Call them brazened but — they have every right to be. i didn’t have time to head over to CommunicAsia ‘09 because Nokia kept me busy, and I guess that was the whole point. For the past few years, Nokia has broken away from the CommunicAsia expo after they started to focus more on software development rather than hardware.

She didn’t have to ask me, but Nikka Abes, Nokia Corporate Communications Manager for the Philippines did throw a question, asking if the media is noticing Nokia’s new direction, focusing more on the Ovi Platform and its various services and how it integrates with S60. In the same light, the S40 platform also has its perks with Life Tools and Mail on Ovi gaining much ground in developing countries.

Breaking away from CommunicAsia was a good move. Not really to “cock-block” the media from viewing other phone brands in one big expo, but it’s more along the lines of “we have so much to present to you — we need more than an expo floor.”

For me, it was also great that we got to spend time with Nokia’s General Manager for Philippines, William Hamilton Whyte, who was easy to reach and joined us for drinks on more than one ocassion. Come the N97 launch back in the Philippines I really didn’t feel the need to interview him anymore as I’ve pretty much exhausted everything I needed to ask over a few drinks — on more than one night.

Nokia Connection ‘09 was a fruitful experience, as it always was in the past. This was the third time Nokia sent me to attend their conferences, the first being the Ovi launch two years ago and Nokia Connection ‘08 last year.

Good times.

[image c/o author]

Post from: Cellphone9

Chris Carr unveiled the new N97 device as well as three new devices — the Nokia 5530 XpressMusic phone, the Nokia E72, an upgrade to the previous E71, and the 3710 Fold which runs on the S40 platform.

Loren Shuster, Head of Marketing for South East Asia talked more about trends and went in depth with the Ovi store and how it has made an impact on music piracy and developing markets.

There are 1.3 billion users on the Internet. Over 40% of these have mobile Internet access as well. In 2008, the number of mobile Internet users doubled, making the mobile Internet the only way to access the web for developing countries.

it is estimated that by 2012, the number of mobile Internet devices will surpass the total number of desktops that have Internet access. By 2012, there will be over 1 billion people accessing social networking sites via mobile phones. There are 9.3 million individuals using mobile Internet per day. 8.2 million use the mobile Internet for maps.

Post from: Cellphone9

Singapore has been the preferred venue for regional communications conferences such as CommunicAsia. This year is no different with CommunicAsia 2008 currently ongoing. But that’s just one side of the coin. I was lucky enough to have been invited to Nokia’s very own Nokia Connection 2008 and tonight capped Day 1 of the ceremonies. Here’s the rundown:

Two new enterprise phones were announced, Nokia E66 and the Nokia E71 both sporting Intellisync, email functions, HSDPA and WiFi.The main difference is that the E71 comes with a full QWERTY keypad and is ultra-thin while the E66 is a lower end version of he E71 sporting similar features but doesn’t come with a full QWERTY pad.

Nokia N-Gage games are slowly taking shape with three new game previews developed in house by Nokia

Demos of the Nokia 5220 and 5320 together with performances from the Nokia Independent Artists Club (Nokia IAC). In my next few posts I will be going into more depth with the new announcements, most especially with the new N-Gage platform impressions which completely blew my mind.

Last year we bore witness to Nokia Go Play which was the Finn’s announcement of their new strategy towards the Internet and social media. Basically, Nokia’s efforts with Ovi, the N-gage most especially, is slowly being realized, without them losing focus on their core competence, which is the manufacturing of mobile phones.

Stay tuned for more!

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You can leave a comment if you’re going and maybe we can grab a few drinks during the conference.

Post from: Cellphone9

A few months ago, we welcomed a new player in the mobile handset market: Singapore based Verzio. These were some former Nokia and Sony Ericsson guys (we heard) who wanted a fresh start with a new company. Their flagship product was the Verzio Duplii a dual SIM phone that was aesthetially appealing as well.

Just recently Verzio entered the Windows Mobile market with the release of the Envii, a WM6 smartphone with up to date features and priced at about USD $600 – $700 depending on where you’re from. The Envii, to be honoest doesn’t bring anything too innovative to the playing field of smartphones. It has a decent lineup of connectivity options, SRS WOW speakers (a good addition but not absolutely necessary) and some customized apps such as the Flick Dynamic Menu similar to the HTC Touch.

Speaking of HTC, the Envii has the look and feel of one of their products. Remove the “Verzio” logo and you’d probably think of the device to be one of theirs.

The Envii is definitely top notch in the connectivity arena – not only does it have USB and Bluetooth options, but IrDA as well. Yes folks, infra-red is still a welcome addition in the Asian market despite its being phased out in the west. Wireless 802.11g LAN (WiFi) and HSDPA connectivity is also supported.

The Envii’s real estate feels like a dry bar of soap in your hands. It is robust and compact but we’re thinking its about time that smartphones started to do away with the circa-2005 all-touchscreen and have some other way of interacting with the user interface like a keypad or jog dial on the side of the device, which the Envii does not have.

No worries. Part of me thinks that this is a function of Windows Mobile as a platform rather than the device itself. I’ve yet to see a really good WM 6 device with a kick ass user interface (minus all the lag as well). The HTC Touch was something to look at but it wasn’t quite there yet.

Verzio’s Envii works fine with The Missing Sync if you’re a Macintosh user but craps out on some beta apps we tested. This could be an internal design issue as the Envii isn’t really known in the western side of the pond. All in all, you won’t go green with Envii entirely with this device if you’re all geeked out. It does have some neat features like built in FM tuner, HSDPA and WiFi — but with the pricepoint, we’re thinking you may opt for something else. We’re not saying the Envii is all that bad. Because it isn’t. Some gripes would include a screen time out when in sleep mode about one out of every four times I’d try to un-sleep the device. The solution would be to do a manual reboot or remove the battery to try again. In fairness, this should be fixed with a firmware update (taps fingers… dum dee dum). And yeah, just like most Windows Mobile devices plagued with a crappy camera system, the Envii’s battery life is also an issue. Be prepared to have this thing plugged in when you’re idle or carry an extra battery pack with you.

If you’re looking for a fresh new take on mobile devices, I’d definitely recommend the Envii just to be different. It isn’t lacking in features (I mean it even has IrDA which is obsolete in the West but still useful!) but it doesn’t shine in anything that can shut out the competition.

All images in this post were taken by yours truly on top of my antique tabletop chess set

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