With only a few days left leading up to CTIA Wireless in San Diego, Verizon wireless pulled out all the stops and announced a boat load of new phones and a new subsidized 3G Gateway netbook. The most impressive handset from the lineup is the HTC Imagio powered by Windows Phone 6.5 aka HTC Touch Diamond 2 (which we’ve reviewed here). Other handsets include a rugged clamshell by Motorola – the Barrage, a unique phone made by Personal Communication Devices (PCD) and finally the Nokia Shade.
It’s looking like the launch of the Nokia N900 has been delayed, with two online retailers pushing back their estimated release dates to the end of October. Amazon UK is now suggesting that the N900 will arrive come October 26th, rather than at the beginning of the month as was previously expected.
Perhaps the stand-out device from Nokia World this year was the N900, the Finnish company’s new internet tablet/smartphone crossover. The final production version still isn’t on the market, but that hasn’t stopped “preview” reviews from those with access to prototypes, covering both Maemo 5 and the N900 hardware itself. My-Symbian have just pushed out a four page article doing just that, and they’re more than a little excited.
Vodafone have announced their latest mobile networking and app platform, Vodafone 360, bringing Facebook, Windows Live and Google contacts sync, software downloads and mobile content to the carrier’s cellphones. While Vodafone 360 will support numerous Nokia and Sony Ericsson devices, the carrier is also launching two new Samsung devices which will be 360 branded: the Samsung H1, with a 3.5-inch OLED touchscreen, and the Samsung M1, with a 3.2-inch TFT touchscreen.
Nokia’s N86 NAM edition has finally shown up for sale in the US, offering S60-loving photography addicts what could be the perfect smartphone for their dual desires. Announced all the way back at Mobile World Congress in February, the N86 packs an 8-megapixel camera with autofocus, flash and Carl Zeiss optics, and is priced at $468.99.
Part of Nokia’s challenge to cement the N900 and Maemo is in drawing developers to the open-source platform, and to do that they’ve kicked off PUSH N900, a “unique design, hacking and modding project”. To mark the event – which will see winning proposals rewarded with an N900, funding and support to deliver on their idea – the Finns commissioned four sample projects, inspired by the ’80s and using the N900 in distinctive ways. These ended up including a 3D ViewMaster camera, digital Rolodex, 80’s radio tagger/Last.fm integration, and a Speak and Spell mashup.
We’d suggest you dip into your handy pinch-of-salt bag for this one, since we’ve seen what can happen with Nokia shipping predictions before, but according to The Nokia Blog shipments of N900 handsets are expected to reach US distribution centers on September 27th. The Maemo 5 smartphone – launched at Nokia World two weeks ago – went up for preorder on September 4th, and assuming the trucks turn up on time, the first units could be in buyers’ hands by early October.
Apple’s iPod touch 3G may be “the funnest iPod ever” now that Steve & Co have decided it’s a hardcore gaming machine, but it looks like they may have some competition from Nokia. One of the N900’s less publicized features is its TV output, which can be used to play the preinstalled games – Global Race and Bounce – on a bigger display. Maemo-Guru shot some footage of the N900 doing its gaming thing, and it certainly looks promising.
Video demo after the cut
Nokia’s high-end 8800-series handsets have been in need of a new poster-model for some time, and according to the latest leaks that might just be the new Erdos. The Nokia Erdos is a compact slider with a 2.4-inch 320 x 240 OLED display, 3G WCDMA, WiFi, A-GPS and a 5-megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss autofocus optics and dual LED flash.
However what makes the S60 Erdos special is that all of that is packed into a compact, stainless steel casing that’s apparently carved from a single block of metal. The OLED display is covered by a mirror-finish glass panel that’s only transparent when the display is active.
Video after the cut
It’s only been a day since we reported that Nokia was planning on keeping carrier branding as far away from the N900 and Maemo-enabled devices as possible, but it looks like all of that just changed. In a big way. And now, it seems that Nokia is taking a stand in the other direction, leaving us to wonder what the deal really is. Was our excitement misplaced? Or is Nokia just trying to calm the waters, before any real announcements regarding the upcoming N900’s release on carriers is released?
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