According to Reuters, Anssi Vanjoki, the executive vice president at Nokia, said that mobile phone cameras will replace conventional cameras. "They will in the very near future revolutionise the market for system cameras," he said. Vanjoki then pointed to a professional SLR camera used by a photographer nearby and said "there will be no need to carry around those heavy lenses."
HD video recording on mobile phones was another feature that Vanjoki touted, with the technology set to appear on Nokia's phones over the next year. Other manufacturers with phones currently on the market with HD video capabilities include Samsung's HD Icon and Sony Ericsson's Vivaz, both recording at 720p.
Nokia’s 4th Quarter results are out and they are pretty much happy. Well who wouldn’t be considering that their net income jumped by 65% which is above their forecasted earnings. Additionally, Nokia bared that they grew their smartphone market share to 40% from just 35% last quarter.
From the looks of it, Nokia is seeing brighter days ahead. But don’t tell that to the giant mobile phone manufacturer. They are still looking at conservative figures at least for the first quarter of 2010 with a 12% to 14% target. Yeah right!
In just a short span of months Nokia has released another ground breaking device in the form the new Nokia 5530. Hitting the market within six months apart, the Nokia 5530 definitely by some call it as the younger brother of the Nokia 5800. Well consumers might have a hard time comparing the two devices on which is better but after you take a glimpse of the handheld you would notice that it is definitely two unique devices.
To start it off, the Nokia 5530 phone casing comes with myriads of color combination casings of red, white on grey, black, and pink on white and yellow and white. The camera specs of the phone are awesome; it is built with “True Colors” by Cindi Lauper. The Nokia 5530 boasts a 3.2 mega-pixel camera with Auto Focus and can capture videos in a dazzling 640 x 360 pixels or in short up to 16 million colors.
The phone is touch based so there is actually no physical keyboard in place. Instead, the Finish manufacturer opted to have a virtual numeric keypad shown in front of the high definition 2.9 inch screen. When the phone is held horizontally on its left, the screen displays a QWERTY keyboard in response to your action.
The phone itself boasts a 70mb of internal memory and is equipped with a microSD card that is expandable of up to 16GB. As well for its raw power, it has a CPU speed of RM 11 434 Mhz processor. In terms of connectivity it has Wi-Fi capabilities and also has a FM and Bluetooth support. And to top it all, the Nokia 5530 even has a 1000mAh battery that means the phone has a talk time of up to 4.9 hours and a stand by time of up to 14 days.
I mentioned last time that Nokia's move to the Maemo from Symbian maybe a disaster if they keep on continuing the same way they treated Symbian. It's great news that Nokia has focused on improving Symbian by focusing on the User Interface (UI) to make it look less cluttered and a lot more easier to reach your fave apps (for example tap twice instead of eight times to get to your application). This will surely make Nokia phones so much faster and efficient for its users. Scrolling will be supposedly be faster from 15 frames per second to 60.
However, Nokia will still push through with their lone Maemo powered phone next year--most likely a parallel run to truly test which smartphone OS would best suit the majority of their customers. Why not have two smartphone operating system running with their phones? Will it be too much of a stretch for them? HTC (supposedly one of the forerunners of Android phones) have done it with both Microsoft Mobile and Android in the past. Although it looks more like Microsoft's getting kicked hard in the butt by Android, there are still hardcore people out there who use Microsoft Mobile as their OS of choice.
Another question is why did they just move now since they had Symbian way before the Android was even thought of. Whether Nokia lost its focus on its smartphone OS all this years is no longer the issue, but rather how do they move up the charts again? Will they be able to do it with a vastly improved Symbian or a new kid on the block Maemo? Looks like will see next year.
Although the Symbian OS for the Nokia N-series has been profitable to both parties, there seems to be a Linux powered OS coming over the horizon in the next few months: the Maemo. We reported last time that Nokia is thinking of dropping Symbian for Maemo but it will do so in a very slow and deliberate way. We're reading reports now that are saying that only one Nokia will carry Maemo next year. Actually there's already one in production: the Nokia N900.
The question begs: why not just continue with Symbian and help develop it further? According to Reuter's:
"Nokia's Linux Maemo operating system is seen as a key for the top cellphone maker in its battle against Apple's iPhone, and many analysts and industry players have expected the firm to roll out numerous Linux models already next year."
