Not Another Mobile Phone Blog

Demo Video: Opera Mobile 10 Beta on Samsung OmniaHD

Vikramdeo@nampblog.com (Vikram) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 17:30:00 PST

Opera recently launched the Beta version of their popular mobile Internet browser, Opera Mobile 10. I installed it on my Nokia N97 and the browser is a nice application to have for touch screen phones. You can check out the details of Opera Mobile 10 Beta on Nokia N97. Opera Mobile 10 Beta is optimized for devices that run on Symbian S60 3rd and 5th Edition. In the video below, guys from SamsungOmniaHD Blog take you through the Opera Mobile 10 Beta experience on the Samsung Omnia HD, which runs on Symbian.

Guys of Diggination Unbox the Nokia Booklet 3G

Vikramdeo@nampblog.com (Vikram) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 03:00:00 PST

In the video below, Albert from Diggination unboxes the Nokia Booklet 3G, first ever Netbook from Nokia that runs on Windows 7 and there are just 7 Nokia booklet 3Gs as of now in America and one of them you can see below. The unboxing video also features Kevin Rose of Digg. For a Netbook the Nokia Nokia Booklet 3G has some cool features like tight integration with Ovi Store, Maps and other Nokia software and for starters it can also make a phone calls and has 3G connectivity. It is priced like a conventional Notebook and Nokia still calls it a Netbook..Enjoy the video!!

Video Tutorial: Unlock iPhone 3G & 3GS [3.1.2 FirmWare] Using BlackSnow

Vikramdeo@nampblog.com (Vikram) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:19:00 PST

[Via]

Photo Gallery: Nokia N97 Mini via All About Symbian

Vikramdeo@nampblog.com (Vikram) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:15:00 PST

Nokia N97 Mini is the younger brother of the Nokia N97. N97 Mini is a bit smaller in size than the Nokia N97 and misses the D Pad. Specs wise it is almost like the Nokia N97 and price wise also there not a huge difference..check out some Nokia N97 Mini pics posted by Flickr user Rafe Blandford from All About Symbian, who also is a Nokia and Symbian fan. Check out the pics below and you can also check out AAS' Nokia N97 Mini Review Part 0.

You can see that the Mini looks just like the Nokia N97, the size is a bit smaller and you see the d-pad is not there. In one way it is good as now you have a spaced out QWERTY keyboard, which can be used easily. I found the Nokia N97 keyboard pretty cramped up.

Unlike the Nokia N97, the Mini's back has some steel to it. The battery cover is made of steel like its E Series brothers, the E75 and the E71. You can also see that the camera in Nokia N97 mini does not have a cover, which is not good.

Now you can see the actual difference between the Nokia N97 and the N97 Mini. Apart from the missing D-Pad, they almost looks similar.

Front face of the N97 Mini with the QWERTY keyboard out. Head over to All About Symbian for their N97 Mini Review.

Why I Like my Palm Pre: Short User Review of the Palm Pre

Vikramdeo@nampblog.com (Vikram) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 22:58:00 PST

Zainab from the US is my blog's follower and a fellow Twitter friend. She has been using Palm Pre for quite a while and she has only one thing to say, "The Palm Pre is Hot". Why she thinks this way..well read her take on the Palm Pre and you will come to know why she thinks that the iPhone is like Olive Oyl and Palm Pre is like Jessica Rabbit.

I love my palm pre. Then again, I've been with Nextel for 10+ years (you can't beat free incoming coupled with a coast to coast walkie-talkie feature) meaning I've put up with painfully primitive, virtually featureless, and the most rugged phones one can imagine. So, the palm pre is quite a step up from a long history of Motorola phones designed for construction workers.

But it really is a great phone. The Pre functions very much like the iPhone with a touch screen and capacity to browse different applications with the flick of a finger. Perhaps the only limitation is the fact that only a fraction of applications are available for the Pre in comparison to the iPhone. But what I love about my pre, is that along with the touch screen, I have a drop down "QWERTY" keypad, the iPhone is restrictive to only a touch screen. This allows the iPhone a larger screen, but at the expense of freedom to text and respond to emails with the efficiency of a fully functioning keypad. Touch-screens are far more sensitive than actual keypads and therefore inherently more prone to error.

