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Nokia 5510 - Cell Phone and More

matthew.thompson writes: "Nokia have released a phone to give the RIAA nightmares - it includes built in MP3 playing AND encoding and an FM stereo radio - so you can MP3 up tracks from the Radio or from an external source via a line in jack. It's also got a full qwerty style keyboard and GameBoy Advance style layout. RIAA headache inducing features here and piccies etc here." I'm not quite sure how this works - Nokia's page says the gizmo plays "secure" mp3 files, which sounds to me as if it is crippled. Here are some hi-res photos. Update: 10/11 12:59 GMT by M : Ahh, my misreading. It says "secure AAC and MP3 files", and apparently "secure" is intended to apply only to AAC. According to the FAQ, the phone is crippled - only stores crippled AAC files, not unencumbered mp3's. A shame.

254 comments

  1. Hmm. by serial+frame · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Devices that do everything are usually pushed aside in favour of an individual device that does something.

    I like that kind of 'modularity'.

    --

    -
    And the Angel said unto me, "These are the cries of the carrots! The cries of the carrots!"
    1. Re:Hmm. by Lars+Arvestad · · Score: 3, Funny
      Devices that do everything are usually pushed aside in favour of an individual device that does something.

      Unless you were writing this from a WebTV pad, your claim carries no weight with me!

      Just some light-weight trolling...

      --
      Reality or nothing.
    2. Re:Hmm. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Like the PC I s'pose...

    3. Re:Hmm. by harlows_monkeys · · Score: 1

      That's true in the office and at home, but when you have to carry the device(s) around, carrying one "do everything" device is a lot better than carrying 3 or 4 devices, even if the separate devices do their jobs better than the "do everything" device.

  2. Why? by Heem · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Do we really need to carry this much technology? My thought is that its too much for one unit to handle. Probably have to reboot it every now and then when it crashes. I want my phone to provide good phone audio when I call people. I want the battery to last as long as possible so I can call people on the phone. I want good range, SO I CAN CALL PEOPLE ON THE PHONE. If I want music/MP3 I'll get a walkman or a Rio.


    --
    Don't Tread on Me
    1. Re:Why? by yatest5 · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      Don't buy one then?

      I don't want one of these so it sucks?

      MOD THIS GUY UP!!!

      --
      • Mod parent up! [a] by Anonymous Coward (Score:5) Thurs, June 31, @13:37
    2. Re:Why? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      its called discussion, jackass. That's what we are here for.

    3. Re:Why? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The keyboard will definitly get some buyers for this phone. Why? Ever heard of SMS? Last year there mobile phone users in Sweden sent close to 500 million SMS messages to eachother... and there's less than 9 million people in Sweden.

      JK

    4. Re:Why? by lactose99 · · Score: 1

      That's the beauty of a free market. If you don't want an all-in-one device like this, then don't buy one. I'm sure there are plenty of people (like myself) who would like to consolidate several electronic playthings into one and get one of these babys.

      --
      Fully licensed blockchain psychiatrist
    5. Re:Why? by bint · · Score: 1
      Why? Because I don't want to carry around ten different devices. I gave up on my MD-player as I have quite enough "necessities" to lug around (keys, wallet, watch, phone - which I really don't need as the phone has it) and my SL-45 plays mp3s. If it had a radio I'd be even happier. Ideally I'd like one device with all these functions - or perhaps two to reduce risks. Or perhaps none (wearables/cybernetics).

      An additional benefit is that you can hear when someone calls you when listening to music as it automatically pauses.

      Do I need it? No, but I want it. (The functionality, not this big, ugly phone)

    6. Re:Why? by august · · Score: 1

      Do we really need to carry this much technology?

      Well, no. We don't need to. But I see nothing wrong with choice. If you want a phone that just calls people, then get that. I however think it's a pretty cool idea.

      -gus

    7. Re:Why? by Stonehead · · Score: 1

      I totally agree. Why pay $1000 for something that my cheaper linux box does better anyway? :) Ok, a phone is a new device to do this.. Ten years from now, a phone radio will cost $5 and we will wonder that someone ever did without..
      One thing that will probably stay over those ten years though: most radio sucks.. :)

    8. Re:Why? by interiot · · Score: 2
      Battery life - that's the user's choice, it won't drain batteries unless you use it. Like the GBA backlight though, it's nice to have the option there just in case.

      Crashing, audio quality, range - the bread and butter of cell phone companies is calling. While this is becoming less true over time, it's still mostly true, and you can be sure that they focused a lot of their quality improvement and bugfinding efforts on calling.

    9. Re:Why? by drinkypoo · · Score: 1
      Do we really need to carry this much technology? My thought is that its too much for one unit to handle. Probably have to reboot it every now and then when it crashes.

      Why do you think that this is too much for one unit to handle? Even Windows ME can handle running a phone application (like net2phone), an mp3/etc player (Winamp), a web browser (IE, Netscape, what have you - I run IE), a FTP client, and a bunch of other stuff pretty reliably. Now, Windows ME is a big complex package which follows no good coding or architectural practices. Nokia's phone is a small, relatively simple device, running software designed specifically for its hardware platform, and only doing three or four things, really. That's a doddle.

      Besides, I'm sure it has upgradable firmware.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    10. Re:Why? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Do we really need to carry this much tecnology? My thought that is that its too much for one unit to handle. The batteries probably leak every now and then. I want my watch to tell me the time when I look at it. The should be no battery - the winding mechanism was good enough for my grandfather and should last as long as possible: several lifetimes. It should be accurate to within 2 minutes a day. If I want the day-of-week/date/alarm/extreme accuracy/stopwatch/hourly chime, I'll get a calander, a wind-up clock, a chronograph, a stopwatch, and a grandfather clock. And dammit, if I wanted something on my wrist, I'll go buy a bracelet.

    11. Re:Why? by Heem · · Score: 2

      point taken :)

      --
      Don't Tread on Me
    12. Re:Why? by screamager · · Score: 1

      It's a trend towards consolidating all the technology you use the most into one portable set. My phone (a Nokia 6210) is the only piece of technology that I have with me all the time - it's already replaced my watch, my diary, and my alarm clock for the mornings. For people that like to listen to music and record on the go, it will replace their MP3 player/recorders too. Simple as that.

    13. Re:Why? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      People sent over a BILLION SMS messages here in the UK over the last year.

      Pity the "MP3" playback is as crippled as the Sony Memory Stick walkman is! Just glad the new Sony Clie apparently will play "normal" MP3's as well as SDMI ones. :)

    14. Re:Why? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What is your computer doing now.
      Games? Music? Tv?

      Your computer isn't doing one thing anymore.

      Might not be a great idea to include every pice of tech in existance into a pocket computer/cell phone, but as long as it is _practical_ there is no reason to contest this.

    15. Re:Why? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In Philippines average rate is ~50 sms messages per _week_, but they don't use voice call too much.

