Mobile Phone News

Filed under: Handsets, Nokia, Misc

It may have won approval from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and NAVTEQ shareholders alike, but it seems like the EU’s European Commission needs a bit more time to think over Nokia’s acquisition of the company, and it’s at this time launched an “in-depth” probe into the matter. According to Reuters, the Commission said that the “proposed merger raises serious doubts with regards to … competition concerns,” although it was quick to add that the decision to open the inquiry does not prejudge the result of the probe. Among other things, the probe will apparently attempt to asses whether whether the purchase would affect the cost of maps for other companies providing navigation services on cellphones. If all of this has a familiar ring, it should, because it wasn’t all that long ago that the EU launched a similar probe into TomTom’s similar acquisition of map-maker Tele Atlas.
Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Filed under: Peripherals, LG, Verizon Wireless

Its host phone got signed off a few weeks ago, but it turns out that the Bluetooth headset that’s stowed away inside Verizon’s upcoming VX8610 needs its own, independent FCC scrutiny. Makes sense, we suppose, seeing how it’s a full fledged RF device in its own right. It’s an exciting concept, no question, but you have to wonder what kind of battery life is plan to get sucked out of the mothership when the headset needs charging — if the headset can actually charge without the phone being plugged into the wall. Guess we’ll have to wait a bit longer to find out.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Filed under: Handsets, Multimedia, Nokia, Symbian, GSM, EDGE, HSDPA, UMTS

Mere mortals will need to wait until the third quarter of the year — if not longer, depend on their region and tolerance for some probable price gouging in the early going — to get their hands on the mighty Nokia N96. On the other hand, Mobile-review apparently knows the right hands to shake and eyes to wink to get hold of a prototype unit extraordinarily early, and they’re taking full advantage of the opportunity. A few hours of your time devoted to the novella of a review will net you a deep understanding and appreciation for the N96’s strengths and follies, but in a nutshell, the site seems to come away with a pretty ambivalent opinion of a device that should be knocking everyone’s socks off — especially for a sticker price that’ll hover in the $800 arena. Problems included a penchant for picking up dirt and fingerprints (the price you pay for a beautiful glossy face, we suppose), a cramped nav key layout with the tricky touch-sensitive Navi Wheel front and center, audio performance that wasn’t bad but was expected to be far better in light of the dedicated DSP, and a “shovel”-like feel in the hand, a symptom of the phone’s generous dimensions. Everyone owes the production version of the N96 a chance to show its true form when it’s released later this year — and hey, at least Nokia’s got a checklist of things that need improvement in the prototype at this time — so we’re keeping our chin. up that this’ll still make the N95 8GB a proud daddy when it comes time to hand over the crown to the Nseries kingdom.

[Via Tech Digest and NokNok]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments