Yeah the tilt design look similar to HTC TyTN II (Tilt). But actually the entire design looks like a ExpressMusic 5800 but with a full keyboard. Just like a HTC Diamond and another version with full keyboard, the HTC Touch Pro.

Actually it only means the maximum supported memory capacity is 48GB. The internal memory is 32GB. The maximum capacity the external memory supported is 16GB. So assuming you put in a 16GB micro SDHC card, you will get 48GB total memory (32+16).

This post has been edited by davidmak: Dec 4 2008, 09:19 AM

Thats show something. It reveals what a customer wants (in contrast to their needs) out of a mobile phone. It also means more tricks and puffs to put into a mobile phone product. That means more potential customers as you fulfill their wants. Thats what keep the market going. For example, a mobile phone can never replace a digital compact. But customers only want a good enough camera feature, not really the best camera.

We all are no fools. We know what we're getting into. Sometimes, we just need a properly converged device with decent quality/features. We don't carry a digital compact everywhere we go. BUT we do carry our mobile phones everyday. The more you put things into that mobile phone, the better the product will be. So that is the difference.

Actually for a Symbian S60 phone with 128MB RAM (70-80MB+ available RAM), it is virtually impossible to deplete it. I own an E71 and I have at one time more than 8 applications including music application, Garmin Mobile XT, 2 JAVA games, etc in the background. The remaining RAM was around 30MB. I could switch between applications without any problem, so I don't understand why his N79 is giving him problems in this area.

Well the good news is both ARM platforms being used in recent Nokia products are ARM core version 11 or simply ARM11. The Texas Instrument OMAP-series of ARM processors are based on ARM11 application processor and an ARM9 baseband processor for communications. The OMAP has does have a PowerVR MBX graphics accelerator. Nokia is currently progressing to a single core ARM CPU based on Freescale MXC-300 369MHz. It does have accelerators for graphics but it is not based on PowerVR but an in-house developed IPU video accelerator. Most of the APIs are accelerated on the core.

So guys, no need to argue. What this OMAP has dual core and what golden-eye processor... etc. Here are references for your needs:

A Family of Texas Instrument OMAP family of ARM Processors
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OMAP

Official Texas Instrument OMAP product page
http://focus.ti.com/paramsearch/docs/param...8&familyId=1525

A History of Nokia processors used based on products
http://www.nokia-tuning.net/index.php?s=processor

Simple Feature Set page for Freescale MXC-300-30
http://pdadb.net/index.php?m=cpu&id=a300mxc

Official Freescale MXC-300-30 product page
http://www.freescale.com/webapp/sps/site/p...?code=MXC300-30


Remember to check out core diagrams of their products and you get to see what I mean.

This post has been edited by davidmak: Dec 6 2008, 01:59 PM

Well, the thing is both are built-in accelerators. A dedicated 3D processor implies that there should be a separate chip in the entire platform of the product. That is quite impossible considering power efficiency and low IC count is the point here. All I can say is that the PowerVR MBX accelerator is more capable than the other due to its involvement in mobile graphics API. So the point is how good is the accelerator rather than the existence of an accelerator. You need a graphic accelerator to power the display without one, you can kiss goodbye to graphical user interface (as an example).

The N-gage is Nokia's platform for bringing gaming services with the focus of bringing better interactive 3D (as well as regular) games to mobile phones. One reason N-gage games are not available for every Nokia phone is due to the need to specialize graphical coding to a particular platform. It first supported TI OMAP processors and then rest comes in. Also the N-gage program seems to be reserved to a select few of mobile phones, as I've seen N-gage originated games playing ok on mobile phones not yet supported by N-gage.

This post has been edited by davidmak: Dec 6 2008, 04:07 PM

If you read the bolded sentences you made. They played ok. But because N-gage was not made available to these phones, users have an impression that it did not have 'dedicated 3D accelerator'. So if N-gage is not supporting these phones, 3D games are off-limits to these phones.

My point in that statement is that, you can buy the same games from other channels (like mobile game sites) instead of getting them from N-gage. The difference of a game played on mobile with 'good' graphic accelerator and an 'just ok' graphic accelerator is the gaming experience. So that depends on the developer whether number of polygons (better quality graphics), number of effects (experience) and smoothness of gaming (fps). They can be played on any mobile phone with a graphic accelerator, but it is the level of experience the user gets.