    16. Re:Why? by 2flo · · Score: 1

      > Do I need it? No, but I want it. (The functionality, not this big, ugly phone)

      [x] ugly

  3. hmm.. by XyouthX · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I don't like how this cell phone that doesn't really have any new features at all (phones with mp3 players have been available for almost 2 years).
    get this much exposure, while the technically more interesting solutions (GPRS, built in bluetooth, POP3 and SMTP client etc.) like the Ericsson T39 and the upcoming T68 doesn't.

    the only thing new about this thing is the keyboard and the poor stand by time.

    1. Re:hmm.. by kju · · Score: 5, Informative

      Did you read before posting? We are not talking about an phone with a mp3 player (i grant this is old) but about an phone which can RECORD mp3-files. Surely new technology. We are currently seeing the first portable mp3 recorders and here we have it included into a phone! Impressive technology and you say "no new features"?

    2. Re:hmm.. by kju · · Score: 2

      Just as a addition before people scream "Nonsense". It seems that it doesn't store MP3 but AAC. However: Still a cool transportable device which can record music, copy it to a computer etc.

      And the webpage gives an example of copying the music to friends, so very likely the recorded music is not encrypted but plain AAC. There are freeware AAC decoders (and encoders) out there, so this is as usable as a mp3 encoder (you can convert it to mp3 later if you must) and it is said that AAC had better audio than mp3.

    3. Re:hmm.. by GoRK · · Score: 2

      I tested a portable mp3 player made by some little company in taiwan about 3 years ago that could record mp3 files. Why is it such big news when someone sticks a hardware CODEC into something instead of some cheezy DSP? Besides, what's the use of recording into MP3 if you are compressing only voice? There are many CODEC's designed to compress voice to data rates much smaller than MP3 can and remain understandable. (4-8kbps)

      ~GoRK

    4. Re:hmm.. by TheInternet · · Score: 1

      the only thing new about this thing is the keyboard...

      "only"? Sure makes messaging significantly easier.

      - Scott

      --
      Scott Stevenson
      Tree House Ideas
    5. Re:hmm.. by 2flo · · Score: 1

      "easier"? i can play mario land on a GB(A) with a cross and 4 buttons

  4. Wow, karma for me?! by haunebu · · Score: 5, Informative
    I actually work for Nokia, and work near the designer who created its outer shell. (Got to see it last Winter). I never liked the phone myself, the screen's too small, and the keyboard makes the shape a bit awkward for me personally.


    Anyway, to end the controversy: Much like the Nokia Music Player, the 5510 plays both AAC (the proprietary, "secure" filetype) and MP3. The MP3 player is NOT crippled in any way. You copy the file from your PC to the player and that's that. (It holds 64MB, just like the regular Nokia Music Player).

    --

    Blue skies, Barthy Burgers, girls...

    1. Re:Wow, karma for me?! by yota · · Score: 1

      Looks weird. Sounds great.

      I'd buy only because of this headline!

      Andrea

    2. Re:Wow, karma for me?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Nokia headline: Looks weird. Sounds great.

      This describes virtually every band I listen to.

  5. Another great device not avail in N. America by saridder · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It's a great device, a novel new design, has plenty of new devices, but until we upgrade our wireless capability in N. America, we won't be using it for a while.

    Availability: Europe, Africa, Asia Pacific in the 4th quarter of 2001

    I say we go the DoCoMo route, insted of WAP anyways. Plus, where's the PDA functionality. It seems more a gameboy than a business tool.

    --
    --- RFC 1149 Compliant.
    1. Re:Another great device not avail in N. America by segmond · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Isn't it funny how a lot of new devices are now available in Africa before US, yet we say they are behind in technology.

      --
      ------ Curiosity killed the cat. {satisfaction brought it back | it didn't die ignorant | lack of it is killing mankind
    2. Re:Another great device not avail in N. America by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It seems more a gameboy than a business tool.

      That's because it is a toy. A lot of mobile phones are sold to kids in Europe. I bet this is going to be one of the coolest gadgets for 8-15 year old kids.

    3. Re:Another great device not avail in N. America by litheum · · Score: 1

      i think "Mongo" pointed that out before you did.

    4. Re:Another great device not avail in N. America by Spruitje · · Score: 2


      Isn't it funny how a lot of new devices are now available in Africa before US, yet we say they are behind in technology.


      Well, actually the US is behind in technology.
      Especially in telecom.

    5. Re:Another great device not avail in N. America by Combuchan · · Score: 2, Interesting
      Upgrade our wireless capability?


      You mean switch from GSM at 1900MHz to GSM at 1800 MHz? You can blame the FCC (or whatever organization is on 1800 MHz) before you blame false American technical ineptness.

      The reason it's not available immediately (at least for the operable networks) is that I surmise network operators have to thoroughly evaluate the phone, decide whether they want to support it, then support it. Nokia doesn't sell directly to the public so their entire salesbase is happy providers.

      Justsoyaknow ... supporting a phone usually means training a vast number of mindless customer service representatives. I would also figure that providers might not like the idea of supporting such an 'advanced' phone--AT&T has a hard enough problem debugging my PocketNet service, let's see them handle a call from Joe AOL trying to use this thing. The sneak-preview is to drum up sales and give providers prep time.


      But I'm still waiting for my AT&T-GSM powered Nokia 9290 Communicator. *drool* This thing's been available since like '99, but Nokia doesn't give a rat's ass about the US market outside of AT&T's desires.

      --
      "[T]he single essential element on which all discoveries will be dependent is human freedom." -- Barry Goldwater
    6. Re:Another great device not avail in N. America by DMoylan · · Score: 1

      I'd trade my SMS for anything faster than ISDN connection to the net any day of the week.

  6. MP3-AAC by ^DA · · Score: 1

    From what i've heard you can indeed download MP3's to yout 5510 but the software you do it with automaticaly converts to the AAC format. This is supposed to be a "secure" format (...at least for two more days, yes? :) The player is an AAC player, and you cannot swap mp3's with your friends because of the security buildt into this format...:(

    1. Re:MP3-AAC by haunebu · · Score: 2, Interesting
      You, Sir, are incorrect. It does nothing at all to the file after you copy it to the player. The phone plays both AAC and MP3, it doesn't convert one filetype to another.

      Anyway, it would be false advertizing on the part of my employer, if it did.

      --

      Blue skies, Barthy Burgers, girls...

    2. Re:MP3-AAC by krazyninja · · Score: 1

      Add to the fact that transcoding of formats always reduces the quality, and I think that the player by default plays both AAC and MP3. And note that AAC by itself is not a secure format, but MPEG2 provides a security layer around the encoding. But I doubt whether Nokia would have used the MPEG2 security. If I had been the designer, I would have used my own security protocol.

      --
      "Do something man. Right now."
  7. Secure MP3 by jockm · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Nokia's page says the gizmo plays "secure" mp3 files, which sounds to me as if it is crippled

    I can find no reference to "secure" mo3. It doe say that it supports AAC (which can have DRM) and MP3...

    --

    What do you know I wrote a novel
    1. Re:Secure MP3 by urdak · · Score: 3, Informative
      From Nokia's FAQ:

      Can I play downloaded MP3 files on the Nokia 5510?

      Yes, the Nokia 5510 can play MP3 files in protected format. Copies of the downloaded music files are added to the Nokia Audio Manager database. Nokia Audio Manager encrypts the music files and downloads the protected MP3 format to the memory of the Nokia 5510.

  8. Encrypted AAC by Trracer · · Score: 1

    The music format will not be MP3 but AAC
    Software will be included to convert CDDA and Mp3 to AAC.

    --
    English is not my first language, so cut me some slack -: Om du kan lasa det har sa kan du Svenska :-
    1. Re:Encrypted AAC by krazyninja · · Score: 1
      The phone can play both MP3 and AAC files. There is no conversion from MP3 to AAC

      --
      "Do something man. Right now."
  9. it WON'T be marketed in the US! by steve.m · · Score: 5, Insightful

    so it won't upset the RIAA. why don't people check these things *before* posting them.
    see here for the availability and operating frequencies. duh!

    1. Re:it WON'T be marketed in the US! by interiot · · Score: 2

      That doesn't mean they won't release it on a CDMA phone at some point.

    2. Re:it WON'T be marketed in the US! by ClubStew · · Score: 2

      This seems rather stupid, though. If the files are downloaded, converted to AAC, and not allowed to be copied, then what's RIAA's beef? Better question, how many rot-iron rods they got jammed up their ass? They just need to go away. Maybe we could clear the Afganistan mine fields with RIAA and other people that suck like anti-crypto congressmen and Uncle Bill.

    3. Re:it WON'T be marketed in the US! by *Pres* · · Score: 1
      Yes, but not all of us are living in the States and it will surely upset the local and international RIAA equivalents like IFPI ("Representing the Recording Industry Worldwide").

      IFPI, by the way, is affiliated with the RIAA.

  10. Digital In? by Lysander+Luddite · · Score: 1

    What is the input mechanism for this? Would I be able to rip straight from a CD player with optical out? Or is it just an analog input?

    I'm guessing the software is done outside the phone?

    Couldn't find these answers after skimming the web site.

    1. Re:Digital In? by krazyninja · · Score: 1
      The input is through an analog line-in. The software for encoding would be running in the player itself, and not in any accessory.

      --
      "Do something man. Right now."
  11. "most likely increased overall typing speeds".. by popeyethesailor · · Score: 2

    Now as i usually touchtype at 120wpm,

    I would like my fingers to magically resize and fit whatever the keyboard size is.

    1. Re:"most likely increased overall typing speeds".. by sahala · · Score: 2, Interesting
      Now as i usually touchtype at 120wpm,

      Wow...congratulations. I can't seem to type out SMS messages faster than about 10 WPM.

      While the keyboard is far from perfect, when banging out quick messages while in a loud nightclub this new design has some added benefit over the dinky 12 keys provided on most mobile phones (yes I know you can turn on the dictionary...but still).

      Even if I lived outside the US I probably wouldn't grab one of these new phones, but I do think that it's an interesting step in the mobile front. As other posters have mentioned this is definitely targetting the Napster "generation" (teens, some college kids) who love glitzy new features like this. I'm not a big fan of mp3 players, even, but I know my teenage sister wouldn't mind having one, and considering that she spends a lot of time on her mobile phone this phone might appeal to her.

    2. Re:"most likely increased overall typing speeds".. by 0x00 · · Score: 1

      "I would like my fingers to magically resize and fit whatever the keyboard size is."

      Like in Ghost in the shell, iirc, where they had those nice wire fingers for typing on the computers.

      --

      0x00

      I judge a mans worth by the number of clowns he smuggles across the border.

  12. Bagarashi? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Bagarashi is the first company dedicated to giving you MP3 audio versions of popular web content. At this time, we are mainly focusing on web usability, information architecture, web marketing, and related content areas. We are expanding, and fresh content is added to Bagarashi every week. Partnerships are being formed with several web sites."

    Check it out!

    I'm not sure this makes sense, but the idea is interesting. Take web content and convert it to audio (MP3); do you care?

    How about the reverse? Imagine taking the content you speak into a cell phone and convert it to a text arhcive. Imagine all of your conversations were recorded and converted to text so that you could revisit them at a later time. So, when your wife or girlfriend threw something in your face, and you were at a loss because of your feeble memory, you could look up old transcripts of conversations and get her all flabberghasted.

    1. Re:Bagarashi? by vkt-tje · · Score: 1

      Imagine taking the content you speak into a cell phone and convert it to a text arhcive.
      It is called Echelon or something like that I believe...

      --

      120 chars is not enough!
  13. think drivers TALKING on cell phones is bad? by JEDi_ERiAN · · Score: 1

    you think that drivers talking on cell phones is bad? wait until they get their hands on this phone and try to type messages while driving.

    E.

    --

    -
    This Post has been brought to you by the letter "E".
    1. Re:think drivers TALKING on cell phones is bad? by osiris · · Score: 2, Informative

      heh, that already happens with normal mobile phones.

      i believe there was a case recently here in the UK where some twat was driving along while typing out a text message on his phone, lost control of the car and crashed into a park or something. luckily no one was injured. i think he was just charged with dangerous driving.

      (begin rant)
      some people just have no common sense when using phones and driving, you shouldnt be bloody driving whilst holding a phone up to your ear. get a hands free kit if you really _have_ to talk to someone right then and now. there cant be many things that are _so_ urgent that you cant wait 30 seconds to find somewhere to pull over.

      bah

    2. Re:think drivers TALKING on cell phones is bad? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      My favorite thing to do is pull up next to someone talking on their cell phone while on the freeway, make sure nobody is behind me (the most important step), and yank my emergency brake. The tires squealing makes them immediately shit their pants, drop their phone, and focus on what's important. I know how my car handles with the e-brake on, so don't go try this at 90mph. Yeah, I go through tires pretty fast, but it's worth it. Pirelli love smy business.

    3. Re:think drivers TALKING on cell phones is bad? by 0vi_king · · Score: 0

      some people just have no common sense when using phones and driving, you shouldnt be bloody driving whilst holding a phone up to your ear. get a hands free kit if you really _have_ to talk to someone right then and now. there cant be many things that are _so_ urgent that you cant wait 30 seconds to find somewhere to pull over.


      Has anyone profiled these cases for what TYPE of people were actually involved in these types of accidents?

