Nokia has released the 3720 classic a bit earlier than expected. As we mentioned in an earlier post, as an IP-54 certified mobile phone, it’s designed to resist water, dust and shock. For such a rugged mobile phone, the 3720 looks pleasantly stylish and its bright yellow-on-black design reminds me of one of those satellite phones. Another interesting design element is the Metal screw lock in the back cover to protect the insides from the elements. While did mention it would have a 3.2 Megapixel camera, it actually turned out to be 2 Megapixel. Could be interesting to see how the camera lens and screen hold it up to all the abuse. Should be a better looking alternative to the Land Rover phone.  All I can say is I want one, now!

The press release below.

                               

“Whether using it at the beach or in a dusty construction site, the Nokia 3720 classic has been specifically engineered to withstand the splashes, bumps and drops that come with the terrain,” said Markku Suomi, vice president, Connect devices. “While the Nokia 3720 classic is tough on the outside, it is equally functional on the inside – a perfect choice for people who want a long-lasting and reliable mobile phone for any environment.”

Nokia’s Eseries is all about business-oriented smartphones with an an emphasis on messaging, connectivity and enhanced build quality. Well, that’s the general idea at least. I have to confess that for a long time I stayed clear of the Eseries for the simple fact that they lacked many multimedia features. Besides messaging, I use my smartphones as my ONLY music player and the occasional video, surfing, gaming and imaging. In most of  these areas the Eseries just didn’t cut it for me, until a Red E75 came along…

Up until recently the Eseries had either no headphone jack or the pretty much useless 2.5mm Nokia audio connector. As a Music fan that likes to use his high-quality earphones, this pretty much meant that I had to buy a separate music player or a 2.5mm to 3.5mm adapters that didn’t help in the audio quality department. Introduced on the E63 and now also present on the E75, there’s a 3.5 mm audio jack. I’m not only excited about the fact that the 3.5mm audio jack is here to stay in the Eseries, but also the fact that the E75 sounds impressively good with my earphones. In fact, it sounds just as good as most Nseries devices and perhaps better than quite a few of them. Certainly not what I was expecting. Even the S60 music player has all the bells and whistles we’ve come to expect from the Nseries. It’s even funny to consider that the E75, a business device, has 3 visualizations and full screen album art while the N97 and the 5800 XpressMusic lack these features!

Another surprise is the N-gage support. 2 or even 1 Year ago I certainly wouldn’t have never thought that the Eseries would receive the N-gage treatment. Even stranger is how the E75 currently has N-gage support while the 5800 XpressMusic, a device dedicated to entertainment doesn’t. It makes sense for the E75 to have N-gage, especially with the addition of a Mode switcher, but clearly shows how the Eseries, in particular the E75 is pushing into multimedia.

Last, but certainly not least is the camera. With the E90 being an exception, the images of Eseries were more of a study in pointillism than photography. Snapping a few pictures with the E75 reveals that it’s actually quite good, with auto-focus and all. Look, it even has a dedicated shutter button!

If you prefer multimedia, there are certainly better devices out there like the N86 8MP and the N97, but the E75 seems to be the best balance between both worlds.

Back in February I wrote ”something to consider when buying a white Nokia“.  Back then I got my first White device, the White E71. While it looks incredibly good and got a lot of attention due to the uncommon color for that type of form-factor, there was a small problem. Even after taking really good care of the device (and case), in just two weeks the case got really dirty. I tried cleaning it daily, but as you might expect after a while it gets so dirty that cleaning just won’t help. What’s even worse is that these original Nokia slip cases are really hard to find. If that wasn’t enough, the E71’s USB and memory card’s rubber cover began to turn pink-ish red. I was puzzled as to why this was happening, but after some closer inspection I found the cause. It turned out that the red interior of the slip case began to come of on the rubber cover of the E71, giving it a pink-ish color.

Jay from my Nokia blog is now describing a similar situation with his White N97. Everything from a  D-pad that is “quick to absorb any stains” and “turning slightly creamy yellow” to “the back of the N97 is turning slightly yellower too.”

I don’t expect a White device to stay pure White, but at least should hold their color for longer periods (With reasonable usage of course). This might be an isolated incident, but something to consider when buying the White N97.

Does your White N97 have the same issues?

Nokia has been showing some tough love to an unknown device, that later on turned out to be the 3720 Classic. As an IP54-certified phone, it will be Nokia’s first dust and water proof phone. This concept isn’t new to Nokia, just look at the 5500 Sport, a phone designed to “withstand bumps, dust, and water splashes.” The 3720 takes things to another level by not only being “splash-proof” but now actually being water proof. I can think of many situation and events I wouldn’t dare take my Nseries or Eseries  devices just for the risk of being dropped or getting wet. These characteristics could make the 3720 the ultimate companion to any Nokia smartphone. Something that I  personally would love to get. Below the reported specifications of the device.

I can already see an E- or Nseries device with such features, would be amazing. The videos below pretty much say it all!

 Via: DailyMoile.se

Something as simple as getting the album art to show up in the S60 Music player hasn’t been as straight forward as it should be. In its current state the S60 Music player cab be considered “dumb” and not connected, lacking the ability to connect to the net and grab album art, lyrics and album info. This is something LCG Jukebox has been able to do for a while now.

Despite its shortcomings I do prefer to stick to the built-in apps like the S60 music player,for this reason album art has to be added manually. My experience with most MP3 tag editors is that while they allow you to add album art to the MP3 file, it simply isn’t displayed in the S60 Music player. The solution turned out to be the standard Windows Media Player. Here’s how to do it.

