Market update

The end of this week coincided with the official selling start of several very interesting phones that would surely stir up the people's interest.

Nokia finally made commercially available its highly anticipated E70 model. Nokia E70 is a feature-rich phone with wide connectivity capabilities such as 3G, tri-band GSM, GPRS, EDGE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and an Infrared port. It also features a 2 megapixel camera, miniSD card slot and a unique QWERTY keyboard. Not to mention the large, high-quality display that shows the Symbian 9.1 OS with the 3rd edition S60 UI in 16 million colors.

Nokia E70

Nokia has one more phone to show off at the stores this summer - the Nokia 6234 model. It's a Vodafone branded version of the not yet available Nokia 6233. All in all, it's a 3G phone with a 2 megapixel camera and a large 262K display. Interesting thing about it is that it uses the new Series 40 UI with animated 3D menu and graphics. It also boasts a FM radio and as far as connectivity goes it is packed with EDGE, GPRS, and HSCSD.

Nokia 6234

Sony Ericsson will please their fans with their M600 model which is a slim 15 mm thick business communicator featuring 3G and GPRS support and a dual function QWERTY keyboard. Sony Ericsson M600 has a Memory Stick Micro (M2) memory card slot and works with Symbian 9.1 OS with the UIQ user interface. The handset packs in some great business features but has no camera.

Sony Ericsson M600

Samsung also has some exciting phones to brag about in mobile stores around the world this summer. The first one is the TV phone Samsung SGH-P900 which is going to work with the DMB TV broadcasting service which started operation in Germany as of May 2006 - specifically for the World Cup football games. The DMB mobile television is still new in Europe although it's rather popular in Korea. In the beginning it will be offered only in several German cities, while by 2007 it should be available to 75% of the German population. It should have full coverage by 2010. The broadcasting with the DMB standard does not require the use of the GSM network. Besides mobile TV viewed on a 33 x 45 mm QVGA TFT display, the Samsung P900 will also offer a 2 megapixel camera, microSD card slot, GPRS and EDGE - all that in a clamshell design.

Samsung P900

The other Samsung competitor for your attention is a phone that surely would attract anyone's attention because that is exactly what it was built for - it's the Samsung SGH-E900. It's been perceived as a direct competitor of the fashionable LG Chocolate phone which we recently reviewed since the Samsung phones also features a touch sensitive keypad. But a head on comparison of their technical specs takes the E900 far ahead. The slim slider phone offers a 2 megapixel camera, a microSD card, a 2-inch QVGA TFT display, 80 MB integrated memory, and a TV-out port. The tri-band GSM support is backed up by EDGE for fast data transfers.

Samsung E900

And finally, the summer surprise by Motorola comes in gold. In fact it's gold and its Dolce & Gabbana. You've already guessed it - we are talking about a new Motorola V3i RAZR. Revamped into a gorgeous designer phone with a price tag to match, it will surely make some hits as one of the last reincarnations of a dying breed. The phone will be produced in limited series and will be sold in Dolce & Gabbana boutiques worldwide.

Motorola V3i RAZR Dolce & Gabbana Edition