Sony Ericsson X10 unboxing and hands-on video by HDBlog.it. The Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 is the manufacturer’s first Android phone. It is rather high-end, equipped with a 1GHz Snapdagon processor, 4-inch TFT screen with a resolution of 480x854 pixels and an 8.1-megapixel camera with autofocus. However, its software features are just as impressing. What it adds to the Android universe is a personalized interface, called UX (from User eXperience). Basically, UX combines various entertainment and social media features.
Nokia today announced the Nokia 5330 Mobile TV Edition, an entertainment hub that combines mobile broadcast TV (DVB-H), social networking, music and gaming in one compact 3G device. With mobile broadcast TV consumption on the rise – by 2012 there will be over 300 million people worldwide watching TV on their mobile phones – this handset offers easy access to anyone wanting to enjoy an exceptional live, on-the-move TV experience.
Nokia vice president Mark Selby said, “The introduction of the Nokia 5330 Mobile TV Edition responds to the arrival of DVB-H broadcast mobile TV networks in new markets and offers an affordable device for new and existing customers alike. Customers are increasingly watching a variety of programmes on their mobiles, such as drama programs, news and sport, for a longer period of time. The Nokia 5330 Mobile TV Edition has the sound and image quality to hold audiences captive.”
Watch TV. Anywhere.
Thanks to the Nokia 5330 Mobile TV Edition’s DVB-H technology, programs burst through the QVGA 2.4″ screen in full-colour, crystal clear, sharp images. Plug in 3.5mm headphones for personal viewing or use the loudspeaker option to share the experience with friends and family.
With one-click access to live broadcasts, the Nokia 5330 Mobile TV Edition can pick up the best channels around. Set reminders for favorite shows to make sure key episodes aren’t missed and create personal channel lists with Nokia’s innovative Electronic Program Guide (EPG) for a truly tailored mobile broadcast TV experience.
The Nokia 5330 Mobile TV Edition provides broadcast picture quality while the headset acts as an antenna for outstanding reception, so no blank screens or interference during those all important moments. Long battery life gives up to six hours of DVB-H usage; enough time to watch three football matches – or six episodes of a soap opera – before recharging. The Nokia 5330 Mobile TV Edition will retail for 155 Euros before taxes and subsidies.
Franklin Selgert, Chairman, Broadcast Mobile Convergence Forum said, “It is essential for DVB-H service providers to have a variety of devices capable of serving the mass market. Having a complete portfolio of handsets is pivotal for the commercial success of mobile TV. The new Nokia DVB-H enabled mobile phone, the Nokia 5330 Mobile TV Edition, is a great addition to the current portfolio of broadcast TV-capable handsets.”
Catch up with friends. Anytime.
The Nokia 5330 Mobile TV Edition comes with all the latest social networking software, making it simple to stay in touch with friends via Ovi Contacts, Facebook, MySpace and YouTube. Post status updates for friends and family to follow or instant message (IM) them via Windows Live(TM) Messenger, Google Talk, Yahoo! Messenger, ICQ, AOL and many others.
Capture photos and video clips, day or night, using the 3.2 megapixel camera with 4x digital zoom and LED flash before uploading and sharing favourite shots via sites such as OviShare and Flickr. Alternatively, email them via Ovi Mail, Nokia Messaging, Windows Live Messenger, Gmail, or Yahoo! Mail.
Play music. Whenever.
Accessing music and other apps is easy with dedicated music keys and links to the Nokia Music store (where available). The Nokia 5330 Mobile TV edition is also compatible with Nokia’s innovative Comes with Music service – providing free, unlimited access to millions of tracks. Download free music anytime, anywhere – and keep all the music forever.
Keep up-to-date. Wherever.
Check out the choice of personalized media and applications in the Ovi Store. A one-stop-shop for thousands of applications, games, videos, podcasts, productivity tools, web and locati
Bankruptcy courts cleared on Wednesday Ciena Corp.’s acquisition of a unit of bankrupt Nortel Networks for $769 million after fighting off a legal challenge by Nokia Siemens Networks, Reuters reported.
