Ranesh was a Nokia fan for a long time and had owned few Nokia’s including an E70. But he made the transition to Verizon for a decent deal on a Voyager two years ago (because he likes qwerty keyboards and that was the only one he liked at the time). Ranesh couldn’t wait for a decent Nokia device to hit the market he liked, so he took the plunge. When he tested out the N97, he was terribly disappointed with the overall OS and decided to hold out for the Christmas season of this year to see what was around the corner and settled on the Motorola Droid running the Android 2.0 OS.

Nokia is readying the release of their flagship handset, the N900. Unfortunately, Nokia posted it’s first loss in 10 years.(We know Nokia Siemens Networks was to blame.) The problem wasn’t lack of phones worldwide but the Chinese “bandit” or known as “shanzhai” manufacturers eating away at Nokia’s bottom line. Several of these manufactures including Shenzhen Evien Co., Ltd., SZ Telstar Co Ltd., T-Link Industrial Development Company Limited, ZTE Corp., Lenovo and Huawei Tech have already infiltrated the Chinese market with a variety of cell phones. This doesn’t include big boys like HTC and Dell, among others that are making a splash into the worldwide market.

Nokia is the largest mobile phone manufacturer but is feeling the confined spaces of the Mobile market more than ever. RIM’s Blackberry (the business mainstay), Apple’s iPhone (of course) and Palm’s Pre (and soon to be Pixi line), have all cut into Nokia’s overall market share. Not to mention Google’s Android is having huge success with HTC building some great quality phones and across other manufacturers too. While still fighting off fierce competition in the high end cell phone range, Nokia has to contend with middle and low end all at the same time. A feat never before performed for his Helsinki, Finland company.

Step in Maemo: Nokia decided to strike back with the flagship N900 which runs its latest OS based off of Linux called Maemo. This new handset is set to change the direction for Nokia in the mid to higher end device range. Nokia began shipments on November 10^th and are expected to hit retailers shortly, for an estimated price of EUR 500 ($746.00 USD).

Will Nokia be able to break through the obstacles of intruders into its once dominant domain? The N900 comes packed with plenty of features WAY ahead of phones in its class: ARM Cortex-A8 processor, up to 1GB of total application memory. widgets, contacts and shortcuts all on the desktop,. Pictures and videos taken with the 5Mpx Carl Zeiss camera automatically are tagged where they were taken, SMS and IM, standard built-in 32 GB storage is big enough to store up to 7,000 songs or 40 hours of DVD-quality video, and it can be expanded up to 48GB with an external microSD card.

Image Courtesy of tnkgrl

The phone is amazing and packs an MMA like punch compared to other phones in the market place at this time, but Nokia will have to bring the beautiful Maemo OS down to the mid and perhaps even lower range handsets to regain what market share has already been lost. If anyone can do this, Nokia can and with the N900, where they proved that they are listening to the consumer.

• Hello Moto becomes Hello Samsung as Motorola looses global market share
• Motorola launches Made in India phone
• Ebooks coming to your nokia smartphone
• Motorola Droid Enjoys Great Sales!
• Nokia N900 Fondle Video

Here are the unboxing pictures of the HTC HD2. These pictures are taken with an Apple iPhone 3GS by our good friend Centrinos. So credit goes to him.

The HTC HD2 is expected to hit Asia soon and from the hardware is damn impressive and looks like HTC has worked really hard on this phone. It runs Win mo 6.5 and its the best handset WinMo has to offer in the current market. We even saw a video comparing the HD2 to the iPhone 3GS and there have been numerous leaks before the handset was announced

Are you impressed by the unboxing photos of the HD2 ?  What do you think ?

