Nokia E90 Live Pics & Video

The other night, while on my way home, there was this Nokia booth at the city mall showing off new models and upcoming ones (at least here in Manila). The thing that caught my attention was of course, the latest communicator which now comes in the E-series family - Nokia E90. I was pleasantly surprised by the performance of this baby compared to its predecessors 9500, 9300i and the like. Opening games and applications like the new S60 browser is a breeze, while multi-tasking proved to be overall great (as long as you get used to the strategically placed controls and shortcuts) not to mention how snappy the user interface was even I left about 5 apps/games running in the background!

Speaking of the browser, (luckily the phone was connected via wi-fi) so the first thing that came to my mind was to test YouTube mobile on the spot. The phone did not have any problems connecting and after the video was loaded I said - whoa(!) viewing videos in its widescreen is quite satisfying, its like watching YouTube on your desktop PC!

Since there were many people waiting in the line, I had to stop playing with it and just took some pictures and a video for everybody!

Yeah, I digitized those with my 3250 only, sorry for the quality..)

PS
Oops! You might be wondering what the nokia sales lady is doin up there, I actually asked her when will this particular model be available here in the Philippines, she said its planned to be released early this July with the suggested price of P44,000 (that is approximately US$900).

YouTube Mobile Goes Live!

Now that YouTube mobile is finally here, everybody can watch videos whilst on the go! Since this is a data hungry service, it is advisable for the user to have an unlimited data plan or a time based charging (i.e. per 30 mins, 1 hr, etc..) for one to enjoy watching videos without worrying that much on high fees being charged into their accounts. Luckily, since I am a Smart subscriber here in Manila, I can watch around 6 videos in 30 mins and it only costs around USD0.21!

Just point your browser to http://m.youtube.com and experience YouTube on your mobile devices!

ZDNet Reviews Nokia 5700

The latest XpressMusic phone was finally reviewed by CNET! Currently, Nokia 5700 is one of my choices (aside from N95) to replace my 14 month old 3250. My main reasons...

1) It has the latest Symbian OS version S60 3.1 (a.k.a. Symbian 9.2) currently available in the market

2) 2.2" TFT 16 million QVGA screen

3) 3G connectivity

4) 369mhz CPU clock speed with 64mb SDRAM (approx. 18mb free executable)

5) LED flash and QVGA video capture @ 15 fps

6) Better music player than 3250 with support for album art and audio visualizations

7) Standard connectors/media card (like miniUSB, microSD, 2.5mm jack)

8) Bluetooth stereo support (AdvancedAudio2DistributionProfile)

9) Flash support in the latest open source S60 browser

10) And finally, the price I just love it! Considering all the features (plus upgraded hardware), it's even more affordable than my 3250 (initial release prices)!

Only thing missing (at least for me), an auto-focusing lens! Nokia, I'am patiently waiting for your announcement of an express music phone (targeted at mid-range customers like me) with at least 3mpx sensor with AF!



Here's what CNET has to say:


THE GOOD: The Nokia 5700 Xpress Music offers a user-friendly design, an impressive array of features, and admirable call and music quality.

THE BAD: Some of the Nokia 5700 Xpress Music's controls were difficult to use and its photo quality was disappointing. Also, it doesn't support a U.S. 3G band.

THE BOTTOM LINE: The Nokia 5700 Xpress Music cell phone continues the trend set by the Nokia 5300, offering a satisfying combination of features, performance, and design.

* Reviewed by:
* Kent German
* Review date: 6/12/07


Nokia 5700 Xpress Music

It's no secret that we're big fans of the Nokia 5300 Xpress Music. In fact, we loved it so much when we reviewed it last year that we gave it a CNET Editors' Choice award. So you can imagine we were a bit excited when the new Nokia 5700 Xpress Music landed in our office. As the update to the 5300, the 5700 offers everything found on its predecessor but with a new design twist--literally--and improved features. On the performance side, calling and music quality shine, but photo quality was disappointing. At the time of the writing, no U.S. carrier has picked up the 5700 so it remains a bit pricey at $400. And unfortunately, because the 5700 supports only the WCDMA band used in Europe, it's unlikely it will land here in its present form.


Design

Instead of incorporating the 5300's slider design the Nokia 5700 Xpress Music offers a twisting base like that on the Nokia 3250. The keypad, camera lens, and dedicated music controls are located on different sides and each base position is used for a different function. With the keypad facing forward, you can make calls as normal and access all menu applications. Picture time? That's no problem. Just turn the base 90 degrees and the shooter kicks into gear instantly. A turn to the left activates the camera's normal mode, while a turn to the right lets you take self-portraits. Or if you're pining for some tunes, just rotate the base a full 180 degrees to the right to start the music player.


Nokia 5700 Xpress Music

The 5700's 2.2-inch (320x240 pixels) display supports a brilliant 16 million colors. Vibrant and bright, it's great for viewing everything from text to graphics, and it's quite suitable as the viewfinder for the camera. The menus are user-friendly and attractive, and we love that Nokia provides a description of unfamiliar applications if you hold the cursor over the corresponding icon. You can change the font size, the backlight time, and the brightness. Our only complaint is that the display attracts fingerprints and smudges.


Nokia 5700 Xpress Music

The Nokia 5700 Xpress Music has dedicated music player controls.

Below the display are the spacious and tactile navigation controls. A five-way joystick doubles as a shortcut to four-user defined functions, but it was a little tricky to use. In the "up" direction, we kept selecting things by accident rather than moving the cursor. There are also two soft keys, which are programmable for one-touch access, and the Talk and End buttons. Menu access is through a dedicated button to the left of the array while a clear key sits to the right. Both are covered in a tactile, rubbery skin. Similarly, the large keypad buttons are raised above the surface of the phone so we had no problems dialing by feel. The backlighting was rather dim, though, and the text on the keys may be too small for some users to read easily.

Read the complete review [via: ZDNET | CNET]

Casio Exilim 5MP Camera-Phone

Casio joined N95 and pumped up the megapixel race (not only in the stand alone digicam market) with the launch of their new Casio W53CA Exilim mobile phone. Yup! you heard it right, its an Exilim sub branded phone just like Sony Ericsson's CyberShot! If (only) this model will be introduced and be available outside of Japan, there's no doubt, this will make the competition harder for Nokia, Sony Ericsson and other mobile handset makers. As an imaging centric device, casio focuses on the functionality and quality of its camera. Technical specs below:

-5 megapixels with 9 point auto-focusing, a 28mm lens, autofocus and a high-speed shutter

-large 2.8" internal display with an incredible 480×800 pixel VGA resolution

-MP3 player, email client, InfraRed and a a microSD slot for memory expansion

[via: MobileMentalism]

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