Network equipment maker Ciena said it expects the deal — which will double its size and increase debtload — to close in the first quarter of 2010.
Ciena trumped an offer by Nokia Siemens and its financial partner, One Equity Partners, with an auction-winning bid of $530 million in cash and $239 million in convertible securities for Nortel’s optical networking and carrier ethernet business.
On Tuesday, the 50-50 joint venture of Nokia of Finland and Siemens of Germany said it was ready to raise its offer to $810 million in cash, if the auction, which ended in late November, was reopened.
That set up Wednesday’s fight in court, with Nokia Siemens and some creditors arguing the auction should be reopened, in part because Ciena’s convertible securities were overvalued.
After roughly seven hours of argument, testimony and cross-examination, Nortel’s attorney said his team had a reached a deal in the hallway outside the court that would lead to the withdrawal of the last major objection.
Withdrawal of the objections made that a near-certainty later on Wednesday.
U.S. bankruptcy court in Delaware and a Canadian court cleared the deal after simultaneous hearings, Ciena and Nortel said in separate statements.
To clear the last objection, Ciena agreed to change the pricing on its convertible securities under certain conditions.
“This increases the value to the estate,” said Jennifer Feldsher, an attorney with Bracewell & Giuliani, which was representing creditor Matlinpatterson Global Investors. “We withdraw our objection.”
Nokia Siemens suffered a setback hours earlier when the judges ruled the joint venture did not have standing to object to Ciena’s bid.
Nokia Siemens’ attorney, Gregg Galardi, was critical of the deal saying it appeared to allow Ciena to change its bid and Nokia Siemens should be allowed to as well.
“It sounds like there is a material change to the bid,” Mr. Galardi, of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, said. “If that doesn’t reopen the auction, I don’t know what does. We stand by that $810 million bid.”
Nortel declared bankruptcy early in the year and has been auctioning off its businesses to raise money to pay creditors. Its lawyer, James Bromley of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, had argued the auction should not be re-opened.
“We can’t do that. It’s not fair to employees, to customers, to the company and not fair to the counterparties,” Mr. Bromley said.
Shares of Ciena closed up 4.9 percent at $12.88 on Nasdaq, helped by Nokia Siemens’ challenge as analysts say Ciena may have trouble integrating the Nortel assets.
Nokia N900 impressively demos WebGL 3D graphics
We're not sure anyone out there needs any more proof that the Nokia N900 is powerhouse, but just in case you still had doubts, check this video of a WebGL-enabled Firefox build smoothly rendering some complex 3D models on Espoo's "internet tablet with phone capabilities." It's pretty impressive stuff, especially considering WebGL is still being standardized and it hasn't gotten beyond Firefox nightlies on the desktop yet. Check it after the break.
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The Nokia Booklet 3G was quite a surprise when it was first announced. With it, Nokia wants to differentiate itself by building a Netbook with a top-notch construction quality, a small footprint (it fits in a large purse) and small weight: only 2.64lbs. On top of that, the Nokia Booklet 3G has a very long real-world battery life. It seems like the perfect Netbook, but it has one significant downside: performance. You do know that Netbooks are slow, but you will have to realize that the Booklet 3G is even slower, so it is definitely not for everyone. The question is: is it for you? Here's my take...
Specifications highlights
- Atom Z530 1.6Ghz
- 1GB memory, 120GB of local storage
- Windows 7 Home Premium (WEI 2.2)
- 10.1" 1280x720 display
- Intel GMA 500 graphics
- 2 USB ports
- Integrated 3G (AT&T), WiFi-N
- No Ethernet port
- 264 x 185 x 19.9 mm, 1.2kg (2.64lbs)
Physical aspect (sexy!)
The Nokia Booklet 3G is a very nicely built computer. It is thin, has a nice shape and is good looking on all sides (most computers are ugly on the bottom). It looks like a Macbook in some ways, especially because of the aluminum. The screen opens at almost 180 degrees, which is great because it could make using the laptop more comfortable. It's nice to have that option.
