Well, it might be a leak or it might be a cunning attempt to tred on Apple’s big 3G iPhone reveal.
Either way, some new photos of the 5800 XpressMedia (aka the ‘Tube’) have emerged. The Tube is reportedly Nokia’s answer to Apple’s finest with a revolutionary new touchscreen UI.
Assuming these are real it.. looks just like an iPhone, really. The major external differences seem to be the 3.2 Megapixel camera (with the now ubiquitous Carl Zeiss optics) and Dual LED flash (that’s two more flash LEDs than the iPhone folks!) the Nokia branding and the way the screen doesn’t look as nice.
Still, its early days yet and the proof of this pudding will be in the, er, using. If the new UI is up to snuff then we can forgive a few unsightly design decisions. Something that seems to have drawn the ire of the blogosphere is the pictured stylus. This is seen as somehow ‘impure’ and harkening back to the bad old days of Palm Pilots and WinMo atrocities.
Personally, I don’t mind a stylus and it’s interesting that in the demo video this is shown as being optional - switching to a stylus for fine grained control seems fair enough, espeiclaly if you have chunky fingers.
Also
For some reason, Nokia have added some footage to their S60 Touch UI demo video.
The clip is very ‘lifestyle photography’, with lots of doing aspirational things in parks and tilting your head all the way back to laugh at your glamorous friend’s jokes. It does show off some nice-looking UI code, however. It’s all very iPhone, obviously, but still has that Nokia feel.
The web browser looks great, and the way apps launch with a little zoom animation looks very slick indeed.
This is a slightly geeky story that’s currently only relevant to hacky types, but its implications mean it’s worth reporting. Some iPod Touch owners have discovered that the device’s audio input pins work, which means you can theoretically connect a microphone to it.
Why does this matter? Well, it opens the way for Voice-over-IP (VoIP) applications to be developed for the Touch at some point, allowing people to make calls over its Wi-Fi connection. This, of course, is some way in the future, once Apple has released the software development kit for iPhone and iPod Touch. And even then, it’s likely to be a bit fiddly.
Nevertheless, a voice-enabled iPod Touch could cannibalise some iPhone sales, although not enough to be a bona-fide threat to Apple’s handset. I do wonder why Apple hasn’t developed its own VoIP software for the Touch - or partnered with a big player like Skype. Perhaps that’s yet to come…
(via TUAW)
HTC has officially announced the third device in its Touch range - the HTC Touch Cruise - which goes on sale this month.
The previous two - the HTC Touch and HTC Touch Dual - have been big hits for HTC. They were aimed at specific consumer segments, and now the HTC Touch Cruise is aimed at a different group again.
The Cruise is the first Touch device to include built-in GPS, as well as 3G/HSDPA, wif-fi and Bluetooth connectivity.
Other new features include the new HTC Home Screen providing one-touch access to messages, calendar and contacts as well as, for some reason, global weather reports. It also features Windows Mobile 6, TouchFLO controls, media player, three-megapixel camera, 128MB memory (plus microSD card slot) and FM radio.
The HTC Touch Cruise’s GPS software comes from TomTom offering either a taster city map, or the option to buy full maps covering all of Western Europe.
It seems HTC’s aim of releasing different Touch devices that will find an audience among all consumers is slowly becoming a reality.
HTC’s Touch has been a big hit for the smartphone company, selling over 800,000 since launching in June, but now it’s had a little refreshing.
Perhaps the biggest gripe about the Touch is its comparative lack of memory. Well, HTC has announced a new HTC Touch with more memory under a new guise - the HTC Touch Enhanced.
The Enhanced now has 128MB of RAM and 256MB of ROM to solve this problem.
HTC has also jazzed up the device with a choice of two new colours; Immaculate White and Burgandy Red, alongside the existing colours of Wasabi Green and Elegant Black.
The Touch Enhanced does feature HTC’s new Today home screen, but there’s no news on whether the TouchFLO technology has also been improved. Presumably if HTC hasn’t said so, then it probably hasn’t.
Nonetheless, the two new colours are certainly eye-catching.
[Via msmobiles.com]
Carphone Warehouse’s Ted Baker-designed mobiles have finally gone on sale, including the limited edition HTC Touch, renamed the Ted Baker Needle. HTC today said its Needle will go on sale in 785 UK Carphone stores, so presumably the Button (a Samsung handset) will also be on sale.
We’ve been featuring these handsets for what seems like forever, but now it seems they’re finally on sale.
The Needle is basically a purple HTC Touch featuring the TouchFLO technology and Windows Mobile 6 Professional OS. The Touch has proved a bit of a hit since launching in June, selling 800,000 devices in Europe and Asia. Ted Baker has stamped its mark on the device with a load of pre-loaded wallpapers and a tailored start-up animation.
Interestingly, HTC has said the release marks the start of a national retail deal between the two companies, which will see more exclusive HTC devices being made available through Carphone Warehouse.
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