Australian Phone Report » Nokia

Top Nokia applications for Australians

Kimble Young — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 11:45:09 +0000

The Symbian platform has been around for a long time and although Nokia has only just recently launched their “built for apps” campaign there have long been a huge number of applications out there for Nokia users. In this feature article we’ll list some of the best apps for Australian users, with a focus on Australian targeted apps but also those useful for Aussies with a Nokia phone. So without further delay, here’s the best Nokia applications for Australians:

Ovi Maps

Ovi maps with Navigation is now free for a wide variety of GPS enabled Nokia phones. Essentially saving you a hundred or more dollars for a dedicated GPS or comparable software. It’s not Australian but it sure will help you get around this big country.

Download Ovi Maps

AFL 2010

Aussies love sport and what better way to keep track of the latest scores, news and fixtures but with Sportal’s AFL app for your Nokia. Download it for just $2 (at the time of writing) from the Ovi Store.

ABC Mobile Shortcuts

Yes it may sound boring but this app for the Nokia allows you to check out the latest news headlines, weather, cinema times, movie reviews and more from one easy to use interface. No more having to fire up your browser to work out what’s happening.

Download it now

Train View

Train View allows you to see the Sydney Train timetables on your mobile phone. It gives you a display just like the rolling blue displays you see on the real train line. Designed to work on any J2ME enabled phone this beauty will work on pretty much any Nokia made in the last 5 years.

There’s a free version available from the developer’s home page.

That’s it for this feature but if you’ve heard of any Nokia applications written for Australians or even just by Australians let us know. We’re always interested in hearing more.

Tweet This Facebook Reddit Stumble

When will the Nokia N900 arrive in Australia?

Kimble Young — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 08:37:22 +0000

The Nokia N900 is no doubt one of the best phones out there in the world right now. However, there’s one problem. Nokia decided to hold it back from Australians.

Announced mid 2009 it looked as if at first the phone would never make it to Australia due to it being an interim phone in the Maemo series. This caused an uproar within the internet community with petitions and even loyal Nokia owners threatening to buy iphones.

The situation post launch, at the end of last year, wasn’t much better with Internet forums like Whirlpool abuzz with people trying to source handsets from the USA.

Nokia then used the first Australian Forum Nokia Developer’s conference on the 2nd of March 2010 to announce that the N900 would be coming to our shores in April.

Some questions still remain: Who will carry it (Telstra, Optus or Vodafone Hutchison)? When exactly will we see it and for how much?

Stay tuned as we keep you up to date on this hotly awaited phone.

Tweet This Facebook Reddit Stumble

Nokia E71 and E72 compared

Kimble Young — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 03:46:31 +0000

The Nokia E72 is the latest incarnation in Nokia’s line of QWERTY smart phones and boasts a few new features but most people are confused as to how exactly the E72 is better than the E71. Especially considering you can usually pick up an E71 on a cheaper plan.

In this side by side comparison we’ll look at not only the technical specifications of each phone but some of the software differences which can make all the difference when deciding to buy a phone.

First looks

Put both phones side by side and at first glance you could be forgiven for thinking they were the same phone but on closer inspection the E72 looks just that little bit more sharper with its brushed steel look and more minimalist buttons. Both are really smart looking and slim phones which wouldn’t look out of place in a boardroom or on a night out on the town.

Speed

The E72 sports a 600MHz CPU compared to the acceptable but no longer fast 369MHz of the E71. This also makes the E72 one of the fastest phones on the market and it shows. Everything happens so quickly, from loading applications to pulling up a web page.

Connectivity

The E72 also has HSDPA speeds of 10.2Mb per second which at the time of writing is still the fastest on the market. This really shows when loading web pages with the phone able to pull up media heavy sites like the Sydney Morning Herald within a few seconds. A speed unrivaled by any phone on the market still. In fact the E72 is so fast most of the carriers have still not caught up and only offer 7.6mbps speeds. The E71 only has 3.6mbps download speeds which while acceptable mean the phone is often waiting for the network to catchup. Especially on media heavy sites.

Both phones sport 802.11b/g wireless which is a bit of a let down as the E72 should have supported 802.11n. Nokia need to do better next time as 802.11n becomes increasingly prevalent.

Display

Both phones sport a 320×240 display which may disappoint some people looking to upgrade to an E72. The back lighting is marginally better on the E72 but nothing to write home about.

The package

The E72 weighs a little bit more than the E71, it’s also a tiny bit thicker which seems to have been to accommodate the 3.5 inch headphone jack.

The keyboard layout has been changed slightly and although, if you’re moving from the E71 it is a little hard to get used to once you’ve got the hang you’ll wonder why they didn’t use the E72’s layout in the first place. One of the most controversial additions to the E72 is the optical navi-key which makes the phone feel kind of like a blackberry but with a dpad added to the mix. A lot of people disable it but I find it useful for scrolling through emails and web pages. It also gives you a bit of the feeling of an iphone with its swiping and you’ll probably find yourself using it to navigate the main menu on the phone.

A lot of the metal of the E71 has been removed and as a result the phone feels a little more “plasticy” but not so much that it loses its professional look and feel.

Features

The E72 has built on the E71 with the addition of a 3.5 mm headphone jack so you can use your favourite headphones. Navigation is also improved with the addition of a compass and finally the E series have a phone with an accelerometer so you can play all those games that require one (although nothing in the OS makes use of it). You also get a 2gig card with the phone which you’ll probably want to ditch for a 16gig card if you have a decent collection of music.

The camera on the E72 is 5 megapixel compared to the E71’s 3.2mp and the difference in quality really shows. The E72 produces crisp, clear photos with excellent colour reproduction and the flash is actually useful. The e71 on the other hand produces what can only be described as average photos and the inbuilt flash is all but useless.

Software

The E72 sports S60 feature pack 2 which adds a lot more eye candy to the experience but essentially contains the same set of software as the E71.

The gallery, music player and some of the media sharing options built into the E72 excel those of the E71 but the biggest change is in the way the E72 handles email.

Nokia mail is integrated very tightly into the operating system and exchange support is greatly improved. Things that were an annoyance with the E71 like handling calendar invites etc are all fixed with the E72.

Summary

If you’re looking to upgrade from an E71 I would recommend holding onto it unless it’s broken. The improvements in the E72 are very much progressive not revolutionary. However, if you’re deciding between an E71 and an E72. The E72 is definitely worth the few extra bucks it’ll cost you.

Overall both phones are excellent messenger and productivity phones but don’t expect to be playing much other than solitaire on either of them.

Both phones are available on Vodafone and Three with the E71 available on Telstra and Optus at the time of writing.

Tweet This Facebook Reddit Stumble

Nokia N97 Mini Review

Kimble Young — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 01:48:39 +0000

The best way to sum up the N97 Mini is that it is just a smaller version of its older brother the N97.

While physically smaller than the N97 the mini pretty much packs the same features with the only part being economised on is the storage space. The mini only sports 8gb of space while the full sized N97 sported a whopping 32gbs. Don’t let this put you off though as it still has a Micro SD storage slot which at this point in time will allow you to add another 16gbs.

This phone would make an ideal alternative to those who don’t want to look like an iphone clone or those who want the best of both touch screen and QWERTY keyboard worlds without the bulk of the original N97.

The only disappointment with the mini is that it’s still using Nokia’s S60 5th edition touchscreen operating system which quite frankly looks like touch was an afterthought.

The N97 is available now on Vodafone and Three (3).

Techradar have pulled together an amazing in depth review of the mini so head on over there to learn more.

Tweet This Facebook Reddit Stumble

Nokia’s N97 just got better

Kimble Young — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 01:53:29 +0000

Nokia has announced the latest major revision to the N97 firmware which fixes a lot of the bugs and gripes early adopters of the phone have experienced.

One of the most asked for features – kinetic, or flip scrolling has now been enabled device wide. Making the overall experience a smoother one.

Other new features include updates to Ovi Maps, Nokia Email, Ovi Contacts and the Ovi Store.

They’ve also freed up more memory to improve performance especially when multi-tasking.

The way Nokia are constantly updating N97 is a welcome departure from Nokia’s typical approach of releasing a phone. Only making fixes available and keeping all the new features for the next model.

The update is free for all N97 owners. Head over to www.nokia.com/softwareupdate to find out how to update your phone.

Tweet This Facebook Reddit Stumble

Nokia offers free games and more on the Australian ovi store

Kimble Young — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 00:48:16 +0000

Nokia has made a number of Gameloft games including Assassin’s Creed and Prince of Persia available to Australian users free on their Ovi Store (the equivalent of the Apple app store). Until the end of January users with compatible handsets including the E71, N97 and N86 will be able to download the games for free.

There’s also free ringtones, screen savers and wallpapers up for grabs if they tickle your fancy more than games.

To get your free goodies visit the GameLoft special page or load up the Ovi store on your handset (installation instructions and here) and filter the listings for free only.

[Story via iTWire]

Tweet This Facebook Reddit Stumble

Nokia E72 now on sale in Australia

Kimble Young — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 06:00:03 +0000

It looks like the long awaited replacement for the hugely popular and much loved E71 has finally hit our shores. Nokia originally announced the E72 back in June with a slated launch date of Q4 2009.

Crazy John’s, who is a Vodafone reseller now has the E72 listed for purchase on their website and according to rumours on Whirlpool (one of Australia’s biggest online forums) Vodafone will be offering the phone in a couple of weeks. Crazy John’s has the phone listed with an outright price of $719 or for “free” on a $69 per month cap.

