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Marc Driessen, Nokia Benelux product manager has let out some details on the unannounced updates that Nokia will be offering to Symbian Lovers. Talks about a symbian revamp have been going on for quite some time now, but now the companys own people are spilling the juicy details. According to Driessen, Nokia is targeting a major UI overhaul in the fall, an update rumored to include
dedicated pull-down status bar up top
new iconography
new flexible widgets
simplified navigation bar
better menus
Any of those sound familiar to the “rejected by Nokia” OS?
It is also Rumored that that N8 and E7 will get this update faster than others, possibly by Summer 2011.
The Nokia E6 caught earlier, has been detailed yet again in this cleaner more visible picture, and what more this time the display is actually turned on.
The UI looks nice and clean, with large touchable icons. Whats more , the grid layout also looks half decent. YOu can also see the updated Symbian^3 operating system with 4 homescreen dots and different widget placements.
The only thing bothering us is the fact, that despite announcing the discontinuation of Symbian on Smart-phones, Nokia is still persistently set on releasing Symbian based phones this year, which will become obsolete once the company ditches the OS for Redmond’s baby
Samsung has bombarded us with a bundle of Galaxy Phones this season, they are not stopping anytime soon. with several devices to come, we review the cheapest in the line up of Galaxy Phones the Galaxy POP.
Lets start with the Unboxing video.
Hardware
The device packs a semi decent set of Specifications
3.14” capacitive touch screen
1200 mAh Battery
3.15 MP fixed focus camera
Android 2.2
600 MHZ processor
Wifi, bluetooth
Proximity/ ambient sensors
Accelerometer
AGPS
Hardware navigation buttons on the bottom of the display
For an entry level Android phone thats quite a lot of specs, At the price bracket this device is in you can only expect dunb-phones. This device promises and delivers a lot more than you bargain for.
Display and Touchscreen
The Galaxy Pop features a 3.14 inch capacitive touchscreen LCD display, that has a native resolution of 240 x 320 px. While on the outset the device is fully capable and display is good while navigating through menus and using the phone in its basic functions.
The quality of the Display really shines( or blackens) when you actually put it to test while browsing the internet, or watching videos. The display has a poor case of pixel love. The website text is highly unreadable and you need to zoom in to high levels to get basic text to readable state. There is no auto reformatting of text , so you will constantly be panning and rotating your device to get one article or basic letter read in the browser.
Lets just say the Display on the Galaxy POP = FAIL
The touchscreen on the other hand is a marvel. Samsung has made an overall improvement in how the touch digitizer reads the input, thereby making the touchscreen technology used in their devices a brilliant aspect of their lineup. The new Galaxy POP is not left behind and utilizes the same new touch technology along with the optimized Android 2.2 makes using the phone a bit more cheerful.
Camera and Multimedia
The Camera on the Galaxy Pop stands at a semi decent 3.15 MP , the disappointing bit is that its fixed focus. The picutre quality is only decent and you will find yourself struggling to get the right focus even in the brightest of light conditions. The camera is a complete failure in low light situations due to lack of flash LED. You will also find that the video quality is as you would expect from a VGA video capable camera, half decent.
You do however get a huge array of selectable features in the Camera APP and thus letting you select b/ Several shooting modes, scene modes, it lets you add effects and choose resolution etc. Making the Camera app a “princess designed for a pauper”( camera hardware).
Multimedia features are let down by the overly poor (as mentioned earlier) low res display, video just does not cut it on this screen and is just a poor feeling once you get down to watching videos. Audio however is a story told differently , and throughout the new Galaxy series you will see that the audio quality goes from good to excellent as you progress up in the chain. The speakerphone on the Galaxy POP is very impressive and will not be a let down. The phone features an FM radio and thanks to android is capable of playing almost any file format under the sun thanks to its impressive array of Apps.
The included earphones also provide good isolated audio, with a little tweaking from a good equalizer,
Phone and Messaging
Every phone need to be good at one thing, “being a phone”. The Galaxy Pop does just that with the ability to impressively make phone calls the earpiece, microphone and loudspeaker do their job well and promise good conversation abilities. In our tests we found that the device had close to none calls dropped and almost full network bars throughout.
The swpe keyboard makes messaging and emailing on this a breeze, with a bit of learning curve you will find yourself texting away in a marathon. Although, if like us you prefer the normal keyboard, that option is available too.
Conclusion
The Galaxy POP is a semi decent low price entry level Android 2.2 device from samsung. But , we think you deserve better, the display quality is just not acceptable and lets you down on several levels. The phone is plasticy in build and looks like a toy at the end of it. It performs all the functions it intends to do, But makes you fell let down all the way. gaming performance is also average with several games blocked from the marketplace.
Battery Life
3.5 – 4 hours talktime (2g)
2 hours on 3G
4 hours of browsing the internet (3g)
5.5 hours of browsing the internet (Wifi)
9 hours of audio playback
2.5 hours of video
Quadrant benchmark score : 530-540
Price : downwards of INR 9,000/-
Overall we would recommend that you look at other options if display and gaming performance is your main criteria. Save your money for the time being or change your budget (if you can).