• HTC HD2 Announced!
• Video : HTC HD2 vs iPhone 3GS
• Samsung Omnia HD Official Promo Video
• Nokia Phones to get HD Video Recording soon
• HTC Touch HD in India

We had a chance to play with the dummy of HTC Tattoo also known as HTC Click . This variant was called the Tattoo Ink and is from UK operator Orange. This is one of the very first mass market android phones and might see a large pool of users exposed to the Google Android Operating System

HTC Tattoo Specs

• Android OS
• WiFi, Bluetooth
• MP3 Player, FM Radio
• 3.2 Megapixel Camera
• 3.5 mm audio jack
• microSD Expansion slot
• 2.8 inch touchscreen display
• Quadband GSM and Dual Band 3G Network support
• Standy Time – 10 days
• Talktime – 2 hours according to this placard but 6.5 hours according to HTC , but this can be a deal-breaker

One great feature worth a mention is the SenseUI

The phone also comes integrated with the Android market place so that you can download apps of the app-store. But we really don’t know how many apps are compatible with this phone .

The phone has customizable panels and it comes with a cute little android mascot aka android robot on the back of it .

HTC Tattoo Price and Availability

The Tattoo is expected to have a price of Rs.16-20000 in India depending on where you are located.  The handset will be free with a  contract in UK and Europe.

• HTC Leo and Click Leaked!

The HTC HD2 has finally shown up on the T-Mobile website and according to the website its due to arrive this month so that means that it should be available anytime within 28 days. Funny part is that Coolsmartphone seems to have found some mistakes from the post. Here are a few of them:

• the device is mistakenly called the HTC Touch HD2
• the picture is actually of the original HTC HD
• the device supposedly has ‘Android Market’
• screen specifications are incorrect

Source

• Video : HTC HD2 vs iPhone 3GS
• HTC HD2 Unboxing Photo Gallery

The HTC HD2 which was announced this month has been getting a lot of attention even before the official release including a leak.

We also got you tons of live pics of the HD2 codenamed LEO . Now we have a gutsy comparison of the HD2 vs the iPhone 3GS

The phone is coming to stores in Europe / United Kingdom soon and we might see the HTC beast in India by December 2009 or Jan 2010. Price not known but we are speculating its in the Rs.30-35000 league

• Funny iPhone Commercial shows Apps for tracking your Ex-GF
• HTC G1 Launch Live Pics from T-Mobile Showroom
• Breaking : iPhone 3G Now Available Officially without a contract
• iPhone in India through Airtel and Vodafone
• Cricket T20Fever for iPhone and iPod Touch -- Trailer

Ajay Sharma, Country Head, HTC India said, “The HTC Touch2 is a compact Windows Mobile device which delivers a familiar touch experience that our consumers relate to, have experienced in the past, and expect in the future from the house of HTC,” said . He further added, “The Touch2 expands HTC’s portfolio of touch-based phones and will deliver an advanced touch experience to a broader group of people whether it’s making a call, chatting with friends on Facebook or simply responding to an important email, the HTC Touch2 gives you an immense sense of control”.

Vrajesh Shelat, Head – Wireless Data Business said, “Through this cutting-edge device, our customers will be able to enjoy a host of Windows Mobile Applications on our 3G ready network. Our association with HTC and Windows Mobile is a crucial step towards achieving our goal of having a leading market share in the fast-growing smartphone segment.”

HTC Touch2 basic features include:

• 7.11cm touchscreen
• 3.2 megapixel camera
• dynamic messaging
• browsing and productivity capabilities
• download games
• Outlook
• Calendar
• Contacts
• Bluetooth
• Wi-Fi
• download applications available at the Windows Marketplace
• supports 3.5G and equips an internal GPS antenna that supports navigation solutions like Google Maps

Major Features:

• The HTC Touch2 ensures that everything is at your fingertips in an attractive design that fits comfortably in your hand. It integrates the upgraded TouchFlo user interface with several features. The interface includes 11 color icons and aweather clock to view local time and weather.

• In order to give the users a superior mobile internet experience, HTC touch2 Opera Mobile and IE Mobile allows users to experience desktop-style viewing of Web pages. Internet Explorer Mobile also supports Adobe Flash, enabling Flash video content, like YouTube, to be viewed easily. Offering a best in class e-mail experience complete with the ability to synchronize with Microsoft Exchange, you have the ability to check and manage multiple e-mail accounts.

