If you found the first beta to be impressive, then just wait till you try the second...

The best mobile web browser around has just gotten even better! Although still in "beta", the latest Opera Mini offering continues to improve on the user experience of accessing Internet sites through the mobile phone. Those of us who have first-hand experience with this Java-based app would (undoubtedly) appreciate the benefits, and the flexibilities, that it offers.

Code named 'Dimension', Opera Mini 4 "beta 2" adds a number of important features, which makes it an irresistible release to download and use. These include (but not limited to):

• Exclusive Blackberry device support: a new interface with better menus, which are now native from within the browser;
• Landscape display mode: widescreen display orientation now an option;
• Improved web search: a multi-search start page doesn't restrict you to a single search engine, as well as having the ability to creating your own one/s;
• Encryption support added (this was not available with the first beta); and
• Various tweaks: including a simplified settings page, improved image quality, and other fixes.

If you're still using v3.x of the Opera Mini browser, there's no better time to give this latest browser release a go, as encryption is once again available. Or for those who've yet to take the leap of faith, let me assure you with this thought: "Opera Mini will have your phone's built-in web browser for breakfast!"

To download, simply point your phone browser (before it gets consumed) to mini.opera.com/beta/ - and follow the on-screen instructions. For users of Blackberry and Palm devices, you can download the application from the Opera Mini Beta home page below.

Resources: Opera Mini beta homepage | New Features in Opera Mini 4 beta | Opera Mini 4 Beta changelog

Bringing truly "usable" Internet services to the mobile phone has been a somewhat slow process, mainly because of where most of us are with the adoption of mobile phone technology.

But with the maturing of 3G, along with the products that utilise this mobile technology, the provision of online services for such devices has become a target for many. And today, it is Nokia's turn to bring further joy to our phone usage experiences...

Called "Ovi", meaning "door" in Finnish, this will be Nokia's new Internet services brand name. They plan on offering, at launch, three specific services to their users - which is summed up in the following extract of their press release:

As part of Ovi, Nokia announced the Nokia Music Store and N-Gage, two services that make it easy for people to discover, try and buy music and games from a blockbuster range of artists and publishers, including exclusive content only available through Nokia. Also under the Ovi umbrella is Nokia Maps, a navigation service that offers maps, city guides and more directly to compatible mobile devices. Nokia aims to bring more Internet based services to Ovi in the coming months.

The music store will be something like Apple's iTunes Store, where users will be able to make single track or album purchases - with costs expected at EUR 1.00 and EUR 10.00 respectively. Full track streaming to a PC will also be an available option, with an estimated monthly subscription cost of EUR 10.00.

For the N-Gage and Nokia Maps services, these will allow users to download the respective content directly to their mobile devices for immediate use. These are certainly great distribution models, again made possible by the maturing of mobile Internet connectivity.

Other elements of Ovi will appear progressively in the many months following its launch, with some of these including access to personal content, communities and contacts from either a PC or a compatible Nokia device.

Nokia hopes to have the first version of the Ovi service is expected to go live sometime during the fourth quarter this year, and will be offered in English only. Progressive introduction of new features and additional languages should be made available during the first half of 2008.

Resources: Nokia Ovi web site

I'm not a big fan of product facelifts or minor upgrades. But in the case of the N95 8GB, Nokia seems to have addressed many of the elements overshadowed its predecessor's "almost perfect" standing.

Physically, this "enhanced" model looks and feels pretty much the same as the original N95 release - with the exception of a notably-bigger display (the sides of the top slider section is now flush with the lower), slightly-modified designs for the nav-pad (the set of buttons below the LCD) and media controls, and the moving of the LED flash to the left hand side of the Carl Zeiss lens (most probably to improve illumination performance). In short, these changes can only mean a better product for the end user.

On the inside, the 8-gigabyte worth of storage is the obvious headline feature here (if you hadn't noticed) - but does away with the ability to use external memory cards with smartphone. As irrelevant as the latter may be, given the vast amounts of internal memory available to the N95 8GB, losing the ability to work with 'memory cards' in general - especially for the phone's camera application - can be a bummer, and an inconvenience, for some.

