored in Ovi Share. It is also possible to record videos. This particular handset comes with a decent amount of memory, 70MB. Up to 16 GB more can be added with a microSD card.
Today, it seems that technology is advancing so rapidly. What might have seemed impossible yesterday is commonplace today. Who would have thought 10 years ago that it would be possible to watch television on ones mobile phone? Today, it is possible and really cool. The Nokia 5330 Mobile TV Edition is a leader in this area. Nokia has put together an extremely advanced phone that allows users to catch their team’s favorite matches and programs directly on their phone. Owners of the Nokia 5330 won’t have to worry about using Tivo. Instead, they can watch whatever television show they’d like, live, right on their mobile.
Whether or not other mobile manufacturing companies will follow suit and attempt to create their own TV phone will likely depend on the success of this one. Since Nokia has taken a risk by offering what few other mobile phone companies are, the industry will be watching closely. If they are successful, you can be sure that many more companies will be coming up with their own version of the Nokia 5330.
For mobile phone users who need a quick secondary handset for basic calling and texting functions, Nokia has just released a second version of the 5233 handset that comes without the 3G and GPS functions. Of course, for a primary handset, this device will only be useful for people who have little use of a mobile phone, otherwise, it really only serves as a reliable but fancy backup handset.
Looks like we will get to see how the Symbian^3 looks and works when Nokia brings out the upcoming X10 (not to be confused with the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 –which is an Android Snapdragon smart phone).
Apparently, that’s big news. According to certain reports, Nokia and Qualcomm have not exactly been the closest of buddies –so to speak. There has been plenty of talk about previous legal disputes regarding patents between the Finnish mobile phone manufacturer and the major chip manufacturer.
Everyone likes checking out the latest in mobile hardware, but not everyone wants it. This is why news about the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10, Google Nexus One and HTC Bravo are all over the news but people would still rather go out buy a cheap and decent Nokia smart phone. So it is not a surprise that with MWC just a few days away and many major devices are expected to launch this 2010, companies such as Nokia are still looking into the mid to low end market for most of their sales.
Individuals that would like to be able to watch live television directly on their handset might find the 