Introducing the orkut Mobile App customized for the Nokia E71 and other S60 phones

 Google had launched the mobile version of their Orkut site which allowed you to do most of the activities on Orkut.

I did not realize it but in June 2009 they released a Java application for Orkut. The application allows you to

• Take a photo on your phone and upload it right to your Orkut album.
• Share photos with Orkut friends or SMS the photos to phone contacts not yet on Orkut.
• Call or SMS any of your Orkut friends or phone contacts without leaving the app.
• View scraps, updates from friends, and photo albums in offline mode.
• writing/reading scraps
• updating your status
• viewing and accepting friend requests

 

To download the app go to m.google.com and look for the Orkut application. Click on the link to download the application.

Technorati Tags: nokia,e71,orkut,application,free

Google Mobile App and voice recognition on the Nokia E71

Google has just launched a new version of the Google search application for Nokia E71  that allows you to do voice search.

You need to hold the answer key (green key) down and speak into the phone your search query and Google presents you with the results. The voice recognition is quite good. Out of 10 times the application was able to pick up the work I had spoken which was remarkable.

You can download the application by going to m.google.com on your mobile browser.

There are other improvements as well

• When you install the app and go to the Nokia E71 home screen you can see a message that asks you to press the backspace button to use the Google search application. This can be turned off from settings by disabling the “Quick Access Key”
• For the voice search there are 6 language options to use. American, Australian, British, Indian, New Zealand and Mandarin. Maybe this depends on where in the world are you when you download the Google application.
• You can also change your destination so that Google uses that regions Google search engine.

I think Google has raised the stakes again and with the voice search feature launched it has taken a lead over other search engines and the competitors will have a tough time to play catch up.

Technorati Tags: google,app,nokia,e71

Nokia E72 the Nokia E71 successor begins Shipping

According to the Mobile Guerilla the Nokia E72 has started shipping. To quote the website

The Nokia E72 business and personal messaging Smartphone is now available in retail stores. Nokia also gave out a research study revealing that more people use email when sending critical information than the traditional phone calls or text messaging.

The phone is going to be selling at about 350 Euros.

Some of the features of the phone are

• 600Mhz processor,
• 2.36-inch QVGA display,
• 5.0 megapixel camera with autofocus and flash,
• 3.5mm audio jack,
• 250MB of internal memory and
• 4GB microSD card included with support for up to 16GB.

Technorati Tags: e72,nokia,launch

A red Nokia E71

I saw a red colored Nokia E71 on the Internet. After going through the experience of “dual SIM” supporting E71 I was skeptical and thought that here is another Nokia E71 fake.

On going a little of search I realized that Nokia had released a red version of the Nokia E71. Somehow I missed that news or did not take note of it till I saw the picture of the red Nokia E71

I must say that the red color phone looks very stylish and the black version is very elegant. Engadget and Symbian Guru carried the news of launching of the red color Nokia E71 with the black color as well. The chrome color version was available right from the start. I saw the black colored phone, which my friend bought about a month back and I envied his phone because it looks sophisticated.

I definitely want to look at options I have to change the casing of the phone. Has anyone got the casing of Nokia E71 changed? If so please share the cost and from where you got the casing swapped because I certainly would like to exercise the options if available.

Technorati Tags: E71,version,nokia

Nokia E71’s successor Nokia E72 available

Mobileburn has posted a video about Nokia E72.  Catch the video below.

 

Nokia conversations reports that

Sound quality on calls is improved with the addition of active noise cancellation and navigation gets a boost with the addition of a digital compass. Maps is also integrated and comes with a lifetime walk and 10 days of turn-by-turn navigation, if activated within the first three months.

According Tech Goondu is going to sell for $750 without contract.

Features of Nokia E72

• 10.2Mbps 3.5G downloads – great for do
• an optical navi key
• A 5MP camera

There is a nice pictorial comparison of Nokia E71 vs Nokia E72

What are your thoughts on the Nokia E72? I’m not going to go in for one as the Nokia E71 is still doing a great job for me.

