Nokia news, reviews

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The Nokia Phone Blog’s latest featured article goes over how to get a nice hefty discount on your monthly wireless bill - courtesy of wireless carriers’ “Premier” or “Business” discounts.

How does it work? Basically, if you’re a student, former student, or employee of almost any school or semi-large company, you’ll qualify. The only requirement is an email address with the company/school domain (for example, blah@att.com would qualify you for the AT&T discount, which by some accounts is as large as 60%).

This applies to AT&T/Cingular and Verizon.

Read more about: Wireless Bill Discounts at the Nokia Phone Blog

Description
The Nokia 6288 is a 3G slider with a 2 mega pixel main camera, stylish, contemporary design with feature packed portability, Nokia 6288, slides into your pocket. Glossy surface, cool colours and the slide concept can dazzle anybody. With integrated cameras, video facilities and music player to revel any occasion, the handset also boasts of high-speed connectivity. Java applications, expandable memory coupled with latest in messaging. An upgrade version of Nokia 6280, this handset is just the same as the latter in every regard, except for a few cosmetic and technological changes.

Features
Nokia 6288 is a 3G capable device that can be taken to any part of the world, thanks to the Tri-Band GSM network and the support of features as EDGE and GPRS. Connectivity is through a Bluetooth .This device allows Internet connectivity and e-mailing at a very fast pace. Also this mobile phone facilitates over the air downloading at a very high speed.

This Nokia 6288 is a powerful business tool as it allows an access to your corporate data in SMTP, POP3, IMAP4, APOP protocols. In this way, you are able to take your work outside your office. The memory in this gadget is sufficient as it comes bundled with a 512 MB data card in its retail pack. Plus with the help of hot swap data cards, you can save as much data as you want to, in this mobile phone.

The camera in Nokia 6288 is a powerful 2 Mega Pixels with flash that gives you the best photographic experience. Since it is a 3G device, so it also enables video calling through its VGA resolution secondary camera. The MP3 player of Nokia 6288 gives you a great audio quality and it can play music in MP3/AAC/M4A/eAAC+ file formats. Also, its FM radio makes sure that it keeps you informed about the latest happenings around the world.

The phone sports Nokia’s video sharing application, which allows you to capture your surroundings with the camera, transmit that video in real-time to someone you’re on the phone with, and then end the video sharing session without needing to hang up. The 6288 can also handle video ring tones, and the ability to chuck in a miniSD card of up to 2GB capacity means you can save a whole lot of clips.

Specifications
Specifications include; Network: UMTS / GSM 900 / GSM 1800 / GSM 1900, dimensions: 100 x 46 x 21 mm, Weight: 115 g, Camera: 2 MP, 1600×1200 pixels, VGA video, flash, secondary video call VGA camera, Display: Type: TFT, 256K colors, Size: 240 x 320 pixels, 35 x 45 mm, Memory: Card slot: miniSD, 5 MB internal memory GPRS Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 - 48 kbps , EDGE Class 10, 236.8 kbps, 3G, 384 kbps, Bluetooth, v2.0, Infrared port, USB, v2.0, Pop-Port, Messaging: SMS, MMS, Email, Instant Messaging ,Browser: WAP 2.0/xHTML, Battery: Standard battery, Li-Ion Stand-by: Up to 250 h, Talk time: Up to 4 h.

Conclusion
Nokia 6288 is a highly user friendly business device that not only gives you the best features but it also adds to your style with its good looks. This phone is highly recommended to all GSM users who don’t require a smartphone or anything more than a good feature phone. This phone can surely please users who want a high mega pixel camera, high resolution display and all the basic functions that work fast, accurately and solidly. It’s one of the best feature phones available today, beat to the punch only from some higher-end smartphones.

At a convention in India, Nokia announced several new handsets aimed at the emerging market. Among them are the 1650 and 2660 models.

The Nokia 1650 is your standard budget mobile phone - no bells and whistles except for a flashlight and FM radio.

Meanwhile, the Nokia 2660 follows the same path with a flip phone form factor. Although there are a couple redeeming features - among them Bluetooth, GPRS, and a loudspeaker.

Read more about these models.

Description
The Nokia 6110 Navigator is a 3G slider phone which features HSDPA and onboard GPS navigation capabilities. The navigation-enabled mobile phone designed for the mass market. The Nokia 6110 Navigator brings together GPS (Global Positioning System) and AGPS (Assisted Global Positioning System) functionality with always-on mobile connectivity.

