smartphones

Nokia, the world's largest maker of cell phones, on Wednesday announced new phones loaded with more music features and better integration with Facebook, as well as pricing for its upcoming Netbook.

The company announced the new phones and services at its Nokia World Conference in Stuttgart, Germany.

Tops on the list of new phones is the N97 Mini, a slightly smaller version of Nokia's existing flagship N97 smartphone. This new, smaller N97 has a shorter battery life than the earlier device and also less memory (8GB compared to 32GB), and a smaller touch-screen display. The device is expected to ship in October. Its list price at 450 euros, or about $639, is not much less than that of the full-fledged N97, which initially went on sale in the U.S. for $700.

The new N97 Mini also will have Nokia's Comes With Music service integrated. This service increases the cost of the device, but provides users with a free download music service. And the device will be the first Nokia phone to have tighter integration with the popular social networking site Facebook. Nokia has struck a deal with Facebook to let users update their location and status directly to the Web site through a Nokia Ovi account.

Nokia plans to offer the Facebook integration on other phones as well.

The handset maker also announced two new music phones: the X6 and the X3. The X6, which has a touch screen and 32GB of built-in memory, will be Nokia's new flagship music phone.… Read more

Nokia World 2009 began on Wednesday in Stuttgart, Germany, and to kick things off, the Finnish cell phone manufacturer introduced several new handsets, including the Nokia N97 mini.

As the little brother to the Nokia N97, the smartphone actually isn't all that much smaller than the N97. The mini measures 4.4 inches tall by 2 inches wide by 0.5 inch thick (compared to the N97's 4.6 inches by 2.1 inches by 0.6 inch) and features a 3.2-inch tilting touch screen. It still offers a full slide-out QWERTY keyboard sans the directional keypad, … Read more

If you need a GPS device to get around, it's becoming more likely you'll get yourself a mobile phone with built-in satellite mapping than buy a standalone personal navigation device.

According to market research firm iSuppli, by 2011, virtually all smartphones will sport built-in GPS functionality, and by 2014 there might be no more market left for PNDs.

While this is a grand statement, it's quite credible. Just a year or two ago, it was hard to find a phone with built-in GPS functionality that actually worked reliably. Now look at my iPhone 3GS. I have all … Read more

Joining T-Mobile, Sprint, and Verizon Wireless, Alltel announced on Tuesday that it is now offering the HTC Snap for $79.99 with a one-year contract and after a $70 mail-in rebate.

The Windows Mobile 6.1 device is geared for messaging fanatics with its full QWERTY keyboard and we're happy to see that HTC's Inner Circle feature is included in this model, which lets you prioritize e-mails with a press of a button. In addition, the Snap offers world-roaming capabilities, EV-DO Rev. A support, Bluetooth, and a 2-megapixel camera.

While Verizon offers the HTC Ozone, the Snap is … Read more

Start saving your pennies, Sprint customers. The carrier announced on Monday that it will finally release the HTC Touch Pro2 on September 8 through its Web site and telesales, but like the T-Mobile model, it'll cost you a hefty $349.99 with a two-year contract and after a $100 rebate.

The Windows Mobile 6.1 smartphone does offer a couple of advantages over the carrier's other smartphones, however, including the Palm Pre and RIM BlackBerry Tour. For one thing, it has world-roaming capabilities in addition to a brilliant 3.6-inch, WVGA, tilting touch screen.

Plus, the Touch Pro2 … Read more

Verizon Wireless is offering a buy-one, get-one-free deal on its BlackBerry selection and has lowered the price of the RIM BlackBerry Storm even further to $49.99 (with a two-year contract and an instant rebate).

This is the second price drop for the Storm (first was from $199.99 to $149.99), leading many to believe that the carrier is clearing out inventory to make room for the RIM BlackBerry Storm 2. While RIM has confirmed only that it is working on the device, it has not commented on a release date, pricing, or final specs.

Rumor has it, however, … Read more

The gang is back together once again and it looks like our couple weeks of calm is about to be over. Motorola has announced a September 10 event here in San Francisco to reveal its new Android products, and we think we have a pretty good idea of what we might see. Also, Nicole gives the coveted Editors' Choice Award to another Plantronics headset and Kent is on a mission to beat up the Sonim XP3 Quest. Check it all out on this week's episode of Dialed In.

Rumor … Read more

On Tuesday, Nokia unveiled its latest touch-screen smartphone, the Nokia 5230. Similar to the Nokia 5800 Xpress Music, the 5230 offers a 3.2-inch touch screen and focuses heavily on entertainment, but forgoes a couple of features to make the handset a little more wallet-friendly and accessible to more consumers.

To keep the price down, the 5230 loses Wi-Fi connectivity and downgrades to a 2-megapixel camera instead of 3.2 megapixels, but you still get support for North American 3G bands (850/1900MHz), Bluetooth, and A-GPS. The S60 5th Edition device also offers entertainment on the go, whether it be … Read more

Well, well, look what just arrived in my inbox. Motorola has sent out Save the Dates for a September 10 event here in San Francisco focusing on Google Android. The invite provides little details about the event but one can only presume (or hope) that the company will reveal its Android devices, which are rumored to be the Morrison and Sholes.

Earlier this summer, Motorola announced the App Accelerator Program and Motodev Studio for Android Beta for Android developers. As part of the Accelerator Program, select developers were given tools, specs, and exclusive prerelease access to Motorola's upcoming devices … Read more