Display and Design

This slate grey device has a plastic feel but feels sturdy enough. The edges of Nokia X2-01 are slightly curved and it is slim enough to fit into the pocket easily. The display consists of a 2.4″ QVGA screen of 320×240 pixel resolution. Images and text look relatively clear and screen visibility outdoors is mostly good. Below the screen is a directional pad in the centre surrounded by call and end keys, two navigation keys and two shortcut keys. X2-01 Nokia shows where priorities lie as one shortcut key is for the Music Player (opening the music library or FM radio) whereas the other is for Messaging (email, text and instant messages). The left side of this device holds the microSD card slot and microUSB port. The VGA camera lens and speaker are found at the back of Nokia X2-01.

Nokia X2-01 Specifications

Nokia X2-01 measures 4.7″ x 2.35″ x 0.56″ and weighs 3.79 ounces. It has an internal memory combo 128MB/64MB and a memory card slot that can support upto 8GB additional storage.

Nokia X2-01 Features

Nokia X2-01 runs on S40 6th Edition OS. It uses a simple interface, with a clean homescreen containing shortcuts that can be customized. Nokia OSS web browser helps in surfing on X2-01. Pages load fast and built-in social networking apps can be accessed easily. However, users cannot navigate between apps after opening one and this is an inconvenience. This device has Push email and Nokia Messaging 3.0 and supports Gmail, Hotmail, Windows Live, Ovi Mail, Yahoo and other services. Call quality is quite good and speakerphone volume is satisfactory. However, earphone quality is debatable.

Keyboard

The keyboard on Nokia X2-01 is clean and spacious, allowing users to type easily. The keys are raised and curved at the sides to easily distinguish them from each other. Keys offer good tactile response.

Nokia X2-01 Camera

Unfortunately, the X2-01 Nokia VGA camera really disappoints. Not only are the images grainy, the video quality is also below average.

Nokia X2-01 Themes

Interesting themes such as Silver Paint Clock, Green Network and Sleek Violet, among others may be downloaded from the Ovi Store for Nokia X2-01. While some are free, others have to be purchased.

Battery

Nokia X2-01 has a rated talktime of upto 4.5 hours and standby time upto 21 days.

Nokia X2-01 looks good and functions well as a messaging and media device. For those looking for a reasonably priced QWERTY device to check mails and messages and listen to music, this may be a decent option. However, those users looking for a good camera feature or 3G connectivity will have to look elsewhere.

Design and Quality

Nokia C5-03 has a plastic construction and feels very light in the hand. However, it also feels durable enough. This budget-phone has a black body which can be matched with graphite black or lime green for the textured lower cap. It has a 3.2″ resistive screen. Unfortunately, this screen of 360х640 pixel resolution is not comparable to the touchscreens available nowadays. Taps are not registered accurately on the screen at all times. Further, screen visibility outdoors is a problem. There are three physical keys on the lower portion of Nokia C5-03: Call, End and a key that opens the apps menu.
While the top of the Nokia C5-03 holds the 3.5mm headset jack and microUSB port, the right side contains the volume rocker and lock key and the lower end has a charging port.

Nokia C5-03 Specifications

Nokia C5-03 measures 4.16″х2″х0.54″ and weighs 3.28 ounces. This device has 40MB internal memory and a microSD card that can support memory upto 16GB.

Nokia C5-03 Features

Nokia C5-03 runs on Symbian S60, 5th Edition. There is only one homescreen that can be slightly personalized. Four icons at the bottom-Contacts, Clock, WiFi and email notification- help in reaching these features easily. This device does work well but the absence of a portrait QWERTY keyboard may be a disappointment.
Internet browsing experience is good on Nokia C5-03, with this device supporting FlashLite 3.1. Social networking sites can be accessed and the Ovi Store can be visited to download applications. Though this is a 3G device, the speed is not extra-fast.
Quickoffice helps in viewing documents but for editing users will have to download another app.
The music player is well organized and sound quality is quiet good. Connectivity options are strong and include A-GPS and WiFi. Pre-installed Ovi Maps 3.0 also helps in voice navigation.

Camera

This device has a 5MP camera, with zoom upto 3x. Photo effects and different modes may be used for images. Since the camera lacks a flash, taking photographs in low light results in dull images. Most images are of average quality.

Battery

Nokia C5-03 has a talktime upto 4.7 hours and a standby time of 24.5 days on 3G. Battery can charged through the microUSB port or charging port, though using the latter is faster. This device can handle usage for about 2 days before it needs to be charged.

Nokia C5-03 Price

Nokia C5-03 is priced at about $185 online.

