Idea 005: Mag+ concept

When touchscreen handsets start to take over the lower segments of the market you know the rules of the game have changed. The Nokia 5230 is a smartphone but it doesn’t mind rubbing shoulders with the common run of handsets. So, it’s free to explore grounds where few smartphones have ever gone, let alone full touchscreen gadgets.

The land of affordability was the last territory for touchscreen phones to settle in and not quite the place smartphones would call home. So it was, but Nokia just won’t wait for a special invitation when a niche is wide open. And they’ve got quite a fleet already of low key touchscreen smartphones that’s certain to make an impact. The Nokia 5530 XpressMusic had a great bang for the buck and the 5230 is welcome to try and beat the bargain.

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The Chocolate revival is no news and the LG BL20 New Chocolate is not a headliner in the sense of the unique and inspired BL40. But we’re still about to have another sugar-coated meeting with an extraordinary handset, fresh off the LG design board.

The BL20 New Chocolate may not have the splendor of the BL40 but is definitely the spiritual successor to the original Chocolate series. Sequels are all over the place but the Chocolate series are somewhat different. LG have been so involved in touchscreen we’re just realizing it’s been more than a year since we last reviewed a regular phone of theirs. Anyway, the Chocolate series are back and we’re about to see if the good old-fashioned recipe still works.

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nokia-5235-handset

Following the latest Nokia 5230, the handset manufacturer recently introduced its predecessor, the Nokia 5235. According to Engadget, the Nokia mobile phone is driven by Symbian S60 5th edition OS.

The touchscreen handset boasts of a 640 x 360 pixels, 3.2-inch display. Navigation in now made easier with the device’s integrated GPS, A-GPS receivers as well as Nokia Maps 3.0. The Nokia device sports a 2 megapixel camera with CMOS sensor and up to 3x digital zoom. The 5235 is inclusive of 320MB internal memory and can be expanded up to 16GB via a MicroSD memory card slot.

The music phone features Comes with Music, Nokia Ovi Player, FM radio and dedicated music keys for complete musical experience. The Nokia 5235 delivers a music playback time of maximum 33 hours. The handset weighs about 115 grams and is presented in either black or white shades with ice-blue tinted chrome rim.

The touchscreen phone supports Bluetooth version 2.0, SMTP, IMAP4, POP3, MMS, SMS, Unified MMS/SMS editor, Mail for Exchange and web-based Ovi Mail service. This 111mm x 51.7mm x 14.5/15.5mm measuring device is packaged along with Nokia high efficiency charger AC-8, Nokia Battery BL-5J, Nokia stereo headset WH-701, Nokia connectivity cable CA-101D and Plectrum stylus CP-306. The eco-friendly Nokia 5235 is up to 80 percent recyclable and free of PVC.

Reportedly, the Nokia 5235 touchscreen handset carries pre-tax and pre-subsidy price tag of €145. Apparently, the Nokia mobile phone will hit stores by the first quarter of 2010.

Nokia 5235 is considered as a budget-oriented music phone with a very high quality build. The Nokia 5235 does not have GPS-chipset, Wi-Fi is also excluded from its specifications, but there is support for third-generation networks and data transmission technology HSDPA at speeds of 3.6 Mbps and 2-megapixel camera. The touch screen in this model is resistive, so it is recommended to click on it with stylus, not fingers. Its diagonal was 3.2 inches, and resolution – 640h360 pixels. Navigation in now made easier with the device’s integrated GPS, A-GPS receivers as well as Nokia Maps 3.0.

The Nokia 5235 XpressMusic has 320MB internal memory and can be expanded up to 16GB via a MicroSD memory card slot. It has a size 111h52h16 mm and comes with 1350 mAh battery. As an extra added bonus, the Finnish manufacturer offers a user the ability to download an unlimited number of music files from the directory service the handset ‘ Comes With Music ‘ for one year from date of purchase. Nokia Ovi Player, FM radio and dedicated music keys for complete musical experience. The Nokia 5235 delivers a music playback time of maximum 33 hours.

Obviously, all songs are provided with the protection of DRM. The emergence of Nokia 5235 XM in the sale is scheduled for the first quarter of 2010.

