Mobile Evolution: 12/15/09

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Zong offering BlackBerry Smartphones

Step into the world of BlackBerry with ZONG.

The BlackBerry solution by ZONG will connect you to customers, colleagues and information while on the move. Business and personal tasks can be performed directly from one’s BlackBerry handheld which is synchronized with one’s laptop, official computer or even to one’s web mailbox. Blackberry solutions are specially-tailored to provide you a winning edge over the accomplishments in your life and the achievements yet to come your way.

From entertainment to travel plans, business news to personal finance or personal productivity, BlackBerry smartphones mobilize all areas of your day-to-day life. It is a time-tested technological excellence, which provides individuals and corporate identities on-the-go solutions while enabling them to remain connected to their loved ones, business ventures and information within Pakistan and around the globe at particular locations.

With BlackBerry services from ZONG, you can enjoy a breakthrough push-based email solution, which helps you access your personal and/or official information while roaming locally and globally at specific locations. Moreover, it offers you the privileged service of Instant Messenger, email access with attachment facility and amazing surfing experience through exclusive Edge/GPRS services by ZONG.

Models Offered:
Best available deals and offers are just a couple of attractions from many and latest handheld models make it more exciting to use BlackBerry from ZONG.

Power the passions you pursue with a BlackBerry Smartphone from ZONG that expresses your style and simplifies your life. Select one of the 2 prestigious offered:

BlackBerry Curve 8900
BlackBerry Bold 9000

BlackBerry Services:
BlackBerry® Internet Solution (BIS) is a recommended solution for sole proprietors or individuals on the go as it allows you to keep in touch with your friends, family and work simultaneously. You can avail the BlackBerry services with any Post Paid package from ZONG commercially available and can configure 10 POP3 E-mail Accounts (Gmail, Hotmail, AOL, etc).

Charges:

Rs. 1,000 + tax (monthly recurring fee)
Unlimited Free GPRS (no cap)
Additional Security Deposit for BlS Rs. 500/- only
Sales Channels:
The product is available for sales through Corporate Sales Teams and Franchisee as well as ZONG CSCs.

Support:
To access 24/7 Blackberry support helpline, dial 310 from your ZONG Post Paid connection or 111-222-111 from any other number.

Mobilink Indigo italk and iSMS budles

indigo Bundles

Mobilink indigo offers you a range of highly competitive postpaid packages offering great value for your money. These include packages for more SMS-savvy individuals, while also offering more high-end packages which provide a combination of bulk free minutes, free data offering and the best call rates in the industry.

Moving another step ahead to provide value and convenience to our indigo customers and to make our packages unmatched, we are happy to announce the launch of voice and SMS bundles – iTalk and iSMS – designed to suit the communication needs of our valued customers.

iTALK- Weekend and Late Night Voice Bundle:

Mobilink indigo offers you the iTalk voice bundle tailored to suit your late night and weekend communication needs.

* Minutes will be available for all calls to Mobilink between 12am to 7am every night and 24 hours on Sunday

Terms & Conditions

•1,000 minutes will be available to call all Mobilink numbers from
•12am to 7am every night
•24 hours on Sunday

•The iTalk minutes will have priority over the built-in free minutes with each package
•For example if a customer has both free minutes and bundle minutes available and he makes a call on Sunday or during late night (between 12am to 7am), his bundle minutes will be consumed first. If bundle minutes are finished, then free minutes in the postpaid package will be utilized (if available).

•The iTalk bundle can be subscribed by calling to 111 (Club indigo members can subscribe to the bundle by calling their respective Corporate Account Managers)
•The bundle will be activated within 3 hours of subscription request
•Once subscribed, the bundle will be automatically available every month to the customers. The bundles can be unsubscribed by calling at 111.

•Bundle minutes will be valid for one month starting from the bill date. In case a bundle is subscribed or unsubscribed in the middle of a month, both the charges and free minutes will be pro-rated according to number of days.
• If a bundle is subscribed or unsubscribed 15 days before the bill date, the customer will be charged Rs 100 for half month and 500 minutes will be available for consumption during late nights and Sunday
Note:Calls to premium numbers and IVR will not be included in bundled minutes

iSMS- SMS bundles for any network, any day

Mobilink indigo offers three amazing SMS bundles designed to offer highly economical SMS solution to our customers. These bundles will be available for all mobile networks (inland), 24 hours a day for the entire month. The offer includes:

* Fair use policy applies (6,000 SMS per month)

Terms & Conditions
•The bundles will be applicable for all networks, anytime during the month
•12am to 7am every night
•24 hours on Sunday

•The iSMS bundle can be subscribed by calling to 111 (Club indigo members can subscribe to the bundles by calling their respective CAMs)
•The bundle will be activated within 3 hours of subscription request
•Once subscribed, the bundle will be automatically available every month to the customers. The bundles can be unsubscribed by calling at 111.

