If you're in-the-know on all things Symbian, or particularly Series 60 (in this case), then you might have already heard about this piece of news...

But yesterday, at the opening of this year's Symbian Smartphone Show in London, Nokia announced a move that was bound to happen some day: the availability of touch-screen enabled S60 devices, to be available sometime during 2008. What this will mean is serious competition, in both the handset and software arenas, for the other platforms - namely, UIQ and Windows Mobile.

Quoting from the press release:

The touch user interface in S60 smartphone software offers licensees the opportunity to develop devices with a variety of input methods, whether it is a touch screen with a traditional keypad, touch screen with a qwerty keyboard or touch screen alone, supporting both finger or stylus optimized input, in addition to the range of access options that already exist today.

S60 touch user interface comes with support for tactile feedback, which means that there is a physical pulse and feedback when the user taps on the screen. This provides better awareness of the device's response improving the user experience.

Existing S60 3rd Edition applications will run on touch enabled devices unmodified. Tools will be made available for developers to further optimize the touch experience of their applications.

While we users reap the benefits of the new addition, developers would also get the ease of turning their apps into becoming touch-friendly when the ability finally becomes available. And the part where they mention the types of possible physical setups - that is, touch screen with traditional keypad, touch screen with QWERTY keyboard, and touch-screen-only - was probably hinting strongly at what we should expect to come during 2008. And the added support for tactile feedback is also very interesting, to say the least...

Other knick-knacks were also mentioned, including the platform's generic support for a variety of hardware sensors (e.g. motion, orientation, proximity, light), and native support for Flash Video by the S60's built-in (Mini-Map) browser.

And on a separate note, Google has announced the availability of a native version of Google Maps for S60 Third Edition smartphones. The application can be downloaded from the Google Mobile Maps page, and they've stated the following available servies:

• Detailed directions - Whether you plan to walk or drive, your route is displayed on the map itself, together with step-by-step directions
• Integrated search results - Local business locations and contact information appear all in one place, integrated on your map
• Easily movable maps - Interactive maps let you zoom in or out, and move in all directions so you can orient yourself visually
• Satellite imagery - Get a bird's eye view of your desired location. (It's like you're there, we swear.)

Happy days ahead for Series 60, and its users!

Nokia's E51 will be the third candy bar (or monoblock) design of the Eseries family of business-orientated handsets. This rather thin handset, measuring at just 12 millimetres thick, will be a focus for those looking for a compact device with high-speed data access - supporting both HSDPA (3.5G) mobile data connectivity and wireless LAN (802.11g) networks.

The E51 is only the second handset in the Eseries family, following the E90 Communicator, to include support for the higher data rates offered by HSDPA - which, in a sense, makes it all the more attractive if fast mobile data is a key need for you. This dual-band UMTS (850/2100), quad-band GSM (850/900/1800/1900) model also features a built-in FM radio, a 2-megapixel camera, and supports the Windows Live suite of apps (Live Hotmail, Live Search, Live Spaces, and Live Messenger).

And, of course, those general Eseries features - including push email support, VoIP, and one-touch hard keys for instant access to functions - are obviously included with the E51.

Nokia expects to ship the E51 during the fourth quarter of this year, and has an expected retail price of around 350 EUR.

Resources: General product pages | Technical specifications

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