Features
The Nokia 6110 Navigator is a GSM/WCDMA dual mode hand portable phone supporting EGSM 850/900/1800/1900 and WCDMA 2100 HSDPA. Find your way by car or foot with instant & easy to use fully integrated GPS Navigation solution. Voice guidance and maps with turn arrows help you find the fastest way to your destination. The Nokia 6110 Navigator also supports video calls with two integrated cameras. The Nokia 6110 Navigation has a large 2.2??™??™ QVGA (240 x 320 pixels) TFT color display and an integrated 2 Mega pixel camera with digital zoom and integrated LED flash and features support for MMS 1.2, web browsing and Bluetooth 2.0 stereo headsets. Navigation system and local maps pre-installed on the memory card .You can use turn-by-turn voice-guided navigation directly from the Nokia 6110 Navigator. Access maps and location information quickly and easily with the dedicated Navigator key .The phone can download maps quickly and surf the web via high-speed 3.5G.View maps, navigation guidance, and location information clearly on the 2.2-inch QVGA TFT color screen. Take snapshots of places using the 2.0-megapixel camera with panoramic mode. The device Keep images crystal clear with the sliding lens protector. Listen to text messages and email read aloud with Message Reader, with quick access from the My Own.

Specifications
Detailed specifications of the Nokia 6110 Navigator include: Connectivity,WCDMA 2100 HSDPA and dual transfer mode (DTM) GSM/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900, High speed downlink packet access (HSDPA) up to 3.6Mbps (3.5G), GPRS/EGPRS class B, multi-slot class 32, Speech codec support for NB-AMR, AMR, FR, and EFR, Display: Large, bright 2.2″ QVGA (320 x 240 pixels) color display with an active area of 33.48 x 44.64 mm and support for up to 16 million colors, Light sensor for optimizing display and keypad brightness and power consumption ,Operating system: Symbian Series 60 release 3.1 , Imaging: 2-megapixel camera (image resolution 1600 x 1200) with 4x digital zoom, integrated camera flash, Messaging: SMS text messaging MMS OMA (Open Mobile Alliance) 1.2 ,Memory:40 MB of user memory, Hot swappable microSD memory card support up to 2 GB of extra storage Wireless features: Bluetooth wireless technology 2.0 with enhanced data rate (EDR) specification , Talk time: Up to 3.5 hours talk time, 11 days standby.

Conclusion
The Nokia 6110 Navigator is aimed specifically towards the navigation market. Consumers can view their current location on the map, search for destinations, find specific routes, or locate services such as restaurants, hotels or shops that are nearby. The Nokia 6110 Navigator is an ideal tool for 3G multimedia, enabling real-time video sharing and video calls, as well as a 2.0-megapixel camera with a dedicated capture key, panorama mode, and integrated flash. For extra protection, the camera lens is covered by a protection slide, keeping the images crystal clear.

Description
The Nokia 5500 Sport features a shockproof and splash-proof casing, and is targeted at the more active consumer. Measuring 107mm x 45mm x 18mm and weighing 103g, it is a compact handset and one of the smallest phones on the market running the S60 OS.
The Nokia 5500 Sport hardware has been designed to be impact, water and dust resistant and the casing is a mix of metal edging and rubber with no holes into which dust or water could get.

Features and specifications
The Nokia 5500 Sport is tri-band and features Bluetooth and infrared built in. It is small and light ??“ 103g and 107 x 45 x 18mm. The standard version, which I had, comes with a rather measly 64MB microSD card which, in the interests of dust and water resistance lives under the battery. Inserting it is a must as it has some good extra software on board. There is a Music version of this handset which ships with a 512MB card.
The display is a 256k color screen with a resolution of 208 x 208 pixels, which seems quite small. However, the display is bright and clear with a good viewing angle. Importantly, it also performs well in direct sunlight; ideal for people who may be outside in the sun.
The 5500 Sport music player offers quite a few audio settings as well. Five preset equalizer settings, balance and reverb adjustment, stereo widening and bass boost are all available. The tapping function also works during a workout in sports mode; simply tap the keypad twice to receive voice alerts on your work out progress. Also, by tapping the keypad twice within 30 seconds of receiving an SMS, the 5500 will read out newly received messages and the word recognition still does a fairly notable job.
The 2MP camera on the 5500 Sport is adequate for the occasional photo, but not for much more. Video can be recorded with sound in QCIF (144 X 176 pixels) resolutions but the sound quality is poor. Photos can be saved to the 5500??™s 10MB of built-in memory, or to a microSD card located in the slot beneath the battery.
A 64MB microSD card is included, and this stores the languages and voices required for the text-to speech functions. If you want to use a larger capacity card you??™ll need to copy across this data before swapping. A USB cable is included in the sales package, along with an adapter which allows you to use a standard set of 3.5mm headphones. This also doubles as a hands free kit and controls for music playback.
As the 5500 Sport uses a smart phone interface, there are plenty of PIM functions as well including calculator, notebook, world clock, converter and file manager.
The biggest drawback of the 5500 Sport is battery life; the phone is rated at between two and four hours of talk time and 150 to 240 hours of standby time. If you regularly use the sport and music features (as the phone is designed to be used) then you??™ll have to recharge the phone every night, which is far from ideal.

