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Nokia-Microsoft partnership bears first fruit: Communicator Mobile comes to E52 and E72
Last time we used "Nokia" and "Communicator" in the same sentence, we were talking about a giant QWERTY clamshell with roots dating back to the mid '90s -- but yeah, that's most definitely not what looking at here. Instead, we're seeing the first results of Nokia's newfound friendship with Microsoft, a build of Communicator Mobile that's all set up to run on the S60-based E52 and E72. Granted, an enterprise instant messaging utility isn't something we can all use, but that's just as well since it's limited to just two devices in Nokia's range at the moment; eventually, it'll be preinstalled on "select" devices and be available to a broader selection of phones already in the lineup. This is awesome, guys -- now let's get cracking on Office, shall we?
Nokia E72 'White Edition' pops up in Singapore -- in white, obviously
Look, we've got nothing against the E72 in Amethyst, Zodium Black, Metal Grey, or Topaz Brown -- but we also know that choice is almost always a good thing, which is why it brings us such great joy to learn that there's an official white version floating around. It's not mentioned on Nokia's main site, but a quick visit to a Singapore-based contest that seems to have official Nokia ties clearly touts a white E72 and throws in an accessorized picture of it for good measure. It's said to be bundled as a special "White Edition" with a BH-216 Bluetooth headset and WH-205 wired headset and will retail for $327 when it launches "worldwide" later this month, so we'll be standing by for more announcements in sundry locales. [Thanks, Clinton]
Nokia's all you can download Comes with Music service is finally DRM free... in China (updated)
We've been browbeating Nokia for using DRM to "protect" its Comes with Music offering ever since the service launched back in December of 2007 -- a time when the industry was just beginning to shed its DRM shackles. Now get this, the idle talk is over, Nokia just launched its all-you-can-eat (for 12, 18, or 24 months, typically) Comes with Music service in China without any DRM at all. India is on deck as Nokia looks to hook more emerging markets on the (kind of) free music drug. That means you no longer have to strip the DRM illegally to play your downloaded content on devices other than your main PC and Nokia Comes with Music handset. And yes, you can keep the tracks for life after your CWM subscription expires. At launch, Chinese consumers will have a choice of eight (ok, seven really) CWM handsets (X6 32GB and X6 16GB, 5230, 5330, 5800w, 6700s, E52 and E72i) with prices starting at a local equivalent of €140 (the CWM service fee is baked in to the cost, mind you) excluding taxes and subsidies. Suspiciously, Nokia's not making the usual boast about the millions of tracks available in the CWM catalog. It is, however, reassuringly supported by all the Big 4 music labels in addition to some Chinese indies, as you'd expect. Sorry, no word on when they'll strip the DRM from its European CWM stores and we're still not clear when CWM will finally see a US launch. Hopefully soon as a service like this could go over very, very well Stateside -- a market that Nokia is desperate to crack. Get on to the other side of the break for the full press release. Update: We met with Jyrki Rosenberg, Director of Music at Nokia, who shed a bit more light on the offering. Unfortunately, while DRM-free music aligns with Nokia's global vision, he had nothing to announce for the US or Europe today. And as you might expect, the onus to go DRM-free in China was in part driven by rampant, local piracy concerns -- recovery of any revenue was better than nothing at all in the eyes of the Big Four. Jyrki also told us that Chinese CWM subscriptions will be 1 year in length but the terms of renewal are still being hammered out. We also know that the music catalog numbers in the "hundreds of thousands" at launch (comparable to competing services in the region, according to Jyrki) and is growing every day. Privacy advocates will be happy to hear that the 256kbps MP3 files are "clean" -- in other words, no user data is embedded in the files unlike the practices of Apple and Walmart, among others.
Nokia E72 imbued with a minor firmware bump
Having an E72 in your pocket already makes you a cool cat by Nokia standards, but you know what's even cooler? A firmware update for said E72, that's what. It appears that at least some product codes of Nokia's latest and greatest portrait QWERTY beast are getting hooked up with what appears to be a minor revision; we've yet to come across an official list of changes, though, so your guess is as good as ours. If you've got an E72 in-hand and you take the plunge, let us know how it goes, alright?
