Recent News Headlines - Hardware
Review: Nokia 5530 XpressMusic
In which I review one of Nokia's cheapest ever smartphones - and yet one that's reasonably up to date and with 90% of the functionality of its bigger brethren... At Nokia's RRP of £230, the 5530 XpressMusic isn't a 'must buy'. But at a street price of £140, depending on the deal, the 5530 will bring S60 5th Edition and smartphones to a whole new market. The ultimate cost? No 3G and no GPS. Here's my full, illustrated review of the Nokia 5530 XpressMusic.
Sony Ericsson Satio review and launch blog
OK, I'm mainly jealous because AAS's review Sony Ericsson Satio has singularly failed to arrive, but I would like to present quick links to Rita el-Khoury's excellent series of opinion pieces on this new S60 5th Edition camera super-phone: 7 Things I Love, Unboxing Video & First Impressions, 7 Things I Hate, Software/Interface Video Walkthroughs and Hardware & Design. Good stuff. See also the new Satio blog, run by one of the device's official product managers.
The Beeb's Smartphone 'poll'
There are plenty of interesting user comments about all smartphones, but with special focus on the pros and cons of the Nokia Nseries and Eseries over on the BBC site at the moment (in reaction to this), with BBC registered readers chipping in with their own smartphone experiences. Worth a read.
There's more than one perfect smartphone form factor
From the Nokia N900 to the HTC HD2, I'm seeing a groundswell of opinion turning against smaller, slightly simpler smartphones - but I contend that what you're seeing and reading isn't even close to being representative of the mass market and that, as usual (and I know because I'm one of them) the geeks are skewing all the analysis towards faster, bigger, flashier...
AAS Insight 90 - Maemo, N97 camera glass, cost of devices
In All About Symbian Insight 90 (AAS Podcast 152), Rafe and Steve briefly touch on the Maemo Summit before moving on to a discussion of the relative roles of Maemo and Symbian and the importance of the cost of devices. Steve gives us a run down on the N97 camera glass 'scratch' issue and how to get things fixed (though note that this was before the Care Point trip). There are also answers to a number of user questions. You can listen to AAS Insight 90 here or, if you wish to subscribe, here's the RSS feed.
The Top 5 Phones that aren't actually IN the Top 5
Regular viewers of The Phones Show will know that I periodically run down my 'Top 5' phones in the world. Astute viewers will also have spotted that I haven't done one for a while. The problem is, as indicated by the headline above, that I'm having problems recommending a single phone or smartphone, let alone five of them. Things were simpler a year or so ago, I'd simply pick the Nokia N95 (or one of its cousins, the N95 8GB or N82) and that'd be the number 1 spot sorted. The phone world has moved on though, with greater variety, greater complexity and, yes, greater disappointments. Read on... [updated with extra comments]
Getting the Care Point lowdown on the Nokia N97 camera glass and GPS
The two big hardware issues which have plagued owners of the first N97 devices off the production line are, of course, the easily-scratched camera glass cover and the very poor GPS reception. Having ordered fixes for both from my local service centre a while ago, I finally had them attend to each and managed to get quite a bit more information for the rest of us in the process. Read on...
Nokia officially acknowledge the N97 lens cover scratch issue
Thanks to Micky Aldridge for putting together a great summary of the links you'll need in following up on a badly scratched Nokia N97 camera glass cover. Notable is that he includes an official statement from Nokia on the subject - at least, you'll have something you can now print out and hand over when turning up at the local Service Centre?
Communicator head to head: The Nokia 9300i, E90, E75 and N97
The single biggest form factor for true smartphones in Western Europe in the last five years has arguably been that of the 'Communicator', a term coined by Nokia for its 9000 series, initially running on GeOS and then on Symbian OS 6 and (later) Symbian OS 7 with the likes of the 9500 and (here) the 9300i. Then came the oddball E90 and a slightly more mainstream E75, while Nokia's Nseries picked up some similar action in the shape of the N97. But how do they compare, head to head? Is there a true modern day successor to the Psions and Nokia 9210s of old?
Phones Show Chat 7 and The Ultimate Smartphone
Just live on the interwebs is Phones Show Chat 7 (the companion audio chat based around my video podcast), in which Tim Salmon and I talk about the Nokia 5730's keypad, the HTC HD2 and the Nokia N900 (and other large screen devices), comments on Symbian's place in world marketshare, plus we specify and design our own ultimate smartphone. Available also as a RSS feed and iTunes podcast.
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