22
Sep
2010
Nokia Touch and Type is X3 Improved
When the Nokia X3 first came out, it was a good practical device that would be hard to put down. Not quite as astonishing as high end devices, but it was more on the safer, practical choice. Most of us believed that the next logical step for Nokia would be to move on to the creation of the X4.
The arrival of the Nokia X3-02 Touch and Type was something that could be considered as a very welcome surprise.
Strange Looking Keypad
Admittedly, the keypad on this handset looks pretty odd. While it is nothing that comes close to the bizarre layouts on concept devices, it is not that conventional either. In fact, Nokia has gambled with a visual appearance that looks pretty uncomfortable when checked up close.
But anyone who has used a portrait keyboard would be able to tell you that the 4 column layout is hardly anything to be worried about. In fact typing and navigating using the keypad is quite natural and easy.
Though learning to tap the space button when texting fast does take a few tries to get used to. In the end, the Nokia Touch and Type earns its name by proving to be one of the better phones one can type on –even with a T9 keypad.
Screen Specifications
As one would expect from its name, the X3-02 also sports a touch screen display. While it is more common for mobile phones to be toting around capacitive touch screens, the Nokia Touch and Type relies on a more old-school technology: a resistive touch screen. Surprisingly, the lack of gestures and multi touch is not that much of an issue –the touch functions are based more on navigation and are complemented by the keypad controls.
It is also fast, responsive and is able to display excellent visual quality for a phone of this caliber. Fans of this phone might also like to take a look at the Nokia C3 Touch and Type.
26
Aug
2010
Funky and Functional: The Nokia C6
When it comes to entry level and mid range mobiles, there is no doubt that Nokia is still one of, if not the top performer in terms of market share. They have held this title for years and their ability and consistency in launching mobiles that are able to satisfy the needs of their consumers have allowed them to take a firm grip on the market for the longest time.
However, they have been struggling a bit in the Smartphone business. They are being toppled by the BlackBerry’s and the iPhone’s out there. One device that should be able to bridge the growing gap is the Nokia C6.
Style
One thing going for the C6 is that it definitely falls into the category of eye candy mobile. The device really looks good and exudes a type of appeal only a Nokia can deliver. It comes in two different colours – black and white – which are both equally charming.
The Nokia C6 has an impressive 3.2” touch screen display which makes use of the TFT resistive technology. The device also sports a QWERTY keyboard which slides out from the left side of the device (or the bottom once you rotate the mobile).
This added feature makes the Nokia C6 a bit on the bulky side with dimensions of 113 x 53 x 16.8 mm. The mobile has a total weight of 150 grams.
Substance
This mid range device has everything you’d need from a Smartphone. It supports 3G HSDPA as well as Wi-Fi internet connectivity. The operating system installed on the C6 is the same old Symbian OS (version 9.4) which is backed up by a 434 MHz ARM processor.
The Nokia C6’s built-in snapper is pretty impressive at 5 Megapixels. It also comes with an LED flash and features geo-tagging as well.
28
Jul
2010
Google’s Android Sells More Mobile Phones
The smart phone industry has never been focused on operating systems like the way it is now. Currently, the platform war is being fought by three major sides, Google’s Android, RIM’s BlackBerry OS and the Apple iOS. As the end of the year approaches, much is expected from the upcoming Windows Phone 7 OS. The Nokia and Intel made MeeGo OS is not being considered by most critics, but it may add itself to the list if it proves to be surprisingly good.
Anyway, despite the impending challenges ahead for the OS, the Android is a pretty successful mobile platform. This year, the number of handsets running the operating system has sold more than three times the volume that it did last year. And this is more than just a sudden growth in overall smart phone sales; buyers actively seek out specific Android devices, this means that the OS’ sales growth is caused by its actual performance.
Recently, the OS has been updated to version 2.2 Froyo which brings better performance, new features and support for Adobe’s Flash Player 10.1. The update has been released for the Google branded Nexus One and will be released for other mobile phones later on. Google has also announced that the Android 3.0 Gingerbread will also be released later this year.
The current lineup of Android phones provides buyers with quite the array of choices. Of course, Google’s self branded Nexus One deserves to be put in the top of the list. But the HTC Desire and the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 come in at a very close second. Samsung’s i9000 Galaxy S certainly looks promising with its super AMOLED touch screen technology. Aside from the XPERIA, SE also has the X10 Mini and X10 Mini Pro which provide Android fans with mid range choices as well.
7
Jul
2010
How Mobile Sat Nav on Mobile is Changing the GPS Industry
With Nokia Ovi Maps, Google Maps and the Apple iPhone GPS App Skobbler offering free voice guided sat navigation services to users, is there really room on the industry for today’s dedicated GPS devices?
Onboard navigational tools from Tom Tom and Garmin are taking second priority to smart phones that offer users free sat nav services. And with the offers being delivered the various mobile phone makers, dedicated GPS companies are having trouble keeping up with all the location based services and features that the average smart phone can offer.
But this does not completely rule out the need for GPS tools.
