A winner at CTIA earlier in the year the Nokia E72 has officially launched.  Though it's still showing as "pre order" status on Amazon's website, the S60-powered device has launched for €350 ($469 at Amazon).  Sporting 10.2 Mbps HSDPA connectivity, 5.0-megapixel autofocus camera, 3.5mm headphone jack, microSD slot (4GB included in the box), A-GPS and integrated compass, and a trackpad, the E72 is a worthy successor to the popular Nokia E71.

On the fence as to whether you want one?  Check out the E72 video (from CTIA), and stay tuned for more coverage!

Via: Engadget Mobile

Dubbed Horizon, Symbian Foundation’s software center/publishing program/mobile marketplace works for all users of the platform, unlike the software offerings from Nokia, Samsung and Sony Ericsson, which have each had their own stores for a while. All of them, however (in addition to AT&T's Media Mall), will support Horizon, integrating its apps into their inventories.

Though it starts with only 50 apps, Horizon promises that many more will hop onboard next year. The current stock includes YouTube, Twitter and Qik clients, plus games like Bubblewrap.

For more, hit this link to go straight to the Horizon directory.



[Trusted Reviews via Engadget Mobile]

That being said, I'll shut up.  Enjoy the pictures, and be sure to tweet me your Nokia questions, as we'll see them tonight at another event!

• The company could use some juice, and its S60-Symbian OS isn’t cutting it anymore, given its age and limitations
• The purchase would add to Nokia’s market share, with the Pre, Pixi, and — most importantly – WebOS being welcome additions to the product portfolio, as well as the Palm name
• The company would benefit from a better base in the U.S., where it has struggled to maintain a foothold
• From a valuation standpoint, the Finnish phone maker would also see gains in its stock prices**

As for Palm, depending on the terms, it could benefit from a larger R&D budget. Nokia soaks $3 billion into research and development, a figure that’s 10 times what the former PDA-maker invests in that department.

There are only a couple of things that could stand in the way of this deal. First, Jon Rubinstein: Palm’s top dog tends to like going it alone, and probably wouldn’t jump at the chance to be acquired. Second, what are the chances that Nokia is the only company eyeballing Palm? Even if Rubinstein and the company were amenable to being taken over, industry pundits think there could be other suitors who are privately interested.

For Nokia’s sake, if the deal happens at all, it should be inked as quickly as possible. Palm’s resurgence is still in its nascent stages. In the years to come, there’s potential for the Pre-maker to become a larger player in the smartphone market, which would make any takeover a tougher proposition and a more expensive one at that.

So that’s it for the “what if” scenarios. Back to the facts now. In reality, neither Palm nor Nokia would comment on this rumor. But that neither confirms nor invalidates the story, so like everyone else in the industry, we’ll have to wait and see what unfolds. Stay tuned.

[via PreCentral.net, Bloomberg.com]



** If you own any Nokia or Palm stock, you might be interested in the following tidbits, courtesy of PreCentral and Bloomberg:
Faucette also claims that while Palm stock is trading around $17, to Nokia it may well be worth $25 to $30 a share. Looking at the outstanding stock currently on the market, that would put the acquisition value at $3.96 billion - $4.75 billion (including the impending 16 million share secondary stock offering). If we were to factor in the ~1/3 of Palm owned by Elevation Partners, the hypothetical bid would balloon to $5.94 billion to $7.13 billion.

Palm stock was buoyed significantly by the news, rising 7.02% ($1.12) to close at $17.07, a new 52-week high for PALM. During the day shares traded as high as $17.50. Yesterday Palm surged 14% in a perfect storm of trading and news. Monday and Tuesday combined, Palm has risen 21.8%, and from the December 2008 lowest close of $1.42, at the close of trading [yesterday] Palm was up an astounding 911%.

A 3G phone that doesn't work on 3G bands?  What kind of foolishness is that? 

The Nokia Mural becomes the second Nokia device in two months to be recalled on AT&T - bad publicity for both the manufacturer and carrier, and frustrating for end users.  Apparently, the initial batch of Mural's aren't connecting to AT&T's 3G network; a problem, given that the phone is marketed as just that - a 3G device.  Unfortunately, it looks to be a hardware issue, so those affected may want to go back to the AT&T store for some direction on what to do with their defective handsets.  According to a tip received earlier in the week, new (and fixed) devices will be available late next week.

Source: Engadget Mobile

Since we can't actively cover every news article that breaks (as much as we would love to), PhoneDog compiles various announcements and press releases that have been published throughout the week and places them in one easy to read article.  Enjoy!