Drawbacks to the Pre? Battery life is weak and the speaker phone is even weaker. But I've heard similar criticism of the iPhone's battery. My mom and brothers both have iPhone, and although their applications look enticing, at the end of the day my Pre is still cute as compared to the iPhone.

The iPhone's look might be iconic, but it's borderline monotonous. The overly simplistic, geometric form makes it sterile looking. The pre is curvy, organic.....it's just sexy. Better yet, the iPhone is the cellular equivalent of Olive Oyl, while my Pre is Jessica Rabbit.

Thanks a lot Zainab for sending this review, which I think is well written and sticky. You can follow Zainab on Twitter and do visit her Blog and let her know what you feel about this review.

Video: HTC Tattoo Unboxing and Features via MobileBurn

Vikramdeo@nampblog.com (Vikram) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 20:26:00 PST

Guys over at MobileBurn, like always, got their hands on the recently launched HTC Tattoo. Its an affordable handset based on the Android OS by HTC. With this handset I guess, HTC wants to put the power of Android and smart phones in the hands of general public. Like the HTC Hero, the Tattoo also has the Sense feature that offers customization, other features include, 2.8 inch QVGA display with resistive touch screen interface, 528 MHz Qualcomm Processor, 512 MB ROM and 256 MB RAM, 3.5 mm standard headphone jack, Bluetooth 2.0, HSDPA, Wi-Fi, GPS and a 3.2 meg snapper.

Enjoy the 10 minute long each, videos below by MobileBurn.

Part 1 Of the Unboxing and Tour:

Part II of the Unboxing and Tour:

Nokia X6 Coming to UK in November...to India in Q1 2010??

Vikramdeo@nampblog.com (Vikram) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:03:00 PST

Nokia introduced a new range of phones called the X Series at the Nokia World Event 2009 by announcing the launch of the two new X Series touch screen phones, the X6 and the X3. Both the phones target the music lover who wants to have his music on the go especially on mobile. As per Expansys, the X6 is all set for a UK launch on 12th November 2009. The X6 boasts of unlimited music as it comes with the Comes With Music service from Nokia, where users can download unlimited music tracks for a span of 12 months for free (network data charges are not included in this, you will have to pay for that). The tracks will remain with the user even after 12 months. The tracks can be easily downloaded on your phone or PC and transfered. Being a music phone, the X6 is supposed to have 30 hours of song playback time with extended battery, built-in stereo speakers, 32GB of internal memory, integration with the Ovi Store for games and Apps. Apart from this the phone has a 5 meg snapper with Car Ziess optics, 30fps DVD quality video recording, music mixing functionality. I hope they have improved the touch screen experience on the X6, which has a 3.2 inch screen with scratch resistant glass, now thats something, which is really cool. Now news on when the X6 comes to India but there was a rumor of the X6 and the X3 coming to India in Q1 2010.

Nokia N97 Unboxing and Pictures

Vikramdeo@nampblog.com (Vikram) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 23:30:00 PST

Wanted to check out the Nokia N97 in and out from the day it was launched. Its a flagship touch screen device running the Symbian S60 5th Edition OS and is the big brother of the Nokia 5800. Thanks to the guys from WOM World, I finally got the Nokia N97 to play around with. The device which i have got is loaded with Firmware 2.0 that was released by Nokia in October 2009. As promised the upgrade looks promising and there is kinetic scrolling but not as great as the iPhone (but feature wise it beats the iPhone left, right and center). The most unique thing about the phone is its form factor, which has never been seen in any Nokia phones.below the touch screen sits a well laid out QWERTY keyboard. Features include, 5 meg snapper(Auto focus with Carl Zeiss optics, Dual LED Flash, VGA/wVGA Video Recording at 30fps), 3.5 inch TFT resistive touchscreen, 16M colors at 360 x 640 pixels, Symbian OS v9.4 (S60 V5), ARM 11 434 MHz processor, Touch input, slide out QWERTY keyboard, hand writing recognition, built-in Accelerometer and proximity sensors, front camera for video calling, 3.5mm standard headphone jack, TV out, Wi-Fi, 3G, Bluetooth, FM Radio with RDS, built-in GPS and compass. Lets get down to business, check out some unboxing pictures below.