Despite delivering on many counts, there are many who feel that Nokia C5-03 cannot offer what the Android experience does. Many other competent devices are available at this range and the Android apps provide for a more enhanced experience. Thus, the problem arises not only from an older operating system on Nokia C5-03, but competition from other devices that may offer more.

Design and Quality

Nokia N8-00 is available in four exciting colors: pink, black, green and blue. It has a full metal body with anodised scratch-proof paint, to make it look like a stylish high-end device. With this hardware, Nokia N8-00 makes a winning first impression. Moreover, this device feels light, yet sturdy enough when it is held in the hand. The microSD card slot, microUSB port and SIM card slot are located at the left side of Nokia N8-00. The right side holds the camera key (which can be pushed partly for autofocus), volume rocker and slider switch (for physically locking/ unlocking the device). The top of the Nokia N8-00 holds the 3.5mm headset jack, power switch and mini HD port while the lower end contains the charging port.
The display is dominated by a 3.5″ capacitive touchscreen made of Gorilla Glass. The 640×360 pixel resolution may disappoint, but the AMOLED display does make colors look bright and text appear clear. Below the display there is a physical Home button at the bottom left corner.

Specifications

Nokia N8-00 measures 4.47″×2.32″×0.51″ and weighs 4.8 ounces.It runs on a 680MHz CPU. This smartphone has 16GB mass memory which can be further extended by a microSD card upto 48GB.

Features

Nokia N8-00 runs on Symbian^3, with three homescreens to choose from that can be populated with widgets. The screen switches from landscape to portrait mode effortlessly. Call quality is good on this device and speakerphone volume is average. Users can connect this device to a television to watch video at 1280×720 resolution. Unfortunately, there is no DivX support, though Flash videos are supported. With USB On-the-Go, a USB storage device can be connected to the Nokia N8-00. The music player app works averagely, but is not too smooth. While Symbian^3 does offer a decent experience, nowhere does it match up to the Android experience. There are minor lags while navigating through the menu and transitions are not too smooth.

Camera

Nokia N8-00 has a 12MP camera with Xenon flash at the back of the device. The camera has autofocus and can zoom in for shooting images. Both image and video quality are stellar, with the colors looking bright and image looking crisp.

Battery

Nokia N8-00 has a maximum rated talktime of 5.8 hours and a standby time of 400 hours on 3G. Battery life is good on this device, with the Nokia N8-00 able to function adequately for a day before it needs to be charged again. The battery cannot be removed as the smooth metal chassis has no opening for it.

Though the Nokia N8-00 has a beautiful design, it disappoints in the OS experience. Unfortunately, the latter might put most users off and keep them away from making this purchase.

Design and Quality

Nokia Lumia 710 will probably have a greater appeal for the young generation, due to the funky colored back panels that can be attached to the device. This smartphone has a plastic build and fits into the hand easily. The front of this device is dominated by a 3.7″ capacitive touchscreen having 480×800 pixel resolution. Nokia boasts of a ClearBlack screen with anti-glare properties, so that screen visibility outdoors is perfect. Below the screen there is a long slim bar containing three physical buttons: Search, Back and Windows. Above the screen there is a proximity sensor. While the volume rocker and camera key are located on the side of the Nokia Lumia 710, the top of this device contains the 3.5mm headset jack and power button. The rear of this device contains the camera lens and speaker grille.

Specifications

Nokia Lumia 710 measures 4.6″×2.4″×0.4″ and weighs 4.4 ounces. This smartphone runs on a single–core 1400MHz Qualcomm processor. It has a mass memory of 8GB and RAM 512MB. There is no support for memory extension through microSD cards.

Features

Nokia Lumia 710 is a Windows Phone 7.5 Mango device. Along with Microsoft’s apps, there are some apps by Nokia such as Nokia Music with Mix Radio and Nokia Drive(offering voice navigation). Functions are performed fast on this device and users can easily shuttle between the homescreens. Apps are shown as large tiles, with some of them getting automatically updated. Users can customize what to place where. Connectivity options include Bluetooth and WiFi. Access to the internet is smooth from this device, with the pinch-to-zoom feature helping in getting a closer look. It is too early to state whether this device will be able to heavily stream information, as Nokia is trying to gear its users for, but so far things seem okay.

Camera

Nokia Lumia sports a 5MP camera lens at the back of the device. The camera contains various features such as geo-tagging, blur reduction, exposure compensation and so on. While the physical camera key is easy to use, image quality is average.

Battery

Nokia Lumia 710 has a rated talktime of 7.6 hours and a standby time of 400 hours.

While Nokia Lumia 710 does not come with impressive specifications, it does offer a lot of standard functions to users. For those who are thinking of a budget-friendly option, this smartphone may be considered.

