Nokia blesses all its smartphones with free voice-guided navigation « Celluloco.com Official Blogger

Nope, there is no mistake in the title. Today, in a swift game-changing maneuvre, Nokia announced that all their smartphones will get lifetime voice-guided turn-by-turn navigation through Ovi Maps for free. All you need is download the free new 3.3 version of Ovi Maps and you are good to go.

According to the company this new version includes high-end walk and drive turn-by-turn voice navigation

at no cost at all. Ovi Maps navigation is currently available in 74 countries and 46 languages, with even traffic information for more than 10 of those.

Ovi Maps 3.3

Ovi Maps 3.3

Ovi Maps 3.3


Ovi Maps 3.3

In any case this is a huge leap forward for Nokia

and the value of their handsets. The Ovi Maps is even better than the Google’s free Google Maps navigation as it doesn’t necessarily need internet connection on-the-go to work – you can preload maps from a computer to escape data charges.

In addition Nokia have also substantially upgraded the Ovi Maps application itself, so it now packs a cooler looking interface, the Lonely planet city guide and Michelin restaurant guide with lots and lots of points of interest. There’s also an events guide that lists all events happening within a 3km radius of your position and provides you with details on each one.

So what are you waiting for? Follow the link and get your free Ovi Maps update and you can use the voice guidance on your way back from work. You can also download it straight from your Nokia handset through the SW update utility.

T-Mobile UK gets a lot of touch phones – Bravo, X10, Vivaz, Spica « Celluloco.com Official Blogger

T-Mobile is getting a ton of touch-enabled handsets, the majority of which run Android. So, here’s the list – HTC Bravo, Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 and Vivaz (Kurara), also Samsung i5700 Galaxy Spica and finally, the BlackBerry Storm2.

Let’s break it down – the HTC Bravo is headed to T-Mobile

UK and should be available by the end of January. The Bravo is like an un-Googled Nexus One, but with some extra goodies. The HTC Bravo swaps the old-fashioned trackball for an optical trackpad and will run multi-touch enabled Sense UI. The Bravo would be free on a 35 pound per month tariff (40 euro).

HTC Bravo photo

HTC Bravo photo


A better look at the keys of HTC Bravo • An older photo of the Bravo (photo by ai.rs Blog)

The much-awaited Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 and Sony Ericsson Vivaz (formerly Kurara) will hit the stores in March in a double offensive. If you missed it, the Sony Ericsson

Viva is Sony Ericsson’s 720p video recording, Symbian running monster. It’s got an 8MP camera and a powerful Cortex A8 running at 720MHz. The Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 is the manufacturer’s first Android – it too has an 8MP camera (only WVGA@30fps video though) and has an equally impressive 1GHz Snapdragon CPU. Oh, and a 4″ capacitive touchscreen with 480×854 pixels resolution.

Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10

Sony Ericsson Vivaz


Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 • Sony Ericsson Vivaz (Kurara)

The Samsung i5700 Galaxy Spica is already available on the T-Mobile UK site, under the name i5700 Galaxy Portal. It’s available for 70 pounds on an 18-month contract, 13 pounds monthly charge, or for free for 18 pounds a month (again, an 18-month contract). The Samsung i5700 Galaxy Portal and the Samsung I7500 Galaxy should be getting the Android 2.0 upgrade in February.

Samsung i5700 Galaxy Spica

BlackBerry Storm2


Samsung i5700 Galaxy Spica (Galaxy Protal) • BlackBerry Storm2

The Kurara goes official as Sony Ericsson Vivaz « Celluloco.com Official Blogger

The second full-touch Sony Ericsson

handset running on the Symbian platform has just been officially announced. The previously rumored as Kurara handset will be known as Sony EricssonVivaz from now on.

Just as expected the Sony Ericsson Vivaz runs on the Symbian S60 platform

and packs an 8 megapixel autofocus camera capable of recording 720p video. The 3.2″ display sports a resolution of 640 x 360 pixels and is capable of showing up to 16M colors. The CPU inside the human curvature-inspired body clocks at 720 MHz.

Sony Ericsson Vivaz

Sony Ericsson Vivaz

Sony Ericsson Vivaz

Sony Ericsson Vivaz


Sony Ericsson Vivaz

Sony

Ericsson Vivaz has an excellent set of connectivity options – USB (they used a standard microUSB jack this time), Wi-Fi, GPS, quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE and 3G with HSDPA. The music fans will appreciate the 3.5mm audio jack, the FM radio and the built-in microSD card slot that allows expanding the 75MB of internal memory. There will be an 8GB microSD card slot included in the retail package so you can start capturing those magnificent 720p videos right away.

Sony Ericsson Vivaz

Sony Ericsson Vivaz

Sony Ericsson Vivaz

Sony Ericsson Vivaz


Sony Ericsson Vivaz lifestyle photos

The Sony Ericsson Vivaz should become available before the end of the first quarter at Celluloco.com. Visitors can pre-order it here.

Samsung Metro 5200 will arrive Celluloco.com’s Mumbai Office – India « Celluloco.com Official Blogger


Samsung has a history with creating these thin sliders. In fact, this apes the U600 in almost every respect, and power to them — there’s nothing wrong with that. The Samsung Metro 5200 is headed to India for a modest 7,400 rupees (roughly $160) as a quadband set with a 3.2 megapixel cam and LED flash, Bluetooth, FM radio, and 50MB of internal storage. Sure, this doesn’t topple modern feature phone sets as far as specs are concerned, but at just 104 x 49 x 10.9mm and 95 grams, it’ll out-svelte a good pile of them. No solid shipping dates have been set, but look for it sometime midyear.