Conclusion
The Nokia 5500 is the first truly durable and portable smartphone, but that durability inevitably brings certain restrictions with it.This is a decent smartphone in its own right and it’s better than anything from previous smartphone generations, but obviously it has to be compared to other brand new models as well. The 5500 has been largely designed to work around you, rather than begging for your direct attention, and in this field it’s absolutely great.

Got $1350 bucks? Go buy yourself a brand spanking new Nokia 8800 Sirocco Gold phone. The latest in the 8800 series (and the second Sirocco phone), the Sirocco Gold is meant to look hot, expensive, and oh so luxurious.

The casing is made of 18-carat gold - like you couldn’t figure that out yourself.

Check out the Nokia 8800 Sirocco Gold Preview at the Nokia Phone Blog

Description
The Nokia N95 is an impressive device, and one that is set to become the top high end smart phone. What impresses about the N95 is that so many features have been packed into a relatively small device. Within a device little bigger than the N73 is a 5 mega pixel camera (with VGA video capture too), connectivity options galore (USB, Infrared, Bluetooth, GSM, WCDMA, HSDPA and WLAN), integrated GPS, 150MB of internal memory (expandable via a microSD slot), and a feature packed and application laden software platform - S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 1. But what’s it really like to use? Here are some first impressions.

Features
The N95 has Carl Zeiss optics on its 5 mega pixel camera, allowing users to capture print-quality photos and DVD-like quality video clips. These can either be played on its 2.6-inch QVGA display or on a compatible television thanks to the device’s TV-out feature and support for Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) technology. This smart phone??™s two-way slider makes it easy to switch between different modes. A numeric keypad slides out from the bottom of the N95, while dedicated media keys slide out from the top, converting the display into full screen landscape mode. This landscape mode uses a different launcher than the rest of the system and allows you to use the device in a landscape mode for viewing pages on Nokia’s impressive web browser (Web Browser 2.0), or playing music and video through the included multimedia applications. The N95 is a quad-band GSM/GPRS phone with support for EDGE, WCDMA, and HSDPA networks. It also has Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.0. A GPS receiver, built-in stereo speakers, and a miniSD card slot round out this model.The N95 is Nokia’s first HSDPA (3.5G) device, but also boasts Wi-Fi, WCDMA, quad-band GSM, Bluetooth (including A2DP), IrDA and USB 2.0 connectivity (via mini USB connector). Other hardware features include a 5 mega pixel camera, a built in GPS, TV-Out, 3.5mm audio jack, FM Radio, a MicroSD memory card slot and 150MB of internal memory.

Specifications
Integrated GPS system,5 Mega pixel (2592 x 1944) digital camera with Flickr support, Carl Zeiss Optics, auto focus & digital zoom , Video recording at near DVD quality - 640 x 480 at 30 fps, Wi-Fi 802.11b/g with WPA2, WPA , HSDPA (3.5G) - 3.6 MBit/s download speed, Quad band GSM / GPRS / EDGE: GSM 850, GSM 900, GSM 1800, GSM 1900, Single band UMTS / HSDPA: W-CDMA 2100, 2.6-inch QVGA (320×240) 16 million colour screen ,microSD memory card slot ,160MB of internal memory, 3.5 mm audio jack, Music Player supports MP3, WMA, RealAudio, SP-MIDI, AAC+, eAAC+, MIDI, AMR, M4A, True Tones , Stereo speakers, Mono microphone, A2DP wireless stereo headphone support, Stereo FM Radio and Visual Radio, USB 2.0 via mini USB port , UPnP , Bluetooth v2.0 full speed , Fully hardware accelerated PowerVR 3D graphics from Imagination Technologies (including OpenGL ES 1.1 and M3G, see JBenchmark) , May include FOTA (”Firmware over the air” update ability) , Push to Talk over Cellular (PoC). Voice recorder, Dimensions; 99 x 53 x 21 mm, Weight 120 g, Volume 90 cc.

