Thursday, 2 October 2008

Nokia's First Touch Phone Launched

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As I said they would Nokia have launched their first touch screen phone today. It's called the Nokia 5800 ExpressMusic and it's a stunner. Engadget has a review here. This phone is being pushed as a media device more than a smartphone but it appears to hit this bar easily. The beautiful screen should be fantastic for watching video. Coming hot on the heals of the powerful N96 the 5800 has much to do but if this is basically the entry level Nokia touch phone I can't wait to see what's still to come.

Will I buy it though? Well I'll be able to answer that by the end of the month. As far as I'm concerned there's currently 4 phones I'm interested in, iPhone, N96, 5800 and Blackberry Storm. Of them all the Storm is the most interesting and if it manages to be as good as I think it will then this will be my new phone. While there's no release date at the moment my guess is a release on the 1st November on Vodafone in the UK. It's a great time to be looking for a new phone and for anyone who loves music and media in general then the 5800 is a phone they should certainly look at.

The 5800 is available through the Carphone Warehouse in the UK.

Labels: Blackberry, Blackberry Storm, N96, Nokia, Nokia 5800

Sunday, 28 September 2008

Huge Upcoming Month For Tech

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I'm looking at the upcoming week and into October and I can't help but feel that this is going to be an extremely important month for some huge names in the industry. Lets start at the beginning of the month. According to reports Nokia could be releasing two big phones on the 1st and 2nd of October. The N96 due on October 1st is the phone i had been waiting on. So far I haven't bought an iPhone because I'm willing to wait to see what Nokia are going to do.

On October 2nd Nokia have a conference during which it is expected that they will launch their new music service. During the same conference I expect them to announce the new Nokia 5800. Now this is going to be an extremely important phone for Nok because it's their first touch screen phone. It looks excellent but with Sony producing their new Xperia running Windows Mobile, the HTC G1 running Android and obviously the Apple iPhone there is a lot of expectation hanging over this unit. I expect to see it released by the end of the month/start of November in time for Christmas.

On the console front XBox's new dashboard should be available on the 1st October hopefully. New features like the characters and new look could put off the older more hard core gamer that the XBox 360 currently has pulled in. They don't want to try to compete with the Wii when they don't have the same usability as Nintendo's baby.

The next big release is the much talked about Apple Macbook makeover and "The Brick". We have no idea what the Brick is but I'm going to make my guess now. I'm thinking along two lines. One is a phone with a keyboard. Announced now because Steve doesn't like it as much as the iPhone but still needs it out for Christmas and the brick tag is a reflection of this. My second though is that it's a base unit for the Macbook. A machine similar to the iMac except that the OS is on the Macbook. You plug the portable into the base unit and run it like an iMac with extra storage space on the unit to allow you to have smaller SSD drives on the portable. The third possibility is the eventual arrival of an Apple tablet/PDA. I doubt it's this. I think Steve's going to want this one for Macworld 2009.

Failures of the above devices and services could completely change the face of an industry that is struggling in the current environment. Apple need a big hit after the disappointing iPod announcement and if we don't see it this month we can watch the share price disappear. Nokia are in a similar boat. I've spent 3 months waiting for a decent phone to be released and I've yet to see one. Nok need to compete in the touch phone market and the N96 really needs to be more than an N95 with a new cover. If October ends with no 5800 and a disappointing N96 then Nok are going to lose their position in the market.

Above images from: aurum3.com, symbian-freak.com and tuaw.com

Labels: "The Brick", Apple, Macbook, Microsoft, N96, Nokia, Nokia 5800

Saturday, 6 September 2008

02 are making a mistake! (Updated)

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Technorati Tags: N95,N96,TOCCO,OMNIA,Nokia,Samsung

N96, Samsung Tocco and Samsung Omnia. Does anyone know what these three phones have in common? Well I'll tell you, 02 have dropped them all. My contract with 02 is about to expire and I've been checking with them about availability. Now I got the Tocco from Vodafone and as you can see from my review I have had issues with it and I could believe the reason 02 gave for not carrying it, the phone had too many issues. However 02 have said they won't carry the N96 because they are worried about how it will effect iPhone sales. I suspect this is the reason they are not carrying the Samsung Omnia either and I wonder if it influenced the decision to drop Tocco. It's this mistake that will mean that I'll probably be leaving 02 within the next month.

If 02 can't offer me a full range of quality handsets at this time because of iPhone why should I think that this is going to change any time soon. What about when Nokia release their first Touchscreen phone, at the moment called the Tube? I'm guessing we're not going to see it either. I don't want an iPhone. It's still not up to the standard of phone that I use and moving from N95 to iPhone feels like a downgrade. For those people who are feeling the same then I'm afraid 02 is not an option any longer.

Labels: 02, iPhone, N95, N96, Samsung Omnia, Samsung Tocco

Tuesday, 15 July 2008

N95 v iPod Touch Apps

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So far virtually all the apps I have for the iPod Touch are available for the N95 in some form which is just as good. The applications were one of the major reasons, if not the major reason, why I was considering the iPhone but with virtually every major newspaper having a mobile version, every major email provider having mobile access and most major blogging services having a mobile interface or an application that gives a mobile interface then what exactly sets iphone apart?

I'm looking at moving to the N96 and if the developers deliver to that platform in anything close to the way they've tried to deliver to the iPhone then Nokia could have a massive winner on it's hand. Better camera, better reception, ability to change the battery, Java platform and therefore more welcoming to developers along with.....get this....Multimedia Messaging! The N96 is the better phone and it's the one I'll have in a months time.

Labels: iPhone, iPod Touch, N95, N96, Nokia

Thursday, 2 October 2008

Nokia's First Touch Phone Launched

Sunday, 28 September 2008

Huge Upcoming Month For Tech

Saturday, 6 September 2008

02 are making a mistake! (Updated)

Tuesday, 15 July 2008

N95 v iPod Touch Apps

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