•Bundle SMS will be valid for one month starting from the bill date. In case a bundle is subscribed or unsubscribed in the middle of a month (according to bill date), the bundles will NOT be prorated and full charges will apply along with the complete number of SMS.
• For example, if a bundle iSMS-1 is subscribed 15 days before the bill date, the customer will be charged full Rs 30 and 300 SMS will be available for consumption till the bill date.
•Similarly, if a bundle iSMS-1 is unsubscribed 10 days before the bill date, full charges of Rs 30 will apply
•The customer can subscribe to only one iSMS bundle at a time. To change an iSMS bundle, the previous bundle will expire immediately and full charges of both bundles will apply in that month.

Note: Premium SMS will not be included in bundled SMS

Nokia 2730 Classic review and Specification

Nokia 2730 Classic

Whats New?
Nokia 2730 classic - Informed and connected
The Nokia 2730 classic lets you take advantage of fast 3G internet access to stay on top of events, keep up with email, & stay connected with friends. Engage with the world with your Nokia 2730 classic. 3G internet & a full web browser of Nokia 2730 classic puts a world of knowledge at your fingertips. Stay on top of business & connected to friends & family with Nokia 2730 classic's Ovi Mail & Contacts.

Dimension
109.6 x 46.9 x 14.4 mm, 65 cc

Weight
87.7 g

Battery
Talk time Up to 7 h 20 min, Stand-by Up to 396 h, Music play Up to 12 h

OS
Nokia Series 40

Memory
30 MB Built-in + 1GB microSD Card included

Connectivity
Bluetooth v2.0 with A2DP, USB, GPRS Class 32, EDGE, Class 32, 3G (384 kbps)

Display Size
240 x 320 pixels, 2.0 inches

Display Colour
TFT, 256K colors

Operating
Frequency / Band
GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 (UMTS 900 / 2100)

Browser
WAP 2.0/xHTML

Colors
Black or Dark Magenta

Entertainment
Stereo FM radio with RDS, 3.5 mm audio jack, MP3/WAV/WMV/eAAC+ player, MP4/H.263 player, Flash Lite 3.0, Games (4 + Downloadable)

Camera
2 MP, 1600x1200 pixels, 4x digital zoom, Video (176x144 10fps)

Other Features
Speakerphone, Voice memo/dial, Organizer

Ring Tones
Downloadable Polyphonic, MP3

Messaging
SMS, EMS, MMS, Email

Price
Price in Rs: 9,900 Price in USD: $119

Intel sign MOU to launch technology programme in Government Colleges

KARACHI :Intel Pakistan recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with a consortium partner in Pre-Step (the pre-service teacher education programme). The agreement has been made to launch a technology programme in Government Colleges of Pakistan with a vision to improve the basic education by strengthening teachers training institutes.

Pre-Step is a five-year, national programme led by the Academy for Educational Development (AED), with support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The programme is designed to improve the quality of basic education in Pakistan by improving teacher preparation practices and strengthening the capacity of up to 75 teachers training institutes and 15 universities. This programme will also provide an opportunity for teacher educators to learn about, practice and make plans to use active teaching approaches.-PR

TIME Top 10 Gadgets Of The Year Lists Droid

It is the time of the year when leading publications come out with their Top 10 lists.

TIME in their 'Top 10 Everything 2009' compilation have listed Motorola Droid as the top gadget for the year. The iPhone 3GS is at number 4.

While iPhone fans may look down upon this list as being biased, it is probable that TIME has chosen to offer more weightage to gadgets that have tried to challenge the existing market environment. As TIME notes in their list, the Droid is "Android's first credible challenge to the iPhone". Praising the Verizon Droid for its beast-like looks, TIME writes:

"The Droid is a hefty beast, a metal behemoth without the gloss and finish of the iPhone, but you don't miss it. The Droid's touchscreen is phenomenally sharp and vivid, it has an actual physical (not great, but good enough) keyboard, and best of all, the Droid is on Verizon's best-of-breed 3G network"

As for iPhone 3GS , TIME writes that the main improvement of the device over iPhone 3G is the speed:

"Take the iPhone. Make it faster. There, you're done. Yes, the 3GS has a better camera — with video. And it has a compass and voice control. Those are all improvements over the original. But the main point of, and the best thing about, the new iPhone is speed"

While TIME is probably right in giving credit to Droid for including free turn-by-turn GPS navigation and physical keyboard, it has probably missed the critical point in that the iPhone's App Store now holds nearly ten times as many apps as that available on the Android marketplace. This means that iPhone as a platform brings much more sophistication to the user than Droid - including the availability of applications like turn-by-turn GPS navigation . With the app economy becoming such a vital part of today's mobile phones, a balanced comparison of smartphones is really incomplete without considering the third party apps that are available for each of these devices.

