Cell Phone Diary

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<$AT&T$>

Asus P750 lands on the crowded Windows Mobile Pro scene but it sure isn't dropped defenseless. The Asus PocketPC is among the best equipped Windows Mobile devices on the market. A hardware multi-tap keyboard to back up that 2.6" TFT touchscreen, HSDPA, fast 520 MHz Marvel CPU, Wi-Fi, built-in SiRF Star III GPS, stereo Bluetooth and a 3 megapixel autofocus camera certainly sound like the right ammo to take on HTC-branded devices.

Still, many might have second thoughts about buying a handset by a maker with not so long a history in Windows Mobile. To them we say we found the Asus P750 enjoyable at first glance and the first impressions are of a handset that can top almost anything HTC throws at it. In case we've got you interested enough, join us to find out if the potent PocketPC carries its feature load with style.

Asus P750 official photos

Key features:

Windows Mobile 6.0 Pro
UMTS/HSDPA 3.6Mbps support with video calls
2.6" 65K-color TFT touchscreen display with QVGA resolution
520 MHz Marvel CPU
64MB of RAM, 256MB of ROM
3.15 megapixel auto focus camera and a secondary VGA video-call camera
Wi-Fi support
Built-in SiRF Star III GPS receiver (A-GPS support)
USB and stereo Bluetooth support
microSDHC memory card slot
High-quality materials and excellent construction
Hardware keypad
Rich retail package
Microsoft Office viewing/editing suite
Pre-installed business card scanning application
Pre-installed additional time management applications
Pre-installed calls filtering application
Pre-installed Remote Desktop and Remote Presenter applications

Main disadvantages:

Tri-band GSM only
Hefty size
Limited amount of RAM
2.6 inch relatively small (in PocketPC terms)
Camera is really poor (we guess it might be a faulty unit)
Video recording resolution is way too low
No multimedia software preinstalled (Samsung offer that)
No Task Manager application preinstalled (HTC offer that)
No alternative web browser pre-installed (both Samsung and HTC offer that)
Asus Launcher application not customizable

ASUS P750 doesn't seem to have a straight replica in the HTC lineup - the same holds true for the Eten PocketPCs too. That hardware multi-tap keypad really sets it apart - usually in the PocketPC world it's either no keyboard at all or a full QWERTY.

Unfortunately, the Asus P750 doesn't have a good enough advantage over QWERTY devices sizewise. It's on the large side while the display is below the 2.8-inch standard that seems to reign the industry. Still, it's not a big difference, and the tad smaller screen wasn't that much of a bother to us.

Asus P750 views

Asus have only recently announced their thumb-optimized Home screen plug-in, so essentially you can't rely on getting a full thumb-operated device straight out of the box. You have to rely on the stylus in most of the occasions. That's not necessarily a big thing, but we find this to be the major weakness of most current PocketPCs. And yes, we admit that it was the Apple iPhone that served as an eye-opener in this repect.

We are guessing though that Windows Mobile still has a lot of fans and it's a versatile platform with enough potential - a look at the HTC Touch Diamond clearly proves that. So, if you are still interested, we'd love to host a guided tour of the do-s and don't-s of the Asus P750.

Design and construction

Asus P750 is made of some really nice materials - bushed metal on the front and matt black plastic on the back. Some of the keys are metallic too, and all that creates a distinctive high-end feel.

Asus P750 all around

Asus P750 gets delivered in a really rich retail package - a thing you rarely see even with expensive PocketPCs. The P750 package offers a leather holster for the handset, stereo handsfree, USB data cable, a car charger, and... you'd never guess… a windshield mount holder.

The Asus P750 retail package

We already commented on the 2.6" TFT display being slightly below the current 2.8-inch industry standard. It has QVGA resolution but users report that the display can be unlocked to work in true VGA mode, as it's originally a VGA display forced to QVGA resolution. You can find more about that in the final chapter of this review, right before the conclusion.

The display is not very good under direct sunlight, but that holds true for most of the mobile phones out there. We suffered no legibility issues using the P750 as an in-car navigation solution.

The Asus P750 display

The frame around the display is made of brushed metal. Above the display there is a video-call camera and a stylish earpiece grill, which seems etched in the metal plate, reminding a bit the Nokia 6500 classic.

There is a brushed metal frame around the display • video-call camera above

Below the display is the nice and ample keypad, which is great for typing in case you don't fancy the virtual keyboards that Windows Mobile offers. Asus have not preinstalled any thumbable virtual keyboard, so you would need the stylus if you are to use those.

The Asus P750 keypad is excellent

Back to the hardware keypad, it's worth noting the metallic keys on the first row make a real nice accent on the metal front. Usability suffers a bit however, as they don't have any backlighting and are thus difficult to use in the dark. Other than this obvious flaw, the P750 keypad has a nice, strong backlighting.

There is only one key on the keypad, which might get you wondering with its circular icon. It's the Asus' very own ModeSwitcher key and you can learn more about it in the interface chapter of this review.

The keypad in the dark

On the right side of the P750 there are several interesting controls. First, there's the GPS antenna slot to plug in an external GPS antenna for better reception.

The slider there allows you to both put the handset in standby mode (a single slide upwards) and to lock the keypad (a single slide downwards after that). You'd be better off with the keypad locked, since almost any accidental key press takes the device out of standby mode. That solution is among the most convenient that we've seen on a PocketPC - toggling the standby screen is among the most frequent tasks on any device of this type.

The slider is an ingenious solution

Next to the slider in question is the reset hole (for restarting the device with the help of the stylus) and the camera key. Unfortunately, the camera key function is not customizable and it's permanently set to activating the camera upon a short press. That can be quite annoying, as you should be extra careful not to press the key when you don't need the camera.

The microSD memory card slot is right next to the camera key and it is pretty easy to swap cards. We tested the Asus P750 with both a 4GB and an 8GB microSDHC card and it handled them trouble-free.

The camera key starts the camera even upon a short press

On the left side of the P750 there is a three-way scroll wheel, which is many people's favorite single-handed method of navigating the menus. But since the keypad on the front panel packs a full-featured D-pad, the scroll wheel becomes pretty redundant here.

Next to the scroll wheel there is a shortcut key for activating the voice dialing or the voice commands. Fortunately, if you don't need those features, this key can be reassigned.

The scroll key is made redundant by the D-pad • voice dialing key can be freely reassigned

The top of the handset is clear of any controls whatsoever, while the bottom houses a standard 2.5mm audio jack and a standar miniUSB connector. The stylus is also tucked at the bottom.

Nothing on the top • the bottom hosts a 2.5mm audio jack, a miniUSB connector and the stylus compartment

The back cover of the Asus P750 is made entirely of matt plastic, which evades fingerprints with an unexpected ease. The 3 megapixel camera lens and the loudspeaker are encased within a metallic frame.

The matt black plastic on the back feels great to touch • the camera lens and loudspeaker add one more accent to design

Below the battery cover you will find a Li-Ion battery with a capacity of 1300 mAh. The manufacturer promises up to 240h of standby time and up to 6h of talk time. Overall, the Asus P750 is not a spectacular performer when it comes to battery life. It lasted 2-3 days on a single charge.

The battery life is average however the energy saving architecture of the GPS chipset is amazing

We tested how the battery performs with the GPS on and it managed to surprise us by lasting a little over 6 hours in still position. It's a really nice achievement and credit should probably go to the SiRF Star III chipset used. The competing HTC Touch Cruise, which is based on the Qualcomm 7200 platform managed to last for only 3.5h in exactly the same conditions.

You should of course be expecting less in real-life usage in a moving vehicle.

In conclusion, we would like to point out that the Asus P750 is indeed a big fellow, but its excellent build quality, choice of materials and ergonomics make it a wonderful PDA.

Windows Mobile goes a long way

The Asus P750 offers the standard Windows Mobile user interface without the 6.1 upgrades. Asus P750 doesn't have a touch-optimized homescreen like HTC's TouchFLO either. In fact, Eten, Gigabyte and Asus have only just recently announced their proprietary thumbable homescreens, which are obviously not to be expected in previously announced handsets. However we suppose the new Asus homescreen called Asus Glide will be available to all P750 users to download. More about it can be found on the Asus website.

For now the P750 is stuck with the default Windows Mobile Home screen. Here's a quick walkthrough for anybody new to Windows Mobile Pro. The Start menu is in the top left corner and gives you access to some customizable shortcuts and frequently used programs. The Programs item that appears on this Start menu takes you to a list of all applications installed on your PocketPC. The Settings item launches a menu in charge of most system settings.

Oh, and one more thing - unlike the desktop Windows, pressing the X button in the top right corner of an application window doesn't usually terminate it but sends it running in the background instead. Theoretically, that way the app should resume much faster the next time you need it. In practice however, those background applications tend to build up and consume all your system resources (which are usually rather limited on a handheld).

Windows Mobile Today screen • Programs menu • Settings menu

Now, let's get back to the Home screen (or Today screen in the PocketPC lingo). The right soft key by default opens the Contacts application, while the left one starts the Asus Launcher. It gives you quick access to some of the most used features on the handset (as seen by Asus). The nice thing about it is that it resembles a lot a regular feature phone interface and it's touch optimized (to an extent). Experienced Windows Mobile users however will most probably find it redundant and would rarely use it.

The Asus Launcher application may seem redundant to some

Instead of it, Asus could have preinstalled some sort of a user friendly Task manager. A capable and readily accessible task manager is probably the single most important thing that Windows Mobile lacks. HTC have addressed that and they ship their latest handsets with a custom Task Manager.