Nokia Astound Display and Design

Nokia Astound is a revamped version of the Nokia C7, with a major difference in appearance being the T-Mobile Logo at the bottom of this frosty metal device. It looks sturdy and fits well in the hand, with a stainless steel back cover and around the edges plastic cover surrounding the glass screen.
The display on Nokia Astound consists of a 3.5″ AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, of 360х640 pixel resolution. There is a proximity sensor, surrounding light detector and accelerometer for user convenience. However, screen visibility outdoors is a slight problem.
Send, End and Menu keys are located below the display. While the right spine contains the volume rocker, lock/unlock key, camera and voice recognition key, the top left contains the microUSB port, 3.5mm headset jack and power key.

Specifications

Nokia Astound measures 4.62″ x 2.24″ x 0.41″ and weighs 4.58 ounces. This smartphone has internal memory upto 8GB and a microSD card can support upto 32GB additional memory.

Features

Nokia Astound runs on Symbian^3 OS for Nokia. While most functions can be performed, there is a time lag while accessing certain apps. Three customizable home screens are provided with widgets for navigation, themes for personalization and icons and shortcuts for easy access.
The phonebook can store a large amount of contacts, based on available memory. For sending texts, the Swype keyboard is present in landscape mode. Not only does the portrait keyboard feel cramped, it has no Swype support. For instant messaging, users will have to download apps from the Ovi Store. With Symbian^3, multitouch option is provided in the browser and navigation is smoother. However, web browsing is average on this device, far behind the Android experience. Fortunately, social networking sites can be easily accessed through a widget.
The music player works well, but speaker volume is not too great. Navigation options include GPS and WiFi. Bluetooth 3.0 is present for quick transfers. Call quality on the Nokia Astound is very good.

Camera

This smartphone has a front facing VGA camera for self photography and video calls. Apart from this, Nokia Astound sports an 8MP camera lens at the back of the device. Camera features include full focus, zoom and dual LED flash to shoot images. However, image quality depends on surrounding light and with the absence of auto focus images look blurry at times.

Battery

Nokia Astound has a talktime of 576 minutes and a standby time of 555 hours on GSM. Video playback time is rated to be upto 6.5 hours. For moderate users, this device can be used for more than a day before it needs to be charged again.

Nokia Astound is targeted at new smartphone users who are looking for a reasonably priced device that offers basic features. Indeed, this device performs well, apart from the glitches faced using Symbian^3 OS.

Design and Quality

Nokia E7-00 looks stylish, with a 4″ AMOLED capacitive touchscreen having 640×360 pixel resolution. Though the display is clear on this anodised metal body device, a higher resolution would have resulted in sharper text. With support for 16 million colours, the display is bright. The screen is also responsive, registering light taps. The microUSB port on this device can be used for charging and also functions as a USB On-the-Go. With the latter feature, users can attach their external hard drive to the Nokia E7-00 and play a movie on their smartphone using HDMI technology.

Specifications

Nokia E7-00 measures 4.8mm x 2.45mm x 0.53 mm and weighs 6.2 ounces. It has an internal memory of 16GB. There is no support for a microSD card.

Features

Nokia E7-00 operates on Symbian^3. While some users are not happy with this operating system, it performs decently on this device. There are three homescreens on which widgets can be used for navigation. Call quality is good on Nokia E7-00, with voices sounding clear while making calls.

Nokia E7-00 for the Business User

There are features galore for the corporate customer on Nokia E7-00. Not only is the email service able to support Mail for Exchange and Quickoffice, users can also access SNS sites and make conference calls to conduct business transactions. Documents can be accessed and edited easily. Unfortunately, the browser on this device is not too great. Hopefully, with the arrival of Symbian Anna things will get better. F-Secure Anti-theft is useful as it helps protect confidential work data.

Keyboard

The full QWERTY keyboard on Nokia E7-00 slides out gracefully from beneath the screen when it is slid across. The keys are backlit and well spaced apart.

Camera

Nokia E7-00 contains a powerful 8MP camera lens at the back of the device. With dual LED flash and upto 2x zoom for still photographs, this device can capture images of good quality. When the surrounding light is adequate, image quality is better. Video qualiy on this device is average, with 720p resolution.

Battery

Nokia E7-00 runs on a Li-Ion 1,200 mAh battery. It has a rated talktime of 9 hours and a standby time upto 430 hours on GSM. This device can take about one day’s heavy usage before it needs to be charged again.

Nokia E7-00 performs well on many counts. It has a good hardware and decent connectivity options for the business user. On the flipside, the absence of a microSD card slot and auto-focus camera may be a slight concern. But apart from these niggling concerns, Nokia E7-00 is undoubtedly a device that can be seriously considered.

