Isaiah's Tech

A couple of phones on Canada's Rogers has just gone through a price drop today. They're all listed below so I won't even bother listing it myself - thanks to Mobile Syrup. All of this great news is accompanied by the ZTE 636 and the Sony Ericsson MD 400 Rocket Sticks which will retail for free on a 1-year contract from now until May 1st, 2010.

Here are the device price drops:
BlackBerry Bold 9000: Was $124.99 and now is $99.99 on a 3-year contract
BlackBerry Curve 8900: Was $99.99 and now is $49.99 on a 3-year contract
Samsung Galaxy Spica: Was $79.99 and now is $49.99 on a 3-year contract
LG Eve: Was $49.99 and now is $19.99 on a 3-year contract
Nokia N86: Was $149.99 and now is $99.99 on a 3-year contract
Nokia Surge: Was $49.99 and now is $19.99 on a 3-year contract
Samsung Propel: Was $29.99 and now is $9.99 on a 3-year contract
Sony Ericsson C510a: Was $19.99 and now is $9.99 on a 3-year contract

[Mobile Syrup]

On Friday, I was able to play around with the dummy unit of the Nokia N86. Well, it looks like Rogers is now selling the handset for $99.99 CAD on a 3-year contract. I believe this handset is a part of their "webphone" line-up which consists of a couple of handsets under the $100 mark. This handset comes with the nice 8MP camera, a 2.6-inch AMOLED display, 8GB of internal memory, and even 3G connectivity. Check it out on their site here.

[Electronista]

Rogers has just announced that they will be launching the Nokia N86 pretty soon. This is not entirely new news, since we've been hearing this one for the past couple of months. All that we know right now is that Rogers will be launching the 8MP cameraphone for $99.99 CAD on a 3-year contract.

[Mobile Magazine]

Well, it looks like Rogers is set to launch what they're calling "Web phones" and there'll be 5 of them in total (all under $100 CAD) - this could possibly be due to all of the hype that both Bell and Telus have been receiving lately. The 5 handsets will be the white BlackBerry Bold 9000, the HTC Magic, the LG Eve (GW620), the Nokia N86, and the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1. Yes, the white BB Bold, LG Eve, and the N86 will be "new" handsets in Canada, but the XPERIA X1 isn't new - the big price drop is definitely welcomed though. The pricing details are below, thanks to Mobile Syrup.

Update: This handsets could be launching on November 3rd, since that's when the LG Eve (GW620) will launch - according to Phandroid.



[Mobile Syrup]

Although the details are scarce, it looks like Canada will get the Nokia N86, Nokia 2730, Nokia 6750, the Nokia 6350, and even a new colour for the Nokia E71 later this year. They'll likely launch on Rogers and Fido, but it's unconfirmed at the time. The most exciting hand is the N86 - hands-down - with its 8MP camera, 3.5mm headphone jack, a 2.6-inch QVGA AMOLED display, GPS / WiFi support, and 8GB of internal storage.

The other handsets are much lower-end. The Nokia 2730 has: a 2-inch QVGA display, an FM radio, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a 2MP camera. The 6350 and 6750 are both basic flip phones. The new colour of the Nokia E71 is a "Holiday Red."

[Unwired View]

Finally! The Nokia N86 with an 8MP camera is now available in the US. You already know about this handset, so I probably don't need to mention that it has a 2.6-inch OLED display. Anyways, Amazon has this handset up for $469 USD and Nokia's flagship stores have them up for $499. Check out the cheaper Amazon listing here.

[Engadget]

According to the latest rumour, a future firmware upgrade that is coming to the Nokia N86 will have face recognition "and other improvements." It's just a rumour right now, but it would definitely be a great thing to have, especially since that's Nokia's 8MP cameraphone beast right now. The new firmware will also update the OS's stability and will bring a better Ovi Store client.

[Phone Arena]

Well, it took them long enough. The Nokia N86 NAM model is now available for pre-orders on Amazon's website. This 8MP cameraphone has been awaiting a release in the US for a while now. It's available for pre-orders on Amazon for $468.99 USD. In the meantime, you can check out the official pre-order listing on Amazon's site here.

[The Nokia Blog]

The black NAM model of the Nokia N86 is expected to hit US retailers on August 22nd with a $499 price tag. In case you forgot, the N86 has: a 2.6-inch AMOLED display with a 240 x 320 resolution, an 8MP AF camera with a Carl Zeiss lens and a dual-LED flash, WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0 + A2DP, a microSD card slot, a 3.5mm headphone jack, FM radio with RDS, and aGPS support.

[The Nokia Blog]

According to Electronista, Nokia mentioned that they would launch the Nokia N86 to the US of A. The handset will be the same as the European model that has "an absence of local 3G but support for GSM and EDGE data." This would mean that this phone could be capable of launching on AT&T or T-Mobile. However, Nokia hasn't mentioned if a NAM (North America Model) will be available in the future with 3G support. But, it did pass the FCC a while ago, if you remember.

