CellPhoneBurn

Nokia N97: half touch-phone, half slider, all badass.

Well, this is a rarity. For the first time in a long time, Nokia launched a surprise announcement with the latest Nseries handset, the N97. Already the first Nseries touch-screen phone, the N97 also packs in a slide-out QWERTY keyboard (can someone say arc slider?) and the usual badass Nseries features.

There’s definitely a lot to like with Nokia’s second official touch-screen handset. Unlike the cheaper 5800 XpressMusic, the quad-band N97 is all about the high-end, with the looks and features to match.

The 5800 XpressMusic is shipping...to select countries.

Originally code-named the Tube, the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic touch-screen midrange smartphone has officially started shipping to select countries, according to a Nokia press release. It’s part of the XpressMusic line, which generally means a lot of music-oriented features and plastic, but in all honesty the device is one of the few affordable touch-screen phones out there.

How affordable is affordable, you ask? Try 279 Euros ($359), unsubsidized.

The original 6260 was a flip and the first S60 phone that I ever owned. The new 6260 is a slider and an S40 device. Where did it all go wrong?

Nokia E75: E66 + Touch Pro hybrid.

It’s been a while since word first leaked out about Nokia’s E75 smartphone. For those who weren’t paying attention, the E75 was an Eseries handset with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, all wrapped up in an E66-ish package. BGR now has one or two more details on the phone, with pictures to boot.

One Vertu Nero would probably pay for your college education. And then some.

Nokia’s uber-expensive Vertu line of non-smartphones now has an uber-expensive name attached to it: Ferrari. And Nero, Rosso, and Giallo.

The Nero is a limited-edition Vertu, and besides being obscenely priced, it’s the only one of the three with an overlaid red sapphire crystal earpiece. There will be a mere 2,009 Ferrari Nero Vertu phones sold, so get yours before they’re gone.

The Nokia E63 takes the E71 a step sideways.

Today Nokia dropped an E-bomb on the world with the (completely random) announcement of the E63 smartphone. Essentially it’s a budget E71, with the exception of a couple nice features aimed towards the consumer market. Since it’s an Eseries device, it still retains business-y features such as the ability to switch work/personal modes. More details inside.

In a nutshell, here’s the differences between the E63 and E71:

The Nokia 7100 and 5130 battle it out for budget phone supremacy.

Geez. Six new Nokia models in one day, with one common theme: they’re all budget phones. The two best of the worst include new phones from the XpressMusic (fondly called the XpressPlastic series on this blog until this year) and Supernova series (a strictly middle-of-the-road collection of handsets). Inside: a look at the Nokia 5130 and 7100.

Nokia USA now has both the N85 and N79 smartphones available for pre-order. The prices:

Nokia N85 Phone: $588.90
Nokia N79 Phone: $492.70

There are other alternatives, of course. Everyone’s favorite auction site eBay has listings for the N85 in the mid 500s range, before the MSN Live 25% rebate. Your final price should be a little over $400, a sweet deal indeed. Make sure you double check that it’s the N85 North American version before buying.

Preorder the Nokia N96 for $842.40.

If you’re looking for Nokia’s hottest smartphone right now, this ain’t it. That distinction goes to the N85, a device that looks and feels like a winner. But if you’re yearning for the plasticness that is the N96, you may be pleased to know that you can now preorder the North American version for $842.40 - that’s a savings of 5% off the retail price!

The N810 WiMAX Edition goes live for $493.

Hit up Nokia’s web store for a chance to purchase the latest in the internet tablet series - the N810 WiMAX edition. At $493, it’s a cool $55 more than the original N810 tablet, and apparently it’s also only available in the USA. Take that, world!

The meager differences between the new and old N810 include WiMAX (duh!) and weight - the WiMAX enabled N810 is slightly heavier tablet at 8.06 vs 7.93 ounces. Battery life on WiMAX isa little spotty, with up to 3 hours of continuous usage. Then again, compare that to the 4 hours you’d get on normally on WLAN.

No XpressMusic for Xmas.

Reuters reports that the Nokia’s first touch-screen cell phone, the 5800 XpressMusic (aka Tube), won’t be hitting some of the more important markets by the Christmas season. It will, however, be on sale in a random jumble of countries: the United Arab Emirates, India, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Russia and Spain.

During the S60 Fifth Edition webcast, there were a couple slides that showed a generic touch-screen concept device. Normally, this wouldn’t be news except for this questionable picture on one slide:

Nokia's latest Communicator-ish Concept Device

So the left image is your stereotypical hand holding a stereotypical Nokia S60 phone. Fair enough. Now fast forward like 20 seconds later, and we get to the right image: the same S60 phone, now being used in landscape mode with a keyboard that materialized out of nowhere. Here’s what Cell Passion had to say about this one:

Nokia 5800 XpressMusic: Ridiculously featured but not so ridiculously priced.

The Tube is here. Nokia’s first full touch-screen cell phone was announced today at Nokia Remix in London/Singapore, along with a crapload of accessories, and, of course, the Comes With Music service. There’s nothing too surprising here - the 5800 XpressMusic was long rumored to be a mid-range music phone, and it certainly delivers in that aspect. But will it win the hearts of its target market - namely, everyone?

Nokia Tube. This Thursday?

No, there’s still no firm announcement date for Nokia’s 5800 XpressMusic, aka the Tube, but an article by Forbes sort-of-but-not-really confirms what’s been floating around the ‘net for the past two weeks: the launch of the Tube will be this Thursday, along with Nokia’s new Comes With Music service.

Nokia 6212 classic: powered by NFC

Wow, it’s been a long time, NFC - the last time I wrote about you was almost a year ago. At that time, Nokia was conducting yet another trial experiment in London, where NFC guinea pigs received a Nokia 6131 NFC-enabled phone and 200 GBP spending money - not a bad haul.