The default Windows Mobile Task Manager is buried deep in the Settings menu

Asus however have preinstalled a handy quick status app that gives you a single-glance overview of CPU mode, USB mode, Brightness, Battery, Memory, and Storage. The CPU mode mentioned on top of that list doesn't really give you the actual MHz reading, but shows the CPU Frequency mode instead: Automatic, Turbo, Standard or Power Saving. The USB mode shows whether the handset is in Card Reader or ActiveSync mode.

Asus Status application • available CPU modes

Another useful system application is the Auto Cleaner, which gives you control over what happens when you press the X button on any given application - whether it keeps on running in the background or is terminated.

Asus Cleaner application

The next system application provided by Asus is the Mode Switcher. By default it activates when you press the Mode Switcher key on the hardware keypad (the big one the left with the recycle-like icon). The default behavior of this Mode Switcher key is to bring up a row of four shortcuts to some customizable features (changing screen orientation and returning to the Home screen are among them). The key can supposedly be also set to start a Running Tasks switcher instead, but strangely that setting never worked.

Mode Switcher application

And finally, the last system app on Asus P750 is Backup. It allows full backup of your PocketPC, which can later be restored if needed.

Asus Backup application

Phonebook is typically excellent

Windows Mobile PocketPCs have an unlimited contact list with a plethora of available fields for each entry. Synchronization with MS Outlook is textbook.

There is a very practical additional field to each contact - the "Last call". It displays the number and the time the contact in question was last called. A full log is available of calls to and from numbers belonging to this contact, as well as call duration and time of call.

Windows Mobile contacts list

The Asus Call Filter app allows you to quickly filter incoming calls based on reject or accept lists.

The Asus Call Filter application is versatile enough

Loudspeaker test

When it comes to loudspeaker performance, the Asus P750 won a place in the middle with a Good mark. You can see how it ranks to some other Windows Mobile devices, that we've reviewed.You can find more info on the test itself and the other tested handsets here.

Speakerphone test	Voice, dB	Pink noise/ Music, dB	Ringing phone, dB	Overal score
Samsung i780	66.3	64.6	66.7	Below Average
LG KS20	66.1	70.6	64.9	Average
Asus P750	75.7	69.5	66.5	Good
HTC Touch Cruise	68.8	66.6	74.2	Good
HTC TyTN II	76.0	75.7	82.7	Excellent

Messaging is also versatile

Sending and receiving messages is done through the centralized Inbox. It has separate folders for SMS, MMS and email. SMS length is virtually unlimited, as well as the storage of received and sent messages. Inside the multimedia editor you will find the useful option to create multi-page messages containing more than one melody, image or text.

Messaging department • typing a message with the virtual QWERTY keyboard

The Outlook Mobile email client supports POP3 and IMAP accounts. You can have multiple accounts and you can set the client to automatically check mail at regular time intervals. It has full support for sending and receiving attachments.

Email Inbox • reading an email

There is also Direct Push support. What it means is, instead of checking mail at regular intervals, your messages are delivered to you immediately once they are received by the mail server. The only condition is that the pairing Microsoft Exchange server supports Direct Push. With Windows Mobile 6.0 Professional you have search via preinstalled software, plus support for HTML email.

There are several text input methods with the Asus P750. You can use the multi-tap hardware keypad, which is most natural and doesn't require use of both hands. Predictive input is courtesy of the XT9 system. Of course, if you are willing to use the stylus, you an also make use of the virtual on-screen keyboards and the handwriting recognition system.

XT9 settings • different handwriting input modes

File manager does the job

The built-in file manager of the P750 is the standard Windows Mobile variety. It does a good job finding the files you are looking for. The file manager can create new folders, copy and move files, set tracks as ringtones or simply send files to other devices.

Windows Mobile file manager

Picture gallery is appalling

The Picture gallery of Windows Mobile is an application called Pictures&Videos and, as the name implies, you use it for browsing the multimedia files in question. It is integrated in the OS and doesn't offer anything different from phone to phone. In order to have a look at a series of photos you have to open photos one by one, as there is no Open next image button or shortcut. That makes this piece of software probably the most unuser-friendly one in quite a while. Even feature phones have better image galleries.

Browsing images in Images & Video

As far as pictures are concerned, you can zoom in and out. The files are shown as either thumbnails or as a plain list. There's a shortcut that allows you to turn the camera on directly from this application. You can even apply some basic editing on the images.

Zooming in on an image

Windows Media player

The primary multimedia player of all Windows Mobile devices is the preinstalled Windows Media Player. Besides music, it allows watching video and streaming TV. You can sort tracks by artist, album or genre and you can create custom playlists.

Windows Media player interface

Asus have also preinstalled the Streaming player, which quite obviously is a piece of software for watching streaming content.

Asus Streaming player is nothing special in terms of interface

Generally the PocketPCs have never been recognized for having good audio quality. Unluckily the Asus P750 is no exception to this rule producing below average quality of the audio output. The frequency response graph has some tactile deviations in the higher frequencies. The intermodulation distortion level is also way too high in comparison to most other phones we have put to the test.

On the positive side the Asus P750 produces better results than some other Windows mobile devices as for example LG KS20. However it still falls seriously short of being a serious audio playing device.

Here are the results so you can see for yourselves. You can find more info about the test itself here.

Test	Frequency response	Noise level	Dynamic range	THD	IMD + Noise	Stereo crosstalk
Asus P750	+0.55, -3.34	-86.3	86.2	0.0081	0.926	-76.2
LG KS20	+0.80, -3.60	-85.6	88.7	0.063	1.310	-86.7
LG KU990 Viewty	+0.29, -2.07	-86.8	83.8	0.020	0.0124	-86.6
Nokia N82	+1.10, -1.53	-81.6	80.8	0.0046	0.137	-69.3
Nokia N81	+0.39, -1.13	-86.6	95.8	0.041	0.040	-69.9
Samsung U600	+0.41, -1.12	-89.2	86.5	0.0040	0.019	-86.9

Asus P750 frequency response graph

XviD video

We installed a TCPMP player and the needed codecs to play DivX and XviD video files. Playing movies at near-VGA resolution with the P750 is flawless even with the default settings.

Playing an XviD video with the TCPMP player (installed additionally)

Our test video, which put the HTC Touch Cruise and TyTN II to their knees, ran smoothly with absolutely no dropped frames. Zooming in on clips up to 30% doesn't seem to worsen things at all. With its powerful CPU, the Asus P750 does a real nice job as a portable multimedia player.

Camera makes us scratch our heads

Camera performance is hardly a priority with PocketPCs. The Asus P750 is equipped with a 3 megapixel autofocus shooter. At least on paper, it sounds intriguing enough. We'll see about that, but don't get your hopes high just yet.

The camera offers a nice and intuitive menu. It's laid out as a toolbar with icons at the bottom of the display. The menu has landscape orientation.

The camera features include scene modes (auto, night, sports), self timer, burst mode (4 or 9 images), several color effects (normal, black & white, negative and sepia) and, finally, geo-tagging. Yes, geotagging is an exciting feature but we've always been turned down by the fact that it drains batteries rather quickly. Plus, you have to wait for a satellite lock before you start shooting.

Camera toolbar settings: camera mode • GPS image geotagging • preset shooting scenes

There are also additional camera settings, which are identical to what other Windows Mobile devices offer. You can tweak the metering mode, white balance, brightness, contrast and saturation.

Additional camera settings

Now in terms of image quality, the Asus P750 really let us down. It fails to reproduce the fine details, yet it oversharpens the whole scene. Plus the camera creates some distinct violet hue in the upper left corner of each image - it's visible even on thumbnails.

But probably the most serious issue, which makes images almost unusable, is the low-quality lens that was used. Low quality lenses tend to make images softer at either the left or right edges, or even both. But the Asus P750 lens softens almost half of each image and you can see that clearly in every sample shot. There's no way that this camera can be deemed acceptable. The results are so bad that we can't help but think it's a unit-specific issue.

Here are some sample photos to judge for yourself:

The video menu interface is identical to the camera interface. Video clips are recorded in 176x144 pixel resolution in 3GP or MPEG4 format at 15fps. Quality is barely passable. We'll not be publishing samples of those, that's that.

Video camera menu

Connectivity is top job

Now, back to what PocketPCs are really about - connectivity, both wired and wireless. The Asus P750 is well geared in that department. USB connectivity allows seamless synchronization with MS Outlook. However, you can also use Bluetooth 2.0 for that purpose. Other than synchronizing, A2DP support allows listening to music on a stereo Bluetooth headset.

Speaking of wireless communication, we should mention there is no Infrared port, but you have Wi-Fi at your disposal. There are also GPRS, EDGE and HSDPA (3.6 Mbps) so you always have data connectivity options available.

Internet Explorer Mobile is all you get

Softwarewise, Asus P750 is equipped with the Internet Explorer Mobile web browser. We were a bit let down by the fact that Asus haven't preinstalled an alternative browser - Opera would have been welcome. Internet Explorer Mobile is not among our favorite web browsers.

Internet Explorer Mobile

However, Asus have preinstalled several other connectivity applications. The NewsStation app is an RSS reader for staying abreast of the latest news at your favorite web places.

Asus NewsStation application

The Remote presenter allows you to control a computer remotely via Bluetooth during presentations. For the feature to work, you need to install the software (supplied on CD) on the pairing computer too.

Asus Remote Presenter application

And finally, the Remote Desktop Mobile app allows you to connect remotely to any Windows-based computer. It's a really handy feature that - if you ask us - should come preinstalled on all Windows Mobile PocketPCs.