1.Add your music to Windows Media player: This is done by dragging and dropping your music in the player or by letting it automatically  media by going to: Library>Add to Library

2.Open advanced Tag Editor: Once your music is in Windows Media Player. Go to the library and find the song. Right click the song and choose “Advanced Tag Editor”

3.Add Album Art: In the Advanced Tag Editor go to “Pictures” and choose “Add” to add a picture. I recommend searching on Amazon for album art. There they have 500×500 pixel pictures that are perfect for the S60 Music player. Be sure to click on the pictures to get the full 500×500 pixel version. When the album art is added be sure to press “OK” and NOT “ADD” otherwise the album art won’t be added.

Do you know any other methods that work with the S60 Music player?

Here at The Nokia Guide we’ve had many and I really do mean many accessories, but none has been quite as useful as the mobile chargers from the guys at Proporta. Calls, hours of music listening and especially using 3G, Wi-Fi and GPS all day long takes  quite a toll on the battery and in the end there’s only so much power management can do, hence the need for these mobile chargers. Many times I have had not 1 but 4 of these chargers with me, basically allowing me  to charge when and wherever I want. I could go days without ever using the Nokia charger. I can’t tell you how many times these things I have been lifesavers: needing to make an emergency just when the battery is empty and all of the sudden remembering that you have a one of these mobile charges with you. Just a few weeks ago I’ve even had  colleague asking me to borrow her that “Thing that does wireless charging.”

Proporta has now replaced all previous Mobile Chargers with 2 versions of the new “TurboChargers” available in both 1200 mAh and 3400 mAh. The new chargers now only come in black, making previous white and the brown Ted Baker models a thing of the past. They actually have the same rubbery material and three blue status LED that we loved on the Proporta Mobile Device Charger Micro. We do like the all-new black design, something we’ve been wanting for quite some time. And simplifying the line to just 2 models is a great move.  The smaller model also comes with a retractable cable that hides away underneath the charger and a switch to change output from 5 to 5.5v. Of course there’s the usual included DS Lite, iPod,Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Micro and Mini USB power connectors included with both models.

Last but certainly not least, they’ve created an all-in-one package called the the World Pack that comes with an in Car Power Supply (compatible with standard cigarette lighters) and an AC World Travel Charger Kit that allows you to plug into the mains all over the globe. We do expect them to come up with one of those Limited editon packages, similar to the Ted Baker model that includes World Pack, with fancy bag and different color.

I really like the World Pack 3400 model and chances are it will join my collection of mobile chargers and a must-have for those of you without a mobile charger or on the look out for backup. I do wish Proporta would have offered the smaller TurboChargers with a capacity of 1700 mah, like earlier models. The 1200 mAh is a slight step down.

Courtesy of WOM World/ Nokia we’ve received this Limited Edition Red E75 complete with suitcase. Other than the different packaging there isn’t any extra accessories or content. The package and presentation is very nice, with no less than 3 boxes(!) in side the suitcase. Considering that Eseries are intended for use in the business environment, what better way to present the E75 than in a matching suitcase. We were informed that the E75 was sent in connection with a project called “Teach a Technophobe.” Basically, the point is to see how easy it is for those unaccustomed to the world of mobile technology to use email from the Nokia E75 with the help of a Nokia fan. For this WOM World has a few challenges for them to complete, competing against other. These challenges will to be completed on a weekly basis. There’s still a bit of a mystery as to how these challenges will have to be completed, but think of the N96 Ninja challenges but with an Eseries device. Below the unboxing.

Looking for a N97 and need a laptop? Here’s  a sweet deal! Dell’s currently bundling the Vostro A860 with Nokia’s latest for $730 after a discount coupon. This combo normally goes for $1,129, but after $259 instant savings  on the Vostro A860 and 20% off $700 Nokia N97 it all comes down to $730 + $29 shipping. More details can be found here.

Via: Engadget

The Nokia N97 is all about widgets and for this reason Nokia has created the “Online as it happens” Widget contest. With the simple tools they give you, you’ll be able to create useful or simply wacky widgets for your chance to have your widget developed and made available for download from Ovi Store.10 Winners will be announced and each will receive a Nokia N97 with their very own widget pre-installed in the device. Winners will be selected by a jury, and the selection is based on the creative execution along with the feasibility and usability of the widget for the Nokia N97. Start creating a widget right here!

Below the widget we created that displays the amount of magnitude 2.5 or larger Earthquakes through a beating drum.
 Direct link here.

Here at The Nokia guide, we’re big music fans, as a result, the music features of our Nokia devices are very important to us. Having many or cool music-oriented features means nothing if the device itself is unable to produce a high quality audio signal the 3.5mm audio jack. When it comes to music, the N91 is pretty much still the Gold standard. Things seem to look promising for the N97 according the review at GSMArena. The review says that:

“The audio quality of Nokia N97 is just great, save for the disturbingly high intermodulation distortion levels. The handset fared excellently in all other parts of our test achieving some pretty impressive scores. The frequency response has been greatly improved over what the N96 could deliver. It now closes on perfection, deviating by no more than 0.27dB throughout the audible range. The noise level, dynamic range and stereo crosstalk readings are also very good, comparable to the best in class. Here go the results so you can compare it to some of the other handsets we have tested.”

The N97 seems to be performing quite admirable in the audio department, should be nice if you have one of those fancy In Ear Monitors.

Images courtesy: GSMArena