This is huge news. Nokia have spent a fortune on Symbian, both in extending the operating system, and in buying Symbian – the company – for 264 million Euros back in June 2008. To admit that Maemo will be used in its high end phones in the future is a tacit admission that Symbian has fallen behind in the smartphone race and can no longer support the kind of features that smartphone users have come to expect.

More details after the jump.

This shouldn’t really come as a shock. Symbian’s limitations for smartphones were evident in the Nokia N97, which offered a poor experience compared to the competition. When the Maemo-based N900 was launched recently to critical acclaim, the writing was on the wall for Symbian. If Nokia, the company that’s taken Symbian further than anyone else, can’t create a decent smartphone using it, what hope does anyone else have?

Samsung proved this two weeks ago by announcing that they were dropping Symbian, too, in favour of Windows Mobile and Android.

Nokia will still be using Symbian in the future for some of its mid-range phones – but for the N-Series, it’s Maemo all the way.

[Source: The Really Mobile Project]

The result, claim Nokia, is much more reliable TV pictures that aren’t subject to delay or loss of picture like they would be if the 3G network was used.

It comes with a new Electronic Programme Guide to select which TV programmes you want to watch, while the battery is good enough for 6 hours of solid TV watching.

In addition to mobile TV, the 5330 also offers a range of social media and multimedia applications. That’s not the best bit, though – the Nokia 5330 has one very special feature that’ll make it sell by the bucket load!I’ll explain why after the jump.

Nokia 5330 overview

Nokia has described the 5330 as a media hub, and it’s easy to see why. Not only does it let you watch mobile TV, it also comes with a range of social media apps, including Facebook, MySpace and Nokia’s own Ovi Contacts.

In addition, you can also use Instant Messaging using a variety of different services, including Windows Live Messenger, Google Talk, Yahoo! Messenger, ICQ and AOL. That’s a lot of different messaging services, so you should be able to message your mates no matter what messaging app they use.

You can also upload your pics and videos to Flickr and YouTube with just a few clicks of the menu.

In short, Nokia have made it as easy as possible to share media with the 5330. It’s not an iPhone-esque smartphone, but it’s clearly hooked in to the increasingly-important mobile Web and the social apps we all use on it.

Nokia 5330 Features

The features of the 5330 aren’t great, but then it’s a low-end phone rather than a high-end feature phone. There’s no GPS, for example, the camera’s only 3 megapixels and the screen’s only 2.4 inches in size with QVGA resolution. But it looks great, offers mobile TV, Nokia’s Comes With Music music download service, a 3.5mm standard headphone jack, and superb social media connectivity.

There’s no touchscreen on the 5330, just Nokia’s standard user interface, but you can download apps from Nokia’s app store, so you can still extend the features of the 5330, just like you can with a smartphone.

In other words, everything you’d want from a phone to connect with your friends and family.

But there’s one other little thing that might tempt you to get the 5330. The price.

The Nokia 5330’s extra special feature

The 5330’s feature set was considered high-end back in 2006, and that was without the messaging and social network apps. OK, it’s not that special now, but the price certainly is – just 155 Euros unlocked.

That’s incredible value!

To sell it unlocked for just 155 Euros, and in such a handsome device, shows how far mobile phones have come.

Summary

The Nokia 5330 clearly isn’t a cutting edge phone from Nokia, but for such a low price, it’s fantastic value, and should prove a great phone for anyone wanting to keep connected with their social networks without the added complexity that smartphones bring.

Hang on a minute, though – that would have sounded nice and futuristic back in 2007, but anyone who’s used an Android phone, iPhone or Palm Pre recently will instantly be familiar with this scenario. That’s not a vision of the future, that’s the vision of a touchscreen smartphone with Google’s apps installed!

Check out the video yourself after the jump and see what you think.

Nokia’s 2015 vision in brief

Nokia’s vision includes:

• storing all your information in a “data cloud”
• paying for services and receiving cash via a Nokia payment service
• letting Ovi (Nokia’s app store) recommend new customers for any special data you’ve collected
• a phone with built-in projector
• augmented reality handsets, where people’s details are overlaid on the screen whenever you point the phone at them

All of this seems reasonable enough. However, most of this is going to happen a lot sooner than 2015.

For example, my G1 Android phone has an app that already features augmented reality. Called Wikitude, I simply point the camera at an object, and an icon pops up showing me a photo of it. Touch the photo, and I’m taken to Web sites (usually Google or Wikipedia) that tell me more about it, along with pictures and other info. It’s not that great a leap to go from places to people’s faces.

