Nokia 2730 Classic

Nokia has unveiled three new low cost 3G enabled phones
aimed at emerging markets. The new models announced are Nokia 2730 Classic, Nokia 2720 Fold and Nokia 7020.

All three phones are Internet-ready, and work with Nokia’s range of emerging market services such as Nokia Life Tools and Ovi Mail. Let’s now delve into the finer details of each of the devices.

The 2730 Classic is a classic candybar phone featuring a decent spec sheet. It comes packed with a 2-inch QVGA (320*240) display, a micro USB connector, 30MB of expandable memory and Bluetooth 2.0. The phone is 3G ready and supports EDGE as well. The camera is a 2 megapixel unit with 4x digital zoom. The phone also comes with a standard 3.5mm jack. The phone will be available in the second quarter of this year at a price of Rs. 5,300.

Nokia 2720 Fold

The Nokia 2720 Fold, as evident from the name, is a clamshell phone. This one will be slotted below the 2730 Classic. On the features front, this one sports a 1.8 inch display with a resolution of 128*160. It comes with 32MB of memory with no memory expansion capabilities, which I must say is unwarranted for. However, it does sport a 1.3 megapixel camera which should keep you happy. The 2720 is not 3G ready but supports EDGE. Bluetooth 2.0 support is present as well. This one is expected to make its debut in the fourth quarter of this year at an expected price of Rs. 3,600.

Nokia 7020

Lastly, we have the 7020 which again is a clamshell phone. This one however is feature packed as compared to the 2720. The 7020 sports a 2.2 inch, QVGA display. The phone comes with 45MB of internal memory with support for memory expansion. On the imaging front, there is a 2 megapixel camera thrown in as well. This is a Quad band GSM phone
with EDGE support. 3G however seems to be missing. Expect this one to grace your palms by the fourth quarter of this year at an approximate price tag of Rs. 6,000.

Here’s a slick bit of design for a multi-part Nokia E97 device, dubbed the Envelop for its ability to remove the screen from the main body. To what end? Well, one part of the image shows someone passing off the screen to someone else to transfer 4/8 GB of files through a small contact at the bottom-right. When plugged into a stand, the screen could also act as a photo album, or hey, maybe even a video viewer.

The holster even has a spot for a second screen! The keys reconfigure based on orientation, which is something we’re already starting to see in the real world. Removeable parts aren’t that foreign of an idea either – just look at the LG Versa. Neat idea overall, but the big question is: how long before we start seeing phones like this? A year? Three? Five?

This Nokia E97 NOKIA Envelop Concept Phone definitely looks slick but we’re not sure how practical it would actually be. The tear-off LCD screen component would definitely be fragile and a breakage hazard. Still, it looks bad-ass enough for us to wish that Nokia actually did think outside the box like this.

Designed by 23 year-old Paris student Fabien Nauroy, the Nokia E97 NOKIA Envelop Concept Phone is another concept we would love to see on the shelves but alas, we fear that it is never to be. Check out the specs and details of the handset below.

iPhone rumours continue to rumble on with the current clouds of tea leaves apparently signifying that iPhone nano is off the agenda, to be replaced by iPhone Senior and iPhone Junior. Which in turn have been replaced by iPhone 2.75G, and iPhone with front-facing camera. Surely iPhone teasmade is next?

The other big iPhone news has been the march towards 1 billion App Store downloads; something Apple heralded by releasing lists of the to-date top 20 paid and free apps.

All that activity could have reaching for your relaxation salts, or why not try iPhone’s Yoga Stretch application?

Of course, the competition has also been busy, although Nokia’s Q1 financial figures suggested it isn’t quite as busy as it’s been in the past. ‘Only’ 93.2 million handsets sold between January and March dotchyaknow. It’s still the biggest phone maker in the world.

The Nokia 5800 has been selling well however, and there are rumours it’s going to be getting a new higher quality capacitive screen.

As for Nokia’s software developers, they’re still coming up with new inventions such as the mobile, location-aware social networking app Friend View, and adhoc social mashup service Easy Meet. There’s also a new version of the Opera Mobile browser coming to Series 60 phones.

When it comes to Android, the big recent news has been the unveiling of the 1.5 version of the SDK (aka Cupcake), which when finally released will support video recording and YouTube uploading, software keyboards, stereo Bluetooth, better UI, smooth browsing and faster GPS location amongst other features.

Google also released improved mobile Gmail performance, although this was in-browser rather than supported within the Gmail Android app. Similarly, we were unsure about the thirdparty fBook app, finding it didn’t provide (m)any improvements compared to accessing the social network site through its official Facebook mobile version using your phone’s browser.

We do however like Shazam’s Android app, although the news BlackBerry users who want the full experience will have to pay a one-off fee was £5 seemed to confirm the view that the pricing model on the BB App World has yet to enter the real world.