100,000

Cellular has reached 100,000 visitorss. The blog is just over 7 months old and it has over 100.000 visitors. Thanks to everyone for their co-operations. There will be some good things coming up such as more themes, wallpapers, ringtones etc.Visit again.

Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1

The Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1 is finally available in stores, 8 months after its announcement. So go out and check your local store to grab one.

Nokia 6600 Slide

Review of the Nokia 6600 Slide by GSMArena.

“Tiny, yet remarkably solid, like a pebble tumbled smooth by the waves, there’s something about Nokia 6600 slide that’s really hard to resist. By the way, minimalist, extra smooth and exclusive stand equally well for any of the 6600 pair. While flip for gals and slide for lads may not exactly be set in concrete, gender-free demand is more likely for the black 6600 slide.

Of the same build and pricing, both the yesterday’s 6600 flip and the today’s 6600 fold are a treat to look at and handle. The differences in gear are minor, boiling down to a fair try to fine-tune the supply. The OLED screen and electromagnetic push-to-open in the flip are swapped for a 3-megapixel shooter and USB-on-the-go. Little secrets won’t stay in the closet but there’s enough disarming charm to go around.”

Here’s the link

Nokia 5800 XpressMusic

Now here’s the review of the Nokia 5800 XpresssMusic by Eldar Murtazin.

“On balance the 5800 Tube offers pretty decent sound quality, audible stereo speakers, WiFi connectivity, and a sizable display that will remain the best on the market for a quite a while. Frankly, I can hardly find anything to criticize the 5800 for, given how little it goes for - there has never been a phone like this before and now it raises the bar to a wholly new level. Well, it’s about time I wrapped it all up - no point in praising this phone any further, I suppose.

Another thing of note about the 5800 Tube is that it simply won’t face any challenges on the market - the Apple iPhone is a steep, fashion-savvy offering that has been deprived of many standard features, so a comparison between these two phones would seem a little too far-fetched. It does have smoother and more eye-candy menus, similar video capabilities, but that’s about it - in fact the iPhone packs in around a tenth of what the Nokia 5800 has to offer in terms of functionality. It wouldn’t be right to put them in one league and then berate the iPhone for lacking so many useful feats. So let the iPhone remain the ultimate choice for all fashion-conscious users, while the Nokia 5800 will be the way to go for everyone who is after a well-rounded do-it-all solution.”

Here’s the link

Sony Ericsson G502

Here’s a review of the Sony Ericsson G502 written by Eldar Murtazin.

“All in all, it’s a pretty reasonable offering for the mid-tier, running on the platform that has already stood the test of time. Nevertheless, for some reasons the G502 has got several hiccups in the way of software, so we can’t really say it’s a well-rounded solution at all - in fact, it’s a shame that a phone of this caliber should suffer from this kind of glitches. Retailing for 150-175 Euro, the G502 isn’t all that much cheaper than the Sony Ericsson K660i; however it doesn’t feature a data cable or a memory card in the box. As far as I’m concerned, if it’s functionality you need, then the K660i will be a smarter choice, since it’s doesn’t have any of the abovementioned software defects. On the other hand, though, there are plenty of other likable offerings around, including the Nokia 6300 that goes for as little as 150-160 Euro these days, plus it incorporates some metallic accents and comes with a richer sales package. All in all, there are lots of other options available, and the Sony Ericsson G502 doesn’t have any fortes that could set it apart from the rest of the pack.”

Here’s the link

Nokia 6600 Fold

Review of the Nokia 6600 Fold by GSMArena

“Smoking hot body, brilliant looks, user-friendly interface and almost no value for money, but still packing quite a punch - Nokia 6600 fold is exactly the kind of meal to order from an unpriced menu. The OLED screen, the cool magnetic flip and the mirror front panel just make it all the sweeter and kind of make sure it feels more at home in designer handbags than pockets. Now, that’s where we come in with a little bit of good sense chicks will ignore anyway. And who knows, they may be right in the end.”

Here’s the link

Samsung L700

Review of the Samsung L700 by GSMArena.

“Samsung L700 is a lower midrange fella and its main selling points are solid construction, metal body and fast 3G speeds. Before you frown at the shortish specs list do remember that it’s not aiming high. It’s set instead to address a chronic shortage of style in this price range.

