Nokia Launches Nokia Listings

Nokia has launched Nokia Listings in India. Nokia Listings is a local marketplace on mobile where users can discover and transact with other users using a simple mobile client interface. The client is intended for the average emerging market user on a mid-end (Series 40) phone. So it works via SMS if GPRS is not enabled on the device.



This beta version of the service is available for India with India content. The client will work in other geographies over HTTP but not all features may be functional.

Features

• The product supports listings for “Jobs”, “Buy and Sell” and "Local Services" as described below:
• Jobs: As an employer, you can post jobs and review candidates who have applied for the job. As a job seeker you can search for jobs by category, location and salary, and apply.
• Buy and Sell: You can search and post items (mobile phones, bikes, etc) that you are looking to buy or sell. You can contact seller or buyer by calling or by sending an SMS.
• Local Services: You can search for service providers like plumbers, architects, lawyers, etc in your locality. As a local service provider, you can list on the marketplace and be found by potential customers.
• There are no fees for using the service except SMS and data charges from your operator.

Availabiity and Compatibility

At present the service is available for India. They currently have listings data for Bangalore (India) in the categories of Jobs, Mobile Phones, Autos and Local Services. However you can create listings in all the available categories. They will add more listings content over the next few months. Their goal is to create a vibrant community of buyers, seller, local businesses, employers, and job seekers on this marketplace.

The client works on recent Series 40 phones. This would include devices such as: Nokia 2700 Classic, 2730 Classic, 3120 Classic, Nokia 5130 XpressMusic, 5310 XpressMusic, Nokia 5330 Xpressmusic, Nokia 5610, Nokia 6300i, Nokia 6303, Nokia X3, Nokia C3, etc. The client will work on non-touch S60 phones like E63, E71, E72, etc with but the experience may be sub-optimal on some of these devices. If you encounter problems with your device contact Nokia.

Apple iPad vs Everything else (read before you thought to buy IPAD)

The Apple iPad will open for pre-order! Are you ready and waiting? Well, we'd recommend reading our Apple iPad vs Everything comparison, where we compare it to 4 other soon-to-be-released devices, so that you can well and truly make up your mind by seeing the most information at hand.

We compared the Apple iPad with the Dell Streak, Notion Ink Adam, Fusion Garage JooJoo, and HP Slate. See for yourself which device will be best suited to your needs and desires. Let us know what you think!

	Apple iPad	Notion Ink Adam	HP Slate	Dell Streak	Fusion Garage JooJoo
Image
Screen	9.7” IPS LCD [1024x768]	10” Transreflective LCD PixelQi [1024x600]	10” LCD	5” LCD WVGA [800x480]	12.1” LCD [1366x768]
Touch	Yes, capacitive, multi-touch	Yes, capacitive, multi-touch	Yes, capacitive, multi-touch	Yes, capacitive, multi-touch	Yes, capacitive, multi-touch
OS	iPhone OS 3.2	Android, Ubuntu, Chromium	Windows 7	Android 2.1	Windows 7
Processor	Apple A4 1 GHz processor	ARM-Cortex A9 dual-core 1 GHz with nVidia Tegra	Intel Z540 Atom 1.86 GHz (not confirmed)	Qualcomm Snapdragon 1 GHz	Intel Atom N270 1.6 Ghz with nVidia Ion
Browser	Safari	Firefox, Chrome	not known	not known	Web-kit based
Output	VGA, 30-pin docking connector to USB	HDMI, 3x USB	USB 2.0	30-pin docking connector to USB	HDMI, USB 2.0
Video Out	720p	1080p	not known	720p	1080p
Camera	No	Yes, 3MP autofocus	Yes, webcam	Yes, 5 MP autofocus & flash, webcam	Yes, webcam
Battery Life	10 hours	16 hours, 160 hours in backlight-off mode	not known	not known	5 hours
Keyboard	Onscreen + optional docking keyboard	Onscreen	Onscreen	Onscreen	Onscreen
Wireless	Wi-Fi, 3G (HSDPA/GSM), Bluetooth + EDR wireless technology	Wi-Fi, 3G (HSDPA/GSM), Bluetooth	not known	Wi-Fi, 3G (HSDPA/GSM), Bluetooth	Wi-Fi, Bluetooth + EDR wireless technology, 3G (rumoured)
Multitasking	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Weight	680 grams	772 grams	not known	230 grams	1090 grams
Flash Support	No	Yes , 10.1	Yes, 10.1	Yes, 10.1	Yes, 10.1
Expandable Storage	No. Optional SD dongle	Yes, SD Card	not known	Yes, SD Card	Yes, SD Card
Other	Accelerometer, ambient light sensor, digital compass, AGPS (WiFi+3G model)	Ambient light sensor, AGPS, RF, proximity sensor, accelerometer	not known	WCDMA Radio, GPS	not known
Price	$499	$327-800	$800 (rumoured)	$600-1000 (rumoured)	$499
Availability	April 8th pre-order March 12th	June/July	Holiday 2010 tentative	Q2 2010 tentative	March 25th pre-order open

Huawei to Launch World' s First HSPA+ Android Smartphone!