• With the Zoom Bar, users can simply swipe their fingers over the Web page or a photo to get a clear enlarged view.

• The Microsoft’s new My Phone service ensures easy and automatic backup and synchronization of photos, music, contacts and text messages from the Touch2 to the Web for free.

HTC Touch2 Price  and Availability
HTC Touch2 comes with a special Free Data Usage of 200 MB per month for Reliance GSM Mobile customers as an introductory offer. The compact HTC Touch2 on RCOM’s GSM is available for Rs.24,490 for users in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh while the rest of the country can buy it for Rs.22,490 from all top authorized HTC resellers.

• Reliance Mobile launches GSM services in Punjab
• Xperia X1 not getting Windows Mobile 6.5 Update

Motorola India plans to launch 7 handsets in the country in the next 3 months for the festival season.

The phones are expected to be priced between Rs.3500 and Rs.8000. The ZN300 is a cool looking slider phone with a 3 MP Camera and a stylish design. Motorola will be unveiling 6 handsets in the Yuva range along with the ZN300

"The ZN 300 and the MotoYuva WX generation were created in response to the need to stay connected and the variety of ways in which we do it today. The result is seven handsets with a range of features that provide an option affordable to everyone," Motorola India Country Head (Mobile Devices) Faisal Siddiqui said in a statement.

via PTI

• Motorola to setup facility in Chennai
• Abhishek Bachchan roped in as Motorola brand ambassador
• Motorola to give some handsets a Google icon
• Motorola ZN4 Official
• Motorola launches Made in India phone

We had seen the HTC HD2 making appearances numerous times on the internet under the name of Leo. We even had a HTC Leo Photo Gallery Well now HTC has finally removed the wrappings to show us the HTC HD2 in all it’s glory.

Let me remind you, the phone is a monster and the specifications can make you skip a heartbeat! Here are the features:

• 120.5 x 67 x 11 mm, 157 grams
• 4.3″ Capacitive Touch-Screen with 480*800 Pixels Resolution
• Multi-Touch, Accelerometer, Proximity Sensor, Ambient Light Sensor
• 448MB RAM, 512MB ROM, micro-SD Card Slot
• GPRS, EDGE, HSCSD, HSDPA, 3G, Wi-Fi (and Wi-Fi Router), Bluetooth(2.1), mini-USB
• 5 Megapixel Camera with Autofocus, LED Flash, Geo-tagging and Video Recording
• 1GHz Snapdragon processor, Windows Mobile 6.5 Professional
• GPS with A-GPS Support, 3.5mm Audio Jack, 1230 mAH Battery

The phone is set to release towards the end of October in Europe and later on in other countries. Price is said to be around 499 GBP or 540 Euros.

• HTC Leo Pictures and Specifications Leaked
• HTC HD2 Unboxing Photo Gallery
• HTC Leo and Click Leaked!

Although the handset might be launched as the HTC TouchPro 3 it would be seen as the successor to the TouchHD and folks working on the phone claim a 300% improvement in speed on the the Leo over the HD.

4.3 inch Capacitive Touchscreen with WVGA resolution

5 Megapixel Camera with Autofocus and Dual-LED Flash

Sleek at 11mm and packs a 1230 mAH Battery

Looks like HTC hired a new bunch of designers as there is a radical shift in the recent phones, the Hero is a fine illustration of the same fact

There are a lot of leaks of the Leo doing rounds on the interwebs but this one is courtesy of french blog BeGeek

Merci Beaucoup to them

• HTC Leo Pictures and Specifications Leaked
• HTC Leo and Click Leaked!

After looking at the pics , which color do you like ? the Brown or the White ?

via

• Get HTC Hero SenseUI Interface on T-Mobile G1
• HTC Hero Unboxing Pictures and Video
• HTC Hero Android Phone
• HTC Hero Comes to India at a Price of Rs.31990
• HTC 2009 Handset line up gets Leaked !