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5 Nokia Phones I Want to See

Al Pavangkanan — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 05:00:14 +0000

Over at HOFO, Pink Jazz posed the question: What would be your own ideal S60 phone? I was halfway through making a reply when a bunch of thoughts popped into my head. So I came up with ideas for 5 phones I’d like to see.

Nokia N97 8MP

While the Nokia N97’s camera is impressive compared to its mainstream competitors like the G1, Pre and iPhone, it is pretty lacking compared to niche flagships like the Sony Ericsson C905 or the Samsung Omnia HD. As someone who loves to create media with his mobile, I felt underwhelmed by the N97’s camera when it was announced.

My first phone would give the same treatment to the Nokia N97 the N85 got from the N86 8MP. I would upgrade the N97 with the N86 8 megapixel camera, the 720P video capture from the Omnia HD and the xenon flash from the N82. Those are options I’d expect from an N-Series flagship. An OLED screen would be great to view all that created content.

Nokia E70 Modernized

The split qwerty flip form factor was one of Nokia’s best and fun innovations. Unfortunately for the E70, its CPU and available RAM were woefully inadequate. My idea would be to take the E70 and put the E55 guts into it: a fast 600 mhz processor, lots of ram and a beefy 1500 mah battery. A 5MP camera with flash wouldn’t hurt either. A 320×480 HVGA screen like Nokia 6260 Slide would be the cherry on top.

Nokia E90 Baby

In my travels around Los Angeles, I see that messaging phones are getting more and more popular amongst teens. I see a lot of phones flip qwerty phones that are small versions of Nokia Communicators like the Nokia E90 and 9300. LG already makes an S60 phone (the KT615) with this form factor, but it is pretty much only sold in sporadic places in eastern Europe. All it needs is quadband GSM and triband 3G and it could sell worldwide. Throw in S60v3 Feature Pack 2, micro-USB and a 3.5mm headphone jack for a little more flavor.

Nokia N90 Reloaded

I absolutely loved my Nokia N90. I think its best feature was the sheer size of it when opened. It was always a topic of discussion whenever people saw me use it. I’ve been thinking about a new version for a long time, so I have complied a lot of ideas that could be in this phone.

I’d keep the barrel flip form factor of the N90 instead of the swivel flip form of the N93. The barrel would house a 5MP camera with optical zoom and dual LED flash. No room for xenon, since this would be a video focused device with 720P video capture. The outer screen would be a 2.0″ QVGA screen with music controls like the N76. Turning the barrel would activate camera mode. The inner screen would have a 3″ 640×360 touch screen and could flip all the way to the other side. Turning the barrel in this mode would activate video capture. In camcorder mode, you could manually select video or camera mode. In addition to 720P and VGA video capture, I’d also add a 120 fps mode for slow motion.

Flip open the phone and you have a standard d-pad, control cluster and number pad. The left side would have a lock switch, memory card slot and power button. The right side would have a tiny joystick for volume and camera controls. The bottom would have a headphone jack, micro-USB port and a mini-HDMI port for hooking up to an HDTV. Of course, vibration would not be missing and a bigger battery would be added.

Would it be too massive to have all those features?

Nokia 3220 Remix

I used a 3220 while on a vacation back in 2006 since my N90 was locked to T-Mobile. The 3220 was a crazy little phone that had lights go off in sync with its ring tones. I wouldn’t make many changes. A 4×3 screen ratio, bigger battery, nicer camera and stereo speakers would bring it up to date. The big change would to have a lot more lights and synced ring tones for more fun.

Your Ideas

These are my ideas… what would be your own ideal Nokia phone?

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Review: Nokia E90 Part 2, Main Features and Functions

Mark Guim — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 23:30:32 +0000

Part 2 of the Nokia E90 review covers the main features and functions of the phone. I’ll be making a lot of the comparisons with the Nseries, because devices like the Nokia N95 and Nokia N82 are what I mostly use. You can read Part 1 of the Nokia E90 review on the Physical aspects before continuing if you haven’t done so. In the end, I think the Nokia E90’s large screen is its main strength. Thanks again to Expansys for providing the E90.

