Prizes are a trip for two to the American Music Awards in LA (airfare + $2500 gift card included), 61 Nokia N95 8GB cell phones (not too shabby), and some AAdvantage miles (10,000 or 100,000).
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These newschool looking pouches come in two designs, and a little string/chain ornament to hang on to. That hole in the center is actually a shiny piece of metal.
Compatible with: almost every Nokia phone ever made, even the gaunt unreleased N96.
Nokia CP-295
The CP-295 is a set of two thin, clear pouches that probably won't provides much of a cushion against falls. Definitely not something you want to rock your Vertu in. Then again, if you've got a Vertu, chances are you can afford another one anyway.
Compatible with: everything, even the 
remote control shaped 7380.
Nokia CP-296
Nokia states that these rough-and-tumble cases were inspired by the XpressMusic Line of Plastic Phones (excluding the 5320 XpressMusic and 5220 XpressMusic phones). I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. Either way, these cases are made of polyurethane and have that "interlaced" look. They also come with a cable untangler strap.
Compatible with: everything except the Nseries.
Nokia CP-297
What Nokia refers to as a "sandwich case." The CP-297's main draw is the "criss-cross" string that wraps around the case and keeps your phone secure.
Compatible with: everything except the Nseries but including the 
unfortunate-looking Nokia 2300.
The event at Slate was Nokia's own "Open to Anything" get-together, hosted by the folks at WOMWorld. A big thanks to Richard, Colin, and Siobhan from WOMWorld for setting up the event and inviting me out there!
Here's a little preview of what went on in that back room.
The Nokia N78: Not Your Average Candy Bar
We had a sweet little introduction to the Nokia N78 candy bar phone, which was brought along for the ride by Chance, an honest-to-goodness actual Nokia employee. I didn't even recognize it at first, I thought it was an N82. Ouch. Anyway, the N78 was announced so long ago that I'd totally forgotten about it.
A couple things I noticed about the N78:
Since the buttons are small narrow lines, pressing them does take a matter of getting used to. However, the call/send buttons are not difficult to press compared to the N81.
Chance did mention that the USA could see the Nokia N78 as early as the end of May. That's the good news. The bad news is the price went up to $599 USD. Damn!
All in all though, I have to say I was pretty impressed with the N78. It looks good, it feels good, and it's the real deal so to speak.
An Introduction to MobiReader
Mark Guim of The Nokia Blog, fierce competitor to (and not to be confused with) the Nokia Phone Blog, also gave an informal presentation on how S60 applications have turned his life around. Actually, it was really about MobiReader, a way-cool ebook reading app that lets you open up and search through ebook-type files quickly and easily. In Mark's case, he used it to replace one of those massive Drug Information books which meant one less book to carry to class. Way to be lazy, Mark.
The Food
So in closing, I have to say that the whole experience was a lot of fun and one heck of an entertaining night. Unfortunately, I had to go to work the next day.
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Zero Waste Charger
The zero waste charger is supposed to be the wave of the future, capable of preventing that "phantom power" phenomenon where things like cell phone chargers use up tiny amounts of energy even when they're not charging anything.
People First
Next up is the People First concept, which is a new type of user interface based on lists of people. Check out the concept device - it's a funky looking candy bar with a funkier looking scroll key.
Wears In, Not Out
And finally it's "Wears In, Not Out," yet another Nokia concept device that looks like it might be the first phone to operate on Mars. Actually, it's really supposed to demonstrate how you could update your handset digitally rather than physically (and by that, I guess they mean getting a whole new phone entirely).
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...and then we have Nokia Headlines, a news reader that (when working) will allow you to automatically grab the latest local/world/sports/entertainment news. It's definitely beta material though: after attempting to find some actual content, I pushed a button which caused the app to completely bomb. And now it's in Russian. The only part of the app that actually worked in the 2 minutes I got to use it was the advertisements, which pop up fairly frequently.
Finally, there's the Nokia Communciations Center. Unlike the other two, NCC is a PC application that replaces some of the functionality of the PC Suite software in a smaller, friendlier package. It's meant for viewing/editing messages and contacts.
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Actually, one close inspection, the E66 looks more like the 6110 Navigator than its predecessor, the Nokia E65. Obi-wan would undoubtedly approve.
]]>The E71 will be Nokia's latest Eseries phone and features a boatload of connectivity options - GPRS, UMTS, HSDPA, WLAN and an integrated GPS just for kicks. MobileHelpDesk reports that it'll be 112 x 57 x 10 mm with a QWERTY keyboard, Blueberry-style. 10 mm!
"In the next few months (U.S.) operators will carry a lot of new products from us," Alastair Curtis told the paper.
So what new products exactly? Most likely the 3606, 1606, 3555, and possibly some XpressMusic phones that Nokia has been pretty keen on releasing over here.
As part of the plan, Nokia will also resurrect its CDMA line of phones (3606/1606 maybe?) with manufacturing being outsourced to some random companies only to be branded as Nokias. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing, but at least it's something.
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First up: the "Great Gameloft Giveaway Competition," which isn't exactly a competition. Download one of three Gameloft games (Asphalt 3: Street Rules, Block Breaker Deluxe, Brain Challenge), upload your score to the N-Gage arena rankings, and you'll be automatically entered to win a Gameloft/Nokia swag pack that includes some cool stuff:
Ooh! There's a total of five winners (one each week), and the contest runs until May 18th.
