TamsS60 - the S60 Blog

The S60 news and opinion source

May 16th, 2008

Forum Nokia - User Experience portal launched

Developers currently working on S60 applications could find Nokia’s recently-launched User Interface portal interesting.

It contains a variety of articles on topics like UI design, power management(aka make your app draw less power), application quality and more.

Reading it is free(and there’s no registration required) - if you feel like it, just give them a click here:
http://www.forum.nokia.com/main/resources/user_experience/

May 12th, 2008

The Nokia N81 8GB review - camera

When looking at the Nokia N81 8GB, one immediately feels that one is looking at a media-centric handset due to the dedicated media buttons and 3-5″ headphone jack. Media-centric handsets usually have excellent cameras - can the N81 8GB stack up?

Hardware-wise, the camera remains on the level of the N71’s - 2MP, fix focus and a flash LED. Even though the camera software looks like the one found on higher-end models like the N82, the image quality still isn’t exactly high-end even on outdoor/daylight shots(click on the samples below for full-size):

As usual for LED phones, shots in the dark turn out really really bad:

Without flash, images aren’t too much better:

The phone has digital zoom - its effects on image quality IMHO don’t need to be explained:

In the end, the N81 8GB’s camera is a mayor disappointment - yes, the 2MP images are decent and all, but not what you expect from a highend phone…

Tune in soon for a look at the system software!

May 9th, 2008

Sony Ericsson Paris spotted

After having spit out a few images of the SE BeiBei, the rumor mill keeper has brought along these pictures of yet another UIQ handset from Sony Ericsson(bringing the total number of handsets up to four: G700, G900, BeiBei and Paris):

Anyways, the box seems to have a “dual-tap” keyboard and a 5.0MP camera in the back - further information is not available as of now…

May 9th, 2008

Nokia 6210 Navigator gets FCC certified

Reuters’s recent story about Nokia’s plans to “offer a lot of new phones” in the USA apparently wasn’t just talk - the company has now backed uü its claim by achieving FCC certification for their S60-powered 6210 Navigator.

Anyways, the device’s product page over at the FCC’s contains a few nice pictures and a draft of the manual in PDF format - people who don’t have a PDF viewer on their phone can always find one(or, at least, a free trial of one) in the TamsShop!

May 8th, 2008

Motorola Z8 goes Ferrari

Motorola really seems to believe in its non-touchscreen UIQ phones - after rehashing the Z8 for Korean markets(Motorola Z8m), the Z8’s corpse got yet another adrenaline injection ans was transformed into a Ferrari-branded phone that is said to retail for 600$:

I personally consider this a bit confusing, as the successor of the Z8 has been on the road for quite some time. Also, wasn’t Acer responsible for the creation of Ferrari devices so far(they had a few laptops and even a GPS PDA)?

P.S. The folks at JAMPB managed to snag up two videos of the box - give them a click for the full scoop.

May 8th, 2008

Nokia E66/E71 - real-world pics surface

The rumor mill keeps churning up more and more info about the Nokia E66/E71 every day - after giving us a possible release dance, the mill keeper now hands out in-the-wild snaps of the new boxen:

Engadget Mobile has a few more - give them a click for the full scoop!

May 7th, 2008

Nokia N96 video preview

Cellulare-Magazine.it have managed to get their hands on a prerelease prototype of the N96, and bring along a 10minute video covering all important aspects of the device.

The current ROM is pretty unstable as of now, but the keyboard is said to be excellent(the reviewer considers it much better than the keyboard found on the N81). The device is said to have 128MB of RAM and 256MB of ROM(without the 16GB of flash), which seems to be enough for heavy browsing with Opera Mini.

The double LED flash is said to be “excellent”; and is said to be almost comparable to the xenon flash found on other devices(although I didn’t get the idea about the flash consuming “memory”). The camera also is rated well…

Get the film over at NSeries blog:
http://talkaboutnseries.com/2008/05/06/a-preview-of-the-n96/

May 6th, 2008

Nokia E71 could be coming on May 8th

UnwiredView has claimed that the long.awaited successor of the E61/E61i is coming on the 8th of this month.

As little further information is currently available, please visit these posts from the past to get yourself updated on all thinks Nokia E71:
Original specs leak - all about the E71
Spy shots

May 6th, 2008

Next pic of upcoming BeiBei handset

The folks at Sony Ericsson Blog managed to get their hands on a person owning a prototype of the so-called BeiBei handset - and just released the following pictures:

As of now, little else is known about the device - stay tuned for further info.

P.S. Some sites have recently attempted to peddle photos of the G700/G900 as BeiBei shots. Please visit our gallery of G700/G900 pictures to avoid getting fooled!

May 3rd, 2008

The Nokia N81 8GB review - screen

For ages, Nokia’s n-series phones have been based on QVGA screens. The Nokia N81 8GB is no exception - can its screen stack up?

Here are a few shots next to a Treo 680:

The next victim came in the form of the rx4240:

Finally, the N81 faced its distant predecessor N71(on the right):

Weirdly, the N81 can not turn off its screen backlight completely - for me, this looks like we are looking at a TFT screen like the one found on the rx4240.

In the end, the N81’s display is a bit more reddish than the ones found on other devices. Whether you like the reddish cast or not is essentially a matter of taste - the age of screen bloopers seems to be gone for good…