Nokia N96 VS Nokia N97: War between two excellent smart phones from the same house

10.07.2009 09:27:16 Sometime this rivalry of superiority takes places between handsets of the same brand and the competition between Nokia N96 versus Nokia N97 can be seen as a best example.

(live-PR.com) - Nokia has emerged as one of the most reliable and preferable brand among people. The company designs the handsets by keeping in mind the needs and the demands of the users. The brand has made a significant place in the mobile phone market and also in the hearts of the people. Nokia phones are marked with sophisticated and user friendly

features. Nokia N96 and Nokia N97 are two handsets that are engaged in superiority conflict with each other. Both the handsets come with superb features and functions. However, there are some features which highlight the difference between the two efficient products.

The Nokia N96 (http://www.free3gmobilephoneoffers.co.uk/Phone_Deal.asp?Ph=Nokia--N96) is a 3G network smart phone which weighs 125 grams and has the dimensions of 103 x 55 x 18 mm . On the other hand the Nokia N97 weighs 150 grams and has the dimensions of 117.2 x 55.3 x 15.9 mm. The 3.5 inches screen in the N97 model displays 16 million colours with 360 x 640 pixels screen resolution whereas in the N96 model, the screen displays same 16 million colours with a screen resolution of 240 x 320 pixels.

The internal memory of both the gadgets is comprised of 128 MB RAM but have varying memory support. In the nokia N97 (http://www.free3gmobilephoneoffers.co.uk/Phone_Deal.asp?Ph=Nokia--N97) the internal memory is supported by microSD memory card slot that is expandable up to 16 GB but in the N96 the microSD card slot allows expansion of storage capacities up to 8 GB which is less than N97. The battery back up of N97 allows one to take advantage of stand by time up to 408 hours and talk time of 6 hours on fully charged condition but the battery back up of N96 delivers 192 hours of stand by time and talk time of 14 hours.

In the conflict of Nokia N96 vs Nokia N97 the users are provided with the option of selecting the handset on the basis of looks and colours. While the N96 comes in three coloured casing which include black, silver and quartz whereas the N97 comes in only two colours, black and white. Both the handsets are equipped with the 5MP cameras which allow the users to take picture of their near and dear ones. The users can enjoy high speed connectivity and Internet facility with advanced technologies. These latest mobile phones (http://www.free3gmobilephoneoffers.co.uk/) have amazing built in media players and FM radio with RDS support to satisfy the musical instinct of users.

Apart from these similarities, these are some basic applications present in both the handsets. These encompass messaging, phone book call record, organiser, games etc. The users are provided with melodious ring tones to keep their gadgets on alert. Thus, in the war of Nokia N96 versus Nokia N97 it is difficult to judge which handset is better than other as both are equally capable. But one thing is sure that these smart phones are useful and potent in their own way. For more information, one can access Internet and can have adequate information related to these handsets.

Author: Day Kevi

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Prediction: Accelerometers in 33% of mobile phones by 2010

IPhone users may not know exactly what an accelerometer is.They're just wowed by some of the cool things an accelerometer lets them do.  It's the component that changes the screen from portrait to landscape mode when the phone is turned on its side, or lets you shake the device to simulate rolling dice.  It even allows you to turn the new iPhone 3GS into a compass.

Thanks to the iPhone and now such rival devices as the Palm Pre, the iSuppli research firm predicts that a full one-third of mobile phones will use accelerometers by 2010, up from one in five this year and one in 11 in 2008.

"With their capability to detect and measure motion, accelerometers are the critical enablers of these features, which are an essential element of what makes these smart phones so popular," said iSuppli principal analyst Jérémie Bouchard in a release issued today. "These capabilites are now spreading beyond smart phones to other types of handsets."

Among top mobile phone companies, iSuppli says 38% of new Nokia handsets have integrated these sensors since the beginning of the year, as have 18 of 19 Sony Ericsson models introduced so far in 2009.

Driven in part by the rapid rise in acceleromter adoption,  iSuppli expects sales of all kinds of  "microelectromechanical" sensors or MEMs for mobiles phones to jump from about $460.9 million in 2008 to $1.6 billion in 2013.

By Ed Baig

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Hundreds of millions of iPhones and Android/Chrome phones

In 2008, consumers and businesses around the world bought almost 1.2 billion cell phones. Yeah, that’s 1.2 billion gadgets connected to the wireless telecom networks around this world.

