A little while back I pondered on Nokia spreading their wings further than just the mobile phone market with the registration of the Cseries and Xseries trademarks, and even had a little guess that they might be thinking about making inroads towards the netbook market. Well, I guess I was half right.

Announced just a couple of days ago, Nokia’s Booklet 3G will be similarly specced as most current netbooks on the market: a 1.6GHz Intel Atom Z530 CPU, 120GB hard drive and a 10.1″ LCD, as well as integrated 3G, a swappable SIM card, A-GPS, Bluetooth and WiFi.

Straight away you can see that familiar Nokia ‘curve’ design, but will that be enough to compete with the myriad of already-established brandnames in the netbook market? Asus, Acer, Samsung, MSI, HP, Lenovo, Dell… these guys have been releasing system after system for a while now. But what sets the Booklet 3G apart from other netbooks is the higher resolution screen, as well as an HDMI output, and Nokia are claiming a 12 hour battery life.

I guess the jury’s out until we start getting our hands on them – September 2nd marks the Nokia World conference in Stuttgart, Germany, and I’m sure we can expect them to be giving UK release dates and prices.

Most people with a finger on the pulse of the mobile phone industry will be more than familiar with Nokia’s two ’special’ lines of phones; the multimedia based feature-rich N-series for ‘power users’ (which has recently had the N97 added to its ranks, also known as the world’s first smartphone with both a touchscreen and a full QWERTY keyboard), and the business-oriented E-series, which have their main emphasis on connectivity. These two lines complement Nokia’s ever-growing range of phones for ‘normal’ users, such as the iconic 3210 or the more recent 5800 XpressMusic.

However, with just a couple of trademark registrations in the last 3 days, Nokia are setting the rumour mill ablaze. Saturday saw Nokia file a Finnish trademark for “Cseries”, and earlier today a Czech application for “Xseries”. The question is, what will the new C and X series signify?

Personally I reckon they won’t be phones, and Nokia is hoping to extend itself into another market in the electronics sector – possibly netbooks or internet tablets. Nokia’s current line of internet tablets are filed under the N-series (namely the N810, N800 & N770), and there are a few hints floating about that Nokia may soon be branching into the netbook market.

And while we’re on the subject, what do all these initials stand for? Nobody seems to agree – for some, the N-series stands for “eNtertainment”, or, since they are considered the company’s flagship phones, it could simply stand for “Nokia”. The E-series seems to stand for “Enterprise”, but there doesn’t seem to be an official word on it, so maybe they’re just letters for the sake of having letters – which leads us to what exactly the X in X-series could signify… a new line of Nokia xylophones, perhaps?

Is your upgrade window approaching? If so, you might like the look of this one.

Released on June 19th – timed perfectly with Apple’s latest update to their ever-impressive iPhone – the N97 is definitely one to watch. With phones continuing to become essentially pocket computers, Nokia’s latest offering combines the ease of touchscreen technology with the practicality of a QWERTY keyboard. The screen is impressive in both size and quality, delivers a fully-featured internet experience.

The vital statistics, then:

• 3.5 inch TFT screen, 640×360 resolution, resistive touch (16m colours)
• 32Gb onboard storage (with additional microSD slot)
• 5 megapixel (2584×1938) camera with Carl Zeiss optics
• 16:9 DVD quality video recording @ 30fps
• built-in A-GPS and electronic compass
• 117.2 x 55.3 x 15.9 mm
• slide mechanism with full QWERTY keyboard
• WLAN and HSDPA (3.5G)
• powered by Symbian OS v9.4, S60 rel. 5, ARM 11 434 MHz processor, 128Mb RAM

You can find the full specs on Nokia’s website.

The slide opening mechanism is pretty neat, too… though I could see myself playing with it out of boredom and probably breaking it. But how can you really be bored with all the features on this puppy?

While Apple’s iPhone OS is widely considered the current standard for touchscreen devices, the N97 sticks true to the Symbian OS v9.4, which includes a built-in video and photo editor, mobile office suite, and a whole bunch of other goodies. The N97 seeks to improve over its high-spec N-series chums with a redesigned homescreen, giving users the ability to customise the most often-seen part of the phone. You can install widgets on there, too, which grant specific functions; perhaps the most touted of which lets people instantly update their Facebook status.

Feature-rich, touchscreen as well as a full QWERTY keyboard, and even though it may be a little bulky for some people, the overall aesthetic coupled with the funky slide really makes it a thing of beauty.

