Crave

Nokia N97

(Credit: Corinne Schulze/CNET)

The smartphone space has grown extremely competitive over the past couple of years, and though in a numbers race Nokia continues to sell more smartphones than its competitors, particularly overseas, the Finnish handset manufacturer is slowly losing its grip on the top spot.

Realizing the changing landscape, Nokia announced on Thursday that it will reduce its smartphone portfolio by half in 2010 in order to put more research and development into the products that it does put out. The company released around 20 smartphones in 2009, including the Nokia E71x, the Nokia N97, and the Nokia N86.

"We have cut down unnecessary differentiation, so that we have a far more focused portfolio for next year," said Antti Vasara, head of Nokia's smartphones research-and-development department.

Though Nokia's devices offer high-end features, the company has been criticized for churning out too many models with minimal variation among them. In addition, many (customers and tech reviewers alike) have criticized the Symbian operating system, which runs on a majority of Nokia's smartphones, for being outdated and lagging behind the competition, though it looks like the OS is working on a major face lift. The Linux-based Maemo platform, demoed on the Nokia N900, could also be a key player and differentiator for the company.

One big barrier for the adoption of Nokia devices here in the United States has been cost. Often passed up by U.S. carriers, the smartphones can cost anywhere from $200 to $650 and while the freedom of an unlocked phone is attractive, shelling out that much money upfront for a phone often overshadows any of the benefits. However, part of Nokia's plan is to push smartphone prices down.

"We see...really fierce competition certainly in the high end, but we also see it in the mid-to-low end of smartphones increasing," said Jo Harlow, the new head of Nokia's smartphone unit. "We will defend our position, but we believe we also have tools to play offense as well as defense."

Well, OK then, Nokia. Let's play ball.

(Sources: Reuters, Engadget Mobile)

(Credit: Scott Stein/CNET)

My Thanksgiving was spent in the New York City area, since my family all live on Long Island. But, since I live in the city in an area that's not conducive to owning or parking a car, I'm a renter when it comes to trips. As a result, services like Zipcar and other rental agencies are of great importance to me, as is the quality of their services as opposed to their apps.

When it comes to Thanksgiving car rentals, the city's supply dries up incredibly quickly--weeks in advance, if my attempts were indicative. In particular, Zipcar--the service that's high-tech enough to have an app that unlocks your car for you and offers a mobile rental portal for phones--showed me a map full of unavailability. My car savior came from another service, Connect by Hertz, that happened to have plenty of cars available. And, by coincidence, there's no app. I'm also an iPhone user, and I've become dependent on my apps. But this weekend, I learned a bit of a lesson about phone dependence: sometimes, perhaps, it's better not to have an app for everything.

A me-too competitor to Zipcar, Connect by Hertz is another car-sharing service that has prices and vehicles similar to Zipcar's, as well as a system that uses your membership card as the access key. Connect by Hertz requires a yearly membership equivalent to Zipcar's and works off the same car-sharing model, using your membership card as the car key and offering free gas fill-ups.

It's far from ideal to be subscribed to multiple services, as I am. But the difference is availability: a day before Thanksgiving, Hertz had cars in the city ready to go, many of them, on its Web site. I'm inclined to shift over to Hertz simply to not be stuck on major holidays.

Now, the question is: does not having apps or mobile portals make services like Connect by Hertz more off-the-beaten-path, and thus paradoxically easier to reserve with? Does not having an app make you the equivalent of that below-the-radar cafe that's somehow avoided crowds despite serving delicious food? And am I, by posting news of this, possibly doing the very thing I'm trying to avoid in the first place, blowing this secret up?

Of course, there's always lesson No. 2: don't drive anywhere for Thanksgiving.

(Credit: HP)

This post was updated on 11/24, 12:33 p.m., PT with pricing after rebate.

Well, here's a name we haven't heard in the smartphone space for a while, HP. The company announced on Tuesday the upcoming availability of its latest smartphone, the HP iPaq Glisten, which will arrive in the "coming weeks" for AT&T and cost $179.99 with a two-year contract and after a $50 mail-in rebate.

