Diaries of a Nokia Fan Boy

OK, so the N900 is finally, officially, released; and we didn’t even have to wait until September 2nd! Well looking at the specs, we see that this is quite a powerful machine, but that it is also far too big and heavy to use as a daily cellphone. Also, looking at the 3G frequencies, it appears as if the device will be coming out for T-Mobile’s network and the European networks. Shame that it won’t work on Rogers.

• WVGA: 848×480, 3.5″, 16M color screen
• Proximity sensor
• Accelerometer
• 32GB onboard memory
• microSD card slot (up to 16GB)
• 256MB RAM
• ARM Cortex A8 600 MHz
• PowerVR SGX graphics
• Maemo 5
• 3G @ 900 / 1700 / 2100
• HSDPA 10MBps / HSUPA 2MBps
• WiFi 802.11 b/g
• Bluetooth v2.1 (w. A2DP)
• microUSB 2.0
• 5MP Carl Zeiss camera
• Dual LED flash
• WVGA (848×480) video @ 25fps
• TV-out (unknown resolution)
• GPS with A-GPS
• Digital Compass
• Stereo FM Radio with FM Transmitter
• 1320mAh battery (for unknown talk/standby time)
• Weight: 181g
• Dimensions: 110.9 x 59.8 x 18 mm, 113 cc
• Expected price: 500 Euro

So this little gem is indeed quite nice, however it also costs quite a bit. Its too big to use as a cell phone, but too expensive to use alongside a dedicated cell phone. It would, I suppose, work well as an in-car computer for music, navigation, etc. but there are some cheaper options out there (with larger screens I might add). But I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. It would have been nice to see the Rogers 3G frequencies on here, but I guess we’ll have to wait for a different version of the device.

-Nokia FanBoy

detailed specs on GSMArena
via: Engadget (read)

Well it appears as if more information is leaking out about the Nokia Booklet 3G, and its not even September yet. This time we get some more pictures (including a shot with an E71!), and a rumor as to what CPU the booklet uses!

In short, the pictures are below, and the Booklet is rumored to use the Atom Z530. The CPU is the dual core descendant of the Atom family, and would be quite capable of producing 720p content, which is all one can expect from a netbook. Still, it would have been nice to see it introduced with Tegra, but I guess the Windows requirement makes things difficult.

-Nokia FanBoy

via: Reuters (read)
and: Engadget (read)

Ok, so we all know that Nokia was planning to enter the netbook/notebook market, and apparently it did so by creating a “Booklet”. The Nokia Booklet 3G is basically a slightly more powerful netbook (for an unknown price). Nokia’s Exec. VP for Devices, Kai Oistamo, had this to say about the Booklet 3G:

A growing number of people want the computing power of a PC with the full benefits of mobility. We are in the business of connecting people and the Nokia Booklet 3G is a natural evolution for us. Nokia has a long and rich heritage in mobility and with the outstanding battery life, premium design and all day, always on connectivity, we will create something quite compelling. In doing so we will make the personal computer more social, more helpful and more personal.

I must admit, the device itself looks quite appealing, with a very understated yet elegant simplicity. Indeed the device does remind us of a somewhat older, more classic, Nokia design. The Booklet 3G has some fairly impressive specs to be competing with the netbooks of today:

Nokia Booklet 3G

• Atom CPU
• 10.1″ HD Display
• Built-in Webcam
• HDMI Out
• Bluetooth/Wi-Fi/3G/HSDPA
• Several USB ports, 3.5mm audio out
• SD card reader (SHDC? SDXC?)
• Integrated A-GPS with Ovi Maps!
• 12hr battery life
• 2cm thick
• 1.25kg
• unconfirmed: Windows 7

The specs look really promising, in fact this would be the perfect in-car computer, depending, of course, on what kind of hard-drive it has. For the complete spec list and price info we’ll have to wait until Nokia World 09.

I was just thinking about the target market for this, and I realised that the potential is quite large. Students that prefer to have an always-on internet connection or that require GPS in their laptop could definitely use this. Of course while most universities now offer campus-wide Wi-Fi, this would be great for completing projects on the bus. And just like for exchange-students that would be greatly helped by GPS when navigating strange cities, travelling Businessmen would also find this feature quite helpful. However for the businessmen the built-in 3G would be more helpful for accessing internet en-route to a client’s location or at the client’s location during, say, a presentation (basically same reason someone would get the USB 3G stick).

