The Nokia Supernova Series - 7610, 7510, 7310, 7210

A week after Sony Ericsson unleashed its several new mobile handsets, close rival Nokia followed suit with four not as powerful but definitely more beautiful and aesthetically customizable mobile handsets- the Nokia 7610, 7512, 7310, 7210. All four mobile handsets belong to the new Nokia Supernova series, and are fully customizable to match with a user’s mood and fashion. Yes folks, Nokia is bringing back the old days of dressing up your mobile phones with Xpress-on Covers which are aesthetically funky and colourful. All four Supernova mobile phones were designed to give you various options and each of them will suit every type of mobile phone users. Unlike the recently released Nokia E66 and E71, the Supernova series were designed and geared for mobile phone users who just want some basic mobile phone features which they can also use for picture taking and entertainment purposes. Can these mobile phones deliver the goodies? We certainly hope so. Here’s a brief rundown of each one of them. All four mobile phones are slated for release anytime this year.
The Nokia 7610 Supernova, which is obviously the most powerful and feature-rich among these Supernova mobile handsets. The 7610 is a slider phone with pleasing design and smooth curves. It comes with several choices of Xpress-On covers including a choice between steel blue and red design with muted gray front surface or bright lilac and steel blue contrasted against a pristine white front surface. Aside from these Xpress-On Covers, the 7610 also features a powerful 3.2 megapixel camera with dual LED flash and 8x digital zoom, IM, and a TV out for sharing images. It is also a music player with dedicated music key, FM radio and MP3 player that supports various music formats including MP3, AAC, AAC+. In addition, the 7610 has direct access to the Nokia Music Store through its Music PC Client. So, you can always download music quickly. The Nokia 7610 Supernova will be available in the third quarter of 2008 with an estimated retail price of 225 EUR before taxes and subsidies.
The Nokia 7510 Supernova is a fold-up mobile phone with push-to-open side key. Like the 7610 it comes with various Xpress-On cover designs. The storm blue, red emerald green and espresso brown. But in addition to these Xpress-On covers, the Nokia 7510 features magical light effects with hidden-until-lit display and a reminder light. The 7510 was designed with mechanical quality, soft feel and solid metal hinge. It also features a 2 megapixel camera with NIPS, LED Flash, 4x digital zoom, a 512 MB microSD card, a 2.2-inch QVGA display and a user-friendly Nokia web browser for easy access to Nokia Search, Share on OVI and Flickr. Other features of the Nokia 7510 includes an FM radio, MP3 player that supports various digital music formats, access to Nokia Music Store and Nokia Music PC Client, link to YouTube, access to Nokia Maps 1.2, A-GPS with turn-by-turn directions, and Nokia Wild Sets service. The Nokia 7510 Supernova will be available in the fourth quarter of 2008 with an estimated retail price of 180 EUR before taxes and subsidies.
The Nokia 7310’s got Xpress-On covers which are etched with daring 3D textured designs which are available in steel blue with a second front and back cover in wasabi green or candy pink. It boasts of features such as 2 megapixel camera with 4X digital zoom and TV out for image sharing, instant messaging and playing the preinstalled games on TV. It also features and FM RDS radio and an MP3 player which also supports various digital music formats. The Nokia 7310 Supernova will be available in the second quarter of 2008 with an estimated retail price of 155 EUR before taxes and subsidies.
And finally we have the Nokia 7210 Supernova which is the last of these four new mobile handsets in the Nokia Supernova series. It’s a simple mobile handset which also comes with various Xpress-On cover designs. These include bubble gum pink, and vivid blue in a gloss finish. You can enjoy music side loaded from a PC or purchased from Nokia Music Store. The Nokia Supernova 7210 also features a 2 megapixel camera, and gives access to Flickr with one click access to photo sharing. It comes with an SD memory card slot for additional storage if the internal memory is not enough for your needs. The Nokia 7210 Supernova will be available in the third quarter of 2008 with an estimated retail price of 120 EUR before taxes and subsidies.

The Week in Mobile Phone Leaks

This week in the mobile phone scene we’ve encountered several high-profile leaks and rumors about soon-to-be released mobile phones. Either the manufacturers intentionally or unintentionally leak these photos is their prerogative and we as mobile phone consumers and bystanders could only welcome these as part of our daily lives.
Anyway, we’ve gathered some of these mobile phone leaks and what-have-yous for our weekly feature here in cellphonews.