The sleek black package arrives from WOMWorld. I liked the black color of the box, which makes it looks classy and tells what promises does the device inside holds. Read on..

The top view of the package, with Nokia N Series written in steely silver and a Nokia N97 embossed on the package, leaves the user wanting for more.

The box opens and you can see a white color N97 sitting inside, its actually off white color and not full white. You can also see the space for battery and the small strip, which you see is stylus that you can use to operate the N97. Trust me the stylus is very useful as your fingers sometimes confuse the N97, I hope you get what I mean.

The whole package out of the box, you can see the user manual (grey colored), Ovi Suite CD, accessories, the small pouch contains a soft black cloth for cleaning the screen of the N97. Most of the retailers also give a case to keep the N97 given its size and the big touch screen.

The accessories for the Nokia N97. Pretty obvious, phone charger with USB in, the phone has USB charging. If you loose the charger, then you also have the mini USB to normal Nokia Charger (extreme left) (small & big pin), where you can plug in the charger and put the USB end in the Nokia N97 and its gets charged. Black cloth for cleaning the phone and a data cable.

A closer look at the lifeless Nokia N97 and its unique stylus. By lifeless, I mean that it does not have a battery as of now. It will come to life soon, keep reading.

The Nokia N97 comes to life. Resting on its cleaning cloth which is a part of the accessories. The screen resolution is very nice and you have lot of space to organize your contacts, Apps, Widgets..its for the connected crowd.

The phone's backside has a 5 mega pixel snapper with Auto focus, Carl Zeiss optics, Dual LED flash and is good for snapping pictures on the go.

The unique form factor, which slides out the QWERTY keyboard from the side of the phone. This is the first time Nokia has come up with such design for any phone in its portfolio. The upcoming N97 Mini is the exact copy of the N97 but smaller the size and without the D-Pad.

The slider works on a hinge mechanism and small bus is the only point of contact between the processing unit and the main touch screen. The mechanism was working fine for me but I have seen a lot of Nokia N97s in showrooms which make a very plasticky sound when you use the slider.

This is the QWERTY keyboard. Its easy to use though the keys are pretty small as compared to the QWERTY keyboard of the E75. The D-Pad also functions properly and even if you have large fingers you wont find problem using this keyboard.

As the slider open, just below the screen, on the right and side, you will the camera button and the volume control button. The volume control button also doubles up as a zoom in/out button when you are using the camera.

The left side of the phone houses a miniUSB slot used for the data cable and also for charging the phone. Yes, the Nokia N97 supports USB charging.

The top has a 3.5 mm standard headphone jack, which can also be used for TV out and a power/Profile switching button.

You will find only three buttons (actually one) on the front. The call take and call end buttons are touch sensitive, which can be a problem if the phone is unlocked. The other button, which was also found on some old Nokia phones like the N91, activates the main menu of the Nokia N97.

The main menu of the Nokia N97, looks exactly like the Nokia 5800 but there is more to the N97, which I will be covering in the coming posts. I hope you enjoyed this one. If yes, let me know in comments, if not....then also do the same. Ohh, by the way, I installed the recently released Opera Mobile 10 Beta on the Nokia N97 yesterday, check it out if you are interested.

Gmail for iPhone and Android - Create Gmail Shortcut on iPhone Home Screen

Vikramdeo@nampblog.com (Vikram) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 19:48:00 PST

The video below gives you a small demo of the new Gmail for mobile, especially the iPhone and Android. It also tells you how you can create a shortcut of your Gmail on the iPhone's Home Screen.

iPhone 4G on its way???

Vikramdeo@nampblog.com (Vikram) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 18:09:00 PST

Gizmodo has reported the leak of the iPhone 4G midbaord on a Chinese Wholesale website. The Chinese website claims that this is an original iPhone 4th Generation Midboard and they have received this part from Foxconn, who, we all know that manufactures iPhone for Apple.The Chinese website was pretty accurate when an original part of the iPhone 3GS showed up on their website just a month before the launch. But there is one catch here, the Apple releases new iPhone once in a year preferably June of every year and generally the leaks and rumours don't start three to four months before the launch. But this time, the leak has happened much before and Apple in one of its conferences had said that, some new and exciting products will be launched by the end of 2009. But I am sure that this leak won't go unnoticed. Last time a Foxconn employee committed suicide when he lost a iPhone 4G prototype, thats how fiercely secretive Foxconn is. By the way, the Chinese wholesaler also claims to have the final pictures of the iPhone 4G and it will have a beautiful back. So keep checking that website.