      I know that businessmen and drug dealers(another type of businessman..or maybe businessmen are drug dealers at heart) pioneered the field of cellphone/etc usage, but I mostly see everyone with them now... people who Really don't need them.. and the converstations they hold aren't about a deal going down somewhere.
      So who loses control of their vehicles? Does it descriminate? I would think a businessman would have more sense than to behave that way...but hey they DO some crazy shirt as well...so maybe it is them!

      -- Rowsdower!

      --
      - Life is what keeps you occupied while you are waiting to die
    4. Re:think drivers TALKING on cell phones is bad? by AnotherLinuxUser · · Score: 2, Informative

      Not quite.

      It was a LORRY driver who was composing a text message while driving. He failed to see a car in front of him, smashed into it at high speed, killing the guy in the car. Having caused a fatal crash he then completed his text message (it was the text message being sent that got him caught). Presumably he must have sent the text message before calling for an ambulance ! (since most phones won't let you make a call in mid-text-message-compose, and then revert to the message where you left off.)

      Nice guy huh ! Drives unsafely, killing someone (not that he would have known whether they were dead, dying or very seriously injured), then completes his text message before calling for an ambulance !

    5. Re:think drivers TALKING on cell phones is bad? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      People can already do this. RIMM and Motorola both market a "pager" with a full keyboard on it that are supposed to be "always on" so you can get your e-mail instantly. Imagine if all the slashdot nerds had one of these and were playing with there e-mail constantly....

    6. Re:think drivers TALKING on cell phones is bad? by couch · · Score: 1

      didnt quite finish the text, he wrote "oh shit" if memory serves.

    7. Re:think drivers TALKING on cell phones is bad? by vkt-tje · · Score: 1

      Anyone noticed that there is NO carkit available what so ever? See the Accessories - Vehicle accessories page at the site.
      Only a "Mobile charger". It is nothing more than a 12V car lighter plug!

      --

      120 chars is not enough!
  14. Finally - a full keyboard by hrbrmstr · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The MP3 features are nice, but it's great to finally have a full keyboard that doesn't require a stylus to operate (ala Palm-ish phones). The only real, cool feature IMHO. I love my Nomad, don't play handheld games much and not interested in being in Nokia's "club".

    There does need to be some significant improvements in *power* options if we are supposed to be convinced to be electronically tethered 24/7. I doubt the 2hrs claim will be the norm for most folks.

    All the next rev needs is Java, integrated GPS, color screen and old Nintendo/Atari emulation. Now *that* will be a great ... ahh ... err ... phone?!

    --
    Mind the gap...
    1. Re:Finally - a full keyboard by Hougaard · · Score: 1

      Well thats my 9210 (9290) you describe there, I'm playing Doom on it without any problems (duh, Doom is for PC not Atari - sorry :-)

    2. Re:Finally - a full keyboard by biglig2 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Indeed, any phone you expect to sell into the UK teenager market (the high end of which is where this is aimed) must concentrate a lot on SMS messaging.

      --
      ~~~~~ BigLig2? You mean there's another one of me?
    3. Re:Finally - a full keyboard by sahala · · Score: 2, Funny

      Now *that* will be a great ... ahh ... err ... phone?!

      Actually that brings up an interesting point. While gabbing away in heated conversation is the primary feature, more and more um..."useful" features are being thrown into the little plastic case. It's not unlikely that phones will serve wide purposes in the near future.

      With that in mind, I wonder if Nokia will eventually allow for general 3rd party development for their devices. Right now it appears to all be closed, but it would be cool to allow random developers to build small applets (no not necessarily Java...I'm fine with zippy little assembly apps). I know there's WAP support, but WAP hasn't isn't exactly a stellar experience. There are issues of security, of course...I don't want someone's random app bringing down my conversation. I'm sure some people will point to the Java ME SDK...but I haven't really played around with this yet.

      Anyway I'm sure the first thing would be games, probably ports of old simple arcade games. And then someone will probably throw Linux on there (god forbid).

    4. Re:Finally - a full keyboard by haunebu · · Score: 3, Interesting
      All the next rev needs is Java, integrated GPS, color screen and old Nintendo/Atari emulation. Now *that* will be a great ... ahh ... err ... phone?!

      OK pal, I'm gonna let you in on a little secret. Want to make piles and piles of monay? Make an Atari/Nintendo/Arcade emulator for this thing, right here.

      Nokia will sell millions upon millions of 9210 (9290 in the Americas) Communicators. You know what everybody with a Communicator wants? Exactly the same thing you do: Games. Good ones. There are a few good ones coming out for the 9210 (Like Virtually Board Snowboarding), but a lot of people would like to play some great old Atari/Nintendo/Arcade games on it. Surely some Slashdotter can come up with an EPOC app that'll do it, right?

      Release it as open source if you want, or charge 5 bucks for the thing. (If just a few thousand people buy it, well, you've got yourself a new car.) I mean sheesh, MAME is open source, isn't it? How hard could it be to compile it with the Nokia/EPOC dev tools?

      --

      Blue skies, Barthy Burgers, girls...

    5. Re:Finally - a full keyboard by Troed · · Score: 4, Informative
      MAME _is_ ported to Epoc [Quartz]


      Even the info on how he did it is posted on the symbiandevnet.com website.

    6. Re:Finally - a full keyboard by Tassach · · Score: 0, Offtopic
      The USA killed ~7000 innocent Somalian civilians in -93 while failing to kill one single warlord.

      Would those be the same "innocent civilians" who were running around with assault rifles and anti-tank weapons, hijacking food convoys, shooting down helicopters, and ambushing our troops? I'm sure that MSGT Gary Gordon and SFC Randall Shughart, who were posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for rescuing the crew of a downed helicopter, would disagree with your characterization of their killers as "innocent civilians".
      --
      Why is it that the proponents of "one nation under God" are so eager to get rid of "liberty and justice for all"?
    7. Re:Finally - a full keyboard by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Politically motivated political policy, now isn't that a terrible thing.

      Idiot.

  15. File Format by MullerMn · · Score: 2, Informative

    According to the FAQ the software (for a 'compatible' PC) encrypts any music you want to listen to to AAC format (not heard of that one before) before the phone can download it. It does that to MP3s as well as any other media that you want to store on the phone.
    What does having a MP3 player built in do to your phone's battery life?

    What do people think about the trend of lumping more and more functionality into single devices? Most people seem to think it's a bad idea with software, is hardware any different?
    -- Andy

  16. Phones are toys nowadays by Red+Aardvark+House · · Score: 2, Interesting

    It seems more like a gameboy than a business tool

    Agreed. After looking at their music info page, I'd swear the target market is the teenage Napster crowd.

    But with detachable faceplates for Nokia phones and such, that tactic has been used for a while now.

    --

    I like fire ants. They are very spicy!

    1. Re:Phones are toys nowadays by Howie · · Score: 2

      I'd swear the target market is the teenage Napster crowd.

