Best Phone Blog

Nokia has been trying to shake it’s ‘dad at the disco’ image for a while now, mostly just by using the letter X. With its XpressMusic, it’s X6, it’s X3… but all the while we’ve been tutting and thinking: what’s wrong with being thought of as a slightly older, slightly more sensible manufacturer. Surely most people are going to want to buy themselves phones from the most reliable, the most wise people around?

Well, in a very novel move that doesn’t really in any way shake their image as boring and middle-aged, but DOES make us very excited about the quality of the product itself, Nokia have released a full set of details (and a nifty video, as you’ll see below) for the Nokia Booklet 3G. That’s right, you heard us: Nokia are releasing a netbook. A computer. A proper one. Running the newest windows and everything.

And as you’ll see from that video, or from this Nokia Booklet 3G review, or even the official page itself, the Nokia 3G Booklet is shaping up to be a whole lot more than just another netbook to add to the over-stacked bandwagon that is the netbook market. Fair enough the RAM, the processor, the screen and a few other bits and bobs aren’t exactly going to make the Acers and Samsungs of this world come over all aquiver. But but but… what about a 12 hour battery life? What about A-GPS onboard along with Ovi Maps? What about WiFi and 3G… see, impressed, aren’t you?

And then there’s the sheer design of this thing. It looks absolutely stunning. Like, Sony Vaio stunning. Like, (almost) Macbook stunning. Which most definitely sets it a long way apart from most of the tat that tries to pass itself off as netbooks these days.

We do have one possibly slightly larger than minor concern though. The price is yet to be confirmed and we have this sneaking suspicion that Nokia might just go and price themselves out of the market before they’ve even start. But then, we are a cynical bunch of grumps. Here’s hoping that’s not the case. Fingers crossed for that soon-but-unconfirmed release date…

Maemo.

No, that wasn’t a greeting from a retarded cat. Or the sound a deaf cow makes. It is, unfortunately, the name of the operating system for the otherwise fantastic N900.

What is it with Nokia and names? First, you have all those cursed four digit phones, meaning you can never remember whether you have the 6590, the 6950 or the 6095. Then, even worse, there’s the supposedly ground breaking, supposedly the-future-of-all-things-Nokia file-sharing, media-editing, global-communicating, content-hosting, app-suppling, map-making entity that they truly want to be the bestest thing ever, but that they then go and call Ovi. Ovi. Like some street slang for ovaries. Yeah, bruv mate, I like totally got messy up in Shazza’s Ovi last night, yeah bruv, let’s hope the slag’s on the pill, innit. Ovi. For the love of…

Then you have an operating system for what are supposed to be your absolute high-end, top of the range, all-singing/-dancing/-karaokeing/-gymnasticating handsets. And you call it? You call it?… You just don’t know. So, being Finnish, you go throw a special cat at that cow in the farm down the road that’s always looking at you funny, record the noise and decide that that, that right there, yes, Maemo, that will be the name of your operating system. You god damn…

Anyway, we feel as though we might be trangressing slightly, that you might be losing the focus here. Pay attention, dear reader, pay attention. Because, despite its arse-named operating system, the Nokia N900 is actually a cracking phone. Well, actually, it’s one of the best phone’s we’ve ever, ever seen. That simple enough for you? No? Then watch the pretty moving pictures thing below. Or trying and read the big words in this Nokia N900 review. Or ask a friend who’s not got the IQ of a maimed cow to translate these official stats for your tender little brain. Then go buy this phone.

Another day, another new Nokia that’s not really new, not really offering anything exciting. Stumble forward, the Nokia 5230.

We should be clear straight away, before all you Nokia-heads start agrumbling, that there is little wrong with the 5320 2. Almost nothing in fact, especially when you consider how darn cheap the thing is. It’s got a great 3.2” touchscreen that’s responsive and has lovely tactile feedback. A great music player with up to 33 hours playback. Good image sharing and internet connectivity. Nice design with some fun swappable covers as well…

But the problem is that there’s very little to distinguish the Nokia 5230 from, say, the 5800, or the 5530. And this is just what Nokia seem to be doing an awful lot of at the moment: re-hashing already successful models rather than blazing trails with new designs. And this, we’d be confident enough to say, is why they’ve been struggling in their last couple of financial reports. There’s only so long that your very loyal fan base is going to put up with little innovation, lots of renovation.

Again, the 5230 is not bad – as this Nokia 5230 review or even the official page amply show. It’s just that… well… it’s not much of anything that you haven’t heard about before.

Buck up, Nokia my son, buck up.

Even their videos are starting to make us yawn, as you’ll experience yourself by clicking below. Like, seriously: why would anyone ever, ever make a video like that to ’show off’ their product. Don’t even dare look at 36 seconds, for example, when the video actually makes the phone look just plain faulty…

Sort it aaawwwtttt!

There are some things in life – washing machines, for example – that you buy, put where they’re supposed to go, use them when you need to, but, for the most part, forget about. Your new washing has probably been bought because the old one broke, or was at least on its last legs. Your new washing machine might have some kind of drying cycle or power saving function or some other features that are, when you think about it (which is rarely), pretty cool. You don’t invite your mates round, stick it on ’super quick spin with extra rinse’ then all ooh and ahh as it rocks into action.