Huawei, a leader in providing next-generation telecommunications network solutions for operators around the world, today showcased the world’s first HSPA+ smartphone powered by Android at the GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The U8800 smartphone will be commercially available in the third quarter of 2010, and able to support high-speed Internet access, which is faster than existing 3G smartphones.

The U8800 uses the Android 2.1 operating system, and integrates HSPA+ capabilities to support downlink speeds of up to 14 Mb/s. This speed allows users to download a 400Mb feature-length movie within thirty seconds. The smartphone will feature a 3.8-inch wide screen, providing users with a broader field of vision and allowing them to take full advantage of a multitude of features and Internet applications.

Kevin Tao, CEO, Huawei Device, said: "The customized Android smartphones reflect our long-term investment to develop high-end devices which enable operators to deliver enhanced and differentiated mobile services. Android being open to third party programs means that operators can add a number of various applications to the phone. The U8800 enables operators to provide tailor-made, stylish and affordable smartphones to their subscribers.”

U8800

Huawei also showcased three additional Android-powered devices at the conference.

U8300

Aimed at the youth market, it incorporates popular social networking tools such as Facebook and Twitter, a Qwerty keypad, and is ergonomically designed to ensure that hours of chatting online can be done in comfort. The U8300 is available in three bright colors: green, yellow and purple.

U8100/U8110

Entry-level smartphones, these two handsets have 2.8-inch wide QVGA touchscreens and a dual camera with 0.3 mega pixels in the front and 3.2 mega pixels in the back. Through WiFi and bluetooth, users can easily access the Internet and transmit data to each other. These two smartphones will be launched in Europe in the second quarter of 2010.

SmaKit S7

The SmaKit S7 has a 7-inch wide screen with a resolution of 800 x 480. It supports information-sharing across screens to present the same content simultaneously on computers, mobile phones and TV screens. The SmaKit S7 tablet allows users to easily access local information, visit social networking websites and shop from online application stores. To provide end-users with an integrated home solution, Smakit S7 can be connected to home gateway, TV or Android handsets.

Windows Phone Kin One and Kin Two

Microsoft Kin One and Kin Two phones are now available.The Kin One packs a 2.6″ QVGA touchscreen, GPS, 3G, Wi-Fi, a 5 megapixel camera with flash, and 4 GB of internal storage, while the Kin Two kicks things up a notch with an HVGA display, 8 megapixel camera, and 8 GB of storage. A cloud service is available on both that backs up and shares your pictures instantly, which is especially great since it will keep the full-sized pictures off your phone, so you’ll have plenty of room to play around with. If you have a Zune Pass, you can get access to your tunes on the Kin handsets as well – likely the first of much future integration in Windows Phone 7. The two main distinctionctive features of the Windows Phone-based OS is The Loop, a home screen which shows a slightly-delayed look at your friends’ updates on various social networkers, and The Spot, which is the little green thing at the bottom that lets you quickly and easily share a variety of content. Check out Kin One and Kin Two hands-on videos for a closer look at the custom social networking-focussed operating system.

Sharp Microsoft KIN One

Key Features

• 
  GPS support
• 
  5.0MP Camera
• 
  2.0
• 
  WiFi support

The Microsoft KIN One is the smaller, lower-end of the two new KIN phones released by Microsoft. They are made by Sharp and are aimed at "sociologist" consumers that don't need smartphone functionality, but want powerful features to keep their friends updated on all their activities and status updates. The KIN One has a 5-megapixel camera, GPS, QWERTY keyboard.

Sharp Microsoft KIN Two

Key Features

• 
  GPS support
• 
  QWERTY Keyboard
• 
  8.0MP Camera
• 
  2.0
• 
  WiFi support

The Microsoft KIN Two is the larger of the two KIN phones. It has a slide-out QWERTY keyboard with keys that are reminiscent of the Hiptop/Sidekick keyboard. It sports a large capacitive touchscreen display (480 x 320), an 8-megapixel camera with LED flash, 3.5mm headphone jack and an FM radio. The Loop homescreen draws status updates from your friends and news from your feeds. You can use the Spot feature to easily share content with your friends and social networks.

The KIN Two is basically a feature-phone with smartphone-like functionality. Unfortunately, it's missing a calendar feature and doesn't support any app store.

