SmartPhones

Did you ever wonder who makes the best smartphones in the world? The answer to that question can't help but be subjective. However, if popularity among consumers is any indication of quality, then we can easily identify the top smartphone makers simply by looking at market share.

According to Canalys, a company that provides "expert analysis for the high-tech industry", the number one smartphone maker is Nokia, with a stunning 53% market share. To translate - that means more than half of the smartphones sold last year were Nokias.

That puts them leaps and bounds ahead of any other competition, even second place holder Research in Motion with just an 11.3% market share for its trendy and innovative Blackberry smartphones.

This all may come as little surprise to anyone paying attention to the smartphone industry. The shocker, however, comes when realizing that the far and away third place winner is Apple with only one smartphone to its name - the iPhone, of course - which, if you glance at your calendar, you'll notice only came out 7 months ago.

No wonder every smartphone maker in the world, including fourth place contender Motorola, are looking to the iPhone to give them a lesson in how to make the next best thing in smartphones.

written by SmartPhoneWizard \\ tags: apple, Blackberry, Canalys, iphone, Motorola, Nokia, Research in Motion, RIM

The world’s largest mobile phone maker has finally decided to join the touch screen revolution. Is it too late for Nokia to compete in this arena, though – with LG, Sony Ericsson, and Samsung already upping the stakes set by the Apple iPhone? Doubtful.

Apple may have pioneered consumer-friendliness in technology, but Nokia pioneered quality, and they’ll do it again, and continue to do so, with the increasingly coveted touch screen next up at bat.

A flurry of blog postings in late 2006 about the Nokia Aeon (which doesn’t exist yet) gave a sneak peek into Nokia’s plans for improving upon Apple’s greatness. The innovation? A full-phone touch screen. In other words, a touch screen display that occupies the entirety of the face of the phone.

It was in the Research and Development stages then, and it’ll still be a while longer before such technology can be made viable, but that hasn’t stopped Nokia from putting its proverbial nose to the grindstone nonetheless and coming up with its first entry in the touch screen arena.

Proving that battling Apple requires strategic planning on multiple fronts, Nokia’s as yet unnamed first touch screen venture will be an unlimited music phone. Look for it later this year.

written by SmartPhoneWizard \\ tags: apple, Apple iPhone, iphone, LG, Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, SonyEricsson, touch screen, touchscreen

Music lovers rejoice! Because now you can listen to the music on your smartphone through your FM radio without the need for any extraneous external devices.

Whether it's downloaded tunes stored in your smartphone's memory or streaming internet radio you prefer, smartphone makers like world leader Nokia are now integrating FM transmitters into their handheld devices, allowing users to enjoy all the music they love over their home stereos and - best of all for you commuters out there - car radios.

One of the first smartphones to be built with an integrated FM transmitter is the Nokia N78,  though many more are sure to follow in its pioneering footsteps.

Sure, those Belkin FM transmitters are nice, but who really wants to deal with all that bulky and cumbersome extra gadgetry when you can get it all built in to your favorite mobile device?

Of course, if it's actual FM radio stations you seek through your smartphone, there are also obliging products like the Sony Ericsson P1i.

written by SmartPhoneWizard \\ tags: , Belkin, Belkin FM transmitter, FM, FM radio, FM transmitter, Nokia, Nokia N78, Sony, Sony Ericsson, Sony Ericsson P1i

Which smartphone should you buy for 2008? Well, before you decide, take a look over on PCMag.com and read their latest roundup where the pros and cons of the following four leading smartphone operating systems out today are compared and contrasted:

• BlackBerry OS 4.3
• Palm OS 5.4
• Symbian Series 60 3rd Edition
• Windows Mobile 6.0

According to this handy cheat sheet to the best of the best of smart phones operating systems on the market, the cream of the current crop of smartphones running each of the four OSs examined is also listed and described, such as:

