re: "Buck" on Nokia CeBIT releases (includes the GPRS 3330 & 6310
>> Nokia Unveils Its New 9210, 3330, 6310 and 8310 Phones
Simon Buckingham
Mobile Lifestreams
22 March 2001
At CeBIT 2001, Nokia presented and partially demonstrated 4 new mobile phone models, the 3330, 6310 and 8310.
The 9210
The third and latest release of the Communicator all in one device has a much improved keyboard and a superb (4096) color display. The device is very slightly thicker than the 9110. Despite the backlit colour display, battery life is still good enough to get a full days use. The operating system is Symbian’s Crystal, which means that it supports WAP (1.1) and Java. The 9210 has NO GPRS support. HSCSD is the only potential means of speeding up the data bearer provided the network also supports this, which only a dozen or so globally do.
The new applications include a better word processor, which has the provision for a spell check and thesaurus. There is also a spreadsheet application and a Presentation Viewer, which would allow the 9210 to be used for delivering PowerPoint presentations via an optional IR link. There is also a File Manager, which makes locating and storing files much easier and the diary has several improvements.
Multimedia applications include facilities to upload digital images from an IrTran-P compatible camera (not widely supported), directly to the 9210 over its Ir link. As with the 9110, these images can be viewed (but in full color), attached to emails and faxed. The Video Player uses a Nokia proprietary technology called NIM (Nokia Interleaved Multimedia), which gives quite good results on a screen of about 5cm across. Video is rendered at between 6-8 frames per second, which results in file sizes of between 300 and 400 KB per minute. Therefore, using HSCSD small video clips can realistically be downloaded to the device reasonably quickly.
Two on-board games are provided, which are much improved by the color screen and sound.
The 9210 is equipped with 4MB of on board memory and like the 9210, also has a Multimedia card slot, which will be fitted with an additional 16MB card. A number of the applications are stored on the MMC, which means that unless it is left in the device, these applications do not appear.
3330
Based on the 3310 the 3330 also has WAP with a picture viewer and it also supports animated GIF files for screen savers. Nokia will be providing some basic games on the 3310, which can be enhanced via a WAP connection to Club Nokia. One other feature of the 3310 is that it has an on board abbreviated dialling memory, rather than being dependent on the Sim. The 3330 is due early in Q2 of this year.
6310
Based on the 6210, the 6310 also has GPRS (Class 6, 3+1) and Bluetooth and is due just before the end of the year. The 6310 will be slightly longer than the 6210.
According to Nokia: "The Nokia 6310 comes with enhanced voice features, including voice commands for pre-set phone functionality and a voice recording application for recording memos and conversations. It also comes with new clock and timing features such as a countdown timer and stopwatch, and supports concatenated short messaging. An exchange rate converter makes it possible to calculate multiple conversion rates, and a "to-do" list is included as a new menu item."
8310
Based on the 8210 the 8310 gets WAP, GPRS (Class 6, 3+1), an FM radio and stereo headphones. The form factor is similar but slightly more curvaceous than the 8210, plus it is slightly shorter and thicker. This product should be available late in Q3 of this year.
An interesting feature of the 8310 and the 6310 is a packet data counter, which measures inbound and outbound data. This will make life a lot easier for consumers to keep tabs on their packet data usage and will help them to select the right tariff etc.
Accessories
Nokia showed a Bluetooth battery for the 6210, which includes a Bluetooth module in a Compact Flash card, which plugs in to a PC card adapter. Although theoretically this gives the option of using the module in a PC or a PDA (which supports Compact Flash), initially only the PC client software will be available. The whole package should retail for around €200. As the forthcoming 6310 will already support Bluetooth, only the Compact Flash/PC card adapter would be needed to allow PC/PDA connectivity, which should halve the above cost for the 6310 version of this accessory.
In summary, Nokia have shown evolutions of all of their existing models with GPRS and Bluetooth support for some handsets. Nokia has followed the Ericsson lead and gone with FM radios etc but not in the basic 3xxx platform but the higher 8xxx one. Nothing revolutionary - Mobile Lifestreams does not expect any of these devices to be - must have - with consumers but Nokia has been fortunate that the networks and markets have been delayed and other vendors are in attrition, so it can continue to evolve without too much fear of discontinuous competition from the Japanese vendors for example. <<
- Eric - |