Nokia 'Mystic' leaked, collides E72 heritage with Centro-esque design
Here's a bit of confusion for the eyes: a new Nokia hand has surfaced at the Vietnamese tech site iTech.vn which marries the traditional E-series candybar form factor with a big dash of Palm Centro-style face buttons. There aren't many details so far, other than the 5 megapixel camera around back and the spooky fact that the phone is temporarily going by the "Mystic" moniker. While that legendary keyboard looks delicious as ever, we can't say we're digging much of the rest of this handset's looks -- or lack of expanded functionality implied in the form factor -- but we'll reserve judgement for when we know more and get a chance to play with this in person. [Thanks, Duy]
Nokia ships E72 and 5800 Navigation Edition to the US of A
We know it's the N900 you're jonesing for, but if you're looking to let those "other guys" put Maemo 5 through the ringer while you continue to use an OS that's been around the block, Nokia's got two more for you to choose from starting today. Both the QWERTY-packin' E72 ($407) and eager-to-route 5800 Navigation Edition have started to ship to America (according to the company, anyway), with the former listed as "coming soon" on Nokia's webstore and as "in stock on December 10th" over at Amazon. The latter is available to order now for $299 sans contract, so good luck holding off for Google Maps Navigation to make this thing look dated. Update: Seems this is the second time Nokia has stated that its E72 was available in the US, so we'd probably wait for at least another notification or two before pulling the trigger. Can't ever be too careful! %Gallery-79844%
Nokia E72 now in stock in the New World -- the US, to be specific
It's been a long, long journey, but Nokia's E72 -- the hotly-anticipated successor to the wildly popular E71 -- is finally available as an unlocked phone directly from Nokia USA following a November release elsewhere. The privilege of upgrading to what could very well be the finest S60 3.2 handset ever made won't be cheap, though: they're charging $469 before tax and shipping, but in exchange, you're getting a 5 megapixel cam, optical d-pad ("Navi Key" in Nokia parlance), and full-on HSPA with up to 10.2Mbps down and 2Mbps up. Of course, you won't get anything close to those speeds in the States -- but hey, you can't drive a Lambo 180 miles per hour on a public street, either. [Thanks, Pankil]
Keepin' it real fake, part CCXLIV: Zoho's E72 is made in China, has Finland doing a double-take
Having trouble getting your hands on that Nokia E72? Perhaps you favor a handset with a TV tuner? Zoho's KIRF E72 features the aforementioned tuner, dual sim, QWERTY keypad, WiFi, JAVA, FM tuner, and both rear and front-facing 1.3MP cameras. Rest assured, the UI looks nothing like what you'd get with from Finland. But did we mention that you could watch TV on the thing? Video after the break.
Nokia E72 in stores now, somewhere
Amazon's US pre-order site hasn't heard the news yet nor has Nokia USA's on-line store. Nevertheless, Nokia assures us that the E72 is "in stores now" and should cost €350 (as announced) before taxes and carrier subsidies are applied. Remember, this S60-powered followup to the much loved E71 sports a new 5 megapixel autofocus camera, 3.5-mm headphone jack, microSD slot (4GB included in the box), A-GPS and integrated compass, 10.2Mbps HSDPA, and new optical navigation pad right where a thumb would like it. The E72 also packs the latest version of Ovi Maps and Nokia Messaging with homescreen access to your IM accounts. Now scram buster and let us know if your pre-orders have been filled -- this baby's not going to unbox itself.
Nokia E72 NAM up for $469 preorder on Amazon
It's not hard to find Nokia users that believe the E71 is the finest S60 device (if not the finest device, period) that the company has ever made, so expectations for the E72 are at a stratospheric high. Impatience for a retail release is also at a stratospheric high, coincidentally, so Americans will be pleased to see that Amazon now has the unlocked North American version of the "zodium black" phone listed for $469 -- without a release date, unfortunately, so it's still a guessing game as to when these will actually be shipping out. All things considered, it's not a bad price for an unbranded phone of the E72's capabilities, but when you figure how easy it's been to find awesome deals on North American Nokias around the interwebs this year, it still might give some potential buyers pause -- just imagine if it were $299? [Thanks, Ani]
Nokia E72 exhaustively reviewed ahead of launch
Say you've got a Nokia E71. Say, further, that you fully intend to upgrade to the E72 the moment it's available (we can't say we blame you). If you'd like to know more about the phone by the time it arrives on your doorstep than most people do in the lifetimes of their devices, we might recommend grabbing pork sandwich, a 64-ounce Coke, and your favorite blankie and curling up with mobile-review's epic "first look." Spec-wise, the new model is an outright slam dunk over the one it replaces, and it seems that mobile-review generally agrees -- sticking points were few and far between though he seems ambivalent on the optical d-pad, and it's also worth noting that the keyboard is now based on the E63's design rather than the E71's. Even if you don't want to read through the somewhat roughly-translated text, it's hard to argue with mobile-review's great photography -- and it's not like you're seeing an E72 in the flesh today, so you may as well have a look, eh? [Via Nokia Experts]
Nokia E72 passes FCC in North American flavor
Speak of the devil -- we were just chatting about Nokia's new strategy for getting the best devices to the US (even if it means going unlocked if necessary), and what do you know? That's right, the E72 (or E72-2, if you want to get technical about it) has just won its FCC badge, offering full HSPA on the 850 and 1900MHz bands in addition to quadband EDGE and HSPA 2100 for those times when you find yourself out of the Western Hemisphere. The fact that this phone is unbranded is both a blessing and a curse -- a blessing because... well, it's not carrier branded, but a curse because that means we're probably going to be subject to the usual Nokia preorder rigmarole / flagship store drama to get it. You know we'll still end up doing it, though, and so will you.