• the RIM BlackBerry Curve 8320 - with unlimited WiFi
• the Palm Centro - a Palm Treo stuffed into a smaller and cheaper package
• the Nokia E61i - PC Mag's Editor's Choice for the top unlocked keyboard smartphone
• the AT&T Tilt/HTC 8925 - a combination of the some of the best mobile office and consumer entertainment features in one package

What was the winner? The BlackBerry OS. Find out why, and the good word on all the best of today's breed of smartphones and smartphone operating systems at PCMag.com

written by SmartPhoneWizard \\ tags: AT&T, AT&T Tilt, Blackberry Curve, BlackBerry Curve 8320, BlackBerry OS, BlackBerry OS 4.3, consumer entertainment, HTC, HTC 8925, mobile office, Nokia, Nokia E61i, operating system, OS, Palm, Palm Centro, Palm OS, Palm OS 5.4, Palm Treo, PC Mag, PC Magazine, PCMag, RIM, RIM BlackBerry, Symbian, Symbian Series 60, Symbian Series 60 3rd Edition, unlocked keyboard, Wi-Fi, Wifi, Window Mobiel 6.0, Windows, Windows Mobile

One IntoMobile writer took the time and care to publish a massive pictorial guide to the work of Finnish mobile wunderkinds Nokia over the past year. Starting with the company's release of the Nokia N76, Nokia N93i and Nokia N800 at the Consumer  Electronics Show in January and running through the eco-friendly Nokia 3110 Evolve (made with 50% recycled materials), each of the 37 cell phones and smartphones released by Nokia in 2007 is described in colorful words and pictures.

The article then goes to explore all of the mergers occurring 2007 involving Nokia, namely:

• Navteq
• Enpocket
• Twango
• Avvenu

Following that is a review of the Nokia World 2007 convention. At this point, it becomes abundantly apparent to anyone not already aware of it why Nokia holds approximately 40% of the world's cell phone market share.

The crackerjack prize at the bottom of this box, however, is the look ahead - one decidedly Nokia-savvy writer's predictions for the future of this company and its mobile products in 2008. From tentative praise for the Nokia S60 and the inclusion of touchscreen technology in Nokia smart phones to competition from RIM and, of course, the Apple iPhone, a picture of the upcoming year for Nokia is painted in all its crystal ball clarity.

What Nokia smartphone does the article's writer himself take with him into the coming year? The Nokia N82. Read the rest of the article at IntoMobile.

written by SmartPhoneWizard \\ tags: , apple, Avvenu, CES, Consumer Electronics Show, Enpocket, IntoMobile, iphone, Navteq, Nokia, Nokia 3110 Evolve, Nokia N76, Nokia N800, Nokia N82, Nokia N93i, Nokia S60, RIM, smart phone, smartphone, Twango

With the increasing popularity of Virtual Desktops, the increasing capabilities of smart phones, and the increasing pervasiveness of speedy networks, the day will soon be upon use when people start using their smartphones as a secondary laptop or desktop PC.

One writer looked forward to the day this "Nirvana SmartPhone" comes to market and offers readers a sneak peek at how this product of the future will look and feel, and what it will do.

Like the Nokia N95 and certain PDAs, the Nirvana smartphone will have a Video Out. The iPhone already has such functionality, but it's limited. The upcoming i-Mate promises to improve upon it. The Nirvana smartphone will also have a keyboard and mouse and a docking station.

It's probably obvious to most technophiles that such a Nirvana smartphone would have improved and enhanced music, video, photo, and voice capabilities, but there are endless other innovative uses for the burgeoning technology including: web-enabling all of the televisions in your home, and conducting video conferences through your TV.

Read more about it at BrianMadden.

written by SmartPhoneWizard \\ tags: apple, Brian Madden, BrianMadden, desktop, iMate, iphone, laptop, network, Nirvana, Nirvana smart phone, Nirvana smartphone, Nokia, nokia n95, PC, PDA, video conferencing, virtual desktop

Nokia has just announced the Nokia PC Phone. No, it's not a new smartphone, rather it's a software application that allows users to control their Nokia cell phones and smart phones through their home computer.