Designed with business users in mind, the iPaq Glisten runs Windows Mobile 6.5 Professional Edition and features a 2.5-inch AMOLED touch screen as well as a full QWERTY keyboard. The smartphone also offers 3G support (UMTS/HSDPA 850/1900/2100), Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS.

Despite the business focus, you do get a 3.1-megapixel camera with HP Photosmart Mobile software for editing photos. A Facebook app is also preloaded on the device so you can upload photos directly to the social-networking site or post them to the Web via Snapfish.

Other highlights include Voice Commander software, a 3.5mm headphone jack, 32GB of expandable memory (256MB SDRAM/512MB Flash), and a high-capacity 1590 lithium ion user-replaceable battery.

The HP iPaq Glisten will be sold through AT&T business channels, HP, and third-party online retailers.

(Credit: Google)

One of the highlights of Android 2.0 has been the Google Maps Navigation app that delivers voice-guided turn-by-turn navigation on your phone for free. Until now, only Motorola Droid owners could take advantage of this sweet perk, but times they are a-changing.

On Monday, Google announced that its navigation app is now available for devices running Android 1.6 and higher, including the T-Mobile G1 and T-Mobile MyTouch 3G. While still in beta, the app provides voice-guided directions between two points, traffic information, and business searches.

This release also includes a new Layers feature that lets you overlay more information on the map, such as transit lines and Wikipedia articles about places, but it does not support the "Navigate to" voice command feature found on Android 2.0, so you'll have to input all your destinations using your phone's keyboard.

Google Maps Navigation for Android 1.6 is now available for download from the Android Market. Unlike other navigation apps or location-based services from the likes of TomTom, Garmin, and TeleNav, you don't have to pay a one-time fee or monthly subscription to use Google Maps Navigation. All you need is a data connection and you're good to go.

Samsung Omnia II

(Credit: Samsung)

On Monday, Verizon Wireless announced that it will offer the Samsung Omnia II starting December 2 for $199.99 with a two-year contract and after a $100 mail-in rebate.

First introduced in early June, the Omnia II will take over for its predecessor, the Samsung Omnia, and brings a number of enhancements and new features, such as a 3.7-inch WVGA AMOLED touch screen and Windows Mobile 6.5 Professional Edition.

The Omnia II will sport Samsung's TouchWiz interface, allowing you to customize the home screen with various widgets and shortcuts and includes a similar 3D cube interface like the Samsung Behold II. In addition, Samsung has included a virtual QWERTY keyboard with Swype technology, which allows you to input text with a continuous swiping motion onscreen. (Check out a video demo here.)

Other goodies of the Samsung Omnia II include a 5-megapixel camera, support for DivX and Xvid movie files, 8GB of internal memory (expandable up to 16GB), Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Opera 9.5.

Dell and China Mobile on Monday offered up more details about the Dell Mini 3i smartphone, which will be going on sale in China later this month.

Dell's Mini 3i smartphone

(Credit: Dell)

The Android-based device, Dell's first smartphone, will support e-mail, instant messaging, and both MMS and SMS messaging. It will include Bluetooth and GPS capabilities and a Mini USB connector, and will accommodate Micro SD cards up to 32GB.

The quadband GSM/EDGE phone weighs 105 grams and includes a 3-megapixel camera with zoom, auto-focus, flash, video capture, and photo-editing capabilities. The touchscreen has a 640x360 resolution. Dell had already confirmed earlier this month that the Mini 3i would have a 3.5-inch high-definition screen.

Under the hood, the device is running China Mobile's OPhone software, a customized version of Google's Android operating system.

Like other Android phones, the Mini 3i will provide access to an online store, in this case, China Mobile's Mobile Market, where people can download apps, games, wallpaper, and ringtones. Users will be able to run different widgets on the home screen to keep on top of the news, weather, stock prices, and sports scores.

Dell said it has been collaborating with China Mobile for about a year on the development of the phone. The two companies teamed up earlier in the year to integrate a 3G data card for Dell's Inspiron Mini 10 netbook for the Chinese market. With more than 500 million customers, China Mobile is the world's largest mobile service provider, according to Dell.