BlackBerry BlackPad (Cobalt) Tablet Due November?

Two “people familiar with the company’s plans” say RIM’s planning to launch their BlackBerry tablet, recently outed as the BlackPad, in November 2010. Previous estimates put a release in that ballpark, so it seems likely enough. The source also confirms the initial speculation that the device would connect to a BlackBerry smartphone via Bluetooth for a mobile internet connection, but can otherwise cruise on Wi-Fi. No update on the size, but we’re still waffling between 8.9″ and 7″. I’m still not sold on the BlackPad name (which the source also confirms), but maybe it’ll grow on me.

So RIM’s really going ahead with a smartphone companion, eh? If Apple more or less has the tablet multimedia and apps business locked-down with the iPad, what kind of counterpoint will BlackBerry offer? Outstanding native document viewing would be a nice bone to throw the suits, and video conferencing capabilities could let RIM piggyback on the attention FaceTime is earning the technology, while providing it in a form factor that Apple doesn’t. If RIM wanted to throw some punches in multimedia, some DLNA connectivity or an HDMI-out port would give BlackBerry some fightin’ juice, and word has it the thing will support Flash for some decent web browsing. I’m curious to see if they’ll use SurePress, or maybe let you input text via BlackBerry.

Competition on the tablet front is quickly growing – Samsung’s Tab will be championing Android in the tablet arena, while HP polishes off the Slate and moves forward with putting webOS onto a tablet, and of course Apple’s iPad only becomes more entrenched by the day.

AMOLED shortage could hinder Android supplies

Android is activating more than 160,000 handsets a day and it seems to have a ton of momentum. The success may get tripped up by shortages of AMOLED screens, though.

The AMOLED screens are used on many Android devices like the Google Nexus One and it offers (relatively) low power consumption and crisp viewing. There’s a big demand for these AMOLED screens though but only Samsung and LG Electronics can supply these types of screens in high numbers.

“Starting with the Nexus One introduced in January, Android-based smart phones have aggressively adopted high-quality AMOLED displays as a competitive differentiator against the advanced-technology AMLCD screen used in the iPhone,” iSuppli principal analyst Vinita Jakhanwal told TG Daily. ?”However, rising demand – combined with a limited supply base – has led to the constrained availability of AMOLEDs.”

We’ve already seen this component squeeze impact Android handsets, as the swell Droid Incredible has been hit with multiple delays, probably due to the lack of AMOLED screens.

The Droid Incredible was flying off the shelves when it was released but Verizon hasn’t been able to keep up with demand. If you try and order it online today, you won’t be able to get it for almost a month. I don’t care how good your phone or operating system is, a month is just way too long to wait considering how good the competition is.

This issue may be alleviated in the near future though, as both Samsung and LG are investing boatloads of money in new plants that can pump out AMOLED screens but these aren’t expected to be ready until next year at the earliest.

To further complicate the matter, Samsung is making a big push with its Super AMOLED displays on its Android-powered Galaxy S lineup. The company is keeping this technology exclusive for a short term and I can’t blame them – these things are gorgeous and vibrant.

Nokia: What do you think of these renders? Should we build your dream phone?

Nokia has this “Design by Community” thing going on that’s basically a hook to lure people to the Nokia Conversations blog and tell the company what they really want in future devices. Think of it as a focus group, except no one gets paid, and the sample size is huge.

Problem is the people who usually fill out online surveys relating to anything in the technology industry are fanbois for lack of a better word. So what did these foaming from the mouth technology addicts decide they want? A mobile phone with a 4 inch screen, 8 megapixel camera with Xenon flash, as well as a dual LED for use when recording HD video, an aluminum soft touch body, HDMI out, and all your typical wireless standards. Basically a Sprint EVO 4G, or a Motrola Droid X, or a Samsung Galaxy S, but with a Nokia label on the front, running an operating system no one really wants.

Now that this “Design by Community” gimmick is coming to an end the company is now sharing 3 sketches that they’d like you to vote on. Whichever one gets the most votes may or may not turn into a production device. In other words, Nokia has the guts of a new mobile phone in place, now they just need help picking a body. Design by Committee indeed.

Check out the two other sketches after the jump. If you’re wondering which one I like the best, well I’d like to quote a friend of mine who said this to me a few years ago: “Nokia makes some fantastic looking hardware, but then you turn their devices on and you want to throw them against the wall.”

Sad, but an accurate depiction of the current state of affairs. Remember when Nokia design was innovative, and they actually built phones that didn’t have problems? I want those days back, and clicking on a check box and leaving a comment saying “OMG THX 4 LSTNG 2 ME!” on a blog post written by someone from the marketing department isn’t to help those memories return any sooner.