Nokia N97 Mini out this month
Tasty alternatives from Motorola and Sony Ericsson too
October is set to be a juicy month for phone fans, with Sony Ericsson’s 12Mp cameraphone, Nokia’s miniature N97 and Motorola’s first Android handset all set to launch over the coming weeks.
SE's Satio: joins the emerging 12Mp cameraphone crowd
SE’s Satio – previously known as Idou – sports a whopping 12.1Mp camera and can currently be ordered from Vodafone. However, the first shipments won't go out until 13 October. Pay monthly plans costing at least £35 ($56/€38) will see you get Satio for free.
Satio supports wireless web surfing over 3G and Wi-Fi connections, while the 112 x 55 x 13.3mm phone has a 3.5in display that allows you to crop, rotate and manipulate those 12Mp images with the touch of a finger.
Satio stores data onto Micro SD memory cards, Vodafone added.
Nokia's N97 Mini is smaller, but still packs a punch
If Satio doesn’t tickle your tech tastebuds, then Nokia’s flagship London store has just announced on its Twitter page that the elusive N97 Mini will be available on 23 October.
Network operator deals haven’t been announced yet, but Nokia is currently accepting advance orders for the phone, which is priced at £429 ($687/€466).
While that may sound like a lot for what’s essentially a smaller version of Nokia’s successful N97, it’s worth remembering that the smaller model packs in 8GB of internal storage, a 5Mp camera with two-LED flash and a 3.2in touchscreen into its 113 x 52.5 x 14.2mm frame.
The phone also supports HSDPA 3G connections of up to 3.6Mb/s, Nokia said.
Motorola's Dext: seamlessly syncs multiple social network streams
Last, but not least, is Motorola’s Android-based Dext. It will be available through Orange tomorrow and given away for free when you sign up to a £35-per month contract.
Dext is a Qwerty slider phone with 3.2in touchscreen display, 5Mp camera - images from which can be stored on Micro SD cards of up to 32GB capacity - and support for both 3G and Wi-Fi connections.
The phone also features Motoblur, which supposedly seamlessly syncs contacts, posts, feeds, messages, emails and photos from the likes of Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Gmail and LastFM. ®
COMMENTS
@Georgees
Sure the UI isn't as polished as the iPhone, but it's also nowhere near as expensive! Free on a £35 a month tarrif with 1200 mins and unlimited text/data. Try and get a 32gig iPhone for that!
I've been using symbian phones for years, so for me the UI was a doddle. Everything was where I expected it. It's nice to not have a huge learning curve. Multitasking is something I've had on my phones for over 5 years.
The killer thing for me is that I can install what I like, from wherever I like onto the phone *I* own. Flash works, java apps work. I currently have 3 browsers (nokia's own, opera mini 4.2 and opera mini 5 beta), two instant messenger clients, 3 twitter clients and a wordpress admin app. The wordpress app is actually written in python, so I installed python too. Grand total for all these useful apps £0.
It's nowhere near as bad as the reviews make out. The current V12 firmware has ironed out some quirks and V20 is just round the corner which will bring some polish... I believe V20 is the firmware Nokia intended to release the phone with, but were forced to push it out early by market forces.
Unfortunately everyone will remember the reviews and early firmware (V10) experience, and the N97 will forever be slated. The N95 had a similar birth (I was a first week adopter), but as anyone still using one with the later V31 firmware will tell you, it's a stunning little phone. Yet the only thing anyone remembers about the N95 is "crap battery life", which was a fault with the early firmware and fixed within a couple of months.
@Steve Evans
My friend bought one and that's when I used it, I've not read a review of the phone but find it amusing that reviewers have said the same thing I said. Adds some truth to it.
In comparison to the iPhones UI it is a turd that wont accept polish. Even my friend admitted the UI was clunky as hell.
Yawn
Is it me, or are we experiencing a new wave of mobile-boredom?
@Georgees
I assume you've had extended experience of the N97 then?
Strange, as mine works fine with V12 firmware, and I'm looking forward to what V20 has to offer later this month.
Don't believe everything you read in online reviews, unless you want your nose inserted up the rear passage of Mr jobs by proxy.
FLASH
And not a decent (Xenon) flash among them.
The Moto one doesn't even have a flash at all!!!
Gigantic FAIL as what's the point of a camera if you can't take decent pictures in low light.
