Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Nokia gets the lion’s share of the attention when it comes to the S60 platform and Symbian generally — perhaps rightfully so, considering they ship far more Symbian-based smartphones than any other vendor — but Samsung would like to politely remind everyone that they’re an S60 licensee, too. Their latest effort, the SGH-i520 slider, had its coming-out party this week at the Symbian Smartphone Show, and the spec sheet looks to give Nokia’s E- and N-series multimedia powerhouses an honest-to-goodness run for their money. The typical 2-megapixel camera and QVGA display aside, the i520 packs an HSDPA radio — something no released Nokia handset has managed to do; granted, the N95 does it, but we’ve got a little wait ahead of us for that monster. Lucky owners also get a microSD slot should they find the 45MB of usable storage a bit light, Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP, and a front-facing VGA shooter for those ever-popular video calls. Per protocol, it doesn’t seem that a US launch is in the works, but one can never be sure; stranger things have happened.

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Filed under: Software, Symbian

My, how you’ve grown, Symbian. For those of us that have followed the platform since its EPOC roots, it’s with a tear in our eye that we hear version 9.3 of the veteran smartphone operating system has gone out the door. Although something of a maintenance release, the new cut has a little something for everybody: native support for WiFi, over-the-air firmware updates (FOTA), USB 2.0 on-the-go, HSDPA, push to talk, and improved memory management are among the listed improvements. Apparently, v9.3 has been kickin’ around for a while behind the scenes, as a Freescale / S60 reference platform is immediately available and Symbian claims handsets are already in development for 2007 releases — we suppose the v9.1-based N73 will have to suffice until then.

[Via Reg Hardware]

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Filed under: Handsets, Nokia, Symbian, GSM, UMTS

Are you loving the N93′s spec sheet, but gargantuan clamshells aren’t your cup of tea? No worries, friends; the 3.2-megapixel candybar N73 has just been approved by the FCC, and thanks to quadband GSM, we have a fighting chance of seeing this one drop in the States — at least in Nokia’s flagship store, if nothing else. Specs are enough to get the juices of any S60 fan flowing: UMTS (albeit on the 2100MHz band), 2.4-inch QVGA display, MiniSD slot, stereo speakers, FM radio, Bluetooth 2.0, and the list goes on. Now let’s just cross our fingers Qualcomm doesn’t get its way, and we might be seeing this hotness before too long in these parts.

[Via Mobilewhack]

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Filed under: Cellphones, Digital Cameras

Filed under: Handsets, Multimedia, Nokia, Symbian, GSM, UMTS

Filed under: Handsets, Nokia

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

We know that many of you (and by you, we mean us) have been looking forward to Toshiba’s Gigabeat S PMPs ever since you we saw them way back at CES in January, so we can all start getting a little excited about a print ad from Midwest electronics chain American TV that shows the hot little player on sale for $400 after rebate. The reason we can only get a little excited, however, is because calls to several of the company’s retail locations reveal that they don’t actually have the S in stock, with one clerk unable to give any arrival estimates, while another claimed that “we’re getting a shipment today, maybe.” It wouldn’t be prudent at this juncture to start tossing out nasty terms like bait and switch, as we’re sure American didn’t knowingly advertise a product that they don’t have in stock, but it’s still a little irksome to see an ad for something you can’t buy. On the plus side, both salespeople were able to confirm that Toshiba has not in fact gone and gutted this model’s capacity to the mere 60MB that American is publicizing.

[Via DAPreview]

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Filed under: Cellphones

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Filed under: Games, Nokia, Symbian

Just because you’re a Mobile reader. doesn’t mean you can’t join in on the E3 fun. Nokia used the world’s biggest gaming show to unveil several upcoming titles compatible with not only the N-Gage, but N-series and some S60 devices as well. Among the six games announced were three sequels to popular franchises, Space Impact, System Rush: Evolution, and ONE-Who’s Next?, which improves upon the 2004 fighter with better graphics, frame rates, and support for landscape mode. The new titles also look rather promising, and include an Internet-enabled version of Texas Hold’em called Pocket Aces, which allows players to convert winnings into digital swag for their online avatars, and even allow those avatars to play in their stead. Rounding up the bunch are the N-Gage Arena-compatible Pro Series Golf and a fishing simulator called Creatures of the Deep that uses vibration feedback to enhance the otherwise boring activity of watching a fishing pole on your phone’s tiny screen.

