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Got My Hands On Some New Nokia,Samsung Devices…
Posted on April 11th, 2009 1 commentJust wanted to inform you guys that I’ve received a few new phones that I got from freelancing for one tech magazine. I’ll have them both for about a week to write a decent review, but off course I’ll try to give my impressions here as well.
The first thing I tried out when I got the phone in hand was to try out the keyboard, and it turned out surprisingly well, working in landscape mode with both hands does make the difference.
Despite being totally flat and without any spaces, the keys made from mat plastic are big enough and easy to press down, and I entered considerably less mistakes when writing a text message than on my N85.
When sliding to reveal the qwerty keyboard, the phone unlocks and the screen automatically rotates to landscape mode with no hiccups. There’s an app dedicated for handling various scenarios when opening the slider, by the way. It’s possible to work with the phone in this opened position while putting it on the desk, but the camera hump on the backside is a bit of a nuisance here…
Secondly, the phone overall is much nicer on look and on the feel in real life than in pictures, the metal battery cover and rim around the perimeter of the phone are the trademark signs of quality Eseries is known for ( on the back of the battery cover it literally says ‘Stainless steel’). That of course does add up to the overall weight of the phone, which is a bit more than the N85, 139 g. The 2.4″ screen is also quite usable, although with same old QVGA resolution and not as bright colored as OLED screens, it’s physical size feels just right.
Nokia E75The one downside I already managed to notice is the keys around the joypad, the are not separated and consist of single piece, which makes the soft key use somewhat difficult. The joypad itself feels a bit small, but nevertheless easy to use. One thing I already miss is the key lock/unlock switch found on my N85, that would speed work with the phones for a second or two. There’s also a white pulsating light indicator around the joypad area, that blinks even faster when there’s a missed call for example.
On the software side, good’ol Symbian FP2 is present, but there’re some well thought of elements that are exclusive Eseries features, like Bussines/Personal desktop view modes, customizable home screen with ton of useful information about mailbox, appointments, wlan etc. The new Ovi themed menu layout comes complete with apps stocked logically in separate folders like ‘Media’, ‘Control panel’ and ‘Phone’ , but it took me some time to locate the NGage menu icon.
E75 & qwerty keyboardAside from extremely responsive ui experience (Ngage games load considerably faster than on N85, faster launching and closing apps), I want to note here the pressence of ovi online services, including Music Store, Share Online and Files on Ovi, last of which comes with trial subscription.
Another interesting software feature is the support of NGage 2.0, which was preinstalled on the phone and fully working (the keyboard doesn’t seem to be optimized for gaming purpose at the moment). Nokia finally decided to gives us, at least the Eseries users, a full version of Quickoffice, and there’s also a Dictionary application with the ability to download additional language packs.
Samsung S5230So as a Smartphone for business or just for heavy texters, this phone may not be perfect but a great solution (the screen is still too small). But like I mentioned earlier, there’re apps that point out that this device is also intended for leisure, f.e. music and games, so it’s strengths come from combining all elements necessary for a day to day phone.
As for myself, I consider it as a valuable insight on how great would the qwerty keyboard be when combined with a touch sensitive screen on the Nokia N97. I’ve already fallen in love with the full qwerty keyboard on a mobile, and there’s is no way turning back now.
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What Will Mobile Phones Look Like in 2010?
Posted on April 8th, 2009 No comments
Last week I met with Anssi Vanjoki, executive V-P of markets at Nokia, to discuss the state of both the Finnish company and the mobile industry overall. Since Nokia has been particularly good at defining the specifications and features of phones ahead of time, I asked Vanjoki what some of the common features one should expect to see in a top-end phone in 2010 were. Here’s a quick rundown of what he told me:- A high-quality (QVGA) screen with 16:9 horizontal mode capabilities
- A high-quality camera with resolution of between 5 and 12 megapixels and the sharpness and quality of a standalone digital camera.
- Touchscreen input along with a good QWERTY keyboard. (I’m pretty sure Apple would disagree.)
- About 32-64 GB storage.
- GPS and multiple radios that allow access to voice, 3G and Wi-Fi networks.
Most of these phones will come with services integrated into them, and many phones will be “solution-specific.” As an example, Vanjoki offered the soon-to-be-released Nokia N97 and forecast that by 2013, such feature-laden phones will be commonplace. I remember the Nokia N73 and N81 phones from three years ago. Indeed, their features — 3-megapixel camera, music playback and high-speed wireless access (3G or Wi-Fi) — are commonplace today. From that perspective, Vanjoki (and by extension, Nokia) might be right, though there remain two problems on the horizon: the continuing slump in the global economy, which is preventing people from spending big dollars on their phones, and the fact that Apple, not Nokia, now sets the phone trends, thanks to its super-hit device, the iPhone.