Nokia Nuron Design and Quality

Nokia 5230 Nuron looks similar to Nokia 5800 Xpress Music. This smartphone has a candy bar shape and silver bezel edges that make the screen look smaller than it is. This device fits well in the hand and feels light. The right side of the Nokia Nuron contains a camera button, volume rocker and the lock/unlock key whereas the left contains slots for the microSD card and SIM. The top of the device houses the power button, 3.5mm headset jack, 2mm power jack and microUSB port.
The display on the Nokia Nuron is dominated by a 3.2″ responsive touchscreen with tactile feedback. This screen, with a resolution of 640х360 pixels makes colors look bright. However, screen visibility outdoors is a slight problem and there is a slight time lag when changing screen orientations. Near the top of the display is a touch sensitive XpressMusic launcher that opens up the phone’s multimedia options such as the music player, images and even the online browser. Below the display Talk, End and Menu buttons are found.

Nokia Nuron 5230 Specifications

Nokia Nuron measures 4.37″х2.03″х0.57″ and weighs 3.98 ounces. This device has 70MB internal memory and storage capacity can be increased by a microSD card upto 16GB. A 4GB memory card is included with the device.

Nokia Nuron T-Mobile Features

Nokia Nuron runs on S60 5th Edition. This operating system is not so smooth and users will have to deal with extra steps to perform functions. List items need to be tapped twice to open them and Nokia ensures this way that users don’t select anything they don’t want. T-Mobile’s 3G network helps in connectivity. However, web browsing is not too great on this device and the absence of WiFi is sorely felt. Call quality is quite good and messaging is standard. The landscape QWERTY keyboard is quite cramped and makes typing difficult. This device is compatible for world roaming. The media player is standard.

Nokia Nuron Apps

Nokia Nuron contains the Ovi Maps application that gives voice-guided directions to users. What is more useful, these maps can be accessed even when one is offline. Other apps on this device include the standard ones such as calculator, alarm clock, calendar and so on. Further, this smartphone comes preloaded with the Ovi Store where one can look for and download many more apps. In the absence of a document viewer users can download an app to work with documents.

Camera

Nokia Nuron 5230 contains a 2.0 MP camera. There is a dedicated camera key for shooting images and 3x optical zoom is present. Standard editing options such as white balance modes and color tone modes are present. Image quality is average, depending on the availability of light. Video recording is decent and takes place at 30 frames per second.

Battery

Nokia Nuron has a talktime of 7 hours and a standby time of 438 hours on GSM.

For those customers who are looking for an affordable smartphone, the Nokia Nuron is a good option. Most basic features are present on this device. However, the absence of WiFi and an average camera may be a slight disappointment. There are also concerns that the price of this device is higher than what it has to offer.

Nokia N9 Design

It is believed that Nokia N9 will have a large 4″ (sizes also vary between 3.8″ to 4.3″) AMOLED capacitive touchscreen with a full QWERTY keyboard sliding out from underneath. Colors are expected to look vibrant and text clear on this smartphone with Nokia ClearBlack display, having 480х800 pixel resolution. There are also rumors that Nokia will introduce a new technology on this touchscreen whereby zForce technology will help in faster input to the device. Multi touch and hand writing recognition tool will also speed up functions on this device. Finally, proximity and accelerometer sensors will make this a more sensitive device.
A 3.5 mm headset jack will be present along the edges of Nokia N9 for listening to music.

Specifications

The Nokia N9 will probably make use of an Intel or Qualcomm processor. It will work with WCDMA and 3G networks. Further, the Nokia N9 might have 64GB memory capacity and further extension through a microSD card.

Features

Most probably the Nokia N9 will run on Nokia’s Symbian, Maemo or MeeGo platform. There are some rumors that this device may be a Windows Phone, but it is widely believed that Nokia N9 was announced before the alliance with Microsoft. Users will have to wait to get a definitive answer on this. With the availability of 3G and GPRS, browsing is rumored to be a treat on this device. The Nokia N9 will also be WiFi enabled, so that users can be connected easily. The phonebook, it is rumored, will be able to store an exhaustive quantity of data and call records will be stored for the last 30 days. Office Document Viewer, Adobe Flash Lite and other standard features are expected to be there to help users.

Camera

Nokia N9 may feature a 5MP camera with autofocus and dual LED flash. There may be another camera too for video calling. Standard photo effects will be present along with geotagging and face detection.

Battery

The Nokia N9 will probably be powered by a standard Li-Ion 1320 mAH battery.

