It's never dull in cell phone land, and this week is no exception. As we gear up for the June 6 release of the Palm Pre and the start of Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference, there is much more to talk about.
Bonnie, for one, has amassed a roundup of AT&T smartphone rumors and gives her take on whether Sony Ericsson will adopt Android. Nicole chimes in with some Samsung Jitterbug news and Kent catches us up on AT&T's 3G expansion, Nokia's Ovi Store, and a possible release date for the new iPhone. Listen in to get the full scoop on all the latest mobile news, a taste of our latest reviews, and answers to your questions.
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Rumor of the week
A bonanza of AT&T smartphone rumors
News
First Sony Ericsson Google phone to run Android OS 2.0
AT&T BlackBerry Curve 8900 drops on May 22
AT&T plans to double wireless broadband speeds by 2011
Nokia's Ovi Store opens for business
Glitches plague Nokia's Ovi Store launch
Samsung goes square with U.S. Cellular
Sharp's sun-powered phone almost beach-ready
New HTC Android phone leaked
Palm Pre, Nokia N97 NAM clear FCC
New iPhone could go on sale July 17
Samsung recalls Jitterbug phones
Pantech Aladdin is yet another AT&T messenger
LG Glance revealed
Reviews
Samsung SGH-A167
Samsung Smooth
Kyocera Jax S1300
HTC Touch Diamond2
Samsung Jack
Spracht Aura BluNote
Upcoming reviews
Nokia E75
Samsung SGH-T349
Nokia was forced to apologize to users Tuesday after the launch of its Ovi Store did not go as planned.
According to the statement posted on the company's Ovi Blog, the store suffered from performance issues due to a large spike in traffic. "We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused Ovi Store users," the statement said.
Though CNET was able to browse the Ovi Store on Tuesday evening without any issues, reports of major problems circulated earlier in the day. TechCrunch's Robin Wauters, who reported slow load times and complete outages, characterized the Ovi Store launch as an "utter disaster." Also, several users who commented on the Ovi Blog reported similar problems.
In its statement, Nokia said that it was able to make "intermittent performance improvements" after it added extra servers. The company also said users who entered through the Ovi Store device client encountered no issues.
Nokia's Ovi Store is the company's response to applications stores for the iPhone, Google Android and BlackBerry devices. It allows users to download free and paid applications for more than 50 Nokia devices.
Nokia on Tuesday officially launched the Ovi Store. This is the Finnish company's answer to services like the App Store for the iPhone and the Android Market for Android smartphones. The Ovi Store allows developers to list their programs in an online catalog so users can easily download or buy them.
(Credit:
Crave Asia)
More than 50 Nokia devices are compatible with the Ovi Store and it can be accessed by visiting store.ovi.com on the browser or downloading the standalone application to your phone. We tried it on our E71 and it worked on both the browser and through the application. The first game we successfully installed did crash our phone, but we'll put that down as the fault of the app rather than the Ovi Store.
Paid applications are also available but the store started to slow down to a crawl just as we wanted to try that out. Perhaps a sign of teething problems. Nine selected countries, mostly in Europe but also including Australia and Singapore, also each have a dedicated Ovi Store that gives residents the option to pay for programs through the mobile operators aside from the standard credit card billing.
(Source: Crave Asia)
(Credit:
Nokia)
We've just come out of a Q&A session with some of the Nokia folks behind the application services platform Ovi, and here are some key takeaways about the Finnish phone maker's Internet service. The Ovi Suite will eventually replace the current PC Suite client, though it's unclear when exactly. Software support for Mac "will be released at some time in the future." Again, no mention of the time frame.
Right now, Ovi is able to sync Calendar, Contacts, Tasks, and Notes, but not e-mail, although the team is looking to (possibly) include that in future upgrades. Nokia is also working on developing its asset on Downloads by leveraging its base of S60 developers. App Store on Nokia devices, anyone?
Nokia announced a new feature to its Ovi service at GSMA. Besides the existing Nokia Music Store and the N-Gage gaming service, Ovi now allows you to upload photos from your camera phone or a PC to an online community. Similar to services like Flickr, Ovi will allow users to interact with each other and share shots. Ovi will support more than 100 media types, and users will be offered unlimited storage and unlimited bandwidth for uploads. The only catch is that you'll need a Series 60, third-edition Nokia phone. Check out the Ovi Web site for more details.
Nokia N-Gage is revived as a gaming platform
(Credit: Nokia)As part of its new Ovi brand of Internet services, Nokia is reviving the much-maligned N-Gage gaming platform in a new way. Instead of offering a hardware-based gaming system, Nokia is opening up a mobile gaming portal with the N-Gage branding. Once accessed, you can browse through a wide selection of game titles, download free trials, and finally purchase the games directly from Nokia. Nokia is also heavily promoting the community aspect of the new N-Gage platform, suggesting that you can connect and play with friends all over the world, as well as keep track of global gaming stats. As with the Music store, you can either purchase the game over the air or download it to your PC first. And these aren't just any ordinary games, either. Gaming titles include popular ones such as EA Sports' FIFA 08, The Sims 2 Pets, Tetris, Tiger Woods PGA Tour, and Crash Bandicoot. A host of different gaming companies have jumped on board, such as Capcom, Digital Chocolate, EA, Gameloft, Glu Mobile, Vivendi Games Mobile, and more, signifying the availability of additional games in the future.
Initial pricing per game will range between $8.16 and $13.60 (6 and 10 euros), or alternatively, daily and weekly licenses are available at lower prices. Supported phones include the Nokia N73, the Nokia N81, the Nokia N81 8GB, the Nokia N93, the Nokia N93i, the Nokia N95, and the Nokia N95 8GB, with more planned in the future. The service will debut in November 2007.
Nokia launches Ovi, an Internet services gateway
(Credit: Nokia)Along with announcing a brand-new lineup of handsets, Nokia is also venturing into the brave new world of Internet services. It's called Ovi, which is "door" in Finnish, and it signifies Ovi's open access to existing social networks like MySpace, Flickr, and Facebook right from a compatible Nokia phone. But the big news here is that Ovi will also be a gateway to Nokia's newly launched Internet services, which include the Nokia Music Store, Nokia Maps, and N-Gage games. Though Ovi can work on any personal computer, it is really designed for the mobile experience. It will go live in English in late 2007, while additional features and languages are expected next year.
Nokia N81 with the Nokia Music Store
(Credit: Nokia)The Nokia Music Store will have millions of tracks from a variety of music sources that include everything from major artists to independent labels. You can browse for music, buy the song directly over the air to your phone, or add a song to a wish list for later download. If you like, you may also download the song to your PC and later load it onto the phone. The Nokia Music Store also supports full track streaming on the PC. Another neat thing about the Music Store is there will be a music recommendation engine based on songs you have purchased. Songs are available in 192kbps WMA files, and can be managed either via Windows Media Player or Nokia's own Music PC client. As for pricing, a song will cost one euro each, while a whole album will go for 10 euros. But the interesting part here is that Nokia will also allow you to have a subscription for PC streaming for 10 euros a month.
Right now, compatible Nokia phones include the following: Nokia 5310 XpressMusic, Nokia 5610 XpressMusic, Nokia 5700 XpressMusic, Nokia 6267, Nokia 6500 Classic, Nokia 6500 slide, Nokia 6555, Nokia 7500 Prism, Nokia 7900 Prism, Nokia N75, Nokia N76, Nokia N81, Nokia N81 8GB, Nokia N91 8GB, Nokia N95, and Nokia N95 8GB. Music Store will open in certain European markets later this year, with additional stores opening next year.
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