Nokia Unveiled 5800 XpressMusic touch screen mobile phone

Nokia turned up the volume on its music offering today by unveiling the new Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, a mobile device for music that brings innovative new features to the mass market. Delivering on Nokia's vision to provide the best total music experience possible, the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic will be among the first devices to support Comes With Music, Nokia's groundbreaking service which offers one year of unlimited access to the entire Nokia Music Store catalogue.

When it comes to music phones, people all over the world want a device that is a great music experience - with more memory, loud and powerful speakers, easy synchronization - and must still work well as a mobile phone with direct access to important contacts and content. The Nokia 5800 XpressMusic delivers on all counts and allows consumers to access and share content.

"With the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, we set out to connect people through the one thing we all feel a universal connection to - music," said Jo Harlow, Vice President, Nokia. "The way in which people enjoy music is different around the world. With that in mind, the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic gives people the freedom to experience music they love in the way they prefer."

Nokia has a new Contacts bar and Media bar that gives you faster access to contacts and media (music, gallery, games, video center, and browser) on the device. While the iPhone touch screen is good, I like that Nokia supports both finger and stylus touch so you can use a stylus for text input or navigation if you like rather than the tip of your finger only. You can enter text in a four ways supporting finger and stylus methods, including via Handwriting Recognition with the stylus, via Full Screen QWERTY (landscape, finger or stylus), via virtual keyboard (portrait small QWERTY with a stylus) and virtual standard keypad (portrait, stylus or finger). The device also has haptics that cause a vibration when you touch it and I hear there are other cool things (like scroll bar movements) that can be felt and I really need to get my hands on one to experience it.

Nokia 5800 XpressMusic Specification

• Quad-band GSM with different versions supporting UMTS/HSDPA in various regions of the world.
• 3.2 inch, nHD 640×360 resolution touch screen display
• 802.11 b/g WiFi
• Integrated GPS receiver
• Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP support
• MicroUSB connector
• Stereo speakers
• 3.5mm headset jack
• 81MB internal memory with a microSD memory card slot (8GB card in the box)
• 3.2 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss and dual-LED flash.
• 1320 mAh battery
• Size:111×51.7×15.5 mm (4.37×2.04×0.61 inches)
• Weight: 109g (3.84 ounces)
• Talk time:Up to 9 hrs (WCDMA), 5 hours (GSM)
• Stand-by time:Up to 17 days (GSM/WCDMA)

Nokia takes on Apple's iTunes and iPhone

Nokia, the world's top mobile phone maker, will launch its free music package on Thursday, issuing a challenge to Apple's dominance of the digital music market.

The Finnish firm also launched its first touch-screen phone 5800 Xpressmusic to rival Apple's popular iPhone.

Nokia said at an analyst and media event in London it would start selling the phone shortly, pricing it at 279 euros ($395) excluding subsidies and taxes, which it said was roughly half the price of the other main touch-screen phones on the market.

The price means consumers on many large markets will get the phone for free from operators when signing up for contract.

"The price and positioning of the product may result in substantial demand and will undoubtedly put some pressure on Apple," said Ben Wood, research head at CCS Insight.

Nokia said all major music labels and most independent labels will offer their tracks as part of Nokia's 'free' music bundle "Comes with Music."

"Comes with Music" and similar products from other hardware vendors could help the music industry make up for falling CD sales and cut illegal downloads.

The battle for mobile music is increasingly crowded. Sony Ericsson launched its music package this month in Sweden, and South Korea's LG Electronics plans a service similar to Nokia's.

Nokia's package will differ from others on the market since users can keep all the music they have downloaded during a 12-month subscription period. Nokia said it will also offer 18-month package together with operators on some markets.

There are no charges for tracks downloaded as the cost is bundled to the phone price.
Analysts and music industry players said Nokia's offering could bring free music to millions of consumers and change the music industry significantly.

"Apple's days of dominant digital music retailer outside the United States are numbered, if they don't do anything radical," said Rob Wells, head of Universal's digital music business.

Apple controls slightly more than half of global digital music sales through its iTunes store.