I forget the specs of this phone and I'm sure you have by now too. The main specs of this phone is its: 8MP AF camera with a Carl Zeiss lens and dual LED flash, 2.6-inch AMOLED display with a 240 x 320 resolution, WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0 + A2DP, and microSD card slot. Other specs include: a 3.5mm headphone jack, an ARM 11 434MHz CPU, microUSB connectivity, FM radio with RDS, and aGPS. Don't forget that this handset is running on S60 3.2 Edition. Oh yeah, it has those ugly-looking plasticky keys.

Update: According to Boy Genius, the Nokia N86 will be hitting Nokia flagship stores around the US in "the next few weeks."And apparently, the NAM model of the Nokia N86 will be making its rounds for around $558 USD - which is unfortunately a little bit more expensive than the €375 ($528 USD) overseas.

[Electronista, GSM Arena]

As of right now, Nokia's AMOLED displays are produced by TPO and Samsung Mobile. Apparently though, in the future their supplier could be LG. "LG Display has been in talks with the handset giant Nokia to supply it with next-generation AM OLED touch-screens, with the latter more optimistic about OLED applications on the global mobile phone market."

Nokia first used OLED displays in their 8MP Nokia N86 handset, which launched a couple of weeks ago.
These AMOLED displays from LG are still far away. According to the reports, there are some issues and shipping to Nokia "will materialize in a year." So, just look out for them next year.

[Korea Times]

It's more than likely, I mean that's a ton of time for Nokia to get off their butts and wake up. According to this report, Nokia and Carl Zeiss have both confirmed the plans of releasing a 12MP cameraphone in 2010. This phone is expected to be revealed at next year's Mobile World Congress (MWC) and is also expected to have the same form-factor as the Nokia N86. Big names like Samsung (Pixon12 / M8920) and LG are expected to release their own 12MP cameraphones this year - heck even Sony Ericsson have the Satio. Nokia, wake up! It's what the fans want, even though megapixels aren't everything.

[Tech Radar]

The Nokia N86 is now shipping everywhere! The best feature of this phone is definitely its 8MP camera with a Carl Zeiss lens / xenon flash, and a mechanical shutter. This phone also has 8GB of internal storage, a microSD card slot, and a 2.6-inch OLED display. The price hasn't been mentioned yet, but Espoo announced that it's now shipping globally. I'll update this when I find the price.

[Engadget]

The N86 has an OLED display and an 8MP camera with a Carl Zeiss lens and a Xenon flash, so it's pretty damn good. Well, apparently the FCC has just approved of this device. The plastic keys are still present, so Nokia decided not to change that - not surprising, although I was hoping they would. The price and release date still hasn't been mentioned. I also don't think the carrier has been mentioned yet, so that will be unveiled at a later date as well.

[Engadget]

The Nokia N97 that has been delayed numerous times looks like it will be hitting Vodafone this July. I really want to know how much they're getting this for because this is Nokia's flagship phone and I want it. It's scheduled for a July release and, I'll admit it, the camera is kind of outdated for a Summer release. I hope Nokia decides to continue this N97 trend and that they continue to release more phones like this. I'm begging for a Nokia N97 with an 8MP / 12MP camera, and a capacitive touchscreen (could be a possibility). Anyways, the N97 has a 3.5-inch resistive touchscreen, a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, 5MP camera, GPS, WiFi, 32GB of internal memory, a microSD slot (support for up to 16GB), HSDPA connectivity, and will run on S60 5th Edition. The prices will be subsidized since it will be coming from Vodafone, which makes everyone jealous on this side of the world - North America.

The Nokia N86 may also be released by Vodafone after the N97 gets released. They're just testing it to see if the software works well. I don't like the keypad on the N86 - too plasticky.

[Boy Genius, The Nokia Blog]

This Lenovo X1 (sold in only China) handset won the Red Dot design award. But why? It looks like it has pulled a couple of things from a couple of big manufacturers and I wouldn't have got these ideas without Engadget's point-of-view first. First of all the naming is similar to the Sony Ericsson X1 that is also sold in China. To Engadget, it looks like a Samsung Instinct with the TouchWiz UI. Keep in mind that Lenovo had some balls to call this "unique" UI the "Touch Dream", "which sounds just a little bit like an HTC device." I should also point out that the keypad looks similar to the Nokia N86, which is not a good thing. Throw them altogether and I think the handset looks decent, besides the keypad.

[Engadget]

You can now pre-order the Nokia N86, if you really want to. According to the screenshot, you can see the price of the phone, which is expensive. It's expensive because of the 8MP camera with the Carl Zeiss lens. Anyways, the release date is also leaked on the site, saying that it will be available on July 22, 2009. The N86 looks decent, but when you slide the phone up, it unleashed a ton of ugly. The plasticky-looking and plain-looking keypad just doesn't do the phone any good. I'll pass. Update: you might want to click on the picture for a bigger image.