      It most likely is. In the UK (and even more so in scandinavia, as I understand it), everyone has a mobile, and SMS in particular is very popular with teenagers. The US cellular networks aren't really good enough to enable the same phenomenon there, in my experience (shitty coverage, too many networks, too expensive).

      --
      "don't fall into the fallacy of believing that Perl can solve social problems. Maybe Perl 6 can, but that's a ways off"
    2. Re:Phones are toys nowadays by Fred_A · · Score: 1
      It most likely is. In the UK (and even more so in scandinavia, as I understand it), everyone has a mobile, and SMS in particular is very popular with teenagers.


      It's like that in all of Europe and *probably* in all the developped countries that have GSM coverage or some equivalent thereof, such as in Japan.
      In France we have more cell phones than ground lines nowadays.
      --

      May contain traces of nut.
      Made from the freshest electrons.
    3. Re:Phones are toys nowadays by brain159 · · Score: 1

      Here in the uk, my mostly technophobic mother is in regular contact with one of her friends who is out in Uganda by SMS messaging. She's still amazed that it costs her the same to txt me across the country as her friend around the world.

    4. Re:Phones are toys nowadays by nanoakron · · Score: 2, Insightful

      What I'm waiting for is four those four vulture companies to stop ripping us all off by making £120 million per MONTH in text messages alone and to cut text prices from 12p per message down to a more reasonable 1p/0.5p per message - how much does it REALLY cost to send that text message anyway?

      But of course, oftel it probably in their back pockets and wont do jack.

      -Nano.

    5. Re:Phones are toys nowadays by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Lol... I text my parents in France free via the ICQ to SMS feature.

      If I do it from my Nokia it still costs me the same as txt'ing my mate down the road.

    6. Re:Phones are toys nowadays by edwazere · · Score: 1

      Genie give you free text messages. It used to be "unlimited" but it seems to be 600 a month now - still quite a few ;-)

      --
      -- You ain't seen me, right?
    7. Re:Phones are toys nowadays by sych · · Score: 1

      wow... i'm suprised this is such a foreign concept for you

      here in singapore, phone plans normally have a few hundred free SMS included. (mine: 400 per month) Beyond that they're about SG$0.10 ea (
      mobile phones are toys! they're not just for business people!

      i can also sms my friends back home in australia, and when i go back there (or to malaysia, indonesia, europe...) i can use the same handset, it just works.

      GSM is fantastic, you guys in the USA should have had it years ago like most the rest of the world. give the FCC a good kick in the ass :)

  17. Uhmmm... by infernix · · Score: 1

    Sending SMS messages with this thing is like... insane! You can only enter 160 characters. That's just not cutting it if you want to tell a story.
    On the other hand, all those kids will learn stuff like wtf, fwiw, bbiab, imho, roflmao, lmao, afk (!) and so on.

    i'll stfu now. ttyl8r.

    infernix

    1. Re:Uhmmm... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      160 character is how SMSs work.

      It's not the phones fault.

    2. Re:Uhmmm... by ivanushka · · Score: 1

      If you will read the spec at http://www.nokia.com/phones/5510/specifications.ht ml you will see that: "Text messaging: send and receive messages of up to 459 characters (with concatenated message)" If you want to say more that 459 chars, you'd better call a person :)

  18. Time for music producers to rethink by forgoil · · Score: 1

    Again (Tata!) a device that makes it real easy to copy and spread digital media. Add BT to the mix and it gets even funkier. This, again, spells doom on the "buy our CDs, we want money" kind of music producers. It's time for them to think of new ways of emptying our pockets, or use old ones in a new way. I'd still like to be able to buy a CD, but then preferably with a very nice booklet, with extra stuff and in really high quality.

    Why does "buying the CD" have to be the only way for an artist to get money? Get creative. Look at the boy bands for example, they must be making *TONS* of money from concerts, posters, DVDs, commercials and just about everything. They don't really need those extra dollars from the CDs, and the kids will use just as much money as before.

    Having lawyers battle teenagers just sounds like a stupid idea to me, and there are far worse things you can do than copy a piece of music. Reality check people.

    1. Re:Time for music producers to rethink by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      >Again (Tata!) a device that makes it real easy to copy and spread
      >digital media. Add BT to the mix and it gets even funkier. This,
      >again, spells doom on the "buy our CDs, we want money" kind of music
      >producers.
      >
      Have you seen the new generation of portable cdrom/mp3 players and the dvd/cdrom/mp3 players as well?

    2. Re:Time for music producers to rethink by nick_burns · · Score: 0

      I know most of this is going to be a little offtopic, but bear with me.

      For most artists, very little of CD sales go to them. The artists make most of their money on touring. It's the producer that makes money on the CDs.

      However, it used to be hard for an artist to distribute music without a producer. Things changed in the late '90's with Napster and MP3.com. Sure the sites were cutting into CD sales, but the real threat was the fact that with these music sharing services artists could distribute music without even going through a record producer. The real threat of MP3's to the producers was not that they'd get less money from CD's, but that they'd be out of a job.

      MP3 distribution for the artist has quite an opposite effect as it does to the producer. A new artist can now distribute music to a much larger audience at a fraction of a cost, compared to finding a record producer and paying several thousand to produce CD's, that may not even sell. It becomes less risky for the artists now, plus I can put the music on my computer and listen to it whenever I want, and play it and give it to my friends. If I find out the band is on tour, I can go see their show, and that is how they make their money.

    3. Re:Time for music producers to rethink by forgoil · · Score: 1

      Hence the "again";) Yes, and there are just more and more of them comming out all the time. There are tons of ways to get the money in, but I fear that most that will happen will be a royal pain in the rear. Anything that needs to be enforced is bad, and at least I am VERY tired of all these fucked up enforcements. I was _really_ happy about the idea of DVDs you can't copy, and then the whole zone thing showed up, and with that me caring about copyright. Be fair with me and I am fair with you.

  19. Nope, no headaches ... by YeeHaW_Jelte · · Score: 1

    I guess the RIAA has to get it's headaches elsewhere, as it doesn't seem that Nokia has plans to make the device available in the States ...

    --

    ---
    "The chances of a demonic possession spreading are remote -- relax."
  20. Gizmos by mckeowbc · · Score: 1

    Why is it that the coolest new cell phones always get made for networks somewhere else besides the U.S.? According to their website this one is only available for networks in Europe, Africa and Asia. I mean come on...I'm a geek I want the cool toys...my StarTac is getting severely dated. Between this, and the 3G network in Tokyo I'm feeling very tech deprived.

    1. Re:Gizmos by kju · · Score: 3, Informative

      Easy. The big mobile phone manufacturers (Nokia, Ericcson, Siemens) are all based in Europe where we have GSM-Nets. Surely they will first produce a phone which can work in there home countries. And GSM won't work very well in the USA (except the few GSM1900 nets).