Technorati Tags: nokia,e72,launch

Amazing Nokia E71 with Dual Sim – A fake for sure

Today I saw this advertisement and was taken aback.!

It is amazing how the popular phones are being copied by some Chinese manufacturers and being passed on as originals. For the full advertisement head over to  http://bit.ly/NokiaE71fakead.

I thought I had been cheated when I saw this advertisement because my Nokia E71 does not have a dual SIM feature though it has a unique IMEI.

The unique IMEI is being advertised as this advertisement appeared in the Indian media and the authorities are coming down heavily on those who own mobiles that do not have unique IMEI.

The price of the fake Nokia E71 is given in Indian Rupees which equal to approximately $100!

Nokia needs to do something about these fake products because the buyers of original equipment feel cheated when one sees such advertisements.

What do you feel about these fake Nokia phones and would like to see one in real life to understand how good a job the Chinese do when copying popular phone mobiles.

Technorati Tags: nokia,e71,fake,chinese,duplicate

The best smartphones – where does Nokia E71 stand?

While the Americans cannot stop going ga ga over Iphone (though some agree that Iphone is not the best) and hating Nokia smartphones (one of which is the E71) the sales trends of smartphones  worldwide (which is the actual truth) show otherwise. This is the case with Americans most of the time – they are oblivious to the happenings around the world. In future. This attitude of Americans has made what America is today (recession and unemployment at a record high) and the downfall will continue till the attitude changes.

I’m a avid listener of “This week in tech” (TWIT) and many a times Nokia has been criticized in this podcast and most of the panel members believe only Iphone OS and Andriod OS are going to be left in the battle of smartphones.

However, if one is to look at the sales of the smartphones worldwide it is abundantly clear that Nokia is the clear leader (though I agree that Nokia has the most number of models available – but then who stopped anyone else from doing the same)

Marketshare of Smartphones of Third Quarter 2009 (worldwide)
Nokia	37.9% (Source: neowin)
Blackberry (RIM)	19% (Source: neowin)
Apple	17.1% (Source: neowin)
HTC	5.6% (Source: neowin)

 

Increase in market share of Smartphones (worldwide) in the Third Quarter of 2009
Nokia	6.1% (Source: neowin)
Blackberry (RIM)	35.7% (Source: neowin)
Apple	7.1% (Source: neowin)
HTC	14.7% (Source: neowin)

 

Marketshare of Smartphones Operating System - Second Quarter 2009 (worldwide)
Symbian	50.3% (Source: Appleinsider)
Blackberry (RIM)	20.9% (Source: Appleinsider)
Apple Iphone	13.7% (Source: Appleinsider)
Microsoft Windows Mobile	9.0% (Source: Appleinsider)
Google Andriod	2.8% (Source: Appleinsider)
Other (Palm, Linux)	3.3% (Source: Appleinsider)

 

It is also mentioned in the report on Neowin that Nokia E71 and Nokia N97 are the best selling phones in Europe. In US the sales have been lower because of the lack of Carrier-based incentives.

Some of the critics might argue that the Nokia’s growth has been lower than that of Apple’s or Blackberry (RIM). The increase in market share has been lower for Nokia because Nokia already had a huge market share at the start of the quarter.

Another area where Iphone is touted to be better are the number of applications that have been downloaded. Apple store downloads are quoted to be at 2 billion with half a billion sales in the last quarter itself. Unfortunately the competitors do not have a single place (store) for downloads and therefore it is very difficult to estimate the number of downloads.

I hope the big guns (allegedly Apple!) wakes up to the reality that being the biggest seller in the US alone is not enough. If you want to dominate the market you need to look beyond US and keep users needs in mind. Agreed that Iphone dominates the US market and it has done a great job but if it could replicate its performance in the world market then Apple’s Iphone would be a true giant.

What do you feel? Will Apple start paying more attention to the markets outside of US? I personally feel it is unlikely because the profit margins per phone sold in the world market are lower than that of the consumers in US.

Technorati Tags: smarphone,smartphones,marketshare,nokia,iphone,comparison