"In a market where price and selection are so much more important than brand to consumers, Apple cannot count on retaining users when competing with an offering which seems free to the end user," Strategy Analytics' David MacQueen said in a research report.

The music download package is Nokia's first major push into the services business. Last year the company unveiled a revamp of its whole organization, aiming to build a new business from internet services to combat slowing growth in sales of handsets.

Nokia has acknowledged the impact Apple has made on the industry with its iPhone over the past year, saying the Cupertino, California-based computer and consumer electronics company had done the mobile phone industry "a big favor."

"We have a new, credible competitor in this business," Nokia Chief Executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo told the Churchill Club on Wednesday, a speakers' forum for Silicon Valley civic leaders.

"Of course we need to be able to respond to any competitor and we will."

Nokia will launch the package in Britain, the world's third largest music market. Carphone Warehouse, the exclusive UK retailer for the range, will start to sell the first model, Nokia 5310, for 130 pounds from October 16.

Analysts said the choice of a relatively cheap model was a clear indication Nokia was trying to win over consumers who often are not paying for music but getting it through file-sharing sites on the Internet.

"If you have access to everything, what's the need for pirated music?" said Universal's Rob Wells.

Nokia 1680 Only $14 in US, on T-Mobile

Two weeks ago, a rumor that Nokia 1680 would become available across the US first started making the rounds, allowing budget users to dream about this new and cheap phone. Now, the handset has been released by T-Mobile, for a price that is more than affordable – only 14 USD, with the signing of a contract agreement for two years.

In Such a price, users can't expect to receive too many features. The new 1680 does not even have FM radio, so its owners might get quickly bored of it. On the other hand, if you don't need FM radio, Music player and a good photo camera on your handset, Nokia 1680 is definitely a worthy candidate for the “perfect phone” title.

The Nokia 1680 is a simple candybar that doesn't look too nice, but neither too bad. The full list of specs packed by Nokia into the phone includes a tiny TFT display with 128 x 160 pixels and 65K colors, dual-band GSM connectivity (850 / 1900 MHz) with GPRS and EDGE, email, Instant Messaging (AOL, MSN, ICQ, Yahoo!), Web browser, a VGA camera and 35MB of internal memory. T-Mobile's Nokia 1680 also offers a handful of basic functions, like myFaves, address book, photo caller ID, calculator and calendar.

The new phone is small and lightweight, measuring 4.26 x 1.81 x 0.59 inches (108 x 46 x 15 millimeters) and weighing 2.6 ounces (74 grams). When it comes to battery life-time, Nokia 1680 is quite a good handset, as its 700 mAh Li-Ion battery is said to provide up to 4 hours of talk-time or up to 18 days of stand-by time.

US users interested in buying a Nokia 1680 can find the basic candybar on T-Mobile's official website or at its retail stores from across the North American country.

Samsung launched Innov8 mobile phone at Rs. 45,999 in India

Samsung Mobile on Wednesday launched its mobile entertainer, eight mega pixel camera phone, Samsung Innov8, designed for mobile photography and multimedia experience, in the Indian market.

"Samsung Innov8 is made for users who want to enjoy the best possible multimedia entertainment with their mobile", Dutt said. "With the 8-megapixel camera, pre-embedded 3D games, high speed data connections and much more, users can experience the true benefits of mobile entertainment".

Samsung Innov8 with GPS navigation, WiFi connectivity and 32 GB memory, among other features, Country Head, Samsung Mobile, Sunil Dutt, said here.

Officials said Innov8 offers a range of camera technologies, a surround-sound cinematic video experience, mobile internet browsing experience and mobile gaming capabilities.

The company said Innov8 uses the latest in imaging applications such as smile shot, blink shot and face recognition, so that the memorable moments can be stored in their best quality.

Officials said 1200mAh battery provides a long enough battery life to enjoy all the multimedia experience without worrying about limits on size and time. Innov8 comes with two famous games, Asphalt and FIFA 08.

The Price of Samsung Innov8 in the Indian market is Rs. 45,999.