All About Symbian's quick looksie at the Samsung S60 phone The fact that Rafe actually saw the D720 gives me some confidence this is not vapor(hard)ware. I'm still not holding my breath for when this actually gets released, though.  ¶ 2:30 PM 0 comments

  GSM Arena mini-review of the 6680/6681 Sounds great -- it sounds like the reviewer is very satisfied with this new device.

I'm a little disappointed with the picture quality. However, as I've said before, the later versions of firmware always seem to improve the photo quality.  ¶ 1:27 PM 0 comments

  3230 still has a chance... I know I thought the 6681/82 dealt a death blow to the 3230, but a comparison of the 3230, 6600 (my current phone) and the 6681 on phonescoop.com shows the 6681 is quite a porker -- basically heavier and for the most part the same dimensions of the 6600. I very well may give up the flash and the slider of the 6681 for the lighter, smaller 3230.  ¶ 1:14 PM 0 comments

  The sound of the bottom falling out of the market. The 7610 has fallen about 10% in price since the launch of the 6681/82 at the 3GSM conference. I just love watching the creative destruction of capitalism at work.  ¶ 7:40 AM 0 comments

  Sendo X2 Sendo upgrades their S60 offering. For release this summer. Features include:

* 1.3MP camera with 8x digital zoom and camcorder
* Approximately 32MB free memory expandable to over 1GB with tiny miniSD cards
* Bluetooth and USB connectivity, including charging over USB from a compatible PC
* Real HTML internet browsing capability plus WAP
* Symbian OS / Series 60 and Java MIDP application support  ¶ 8:59 AM 0 comments

  Samsung S60 Slider: SGH-D710 (I'll believe it when I see it) This site claims Samsung will release this beauty in Europe by the end of the year. I have yet to see a Samsung S60 phone and will not believe it until its in my hand. I believe they are part of Symbian to extract the IP from the consortium... why else would they continue to tease us so unmercifully?  ¶ 8:47 AM 0 comments

  Nokia announces 6680/6681/6682 Nokia today announced three new S60 phones with 1.3 mp cameras & flash; the 6680 is the 3g variant (with videoconferencing availability without a crade), while the 6681/6682 are EDGE phones (6682 is 850/1800/1900; the 6681 is 900/1800/1900). 6680 is scheduled for release 1q 2005... 6681 in April, 6682 in 2Q. With one fell swoop, they've rendered the 6630 and 3230 obsolete...

(corrected to add the 6682 and release dates)  ¶ 8:00 AM 0 comments

  Tiny new Nokia 6680 to be unveiled at Cannes next week Zeem35 on Mobile Burn's Nokia forum found a new picture of Nokia's tiny new 3g Series 60 phone that evidently is going to be unveiled next week at 3GSM in Cannes. 3g carrier 02 has confirmed the existence of this phone previously.

Two of the last three Series 60 phones announced by Nokia have been 3g. US networks need to speed up their transition because its clear that the handset makers are now pouring their new model development into 3g models.  ¶ 8:55 AM 0 comments

  Macromedia flash to be imbedded in Series 60 phones From a Nokia press release: "Series 60 becomes a reference platform for Macromedia's mobile Flash technology, and Macromedia will implement new versions of its mobile Flash technology on Series 60." Another reason to wait to upgrade until Symbian 9....  ¶ 6:46 AM 0 comments

  Nokia and Real Networks draw closer This appears to indicate the increased availability of content from Real on Series 60 phones in the future, particularly over 3g networks.

Antti Vasara, VP for Mobile Software Sales and Marketing from Nokia: "The new licensing and development model with Real fully supports Nokia's multi-format strategy and our commitment to respond to our customers' needs with best-in-breed solutions, such as RealAudio and RealVideo. Today, the successful collaboration between Nokia and Real has resulted in the delivery of over 20 unique handset models based on Series 60 and Symbian operating system with RealPlayer capability, to millions of consumers worldwide".

Aref Matin, Vice President, Carrier and System Software, RealNetworks, Inc.: "Our momentous relationship represents a major milestone for digital mobile media services. The Nokia-Real relationship is enabling consumers around the globe to enjoy digital media wherever and whenever they want. Working with Nokia we will leverage more powerful and flexible technologies to deliver compelling mobile content experiences to an even broader range of Nokia devices, which will enable content owners, operators and consumers to reap the rewards of the promise of 3G".  ¶ 6:30 AM 0 comments

  One-handed UIQ? From the Register UK: Johan Sandberg indicates that there will be Series 60-like UIQ devices hitting the market soon, heralding a possible convergence between the two interfaces. This is great news for those of us who detest pen-based uis.  ¶ 6:15 AM 0 comments

  Czech site reviews 3230, in Czech. Doh! Anyone up for a quickie translation? But there are some mediocre pictures from the camera viewable towards the bottom of the review. The quality is so-so, but I'm used to early release versions of Nokia phones not getting this quite right (I had an early model of the 7610 that was awful; it seems like later firmware has corrected the major faults in photo quality.)  ¶ 3:56 PM 0 comments

  Panasonic X800 gets FCC approval Thanks to Rick Brome's Phonescoop, we see the X800, a phone that only had been spotted on Chinese web pages, is headed for our shores. Its nothing radically new, but it's very nice to see a flip style Series 60 phone that may have gotten the design and hardware right.  ¶ 6:19 PM 0 comments

  Rocking Symbian v9 announcement Whoa. Multi-megapixel phone support. Bluetooth stereo headsets. USB storage. MPEG. 3d graphics and different screen sizes. This seems like a significant step forward for the user and should open the door for rapid innovation in hardware.

The release says phones will hit the market in the second half of '05, which makes me think we aren't going to see many more v7 or v8 phones released.

The other interesting thing in the release: "smaller, less expensive and even more capable Symbian OS smartphones" as well as the bandying about of the "mass market" term. This signals lower prices and greater extension of Symbian into phones. Time will tell if this is just marketing-speak bullshit or if Nokia is going to embrace the os in a wider variety of phones. It could get interesting!

Also, the v9 technical description.  ¶ 2:50 PM 0 comments