Asus Remote Desktop Mobile application

Organizer is good as always

Windows Mobile offers several time-management features and all of them are easily syncable with MS Outlook. The Calendar in Windows Mobile 6.0 allows searching for events to come. It offers daily, weekly and monthly view. You can have the week start on either Monday or Sunday. You can also hide weekends form the Calendar if you use it for business strictly.

The To-Do list allows you to add tasks and assign them priority. The Notes also come in handy, as you can either type or directly write the text down on the screen. The Voice recorder and Calculator go without saying.

Windows Mobile To-Do list

The Alarm clock has three alarm slots. Each Alarm can have its own repeat pattern. As a frequently used feature, Microsoft should have put more effort into making the alarm clock easily accessible. Instead, it's buried deep down in the Settings menu. Alongside, you will also find the dual-zone clock. It's good that Asus have preinstalled a custom Alarm application called Ur Time.

The Ur Time app displays the clock and calendar on a single screen and allows for quick access to custom alarm settings and a world clock.

Asus Ur Time application: default screen • dual-zone clock • world clock • alarm settings

Asus have also added the Meeting Time planner, which is a handy app and, as the name suggests, it allows you to create a rather detailed Meeting schedule - you have your free slots at a quick glance. The software can work with several time zones simultaneously, good enough for frequent travelers.

Asus Meeting Time Planner application

Then, there's the My Secrets app allowing you to store sensitive information with password protection.

And finally, you have the WorldCard Mobile app that scans business cards, does character recognition and imports the data to the Contacts list.

Asus WorldCard Mobile application

Mobile Office on-the-go

Among the other WM core applications is the Office Mobile package featuring support for viewing and editing Word, Excel, and PowerPoint office files.

Office Mobile

Another application is the rather handy Search software, capable of searching throughout the whole file system and applications. You can set filters, so that the application searches only in the places you need.

The Windows Mobile system-wide Search application

GPS and navigation around

Before we start on the actual performance of the Asus P750 GPS receiver, we'll have a quick glance at some of the software that Asus have preinstalled for us.

First off, we should mention that there is no full-featured navigation software that you can use - you should buy that separately. There is a trial version of Garmin Mobile XT, but it's… you know, trial. That's ok though, since even HTC don't ship their devices with full-featured GPS navigation software.

As the P750 GPS receiver has A-GPS functionality, the GPS Catcher app is there to download the latest satellite positioning data on scheduled intervals or manually. Data charges may apply to downloads - but generally, the amount of transferred data is low enough.

Asus GPS Catcher application

The next GPS-centered application is the Travelog - it's a GPS logging app, that stores GPS coordinates while you move around. It draws a basic route based on the directions you've taken, but it's of no use by itself. Where it really counts is that you can export its log and import it to Google Earth for example, so your route appears on the map.

Asus Travelog application

And finally, the last app to come preinstalled on the P750 is the Location Courier - an application with rather limited functionality - at least to us. Its sole purpose is to send messages with your current GPS coordinates to some predefined GSM numbers at regular intervals. Conspiracy theorists are free to disagree.

Asus Location Courier application

The Asus P750 SiRF Star III GPS receiver worked like a charm - we installed third-party GPS navigation software (iGo) and went for a drive around the city. Satellite lock speed was delightful and positioning was always accurate - even in the narrow and dense city streets. Buildings standing tall around didn't bother it at all.

We also ran a dedicated GPS battery test to see how the SirfStar III chipset fares compared to the Qualcomm units used in HTC TyTN II and HTC Touch Cruise. The test was concluded on a freshly charged battery in a still position and a satellite lock at all time.

In the same test both HTC PocketPCs lasted about 3.5 - 4 hours. The Asus P750 managed to outshine them by a good margin - it kept going for 6 hours straight on. Bear in mind that those figures will be lower when you are constantly moving in a vehicle.

Tweaks and Modding

Windows Mobile PocketPCs have long been exposed to custom modding, patching and tweaking. HTC for one have an especially wide and busy fan base that seems to be constantly poking and prodding for a new twist to their gear.

Some keen users found out that the Asus P750 ships with a hardware VGA screen that simply runs in QVGA mode. So a new modded firmware is up for grabs, which unlocks the dormant VGA resolution. Many users report successful tests of the new firmware, so if you are savvy enough to follow the simple flashing procedure you might consider the VGA display a revision of the ASUS P750 specs sheet.

You should bear in mind though that VGA resolution is incompatible with some applications, as it's not nearly as popular as QVGA. Another thing to consider is that the VGA mode drains the battery more quickly. The latest modded firmware allows toggling between QVGA and VGA with a simple soft reset, so that gives you maximum flexibility.

That new firmware accounts for the latest Windows Mobile 6.1, so you are not stuck with the pre-installed version 6.0. And best of all, most of these soft mods don't void your warranty. The next mod however will surely do.

Users report that you can upgrade the 64MB of RAM to 128MB by replacing the original BGA memory chip with an aftermarket one. It will void your warranty and you will probably need to use a qualified service for the fitting of the new chip. But then you can flash the Asus P750 with the same modded firmware so the device can make use of the increased RAM capacity. Some users report that the P750 is more stable when you choose a firmware which limits its available memory to 112MB, while others have successfully utilized the whole 128MB chip.

Those firmware mods can fix a lot of nuisance too - for example they can make the camera start upon a press-and-hold of the shortcut key, instead of the default short press. Or they can override the system prompt for scanning for new photos every time you insert a memory card. Those are minor things but worth the one-time extra effort. In case you are interested, a good place to start researching is here.

Final words

Asus P750 is an excellent handset and a fast performer in almost every aspect. There are downsides of course such as the relatively large body, relatively small display, the low amount of RAM and the hopeless camera (that still might be a unit-specific issue). On the other hand, the P750 offers commendable build quality, nice choice of materials and excellent ergonomics.

Asus have not taken care of the not-so-thumbable Windows Mobile interface, but it's a flexible platform and some third-party customizations will sure allow more touch-centric operation (as opposed to stylus based). Once that's been taken care of, you will enjoy the capable hardware, which simply blows competing HTC products such as Touch Cruise and TyTN II away.

Our final conclusion is that the Asus P750 is a must-consider when you're shopping for your next PocketPC. You can hardly go wrong choosing it as your next Windows Mobile handset.

Labels: Asus, Asus P750, Windows Mobile

11:22 PM

Entertainment Share

0 comments

<$AT&T$>

Even if every little Nokia wants to be an N95 when it grows up, most of them end up a decent looking gadget with a neat little perk here and there to top the good old calling and texting. Nokia 3120 classic is just another one of them mixed by the time-tested recipe - do the bare minimum but do it right. Now, the notion of bare necessities in mobile phones is stretching as we speak, so no wonder yet another 3G-enabled junior gets thrown in the midrange skirmish.

Nokia 3120 classic official photos

Key features:

2" 16M-color QVGA display
2 megapixel camera with LED flash
S40 user interface
Compact and lightweight
Quad-band GSM support
3G network support, video-call
Bluetooth and USB connectivity
Stereo FM radio
microSD card slot, microSDHC support
Very good battery
2.5mm standard audio jack
Rich preinstalled content

Main disadvantages:

Slow camera and unimpressive image quality
Uncomfortable battery cover latch
Weak backlighting
Memory card slot under the battery cover

Nokia 3120 classic is going for a piece of the midrange action and it's getting a run for its money both inside the Nokia family and from competing manufacturers. Let's have a quick look at some of the potentially bitter rivalries shaping up. It's a mixed bag and we're looking at the plenty of choice you get for 150 euro or less.

Nokia 3120 classic views

Nokia

If you are willing to swap 3G for an even slimmer body, 3.5 mm standard audio jack and dedicated music keys, Nokia 5310 XpressMusic might just be the option for you. It is currently retailing at about the same price as the 3120 classic and features about the same specs, except for the differences mentioned above. The lack of quad band GSM support should also count here, as it makes the 5310 less usable globally.

A golden oldie, Nokia 6233 lacks quad-band support and video calls, which might seem valuable to some. However it retails for about 20 euro (35 US dollars) less, so it might just be worth it. Another deal breaker with Nokia 6233 might be the older 3th edition of the S40 UI but the differences aren't really that great. Probably the key thing is that Nokia 6233 can only support microSD cards up to 2GB, while the 3120 classic can easily handle 8GB cards.

Nokia 5300 is another money-saving alternative of the Nokia 3120 classic. It's larger and has neither 3G nor quad-band GSM, but packs in the same fine 2" QVGA screen and costs a good 55 euro (88 US dollars) less.

Another viable alternative is the Nokia 6300, which is slimmer but again lacks 3G and support for high capacity memory cards.

Samsung

The ultra slim slider Samsung U700 retails for about the same price as Nokia 3120 classic. However, it packs a 3 megapixel camera, larger screen, HSDPA and slimmer (and sleeker if you will) body. Once again, the don't-go-to-America tri-band support might be a deal breaker stateside.

The Samsung D900i goes even easier on the wallet but drops 3G. It saves you about 35 euro (55 US dollars) and gives you one of the good 3 megapixel cameras on the market. So if you are not all about 3G or the S40 UI, you might just have yourself a deal.

Another tempting alternative by the South Korean makers is the Samsung E590. The love-or-loathe minimalist design signed by Jasper Morrison and the sweet size might just be enough to steal some market share. A capable three megapixel autofocus camera and a saving worth 65 euro (100 US dollars) are its key advantages over the 3120 classic. On the other hand, the fast data transfers and the QVGA screen swapped for EDGE and a square 220 x 220 pixel display don't sound as tempting.

Sony Ericsson

As we see it, the top dog among puppies in this segment is Sony Ericsson K770. With 3G, a nice 3 megapixel autofocus camera and a cool display, it seems to have all the odds in its favor. The only disadvantage is that its screen is slightly reduced to 1.9 inches. Having the same price as the 3120 classic it looks better and makes it hard to find good enough reasons not to choose it over the Nokia.