That’s a lot of cell phones. Given there’s about 6 and a half billion people on the Earth, that’s one new cell phone sold for every five people on the entire planet. That’s not just 20% of your affluent adult friends who bought cell phones in 2008. It was as if 20% of every baby in the nursery bought a new cell phone last year. It was as if one out of every five villagers in Mochudi, Botswana, bought a cell phone last year.

That’s just totally unsustainable. Even if the global economy had been growing, that’s a heckuva a bar to cross every year. Oh yeah, in 2007, more than a billion cell phones were sold. And the year before nearly a billion cell phones were sold.

Add up the numbers, and we bought enough cell phones in the last six years to have given one to every single person that’s alive.

This year, for only the second time since the cell phone hit the market in the late 1970s/early 1980s, unit growth will be negative. Yes, fewer cell phones will be sold this year than last year. And let’s face it, can we really expect 20% of the world’s population to buy a new cell phone every year? Probably not, and that means this industry, which was in secular growth mode and has provided millions of high-paying jobs around the world, has peaked and now mostly is going to be reflective of the macro-economy of the world.

That means we shouldn’t expect the market for cell phones to provide a meaningful backbone of growth for the broader economy. Since we’re now close to what the maximum demand for this product can look like, you’ve got to exclusively focus on only companies that can take market share from other companies.

Nokia’s got more than one-third the global market share for cell phones right now. These guys are going to have to really out-price and/or out-innovate their competition if they want to maintain and/or grow that market share.

That takes me back to Apple and Google. Apple’s got about 1% of that global market share for cell phones right now. They’ve sold 10 to 20 million in the last year. Since the iPhone now has a price point of $99 — and since that same iPhone will likely be given away for free with a two-year AT&T service contract in another year or so — that means Apple’s could grow their market share even ten-fold from the 1% level it’s at today.

Model it out yourself, if you want. Getting the iPhone platform up to 10% market share in cell phones would mean 100 million units sold, even if the cell-phone market is to contract 5% more this year and next.

While the price point for the iPhone will continue to come down, the unit growth still will provide outright revenue growth for Apple. Component costs for the iPhone will come down too, and that means margins for Apple will expand. That means more earnings growth ahead for this juggernaut.

We should note that either or both the new Chrome OS and the Android OS from Google will take market share from the other companies  — except Apple, which you’ll remember has only 1% of the market — as the cell phone and netbooks converge. The PC marketplace is only about 300 million units a year, by the way, which is why cell phones and netbooks are so important for growth in tech in the new millenium.

I wouldn’t buy either of these right now at these levels and expect to make any money in the near term. I’m much too bearish on the overall economy and markets for that. But I’d want to own a least a toehold of both of these. Otherwise, I’d wait for both of these stocks to come down.

But as I’ve told everyone about these two companies for years — these are as good as it gets in long-term investments.

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Nokia Exec: The N97 Will Beat The iPhone 3GS

I love it when company executives talk smack. This time around, Nokia (NYSE: NOK) UK managing director Mark Loughran said that the iPhone 3GS is a disappointment to many, and the N97's superior camera will push it ahead of the iPhone. I have one question for Loughran, "Have you even used the N97?"

This is classic. There's nothing like an executive bad-mouthing a competitor's product. Here's what Loughran said:

The new iPhone is an evolution rather than a revolution and for people trying to decide whether to get a Nokia N97 or an iPhone, it comes down to a decision on performance and value for the money. The new iPhone seems to have the same design and color, upgrading from a sub-standard two-megapixel camera to a still low 3.2 megapixel camera, and is probably a disappointment for many people, given the high tariff and lifetime ownership costs.

Um, what?

First off, Mr. Loughran is from the U.K. I am not familiar with the subsidized cost of the N97 nor the iPhone over in the U.K., nor what tariffs the respective wireless carriers are charging on a monthly basis for those two devices. I have a hard time believing that the sale price of the devices are all that different, however. In the U.S., the iPhone 3GS can be bought for as little as $200. The N97? Try $700. Leaving that cost argument aside (because we can't produce an apples-to-apples comparison), there are more holes we can poke in Mr. Loughran's statements.

It is true that the iPhone 3G's 2 megapixel was bordering on sub-par. The new 3.2 megapixel camera, in comparison, takes excellent pictures and beats the pants off of the 3.2 megapixel cameras I've tested in several Nokia phones (E71, 5800 XpressMusic). Furthermore, the 5 megapixel camera of the N97 performed just as bad as the iPhone 3Gs's camera in low-light situations -- even though it has a flash.

Loughran is right to point out that the iPhone 3GS is exactly the same shape and colors as the iPhone 3G. This isn't necessarily a bad thing. To whit, the iPhone has been imitated by just about every phone manufacturer on earth -- including Nokia!

