As predicted a week ago, Nokia have announced the E66 and E71 phones.

The E71 has a built in GPS, QWERTY keyboard, a 3.2megapixel camera, is 114mm x 57mm x10mm and weighs 126g.  It should be with us in Q2 or Q3, and features a new Calendar application, which we’re certainly interested to learn more about.

The E66 is the successor to the E65, and is a slider.  It features a 2.4″ screen, but packs HSDPA, WiFi, Bluetooth, and also has a 3.2megapixel camera. Both phones support the latest Ovi sharing tools Nokia is promoting, ie Nokia Maps (both features A-GPS), as well as music and media sharing, features that might more traditionally have been only seen on the Nseries range of handsets.  As part of their Eseries Enterprise capabilities, both can encrypt both their internal memory and memory cards, both can access Microsoft Exchange Servers, and both feature the MobileVPN client.  Some security settings can be managed centrally as well, which will make them even more popular with large corporate customers.

Here’s a roundup of a few additional points and information that have been released since the initial launch earlier this week.

Firstly, there are rumours that O2 are going to allow the iPhone 3G to be tethered to a laptop via Bluetooth, ie you can get access to the internet from the laptop via the iPhone. This is unconfirmed, and some people have indicated that the early iPhone 2.0 firmwares do not contain this functionality, so unless Apple pull something out of the hat at the last minute, this may not happen. Of course, many people argue that the iPhone has enough capability that you won’t want or need to use your laptop at all!

On the more positive, Unlimited WiFi will be available on the iPhone 3G at 9,500 hotspots covering both The Cloud and BT’s OpenZone network, which will be added in on 11th July, the iPhone launch date.

There’s no front facing camera, despite what a few people are claiming, so no 3G video calling.  Whether this was something that was dropped from the development to meet the timescales, or whether it was a purposeful decision (after all, how many of us make regular video calls, compared to voice calls…?) we’ll never know, but for now, there’s no capability.

There’s some questions over navigation apps, with some people claiming that companies like TomTom will not be able to release SatNav software because of a clause which prevents real-time navigation apps.  We believe that this clause relates to the use of the SDK to access the Google Maps data, which, of course, TomTom will not be using.  As such, we doubt this clause will prevent a wide raft of SatNav applications becoming available.

All in all, we suspect there will be a lot more news about the iPhone between now and a month’s time.

Canon have released a new digital SLR, the EOS 1000D. The specification includes:

• 10.1 Megapixel CMOS sensor
• EOS Integrated Cleaning System
• 7-point wide-area AF system with f/5.6 cross-type centre point
• Up to 3 frames per second
• 2.5” LCD with Live View shooting
• DIGIC III image processor
• Compatible with SD and SDHC memory cards
• Compact and lightweight body
• Digital Photo Professional RAW processing software
• Fully compatible with all Canon EF and EF-S lenses and EX-series Speedlites

The camera can shoot upto 3fps (JPEG), but more importantly, it can continue at that rate until the memory card is full; no stopping after the buffer is full for the 1000D. The move to SD cards will be welcomed by many, as they are becoming much more common (and smaller than Canon’s previous choice of CF cards), however, existing Canon digital users may be a little upset by Canon’s continued move away from CF cards.

This camera should be available in July 2008 in the UK.

Not wanting Apple to get all the attention yesterday, some leaked pictures of a new Nokia phone were leaked out. The phone, believed to be the N85 (the prototype is labelled N00, as many Nokia prototypes have been in the past), features dual LED flash and a lens cover (a feature missing from some other high spec Nokia phones). As with many other high spec Nokia smartphones, it features GPS, a 5 megapixel camera, and geotagging.

More information over the coming weeks and months as and when the details are released.

Here’s a picture of the latest BlackBerry, just announced by RIM. The specs are:

• Tri-band HSDPA
• GPS
• WiFi
• 624MHz mobile processor
• 1GB of memory
• 128MB of Flash
• microSD/SDHC memory card slot
• 2 megapixel camera
• 480×320 screen resolution

An interesting new device from RIM, although it will appeal to BlackBerry fans, it’s still not got the specs of the high end smartphones, such as the N95 8Gb, although it’s getting close.

In other news, RIM has announced a deal with Microsoft to bring Windows Live Messenger to the BlackBerry platform, which finally provides an instant messaging solution that spreads wider than just the BlackBerry community. What’s not clear is whether this will work with companies who use the internal Windows Live Messenger service, or whether it’s only linked to the public MSN service.

9000 story and picture courtesy of Berble.com.

Here’s the new HTC Touch Diamond. HTC have redesigned their TouchFlo interface, and hope that many users won’t even realise it’s Windows Mobile 6 underneath their interface. The specs are:

• Windows Mobile 6.1
• Triband GSM/GPRS/EDGE at 900/1800/1900 MHz
• Qualcomm 528 MHz CPU
• Bluetooth 2.0+EDR
• WiFi b/g
• eGPS
• FM Radio
• 128 MB RAM
• 256 MB ROM
• 4 GB flash
• 2.8″ VGA display(640×480)
• Front and rear cameras (rear 3.2 Megapixel)

O2 have confirmed they will be releasing the XDA Diamond. It’s also likely that the Touch Diamond will ship with TomTom Navigator 7, and a single downloadable City Map, with the ability to purchase further maps.