Opera Mobile 10 Beta on Nokia N97

Vikramdeo@nampblog.com (Vikram) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 09:15:00 PST

Opera has launched Opera Mobile 10 Beta for Symbian based smart phones. Like its predecessor, Opera 10 Beta is pretty fast and loads pages faster than most of the Internet browsers available. I have been using Opera 5 Bet on my N79 and I am pretty happy with it and I have just now installed the Opera 10 Beta on the N97. I must say that the Interface of Opera 10 Beta is much user friendly and using it on the big touch screen of the Nokia N97 is a bliss. This version of the Opera browser has the same home screen where you can assign your favorite pages for quick access. This version of Opera is optimized for Symbian S60 devices (3rd and 5th Edition) available on Nokia, Sony Ericsson and Samsung phones. This version of opera comes with password manager, Opera turbo, which enables the loading of the pages faster (you also have an option to turn-off this feature). The best feature of the browser is that it has a optimized keyboard for touch screen phones. From your Symbian S60 phone, you can go to http://www.opera.com/mobile/next/ and download the Opera Mobile 10 Beta version. Check out some informative pics of the Opera Mobile 10 Beta on the N97.

Opera Mobile 10 Beta being downloaded on the Nokia N97, the software does not support Asian languages as of now. As you all know that the N97's native Symbian browser is pretty fast, so the Opera site opened quickly without any difficulties.

The screen above is the home screen of the browser. You can have nine website on the home screen that you visit frequently. You will also see that the menu bar has moved down and you can go back and forward using the arrow keys. You can see the "Show Tabs" key and also the settings key.

The above options come up when you click the settings key. The interface is optimized for touch screen S60 5th Edition phones. You can check your History, Organize Bookmarks, configure browser settings (like image quality, page zoom-in and zoom-out, Opera Turbo on/off etc), search web pages and close the browser.

This is the tabs menu of the browser where you can browse between tabs and also go back to your home screen.

As I said, the keyboard has been optimized for touch screen phones and though it looks a bit cramped up in the portrait mode its fairly easy to use. The keys pop up the moment you touch them for writing in the address bar (Just like on the native QWERTY keyboard thats sits in the iPhone).

I opened my blog on the browser, to see how much time it takes (as my blog is image heavy). The browser was pretty fast and has left me impressed.

Tata DoCoMo Brings Popular Cartoon Charecters to India

Vikramdeo@nampblog.com (Vikram) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 23:18:00 PST

After getting Japanese Manga on mobile phones, Tata DoCoMo is all set to bring popular cartoon and animated characters on the screens of Indian mobile phone users. Tata DoCoMo has tied up with Zero Sum Wireless and will be bringing close to 2000 titles on to mobile phones. As per this deal, users will get full mobile comics onto their mobile handsets at the cost of INR 20. The charges will vary depending on the kind of content use have subscribed to. Now users will get popular characters like Supandi, Popeye, Mickey Mouse, Winnie the Pooh etc on their mobile phones. Tata DoCoMo is the first mobile service provider that has started giving per second billing and now this comics on the go has made them a early starter in the mobile VAS game. Tata DoCoMo is using social media like Twitter and Facebook to reach out to their existing as well as prospective customers. NTT DoCoMo, the Japanese giant in this venture has played a very prominent role in pushing Tata DoCoMo VAS services. DoCoMo might soon launch its own branded handsets in the Indian market coupled with Tata DoCoMo data plans.

Demo: Google Voice Search on Nokia N79 with ScreenShots

Vikramdeo@nampblog.com (Vikram) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 20:30:00 PST

Yesterday, Google India announced the latest version of the Google Mobile App that supports voice search for Symbian S60 phones. I immediately installed the latest version of the mobile app and started testing it and i am pretty satisfied with the voice search functionality. I installed the Google Mobile App on my N79 and on the N79's stand-by screen it gives a hint saying, "Press C to Search". As you press C, you will be presented with the screen as shown below.