Google already stores all of your data in the cloud – its own data centers. That’s what makes accessing Google via your phone so incredibly useful. Better still, because your GPS-enabled phone knows where it is in space and time, what direction it’s pointing in and even how fast it’s moving, the apps on an Android phone can be super-personalised – just check out the new Google Maps, Street View and Latitude features on Android 2.0, coming soon in the Motorola Droid.

As for phones with projectors – Nikon already sell a camera with a built-in projector, so it won’t be long before they’re squeezed into mainstream mobile phones.

The whole world’s not Nokia

I also take issue with Nokia providing all of these services itself. Only Apple and/or Google has the power to achieve this – Apple because it’s brand is loved so people won’t mind giving it so much control over their lives; and Google because its technology is so good it’s just too damned useful not to!

But Nokia? Great with handsets, but as their Comes with Music service has shown, people just don’t see them as a company offering services or apps.

In short, it’s a good vision of the future of mobile phones, but it’ll all happen by 2011 at the latest. I also think Nokia should open up a bit and not to try to take on the world! It doesn’t need to control everything – open up the phones and services, let other people develop apps on an open system, and stop trying to take on the likes of Apple and Google.

And realize that if it sticks to its vision for 2015, it’ll be four years late to the party when it eventually arrives!

Just my opinon. Feel free to add yours in the comments below.

Why? Because although the W995 has a great feature-set – including huge 8 megapixel camera, WiFi, GPS and tons more – other sexier phones have since been released, and so the price of the Sony Ericsson W995 has had to be lowered to attract people’s attention again.

The result is a great mobile phone with some superb features for a ridiculously low price – perfect for a credit crunch-busting Christmas present!

To see if the W995 is for you, read our Sony Ericsson W995 review below (or just jump straight to the price of the Sony Ericsson W995 now!)

Things you’ll love about the Sony Ericsson W995

The W995 is a Walkman phone with the best features of a CyberShot cameraphone. In other words, it’s the perfect blend of both.

So buy a W995 and you’ll get:

• the latest Sony Walkman 4.0 software, which is recognized as one of the best music interfaces on the market
• terrific sound quality thanks to Sony’s experience in music technology
• loads of storage for thousands of tunes, thanks to an 8GB MM2 storage card included the price
• freedom to hear your tunes with your own headphones, thanks to an industry standard 3.5mm headphone jack
• let your friends listen as well, with its large high quality built-in speakers
• FM radio
• a great 8 megapixel camera with autofocus, smile detection, face recognition and flash
• aGPS with Google Maps
• Guitar Hero-like games that make the most of the W995’s music features
• Wi-Fi, HSDPA and Quad-Band GSM support, for fast Internet downloads wherever you are
• DLNA, which lets you share music and pics between your phone and your PC or DLNA-equipped TV
• Great range of software pre-installed, including Web Browser, YouTube, Facebook, Flickr and loads of games
• Access to Sony Ericsson’s new PlayNow download service for downloading videos, apps and games
• MediaGo software, which lets you sync your tunes seamlessly with the music library on your PC

And that’s only just scratched the surface!

Every phone feature you could ever want

The W995 offers the best music playing software and the best sound on the market – which is at it should be, as it’s the flagship Walkman phone in Sony Ericsson’s collection.

Better than that, though, rather than focusing purely on music, Sony Ericsson threw everything they could at the W995! As feature-phones go, there’s hardly anything that the W995 doesn’t have.

So not only do you get a phone that comes with a list of features as long as your arm, because it’s a Sony Ericsson, they all work really well. The photos, for example, taken from its 8.1 megapixel camera look crisp and clear – see for yourself in the sample pics below (courtesy of PhoneArena) – while the sound of its music player is excellent.

The user interface is quick and responsive too, so you won’t have to wait as you select the options you want.

There are even dedicated music buttons on the outside of the phone for super-quick access to all of your phones.

And if it’s the mobile Web you’re more interested in, the W995 scores highly there. The W995 is a fast phone in every sense – its user interface is responsive, so it’s easy and quick to scroll around a Web page, while Wi-Fi and fast HSDPA (3.6Mbps) ensure Web pages are downloaded in super-quick time.

Better still, the W995 comes with dedicated apps for Flickr, Facebook and YouTube, so you don’t even need to browse to their Web sites – you simply go there with a single click!

Any downsides?

