jkOnTheRun:Nokia's London event, I'm attending virtually but playing real-time catchup

August 29, 2007

Nokia's London event, I'm attending virtually but playing real-time catchup

I was lucky enough to be one of a few (as in less than 10) U.S. bloggers invited by Nokia to attend their London Press Event today. No, they didn't fly me over the pond; this was a virtual attendance with live chat on Jaiku to product managers, exclusive videos and more. Unfortunately, an unscheduled migraine knocked me out from late last night until about 30 minutes ago, so I'm playing catchup. Remember, London is five hours ahead of me, both virtually and in real-life. Here's a quick look at what I've seen and heard; I won't post any pics from the event yet because I'm unsure if I can. There's a pic above of the N81 from Symbian Freak. I'll add more to this post during the morning as I can, so keep refreshing your browser. :)

Update: Nokia N81 full specs on Nokia's site are here.

(9:27 am) The Nokia N81 is part of the big news: 8GB of memory, a 3.5mm headphone jack and online access to the Nokia Music Store. The device looks thinner than other Nokia N-series offerings. It doesn't look like the N81 will have 3G support on the U.S. band; it will have HSDPA for Europe. Yes, the Nokia N95 gets 8 GB of memory as expected as well.

N-Gage gaming is coming back only this time it's part of the higher end Nokia N-series. I've seen a video of a EA FIFA '07 on the new Nokia N81 and it looks quite good for the few seconds I've seen it. The gaming platform looks to leverage the quality screens and connectivity of the N-series: you will be able to play against other N-Gage players over the air. There are two dedicated gaming buttons at the top of the device (surrounding the speaker) so these will be located on the side when you place the device in landscape for gaming.

(9:40 am) Ovi is a name you'll be hearing more about: it's the branding for the mobile experience that Nokia is providing through gaming, the web and the music store. Speaking of the music store: you can purchase DRM'd tracks at 1 Euro, DRM'd albums for 10 Euros or pay for unlimited streaming from what I can see. (Update: the streaming appears to be PC streaming only and will cost 10 Euros per month) Yes, you can download over the air. Those two items compete head on with the iPhone in my opinion and are an aggressive strategy: leverage the connectivity for music purchases and streaming plus offer the option of a music subscription service. There's mention of "dynamic recommendations" so I have to wonder if there's a social rating for the music that could come into play. Or perhaps there's a Pandora-like service that makes recommendations based on your listening habits?

(9:47 am) Nokia N95 Q&A brings the following info on the new N95:

1200 mAh battery
New UI and multimedia menus for speed and ease of use.
Faster camera (I assume that means reduced lag time between shots)
October availability (presumed in Europe) for 560 Euros plus any local taxes
No microSD slot due to finding space for the 8GB of flash memory

(10 am) Nokia N81 Q&A brings the following info on the new N81:

2-Megapixel camera
Two versions available: one with 8 GB of flash memory, one with a 2 GB microSD card
8 GB version will sell for 430 Euros, 2 GB microSD version for 360 Euros
The N81 uses the same processor as the N76
No 3G capabilities
Like the N95, no card slot on the 8GB version
No TV-out

(12:10 PM) Music Store Q&A info:

You can re-download music you've bought prior; comes in handy if you switch devices
Music streaming service is PC-only, but Nokia is looking at streaming to handsets
Tunes do have DRM, but Nokia is looking into DRM free offerings.
PC-streaming subscription provides access to the entire store catalog
Windows Media Player 11 or upcoming Nokia PC client will sync tunes to your device
Tunes encoded at 192 kbps

Posted by Kevin C. Tofel at 8:28 AM in Smartphones | Permalink

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