Beyond all of that, however, is the usability of both devices. The N97 and its S60 5th Edition software are horrid across the board. It is extremely underpowered, slow to respond and the user interface is the worst, half-baked thing I've encountered in a long time. From a day-to-day usability standpoint, the iPhone 3GS is a clear winner.

According to the report in Symbian-Freak.com, the N97 is off to a solid start in the U.K. U.K.-based operator O2 has said that the iPhone 3GS is its best-selling iPhone model to date.

Which will win? We're going to have to wait for quarterly report from both Nokia and Apple to find out. 

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Nokia (NYSE: NOK) : Quarter 2 Earnings Preview

By Salman - iStockAnalyst Writer)Nokia (NYSE: ) will publish its second quarterpercent decline in net income, analyst’s estimate, as customers, concerned about uncertainty in job market, postponed phone upgrades. Nokia is seen selling 99.3 million phones in the quarter, a drop of 19% from a year ago.

Espoo, Finland-based Nokia Oyj manufactures mobile devices, and provides Internet services and digital map information worldwide. The company’s Devices & Services segment designs, develops, and manages its mobile device portfolio, including the sourcing of components.

During the first quarter, earnings for the world's largest cell phone maker plummeted to €122 million -- down from €1.2 billion a year earlier. Revenue declined from €12.6 billion to €9.2 billion compared to a year ago. On a per-share basis, Nokia reported a €0.03 profit, down sharply from the €0.32 profit it posted a year ago and below financial analysts' estimates of a €0.06 profit.

Thanks to the reductions in inventory in markets such as Asia Pacific and Latin America, Nokia's worldwide sales reached 97.4 million units in the first quarter of 2009. However, average selling price (ASP), which saw an 18% drop year-over-year.

The company expects sales volumes in the second quarter to be flat or slightly up from what it saw in the first quarter.

Broadpoint AmTech analyst Mark McKechnie of Greenwich-based expects Nokia to report revenue of €10 billion (or $13.5 billion) and earnings per share of €0.13 (or $0.17). According to McKechnie, thoughASPs [i.e., average selling prices] and margins remain depressed, units are tracking better than expected. He says further that some "green shoots" could be spotted, especially after the retailer de-stocking of the first quarter.

According to technology research firm Gartner, Nokia continued to lead the mobile phone market in first quarter, though its share dropped to 36.2% from 39.1% in Q1 2008 due to severe recession. The company has enjoyed huge success in emerging markets, especially China and India.In the first quarter of this year, Nokia's sales in Asia, Greater China, the Middle East and Africa came in at 4.9 billion euros ($6.6 billion)--down significantly over the year, but still making up around 52% of total sales.

Though U.S. market has been a tough one for Nokia, the company has been trying hard to gain a foothold in North America.In order to expand its presence, it recently bought Nortel's wireless division. Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel Corp., the first and third largest mobile phone companies in the U.S., both run their networks on CDMA technology and Nortel is one of their primary suppliers.

The company recently launched its new smartphone N97, a touchscreen phone, which is seen as its latest effort to enhance its position in smartphone market. The Nokia N97 was released in US flagship stores on 9 June 2009 and has a worldwide release date of "June".

Nokia is also tryng to further consolidate its hold over emerging-market. Last monh, it launched Nokia Life Tools service in India, which will deliver news, entertainment, educational and agriculture services straight to the handset.

The mobile phone giant has formed a long-term relationship chipmaker Intel Corp.(NASDAQ: ) to develop a new class of mobile computing devices that will use Intel chips. The world's largest chipmaker will work with Nokia to define a new mobile platform beyond today's smartphones, notebooks and netbooks, enabling the development of a variety of innovative hardware, software and mobile Internet services. The deal could help the handset maker recapture the bulk of the high-end smartphone market, as well as give it the flexibility to develop devices with new form factors and capabilities.

Shares of the company are up almost 70% from 52 week low of $8.47. Nokia rose 18 cents or 1.31% to $14.35 in afternoon trade on Thursday.

Disclosure: Author doesn't own any of the stocks mentioned here. 2009 results on Thursday, July 16, 2009 at approximately 1 pm Helsinki time (CET+1).  The world’s biggest handset maker may report a 67

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Nokia 3720 Classic Is Certified IP-54 Rugged

Just because you want a phone that can survive the elements and still work through the roughest of conditions does not mean that you have to carry around a giant rubberized monstrosity. The newly introduced Nokia 3720 Classic has been certified to tough it out with the best of them.

