The budget novelty of Finnish company with the built-in Nokia Comes With Music service is on sale.

Nokia X3 became one of the first devices available with an annual subscription to the service of Nokia Comes With Music. With the acquisition of light and a nice slider, the device recently appeared in the market. Its owners will be able to download music for a whole year in unlimited quantities and totally free. But this is perhaps the only thing that makes the X3 competitive.

X3 has already become one of the most affordable music phones. Products of Sony Ericsson called Walkman and even Entertainment Unlimited can be considered as competitors of X3. However, it is now clear that the X3 benefits due to a more affordable price.

Appearance
The device is typical for this class of devices, without any striking features. Plastic slider of small size with color inserts on the perimeter of the front panel and keyboard, is performed under the metal surface. The ribs, the edges and the battery cover are of frosted plastic with the effect of soft-touch. Nokia X3 is convenient to hold in hands due to  the materials used in the shell and small size. The phone is so light, and plastic is so thin that it seems as if the device is like a toy. In the hands it does not squeak, even if you properly compress the case, but the slider is very weak and quickly “loosens”.

The screen is of modest dimensions. It is 2.2-inch of diagonal – this is not much, but enough for the device in this price category. The display is more disappointing: colors are conveyed badly; just turn round phone and the image becomes illegible.

The digital keypad of X3 is small but quite comfortable. There are no problems with its use.

The camera, unfortunately, is very mediocre. It is 3.2 megapixels, which is not too little for a budget model, but because of the lack of autofocus images come out to be very inexpressive. Maximum resolution for photos is 2048 x 1536, and for video it is 176 x 144 pixels. Maximum fps is limited to fifteen. For comparison, in the new line, provided by Sony Ericsson, even on smaller models there are 5-megapixel sensors.

Memory
The phone has only 70 MB of its own memory. It can be increased due to microSDHC slot. It supports the “hot shift” and memory cards of up to 16 GB. And initially in a box with the phone a card is enclosed of 2 gigabytes.

A nice feature in this phone is its built-in stereo speaker. Ringtones and audio files in its performance sound very well, that certainly adds points to X3 when compared with competitors. However, for listening to music in a box with a new phone there is also a stereo headset which connects via a standard 3.5-mm jack.

Technical specifications
Form Factor: vertical slider
Mobile communication / data transfer: GSM 850/900/1800/1900, GPRS / EDGE
Memory: 70 MB internal memory, microSDHC slot (memory card support up to 16 GB) + 2 GB card included
Display: TFT, diagonal – 2,2 inch, 320 x 240, 262 thousand colors
Interfaces: Bluetooth 2.0, USB 2.0
Camera: 3.2 megapixels, no autofocus, LED flash, video
Battery: removable, Lithium Ion, 860 mAh (BL-4CT)
Other: FM-radio
Dimensions: 96 x 49.3 x 14.1 mm
Weight: 103 g
Reported operating time: up to 24 hours when listening to music

Conclusion
The disadvantages of the phone, in my opinion, are poorly transmitting color display, flimsy slider and a weak camera. An unexpected problem was the installation of the sim-card: it took about an hour to figure out how to insert SIM card and various items had to be used, ranging from the subtle knife, ending with a toothpick. Instructions in this regard were slurred. But you can be confident – even if the phone falls and breaks apart, sim-card will not fall out of it. By the way, a couple of weak falls the phone survived without serious injuries in any case there were no scratches left on the screen. A definite plus of X3 can be considered light weight of the device and ease of use. In terms of management the model is extremely simple.

Nokia X3 is a device which fully corresponds to its price. This is one of the most affordable solutions with 3,5-mm audio jack and other music facilities. As the earlier model of X-series, X3 is fully compatible with Ovi Store and Comes With Music services and assess the “budget” is solely in conjunction with these services. The device may be an attractive purchase for those who are interested in the possibility to download music without restriction for a whole year round.

