Camera Phones Plaza

With all the new touch screen phones Nokia is releasing nowadays, few of us direct our attention to the Nokia 5800 Xpress Music. This phone deserves more attention because it represents a milestone in Nokia development towards the touch screen devices. After more than 14 months on the market, Nokia 5800 Xpress Music received an inheritor, Nokia 5800 Navigation Edition. However, the Navigation Edition device is still a 5800. Also Nokia reduced this model's price making it even more attractive. At first, when it was launched, the 5800 was presented as a solution to Nokia users who wanted touch screen in their new Nokia phone. Even more, Nokia rushed and announced the 5800 Xpress Music as a solution to non - iPhone fans.
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Mistake after mistake, Nokia finally succeeded in the fall of 2009 to market the 5800 Xpress Music in the right category. A not so pricey phone, with good features and an on-going testing touch screen with the biggest drawback: a stylus. For an average consumer, but music lover this phone will be a bargain, especially in the Christmas time when sales are going to take down this phone's price dramatically (even without a pay connection contract). The main disadvantages of this phone are not little at number. You got limited 3^rd party software availability; the user interface with not that great of an experience; touch screen sensibility is by far the best in its class; rubbish web browser; no smart dialing; bad image quality in GPS and no geo tagging; no voice guided navigation license; doesn't charge from the micro USB cable; no installed document editing. The bad features regarding the GPS are resolved in the 5800 Navigation Edition.

The 5800 Xpress Music doesn't have the most nicely figured designed. It has an elongated body, therefore your 5800 screen is going to be narrow and tall (giraffe, anyone?). the whole case is made out of plastic without any metallic or chromed accents in it. The build quality is pretty good. The 5800's case doesn't make any funny noises if you press the phone hardly. Therefore, the 5800 Xpress Music offers a solid impression.  Even with this impression, once you have touched the Nokia 5800 case you will ask yourself why it is made out of such cheap plastic. The front of the 5800 is dominated by the 3.2 inches touch screen. Above the display, the phone sports a small earpiece, a video camera, a touch sensitive Media key and a couple of sensors. The Media key is common used nowadays on touch screen Nokia phones. Basically this key triggers a menu of shortcuts to media and web. All of you who know a thing or two about S60 user interface will appreciate this key. Under the display, the 5800 packs three keys, the call key and end key, while the middle button stands for the menu.

Because everything from this phone is made out of plastic, the keys might feel a little stiff. On the top of the 5800 Xpress Music we can find the power key, micro USB port, the charger plug and the 3.5 mm standard audio jack. The right side of the Nokia 5800 contains the volume keys, the screen lock switch and camera key. Not even one manufacturer considered by now to implement the lock screen feature as a part of the power key.  Apple still brings to the game the best solutions. The bottom of the phone features the microphone; while on the left side we have the micro SD card slot and the SIM compartment. On the back side, the Nokia 5800 sports beside the 3.2 megapixel camera, a dual LED flash (not exactly Xenon material but it will do its job).

The Nokia 5800 Xpress Music comes with a 3.2 inches TFT resistive touch screen that delivers up to 16 million colors at a resolution of 360 x 640 pixels. It also features proximity sensor for auto turn off, accelerometer sensor for auto rotate and handwriting recognition. Unfortunately the resistive screen technology means headache. This means that you have to put some extra pressure to the screen in order for it to register your command. This technology is used on phones when the manufacturer wants to accommodate a stylus. Also the legibility of the display under direct sunlight is rather poor. The screen accommodates up to 14 text and 3 service lines. Overall the Nokia 5800's Xpress Music display if good for viewing images, video and browsing long lists. The 5800 handset is shipped with a Li - Ion standard battery, 1320 mAh (BL - 5J). The official standby time in the 2G network goes up to 406 hours, while in the 3G network the battery lasts up to 408 hours.

