77 million Symbian mobile phones were sold in 2007. That figure should be vastly increased over the next few months, as two phones will be taking it to new heights: the Nokia 5800 Xpress, and the mind-blowing Nokia N96.
Nokia and Symbian – long-time bedfellows
In truth, Nokia have a long history of using Symbian in their mobile phones, going all the way back, in fact, to their first camera phone, the 7650 (a huge beastie of a thing it was, too!). Some of the most powerful Nokia mobile phones ever made have run on Symbian, quite often using the patented Series 60 interface. In fact, it’s fair to say that Series 60 is the most important version of Symbian, since it’s the one that powers Nokia’s top of the range mobile phones: the prestigious, world-renowned Nseries. To this day, Nseries mobile phones have a reputation for being world-beaters, including probably the most well-known of them all, the N95.
Well, now, the Nokia N95 has evolved into a new form: the sleek, smart Nokia N96.
Nokia N96 – the ultimate Nseries phone
The Nokia N96 really is the next evolution of the N95, since you get the same high-end feature-set (but with loads more bits added on), but in a sleek new body. In fact, the body of the Nokia N96 is reminiscent of another one of the earlier Nseries mobile phones: the N81. The similarities are striking, so much so that you could put down the Nokia N96 and N81 next to each other, and not tell which one’s which. Not that that’s a bad thing, since the N81 looked nice, and so does the Nokia N96. Certainly one of the prettier mobile phones on the market, and the Nokia N96 backs all that up with raw power. A 5 megapixel camera… GPS… HSDPA… 16GB of memory… and the big feature, multimedia. You see, the Nokia N96 is the king of mobile phones when it comes to media, especially video. It even includes BBC iPlayer (can’t say that about many mobile phones!), and a little kickstand-type thing, to keep the Nokia N96 upright while you’re watching videos!
Nokia 5800 Xpress – the future of Symbian?
Meanwhile, another offshoot of Symbian has appeared on mobile phones. Well… on one mobile phone so far, the Nokia 5800 Xpress. It’s important for 1 reason: it’s made for touchscreen mobile phones, which is exactly what the Nokia 5800 is. Ok, granted, the Nokia 5800 Xpress might not be their first touchscreen phone, but it IS their best, with 3 megapixel camera, HSDPA, GPS and that all important touchscreen, with the brand new Symbian interface, not seen on any previous mobile phones. It’s fair to say Symbian is alive and well, and evolving still. With the Nokia N96 this Christmas, and the Nokia 5800 Xpress all set to wow us in the first months of next year, Symbian mobile phones are definitely on the up and up!
Expert on mobile phones, having worked in the industry for over 7 years.
The world of touchscreen mobile phones is starting to get exciting, as the biggest name in the industry has waded in with not one, but TWO mobile phones: the sleek Nokia 5800 and the completely mind-blowing Nokia N97.
Phones we’d rather forget – Nokia touchscreen mobile phones in the past
A lot of people are under the incorrect impression that the Nokia 5800 is the first touchscreen phone to wear the Nokia label. It’s not. Actually, there’s been a few touchy-feely phones to wear the Nokia brand. Beginning with the 7700, the world has seen a few Nokia mobile phones that work by touch. They all had reasonably big (for their time) screens, but the other feature they had in common, unfortunately, was that they were unbearably hideous. Only one of these devices, the 6708, displayed any promise, but it was made only for the Chinese market, and so, it never saw the light of day in these sceptred isles. The mobile phones WE got were, and I use this phrase with much feeling, total, and complete toss.
However, those unpleasant mental images have all been removed by the announcement of two new Nokia mobile phones, both of which have touchscreens, and both of which are much, much nicer…
Nokia 5800 – touching music
The first phone on the list is a totally new member of Nokia’s Xpress family of music mobile phones, the mouth-watering Nokia 5800. This one’s pretty obviously built for music and video; you can tell by the dedicated XpressMedia touch-key which opens a list of shortcuts to music, videos, the web, and so on. Oh, and the Nokia 5800 has a 3.2 inch touchscreen, to let you muck about with those different media files. Basically, the Nokia 5800 was created as a teeny handheld jukebox and movie player, and as music phones go, this is easily one of the prettiest. The Nokia 5800 also comes with a 3 megapixel camera, HSDPA internet connection and GPS, so that it’s a wonderful all-round mobile phone, on top of being a wonderful media gadget. Oh, and it has a strap to fasten on an imitation guitar pick. That rocks.
Despite all those features, the Nokia 5800 is very definitely a mid-range phone; it’s not, nor will it ever be, an absolute top-ender. That position goes to a different mobile…
Nokia N97 – the single best phone EVER made?
With the Nokia 5800 all set to bring touchscreen mobile phones to the mid-range market, that leaves a huge, yawning gap at the very top-end, and yes, there IS a touchscreen mobile phone on its way to take its place as the top-end powerhouse: the genuinely mind-blowing Nokia N97. This uses the same Symbian S60 Touch interface and crams it into the body of a proper, full-on smartphone. So it’s got an even more huge, 3.5 inch screen, a slide out QWERTY keypad, and the camera’s been upgraded to 5 megapixels. The Nokia N97 is, as should be glaringly obvious, destined to be the new flagship Nseries mobile phone, and it’s genuinely as hyper-powered as the rumours had us believe, with HSDPA, GPS, digital compass, and built-in Flash, so that you get an internet experience that tops any other mobile phones! Put it like this: the Nokia N97 is awesome. It easily outdoes other mobile phones and as the Nokia 5800 angles firmly for the mid-range, I reckon that the Nokia N97 will totally DOMINATE the world in 2009!
Expert on mobile phones, having worked in the industry for over 7 years.