I’m starting to wish I’d held off on that upgrade to the N96 now…

The Nokia N96

It wont be long now, the waiting is nearly over.The arrival of the much awaited Nokia N96 will soon be upon us. Following the tremendous success of the Nokia N95 the much improved N96 promises to take the mobile world by storm. Not since the release of the iphone has a mobile phone caused so much anticipation.

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Nokia N96 OverviewThe Nokia N96 is a multi-functional smart phone that is designed to fully integrate mobile communication with the use of the phone for entertainment purposes. The major point of interest that makes this new phone so appealing is that it has advanced video and camera capabilities that are unlike those seen in previous generations of smartphones. In addition to these video capabilities, this phone has taken music playing, Internet connectivity and GPS features to the next level. It is also notable that the new design makes it an efficient phone to use and one that’s user-friendly despite how advanced the features of this phone may be. It’s priced around 550 Euros and is due for release in the upcoming weeks.

N96 Technical specifications

Main camera

• Up to 5 megapixel (2592 x 1944 pixels)
• Carl Zeiss Optics: Tessar™ lens
• Auto-focus, auto-exposure
• F-number/aperture: F2.8
• Focal length: 5.2 mm
• Focus range 10 cm to infinity
• Dual-LED camera flash, video light, recording indicator, auto-focus assist light

Secondary camera

• VGA (640 x 480 pixels) sensor

Video Recording

• Video capture in MPEG-4 up to VGA at 30 fps
• Digital Video Stabilization
• Video clip length: limited by storage
• Video file format: .mp4 (default), .3gp (for MMS)
• Settings for scene, video light, white balance, color tone

Photography

• Still Image resolutions: up to 5 Megapixel (2592 x 1944 pixels)
• Still Image file format: JPEG, EXIF
• Location tagging: automatic insertion of capture location into images
• Settings for scene, flash, sequence, self-timer, color, white balance, contrast, exposure compensation, guides

Standard Sales Package Contents*

• Nokia N96
• Nokia Battery BL-5F
• Nokia Connectivity Cable CA-101
• Nokia Video-Out Cable CA-75U
• Nokia Stereo Headset and Remote HS-45, AD-54
• Nokia Mobile Charger DC-4 (car charger)
• Nokia Compact Travel Charger AC-5

*Sales package contents may vary by country. Specifications are subject to change without notice. The availability of particular products and services may vary by region. Check with the Nokia dealer nearest to you. Operations, services and some features may be dependent on the network as well as on the compatibility of the devices used and the content formats supported. Some services are subject to a separate charge. For more information, contact your service provider

Maps and Navigation

• Built-in GPS receiver, with support for assisted GPS (A-GPS)*
• Nokia Maps application
• Free downloadable maps of over 150 countries, millions of locations, location details and satellite imagery**
• Upgrades available for purchase: Multimedia city guides and Navigation services: Drive – voice guided car navigation, or Walk – pedestrian-optimized turn-by turn guidance

* A-GPS is a network dependant feature that requires a data plan. Additional charges may apply.

** Downloading satellite images may involve the transmission of large amounts of data through your service provider’s network. Contact your service provider for information about data transmission charges.

E-mail and Messaging

• Easy-to-use email client with attachment support for images, videos, music and documents
• Support for SMTP, IMAP4, POP3, MMS, SMS. Unified SMS/MMS editor
• Compatible with Nokia Wireless Keyboard SU-8W (sold separately)

Browsing and Internet

• Nokia Web Browser with Mini Map, visual history, HTML and JavaScript support, Flash Lite 3.0 and Flash video support
• RSS reader

Connectivity

• WLAN – IEEE802.11 g/b with UPnP support
• Hi-Speed USB 2.0 with Micro USB type B interface
• 3.5mm stereo headset plug , TV-out support (PAL/NTSC)
• Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP stereo audio and Enhanced Data Rates (EDR)
• Nokia Nseries PC Suite connectivity with USB and Bluetooth wireless technology

Music Features*

• Digital music player – supports MP3, AAC, eAAC+, WMA, album art
• Playlist editing and sharing
• Equalizer and visualization
• Search, browse and purchase songs online in Nokia Music Store – with support for Windows Media DRM protected files

* Nokia Music Store availability varies by country.