We would like to hear your opinion. Do you really think the Android scores over the iPhone because of its free GPS navigation software and physical keyboard? Please tell us in the comments.

Nokia 5800 Navigation Edition hits the USA

Two months after the Nokia 5800 Navigation Edition became available across various countries around the globe, it finally made its way to the USA. And as you might guess, the price is considerably lower than elsewhere.

Nokia 5800 Navigation Edition is an upgraded version of the popular Nokia 5800 XpressMusic touchscreen device that comes with lifetime voice-guided navigation for North America and a car kit so it can be easily mounted on a dash or windshield.

Nokia 5800 Navigation Edition uses Ovi Maps for mobile, offering real-time turn-by-turn navigation both in vehicle and on foot. The Ovi Maps offers safety features like speed limit warnings and speed camera alerts, and near real-time information on traffic congestion due to roadwork or accidents. When walking, the service provides pedestrian-friendly directions, including routes that take a pedestrian up one-way streets and through parks, pathways and other shortcuts.

Unlike Google Maps Navigation that seems so hip right now in the US, you can actually preload the map data on the Nokia 5800 so you don't have to download it over the air as you move about.

When bought from Nokia USA's online store the SIM-free Nokia 5800 Navigation Edition costs only 299 US dollars (200 euro), discounted from 369 US Dollars (250 euro), which is a great deal heaving in mind the 300-euro price tag of the Nokia 5800 Navigation Edition for us on the Old Continent.

Nokia also went ahead and announced the Nokia E72 US availability today even though it was already spotted listed In Stock at the Nokia online store a few days ago.

Samsung M5650 Lindy pops into existence

The Samsung Corby got a Wi-Fi enabled borther recently, but it turns out, they are actually triplets - the Samsung M5650 Lindy being their sister. With 3G connectivity, Wi-Fi and improved camera and almost the same price, it seems almost too good to be true.

The original - the Samsung S3650 Corby - is one of the most affordable touch phones on the market right now. It has a colorful exterior but its specs scream entry level. Then (unofficially) came the Samsung S3650W Corby, adding Wi-Fi connectivity to the mix.

And out of the blue, the Samsung M5650 Lindy appeared in stores. The 3G connectivity is serious stuff - 7.2Mbps HSDPA and video calling (with a video call camera no less). Coupled with the Wi-Fi support the M5650 Lindy has admirable connectivity prowess.

The good stuff doesn't end here - the camera got a resolution bump and now captures 3-megapixel images. It's not much but that puts it on par with all of its market rivals - Samsung S5230 Star (and the Wi-Fi enabled Samsung S5230W Star WiFi), LG KP500 Cookie and the LG GD510 Pop .

Even the Nokia 5530 XpressMusic is not safe - the Lindy has dedicated music keys. The Finn edges out because it's a smartphone and the better screen - 0.1" bigger, nHD resolution versus the QVGA of the Samsung M5650 Lindy. The Lindy has 3G connectivity that the Nokia 5530 lacks, but misses a 3.5mm audio jack, which might be the final deciding factor.

Despite all the new gadgetry jammed inside the Samsung M5650 Lindy, it's bigger than the Samsung S3650 Corby only by a hair, measuring 106 x 57 x 12 mm and 98 grams. The Lindy features Samsung's TouchWiz interface, which brings goodies like one finger zoom and Smart unlock along with it.

Now, for the best part of this bit of news - the cost. The Samsung M5650 Lindy is currently available in Portugal for 149 euro (221 US dollars) on a promotion through Portuguese telecom TMN. The other listed price is 159 euro (236 dollars) for when the promotion ends we guess.

Since the Samsung M5650 Lindy tip-toed into availability, we don't have more information on it. The only other store we found it in is Spanish site Fresma Logistic - they list the M5650 Lindy as available, but there is no price or "Buy" button in sight.

Nokia E72 finally made its way to the USA

Half a month after the Nokia E72 became available across various countries around the globe, it finally made its way to the USA. And as you might guess, the price is considerably lower than elsewhere.

Nokia E72 started shipping in the middle of November and only a few days afterwards we took it for a spin at the office and an in-depth review , which has proven that the successor of Nokia E71 is a great communication tool.

