Nokia Oro

   Nokia has announced two days ago a new Symbian Anna premium device. The price of this one will draw the attention as is made of 18-carat gold plating, a sapphire crystal and Scottish leather. Besides the expensive materials the phone has about the same hardware as other recently announced Nokia devices (like X7) as you can check below:

-- DISPLAY: 3.5 inches AMOLED capacitive touch 640 x 360 pixels screen, 16M colors, scratch resistant gorilla glass.

-- CPU:  ARM 11 680 MHz.

-- GPU:  Broadcomm BCM2727

-- MEMORY:  256 MB RAM, 512 ROM

-- STORAGE:  8GB for internal, microSD card slot up to 32GB.

-- CAMERA:  Primary - 8MP dual-led flash camera, video recording up to 720p.

-- CONNECTIVITY:  3G, HSDPA, HSUPA, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0 with A2DP, micro-USB port, 3.5 mm headphone jack, A-GPS.

-- SENSORS:  Accelerometer, Proximity, Digital Compass.

-- BATTERY:  Li-Po 1200 mAh

-- OS:  Symbian Anna

-- APPLICATIONS:  OVI apps, social networking, OVI Maps, Web TV widgets, Flash Lite 4, QuickOffice. 

   In terms of design the phone looks the same as C7. As Nokia mentions, this is clearly not made for common users but for someone who does not want to have a phone that looks like others. The price will be around 800 Euros - I was expecting to be higher given all the expensive materials. I am sure that will be bought by a lot of business people from Europe, Middle East, Russia, China in Q3 2011.

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Nokia C2-00

   Nokia has announced Yesterday two new dual-SIM devices: X1-01 and C2-00.The X1-01 has the same features as X1-00 which I mentioned here. The C series is known for low-cost devices and with only a 45 Euros price the C2 confirms again this trend. Most important capabilities are the Symbian Series 40 OS, VGA camera, web browsing and Nokia Messaging support. 

   An important detail is the dual-SIM slots. One SIM card is stored inside the phone while the second one can be changed quickly from the side. Nokia mentioned that they have designed it like this for people who are using more than two SIM cards or if the phone is used by members of the family. One last feature is the SD card slot which can take up to 32 GB of storage.

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Microsoft Windows Phone 7 Mango

   Today Microsoft have announced their new updates to the Windows Phone 7 and the new version was called Mango. As there were rumors a few days back, it appears that 500 new features have been implemented. Not all were made public at the press conference but we should see the rest in the next period. 

   First important updates are regarding the communications. The Mango has an organizer for social networking applications. User will be able to chat on Facebook, Windows Live Messenger and SMS in the same time or switch fast between these. Contacts can now be grouped into personalized live tiles; have Twitter, Linkedin feeds integrated. Also Facebook comes with check-in service and face detection software. There are good news for email too because you can link multiple accounts in a single Inbox now. Final communication update brings voice-to-text and text-to-voice capability for a hands free SMS or chat.

   Next is the Applications approach with Windows Hub. Applications are grouped in one place and can be opened where and when are needed. To most expected feature is the multitasking witch has finally arrived on Mango. Now users can open several applications and can leave a few to run in background to save battery life and performance.

   The internet navigation has been improved with Internet Explorer 9. And is the mobile version based on the PC version, but has full hardware acceleration and HTML 5 support. With the Local Scout option you can now receive search results based on current location with shopping and social activities recommendations. Bing is the default search engine for web and with Quick Cards you can have a relevant information summary of a product, place, movie or event.

   At the end Microsoft have announced new hardware partners which will release new Windows phones. These are Acer, Fujitsu, ZTE and are added to the ones that are already have windows phones: Samsung, LG Mobile and HTC. Of course the new strategic partnership with Nokia was mentioned. I remember that HTC promoted Android and Android promoted HTC in the world about 2-3 years ago and this continues Today. I believe the same thing may happen with Nokia and Microsoft - it`s something like help me help you situation.

   In the end, it appears to me that Windows Phone has now caught Android from behind and can have a fair battle now in the mobile OS market.