With the exception of the aforementioned, the N95 8GB retains the same outstanding features of its predecessor - with the addition of the following enhancements:

• a new 2.8-inch (viewable diagonal) display (up from 2.6"), and supporting up to 16 million (24-bit) colours;
• support for a higher-capacity battery cell (BL-6F @ 1200mAh) - up from 950mAh for the BL-5F used for the original N95;
• the pre-loading of the new N-Gage application, providing access to the new online gaming service (to be available globally in November 2007); and
• an 8-gigabyte internal (flash-based) memory area for media-based content (for other content, such as PIM-based data and applications, these are restricted to the phone's 100MB dynamic memory area).

An ETA of Q4 has been given to the "second edition" N95. For those who've held off on the first-gen model, this is most definitely a worthwhile consideration. And as for existing N95 users, like myself, upgrading to the 8GB version is a probable option - but probably not worth the while, given the high price tag of this reigning Nseries flagship.

Resources: General product pages (Nseries.com) | General product pages (Nokia.com) | Technical specifications

If the Nseries products are just too overwhelming, then how about some real-deal, down-to-earth music phones?

Also shown off at the Nokia 'Go Play' events were two Series 40 based newborns belonging to the 'XpressMusic' family of handsets.

The 5310 XpressMusic, a quad-band-GSM candy bar that's 9.9mm thin and weighing in at just over 70 grams, is perfect for those who appreciates slim-bodied phones. Aesthetically, it also features aluminium side panels that surround the perimeter, and presented in a way to provide "trendy colour combinations" (two colour variants will be available). A 2.0-inch QVGA display (supporting up to 16 million colours) and 2.0-megapixel camera are also included as part of the deal.

For users demanding 3G connectivity, the 5610 XpressMusic - a slider-based model - offers tri-band UMTS support (850/1900/2100) in addition to basic quad-band GSM (2G) compatibility. It also includes a 2.2-inch QVGA display, and a 3.2-megapixel auto-focus camera with dual-LED flash and two-step shutter button. However, as well-equipped as this particular model may sound, it lacks a proper 3.5mm audio jack - a feature that, to my surprise, was given to the aforementioned GSM-only model.

Common features shared by both models include:

• specific controls for music playback control;
• a dedicated audio chip (DAC-33);
• external memory (microSD) support - for cards of up to 4GB in capacity;
• stereo FM radio receiver with RDS support;
• Micro USB 2.0 connectivity for data transfers between phone and PC/Mac;
• Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR support;
• offline (flight mode) support; and
• the use of an ambient light sensor to control proper LCD and keypad backlight operations (i.e. to conserve battery power and improve display readability where possible).

Just like the two other Nseries models announced, both XpressMusic models will be made available during Q4.

Resources for '5310 XpressMusic': General product pages | Technical specifications
Resources for '5610 XpressMusic': General product pages | Technical specifications

At Nokia's 'Go Play' gatherings in London, Guangzhou and Singapore (did I miss any?), Nokia pulled off another first. But this time, it was the type that lacked the "wow" factor expected of such events...

Just as the rumour mills had predicted several weeks ago (being information that I'd rather keep to ourselves until it becomes official), Nokia was going to bring to life two new Nseries models - specifically, the N81 and N95 8GB. While the second one may sound like a likely upgrade to an existing model, with the rather-curious "8GB" suffix, it is the first model - or two models - that should raise some eyebrows.

The N81 isn't just "a" model - it's two! Yep, that's right - a straight N81 with external memory (microSD) support, and a N81 8GB with the described internal memory (flash-based) - just like what the N95 upgrade gets too. And this is the one and only feature that differentiates the two apart.

Why two models and not just the one? A valid question - but the answer may simply be "choice". While the N81 8GB comes with a vast amount of internal memory only, and to be sold at a slightly higher price point (of around 430 Euros), the straight-flavoured version will allow for a choice in memory capacity and be priced 70 Euros less. I guess "take your pick" would be Nokia's intending statement here...

