Nokia is going back to its previous status — it surprises with new announcements every day. A few days ago we learned about the Nokia Luna Bluetooth headset, which supports NFC, and about the NFC-enabled games, which can be played on any Symbian device with such a functionality. Now the company’s introducing another awesome accessory — the Nokia Essence, which is the latest stereo Bluetooth.
These in-ear headphones cancel almost all of the background noise (99.8 percent of it!). The idea of this accessory is to zap out low-frequency background noises to provide deeper bass sound without having to set the knob to the highest point. It also supports NFC, which means we’ll have one more NFC-enabled device by Nokia.
You know, it’s getting interesting; each manufacturer’s chosen a particular technology to focus on. HTC’s invested in Beats Audio and Inquisitive Minds, Apple denied NFC and is focusing on Bluetooth 4.0 and also brought voice control technology to the highest point (Siri!), Motorola continues launching handsets with the lapdock feature and Samsung’s offering the brightest and probably best displays (AMOLED!). Well do you think NFC will make Nokia outstand among the rest?
Vertu is a respectable brand, but not everyone can afford buying a phone from its lineup. It’s mostly for the newly rich crowd in the Persian Gulf, Russia or China, but it doesn’t mean Vertu-branded handsets can’t be found in other countries. Note that there are Vertu stores in Paris or Beverly Hills.
Well, Vertu’s owned by Nokia, though it figures as a separate manufacturer. Moreover, if Nokia’s in chaos, Vertu is on easy street, that’s why Vertu boss Peter Oosting has enlarged the company’s staff. Moreover, Vertu’s decided to come up with a smartphone different from the earlier models.
On the whole, Vertu has been experiencing “high double-digit sales growth” since 2010, which means it has sold about 30.000 devices. Considering the fact the average price of a Vertu handset is $5800, it’s not difficult to count how much the company has earned. By the way, the most expensive phones of Vertu are the Signature line devices with $17.000 price tag. But all those devices draw attention with their stylish and luxury design, and not by their functionality. But with the introduction of the revolutionary smartphone, the Vertu Constellation T, everything’s changed.
The Vertu Constellation T sports a 3.5-inch AMOLED, 32GB of internal memory, an 8MP camera with dual-LED flash and so on. Of course, it’s a bit difficult to classify the phone as a high-end device, but it is in the Vertu line. The Constellation T is not from the Signature line, so I guess the phone will cost cheaper. As soon as new details about the pricing and the launch date are available, I’ll keep you informed.
The second Nokia Windows Phone smartphone we have heard about was the Nokia Sabre. It differs from the SeaRay by the fact that it’ll be a mid-range smartphone, which is a little bit strange, because when Nokia and Microsoft signed a contract, it was said Windows Phone will be only on high-end smartphones of the company and the other class devices will run Symbian. Anyhow, Symbian will be supported until 2016. Well, let Symbian carry out its mission, but we have the second Nokia Windows Phone appeared in a store at T-Mobile’s German headquarters.
The poster was removed briefly, but there was a man who managed to snap it and send the photos to WinRumors. It was quickly translated by Google and posted in the site showing Nokia Drive for Windows Phone includes a 3D navigation display. Moreover, it’s said the Nokia Sabre will sport a 3.7-inch curved AMOLED display.
Right now this is all I know, and though I can’t say it’s much, one thing I know for sure — the Nokia Sabre is in works and soon will head to T-Mobile.
What we have heard about Nokia Windows Phone smartphones seems not so attractive, and I know many geeks that are disappointed seeing Nokia doesn’t unveil high-end devices running Windows Phone Mango.
Of course, Microsoft is the closest partner of Nokia at this moment, but if the Finnish company doesn’t design high-competitive smartphones based on Microsoft’s mobile operating system, there is no sense to wait for Nokia’s success. I’m inclined to think this way, because HTC has already unveiled a super device running Mango, the HTC Titan. Luckily, we have heard some rumors claiming the third Nokia Windows Phone smartphone is in works. It comes to the Nokia Ace.
According to the rumor source, the Nokia Ace will sport a 4.3-inch AMOLED Clear Black display, an 8MP Carl Zeiss lens camera, a 1.4GHz single-core processor, a 1800mAh standard battery, 16GB of internal storage, plus it will run Windows Phone Mango and support HSPA+ 4G network. On the whole, it will be the first Nokia WP device supporting HSPA+ network.
Other rumors claim the Nokia Ace will be launched in the U.S. via AT&T in Q1, 2012. So everything seems perfect, but don’t you think the name Ace is not convenient for this case, because Samsung has a phone with the similar name?
Yesterday was a great day for Nokia as it announced the new version of Symbian^3 OS, Belle, but it is not all, as the company unveiled three new smartphones running Belle and sporting 1GHz processors. We were aware about these devices earlier, so let’s have a closer look at them.
