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

This week Barcelona, Spain hosted the 2008 GSMA Mobile World Congress. One of the highlights of the international conference, as always, was the unveiling of several new smartphones, among the top contenders for leading spots in this year's marketplace, the following:

• the HTC P3470 - a GSM mobile phone running Windows Mobile 6 with the TomTom Navigator 6 built in;
• the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 - a touch screen smartphone with 100 adjustable panels poised to become the iPhone biggest competitor this year;

Also announced was the first mobile phone processor from Nvidia, world leading maker of visual computing, graphics processor technologies. The new technology, dubbed APX 2500, is - as you might expect - designed for handheld devices with multimedia capabilities.

Stay tuned here throughout the year for reviews of the above-mentioned products and many more of the latest and greatest new releases debuted at the event.

written by SmartPhoneWizard \\ tags: 2008 Mobile World Congress, apple, APX 2500, Barcelona, GSM, HTC, HTC P3470, iphone, Mobile World Congress, Mobile World Congress 2008, Nvidia, Nvidia APX 2500, Sony, Sony Ericsson, Sony Ericsson Xperia X1, Spain, Windows Mobile, Windows Mobile 6, Xperia X1

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

On Tuesday, January 15, Apple's top exec Steve Jobs gave a keynote address at the Macworld 2008 convention. Key among his comments was that in the first 200 days on the market for the cutting-edge iPhone, Apple sold 4 million units.

With 20,000 more units shipped each day, the iPhone currently has just under 20% of the U.S. smartphone market share.

Jobs promised that the iPhone software development kit will be released within the next month, allowing programmers everywhere to start developing great new features to integrate into the iPhone.

In the meantime, Apple released Firmware version 1.1.3 and is soon to be introducing a whole bunch of new features into the product including:

• Web Clips - a GPS-like update of GoogleMaps that allows user to triangulate their location
• The ability to send an SMS out to multiple recipients
• A customized home screen

Jobs also made mention of how many of the iPhone's features like mail, notes, weather, and stocks are now being made available in the iPod Touch.

Read more about it at BetaNews

written by SmartPhoneWizard \\ tags: apple, BetaNews, Firmware, iphone, iPod, iPod Touch, Macworld, Macworld 2008, smart phone, smartphone, SMS, Steve Jobs

The U.K. Times Online reports that the Ravenstone Primary School in Wandsworth, South London has distributed free smartphones to a class of 7-year-olds.

In line with their stated goal of embracing the integration of high-tech technology into their educational curricula, and thanks in large part to a hefty donation from an unnamed sponsor, the school is participating in a research project designed to determine the relative cost-effectiveness of using technology as teaching and study aid.While a class of older children received free Apple laptops, the smartphones that the younger students were given were feature packed with:

• a video camera
• internet access
• voice-recording capabilities
• satellite navigation

The handheld devices are expected to be of use to the students in every area of their studies including:

• geography
• math
• English
• and music

For more on this experiment in technology education, read the full story in TimesOnline

written by SmartPhoneWizard \\ tags: apple, education, England, high-tech, internet access, laptop, primary school, Ravenstone, Ravenstone Primary School, satellite, satellite navigation, school, smart phone, smartphone, South London, technology, Times Online, TimesOnline, U.K., U.K. Times, video camera, voice recording

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

Starting off the new year with a new ring tone, Consumer Reports Magazine printed as its January 2008 cover story, an in-depth review of the very best (and not so great) smart phones on the market today.

Cited in the report are some of the most promising innovations currently available in cell phone technology, including:

• more keyboards - and most especially QWERTY keyboards that allow for the easiest in text messaging (currently the 2nd most common use of cell phones after voice phone calls)
• dual-connection phones - able to operate on both a telephone and a Wi-Fi network;
• more music features -MP3 players are now expected to be a staple of almost of all cell phones on the market, though only the best allow for functions like stereo sound and digital downloads via Wi-Fi
• and better cameras - again, nearly every cell phone nowadays is expected to have at least a 1 megapixel camera built in, but only the best go as high as 5 megapixels and include advanced features like zoom, auto-focus, brightness controls, and high-grade lenses

Exactly a year ago, it was a big surprise to many smart phone users and technology aficcionnados that the RIM Blackberry only rated 7th in that particular Consumer Reports study. And at the time, the Apple iPhone hadn't even come out yet. So now that the Apple iPhone is on the market, how has the Blackberry fared in this year's report?

Alas Research in Motion is still taking a backseat to newer and more popular technology as the Consumer Reports reviewers and editors rated the iPhone superior to all competitors, including the BlackBerry Curve and BlackBerry Pearl, due in large part to the iPhones innovative interface and long talk time (8.25 hours).  Check out this iPhone vs. Blackberry review to find out how these 2 smart phones stack up against each other.

Check out the cover story in the Consumer Reports, January 2008 issue and read about the latest and most exciting innovations in cell phone technology, as evidenced in products like the iPhone, BlackBerry, HTC Touch, T-Mobile Wing, Palm Centro, and LG Voyager.

written by SmartPhoneWizard \\ tags: , 2008, apple, Blackberry, Blackberry Curve, Blackberry Pear, camera, cell phone, Consumer Reports, ConsumerReports, HTC Touch, iphone, LG Voyager, megapixel, mp3, new year, Palm Centro, qwerty keyboard, Research in Motion, RIM, smart phone, smartphone, T-Mobile Wing, technology