Anything that a tech geek, an eager teener, or a mobile warrior would want in a gadget, chances are that he or she can find it in one of the phone models that Nokia has previewed in a recent summit it organized for Asian journalists.
The Finnish phone maker emphasized the concept of convergence throughout the conference, as if forewarning the mobile industry of the dominant role it wants to play in fusing all mobile devices into one gadget — the mobile phone.
Leading the march out of Nokia’s phone factory were three new 3G-enabled Nseries devices and the new Nokia Eseries smartphones.
For the first time, Nokia is also venturing in unchartered territory with its new entry-level and midtier CDMA phones for markets such as Japan and South Korea.
On top of the Nseries is Nokia N92, the world’s first mobile device with a built-in DVB-H receiver, allowing users to watch and record live TV at any time.
Also in the Nseries is the Nokia N80, the world’s first handset to feature Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) technology and is also equipped with a 3-megapixel camera and WLAN.
Nokia sees the UPnP technology — an industry standard that enables automatic discovery and remote control of devices — as its main vehicle towards creating what it calls the digital home. Thus, it has committed to make UPnP technology a standard feature in its forthcoming products.
Another part of the Nseries, the Nokia N71, is the latest member of the Nokia XpressMusic family which comes with stereo FM radio, and is also packed with the new Nokia Web Browser with Mini Map which allows for a zoomed out view of a Web page.
For the mobile workers, the Finnish phone maker is introducing Nokia Eseries devices — the Nokia E60, Nokia E61 and Nokia E70 — which combine 3G and WLAN with voice services and mobile email applications in a variety of designs for professionals with different input preferences.
The Eseries devices support multiple e-mail solutions including the Nokia Business Centre, call services such as VoWLAN phone calls, push to talk, and other SIP-based call services.
For the fashionable crowd, the phone company is introducing the Nokia 7380 with keyless dial. Also for the trend-conscious men and women is the Nokia 7370, which swivels open to reveal a hidden keypad.
The area of portable music is something that Nokia is also undoubtedly very eager to dominate, wanting to make MP3 players suffer the same fate as the beepers.
To this end, it is rolling out a slew of new products for music enthusiasts, beginning with new Nokia 3250 music phone with dedicated music keys and 2-megapixel camera.
"We’ve come a long way since Nokia created the mobile music industry in 1998 with the first downloadable ringtone with the Nokia 6110i," said Jawahar Kanjilal, director for rich media at Nokia Asia Pacific.
To illustrate the great leap that the mobile music has taken since then, Kanjilal said in 2005, approximately half of all Nokia phones shipped had an integrated FM radio while in 2006, it is expected that 700 million phones to be sold would have the ability to play songs.
The N91, also a member of Nseries, is a case in point where a phone has been transformed into a "mobile jukebox," Kanjilal said. The N91 has a 4GB memory capacity that is enough to store 3000 songs, has a dedicated music keys, a one-button synchronization with Windows Media Player, and a 3.5 jack for headphone connection.
A long way, indeed.