So, anyway, what makes the N81 range so special? For starters, many may feel this is an upgrade to the now-rather-pathetic N80 model - which, I believe, is partially true. Nokia has passed some of these features along to this latest release, as well as the following editions:

• a 2.4-inch QVGA (240-by-320-pixel) display showing up to 16 million colours, and usable in both portrait and landscape (camera / gallery / gaming) modes;
• a 2.0-megapixel camera for imaging, and supporting QVGA @ 15fps video recordings;enhanced D-pad offering additional music playback controls, which also illuminates accordingly;
• integrated stereo FM radio receiver (with Visual Radio support) and stereo handsfree speakers;
• a multi-purpose 3.5mm jack compatible with the included multi-functional headset (as well as standard audio ones) and the optional Nokia-issue AV cable;
• USB 2.0 connectivity - done through the N81's new Micro USB interface, a smaller-sized socket variant - and supporting Mass Storage Device support too;
• Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR and A2DP (wireless stereo audio) support;
• user interface upgraded to Series 60 (S60) Third Edition, Feature Pack 1 - which includes a vast list of improvements;
• built-in N-Gage gaming experience - thanks to the pre-loaded app and the online service going live in November (possibly, by the time the N81 makes it to market); and
• two additional soft buttons, located just above the display on both sides of the earpiece, which have been specifically implemented for gaming use.

And not forgetting, of course, the external-memory-only nature of the 'N81' (supporting microSD cards of up to 4GB in capacity), and the 8-gigabyte internal-only memory configuration of the 'N81 8GB'.

Take note also, for those who are wary of data support - the N81 Family knows nothing about HSDPA (or 3.5G), which came as a rude shock to me. No matter how Nokia wants to see it, I just can't think of any logical reason why they chose such an exclusion. If it came down to differentiation, my response would be: "it's an Nseries smartphone, no HSDPA?!"

Both the N81 and 'N81 8GB' are expected to ship sometime during the fourth quarter.

Resources for 'N81': Nseries.com | Nokia.com | Technical specifications
Resources for 'N81 8GB': Nseries.com | Nokia.com | Technical specifications

If you're using one of the latest Nseries models, then you'd be very interested to learn of the following...

Nokia and Microsoft have finally announced the official release of their Windows Live suite of apps, enabling users access to the following Windows Live services directly from a compatible S60 handset: Contacts, Hotmail, Live Spaces, and - most importantly - Live Messenger (aka MSN). This is great news for those who wants to be able to access these online services at any time they so wish.

Some time prior to this announcement, a preview release (or beta) of the suite was floating around on the Internet - and I managed to get hold of it to try out, and ultimately use. And after having spent some time with it, I've got to say that they've done a fantastic job with the implementation on virtually all fronts... well done Nokia!

Now, on availability - this excerpt from the official press release pretty much sums it up:

Nokia customers who own the Nokia N73, N76, N80 Internet Edition, N93i, and the N95 multimedia computers can get the Windows Live services via the Download! application in the following countries; Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, UK, Sweden, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Customers can visit http://www.nokia.com/windowslive to learn more, and check if their country is on the availability list. Initially the service will be available as a free trial and then customers in select markets wishing to continue using the service may be asked to pay a monthly fee.

Sadly, this is how it is right now. But do check back at the Nokia Windows Live page often to see if the suite is available for more phone models, and whether it has been extended to more markets (currently, the list only shows selected countries in Europe and the Middle East).

(While more S60 models will be supported in the near future, Nokia is also planning on bringing these services to S40-based models as of next year - stay tuned!)

Resources: Nokia Windows Live page

There’s nothing quite like a product facelift - being a step that’s usually taken to prolong the life cycle of an existing product design, along with its (possible) success. For Sony Ericsson, it’s common practice to find a revised edition of an original released within a six-to-nine-month timeframe - but the arrival of the K810i model had come a tad later than expected...

Continue reading the K810i review...

The European market has always been Apple's next move for the iPhone after the US. Therefore, it is not at all surprising to see Euro operators warming up to the Cupertino-based computer maker for the sole purpose of gaining its sale exclusivity.

The Financial Times has reported the signing of three operators by Apple - T-Mobile of Germany, Orange of France, and O2 in the UK. Apparently, part of the deal is for Apple to take a cut of "10 per cent of the revenues made from calls and data transfers by customers over iPhones" - sweet huh?