Also the stand by time for the 2G network goes up to 8 hours and 45 minutes, while in the 3G network goes up to 5 hours. Because this is a music oriented phone you can listen continuously to 35 hours of music. Also you can record up to 210 minutes at top resolution and quality settings. The video playback time goes up to 5 hours. The handset's battery life lasts for an average user about 3 days. The 5800 runs in the 2G network (GSM 580 / 900 / 1800 / 1900) but also in the 3G network (HSDPA 900 / 2100 and HSDPA 850 / 1900). Nokia ships this unit with only 81 MB internal memory, but offers up to 16 GB with micro SD or Transflash memory cards. However you can go ahead and purchase a 32 GB memory card, because this phone identifies it. If you don't like how the operating system works, don't blame the hardware from the 5800, because it's not the CPU and not the RAM's, it is just purely poor quality of the Symbian new operating system for the touch screen devices. In time this software could get better with further updates. The CPU implemented in the 5800 Xpress Music is an ARM 11 434 MHz with 128 MB RAM.

The connectivity is ensured by Class 32 GPRS, HSCSD, Class 32 EDGE, HSDPA 3.6 Mbps, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, UPnP technology, Bluetooth v2.0 with A2DP profile, and v2.0 micro USB connection. Nokia 5800 Xpress Music has a 3.15 MP digital camera, with a resolution of 2048 x 1536 pixels, Carl Zeiss optics, autofocus and LED flash. The camera is a nice feature, but not something to rely on. The only thing that saves it is the large range of settings, offering from manual white balance and ISO to exposure compensation, sharpness and contrast. However video recording is quite good. The 5800 Xpress Music can record at VGA resolution at 30 frames per seconds. The organizer, phonebook and call records are great, you can't really ask for more. Also the music player gives good quality music. However for a music oriented phone it should offer more features. With a huge number of supported formats you will hardly ever come across an audio file that the 5800 won't recognize.

The phone has five equalizer presets installed, but you can also create your very own in a matter of seconds. After a long carrier, the 5800 Xpress Music lives it final months, but it lives them great. It is still an attractive phone for average consumers. And the price drop is more than excellent. The Nokia 5800 Xpress Music is shipped with an 8 GB memory card, micro USB cable, a TV - out cable and a two piece hands free with 3.5 mm jack on either end. Nokia also included in the containing box a carrying case made out of rubbery plastic, a stylus, a mandatory DC charger, a mini DVD presentation and the PC sync software. Give it a few more weeks and you will get this handset for a great price.

The Nokia N96 is the best featured mobile phone (non touch screen) from the Nokia portfolio. Its drawbacks: too expensive and small battery life. The average buyer isn't interested of too much sophistication; all he cares when choosing a phone is index and functionality. So why would an average consumer buy the N96 instead of N95 8 GB? The only logical answer would be because of the 6 index instead of 5. The Nokia policy is however close to the Apple policy. You see, since the 2007 release of the iPhone, Apple has just refreshed every year the same model. Well Nokia does the same thing. Maybe a little different because it also debuts new designs while the specs (somewhat upgraded) stay the same.
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Until the release of N97, Nokia N96 was stuck with the flagship title. Basically we are waiting for the day when Nokia will have to reinvent it's flagship series due to lack of numbers (N98 and N99, the end). Until then let's see what the non touch screen flagship has to offer. Being the successor of the Nokia N95 8 GB, Nokia N96 has some king size spec list. It runs in 2G Network GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 /1900 and in 3G Network HSDPA 900 / 2100 or HSDPA 850 / 1900. Visually, the N96 is very much like the Nokia N81 or N81 8 GB. Same black finish with glossy surfaces with a little bit of silver along the sides.

The dimensions are generous. The phone has a height of 103 mm, wide of 55 mm and deep of 18 mm with a weight of 125 g. The Nokia N96 has a large 2.8" display (TFT, 16 million colors) with a resolution of 240 x 320 pixels. Above the wide display it has the earpiece and the second digital camera for calls. Because this is not a new model we don't have a light sensor as well. The plastic used in its case is not really that good. The numeric keys are average in size and sit under flat plastic slabs. Once you've touched it you probably are shocked of what cheap quality plastic Nokia has put on a $700 phone. The back case of the phone creaks and the keypad seems very fragile. The 5 MP digital camera, 2592 x 1944 pixels, Carl Zeiss optics with autofocus, is complemented with LED flash. The video recording offered by this camera model is VGA quality with 30 frames per second. The camera is basically identical to the N95. You might experience some problems with camera activation but this is purely software bugs. Try to install the newest update there is for the N96.