The handset replaced the 3.2-megapixel snapper of its predecessor with a 5-megapixel one and added a better processor while the rest has been kept almost intact.

So, guys, yes the waiting was worth it. The only possible deal breaker here might be the price. When bought from Nokia USA's online store the SIM-free phone costs 469 US dollars (approx. 311 euro, tax and shipping excluded) which might be a little high for the US market.

However, this is at least 85 euro less than what Europeans are paying at Nokia online stores across the Old continent. The street price in Europe is higher as well - starting from 350 euro.

Sony Ericsson XPERIA X2 to be delayed until January 2010

We don't know what kind of curse has been put on Sony Ericsson but troubles at the company just don't end. The latest information that we received states that their Windows Mobile flagship X2 will be delayed until January 2010.

After the suspension of the Sony Ericsson Satio sales in the UK and the touchscreen issues that the Aino had, the XPERIA X2 was the company last hope for the Christmas shopping spree.

According to the Vodafone website however it will only be available in January, when the market is certainly not going to be as favorable. It will then be joined by the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 in the struggle to keep the Swedish-Japanese company on its feet but we suspect it might be a bit too late.

With everyone waiting for a host of new announcements at the MWC in Februrary, Q1 is certainly not the best time to try and sell your flagships. Granted, most new handsets won't come to the market until at least Q2 but in the high-end mobile phones segment sometimes users are willing to wait a little if they're promised better bang for their buck.

Sony Ericsson have obviously forgotten their lesson from the the late release of the original X1 and the Satio.

Nokia 6700 slide and Nokia 7230 spring to life

Nokia outed two new sliders today - the Nokia 6700 slide and the 7230. Both are 3G capable with a focus on messaging and social networks. The Nokia 6700 slide, unlike its namesake 6700 classic, is a Symbian device. The Nokia 7230 on the other hand runs S40.

Nokia 6700 slide

The Nokia 6700 slide packs a 5-megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics and LED flash. It has all the right pedigree to be one of the best 5MP snappers out there, much like its classic sibling. Another thing it has kept from the classic-version - the metal covers, which might lend an air of seriousness.

"Might" because the Nokia 6700 slide will be available in aluminum, pink, petrol-blue, red, lime and purple color versions. The specs list both image editing and uploading apps and Nokia Messaging so whether you use it for work or play is up to you.

A quick look at the rest of the specs shows quad-band GSM, tri-band 3G (two versions) with HSDPA and HSUPA (up to 10.2 Mbps an 2Mbps respectively), 2.2" QVGA screen, size and weight of 95.2 x 46 x 15.9 mm and 110 grams, Bluetooth 2.1, microUSB port, microSD slot for cards up to 16GB (2GB included) and a 860mAh battery that lasts up to 29 hours of music playback. It's a shame that it has a 2.5mm audio jack though.

Nokia 7230

The second phone for today, the Nokia 7230 , is an S40 slider aimed at the lower mid range segment. It's 98mm x 48mm x 14,8mm big, weighs 100 grams and has a 2.4" QVGA screen. It's got a 3.2MP fixed-focus camera and easy sharing on portals like Ovi Share, Flickr and Facebook. There's support for Nokia Messaging too.

The Nokia 7230 has quad-band GSM and two versions of tri-band 3G (though no HSPA goodness here). It sports a 3.5mm audio jack and enough battery enough for up to 27 hours of music playback. It comes with a 2GB microSD card in box and will be available in either Graphite or Hot Pink color versions.

Both phones will be available some time in the first quarter of 2010. The Nokia 6700 slide is expected to retail for 160 euro (239 US dollars) and the Nokia 7230 for 100 euro (149 US dollars). There's no word on where these phones will be available though.

HTC HD2 hits O2 stores in UK in all its Snapdragon-ish glory

HTC HD2 has hit the shelves of O2 stores in the UK. We can hardly believe it, but HD2 is the first HTC-branded phone to be sold on O2 as they had their re-branded XDA line running in parallel to HTC own products. Well, better late than never as they say.

Having tested it quite recently , we're pretty confident in saying this is a great choice for the first HTC-made phone to keep its branding (for O2 that is). The HD2 is some of the finest work by the Taiwanese manufacturer.

To recap the specifications of the HTC HD2 quickly, its defining feature is the 4.3" WQVGA touchscreen, which puts it at the edge of one hand usability. Oh, and it's important to mention this is the first capacitive touchscreen for WinMo. The HD2 has an impressively thin bezel around the screen and the whole phone measures in at 120.5 x 67 x 11 mm and 157 grams.