The fashion-savvy might consider trading 3G for the sleek looks of Sony Ericsson S500. The slider is virtually identical to Nokia 3120 classic (save for 3G) and costs 15 euro (25 US dollars) less. Not really a big saving but in this price range it can make a difference. The problem with S500 is the numerous complaints about its keypad durability.

The last one in our roundup is the ultra-slim bar Sony Ericsson W880. It only has a 1.8" display but that is the sole difference to the 3120 classic. However, it ships with a 1GB memory card and costs less than the Nokia. Furthermore, it's much slimmer and it does look nicer than the 3120 classic.

Bear in mind that all price differences listed - though currently valid - are likely to change in the future. Still, having in mind that these are not some over-priced high-enders we are talking about, prices probably won't be dropping too rapidly.

Anyway, enough small talk - let's not keep our Nokia 3120 classic waiting. Hit the jump for more.

Penny-pinching retail package

The retail package of Nokia 3120 classic is downright modest. In fact, the handset comes in one of the smallest boxes we've seen and we weren't really surprised to find only a couple of goodies hiding inside.

All in all, a DC charger and a handsfree set complete the list of accessories you get with this classic shaped device. Not that we have expected miracles in this price range but a medium-sized memory card still would've been nice. Not to mention that the handsfree remote and headphones are not separable unlike most higher-end models.

The other items in the box are a few quick-start guides and leaflets.

The Nokia 3120 classic measures of 111 x 45 x 13 mm make up a volume of 60 cc. Those numbers yell compact and the phone is perfect to fit in any pocket. The completely plastic body gives the handset a weight of 85 g and while it may feel a little cheap it makes sure the 3120 classic won't be a burden.

Design and construction

Designwise Nokia 3120 classic is all the way short of impressive. And no, we wouldn't call it ugly either. You'll do best to take a look at the photos and judge for yourselves.

In the upper left corner of the front panel of Nokia 3120 classic we find the secondary video call camera. Next to it is the earpiece. The 16M-color QVGA screen and the sweet looking keypad will get their due attention a little later in the review.

Video call camera and earpiece grill

The top of the handset hosts the power key, which is also used for changing the ringing profiles. It is a bit too flat but its ample size scores some usability points.

Power key on top

The left side of Nokia 3120 classic features no controls and functional elements. The right side almost answers the same description, save for the volume rocker placed near the top.

The left side features no functional elements • Volume rocker on the right

There are several apertures at the bottom of the handset. The microUSB slot is here, hidden under a small plastic lid. Next to it are the lanyard eyelet, the charger plug and the 2.5mm standard audio jack. 2.5mm jacks aren't nearly as widespread as the 3.5mm variety but there are still enough headsets and adapters available.

Four plugs at the bottom

Rearside of Nokia 3120 classic are the 2 megapixel camera and the LED flash. Slightly above them is the loudspeaker grill.

2 megapixel camera, LED flash and the loudspeaker grill backstage

The back panel is released by pressing the latch at the bottom and lifting the whole piece up. It's easier said than done and you end up wondering if the piece is going to survive it. We didn't manage to break it but you get the idea of how displeased we were with the opening mechanism.

Nokia 3120 classic inside out

The microSD card slot is under the back panel and this is not really the most comfortable location. It does benefit the design but with the just described opening routine we simply couldn't appreciate it. At least the slot is hot-swappable.

Good news for the Nokia 3120 classic users, the handset had no trouble handling an 8GB memory card. It does slow down as the card fills up with a large amount of small files but it's really not that irritating.

The other point of interest under the battery cover is quite obviously the BL-4U Li-Ion battery. The 1000 mAh unit is quoted at 290 hours of stand-by and 3 hours and 30 minutes of talk time. In reality the battery turned out one of the most pleasant surprises about Nokia 3120 classic. It lasted for 6 days of some sparing usage in a 3G network, using the additional features (camera and Bluetooth) more than actually making actual calls.

The BL-4U battery is quite a performer

As a whole, we are happy with the construction quality of the Nokia 3120 classic. It is completely plastic but the materials don't appear to have been compromised and there were no creaks and wobbles detected. Lightweight as it is, the phone feels nice in hand and operating it is a piece of cake.

The phone sticks nicely to the hand

Display is on the better side

The display of Nokia 3120 classic is a 2" QVGA unit capable of showing up to 16M colors. Picture quality is praiseworthy. A two-incher is just on the verge of being called small but, given the price range, it's even above average.

The display is great to look at

Typical Nokia, sunlight legibility is also commendable. The colors do get a bit washed-out in bright sun but the display remains perfectly readable, causing no usability problems whatsoever.

Texting-friendly keypad

The Nokia 3120 keypad is quite all right, with large keys that are hard to miss. The borders between key rows and columns do help touch orientation. The solid press feedback is also a welcome bonus to boost both the precision and the speed of typing.

The keypad is really comfortable

In all fairness, the rim of the D-pad rim is a bit too thin, which results in occasional wrong presses. The keys around it are also a bit hard to distinguish by touch but they make up for that with ample size.

The directions on the D-pad are not as easy to handle

The backlighting of the Nokia 3120 classic keypad is rather weak, which might turn down some users (especially seniors). Now, don't get us wrong - it doesn't render the handset that much difficult to use but it takes some time getting used to. On the positive side, the backlighting is admirably even so at least looks in the dark are intact.

The backlighting is not as strong as we would have liked

Telephony

Signal reception and call clarity have not been compromised with Nokia 3120 classic. Sound is loud and clear on both ends and you will have zero trouble with your calls. Vibration strength in the 3120 classic is moderate.

Calling Dexter on Nokia 3120 classic

We did our traditional loudspeaker loudness test to find out Nokia 3120 classic is a slightly-above-average performer. You are unlikely to miss a call but don't count on getting just everything in noisier environments. You can find more details about our test, as well as the results of all other tested handsets here.

Speakerphone test	Voice, dB	Pink noise/ Music, dB	Ringing phone, dB	Overal score
Nokia 3120 classic	69.6	69.5	71.3	Good
Nokia 5310 XpressMusic	64.8	62.0	75.9	Average
Nokia 6233	76.2	69.5	70.7	Good
Apple iPhone	67.2	60.2	66.6	Below Average
Samsung D900	76.8	75.9	78.0	Excellent
Sony Ericsson K770	68.7	68.8	76.2	Good
Sony Ericsson W890	69.6	78.2	72.7	Very good

User interface: quick and slick

Nokia 3120 employs the Series 40 5th edition user interface. We have to say controlling the phone is almost the same as with the previous UI editions. The number of configurable options has gone up but at the price of somewhat complicated menu structure and navigation.

S40 user interface

There are no changes whatsoever to the stand-by screen of Nokia 3120 classic. The display features the pre-selected wallpaper with the usual status readings, such as signal strength, battery status, ringing profile icon and time in the top bar. Beneath the top bar are the operator logo and the date. The bottom bar is reserved for the descriptions of the functions assigned to the center of the navigation key and the two context keys. The center of the navigation key opens the main menu, while the context keys can be assigned a function of your choice. The font on the main display can be of any color.

If needed, active standby mode can be activated. It consists of four parts that can be edited or relocated as users see fit. In the most common case, the top area is reserved for instant access to favorite functions denoted by their respective icons. The central area provides instant access to the music player. At the very bottom the calendar events appear for the current day. A cool S40 phones feature that even Nokia smartphones lack is the possibility to add a custom note to the active standby. Quite naturally, the two soft keys behavior can also be customized.

Active standby mode • Each tab can be modified to the user liking

The icons themselves haven't been changed a jot, keeping the well known stylish design with animation of the selected icon. They can also be freely reordered within the grid, should the user find their original order inconvenient.

The submenus follow no consistent pattern. Some items have captions, others do not. In certain cases, you will even be able to see the selected item described in small font, so you will not need to step further into another menu level. As usual, alphanumeric keyboard shortcuts to menu items are enabled.

The menu responds quickly, without lagging or holdups. There were also no traces of system instability such as freezes or unexpected restarts for the time of our review.

There are six predefined ringing profiles on Nokia 3120. These should be enough to meet virtually any scenario. The seventh profile is the Flight mode, which turns off all transceivers where the use of mobile phones is not allowed.

Furthermore, unlike other brands, flight mode can be used without a SIM card inserted, which we find convenient.

Customization

There are as many as four different view modes available for the main menu of Nokia 3120 classic: a grid of icons with or without captions, a list of items, and tabs. While each of them has its pros and cons, our personal choice remains the typical grid view of 3 x 3 icons with legends. If you prefer more icons to appear on screen, you can go for the grid view without labels, as it displays a 4 x 3 icon grid.

The four different main menu view modes

The background color of the entire menu, as well as the wallpaper, can also be easily modified by changing the active theme. There are four themes preinstalled on the Nokia 3120 classic but downloading new ones is only a matter of seconds.

The other three preinstalled themes

A spacious phonebook

The phonebook of Nokia 3120 classic stores up to 2000 contacts and that sounds good enough. Each contact can be assigned a variety of fields but the phone numbers are limited to 5. First names are separated from last names eliminating problems, which may occur with synchronization. Ringtones can be assigned to each contact.

Naturally, you can also assign personal pictures or videos that will run on an incoming call. Bear in mind that the caller image is different for incoming and outgoing calls. It fills the screen when you are on the receiving end of a call, and appears much smaller when you are calling one of your contacts.