It is now time for a shocking discovery; this high tech phone has only a 950 mAh Li-Ion BL 5F battery. To understand the horrible mistake Nokia has made is enough for me to say that the Nokia N95 8 GB had a 1050 mAh while the Samsung INNOV8 has a 1500 mAh. Keep the charger next to you because you will need it. The N96 has a rated battery life of 3.6 hours talk time and up to 220 hours standby time. For the Nokia N95 the standby time is about at 240 hours. In the 3G network the values are even lower, 192 hours in stand by and 2 hours 36 minutes in talk time. The worse battery explains why Nokia planted in the N96 a slower CPU (Dual ARM 9 264 MHz processor). The dual ARM9 264 MHz CPU from the N96 is a downgrade from the dual ARM 11 332 MHz from the old N95.



So not only the N96 is going to run out of battery life in less than one day, but it will also work slower than the N95 8 GB. Nokia N96 runs with the latest Symbian OS, the 9.3 with Series 60 3rd Edition. It comes preinstalled with Feature Pack 2. This way we have better visual and performance improvements. The new Active layout is one of the best features of the latest upgrade Pack. It's fully customizable therefore all your necessary applications are right in front of you. You can also change the shortcuts assigned to the new soft keys. The N96 is the first Nokia smartphone with 16 GB memory. The device has the memory sectioned (Disk C with 256 MB for the user data, messages, calendar events). The N96's RAM volume makes 128 MB. Once you start the phone you will be left with only 89 MB (almost the same with Nokia N95 8 GB). The actual memory you can use from the N96 is around 15 GB and you still get a card slot for any microSD you would like to use. The telephony feature from the N96 has no problems.



The call performances are comparable to what E71 has to offer. The connectivity department is highly represented in this phone by GPRS Class 32, 107 / 64.2 kbps, HSCSD, EDGE Class 32, 296 kbps, HSDPA with 3.6 Mbps, WiFi 802.11 b/g, uPnP technology, Bluetooth v2.0 with A2DP and microUSB v2.0. The N96's two loudspeakers are pretty average as far as their volume is concerned. The GPS performances are exactly the same form the E71. The multimedia features are well represented because this is a S60 phone. As an overall conclusion Nokia offers too little too late. So the main disadvantages of this model are: bad battery life, no camera lens, bad material quality, cheap looking keypad and much too expensive. The sales package contains besides the handset, Li-Ion battery (BL-5F), USB data cable (CA-101), TV cable (CA-75U), remote control and headphones (AD-54, HS-45), car charger (DC-4) and charger (AC-5).

If you are a business user looking to change your old E51, E61 or to migrate to Nokia E series business smartphone then you should pay some attention to the Nokia E71. The E71 makes an impact on the market comparable to the iPhone impact, even if you are not a mobile phone fan. Any user of this smartphone will praise the Nokia E71. The E series has always been known for the build quality and top materials. The E71 has a great design, with an all metal back cover, while the body is made of glossy plastic that won't wear off with time. Even if the E71's plastic is not completely scratch proof, you won't see any ugly damages on it. The Nokia E71 is one of the best Nokia smartphones.
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Its direct competitors are: the BlackBerry Bold 9000 and the, old by now, Sony Ericsson P1. Also in the same business line we have Samsung i600, Motorola Q9h and Samsung i780. All of the above phones have candy bar form and feature QWERTY keypads. Comparing the E71 with the old E61i you can easily find the differences in the design and dimensions. Although the phone looks small it weights almost 128 g. The E71 dimensions are one third reduced then the E61 dimensions.

Even so the keypads are easily found and the editing of long texts is not a problem. This model does not have a touch screen (maybe it's for the better - a Nokia stylus would've only complicated the user). Nokia E71 measures 114 x 57 x 10 mm (you have to hold the phone to understand how small it is, for a business phone). In fact at 10 mm thickness, the Nokia E71 is not only the slimmest full QWERTY device on the market, but it's the slimmest phone to date.

