MeeGo is a brand new OS formed from collaboration between Nokia and Intel, and based on their Maemo and Moblin OSes respectively. All very well, but what does it look like you ask? We already know what Nokia’s Symbian phones can do, as well as Maemo, thanks to the Nokia N900, which currently is the only phone to run Nokia’s heavy duty OS. But what about MeeGo? How good is that shaping up to be? Only one way to find out: no, not a fight, but a video, right after the jump!
Now, before you watch the video, I should just point out that this is a super-early preview of what MeeGo will eventually be able to do. As such, don’t get too excited – there’s not really an awful lot to see, and certainly nothing that could remotely be called novel (or even interesting, for that matter!) Fortunately, much of MeeGo will look completely different when it finally finds its way onto a mobile phone. Although this does initially raise the question of why a video should actually have been released at all if it doens’t show an awful lot, this can be answered simply by stating that it does at least show how far the MeeGo team have come in developing their product. Apparently MeeGo 1.1 will be released in October, and we expect the first Nokia devices to be based on MeeGo(including the Nokia N9) to be available shortly afterwards.
Lots of speculation is going around on the new iPhone 4g.The iPhone 4G would become the slimmest phone. iPhone 4g will be launch on 24 June and it will be available on AT&T stores so get ready to grab your iPhone 4G.
In America price of the new iPhone 4G starts from $199 for $16GB while 32GB iPhone 4 will cost $299, the price includes a two years service contract with AT&T. iPhone 4 will be available at AT&T stores.
iPhone 4 Battery Life
• Talk over 3G: 7 hours.
• Browsing over 3G: 6 hours.
• Browsing over Wi-Fi: 10 hours.
• Video: 10 hours.
• Music: 40 hours.
• Stand-by: 300 hours.
New Back Camera
5 megapixel (instead of 3 in 3GS)
Shoots 720p HD video at 30 FPS
Higher sensitivity to light than 3GS (better in-the-dark photos/video)
While iOS 4 is delivering on every promise for the iPhone 3GS users out there, as we were all told up front, the iPhone 3G would be missing some of those touted new features. Granted, we knew such disparities would exist but were never given the finer details. Now that the final build is percolating through the internet, we decided to take a look at what features are and aren’t working on the earlier year’s model.
What’s there
• Folders
• Threaded mail
• ITunes playlist creation / editing
• 5x digital zoom: just tap on the display near the capture button, but be warned, it doesn’t paint a pretty picture
• iBooks: we were having issues with the earlier build, but it seems to be running fine after today’s official download — PDFs work, too.
• Photos: you can now sort by albums, events, faces, and places
• Game Center: the icon is present, but as of this writing we’re unable to connect to the servers. (Update: a number of readers saying it didn’t come with today’s download. We nabbed ours as a gold build, which might explain the discrepancy despite still being considered “up to date” by iTunes.)
• Spell check has been updated
• Spotlight search: you can search the web and Wikipedia from the home screen search bar. That said, not all our queries — “Engadget,” for example — weren’t offering the option. Thanks
What isn’t?
• Multitasking: this is the big one. Double-tapping the home button doesn’t give you the handy menu, there’s no fast app switching, and background use is missing in action.
• Screen lock: normally in the multitasking menu (which isn’t available on 3G), it’s nowhere to be found, even under Settings. Bummer.
• Home screen wallpaper: you’d think this simple addition would make the cut, but sadly no. The dock has been given a visual upgrade, though.
• Bluetooth Keyboard support: we haven’t tried this ourselves, but an influx of reports from Twitter suggest this is also a no-go.
BlackBerry applications help you make the most of your device’s features while making life more efficient and enjoyable. Whether a game, serious business or productivity tool, there’s an application for you.
So you love your BlackBerry…great. Whether you’re an executive, a mobile professional, multi-tasking parent, student or a combination of those and many other roles, there aren’t many more useful or versatile tools available. With your BlackBerry you can stay connected to all the aspects of your life. Email, text and multimedia messages, voice calls and internet browsing are all at your fingertips. Keep everything orderly with the calendar and task list and remember everything about everyone with the contact list. Be entertained with the multimedia features. Take and send pictures and video. The list seems pretty complete, but haven’t you ever wished that you could…?
And that’s exactly the point of using third-party applications. BlackBerry applications add to the devices’ capabilities or customize an existing feature to better meet a specific need.