The Nokia 3120 classic phonebook is searched by gradual typing

There are three available view modes for your contact list: List-of-Names, Name-and-Number and Name-and-Picture. It can display the SIM card contacts, the phone memory contacts or both at the same time. Contacts can be ordered by either first or last name.

Some of the available fields when editing a contact

The phonebook font size can also be modified, should this be necessary, and it's an option that will surely be widely appreciated. And lastly, the well-known grouping is also present. This means that contacts can also be organized in groups and these can subsequently be used as call filters.

Another application to mention here is the voice dial: no pre-recording of voice labels is necessary. There is also a Voice aid application.

The Call Log in Nokia 3120 classic hasn't undergone any significant changes either compared to other S40 devices. It can display Dialed, Received and Missed calls separately, as well as all of them together. Every submenu can hold up to 20 call records with their date, time and duration.

Messaging duly covered

No major changes are to note in the messaging menu either. Not that it needs any, as it's organized very well and capabilities are extensive. Nokia 3120 is capable of handling all the common message types including SMS, MMS and email.

Texts and MMS use one and the same editor and all you need to do to turn a regular SMS into MMS is insert some kind of multimedia content. As soon as you activate the editor, it displays a field for entering the number of the recipient, which you can fill by simple typing, select it from the phonebook, from the caller groups, or from the list with the most recent addressees in the call register. There is even the very handy option to select a favorite message contact in case you have frequent correspondence with one and the same person.

Typing a message is a nice experience with the classic

Everything in the editor is intuitive and organized in a practical time-saving manner. Once you have inserted the relevant number, a single click will shift to the message body where you can start typing. The T9 dictionary and the handy delivery reports go without saying.

Message length is limited to 1000 characters with both the count of typed characters and the number of parts the message will break down into displayed on the screen. All messages use the shared memory, regardless of their type.

A photo, a contact card, or an event from the calendar can be sent via MMS. MMS size limit for both send and receive is 300 KB. A handy feature is that the phone will automatically scale down pictures for sending via MMS.

The email client is doing pretty well to meet most user needs in this aspect. It works with POP3, SMTP, and IMAP4 protocols and supports multiple email accounts.

The native email client is more than good

When a message is to be sent, it finds the email address of the corresponding recipient in the phonebook. Sent attachments are not limited in size. Either message headers only or entire messages can be downloaded by default, depending on your choice.

Music player upgraded

Without doubt, the music player is among the nice applications of Nokia 3120 classic. It has very nice looks and good all-round functionality, including a good number of formats supported and album art.

The Nokia 3120 classic music player

The music player is controlled by the D-pad but you have our word that dedicated music keys aren't badly missed. Besides all the typical functions, the music player of Nokia 3120 classic also sorts songs by artist, album and genre. The player works with MP3, MIDI, AAC, AAC+, and WMA formats. Naturally A2DP profile is supported, allowing listening on wireless Bluetooth earphones.

The player has themes of its own to perk up the looks of the application. In fact there is only one extra skin on top of the default one we got to know since Nokia 5300 XpressMusic. It's called graphite and we did like it.

The default music player theme is not as nice as the Graphite

If you don't like the headset that ships with the phone, you can easily replace it thanks to the 2.5mm standard jack

Back to the player, we have to say it offers a large number of configurable options. The sonic experience gets enhanced by an equalizer and a stereo expansion function. There are 8 equalizer presets on Nokia 3120 but you can easily modify them to create new ones.

The Available equalizer presets

FM radio: all but RDS

An alternative for the preloaded content on your Nokia 3120 is the FM radio. It uses the audio player interface and has the well known functions. The Visual radio application is helpful, as it can download the radio stations in your area and save them to the handset with their names when internet connection is available.

FM radio player interface - RDS is missing

Much like the music player, the FM radio also has two different themes to pick from. The only thing missing is the RDS but you can't have it all, especially on a handset in this price range.

Video player

The video player of Nokia 3120 is compatible with 3GP and MP4 formats. Videos can be played in fullscreen mode, as well as fast-forwarded or rewound. The possibility to remove the soft key captions to make better use of the full screen mode also improves the viewing experience.

Audio quality

Despite not being a music-oriented handset Nokia 3120 classic has rather good frequency response. However the rest of the readings in our audio quality test aren't as good. This goes true especially for the IMD level which is rather high. Still these are all not too bad so we would qualify the audio quality of Nokia 3120 as passable. However you should bear in mind that most competing models are able to perform better in terms of audio quality. Here are the results so you can see for yourselves.

Test	Frequency response	Noise level	Dynamic range	THD	IMD + Noise	Stereo crosstalk
Nokia 3120 classic	+0.65, -0.86	-76.6	79.0	0.018	0.439	-73.9
Nokia 5310	+0.29, -1.69	-94.4	92.0	0.015	0.491	-73.8
Nokia N81	+0.39, -1.13	-86.6	95.8	0.041	0.040	-69.9
Apple iPhone (v.1.1.1)	+0.34, -1.16	-90.8	91.3	0.0050	0.016	-91.4
Samsung U600	+0.41, -1.12	-89.2	86.5	0.0040	0.019	-86.9

Nokia 3120 classic frequency response graph

Gallery and file manager are combined, we are not impressed

No significant changes in the gallery were made with Nokia 3120 classic. Pity, as we aren't really in love with the looks of the S40 gallery. The fact that it is an inherent part of the file manager is probably the main cause of disappointment.

There are three different views for the gallery: list with details, list and grid. Once you pick a picture you can zoom on it to see more detail. Zooming itself is not the fastest (especially for larger pictures) and the most capable around, so it is practically of little use.

There are three view modes available in the gallery

Pictures can also be viewed fullscreen and can be edited with the built-in picture editor. The latter offers a very limited number of options, so Nokia 3120 classic users are highly unlikely to take up photo editing on the handset.

Looking at a single picture in normal and landscape mode • Zooming isn't doing a really great job

The final extras of the gallery include the available Slideshow and Search option, which is quite convenient for finding a specific file in overfed folders.

As a whole we aren't really pleased with the S40 gallery and we do hope that it will be one of the first things to improve in the future versions of the UI.

2 megapixel camera

Speaking of multimedia capabilities, the camera is one of the key things to mention. Nokia 3120 classic is armed with a 2 megapixel camera with image resolution of up to 1600 x 1200 pixels. Typical Series 40, the camera settings are rather limited but - after all - reasonable given the low-end shooter. The available settings include white balance, three quality levels going form basic to high, and various effects. Sequence shots and shooting in both portrait and landscape mode are also among the available options.

The camera user interface in portrait and landscape mode

The camera itself is a downright middling 2 megapixel unit. Its fixed focus is sure to doom any attempts at macro photography but the LED flash gives some hope of producing a usable picture in the dark now and then. The flash is still rather weak, usable with close range objects only.

The lack of a dedicated camera button is the real downer when it comes to operating the camera. Using the confirm button of the D-pad, especially when shooting in landscape mode, is definitely not our preferred handling.

Image quality is about average; in favorable weather decent images can be produced, sharp enough, with fairly good color rendering. Noise levels still remain high in areas with no detail like the sky for example. Given the absence of autofocus, you'd rather not take a picture of a closely situated object or text, as they will surely be blurred. Text is only legible if captured from a distance.

Nokia 3120 classic sample camera photos

Finally, we feel a warning is due about camera speed. This one is surely among the slowest we have tried recently. It will take ages to save a picture at the highest (read: 2MP) resolution setting and that stretches the shot-to-shot time beyond bearable.

As far as video recording is concerned, Nokia 3120 classic manages CIF resolution. This is a decent achievement, albeit nothing impressive. Still on some occasions the video clips produced by the classic might turn out usable. The videos are recorded in 3GP format and their length is only limited by the memory available.

Video recorder interface

As a whole, the imaging capabilities of Nokia 3120 classic are passable for the price range, but far from impressive in general.

Connectivity is good

The Nokia 3120 classic connectivity options are what makes this modest little fella a real treat. The seamless USB connectivity leads the lot. Once the USB cable is plugged, you're prompted to select the connection mode. You can then alternate the modes by only a few key presses. Moreover, Mass storage is available, allowing your phone's memory to be directly accessed from a computer.

As mentioned, the A2DP profile is supported to allow a stereo wireless connection. The rest of the connectivity options include the network support - luckily Nokia 3120 classic supports 3G for fast data transfers, as well as EDGE and GPRS for areas where 3G support is missing. There is no infrared port on the device either, but this is not much of an issue to us.

Finally, the memory card slot, which can sometimes be the most convenient way of transferring data, is also present here. It is somewhat uncomfortably placed under the battery cover but that's only a minor obstacle.

Web browsers

Nokia 3120 classic has an integrated WAP browser, which also manages HTML pages. No significant changes in functionality have been made to the S40 browser since the 3rd edition of the user interface. Therefore you shouldn't be surprised that it is not the best on the market, lacking a lot of the skills of the more advanced alternatives. It still offers decent page rendering and font size customization. When set at the smallest font, up to 11 text lines are displayed.

The phone's primary web browser isn't our favorite

Luckily, the Nokia 3120 classic is also equipped with an alternative web browser. The Opera Mini is located in the application section and is really the better browsing choice on the 3120 classic. It is far more intuitive and fits text better than the integrated browser. The overall browsing capabilities of Nokia 3120 classic can hardly be compared to the best on the market but it's still a good offering considering the price range.

Opera Mini web browser

Organizer on the better side

The organizer of Nokia 3120 classic is truly elaborate, offering a large number of time management applications with nice features and user-friendly interface.

The calendar offers month, week, and day modes and five types of events available for setting up. The week can start on Monday, Sunday, or Saturday. The event types are: reminder, meeting, call, birthday and memo. Further, each type of event has its own specific fields and some of them even allow an alarm to be set up as a reminder.