Radio*

• Stereo FM radio (87.5-108MHz, 76-90MHz) with support for RDS, Visual Radio™ and use of FM radio in offline mode
• Nokia Internet Radio

Video Center

• Video center: central hub for video experiences
• Access to last played video and easy resume
• My videos: collection of stored videos
• Access to Internet Videos, compatible with RSS feeds and video podcasts, with direct wireless updates and downloads
• Service catalog to discover new Internet Videos

Video Codecs and Formats

• MPEG-4 Part 2 (H.263/SP), up to VGA 30 fps, hardware-accelerated codec, scaled to max QVGA on device screen, or max SDTV on TV-out
• MPEG-4 Part 10 (H.264/AVC), up to VGA 30 fps, hardware-accelerated codec, scaled to max QVGA on device screen, or SDTV on TV-out
• Windows Media Video (WMV9), up to CIF/QVGA 30 fps, hardware-accelerated codec, scaled to max QVGA on device screen, or SDTV on TV-out
• RealVideo QCIF at 30 fps
• Flash video support in browser
• DRM support: OMA DRM 1, OMA DRM 2, WM DRM

Live TV

• Broadcast Television (DVB-H) capable
  -DVB-H based mobile TV with internal antenna
  -DVB-H Class C, 470-750 MHz

Browser-based video access

• Support for download, streaming and progressive download
• Support for Flash video

Operating Frequency

• WCDMA2100/900 (HSDPA) / EGSM900, GSM850/1800/1900 MHz (EGPRS)
• Automatic switching between bands and modes
• DVB-H Class C, 470-750 MHz

Dimensions

• Volume: 92 cc
• Weight: 125 g
• Length: 103 mm
• Width: 55 mm
• Depth:18 mm, locally up to 20 mm

Memory Functions*

• 16GB internal flash memory, plus microSD memory card slot (hot swappable) for expandability and flexibility
• Approximate dynamic memory capacity indication with 16GB storage:
  -Video: 40 hours**
  -Music: 12,000 tracks***
• 128MB RAM, 256MB system memory (operating system plus dynamic user data area)

* Changes to product details are possible without prior notice. Application offering may vary. Dynamic memory means that the available memory is shared between dynamic memory functions. When any of these functions is used, there is less available memory for other functions which are also dependent on dynamic memory.
** Video capacity is based on H.264 768-kbps video at 320-by-240 resolution, combined with 96-kbps AAC audio. Music capacity is based on 3:45 min per track and 48 kbps eAAC+ encoding.
*** Capacity based on 3:45 per song with 48 kbps eAAC+ (M4A) encoding on the Nokia Audio Manager. Capacity with 128 kbps AAC encoding is up to [12,000] songs.

Power Management

• Battery: Nokia Battery BL-5F, 950 mAh
• Talk time: up to 150 / 220 minutes (WCDMA / GSM)
• Stand-by time: up to 200 / 220 hours (WCDMA / GSM)
• Video playback: up to 5 hours (offline mode)
• Music playback: up to 14 hours (offline mode)
• TV playback: up to 4 hours (DVB-H)

*Operation times may vary depending on radio access technology used, operator network configuration and usage.

Display and User Interface

• 2.8” QVGA (240 x 320 pixels) LCD TFT display with up to 16 million colors
• User Interface: S60 3rd Edition, Feature Pack 2
• Active standby screen, Multimedia menu

Data Transfer*

• WCDMA HSDPA 900/2100 MHz with simultaneous voice and packet data (PS max speed DL/UL= 3.6Mbps/384kbps, CS max speed 64kbps)
• Dual Transfer Mode (DTM) support for simultaneous voice and packet data connection in GSM/EDGE networks. Simple class A, multi slot class 11, max speed DL/UL: 177.6/118.4kbps
• EGPRS class B, multi slot class 32, max speed DL/UL= 296/177.6kbps
• GPRS class B, multi slot class 32, max speed DL/UL= 107/64.2kbps

* Actual achieved speeds may vary depending on network support.

Low mobile phone recycling rates in the UK still beat rates for the rest of the world, where half of people asked in a global survey were unaware that their mobiles could be recycled.

Mobile phone manufacturer Nokia surveyed 6,500 people in 13 countries and found that just 3% of people recycle their old phones.

UK mobile owners fared better, with a fifth unaware they could recycle their phones and 9% saying they did recycle their mobile.

The findings showed that despite people owning on average five phones in their lifetime, very few of these are being recycled. Yet few old devices in the UK are going to landfill, just 3%. Instead 48% are kept at home, unwanted and never used. A fifth of people, 19%, pass on their old mobile phones to friends or family, and 8% are resold.

Such low rates of recycling prompted Nokia director of environmental affairs markets Markus Terho to comment: “If all of the three billion people that own mobile phones globally brought back just one unused device we could save 240,000 tonnes of raw materials and reduce greenhouse gases to the same effect as taking four million cars off the road.”

Nokia said it is expanding its global take-back programmes and last week launched a take back scheme based at its Regent Street store in London.