Nokia 5233

The Touchscreen mania, kick started by the Apple iPhone seems to be the buzzword of the mobile industry now. The mobile handset market is gradually getting flooded by a number of touchscreen handsets and the icing on the cake is that, a good number of them are in the sub-Rs 10,000 category.

Samsung commands a good market share in this category with their Corby and Star. Now the time has come for market leader Nokia to grab a larger pie in the affordable touchscreen segment. After its higher-end 5800 and 5230 getting good response, Nokia has now launched 5233.

Nokia 5233 is an affordable Touchscreen Mobile phone with only 2G and without Wi-Fi which makes it different from its 3G sibling, Nokia 5230.

Features of Nokia 5233 at a glance

* Responsive touchscreen with tactile feedback
* Accelerometer for auto-rotate
* Proximity sensor to save power and prevent inadvertent touches
* Handwriting recognition
* 3.2″ screen having resolution of 640 x 360 pixels (nHD), 16:9 aspect ratio and capable of supporting up to 16.7 million colours
* 2 megapixel camera
* 3x digital zoom
* Video recording at up to 640 x 480 pixels and up to 30 fps (TV high quality), up to 640 x 352 pixels and up to 30 fps (widescreen quality), up to 320 x 240 pixels and up to 30 fps/15 fps (email high/normal quality), up to 176 x 144 and up to 15 fps (sharing quality)
* Up to 4x digital zoom
* RealPlayer
* Video playback file formats: MPEG4-SP playback 30fps VGA, MPEG4-AVC playback 30fps QVGA, WMV9 playback 30fps QVGA, MPEG4-SP playback 30 fps nHD
* Music playback file formats: MP3, MP4, AAC, eAAC+, WMA
* Dedicated music keys
* FM radio with RDS
* 3.5 mm stereo headphone plug
* 2.5 mm Nokia AV connector

Nokia N900

The Software Update has quite a bunch of fixes and a couple new features too, and will roll out region by region. Be patient if you can’t see an update yet, as it will come to your time zone at some point in the following 24 hours.

This update can be installed over the air by users with the PR1.0.1 (1.2009.44-1) firmware already installed (The PR1.1 update is some 85 MB. You might want to get yourself to a WLAN and avoid doing this over GPRS). Users on Older PR1.0 Software will have to Install it using Nokia Software Updater. You might want to uninstall any apps from extras-devel first, too

The Maemo 5 SDK and tools are also going to be updated and available later today, to work with the OS and new content.

More Details can be found over at Nokia Conversations and the Maemo Wiki.

Sony Ericsson Satio

Sony-Ericsson Satio : Get the best multimedia experience with the new SonyEricssonSatio multimedia mobile phone. Feast your eyes on movies, TV-series’ and video clips thanks to the 3.5 inch screen and ystal clear 16:9 widescreen format - just like watching them live. Sony Ericsson announced Satio which provides you access to all your media in one place - just tap directly into your favourite features with the five standby panels and you’re ready to go. First introduced in Barcelona as the ‘Sony-Ericsson Idou’, Satio puts the future of mobile entertainment in the palm of your hand. You can watch your favourite movies on the bus or catch up with your TV shows while on your lunch break thanks to The new Sony-Ericsson Satio.