The first handset is the Nokia 600 that is designed especially for music lovers. The Nokia 600 is equipped with a 106phon loadspeaker, which means there is no other handset able to compete with this “beat.” It allows us to say the Nokia 600 is the loudest smartphone that Nokia has ever produced. Moreover, the device is equipped with a built-in FM transmitter for broadcasting music to a car stereo or other FM receiver (plus, an FM antenna is built into the phone’s body, which helps users not to plug in headphones when using it), a 3.2-inch nHD touchscreen with a resolution of 360×640 pixels, a 1GHz processor, 2GB of internal memory that can be expanded up to 32GB with a microSD card, a 5MP full-focus camera with LED flash that also can record HD videos at 720p and a 1200mAh battery providing 15 hours of talk time and 23 days in stand-by mode.
The Nokia 600 measures 111x53x13mm and weighs 100g. Moreover, the phone sports 3G cellular radio and supports GPS, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connections.
The Nokia 600 will be available in black, white, pink and lime, and consumers will be able to get their hands on it in Q3. The device comes with a price tag of €180 (US$260) which is quite an affordable price, I think.
The second handset is the Nokia 700 which is going to be thesmallest smartphone in the world (as it measures 110×50.7×9.7mm and weighs 96 grams). It’s a world phone that can be easily used in any network due to Symbian Belle and a pentaband radio. The phone is packed with a 3.2-inch ClearBlack AMOLED display, which is also protected by GorillaGlass technology. So we can assure you it sports one of the best touchscreens ever. Other features include 2GB of internal memory, a 5MP full-focus (with LED flash) and a VGA front-facing cameras, a 1GHz processor, Bluetooth, FM radio, GPS, compass and others.
The Nokia 700 will be available in grey, silver/white, coral red, peacock blue and purple starting from Q3 with a price tag of €270 ($390).
The third handset is the Nokia 701 which sports the brightest smartphone screen out there in terms of nits. Though there are many other handsets with perfect screens, the Nokia 701 boasts a brighter 3.5-inch IPS-LCD display powered by the ClearBlack technology.
This smartphone is similar to the Nokia Astound in design and some features, as the Nokia 701 sports an 8MP camera, a 1GHz processor and 8GB of internal memory. The phone measures 11×56.8×117.3mm and weighs 131 grams. The battery is rather attractive as it provides 9 hours of talk time in 3G mode and when we take into account the fact it is a pentaband smartphone, we can conclude how long it will “withstand” in other networks.
The Nokia 701 will be launched in steel dark, silver light, amethyst violet and white, and will be priced at €290 ($420).
P.S. All these smartphones have an NFC functionality that Nokia promotes actively, and all prices are set for unlocked versions.
Before the first Windows Phone-powered handsets are launched, Nokia introduces another Symbian-based smartphone — the Nokia RM-670 that was also known as the Nokia N7 or the Zeta. Now we know for sure that the phone exists — by getting FCC approval the Nokia RM-670 “announced” its existence, but we don’t know when and where it will be released.
Some rumors suggest the smartphone will be packed with a 3.2-inch AMOLED touchscreen, a 1GHz processor and NFC chip. There are also rumors that it will run the newest version of Symbian operating system — Bell.
This is all we know about it for now, and judging from the pictures it is going to be a mid-range smartphone with an affordable price. I guess now you are thinking it is designed for Europe, but looking at the bands supporting by the phone (1700MHz AWS and 850/1900Mhz 3G) we can assume it can potentially work on T-Mobile or AT&T.
Of course, the current smartphone market has other requirements, but this handset has a good combination of features and can successfully enter the U.S. market, too.
Yesterday Nokia made all people change their minds about the company, showing the new, very sexy Nokia N9 running MeeGo. Recently this handset was discussed much, but we had no imagination when it would be announced. Finally, the N9 was unveiled at the CommunicAsia 2011 event held in Singapore.
For now we know only about some software features of the device and have seen a couple of pictures, but it is enough to give tribute to the work Nokia has done.
The first eye-catching thing in the Nokia N9’s design is the fact there are no front buttons — for all kind of actions you have to swipe or gesture on the screen. We talked about the N9’s new technology before, but we had no idea how it works. Anyway, the phone sports a 3.9-inch AMOLED touchscreen, which is very comfortable to navigate through MeeGo OS that has imitated the icons’ order from Apple’s iPod nano line with its rectangular looks and flat top & bottom edges.
We also know that the Nokia N9 is packed with a TI OMAP3630 1GHz processor that is successfully cooperating with PowerVRSGX530 GPU.