Nokia N9 Release Date

The big question everywhere is when Nokia N9 is going to be released. While rumors have been circulating, anticipating this smartphone from February 2011, the release date is still not official, amid concerns that this is just a development model. Others are placing their hopes on June. Only time will dispel all doubts.

Design and Quality

Nokia 7705 Twist looks deceptively small, when the keyboard is hidden, fitting compactly in the palm and sliding into the pocket easily. The phone swivels easily using one hand, looking quite big when it is opened. Nokia has included two Xpress-On battery covers (black and purple) with this device. When closed, the display is dominated by a 2.4″ QVGA screen of pixel resolution 320х240 pixels. With support for 262K colors, the text and images look quite clear. There is a square D-pad below the screen with a central OK button, surrounded by the clear key and two soft keys that are touch sensitive. Around the edges of the Nokia Twist users will find a 2.5mm headset jack, volume rocker, microUSB/port for charging and microSD card slot. A hole (also called the ‘contact ring’) goes through the corner of the Nokia Twist, capable of glowing in six different colors when users receive a call from their contact list. The camera lens is located at the back of the Nokia Twist and when it is opened, the back conveniently functions as a mirror.

Specifications

Nokia Twist measures 2.71″х 2.71″ х 0.59″ and weighs 3.44 ounces. This device has 119MB internal memory and is able to support 16GB external memory.

Features

Nokia Twist can store upto 1000 contacts with multiple details for each entry. Callers can be grouped and special ringtones can be assigned to them. One can personalize the menus, choosing between colors and display styles. Alternately, Nokia 7705 Twist has a Habitat Mode, where users can choose between two themes: Super World and Urban Jungle. When either of these is selected, an interactive menu opens up whereby users can see people they have recently spoken to or messaged. Standard features such as the calendar, alarm clock and calculator are all present. Verizon’s EV-DO Rev. 0 connection provides good connectivity speed and web pages can be viewed through the XHTML browser. However the display size makes internet browsing quite inconvenient.
This device has two preloaded games: Tetris and Mrs. Pac Man.

Keyboard

The keyboard on the Nokia Twist is revealed when the screen is swiveled open. This keyboard is quite spacious with five rows of raised keys that offer good tactile feedback. There are also some shortcut keys towards the top of the keyboard. These are for Messaging, Music, Mobile Web, Camera, Speakerphone and Voice Dialing.

Camera

Nokia Twist has a 3 MP camera with 4x digital zoom, autofocus and an LED flash. One can choose between modes of capture (still, sequence, self timer or video) and white balance modes. However, image quality is very average and sometimes the images end up looking blurry.

Battery

Nokia Twist has a talktime of 270 minutes and a standby time of 312 hours.

Nokia Twist blends together an innovative design with most standard features intact. However, there are concerns about the durability of the swivel phone and image quality is not too good on this device. However, for those users who are looking for something trendy, Nokia Twist is a good option.

However, Adam Greenfield, former Nokia’s head of design direction recently made very strong comments about the way things function at Nokia in his blogpost. Greenfield’s detailed description logically outlines the reasons for Nokia’s declining popularity. He refers to operational delays due to the large size of the organization, outmoded ways of thinking, Nokia’s stress on bulk production of highly popular models at the lowest prices which often leaves little room for innovation and greater stress on engineering than design, often leading to a clumsy finish.

In order to explain himself better, Greenfield refers to a technology called NFC or “near field communication” that was developed at Nokia with great effort and money, to allow signals to pass through relatively close placed objects. However, the necessity of replying to a text message to confirm the transaction on this software made the whole thing seem quite inept to Greenfield. Nokia ought to have left engineering and interface design separate, he felt so that the final product would look sophisticated and cater to user-needs.

Greenfield said: “there’s nobody with any taste in the decision-making echelons at Nokia. And this is especially unfortunate and ironic, given that elegant, simple Finnish design has tutored generations in what taste means.”

Again, Microsoft too has been facing some of these problems. There is the flipside to working in a bureaucracy and products have to have blockbuster potential before they are developed, just as in Nokia. However, Microsoft has made waves in recent times, with products such as Kinect and Windows Phone 7. Again, though Windows Phone 7 is being touted as Nokia’s high-end smartphone, it is believed that the original success it owes has more to do with advertising and less with the phone’s OS app platform.

Nokia’s chief executive, Stephen Elop, a former Microsoft executive described how Nokia should take this leap to move from strength to strength. However, both Nokia and Microsoft stocks went down after this announcement. Meanwhile there is the feeling that no matter what Microsoft-Nokia can bring to the fore, they will never be able to match up to Apple’s standards or challenge Google’s Android platform.