The Nokia 6700 is – and we apologise, Nokia employees, if you’re reading this, but stick with us – just like a washing machine. This is not a phone you choose to show off your mates with. You don’t stick the new Batman film on, tilt it into landscape, then scream LOOK AT THAT, JUST LOOK AT IT, THAT’S DVD QUALITY THAT IS. Even though it does play videos in landscape on its modest screen. The Nokia 6700 classic is a phone you buy, load your numbers onto it, play around for a few minutes just so you know what’s where (yep, just where I thought it would be), then put it – just where it belongs – in your pocket. When you need to make a call, you get it out. And without really realising it, the new noise cancellation makes that call that little bit clearer. When you want to check something on the internet, you use the internet. And Nokia’s awesome browser makes that browsing pretty damn enjoyable. But you think nothing of it, put it back in your pocket. And that’s that. (Have a look at this Nokia 6700 review for more details – or even Nokia’s official page if you want.) Sound boring? Ah, go buy yourself some cheap speed you freak. Sound great? We like you. Check out this video for a little sneak peek. And you can even have a taste of these Nokia 6700 deals

Battery life, battery life, battery life… you’d have to see us shaking our heads in a dejected fashion as we wrote that to understand the full pain we feel every time someone mentions battery life to us. We’ve been hurt by more batteries over the years than we have women (which might not surprise many of you), but things just haven’t been getting any better. In fact, in many cases they’ve actually got worse. We can remember the old Nokia 3310 lasting for what seemed like weeks, most probably because it’s monochrome display had only 84×48 pixels. Bless. And that little thing sold 126 million pieces units… But little did those manufacturers learn because soon they were slapping on huge screens, massive connectivity thingies, media players, rocket boosters and whatever else they could think of in some kind of Cold War style race for supremacy, even if that race was at the expense of battery life (okay, maybe that’s not quite similar to the expense of life threatened by the Cold War, but you get the point). For years now, it seems, battery lives have been getting shorter. And with the most recent kick in the teeth of 18 month contracts for phones that have only been built to last for a year, it’s gotten even worse.

Well, luckily, things might be about to change. Or they will do, that is, if the Nokia E52 is anything to go by, because with its 25-day standby claims, it sounds like the E52 is the kind of phone for us. Fair enough, claims are claims and facts are often quite some way from these, but even if that 25-day in claim-land = 20 days in reality, that’s still some way better than just about anything else being released these days. So we say, bring back the old days! Bring back phones that last for weeks upon weeks! Bring back monochrome LCD screens!

Oh, and if you’ve not been quite as emotionally affected by battery life, you might also want to read about all the other things the pretty nifty Nokia E52 does in this Nokia E52 review. And why not have a look at the video below too.

With Nokia Life Tools offering Internet-less access to news, educational material and bits of entertinament, Ovi Mail offering 3-step, computer-less access to email account creation and a price tag that almost seems to be a mistake, the Nokia 2720 Fold is clearly a phone intended to make inroads into emerging markets. And why not. With more billions of people around the world not having phones than having them, there’s clearly one hell of a huge opportunity to be exploited. And like the good global capitalists they are, Nokia have no qualms in doing so.

And without being too cynical, maybe this really is a good thing. If people in parts of the world such as rural China suddenly find they can afford a phone that allows them access to the world’s news and information, then shouldn’t this be celebrated? And if the Nokia 2720 Fold is the phone to do it, then shouldn’t we support it? Well, why not. Someone’s always going to exploit someone else to make a profit, and if we get access to some crazy cheap phones along the way, who’s to say it’s such a bad thing.

The Nokia 2720 Fold will be released in the third quarter of this year, at a stupidly low 55 Euros (before any local taxes or subsidies are tacked on, mind). Check out the video below, or read a full Nokia 2720 fold review here.

The devil is in the detail, as someone probably biblical once said, and it’s there if you take a close look at the just-confirmed details of the Nokia 5530 XpressMusic, the follow-up to the massively popular (and damn good) 5800:

• Full touch interface
• 2.9” touch screen with tactile feedback
• New homescreen and contacts bar
• Smaller, sleeker package
• 3.2-megapixel camera and LED flash (with picture-blogging)
• Bluetooth, WiFi, and EDGE for all your connection needs (no 3G)
• Fully equipped music player
• 3.5mm audio plug for your personal headphones
• Widescreen video playback at 640×360
• hot-swappable MicroSD slot (4GB included)

Here’s some interpretations for you. The Nokia 5530 XpressMusic now has no physical buttons on its face, though that face is now 2.9” compared to the 5800’s 3.2”. It has, however, been given a cool tactile feedback feature, and will be brighter. There’s some cool new almost useful flashiness with something call the carousel contacts bar. The camera ain’t changed. The 3G’s been booted out. You can still play widescreen video at a decent playback rate. And it’s still, above all else, a music phone.