We are yet to see what kind of difference Samsung L700 will make, but you can bet it’s going to be a tough fight against some pretty popular handsets there already. When we pick cell phones to review we rarely go down to this market segment, but our experience tells us the L700 will probably win its share of content customers.

While certainly not the hottest looker there is, we rarely see such commendable build quality and freehanded use of metal in the competition. We hit the pedal to the metal without much further ado to see how the L700 handles the race track.”

Here’s the link

S60 Estro

Download S60 Estro

Here are the pictures of a new 5 Megapixeel Sony Ericsson device. Much details are not knowmn. It was earlier rumored to have Kate as codename but it isnt Kate.

Nokia E66 Slide Open

Nokia E66 Review

Here’s my review of the Nokia E66. Thanks to WOM World for lending me the E66.

Positives

True Successor of E65
Clear 2.4″ Screen
Good Build Quality, Materials Used and Sliding Mechanism
Very Slim
Good Performance
Good Keypad
Good Battery Lide
Accelerometer

Negatives

Camera Performance Below Expected Level
No 3.5mm Jack

Unboxing

Nokia E66 Packaging

Like all E-Series phones, I expected the E66 to come in a special type of packaging and it did. The box was rectangular in shape (long and narrow). On opening the box you can see the E66 on the top portion.

Contents of Packaging

On further inspection into the box you can find the other things that are included in the package.

Leather Carrying Case

Contents of Packaging

* Nokia E66
* Battery (BL-4U)
* Earpones
* Leather Carrying Case
* micro-USB Cable
* Instruction Manual
* CD
* Charger
* 2GB micro-SD

Design and Build Quality

Being claimed as the successor to the Nokia E65, I expected the E66 to have a very good build quality. It met my expectations. The E66 has been made using better materials (more metal) and better technology including the sliding mechanism. The E65 had more plastic to itself, which was a characteristic of the first E-Series phones, but, the E66 is made up of more metal. The E65 had plastic battery cover, sides front etc but the E66 has metal all over and this improves the weight balance of the device, the build quality and the feeling in hand. The only side-effect to the metal being used is the smudges and fingerprints that appear on the device when it is used.

Nokia E66 Slide Closed

The sliding mechanism too has been improved a lot. In the E65, the slider was sturdy and had no wobbles etc but it was very hard to slide up/down and the top sliding part kept pressing the keys while being slid up/down. However in the Nokia E66, we get the same no wobble effect but an easier to slide handset which does not touch the keys. To assist the sliding, Nokia have made the two E66 parts in two different lengths.

Nokia E66 Back

The volume up/down, voice command key and the camera shutter key are located on the right side of the device. The top part contains the power key. The left side has the micro-USB connector, infrared port and the audio jack. Finally the bottom has the charger connector.

Pattern on Back

The device is available in two colours, White Steel and Metal Grey. Both these colours match the device very well and the choice of colour mainly depends on the user. The battery cover on the E66 has a square shaped pattern on it. This increases the grip over the hold on the device and also contributes to its look. At 13.6mm thickness, the device is quite slim being a slider. When using the device, it feels even thinner. The device which is around the same weight as an N95, feels heavier and weighs in at 121 grams.

Keys

Though the E66 lacks a QWERTY keypad which is available on the Nokia E71, the keypad is brilliant to use. The keypad reminds me of the Nokia N93 but only being a bit smaller and with rounded surface. Even people with big fingers can easily use the keypad.

Nokia E66 Keypad

The keys on the top portion of the slider i.e. have a unique style to it which has become common in many of the new Nokia phones being released. The key only display the labels when they are being used. The five wall navigation key is always really good at doing the task. It also has a light ring on it to give alerts and as a standby mode indicator.

The power key on the top of the device is very nice to press and is in a red colour. However three keys which are located on the right side of the device such as the volume up/down keys and the voice command key are difficult to press especially the volume up/down keys.

Power Key

Call Quality and Handling

Thanks to the earpiece located on the top portion of the device, we can talk without straining our ears too much. The microphone also does well and the other person too can hear well. The loudspeaker is distorted but is loud enough to hear even in quite noisy places.