Tucked underneath that monster of a screen is a monster of computation - a 1GHz Snapdragon CPU and 448MB RAM. This fancy hardware is adorned with the latest effort from HTC to make the ultimate interface for Windows Mobile. It's called Sense UI and while more similar to TouchFLO than the UI of the HTC Hero, the focus on social networking integration that was so pervasive in the Android version of Sense UI is here.

The rest of the features aren't as extreme as the screen size and CPU speed, but they round of the HTC HD2 pretty well. Except for the video playback and recording, which were underwhelming. For more details, check out the test we ran for the review.

The HTC HD2 is available for free on contract and it's available in retail stores or you can order it over the phone. At this point we can't find the deals online, but you can always check it out in a store near you.

Major Samsung S8000 Jet firmware update now available

We have some great news for the owners of Samsung S8000 Jet: there is a new firmware update for the Jet bringing lots of goodies for your phone. As it turned out it's been a while since it first showed up but most probably many of you (we as well) have missed it.

So much has been changed thanks to the S8000XEII2 firmware! The Samsung S8000 Jet now has a a different 3D Cube background as well as some new widgets (Twitter, MySpace and Facebook). The TouchWiz UI is similar to the one we've seen in Samsung M8910 Pixon12 : you can rearrange the main menu icons.

According to some Jet owners who have already tried out the new firmware (thanks, Andrew!), the phone now feels much zippier. The WebKit-based Dolphin web browser has also been improved and so has been the media browser. Thumbnails are now loaded much faster and scrolling speed is increased, however, viewing images is a bit slower (opening an image takes a second or two more).

Volume rocker is no longer used for zooming in/out but for scrolling through web pages.

The media player has been revamped as well: the new firmware brings along landscape view support to the Samsung S8000 Jet so that the music player interface now reminds of iPhone's Cover Flow.

As you can see, there is much to tell about the latest firmware of the Jet and maybe much more that hasn't been noticed yet. Share your impressions in the comments section.

And one more thing, since the update function of the latest PC Studio application is still in beta (read: doesn't work) to download the S8000XEII2 firmware just follow that link (a quick free registration is required).

The new BlackBerry Pearl 9100 seems to have lost its pearl

It’s been a while since Blackberry last released a Pearl family member. Well, the silence has been broken by some leaked images and even a video clip demonstrating the unannounced BlackBerry Pearl 9100. And the strange thing about it is that the new Pearl is pearl-less.

That may not make any sense but we actually find the idea of dropping the trackball over a touch sensitive optical trackpad quite logical since the trackballs were often a reason for people to take their BlackBerry for servicing.

The Pearl lineup was created to change the way how people looked at BlackBerry devices. Those devices were not only business oriented but offered a wider range of multimedia capabilities. Luckily, that trend spread and overtook all the latest BlackBerry phones so the Pearls had lost their edge.

Like its predecessors, the BlackBerry Pearl 9100 will also feature a SureType keyboard (read: half-QWERTY) which isn't as comfy as the full QWERTY keyboards but allows the smartphone itself to remain pocketable enough.

We managed to find even more images of the still unannounced BlackBerry smartphone as well as some specs. The phone (nicknamed as "Stratus" or "Striker") is expected to feature 3G and Wi-Fi support and run the latest version of the BlackBerry OS (v5.0). The close-ups reveal a microUSB port, a standard 3.5mm audio jack and a camera with LED flash.

And on top of all that we have a short video of the Pearl 9100 for you. It doesn't reveal any more details on the new mobile phone but at least you can see the device from all angles.

Unfortunately, there is still no clue when the device will be officially revealed, when it will hit the market and at what price.

Nokia N900 is now available

Following the official announcement that Nokia N900 starts shipping in Europe last week, Nokia today went ahead and confirmed Nokia N900 availability in the USA starting from today. The N900 is not getting a subsidized deal with some of the major carriers but it will instead be sold independently SIM-free.
As our specs testify, the Nokia N900 comes with full quad-band GSM support and 1700/2100/900 UMTS/HSDPA support no matter what region it's targeted at. So, you should be getting 3G connection with T-Mobile USA, but only EDGE with AT&T.
The Nokia N900 is already shipping to users who pre-ordered the popular device. For the rest of you, Nokia N900 should be available quite soon in New York and Chicago Nokia Flagship stores, nokiausa.com and various independent retailers and e-tailers including Amazon.com for a price around 649 US dollars.

Is Nokia really dropping Symbian

The Maemo marketing team shared with fellow tech journalists that Nokia plans for their N-series smartphones heavily relay on the Maemo OS. After finishing up the handsets that are currently in the works, they will make Maemo their primary OS of choice for these high-end multimedia devices.