While the average person can completely rely on accessing Google’s Maps and street view on their XPERIA X10 Mini to get around town, a professional firefighter cannot afford to avail of such free services. The same is to be said for government and volunteers that rely on digital navigation. Law enforcement, medical teams and even delivery personnel still rely on devices made by TomTom –despite the fact that smart phones offer a similar feature.
The big difference is in the maps. While there is nothing that will tell you that Google’s maps are in any way less accurate than TomTom’s data, Google is not going to be held accountable for their content either. And that is the assurance that TomTom and Garmin gives to their users.
For a regular user, it is acceptable to do away with having a dedicated car GPS device –if you do not have one yet and simply to rely on your smart phone. The only real concern here is to be careful with the monthly data allowance and to always have a car charger around as having the service running will be a drain on the battery.
Also, it would be a wise decision to invest in a reliable car dock for the handset in order to have the device located at an easy to view location for accessing data and for referencing the map.
24
Jun
2010
How Location Based Apps are Changing Economy
Before the introduction of the modern smart phone technology, at a time when internet access was something that only a few people had available, many small businesses thrived on having geographically close customers from small, local communities.
Many of these businesses continue until this very day, while some have died out, other have found a new range of customers walking into their stores thanks to the power of smart phone technology.
While this may seem hard to put together, the smart phone industry has plenty of impact on small businesses. Take Foursquare for example. As the application encourages people to go out more, they also encourage people to visit more places. Of course, some users would aim for a mayor badge by visiting a single establishment often, but more often than not, people try to get other badges by being able to visit many other locations.
The fact that users can also leave feedbacks and recommendations is also quite impressive. More often than not, a visit to a nearby bookstore or fitness gym will have users reading recommendations about nearby pubs or restaurants. A quick stay at a local hotel might get you recommendations for the best movie houses around town. And there are more locations based services than just Foursquare.
GPS navigation services often employ a “point of interest” feature which not only shows users the locations of nearby health and emergency centers, but also the nearest stores and shops. Landmarks –both the well known and the locally established, are often noted as well. In fact, it can be said that GPS technology has allowed may businesses that have ‘bad locations’ (mostly as some road works would re-route traffic flow, turning previously busy streets into quiet side routes) to flourish. With Nokia and Google now offering free voice guided sat-nav services, expect this impact to get even larger.
15
Jun
2010
Legal Drama: ITC Investigates Apple on HTC Claims
The International Trade Commission has announced that investigations on Apple are currently underway following a recent complaint by Taiwanese manufacturer HTC.
Last May, after signing an agreement with Microsoft regarding the use of MS patents, HTC launched a formal patent infringement lawsuit against Cupertino based Apple regarding patents for 5 various technologies that are being infringed by the makers of the iPhone and the iPad.
The news came as to no surprise as everyone already expected HTC to file a counter lawsuit against Apple. Earlier this year, Apple had filed a lawsuit against HTC regarding 20 software and hardware patents. The lawsuit itself did not make mention of Google or the Android operating system, but it was confirmed that the mobile phones concerned were mostly Android devices (and a couple of WinMo phones as well).
Many saw Apple’s lawsuit as an attack on their rival Google. As many already know, Google and HTC go way back as partners in the development of the Android operating system. By crippling HTC, Apple stood to gain plenty by cutting off one of the largest manufacturers of Google Android handsets.
On the other hand, no one was really surprised by Apple’s hard edged approach when it came to using their legal capabilities. The company has already locked horns last year with Nokia in a lawsuit-counter-lawsuit legal dispute. Also, they used their influence to have the home of tech blogger Jason Chen raided by REACT operatives in the hunt for the prototype iPhone 4 which was left in a bar.
Despite Apple’s reputation as a legal bully, tables have been turned a little this year with most companies now filing cases against Apple. Elan Microelectronics, HTC and Nokia are all confirmed to have filed their own individual patent infringement lawsuits against the Cupertino based electronics manufacturer.
16
May
2010
Nokia N8 taking Symbian to the next level
The newly announced Nokia N8 is set to improve Nokia’s offering in the smartphone marketplace. Sporting a large screen and bags of features, can it compete with the already hugely successful iPhone, and HTC Desire?
The Nokia N8 will come complete with a 12 megapixel camera sporting the usual Carl Zeiss lens and Xenon flash. The camera will be capable of capturing HD footage and even better you can relay this footage on any HD ready TV via its HDMI output. For a more detailed explanation of the camera specs check out this Nokia N8 review. There are a couple of other nice features as well. We particularly like the 16GB of internal storage as standard. This is very similar to the Nokia X6 16GB and of course you can expand this to 32GB via its Micro-SD slot.
Perhaps the most notable feature of the Nokia N8 is the fact that it will be the first handset to make use of the new Symbian 3 Operating system. This promises to allow the use to use multiple Apps at once, as well as offering pinch and grab functionality. We may sound a little cynical, but you can probably expect an Apple lawsuit to follow, if the pat years antics are anything to go by.
We are really excited about the Nokia N8 and cannot wait to get our hands on it to have a play with the new OS, as soon as we know more we will be sure to let you know here.
