And My Next Phone Upgrade Is…

What a good move to start the year than to be stripping for a new phone to buy, yeah I know you were expecting me to grab the Nokia N97 Mini as I’ve been ranting about it for the past month but everything changed, must have been something to do with the year shift, now I’m not interested on it, I want something new, something that I haven’t tried.

I’m considering several factors and each factor comes with a score thus who comes up with the highest will become my next phone to own for the rest of the year.

First up, it must be QWERTY and was release in the past 6 months. Base on the said description, I will have three choices to ponder upon, Nokia N97, the elder brother of the Mini, N900 that I scuffled recently because of the absence of portrait mode but not anymore I believe, videos were now shown with the phone being use in Portrait Mode and the E72, the E71 upgrade. Scoreboard: All 3 phones gains 3 points.

Second, the Camera, it must be within or beyond the N82 capability, the 3 phones have a 5MP Camera on them, might not be as good as the N82 because of the absence of Xenon flash but they are the only phones in the Nokia line up that I can count on so I cannot ax them out, very unfortunate since I will only have to settle on an average LED quality but on the other hand I will be able to do video at night. Scorebord: All 3 phones gains 2 poimts.

Third, Games capable with N-Gage standard or beyond, N97 could easily top this up being the only phone with N-Gage Client but the problem is, it doesn’t have a 3D Graphics Accelerator making it a downgrade from N82 and will be less likely unfit for the next generation of mobile games so in this regard, the N900 scuffs of the lead, it doesn’t have an N-Gage client but its capable of playing 3D games which I suspect to dominate mobile gaming world this year. The E72 is at the bottom of this division since it doesn’t have both but with N-Gage being wrap up and posted to Ovi Store, it’s likely a two way tie for the second spot between the N97 and E72. Scoreborad: N900 - 3 points, N97 and E72 - 2 points.

Fourth, a Fast Processor, its technical but I want a phone that doesn’t log down or hang up, the E72 will take this up a mile since it has a 600Mhz processor and it’s not a touchscreen. N900 will comes second since it also have the same processor speed but the touchscreen interface will slow it down I suspect, then the N97 with a 467Mhz, though the N97 Mini is fast enough with the same processor speed, I still want the phone to be faster. Scoreboard: E72 - 3 points, N900 - 2 points, N97 - 1 point.

Fifth, solid and pocketable, N97 Mini feels sturdy enough but I’ve realized after my N97 Mini experience that sliders were not as solid as a candy bar phone making the E72 the overall winner of this division. I need a phone that can be use comfortably and any given situation and only a candy bar phone can surpass this. N900 takes the second position having a more framed and supported type of sliding mechanism while the N97 takes the bottom spot. Scoreboard: E72 - 3 points, N900 - 2 points, N97 - 1 point.

Then last but not the least, availability and price. The N900 is not yet available locally so it automatically takes the bottom position. It’s also the most expensive among the three so it’s a double cross. The E72 and the N97 is widely available while E72 comes out the cheapest but I’m now starting to see second hand N97 phones sold on eBay which were sold within the E72 range, some were even offered cheaper than E72. Scoreboard: E72 - 3 points, N97 - 2 points, N900 - 1 point.

Having summed up everything, the E72 takes the top spot but the N97 is only a point low to E72 making it also a viable upgrade while the N900 takes a 3 point deficit eliminating it for good. But then again, who has the most number of points wins, so its going to be an E72 year for me.

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Why The Nokia N900 Doesn't Invade My Fancy

It's inevitable, Nokia's superphone, the N900, is on its way and the techies in the mobilephone world have already took a strike to its glorious capability in rampaging strength totting everything upside down and building commotion and interest from all fronts. Its been a huge story way back then when the Nokia loans 100's of devices to developers and bloggers during the Meamo Summit in Amsterdam, now, the device have been all over the net, tested, praise and highly acclaimed.

So whats with the N900 this time and why it has induce a major hype to the smartphone world even to the over-plugged iPhone? I would say its everything, perfect combination and pitch at the right time and place when the world have run tired of the hype that they needed something new to acquaint with. It could also be due to over spec expensive phone release by companies yet cannot be fully utilize due to its limited User Interface or consumers realizing that touchscreen phones with no mechanical keypad is not suited for heavy messaging, or to the introduction of a laptop like interface with Firefox web browsing running on the screen, or the possibility of being able to do real time multitasking with multiple screens among others. Its a huge convergence of everything new and exciting that is.

N900 offers everything that a techy want on a phone but can it capture the attention of the bigger chunk of the mobilephone market whom I call the normal consumers like what iPhone does? Yes at a glance but ones they get into the details of the phone, I'm 200% sure that it wont.

I used to fancy this phone when it came out having a super cool video introduction and drooling spec sheets but after a knowing the phone more, it lost its banter on me bringing a self awakening that it wasn't my ideal phone. Biggest deal breaker for me is the absence of Portrait Mode in all its applications except Call eliminating the one hand phone usage option. I call this Nokia's Biggest Joke in the history of mobilephone and Nokia playing the Annoying card. How in the world did they missed this feature when the world is not created in landscape alone and there's a gazillion of situations when you need to do things using only one hand on portrait mode rather than the fiddly landscape.

To mention one, let say your walking on the street with a briefcase on one hand, then your phone rings and upon checking it out using the other hand, you found out that it was an SMS and it needs onset reply... normally, what you do is, reply on portrait mode and continue walking, but with N900, after grabbing the phone, you need to drop your suitcase, position the phone on landscape, slide the QWERTY keyboard and write your reply, isn't this annoying? Some people might say, why not call the person who text you, will isn't making a call more expensive than sending SMS, what if you don't have enough load or the person who send you SMS is deaf, can he/she hear you?