Calendar month a week view modes • setting up an event

Next-in-line is the handy To Do manager that enables you to categorize tasks in three priority levels. Tasks can be alerted of, as well as marked off once accomplished. Those can also be easily synchronized with the calendar application.

The handy to-do manager

Text notes are available as well - their length is limited to 3000 characters.

The alarm clock is repeatable; it can be set to go off on any weekday and works even when the phone is switched off. You can also customize the snooze time if you wish.

The alarm is nice but has only a single slot

The other organizing functions available include a voice recorder with a 60-minute limit, stopwatch and a countdown timer.

Voice recorder, countdown timer and stopwatch are available

Finally, the Nokia 3120 classic calculator offers two versions - basic and advanced. In addition a loan calculator is also available.

The calculator has a simple and a scientific version, along with a loan calculator

Applications

Nokia 3120 classic comes with a good number of preinstalled applications outside the organizer too.

WidSets is a group of web based applications that are quite at hand and easy to access. Those include weather, online dictionary and so on.

A unit converter is also on board and is in fact a really good one. It offers a good number of conversions, including currencies.

The unit converter is really nice

The search application helps you find the item you are looking for on you handset, while the download application takes you to the Nokia download center. There you are going to find a lot of useful stuff for your handset.

Search application

The presenter application allows you to wirelessly control your PowerPoint presentations and a few other Windows applications

The Yahoo Go application gives the user instant access to the most popular services offered by Yahoo.

Yahoo Go is also on board

The final featured application is World clock for checking the time in any time zone at the cost of only a few clicks.

World clock applications is well familiar

Let the games begin

Gaming lovers will probably appreciate the preinstalled content on Nokia 3120 classic: there are as many as six featured titles.

Classic board game fans will be glad to find Backgammon II. It is a nice Java interpretation of the popular game. Snake is essential to Nokia phones, its presence in Nokia 3120 classic is barely a surprise.

Backgammon II and Snake III start the game marathon

The High roller casino is a game that will earn the appreciation of the gambling lovers, as it includes some of the most popular gambling games, such as Texas Hold'em Poker and Blackjack.

High Roller casino will be appreciated by gambling fans

Next two games in line are the sport simulation Golf Tour and the Java version of the popular Japanese game Sudoku. All the games have decent graphics and are comparatively easy to play.

Sudoku and Golf Tour

The final game is the Rally 3D. It has the best graphics among all the Nokia 3120 classi games and is really rather amusing to play.

Rally 3D completes the tally

Conclusion

The first thing to note at wrap-up is the really nice performance and handling of Nokia 3120 classic. Yeah, we know it's not much of a specs sheet but what's there gets delivered right. Quad-band network support, excellent display and 3G do add value to the clean and simple 3120 classic.

In the beginning of this review we went to great lengths describing the serious pressure the 3120 classic will have to handle. That's good news for every user out there. All you need to do it is get your priorities right and indulge in the abundance of choice. This is a price range where value-for-money is imperative and it's up to you whether it's sleeker looks, better camera, 3G or simply the lower asking price.

All that said, it's unlikely for Nokia 3120 classic to let you down, especially if you get it on a deal or subsidized by a carrier.

General	2G Network	GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
	3G Network	HSDPA 2100 / 900
		HSDPA 850 / 1900 - US version
	Announced	2008, February
	Status	Available. Released 2008, May
Size	Dimensions	113 x 49 x 15.1 mm, 76.5 cc
Size	Weight	101.8 g
Display	Type	TFT, 16M colors
	Size	240 x 320 pixels, 2.4 inches
		- Downloadable themes
Ringtones	Type	Polyphonic (64 channels), MP3
	Customization	Download
	Vibration	Yes
		- Stereo speakers
Memory	Phonebook	Practically unlimited entries and fields, Photocall
	Call records	Detailed, max 30 days
	Card slot	microSD (TransFlash), hotswap, buy memory
		- 76 MB internal memory
		- 96 MB SDRAM memory
		- ARM 11 369 MHz processor
Data	GPRS	Class 11, 118.4 kbits
	HSCSD	Yes
	EDGE	Class 32, 296 / 177.6 kbits
	3G	HSDPA, 3.6 Mbps
	WLAN	Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, UPnP technology
	Bluetooth	Yes, v2.0 with A2DP
	Infrared port	No
	USB	Yes, v2.0 microUSB
Features	OS	Symbian OS, S60 rel. 3.2
	Messaging	SMS, MMS, Email, Instant Messaging
	Browser	WAP 2.0/xHTML, HTML, RSS feeds
	Games	Yes + Java downloadable, order now
	Colors	Black
	Camera	3.15 MP, 2048x1536 pixels, autofocus, Carl Zeiss optics, video(VGA 15fps), flash; secondary CIF videocall camera
		- Built-in GPS receiver
		- A-GPS support
		- Java MIDP 2.0
		- MP3/M4A/AAC/eAAC+/WMA player
		- Stereo FM radio with RDS
		- FM transmitter
		- 3.5 mm audio output jack
		- Push to Talk
		- Voice command/dial
		- PIM including calendar, to-do list and printing
		- Document viewer
		0
		- Photo/video editor
		- Integrated handsfree


Battery		Standard battery, Li-Ion 1200 mAh (BL-6F)
Battery	Stand-by	Up to 320 h

Labels: Nokia, Nokia 3 Series

10:08 PM

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<$AT&T$>

The Nokia N78 boasts a 3 megapixel autofocus camera, Symbian OS with the latest S60 Feature pack 2, built-in GPS receiver, Wi-Fi, the intriguing Navi wheel navigation and an FM transmitter. All those features are enough to make it a worthy successor of the highly popular and capable Nokia N73. Of course, with a similar feature set, Nokia N82 will rival the Nokia N78.

Nokia N78 official photos

We are already working on an in-depth review of Nokia N78 but while it's still in the works we share some of our first impressions. Those should give you an idea of the most obvious (and probably some of the most important) pros and cons of the phone.

For starters, check out some photos of the new Nokia N78 we made in the comfort of our office. Hard to call it a beauty, with all that Nokia N81 design, which is not really popular with our team. The fact that all Nseries have to share the dull and unimpressive N81 looks is a real disappointment, but maybe it's just us.

Nokia N78 follows the Nokia N81 unimpressive design

The newest Nseries handset lands just below the top of the company multimedia portfolio. Except for the lack of a 5 megapixel camera and the motion sensor, it has very similar functionality to the flagship Nokia N82.

Nokia N78 however comes with the Feature Pack 2 preinstalled, which won our appreciation in Barcelona back in February. The Navi wheel is also a welcome bonus, and it is now usable across the board and not limited to the multimedia menu only, as in N81. The FM transmitter is another exciting feature, that we enjoyed in the recently reviewed Sony Ericsson W980.

Nokia N78 views

But enough small talk - let's move on and check what the N78 hardware configuration has to offer. Join us after the jump for the 360-degree spin of the Nokia N78.

Design and construction

You know that we weren't really fond of Nokia N81's looks. Therefore it should come as little surprise that we aren't that impressed with Nokia N78 (and the entire N-series for that matter) following suite. There are some changes of course and luckily most of them are on the positive side.

The earpiece, the ambient light sensor and the video-call camera are placed right below the upper rim of the front panel.

The earpiece, the ambient light sensor and the videocall camera

Below them is the 2.4" display of QVGA resolution. It is capable of showing up to 16M colors and did manage to impress us with picture quality. The brightness and contrast levels are even more impressive than those of the Nokia N95 8GB.

Nokia N78's display is good by all means

Sunlight legibility is also praiseworthy. Nokia are one of the best when it comes to producing displays that fare well in the sun and N78 makes no exception. Even on the brightest of days you will have little trouble using your N78 outside, albeit the colors are a bit washed out.

Below the display we find two selection keys, the D-pad, the Multimedia menu key and the call and end keys. The call and end keys are utterly flat and are located a bit too close to the edge which makes using them a little uncomfortable at first. We'll see if we get used to them before the full review is complete.

Nokia N78's call and end keys aren't the most comfortable around

Another thing that needs getting used to is the Nokia N78 keypad. The knobs are way too tiny and there are no borders of any kind between keys within the same row. So far we are having quite a rough time typing on the N78.

The keypad needs getting used to

The menu and clear keys also have somewhat unusual placement on the Nokia N78. They are on either side of the keypad but that seems to cause no problem to usability.

The right side of Nokia N78 hosts the dedicated camera key, the volume rocker and a loudspeaker grill.

The right side of Nokia N78

Quite surprisingly the other loudspeaker is placed all the way down the diagonal on the opposite side of Nokia N78. It's found just above the lower edge of the left side. The remaining elements on the left are the charger plug, the microSD card slot and the microUSB port. We would have preferred some sort of cover for both the charger plug and the microUSB port. Without it they are prone to filling up with dust and dirt - not to mention that those holes are plain ugly.

Nokia N78's left side hosts a loudspeker, the microUSB slor and the charger plug

On the top of Nokia N78 we came upon the power key and the 3.5mm standard audio jack.

The 3.5mm standard audio jack is next to the power key

The mouthpiece is at the bottom of the handset.

Nokia N78 looked from below

The back side of Nokia N78 hosts the 3.2 megapixel camera with LED flash. It has no protective cover, relying solely on the fact that it is a bit recessed to protect it from scratches.

The 3.2 megapixel camera is the star backstage

Pressing the key at the bottom of the battery panel releases it. Below it we found the BL-6F battery, which has a capacity of 1200 mAh. It is quoted at up to 320 hours of stand-by and 4 hours and 20 minutes of talk time, which sound quite a good promise to us. We are however, still unable to comment on those numbers having spent so little time with the handset.

