Nokia iPhone Killer

Nokia iPhone Killer Launched

Posted by Sam Churchill on October 3rd, 2008

Nokia has just released its 5800 Express Music phone, an “iPhone killer” previously known as “Tube”. The 5800 will be available from a range of telcos, in contrast to the iPhone. It will only be available in Europe, at first.

The Nokia 5800 Express Music phone costs about $390, simfree. Nokia will test the waters in Europe, and early next year T-Mobile or AT&T, may carry it in the United States, says PC World. But if you travel to Europe this winter, you can snap up an unlocked one from there - as the Tube is compatible with North American HSDPA (GSM) carriers.

Nokia’s iPhone killer will feature the Comes with Music bundle which allows users to freely download an unlimited number of songs — over a year after the initial purchase — from Nokia’s Music Store. The program builds on Nokia’s existing, iTunes-like music store, with a catalog that now includes EMI Music, Universal Music Group, Sony BMG and Warner Music.

Users of the service get to keep their downloaded music for as long as they own their device — even after their yearlong subscription ends. But they cannot transfer it to other devices, Nokia says.

It features a 3.2-megapixel camera, with autofocus Carl Zeiss optics and a dual LED flash, compared to iPhone’s 2-megapixel-no flash camera. Tube also records videos at VGA quality (640X480px) and has a frontal camera for video calls, something that the iPhone can’t do at all.

It comes with an 8GB memory card and supports up to 16GB cards (iPhone’s memory is built in and cannot be expanded). Also included; GPS, Wi-Fi and a 3.5mm jack so you can plug in any headphone you like. It will also support Adobe Flash, something that iPhone is still lacking.

When tilted on its side, the 5800 has a full-screen QWERTY keyboard plus a mini-QWERTY one. The 5800 is also equipped with handwriting recognition, which will recognize 60 languages.

Nokia will include an introductory subscription to voice navigation in the price. “It’s increasingly about the combination of services that come with the product,” says Anssi Vanjoki, Nokia’s executive vice-president for markets.

Symbian’s new S60 5th edition OS, with touch input, now supports Adobe Flash Lite 3, as well as Web browsing via touch or a stylus. Nokia changed pretty much everything about interacting with the Series 60 OS. In the browser, for instance, you now drag with your finger and double-tap to zoom. It also syncs with the phone’s sensor technology, and supports photo imaging tools that enable users to erase red-eye, adjust image quality and add text and graphics to pictures.

Nokia owns 40% of the global handset market and has shipped 180 million S60 devices as of the end of this June. Apple hopes to ship 10 million iPhones by the end of 2008. But Apple has sold more than 160 million iPods and their iTunes store has sold over 5 billion songs. The store is now the country’s largest music retailer, topping Walmart.

source : dailywireless.org