At a Maemo event held in London yesterday, the marketing team behind the mobile OS revealed that Nokia plans to drop the use of Symbian in their N-series lineup.

Based on the excitement surrounding the Nokia N900 announcement, Nokia top brass has decided that by 2012 Maemo OS will be the official face of the Nokia high-end family. All Symbian N-series devices currently under development will be launched as planned.

There are still no plans of bringing Maemo OS to the E or X series, but Nokia are surprised by the wide interest in N900 and its operating system, so getting Maemo there is not completely ruled out as well.

Nokia promise to continue supporting both Symbian and Maemo, and will expand their official app stores - Maemo Select and Ovi Store with more and more applications. By 2012 there should be enough apps to allow the OS to become a mainstream hit.

LG GW620 goes on sale as LG Eve

It seems that the LG GW620 just got outed (exclusively in Canada for the time being) as the LG Eve. We guess Eve will just be a regional naming obviously inspired by the fact that the GW620 is the first Android-powered phone by LG.

The American version of the LG GW620 a.k.a LG Eve will have tri-band HSPA support 7.2 Mbps as opposed to the single band variety prepared for Europe. That (and the name, of course) is the only difference between the European and American versions of LG GW620.

Rogers Wireless have prepped several pricing options for the LG Eve:

50CAD (46USD) on a 3-year plan

300CAD (280USD) for a 2-year plan

350CAD (330USD) for a 1-year plan

400CAD (375USD) with no strings attached

Today we also got word that LG are developing another Android OS-based phone that will run on the top notching Qualcomm Snapdragon QSD8250 1 GHz processor. The device is supposed to see daylight in mid-2010.

HTC HD2 now shipping in Europe

HTC HD2 has already started making its way out the HTC doors, so you should be seeing it on your local shop window some time really soon. That is if you live in in Europe and Asia. The USA will get the HD2 through a "major US carrier" sometime in the early 2010.

HTC HD2 was announced on the day of the official Windows Mobile 6.5 launch with heart shivering specifications. A smartphone thin only 11mm packing a 4.3-inch capacitive touchscreen with multi-touch, 1GHz Snapdragon CPU, 448MB RAM and running the new WinMo 6.5 customized with the HTC Sense UI is surely not something you read about every day.

HTC, Microsoft and Taiwan Mobile announced that the HD2 is already on the shelves across Europe and Asia at a price of 550 euro, while the US release will come in early 2010 through a major US carrier.

Nokia 1616, 1800, 2220 slide

Today Nokia reinforced the low-end part of their portfolio with four new handsets. Nokia 1616, Nokia 1800, Nokia 2220 slide and Nokia 2690 are all entry-level handsets with basic functionality and a really low price tag.

Nokia 2690

The S40-running Nokia 2690 comes with VGA camera, built-in stereo FM radio with RDS and a 3.5mm standard audio jack. Local connectivity options include Bluetooth and microUSB.

The quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support make Nokia 2690 capable of global roaming and the built-in microSD card slot allows expanding the internal memory to 8GB. The handset comes with a 1.8" 262K-colors TFT LCD display with a resolution of 128 x 160 pixels.

Nokia 2690 will be available in Graphite, White silver, Hot pink and Blue color version starting from Q1 of 2010. Its estimated retail price is 54 euro before taxes or subsidies.

Nokia 2220 slide

The other S40 handset, Nokia 2220 slide, comes next. It's the only one in the bunch that doesn't come in the bar form factor and has a FM radio, VGA camera and EDGE support as its key features. The dual-band handset will have two version supporting 900/1800 MHz and 850/1900 MHz GSM.

The display on Nokia 2220 slide is capable of showing up to 65K colors and has a resolution of 128 x 160 pixels. There will be six color options for the handset body - Hot Pink, Graphite, Turquoise, Warm Silver, Purple and Blue.

Nokia 2220 slide will hit the shelves before the end of the year, costing 45 euro before taxes and subsides.

Nokia 1616 and 1800

A couple of S30-running ultra low-end handsets complete the tally. Nokia 1800 and Nokia 1616 both have 65K color LCD displays with 128 x 160 pixels resolution. The two handsets offer LED flashlights and easy design customization thanks to the exchangeable color covers.

Nokia 1616 also has a 3.5mm standard audio jack, while the Nokia 1800 sports FM radio thanks to the headset included in the retail package. The eco-friendly box of the Nokia 1800 is fully recyclable, and the materials used for the phone's surface are nickel-free.