Take a gander at some of this week’s rumoured incoming phones. Some may come out soon while some later. Incidentally for the Sony Ericsson phones that we featured here, it’s more likely to come out in the next couple of days as Sony Ericsson is up for some press announcements on the 17th.

Sony Ericsson F305
This new mobile beauty from Sony Ericsson is the cell phone maker’s first motion gaming-enabled cell phone so to speak. As a gaming mobile phone, the F305 definitely features some cool gaming features and some pre-loaded games such as bowling, bass fishing and jockey. Aside from its gaming features, the F305 is also a music player with support for various music formats. It’s got a 2-inch large TFT display with 176×220 pixel resolution (262,114). Since, the F305 is not the best of all mobile phones in terms of features and functionality, we expect this to be priced in the mid-range level.

Sony Ericsson S302
The S302 is the first of Sony Ericsson’s new Snapshot series of mobile phones. This mobile phone is said to be a dirt cheap camera enabled quad band GSM phone with support for EDGE. Being a Snapshot mobile phone, we expect that S302 to have a powerful camera. Unfortunately it could only muster a 2.0 megapixel camera with fixed focus. But it does have photo light and features PhotoFix. The S302 also features a video recording function although we don’t promise that the quality will be that great.

Sony Ericsson C905
Among the phones to be announced by Sony Ericsson on the 17th, we are most excited about the C905. Not so much because of its mobile phone features but more so because of its camera features. The C905 was said to have a whooping 5 megapixel camera. In camera phone standards, 5 megapixels is definitely big and already measures up with the entry-level point-and-shoot cameras. Hopefully, the image quality of the C905 will not suffer in favour of a higher resolution.

Sony Ericsson Alicia
Little is known about this new phone except for a video that leaked out on the internet a couple of days ago. From what we can deduce from the video, the Sony Ericsson Alicia has two screens in front. And features a widget for weather monitoring of some sort. But from the looks of it, the Sony Ericsson Alicia would seem to be a very special SE phone, being in the SE Walkman series. We certainly hope so.

Nokia E66 and E71
This new Nokia phone was not accidentally leak out. It was officially demoed in the Nokia website recently confirming that it is definitely slated for release some time this year. Unfortunately after the links were leaked out, Nokia quickly removed the demo from their site. So, we are left with second guessing the being in Nokia E-Series phones, these two mobile phones would have that much multimedia features since the E-Series is geared for mobile professionals. Expect faster data connectivity and mobile connectivity to be good at best though.

Nokia N78
The Nokia N78 is not really a “rumoured phone” since it already got the FCC approval not so long ago. But Nokia has not really any official information about this phone since then. Nonetheless what has been floating around the web is the fact that this phone will have a built-in FM transmitter. But rumors are starting to spread around that some countries may not have this function when the N78 comes out. Thanks to some law prohibiting the operation of FM transmitter without license in those areas.

Nokia N79
Like the Sony Ericsson C905, the Nokia N79 was said to have a 5 megapixel camera. But aside from this it will also be GPS capable and will come in white and brown combination color. The leaked photos don’t seem promising for the N79 though. We’re guessing that this would be a not so good follow-up to the N70 and N71.

Motorola ZN200
Our knowledge of the Motorola ZN200 came by way of an FCC approval. No official information yet coming from Motorola. But we do know that the ZN200 will feature a 2-megapixel camera with 8x digital zoom, video recording, Bluetooth, FM radio, Windows Media Player 11, supports dual-band GSM.

A Bag Full of iPhone Rumors, Speculations, Predictions and More before the WWDC

As the much anticipated WWDC, where Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs is expected to deliver a keynote address, approaches, a slew of rumors, speculations, predictions, and what-have-yous have surface on the web the past couple of days or weeks even. Everyone has this and that to say, and we were deluded by so many information, bits and pieces, leaked reports, leaked photos and many more. We couldn’t blame anyone as this is a much anticipated event every year. And everybody is eagerly awaiting the launch of the most successful Apple product, which happens to be a mobile phone, not a computing machine.