      Face it: The USA had the first mobile phone networks but this is also the reason why you are using long outdated technology. Sometimes its better to be late but get good new technology :-) This will change with the emerge of UMTS however.

    2. Re:Gizmos by alexjohns · · Score: 2, Interesting
      Sometimes its better to be late but get good new technology.
      A few years ago I saw the same thing about China - they were having problems laying copper because the peasants would dig it up and sell it on the scrap metal market. They were saying that fiber seemed a better option. Of course since then I haven't heard about any further fiber laying in China. A similar problem with East Germany after the fall of the Wall. They were laying copper cable there since fiber was just too damn expensive. I remember someone saying that the Wall fell too soon. (Isn't that ironic?)

      So we've got an old cellphone network here in the US and Europe has got a newer one. What happens 5 years from now, when the next generation hits? Will your modern network be able to upgrade easily then? Or will you be in the same boat we are?

      Similar thing with HDTV - don't want to make HD programs until people have the boxes, don't want to buy the box until there's a lot of digital programming (and the cost comes way down.)

      These things have a way of sorting themselves out. It might be that Africa ends up being the most wired country, 50 years from now, because when they finally get around to building their infrastructure they will be using the brand new stuff and we'll all be stuck with the old crap.

      During the 80's and Reagan's Voodo Economics, Japan was top dog, financially. They used to hold meetings to try to figure out how to help out the US economically. Now look at whose economy is in the crapper.

    3. Re:Gizmos by kju · · Score: 2

      Hehe, but in fact eastern germany _was_ equipped with fiber in large areas after the fall of the wall. Which nowadays leads to problems as DSL is not available to these people.

      Deutsche Telekom AG has announced that they are working on a solution for fiber but nothing yet.

    4. Re:Gizmos by alexjohns · · Score: 2
      I figured they would run at least a couple of fiber optic lines to places like Berlin or Dresden. However, I never heard anything about them laying it anywhere else. What's the problem with DSL? The copper is bad? I would imagine that's likely. So you're saying that there's plenty of fiber going in, but 'the last mile' problem is bigger there? Or something else? I'm not sure what you mean by 'solution for fiber'.

      I have some interest in this, since I'm an ex-German. (Born in Dachau. Naturalized American in 1982.)

  21. Things you can do yourself by albat0r · · Score: 1

    Why, in the phone market (and other "gadjet" markets), they feel the need to put in some specials softwares to help promote/sell the device? I mean, if I want my phone to play MP3, I'll find a MP3 player for the OS running it (palm OS, EPOC, etc.) or a Java MP3 player if the phone support Java. A lot of current phone support Java, or offer the possibility to code for it with C/C++, so why they focus on software? Instead, why they don't add other hardware things, like the FM Radio?

    If the device have good hardware things, people will like it, and let the programmers do their jobs, and they will made the MP3 player that you want!

    Or you can code it yourself too, it's a lot more phone, heh!

    1. Re:Things you can do yourself by kju · · Score: 2

      Did you missed the fact that it is much more battery effective to play MP3 using a special decoding chipset? I'm sure this phone includes one, otherwise it will probably be usable as a portable heater, too.

      So why do you say this is a software thingie? It sure is a hardware thing as what you are asking for.

  22. Well... by metlin · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Already a lot of public places forbid you from using cell phones. With all due apologies to the road warriors, I have a feeling that the convergence of music games et al into a cell will only add more to the problem.

    Waiter: Sir, you cannot talk on a cell inside the hotel sir.
    Me: Oh no, I was just excited about Commander Keen.
    Waiter: Huh? I doubt you are allowed to talk to Mr.Keen either, sir.
    Me: aaaaaaaaarggggggggghhhhh

  23. This device rox by Tha_Zanthrax · · Score: 3, Interesting

    but maybe it could become more cooler if Nokia worked together with some PDA-company (Best choice would be Palm IMHO). They could reduce the keyboard's size be building one of these in it to make more room for the screen.
    Devices is this one allready excist but most are a PDA that you can make phonecalls with or a cellphone that remembers your appointments.

  24. More (oldish) info by Darth+Paul · · Score: 2, Informative
    First off, this ain't the first phone to have an MP3 player - Samsung came out with one last year which is doing decently well, but of course Nokia is a different story.

    Here is a nokia music player press release dated March this year. It says 32megs for an hour of music. (Must be a pretty crummy bitrate though). Today's link claims 2 hours, but I doubt that's at the standard 128kbps. Anybody know how much memory in this thing?

    1. Re:More (oldish) info by jooniqzb1tch · · Score: 1

      from the nokia site itself :

      Memory functions

      * Phonebook: up to 100 names in phone, up to 250 in SIM card
      * Message: up to 150 text only messages, 50 picture messages, or any combination of these
      * Calendar notes: up to 220 calendar notes
      * Music: 64 MB internal memory for up to 2 hours of near CD quality music

  25. nice toy, but.... by sTeF · · Score: 1

    it's heavy
    it's big
    it can't do gprs...

  26. Just what kids need by ClubStew · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Great, just another gimmic to attract the younger croud. As I walk around, I'm seeing a ton of teenagers with no more reason for a phone than to "stay in touch with all their friends". It's more like be bothered consitantly and cause headaches for everyone else because they can't talk quietly.

    It's not just kids either. I walk around a major University here in the US and practically everyone has them and is always on them. It's the first thing they do out of class. It's what they do on the bus. It's become a cult and a horrible addiction.

    I'm not saying cell phones aren't important. They have many great uses and I plan on getting one as soon as I graduate (not enough comfortable capital yet because of rising education costs) for work and long distance (much cheaper!!!).

    Does anyone agree with me? It seems like there's more people out there that don't have a need for them - especially the younger croud. Live life; meet new people - like the people sitting next to you in the bus; and get off the damn phone.

    1. Re:Just what kids need by ryanwright · · Score: 2

      It seems like there's more people out there that don't have a need for them

      Who are you to determine whether someone has a need for a cellphone or not? And who defines "need"? Some of us just like staying in touch.

      --
      -Ryan, with the unoriginal sig
  27. Silly question by dcavanaugh · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Why does Nokia care if the file format on the phone is "protected" or not? Is there some kind of phone-to-phone transfer capability that opens up the opportunity for "piracy"?

    If I have an MP3 file and Nokia software converts it to "protected AAC", I can [technically] still share the old MP3 copy with half of the planet via P2P, right?

    I realize the whole question is academic because the phone is not going to be in the US anytime soon.

    Personally, I have no use for a music player in my phone, but I can imagine college students who might want lightweight, multi-function devices. I'd rather have MP3 capability in a PDA.

    The battery life on this phone/music toy must be pitiful.