Moreover, this smartphone is equipped with an 8MP camera powered with Carl Zeiss optics with super wide 28mm lens. This means we are dealing with a very fast shooter that is able to record HD videos at 720p at 30 fps. Ah, I forgot to say this smartphone is the first device to offer personal surround sound realized via the Dolby Headphone and Dolby Digital Plus features. And the last thing we know about the hardware of this smartphone is the NFC support capability.
Though we are not aware about MeeGo features, we have no doubt this platform will succeed (probably there will be no need to switch to Windows Phone completely). The Nokia N9 runs a web browser powered by WebKit 2 meaning you can access a web page even when it is loading. Plus, it supports HTML5.
Recently Nokia Maps became very popular and it is clear why the developers decided to bring them to the N9. The app also offers you the fastest way to arrive at a location using public transportation in 85 cities.
The MeeGo UI is really user-friendly and offers three home views — one of them is designed to launch and organize all your apps, the second one refers to your social feeds and all kinds of notifications, and finally, the third one is developed to show all of your live and recently used apps. The OS allows users to pinch and zoom 4-9 live apps simultaneously. When you want to go back to the homescreen, you just have to swipe from the edge of the screen. Well, don’t you think it’s a perfect solution after removing any kind of home buttons?
The Nokia N9 comes with an one-piece unibody design and will be available in three colors — black, pink (cyan) and blue (magenta). I do not mention exactly three colors as different sources mention different colors.
Nokia will offer 16GB and 64GB models, but we still have no idea when, where or at what price tag they will be available.
It seems to be a bit difficult for the newest Nokia smartphones to find their place under the Sun. Maybe it’s because the U.S. carriers and retailers don’t hurry to cooperate with Nokia, and it has to prove that its devices aren’t worse than other manufacturers’ products.
Such a thing happened when Nokia was negotiating to launch the Nokia X7 in the U.S. via AT&T, but at the last moment the carrier cancelled the deal. Anyway, the device was announced in some European countries, and we are already familiar with its features. After Germany and Greece, the UK is the next country where the smartphone will be launched.
It was announced the Nokia X7 will be launched in the UK via Three, now this rumors are confirmed, and we can say for sure we’ll see this handset on Three’s stores very soon. Nothing is known about the price and contract details, but we are sure there will be many attractive offers.
Anyway, it’ll be useful to get a quick look at the Nokia X7’s features. The handset sports a 4 inch AMOLED display, an 8MP camera with dual-LED flash and HD video recording functionality and many other useful features.
There is much to be added about this phone, but I guess I will do it some other day. Now I just want to thank Three UK that kept its words and unlike AT&T will launch the Nokia X7 in June as promised.
The Nokia Astound (aka Nokia C7) was launched recently, and if it first seemed to be the next mid-range smartphone, now we know it’s not. Because after its launch we managed to find out it had many benefits: one of the most popular games, Angry Birds, became available immediately after its release, the phone was the first to get Swype in portrait mode, it was released with Ann update, and much more. Now designers decided to make a super version of the device called the Nokia C7 Oro.
If you know Italian, you already understood that Oro means Gold. The Nokia C7 Oro’s frame and keys are covered in 18 carat gold! As you remember, there are three front keys on the original Nokia C7, and on the Oro they are made of scratch-resistant sapphire crystal. Its 3.5 inch AMOLED display is made using the Gorilla Glass technology. The back of the phone is covered of Bridge of Weir leather.
This perfect phone will cost about $1635, and the first place it will be available is Russia. You realize it’s not for everyone, but I guess every Nokia fan is dreaming about it.
The Nokia E7 became available in the U.S. two days ago. Users could get it from Nokia’s online store, but its price was too high, $679. Now Amazon decided to give you a $30 of discount, so the handset is available in the U.S. for $649.
Though you can say $30 is not that much, I think for the first day $30 is pretty decent. The E7 is available with free shipping so you can get it from Amazon if you are in the U.S.
We don’t know how many units Nokia is going to sell in the U.S., but the price is quite affordable and I guess the device can succeed. And we can confidently say the E7 is the next flagship of the company after the Nokia N8, but if the last one was criticized too mush, I haven’t heard any real controversial ideas related to the Nokia E7. If you doubt my words, I have to mention its most valuable features. The phone is equipped with a 4-inch AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16 GB storage, 256 MB RAM, 1 GB ROM, but unfortunately there is no card slot to expand the memory. The Nokia E7 captures with an 8MP camera that is located on the back of the device, but you can also find a secondary camera on the back of it for video calling.
The only features you can be dissatisfied with are Symbian^3 and the 680MHz processor, but even with such features we must say it is a high-end smartphone designed for businessmen. So I’ll recommend you to get it now from Nokia’s online store or from Amazon.