When you peruse the available applications, you’ll be struck by the diversity of products. Some will leave you wondering why anyone would want an application to do that. Others will elicit a joyous “Aha! That’s just what I needed!” Go for it…most applications aren’t expensive and many are free.
Here are some points to consider when determining which applications may be right for you.
Features:
What does the application do? How does it make your life better, more organized, or happier? You can find applications that help you better manage you time, money and communications. Others make travelling more pleasurable or help you find your way in an unfamiliar location. Some are aimed at particular business needs while others are purely personal. Great games include puzzles, word and trivia games, and adventures. There are entertainment applications that help you find out what movies are playing locally or make better use of the BlackBerry’s multimedia features. Many applications offer a free trial period. We encourage you to take advantage of the trial to make sure that it meets your needs and does what it’s advertised to do.
Interface:
An application’s interface has to make sense for it to be valuable. After all, the goal here is to make your life better, not to add the stress of trying to operate an awkward program. Many BlackBerry applications are so totally integrated with the features of the device that they don’t seem to be additional programs at all. They’ll simply add some options to an existing function. Once activated you don’t even have to launch them to use them. Others operate more traditionally like programs on a computer. Open it then use its features. In either case, the key to the interface is that it should perform properly without adding more work for you.
Graphics:
What does the application look like when it’s operating? Applications that enhance integrated BlackBerry features may display nothing more than additional menu options or look exactly like the built-in graphics of the BlackBerry. On the other hand, games should be fun and reflect the nature of the play.
Stability:
Additional applications place additional tasking on your devices hardware and operating software. Properly written applications run smoothly in conjunction with the rest of the device. A poor application can interfere with normal operations and freeze the whole device. If an application isn’t stable it likely isn’t worth having regardless of other attributes.
Program size:
Most third-party applications are pretty small. Still, everything adds up so you need to know how much memory an application requires and how much you have available. A few applications can be run from the memory card and some utility applications will open up a memory card for application storage.
New Zealand will be one of the first countries after the United States to receive the new iPhone 4 which was launched by Apple chief executive Steve Jobs yesterday, New Zealand time. The new phone goes on sale in the US this month as Apple tries to stay ahead of a growing list of rivals, including Google, in the competitive smartphone market. New Zealand will receive the phone in July and Vodafone corporate communications head Paul Brislen told the Otago Daily Times that Vodafone would launch the phone as soon as possible. Pricing and plans would be released soon. Reuters reported that Mr Jobs captivated a packed room with the new $US199 ($NZ300) iPhone 4 which was a quarter slimmer than the current handset, with about double the picture quality, sports the in-house A4 processor or computing brain, and allows video chat. The latest phone goes on sale on June 24 in five countries, expanding to 18 by July and 88 by September in the fastest-ever international launch for an iPhone. But many of the technological improvements had been expected and analysts say it will take a lot to stand out from the crowd. Google's Android operating system - used by many brands from Motorola and HTC to Samsung Electronics and Dell - poses the biggest threat. Adam Leach, the principal analyst at research house Ovum, said the iPhone had become the industry benchmark and the fourth generation device only reinforced that view. "However, the iPhone 4 faces much stiffer competition than its predecessors. The rise of Google Android over the last two years has been phenomenal and is allowing manufacturers to create appealing alternatives to the iPhone - critically at cheaper prices." The risk to Apple was that those devices offered greater freedom with available content. The devices might prove more appealing if they offered the right user and developer experience compared to a device with Apple-approved content only. "This may ultimately be what puts the brakes on unlimited iPhone growth," Mr Leach said. According to research group Gartner, global sales of smartphones rose nearly 50% in the three months ended March. The iPhone has transformed Apple into one of the world's leading mobile device makers and set the competitive landscape in a smartphone market that will play out for years. Apple sold a record 8.75 million iPhones in its latest quarter, accounting for 40% of its revenue. The iPhone 4 will give seven hours of talk time on 3G networks, up to 10 hours of web browsing on wi-fi and up to six hours on 3G, up to 10 hours of video playback and 40 hours of audio playback.
Smiling the grand Blackberry smile, the 9650 on first look, reminds you of the year old BlackBerry Bold 9700. This mobile phone supports the CDMA/EVDO networks in North America and the GSM/UMTS networks elsewhere. Design-wise, the BlackBerry Bold 9650 is a replica of the 9700 – it has a 2.44” display with a glossy black finish and a few stylish chrome highlights and the usual full QWERTY keypad.