The Nokia E90 runs on S60 3rd edition similar to the Nokia N95 and Nokia N82. The main functions are very similar with a few differences unique to each phone.

Phone Calls

Making phone calls look very similar to other S60 3rd edition phones. Press contacts, and then you can scroll or start typing in names to find the right person with the exterior screen. When opened, the bigger display shows more information other than the name as you scroll through the list.

Contacts on the Nokia E90

You can also choose voice dialing. Unlike the Nseries phones where you hold the right soft-key to activate voice dialing or voice commands, you press and hold the side button on the Nokia E90.

Sound volume is fine on the earpiece, but I found the speakerphone not loud enough to my liking. The speakers are covered by your right hand when holding the phone in open position and also covered when faced flat on a table.

Messaging

The exterior screen is not as useful in reading email. You need to use the main screen for better usage. I set up my Gmail imap account on the built-in messaging application and was able to receive emails and get notified as they come. This feels similar to Push Email as described by All About Symbian. I like the automatic notifications, but I’m not impressed with the interface when it comes to reading my emails. I much prefer going to the Gmail website to read the emails.

Email on the Nokia E90

The Nokia E90 supports Exchange, but I don’t use that type of email and cannot comment my own experience. Take a look at E-series.org’s take on Mail for Exchange 2.5 for S60.

Text message alerts are different on the Nokia E90 than on the Nokia N95. Instead of a window pop-up, an alert appears within the active standby screen. What’s cool is that holding the left soft-key allows the E90 to read the new messages aloud for you!

Calendar

The bigger screen is utilized pretty well in the calendar application. As you browse through the calendar days on the left side of the screen, a quick summary of your schedule is shown on the right side. On the Nseries using the smaller displays, you have to click on the dates to see the same information.

Nokia E90’s calendar

Connectivity

The Nokia E90 supports Wifi, infrared, GPS, bluetooth, A2DP, microSD, EDGE, and 3G (though not compatible with US 3G). I have no complaints in this area other than I wish it was compatible with US 3G!

Browsing the Web

I love the wide screen on the Nokia E90. Most websites fit to the screen’s width and they appear similar to what you’ll see on a computer monitor. Since the browser supports Flash Lite 3, you can even go to Youtube to watch videos from the site directly.

Nokia E90’s browser versus Nokia N95 8GB

Games and Other Applications

Since the Nokia E90 runs on S60 3rd edition, you can install a bunch more applications on the phone to increase your productivity or even play a few games. Attila Katona over at All About Symbian wrote a nice article on Gaming with the Nokia E90 you should read about and my top 10 applications.

Conclusion

The Nokia E90’s 4in. screen allows more information displayed to the user. It enhances the experience with the main functions such as messaging, managing contacts, scheduling, and browsing the web that are all very important to a business user. One negative thing I need to mention is that I’m still not a big fan of the built-in email application. I have a better experience reading my emails on Gmail’s website.

On the next part of the Nokia E90 review, I’ll explore the camera for photos and videos.

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Review: Nokia E90 Part I, Physical Aspects

Mark Guim — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 18:54:24 +0000

After 2 weeks with the Nokia E90, I’m ready to give my review divided in a few parts. For the first part of the Nokia E90 review, I explore its physical aspects. In the end, I like the Nokia E90’s excellent build quality, but frustrated with the camera button. Thanks to Expansys for providing the E90.

If you haven’t yet, take a look at my Nokia E90 introduction where I took a video of the Nokia E90’s hardware.

Monster Size

My first impressions right after opening the box was, “wow, this is big!” According to the specs, it weighs 214g (7.5oz) and measures 133.5mm x 57.5mm x 20.5mm (5.3″ x 2.3″ x .8″). Let’s compare that with the Nokia N95 8GB measuring at 99mm x 53mm x 21mm. Even though the Nokia E90 is big and heavy in specs, it feels good to hold in the hands.

