Not Another Mobile Phone Blog

The much awaited upgrade over the E71, the E72 is now available at the retail stores. Nokia E72 is Nokia's way of catering to people who are email savvy on mobile phones. The Nokia E72 was announced at the Nokia Connections Event in Singapore in the month of June alongwith the Nokia 5530 XpressMusic. It took a while for the E72 to come to retail stores. Nokia E72 sports a 5 mega pixel camera, 3.5 mm standard head phone jack, which was much needed by many of the E71 users, guess Nokia listened to what E71 users were expecting. Other features include, optical mouse type of navigation pad, 10.2 mbps HSDPA. The phone has lifetime access to Nokia messaging with ease of integration with Yahoo Messenger, Google Talk, Ovi and other mail and IM services.

Nokia E72 Hands-On via Nokia Conversations:

Press Release from Nokia:

Nokia has officially unveiled the N97 Mini in India at the Nokia N Tourage event that is being conducted in Delhi. The event will be happening tomorrow in Bangalore. The N97 Mini was first showcased by Nokia at the Nokia World Event 2009. N97 Mini is small in size but packs the punch of a multimedia phone just like its big brother, the N97. N97 Mini will now be available at retail stores across India. The Mini is bit small in size as compared to the N97 but preserves its looks. Also, the useful D-Pad of the N97 is not there in the N97 Mini. As compared to the N97, the Mini has 8GB memory, 3.2 inch touch screen (N97 has 3.5 inch touch screen) and is 14.2mm thin. One more thing is that the Mini is the first Nokia device which has Ovi Lifecasting, where Ovi has partnered with FaceBook. The build quality of the Mini is better than the N97 with metallic accents and the small size makes it handy.

You can also check out the Unboxing Pics of the Nokia 97 or read my initial thoughts about the N97 Mini's big brother, the Nokia N97.

Its been more than a week that, I have started using the Nokia N97, thanks to guys over at WOM World. N97 is the second touch screen phone from Nokia that runs the Symbian S60 5th edition OS for touch screen phones. The N97's interface and firmware 2.0 make the phone's response and features much better than the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic (First touch screen phone from Nokia based on Symbian S60 5th Edition). After I started using the Nokia N97, suddenly I remembered, how Nokia coined the term multimedia computers when they started rolling their N Series handsets like the N91, N93i and so on. But as i saw/used/checked out those handsets I never thought that they fully justified the term, "Multimedia Computers". After using the Nokia N97 for few days now, I won't hesitate to call it as a multimedia computer.

The handset looks pretty robust and feels good. Its a bit bulky and big in size and its not for people who like slim phones. What makes it better than the Nokia 5800 is the responsive touch screen, 3.5 inch big screen, 32 GB internal memory, improved camera than the 3.2 meg of the Nokia 5800, a fully functional physical QWERTY keyboard that was missing in the Nokia 5800 (Yeah, Nokia's touch screen phones still need the keyboard as I feel that, their touch screen experience sometimes might leave you disappointed and you will feel the need for a physical keyboard). Some of the other things that i liked about the Nokia N97 was its build quality, the steel rim that houses the screen and of course kinetic scrolling, thanks to Firmware 2.0. One more thing when you start using the Kinetic scrolling, it might not highly appeal to people (include me) who have experienced iPhone's kinetic scrolling but trust me it is good. Another USP of the N97 is its interactive touch screen, thanks to the widgets it supports and also to the free widgets that are available for download from Facebook, Amazon, AP News etc...

The keyboard of the N97 slides out in a very unusual manner and is supported by two hinges, which don't crank. As they are made of plastic, rough use of the design might send the hinges for toss. Otherwise this kind of design of the N97 is very cool and you can slide out the phone and it rests in such a manner that you can see the screen clearly and it gives you a feel of a tablet computer.

As I told you earlier, when you hold the N97, start using it, you will realize that, the only thing similar between the Nokia 5800 and N97 is that they are touch screen phones. The Nokia 5800 is a touch screen phone, whereas the N97 feels like a computer. The QWERTY keyboard of the N97 is nice but the keys are cramped, you will take some time to get used to it. The D-Pad is something that was missing in the Nokia 5800, that gives the N97 edge over its predecessor. Both the D-Pad and the QWERTY keyboard are nice for ad-hoc use. There should have a been one more row of keys for numerals, but as you see the space is very less, Nokia has tried to get most of it by the three rows. You will take some time to get used to its keyboard but eventually it will be nice and yeah, if you compare it with the keyboard of E90, it comes nowhere close.