The only problem with the W995 is its user interface, which is a bit dated. The second half of this year has seen some stunning looking phones emerge with all manner of sexy software that make the W995 look a bit, well, 2008!

In part, this is because it’s following the design of previous Walkman phones, the design of which is now a couple of years old. It’s also because Sony Ericsson underestimated the competition a bit, and didn’t realize the range of new smartphones that would be released, such as the HTC Hero, Motorola Droid and Palm Pre, would all looks so gorgeous!

It’s not that the user interface is terrible – it uses Adobe Flash, so it’s still got loads of whizzy effects, animations and transitions. But it’s not touchscreen and the world wants touchscreen phones at the moment. This, however, is the secret to the W995’s real value.

Because its not quite so attractive as other phones, Sony Ericsson have had to keep its price low in order to sell it. So if you don’t mind that your phone doesn’t look quite as cutting edge as it could, you can grab yourself one of the best-performing feature phones on the market for much less than Sony Ericsson would rather you paid!

How much less? Check out the deals on offer and see for yourself.

Video reviews of the Sony Ericsson W995

Unsure whether you want a phone without a touchscreen? Don’t be – the quality of the W995’s pictures and the sound it produces is right up there with the best. Say what you like about Sony Ericsson, but they know how to make good technology, and as the W995 is the current flagship Walkman phone, they’ve kitted it out with the best tech they’ve got.

You can see for yourself the quality of the phone in the video reviews below. Imagine showing it off to your mates with its huge list of features. Sure they might have a flashy touchscreen phone, but the W995 has what really matters – quality! Your W995’s features will make their touchscreen phone look just like a gimmick – and for just half the cost!

Sony Ericsson W995 reviews from across the Web

The W995 has been reviewed extensively across the Web, with near unanimous praise.

GSMArena were extremely impressed:

“Sony Ericsson W995 is the company’s top-ranking Walkman and its spec sheet is clearly set to justify this label. The Flash-based user interface, which we’ve praised repeatedly, seems to be only getting better. There are no gaps in the connectivity set and the 3.5 mm audio jack is a long-awaited blessing.

Sony Ericsson W995 not only spares users the agonizing choice between Walkman and Cyber-shot. It has simply harvested all the high-end goodies and leaves nothing else to want. And all that skill is packed in a compact, solid and stylish body.”

PhoneArena, too, love the quality of the W995.

“Just a simple glance at the specs of the Sony Ericsson W995 should be enough to convince you that this is the most high-tech model of the Walkman Series. Does that mean it is the best as well? In terms of sound quality (not through the boxed earphones), camera performance and GPS, this is the case indeed.”

Finally, Channel 5’s The Gadget Show also make the same point about the W995:

“…The Sony Ericsson W995 suffers from all the same drawbacks as previous Walkman mobiles: it’s walled off, and lacking the power and customization of your standard smartphone. If that doesn’t bother you though, what you’ll find is one of the best multimedia phones on the market, and this time that includes picture taking.”

Conclusion

So, should you buy the Sony Ericsson W995? If you’re looking for a feature-rich high-end mobile phone that takes great pictures and has the best in class sound system, then yes, the W995 should be top of your list!

It doesn’t have the slick touchscreen user interface of the average smartphone – it’s just a straightforward high-end mobile phone. But because of that, you get to buy the W995 at a knock down price. Bad news for Sony Ericsson, but great news for you!

If you’re looking for a cracking multimedia mobile phone for Christmas at a knock-down price, then the W995 has to be the bargain of the decade. Just don’t tell anyone, or the whole world will want one!

Check out the deals below to see how much you get for your money.

However, I was confused back then as to why Nokia was effectively competing with itself with two mobile operating systems (the N97 uses Symbian), and I’m even more confused with this video – it’s not a teaser for the N900, it’s a teaser for Maemo!

Check the video out for yourself after the jump – and see if you can make sense of it!

Is this a sign that Nokia are refocusing their smartphone efforts around Maemo rather than the ageing Symbian? It would certainly make sense. Samsung have just announced that they’ll no longer be using Symbian in their smartphones, which is a huge blow to the platform. Whether Nokia are prepared to give up on Symbian as well is any one’s guess (just like what the video actually means!), but it at least shows that Nokia’s firmly committed to Maemo.

You’re probably thinking that it can’t be all of Photoshop squeezed onto an Android phone, though. And yes, you’d be right, but as the video shows, it’s a slick app all the same.