You have to hold down the call button on your phone to activate the voice search. You can also type your query in the search box. When you press the call button, the app will as you to say your query as shown below.

Make sure that you kept the call button pressed till you finish speaking or telling your query. If you press the button, release it and then say your query, the application will give you an error. Once you voice your query, the application takes time depending upon your query. I searched for, "Bangalore" and "Katrina Kaif" and the app gave the results in a jiffy. Only point is that make sure your pronunciation is clear and the rest will be taken care by the app.

Download the latest version of the Google Mobile App from your Mobile's web browser.

Google Voice Search Comes to S60 Phones

Vikramdeo@nampblog.com (Vikram) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:52:00 PST

Now you would be able to enjoy Google Voice search on your Nokia S60 Symbian phone. Google India has launched the voice search feature in its mobile application that can be download on your S60 phone. The new version of Google Mobile App, can now search the web by listening to your queries that you speak in English. You can download the latest version of the Google Mobile App. Using the voice search feature is easy, just hold the call button to activate the voice query and you can search whatever you want. This will work on most of the Nokia N Series and E Series phones. Check out the video below to know more about the new Google Mobile App and also the voice search feature. To download the latest Google Mobile App on your Nokia S60 phone, go to http://m.google.co.in from your mobile phone's browser.

Video: Browser Refresh on HTC HD2, iPhone 3GS and Acer Neo

Vikramdeo@nampblog.com (Vikram) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 08:58:00 PST

In the video below, blogger from Solopmari tests the browser refresh on three of the latest smart phones, iPhone 3GS, HTC HD2 and Acer Neo. All the three phones have massive big screens ideal for browsing Internet on mobile phones. As you can see at the start of the video, the HTC HD2 loads the page faster, then its the iPhone 3GS and then the smart phone from Acer. Do not forget that, HTC HD2 has Opera as its native Internet browser, so its has the advantage. The video also shows how the auto rotate feature on the all the three phone works.

Video: Stoner Reviews the N97 and N900

Vikramdeo@nampblog.com (Vikram) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 17:49:00 PST

You might have seen a lot of videos where geeks and nerds review gadgets and the kind of insights they give are awesome, you will be surprised to see the video below, where a stoner..yeah a stoner after this Halloween night, talks about the N97 and the new 2.0 Firmware and also discusses whether to for the N900 or for the N97. He seems to like the N97. Enjoy the video guys..its different!!

Free Data Usage on Samsung Touch Screen Phones in India..Thanks to AirTel!!

Vikramdeo@nampblog.com (Vikram) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 22:30:00 PDT

Samsung in India and AirTel have tied up on a plan where Samsung touch screen phones like, Corby S3653, Star (S5233), StarW, S5603, F480 and i8910 will get a three month free data usage from AirTel up to 100MB. As you must have noticed that all the phones mentioned above have one common thing, they all have touch screens. Yeah this offer is available on Samsung touch screen phones. To tale benefit of this service, you just need to send "my data" to 543210 from any of these Samsung phones and get the offer instantly. [Via]

N97 Mini Starts Retailing; Coming to India Any Moment

Vikramdeo@nampblog.com (Vikram) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 03:06:00 PDT

Well the Nokia N97 Mini has started hitting the retailer's shelves. As told earlier, it will soon be available in India too. For the uninformed, N97 Mini is the not so mini version of Nokia's touch screen handset N97. Like the name suggests, it is the Mini version of the N97 with a small size and no D-Pad. Nokia officially announced the N97 Mini at the Nokia World Event 2009. If you are thinking that the N97 Mini will be way cheaper than the N97 then you are dreaming, as Nokia has priced the handset around Euros 450, which I am sure is very high price from an Indian consumer's point of view. In terms of performance, the Mini will deliver the same performance as the Nokia N97, which is not doing that well in the market. India, the price of N97 has come down but still there are not many takers to it here, especially in the Tier I and Tier II markets. Lets see what happens to N97 Mini when its lands in India.

[Image Via: Engadget] Right Side one is the N97 Mini.

