Crave:

OK, you heard it here first: the Nokia (NYSE: NOK) 330 portable navigation system is headed for the United States. We got a little heads-up from Nokia tonight that it’s going to announce the U.S. availability of the Nokia 330 Auto Navigation unit tomorrow with an expected ship date of April. It’ll come preloaded with Navteq maps and features a 3.5-inch touch screen, turn-by-turn, voice-guided directions, and multimedia capabilities (music and video player and image viewer). You know, pretty much like every other portable in-car GPS device out there. Will it offer any compelling reasons to fork over $499 for the unit?

I’m waiting for an Internet Tablet with GPS built in. Why buy one device that does one thing?

$499 is kind of insane considering the fact that you can get a Nokia N95 for only $100 – $200 more.

Can we get more details on this "dedicated audio" chip?

Nokia PR:

Today, Nokia (NYSE: NOK) revealed the Nokia 5700 XpressMusic, an accessible 3G smartphone augmented by a dedicated audio chip for enhanced music performance. The Nokia 5700 XpressMusic features an iconic twist design that easily switches between four modes at the flick of the wrist – music player, 2 Megapixel camera, video call and smartphone. Combining the benefits of a music-oriented, multipurpose device featuring 3G dataspeeds, the Nokia 5700 XpressMusic is expected to retail for an estimated EUR 350 before taxes and subsidies during the second quarter of 2007.

"The Nokia 5700 XpressMusic adds a new twist to the mobile music experience with compatibility for tracks purchased from many Internet music stores," says Heikki Norta, Senior Vice President, Mobile Phones, Nokia. "In addition the Nokia 5700 XpressMusic features a dedicated audio chip for improved music performance which consumers can further enhance by selecting from an ever increasing line of compatible audio enhancements."

Using an optional 2GB MicroSD card, the Nokia 5700 XpressMusic supports up to 1500 tracks that can be enjoyed using Bluetooth stereo headphones, with their own favorite 3.5mm plug-equipped headphones and the included headset adaptor or through built-in stereo loudspeakers. Loading songs onto the Nokia 5700 XpressMusic is fast and easy as consumers can choose from a broad range of supported digital formats, including WMA, MP3, AAC, as well as eAAC+ and MP4. When purchasing music online, shoppers again have the luxury of choice as they can select from a range of Internet music stores, also those utilizing Windows Media Player Digital Rights management (WMDRM). The optimized music player in the Nokia 5700 XpressMusic supports album art, playlists, plus a 5-band equalizer and audio visualizations.

The Nokia 5700 XpressMusic is based on the world’s leading S60 software running on Symbian OS.

Since when are reflections included in press shots? I hope this doesn’t become a trend. Anyway, here she is:

Certainly thinner then I was expecting.

Now for the 5070:

Designed with the needs of young consumers in mind, the newly announced Nokia 5070 features a compelling blend of fun and function for today’s socially networked mobile customer. With strong messaging, leisure and personalization features, the Nokia 5070 has everything that the mobile social set needs. The Nokia 5070 will be available in the second quarter of 2007 with an estimated retail price of EUR 100 excluding taxes and subsidies.

As unique as the Nokia 5070 is, owners are sure to want to make theirs just as individual as themselves. MP3 ringtones are at hand to ensure that each time it rings, the Nokia 5070 can reflect its owner’s style, mood or music taste. Additionally, a variety of wallpapers and themes can also be downloaded to give the Nokia 5070 even more of a personalized touch.

The Nokia 5070 has talk time up to 3.5 hours and the standby time is up to 12 days and is available in two fresh colors, red or blue.

Reminds me of the Nokia 6300. What do you think?

Full specifications for both these devices can be found on Forum Nokia. The 5700 runs S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 1 and is based on a 369 MHz Freescale solution (same chip in the 6290). I can’t find anything about the chip inside the 5070.

Is the 5700 the cheapest S60 device to ever be released? Is this all thanks to Freescale’s lower prices?

