I had to wait a very long time for the latest firmware for my N96 – people owning an US version had to wait even longer apparently.
symbian-freak reports that the firmware has just become available, and describes the update process in painstaking detail. Hit the link below for the full scoop:
http://www.symbian-freak.com/news/008/12/n96_nam_firmware_update_v12.htm
After having looked at the size of the E71, it’s now time to check out what they crammed into the box – keep in mind that we are looking at one of the smallest QWERTY smartphones currently on the market!
The front of the device is dominated by the QWERTY keyboard and the screen. A front camera is included for posterity:
Unfortunately, the keys have an extremely smooth surface and are way too cramped – people used to devices like a Treo will not consider this comfortable:
Like on the E61, the back of the E71 also is made up of a removable steel “lid”. Removing it reveals the SIM slot and the battery (BP-4L, 1500mAH):
Nokia equipped the device with a rear-facing 3.2MP camera with a stock focus lens and a small LED flash:
A red power button can be found at the top of the device:
Charging is accomplished via a standard Nokia jack at the bottom. Japanese readers will be happy to hear that the lanyard “dock” was not omitted either:
The Micro-USB port and MicroSD slot are covered by rubber lids – they feel significantly worse than the rigid ones used on the E63:
Looking at the left side of the device, we see an IR port, the data and memory card slots and one of the two buttons used for “ejecting” the backplane:
Volume buttons and a 2.5” headphone jack can be found on the right:
In the end, the Nokia E71 can not convert me from my Treo 680. Even though build quality is superb, the keyboard is way too annoying to be of practical use. Nokia saw the error of its ways and fixed it on the E63. Like many QWERTY devices, the hyped device is far away from excellence due to a botched design…if you can live with the specs of the E63, picking it over the E71 is a good idea
In case anyone of you has the skill to mock up a Widget for the N97’s home screen and feels like trying his luck, Nokia’s latest Widget competition could be ideal:
This competition does not require you to possess coding skills – instead, all you need to do is create a mock-up of a widget and upload it to the site. The best widget will then be produced by Nokia, and a N97 will be given to its designer.
While I am very suspicious of such competitions (carriers and manufacturers can and usually do abuse them to get free ideas), some of you might feel like taking a stab anyways…
Microsoft originally intended to give away a new beta of Windows 7 to the attendants of its PDC conference – unfortunately, the file is said to have leaked out into BitTorrent networks according to DownloadSquad.
ZDNet’s Adrian Kingsley-Hughes has taken the beta for a spin, and was pretty happy overall. His main point of grief was the newly-arranged Task bar, which he considers overloaded and difficult to use.
He generally was happy with the performance and stability of this early beta (!!!) – hit the link above for a few images!
Samsung’s 8MP INNOV8 currently has the best camera found in the S60 world – it is now well on its way to the United States of America.
A device dubbed i8510M has just passed the FCC, it includes support for AT&T’s 3G frequencies!
A recent Wall Street Journal report states that the US Christmas sale season didn’t go too well, with average losses of about 20% across all categories.
The electronics/appliances market was among the ones hit the worst; having to net a -27% loss on a year-to-year perspective. Online sales were the only sector which remained somewhat constant, with a Y2Y loss of about 2%:
Few retailers were counting on the holidays being robust when they placed conservative orders for merchandise last summer … By October, retail sales were declining faster than expected amid the steady drumbeat of bad economic news.
… Among the biggest losers were electronics and appliances, which fell a combined 26.7% versus a 2.7% gain last year. … E-commerce showed the most resilience, with online sales falling just 2%. …
Image: US Government: Dorothea Lange, via Wikimedia Commons
A recently-leaked presentation from Rogers (a major Canadian carrier) has revealed that a variety of Nokia handsets will be unleashed upon unsuspecting customers shortly:
As of now, nothing is known about pricing – stay tuned for news as we get them!
The ad shown on the left has just popped up on our sister site’s AdSense ad space – Nokia seems to be looking for developers to work on its Maemo platform aggressively.
Clicking the ad takes you to the page http://www.nokia.com/imaginemaemo, which is pictured below for posterity. 37 jobs are available all over the world as of this writing – this could provide some of you with highly interesting opportunities:
The text is highly interesting, too – it contains an announcement announcing QT for S60:
We aim to extend the platform’s capabilities as software for innovative communication and Internet devices; also by adding a Qt-based application development environment to complement the existing GTK+. Qt cross-platform technology already supports the Linux, Mac, and Windows CE platforms and shall in the future also support application development on Nokia Series 40, S60 on Symbian and the Linux-based maemo platform.
Nokia’s E71 is a QWERTY smartphone – while this makes typing a lot easier, it makes physical design a lot more difficult due to the width of the keyboard (which can never be big enough). How big is the E71? Read on to find out!