We are so far pleased with the construction quality of Nokia N78. Apart from the back cover, which is rather wobbly, the rest of the handset seems nicely done.

User interface

As already mentioned, Nokia N78 comes with the Feature pack 2 preinstalled. It brings some nice upgrades to the Symbian S60 user interface. There are now transition effects throughout the menu system and the entire interface looks way more pleasing.

The active standby menu also offers quite some customization options with three different view modes.

Nokia N78 comes with Feature pack 2

We are quite pleased with the fact that the Navi wheel can now be used across the menus. Some on our team found it a little slow but most of us did appreciate it. It does make the phone much more fun to use.

FM transmitter

Nokia N78 also features the rather rare FM transmitter feature. We welcomed it in the Sony Ericsson W980 we reviewed a while ago so, quite understandably, we were excited to see how the Nokia performs in comparison. As it turned out, it is on about the same level, which means that it manages to outperform even some of the low-end dedicated FM transmitting devices.

FM transmitter has rather simple interface

Camera

The last stop on our preview tour is the Nokia N78 camera. The 3 megapixel module features no significant changes in terms of user interface, as compared to Nokia N82 for example.

It offers the same extensive settings - starting from manual white balance and ISO sensitivity, and including exposure compensation, sharpness and contrast settings, as well as various effects labeled Color tones. Gridline can also be applied to the viewfinder to assist you in framing you photos, using the photographic rule-of-thirds. Using it to align your subjects and place points of interest on or near the lines and their intersecting points makes your photos much more professional and aesthetic.

The camera interface is familiar

The camera sequence mode and self-timer are no news. The LED flash can be set in four ways: automatic, always on, red-eye reduction and always off.

Here are some sample photos, made with the Nokia N78 camera. They should give you the basic idea of what the camera is capable of.

Nokia N78 sample photos

First impression

As far as first impressions, Nokia N78 fares decently. It didn't win our hearts straight away but it has some interesting features that are enough to grab attention. So far the performance also seems decent, with neither stability nor speed issues whatsoever.

However, even for the short period we had with the N78 we couldn't help ourselves but notice some major flaws. The wobbly back panel, the uncomfortable keypad and the not very comfortable call and end keys aren't exactly what you would expect in a 350 euro handset.

We are yet to see if the negative or the positive impressions will take the upper hand once the full review is complete. As for now, we wouldn't advise you to rush to the nearest shop to purchase the Nokia N78.

Announced

General	2G Network	GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
	3G Network	HSDPA 2100 / 900
		HSDPA 850 / 1900 - US version
	2008, February
	Status	Available. Released 2008, May
Size	Dimensions	113 x 49 x 15.1 mm, 76.5 cc
Size	Weight	101.8 g
Display	Type	TFT, 16M colors
	Size	240 x 320 pixels, 2.4 inches
		- Downloadable themes
Ringtones	Type	Polyphonic (64 channels), MP3
	Customization	Download
	Vibration	Yes
		- Stereo speakers
Memory	Phonebook	Practically unlimited entries and fields, Photocall
	Call records	Detailed, max 30 days
	Card slot	microSD (TransFlash), hotswap, buy memory
		- 76 MB internal memory
		- 96 MB SDRAM memory
		- ARM 11 369 MHz processor
Data	GPRS	Class 11, 118.4 kbits
	HSCSD	Yes
	EDGE	Class 32, 296 / 177.6 kbits
	3G	HSDPA, 3.6 Mbps
	WLAN	Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, UPnP technology
	Bluetooth	Yes, v2.0 with A2DP
	Infrared port	No
	USB	Yes, v2.0 microUSB
Features	OS	Symbian OS, S60 rel. 3.2
	Messaging	SMS, MMS, Email, Instant Messaging
	Browser	WAP 2.0/xHTML, HTML, RSS feeds
	Games	Yes + Java downloadable, order now
	Colors	Black
	Camera	3.15 MP, 2048x1536 pixels, autofocus, Carl Zeiss optics, video(VGA 15fps), flash; secondary CIF videocall camera
		- Built-in GPS receiver
		- A-GPS support
		- Java MIDP 2.0
		- MP3/M4A/AAC/eAAC+/WMA player
		- Stereo FM radio with RDS
		- FM transmitter
		- 3.5 mm audio output jack
		- Push to Talk
		- Voice command/dial
		- PIM including calendar, to-do list and printing
		- Document viewer
		0
		- Photo/video editor
		- Integrated handsfree


Battery		Standard battery, Li-Ion 1200 mAh (BL-6F)
Battery	Stand-by	Up to 320 h

Labels: N Series, Nokia, Nokia N78

9:21 PM

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<$AT&T$>

For the uninitiated, the N82 may seem like a new member of the Finnish company's Nseries stable. Technically, that is right, but its close resemblance to the earlier N95 in terms of features is hard to ignore. Although some mobile phone review sites have made references to the N73, we feel it's more appropriate and relevant to talk about the N82 with the N95 in mind. Our review of the N82 follows below.

Design

When placed side-by-side, probably even a six-year-old will be able to tell the N82 and the N95 apart. In terms of design, the N82 looks radically different from the N95, which is a good move pre-mediated, or not. Otherwise the company will be guilty of bookshelving by introducing several variations of identical phones on the shelves, confusing the consumers (or if you like, giving them more options). This situation is especially rampant in the digicam market where manufacturers produce a single model in a variety of colors.

The biggest difference between the N82 and the N95 is that the latter is a slider-phone, while the N82 is a candy-bar model. So users who previously shunned the N95 due to its form factor now have a legitimate reason to pick up the N82. One of the main concerns was that the sliding mechanism may loosen over time. In our opinion, that's a strategic move because it allows Nokia to capture another share of the market which it was previously unable to.

Moving on, the N82 is of a comfortable size and the even weight distribution means we don't have to worry about the phone slipping out of our hands. As for the choice (or lack) of colors, it's a matter of personal opinion. We feel the metallic shade gives a very "bright" persona to the handset, but it also bears a tinge of industrial construction which may not appeal to everyone.

Just like there isn't a perfect phone, the N82 has a few shortcomings. First off are the alphanumeric keys. Maybe there were miscommunications between the designers and engineers during the manufacturing process, because no one in the right mind would fall in love with such tiny buttons. Our only consolation is that the keys are relatively well-spaced-out, so it's a whole lot better than the ones on the Sony Ericsson W880i.

Still on the issue of the buttons, even though each of the softkeys shares the same button with a secondary function, it wasn't easy hitting the wrong key. That said, we would have preferred the functions to be separate. It could be just our review unit, but the D-pad felt rather loose when we pressed it in any of the four directions and light could be seen escaping from the sides. We'd also like to highlight that the build quality was a little shabby on our set because there was a gap between the left edge and the top face. But like we said, it could just be our unit.

We also didn't fancy the shortcut carousel button between the right softkey and the correction function. In our opinion, this is something that could be left out as we constantly worry about pressing it accidentally. The dedicated Gallery button on the right edge of the phone could have been used for that purpose. Only the camera module is at the back of the phone (not like we had expected it anywhere else). Nokia has opted for a mechanical lens cover which is great for protecting the lens. Sliding down the cover activates the shooter.

This time round, the 3.5mm audio port is on the top edge of the handset instead of at the side. This lets us plug our earphones from the top, so there won't be anything protruding from the sides when the phone is in our pockets. Elsewhere, the microUSB port, microSD expansion card slot and charging connection are found on the left edge, while a pair of stereo speakers, camera shutter, gallery key and volume controls lie on the right.

Features

In terms of features, there's really nothing much to talk about since we've already covered most of it in our reviews of the N95 and the N95 (8GB), so we'll just keep it short and sweet. The most distinct feature in the N82 is the addition of a Xenon flash, like the ones we've seen on the Sony Ericsson K810i and K850i Cyber-shots. Compared with LED lights, Xenon flashes are much stronger and able to illuminate subjects better in the dark.

Next is a smaller 2.4-inch QVGA display compared with 2.6 inches on the N95 and 2.8 inches on the 8GB version. The size of the screen is likely a result of having to share the limited front estate with the alphanumeric keypad since it doesn't have the privilege of being able to stow away the keypad under the slider like the two N95s. Well, something has to give. It's not a setback, though, because the LCD held up well under the harsh afternoon sunlight. We were able to read text clearly even though colors appeared washed-out. Compared with the K850i, the Sony Ericsson gave us better screen legibility under the same lighting condition.

We mentioned about the microUSB port earlier and even we are getting confused as to which size Nokia favors. Besides rendering all our existing miniUSB cables useless, we are also unable to charge the N82 via the PC, unlike the N95 (8GB). Although that's not a big issue, it's probably good to know that you should try not to lose the cable which comes with your set. If you care to know, Nokia has also dropped the infrared option on the N82.

The N82 runs on the third-edition Symbian S60 platform with Feature Pack 1, so it should be familiar to most Nokia users. Porting over data from their existing S60 phones can be done via the onboard Switch application. We've mentioned before that the Quickoffice app is a read-only version on the earlier N95s. The same goes for the N82 we are reviewing. So for users who have an absolute need to create Word, Excel or presentation documents, they'll have to look elsewhere, unless they are willing to pay for the upgrade.

Performance

With a larger-capacity 1,050mAh battery, the rated talk and standby times are higher than the N95 with a 950mAh cell, though its still less than the 1,200mAh BL-6F option on the N95 (8GB). According to the literature, the N82 has a talktime of 260 minutes and standby of slightly over nine days. Based on our typical usage pattern of making phone calls, sending text messages, taking pictures and listening to music, the N82 was able to keep us entertained for about 2.5 to three days before it winked out.

