Nokia introduces attractive X6 touchscreen smartphone featuring Comes With Music

Today at Nokia World in Stuttgart, Germany, Nokia introduced the X6, a Comes with Music touchscreen entertainment-driven smartphone. The X6 is a slim and attractive device that manages to fit a lot of features into its thin 14mm-thick form factor.

The X6, one of Nokia's new X Series devices, includes a 3.2-inch touchscreen display with scratch resistant glass that should show off its customized S60 5th Edition user interface. Nokia Contacts Bar is accessible from the home screen for easy access to the people you communicate with most. The device also includes easy access to social networks like Facebook. An aGPS(INFO) chipset is built in for use with Nokia's Ovi Maps and to provide location-based information.

Music lovers should appreciate the phone's 32GB of storage capacity and battery longevity of 35 hours of music playback or 16 days standby. Users can also listen to their music with Bluetooth headsets and stereo headphones. The X6 has a 5.0 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics and a dual-LED flash, and the phone include video editing software, as well. Share photos and video online or use the X6's TV-out port to view your favorite multimedia in the living room.

As a Comes with Music device, users will have unlimited access to millions of music tracks that they are able to keep when the initial subscription is up.

The Nokia X6 is a tri-band UMTS 3G device that will support either the 850, 1900, and 2100MHz bands, or the 900, 1900, and 2100MHz network bands - depending on the configuration. All versions are quad-band GSM. The Nokia X6 is expected to ship in the fourth quarter for EUR 459 (US$652).

Nokia announces N97 mini full-QWERTY slider smartphone featuring Lifecasting with Ovi

Nokia has announced the N97 mini, a compact touchscreen handset that is a smaller version of its flagship N97 smartphone. The manufacturer unveiled the S60 5th Edition-powered phone at Nokia World in Germany this morning. Despite its size, the small device still maximizes its display potential with a 3.2-inch, 640 x 360 pixel resolution resistive touchscreen display and manages to include a full-QWERTY sliding keyboard.

The N97 mini features quad-band GSM (850/900/1800/1900MHz) and support for UMTS in two different tri-band configurations(850/1900/2100MHz and 900/1900/2100MHz) with HSDPA for high-speed connectivity. WiFi connectivity should also provide snappy access to the Internet when's there's no 3G to be found. With a full HTML web browser that includes Flash Lite for rich web media, users should have plenty of places to go on the net, too.

Users can listen to their own music collection or tune into radio stations since the device has FM RDS Radio support. A 5.0 megapixel autofocus camera with Carl Zeiss Optics and geotagging capability provided by an aGPS chipset could be great for users looking to share photos with friends and family while out and about. Users can stash their music, photos, and video on 8GB of internal memory. Additionally, the device has support for microSD cards for storage expansion.

The N97 mini includes several new software improvements like home screen widgets and it is the first device to include Lifecasting with Ovi, a social networking tool that is integrated with Facebook, thanks to a partnership that the companies announced today.

The Nokia N97 mini will be available in October for EUR 450 (US$639) before taxes and subsidies.

Nokia X3

Today Nokia introduced the X3, an affordable new feature phone debuting as part of Nokia's new line of X Series handsets. This S40 6th Edition device includes tri-band GSM connectivity, a 3.2 megapixel camera with video recording, and a full-featured HTML browser with Flash Lite 3.0. Most notably, the device includes Comes With Music, Nokia's unlimited music service that lets users keep tracks they download even after their subscription is over.

Users who appreciate music could find the Stereo FM RDS Radio useful when they are not listening to their own collection of tunes that can be stored on external microSD(INFO) cards. The X3 features a standard 3.5mm audio headphone port and Bluetooth 2.1 with +EDR and A2DP for use with headsets and stereo headphones. The device even includes dedicated music controls to easily change tracks and adjust volume.

The X3 will be available in two tri-band GSM configurations: 850/1800/1900MHz and 900/1800/1900MHz. It weighs 103g (3.6oz) and measures 96mm x 49.3mm x 14.1mm (3.8in x 1.9in x .6in) in size. The Nokia X3 will be available in the fourth quarter for EUR 115 (US$163) before taxes and subsidies.

Sony Ericsson C905 Cyber-shot Unveiled

Today Sony Ericsson released the first ever Cyber-shot cameraphone to make use of the slider form factor. The new C905 Cyber-shot sports a high-end 8.1 megapixel camera with all of the goodies. Not only does it have autofocus, naturally, it also comes complete with face detection, image stabilization, red-eye reduction, a flash, and Sony Ericsson's BestPic and Smart Contrast support. It even has a separate Xenon flash for photos and an LED assist light for videos.

Of course, what high-end cell phone today would be complete without both GPS and aGPS built-in, with which to geo-tag the phone's photos? The C905 has that as well as software to handle picture and video blogging directly from the phone. The C905 supports an optional TV-out cable and can also broadcast over WiFi to a DLNA compatible television set.

Other features of note on the C905 include Microsoft Exchange Activesync support, video calling with its secondary camera, and full music support - including A2DP Bluetooth stereo, an FM radio, and the ability to play MP3 and AAC music files. The C905's 2.4", QVGA resolution display can show up to 262k colors and has an auto-rotate feature, and the phone ships with a 2GB M2 memory card to fit into its expansion slot.

The Sony Ericsson C905 measures up at 104mm x 49mm x 18mm (4.1" x 1.9" x .7") in size and weighs 136g (4.8oz). Sony Ericsson expects the C905 to be capable of 9 hours of GSM talk time or 4 hours of UMTS 3G talk time, and up to 15 days of standby time. It will be available in 3 configurations, all of them supporting at least quad-band GSM. The regular C905 will also support 2100MHz UMTS/HSDPA, the C905a will support 850/1900/2100MHz UMTS/HSDPA for the Americas, and the C905c will be just quad-band GSM for China. It is expected to reach retail shelves in Q4 of this year.

Specifications for the Sony Ericsson C905 Cyber-shot
Band GSM 850/900/1800/1900MHz
UMTS 2100MHz (C905) or UMTS 850/1900/2100Mhz (C905a)
Data GPRS/EDGE/WCDMA/HSDPA/WiFi
Size 104mm x 49mm x 18mm (4.1" x 1.9" x 0.7")
Weight 136g (4.8oz)
Battery Life Estimated 15.8 days standby time
Estimated 9 hours talk time
Main Display 2.4" 262k color QVGA TFT, 240x320 pixel resolution
Camera 8.1 megapixel with autofocus and Xenon flash
Video Record/Playback
Messaging SMS/MMS/IM
Email POP3/IMAP/SMTP
Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP
Memory 160MB internal with Memory Stick Micro (M2) card slot
Availability Q4, 2008 (manufacturer's estimate)
Other Speakerphone, FM radio, Built-in GPS receiver