Manufacturers » Nokia »

If you’ve been jonesing for the new Nokia N85, it looks as though the device is now showing up in some legitimate eBay stores. All of the N85’s I’ve seen so far appear to be unlocked with no contract. If you simply can’t wait any longer for the device, you can check out some current pricing here. Otherwise I suggest you hold tight and wait for the device to pop up with one of your local carriers.

As with all eBay auctions… a word of warning. Be sure to check the seller’s feedback rating. There’s a lot of scammers out there and it’s always good to do a little background check before you purchase anything of this magnitude.

[Via: TheNokiaBlog]

It’s a sad day for every Nokia fan in China. Apparently Nokia’s iPhone killer, 5800 XpressMusic, will come without 3G and WiFi support. And while I can understand the lack of 3G radio because of Chinese TD-SCDMA standard, lack of WiFi is not that easy to explain. Why on earth would you want such a device like the Tube without WiFi support is beyond me. Sure, these two combined will make Nokia’s all-touchscreen wonder more affordable to the Chinese consumer, but will they actually want the smartphone that bad to get it that crippled? Any thoughts?

[Via: Gizmodo]

A new beta version of Nokia Email is available. According to the Nokia Beta Labs blog post, the new version of the app is localized with added support for international characters and allows users to get mail from up to 6 email addresses, each in its own mailbox “yet all in one place.” In addition, more phones are now supported, including many of the latest S60 3.2 devices like the N96 and N78. Finally, the new beta of Nokia Email improves the overall mailbox management. When you delete an email on your Nokia phone, it will be deleted from your email account — this works with both IMAP and POP accounts.

In other news, Ovi Share has added Map View to allow users to see all their photos where they were taken in a single glance. Nice!

[Via: AllAboutSymbian]

Nokia has released a new firmware update for its E90 Communicator. The firmware version 300.34.84 brings several improvements, including:

• Faster orientation switching (open/close lid etc)
• Nokia Maps 2.0
• Updated Download! application (v3.1.736)
• Music player is updated
• Flash Lite 3 and Flash video updated
• Wi-Fi improvements
• New baseline for VoIP
• RealPlayer supports FLV format

On the downside, though, this update knocks out Blackberry support, so if this is important to you then don’t upgrade for now.

[Via: AllAboutSymbian]

Qtel and NSN partner up for Mobile TV

Bring on the Mobile TV deployments I say!

Qatar Telecom and Nokia-Siemens Networks (NSN) have agreed on the deployment of a DVB-H OMA BCast Smart Card Profile (SCP) Mobile TV platform - which apparently is claimed will be the first commercially-ready implementation.

As you may know OMA BCAST SCP is the variant of DVB-H that is gaining the most traction now, with the weight of all the major TV handset vendors behind it. In this case, the Nokia N96 is going to be deployed as the mobile receiving device.

As I said in an earlier post, I really must get an N96, and go test some commercial services (that may require some plane flights though as there ain’t no DVB-H love goin’ on in the UK!)

[Via: telegeography.com]

I am versatile! Buy me!

Ha ha! Quite a good description for the N96 I thought - it does pretty much everything! The analogy came from Indianexpress.com, you can check out their full story here.

On UK-related pricing matters, though, Expansys are now the UK’s cheapest by my reckoning - but only for tomorrow morning, between 11am and 4pm. During that time they are doing a £30 discount, making the N96 £469.99! They will also chuck in £120 of vouchers, so I reckon that’s a GOOD deal! check out the Expansys site here.

[Via: Indianexpress.com/Expansys]

Next year sounds like a long time to wait for the Nokia XpressMusic 5800, but luckily there are some sticky-fingered reviewers out there willing to give it the full run-down right now. Folks were quick to pit the Tube against the iPhone (as we do with just about any touchscreen smartphone nowadays), but the reviewers point out that the two are in different leagues altogether. On the whole, the XpressMusic gets nothing but praise - fine call quality, good features, lots of multimedia, and very few OS problems. Russia will supposedly be getting in on October 5th., and then coming to Europe in 2009 for 279 € before subsidies. The low price point will be a big factor in competing with the other full touchscreen devices out there and hopefully set a new standard for other manufacturers.

[Mobile-Review via Engadget Mobile]

Can’t wait? XpressMusic 5800 specifications behind the jump…

The Nokia XpressMusic 5800 (a.k.a the Tube) launched alongside an announcement of the new Comes with Music service for the XpressMusic 5310. Nokia’s workhouse, the N95, wasn’t one to be left out of the party, and according to the Comes with Music UK site, the 8 GB, £399.99 model will be hosting the service. Before you jump the gun and get preordering, remember that all of the music tracks will be locked down with digital rights management, so you won’t be able to do everything you might want to with that year’s worth of tunes. It shouldn’t be a problem playing on any of your Nokia devices, and odds are a significant chunk of the lineup will get the service sooner or later.

Thanks eli!

There’s no doubt that Espoo is banking on their Nokia 5800 XpressMusic touchscreen smartphone (once known as the “Tube”) to take on the burgeoning touchscreen handset market with their touch-enabled S60 5th Edition mobile OS. The Nokia 5800 XpressMusic brings to the table all those high-end goodies that we’re used to seeing from the Finnish handset manufacturer. With a 3.2 megapixel auto-focus camera with Carl Zeiss optics and dual-LED flash, a 3.2-inch high-resolution touchscreen (pressure-based) display packing in an impressive 640 x 360 pixels, GPS, WiFi, and microSD card slot packed into a sleek little package, the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic is definitely ready to take on the likes of the iPhone 3G and the BlackBerry Storm.

But, what is it like to actually use the first touchscreen-capable S60 mobile OS? Wouldn’t it be nice if we could actually play with the Nokia 5800 before it launches? It sure would be. Good thing Nokia’s already a step ahead of us on that tip.

The Nokia 5800 XpressMusic

Nokia has launched a Nokia 5800 XpressMusic microsite that gives S60 Touch hopefuls a preview of what to expect with the new S60 5th Edition (S60 Touch). Find out how to navigate the S60 5th Edition UI. Take the Google Maps application for a spin. Take a gander at the new on-screen virtual keyboard (which is apparently meant for use with a stylus - it’s entirely too small for finger-inputs). Check out the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic demo-site!

And, if that doesn’t satisfy your craving for Nokia 5800 demonstrations, hit up the Nokia 5800 video walkthrough here.

Nokia 5800 video walkthrough
This is the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic Tube

Thanks, Jim!

Those Canadians who were hoping Fido’s modest lineup might get a little sprucing up with the Nokia E71 may be horribly and irreparably disappointed. Word has it Rogers will be taking the reins of Nokia’s enterprise flagship device, much to the dismay of loyal Fido-users. It makes good business sense for a big name to to grab a hot device from a wholly-owned subsidiary and pass them the low end and slow sellers to push at a discount, but it’s still a little sad to see such an old player in the Canadian wireless game to get screwed over like that. C’mon Rogers - throw Fido a bone.

[via MobileSyrup]