The Nokia 3720 Classic may look like any other number of budget-minded candybar style phones from Nokia, but it has received IP-54 certification for resistance to water, dust, and shock. Go ahead and use it by the pool, in the desert, or um, at the power plant.

The phone has been completely encased in durable materials, sealed away from the outside world as to protect the inner electronics. Even the battery cover is held in place with a screw, so bringing it to harsher work conditions should not be a cause for alarm.

Aside from its rugged and tough nature, the Nokia 3720 Classic also comes with an LED flashlight, 2.2-inch QVGA display, 2 megapixel camera, 20MB internal memory, microSD slot, and 2.5mm headphone jack. Look for it to sell for EUR 125 when it ships this summer. Choose generic gray or stand out with yellow.

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Handset makers look for better H2, stocks cleared

TALLINN/SEOUL (Reuters) - Global cellphone makers sales are expected to show only a slight improvement in the second quarter from the slump seen at the start of the year when shops were having to clear stocks of unsold phones.

All top cellphone makers apart from Samsung Electronics (005930.KS), are expected to report another big fall from a year ago in their quarterly sales as demand for new gadgets slumps in the recession.

Samsung is helped by a weak Korean won, and this week guided investors to expect strong second-quarter revenue and operating profit on a consolidated basis, which analysts said hinted also at stronger-than-expected performance in handsets.

Handset vendors' phone sales in the April-June quarter are seen falling 13.6 percent from a year ago to 261.7 million phones, a Reuters poll of 32 analysts showed on Wednesday.

This compares to the industry's weakest ever quarter in January-March 2009 when shops focused on clearing their stocks of unsold phones from dismal Christmas sales and the phone makers' sales dropped 13-16 percent year-on-year, according to analysts estimates, totaling 245-255 million.

The April-June market consensus has also improved a little from a 14.5 percent fall seen in a similar poll conducted in May.

ALL EYES ON OUTOOK

With results seen weak, investors and analysts will be looking at comments on the trend in consumer demand.

"Nobody is going to be fool enough to guide up for the second half, given the lack of visibility on consumer demand, but I wouldn't be surprised to hear a more positive tone in Nokia's comments," said Bernstein analyst Pierre Ferragu.

The world's top handset maker Nokia (NOK1V.HE) is expected to report next week a 72-percent drop in its April-June earnings per share from last year, a Reuters poll of 31 analysts showed on Wednesday.

Nokia is seen selling 99.3 million phones in the quarter, 19 percent less than a year ago.

Nokia and Sony Ericsson, both, will report on July 16, followed by LG Electronics (066570.KS) on July 22 and Samsung on July 24. Motorola (MOT.N) is due to report on July 30.

Motorola and Sony Ericsson are seen still struggling, with quarterly phone sales falling 43 and 36 percent, respectively.

SAMSUNG, LG TO WIN

Samsung and LG Electronics (066570.KS) are expected to pick up the market share, and show strong second quarter performance, with Samsung selling 5 percent more phones than a year ago and LG 8 percent less, still outperforming the market.

"Samsung's strong performance will be mostly due to brisk sales in Eastern Europe and South East Asia," said Kim Woon-ho from Prudential Investment & Securities.

"LG Electronics seems to have benefited from strong marketing efforts from China Telecom, and good sales in Latin America," Kim said.

Both companies are expected to post an operating profit margin of 10 percent or more for the second quarter.

The won gained 8.6 percent against the dollar during the second quarter, but at the end of June, the won was still 17.9 percent cheaper than a year earlier against the dollar.

"LG's performance has been good in all segments, and the trend is likely to continue in the third quarter," said Steve Lee from Goodmorning Shinhan Securities.

"The big question mark is the exchange rate, as a scenario with a rapidly strengthening won can reduce LG's competitiveness against Motorola and Sony Ericsson," he said.

SMARTPHONES WIN

With the handset market shrinking fast, the makers of more advanced smartphones fared well in the quarter and the smartphone sales are seen rising some 10-20 percent this year.

The world's No 2 smartphone maker Research In Motion (RIM.TO) (RIMM.O) reported on June 19 better-than-expected results for its March-to-May quarter, but offered investors an outlook that sent the BlackBerry maker's stock sliding 5 percent.

Taiwan's HTC (2498.TW), the world's fourth-largest smartphone brand, reported a better-than-expected second-quarter profit on July 6, as a line of new products helped cushion it from the economic slowdown.

Competition has been growing in the smartphone sector this year, with newcomers such as Acer (2353.TW) and Asustek (2357.TW) going head-on against global leaders Nokia (NOK1V.HE), RIM and Apple (AAPL.O).

(Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)

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