If you like the idea of a nice new interface, but already have a Windows Mobile device, or don’t want to buy a Touch Diamond, then head over to Pointui, who have produced their own interface for Windows Mobile, which may be a suitable candidate. Thanks to Mark at AutomatedHome for alerting us to this option.

Well, after 4 months of daily use, the LG Viewty has finally been replaced by something smaller, lighter, better built for the impacts of every day life (it has a tempered glass screen, which should resist all manner of attempts to scratch the screen), yet still featuring the 5 megapixel camera, DivX support, and 120fps video capture. On top of that it adds a slider function with real buttons (which makes dialling calls and writing texts a little easier than the Viewty). However, we will miss the nice sliding cover over the headphone / charging port from the Viewty, although we won’t miss the lack of ability of sending all contacts via Bluetooth (a feature the new phone does have).

We’ll see how the new LG Secret fares over the next few weeks before we provide an in depth review, but right now it’s looking pretty good. Announced on Thursday last week, LG have kindly provided us an early production sample in advance of the full availability in June.

The new LG phone we first mentioned here a few weeks back has now been formally announced, and named by LG. It’s the LG Secret, following on from the Chocolate and Shine Black Label phones, although it’s also known as the KF750. It’s 11.8mm thick, with a carbon fibre profile, and like the LG Viewty it has a 5 megapixel camera, video support, and DivX support built in.

This 8 megapixel is not unique, but certainly different from the standard camera you can buy. As well as the 3″ touchscreen on the rear, it includes a GPS module to record exactly where the picture was taken. The press release (pdf document) refers to their solution as a GPS Navigation solution, indicating the camera contains maps as well as the actual GPS hardware, but it’s not yet clear how good the maps are, nor which countries they will be providing mapping for. However, it’s certainly the sign of things to come, and we can expect many more cameras with GPS (or GPS addons) in the coming months.

Story and picture courtesy of NaviGadget.

This is a nice, easy to use, mid range phone. Compared to the Viewty it’s actually easier to use for some functions (real keys make typing SMSes much easier), but the spec is not as high. The camera is “only” 3 megapixel (compared to 5 on the Viewty). The smaller touchscreen area (only the bottom area is a touchscreen) does not affect the operation, and many of the advanced functions you would expect. We’ll be using this phone over the next few weeks and will report back on what it’s really like.

This above picture comes from Symbian Freak, a picture of the new Nokia Tube, which will be the first 5th generation S60 device with a touchscreen. This model should be available in early 2009, and will be a mid-spec model, with a high spec model shipping later next year. Having said that, the spec of it is still impressive; a high resolution screen, which is at least 3″ and 16:9 format, a camera (though unlikely to be 5 megapixel), a front facing camera for video calling, 3G, Bluetooth, WiFi, built in GPS (with geotagging support), all in a device roughly the size of the N73. It won’t, apparently, feature multi touch, but will have haptic feedback.

Information and picture courtesy of Symbian Freak.

This is a picture of the new LG Black Label phone, continuing on from the Chocolate and Shine models. It’s formally due out in the next few weeks, although it’s not yet named. It features a 5 megapixel camera, and will feature materials like Carbon Fibre and tempered glass. Exact technical specs will be released later this month, with pricing. However, LG have indicated that Europe will receive the phone first.

Panoman is an application for Nokia Series60 smartphone which allows you to build panoramic shots directly on your phone. It includes a number of key features, such as previewing the picture so far, perspective correction and colour correction. With the ability to link 12 photos together, it can create some very high resolution (and large filesize) panoramic pictures (up to 32MB on a 5 megapixel camera). Best of all, it costs less than 10 Euros to purchase.

Nokia has announced a range of new phones, including the N96, whose details were leaked last week. The other phones to be released are the N78, a phone that’s being heralded as the replacement for the N73 with built in GPS and built in geotagging support (which we expect, via the various Nokia Beta Labs samples, to be included in future products and firmware updates for existing products); the 6210 Navigator (an update on last year’s 6110 Navigator); and the 6220 Classic (most of the features of the N82, but not in an N-Series phone). The other main announcements relate to Nokia’s Ovi strategy, and Nokia Maps v2 (now available as a public beta), both items we’ve covered before.

The N78 has some good specs:

• 3.2 megapixel camera (with video recording and a LED flash)
• AGPS support (including traditional GPS)
• No accelerometer
• QVGA 2.4″ screen
• HSDPA and Quad Band EDGE
• No large built in storage, but support for microSD cards
• Nokia Maps v2 with RTTI (Real Time Traffic Information)
• A move to microUSB port (from miniUSB)
• FM Transmitter

Some specs courtesy of Symbian World.

Hot on the heels of Canon’s 450D announcement, Nikon have announced their D60. This is a 10.2 megapixel DSLR, and features Nikon’s new dual dust removal countermeasures, a 0.18 second startup time and a “split second” shutter response time, 2.5″ screen (no Live View though). In the US, this will ship with the AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR (Image Stabilising) lens, and will be available in February (no price yet though). Details of UK pricing and availability are not yet available.

More information here.

Canon have today announced a new DSLR, the 450D. This is a 12.2 megapixel camera, with a 3″ LCD screen (with Live View), a new 9 point AF (AutoFocus) systems, the DIGIC III processor, and the EOS Integrated Sensor Cleaning Solution. For a consumer DSLR, this is the first Canon to move from Compact Flash to SD / SDHC cards. Canon have used this new space to also change the battery format, and now include a larger capacity battery. Price is expected to be £600 (Body only) and £680 with the 18-55 Kit Lens.