Samsung has just announced another QWERTY handset which boasts android. But, this time its a portrait QWERTY phone and is not too bad of a looker.
The Pro Has
4 row QWERTY keyboard
2.8-inch touchscreen
800MHz processor
3 MP camera
Froyo out of the box
Its already been announced in the UK by mobile carrier 3 , and should be heading India side soon. We will then have a full review for you guys iGyaan Style.
Full Press Release
Samsung Launches Latest Device in the Galaxy Family
Android powered Galaxy Pro comes packed with entertainment and social media features
LONDON, UK – March 7, 2011 – Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd, a leading mobile phone provider, today announced the Galaxy Pro Smartphone. Featuring Samsung’s integrated Social Hub Premium and innovative dual-input control via a touch-screen and full QWERTY keyboard, the Galaxy Pro is also the perfect business partner and social secretary.
The Samsung Social Hub Premium gives one-touch access to emails, instant messages and social networking accounts and benefits from the speed and control of the Galaxy Pro’s dual-input interface. Powered by the Android™ 2.2 ‘Froyo’ platform, the Galaxy Pro has access to over 150,000 high-quality apps and services from Android Market™, such as the latest games for entertainment, up to date interactive maps and news feed services.
Simon Stanford, Managing Director, Samsung Mobile UK and Ireland said: “The Samsung Galaxy Pro is the perfect device for everyone looking to manage their busy work and social lives. The Social Hub Premium provides a simple way for our customers to stay in touch with their friends and colleagues – via work and personal emails, Facebook, Twitter and text messages. You get it all in one inbox, which is so much more efficient. Running on Android 2.2 and with brilliant entertainment features it’s another great addition to the Galaxy range.”
Samsung Social Hub Premium is ideal for juggling work and personal communications, managing multiple social networks and receiving high volumes of messages and emails. The Social Hub Premium brings together email, SNS and IM accounts to a single inbox, for simplified, instant access to all communications. Twitter feeds and Facebook updates, work and personal emails and text messages are collated in one central contact list. Furthermore, the Galaxy Pro is equipped with the “Think Free” Office Document Editor, for viewing and editing MS Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents on-the-move.
The Samsung Galaxy Pro’s dual-input is a combination of a touch-screen and QWERTY keyboard, for swift, accurate typing, the QWERTY keyboard provides desktop-computing accuracy, while the touch-screen offers fast fingertip control. Together, they provide an efficient and enhanced user experience.
The Samsung Galaxy Pro is equipped with a 3.0 Megapixel camera for still image or video capture. Pictures can be viewed on the clear and bright 2.8″ display before being uploaded online, supported by WiFi and Bluetooth capability.
The Samsung Galaxy Pro will be available during the second quarter in the UK market followed by other European countries, Middle East, South East Asia and India.
While this may me confirmed on many levels, it still remains to be clarified. Bloomberg claims that it has two sources involved deeply in the process citing that there is a flow of $$ from Redmond to Espoo which is in excess of $ 1 billion, directed towards the manufacture of mobile phones holding the MS phone OS. It calls for Microsoft to pay a portion of the agreement before the final merger this year along-with Nokia sending cash in the other direction for device licenses.
Talk about holding the key and the lock in the same hand, still wondering why Nokia didn’t choose Android?
Whats up guys, remember the leaked iPod killer phone from Micromax we talked about . Yup we have it now, it is going to be announced soon and we have an exclusive leaked handset.
Take a look at exclusive pictures of the device.
The device features a unibody construction, true to the name MicroMax has included dual sim capabilities in the device. It also has a touch wheel in the front, comes with awesome massive headphones. Unlike previous rumors the device does have a changeable battery, and comes with an authentic SRS wow HD engine with certification from SRS labs. Device will be slated at the sub 5,000 INR price bracket.
Pictures of what looks to be a Sony Ericsson prototype running Windows Phone 7 have recently surfaced. “Julie” the name that was given to a sliding prototype WIN 7 handset when SE was named Manufacturer at the WP7 event last year. It is becoming more and more apparent that manufacturers are keeping their options open in terms of Mobile OS selection and the demand for Windows Phone 7 Devices is far more than anyone would have anticipated. The only problem that remains to be showcased tis the difference in the hardware manufacture process. While all manufacturers are in an ability to provide similar hardware, what a manufacturer does better is what will set them apart in the coming future. Lets wait and watch.
As we reported earlier HERE . Several different sources are confirming that RIM may just be ready to bring the BBM goodness to the iOS and Android operating systems. It will come as a messaging only app and not the full featured messenger on the Blackberry itself, But, it gives an end to the long awaited interconnectivity b/w BB folks and Apple Lovers. The Android version should be out in the near future, or within this year atleast. The iOS version may depend on how Apple approval system looks at the whole interface in the first place.
On both ends Pricing of the app remains unknown. So feel free to speculate on how much the app should be.