In the mobile handset space, it is rare to see how a handset maker is able to woo operators into revenue sharing of such fashion. But because it's the iPhone, and the fact that it's "Designed by Apple in California", what this particular device can bring to these operators won't simply be increased patronage and revenue - but also a significant boost in the mobile operator's image.

And, most importantly:

Apple has also lured the mobile operators with the prospect of a financially risk-free business, as it will not allow the now common subsidies on the sale of handsets. Most mobile phones are sold by operators to subscribers at a highly subsidised rate.

Yes, it does seem the ball is in the other court now...

An official announcement of the partnerships is expected to come at the IFA consumer electronics trade fair in Berlin at the end of August.

In attempts to further expand their 3G handset range for its mass-market users, Nokia has announced the 6555 - a clamshell which "pairs original design and quality worksmanship with outstanding features". For a handset positioned as such, and to be retailing at approximately 200 Euros upon launch, I have doubts as to just how true this statement really is how well this statement will hold up.

To be honest, Nokia's clamshell designs are still not quite up there with the rest, even though they have improved over the years. In the case of the 6555, its somewhat-longer and thinner form factor doesn't just contribute to its aesthetics - but also does its bit towards providing more-positive ergonomics (or overall usability). Seemingly so...

The 6555 will feature all the basic elements of a typical Series 40 (S40) handset, but it will be running the 5th Edition of the platform, being Nokia's latest release. Key features include:

• true dual-mode (2G and 3G) support - Nokia's first handset to support both quad-band GSM (850/900/1800/1900) and tri-band UMTS (850/1900/2100) - which makes it a real-deal "world phone";
• a 2.0-inch, 16-million-colour QVGA primary display - along with a 128-by-160-pixel external LCD supporting up to 262K colours;
• GPRS / EDGE / WCDMA data connectivity;
• support for external memory cards (microSD) of up to 4GB in size;
• Bluetooth 2.0 and Micro-USB (USB2-based) connectivity; and
• Removable 1020mAh lithium-battery (BL-5C).

Availability is expected within the next few weeks.

Resources: General product pages | Technical specifications

The gap in Sony Ericsson's Cyber-shot product portfolio has finally been filled, with the annoucement of their latest camera phone, the K770i.

Sporting a 3.2-megapixel (auto-focus) camera, and a 1.9-inch virtual viewfinder / display, it offers similar (but not all) features as those found on the K810i - including the new 'Photo Fix' application that allow for various imaging editions to be made, PictBridge image printing via USB, and the option to blog straight from the handset.

Design-wise, I actually quite like it. The 'Truffle Brown' colour scheme does make it look that much more tasty - yet, I have to agree that photos don't do quite the justice needed for me to hand judgement just yet.

The K770i is expected to arrive sometime during Q4 this year.

Resources: General product pages | Technical specifications

Being world-number-one-phone-maker, this has got to make headline news - if it hasn't already, that is...

Nokia, on Tuesday, has issued a product advisory, or "recall", on one of their more (if not, most) popular battery models, the BL-5C. Specifically, it refers to those manufactured by Japanese-based Matsushita Battery Industrial Co. Ltd. between the period of December 2005 and November 2006:

Nokia has several suppliers for BL-5C batteries who have collectively produced more than 300 million BL-5C batteries. This advisory applies only to the 46 million batteries manufactured by Matsushita between December 2005 and November 2006, from which there have been approximately 100 incidents of overheating reported globally. No serious injuries or property damage have been reported.

I guess it's reassuring to know that only around 15% of the total BL-5C population out there are affected
(?)...

Consumers with a BL-5C battery subject to this advisory should note that all of the approximately 100 incidents have occurred while charging the battery. According to Nokia's knowledge this issue does not affect any other use of the mobile device.

... along with the fact that only 100 cases, all of which occurred during the charging process, have so far been reported.

To check if you're affected, you'll need to enter the battery's 26-character identification number, which is located near the bottom on the back of the cell. Once you've got this, visit the BL-5C Product Advisory web page to verify.