See the video and more details after the jump.

The video of Photoshop for Android is below. It’s very comprehensive, though, so ends up being overly long, but it does walk you through pretty much everything the app can do.

In particular, Photoshop for Android will let you do the following:

• Crop, straighten, rotate and flip your photo
• Use image and colour correction filters, such as saturation, tint, and exposure, on it
• Add effects, such as soft focus
• Alter the colour of the photo (accentuating the photo’s blue, for example)
• Upload your pics to Photoshop.com
• Share them with your friends

What’s really neat is the way the app uses the Android user interface to its best effect. When changing colour tones, for example, you simply select the effect and then slide your finger over the screen to change the values you’re modifying.

Equally, the multitasking power of Android comes into its own, letting you upload one picture while editing another simultaneously – something the iPhone still can’t do.

Annoyingly, Adobe’s Photoshop for Android app can’t be found by my G1 in the UK, and the guys from Se-nse.net have had similar problems, so it may be only for the US at the moment.

It should be worth the wait, though, as the video below shows it to be one fine looking app!

You can download it yourself here (click the link on your Android phone and you’ll be taken straight to the App market).

[Source: Se-nse.net]

Garmin entered the mobile phone market a while back with its much-delayed Nuvifone. Unfortunately, the delay meant that Garmin missed the boat somewhat with GPS phones, with first Nokia and then Google stealing a march on the company with a plethora of GPS-based phones that all worked rather well.

More details after the jump.

Of course, Garmin went the extra mile, adding its superior knowledge of navigation technology and turn-by-turn sat-nav experience to the mix, but the Nuvifone itself wasn’t as much a success as it could have been.

Android to the rescue – again!

With an Android-based Nuvifone, though, Garmin may have found a platform that can enable their navigational nous to really shine through.

Android was designed from the ground up to encompass a range of sensors, and with its completely open architecture, any manufacturer is free to develop it in whatever way they wish.

For Garmin, this means complete turn-by-turn Sat-Nav functionality in a touchscreen phone that knows where it is in time, space, orientation (north, south, east or west), and altitude. That’s a powerful combination!

No details yet on the exact spec of the Android Nuvifone, but if the phone succeeds, Garmin can add its name, along with Motorola and Sony Ericsson, to an increasingly long list of phone manufacturer that Android has helped save from the brink.

[Source: Se-nse.net]

More details and loads of pics of the Sony Ericsson Kurara after the jump.

Sony Ericsson Kurara Overview

The Kurara, I’m happy to report, looks stunning, and reflects a real return to form for the company. I got bored of writing about CyberShot and Walkman phones as they had all ended up looking the same, each different from the other in just a few minor ways.

But the Kurara seems to be different. Not only is its feature-set looking good – Sony Ericsson camera phones take great pics and 8 megapixels bodes well for a quality camera – but the shape of the phone looks super-cool.

With its silver colouring and sexy curves, some people have compared it to the Sony Ericsson S700 from 2004, which is no bad thing, as this was a great looking phone for its time (I’ve still got mine!).

Sony Ericsson Kurara Specification

We don’t know much about the specs of the Kurara, but the following features have been leaked:

• 3.5 inch AMOLED screen
• 8.1 megapixel camera
• Symbian S60
• Sony Ericsson Entertainment Unlimited line
• 720p HD video recording
• Possibly the same user interface as the Sony Ericsson Satio.

The Kurara’s release date is expected early 2010, so we’ll know more soon. But even with this limited knowledge, coupled with the Xperia X10, Sony Ericsson looks like its back on the right path again, and should hopefully have a much more successful 2010 than it had in 2009.

[Source: Mobile-Review, I4u]

Pantech’s new phone emulates this part of the DuPont lighter with its own flip top, which, disappointingly, doesn’t reveal a flame, but instead reveals the lens of a 3 megapixel camera. It does at least make the same “cling sound” as the DuPont lighter, although whether this is real or an electronic sample, we’re not sure.

More pics after the jump.

The black and gold design of the DuPont gives it a distinctly classy look (well, classy in a Peter Stringfellow way, anyway!), which is just as well, as it’s being pitched as a designer phone, and so comes with a designer-like price of $830! Ouch!

For that, you get a 3″ inch touchscreen display, GPS, DMB TV, MP3 player, and email.

If black and gold isn’t your thing, Pantech will also sell you the Sky Snow, which is the same phone but in white, and apparently meant for women.

