Smart Phones of today

Though word leaked about two new N-series models, Nokia yesterday officially announced a total of three new phones: the Nokia N96, Nokia N85, and Nokia N79. All these three Symbian smartphones offer high-end multimedia features.

1. Nokia N96:

As I stated in my previous post The N96 is a high-end multimedia device with a whopping 16GB of internal memory, which is extendible to 24GB through a microSD card. The phone is equipped with a 5MP camera and can record videos at up to 30 frames per second. Besides an integrated music player, it has a stereo FM radio and 3.5mm headphone jack.

Among other features, there?s Wi-Fi, integrated Bluetooth and A-GPS. The Nokia N96 will cost around $750 to $800.Nokia N85

2. Nokia N85:

The N85 looks similar to the N81 but comes with a 2.6-inch OLED screen instead of a QVGA display. The phone is optimized for gaming and will come preloaded with 10 N-Gage games. It also gives you the ability to use the combination of integrated GPS and the 5-megapixel camera to geotag photos. The handset also has Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.0, and 3G and will cost around $600 to $650.

3.Nokia N79:

This handset has an interesting design twist as it comes with a total of three interchangeable Xpress-on smart covers: white, red and espresso brown. On the back of the covers, there exists a sensor that will automatically change the phone?s wallpaper once you attach the plate. The orientation also changes automatically from wide to tall formats using a built-in orientation sensor. The N79 has multimedia features similar to the two previous devices. It comes with 50MB of internal memory and is likely to have a price tag of around $500 to $550.

All these three phone are expected to ship in Q4. They will be sold as unlocked phones.

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Nokia today announced that their ?multimedia computer?, the Nokia N96, will be made available for high-speed 3G HSDPA networks widely used in the Americas during the fourth quarter of 2008.

The devices has a large 2.8 inch screen, 16 gigabytes of internal memory and compatibility with a wide range of video formats.

The phone will support video download services, including those using Windows Media format allowing N96 owners to explore, purchase and download their movies, television shows and other video content on their PCs and sideload them to their devices to watch at their convenience.

The internal 16 gigabytes of memory, and expandable memory card slot, allows up to 40 hours of video content to be stored on the Nokia N96. Additionally, the built in ?kick stand? allows the Nokia N96 to be supported handsfree at an optimal viewing angle to ensure enjoyment of video content.

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Nokia N96 smartphone will be available across the UK starting the 1st of October.

According to Pocket-lint, the smartphone will be on sale via four British operators (T-Mobile, Vodafone, Orange and 3) as well as via two retailers (Phones4U and Carphone Warehouse), for a price of around 550 Euros. Of course, the four mentioned carriers will also offer the N96 on contract, hence for much less than 430 GBP.

First unveiled back in February, the N96 high-end handset seems to be the best Nokia handset ever.

Measuring 103 x 55 x 18 millimeters, the smartphone brings the following features: quad-band GSM and dual-band HSDPA connectivity, Symbian 9.3 S60 3.2 Edition, a 2.8 inch TFT display with 240 x 320 pixels and 16 million colors, a 5 Megapixel camera with Carl auto focus, Zeiss optics, flash and video recording, 16GB of internal memory (expandable up to 24GB), GPS and A-GPS, Wi-Fi, Music and Video players, a 3.5mm headset jack, DVB-H TV, TV out, FM radio with RDS, Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP, full HTML browser, email, document viewer, accelerometer and a battery that can offer up to 3.6 hours of talk-time or up to 220 hours of stand-by time.

No details about when the N96 will be available in other markets except the UK

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Back in 2007 if you were looking for a super smart phone, then I wouldn?t have been surprised if the Nokia N95 was one of the top ones on your list. So when news broke from Nokia that the Nokia N96 was being released next month, I just couldn?t wait to see whether this was a worthy contender to be added to our short list for the must-have smart phones for 2008. Face value, this slider smart phone has all the latest mobile technologies which you?d expect from a smartphone. With 16GB of internal memory, GPS for geo tagging your pics, 3G HSDPA technology for a fast highly efficient mobile device you?d be hard pressed to find many faults in this phone. And for those of you who like your phone to look good, it even has a new stylish glossy black finish.