The Great Gameloft Giveaway Competition
Reset Generation
Nokia's upcoming game (developed by RedLynx), formerly called "Project White Rock," has now been formally christened Reset Generation. Why the funky name? The characters are throwbacks of classic gaming stars - like, ahem, a hedgehog, a plumber, and a "bomber man," - and the game itself is a 1-4 player, turn-based action game that involves building roads to enemy players' castles to steal/rescue their princesses, all the while keeping your own princess safe. Okay, it sounds a little sketchy, and the screenshots make it looks like a "Bomber Man" meets Worms kind of game.
There will be a mobile version which will sell for a whopping $10-14 bucks, and a free PC version. Reset Generation will be available sometime during the summer of '08.
See Gizmodo for more screenshots and more details:
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At 175 euros (before tax/subsidies), the 3600 Slide is what I'd call a reasonably priced phone. For that price, you get a quad-band slider, 3.2 megapixel camera (dual LED flash, autofocus), smaller battery yet longer battery life (more on that later), FM radio with RDS, and TV out.
Now let's talk about what you don't get. First, there's no 3G/HSDPA connectivity at all. None. Whatsoever. So if connectivity is a big priority you'll have to look at either the 6600 Slide or 6600 Fold. Second, there's no A2DP, check out the 6600 Fold for that. Third, you won't find any of that tapping business on the 3600 Slide - it's far too cheap for that. (by tapping I mean the double-tap feature present on both 6600s that allows you to silence incoming calls, snooze the alarm clock, and perform other fun tricks).
And now for the oddities. The 3600 Slide has an 860 mAh battery - same as the 6600 Fold - yet according to the press release gets 5.5 hours to the 6600's miniature 4. Maybe it's the S40 Third edition platform? Either way, it's definitely weird.
The big "ooh aah" X factor here is background noise cancellation, or at least Nokia's first attempt at it on a handset anyway. It's funny - you'd think that cell phone makers would have introduced something similar years ago, as a way to improve the first basic function of the cell phone - talking. But I guess they got caught up in cameras and megapixels and music and all those other wonders.
At any rate, the 3600 Slide will start shipping in the - you guessed it - third quarter of 2008, for the everyday low price of 175 euros.
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The MD-8's are wired, powered speakers designed to be ultraportable yet provide some heavy sound. Unlike previous iterations, these babies have a built-in FM antenna. And with up to 40 hours of battery life, they'll certainly outlast your phone.
Expect the MD-8's sometime in the second quarter of 2008. Hey, wait, it's already the second quarter of 2008!
]]>Offer expires May 30, 2008!
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While I like the overall look of the 6600 Slide, it definitely seems a little lackluster compared to other, more expensive sliders. Nokia has done a pretty impresive job in the slider department ever since, say, the N80. Like the 6600 Fold, the Slide is compact (93 x 45 x 14 mm, 110 g), quad-band (+ WCDMA 850/2100), and oh-so-Series 40.
There really isn't a whole lot to say about this handset. It has a steel cover. It has an aluminum center key. It has double-tapping. It costs 250 euros. It isn't coming out any time soon.
It has a 1000 mAh battery, but still only 4 hours of battery life. I'd like to say that it comes with stereo Bluetooth, but that isn't mentioned anywhere in the press release so we'll leave that as an unknown.
Like many other Nokia phones, the 6600 Slide will start shipping sometime in the third quarter of 2008.
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However, unlike the original 6600, the 6600 Fold is a Series 40 phone (boo!) packed with a whole bunch of crowd-pleasing features. But not the techie crowd.
The main display is a 2.13" organic LED screen that supports up to 16.7 million colors. But the real draw is the hidden OLED front display that displays the time/messages/missed calls/etc when tapped twice. Yep, you heard right - "tapped." The double-tap technique can also silence/reject calls and snooze the alarm.
At least you don't have to actually open the phone, to open the phone. Just push a button (...where have we heard that before?) and your electromagnetic opening mechanism dampened hinge will get to work so you don't have to.
The Nokia 6600 Fold's not exactly thin - at 15.9 mm, it's thicker than the N76 but a good 5 mm smaller than the N95. In terms of weight, the 6600 Fold weighs 110 grams, vs. 120 g for the N95. It's definitely got some heft.
The camera is definitely not impressive. It's a mere 2 megapixels, yet Nokia decided that one LED flash wasn't good enough so there's two. Goes with the whole double tap thing I guess.
Battery life is average on the scale. 4 hours of battery life with the onbaord 860 mAh lithium ion.
So what's left is basically your standard S40 features: FM radio, microSD support, Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP.
Sleekness has a price: 275 euros to be exact, and a ever-vague release date of sometime in the third quarter.
Since Nokia hasn't officially announced the E71, there isn't a whole lot to go on at this point. The camera, as mentioned before, will be 3.2 megapixel with an LED flash and autofocus. At 11 mm, the E71 will be a slim little workhorse compared to the E61i's 13.9 mm and Nokia's phones in general. As a reference, the original RAZR was also 13.9 mm.
I've never been a big fan of Nokia's Blackberry-ish line of QWERTY phones, but I have to admit, the E71 is a huge improvement in the looks department.
Here's the original leaked image from back in January, I missed have been sleeping then:
