Nokia X7-00 review: The stealth xpress

Introduction

Dressed to kill and with a fresh coat of paint on the interface, the Nokia X7 is keen to show there's still fight left in Symbian. The screen is a definite high point and the stainless steel body is fashioned like a stealth jet fighter. Symbian Anna adds in features that have been lacking in the OS, closing the gap on the competition.

The Nokia X7 combines stainless steel and Gorilla glass into one seriously attractive package. It boasts stereo speakers (just two, rather than four as you might think looking at it) to justify its Xseries spot and an 8MP camera with 720p video recording.

The screen impressed us quite a bit as you'll see in our hardware chapter but that's not all we liked about the hardware. The software changes are not as far-reaching as we would have liked, but there are some key developments that that give Symbian a usability boost.

Here's the short version of what the Nokia X7 is about and what didn’t work out very well.

Key features

Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support
Penta-band 3G with 10.2 Mbps HSDPA and 2 Mbps HSUPA support
Stainless steel body 4" 16M-color AMOLED capacitive touchscreen of 640 x 360 pixel resolution; Impressive brightness and Gorilla glass protection
8 megapixel fixed-focus camera with dual-LED flash and 720p video @ 25fps recording; geotagging, face detection, smart zoom in video
Symbian Anna OS
680 MHz ARM 11 CPU and 256 MB RAM
Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n
GPS receiver with A-GPS support and free lifetime voice-guided navigation
Digital compass
microSD card slot (8GB card pre-installed)
DivX and XviD video support
Built-in accelerometer and proximity sensor
Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
Stereo FM Radio with RDS
microUSB port
Flash and Java support for the web browser
Stereo Bluetooth 3.0
Excellent audio quality
Smart dialing and voice commands
Social networking integration

Main disadvantages
Symbian Anna is still catching up with Android and iOS
Uncomfortable volume rocker, SIM tray and microSD card slot
Camera lacks auto focus, oversharpens images
Relatively limited 3rd party software availability
No office document editing (without a paid upgrade)
Battery life is not on par with the best in business

Symbian 3.2 and 5.0 get a browser and navigation update

Nowadays taking care of its latest smartphones is mandatory for every manufacturer with any kind of long term ambitions. However releasing an update for three-year old smartphones, ranging from entry level phones to former high-enders, and showing their owners that they aren't forgotten should certainly earn Nokia some bonus points.

The Finnish company just announced through their blog that they will be releasing an update for their Symbian 3.2 and 5.0 platforms. There's a whole bunch of handsets running those - check out the lengthy list:
Nokia E72
Nokia E52
Nokia E5
Nokia C5-00
Nokia 6700 slide
Nokia C6-00
Nokia C5-03
Nokia 5230
Nokia 5235
Nokia 5250
Nokia X6
Nokia N97 mini
Nokia 5800 XpressMusic
Nokia 5530 XpressMusic
Nokia 5530 XpressMusic

The update will bring the new Nokia browser v7.3 to the aging phones, which should significantly improve their browsing experience. This is the same browser that owners of newer Symbian phones will get when the Anna update is released. The benefits of the new browser include improved performance, support for International Domain Names (IDNs) and also supports non-ASCII letters such as Arabic or Chinese.

The other major feature of the firmware update is the updated Ovi Maps app. The software offering free voice-guided navigation will go to version Ovi Maps 3 SR4 on Symbian 3.2 devices, bringing indoor positioning through WiFi, as well as travel and recommendation services such as those through Lonely Planet. Those with Symbian 5.0 devices will get Ovi Maps 3 SR6, adding public transport lines and check-in services to social networking sites.

The final good bit about this update is the addition of a set of emoticons to the listed devices, which can be used when sending MMS.

Nokia C6-00 and Nokia 5230 are already eligible for the update, while the rest of the smartphones will get it in the next few weeks. So make sure you have the software update autocheck switched on in your phone.

Galaxy S II breaks Samsung's records, sells 3 million in 55 days

Unless you were hanging out with the sherpas in the Himalayas you probably must have heard a lot about the Samsung Galaxy S II. To say it was well-received would be an understatement as almost everyone we knew had already got one or was planning on getting one. But now we have the official figures from Samsung and we know just how well they did. Unsurprisingly, they did very well.

The Galaxy S II went on to break Samsung’s own record and sold over three million units in the 55 days since its launch. That’s approximately 50,000 phones a day. According to Samsung, most of these phones were consumed by Europe.

If you think these figures aren’t all that impressive, you should know that the Galaxy S II is yet to go on sale in the US. Had it been international launch, the figures would have been much higher. But even at the rate at which it is currently going, it won’t take long for it to break the 10 million record set by Galaxy S.