Daily dose of IT ,Hardware , Cell phones and other technology
Category: Mobile Reviews
Latest mobile phone reviews , updates and Pictures. Latest News and software updates about super smart Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Symbian, Samsung , Motorola and HTC phones.
Blackberry phones have starte pouring into India, but theres a catch you need to buy your Blackberry only from the Operators, a selling strategy totally new to Indians and couple it with the fact unlike US, the Mobile Operators dont give you any rebates, rather they price it much higher. Now compare it with Nokia’s E Series phones, sold across the country in most Mobile stores, and backed by Nokia Service network.
I had the oppurtunity of using Blackberries in US and felt their build was not as solid as the Nokia’s succesful E61i, but the fact which made Blackberry a big hit in US was the Blackberry Connect/Push Email. In India most companies dont support Push Email, most of them support Exchange Servers (from Microsoft) and Both Nokia and Blackberry do pretty much the same in terms of handling Pop/SMTP emails and Exchange Servers. So Blackberry apart from the name really doesnt add much to the Indian Customers.
Add to that Nokia’s popularity and resale values, you can expect very few to go and pick a blackberry ahead of a Nokia ESeries Phone. Then you got a load of free apps for Symbian compared to Blackberry adding so much to the usability the Nokia Phones.
With E71 Nokia probably has the best designed and refined QWERTY keyboard phone its hard to see how Blackberry can put one across the Nokia.
[ps: Now dont come n tell me Blackberry is so successful in US, the fact is Nokia doesnt have any deal with Mobile operators for subsidising its phones. This is the main selling point for US, no one pays the full price of any phone there. The model is very different in other countries]
Samsung Marine B2100 Xplorer - Rough and Tough outdoor phone
Samsung India unveiled its new phone ‘Samsung Marine’ a phone built for standing the abuse just like US marine corps. It is touted to pass the standards set by US Dept of Defence and Military.
Samsung showcased this phone in the recently concluded Mobile world, where onlookers were allowed to through the phone from a height of few feet into water. The phone also boasts shock proof, dust proof and water proof packing. It is first of its kind in the mobile market especially for India. This phone could find use in many walks of life and also for those who carelessly drop their phone.
Samsung Marine B2100 Xplorer - Rough and Tough outdoor phone
The phone also has USB support, Music Player , 1.3 Mega Pixel camera and expandable Memory support upto 8GB and the phone will be available for a retail price of around Rs 7000 ( 140$).
Download User manual of Samsung Marine aka Samsung B2100 Xplorer aka Samsung Outdoor phone here.
GENERAL 2G Network
GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
Announced 2009, March
Dimensions in L x W x H – 113 x 48.9 x 17.4 mm
Weight 102.8 g
DISPLAY Type TFT, 256K colors
Size 120 x 160 pixels, 1.77 inches
Ring Tone/Music – Vibration; Polyphonic(64), MP3 ringtones
Speakerphone Yes
Phonebook 1000 entries
Inbuilt Memory 7 MB
Card slot microSD (TransFlash), up to 8 GB
DATA GPRS Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 – 48 kbps
EDGE Class 10, 236.8 kbps
No 3G and WLAN.
Bluetooth – v2.1 with A2DP(music)
No Infrared
USB v2.0
Camera -1.3 MP, 1280 x 1024 pixels, flash
Video – 15fps
SMS and MMS support.
Browser WAP 2.0/xHTML
Radio Stereo FM radio with RDS
Games Yes + downloadable
Colors Red, Black
GPS No
Java Yes, MIDP 2.0
– Shock, water and dust resistant (IP57, MIL-STD-810F)
– Water proof up to 1 meter and 30 minutes
– Anti-shock materials (urethane)
– Noise cancellation with dedicated microphone
– Flashlight with dedicated key
– MP3/e-AAC+/WMA/WAV player
– MPEG4/3GP/M4V player
– Voice memo
– Stopwatch
– T9
BATTERY Standard battery, Li-Ion 1000 mAh
Stand-by Up to 600 h
Talk time Up to 9 h
Finally the much awaited Nokia’s high end Full Touch Screen Nokia N97 is out. It will be available in most of the stores in a week and expected to be priced at Rs 32000 -34000 in India. Around 380 UK Pounds, same will be available in US for 670-700 USD. The phone has been much talked about for almost a year.The phone itself doesnt offer anything new except the full touch screen and QWERTY keyboard, a marriage between its Entertainment heavy weights like N96 and E series beauties. Actually N97 reminds me of some of the HTC slider phones, but they weren’t this good in features.
If you are someone expecting a slim phone then it isnt the phone for you, it is slightly thinner than the N96 or N95 8GB but still is 15.6mm thick (18mm at the camera location). Lets get to comparing the N97 with some other popular phones.
The phone comes in two colors White and Black and the white definitely looks better. It definitely blurs the line between the mini laptops and Mobile phones, in terms of features it is better than any mini laptop.
Though most of the media ignorantly writes that main disadvantage of Nokia N97 is that it doesnt have a App Store like Iphone, the truth is the opposite. Most people have been buying Nokia N series and E series because of the availability of so many softwares and most of them being free. The symbian OS is the operating system with more softwares than Iphone OS or Windows Mobile or Google’s Android.
The Coolness factor – Looks and Dimensions
Nokia N97 – Dimensions – Length x Width x thickness
Here are the dimensions of the popular Models
Nokia N97 – 117.2 x 55.3 x 15.9 (18.25) mm
Nokia N86 – 103.4 x 51.4 x 16.5 mm
Nokia N96 – 103 x 55 x 20 mm
Nokia N95 8GB – 99 x 53 x 21 mm
Nokia E71 – 114 x 57 x 10 mm
Apple Iphone 3G S – 115.5 x 62.1 x 12.3 mm
Interestingly the Nokia N97’s dimensions are not far off from Apple iphone 3G S , it is 3 mm thicker than the iphone but has powerful features and Full QWERTY keyboard to balance that.
Pictures of Nokia N97
Nokia N97 Emailing - Front View
Form:Side-slide with tilting screen
Volume:88 cc
Dimensions:117.2 x 55.3 x 15.9 mm (18.25 mm at thickest point)
Weight (with battery):150 g
Additional size and shape information:
Sliding tilt mechanism
Nokia N97 - Front view dexternights
Keys and Input Method
Full slide out keyboard
Cover keys (S60 keys, Menu key, Send/End keys)
Touch screen
4-way navigation key with centre select
Dedicated camera and volume keys
Memory
MicroSD memory card slot, hot swappable, up to 16 GB
Internal memory: 32 GB
Nokia N97 - Full Keyboard
Connectivity
Bluetooth version 2.0 with Enhanced Data Rate
TV out
Support for local and remote SyncML synchronisation
High-Speed USB 2.0 (micro USB connector)
3.5 mm AV connector
Nokia N97 white - dexternights Back view
Display and User Interface
Size: 3.5″
Resolution: 640 x 360 pixels
Up to 16.7 million colours
Resistive touch screen with separate touch foil and touch feedback
Brightness control
Orientation sensor
Proximity sensor
Ambient light detector
Power Management
BP-4L 1500 mAh Li-Ion battery
Talk time (maximum):
GSM up to 570 min
WCDMA up to 360 min
Standby time (maximum):
GSM up to 430 h
WCDMA up to 400 h
Video playback time (maximum): VGA 30fps
QCIF 15fps up to 5.5 h
Video recording time (maximum): up to 1 h per clip