We’ve gathered some these rumors in the hopes of helping you prepare for the coming of the new generation iPhone. 3G? Smaller touch screens? GPS feature, iPhone subsidy, white iPhone, thinner iPhone and we even have leak photos of the actual iPhone package that comes with video chatting feature, cool right?

3G iPhone – The 3G capability was a much sought feature on the original iPhone. And everybody is expecting (if not demanding) that the next generation iPhone should come with this capability. Although the Wi-Fi feature of the original iPhone was enough to give users a good connectivity feature, still when it comes to calling, sending SMS and even connecting the iPhone into user’s PC serving as a modem, 3G connectivity is still a must.

GPS feature – Another hot rumor that surfaced up is Apple’s GPS navigation feature. Mobile GPS is a pretty much widely used and most sought after feature in any mobile devices. Practically almost all the high-end mobile phones offer this functionality. And mobile users actually love using it. So, for Apple to finally establish its iPhone as the leader in mobile phone communication, it better have a GPS function in its incoming iPhone model.

Thinner iPhone – Some are saying that the new iPhone will be 22 percent than the original. Some are saying that it would have a smaller screen. A couple of days ago, a photo was leaked showing the new iPhone with indeed a smaller screen than the original. This is but understandable as Apple has just made the Mac Book thinner with the air model, right? Hopefully, Apple won’t come up with an “iPhone Air”. We’re just kidding.

Better battery life – one of the old iPhone’s flaws was the limited time capacity of its batteries. This is expected of course from a mobile device with full touch screen features and a large display. So, iPhone fans are predicting that the new iPhone will have longer battery life than its predecessor. Hence, it is also rumoured that the new iPhone will come with a smaller screen, possibly to save some battery life.

White iPhone – a Dutch community site published leak photos of a white iPhone sometime in May. This created quite a stir in the blogosphere as the photos seemed pretty authentic. But nobody from the Apple side confirmed this rumor obviously. Whether true or not, it will be pretty exciting to see an iPhone donning the white coat. And it’s understandble since Apple has a white Mac Book Pro, right?

iPhone – there was also an ongoing rumors that some iPhone distributors will be offering the new iPhones in subsidized package, apparently to fire up more sales. It might go against Apple principles but still, if indeed true, it might actually boost up the iPhone’s sales and help Apple reached its targeted sale for the iPhone.

And the latest among these iPhone buzz happened just when the week was about to close. Leaked photos of the new iPhone spread across the blogosphere like a thief in the night. The photos showed a new “red” iPhone with features such as front-facing camera for video calling and an iChat feature. It was such a seemingly real photos that the first blog to break it out received tons of traffic as other tech bloggers followed suit in linking to the story. The original photos were posted on a Flickr site and you can check it here. Engadget claims the photos are fake while others took it with a grain of salt. True or not, the photos look cool nonetheless and it would be pretty exciting if the features cited would actually be true.

Indeed what an exciting times it has been for all of us iPhone fans. But as the weekend starts, it would be best to put aside the excitement. Relax, have a pleasant weekend. It will be a more exciting week for us comes Monday evening as the WWDC ushers in!

Nokia’s trio of “Beautiful to Use” Mobile Handsets – the 6600 slide, 6600 fold, 3600 slide

Nokia is treating its loyal users with yet again a slew of new mobile handsets. This time Nokia wants us all to either, slide or fold with the 6600 or slide with the 3600. All three mobile handsets are touting stunning and sophisticated looks balanced by the latest Nokia mobile phone innovation and features. Ranging from $271 to $427, the three handsets also boasts of a smooth, minimalist design aside from the nifty features they offer. And now for the skinny on each of the three “beautiful to use” Nokia devices.

Nokia 6600 Slide

The Nokia 6600 fold is a sleek looking phone that boasts of a bright 2.13” OLED screen display with up to 16 million colors. This mobile beauty touts of a 3G technology that would enhance users picture sharing and video snapping experiences. The Nokia 6600 is equipped with a 2 megapixel camera with double LED flash as well as quick access to Yahoo! Go or Flickr. With its minimalist design, the Nokia 6600 would fit well into pocket or a small handbag. For its major features, the Nokia 6600 is packed with 240×320 OLED display (16m colors), hidden outer display, tap commands, 8x digital zoom, video recording at 15fps, video calling through 3G, stereo music player that supports MP3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+ and WMA plus an FM radio.
The Nokia 6600 fold works on series 40 platform and is equipped with Li-ion battery that gives out 12.5 days standby time and 4 hours of talk time. Coming by the third Q of 2008, the Nokia 6600 will retail for around $427.