Samsung Corby Live Pics and First Impressions

Vikramdeo@nampblog.com (Vikram) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 20:50:00 PDT

Samsung recently launched its first social media focused Samsung Corby in India. The phone has a fully functional touch screen with a nice interface and changeable back covers. The best part about this phone is its price, at a price point of INR 8,000 its a nice phone with some good features but then it has it's drawbacks. Check out some live pics below.

As you can see the phone has a fully functional touch screen with three clickable buttons. One to take call, other for ending the calls and closing the applications. The middle button which has a very unusual shape is actually the back button, initially i thought that its for menu, but it helps you in coming out of any menu/application/service. Users will need some time to get used to it. The phone has three home screens and you can flip through them just like the iPhone. The interface is not as responsive as the iPhone but its way better than the Nokia N97 and the Nokia 5800. Like the Omnia HD, you get a side widget bar which comes out and you can pull apps as well as widgets from it on one of your three home screens. The touch interface is responsive; you cannot as for more in a 8000 bucks phone. I loved it..i mean as compared to the Nokia touch screen interface.

As told earlier, this is the side bar that comes out when you click on the arrow and you can pull your favourite apps/widgets/services on your home screens. There are three touch menus for activating the keypad, phone book and menu.

The phone comes with three colored back covers that you can change to suit your style. The back side of the phone features a 2 meg snapper, which is ok (you can't expect much from a 800 bucks phone). At the bottom of the phone there is a set of speakers, which are surprisingly powerful and the sound output is nice..Do we see a winner here??..I think so!!

The left side of the phone features a volume control button and a cover that hides a common jack for USB as well as headphone. I some how liked the bright yellow color on the black background. Most of the people might not like it but in real world it looks nice.

As told you above, the left side houses a jack, which is Samsung proprietary and is common for charging as well as headphone. Now, here i am not happy as Samsung should have given a 3.5mm standard headphone jack for music output. Agreed that Corby is a Social media optimized phone but mobile music is an Indian's favorite and you need to keep that is mind when you launch a phone that plays music in India. There was no need to keep a cover for the jack as, after use the cover tends to become loose and it becomes a problem.

The right side of the phone features a hold and camera button. The screen locks itself if not used for some time and the hold button, if kept pushed for long time, unlocks the phone. The camera button does what it needs to do.

As I told you, the Samsung Corby is a phone that is optimized for social media. It comes with Twitter and Facebook integrated with it you can keep a track of your social life. Now, if you have a social media optimized phone with no Wi-Fi support, its a big no no..Samsung should have given Wi-Fi for this one. Anyway, social media integration is something that a main stream mobile OEM has given in India, which I really like.

In the end, Samsung Corby strikes the right hords and I really liked playing around with the phone and for a price point of 8000 bucks, its a good phone with nice features. I am sure that it will do good like other Samsung touch screens phones like the Star 3G, which did well in the Indian market. With Samsung Corby coming in the hands of Indian consumers, they will definitely ask, Samsung, "Next is What".

Thanks a lot to a good friend of mine, Alok who gave me an opportunity to play around with the Samsung Corby. He does not blog on mobile phones, but shares the same enthusiasm for technology and gadgets. He has a blog called World Wide Weirdness , where he covers all the offbeat, weird and funny things that happen around the world.

Nokia Booklet 3G Starts getting Available World Wide

Vikramdeo@nampblog.com (Vikram) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 20:34:00 PDT

Nokia's first 3G enabled Netbook, Nokia Booklet 3G has started hitting shelves of retailers around the world. The uselessly highly priced gadget was launched by Nokia at the Nokia World Event 2009. Apart from being a fully functional Netbook (Nokia likes to call it as Booklet but I like the word Netbook), it also has the functionality of voice communication using a SIM card, like an enormous cell phone. The Nokia Netbook has started hitting shelves of European retailers and service providers shop[s like that of O2 in Germany. Uncle Sam will see the Nokia Netbook being sold through AT&T stores sometime in November. As of now, there is no news about when this pricey Netbook is going to be available in India, where Netbooks from companies like Acer, start from as low as INR 16,000!! India already has a 3G enabled Netbook, that was launched in September by Tata Teleservices and Haier Mobile. I am too lazy to write down the Nokia Booklet 3G specs here, if you are not lazy enough to read, you can check them out.

