Will 2009 Be The Year Of Symbian?
Nokia 5800 - a touch of musicThe first phone up is a totally new member of Nokia"s Xpress family of music mobile phones, the stunning Nokia 5800. This phone is very obviously made for music and video; you can tell by the separate XpressMusic touch-key that brings up a list of links to music, videos, the web, and more. Then, of course, the Nokia 5800 has a 3.2 inch touch-sensitive display, to actually play with those different media content.
Basically, the Nokia 5800 was designed to be a teeny portable jukebox and movie player, and as music phones go, this is just about the prettiest. The Nokia 5800 has also got a 3 megapixel camera, HSDPA data connection and GPS, making it a wonderful all-rounder, in addition to being a superb media box. Oh, and it has a strap to fasten on a fake guitar plectrum. That"s pretty cool, that. Despite all those features, the Nokia 5800 is very definitely a mid-range device; it"s not, nor was it ever meant to be, a full-on top-end monster. That position goes to a separate device...
Nokia N97 - all the sleekness of touch, with a QWERTY keyboard
And so, say hello to the Nokia N97. It takes the Symbian touch interface, and adds a full QWERTY keyboard, a bigger display, and a huge 32Gb of storage space. There aren"t many phones on the market that can beat it for sheer power, and, frankly, the word "powerhouse" is the best way to describe for the Nokia N97.
In addition to the obvious extra benefits you get from a QWERTY keyboard, it also includes a bigger camera than the 5800, coming in at 5 megapixels. Without a doubt, the Nokia N97 is the most advanced Symbian phone in production at the moment. It won"t stay that way, though, because another upcoming phone is definitely going to steal its thunder...
Sony Ericsson Idou - Entertainment Unlimited
As good as the Nokia N97 and the 5800 are, however, the real star of the show at this year"s MWC has been a new touchscreen phone from Sony Ericsson, and it truly is a beast. The interface in the Sony Ericsson Idou is what will evolve into the Symbian Foundation software (effectively, it"s Symbian S60 Touch, as used in the Nokia 5800), with a custom Sony Ericsson interface on top. And what an interface it is, with smooth, fluid finger controls, and instant access to your media and important apps. However, the Sony Ericsson Idou fuses that interface to much more power than the N97, as it"s also the first 12 megapixel phone to be announced in Europe. In essence, the Sony Ericsson Idou combines a truly sumptuous operating system, with a truly magnificent camera... and if that isn"t enough to make it the phone of the year, I don"t know what is!