The N82 comes with 128MB of RAM like the N95 (8GB), so we've come to expect a similar kind of snappy response. Truth is, with that amount of memory, it's hard that it will ever be depleted and most of the preinstalled applications can be running in the background without stalling the phone.

As for picture quality, it's one of the best we've seen, on par and better than the Sony Ericsson K850i on some occasions. Although the K850i gave us a better preview of the image on the phone's LCD, the snaps right out of the N82 when viewed on a PC appear more saturated, carry more punch, but sacrifices details. We'll let the pictures speak for themselves, but one thing to note is that the flash on the N82 is brighter than the one on the K850i. It's a pity that the N82 isn't capable of standing on its sides without any support unlike the N95 (8GB). That could be really useful if we are taking night pictures and want to minimize camera shake by using the timer function. The N82 records VGA-resolution videos at 30fps in MPEG-4 format. There's also a front-facing CIF 352 x 288-pixel camera for video calls.

Nokia N82	Sony Ericsson K850i

The pictures shown here were taken using the default camera settings. Clicking on the thumbnails opens up the original images.

Conclusion

Depending on which angle you are coming from, if you are upgrading from a N73, then it's almost a non-decision that the N82 would be the ideal choice. But for current N95 users, it's a less compelling switch and boils down to a choice of going for a larger LCD screen (N95 8GB) or a more powerful Xenon flash (N82). As a camera-phone, the N82 is on par with the Sony Ericsson K850i Cyber-shot, and, in certain cases, betters it in terms of image quality. But, on the other hand, the K850i has dedicated camera controls that can enhance user experience when shooting. Overall, the N82 is a great all-round phone. Despite some niggles that could have been avoided,
we'd still recommend it.

General	Network	HSDPA / GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
	Announced	2007, November
	Status	Available

Size	Dimensions	112 x 50.2 x 17.3 mm, 90 cc
Size	Weight	114 g

Display	Type	TFT, 16M colors
Display	Size	240 x 320 pixels, 2.4 inches

Ringtones	Type	Polyphonic, Monophonic, True Tones, MP3
	Customization	Download
	Vibration	Yes

Memory	Phonebook	Practically unlimited entries and fields, Photocall
	Call records	Detailed, max 30 days
	Card slot	microSD, hot swap, 2 GB card included, buy memory
		- 100 MB internal memory

USB

Data	GPRS	Class 32, 107 kbps
	HSCSD	Yes
	EDGE	Class 32, 296 kbps; DTM Class 11, 177 kbps
	3G	HSDPA
	WLAN	Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, UPnP technology
	Bluetooth	Yes, v2.0 with A2DP
	Infrared port	No
	Yes, v2.0 microUSB

Features	OS	Symbian OS 9.2, S60 rel. 3.1
	Messaging	SMS, MMS, Email, Instant Messaging
	Browser	WAP 2.0/xHTML, HTML
	Games	Downloadable, order now
	Colors	Silver
	Camera	5 MP, 2592 x 1944 pixels, Carl Zeiss optics, autofocus, video(VGA 30fps), xenon flash; secondary CIF videocall camera
		- Built-in GPS receiver - A-GPS function - Motion sensor (with UI auto-rotate) - Installed Maps application covering over 100 countries - Java MIDP 2.0 - MP3/AAC/AAC+/eAAC+/WMA player - Video player - 3.5 mm audio output jack - TV out - Stereo FM Radio - Organizer - Office document viewer - T9 - Push to talk - Voice dial/memo - Built-in handsfree

Battery		Standard battery, Li-Ion 1050 mAh (BP-6MT)
	Stand-by	Up to 225 h
	Talk time	Up to 4 h 20 min

Labels: N82, Nokia

8:50 PM

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The Nokia N810 Internet Tablet allows you to use the internet that you're used to, in places you're not. Combining pocket sized portability with a high-resolution widescreen display that enhances your video and picture viewing. The N810 includes an HW key to lock touch screen and keys.
The Nokia N810 Internet Tablet makes easy for you to be closer to your friends and family not to mention entertainment too with faster connections and a full Qwerty keyboard. Listen to up to 10 hours of music playback in stereo quality. The N810 comes equipped with GPS functionality that will help you find your way to your destination. Stay in touch with email, instant messaging and internet calling all in one portable tablet

Nokia announces his(its newest product - Nokia N810

- screen resolution 4,13" ( 800×480 pixels) with color 65K
- Internal function of GPS ( Global of Positioning Systems)
- Internal hard disk 2GB
- WiFi Connection , Bluetooth
- 400 MHZ OMAP 2420 CPU>Central Processing Units, 128 MB TAM and 256 MB ROM
- Built-In Camera, mini of UBS 20
- Can implement some formats video/ music like 3GP, AVI, H263, H264, MP4, ASF, WMV, MPEG-1/4, Real video; audio: MP3, WMA, AAC, AMR, AWB, M4A, MP2, REAL audio, WAV
- Resilience of battery 4 hour(clock for normal usage, 10 hours for music
- Operation Systems applies Nokia Linux Maemo
- weight: 12,7 x 7,19 x 1,4 cm and 225 g.

Labels: N810, Nokia

8:18 PM

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<$AT&T$>

AT&T Announces iPhone 3G Pricing and Tips to be iReady

Online Resources Available to Help Customers Prepare for Purchase

Variety of Attractive Plans Combine Voice and Unlimited Data

Dallas, Texas, July 1, 2008

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) today announced iPhone 3G pricing for new and existing AT&T customers, several attractive voice and data plans, and tips on how to be "iReady" when iPhone 3G goes on sale at AT&T retail stores at 8 a.m. local time on Friday, July 11.

"We can't wait to offer iPhone 3G to our customers, and we want to make sure the buying process is as easy as possible," said Ralph de la Vega, president and CEO of AT&T's wireless unit. "Considering all the great new features of iPhone 3G, we think our pricing and monthly plans present a tremendous value for consumers and businesses alike."

Pricing and Eligibility

AT&T is making it easy for customers to prepare for their iPhone 3G purchase by posting "Get iReady" tips and frequently asked questions at www.att.com/iphone. The site also will include a link for customers to check their upgrade eligibility and other wireless account information.

iPhone 3G will be available for $199 for the 8GB model and $299 for the 16GB model. These prices require two-year contracts and are available to the following customers:

iPhone customers who purchased before July 11
Customers activating a new line with AT&T
Current AT&T customers who are eligible, at the time of purchase, for an upgrade discount

Existing AT&T customers who are not currently eligible for an upgrade discount can purchase iPhone 3G for $399 for the 8GB model or $499 for the 16GB model. Both options require a new two-year service agreement. In the future, AT&T will offer a no-contract-required option for $599 (8GB) or $699 (16GB).

Current customers may also choose to wait until they become eligible for an upgrade discount. Eligibility is generally determined by amount of time remaining on a current contract and payment history.

Current AT&T customers who are upgrading to iPhone 3G will pay an $18 upgrade fee and new AT&T customers will pay the standard $36 activation fee.

Voice, Data and Text Messaging Plans

AT&T brings iPhone 3G customers the best coverage on the globe and the largest mobile-to-mobile calling community with unlimited calling to AT&T's 71.4 million wireless customers. iPhone 3G customers can choose from four individual AT&T Nation plans, which bundle voice and unlimited data (e-mail and Web browsing).

AT&T Nation^SM Unlimited: Includes unlimited Anytime Minutes for $129.99 a month.
AT&T Nation 1350: Includes 1350 Anytime Minutes and unlimited Night & Weekend Minutes for $109.99 a month.
AT&T Nation 900: Includes 900 Anytime Minutes and unlimited Night & Weekend Minutes for $89.99 a month.
AT&T Nation 450: Includes 450 Anytime Minutes and 5,000 Night & Weekend Minutes for $69.99 a month.

All AT&T Nation and AT&T FamilyTalk^® plans for iPhone 3G include nationwide long distance and roaming, Visual Voicemail, Rollover^®, unlimited Mobile to Mobile calling, Call Forwarding, Call Waiting, Three-Way Calling and Caller ID.

AT&T will offer FamilyTalk plans, with bundled voice and unlimited data, starting as low as $129.99 a month for two iPhone 3G lines. Up to three additional iPhone lines can be added for $39.99 each.

Unlimited text messaging can be added for an additional $20 ($30 for FamilyTalk plans of up to five lines); $15 (1,500 messages), or $5 (200 messages).

iPhone for Business

Business customers interested in iPhone 3G should contact an AT&T business sales representative or review their account information online to determine their eligibility for upgrade pricing. Corporate e-mail and other business applications require the Enterprise Data Plan for iPhone, which is $45 a month and bundled with an eligible voice plan. Small business customers may qualify for AT&T BusinessTalk, the industry's only shared plan specifically for small businesses. Additional details on iPhone business offerings are available at www.att.com/iphoneforbusiness.

iPhone 2.0 Software

All iPhone customers will benefit from the iPhone 2.0 software, which will be pre-loaded on all iPhone 3Gs and available as a free download for current iPhone customers. The new software will include numerous enhancements, such as business-class e-mail access via Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync; the iPhone Software Development Kit (SDK), which allows a business to easily create applications customized to its needs; and the App Store, which offers a wide-range of applications — from games to business, education to entertainment and productivity to social networking. For example, AT&T has developed YELLOWPAGES.COM Mobile for iPhone, which takes local mobile search to a new level by allowing users to discover businesses and local events based on their popularity among other iPhone users, get directions and access business reviews.

Labels: News