    1. Re:Silly question by armb · · Score: 3, Informative

      > Why does Nokia care if the file format on the phone is "protected" or not? Is there some kind of phone-to-phone transfer capability

      http://www.nokia.com/phones/5510/spotlight_music .h tml shows a (cartoon) guy copying a song he's just recorded off the radio to his friends phone, and another one from a CD, then uploading them onto his PC.

      But from the FAQ, the upload to the PC has to use the Nokia software which uses "encrypted AAC format" to store it, so presumably stops it being freely copied from there.

      Maybe the phone-to-phone copy is allowed because you can't use your phone as a server for anyone to download from, only physically close people with a wire? (And maybe it's an analogue connection, or has deliberately introduced generation loss?)

      --
      rant
    2. Re:Silly question by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I realize the whole question is academic because the phone is not going to be in the US anytime soon.

      The US is only a small precentage of the market, this phone will be avaliable to billions of people. This is far from academic :0)

  28. Are you sure????? by barnaclebarnes · · Score: 4, Informative

    According to the FAQ:

    Can I play downloaded MP3 files on the Nokia 5510?

    Yes, the Nokia 5510 can play MP3 files in protected format. Copies of the downloaded music files are added to the Nokia Audio Manager database. Nokia Audio Manager encrypts the music files and downloads the protected MP3 format to the memory of the Nokia 5510.

    In what format is the music saved in my hard disk?
    All the songs are saved in encrypted AAC format.

    So it looks like the Audio manager encryps mp3's before they get sent to the device. Which also means that you probably can't download and play then on another machine. It also probably means that the format on the device is NOT mp3. more like AAC format, which is exactly the reason why I haven't got a Sony Memorystick walkman...

    Maybe what you saw has been changed by the marketing folks to conform to 'industry standards'?
    /b

    --
    [Please type your sig here.]
    1. Re:Are you sure????? by OblongPlatypus · · Score: 2

      Sounds to me like you can download your music from the computer to the phone just fine, but you won't be able to copy it from the phone. Wouldn't bother me much, but it does conflict with the third panel in this.

      --
      -- If no truths are spoken then no lies can hide --
    2. Re:Are you sure????? by krazyninja · · Score: 1

      I think the protection comes in only when the song is stored onto the internal memory. This will prevent the encrypted song from getting copied to another medium. This will also explain the statement that the player plays "secure" MP3 and AAC files.

      --
      "Do something man. Right now."
    3. Re:Are you sure????? by Ryu2 · · Score: 2

      AAC != MP3. They are two different compression schemes altogether. A lot of people have this confused.

      Maybe the "protected" MP3 format is just MP3 encrpyted using some public key system or other.

      Perhaps the Nokia phone can play both MP3 and AAC -- but the two formats (even not considering encryption, etc) are DIFFERENT!

      --
      There's 10 types of people in this world, those who understand binary and those who don't.
  29. Rights management by Alsee · · Score: 3, Informative
    --
    - - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
    1. Re:Rights management by alister667 · · Score: 2, Informative

      If you have a look at the link 'Mongo's Music' it shows how you can encode mp3s from the radio, then copy the file from phone to phone, as well as encode from a CD player, and then copy to a computer. The RIAA does have a problem with that. The copying files phone to phone (I guess it would be done via wires rather than wireless) is a neat feature, although I have a feeling it will be implemented using the headphone socket to a line in socket, thus requiring re-sampling of an analog signal rather than a digital transfer. I live in Europe, I listen to a lot of music, I haven't got a portable mp3 player and I have a fairly old mobile phone. I might get one. If the 5 games on it include Doom and Quake!

      --
      We ARE the peat bog soldiers.
    2. Re:Rights management by sulli · · Score: 1, Flamebait

      Fuck that!

      --

      sulli
      RTFJ.
    3. Re:Rights management by HuskyDog · · Score: 2
      I read the links and I am still confused.

      What precisely does this AAC thing prevent me from doing? It seems I can get MP3s from either a CD or the net and load them into the phone. What else would I want to do?

    4. Re:Rights management by krazyninja · · Score: 1

      AAC is just a compression format. Only when you add a secure encryption layer around this format, you have security. What this means is that, most probably the songs stored by the Audio Manager, cannot be played back on any other phone, other than the one which has been registered with the audio manager software..

      --
      "Do something man. Right now."
    5. Re:Rights management by Alsee · · Score: 1

      What precisely does this AAC thing prevent me from doing?


      AAC is a better compression format than MP3, but it specificly supports Digital Rights Management. The Nokia product will not play or transfer any music until it is sealed in a rights managment wrapper.
      You will not be able to do anything with files that already had a rights management wrapper, unless you paid for more rights. Any file that did not already have a rights wrapper will gain a rights wrapper with minimal rights. From what I read you can record unprotected music and move it between your computer and your Nokia Phone. They also said something about moving the file to other phones, but I'm sure it will be severly restricted. My guess is that the song will be erased from the first phone, and/or the second phone will not allow the file to be copied further. Once the song has a rights wrapper you can never get the song back out of the system.
      The real point is that this is a step in an attempt to force Rights Management into EVERY electronic device, and to put an encryption rights wrapper onto EVERY source of music, video, program, text, webpage, and any other computer file that could be copyrighted.
      There is a bill heading to congress called SSSCA that does exactly this. It states every device capable of prossessing digital data MUST contain rights management software, and messing with this software carries a penalty of 5 years and $500,000. Double that for a second offence.

      --
      - - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
  30. Ringtones? by Howie · · Score: 3, Informative

    From reading the spec, the poxy thing has 64Mb for MP3 storage, an FM radio, and still has annoying bleepy ringtones rather than sample-based ones like (at least) Sony mobiles have.

    No sign of IR data in the specs either, which is more or less standard in other Nokia WAP phones...

    Nearly, but not quite. (add smartmedia or CF support to the wishlist)

    --
    "don't fall into the fallacy of believing that Perl can solve social problems. Maybe Perl 6 can, but that's a ways off"
    1. Re:Ringtones? by ivanushka · · Score: 2, Insightful

      You can do it with Nokia 9210 (any wav can be used as a ringtone). But don't wait for the low-end phones to have this feature. It'll ruin network operators' business of selling ringtones.

    2. Re:Ringtones? by Anders+H�ckersten · · Score: 1

      The only problem with those Sony phones is that their speakers suck (I own a Sony CMD-J5) so when my phone starts ringing I rarely hear it unless I have the vibrator turned on.

      Oh and you can't have the vibrator turned on whilst having the ringtones on at the same time, now THAT is annoying...

      Other than that, it's a great phone that I would recommend if you don't hate "japanese style" things.

  31. Damn the FCC by jonbrewer · · Score: 2


    for their nonsensical allocation of radio spectrum.
    I can't get anything this cool to use on (VoiceStream) GSM 1900.