According to the Dutch company – Skins Mobile (and I guess not only according to them), your mobile phone is in constant danger from dirt or moisture. And, you should protect your trusty companion.

However, Skins Mobile suggest kind a strange solution. Basically, they are offering a new brand of phone condoms to protect the mobile phones. This “device” works quite simply, all you have to do is to slip it over your phone (whether it has a brick or a clamshell form factor) and voila, it’s protected from dirt or moisture. (via: Mad4MobilePhones)

Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) announced successful transmission of 25.6 Terabits per second (Tb/s) of optical data over a single fiber strand. That’s enough bandwidth to transmit the data from more 600 DVDs per second!

The new world record is set using using 160 Wavelength-Division Multiplexed (WDM) channels, thanks to the combined research teams from the United States and France. These results far surpass the previous transmission record of 14 Tb/s, established in September 2006.

I could go on and on, but that’s not the point here. If you’re interested to know the tech specs, you should consult the official release. I just want to add that we all want faster Internet connections on both land an mobile lines, and it’s good to see companies working on that. Gimmie, gimmie…

I like Samsung phones. The Korean company knows how to make a feature phone looking decent. Still, I respect them for making the good-looking smartphones, thus helping to mainstream the whole category.

One of their latest devices, SPH-M8100 has both look and features. It is a Windows Mobile 6-powered slider device, that supports CDMA 1x EV-DO, a WiBro (mobile WiMAX), packs such features as a large 2.8″ touchscreen, Bluetooth connectivity, a DMB TV tuner (for mobile TV), and a 2 MP camera.

The bad thing about this device is its availability. At the moment of this writing, it is still not known whether the SPH-M8100 will be available on the markets outside Korea. (via: UberPhones)

If it’s not TI, it’s Samsung that brings us some neat technology. This time they’ve announced an 8.4 MP CMOS image sensor (CIS) with a 1.4 pixel design. The new chip comes with a high signal to noise ratio (SNR), a key measure of overall image quality.

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Again, it’s the French Sagem that brings the new level of style in the world of low-end devices. The clamshell my300C is available in a variety of designs and colors, and aims to win the hearts (and wallets) of the younger crowd. At dimensions of 79.2×43.5×21.7 mm and weight of 80g, the my300C is small enough to fit any pocket. The device sports a VGA camera with 4x optical zoom, a color display, and also packs the WAP 2.0 browser. It will be released in July this year, at still undisclosed price. (via: UberPhones)

BenQ Siemens recently announced the quad-band P51 smartphone. The new device runs Windows Mobile 5 Pocket PC Phone Edition, and boasts a large 2.83″ touchscreen, as well as the full QWERTY keyboard. For connectivity there’s a Bluetooth and an integrated WLAN. Plus, there’s an integrated GPS receiver.

Now, the strange part. The BenQ Siemens P51 comes with a 1.3 MP camera? Why, oh why, haven’t they packed the higher-quality camera? Plus, for me to consider this device, I would want it to run Windows Mobile 6. I guess the latter is upgradeable, but the camera?

Anyhow, the BenQ Siemens P51 is currently available in Singapore and Turkey, and it’s still not known whether it will be available in the U.S. or Europe. (via: SlashPhone)

Nokia 3310 Classic has just been approved by the FCC. The new device is the remake of the popular Nokia (NYSE: NOK) 3310 handset, and as the version from the late 90s, it doesn’t sport much of the features. There’s a 1.3 MP camera, and the device could be used as a media player. Memory is expandable with microSD cards, meaning you can increase the memory to 2 gigs.

If you’re not into features, and are just looking for a decent and reliable device, the Nokia 3310 Classic is the perfect phone for you. Just wait till it hit the U.S. stores. (via: MobileWhack)

I think we’ve been waiting this for so long. YouTube is finally set to go fully mobile, meaning that it will be available to all mobile users, not only to the Verizon (NYSE: VZ) subscribers.

According to the company’s spokeperson, YouTube Mobile for Europe will be launched in May 2007, while the U.S. users will have to wait for another month to enjoy all the benefits of the popular service.

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