Dell was initially mum on details when it first mentioned the Mini 3i about 10 days ago. But the company did reveal that China Mobile and Brazil's Claro would be the first global providers to carry its new smartphone.

Like China Mobile, Brazil's Claro boasts a huge subscriber base, with 42 million customers in Brazil alone. By selling the Mini 3i through both providers, Dell can potentially capture a much larger mobile audience than it could through any U.S. carriers.

Arriving in China Mobile stores by the end of November, the Mini 3i will shortly thereafter be sold directly from Dell. For those interested in color schemes, the Mini 3i will be available in Red Passion and Oiled Bronze--the image below shows the Red Passion treatment:

Dell Mini 3i smartphone

(Credit: Dell/China Mobile)

(Credit: Josh Miller/CNET)

Last Sunday, Palm and Sprint released their second WebOS device together, the Palm Pixi, for $99.99 with a two-year contract.

In the grand scheme of things, $100 for a smartphone is a pretty darn good deal, but when you consider the fact that there are other products out there with more power and more features (for example, Wi-Fi) for the same price or lower, it makes the Pixi look foolish. Fortunately, thanks to third-party retailers, you can now get the entry-level smartphone for much less.

Both Amazon and Wal-Mart have lowered the price of the Palm Pixi by 75 percent, so now the smartphone is only $24.99. You will still need to sign up for a two-year service agreement, but it's certainly a much more enticing offer. In addition, the Palm Pre is now available from Amazon for $79.99, which is $70 less than Sprint's price.

(Source: Wall Street Journal)

Starting Friday, Verizon Wireless customers can purchase the RIM BlackBerry Curve 8530 in stores and online for $99.99 with a two-year contract and after a $100 mail-in rebate.

As the CDMA kin to the RIM BlackBerry Curve 8520, the Curve 8530 is more of an entry-level device so you won't find some of the higher-end features found on the BlackBerry Tour, such as world roaming capabilities and a high-resolution display.

However, the Curve 8530 certainly brings some worthy upgrades to the aging Curve 8330, including a next-gen processor, an optical trackpad, and dedicated media controls, and one key feature that even the Tour lacks: integrated Wi-Fi.

On paper, it seems RIM has another crowd-pleaser on its hands, but we have some reservations about the phone's design and Verizon also happens to have another capable messaging smartphone in its lineup, the HTC Ozone, which offers the same features plus world roaming and costs $50 less.

RIM shipped us a Curve 8530 to check out, but it didn't include all the software that would ship on the final version, so we'll hold off on posting a review and verdict till we get a final product. In the meantime, however, you can read some of our first impressions in our hands-on photo gallery below and get a better 360 view of the phone in our First Look video. Stay tuned for more.

Verizon RIM BlackBerry Curve 8530 (photos)

Remember the rumor about Google working on its own Android phone? Well, it's back again, despite the fact that Google has said it's not interested in making hardware. On this week's episode of Dialed In, we discuss the possibility of an actual "Gphone" and its ramifications. Plus, Kent has a few things he would like to get off his chest about Sony Ericsson, and Nicole takes a look at a Bluetooth headset with a one-of-a-kind design.

Also, we're nominated for Best Mobile Phone Formatted Podcast at Podcast Awards, so feel free to head on over to the Web site and vote for our little old podcast. Voting takes place now until November 30 and you can vote once a day. Thanks for listening!

Listen now: Download today's podcast

Rumor(s) of the week
Rumors of GPhone refuse to die
HTC Passion rumors heat up

News
Switching to Android? Read this first
It's OK, iPhone, the Droid can be good, too
Dell unveils Android-based Mini 3 smartphone
Nokia N900 now on sale in the U.S. BlackBerry Curve 8520 coming to AT&T
AT&T reveals the LG Shine II
An open letter to Sony Ericsson

Reviews
Samsung Mythic
T-Mobile Tap
Jabra Stone
Samsung Behold II
Palm Pixi
Sanyo SCP-3800

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