Nokia 6600 Slide

The Nokia 3600 Slide is Nokia’s smallest slider to date. Touting a smooth, glossy and high-quality steel covers and aluminium centre key, the Nokia 6600 exhibits both elegance and simplicity. The Nokia 6600 Slide features a high 3.2 megapixel camera for high quality pictures and videos complemented by a large 2.2” QVGA display with 16 million colors. It also boasts of an integrated Nokia Maps application that can be enhanced by a Nokia Bluetooth GPS Module LD-4W to add a GPS function to the Nokia 6600 Slide. For the Nokia 6600 Slide’s other features, these include; compact and sophisticated shape, metal and glossy surfaces accented with colors, 2.2” 240×320 16 million color display, 3.2 megapixel camera with auto focus and double flash, VGA video recording at 15fps just like its brother, the 6600 fold, accelerometer for tap commands, Nokia Maps, stereo music player for MP3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, WMA and FM radio, The Nokia 6600 slide also boasts of 14.5 days in standby mode and 4 hours of talk time. The Nokia 6600 Slide will be available sometime in the third quarter of 2008 and it will have a retail price of around $388. This will certainly be a good addition to your Nokia Mobile handsets.

Nokia 3600 Slide

The last of the three “beautiful to use” Nokia mobile phone is the sleek-looking Nokia 3600 Slide. One thing that stands out from the Nokia 3600 Slide (based on the press photo) is it beautiful looking color design. The Nokia 3600 Slide combines tasteful colors, materials and tactile finishes complemented by useful features that users would certainly have their handfuls using them. What makes the Nokia 3600 beautiful to use is its ceramic paint and metal finish combined with high gloss surfaces and gradated colors. But one major feature of the Nokia 3600 is its background noise reduction cancelation feature. This certainly enhances the sound quality of the phone when attending to mobile calls. Aside from these, the Nokia 3600 is also a good music player with optional microSD card. For its other major features, the Nokia 3600 boasts of a 3.2 megapixel camera with autofocus and 2 LED flash making it an excellent mobile device for taking pictures or videos even if you are in a dimly lit environment. Aside from these, the Nokia 3600 is also equipped with a TV-out feature that connects the phone to most TV sets. Coming with a pre-installed Nokia Maps application with option for Nokia’s Bluetooth GPS module LD-4W. Other features of the Nokia 3600 Slide include; 240×320 pixel 16 million color main display, video recording, streaming and sharing via TV-out, music player, 30mb user memory and a microSD slot for storage expansion, two steps camera key, FM radio with RDS, and many more. The Nokia 3600 Slide lasts up to 280 hours in standby mode and 5 hours and 30 mins when in use. To be release sometime this third quarter, the Nokia 3600 will retail for $271.

Nokia announced 4 mobile goodies – 5000, 2680, 7070, 1680

Nokia has released 4 new mobile phones geared towards the less tech and feature savvy mobile phone users. To be released specifically for the South African mobile consumers, all four Nokia mobile phones are dual band GSM and have US and European versions, run on series 40 software and most importantly, all four are priced in the range $50-70. Nokia said that the company is aiming to capture the growing demand of South African mobile market for highly functional and full featured mobile phones without the need to spend too much. And these four mobile phones may actually answer those needs. Hopefully, Nokia would make these mobile phones available in other countries as well. The Asian and Pacific mobile phone users would definitely like these four mobile phones.

The first of these budget phone models from Nokia is the 1680 Classic which Nokia is touting as the most affordable phone it has ever released so far. The Nokia 1680 pretty much has all the basic phone features that you could possible get from a low-cost mobile phone. Basic text and call features plus some customization. To put some added value into the phone, Nokia even threw in a VGA camera that can take photo snapshot and short videos. Unfortunately thought, the phone doesn’t have a memory card slot so users will have to mind the number of shots they have taken or else find themselves having no extra memory to run the mobile phone’s OS anymore. The phone also has a sharing feature and email support. Slate to be released sometime in the second quarter of 2008 in the South African mobile market, the Nokia 1680 Classic has an SRP of $79.