Nokia introduced a new Home Screen configuration for the E71. You can now have two separate Home Screens - one for personal use and the other one for business use. Therefore the E71 can be maneuvered with only one hand which is a valuable argument for the on the run, busy users. Unlike the E61i, the E71's display sits underneath a protective layer. The E71 utilizes a 2.36" QVGA display (320 x 240 pixels) with 16 million colors. The display is a good compromise between legibility and font size. The E71 has a flawless specs list. The 110 MB internal memory is not big but you can expand it using up to 2 GB microSD care or up to 32 GB using HC compatible memory card.

You can understand that this is not a music orientated phone because of its 2.5 mm audio jack. Regarding the connectivity department this phone doesn't lack anything: 2G Network GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900, 3G Network HSDPA 900 / 2100 and HSDPA 850 / 1900, GPRS Class 32, 100 kbps, HSCSD, EDGE Class 32, 296 kbps, 3G HSDPA, 3.6 Mbps, WLAN WiFi 802.11 b/g, Bluetooth v2.0 with A2DP, Infrared port and v2.0 micro USB. The Nokia E71 features a 3.15 MP digital camera, 2048 x 1536 pixels, autofocus, LED flash with QVGA video recording (15 frames per second).

Navigation is a must for all up-to-date PDA-phones. The E71 can determine the right position, even without GPS, using the cell communication coordinates (Network Based Positioning). The data received from the satellites are rapidly uploaded using A-GPS from the Internet, instead of receiving them directly from the satellites (process that takes time). Nokia Maps is an application that allows simple orientation on unknown territories. The handset uses a 1500 mAh (BP - 4L) Li-Pol battery. The E71 should have a stand by value up to 410 hours in the 2G network and up to 480 hours in the 3G network. The talk time is surprisingly good in the 2G network, 10 h 30 minutes, and modest in the 3G network, 4 h 30 minutes. Only when using UMTS or WLAN the autonomy lowers its self to only 3 hours.

The quality of calls is flawless. If you are interested in using the music player then you should know that the phone can play up to 18 hours continuously music. The lack of dedicated music keys is easily overcome by the smooth D pad control. Remember this is a Symbian S60 phone so the music player will support a huge number of audio formats. The player comes with five equalizer presets and stereo widening effect. You can also create new equalizer presets. The sales package contains handset, battery (BP-4L), charger (AC-5), USB data cable (CA-101), Wired stereo headset (HS-47), Wrist strap, Pouch, Software CD, User Guide, 2 GB microSD memory card.

Nokia E71 is a powerful business tool. If you are looking for a phone with business features like the E90 Communicator, but with small dimensions then the Nokia E71 is the perfect choice.

INNOV8 from Samsung is an excellent alternative to N85 and N96. The slider design of a series 60 smartphone is very popular. The description is not referring just to the N85, N96 but also to the Samsung INNOV8 ("Innovate"). Which is the most interesting feature of the Samsung smartphone? Its list of specs is pretty close to what Nokia has to offer, but the excellent design and the quality of build are under the Samsung signature.
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The beautiful black smartphone is a little longer and heavier (139 g) than the two Nokia N series models. Therefore is not going to fit any pocket. The case is partially made out of metal and the slider inspires stability. All the operating elements are big enough. Because of this the phone (reacts fluently to commands) can be used comfortable. The central button also plays the role of a joystick.

The display is pretty big (42 x 56 mm) with a resolution of 240 x 320 pixels. It's still 1 mm smaller than the N96. Both Nokia models have only 5 MP digital cameras while the INNOV8 has a 8 MP camera. Keep in mind that the camera will activate with a 5 seconds delay. The autofocus needs 1 second. However if you want to make snap shots then you should deactivate the autofocus. It lacks optical zoom and xenon flash. At least there is a LED integrated.



