One of the most common questions we’re being asked in the aftermath of our HTC HD2 unboxing is how its on-screen QWERTY keyboard compares to one of the other eye-catching smartphones of the quarter, the Nokia N900. We’ve staged a quick size and keyboard comparison, and you can find the gallery – and read our early opinions on both devices – after the cut.
Nokia’s trouble breaking into the US market has become a cliché over the years, so it’s good to hear that the Finnish firm may be turning their fortunes around. According to a VentureBeat report, Nokia and AT&T are working together to launch a Symbian handset that will be based on a Qualcomm chipset; definitive specifications are unknown, as is launch date, but Nokia are reportedly being more accommodating of US carriers’ desire to customize individual devices.
It’s all go in Nokia N97 land this week, with the double news that not only have the Finnish company released the much-anticipated 2.0 firmware update for the original N97, but that the Nokia N97 mini would be arriving on shelves. The N97 mini – officially announced at Nokia World back in September – has a smaller chassis than the N97, but uses the same touchscreen-friendly S60 5th Edition OS.
Having gone in sale in Europe this week, the initial reviews of the Nokia Booklet 3G netbook are beginning to show up. The Wall Street Journal have shared their impressions of the 3G and GPS toting ultraportable, praising its battery life but immediately dampening their enthusiasm over what they describe as a “tiny keyboard”. Meanwhile Engadget Spanish are yet to review the Booklet 3G, but they have taken the time to unbox it.
Unboxing and hands-on videos after the cut
Advance interest in Nokia’s Booklet 3G is, if you believe the rumors, so strong that the Finnish company is already preparing the sequel, but we’ll wait until the first shipping units get played with before getting too excited. The Nokia netbooks have just started to ship in Europe, with O2 Germany offering the Booklet 3G for €249 ($371) with a 24-month, €20 ($30) data plan.
Mobile phone makers like Apple and many others are falling over themselves trying to get in the Chinese mobile phone market. The China market is booming and the country has more mobile subscribers than some countries have population. Nokia has announced a new mobile phone called the 6788 that is designed specifically for the China Mobile network.
Nokia’s N900 is already enticing developers, but right now there’s not the same compelling catalog of applications as you might find, say, in the iPhone’s App Store. Happily that just leaves room for Maemo coders to fill with their own apps, such as a homebrew open-source Spotify application.
Video demo after the cut
The first examples of Nokia’s Booklet 3G netbook are yet to drop into buyers’ hands, but according to leaks fizzing out of Taiwan the Finns are already discussing orders for their second-gen model. Notorious rumor-monger Economic Daily News has suggested that a new Booklet 3G with updated specifications is expected to be released in 2010, a statement that is, frankly, stating the obvious. However, reading between the lines we’d expect any updated netbook from Nokia to take advantage of Intel’s upcoming Pine Trail processors, such as the Atom N450, and we do know a little about that CPU’s release schedule.
Patent infringement suits are almost as common in the technology industry as the launch of new products. The latest legal row is between Nokia and Apple over alleged patent infringement. Nokia alleges that Apple has infringed upon several of Nokia’s patents for mobile phone tech with the iPhone.
The Nokia 5230 is the Finnish firm’s attempt to cash in on the success – and shape – of the 5800 XpressMusic with a more budget-minded entry-level version, and going by gsmhelpdesk’s hands-on preview it sounds like they may be on to a winner. The 5230 gets praised for its ease of use and sound quality, happily using a standard 3.5mm headphone socket rather than anything unpleasantly proprietary.
JP