The N97 sports a TFT LCD touch screen with resistive top layer, which is more responsive, as compared to the Nokia 5800, to taps and drags. In outside conditions also, the screen is very much visible but in direct sunlight you might have difficulty in viewing the screen. The N97 also supports a lot of third party apps including different themes and you will have a good time using them on the N97.

Nokia N97 sports a 5 mega pixel snapper with Care Zeiss optics, larger aperture as compared to the Nokia 5800, dual LED flash, Auto Focus. The image quality is good and I will soon be posting sample images from the Nokia N97. But trust me, if the dual LED flash is replaced with a Xenon flash, N97 will be a awesome imaging phone.

The things that make Nokia N97 a winner are, 32GB memory, improved resistive touch screen, better battery performance, live widgets feature, Kinetic Scrolling in web apps and Ovi store, D-Pad, camera and an overall good build quality.

Few things that still need improvement are, its cramped up QWERTY keyboard, plastic hinges and delicate cable that connects the sliding keyboard with the screen, video camera. The sound output of the Nokia N97 is not that great as the Nokia 5800; maybe because Nokia 5800 is a XpressMusic phone.

This is my initial take on the Nokia N97. Will churn out more posts on the N97's review as i start using it more and more. I was very late to get my hands on the N97 and by now the Nokia N97 Mini is all set to come to India, today it is launching in Delhi and tomorrow in Bangalore. But I am sure that wont deter you from coming back here and read about the Nokia N97. Let me know what do you think about the Nokia N97 First Impressions.

Mobile Phone based advertisements is one of the biggest influencers for an Indian car buyer. OEM's like Tata, Hyundai and Maruti who are more into small cars have taken the help of mobile phone advertisements to lure their customers. Today's Indian consumer is more information hungry. Anytime we need to buy a product e go online to check what are the options available and what existing buyers are saying about it. This stands true for Cars and that is the reason, car OEM's in India who are more into small cars are taking the help of digital medium like the Internet (Social media - Facebook, Twitter; comparison sites), mobile phone based ads to promote their products among customers. A recent survey showed that mobile phone ads constitute 31% of buying decisions when it comes to Indians; globally this number is just 8%. Internet and mobile phone based text ads are low cost forms of advertising that are reaping benefits for the car companies.


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As you all are aware that DoT will soon be coming down hard on phones that do not have or have a false IMEI number. You should make sure that the unbranded and Chinese phones that you buy, have valid IMEI numbers so that you and your phones remain out of trouble. Few months back, DoT had announced that Chinese and other un-branded phones that do not have an IMEI number or have a false IMEI number will be blocked (users won't be able to make calls through these phones). There are approximately 30 million mobile phones in India that have this IMEI problem and were supposed to get hacked by DoT. This is how you make sure that your phone has valid IMEI number, if not then follow the steps below and save your handset from getting hacked.

- Check your handset IMEI by dialing *#06#. A 15-digit number will be displayed on your handset.

- In case of an invalid IMEI, you can avoid inconvenience of buying a new handset by following the below mentioned instructions:




-Visit only authorized GII (Genuine IMEI Implant) centers, set up on Government approved process, which can implant new genuine IMEI on the handset.




-Pay a nominal charge of Rs 199 (all inclusive) and obtain a receipt.




-Carry your handset with a valid identity Proof for identification purposes while visiting these centers.

One more Android based phone is making its debut, please welcome Dell's smart phone, Dell Mini 3. This smart phone from Dell was awaited from last two years and now Dell is finally launching it in China with a launch slated later this year in Brazil. Though Dell has chosen Google's Android OS to start with, the company has not ruled out any chances of using Window Mobile as the OS for its smart phones. Customizing the phone to user's needs was Dell's priority and that is the reason they have gone with Android. Dell Mini 3 comes with capacitive stylus. The 3.5 inch touch screen phone has multi touch feature with hand writing recognition. It comes with a 3 meg snapper with LED flash, auto focus; 3.5 mm standard head phone jack

This is not the first time a mainstream computer maker has ventured into mobile business. But I am still confused why they are calling their smart phones as Dell Mini, which is the name of their line of desktops. Dell Mini 3 will be launched in China exclusively by China Mobile. Dell with go with Claro in Brazil. It is surprising to see that Dell has still not confirmed when it will be launching the phone in the US market.