Design and Looks The design of the 5220 Xpress Music is very unique; the bar does not assume a perfect rectangular shape but sports something akin to a parallelogram with tilted top and bottom edges. The design is pleasing to some but repulsive to others, either way, it’s sure to turn heads. The build of the phone is not up to the standards of say, the Nokia 5130 or the 5310 and the materials feels very cheap indeed. The back of the phone has rubberized plastic that features latitudinal ridging for an anti-slip grip. The front of the phone sports the 2 inch display, the ergonomic keypad and an ambient light sensor present just above the screen. The 2 inch display comes as a disappointment as it produces only 262K colours and features a low pixel density where you can literally see each and every pixel; this at least is duly taken care of in the next model, the 5130 which features a screen with the same stats but greater pixel density. Colours are also not vibrant and the viewing angle is very narrow. The keypad does not seem very user friendly but it infact is; the individuation of each key and the large spacing between them ensures the user will not make any typos, the tactile keys also mean that good finger-orientation is possible. Another unique design element on the phone is the lanyard eyelet for the neck-strap. While on most phones it is treated as an eye-sore, the 5220 wears it proudly and can be seen as an aluminum ring below the keypad. The right side of the phone hosts the music keys with the music key illuminations just above it. They blink to the rhythm of the music just like the tiny led blinker below the camera (a sad an ironic placement of a little bulb where an LED flash should have been.) Another design improvement over the 5310 is the placement of the microSD slot outside and to the right side of the phone. Being hot-swappable the slot’s position in the 5310 under the battery cover didn’t make much sense. The phone sports the popular mid-range Nokia phone User-Interface (UI), the Series 40. Half of a phone’s worth is determined by its user-interface and Nokia’s UIs are among the best. Moreover, Nokia update them time and again to meet the latest trends in the handset market. This time, Nokia have embedded the latest version of their S40 UI, the S40 5th edition with FeaturePack 1. Among the unique features of the S40 is the active standby, which gives quick access to the most frequently used applications. Portions of the active standby are also customizable to the user’s preferences. There’s also the option to add a note to the active stand-by. On the whole, the S40 is quick and responsive and is always ticking when you need it. Needless to say, telephony is brilliant thanks to the noise cancellation technology that is incorporated here. Noise cancellation cuts out unwanted background noise so that the noise at the other end can be heard clearly. As in the case of other Nokia S40 phones, there is still no smart dialing. Smart dialing lets users call contacts by typing their names on the standby screen, without which it will take users several clicks in the contacts menu to do the same. The heart of this music phone lies in its music phone playing capabilities. Integral to this is the music player. Like all XpressMusic phones, the 5220 incorporates the intuitive XpressMusic player that controls mp3 music playback. The player caters to every genre of listener with stereo widening effects and 7 equalizer presets, two of which are fully customizable. Speaking of customization, the player skin is customizable too using themes similar to the ones for the phone menu. The player can be controlled using the dedicated music keys from anywhere in the menu, while in the music player interface, users may also use the D-pad as an alternative to the music keys. Ofcourse no music phone is complete without a radio player. In this case, the radio player looks similar to the XpressMusic player and offers similar cosmetic customization options. There is also RDS support and automatic scanning and saving of available stations. The audio quality is similar to the Nokia 5310 and also high end feature phones. The loudspeaker complements the digital output and is the best in the range, infact it is one of the many improvements over the 5310 and is doubtless better than the loudspeaker on the older sibling. To round up the media triangle is the video player which is simple yet functional and provides support for 3GP and MPEG4 formats. The phone’s 2MP camera is also the best in the 2MP range and can even outclass some bigger MP cameras on older generation handsets. For the first time the 5220 debuts the Nokia proprietary processing algorithm or NIPS which improves low-light photography. The details of its workings are not made public but rest assured it works; where most camera phones boost ISO levels for low light photography and hence result in bright but noisy images, the 5220 keeps those ISO levels down yet somehow manages to make the image appear brighter than it actually is. Another improvement over older 2MP units is that the 5220 takes far less time to save the image than other phones. Although the 5220 is a music player first and a camera second, the camera performs surprisingly well. In light of this it’s a shame that Nokia hasn’t taken the trouble to protect the exposed camera lens prone to scratches. There are plenty of connectivity options in the 5220 with the exception of 3G and WLAN; technologies that are ready to seep into the mid-end segment any time soon. There’s also no infrared, not that it’s of any use these days. The important wireless connectivity channels such as GPRS, EDGE, HSCSD, Bluetooth and WAP are present in their latest versions and should suffice the user’s every need. Applications include the proprietary Nokia browser in addition to Opera Mini. Of the two, Opera Mini is the better browser. Next in line is WidSets which brings together all your favourite sites to a single place for free. This service is offered by Widsets.com. Among the web-based widgets available there’s YouTube, Flickr, Ebay and Wikipedia. Then there’s a wallpaper creator, the name is self-explanatory. Other apps include Nokia Sensor (which is a Bluetooth app), Nokia Download! Yahoo! Search and World Clock. Finally, there’s Nokia Maps in case you get lost and need to find your way around, without GPS it works as a map alone. There is also the option to pair the phone with an external GPS device to get turn by turn voice navigation assistance. You may use third party apps like Google Maps which too have their own little quirks. In conclusion the Nokia 5220 features many improvements over the 5310 and other similar phones. It is truly the latest mid-segment model available. It scores better than the 5310 in terms of battery life, better camera, quality loudspeaker and much more and all this for a price lesser than that of the 5310. The choice should be clear as to which phone to choose, unless you have a phobia for the askew design. Features * 2” 256K colour display of QVGA resolution * 2MP camera with NIPS technology * Slim asymmetrical design * Dedicated Music Keys with dancing illuminations * Ambient light sensor * S40 5th edition UI with Feature Pack 1 * Nokia Maps * Yahoo! integration Accessories * Nokia Stereo Headset HS-48 (available with phone) * Lanyard (available with phone) * Nokia Bluetooth Stereo Headset BH-503 * Nokia Stereo Headset WH-600 * Nokia Mini Speakers MD-6

The special edition of the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, the Nokia 5800 Navigation edition has been released in USA.

