Samsung SGH-U700 is acclaimed as the 'European Mobile Phone 2007-2008'

After Nokia, it was Samsung's turn to hit the podium and it did it in style by winning the 'European Mobile Phone 2007-2008'. Following are the excerpts from the speech given by Dr. David Steel (Vice President of Samsung’s Telecommunications Network Business): “I’m delighted and honoured to receive this award from EISA, an opinion leader in the European imaging and multimedia industry. This is important recognition of the progress that we have made in the European market and our mobile phones that have become very popular with European consumers. With the SGH-U700, Samsung will continue to deliver the best possible user experience in the most attractive design to satisfy mobile phone users in Europe.”

Here are some of the distinctions, which make Samsung SGH-U700 stand tall among others:

1.Yes, it is a glossy slider (symbolic with newly released Samsung phones), which supports 3G and HSDPA technology.
2.If everything goes well then this gadget can give you up to 3.5Mbps downloading speed (truly remarkable!).
3.For your viewing pleasure it offers a compatible 2.2'' 240x320 pixel display and don't forget to go snazzy with its 3 mega pixel camera.
4.Rest of the artillery is comprised of tri-band GSM, GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, Bluetooth and micro SD expandable memory slot.
5.How can you forget the web peculiarities. Yes, it comes with a compatible web browser and email client.

Like i mentioned in my last post, any award matters a lot and specially when you get it from experts. But, you might ask that obvious question that there are some other special handsets (good in looks and too good in features), so why this gadget is showered with momentarily limelight. You can think a lot about that, in my opinion other big players might have lagged behind because they could not come up with enticing gimmicks. That's enough for this post and Samsung would not mind to bask under this instant moment of glory.

Nokia readies for a perfect Twango

We have heard about Google buying href="http://youtube.com">YouTube and News Corp buying MySpace, and this time another giant to snap up another social networking site is Nokia. The largest manufacturer of mobile phones has acquired the picture sharing site Twango. While the market speculates if Nokia would really do the popular dance with its new acquisition; Nokia striking a confident smile have announced, “ The Twango acquisition is a concrete step towards our Internet services vision of providing seamless access to information, entertainment, and social networks – at anytime, anywhere, from any connected device, in any way that you choose.”

Hmm ... so much so, seems like it makes some sense after all. Nokia has till date sold over 140 million connected cameras, and would further want to ensure that the users enjoy all that mobile multimedia goodness as much as possible.

The platter of Twango indeed comes with desirable goodies. The service allows users to share, organise, and republish photos, videos and audio clips easily. Unlike the popular photo-sharing site Flickr, Twango also supports multiple media types (110 file types in total). Further, the Twango platform allows developers to create companion applications, connect with mobile devices, and integrate with other Web services.

If the near future has any radical change in store for social networking services, and if mobile phones increasingly become the primary tool for accessing and sharing them – its sure a clap clap to the futuristic vision of Nokia.

Nokia N95 won TIPA award 2007: Hip, Hip, Hurrah!

After a hurly-burly marketing campaign, Nokia hit the Bull's eye with the right outcome. By raking up tremendous sales records, Nokia perfectly achieved it's first objective and now it's time to get its share of appreciation. So, the Nokia N95 finally impressed the techno-community to won the prestigious TIPA (Technical Image Press Association) award as the “Best Mobile Imaging Device in Europe 2007.”

Every award matters and it gains more significance when you get it from the experts. Whether it would fortify Nokia's favourite notion about N-series (This is what computers have become!!) or raise the eyes of other big players (Samsung, Sony Ericsson and others), this is the right time to look at its major features:

1.Its camera artillery is loaded with a 5 megapixel camera and Carl Zeiss optics.

2.With its 2-way slide mechanism and dedicated media keys, you can easily access every desired function.

3.To get enough space, you can enhance its memory up to 2GB with microSD memory cards.

4.To optimise downloading speed, it supports HSDPA and LAN connectivity.

5.Acting as your perfect guide, it also comes with an inbuilt GPS system with various maps.

Now all these elements do add up for that unbeatable performance –so far, so good. Though, other major players are certainly not far behind and my follow up posts would dig out certain important details. Till then, it's Nokia N95 –all the way!

Apple iPhone: bugs all around

An opulent announcement followed by monstrous demand (just for the time being!) and now its on the firing line with security threats –God save the iPhone from all these frequent outbreaks! Seems like a gripping melodrama, but this mouth-watering fruit is bound to have all this. In my earlier post, i talked about those hot mimics (iPhone clones), which sometimes outshine the original character, but this time it's about the real hero –carrying all the burden of this chartbuster show. Earlier, the vulnerability of this device was theoretical, but not for so long. Vigilant hackers are right on the task and there is an apparent security glitch regarding the iPhone.

The way iPhone's browser works, it offers a safe passage for hackers to attack through a wireless access point or Web server. So far, this over-hyped affair is gone with serious bloopers, and now it is quite evident that some major security issues are being ignored (a big mistake!). An attacker can easily install codes to steal any of the important data from this phone. In more refined manner, a hacker can use a link sent through SMS or email to redirect the iPhone's browser by a man-in-the middle with that malicious code. The major goof-up lies in its controls, as the phone runs with full administrator privileges –offering a short-cut way for intruders.

