The world’s largest cellphone maker Nokia will unveil new multimedia phone models, including an N73 camera phone, at an event in Berlin next week, sources close to the company told Reuters.
With its new N-series phones Nokia will take a step toward more stylish and lighter models, but it is still a long way from rival Samsung’s and Motorola’s thin models, sources said.
“With the current N-series models, we’ve done some back-to-back tests with models from competing vendors. Nokia’s size, weight, bulk is significantly bigger, while the key features such as the camera match up,” said one source at a large telecoms operators who declined to be named.
“The models they will announce on April 25th won’t be there either. Toward the end of the year, the N-series will become more realistic in their form factor. They’re heading in the right direction, but the competition will move too,” she added.
N73
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[I]
[B]The new device shown on the pictures tells exactly what was mentioned the last weeks. The new N73 will be build on a new platform next to the N72 that will be a direct successor of the N70 on the same platform as this successful device.
The N73 has a stylish device with a cream colour and metal/silver accents. It gives the same feeling you get with the new 6233/6234. (Check the pics) The device has an enormous screen and a QVGA screen resolution comparable to the N71. Next to this the device will support videotelefony, UMTS and the new battery connector. Also the memory card is placed next to the battery connector.
There are no pics of the back so far. But it is known that the device will support a 3.2 Mpixel camera with Carl Zeiss lens and autofocus, Bluetooth 2.0 and stereo speakers. Furthermore the device will contain all the standard specification we know from the N70 as 3G/UMTS, videotelefony, Symbian operating system and Series 60 user interface. The expectation is that device will run on Symbian v9.1 and Series 60 3rd Edition, the new system Nokia uses in the new N-series.[/B][/I]
Nokia reported January-March earnings and sales above all expectations earlier this week. The firm, which sells more than one in three of all mobiles, increased its share of the market, but arch rival Motorola reported even faster sales growth.
Nokia singled out the success of its N70 model, being its biggest revenue-generating handset in the quarter, but analysts say N70 sales are dwarfed by Motorola’s slim RAZR phone.
Nokia said the N70 camera phone was the biggest-selling third-generation (3G) mobile in the world in the first quarter, accounting for about 10 percent of the third-generation market on its own.
Research firm Strategy Analytics estimates that 10 percent would total fewer than 2 million phones in the quarter. In the same period Motorola sold 18 million RAZRs, a second-generation phone that sells for roughly half the price of the N70.
Nokia Opens MIT Research Center
Nokia and MIT officially opened a new joint research facility in MIT’s Kendall Square neighborhood here April 20, telling media and analysts gathered for the event that the facility’s existence will greatly improve the two organizations’ ability to share breakthroughs in wireless technology.
The research center will specifically tap into work being conducted at MIT’s CSAIL (Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory).
Among the specific projects the companies have already teamed around are efforts aimed at developing new ways to securely connect various devices to each other over the Internet, building new operating system-level technologies aimed at securing data on mobile handsets, and creating more energy-efficient device hardware components.
One of the projects, dubbed SwapMe, is attempting to build a development platform for so-called Semantic Web applications which could someday allow devices to access Web-based information based more on users’ preferences and the context of the information they are seeking than on traditional data indexes.
Another effort, labeled as project Simone, is mean to address new ways for interacting with devices using speech. Such applications will prove useful in programming the devices of the future in addition to providing opportunities for a large number of new location-based, search and vertical handset applications, researchers said.
The partners said they plan to make much of the work they are doing together public via research papers and other resources, but have made no promise of sharing their work with any specific standards bodies.
Industry analysts attending the event said that the new cooperation between MIT and Nokia should help give the handset maker a leg up in developing new technologies, but customers will drive what types of applications handset manufacturers pursue first, said David Linsalata, analyst with Framingham, Mass.-based IDC. He also said he believes that MIT’s experts will help push much of their work into the public domain.
[break=New Nokia Phones Focus on Photos, Videos]
Handsets include high-resolution still and video cameras, and come with software for editing and sharing content.
Nokia today introduced three new additions to its Nseries line of mobile phones as well as services and software designed to encourage customers to use the devices to shoot and share video and photos.
N93 :
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At the very high-end is the N93, a phone designed around video capture. Users can shoot MPEG-4 VGA videos at 30 frames per second and later burn the videos to DVD on their PCs using Adobe Premiere Elements 2.0 software for Windows XP.
The software, included when customers buy the phone, allows them to edit their videos and apply transitions and effects to the video, according to Nokia. N93 customers also get Adobe Photoshop Album Starter Edition 3.0 software for adjusting photos that are transferred to PCs.
The N93 has a 3.2 megapixel still camera with optical and digital zoom. Dedicated keys on the handsets activate the zoom and flash and switch between still and video capture, Nokia said. The N93 operates on Wi-Fi and 3G networks.
Along with the N93, Nokia also launched Nseries Studio, an interactive online community for people who shoot video with their N93s. Initially, the site will feature short films shot by well-known figures including actor Gary Oldman using the N93. Within a few months, however, the site will also feature films taken by anyone, the company said.
N73 :
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The Finnish manufacturer also introduced the N73, which features a 3.2 megapixel camera, integrated stereo speakers, digital music player, and FM radio. Both the N73 and N93 are based on the Symbian OS and run S60 3rd Edition Software.
N72 :
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At the low end, Nokia introduced the N72, with a 2 megapixel camera, music player, and FM radio. The phone is designed for markets including the Middle East, China, Indonesia, and Russia and operates on GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) and EDGE (Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution) networks.
Included Apps
Users of all three new phones will find software preloaded within the camera application allowing them to easily upload photos to Flickr, the photo sharing Web site that was bought by Yahoo last year. Users can also add comments to the photos that they upload to the site from the phones.
Nokia already offers its own Lifeblog software to some of its phone users, allowing them to take photos and audio clips, organize the files on their PCs and upload them to an online blog. Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications and Samsung Electronics also offer mobile blogging applications.
Price :
The N93 will cost an unsubsidized $619 and is expected to be available in July. At the low end, the N72 will cost an unsubsidized $395 and will start selling in June. The N73 will be priced between those two phones and will hit the shelves in July.
Nokia said it has sold 5 million Nseries phones since launching the product around a year ago.