When the light is good the photos are made with high resolution. In general the quality of the photos is excellent therefore INNOV8 can easily replace a digital camera. In the connectivity department the phone is well gifted, EDGE, UMTS, HSDPA and WLAN. The 8 GB integrated memory can be extended with a memory card, microSD. The sound during the calls is not so great. If you are interested before all of a great design and quality build then you should consider the Samsung INNOV8 before the Nokia N85 and Nokia N96, as some of the best smartphones around.

Specs

Network:
- 2G GSM 850 / 900/ 1800 / 1900
- 3G HSDPA 900 / 2100 and HSDPA 850 / 1900

Size:
-Dimensions: 106.5 x 53.9 x 17.2 mm
-Weight : 136 g

Display:
-Type TFT, 16 million colors
-Size: 240 x 320 pixels, 2.8", accelerometer sensor for auto-rotate

Memory:
-Internal: 8 GB/ 16 GB storage, 128 MB RAM
-Card slot: microSD (TransFlash), up to 16GB

Data:
-GPRS Class 10 - 32-48 kbps, EDGE Class 10 - 236.8 kbps, 3g HSDPA, 7.2 Mbps, WLAN, Bluetooth v2.0 with A2DP, USB v2.0

Camera:
-8 MP, 3264x2448 pixels, autofocus, LED flash Touch focus, geo-tagging
-VGA@30fps, QVGA@120 frames per second

OS:
- Symbian OS v9.3, Series 60 rel. 3.2

CPU:
-ARM 11 330 MHz processor

Battery:
-Stand by: up to 310 hours
-Talk time: up to 8 h 30 min (2G) / Up to 2 h 30 min(3G)

Nokia is currently rebranding its music department. The Xpress Music devices are being replaced with the X models (X6, X3). Even so Nokia released some new Xpress Music. Doing so Nokia is misleading the users. Is the Xpress brand coming to an end?
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The new Nokia 5530 Xpress Music was released later than the official release date, because the 5800 Xpress Music sales continued to beat all imaginable records, becoming the leader in its segment. There is, however, a good side in not releasing the 5530 Xpress Music too early. It now comes with better software (more reliable than the one from the 5800 Xpress Music). Also the 5800’s lifecycle was increased by a couple of months. Nokia 5530 Xpress Music is music – orientated phone that comes boxed with a pair of decent earphones (developed especially for the Xpress Music range). Compared to the 5800 Xpress Music, the 5530 Xpress Music has a svelter wrapping with slightly worse specs (smaller display, less memory, worse camera). Therefore the phone has more affordable price tag.

Let’s compare the two Xpress Music phones.

The form factor is the same, monoblock. The dimensions are, however, different: 104 x 49 x 13 mm and the weight of 107 g for 5530 and 111 x 51.7 x 15.5 mm and the weight of 109 g for 5800. The display resolution is identical to both models (640 x 360 pixels), with up to 16 million colors. As you’ve already imagined both phones have touch screen displays. Talk time for the 5530 goes up to 4 hours and 54 minutes (GSM) with a standby time up to 351 hours (GSM), while the 5800has a talk time up to 520 minutes (GSM) or 300 minutes (WCDMA) with a standby time of 406.2 hours (GSM) or 400 hours (WCDMA). The 5530 has a bigger internal memory (100 MB) but the 5800 comes with 8 GB mircoSD card in box, while the 5530 is comes boxed with only 4 GB microSD card. Both models have expandable memory up to 16 GB. The 5800 wins at the operating frequency because it can function in the WCDMA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100. The 5530 has to settle to just the GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 MHz. Both phone run with the Series 60 user interface software platform. Regarding the camera department, it’s basically the same digital camera on both 5530 and 5800 (3.2 MP, 2048 x 1536, with autofocus and LED flash, records in VGA resolution with 30 frames per second).



Call quality is really good, connectivity is acceptable, overall the 5530 Xpress Music is a functional touch screen phone with an affordable price tag. The 5530 targets a broader and greedier audience. Its positioning is not the same as that of the Samsung Star, so despite the similar price tags, the 5530 Xpress Music and the Samsung Star reach out to different people. The 5530 Xpress Music is a decent feature touch screen phone already available for 200 euro. The only difference between the 5530 and the 5800 is the home screen.