The major improvements of the E72 over the E71 include the following:

An optical D-pad
Standard 3.5mm headphone socket
5 megapixel camera
Builtin compass to provide heading on mapping applications
Accelerometer. Which apart from making for some fun games will also open the phone up to Augmented Reality applications
More memory and a faster CPU
S60v3 FP2 operating system which means improved graphical effects like transitions
Even greater battery life than the amazing battery life of the E71

The phone itself is not a huge improvement over the E71 so if you already have one you might be hard pressed to find a reason to upgrade but anyone who was thinking of buying an E71 should head straight for the E72 unless looking for a bargain.

Tweet This Facebook Reddit Stumble

Nokia gets into the Netbook game

Kimble Young — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 02:13:33 +0000

Nokia has just announced that they will be entering the (some say) already overcrowded netbook market with their Booklet 3G. Netbooks are typically miniature laptops that have very ordinary specs and usually come with a 3G data connection built in. They are typically sold bundled with a 3G data plan on 24 month contracts and are a lucrative source of new revenue for the carriers. Recently Optus announced that the number of subscribers on their 3G network has risen 11% over the last quarter. The majority of this rise can be attributed to people buying Netbooks on contracts.

Many are questioning Nokia for making a move on a market that they see as already overcrowded. While it is true that there are a lot of players in this area, there is also a lot of room for growth with industry pundits forecasting huge growth figures. Others just see it as a move to beat Apple to the punch.

Whichever way you look at it the consumer can only be a winner. Far from just announcing some re-badged netbook the Nokia Booklet is full to the brim with Nokia’s software and services including: Maps, Music, the Ovi service (email, file sharing etc). Details are light on the tech specs but the unit is looking like one of the slimmest out there at less than 2 cms.

Nokia really best sums up why they made the move into netbooks:

“A growing number of people want the computing power of a PC with the full benefits of mobility. We are in the business of connecting people and the Nokia Booklet 3G is a natural evolution for us. Nokia has a long and rich heritage in mobility and with the outstanding battery life, premium design and all day, always on connectivity, we will create something quite compelling. In doing so we will make the personal computer more social, more helpful and more personal.”

Expect to see this baby out in Australia before the end of the year. Nokia will most likely team up with one of the big 3 (Vodafone, Optus or Telstra) to provide it on contract. I think we can expect a similar price to the current deals – around $60 a month over 24 months with included internet data.

Tweet This Facebook Reddit Stumble

Nokia releases budget touchscreen phone the 5530 MusicXpress

Kimble Young — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 02:12:24 +0000

The Nokia 5530 XpressMusic has just gone on sale in the UK for the bargain price of 140 pounds. The specs look really good for such a cheap phone: 3.2mp camera, high resolution 2.9inch touchscreen, 4gig flash card included, 3.5mm headphone jack. In fact you could pretty much call it an N97 without a keyboard.

The reviews so far are very positive. With most reviewers agreeing that you get a real bang for your buck. This is what one reviewer had to say:

We’re very impressed with the 5530 overall. It offers a very good feature set for a mid-range phone, and everything works smoothly. A better camera would have been the icing on the cake, but remember that this is being marketed as a music phone, so we’d say that it fulfils its purpose very well indeed.

The only problem is, it’s not 3G. So if you’re waiting for it in Australia you’re either going to have to buy it outright or wait for Telstra to pick it up for use on the Edge network. Here’s hoping they do offer it as it looks like a cheap but cheerful alternative to the N97 or iphone. If you’re on one of the other networks then you’ll have to hold out or spend a bit more on the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic.

Tweet This Facebook Reddit Stumble

Nokia E72 headed to Australia later this year

Kimble Young — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 02:51:33 +0000

It seems the latest E-series QWERTY phone will be with us by the end of the year. Owning an E71 myself and loving it I’m very excited about this latest incarnation. Not only have Nokia beefed it up by doubling the memory and processor speed but they’ve also added some of the features that are only being shipped in the very top end phones like a compass. Here are some of the new features:

3.5mm headphone jack (finally)
5 megapixel camera with 640×480 video recording
S60 Feature pack 2
600Mhz Arm 11 processor (same as an iphone)
250megs internal storage and 128MB ram
Optical d-pad for some of that smooth scrolling goodness
Compass and accelerometer (Augmented reality apps)
USB charging
16 days of standby power, up from the already amazing 14 days of the E71

The E71 has been hugely successful with at last count at least 5 million units sold world wide in its short history. The phone truly is an unbreakable workhorse, even under heavy usage the battery can last days and days.

If you already own an E71 then the upgrade probably isn’t worth it but if you’ve been looking for a phone with outstanding battery life that will last for almost ever then you won’t be able to past the E72.

The only question that remains is – Which carrier will pick it up in Australia? Let’s hope they don’t get an exclusive on it. For everyone’s sake.

Official E72 product page

Watch it in action:

Tweet This Facebook Reddit Stumble