With Nokia 1616 you get to pick between Black, Dark Blue, Dark Gray and Dark Red colors. The handset's target availability is Q1 of next year with the estimated retail price being the measly 24 euro before taxes.

Nokia 1800 will come to the market in the second quarter of 2010, with a price tag of 26 euro before taxes. The color choices it offers are Silver Grey, Black, Orchid Red and Ash blue.

Along with the new devices Nokia announced the launch of its Nokia Life Tools service (integrated on all handsets) for Indonesia. The service will be available from early December, providing online agriculture information, education services plus a pinch of entertainment to supplement the whole thing. Started back when the Nokia 2323 classic and 2330 classic were announced is attempts to help overcome the information constraints and enabling people to make informed decisions.

Orange UK launch iPhone 3G/3GS

Orange officially announced that the launch of the iPhone 3G and 3GS will be on 10 November. Their future iPhone plans are absolutely identical to those of O2 ones and you can have the 3GS free for 44 GBP on a 24-month contract.

Much like recently suggested the iPhone 3GS will see daylight in the Orange networks in about a week on 10 November. Back then Orange officials denied that there will be an iPhone price war in the UK with pricing projected to be the same as that of O2 UK.

Well, looking at the new Orange iPhone plans we noticed that they are absolutely identical to the O2 ones - both in bonuses and prices. You can have the iPhone 3G free for 30 pounds on 24 months contract, while the 3GS is free for the 44 pounds plan.

The Orange iPhone will be available through 402 Orange shops in UK, the Orange online shop, Orange HMV concessions, Carphone Warehouse, Phones4U and more. For more information on the price plans you can visit Orange iPhone page .

GSM-fueled Motorola MILESTONE

That didn't take long - the GSM version of the Motorola DROID is official and is headed for Europe. It's going to be called MILESTONE and Germany and Italy will be the first to get it, but the bad news is that it won't have the same perks as the US version.

On the Motorola site, there's a page for the Motorola MILESTONE with specs and a list of accessories - the Multimedia Station and the Phone Holder car kit. Don't get too excited though, there's no Google Maps Navigation for Europe, all you get is a 60-day trial of MOTONAV. Google has Street View for many European cities, so keep your fingers crossed they make Google Maps Navigation available for Europe soon.

And while lack of free navigation is a bummer, the MILESTONE gets pinch zooming, something the US version - the Motorola DROID - lacks. Here's a video from mobile-review.com, which gives a quick tour of the phone and Android 2.0 (commentary is in Russian):

O2 Germany has the MILESTONE site up and running - they offer it on a 24-month contract for 20 euro a month and it's not SIM-locked. Vodafone Germany are getting it too, but they haven't added it to their site, or you can buy it from PhoneHouse.de (not added yet either). Here, this page on the Motorola website has the links you need for buying the MILESTONE in Germany.

Things are still at a preorder stage and it doesn't say when it will be available.

The Motorola MILESTONE is coming to Italy too, but there's no info on which carriers are getting it or when. The rest of Europe will have to wait even more - not even UK or France are mentioned at this stage.

Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10

Another day, another Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 leak. This time we've got another video of the sweet-looking UI plus another host of official photos for you. The announcement of the mouth-watering Android handset should come any moment now so stay tuned.

We came upon some more official photos of the two color versions of the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10. Here they go for you to enjoy.

The black and white dresses both look really sleek on the feature-packed body and we still can't make up our minds which one suits it better.

The second video that popped up a little prematurely confirms the XPERIA X10 screen resolution of 854 x 480 pixels, which is just as the one of Motorola MILESTONE (or Droid if you prefer) . Sony Ericsson went really deep with the UI customization, achieving seemingly extreme finger-friendliness. We are yet to see about the performance, but frankly we doubt there will be anything the Snapdragon CPU cannot handle.

So with the official announcement coming tomorrow you better keep an eye on our homepage for more updates. Not that there's too much that is still unknown about the handset itself, but some important bits like availability date and pricing are still missing.

N-Gage is dead, long live the Ovi Store

Nokia plans to shut down the N-Gage platform. It's all going down in September 2010 but the publishing of new games has stopped as we speak. The gaming on Nokia phones will continue evolving under the Ovi Store umbrella.

The website of N-Gage along with the N-Gage Arena community will be left running throughout the whole 2010, while the N-Gage store will continue selling games until September 2010. After that the only place to buy S40 or Symbian S60 games will be the Ovi Store, which will come preinstalled on all upcoming Nokia devices. Nokia also promises to bring similar community options for the apps in the Ovi Store.

Of course, all the N-Gage games you've purchased so far will continue to work long after that.

