Nokia 5530 xpressMusic - Nokia Bloggo

A few months after some videos were shown, today we can present some more images of the new Symbian version, Symbian^4. Those images were published on the Wiki dedicated to the Symbian developers.

Based entirely on QT libraries, the new interface seems to be in a good stage, and it’s possible that the devices using the new Symbian OS could be launched by the first half of next year.

We’ll have to wait for official confirmation by Nokia, of course. In any case, here are the images. Enjoy!

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The Nokia C6-01 finally appears in a first image, and reveals itself to be quite similar to the Nokia C6-00, with a few modifications: an 8 megapixel photocamera instead of 5 Megapixels, double LED Flash instead of single, and a restyling for the phone, especially on the backside.

The Nokia C6-01 appeared in the Dutch version of Nokia’s website, but it wasn’t announced officially anywhere else. The rest of the specifications remain the same: full QWERTY keyboard, touchscreen display with the resolution of 360 x 640 pixels, Wi-Fi, GPS, and Ovi Maps with free navigation. On the Dutch Nokia’s website, the phone costs €279.

The Nokia N8 could be the last N series device to feature Symbian OS: those are only rumors coming from CNET Asia. One of their sources would have confirmed that the N9 will be the first device with MeeGo.

According to CNET Asia, the Nokia Asia Pacific Marketing manager, Will Harris, declared to Joseph Hanlon that the N8 should be the last N series to have Symbian and that the following models will all feature MeeGo. It would mean, then, that Symbian^3 and Symbian^4 will be featured on X series and E series. We’ll have to wait and see.

While most mobile manufacturers are busy with manufacturing expensive, high-technology smartphones that do more and more each day, Nokia has decided to launch two economic models: The C1 and C2. And we mean very economic: the C1 should be sold for €30 and the C2 for €45 (plus taxes, of course). Both models are dual-sim, which means they can manage two SIM cards at the same time.

For the C1, the specifics are very basic: FM radio, torchlight, 6-week battery in standby and headphone jack. The C2 has a little more, VGA photocamera, microSD support, multimedia player and bluetooth. The C1 is scheduled to launch in September, while the C2 should be available sometime during summer.

After hearing much about the new Nokia N8 and the new OS Symbian^3, only seen through simulations and prototypes for now, we can see both of the more clearly in a video.

The device and the OS are shown while the user manages three different desktops with a capacity of 6 widgets each. The user interface seems evolved, but always in Symbian-style, of course. The browser also seems enhanced, even though not radically.

This is the first of three videos that will be released, so we’ll stay tuned for that.

Announced during the past few weeks in India, the “economic” phone from Nokia, the Nokia X2, has just received the approval by the FCC to be launched in the United States and the rest of the world. The phone is a simple GSM/EDGE and even though it has quad-band connectivity, it can be used only with non-CDMA carriers at least in North America.

In any case, FCC’s approval does not ensure that the phone will be launched outside the developing countries to which it was thought for. The Nokia X2 has a 2.2″ QVGA display, S40 user interface, stereo bluetooth, 3.5mm jack, FM radio, Opera Mini browser, support to microSD memories and 5 megapixel photocamera with LED flash. The phone will cost, at least in India, around $110.

This piece of news will make owners of the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic happy. A new firmware, called 50.0.005, was launched. Among the many new features on this big update, comes QuickOffice: The free software that allows the visualization of Office files. A very welcome integration, as the software seems hard to come by, and it’s a very important thing to have in most smartphones.

Other enhancements are the kinetic scrolling also on the menus, the update of the music player (now identical to the Nokia N97 one), enhancements on the photo area and OviSync pre-installed.

In order to update it, users can use the Nokia Software Updater (or the Ovi Suite), or the option within the phone. For now,t he update is only available in the APAC regions.

Nokia has recently launched the Everyone Connect phone series, with three different models. The most economic of the three is the Nokia C3, featuring a QWERTY keyboard and a candybar design, and all the softwares needed for social networking, chat and email.

Scheduled to launch during Summer, the C3 has a 2 Megapixel photocamera with the possibility of loading pictures directly on the social networks, a 3.4mm jack for music listening, 2.4″ display with the resolution of 320×240 pixels, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1. The maximum amount of memory that can be expanded with with microSD cards is up to 8GB, together with the 55MB internal one.

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The Nokia C3, C6 and E5 models are the main models being advertised with the Nokia Everyone Connect: the new service from Nokia that brings the social network, chat and IMs to these three models, that are placed on the medium-priced market range. We’ll give more information about the three models in the next few articles.

Starting from the Nokia C3 (€90 without taxes), the cheapest one of the three,  featuring a full QWERTY keyboard and featuring mail, chat and social networks in the main screen. Then, the Nokia E5 (€180 without taxes), aimed for a more business use, and last but not least, the Nokia C6 (€220 without taxes), with a touchscreen and qwerty keyboard, also good for web browsing.

More details in the next few articles.

Nokia and Intel have announced by the end of March that the first downloadable version of MeeGo, the OS that was born from the Maemo and Moblin platforms, is now available. The first version is, of course, indicated only for developers, as it might not be stable enough for end users.

But developers should be happy, as the OS, still in alpha phase, was released with the possibility of having applications developed to it. Right now, however, there isn’t much to be expected: a little more than a normal text interface to the Linux Kernel, but with the release, MeeGo could start going towards a stable release, hopefully soon.