So within even the information Nokia have released, they’re being very open and honest about what’s missing. The reason for that? Well, they realise, like we do, that this is still a fantastic phone, that plays music better than anything else out there, AND it all now comes in a sleeker, smaller, lighter package. So read those details as closely as you want. Nokia know what they’ve done with the 5530 XpressMusic. We know what they’ done. And we’re very happy they’ve done it. Read a full Nokia 5530 review here, and check out the video below for some side-by-side 5800 comparisoning.

Finnish folk have never been known for their style. Certainly not when it comes to producing cool, film or other so-called parts of trendy-culture. Which might explain the frankly hilarious choice of music and complete lack of razzmatazz in this video showing off the all-new Nokia E72

But then, we have to say this is what we absolutely love about Nokia. They’ve never been ones to pursue flashness over substance. When the 5800 first came out for example, we were a little disappointed by the slightly clunky looks and seemingly basic OS. But the more and more people we know who own them, the more people we know who rave about how absolutely brilliant it is. Same goes for the E71 – whoever bought one, if they weren’t already – was an instant Nokia fan for life. And we think the Nokia E72 is going to create just as many hardcore Nokia fans as the E71 did. Maybe even more. Check out this Nokia E72 review for a full list of reasons why. It’s such a stunningly good looking phone that you can actually tell that from the video. Not the case for the HTC Snap for example, with excusers constantly having to say “it looks better in real life, honest it does!” And the amount of work Nokia have put into improving the all round performance of the thing goes way past what anyone could have expected them to do with an already winning formula. So, we forgive you Finland for producing a phone company that is so meek and modest they don’t have the ego to produce an annoyingly in-your-face video to promote what’s going to be an absolute stonker of a phone come this autumn’s release of the Nokia E72. In fact, we might just watch it one more time. That music’s kind of catchy, in it’s own way…

The Nokia E75, which was unveiled at the MWC 2009, is set to become the leader of the ‘E-series’ and is the phone which has the most complete set of features in its line. Having already been leaked fully, let’s now have a look at the features.
Since it’s all become official, we can now have a look at the dual keyboard layout of the phone, which incorporates a sliding QWERTY thumb board and a normal alphanumeric keypad.

The E75 is Nokia’s first handset to have Nokia Messaging built – in while incorporating other advanced emailing features such as the proprietary super-easy email, IBM Lotus Notes Traveler, Mail for Exchange, POP / IMAP support and a variety of third part email programs like Yahoo! Mail, Gmail and Hotmail. There is also a full variety of sync options and 2 types of homescreens, one for work and one for personal use.

The connectivity options include microUSB v2.0, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, stereo Bluetooth and a 3.5mm headphone jack. The phone also has built – in GPS with support for A-GPS and the Nokia Maps program. The E75 also has a 3.2 megapixel camera with autofocus and also has a LED flash. It does video recording through VGA. The E75 also has an FM radio.

The Nokia E75 is a quad-band phone with HSDPA (3.6 Mbps) support. The phone runs on the S60 3rd edition platform by Symbian with the Feature Pack 2 and has a 2.4 inch screen with a resolution of 240×320 with 16 million colors. The E75 will also have a 4GB microSD card in the retail package along with the 50MB inbuilt memory. The phone will come in Red, Silver Black and Copper Yellow colors. The phone should start shipping around this month with a price of 375 Euros.

See more info here about this cool phone.

If you are looking for network specific deals, follow the links below:

Nokia E75 on Orange
Nokia E75 on O2
Nokia E75 on T-Mobile
Nokia E75 on Vodafone
Nokia E75 on 3 Mobile
Nokia E75 on Virgin

The Nokia E55 is a state – of – the – art phone from the ‘E School’ of phones. Very much like the E75, which was also a dual-mode business phone, the Nokia E55 is also one which should very much suit the needs of the corporate bigwigs. Yep, it doesn’t have a slider keyboard, but instead uses 20 keypad faces. This is what makes it one of the most thin smartphones out there.

As far as the connectivity options goes, there is HSDPA, WLAN and WCDMA which will enable you to have ‘turbo – charged’ internet connectivity. The whole point behind this is to enable fast internet for those super busy workers. This will clearly enable a person to check the tons of e-mails he receives while on the go. the Nokia E55 also supports RSS, which enables you to keep a track of blogs and websites as they post new articles or items.

The E55 also enables you to take advantage of extremely quick data transfers and do the data transfer while getting your phone charged, thereby eliminating the need to use a charger at the same time. You can avail yourself of a 16 GB memory card, which works perfectly with the E55. microSD cards are supported, as is with all Nokia mobiles phones.

The E55 also has a couple of home screen modes which can be customized according to how you want it to be. The Nokia E55 also enables you to reduce unwanted noises while on a call. In fact, you can eliminate on all other noises completely with the ‘noise cancellation’ feature.

The phone has a really good QWERTY keyboard, which enables you to send messages really quickly rather than having to tap the same key a number of times to get the letter you want.

The camera provided is a 3.2 MPIX one, which is the same as in the E75, and also allows for auto focus.

The official product page can be found here.

Nokia E55 on Orange
Nokia E55 on O2
Nokia E55 on T-Mobile
Nokia E55 on Vodafone
Nokia E55 on 3 Mobile
Nokia E55 on Virgin