Sony-Ericsson Satio - PlayNow arena Download exciting music, movies and games from Sony-Ericsson PlayNow arena to personalise your entertainment experience on Sony-Ericsson Satio and enjoy them in crystal clear 16:9 widescreen format. The Sony-Ericsson PlayNow arena provides a full range of mobile entertainment available by dual download to both your Personal Computer and mobile phone with specially developed ring tones and music tones and DRM-free music tracks and TrackID charts from around the world. Sony-Ericsson Satio features • Visual communication like never before • True 16:9, 3.5 inch widescreen - feast your eyes on movies • Express yourself through images - 12.1 megapixel camera • Intuitive touch focus, Xenon flash and face and smile detection • Web albums with messages - talk through pictures and share info • Intuitive full touch media menu - tap into your favourites, from web pages • Symbian Foundation operating system - 1000+ applications available online • Music player - play your tunes loud and proud Satio Sony-Ericsson latest multimedia phone “With the Sony-Ericsson Satio cell phone you can enjoy any form of entertainment anytime, anywhere. Whether its music or movies you will never be more than a tap away from your favourite tracks or shows,” said Fredrik Mansson, Market Business Manager at Sony Ericsson. “Just tap directly into your favourite videos and music with the unique full touch media menu, standby panels and music player. Snapping perfect pictures also just got so simple thanks to the 12.1 megapixel camera, intuitive touch focus and Xenon flash. Share them with your nearest and dearest via your social networking site, produce huge prints and you can even comment directly on your images.” Sony-Ericsson Satio specifications • Size: 112 x 55 x 13.3 mm • Weight: 126 grams • Colours: Black, Silver and Bordeaux • Main screen: 16,777,216 colour nHD TFT • 16:9 widescreen • Resolution: 640 x 360 pixels • Size: 3.5 inches • Cell phone memory: 128 MB • Memory Card Support: SanDisk microSD Sony-Ericsson Satio review & price info The Sony-Ericsson Satio mobile phone supports GSM / GPRS / EDGE 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 and UMTS / HSDPA 850 / 900 / 2100. The Sony-Ericsson Satio multimedia phone will be available in selected markets from early Q4 in the colours; Black, Silver and Bordeaux. As soon as we receive a Sony-Ericsson Satio test sample, we will publish a photo gallery with high resolution pictures, followed by an extended Sony-Ericsson Satio review.

Samsung Omia II

HTC set a standard for Windows Mobile customization with TouchFLO, and last year Samsung made their entry into the market with the TouchWiz UI touting Omnia. The Samsung Omnia II I8000 is now here, and a 2 has been added to the end of TouchWiz as well. This new Omnia is bigger and badder, with just about everything getting a refresh. The screen has gained half an inch- now up to 3.7” and the resolution has quadrupled to 480x800. AMOLED technology has replaced TFT for improved battery life and more vibrant images. Video capture is now DVD quality, and connection standards such as 3G, Wi-Fi and GPS are all on board, along with 8GB of internal storage. The 800MHz processor is one of the fastest currently on the market, and it has a healthy 256MB of RAM and 512MB ROM. TouchWiz now penetrates into the deepest caverns of Windows Mobile, but will it be enough to make up for the clunky UI’s shortcomings? Included in the box you’ll find: • Li-Ion battery • AC Adapter • microUSB data cable • Stylus pen • Stereo headphones with microphone extension cord • 1GB microSD card • NAVFone Plus navigation software • Carrying pouch

The design of the Samsung Omnia II I8000 is simple and straightforward. It closely resembles the Jet, but is bigger and loses the touch of red on the back. The phone exists to show off the giant 3.7” display, and everything else is kept to a bare minimum. The front of the phone has a tiny front-facing camera at the top next to the speaker. On the bottom are the Send and End keys, as well as the Cube key. The left side has a volume rocker, the right a lock, OK and camera key. All of the keys have a good amount of travel and it’s clear when they have been activated. The microUSB port and 3.5mm headset jack are on the top of the device. The back simply houses the 5-megapixel camera and the Omnia II’s single speaker.

Really though, it’s all about the display. It dominates the phone in every way, which is a good thing. The AMOLED screen is brilliant, producing crisp and vibrant images. The haptic feedback is appreciated, though the phone does have the weird spring feeling when jostled, like the Instinct. It is plenty bright, but the plastic covering gets fairly washed out in direct light. The use of plastic is a shame; it is noticeable, produces unnecessary drag and gives the phone a cheaper feel than it deserves. Another thing holding it back from being the best display we’ve ever used is the use of 65k colors, instead of the 16m found on the Pre, iPhone and N97. We realize that as a Windows Mobile device it has to do this, but the possibility of an Android device with this screen at 16m colors is downright delicious. We have to mention that it fingerprints easily, but what doesn’t these days? The Samsung Omnia II I8000 is a big phone, but it manages to pull it off well. It is very tall, 6mm more so than its predecessor, but it is narrow enough to fit comfortably into the hand and skinny enough (0.6mm less than the Omnia) to slide into your pocket mostly unnoticed.