FInd more Nokia X3 reviews at TestFreaks

As you know, now Nokia X-series is represented by two devices: Nokia X3 and Nokia X6. However, rumors began to appear over the new device from this same line – Nokia X2.

According to data published on the web, the Indonesian equivalent of the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) approved the new product called Nokia X2. So far we know only a few details about the device: it will operate in quad-band GSM and will be equipped with a Bluetooth module an of course with 3.2 megapixel camera. It is assumed that the new device will be a budget solution, and the low price will allow to gain success in the mobile market. It will also give an opportunity for the device users to get rid of their MP3 Players.

Unfortunately it is not known yet when this model of Nokia will be announced. Also, there is no information about how it will look like, in what form-factor it will be implemented: bar, slider or clamshell. Most likely the pics of this new device will appear together with the release of the product or maybe couple of days earlier.

ABBYY company, a leading global developer of technologies of optical recognition of documents, data capture and linguistic software, announced the release of ABBYY FotoTranslate – a unique program for Nokia smartphones, which allows you to quickly and accurately translate the words of the images captured by a camera embedded in the mobile device.

For the first time in a single application mobile version of the famous technology of optical recognition and the latest electronic dictionaries are integrated. To use the new program there is no need for Internet connection,  signal of network or access to any external database dictionaries  required – all you need for recognition and translation is already in the ABBYY FotoTranslate.

ABBYY FotoTranslate will help in situations when it is necessary to translate foreign words: for example, when ordering a meal from the restaurant, reading books, newspapers, street signs, price tags in stores or road signs. The program will be useful for the study of foreign languages: the translation of the smartphone is easier and more interesting than using a paper dictionary. ABBYY FotoTranslate will be appreciated by businessmen too: the application is convenient to use in overseas missions and at international conferences.

ABBYY FotoTranslate supports translation from English, German, French, Italian, Spanish into Russian as well as from Russian into the mentioned languages. The most modern dictionaries of famous authors, publishers, and the most current and complete versions of ABBYY Lingvo dictionaries are used, which were earlier  developed by ABBYY.

Translations with ABBYY FotoTranslate are simple and convenient as never before. There is no need to type words on the keyboard. Just pushing a button is enough – you just need to photograph the word that you want to translate – all the rest will be done by the program itself. The word on the picture will be recognized and will automatically be converted into a text, then the program will find its meaning in the dictionary and the translation will appear on the screen.

If part of the word wasn’t included in the frame, ABBYY FotoTranslate will suggest possible variants of spelling from which you can choose the best option.

If you photographed the whole text, the application will allow to translate all the words in the picture, there will be no need to make new photos.

HandCellPhone web resource has published a concept of smartphone Nokia X9. Obviously, this is the appearance of the Nokia device which the fans were dreaming about. And of course, like every dream concept, Nokia X9 has excellent technical abilities, as well as attractive appearance. The model represents a fairly long bar form factor with a large touch screen (diagonal – 3,5 inches, resolution – WVGA), there is no hardware keyboard. Nokia X9 is running based on Symbian ^ 4 operating system.

In addition, the smartphone is equipped with high resolution camera, but it’s not even 8 megapixels, but 12 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics. Internal memory is 32 GB. Nokia X9 is based on Cortex-A8 OMAP3430 processor with 1 GHz and has also a special graphics processor SGX540. Among the other features HDMI output and GPS receiver are included. This is, indeed, a true “multimedia monster”, it is quite possible that after some time, this model from the Finnish manufacturer may appear, although probably not very soon.

The leaders of the Chinese mobile market, as some of you might already know, are becoming the models of Anycool, Nokia and iPhone companies, actively transforming from phones to a whole combine of various possible features. Why are sales of counterfeits actively developing? And if there is a chance to spend twice as much money buying not really qualitive product, rather than purchasing the “licensed” iPhone or Nokia?

