Mighty Gadget Blog: The latest technology news & reviews in the UK

Well its been on the cards for a while and now we have the news. The N8 is coming and lets hope and pray Nokia have realised the mistakes they’ve made with the N97 and N900 and get back to being the top dog at smartphones, and looking at the specs, this shouldn’t disappoint.

• First Symbian 3 mobile from Nokia.  Will still look and feel like a Nokia phone yet add extra features like multi-touch yet still keep its functionality with social networking and Ovi store.
• AT LAST A CAPACITIVE TOUCHSCREEN!!! With stylus support, the pinch zoom and everything else Nokia phones of old have lacked.
• The first phone to bundle a 12MP camera : Capable of 720p video the camera features the largest camera sensor on a Nokia device, improving the quality of images and light received. not to mention the speed of the lens capable of taking pictures faster than most digital cameras.
• N-standard WiFi. Yes thats right increased range and increased speed making streaming, surfing and sharing all that much quicker.
• HDMI output with the ability to output surround sound with Dolby Digital Plus technology.
• Full Flash Support – nuff said
• Web TV – pre-loaded feeds from CNN, National Geographic and E!, hopefully BBC iPlayer will return.
• A brand new music player with improved UI and cover-flow interface not to mention an improved sound quality.
• 16GB of internal memory upgradeable to 48GB via microSD
• Improved battery life : 50 yes 50 hours of music playback and apparently it’ll last 16 days on standby(will have to see that to believe it)

Due out in Q3 it’s believed to cost around £320. Check this video to see the N8 in action.

Nokia N8 YouTube video

Yes that’s right Espoo revealed yesterday 3 half decent phones that are very friendly on the old pocket so if you’re a scrooge or just don’t want a top of the range phone then look here. What they have revealed are the E5(cheaper version of the popular E72), the C6 (an N-series-esque slider)and the C3(a super cheap Blackberry style messaging phone).

We’ll start with the E5. Running Symbian S60 3rd edition on a 2.4” QVGA screen it lacks the style of the E72 but still packs the connectivity. HSDPA, WiFi and a-GPS are all available. It has Exchange support so is a great little emailer, a 5MP camera, microSD slot and a 3.5mm headphone socket. Not bad eh?? Well how about all that for £160? Bargain.

The C6 is a lot like the N series phones but on the cheap. 3.2” 640x360 touchscreen this time with Symbian S60 5th edition this phone has a slide out, landscape, 4 line keyboard to type away those texts or update your facebook status. It also has a 5MP camera and a front mounted camera. Connectivity wise it’s got HSDPA, WiFi and a-GPS and also has an FM Radio. Memory comes in the form of a microSD slot. Price? £195. Again a bargain.

The C3 is the cheapest of the three and as it comes in beige, black/blue and bright Pink we’re guessing its aimed at the Pay as you Go market mainly due to the measley price of £79(yes thats right). Unfortunately though its specced at £79. Running Symbian S40 on a 2.4” 320x240 screen. Again microSD is the memory although it will playback music and has the usual 3.5mm jack. With a full QWERTY though you should be able to fly those messages out and it also has WiFi for hotspot surfing.

All 3 will be available over the next few months.

The hotly anticipated N900 phone from Nokia has been unveiled on the Vodafone website under the coming soon bracket making it the first network to be selling what will hopefully be Nokia’s comeback phone against the iPhone, when it hits our stores in January.

The sequel to the N97 and what looks to be a more robust, better working phone(gutted because i got the N97…..typical)  had been rumoured to be on Vodafone Ireland recently but now its got the “officialness” now on Voda UK. Similar to the N97 in looks and size this powerhouse of a phone can multitask like no other. using the Maemo 5 OS which is based on Linux this will allow the phone to operate with ease and speed, add to that an ARM Cortex-A8 processor and 1GB RAM you can really see this phone will work wonders.

Usual features like a 3.5” high res(800x480), resitive touchscreen(which although not as good as a capacitive one like the iPhone, but Nokia really has got this one working quite well), 32GB of internal storage, 5MP camera, WiFi, Firefox based browser with Flash 9.4 support and Ovi connectivity for all those apps.

Not too sure of any price ranges as of yet as it’s still “coming soon”

With next weeks Nokia World Expo looming, the Booklet 3G, Nokia’s product announcement are going full steam ahead with the new N900. First reports were that it was a phone similar to the N97, using the Linux based Maemo OS. Now its an internet tablet.