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HTC Sensation - A closer look video

Motorola XOOM - In the room video

Sony Ericsson Xperia Minis - pictures

Sony Ericsson Xperia Minis

   Sony Ericsson has announced Yesterday their latest products from the Xperia Mini series. The new Xperia Mini and Xperia Mini Pro are almost the same Android phone except the QWERTY keyboard and the secondary front camera on the Pro version. The design reminds of the new  devices recently announced and released on market starting with Xperia Arc. The most important specification are below:

-- DISPLAY: 3 inches TFT capacitive multi-touch 320 x 480 pixels screen, scratch resistant mineral glass.

-- CPU:  1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon.

-- MEMORY:  512 MB RAM.

-- STORAGE:  320 MB for internal, microSD card slot up to 32GB.

-- CAMERA:  Primary - 5MP led flash camera, HD video recording up to 720p.

Secondary - VGA, video call, video chat (for Xperia Mini Pro only).

-- CONNECTIVITY:  3G, HSDPA, HSUPA, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, micro-USB port, 3.5 mm headphone jack, A-GPS, DLNA.

-- MULTIMEDIA:  PlayNow, TrackID, xLoud, Sony Mobile Bravia Engine, Handwriting recognition (Pro version only).

-- SENSORS:  Accelerometer, Proximity, Digital Compass.

-- BATTERY:  Li-Po 1200 mAh

-- OS:  Android 2.3 Gingerbread, Sony Ericsson Timescape UI.

-- APPLICATIONS:  Google Apps, NeoReader, social apps, Skype (Pro version only).

   As you can see from the technical details the two small Xperias have some premium features - like scratch resistant glass and are the smallest Android phones with Mobile Bravia Engine from Sony. These two devices are versatile and compact smartphones with great design and many features. A new important detail is that with the new Timescape user interface you can add up to 16 applications shortcuts in the 4 corners of the home screen.

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BlackBerry Bold 9900 - pictures

BlackBerry Bold 9900/9930

   Blackberry has announced Today their latest premium smartphone. The new Bold 9900 version has the usual RIM design for QWERTY keyboard phones, but is the thinnest and most powerful Blackberry so far and the screen is a touch one - a first for the Bold line. On the sides has a stainless steel frame which works great with the high-gloss glass-wave backplate. The main technical specifications are below:

-- DISPLAY: 2.8 inches TFT capacitive touch 640 x 480 pixels screen, 287 dpi resolution with Liquid Graphics.

-- CPU:  1.2 GHz.

-- MEMORY:  768 MB RAM.

-- STORAGE:  8GB for internal, microSD card slot up to 32GB.

-- CAMERA:  Primary - 5MP led flash camera, HD video recording up to 720p.

-- CONNECTIVITY:  3G, HSDPA, HSUPA, (CDMA, EV-DO for 9930 version) Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1 with EDR, micro-USB port, 3.5 mm headphone jack, A-GPS, NFC.

-- SENSORS:  Accelerometer, Proximity, Digital Compass.

-- BATTERY:  Li-Po 1230 mAh

-- OS:  Blackberry OS 7, HTML 5.

-- APPLICATIONS:  BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5.0.3, Docs To Go, BlackBerry Maps, Wikitude, social apps.

   I always thought that BlackBerry phones should be the first or among first brands who should have included the NFC technology. RIM phones are known mainly as business and are not exactly multimedia devices or build for common users. Their design has been sober, made for corporate, enterprise medium. I am glad that they have included the NFC chip because I believe a consultant or manager needs to exchange business cards and other information (like documents) quickly with the customers or peers apart from answering emails right away.

   The Bold 9900/9930 comes with the new BlackBerry 7 system which has improved web browsing, voice search and the ability to manage personal content separately than the business information. So this device is mainly for business but you can go ahead and check your Twitter or Facebook accounts if you feel like, not to mention that has augmented reality capabilities.

   As this is a touch and type QWERTY smartphone as see it as a main competitor for the Nokia`s recently announced business phone - the E6. The last BlackBerry I had my hands on was a 8900 I believe and I remember I needed to configure a corporate email account for a friend. I can not even tell you how many passwords and codes I had to enter so the email messages can appear. I hope RIM has improved this with their new Enterprise Server application and with the new OS 7 version.

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