Keyboard: The keyboard has smaller keys than a "normal" laptop, but the chicklet keyboard (there's spacing between the keys) makes typing easier and helps avoiding typos (at least, for me). The keys feel "plastic" and out of the box, they are a little stiff, but I bet that they will turn out to be just right with time. Keyboards are mostly a matter of personal preferences, so I would recommend you to try it if you can.
Ports: on the left, you will find one HDMI, two USB ports and a standard 3.5mm audio jack. On the right, there's power, one USB, the SIM card slot, the SD card slot and the power button. Note that there's no Ethernet port because the computer is seemingly too thin to receive one. If you want to copy a bunch of files, you can still use WiFi or USB, but I did miss Gigabit Ethernet when I did some setup. After that, it didn't matter so much.
Display: The 10.1" display has a resolution of 1280x720, which is good for that size. However, I don't like the screen treatment very much. One of the LCD layer makes it a little fuzzy. It reminds me of the HP2730 tablet PC that I reviewed a while back. Also, the screen brightness isn't all that bright. Overall, I would say that the display is below average and that's something that I would like Nokia to change in future updates of this product.
Webcam: I was pleasantly surprised to see that the webcam is decent, even in low light conditions.
Trackpad: the trackpad works "OK", but it's not great. That's pretty common on Netbooks. The surface isn't very smooth, and the buttons feel a bit cheap.
Bloatware (almost none - good!)
Nokia did not install too much bloatware in this computer. There's F-secure (trial), an anti-virus/anti-malware, Office (60-day trial) and Nokia Ovi. We're coming back to Nokia Ovi later, but you will be please to know that you won't have to spend an hour or two to uninstall a bunch of stuff that would slow down the computer. Which brings us to the next paragraph...
Performance (asthmatic)
Performance is the Achilles heel of the Nokia Booklet 3G. You think that it is as fast as other Netbooks? Think again: in the PCMark 05 benchmark, the Nokia Booklet 3G gets a score of 1114, versus 2074 for the HP Mini 311.
Admittedly, the HP Mini 311 got most of the gains from its graphics processor that is 10X faster, according to PCMark 05. That's not good... but I think that the real problem here is the hard disk. It gets an HDD Score of 1793 in PCMark 05, which is twice slower than the HP Mini 311 hard drive. To give you an idea, a 7200rpm desktop drive can get a score of about 6600-7000. An Intel X25M SSD gets a whooping 18817.
The point of all this is not to "bash" the Nokia Booklet 3G, but it is to provide you with a relative performance against things that you are familiar with, like "normal" Netbooks. Overall, I would say that yes, the Booklet 3G is perceptibly twice as slow as something like the Mini 311.
Combine the slow hard drive with a very low memory (1GB!!) and a recent Operating System (Windows 7) and you get a sluggish computer. Unfortunately, it is not possible to extend the memory size or the hard drive - this is a design mistake: if you don't want users to open the box, then get the specifications right (no Windows computer should ever ship with less than 2GB, especially if we cannot add memory). I did setup the Windows user interface to "best performance". It does noticeably help, but the 2D graphics in general are still very slow.
What can I do with it? (very basic stuff)
So, we just pointed out that the Booklet 3G was slow. So... what can you really do with it? Here's the brutal truth: only the basic productivity tasks. I tried to use Office. Word and Excel are "OK" if you don't handle complex files. Outlook tends to slow overtime, even on a desktop machine, so I would shy away from it. In all cases, disk access was a significant slowdown factor that could pin down an application. Once the disk stopped spinning (app load...) editing text was usually OK. I preferred using web apps like Google Docs, or Gmail - they tend to use the network more than the disk, at least when compared to Office.
The computer is sluggish each time you interact with it. Launching an app is slow, loading a web page is slow... this can be frustrating. Even web browsing is slow. You would think of it as a "basic" task at which all computers should perform OK, but the Booklet 3G is noticeably slower than recent Netbooks, and of course, much slower than an average laptop or desktop machine. I want to make sure that you understand the performance limitations because they are drastic. I shot a short video to show you what that feels like to wait around.