Case in point: My E71 doesn't have 'dedicated 3D accelerator' but it played 3D snakes pretty alright albeit a little laddy at times. Then it can also play FIFA2008 which was available N-gage. Same level of experience and graphical quality. Point? Optimizing games for more graphical accelerators. This is where standards like OpenGL ES is required. The PowerVR MBX conforms to that standard just like Direct X for x86/64 gaming.

This article HERE explains the point above in a very good way.

This post has been edited by davidmak: Dec 6 2008, 04:46 PM

Yes, definitely agree with you. We're beginning to see upcoming products even N85 using Freescale MXC-300 369MHz ARM11 processors. In fact, it was first introduced on entry level S60 phones and it is now gaining all the way to products like XpressMusic 5800, N97 and etc. It would be more cost effective to maintain a low IC count platform and integrate all the accelerators into one. In the past, we have Symbian OS operated by an ARM application processor while the communication/GSM stack is operated by another ARM processor.

Although redundancy is reduced (when the single core ARM is halt, the communication stacks fails too), I would envision Symbian S60 implement a 'partition' in the CPU resources to keep both sides (application vs GSM stack) separated. I think it would be better to implement software rendering while keeping certain APIs accelerated on the IPU. But no doubt, the Freescale CPU is a low-cost platform for Nokia.

I am sure it is. It is as good as any HTC latest generation of PDA phones. The panels interface is however a very good idea. Too bad, thats it. After that, its the same WinMo interface. The same goes for S60 symbian phones.

Thats why I have a feeling that it could be RM2500 and above. When N97 is released, the 5800 probably has gone down in price range. So N97 may not be too high. Hopefully N96 has taught Nokia from its not so successful product life.

Yeah so the most important thing N97 must achieve is good battery life. The 5800 will show how good is the S60 touch interface. Nokia can learn from that and improvise for N97. The 5800 is expendable and Nokia loose nothing. The N-series brand value however is important. So Nokia better get the battery performance up to expectations. So far I think it is doing a good job.

The N96 was big and bulky. Not only that, it had to sacrifice on the battery size supported due to the amount of integration of features. Then it had to cut most important component, CPU to a smaller and lesser performing variant to help control power consumption. Lastly, it cannot compete with other flagship products due to the higher price point.

Yeah, I like how LG market their phones where they gave free trials of 2 weeks to a limited number of people. They get to take it home for 2 weeks without any charge. After 2 weeks, they can simply return it or keep it by buying it.

Anyway Nokia does do demo periods but not in Malaysia. I would imagine this is something they do in their home country. Remember the Nokia stress test videos back in their lab in Finland (???). I would imagine they have a bunch of people signing up to do home ground testing.

Its like an updated N95 and it was a real good buy back then. I also interested in N85 since 5800 and N97 is taking their time to launch. Once thing I don't like about the N85 is the screen. Since it is using OLED, the brightness is limited. Because of this, the whites a bit yellowish to redish making the color temperature very warm.

Apart from this, it has all the features of N95/8GB and in a slimmer profile.

Agreed, its not like you can't enjoy 3D games without Ngage. Why Ngage when you have to pay for games? Hehehehe....

TyTN II is a two action mechanism. You slide and then have the option to tilt it whatever angle you want but up to 45 Deg (approx.). With the N97, have no choice. Once you slide, it'll go up automatically.

Actually its not really complicated to have that tilt feature. It was probably patented though. Thats why Xperia X1 had one angle in an arc while the N97 has auto-tilt bracket. But its great to have the choice of tilting up and down. Not sure about reliability though. But I think N97 is more vulnerable. Just look at the bracket that tilts it. One drop, one of those plastic pieces might come off.

Yeah I have heard about it too. It will be a single core ARM11 with higher processing speed and more than the standard 128MB of RAM.

HERE you go!

Yeah, N96 is a bad try by Nokia. Like we've discussed previously, Nokia thought DVB-M would be cool feature but not many countries in the world have digital broadcast. Then because of this, it has to reduce the battery pack size. Also because of this, it had to reduce the CPU speed to conserve battery. Like it didn't learn anything at all from the original N95.

The original N95's battery performance was mediocre and it did not have enough RAM. With the introduction of N95 8GB, Nokia got it right then with the best of all features (except price) and good battery performance. Then now, it slap itself again by going backwards with the N96. Anyway N96 is popular in other regions like Europe where DVB is widespread. It is just now doing any good in South East Asia.

I believe the optimum pricing would be RM2899 during introductory stage and then slowly settle down at RM2499. Don't think it is worth RM3399 which is overpriced. This price range can only be held by a PDA phone which S60 devices aren't even though they are touch capable. So we need to thank HTC for spoiling the market. Hehehe!