What makes the iPhone OS such a hit with the "in" crowd is not just its Operating System but also its technology. Unless Nokia does better at that category, it doesn't matter what OS they use on their smartphones. Another to look into would be the applications that are one of the selling points of having an iPhone in the first place. Although Symbian does have its fair share of applications available for its user base, some are just way too expensive or cumbersome to be used on such a small screen as Nokia's. Lastly, it's the "coolness" factor. You look better with an iPhone on your hand rather than a Nokia's. In this case, it's a marketing problem that has been haunting Nokia for a long time in the US.
Hopefully with the new Linux powered Maemo, they also take a step back and look at the overall Nokia phone as something to overhaul.
It's just the way of the world I guess: out with the old and in with the new. It's inevitable but the "old" should always be recognized for being a pioneer or trailblazer in its time. This is the case with Symbian and Casio now. Both old brands but which will survive?
Nokia: Goodbye Symbian, Hello Maemo?
With the smartphone market about to explode with the Android and iPhone, one of the first smartphone OS: Symbian, is about to be dropped by Nokia. According to some officials at the N900 meeting, Maemo: a Linux-Debian powered OS, will be eventually released into the market by 2012.
The transition will be a gradual one with further Symbian-based N-Series handsets already in development. Whilst the N900 was acknowledged to be a ‘bridge’ device firmly aimed at the developer and enthusiast community, subsequent devices will target the mass-market and Maemo-based devices will grow to fill all of Nokia’s flagship range by 2012.
Although this just may be a possibility for now, but with Symbian losing its popularity to the Android OS it's not really that much of a surprise. Is it a marketing issue? As far as I've read there's not much problems with Symbian except that it seems to have dropped off the radar and applications development seems to have dramatically decreased. Maybe the Android is the OS of the future with Symbian as the pioneer. Whatever happens the consumer will win in the end.
Casio Does a Rugged Thin Cam: EX-G1
I've always known Casio for their great digital watches and calculators, but they seem to be a good camera company as well! They have created the slimmest camera on the planet: EX-G1.
At just 0.78-inches thick, Casio claims the 12.1-megapixel EX-G1 is the world's slimmest, ruggedized camera. The first in a new Exilim G line, it has a reinforced 2.5-inch rear LCD, non-extending 3x optical zoom lens, microSDHC expansion, and intelligent autofocus.
Not only that but it also seems to be a rugged thin camera as well! It can work underwater for an hour ad be dropped from seven feet and it still works! You can get this come December with a $300 tag.
It couldn’t be that much bigger and better this time around. Nokia the leader in mobile technology has launch another one hell of a phone. A launch like this caliber wouldn’t be so intense and groundbreaking than ever. With the release of the Nokia N97 Nseries the ground is set for another one whooping daybreak for million of geeks waiting around the world.
The Android-Based G1 proved to be that QWERTY slider phones are really in for the taking. Clocking in at 117.2 x 55.3 x 16.9 mm and only weighing in at 150 grams this phone sure is in for the picking. Its 2mm thinner than its older brother the N96 and much bigger than the XPERIA. Well, who wouldn’t want that extra fat screen? The Nokia N97 features a 16M-color resistive touch screen and measures at 3.5” diagonal. It has a 360 x 640 pixels falling a bit short compared to the E90.
Like the N96, this little baby has a 5-megapixel camera with dual flash Carl Zeiss lens for ultra precision and detailed pictures on the go. They can easily be tagged through geo then A-GPS uploaded for OVI-share.
In terms of memory the phone has a 32GB on board memory and can be expandable with the use of a micro SD card. Just like the NSeries it still sports the same Symbian OS 9.4 with S60 5thedition UI. Connecting to the internet would be breeze, it supports Wi-FI , Bluetooth and GPS, with 3 months free A-GPS via free voiced guided navigation through Ovi Maps.
With just a slight of touch,you can easily slide in the phone upwards to reveal its full QWERTY keyboard. All in all the N97 series is a great addition to the NSeries of Nokia, users of the old N96 will never be disappointed.
When we wrote about the Nokia Booklet 3G, it was just all videos and speculations on the specs. Now, Nokia's just released a statement providing the official specs and the price. Initially, the price was guessed at $799, but coming from a Nokia person, it's going to be at $820. Expect it to rise once it gets to the US though.