Skype: the popular VOIP software works well. I've been told by people on the other side of the conversation that the sound is a bit muffled when compared to my Logitech Quickcam Pro 9000 (I suspect the tiny microphone), but overall it is very usable. Video works well in both directions, but you won't be able to get a crisp image during video calls. The computer is just too slow, and will drop video quality to preserve frame rate. It's like having a 4 year old webcam. The CPU will get very busy while Skyping (75%?). But despite of all that, I'm satisfied with the Skype functionality.
Integrated 3G (discreet, handy, expensive)
If you intended to pay for an AT&T wireless broadband subscription, this is great because it's already integrated: there's no need to have a USB 3G modem sticking out of the computer. The downside is that your choice of carrier is pretty much restricted to AT&T (I wonder if the computer is network-locked). That's arguably not the best network around, but not the worse either. Check with friends who have AT&T 3G phones to see how their network works in areas that you might be into (home, work...). If you travel, it's more random but most frequented places should be covered decently (except downtown San Francisco, apparently...).
The real problem with 3G isn't how it is integrated, it's the contract. Without a "pay-per-use" model, many just can't afford it. Of course, many of use 3G on a daily basis, but let's face it, the average user, would probably like to pay $6 to $10 for a day rather than getting into a two year contract for $60 per month or so. I'm not sure if carriers actually want more people, as it seems that the networks aren't all that solid anyway. However, I think that this limits the market for computer makers such as Nokia. Also I would have preferred to see a Gobi chip that's compatible with more carriers. Again choice is good, and I could have used Verizon's day-pass.
Battery life
The battery life of the Nokia Booklet 3G is impressive: in idle mode, it did last 11.5 hours with the display (at minimum brightness), WiFi and 3G "ON" at all times. You won't be using it in Idle mode, but idle mode provides an interesting baseline: the best case scenario. Also, when you are reading something or just typing text, you're not actually doing that much, and the system does go to "sleep" mode, even in-between key strokes. I think that the Booklet 3G will last for around 6 or 7 hours during continuous web usage. The screen (brightness) is the most important battery drain factor, so keep that in mind. Battery life and size are the two strengths of the Booklet 3G.
Conclusion
If you perform the most basic tasks (email, text editing) and need a small laptop with an amazing battery life, the Nokia Booklet 3G is worth looking at. However, you will pay for these qualities in performance. The computer is even slower than recent Netbooks, mainly because of its hard drive performance and small memory size, I suspect. Additionally, there's not easy way to upgrade either of these and Nokia offers only a single model. I thought of getting one myself to do stuff like Blogging on the go, but I need to know if I'm going bang my head against the walls while waiting for photos to be resized. I'll need to try in the real world I guess. price: $300 w/ 2-yr contract or $600 without contract. In my opinion, Nokia should fix the disk performance, graphics performance and memory size in the next update, even if that means building a 11.1" computer.
If you have additional questions, remarks or want to write your own review, please drop a comment, I'll try to answer while I still have the computer with me. If not, maybe someone else will answer.
Links
Nokia Booklet 3G official home page. More Nokia news.
You might like my Nokia N900 Review or the other reviews at Ubergizmo.
Second opinion
As usual, I'm just sharing my experience about the Nokia Booklet 3G. If you are serious about getting one, I recommend that you get a second opinon. Here are a few reads that you might want to check, in no particular order: PCMag, ITpro, Gizmodo, Crunchgear
“Going into 2010, the overall mobile devices market is stabilizing and it is growing more in the areas where Nokia has competitive advantages,” CFO Timo Ihamuotila said during the company’s Capital Markets Day event today.
And while the company expects its mobile device volume share to be flat in 2010 compared with 2009, it also expects to increase its “mobile device value market share” a bit.
Of course, to do that, Nokia (NOK) needs a device that can compete with the likes of Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone, and its recent efforts–the N97, for example–have fallen far short of that goal.
“Last year’s N97 flagship was an exercise in how not to create a touchscreen phone, complete with an odd three row keyboard featuring a space bar mysteriously moved right of center,” says technology strategist Michael Gartenberg.