With such a severe onslaught anything can be brought to sudden halt; and in a desperate manner, Apple Inc. released its three patches to counter these threats in its Mac OS X operating system with beta version of its Safari browser for windows.Though these are just the early days of iPhone, but it is right there in the eye of everyone. There are queries all over the place, as iphone owners are feeling the heat after all paying a hefty price for this gadget!

The next few days might make the picture more clear, till then everyone is forced to play the wait and watch game.

Sony Ericsson K790i: My girl friend's choice

Mobile blogs, especially on iPhones have over-flooded the Internet. Personally i am sick of reading about the hype and drawbacks of the same stuff. Let's talk something real and something interesting that is happening to me.

I am in a dilemma! You know wot, i bought a new smart phone for my girl-friend. She was very happy and impressed with my intelligent gift. But the brightness on her face faded away in a month. 'What's the reason?' i asked. And her answer was very childish, but for me it was too expensive. She said, 'dear, this phone is not nice, i want a camera phone'! I said okay, as i generally do and asked her to search a camera phone on the Internet.

After two days, she rang me up and said, 'hey i got the real choice, the Sony Ericsson K790i!'. Guess wot was my immediate reaction, i started searching the price of the handset on the Internet. It was too much, but as you know, “love is blind,” i made up my mind to buy the handset to bring back the smile of her face.

Its a Cyber shot 3.2 MP camera with music player, Bluetooth and all those hi-fi technology that neither i gonna understand nor she. But its for sure that she gonna take most of my shots from this phone. So i finally exhausted my salary for good reasons and bought the Sony Ericsson K790i (Cyber Shot). Now, my love life is going smoothly, wot about you guys?

Nokia opens its first design studio in India

Source: Internet Press Release


Underlining the growing importance of India as a global design capital, the Finnish mobile giant partners with Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology thus signaling the increasing impact the country is having on the development of mobile phones. The two year partnership one believes would give Nokia designers and India's talented young designers the opportunity to work together on new design ideas for India and the global markets.

Choosing India as its satellite design hot spot, Alastair Curtis, Nokia's Chief Designer, said "India is a dynamic and inspiring place for designers with its diverse mix of cultures, traditions and color. The new satellite studio will help us further develop our understanding of this vibrant country and to work more closely with its extremely talented designers. Reflecting India's status as one of the hottest countries for design right now I expect our work here to influence not only our thinking on new design trends and ideas for India, but also for many other markets around the world."

He further added, “The satellite studio will explore a range of design trends and themes including detailed research into color and material trends in India, mobile use of the internet in India and its implications for design, and examining innovative new features and uses for mobiles. Run by a compact, dedicated team of Nokia designers working with students at the Srishti School and established designers across India, it will also be a key destination for Nokia's global team to visit to share ideas and be inspired”.

And about the deal Ms. Geetha Narayanan, Founder & Director, Srishti said, "Nokia's investment reflects the growing importance of India's designers and the wealth of new talent being developed here. This studio gives the talent of tomorrow the opportunity to work with experienced Nokia designers from around the world. This exposure to world class designers in one of the fastest growing product category in the world will be a huge opportunity for the students in India".

The Bangalore satellite studio is part of Nokia's ongoing investment in design. Earlier this year the company established a new design studio for its design team at its Global headquarters in Espoo, Finland and plan to open a similar studio for its design team in London later this year. Globally, it has grown its design team with 50 new hires in the last year.

Nokia has 300 designers in its global team representing 34 different nationalities. The unique group includes designers, psychologists, researchers, anthropologists, engineers, and technology specialists, based in major cities around the world. They explore new materials, colors, and broader design trends, and collaborate with other leading designers, students, artists, and manufacturers to push the boundaries of design.

Mobile Gaming: Play as you go

Picture this... A 2D line that navigates within your mobile screen, 'eating' up dots on its way – this was one of the most popular mobile phone games found in the history of mobile games just a couple of years back. Another 2D game in high demand was 'Tetris' – where you have to arrange odd shaped blocks to form a 'Wall'.

Fast forward to the present, and you'll find mobile gaming is more than two dimensional visuals with occasional beeps.

Now check this out...










'Guitar Legend' by Gameloft – one of the latest mobile games sees you hitting keypad buttons to play big rock riffs. These includes Nirvana's 'Heart-Shaped Box', Iron Maiden's 'Run To The Hills', The Scorpions' 'Rock You Like A Hurricane' and the ever popular 'Smoke On The Water' by legendary British band Deep Purple. From Zombie-slaughtering action of 'Resident Evil' to 'Bikini Volleyball', from 'Pro Bowling' to 'World Championship Pool' – all kinds of 3D games are now available in your mobile phones. Whats more? Many of them looks and feels better in a mobile phone than in any portable gaming consoles.


We are way beyond making vague statements about the potential of mobile gaming market. Now we've got numbers to prove that (and mind you...numbers don't lie!). According to Gartner Inc report, the global mobile games market is on track to grow 49.9 percent in 2007 to $4.3 billion, and will hit $9.6 billion by 2011. No doubt, all major game programmer and designers are working overtime to create mobile versions of popular games traditionally designed to play in consoles and computers. Tomb Raider Legend and Burnout are fine example of successful mobile phone adaptation of popular video games. Square Enix recently showed off several Final Fantasy branded mobile games. Rumors about the launch of 3D mobile Metal Gear Solid game are also making frequent rounds.

After eating into the domains of digital cameras and music players, mobile phones are now barging into the gaming territory. I wonder who's next in the Hit list!