A few months back, I wrote about my phone and my intention of getting the SE w890. After testing the phone, I found that it was quite laggy. The browsing through the phone wasn’t smooth and SMS input was slow and at times unresponsive. I’m thankful that I didn’t rush myself into buying it.
Since then, I’ve stumbled onto a few new phones that have caught my eye. I’ll start in random order.
Nokia N97
- Nokia N97
I must say that this phone kicks ass. It has got basically everything one could ever ask for in a phone. It comes with wi-fi, GPS and a full slide-out qwerty keyboard. It uses Symbian OS (which is a very good thing). I’m not going to write a full review since there are many sites with those and I haven’t laid my hands on it yet. I am serious considering to wait for it BUT it’s hefty price tag might keep me away from it.
The ad shows the touch screen to be very responsive and has smooth transitions but it might go down to a hint of camera magic. It was said to be out in stores somewhere in May in the US & UK and according to the few Nokia stores I’ve asked in KL, I was told it’ll be out in October this year. They couldn’t give me a price range but I’m predicting this to be in the range of RM2,800-RM3,200. Why? Because the world loves milking every drop from Asia.
Blackberry Storm
- Blackberry Storm
My friend’s sister sells Blackberry phones in Indonesia and during my last visit there, she tried selling it to me for 6,000,000 rupiah ($600). I would have bought it if I had that much cash on me. I was short $300. It looks cool although it’s a bit on the bulky side AND I heard blackberry phones can’t install 3rd party applications. It comes as is. Well, that’s what a friend told me but I do recall seeing her phone with some programs that wouldn’t look like they were stock software for example her icons which she changed to mimic that of the iPhone.
Speaking of which; why is it that every time a new phone comes out, reviewers always try to compare it to the iPhone and try to judge whether or not that phone will be an ‘iPhone-killer’? What’s the point? No doubt the iPhone 3G is a fantastic piece of electronics BUT it does has it’s flaws. It comes with an in-built battery. It doesn’t have a physical keypad. It has to be bought with a plan from a specific telco. You can always choose to get one then crack it but why should we subject ourselves to the hassle?
I love the iPhone but I would have no hesitation to get something else.
Blackberry Pearl Flip
BlackBerry Pearl Flip
This beauty caught my eye from the first moment I saw it. I have a phone fetish for clam shell phones. A friend keeps telling me that he feels clam shell phones look feminine and were designed for women. What does he know? He likes candy bars.
The Blackberry Pearl Flip is pretty and comes with a qwerty keypad like all Blackberry phones. Although it doesn’t pack an amazing camera, that doesn’t really bother me. What does bother me is the standard Blackberry roller which replaces the standard navigation square most phones have. It is harder to move around on the Pearl Flip because there isn’t a pointer that shows the movement like other Blackberries. It just scrolls around the available tabs on screen. Not easy to navigate and takes a lot of getting used to. The ultimate reason why I didn’t get it.
Concept Phones
There are a few concept phones that I’ve seen but there are only 2 that have caught my eye. The Nokia 888 & the BenQ Siemens Black Box. I just want to remind everybody that these are just concept phones and are not actually in production OR in any phase of planning. It’s simply concepts that people have envision for future phones.
- Nokia 888
The Nokia 888 looks so cool. It would have the ability to mold itself into any shape depending on the situation. You can strap it on you wrist or bend it to clamp onto your pocket. The hindsight might be the way messages are read because it was shown to have the text scrolling. Not an effective way of reading your messages and also it’ll be hard to maintain privacy. I have no idea where the speakers will be but all-in-all it’s still a fantastic idea and hopefully with a few tweaks, it might still hit the markets before humanity has discovered warp drive using anti-matter.
- BenQ Siemens Black Box
The BenQ Siemens Black Box is simplistic but still very futuristic. Basically a box that is fully touch screen and changes it’s screen options depending on the usage; a phone mode would have its keypad, video mode (if any) would transform the whole thing into a viewer. It doesn’t sound so new as most phones (Nokia 5800, iPhone) have similar basis of operations. The phone will give flexibility to the owner whereby the front screen can be customed. Sounds a lot like the N97 and movable widgets. The difference that the Siemens Black Box would have is that it is…. a black box.
Filed under: Things That Tick | Tagged: benq siemens black box, blackberry pearl flip, blackberry storm, concept phones, nokia 888, nokia n97
Amazing! Not clear for me, how offen you updating your supermonkey.wordpress.com.
Elcoj
wat you think of nokia e72 and e75
I’ll get back to you on Thursday. My prepaid internet in Nepal is almost finished but I’ll be in Bangkok with free wifi tmr. So, I’ll see and get back to you. Watch this space.
ok, I’ve seen the reviews on both phones and they don’t strike me as anything new or different that what is already in the market both in terms of design or functionality. The E75 might have an edge on other like-for-like phones because it uses Symbian OS, of which I am a fan. Like I have been preaching, just stay away from Windows Mobile!