Nokia is well-known for its widely popular phones such as the Nokia E71, N95, and N97. Nokia recently released the N900 smartphone that brings along tons of features and impressive specifications. We’ve been following all the news and rumors on this phone and, needless to say, we are excited about getting one. The phone was introduced into the United States on November 11, 2009 and is not yet available to purchase directly from any major carriers here. The N900 used the Maemo 5 Linux operating system, unlike its predecessors which ran Symbian. This was a unique review for us because we haven’t had much experience with Maemo, so we had to learn the OS from scratch. Typically when we review a device, we have at least played around with the OS. Therefore, we are excited to bring you the Nokia N900 review.

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Rogers released the new Nokia N86 not too long and after using it for quite a while, I’ve found this to be one of the best camera phones around. This device would run you for a pricey $300-$500 retail at a Nokia store but Rogers has somehow drop that price-tag to $99.99 with a 3 year. Read the full story

Nokia UK recently announced they would be closing their Regent Street flagship shop. Within 2 days, another announcement declaring Nokia USA closing shops in Chicago and New York. This is no surprise, as most of the handset purchased in North America are made through carriers (AT&T, I’m looking at you). Could this mean stronger ties with carriers for getting devices out there? Rogers has had a nice relationship with Nokia, with recent offerings including the N95, N86 and E71. Bell has recently decided to pick up the N97 also. It’s looking as if they’re kicking up their game in North America. We can only hope so, as many manufacturers have been breathing heavy fire into the smartphone war.

You may have heard the rumors of the Nokia N86 coming to Rogers floating around forums and websites. Well it’s finally here, the award-winning Nokia N86 with the amazing 8 Megapixel camera is now available for purchase. The device will cost $99.99 on a 3 year contract (which is an amazing price as the device costs around $500-$700 retail) or $499.99 without a contract. If you’ve forgotten what this amazing device is capable of doing, here’s some features included:

• Award winning 8.0 MP Carl Zeiss Camera
• Full Ovi integration connects you to Ovi Maps, Games and the Ovi Storefront
• 2.6″ OLED screen for high quality video with TV output
• Built-in Wi-Fi and GPS with support for Ovi Maps 3.0
• 8GB onboard memory with support up to 16 GB microSD

For more information, you can click here to check out the Press Release

To purchase the device at Rogers Wireless click here

Nokia has confirmed that it has starting delivering the N900. The N900 is the first Nokia phone that will be running the Maemo operating system. The deliveries started today so lucky customers who ordered this device should be getting a nice package in the next few days.

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Q4 is soon, and so are sales and a bunch of phone releases for Rogers. Non the less, PhoneModo from HowardForums has released a some pictures of upcoming devices as well as plans and marketing ideas for Rogers. It seems that they aren’t aiming for smartphone users, but instead, the so called “Webphones” Read on for more information about the devices and plans for Q4.

 ITS THAT TIME AGAIN! Q4 is upon us, and PhoneModo is here to bring you the details. Of course, you can always find these soon on either themobileninjas.com and eventually it’ll probably hit BGR.

So heres the skinny:
DEVICES
Rogers wants to go away from the smartphone monicker that Blackberry’s and other data devices carry, so they’re focussing on ‘Webphones’ this year. A website will be up in the next couple days (something like www.rogers.com/webphones) to further this idea. Essentially though, they want to focus on web browsing over ’smart’ things like email etc. So which devices are they doing this? Whats their push?

5 WEBPHONES FOR LESS THAN $100
(thats what’ll be plastered all over their advertising)
These phones are…

LG Eve- $49.99 3yr V+D
-5.0MP Camera, 3″ Touchscreen, Android, WiFi, GPS
Theres going to be lots of focus on this phone apparently. It will be the social networking device for the Webphone campaign. So expect it in the commercials.

White Blackberry Bold 9000- $99.99 w. 3yr V+D
- 2.0MP Camera, HSPA, GPS, WiFi *launch imminent*

Sony Ericsson Xperia X1- $99.99 w. 3yr V+D
- 3.2MP Camera, Wifi, Win Mo 6.1

Nokia N86- $99.99 w. 3yr V+D
- 8MP Camera, Ovi Store, Dual slide capabilites, 8GB on board memory (Coming in 3-4 weeks time)

HTC Magic- $79.99 w. 3yr V+D
- 3.2MP Camera, 3″ Touchscreen, Android, WiFi, GPS

BLACKBERRY 9700 INFO>>
It was a no show in the slideshow, however the blackberry rep said $299.99 pricing and launch is in mid-November GUARANTEED (shoot for Nov. 21st on this date was his word)

Other Phones Coming..
There wasn’t much information about other phones coming to Rogers, other than the 5 above, but I do know that the Nokia Mural is coming. No pricing released. And as we all know (since its now shipping out to channels) the Nokia Surge is going to be part of the Quick Messaging Device offering from Rogers. They gave a couple of those out at our launch. Nice device for some.

PLANS
- Added into Mega Value Combos is the ability to get Unlimited network calling
- Additional minutes to be added in
- Same pricing as currently
- MY5 Local is going to MY5 Canada Wide
- Limited texting option is now Unlimited (when choosing your value add-on with MVC)

PREPAID
- Adding Samsung S366 and Nokia 5130 to prepaid lineup (should be $115 and $120 respectively)
- $29 Call, Text, Click and $29 MY5 plans are now priced at $25

[Source via HowardForums]

More and more cellphone companies have decided to help out the blind and deaf community and add accessibility features to their phones. As you may have noticed, the iPhone had a software upgrade earlier which allowed the blind or deaf to access the phone and use it easier and simpler. Nokia and Rogers seems to have followed that trend by adding a software called the Nuance’s TALKS software which reads out any text to a speech to help the blind use their Nokia E71’s and so on.

The software (Nuance Talks Premium Edition) that Rogers has
pre-installed on the Nokia E71 has the following features over and above
converting any text to speech.

Daisy2go audio book player

Screen magnification using the ZOOMS feature

Configurable user dictionary (e.g. for expanding abbreviations when
speaking, or for adapting pronunciation of individual words)

Ability to assign speech labels to icons

Object Viewer, letting the user view information and configure roles
(I.e. the way specific objects are spoken) for displayed objects

Support for accessing a 3rd party Braille driver, to connect supported
Refreshable Braille displays. These drivers are typically provided by
the manufacturer of the Braille display.

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Rogers Nokia 5800 XpressMusic

Smartphone Nation is usually all about Smart phones and accessories capable of working for smart phones. We don’t usually cover basic non-smart phone cellular devices but because of the hype and how this phone can pretty much perform everything a regular Nokia S60 smart phone device can. We’ve decided to give a little review and decide for yourself if this is up to your smart phone standards. Prices for the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic are as followed:

• 3 Years – $149.99
• 2 Years – $249.99
• 1 Year – $349.99
• Monthly/Prepaid – $399.99 Read the full story

Earlier we learned about the Nokia N97 mini, now we learn about two new phones that are hitting the market soon. The Nokia X6 is the ultimate device for social media freaks and music lovers. With 32GB of built-in memory, the X6 is capable of holding a hell of a lot of songs. The phone also has a 3.2′ touch screen that allows for some great screen quality. Users can have 20 contacts on their homescreen as well as Facebook and more. This one will got for EUR 450 in the forth quarter of 2009. Hit the jump for the Nokia X3.

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