Posts Tagged ‘N97’

Nokia N97 – worth a second look?

We already took a pretty in-depth look at the Nokia N97, the handset maker’s then flagship and much anticipated touch screen phone.

We loved the form-factor, were less impressed with the UI of Symbian S60 5th edition and thought the keyboard could be better. But it never does any harm to get a second opinion, especially after a major software update or two.

That’s exactly what David Gilson gives us over at All About Symbian, a site that we’re big fans of (see side bar for others). And if you hadn’t noticed, David’s now a regular contributor to last100, so it goes without saying, he’s a source I trust.

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Palm Pre to launch on O2 in the UK, just don't mention the competition

It’s now official: The Palm Pre will launch exclusively on Telefonica-owned O2 here in the UK.

When?

“In time for the holidays”, say Palm and O2, with no word yet on pricing. My guess is that we’re talking early October, enough time to ramp up for Christmas spending.

Either way, it’s a pretty long time to wait, especially since O2 will have been busy pimping its other flagship exclusive. Apple’s newly launched iPhone 3GS.

And then there’s the rest of the competition.

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More hands-on impressions of the Nokia N97 [full review]

n97-smallHaving only had around 10 minutes hands-on time with Nokia’s new flagship mobile phone, the N97, at a recent press event in London in which my initial impressions were largely positive, I was really keen to source a loan unit for some quality time with the device. Thanks to Nokia’s PR reps in the UK, I did just that, taking delivery of an N97 on Friday. There is of course a world of difference between living with a phone for any meaningful length of time and having a quick play at a press event or trade show. And after 3 days of ‘real world’ use, I’ll offer up the first mea culpa: the keyboard isn’t nearly as good as I’d first reported (see below). Read on for a more in-depth review of the Nokia N97…

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Hands-on impressions of Nokia's N97 [video]

Nokia's N97 flagship phone

Nokia's N97 flagship phone

I’ve been pretty excited ever since Nokia announced it’s soon-to-be-released Nokia N97 all the way back in December. However, it wasn’t till earlier this week that I was actually able to get my hands-on the company’s new flagship device courtesy of Nokia Design Day, an all day press event held at Nokia’s design offices in London. I got to spend about ten minutes playing with the N97 and overall I was very pleased with the device, both hardware build and looks, along with the newly revamped touch UI based on Symbian S60 5th edition. Overall, Nokia appears to have provided exactly what I and many users have been calling for: a phone with the Nseries media production and playback features combined with an Eseries-style QWERTY keyboard and build quality.

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A glimpse into the Nokia N97's Facebook app (screen shots)

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Six months prior to its scheduled release, influential tech blogger Robert Scoble dubbed Nokia’s upcoming N97 the “ultimate Facebook phone“. And as impressive as the device promises to be, that seemed just a tad premature, especially as the handset maker was reportedly still working out how deeply it should integrate a rival’s web service into its flagship phone. The competition wasn’t going to stand still either.

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Palm Pre aiming to be THE Facebook phone – social networking still mobile's killer app

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(Credit: Jamie Gonzalez via twitpic)

I’ve written many times before that social networking, and Facebook in particular, is the killer application for mobile phones. It’s what’s driving take up of mobile data and the adoption of higher end so-called smartphones. The mobile networks have taken notice and jumped on the social networking bandwagon, heavily promoting access to Facebook as a key feature, and handset makers are doing the same.

RIM has been targeting consumers with an ad campaign that features the Blackberry’s Facebook application.

Ditto Apple with the iPhone.

And there’s INQ, a new entrant whose first device, the INQ1, has been dubbed ‘the Facebook phone‘ based on its deep integration with the social networking site.

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Who has the most to fear from Palm's "New-ness"?

Pandora CTO Tom Conrad put it best: “I can’t think of much that’s harder in the world than building a modern, mobile operating system and integrating it with a fantastic piece of hardware”, he tells Palm Info Center.

We see companies take a swing and miss at this time after time – I really think Palm has hit a home run on this one.”

And Conrad should know.

Not only has his company ported its music streaming and discovery service to over 40 different handsets, “everything from J2ME and Windows Mobile to the iPhone”, but Pandora was also chosen by Palm to get an early hands-on peak at the webOS and Pre and begin bringing their app over to the company’s new platform.

At the same time, Conrad rightfully reminds us that Palm is still very much the underdog. Of course, underdogs should rarely be underestimated.

On that note, who should have the most to fear from Palm’s “New-ness”?

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Nokia N97 – I want one already

Let me get this out of the way first. I want one of these things.

I’m talking about the upcoming Nokia N97, which the Finnish handset maker unveiled this morning at its annual shindig, Nokia World, in Barcelona. For a long time now Nokia has been telling consumers not to think of its Nseries line of smartphones as phones at all. Instead, they’re ‘multimedia computers’, says the company. With today’s introduction of the N97, a device that’s designed to not only compete hard against consumer-friendly smartphones from the likes of Apple, HTC and RIM but also has a bit of the Netbook appeal in its sights, that pitch is sounding a lot less lofty.

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