It will pack the ARM Cortex-A8 processor the same as the Palm Pre and iPhone 3GS.It’ll also pack 1GB of memory for the running of applications such as full Adobe Flash 9.4 for all them online videos you want to watch. OpenGL ES 2.0 graphics will make the phone, i mean tablet powerful in the visual department probably for the games and media content.

Whats gutting is that I got an N97 a month ago and now Nokia who normally announce stuff 10 years in advance so by the time its released its out of date (just like my N97 is now) this is looking at an October release but nothing is definite yet as there’s no price or network carrier as yet.

Full Specs : -

• ARM Cortex-A8 processor
• Maemo Linux-based OS
• 3.5-inch QVGA touchscreen
• QWERTY keyboard
• HSDPA
• Wi-Fi
• 32GB of storage (expandable to 48GB with microSD)
• 5MP camera

Nokia have left entering the netbook market for some time but here’s their first foray into the market with what they prefer to call a “mini laptop”. The Finn’s netbook(should I call it that??) appears to have the specs of a high end netbook but offers a lot more. You wouldnt expect anything less from Nokia though would we.

• The first advantage is this Netbook is made by a “Mobile” company. Nokia knows what people want/need on the move which computer specialists Dell and Acer still havent seemed to get 100% right.
• Most netbooks don’t do HD graphics on their small screens, THIS DOES!!!! 720p – No problemo
• Nokia Claims its battery will last 12 hours. Now I know some of their phones batteries last forever but in my experience some havent so i’ll reserver judgement on this comment till I see one.
• The Nokia netbook no doubt will come bundled with a 3G broadband subscription but it has a SIM slot allowing you to put your phone SIM in to continue surging if your 3G broadband has no signal.
• Nokia have bundled GPS into the Booket 3G, no need to upgrade like other netbooks. Add Nokia Ovi Maps to the equation and you can find your way around like on your mobile.
• It works with all of Nokias online services (Ovi etc)
• Only 2cm thick, but built by Nokia. We all know you can drop your Nokia in the toilet(not recommended in reality) and after a dry out they work. No doubt the 3G booklet will be built of the same solid stuff. Its got an aluminium chassis and a thin Glass Screen frame, just like the MacBook, so it’ll look real nice too
• Nokia have said it’ll sync with your mobile too although full details on how or what it’ll do entirely arent sure but it can only be good …….right??
• It has HDMI out.  Plug into your TV and watch your HD video…….Simples!!

Microsoft and Nokia joined forces today and had a brainstorm. The software and mobile giants have confirmed they will bring a mobile version of Microsoft Office to Nokia’s Symbian powered smartphones.

A few of Nokia’s phones already use Microsoft software (Exchange ActiveSync) so its no big surprise they’re coming together again. Next year will see the phone’s packing Microsoft Office Communicator Mobile. Not the catchiest of names but basically will allow to find work colleagues, instant message and something called “presence information”(ideas anyone???)

Further into the future mobile versions of your favourite office programs, Word, PowerPoint, Excel etc so you can view, edit and send documents from your mobile.

Source : Electricpig

Last month a Vodafone employee let slip the N97 would be getting a smaller counterpart, but obviously this wall was all rumours. Apparently though he was right and pictures and information have “leaked” onto t’internet.

The noticeable difference is the smaller screen and chassis. The D-Pad on the keyboard has been removed and the 32GB of memory has apparently been dropped to 8GB although you can still upgrade no doubt with microSD.

Unfortunately no date was leaked with it, but expect it to be Nokia’s attempt to draw back some customers from Apple, with a lower priced smartphone. The N97 is a great phone, will the mini live up to its big brother.

Nothing as fun as the iPhone 3G S announcement recently but nokia have just announced the successor to the oh so popular E71, the E72. The E72 is actually quite a decent upgrade with a 5 megapixel camera, 3.5mm headphone jack, integrated compass, 10.2Mbps HSDPA, and an optical navigation pad. It should be available from the 3rd quarter (any time from now?) for around €350 (£300ish).

Next up is the 5530 XpressMusic which is a budget version of the 5800 and has S60 5th Edition 3.2 megapixel camera with LED flash, 3.5mm jack, and a 640 x 360 touchscreen display. There will only be 2G but it will include Wi-Fi