Android device coming to Sprint by the end of 2009
At Fortune's Brainstorm: Tech event in Pasadena on Friday, Sprint CEO Dan Hesse admitted that he was glad that the company held out for the second version of Google's operating system, claiming that "the reviews say now it's ready for prime time.  It wasn't when it first came out."  Hesse confirmed that Sprint will offer an Android device by the end of 2009.  Via CNET



Sony Ericsson accepting submissions to PlayNow Arena
App stores are the way of the future, and Sony Ericsson is officially accepting submissions for their upcoming app store, dubbed PlayNow Arena.  At present, the company is inviting developers for Java ME and Symbian, which will offer access to over 200 million Sony Ericsson devices.  As a part of the company's strategy, expansion to other platforms will come later in the year. 
Via PhoneArena



Boost Mobile launching Motorola i465 in graphite
As a result of the popularity of the maroon i465 on Boost Mobile, the company plans offer a new color: graphite.  The handset will be available for $129.99 without a contract on Tuesday, July 28th.
Via Engadget Mobile

• 2.0 megapixel camera - Customers can capture quality photos with color camera and 4X digital zoom
• AT&T Navigator - AT&T Navigator provides audible turn-by-turn directions, monitors traffic and alerts users when there is a slowdown or incident
• AT&T Mobile Music - Customers can listen and download their favorite music from Napster Mobile, eMusic Mobile, XM Radio and more over the air
• AT&T Video Share - The first-ever service in the U.S. that allows users to share live video over wireless devices while participating in a voice call
• JuiceCaster - Customers can share videos and pictures from their wireless device to the Web's most popular sites including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr
  

Love it, Hate it: Apple iPhone
Love it, Hate it: Google Android
Love it, Hate it: Palm Pre

• I love how Nokia does hardware.  RF/Voice quality, battery life, and (usually) build quality are top-notch.
• I hate how Nokia does software - user interfaces, in particular.  So many features and applications, so unintuitive to use, especially for the novice.

• I love how Nokia is devoted to open platforms, open betas, social networking, "conversations" sites, and all of that hippie crowd-sourced tech stuff.
• I hate how Nokia touts how open their devices are as a way of avoiding how there's no way a first-time smartphone user could ever figure out how an S60 phone works.

• I love the sleek metal body and QWERTY board of the E71/E72, the tricked out camera of the N85/N86, and the over the top slider mechanism and storage capacity of the N97.
• I hate that it took Nokia about five lifetimes to figure out how to position the A and the Z on a keyboard, and how the battery cover on their $700 flagship phone is a cheap plastic POS that broke the first time I tried to replace it.

• I love how innovative the N95 was.
• I hate how un-innovative the N96 was.

• I love what the E71 and E75 do for typing.
• I hate what the 5800 and N97 do for touching.

• I love how Nokia rules Europe.
• I hate how Nokia has failed in the United States.

• I love that Symbian OS has long handled multitasking like a champ, had a true HTML Web browser years before any other mobile platform did, and lets its users create, consume, distribute and share music, video, photos, podcasts, and other media without silly business-driven restrictions.
• I hate that Nokia and Symbian rested on their laurels for so long that the S60 UI, the Web Browser, and the media player now feel hopelessly out of date when compared to their competitors.  Seriously, Nokia, you call the 5800 and N97 "Touch Optimized" devices?  Have you SEEN a Pre, Touch Pro2, or iPhone lately?

• I love that Nokia E- and N- Series devices come equipped with standard headphone jacks and above-average cameras.  And that many of them come with exotic in-box accessories like TV-out cables.
• I hate that Nokia headphone jacks don't play nice with BlackBerry and iPhone-compatible headsets and their in-line remote controls.

• I love that the lowly 5310 XpressMusic is super slim, has an Active Standby home screen, and sounds great as an iPod-clone when used with quality earphones.
• I hate that I couldn't get myself to use the 5310 as my personal phone for more than a month before I missed having a larger screen, good Web browser, WiFi, 3G, etc, etc.

• I love that Nokia is the number one cell phone maker in the world and that they rule when it comes to churning out low-end phones that reliably make and receive calls with battery life to spare.
• I hate that I haven't really liked a high-end Nokia in a few years now.  Save the E75, which I sort of love.  Except that I'll never carry one around because I can't stand S60 anymore.

• 5800            $280.00
• E63              $195.00
• E66              $275.00
• E71              $285.00
• E75              $380.00
• N79              $260.00
• N85              $330.00
• N95 8G         $355.00
• N96              $440.00