Specs are below:
All day computing
Up to 12 hours of usage time Last for a heavy work day
Windows 7 and Intel Atom processor
Charge it and go – no need to worry about taking your charger with you
Sleek, robust design
A stylish, premium design with a chassis made from a single piece of machined aluminum
19.9 mm thin
Three different colors at launch: black, ice (white) and azure (blue)
Seamless connectivity
Inbuilt WLAN and WWAN enable connectivity to the Internet anywhere a WiFi or cellular network connection is found
3G/ HSPA with hot swappable simcard
Sync easily with your Nokia handset
Integrated Ovi Suite enables easy sync of calendar contacts, media with your device and the cloud
Integrated Nokia services
Ovi Suite 2.0
Nokia Music for PC
Ovi Maps
Social Hub – keeps track of your social software feeds in one spot and serves as a SMS sender
Besides Nokia's big announcement, they're also rolling out a new mobile phone that'll make those who can't afford to buy one of those uber expensive touchscreen phones: the Nokia 5230.
It's supposed to be the cheaper touchscreen--sorry--an entry level touchscreen for those who want to try it out. The reason why it's cheaper? No WiFi nor GPS. It has the following features though:
The Nokia 5230 features an easy to use music player with 33 hours of playback time. In select markets the Nokia 5230 will include Comes With Music service offering truly unbeatable value with all you can eat music. The recommended price of the Nokia 5230 with the Comes With Music service will be 259 EUR before subsidies and taxes. For a mighty music experience, any headphones with a 3.5mm AV connector can be used. In addition, the Nokia 5230 features a Media Bar with quick access to your favorite media and applications, such as music, photos, YouTube or Ovi Share.
Here's a video of it in action:
Pardon the really cheesy music, slight lag, and fingernail dragging, and this looks like a steal! Touchsreen and quick connection to Ovi Share is a great idea! Not everyone can get a WiFi connection 24/7 anyway so it's really not that of a requirement.
"Competitively priced at 149 EUR, we believe the Nokia 5230 is an unbeatable offer for many new customers who aspire a device that stars in music, mingles with social networks from Facebook to MySpace, navigates you to where it happens, when it happens, and comes in an array of dazzling colors, " said Jo Harlow, Vice President, Nokia.
Nokia has always been known as one of the mobile phone powerhouses. They may have been reported in trouble due to the emergence of the iPhone 3GS, Palm Pre, and Android Powered phones, but they're still a force to be reckoned with especially if you talk about international sales.
Hope Nokia Learned from the Palm Foleo
Now Nokia is going to enter a place that Palm have tried and failed to do so: the 3G Netbooklet realm. Most tech and gadget historians are familiar with the failed Palm product called The Palm Folio. A subnotebook that's supposed to run on the 3G Network via the Palm Treo. It was nevertheless scrapped just before it was to be shipped because Palm thought that they should focus on creating a smartphone that will be even better than any subnotebook. Good thing because of The Palm Folio's death came the Palm Pre.
Back to Nokia's little baby, the Nokia Netbooklet 3G, it should have learned something from Palm's failed experiment and, hopefully, do better.
Nokia 3G Netbook Specs and possible price
Here's a video of it below:
Here's what we've gathered so far.
Specs seems to be already confirmed:
Model name
Booklet 3G
CPU type
Intel Atom Z530
CPU speed
1600 MHz
OS
Windows 7
Display Size
10"
Hard Disk
120 GB
Keyboard
YES
Mouse Pointer
YES
Weight
1250g
Size (w/h/d mm)
265/185/20 mm
Physical Interfaces
HDMI
SD card slot
USB2.0 (x3)
Line-out / Headphone (3.5mm)
Wireless Interfaces
802.11b/g
802.11n
BT (type unknown)
HSPA (7.2/2.0Mbps)
Additional Specs and Accessories (can vary)WebCam Optional Specs and Accessories (can vary)Stereo speakers
Pricing for the Netbook is guessed at $799:
"Pricing information comes from Sascha at Netbooknews.de. He’s been given a $799 price which, when considering that this is a netbook, is shocking but if it comes with Windows 7 Home Premium, HDPA, A-GPS, HDMI and all the other specs as promised, including the huge battery life, it isn’t bad."
No news yet on when it's going to be on sale though.
What we like and what we're asking
We have to admit though that 12 hour battery charge does seem nice especially for those mobile warriors who want to get connected to the net most of the time. A Windows 7 running on a small netbook? We'd love to try that out! A 120 GB memory would mean a lot for those who are tired of carrying around thumb drives because their netbooks don't have enough memory. The weight and size really is the way to go for most netbooks: small enough, but big enough to do a spreadsheet on the road.
Just one of the questions here though is if Nokia can really afford to give a premier netbook that won't bank on their name. With netbooks all the rage now, what can Nokia give that the others can't? Will this be a new beginning for Nokia on another gadget or will it go the way of the Foleo? Will partnering with Windows 7 be a good or bad deal for them?
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