If you have come across Anycool mobile phones, you can quite call them Chinese products, because only in China 2 SIM-cards and a television are embedded in the phone so far and, as expected, with lots of defects and improper phone capabilities. But at the same time, the manufacturer, which has already settled in 27 countries, assures the high quality of its models, their reliability. Anycool is one of those brands that will bring comfort and a great functionality at a low price. In its case there’s no need to talk about the quality of Chinese phones.

Among the most popular models of Anycool are T518, I939. Both are bar form factor phones, have a touch screen, good features, the second model only has a single processor.

The advantage of two processors in Anycool phones is the operation with two SIM-cards simultaneously. If you receive calls at the same time by two numbers, phone with single-processor will only receive one call but the dual-processor will, of course, receive both.

Apple iPhone also is not behind in the Chinese market, but at the same time, moving normally, which is more preferred by the mobile phones buyers because of  the confidence in the quality of the product purchased. Many users are already aware of the difference between the original and Chinese iPhone. In the second case you can expect terrible quality, but the price is acceptable, which plays so well with the money of the unsuspecting citizens.

Nokia is moving, in that sense, more directly. The company is not so stridently corrected by Chinese craftsmen. For example, new Nokia 2730 and Nokia N900 are quite great models. The first has a more simple design and functionality, the model may rightly be considered transitional from a budget phone to more advanced, N900 is designed for more demanding clients. It has Wi-Fi, an excellent 5 Mpx camera with three shot digital zoom and video recording with resolution of 848×480 pixels, supports flash cards up to 16 GB. It has a very impressive display, ARM Cortex-A8v 600 MHz processor, it is based on Maemo 5 operating system.

To select a certified and tested product or transformed rubbish is the choice of each individual, but what to do with this stuff, when it actually becomes worthless? And this happens thousands times more frequently than with the original, to throw out into trash? Hardly anyone will buy a used Chinese iPhone, not everyone will buy Chinese phones in general, so maybe it’s worth before buying really reliable mobile friend, to save  some extra money and buy something that will last 2-3 times more than China’s counterfeit? I think many would agree with this idea.

It is known that the upcoming phone of the Finnish company is intended for European consumers. It is supposed that the new device is largely to repeat the style and design of N97 mini, but the price will be significantly lower.

Touch screen, horizontal slider form factor, as well as the trackpad – perhaps those components are included in C6. It is claimed that the disclosure mechanism of the case will be somewhat limited and simplistic: if in the N97 and N97 mini, it turns the screen at a comfortable angle for the user, C6 will not perform this function.

They say that the device will only receive 256 MB of built-in flash memory, though a slot for microSD memory cards will increase it.

Nokia C6 is scheduled to enter the mobile market of Europe this summer.

Nokia has recently introduced an updated version of its software Nokia Ovi Player for users of mobile devices of its production. The new version of the package Nokia Ovi Player 2.1, formerly known as Nokia Music, enables users to easily transfer their music from PC to phone and back, and to discover new music in The Nokia Music Store and much more.

The most notable innovation in the Ovi Player was the opportunity to transfer music and play lists from iTunes on a desktop PC to your Nokia. Previously, no direct ways existed for this transfer. The latest version of Nokia Ovi Player can now automatically import your music collection from iTunes to Nokia phones, as well as all the playlists that you manually created in iTunes package. It should also be noted that import of  the files is not supported or protected with iTunes DRM technology and auto-generated playlists.

The second noticeable difference of Ovi Player 2.1 from previous versions is the ability to pause and resume downloading music from Nokia Music and Ovi Music online stores. Ovi Player package can automatically restart the job for all files that could not be loaded in the usual way. The preservation of unfinished downloads is also supported when you restart the program Ovi Player – downloading files will continue as soon as Ovi Player is re-started.

Among the distinctive features of the package Ovi Player 2.1 for Windows operating systems may be noted the new control element in a detailed presentation of a list of files – you can now add all the files from the list-play one after another. New tips for tracks in the playlist, and in order of the play, now show the artist name and cover design in a special pop-up window when you hover the cursor on the track.