This BlackBerry kin has an optical trackpad and also comes with built-in Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, not to mention Bluetooth 2.1. The 9650 sports a 3.2 MP camera with all the goodies such as flash, image stabilization, video recording, auto focus, built-in GPS and geo-tagging thrown in. This Blackberry smartphone also houses a full HTML web browser, the BlackBerry Media Sync, which as we know is simply wonderful to play with. Using it, you can sync all your favourite Windows Media® Player music and iTunes music in no time.
The BlackBerry Bold 9650 Mobile Phone also supports BlackBerry® Messenger and push email which can come in handy at times. The handset has an internal flash memory of about 512 MB which can of course be expanded using microSD cards. (The device ships with a 2 GB card.) All sounds good, but we cannot help but feel a little bored with the 9650 – there’s nothing all that path breaking about it. Is it old wine in a new bottle? (Even the bottle isn’t bran new!) It can’t be denied that Blackberry has added a few sparks here and there, forgive us, but is that all?
This smartphone of Blackberry’s will be available in the US on Sprint from May 23 for an equivalent of £130 after a £65 mail-in rebate. We don’t have any info on a UK launch as yet, though.
BlackBerry Curve 8530 Smartphone by Verizon Wireless and Research In Motion (RIM) is an exciting new addition to the BlackBerry Curve series of Smartphone’s. The slim BlackBerry Curve 8530 Smartphone gives customers access to Verizon Wireless’ 3G network, built-in GPS and Wi-Fi capabilities, as well as simple access to music, games and other mobile apps for entertainment on the go.
Key features:
* Simple-to-use, highly tactile, full QWERTY keyboard and touch-sensitive trackpad for reliable, responsive typing and navigation * 256 MB flash memory and 528 MHz next generation processor for enhanced performance * Supports voice-activated dialing and Bluetooth® (version 2.1), with support for hands-free headsets, car kits, stereo headsets and other Bluetooth peripherals * 3G-enabled (EV-DO) * Built-in Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g) * GPS with support for location-based applications, including geotagging pictures and Verizon Wireless’ VZ Navigator(SM) service * 2.0 megapixel digital camera with zoom and video recording * Advanced media player for music, pictures and videos, with dedicated media keys and a 3.5 mm stereo headset jack, plus BlackBerry Media Sync, which makes it simple to quickly sync music from your computer to the Smartphone * Access to BlackBerry App World(TM), featuring a broad and growing catalog of third-party mobile applications developed specifically for BlackBerry Smartphone. Categories include games, entertainment, social networking and sharing, news and weather, productivity and much more * Access to e-mail, messaging (IM, SMS, MMS) and well loved social networking sites (including Facebook and MySpace)
Nokia N97 is a GSM,CDMA phone. Nokia N97, a Swivel mobile comes with a great list of features. Nokia N97 price is optimal and it is a great buy.
The Nokia N97 redefines sophistication and takes refinement to a new level. With dimensions of 117.2 x 55.3 x 15.9 mm and volume of 88 cc, it weighs just 150 grams with its battery. With many technological advances and wonderful abilities, it lends a new meaning to the world of mobile communication. With the Nokia N97, you can also personalise your home screen.
Thus, you can add more content and fully customize your layout with live feeds, mini views, and services. With the help of the convenient keypad, it is possible to browse the web, navigate, and even communicate faster with friends. With the Nokia N97, you can even enjoy lots of movies, videos, and pictures using 32GB of memory and the magnificent wide 3.5" screen. Also, users can download applications, video games, and widgets directly to device from the Ovi store.
The Nokia N97 allows users to access the full power of the internet with the help of WLAN and WSDPA connections. Also, you can easily share photos and videos by uploading them to Ovi Share. The 16:9 sliding tilt display is extremely useful for viewing real web pages with flash support for internet videos. Users can also use touch control and the included full keyboard for surfing the internet on the 3.5" screen. Moreover, the home screen is customizable allowing users to access content directly from it.
The Nokia N97 also utilises Maps, A-GPS and other multimedia city guides for users to explore the cities of the world. With the help of walk pedestrian navigation, users can find their way easily. Also, the built-in compass helps people point towards the right direction. The map also adapts to find the same way as the user does. Moreover, the voice guided drive navigation helps the user to find the best route.
The Nokia N97 is equipped with a brilliant 5 MP camera, with which you can take fabulous pictures where ever you go. You can use the dual LED flash to take brilliant pictures during the day and even during the night. The large storage capacity of 32 GB helps you to take your photos and other multimedia with you. With the Nokia N97, you can also upload your photos to Ovi share and share them online with your family and friends.