Earpiece

Another feature of the E66 is Call Handling thanks to the in-built Slide Handling options. You can chose options such as accepting a call when by opening the slide and rejecting/ending a call by closing the slide. The handset supports speed dial and voice call. Video call is also supported by using the video call camera on the front. Records of recent calls (dialled/received) and missed calls are supported up to 30 days.

Speaker

Contacts

The number of contacts that can be stored on the phone does not have any limits as of such and it depends on the memory available on the phone. Each contact can be assigned more than one number such as office, home, mobile, email etc and there is also provision for photos.

Messaging

The three types of messaging supported are SMS, MMS and email. The keypad helps fast typing of messages. Errors while typing are rare. T9 is supported.

Connectivity

micro-USB Port

The Nokia E66 supports GPRS, HSCSD, EDGE, 3G, HSDPA 3.6 Mbps, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, Bluetooth 2.0, Infrared and micro-USB 2.0. The USB transfer rates are good being fast but not too fast and not too slow. Surfing the net is as fast as any device out on the market. A2DP is supported through Bluetooth.

Memory

The device has 110MB of internal memory and is upgradeable through the micro-SD slot. A 2GB card is included in the package. The memory is expandable up to 8GB. The RAM is 128 MB SDRAM.

Performance and UI

The Nokia E66 runs on the Symbian S60 3^rd Edition Feature Pack 2 which includes many new goodies such as the menu transitions and many other new features. I guessed that with the Feature Pack 2, the phone would be dead slow but its bloody fast and the transitions look so cool. Usually I don’t like transitions as it makes me dizzy at time but FP2 transitions are good. Running applications is no problem. Menus are loaded really quickly, so are the songs, pictures and videos. The gallery on the E-Series is just like the old layout found in the earlier E-Series and not in the N-Series. Picture viewing too has transitions.

Screen

Nokia E66

The E66 has a 2.4” QVGA screen which displays up to 16 million colours. Pictures and videos are brilliant on the screen. The screen is protected by plastic. The built-in accelerometer enables auto-rotation that changes the orientation of the screen automatically according to the way the handset is held. The light sensor automatically adjusts the display backlighting and brightness. The screen is pretty visible under sunlight too.

Music

E66 Headphones

The Nokia E66 has a good music player that supports most of the common formats. There are five equalizers and also a custom one for yourself. The E66 produces good audio. In fact excellent for a business phone. I remember the E65 was bad in this aspect but Nokia seems to have fixed that. The speaker too is good. At max volume the sound is loud but distorted. It’s still enjoyable though. The lack of a 3.5mm may become a problem for those who have gotten used to plugging in normal headphones. At least an adaptor could have been included in the package.

Video

Videos are quite good on the Nokia E66. Everything works fine. The screen size is sufficient for seeing videos of average lengths. The default video player is Real Player. Full Screen video playing is supported.

Camera

Camera Unit

The E66 is equipped with a 3.2 Megapixel Camera with Autofocus, LED flash and a self-portrait mirror. Though the specifications may look good for the camera, it isn’t. The camera performs below expected level of 3 Megapixel cameras. Most of the pictures have high noise levels and have lots of grains on them. Taking photos in dark conditions is almost unthinkable. For some the picture quality may seem to be ok and that depends on the needs of the user. The camera is definitely a ton better comparing to the E65 which had neither a flash, autofocus nor a mirror.

Camera Shutter Key

The videos recorded are at QVGA resolution and at 15fps. I feel that they could have made the video recording better. Also the lack of camera lens causes the lens to become smudged or even scratched. But after some weeks of usage, there are no scratches, only smudges.

Battery Life

The battery life on the E66 is very good. It has a 1000mAH (BL-4U) battery. With heavy usage, it lasted about 2 or 3 days. Nokia claims it to have a stand-by time of up to 264 hours and a talk-time of up to 7 hours 30 minutes.

Conclusion

E66 Bottom

Nokia have succeeded in creating a worthy successor to the Nokia E65 by improving in all aspects. The main defects that I would like to point out is that the camera performance is below expected level and that there is no 3.5mm adaptor.

Thus the E66 is definitely the successor to the E65.

I nickname the E66 as “The Apprentice”