Nokia announces new Windows Phone models and services

 

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Posted on 2 Sep 2009 at 17:59

Nokia has launched a range of new phones at its Nokia World conference today, and announced a deal with Facebook to integrate its social networking service into Nokia's phones. The new Nokia N97 mini will feature "Lifecasting with Ovi", a service that allows you to update your Facebook status and location from the home screen of the phone, which Nokia claims is a first.

The N97 mini features a 3.2in screen and slide-out QWERTY keyboard, and is based on the standard N97. It will also feature Ovi Maps, Nokia's own navigation software, which features premium POI content from Lonely Planet, Michelin and Wcities.

The handset will be on sale in October for about ?450 (£394), and the "Lifecasting with Ovi" software will also be available as an update to current N97 owners.

Nokia also announced new phones in its Comes With Music range, the X6 and X3. The X6 is a 3.2in touchscreen device with 32GB of onboard memory, which Nokia claims will store up to 35 hours of music. The screen has a 16:9 aspect ratio to bring out the best in films, and the phone will also feature a 5-megapixel camera with a Carl Zeiss lens, dual-LED flash, TV-out and GPS.

The smaller X3 also has a 3.2in screen, but has a slide-out numeric keypad and runs the less powerful Series 40 operating system. Nokia says this is the first Series 40 phone to feature Ovi Store, Nokia's answer to the App Store. The X6 and X3 will be available later this year, with prices expected to be around ?459 (£402) and ?115 (£101) respectively.

Nokia's decision to integrate Facebook into the new phones' home screens shows that it is prepared to compromise on its own plans for the Ovi portal. However, it still seems keen to sell its own music and navigation services, which won't go down well with consumers who prefer the services they are used to.

While Ovi Store seems to be expanding, there still aren't as many useful applications as you'd find on Apple's App Store or Google's Android Market, and we wonder whether Nokia can ever catch up in this area.

Author: Barry de la Rosa