Conclusion
The quad-band N95 gets very good reception.. The earpiece isn’t all that loud, but it’s clear, with subtle and pleasant in-ear feedback. Transmission is very good, too, with good blocking of background noise; it can sound a little tinny in noisy situations, but its fine at other times. The speakerphone uses the N95’s powerful stereo speakers, an effective combo. The handset worked well with the Plantronics Bluetooth headsets I use for testing. That said, the N95 uses Nokia’s somewhat perplexing voice-dialing system, which isn’t as easy to operate as the Voice Signal and Nuance systems you find on other phones. Sure, the N95 is a perfectly fine phone, but that’s not why it’s so expensive.

I’ve written a handy guide that spells out exactly how to do a firmware update from the stock Nokia N80 to the N80 Internet Edition. The tutorial also covers what to do if you’re using a branded N80 or you’d like to change the region code on your phone.

Check out the entire N80 to N80ie tutorial here.

Description
This smartphone sports the usual long list of features found in Nokia’s Nseries phones, in a super-thin clamshell form factor. Key features include S60 smartphone OS, full web browser, large QVGA main display, 2 mega pixel camera, Bluetooth, a memory card slot, and Flash Lite 2The Nokia N76 comes with a 2.4 inch display with QVGA resolution. The phone is in direct competition with the Motorola RAZR V3i and V3x. The N76 carries a 2 megapixel camera and a microSD card slot. The phone supports Quadband GSM networks and comes with data connectivity features like EDGE, GPRS, and 3G. There is also bluetooth V2.0 for data transfer. The N76 has media buttons on the outside, so it??™s very convenient to change music tracks while on the move.

Features
The Nokia N76 is a slim and stylish folding portable multimedia computer supporting WCDMA 2100/EGSM 850/900/1800/1900 or EGSM 850/900/1800/1900 for some regions. Take pictures with the 2 megapixel camera or play music without opening the phone using dedicated media keys and the external (128 x 160 pixels) 262k color display. Enjoy videos and graphics with crystal clarity on the 2.4??? QVGA (240 x 320 pixels) 16M color main display in portrait or landscape mode and listen to music using stereo headphones with the built-in 3.5mm headphone jack. The Nokia N76 also features Java MIDP 2.0 support with additional Java API??™s, USB 2.0, Bluetooth 2.0 and MicroSD memory card support. It is extremely thin and surprisingly light for a 3G handset, measuring 106.5mm by 52mm by 13.7mm and weighing a mere 115 grams. Dedicated music keys on the front of the clamshell sit below the external LCD display, which acts as a camera viewfinder or music browser when in use, but looks like a mirror when the phone is idle. Power-saving LEDs above the screen indicate the phone is switched on.

A microSD card slot on side of the N76 supports memory cards up to 2GB. There is a photo shortcut key that works even when the clamshell is closed; opening the flip after taking a photo launches the media gallery, allowing you to view the captured image on the 2.4-inch screen. The impressive display supports 16 million colours and looks fantastic. Like the N73, the N76 can upload pictures taken with its 2-megapixel camera directly to Flickr.The S60 operating system with version 3.1 of the user interface allows you to view common e-mail attachments, such as Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint files.

Specifications
Symbian OS Version: v9.1 , User Interface: S60 3rd Edition , Operating Frequency: Dual-mode: WCDMA2100/EGSM850/900/1800/1900 MHz or EDGE only: EGSM850/900/1800/1900 MHz , Email Protocols: E-mail (SMTP, IMAP4, POP3), MMS, SMS , Width: 52 mm, Length: 106.5 mm, Weight: 115 g, Display: large bright 2.4 inch QVGA (240 x 320 pixels) TFT, Color Depth: 16 million colours , Number of Cameras: 1 , Camera Pixels: Sensor: CMOS, 2 mega pixel (1600×1200 pixels), Music Player: Digital music player: supports MP3/AAC/eAAC/eAAC+/WMA with play lists and equalizer , Music (AAC): up to 750 tracks , Browsing: HTML over TCP/IP, S60 OSS Browser, WAP 2.0,XHTML over TCP/IP , Connectivy: Mini-USB with USB 2.0 full speed ( up to 12Mbits/second ), Bluetooth wireless technology 2.0 ( up to 3Mbits/second ), Memory: Up to 20 megabytes internal user memory , microSD memory card support (hot swappable), Approx. memory capacity indication with 1GB microSD card.

Conclusion
The Nokia N76 isn’t a bad device by any means, but it’s a fashion victim. Nokia have released this just as the interest in RAZR-style handsets in slumping, and there’s nothing particularly outstanding in the technical specification to make it interesting. What’s worse is that the N76 has almost exactly the same basic specifications as the cheaper Nokia 6290 - although the N76 has a slightly larger screen and more bundled applications, but the 6290 has a longer battery life).The feature set is impressive, though not groundbreaking, except for the VGA recording, which looks especially sharp on the phone.

Source (full article in new window): www.palmphone.com