Perhaps answering the need for a not so traditional mobile phone model, Nokia is also coming out with a slider phone that belongs in the low-budget category – the Nokia 2680. A robust slider phone released as an entry level model, the Nokia 2680 is touted of easy to use features. The Nokia 2680 also aims to be an entertainment phone with the inclusion of an FM radio with recording capability and support for mp3 ringtones. Plus of course other basic mobile phone features that include an expanded phone book memory. The Nokia 2680 also packs of an integrated VGD digital camera. Slated for release in the third quarter of 2008, the 2680 has an SRP of around $142.

After two low-end phones with an impressive features. Nokia will also introduce this time not only a full featured phone, but also with some high-end features as well. The Nokia 5000 is another candy bar phone with a 1.3 megapixel camera and a high resolution QVGA display. For entertainment purposes, it has an FM radio with recording functionality and support for mp3 ringtones plus other basic call and text features of the other budget phone models. But while the Nokia 5000 may seem just your ordinary everyday mobile phone, it actually is not after all. The Nokia 5000 also supports email, Nokia Xpress Audio Messaging, Bluetooth and GPRS connectivity and you will get all those features for a measly sum of around $142. The Nokia 5000 will be available for the South African market sometime in second quarter 2008.

Capping the list of the four Nokia budget phones is the Nokia 7070, which is also nicknamed the Prism. Sporting geometric pattern designs and external light effects, the Prism is targeted for users who express their personality through their mobile phones. The Nokia 7070 offers full customization through content, themes and wallpapers and mp3 ringtones. It has voice a voice recorder and integrated hands-free speakers for ease of use when doing something else and even when driving and answering calls at the same time. In terms of style and design, the Nokia 7070 moved away with the traditional design and came up with a uniquely design flip phone. Looking at the pictures, you wouldn’t think that the 7070 is actually a budget phone because it emits a certain class and style into its design.

Although, these four mobile phones would have their US and European versions, Nokia hasn’t announced yet as to when they will be available in both mainstream markets. In the meantime, if you happen to be in the South African areas during their release period, you might want to take any or four of those models for a spin. $70-90 dollars is not too much to spend for some full-featured mobile phones.

SE releases two full colored phones - W580 Jungle Green and W380 Tangerine Black

Sony Ericsson continues to introduce mobile phone models which don’t fall into your usual black, white, silver design. Probably to further attract users from the young generation, SE has released two new sleek and funky colored mobile phones- the W580i Jungle Green and W380 Tangerine Black.

W580 Jungle Green

The Sony Ericsson W580i is a shiny and stylish slider phone dressed up in Jungle green hues. Reminds you of those fatigue uniforms worn by marines and jungle fighters minus the camouflage look. Previously released in three variant colours – Boulevard Black, Urban Grey and Metro Pink, the W580i jungle green brings with it the same power packed features that you find in those three other color variants.The W580i is a sleek, slim, street style slider phone that belongs to the SE Walkman phone series. Hence it’s a portable music device too. Sony Ericsson experimented with the W580i a bit by making the 580i the first SE phone that responds to motion shake control. What this means is that users can select any song in their W580i playlist by flicking their wrist.
And since the W580i bears the “W” mark it definitely has all the nifty features of the SE Walkman phone brand. The W580i supports music tones, Play Now, polyphonic ringtones, flight mode, mega bass, FM radio and Track ID. Like all the other SE Walkman phone, the W580i lets users manage the music in their phone. With one click users would have instant access to the Walkman music player. And with Walkman music player it means all the nifty functions that we use to enjoy in our Sony Walkman can now be performed in the W580i mobile phone – play, rewind, fast forward, equalize, shuffle tracks and create playlist. The W580i is just like a Walkman player dressed up in a mobile phone. Plus of course, all the other mobile features of a high-end SE phone are also packed in the W580i. The SE W580i is packed with 2 megapixel camera, 4x digital zoom, picture blogging, video recording, 3D games and Java apps, Bluetooth and modem connectivity, RSS feeds, web browser, SMS and MMS and organizer features.