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Filed under: Handsets, Nokia, Symbian, UMTS

Yeah Nokia, we know you're hot stuff with your ten phones per minute release pace, but even we're a bit surprised to be seeing spy photos of an N83 slider a mere week after the release of your N72, N73 and N93 handsets. The projected release date for this S60 phone is a bit more reasonable, stated as Q1 2007, but with the sweet specs listed we're really not sure we can wait that long. The phone supposedly has a 2.5-inch-ish 352 x 416 pixel screen, Bluetooth 2.0, microSD, 5 megapixel and VGA cameras, UMTS, 802.11b/g, 4GB HDD (alright, now it's just getting ridiculous), and mini-jack audio. While those specs read just like a fanboy wishlist, we can clearly see the dual cameras and some sort of slide up media controls from the pics, along with plenty of screen real estate. For the rest of it we'll just have to spend a year on Santa's "nice" list and hope he has some sway with the Nokia elves.

Filed under: Software, Nokia, Symbian

align="right" src="http://www.engadgetmobile.com/media/2006/04/ipass.jpg" alt="" />Owners of WiFi-enabled, Series
80- and S60-powered Nokia handsets will soon have "one-click" access to over 50,000 hotspots worldwide thanks
to a new software client being developed in conjunction with trusted connectivity services provider iPass. Already
available for Windows, Macintosh, and Windows Mobile devices, the iPassConnect client gives people an easy way to
connect to any hotspot across some 28 different networks, including T-Mobile, Wayport, and The Cloud, offering both a
consistent user experience and simplified billing. The first models to receive the iPass treatment will be the href="http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2006/02/03/nokia-9300i-communicator-reviewed/">9300i and href="http://www.engadget.com/2004/03/30/nokia-9500-communicator-preview/">9500 Communicators, which should see the
new software sometime this summer, followed by a version for href="http://www.engadget.com/2005/10/12/nokias-e60-e61-and-e70-e-series-mobile-business-phones/">E-series devices
by the end of the year.

[Via href="http://www.pcworld.com/resource/article/0,aid,125566,pg,1,RSS,RSS,00.asp">PC World]

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Filed under: Moblogs, Software, Symbian

You love Flickr, we love Flickr, Flickr's just great. But it's about time we figured out how the hell to moblog with it best, since we've all been using it for, well, what seems like forever. So if you've got a S60 phone and want a quick rundown of four of the more popular moblogging apps, including Shozu and ZoneTag, peep Chris Heathcote's Flickr off. Just try not taking too many pictures of your food, ok? We're getting like, way sick of that one.

[Via All About Symbian]

Filed under: Handsets, Nokia, Symbian, GSM, GPRS, EDGE

Admittedly, we had our fair share of panic attacks at Engadget HQ when news spread that Nokia might restrict sales of its E70-2 (a standard-issue E70 with GSM 850 in place of UMTS 2100) to its two American flagship stores in New York and Chicago. Thankfully, those fears have all been laid to rest on news that sales have begun directly off Nokia’s US website, offering the trick, S60 3rd Edition QWERTY candybar for a stiff $450 unlocked. Oh, and if you decide to take the plunge, rest easy — the firmware bungle has been cleared up.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

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SPONSORED BY: BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.

Filed under: Handsets, Reviews, Nokia, Symbian, GSM, GPRS, EDGE, HSDPA, UMTS

It might be a few months yet before we see Nokia N95s start to circulate amongst the general populace, but far be it from that to stop Nokialist from putting a preproduction unit through its paces. Other than a niggle about the d-pad — the reviewer would’ve preferred a joystick, a la E70 — the hands-on was overwhelming positive, despite the fact that the super-ultra-early test model in their hands lacked some hardware (GPS, WiFi) promised for the production version. As one might expect, the software (S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 1, that is) is apparently the best thing since sliced bread, the dual slide is trick, the screen is gorgeous, and the 5 megapixel shooter is bananas. Sadly, about all the review has managed to do for us is make us want to lay our hands on this sucker a little more than we already did, but we’re still in for a bit of a wait. Hang tight, folks.

[Thanks, Phill]

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.