25
Sep
2009
Nokia Booklet 3G. Worst phone ever
What’s that? A 1.3MP camera, are you havin’ a bubble bath? And weighing 1250g? That’s obscene. That’s like the Johnny Vegas. A ten inch screen? Fair enough, better than an iPhone. But what about… oh… wait… right… we seeeeee.
Ladies and gentlefolk: this ain’t no phone. This is, excitingly, Nokia’s first ever foray into the real mobile computing world (not the fake mobile computing that phone manufacturers claim just because their phones can just about log on to a Gmail account). Step forward the Nokia Booklet 3G. And boy, is it a mighty step. This thing isn’t just good, isn’t just pretty decent (as so many Nokia phones are), this thing is drop dead fantastic.
The physical design of the thing is just stunning. So many netbooks are being chucked towards the market these days that people seem to have lost all regard for making the things look anything better than kids toys. Not this thing. With its aluminium finish, glass screen and curves to die for, you can be as confident pulling this thing out of your bag as you would a Sony Vaio. It really does look that good.
Then there’s the Nokia 3G Booklet‘s innards… 3G, on a laptop? Yes please. And some A-GPS to work with the pre-installed Ovi Maps? I should say so. A little WiFi. A sprinking of the all-new Windows 7… it’s got it all, and it’s got a lot, lot more (just check out the official page for a full spec-check).
So there we have it. You might be sceptical, you might think Nokia would be better of working on some more mind blowing phones, but we say: forget all that. This thing rocks, this thing needs to be bought, and this thing will make you very happy indeed if you agree with us.
Check out this Nokia Booklet 3G review for some similar thinking, or just have a little look at the video below.
22
Sep
2009
Nokia N900. Disengage the cynicism
Videos by Nokia…bah, grrr, annoying… such poor quality… darn it and so on… why can’t they just spend some money… grumble grumble…
Or at least, that’s how a blog like this would normally go. You know the pattern well enough by now. Nokia release a new phone that is at least worthy of our attention, if not actually really good, then we go about bringing you news of it, and in so doing want to show you a video to back up the cesspool of our words. Then all we can find is one of those terrible self-made videos that Nokia seem to painfully adept at creating. Then we post it anyway, having lost the will to live, let alone the will to search any deeper for an even half decent video. Then we grumble, complain and generally bring you down about said video and Nokia’s idiocy.
Then we have the N900, and the video below. So we found it, tutted, clicked play, tutted some more. Swore at the screen a little bit as those ridiculously trying-to-be-trendy Finns started prattling on about this and that. But… but then, something magical happened: they showed us the phone in action. And we paused, mid swear. Fair enough, we didn’t believe that these people were suddenly cool (far from it), we didn’t think that Nokia had actually made a deceptively interesting video (far, far from it), but… the phone… The Nokia N900… just look at it!
Powered by the Maemo operating system, the Linux-based thing that’s been powering Nokia’s so-called internet tablets for a while now, it maybe shouldn’t be such a surprise that thing works so well. Even less so given the up-to-1GB of processing power that the phone can allocate to juggling multitasking applications. Or the up-to 48GB of storage space. Or the… well, or the everything else. Because as this Nokia N900 review, or as a look at the official stats will show you, this thing is just plain brilliant. Like, **** hot brilliant.
And when a phone is this good, hell, who needs a decent video.
21
Sep
2009
Nokia 5230. Special videos by special people
Nokia’s promotional videos… is there anything they can’t do?
Well, short answer: yes, lots. Succeed; make their products look good; have a soundtrack that doesn’t make deafness an attractive life choice; have any kind of narrative; not feature someone with weird hands; not have annoying, inane titling; be watchable in any way, shape or form: these are all the things that Nokia’s promotional videos can’t do.
But now we can add another thing to the list that their videos have failed to do, and this one’s a cracker. Because the video for the Nokia 5230 shows a phone actually failing. Not massively. The phone doesn’t explode and maim the handler, for example (though we’re expecting to see that one in the not too distant future). But if you have a little look at the video below, jump to 36 seconds in (don’t, for the love of god, make yourself sit through any more than that) you’ll see something. First you’ll see an ugly finger sweeping down the screen. Then, about a second later, that screen decides to scroll how it was supposed to. Huge, gaping, obvious, painful lag.
Now, being the generous kind hearted souls that you know we are (hey, no laughing at the back), we’re willing to consider the possibility that maybe this was a prototype. That the final Nokia 5230 wouldn’t have any such lag and everything will be as smooth and streamlined and tra-la-la perfect as can be. But, even if this is the case, who in the hell made this video, who edited, which absolute tool didn’t watch that and think, you know what, maybe we should just re-record that bit where we make out product look ****ing terrible. You know? Maybe that might have been a good idea. Idiots.
And it is, in all honestly, a shame. Because the 5230 is a very decent phone for what it is. And what it is is a very affordable but still feature-packed touchscreen device, as this Nokia 5230 review, or this handy official page will reveal.
Just… seriously… Nokia… At least employ people who aren’t blind/retarded to make your videos. Please.
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