Nokia's big day
The new Nokia N95.
(Credit: Nokia)Nokia shot to center stage of cell phone land today by unveiling a gallery of new handsets and services at an event in London. We can't get across the pond to cover the news in person (though we did get a very short preview of the handsets last week), but we'll bring you the highlights here. Be sure to click through to read more details on each announcement. Or if you prefer pretty pictures, take a gander at our slide show.
North America finally will get its own version of the powerful Nokia N95. Though it looks just like the existing N95, it adds a few extras, such as more RAM and longer battery life. It also offers 3G support for North American networks. Welcome also to a new N95 with a whopping 8GB of internal memory.
The Nokia N81.
(Credit: Nokia)There are two new editions of the Nokia N81. Nokia showed off an 8GB model and a version that can accept microSD cards up to 4GB. Both will offer high-end features and will support Nokia's newly launched Ovi Internet brand, where you can download songs from the new Nokia Music Store and games from the company's new N-Gage service.
Speaking of which, the Nokia Music Store will offer millions of tracks from a variety of music sources. You'll be able to browse for music, buy a song directly over the air to your phone, or add a song to a wish list for a later download.
The Music Store will be available through the Ovi brand of Internet services, which is also the focal point for reviving Nokia's unsuccessful N-Gage brand. But instead of bringing us another awkward N-Gage device, Nokia is developing a new N-Gage gaming platform. You'll be able to browse through a wide selection of game titles, download free trials, and purchase games directly from Nokia. The service will also offer community portal for playing games with friends, or even strangers.
The Nokia 5610 Xpress Music.
(Credit: Nokia)Finally, Nokia also introduced two new Xpress Music devices. The 5310 and 5610 offer the nifty, high-end multimedia features you've come to expect from the Xpress music line. The 5310 has a slim candy bar design, while the 5610 is a slider phone.
All phones and services should be available beginning in the fourth quarter of this year. We don't have specific North American availability information, but we'll pass on the details as soon as they come. And you can bet that we'll have full reviews of the phones as soon as we can get our hands on them.
Kent German is a senior editor for cell phone reviews at CNET. When he's not testing the newest handsets on the market, he's blogging about cell phone news for Crave. In his On Call column, he answers reader questions and gives his take on the rapidly changing mobile industry. E-mail Kent.
We used to buy Nokia phones for more than 10 years, but service is very poor and the company does not pay attention to clients.
Simple put: they do not care.
We will not advise to buy Nokia phones anymore.
Sincerely,
- Nokia is Great
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by punkzanyj
September 5, 2007 2:43 PM PDT
- I've been using Nokias for 7 years and none of them has actually broken. All 4 are still in good condition, despite the abuse I've put them through. I still have the very first one, the one that was in the first Charlie's Angels movie, and it still works just fine.
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Reply to this comment
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(3 Comments)I have had zero problems with Nokia models.
They have a very intuitive design, everything is exactly where you'd think it would be. Can't say the same for Motorola, who appears to not have anyone trained in usability and UI on staff.
No, I don't work for Nokia, but it is the only brand I trust to actually work the way I want it to work. I can't wait to see the new models.