Tag: Handset
MWC 2009: Nokia takes the wraps off the 6710 Navigator and 6720 Classic
This is the Nokia 6710 Navigator, newly announced at MWC 2009 in Barcelona. It’s almost more of a satnav than a handset, because it’s packed with all sorts of mapping technology.
It comes with ‘drive and walk’ navigation, as well as full regional maps, a dedicated navigator button on the front of the phone, a touch area for zooming in and out, and a large display tuned to daylight viewing conditions.
Maps with Ovi will allow users to plan a journey on their PC and then sync it with their device, and the inclusion of a compass will mean that you won’t get lost when you fly south for the winter. In the box comes a car holder, and there’s also a car-mounted speakerphone available.
As for the 6720 Classic, it’s got noise cancellation and a curved design that Nokia claims will significantly improve call quality. Good battery life, “high-speed” internet, which I’m presuming means HSDPA, and TV-out capability.
No more specs than that yet, I’m afraid, but we do have prices and release dates.The 6720 Classic will show up in Q2 at an estimated price of €245 (£220) and the 6710 Navigator will appear shortly after in Q3 for not much more – just €300 (£270).
Two Nokia touchscreen phones leaked by… er… Nokia
In the video above, Nokia N97 designer, Axel Meyer, is interviewed, but also appearing completely unnannounced are a couple of new touchscreen phones. Sources are suggesting that these might be Ivalo and Madeleine – codenames for upcoming smartphones that emerged in a leaked roadmap last year.
Ivalo will have 32GB of storage, GPS, FM radiio, 5-megapixel camera, 3.5″ touchscreen and Wi-Fi. High spec, but no QWERTY keyboard like the N97. The Madeleine is more mid-range, with Wi-Fi and GPS, a 3.2 megapixel camera, and N-Gage functionality. No official info on either yet, but perhaps we’ll see them at MWC next week.
(via GSMArena)
Even smarter Samsung Tocco Ultra Edition announced
The Samsung Tocco has done rather well since release, becoming the best-selling contract device in the second half of 2008. Guess it’s due for an upgrade, then, and here it is – the Samsung Tocco Ultra Edition. The biggest change is the addition of a slide-out keypad, like the N95, which complements the 2.8 OLED touchscreen nicely.
There’s also an 8-megapixel camera with associated features, HSDPA, GPS, DivX and Xvid playback, FM tuner, and support for 16GB of microSD action. It’s also remarakbly thin, at just 12.7mm. Clearly, this is one of the smartest of all the smartphones. Sadly there’s no Wi-Fi, and no 3.5mm headphone jack, but if you can live without those then you’ll find a lot to like here. It’ll launch in the UK in March, and price will depend, most likely, on contract.
Samsung Mobile
More about Samsung: Samsung Acme i8910 info spills out | Samsung Memoir gets official
Garmin and Asus team up for satnav phone
Garmin, maker of satnavs, and Asus, maker of the Eee PC, are teaming up for an assault on the smartphone arena. They’ve just announced an alliance to design, manufacture and distribute location-centric mobile phones. They’ll be called the Garmin-Asus nüvifone series, and will be on the market before the end of the year.
The idea is pretty simple – when you’re in the car, it goes into a dock and works as a satnav, but when you get out, you take it with you and it works like a phone. Garmin already has a product that does this – the nüvifone, which will be rebranded as the nüvifone G60 and delivered in the first half of this year. Beyond that? Well, we’ll have to wait and see.
GarminAsus
More on the nüvifone: Garmin’s first mobile phone with web browser and navigation | Garmin to launch Android mobile, too
Acer smartphone confirmed, to be launched on Feb 16
Rumour that Acer is to launch a smartphone has been spreading across the net for a while, but it’s just become official. Acer will launch its phone on February 16 at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. It probably won’t look anything like our artists’ impression to the right, complete with PC ports on the side.
What we do know is that Acer designed it with the help of E-TEN – a smartphone company that Acer acquired last year, and that it’ll run Windows Mobile. Which is a shame – it’d be nice to see an Android beast. Pricing, availability, specs and all sorts of other details will likely be announced on Feb 16, and when they are, we’ll tell you them.