When working with an online store Music Store it has become easier to choose your region and change your proxy settings. Call setup dialogue is made by a single keystroke F4. Among other things, the new version of the package Ovi Player 2.1 operates faster, consumes less memory, and you can now hide the screen that appears when you start the program.

Mobile phones industry is developing with gigantic paces: now we are surrounded by such a variety of models that it is easy to get lost in them. It is difficult now to believe that all of this magnificence has the same source. Some still remember a number of iconic models that impacted on the overall development not only of the market of mobile phones, but also the market of mobile phone networks as a type of service. An adequate model of phone enhances the number of subscribers of cellular networks.

Among these models is the most popular mobile phone in the history of Nokia. The model was sold in quantities exceeding 120 million units. If we take into account that fact that at the time of release of the device mobile phone services themselves were considerably more expensive, network coverage left much to be desired, then this result is truly magnificent!

The Nokia 3310 has become a model for design and functional for many copies, for a long time defining the appearance of mobile phones. Largely thanks to this model, Nokia became the very “monster” it is today. The functionality, by the means of today’s standards, was very small. However, the device is distinguished by reliability, quality reception, loud speaker and sensitive microphone that provides high level of communication. The size of the phone was a model of compactness, in a time when most phones were affectionately termed “bricks”.

Nokia 3310 had a very clear monochrome display. We can even not speak about the legendary game “Snake”. Even those who have never had Nokia phones know about it. The game is alive in the 3D version today. Disadvantages of the model did not go to any comparison with the advantages – no phone book (only memory of SIM card), a heavy battery in the first batches, etc. Taking into account the emphasis on ergonomics and call quality – these were trifles. Excellent plastic case and the possibility of using interchangeable panels (also a landmark move) – increased the lifetime of the phone.

It is worth noting that the most popular mobile phone in history became such a short time after entering the market, when it migrated from the medium price segment in the budget category. Nokia 3310 was sold out in the markets of developing countries.

Operators admit: thanks to the emergence of this model, an impressive increase of subscribers was marked, since the phone was reliable and accessible to the widest range of consumers.

Some web resources have reported, citing a source in the Nokia company that the operating system Maemo 5 Internet Tablet Nokia N900 will be able to get MeeGo upgrade. It should be noted that MeeGo is an operating system that combines Moblin and Maemo platforms. About the beginning of works on this project was announced in mid-February at Mobile World Congress 2010. It was also announced that at the end of March there will be a version of MeeGo for netbooks based on Intel Atom and the Internet tablet Nokia N900.

And now they say that the internet tablet will not receive support of the new OS. The same source indicates that the first model running MeeGo will be released in the second half of this year. Perhaps, it will be MID phone LG GW990 on a new hardware platform Intel Moorestown. This is a long and narrow device with a 4.8-inch touch screen.

However, there are several other formal comments on the expense of support for Nokia N900 MeeGo OS. Ray Haddow, head of Nokia Communications, said that this issue remains open. This confirms the post of Valtteri Halla made on official MeeGo blog. According to him, the distribution OS for developers for the device is ready, but nothing is known about the final consumer version yet.

The Finnish company, leading the market of mobile phones for many years, has decided to ask consumers what they want from the smartphone of the future. Anyone may speak on the conceptual design of the device.

As part of the Design by Community project, Nokia runs weekly vote regarding the choice of some technical aspects – the size and the specs of the screen, the operating system (Symbian or MeeGo), materials and shape of the case, the camera, etc.

According to the observers, the project of Nokia is somewhat limited, as, for example, sending the version of a concept design is possible only if it meets any minimum set of specified specs or is not overly saturated.

In May, Nokia will provide the final three-dimensional image created by computer- based on the votes of users. There are no plans to release a real product based on the concept.