It is basically a 5800 XpressMusic with pre-loaded navigation software and a navigation car kit.

The phone is available for purchase at a mere 299 US$ compared to the 300 Euros price in European countries.

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BlackBerry Storm, the leading BlackBerry with touchscreen, in the United States gets the identify BlackBerry 9530 Storm.

The BlackBerry Storm 9530 has been talked more or not as much of designed in lieu of a long phase to come to pass, but at this juncture is still thumbs down certified approach blind go out with. The same applies to the BlackBerry 8220 gem and 8210 gem, BlackBerrys leading clamshell models.

The BlackBerry Storm has a slim and elegant black design. What with other mobile phones from RIM, the Storm with all the standard BlackBerry applications, on there with come together interface. The central part approve of of the BlackBerry Storm is the inexperienced click-through know-how. This measures with the goal of it has got a come together screen to press.

BlackBerry Storm innovations
The come together screen is not the simply innovation on the Storm. Other inexperienced skin touch on the BlackBerry Storm are dual-mic noice cancelation, visual voicemail and upside-down screen rotation.

BlackBerry Storm Specifications:

* Format: 112,5 X62, 213, 95 mm
* Weight: 155 grams
* 3.25 creep capacitive come together screen
* High solution 480 x 360 pixel color set on scrutiny
* 3.2 megapixel camera
* 3.5mm headset jack
* BlackBerry OS 4.7
* Virtual QWERTY, Sure Type or multi-tap baby fantastic
* Standby battery: Up to 15 hours
* Talk phase: Up to 5.5 hours
Blackberry Storm 9530 Features

Wireless e-mail

Organizers

Browser

Phone

Camera (3.2 MP)

Video Recording

BlackBerry Maps

Media Player

Built-in GPS

Introduction

Some handsets will work their socks off to have their fifteen minutes of fame, others are simply born into stardom. The BlackBerry Bold 9700 is certainly fortunate to carry a name that stands for popularity and excellence in the RIM family of phones. But this kind of fame can be less a blessing and more of a curse if the successor fails to live up to the standards set by its illustrious namesake.

These high expectations have quite often turned otherwise decent handsets into a byword for failure. It’s simply not enough to provide incremental improvements when upgrading an iconic handset. The iPhone somehow gets away with that, but Apple usually does. But for regular mobile phone manufacturers it takes something new and it certainly takes something better for the successor to achieve the same kind of success.

Key features:

2.44″ 65K-color TFT landscape display with a resolution of 480 x 360 pixels

Comfortable four-row full QWERTY keyboard

Quad-band GSM support and tri-band 3G with HSDPA

Wi-Fi and built-in GPS and BlackBerry maps preloaded

3.15 autofocus megapixel camera, LED flash

624 MHz CPU, 128 MB RAM

BlackBerry OS v5

Responsive trackpad navigation

Hot-swappable microSD card slot (up to 16GB)

DivX and XviD video support

Good web browser

Office document editor

3.5 mm audio jack

Decent audio quality

Smart dialing

Great battery life

More compact body and lighter weight compared to the Bold 9000

Good build quality

Main disadvantages:

Many features are locked without a BlackBerry Internet Service account (plan)

Mediocre camera performance and features

No FM radio

No video-call camera

No TV-out functionality

No built-in accelerometer

No built-in compass

It’s pretty obvious where the RIM R&D team is heading with the BlackBerry Bold 9700. It’s hard to really overhaul a handset that was considered almost perfect by most of its users without testing their loyalty, so they embarked on optimization instead. It’s not a bad formula for success to just keep the same functionality, stick it in a smaller, fitter body and improve the performance wherever possible.

One glitch or an important feature sacrificed to fit the compact package and the plan goes down the tubes. The smartphone market is increasingly competitive and smaller companies like RIM know they have little room for error. The new Bold 9700 looks fit and hot, no doubt about that. Let’s see if it performs to our expectations, and yours.

Tehk has posted a video showing water testing on a Nokia N900. This is to check whether the device is capable of withstanding rain and water.

Unfortunately the Nokia N900 didnt make it after the test and now they are going to leave it for drying in a rice sack.

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Here is a video review of the Nokia X6 conducted by Shiny Media.

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Two promotion/advertisement videos showing the Nokia X6.

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Sony Ericsson has released software updates for the Satio, Aino and Yari.

The Sony Ericsson Satio was pulled out of sales after getting software complaints from customers. The stores included Carphone Warehouse and Phones4U.

The problems the handsets showed arent stated but Sony Ericsson has released the software updates as fixes to the problems.

The updates should fix the problems and also improve the performance and efficiency of the phones.

The update for the Yari comes as a surprise because there werent any reports of problems with the handset. But an update is always welcome.

So all you guys out there having these handsets, go and get the updates!

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