(via BGR)
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Samsung W7900 "Show" – a projectorphone with OLED display and digital TV tuner
If you’re a fan of media consumption on the move, then you’ve likely got some sort of big screen PMP like an Archos 7. If you’re not invested in a particular device yet, though, then you could do worse than consider the Samsung W7900, aka the Show, which comes packed with a 3.2″ 240×400 OLED display, 5-megapixel camera, 3G, HSDPA, and most notably, a 10 lumen 480 x 320 projector, that’ll project upto a 50″ diagonal.
It also has a digital TV tuner so you’ll be able to watch telly on a (dark) bus, and all that is crammed into a body just 4.4″ x 2.2″ x 0.7″ thick. Impressive! Although it’ll initially only be available in Asia, here’s hoping that it’ll make it over this side of the world at some point over the next year.
(via PopSci, who have a great hands-on video)
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Small queue forms for the Tube (the Nokia 5800 Xpress Music, that is)
Despite being slap-bang in the middle of the target market for the Nokia 5800, there’s something about it that just doesn’t hit the spot for me. It might be the sluggish performance, it might be the the lack of keyboard, it might be the lack of internal storage. It just seems defiantly last-generation with a touchscreen slapped on, which is why I’m holding out for the N97.
Some people aren’t though, because the launch of the Nokia 5800 was this morning in Regent Street and Heathrow terminal five. It wasn’t iPhone-worthy, but a respectable hundred people or so showed up at the Regent Street branch.
If you didn’t fancy queuing in the rain, but you still want one, then you can get it from Simply Electronics for £350 or so, unlocked. Alternatively, Phones4U are offering it free on an £35 a month, 18-month-long, contract with Orange, or there’s a £20 a month, 18-month, contract with Vodafone.
(via the Inquirer)
Related posts: Nokia 5800 ‘Tube’ finally touches down in the UK | Nokia 5800 XpressMusic coming very soon, in time for Christmas perhaps?
HTC's lineup for 2009 leaks
HTC seems to be the anti-Apple. Its products tend to leak out months and months before their release, in direct contrast to Apple’s legendary product secrecy. Yesterday, HTC’s entire 2009 lineup made its way onto the internet somehow, which means we now know exactly what the handset manufacturer will be releasing this year.
Perusing the full list, there’s a few exciting models – most notably the Rhodium (pictured above) and Tungsten, which appear to be the HTC Touch HD Pro. We might see an announcement at Mobile World Congress later this month about that. Let’s hope so.
HTC 2009 Lineup (via WMPowerUser)
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CES 2009: Palm shows off rumoured touchscreen device – the Palm Pre
The rumours were true. Palm’s got a brand new device to go with its spangly new Nova operating system. All we knew previously was that it had a portrait touchscreen and a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, but now there’s a bit more info to go with it.
That touchscreen measures 3.1″ diagonally, at 480×320 resolution. The slide-out keyboard doesn’t come straight out – it sorta curves. There’s oodles of connectivity – Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and EVDO. There’s a removable battery, microUSB connector, support for USB mass storage and – YAY! – a 3.5mm headphone jack.
It’s running the new Nova OS, but more about that in another post. It’ll be available in the “first half” of 2009. In the meantime, for more CES coverage, click here.
(via Gizmodo’s liveblog)
Sony Ericsson announces 'affordable' C510 Cyber-shot, and W508 Walkman mobiles
I always get slightly confused by the way Sony doesn’t group its gadgets by what they are, just by broad product ranges. As a result, there are cameras and phones with the Cyber-shot badge, and MP3 players and mobiles with the Walkman badge. From the product name alone, it’s often impossible to tell what the device is.
Well, to clear up the confusion, both the products here are phones. The first is an ‘affordable’ 3.2 megapixel cameraphone, called the C510. Although there’s a comparative lack of megapixels on the sensor compared to other cameraphones, it’s got plenty of features to make up for it.