Sony Ericsson W380 Tangerine Black

The Sony Ericsson W380 which was previously released in electric purple, magnetic gray and Champaign black is now also available in Tangerine Black. The Tangerine Black version is almost the same as the previously released Champaign black except for an orange SE W phone logo at the back. The clam shell W380 is a toned down version of the W580i and also belongs to the SE Walkman phone series. Like the high end W580i, the W380 also supports motion shake control technology. However, the motion shake control in W380 is used for to mute an incoming call or put the alarm clock on snooze. It would definitely come in handy when you still want to continue sleeping and the alarm sounded off. You don’t have to open your eyes to find the button the will put the alarm in snooze mode. Aside from being a Walkman phone, the W380 is also a full mobile blogging device. The W380i lets you publish on your blog instantly, take snapshots and share it with your friends through your blog. It also supports RSS feeds so you can keep track of updates from your favourite blogs. Another distinguishing feature of the SE W380 is the music recognition technology. You can record a few seconds of music and TrackID returns the song name, artists and album to your phone in seconds. Since the W380 is a Walkman phone, you might sometime accidentally touch on the play music button. So to ensure that your music player will not open during unnecessary times, SE integrated a music player key lock. Other features of the W380 phone includes, megabass music, speakerphone, MMS, built-in digital camera with screen viewfinder, dedicated menus and direct interaction with in-phone imaging and messaging features. To help you manage your digital files such as music, photo and video clip, SE has thrown in a useful CD containing a software to manage your digital files. This software also lets you transfer music, videos and photos to and from your phone to your PC.
And like all the latest SE mobile phone, the W380 has a memory slot for a Memory Stick micro that supports up to 2GB of file storage capacity. So you don’t have to worry about running out of storage files whenever you are on vacation or attending an important event. You can take snapshots for how long you like and you can store it in your 2GB memory stick micro should you decide to upgrade to the standard memory stick micro pre-loaded with every new SE 380. And before I forget, yes the Tangerine version looks classically stunning too.

LG Prada + Windows Mobile = LG KS20

Expected to launch at the IFA 2007 (starting August 31, 2007), LG has come up with a new phone which design-wise is like the sleek and keypadless LG Prada, enhanced with features, specifically, Windows Mobile. The 12.8 inch 3G smartphone comes with a 2.0 megapixel camera, a 2.8″ touchscreen display, plus up to 3.6 Mbps internet connection speed via HSDPA. it is slated for a Q4 2007 release in Europe. Below is a full list of the KS20’s specs (unconfirmed). Read more

Samsung SGH-i450 Two-Way Slider

Things are heating up for the Samsung SGH-i450 as it is often compared to the Nokia N95 due tot he similarities in design execution. Both phones are two way sliders.The GSM triband phone SGJ-i450 is powered by Symbian S60 third edition platform, and features (unconfirmed) a 2.0 megapixel camera with flash, a second camera in front for video calls, HSDPA< EDGE, Bluetooth, microSD card slot, USB 2.0, 1GB internal memory, MP3/AAC/AAC+/AAC+e/Real/WMA music player, FM radio, viewed on a 2.3″ 256k colors TFT (240 x 320) screen.[ The Samsung SGH-i450 via SlashPhone ]

LG Prada’s Successor, LG KU990 with 5.1 megapixel Camera

LG’s first professional-level camera, and the world’s first 120fps video recording feature in a mobile camera phone, are packed into the snug and sleek KU990. Aptly nicknamed “the Viewty,” “it is first handset representing LG Mobile’s new feature-oriented category, combines ultimate functionality with sensational style. The name ‘LG Viewty’ has been chosen to encapsulate the enjoyment of viewing and sharing high-quality photos. This is made possible through the large LCD screen and extensive functionality of the camera phone,” as Mobiledia writes. Read more

ASUS Unveils Z802i

An interesting mix of metal/chrome and leather, the ASUS Z802i is a sophisticated looking 3G phone with a 2.0 megapixel camera with flash, a secondary camera for video calls, a 2.2″ 260k 240×320 pixel QVGA display, a media player compatible with MP3, AAC, MPEG3 and 3GP files and MPEG4 video recording, microSd support, and Bluetooth connectivity.

[ The ASUS Z802i via JustAmp ]

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