The Nokia N96 is due to go on sale in August, and is one of the most anticipated mobile phone launches since the Apple Iphone 3G. The Nokia N96 has similar features to the hugely popular Nokia N95, but with a much more user friendly platform. The Nokia N96 is not designed as a replacement for the N95, instead it is aimed to bring you all the good parts from the Nokia N95 along with more multimedia capabilities like video and mobile TV.

The Nokia N96 features a large 2.8? QVGA screen, which can display up to 16 million colours with a resolution of 249 x320. Storage comes at 16GB of internal flash memory similar to that of the iPhone, but the Nokia N96 also features a microSD card slot for expansion. It can store up to 40 hours of video or around 12,000 songs on its built in 16GB memory, which is pretty impressive.

The Nokia N96 has a built in 5 megapixel Zoom-is-the-New-Megapixel May-07 camera with a Carl Zeiss lens and comes with auto exposure and auto focus, which ensures you get the most out of the camera, there is also a dual LED flash, which can even be used to provide full illumination whilst in video mode. There is also the option to adjust the colour tone, white balance, self timing settings and even the flash, and it also features anti shake technology. There is also built in Geo Tagging from the Nokia N96?s built in GPS unit.

The N96 also has DPS and video acceleration chips built in, which ensure much smoother video recording and playback, and it can record video at 30fps, and supports a variety of file formats including Flash video, H.264 and WMV.

This quad band mobile also supports dual band WCDMA, HSDPA and Wi-Fi, and there is of course Bluetooth 2.0 support, USB and even UPnP which allows you to connect to a variety of UPnP home media devices like Hi-Fi and TV?s.

One thing I love about smart phones is their ability to include so many different standalone devices and the Nokia N96 definitely exceeds my expectations on this front. In addition to the camera, video camera, music player, GPS device and unlike it predecessor the N95, its biggest improvement, has to be its capacity. With a 16GB of internal flash memory and a microSD memory card slot with support for cards up to 8GB (so you could have 24GB of storage space just on your phone!!), this will mean that you?ll never run out of space for photos, music, and games.

Talking of photos, Nokia has updated the Share Online function which enables the N96 to automatically ?geo tag? your photos (ability to let you put markers on your photos based on location) and upload them to Flickr. Also, the built-in GPS receiver works with the new Nokia Maps 2.0, which comes preloaded on the N96. The camera is pretty much the same as the N95, however with a few more tweaking from the Nokia it now has a more more powerful flash.

Included also under its exterior is a digital TV tuner (a DVB-H) live broadcasting, however this won?t really be that useful in the UK until the digital switch over. It also comes with a little kick stand in the back so you can set it on a table top for your TV viewing pleasure and the speakers of the phone are cleverly designed in such a way that they are intended for landscape-oriented use. Nokia promises that you?ll be able to watch 40 hours of video using the internal storage alone, and of course, you?ll need to charge the battery.

It also has the dual-sliding function again just like the N95, as well as sporting a pair of gaming keys on an extra slide panel that can be used for N-Gage games. The Nokia N96 supports video recording, playback & streaming which can be displayed & viewed perfectly in the large high colour display. You can record footage which can be stored, edited, shared and deleted, or simply played back on the 2.8? QVGA screen for your viewing pleasure.

VERDICT:

All-in-all, the Nokia N96 is a great, feature packed mobile handset, that?s a BIG step forward from the old n95! with such things as mobile social networking (geo-tagging pics and uploading straight to Flickr) and high-speed full-function Internet browsing that few phones currently on the market are capable of competing with today. The things I?m concerned about, is the battery life and the flaky Symbian software on other NSeries Nokia?s. The 950 mAh battery in the Nokia N96 is the same as in N95, and we all remember the troubles the N95 had with battery life also the software problems have apparently also been fixed. However, that aside it certainly gets my vote as being on the shortlist for the must have smartphone of 2008, but whether I think it can go head to head with the likes of apples iphone 2.0 and the blackberry bold 9000 is another story. We’ll have to wait for it?s release next month to see?

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