[Image Via: TheNokiaBlog]

Nokia N97 2.0 Firmware is Out

Vikramdeo@nampblog.com (Vikram) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 21:07:00 PDT

At the Nokia World Event 2009, Nokia announced a lot of phones including the N97 Mini and also said that Nokia N97 will get a new 2.0 firmware in October 2009. As promised, here it is, Nokia N97's Firmware 2.0 is out. The main updates that the Firmware 2.0 brings are, touch screen experience, Ovi Maps 3.1 along with 3D maps to your N97. So the scrolling is not sluggish now, its more seamless and feels good. The updates are in the process of being rolled out and not all the N97 users are getting it in the first go, but not to worry as you will soon get your Firmware 2.0 on the N97. Firmware 2.0 also brings, improved search feature, 3D Maps, long press to get symbols and numbers, improved positioning, Nokia Messaging, VoIP support, Ovi Store, Ovi Contacts. Firmware 2.0 also claims to come with improved battery and memory performance. Watch the Nokia N97 Firmware 2.0 Demo Video. You can download the Firmware using Nokia Software Updater or FOTA (Firmware Over-The-Air). Check out the video below, which was released by Nokia Europe to showcase Kinetic Scrolling and also the New Firmware 2.0.

Video: Samsung Pixon 12 Unboxing

Vikramdeo@nampblog.com (Vikram) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 09:01:00 PDT

Samsung Omnia II Comes to India

Vikramdeo@nampblog.com (Vikram) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 08:57:00 PDT

After launching its Symbian based Omnia HD in India, Samsung has launched the Omnia II in India. Though it is called Omnia II-GT I8000 it is the little brother of Omnia HD in terms of specs and also the price. Omnia HD is priced at INR 32K where as Omnia II is priced around INR 28K in India. Latest technology and easy to use messaging platform are two things, which Samsung Omnia II boasts of. Unlike Omnia HD, its runs Windows Mobile 6.1, which can be a turn-off for people who do not like WinMo as an Operating System. Motion enabled Omnia II comes with 3D photo Album, Video library, Music library, Browser bookmarks and FM Radio UI. The phone's highlights that will help it in attracting mobile users is its 3.7 inch AMOLED touch screen, 3G and Wi-Fi connectivity, GPS with A-GPS support, 5 meg snapper with geotagging, face detection and smile detection, 8GB internal memory with microSD card support, Bluetooth with A2DP support, FM with RDS. It misses the HD features of the Omnia HD. When it comes to Indian market, mobile buyers are driven by price and at this price point Samsung Omnia II will find takers only in metro and Tier I cities.

3G Auction in India to Start on 14th Jan 2009

Vikramdeo@nampblog.com (Vikram) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 01:21:00 PDT

India's much delayed 3G spectrum auction has now got a date from Department of Telecommunications. The auction was supposed to take place long time back but got delayed time and again. December 2009 was the month when it was going to happen but it got pushed to Jan 2010 and now it will be finally happening on 14th Jan 2009. The December auction was delayed by Defence due to some spectrum related issues. There will be a practice run couple of days before the actual auction takes place and Government must be happy as they are anticipating to raise almost $5.4 billion from the 3G auction. WiMax and Radio spectrum auctions would take place after the 3G auction is over. According to DoT website 21st December is the last date for applications for companies who are planning to take this auctions. India's neighbours like China and Japan are way ahead in terms of mobile technology and the delay in 3G auction has been a complete turn-off for mobile users as well as companies who are planning to get into the 3G race. There are already 100s of 3G enabled phones in the Indian market and 3G technology needs to be present in India ASAP so that mobile users can fully exploit the potential of their 3G enabled phones. All the details of the auction can be found in this 163 pager PDF.

HTC Targets Smart Phone Users With its Newest "YOU" Campaign

Vikramdeo@nampblog.com (Vikram) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 08:47:00 PDT

HTC has unveiled its multi-million dollar ad campaign called, "YOU", which tries to send across a message that your phone is what You are. The ad below from HTC shows how cell phones have become an integral part of your/our lives. I like the music and the ad, its pretty simple and shows our lives from the perspective of a mobile phone.