The battery life in this beast is also quite impressive, and even more so considering how light it is. However, I would be quite interested to find out just how HD the Booklet’s 10.1″ HD screen is.

As for now, we have a video and a gallery for you to peruse.

Nokia Booklet 3G Back	Nokia Booklet 3G Blue	Nokia Booklet 3G Camera
Nokia Booklet 3G Colours	Nokia Booklet 3G Group	Nokia Booklet 3G HDMI
	Nokia Booklet 3G Open

-Nokia FanBoy

via: Nokia Conversations (read)
and: Engadget (read)
and: Symbian-Freak (read)
and: GSMArena (read)

Microsoft and Nokia had a teleconference earlier this morning and revealed some interesting, albeit expected, piece of news. The two companies are partnering to develop Office Mobile, Office Communicator Mobile, SharePoint, and Microsoft System Center for Nokia’s Symbian operating system. It is interesting that Microsoft is working with Nokia and not the Symbian Foundation on this endeavor, however it does hint that this will not be available for Samsung, Sony Ericsson, or other manufacturers of Symbian devices. There were hints that this will be an online experience, which raises questions whether this will be strictly for Symbian, or if it will be platform independent, and whether MS Office Live will be supported. Of course seeing this in action will be pretty exciting.

I must say, I’m pretty excited about this little bit of news, and the biggest reason being that it would appear that Symbian, or more specifically Nokia E-series, will be better positioned for the corporate environment. This will give RIM a run for its money, however I imagine that Microsoft will do all they can to protect Windows mobile in this sector, and I can’t really blame them for it. I would, however, like to see an improvement in Nokia’s Microsoft Exchange Server client before they go on to Office and SharePoint (the biggest beef being, of course, email handling – no HTML, folder sync, etc.).

This also seems to correspond to Microsoft Exchange and SharePoint becoming closer integrated, so not much surprise to the move. What does surprise me, however is that Microsoft is not partnering with RIM, given the number of BlackBerries out there in the corporate world. I suppose that would require extensive BB Server modifications, whereas Symbian can use the protocols provided by Microsoft.

On the side, Nokia did comment that they will be working with Microsoft on “future user experiences” for Nokia customers, and that they are “deeply committed to Symbian,” and have no plans in developing Windows Mobile devices (thankfully). the future user experience could also mean that they will bring this over to their Maemo platform for Internet Tablets, which would be quite nice given the larger screen and keyboard.

I am very excited to see where this will lead, and whether I will be able to start pointing out more Nokia models in my office.

Update:
Reading over the article from GSMArena.com, I saw the best explanation why this move will appeal to corporate clients, and frankly, why I am so excited about it:

• The ability to view, edit, create and share Office documents on more devices in more places with mobile-optimized versions of Microsoft Word, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Excel and Microsoft OneNote
• Enterprise instant messaging and presence, and optimized conferencing and collaboration experience with Microsoft Office Communicator Mobile
• Mobile access to intranet and extranet portals built on Microsoft SharePoint Server
• Enterprise device management with Microsoft System Center

-Nokia FanBoy

via: Engadget (read)
and: GSMArena.com (read)

Well this is certainly an interesting piece of news. While most Nokia phones have an RM number, the RX number would indicate a somewhat different beast. Since the phone does look a little like an internet tablet one could mistake it for such, however the earpiece and SIM card would indicate the ability to make phone calls, presumably more than just for Skype. And the Carl Zeiss 5MP camera isn’t likely to be found on anything other than N-series.

On the other hand, if you look at the keyboard you will notice a missing D-pad. Of course this would be more of a surprise if we hadn’t seen the D-pad-less N97 Mini earlier this month. The fact is, however, that the keyboard simply looks more like one found on the earlier HTC models than the N97 keyboard Nokia spent so much time developing. This model’s keyboard doesn’t have any separation between the keys, the keys themselves have more depth, and the only thing that is similar on the layout is that the space is on the right side and both are QWERTY keyboards. Even the Fn, Sym, and Shift keys are placed on opposite ends. Looking at the keyboards alone makes it difficult to believe that the same company developed both devices, much less that the devices are from different lines.

So what is this, then? Could be a new E-series. Of course the looks tend to resemble the N-series much more, even if the N97 is still so fresh to market. But it could very well be a new tablet, since we haven’t seen a new tablet in quite a while, however the SIM card slot on back makes chances of that happening pretty slim.

What do you think it is?

-Nokia FanBoy

via: MobileBulgaria (read)

Nokia RX-51

Nokia RX-51 - in box