Nokia E72 prototype gets manhandled, torn asunder
If you stop to think, really, about how much we take pleasure in seeing pictures of phones get utterly dismembered, it's quite disturbing. So don't think about it, and instead hit up the read link for a gallery showcase copious amounts of a prototype Nokia E72 innards, ripped apart alongside an E71 (on the right in the image above) for comparative purposes. There's a very brief question-and-answer session just after the photos, but it's definitely not gonna keep you satisfied between now and its third quarter launch window.
Nokia's E72 and 5530 XpressMusic in the S60-powered flesh
Seeing how these announcements are going down live in Singapore as we speak, we've got a few sources of live pictures of Nokia's latest announcements coming in off the interwebs already; it's all raw, unfiltered footage, but that's exactly the way we like it around here. We won't know for certain until we touch it, but at a glance, the E72 certainly looks like a worthy successor to one of the greatest phones Nokia has ever made, and the 5530 looks like the 5800 should've looked. What's everyone thinking on these?[Via The Nokia Blog]Read - davidlian's twitpic streamRead - budip's twitpic stream
Nokia E72, 5530 XpressMusic get official
You'd think that Nokia would want to do a better job of building up such important product announcements with a long, drawn-out series of frustratingly unhelpful teasers, viral videos, and global PR campaigns, but instead, it turns out that the rumored E72 and 5530 XpressMusic have been officially unveiled at the company's Connection 09 event in Singapore. The E72 is arguably the bigger announcement of the two, succeeding the E71 by adding a whopping 5 megapixel camera, a 3.5mm headphone jack (thank goodness), integrated compass, 10.2Mbps HSDPA, and an optical navigation pad; it'll hit in the third quarter for €350 (about $489). Follow the break for video of the E72 in slick, polished, high-orchestrated marketing action. Next up, as we'd heard, the 5530 ends up being a small step down from the 5800 in the S60 5th Edition totem pole, offering just EDGE data without any form of 3G (though you've still got WiFi). It's got a 3.2 megapixel camera with LED flash, 3.5mm jack, and a 640 x 360 touchscreen display. Like the E72 it'll be available in the third quarter; it'll retail for €199 (about $278) unlocked.[Thanks, nabs]Read - Nokia E72Read - Nokia 5530 XpressMusic
Nokia E72 leaks out in promo video form
Looks like the E71 is about to be upstaged as Nokia's premier business-class smartphone -- someone in Espoo's just hit the corporate YouTube account with this promo video for an E72. Upgrades include a five megapixel camera, a relocated headphone jack, and what looks to be an optical mouse instead of a D-pad -- a welcome upgrade for click-happy S60. That's all we know for now, but we're digging for more -- check the video after the break.Update: The YouTube video's been pulled, but luckily the guys from IntoMobile snagged it. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
AT&T to get Nokia E71 as E72?
Remember how AT&T ended up picking up the original E61 as the E62 -- but somewhere along the way, the tweaked version lost two of the E61's most important features, 3G and WiFi? Yeah, that sucked. The good news, though, is that since the E62's release, AT&T's really warmed up to WiFi and manufacturers have started to smile upon HSDPA 850 / 1900 en masse. Word on the street is that AT&T will be taking another shot at the whole S60 QWERTY thing, launching its own flavor of the E71 as the E72. Of course, you can get North American 3G in the plain ol' E71 this time around, so what would a customized E72 have to offer? Feature Pack 2, allegedly, a line item sadly missing from the original's spec sheet despite its release coming well after FP2 hit the streets. We've been hearing for ages that AT&T was eyeing this thing, so we take this as a great sign that the plans haven't been abandoned -- only question is, when's it going to go down?
Nokia's E72 candybar and E75 slider with QWERTY keyboards leaked
A Nokia promotional video has apparently been leaked to YouTube revealing a pair of an unannounced, business-minded handsets: the E72 QWERTY candybar and E75 QWERTY slider. Check all the hot corporate, S60 video action after the break -- who knew architectural planning could be so easy?[Via Symbian Freak]
Orange intros SPV C200 with Windows Mobile... 5?
While the general assumption would be that handset manufacturers would jump at the chance to pre-load their mobiles with the latest and greatest Windows Mobile flavor on the market, it seems that the SPV C200 is going against conventional wisdom. The Amoi-built handset is slated to launch on Orange, and will include tri-band support, Bluetooth, and an integrated 1.3-megapixel camera. Of course, the expected €9 ($12) pricetag that will reportedly grace this device (if you commit to a two-year agreement, that is) may explain the lack of WiFi and slightly obsolete OS, but this sure is an interesting maneuver to slash the price.[Via TheUnwired]
BenQ to launch E72, M7, and T51 in August?
Although BenQ has been through more reshuffling and renaming in the past few years than we care to ponder on, the remnants of a mobile division could be cranking out a trio of new handsets this August. DigiTimes has it that the E72, M7, and T51 could hit store shelves in the second half of August after the firm's SF71 (pictured), but not much was known outside of that. Interestingly, Hank Hung, general manager of BenQ Taiwan, was quoted as saying that the company had hopes to move "250,000 handsets in Taiwan" before the year's end, and if it plans to keep on producing mobiles in the years to come, it better be right.