That's right. Now Nokia users can now view their call log and messages, manage their contacts, send SMS messages, even receive notifications of incoming calls and choose whether or not to answer it over their PC.

Easy to download and install, the software connects to the users' Nokia smartphone or cell phone via Bluetooth or data cables.

Currently the software in the beta stage of development, meaning that it does still have its bugs to iron out. For example, the Nokia PC Phone works well on Internet Explorer but not Mozilla Firefox yet. And the SMS text messaging features are still quite clunky and unresponsive.

There's little doubt, however, that a company with such a consistently impressive track record like Nokia has will sort through all of these minor problems soon enough and release another impeccable product in their later version Nokia PC Phone.

Download the Nokia PC Phone at BetaLabs.

written by SmartPhoneWizard \\ tags: Bluetooth, Firefox, IE, Internet Explorer, Mozilla, Nokia, Nokia Beta Labs, Nokia PC Phone, SMS, text messaging

We're all used to the typical promotion where you get a free cell phone in exchange for signing up for a set period of service. So it should come as no surprise that the same phenomenon has begun with the product representing the evolution of the cell phone - the smartphone.

CNET reported today on the Samsung BlackJack II being offered for free on Buy.com for anyone signing up for a two-year AT&T contract. While not the fastest or easiest phone to use, the Samsung BlackJack II nonetheless has some impressive qualities, including:

• a GPS
• a 2- megapixel camera
• and AT&T HSPDA network support

Researching this phenomenon further, I found that Buy.com actually offers several smart phones for free with activation, including:

• Palm Centro
• RIM BlackBerry Pearl
• Motorola RAZR

From here, I checked into how commonly this phenomenon occurred at competing cell phone and smart phone vendors and found that everybody's doing it. In addition to more of the aforementioned brand names, I also found all sorts of other smartphones (such as Sony Ericsson, Nextel, and Nokia) offered for free by all the major carriers:

• AT&T (and the former Cingular)
• Verizon
• T-Mobile
• and Sprint

Now there's a way that people on a limited budget can still afford to get a smartphone of their own (though maybe not the latest and greatest model), just by signing up for the wireless service they're going to need to get anyway.

To boot, most of the participating smartphone vendors will even throw in free shipping with the deal.

With such great deals flooding the net, and every phone manufacturer and wireless carrier competing for your hard-earned dollar, we may soon see the day when you never have to pay to obtain a smartphone again.

written by SmartPhoneWizard \\ tags: , AT&T, Blackberry, BlackBerry Pearl, camera, cell phone, CNET, GPS, HSPDA, Motorola, Motorola RAZR, Palm, Palm Centro, Palm Treo, Research in Motion, RIM, Samsung, Samsung BlackJack II, smart phone, smartphone, Sony, Sony Ericsson, Sprint, T-Mobile, verizon

Calling last year's Nokia N95 "peerless" in terms of sheer feature set - even compared against the coveted iPhone - PC Magazine is simply raving about the new and improved Nokia N95, as luck would have it - a U.S. model.

Improvements in the new Nokia N95 include:

• 8 gigs of memory - like the latest European model (though unfortunately without the added memory card slot)
• raised bumps on the buttons - specifically the music access buttons, making it easier to find them and control your music listening without fiddling too much with your phone
• Easy access web services - like Yahoo! Search, Flickr (Yahoo!'s photo sharing service), and Amazon's MobiPocket e-book reader

Most importantly, of course, the U.S. model works on AT&T's HSPDA system high-speed network.

Read all about it, plus some of its minuses, in Nokia Super Smart Phone Gets Upgrade

written by SmartPhoneWizard \\ tags: Amazon, apple, e-book, e-book reader, ebook, ebook reader, Flickr, iphone, MobiPocket, Nokia, nokia n95, PC Magazine, PCMag.com, smart phone, smartphone, Yahoo