“The N900 feels more like a science experiment to me,” Gartenberg observes,” than a product that’s designed for mainstream users….I used to feel Nokia’s hardware designs defined cool, but these days they just remind me of an aging movie starlet trying to re-capture some former beauty.”
2010 will be different, though. At least according to Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo. “I see great opportunity for Nokia to capture new growth in our industry,” he said. “We have measures in place to push smart phones down to new price points globally, while growing margins….We have three targets for 2010: execution, execution,
Nokia also said it plans to re-engineer its Symbian user interface — which has long been a serious vulnerability — and deliver two “major product milestones” in both the first and second half of next year. Nokia also said it plans to launch its first Maemo 6-powered mobile computer in the second half of 2009 and vowed to provide third-party developers with better tools for building apps for the company’s Ovi service. And, as EVP Tero Ojanperä told Om earlier this week, Nokia will continue to expand its services business and offer affordable, localized services to consumers in emerging markets.
While Nokia’s long-term prospects appear to hinge on its Maemo operating system, vast improvements to Symbian would go a long way toward boosting the company’s standing in the smartphone market over the next two years, according to a research note from RBC Capital Markets.
“Nokia is focused on improving the mobile device user experience and its dual approach on feature phones and smartphones,” RBC Managing Director Mark Sue noted. “A major revamped version of Symbian may accelerate Nokia’s competitiveness in the smartphone market, a market which has only become more competitive in recent years…Brand, volume and scale still remain Nokia’s strong points.”
Indeed, Nokia’s global footprint remains impressive, and the company seems to be learning from its many missteps over the last couple of years. If in 2010 it can bring an upgraded Symbian OS to as it continues to develop its Maemo platform, the guys from Espoo could find themselves back in the smartphone game in Europe and North America.
The latest of Nokia's reliably rousing Capital Markets Day reports points to two goals, both of which sit decidedly forward from here:
In 2010, we will drive user experience improvements, and the progress we make will take the Symbian user interface to a new level...[Nokia will] deliver our first Maemo 6-powered mobile computer, with an iconic user experience, in the second half of 2010.
Forward in terms of time, obviously, but more importantly in terms of progress: Symbian is getting stale and needs this UI update badly, while Maemo, despite a generally positive reception, is still a little raw, with a slim device selection for at least another year. You can probably assume that Maemo 6 will be more polished and ready for the mainstream, but for now it's just words on paper.
That said, Nokia's self-help regimen will take time. Nokia expects their mobile device volume market share to stay flat for 2010, partly due to their conspicuous absence from the growing US smartphone scene, but mostly, I'm guessing, because even in their European strongholds, Symbian devices are starting to feel plain old.
So yeah, all eyes on Nokia, because things are just about to get exciting! In a year. [Nokia]
The revamped Symbian UI is set to deliver on two "major product milestones" in the first and second halves of the year. Nokia will also deliver its first Maemo 6 "mobile computer" in the second half of 2010 flanked by a significantly increased proportion of "touch and/or QWERTY devices" in its smartphone portfolio. It's worth noting that all the discussion is around Symbian, just a single mention of Maemo and its "iconic user experience" in the forward looking press release. Developers will be happy to hear that Nokia will also continue to scale services geographically while continuing to enhance its developer tools like QT4.6 announced yesterday. Financially speaking, Nokia expects to see the erosion of its average selling price slowed compared to recent years. That's good as Nokia attempts to grow its margins. However, while Nokia expects mobile device volumes to be up approximately 10% in 2010 across the industry, it sees its own mobile device volume market share as flat in 2010, compared to 2009.
Be clear on this though: our incredibly frustrating S60 5th user experience was by far the biggest complaint we had when reviewing Nokia's flagship N97 -- having the most bullet points on a list of features is not what it takes to lure consumers anymore (if ever). If Nokia can better the best in class experiences carved out by Apple, Palm, and HTC with its Sense UI then consumer mindshare, and our hearts, will follow.
[Original image via Vladstudio]