I’m not sure if a phone designed around a cigarette lighter would even be allowed in Europe, but in Korea, at least, it’s presumably seen as a very good thing!

[Source: UnwiredView, Aving.net]

Samsung have cut down on features with the Genio Touch to keep its cost low – you only get a 2 megapixel camera, for example – but software is free, so they’ve made sure the Genio Touch provides you with everything you need to do on the mobile Web, and all from an extremely responsive touchscreen interface.

Read on for our full Samsung Genio Touch review to see if it’s the phone for you.

Samsung Genio Touch overview

The Genio Touch (also called the Samsung Corby outside the UK) is an update to the Samsung Tocco Lite, another Samsung phone that became one of the company’s best sellers. The Tocco Lite was one of the first low-end phones to feature a touchscreen, and was aimed at users who wanted a good looking phone with a smartphone-like interface, but without the cost of a smartphone.

The Genio Touch also follows this approach, but with a much more engaging, fluid and responsive user interface, better integration with social networks, and a better looking body.

What you’ll like about the Genio Touch

The first thing you’ll love about the Genio Touch is the price – it’s a low-end phone, remember, so it’s been designed to fit perfectly with the tightened purse strings of the credit crunch economy. Check out the latest prices below to see just how much value the Genio Touch offers.

But is price at a cost of reduced features? Well, yes and no. Obviously the hardware has been slimmed down a bit to save costs; but as I said, software adds no cost at all to a phone, so Samsung have added lots of it to the Genio Touch! There are widgets that you can slide around with your finger, applications that let you do everything from ToDo lists and Email to easy access to MySpace, Twitter and Facebook.

The screen’s also pretty good for a budget phone. Its 2.8″ in size, it’s a touchscreen display, and can display a huge 16,000,000 different colours.

The user interface, too, is a great achievement for such a budget phone. Samsung’s TouchWiz interface lets you copy widgets between the homepage and a toolbar on the side of the screen. You simply pick a widget up on the toolbar, drag it over the homepage, and drop it, where it boings into life. Widgets give you instant access to some of your favourite social networking sites, and will even notify you of status updates via a pop up message.

And all in a phone that’s like a touchscreen smartphone, but without the price.

What’s not so good

So how many features has Samsung got rid of to keep the cost down? Fortunately not too many, but the Genio Touch’s low price does reflect in its full specification.

For example, there’s only a 2 megapixel camera with no auto-focus, no 3.5mm headphone jack (though Samsung do supply a 3.5mm headphone jack converter with the Genio), and there’s no QWERTY keyboard, either virtual or real. You get the same predictive text-based numerical keypad as you do on most mobile phones, but in virtual form. Given that it’s a got a huge 2.8″ touchscreen, though, you’d have thought Samsung would have offered a virtual QWERTY option as well, but apparently not!

Apps and Multimedia

Fortunately, apps and multimedia come firmly under “software”, which Samsung have included by the bucket load! Although you can’t download apps onto the Genio touch (at least not yet), there are tonnes of apps and widgets pre-installed with it.

You can see your friends’ Twitter and Facebook updates, play music encoded in WMA, MP3, AAC, eAAC, and eAAC+ formats, browse the Web using a web browser that lets you zoom in and out of a Web page, and even view Microsoft Office documents.

As far as Multimedia is concerned, you can take photos and videos and store them on a microSD card of up to 16GB in size, which is enough for thousands of pictures, hours of video, and tonnes of tunes. The Genio Touch also comes with a music player and FM radio, so you can listen to your tunes wherever you are.

Video of the Samsung Genio Touch

Here’s a video of the Genio Touch to give you a better feel for the phone:

Samsung Genio Touch and, er, the Saturdays!

This has no relevance to the review, but Samsung did a big promotion with the Saturdays when launching the Genio Touch. So it would seem rude of me not show them in all their glory! And yes, that really is a Genio Touch they’re holding (no it is, honest ;)

Summary

I’m impressed with the Samsung Genio Touch. It’s a budget phone with budget features but it’s great to use. The touchscreen is impressive, the use of widgets that you can drag and drop all over the place, and the seamless way it connects to your social networks, all make the Genio Touch seem much more like a smartphone.

It’s a shame the camera is only 2 megapixels, but its curved looks, social network apps and touchscreen more than make up for it. The Samsung Genio Touch is a great phone for the budget conscious who want something stylish and who want to join the touchscreen revolution without breaking the bank. It’ll make the perfect Christmas present!

[Source: CellPhone Reviews]