Well, the N-gage platform delivered some of the best mobile games we've seen for Symbian smartphones and we're quite surprised that Nokia is ditching all the development losing a strong differentiating factor. We'll see how it goes, let's hope it is all for the better.

iPhone 3G and 3GS closing in on Orange UK

As you probably know already O2 UK no longer claims the iPhone exclusivity and Orange is the second UK carrier to offer the device in its UK network. The latest piece of intel however has 10 November as the most probable release date.

In a quite tight-lipped manner Orange UK recently announced their agreement with Apple to offer iPhone 3G and 3GS. Plans and release date were kept a secret until today when Guardian UK made the release date public.

You may remember that in a 24-hour timeframe both Orange and Vodafone announced their agreements with Apple to offer iPhone 3G and 3GS through their networks.

So as Guardian UK puts it, Orange UK will start offering iPhone 3G and 3GS on 10 November, the exact day when the two-year O2 exclusive deal with Apple expires. Don't get too excited just yet as there won't be an iPhone price war with pricing projected to be the same as that of O2 UK. Still Orange will offer it with an "added value plan" giving users the additional benefits of some bonus accessories or pre-loaded applications.

At this point more than 200 000 users have registered their interest in getting the iPhone from Orange even though the carrier plans are not even announced yet. The Orange iPhones will be sold through Orange stores, Phones4U and Carphone Warehouse in only two weeks time.

Samsung I5700 Galaxy Spica

Samsung I5700 Galaxy Spica, or Galaxy Lite, if you prefer, is official as it gets. Not only is the I5700 the fastest gun in the Android crowd with its 800MHz CPU, but it's also cheaper than the original Samsung Galaxy.

But let's start from the basics - the Samsung I5700 Galaxy Spica has been sitting in our rumor mill section for a while now and it seemed to be the baby brother of I7500 Galaxy , which we reviewed just recently. The "Galaxy Lite" certainly seemed to suggest it.

The CPU is interesting because the original Galaxy ran the 528MHz Qualcomm MSM7200A processor. But with 800MHz the Spica beats even the Acer Liquid, which until now held the crown for speediest CPU in the Android world - a 768MHz Snapdragon. Liquid still has a lead in RAM - 256MB - versus the 128 of both Galaxy phones.

The rest of the features are very close to those of I7500 Galaxy, save for the lack of internal memory and the camera. Galaxy Spica comes with a 3.2MP camera and support for microSD cards up to 32GB instead. The display is the same size at 3.2" (though the press release is mum about whether it's AMOLED and capacitive or not) as is the battery of 1,500mAh. The I5700 is a "Google experience" phone, so it's connected to Google's services.

The Samsung I5700 Galaxy Spica will be available in Russia in November for 1,4000 rubles (320 euro or 480 dollars). There's no word on availability in other locations but it shouldn't be long now.

Sony Ericsson tease the crowds

Heating up the expectations for the XPERIA X10 announcement next Tuesday (3 November), Sony Ericsson have just published a teaser video of their upcoming Android uber smartphone.

We recently reported on the new Sony Ericsson landing promo page that mysteriously appeared to arouse the interest of the general public about an upcoming announcement on 3 November. We know for sure that this is when Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 will get its official unveiling after so many leaks such as this .

If you've lived on a foreign planet the last several months, we'll remind you that the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 (previously rumored as Rachael and XPERIA X3) is Sony Ericsson's first Android smartphone.

The XPERIA X10 is based on a blazing fast Snapdragon CPU and has a 4-inch display and an 8 megapixel camera.

Motorola posts Q3 earnings

It now came turn for Motorola to announce their financial results for Q3 of the year. While the company as a whole looks healthy enough, given the tough market conditions, the mobile division is still lagging behind, recording a loss of 183 million US dollars.
The mobile phone sales of Motorola totaled 1.7 billion US dollars, down 46 percent compared to the year-ago quarter. The loss of 183 million US dollars though surely sounds better than the 840 million loss for the same period last year or the 253 million loss in the previous quarter but is still bothersome.
The total number of shipped handsets is 13.6 million (half a million short of Sony Ericsson result), which gives Motorola a market share of 4.7 percent. The company hopes that the release of DEXT and Droid handsets will help them get better results in the last quarter of the year.
Luckily for Motorola the other divisions performed much better bringing a consolidated profit of 12 million US dollars to the company. Tiny as this might be for a company like Moto, it is way better than the 397 million loss for the same period last year.
There's even more bad news for the Motorola mobile phones division. Apparently the company is pretty keen about the idea of separation into two independent public companies. We can easily see that as the end of what used to be the world's largest manufacturer.