Nokia E90 vs Nokia N95 8GB size comparison

An issue is where to carry the phone. Placing the Nokia E90 in the jeans pocket is possible, but you certainly feel its weight and size. The bulge is noticeable, so don’t even try it on tight-fitting jeans.

Exterior.

On the outside, we see a 2in. display with the resolution of 240×320 pixels. Unlike other phones using secondary displays with dumbed down features, the Nokia E90 delivers a fully working one. The exterior keypads provides perfect tactile feedback to the fingers when pressed. You can feel a nice clicking movement after each press.

A 3.2 megapixel camera is placed on the back below the speakers and above the battery cover. The flat surface is protected by 4 rubber corners similar to what we see on laptops to raise it a few millimeters. I like the microSD card slot cover. You pull it down and then it raises by spring mechanism.

Nokia E90 microSD slot

On the side are buttons for the camera and the voice recorder. Unlike Nseries phones, holding down the camera button will not open the camera application. I also have another complaint about the camera button. Even though the Nokia E90 supports autofocus, doing the “half-way press” is a hit or miss! This button ruins the experience of taking pictures.

Open Position.

Opening the Nokia E90 feels nice. Nokia must have concentrated on the hinges really well because it works great. When you open the Nokia E90, you feel it snap into place at the 90 degree angle. You can then move it a little more or until it is completely flat.

The 4in. display with 800×352 pixel resolution is great for browsing the web compared to phones with smaller screens. Most webpages fit the whole width of the screen. This requires less left and right scrolling. There’s also 5 brightness levels that you can control right from the keyboard. I choose the max brightness. Selecting any of the lower levels are too dim in my opinion.

Plenty of shortcuts are available on the qwerty keyboard and users are given two to point to their preferred app. This makes it really quick to open up applications. Unfortunately, the keyboard inside does not have the same tactile feedback as the exterior keypad. It feels harder to press. It’s not a big deal, but I sometimes find myself going backwards to reinsert a letter.

Nokia E90 Keyboard

I feel the keyboard might be too big. I have to extend my thumb to reaching for the letters Y, H, and N or if I’m trying the Ctl+C and Control+V for copy and pasting. On a positive note, the Shift, Control, and Chr buttons are really useful. It really makes the Nokia E90 feel like a laptop. Numbers, punctuation keys, and other functions are easier to access than non-qwerty keypads.

Conclusion

The Nokia E90’s build quality is excellent. Opening or closing the Nokia E90 feels great. The size might discourage people, but having a full-featured keyboard is probably more important to those interested in the device. People will like also the wide screen display for browsing the web. However, I have a problem with the camera button and the qwerty keypad. In the next part of the Nokia E90 review, I’ll be exploring and reviewing more into the functions.

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Vlog: Introduction To The Nokia E90

Mark Guim — Sat, 31 May 2008 19:45:14 +0000

Thanks to our sponsor Expansys for providing the Nokia E90 for review. In this videoblog, I give an introduction to the Nokia E90 so you can see what to expect out of the box. I’ll write a more thorough review in a following post.

Video formats: Web High Quality, Mobile, Youtube, Share Ovi.

My first impression of the Nokia E90 is it’s heavy and big. However, I notice the excellent build quality. In this video, I go up-close with the device to show you its hardware features and more on the buttons.

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Sighting: Cool Phone T-shirt at Uniqlo

Mark Guim — Wed, 28 May 2008 01:17:28 +0000

I was shopping at SoHo today with my girlfriend and I just had to get this t-shirt I found in Uniqlo. It said “phoney.” I’m not sure if the Nokia blue color was intentional. Check it out.

Here we have the Nokia N95 8GB, Nokia N82, and Nokia E90 posing with the t-shirt.

… and this is me going phoney.

Do you have one?

LOL I’m not sure if I’m ready to see this, but do you have a phone or Nokia t-shirt? Take a quick pic, upload somewhere, and post the link in the comments!