I’ve just installed Maps 2.0 on my Nokia N82. This is mobile Internet at its best and its a big upgrade from the previous version. Apart from some nice UI changes, there’s some nice new features. Firstly, the very important live search facility has been added. Its easy and it picked up my local restaurants first go. It seems to be puling info from Nokia and not from partner search engines. This is good and bad. Good because it allows them to keep the quality of POI’s high. Bad because […]

Along with N78, 6220 and 6210. Maps 2.0 launches too along with media sharing on Ovi. No clamshell/touch/new Internet tablet unfortunately.   This is from the press release entitled ‘Unteathering the Internet’ Nokia N96 is a multimedia computer truly optimized for video and TV. With a large 2.8″ screen, 16 gigabytes of internal memory and support for high-quality videos in a wide range of formats, the dual-slide Nokia N96 represents an exciting new chapter in mobile media. The Nokia N96 multimedia computer is expected to begin shipping in Q3. Nokia […]

Stop the press, HTC are talking about the HTC Shift.

If you’re tracking the HTC Shift news you might have already seen blogs generated by a new HTC press release. I can’t find the source of the info (no-one has linked to it) but Judie’s Gear Diary has the text.

The HTC Shift is available for the first time today through Telefonica in Spain, Orange in the UK and will soon be available through TIM in Italy and in specialized retailers across Europe for EUR1199.

Looking at the rest of the press release I see nothing in terms of specifications which basically means that nothing has changed. It’s still going to be as it was when I reviewed it last year. 2 hours battery life.

The only significant thing is that the first channels to offer it will be mobile carrier channels. This is an interesting development as HTC originally said that it would go through retail channels. Orange have picked it up in the UK. Telefonica in Spain. TIM in Italy. I can’t find any further information on these company websites at the moment.

I assume that it’s at MWC in Barcelona so expect some more hands-on reports this week.

Full HTC Shift review here. More info, links, images via the product page.

The Xperia X1 could just be the start of a new march into mobile communications by Sony. The statement appears In a press release on the Mobile World Congress website. Rikko Sakagucci of Sony, says: “XPERIA is our promise to think foremost about user experience and to deliver on our goal of providing a true premium experience – anytime, anywhere, anything, with anyone,” In the same press release, Pieter Knook, senior vice president, Mobile Communications Business, Microsoft had this to say: “Our shared vision with Sony Ericsson is to make […]

If I was a one-device man, I’d take this one. Come August (the estimated launch date) I might take one anyway! One of these and an HTC Shift would look pretty smart sitting next to each other don’t you think? Infosync had a few minutes with the device and were impressed. Not a lot of text on their site at the moment but I assume they’ll have more to say about it in due course. There are some nice images though. Update: The net is seriously buzzing on this one. […]

Expect one cool mobile Internet device after another this week as news floods through from Barcelona. From the Sony press release: Convergence of multimedia entertainment and mobile Web communication Unique arc slider with wide pitch easy-to-use QWERTY keyboard XPERIAâ„¢ panels  – arrange as you want for easy access Enjoy multimedia entertainment on bright wide VGA display Windows Mobile® capabilities Basically its a highly stylised version of the two devices I was talking about earlier with overlay software. Here’s a video of the ‘Xperia Panels’ As with all the Windows Mobile […]

A quick note to those of you that are following the small-format end of the ultra mobile market. There’s been a flurry of news from the Mobile World Congress about mobile Internet smartphones. The Sony Xperia (right) news has just caused a lot of people to take a sharp breath. Its an 800×480 (pass my spectacles please) Windows Mobile device with a fresh overlay package. iPhone lovers will no doubt be crying ‘copycats’ but hey, if something is good, learn from it.

The image here is from InfoSync World who have just had hands-on and say that it’s due in August of this year.

I’m going into more detail over at Carrypad. (news. news.)

Up until a few weeks ago, the Nokia E90 was about the most converged phone and professional mobile Internet device that I knew about. Yes the HTC Advantage is good but you can’t use it as a phone in the traditional way. Yes the iPhone is good but it’s a very closed consumer device. Yes the N95 is capable but if you want to enter text, it’s next to useless. The new competitors on the block are the ASUS M930 and the Toshiba G920 Think of an E90 running Windows […]