What if you where standing on the a fully packed train and one of your hand is on the safety handle, replying to an SMS is impossible to do in one hand... what if your involve on an accident and you broke one of your hand and the only and the way for you to communicate is by texting, this would mean the end of your life because Nokia missed out on the portrait feature. Very annoying isn't it, for Nokia to miss this out is like the end of the world, its absurd, ridiculous, unbelievable, crazy!

And knowing Nokia, they would probably correct this like in 6 months or so, when the phone have dug its own grave and sales walloping down further, when will they learn?

I really cant believe that Nokia miss this one on a flagship phone, yes, there have been actions and developments done to include the portrait mode on the UI but when I strongly believe that this would take months or even years before its fruition unless we the consumers would induce pressure to Nokia and its engineers. Nokia must correct this one before its to late.

I'm not very optimistic on the sales performance on the N900 because I'm pretty sure there will also be tons of consumers who feels the same way like I do, disappointed and whether if I'm still interested in buying the phone when it comes out, a big NO of course unless miracles happen and Nokia announcing the Portrait Mode before the phone comes out, as for now, I'll be holding on to my beloved phones, they were the best of its own class.

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Freaky Friday! Events, Promos and Perks: Nokia N900 Starts To Rover

Time for a real Freaky Friday! folks, the official announcement of the Nokia N900 aka Rover which I consider the next big star in Nokia's ever growing device portfolio as it represents another evolution in mobilephone technology, the complete integration of PC and mobile phone technology into one powerful device.

It was perhaps the biggest and the most exhilarating revelation so far among the strings of press releases made by Nokia for the past 4 days. I never thought the device was so impressive specs-wise and UI-wise, more likely the very phone specs I wanted to see in a Nokia phone (more happy if it has the N86 camera specs) and the UI that I fancy in reference to iPhone's, now, it's finally all here.

Among the impressive technical specifications includes an ARM Cortex-A8 processor with 600Mhz clock speed, OpenGL ES 2.0 graphics accelerator, Adobe Flash 9.4 support, DIVX/XVid support, 1GB of internal memory for applications, 32GB memory expandable to 48GB via microSD, 3.5 inch display with a resolution of 800 × 480 pixels (resistive) touchscreen, QWERTY sliding keyboard, A-GPS, FM transmitter, WiFi, 1320mAh battery, 1320mAh battery, 5 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics and dual-LED flash among others. The panorama homescreen and the Dashboard are also worth noting, taking into the account personalize shortcuts, widgets and application.

And of course, the videos to drool about:




This phone is said to be release in October 2009 with a 500 Euro Tag Price excluding the usual regional taxes and subsidies, another freaky information since the N97 have the introductory price of 540 Euro. It means that this phone is going to be cheaper than N97, all hell break loss!! c", Winner!

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Mobile and Technology Thursday: Nokia On Fire!

Huge things were happening lately in Nokia's camp, one week before its most anticipated event of the year, the Nokia World 2009, as it fired up several explosive and mind blowing surprises and attacks that created chaos in the mobilephoneverse for about 3 days now.

It started with the announcement of the Nokia 5800 Navigation Edition offering a Lifetime pedestrian and vehicle voice-guided navigation licenses to consumers for a hugely fair deal. It is purely the same phone as the 5800 XpressMusic specs wise except that it added lifetime Drive and Walk navigation license, a cool looking stand and car charger that allow you to easily use the phone as an in-car SatNav unit, and a nice looking Chrome and Black color combo. This became a huge news among navigation savvy consumers particularly among Europeans and Americans who have quite a lot of detailed maps under the Navteq/Ovi map service but I don't think this matters though to the rest of the world specially here in the Philippines since we don't have those services.

Then came the announcement of the Nokia 3G Booklet that created a massive buzz in the web with every tech site reporting about it even on sites that were not PC/Laptop oriented. It even bugged down the Nokia Conversations site were the story originated due to a massive increase in traffic and as of the moment, the Booklets video have already hit 420Thousand views on youTube in just two days. I could already see a bright future ahead for this device, Impressive!

Another wave came out a day after when Nokia officially announced the Nokia 5230 XpressMusic, another rip-off of the hugely successful 5800 XpressMusic, only this time with a beautiful color combo, a 5530-like homescreen and an incredible price tag of 150Euro with a lower camera MP trade of and without a WIFI. This have again created a huge impact specially among emerging markets like the Philippines since it just opened a huge arm of possibility for the majority of its populace to finally own and enjoy a spec-riched touchscreen device. Nokia deserves a Big round of applause for this.

Then finally today, the N97 Mini and the N900 Rover's official marketing snapshots where both came out to be a huge head tuners. Among the two, the N97 Mini came as a big surprise, I never thought it look very gorgeous in bronze which made me think of buying one as soon as it becomes available. Rumor has it that the device will have a big boast in RAM from 50MB in N97 to 250MB for N97 mini, an ARM Cortex processor and best of all 150 Euro cheaper than its predecessor. Very much enough to postpone my N86 8MP purchase if the rumors were confirmed. While the other hand, the N900 Rover nestles an impressive new Meamo UI according to an early preview that came out a week ago, carrying a powerful ARM Cortex processor, Wide screen, huge phone memory among others, but it will surely be expensive so I wont rather aspire of owning one anytime soon, maybe in the future. For now my vote goes to the N97 Mini.

I know there were more surprises yet to be announce and I believe Nokia save the best and the most astounding in next weeks event. 12MP Nokia Superman? c",

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