The Nokia N97 also makes it easy to access email without any hassles on the 3.5 inch touch screen. It offers the possibility to connect via Gmail, Ovi Mail and Mail for Exchange. The large keyboard facilitates easy and quick typing of messages. With the Nokia N97, it is so easy to organise your personal as well as professional life. Features like calendar, reminders, widgets, media and other useful media is just at the reach of your fingertips. The contacts icon helps you access contacts and messages right from the home screen. This fabulous gadget makes it so convenient for you to stay in touch via phone, email, feeds, chat, widgets, and instant messaging. Also, keep in touch with the rest of the world via social networking sites like Facebook and other sites.
Equipped with the large 3.5" 16:9 widescreen, you can watch your choice of exciting videos and multimedia on the Nokia N97. The 5 MP camera helps you to take brilliant pictures and high quality 16:9 videos and also share them online. You can also download and stream videos while you are on the move. With the Nokia N97, you can keep your favourite movies on board with the 32 GB memory.
The Nokia N97 is a great buy when it comes to music. Listen to your favourite music with this fabulous gadget with the touch of a finger. Also access music directly from the home screen and load all your favourite tracks into the built-in memory. You can also listen to the excellent sound quality with headphones using Bluetooth or the 3.5 mm audio connector. Users can also play great games through the great touch UI. Game functions can also be controlled using side keys. The Nokia N97 allows access to the Ovi Store so that users can enhance and personalise the phone with content that actually matters to them. The Ovi store allows access to widgets, ring-tones, images, videos, games, and feeds.
The Nokia N97 offers high levels of power management with its BP-4L 1500 mAh Li-Ion battery. It provides a good maximum talk time of up to 570 mins on GSM and up to 360 mins on WCDMA. The standby time provided is up to 430 hours on GSM and up to 400 hours on CDMA. It also provides ample video playback time, video recording time, and music playback time. The Nokia N97 is available in two brilliant colours transition black light and white.
Nokia is a pioneer in cellular operations in India, beginning its India operations in 1995. The first-ever cellular call was made a decade ago, made on a Nokia mobile phone over a network deployed by Nokia. Presently, Nokia has operations running out of offices in Nokia started its India operations in 1995, and presently operates out of offices in New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Jaipur, Lucknow, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune, and Ahmedabad.
The entire gamut of India operations comprises of R&D facilities in Bangalore, Hyderabad and Mumbai; a manufacturing plant in Chennai and a Design Studio in Bangalore. The company employed around 450 people in 2004 and has exponentially grown now employing over 15000 employees in March 2008. India is now the 2nd largest market for the company globally.
When we first held the Nokia N900 in our hands we started questioning whether the N900 was a mobile device or a mobile computer. Nokia has finally produced a device that can compete with the best devices in the market. Being honest, Nokia hasn’t produced any interesting phones since the launch of the N95, which was their first mobile with a multimedia experience (eg: Apple, Google and to more or less, Palm).
Whether they can actually stay at top of the market is questionable. Nevertheless, the specifications of the N900 create high expectations: a 3.5 inch touch screen, QWERTY keyboard, 5 mega pixel camera, 32GB internal memory and Maemo 5 OS. We especially look forward to Maemo 5, the new operating system for Nokia smart phones, from the Nokia Internet tablet.
Competitors of the N900 are the HTC Touch Pro2, Motorola Milestone and Samsung Omnia Qwerty B7610. We will also compare the Maemo 5 OS with the operating systems of the iPhone and Android.
Unboxing
The Nokia N900 comes in a stylish black box with silver print and a printed board of the N900. There are a lot of accessories and this explains the very large box. It could also refer to the size of the device, because - we won’t deny it – the N900 is pretty huge. Besides a manual and a battery, with 1320 mAh, the box furthermore contains the following accessories: a charger, a connector that allows you to use older versions of the Nokia charger as well, a micro USB cable, a TV-out cable, a headset including ear buds and a cloth to clean the screen. You’re really going to need this cloth, since the screen is a magnet for fingerprints. The quality of the accessories is just like we’re used of Nokia: there's nothing wrong about it and the accessories will last a long time. The quality of the headset is good, since the In-Ear headphones reduce the outside noise to almost nothing.
Appearance
The N900 is entirely made of plastic and the glossy front and robust rear make the N900 a pretty descent mobile phone. This is not easy, because the phone is really a brick, with a size of 111 x 16 x 18 mm and weighing 181 grams.