You will be able to see Comet Lulin from February 23rd - mid March, with the help of binoculars. Lulin will pass Earth and come as close as 38 million miles away. Lulin was first discovered in July 2007 and will appear about "2 degrees south-southwest of Saturn before it disappears out into the dark abyss in mid-March." This photo i have here is a picture of the comet "and the fading red and blue light comes from the X-ray and ultraviolet telescopes, respectively." So, if you want to take a look at that, go ahead. Although, i can't really tell you where 2 degrees south-southwest of Saturn is.

HP has just announced that it will utilize Windows Mobile 6.5 in its future devices. No surprise here. "The company cites WinMo 6.5's 'key enhancements to business productivity, personal messaging and mobile Internet capabilities' plus its 'new visual appeal' as some of the reasons for its continued love of the OS." I guess they didn't mention that it runs slow and is pretty non-responsive. It's not all about the looks and what Microsoft says WinMo 6.5 will do HP. Hop on the Android bandwagon. Then again, it's not like HP really had a choice of what OS to use for their devices.

Rumour has it that the Windows 7 Release Candidate 1 will be made publicly available on April 10. This is amazing news, but could be a rumour. I hope this is true though, cause that means it's less than 2 months away! I love the Windows 7's beta so far, so an RC coming out soon would be greatly appreciated. Maybe i can run Windows 7 on my PC and Android on a secondary notebook / netbook. Hi Asus! Engadget also mentioned that the unicorn is in the picture because that's what they refer to the OS [Windows 7] as. I don't know why.

Nokia N86 Pre-Orders (and picture): http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/20/expansys-puts-nokia-n86-up-for-pre-order-gives-it-a-release-dat/
See A Comet On Monday (and picture): http://i.gizmodo.com/5157799/get-a-great-view-of-a-comet-with-binoculars-starting-monday
HP Will Make WinMo 6.5 Phones (and picture): http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/21/hp-confirms-support-for-windows-mobile-6-5/
Windows 7 RC 1 (and picture): http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/21/rumor-mill-says-public-windows-7-release-candidate-coming-on-apr/

Nokia's own app store was finally announced. The Ovi Store will begin in May and will allow you, well, to buy applications of course. Nokia "expects that the store will reach 300 million users by 2012." They also said that 70 percent of the revenue will go to the software developers. There will be a "social discovery" feature that will tell you what apps other people are using and they "will automatically be highlighted." I don't know how interesting a store could get, but they've finally confirmed it. There's not really any specs i can give you here.

Remember that picture i showed you a while back with the skateboarder. That picture was apparently taken with an 8MP Nokia shooter that also had a Carl Zeiss lens. Well, looks like we may have a match here. It may have been taken with this phone, the Nokia N86. The N86 will have an 8 megapixel camera, a Carl Zeiss lens and a xenon flash which are all great things. This is the first picture of the N86 and there is no other word on the specs. Boy Genius mentions that it might not be a touchscreen because the screen looks a bit small.

HTC looks amazing at MWC with the announcement of their HTC Touch Diamond 2 and Touch Pro 2 phones. I'll first talk about the Touch Diamond 2. It will have a 3.6 or 3.2-inch touchscreen (different reports) and will be just 13.7mm thick. It will have 50% better battery life and a 5MP camera. It looks like it has a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, but judging from no pictures of it and the video that did not reveal a QWERTY, it actually may not have one. That would make it a direct competitor for the iPhone. Unfortunately, it runs Windows Mobile. I don't know what it is with HTC and their love for Windows Mobile. They assume that their TouchFLO 3D crap will make WinMo run better, but they're wrong. This phone will be available to "major European and Asian markets in early Q2 2009 with broader global availability coming later in the year." Since there was new news on the HTC Touch Pro 2 running WinMo 6.5, this phone may also run WinMo 6.5.

Before getting you all excited. This phone will also run Windows Mobile 6.1 [Edited later]. If you can get past that, the phone itself will also have a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, a 3.6-inch touchscreen, improved battery life, expandable memory and a 3.2MP camera. I don't see any other important specs, but this phone will be available in the early summertime. Actually this just in, Engadget reports that all Windows Mobile 6.5 phones will have a physical start button on the phone. This picture also means that the HTC Touch Pro 2 may run on WinMo 6.5, instead of the aforementioned 6.1. It will be a bit better running 6.5.

Nokia Ovi Store (and picture): http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/02/16/nokia-unveils-ovi-store-application-sales-to-debut-in-may/
Nokia N86 (and picture): http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2009/02/16/nokia-leaks-n86-amidst-a-lukewarm-showing-at-mwc/
HTC Touch Diamond2 (and picture): http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2009/02/16/htc-announces-the-touch-diamond2-and-touch-pro2/
HTC Touch Diamond2: http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/16/htcs-touch-diamond2-adds-zoom-bar-mega-screen-surprisingly-fe/
HTC Touch Pro2: http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2009/02/16/htc-announces-the-touch-diamond2-and-touch-pro2/
HTC Touch Pro2: http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/16/htc-touch-pro2-is-awesome-in-ways-the-touch-pro-never-could-be/
Windows Mobile 6.5 Has Physical Start Button (and picture): http://i.gizmodo.com/5154217/all-windows-mobile-65-phones-to-feature-physical-start-button