Palm’s Treo 680(/750/755p) is one of the most popular smartphone form factors. The E71 is a bit less wide, but a lot thinner:
HP’s ipaq 910 is new to the market. The E71 is a bit smaller and a bit thinner:
37xx-ipaq’s are considered classics nowadays. The box is a lot bigger:
Our baby ipaq (rx4240) is a bit less high, but thicker and wider:
Next, it was time for a comparison with a few multitap phones. Both flip phones (N71, QTek 8500) and the slider (E66) were smaller, but some where quite a bit thicker:
Finally, here’s a shoot-out next to an iPod touch:
In the end, the Nokia E71 is a surprisingly small QWERTY device. But: did usability suffer? Tune in soon to find out more!
Nokia has just added the CwM-enabled version of the device to its roster – it can be preordered now, orders are said to be fulfilled in January. The device costs 540 GPB – this equals 560 Euros or 792 USD.
Further information can be had here!
The device pictured on the left is rumored to be the first non-S60 and non-Symbian touchscreen device from Nokia. Dubbed the 6208 Classic by Unwired View, the boys claim the following specs:
As of now, little further information is available – stay tuned for news as we get them!
Apparently, I am no longer the only person developing a strong hatred against Nokia’s “oh-so-cool” navigation crapware which annoys the hell out of people who have just purchased a 700 Euro phone. Its permanent buy-this-buy-that crap is seriously going on my nerves…
Instead of fixing the program by making it less obnoxious, Nokia now tries to go the promotion route. They launched a huge ad campaign all over Austria, and have now begun to give away free 1-week trials:
In case anyone of you feels like a free trial, hit this link and enter your phone number…
Nokia’s E71 has turned into an obsession: most reviewers have rated it excellently. The Tamoggemon Publishing team is known to be indifferent to mass hysteria…how will the device fare in a TamsS60 torture test?
Nokia’s designers have put inspirational statements onto the case’s sleeve:
The case itself retains the weird boxing format found on the E66:
Power is supplied via a standard Nokia power plug. My box shipped with an UK wallwart – as international tips were absent, I had to resort to my N71’s power plug…
A white headset is included:
Don’t ask me why – Nokia included a white sleeve to protect the device in daily use:
Manual-wise, the Nokia E71 is well-equipped. A quickstart guide accompanies the main manual, along with a software CD:
Unfortunately, my sample did not include a data cable. As the E66 which came along contained two, I give WOMWorld the benefit of doubt and assume that the average E71 will ship with a MicroUSB cable…
In the end, the E71’s package misses one crucial ingredient for a business smartphone: international tips. Traveling executives would prefer these over the included case (which is a rarity nowadays) – if you don’t travel a lot, the E71’s accessory bundle will leave you more than happy!
It’s this part of the year again: while the rest of the world is running around celebrating and accepting usury cup deposits of more than 2 Euros per cup, yours truly is sitting in front of his MSI Wind U100, creating a reflection on the events of the year.
2008 should be known as the year when diversity died in the S60 marketplace. I don’t want to say that Symbian ever was too democratic a marketplace – but the end of the UIQ platform removed two of the five companies still actively creating Symbian hardware (Motorola and SE).
While developers will likely benefit from this decision in the future (just one code base), I am not sure if the marketplace will benefit too much. Hundreds of thousands of users are currently into UIQ devices, and are likely to switch platforms due to frustration. S60 touch (and S60 apps in general) are far from the maturity and the feature-richness of UIQ…I am afraid that this could pose a potential threat.
The events outlined above must be seen as part of a bigger picture: the foundation of the Symbian Foundation and the impeding release of the S60 code under an open-source license. This process brings up a plethora of new chances and challenges which have been covered extensively in the past.
From my point of view, the next two years will be extremely interesting for the Symbian world. Google’s Android OS is a highly potent competitor, and Nokia alone won’t cut it forever – if the folks fail to attract new licensees, a Palmesque ending could loom in the near future…
P.S. Similar thingies will pop up at our sister sites shortly. In case you are interested in my outlook on any of the platforms below, just hit the link and enjoy!
Palmary Christmas (about Palm OS) @ TamsPalm
PPC Christmas (about Windows Mobile PocketPC devices) @ TamsPPC
iMas (on iPhone and iPod touch stuff) @ TamsIJungle
ChristBerry (about BlackBerry devices) @ TamsBlackBerry
Nokia’s recent v12 update finally allowed N96 users to use Nokia Email (approximately one year after the device’s release) – as I am currently looking for a new mobile email client, I was thrilled to give it a pop. Before we get into the gory details, let me inform you that my email server is an industry-standard IMAP one with a few security tweaks by my excellent web host.
Hopeful as I was, I started the setup program (which is a separate application):
The folks at Nokia’s have apparently copied the “self-configuration” technology developed (and IMHO patented) by Blue Whale Systems, a company specialized on mobile email. Unfortunately, their product is better – as Nokia E-Mail dies after figuring out that it can not determine the server settings automatically:
Nokia E-Mail may be an excellent email client. Nevertheless, its practical usage potential is diminished by the lack of a possibility for entering settings manually – as long as Nokia does not implement this basic feature, there is little to set the program apart from BlackBerries…