If you slide the phone open, a QWERTY keyboard of 3 rows emerges. The buttons are made of plastic and the distinction between two keys is easy to feel, because of the differences in height. The keyboard is quite broad, given that you keep the unit horizontal. People with smaller hands and fingers may find it somewhat difficult to text, since they have to somewhat reach out for buttons. The N900 does seem manageable when slided in, because of the fancy design and few frills.
The front consists of a 3.5 inch touch screen, a secondary camera, speaker and a LED light that will blink, for instance when you have received a SMS. Moreover, the phone has a light sensitive sensor and a proximity sensor. The slide mechanism of the touch screen is solid and it works smoothly. The entire device feels solid indeed.
On the right side of the device you find the stylus, microphone, 3.5 mm audio jack plug-in, switch to lock the screen and a stereo speaker. There is no spare stylus, so you better be careful with it. The left side of the device has an opening to attach a wristband, a micro USB connector and a stereo speaker.
On the top of the device you’ll find most of the buttons. Here you find the zoom, volume, power and camera keys. Moreover, the top has an infrared port. The bottom of the device has no buttons, plug-ins or connectors.
Battery life
Nokia promises three days standby time and five hours of talk time. This is a fairly accurate estimate at normal use, since the device has quite a weak battery. During our test period in which we intensively used the device, it happened that we had to reload the phone during the day, because otherwise we wouldn’t make the end of the day. We used Internet for about three hours (3G and WiFi), simultaneously played music in the background, were texting and even made a call. Normally, a battery should last for at least one day. Well, not with the N900 and as a result you will probably have to recharge the phone every night.
Call quality
We’ve experienced no problems when making calls with the N900. The voice quality is good on both ends. The earpiece sound is clear and there were no problems whatsoever. It’s even easy to stop incoming calls thanks to the accelerometer. You just have to lay down the device with its screen down on the table.
The logbook only remembers which contacts you called on what day, but does not remember how long the calls lasted. The timer remembers the number you have called and for how long you’ve called in total, but is does not keep a track record per call. This is fairly limited and can use some improvement to our opinion.
Display
The touch screen of the Nokia N900 has a WVGA resolution of 800 x 480 pixels. The screen displays 16 million colours and is the first Nokia device with a wide screen VGA display. The N900 has an excellent image quality, just like we expect from Nokia. The colours are bright and clear. Also, even when you are outside you can still read the texts and information on the display. The contrast is also fine, for instance black is really black.
The accuracy and sensitivity of the touch screen is really impressive. Sometimes when you brows on the Internet you’ll sometimes touch a button you did not mean to touch. Fortunately, the stylus is a great tool for this problem, although we preferred not to have to use it at all. You have to push the screen instead of touching it. This is partly due to the resistive screen, although there are devices with a resistive screen that react even by the smallest contact.
Menu
The N900 is the first mobile phone equipped with Maemo 5. Maemo 5 is a so-called open source operating system and has been made in cooperation with many large open source projects like Linux, Debian and GNOME. Open source basically means that the source code of the operating system is free to use and that it can be copied and / or modified without any sanctions resulting from it. The operating system was originally created for Nokia Internet tablets and is currently also suitable for mobile phones.
Phonebook
We also have quite some criticism about the phonebook of the N900. When adding contacts you can only add the first name and sur name, number and email address. When you choose for ‘add fields’ you can add all other kinds of fields, like work phone number, an extra email addresses, birthday, home address, web pages, gender, nickname, function or company. If you think that this is still not enough you can also add a note. We believe that this is more than enough, but we have to admit, we do expect a bit more of S60 devices.
Messaging
It is very easy to send a text message or an email and the physical QWERTY keyboard makes sure typing is very comfortable and easy. When you have typed a message, but you did not sent it, the text editor will save the message when you exit the application. Moroever, the editor shows how much characters you still have left during the typing of a text. It starts at 160 characters. The N900 has a dictionary, but it is not working that well. The device gives suggestions for words as you write, but this is often not the word you are looking for. This happens mainly because the device only gives one suggestion.
Connectivity
The slogan “Online as it happens” promises a lot. All possible ways to connect with something or somebody seems to be present in the device. HSDPA, Bluetooth 2.1, WiFi, a FM transmitter, GPS and even an infrared port are not missing. Making connections and sending files through Bluetooth is no problem and this also applies to WiFi connections. The phone remembers the networks and their passwords. Also, an automatically connection to the networks the device is familiar with is made.