    Guess I'll just have to buy one for my GF and visit her more often. ;-)

    1. Re:Damn the FCC by Mwongozi · · Score: 2
      You can have something cooler, the Nokia 9290 Communicator.

      I have the European version (The 9210), and it's sweet. :)

  32. Africa, Asia, Europe Only by inicom · · Score: 1

    According to that site It is not available for the north american market.

    aem

    --
    -a.e.mossberg
  33. Yes! I want a real ring! by wemmick · · Score: 1

    I've been asking for sample based ringtones for years. Not because I want Eric Idle saying "Message for you Sir!" (cf. Holy Grail) or because I want the latest teeny-bopper to sing when I get a phone call.

    I want to hear the sound of a real ring, like all phones had when I was growing up. You know, electricity causing hammer to strike metal bell inside the phone leased from Ma Bell...

    --
    ___
    Cognitive Overflow
    more than yo
    1. Re:Yes! I want a real ring! by Howie · · Score: 2

      There are phones that do that - Sony
      CMD-MZ5 and CMD-J6 do it if you don't mind lining Sony's pockets (I try to avoid it - especially where the MemoryStick is involved).

      I like the idea of a real ring from such a tiny phone though. I always fancied a Slayer riff as a completely-non-jingly ringtone.

      [It took me a stupidly long time to find that link - Sony's website is almost as bad as 3Com's.]

      --
      "don't fall into the fallacy of believing that Perl can solve social problems. Maybe Perl 6 can, but that's a ways off"
  34. I think this fails one of my phone choosing rules by AssFace · · Score: 4, Funny

    In order for me to buy a phone, it needs to be two things 1) shiny, and 2) small.
    I love Nokia phones, esp the two I have, the 8860, and the 8890 - and they pass the "smaller than my penis" test. and they are shiny as all get out.

    but this monster looks huge. how exactly are you to carry it around? and only a small part of it is shiny.

    --

    There are some odd things afoot now, in the Villa Straylight.
  35. But could you stream to your friends? by galego · · Score: 2, Interesting
    Since the technology that makes it up is not really new...can it do something combining the component technology to do something novel and uniquely useless (this is what makes it sell anyway)?

    Can I tune in, encode and stream? Why? Cuz I potentially could! There's always some novel use for seemingly useless technology. And someone who reads /. will probably hack it to achieve such a feat!

    --

    Que Deus te de em dobro o que me desejas

    [May God give you double that which you wish for me]

  36. The abbreviation habits of the average teenager by c0rtez · · Score: 2, Funny

    Well, in watching my younger brother and sisters chat on the internet, i can tell you that they all already know the ones they want to use, which is pretty much limited to cya, wtf, rofl, lol, brb, and ttyl... figure they would never say for what its worth, be back in a bit, in my humble opinion, and away from keyboard in meatspace, so why would they say it in cyberspace? One thing im surprised about is the lack of "stfu" adoption. And IANAL. :)

  37. Using this phone in the US with Voicestream by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    What stops you from using this from in the US with the GSM provider of Voicestream? It looks like it is compatable with the US GSM freq (EGSM 900, GSM 1800 and GSM 900/1800 dual-band). I believe Voicestream uses 900. And if the phone is bought is Europe locked, then you can go to any small store (privatly owned) and they can unlock it for like $10 US. Any ideas on this, because it sounds it will work in the US without problems?

    1. Re:Using this phone in the US with Voicestream by kju · · Score: 4, Informative

      United States GSM-Systems are on 1900 MHz not on 900 or 1800 like the european ones (900+1800 were already used in the united states). So you need a GSM phone which can work on 1900 MHz or a triple-band which can work 900/1800/1900. This phone is only 900/1800.

  38. Cool - what's next? by under_score · · Score: 2

    Just some idle speculation on what comes next:
    1. color screen (already available in some cell phones
    2. digital camera?
    3. video camera for video phone shots of peoples ears or mouths :-)
    4. better pim software
    5. optional sxga video output - so that you can see what you are typing, and play games like they should be played
    6. back to the real: voice recording to mp3 (strangely, this one doesn't seem to do this)
    7. text-voice-text features
    8. direct neural connection to allow immersive VR conference calls (orgies)

    Cheers.

    1. Re:Cool - what's next? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A videocam picture camera thingy builtin- like sonys sensitive see-through skimpy lycra and such cam that they crippled. The Sharp Zarus like LCD that works in daylight. forget sms, just wait till 'get a load of this' pictures bounce around. Pretend to talk on the phone, and accidently snap a picture - under the conference table...at the beach...

    2. Re:Cool - what's next? by hattig · · Score: 1

      1. Yes, already done.
      2. Yes, see Japan
      3. Yes, see Japan
      4. Yes, see Nokia 9210/9220 communicator
      5. Hmmm, is there a standard for micro-VGA outputs or mini-DV?
      6. Nokia Communicator
      7. Nokia Communicator if software is written to do this?
      8. Motorola Timeport L7089 has this. The adapter is a rip off as usual though. :)

  39. Re:Rights management - more info by Alsee · · Score: 2, Interesting

    "recently selected by BMG and Universal Music as the preferred platform for digital music delivery. Advanced Audio Coding is highly compatible with digital copy protection protocols and watermarking"

    Almost the same as RIAA approval right there.

    and from the Music FAQ

    "In what format is the music saved in my hard disk?
    All the songs are saved in encrypted AAC format."

    Everything is encrypted.

    "Can I play downloaded MP3 files on the Nokia 5510?
    Yes, the Nokia 5510 can play MP3 files in protected format. Copies of the downloaded music files are added to the Nokia Audio Manager database. Nokia Audio Manager encrypts the music files and downloads the protected MP3 format to the memory of the Nokia 5510."

    Yes, MP3's are encrypted too.

    There IS one good piece of news though...

    "Does the Nokia 5510 support WMA?
    No, it doesn't"

    No support for Microcrud format, heh heh.

    --
    - - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
  40. Where's the modem? by simong · · Score: 1

    They could have at least dragged in the IR modem from the 88*0 - Glub knows it got everything else.

  41. FM Only? No good. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I need Long Wave. If I can't get Test Match Special on it, then I'm not interested.

  42. The purpose of the article itself by noz · · Score: 2, Insightful

    "the phone is crippled - only stores crippled AAC files, not unencumbered mp3's. A shame."

    Kinda defeats the purpose of the article itself, doesn't it?

    "Nokia have released a phone to give the RIAA nightmares."

  43. Nokias FAQ does not make sense by kju · · Score: 2

    The FAQ states that the files are stored encrypted, but the link from above (http://www.nokia.com/phones/5510/spotlight_music. html) shows an example of copying the music from one 5510 to another. So how should this work if the music is encrypted? Only idea is that the music is encrypted with a common key, but it should be not so difficult to rip out the key from the pc based conversion software (same way, DVD was hacked).

  44. GBA and screen by johnjones · · Score: 2

    This runs with the help of a ARM7 core.

    Which is what they use in the new RIO and the Game Boy Advance (GBA).

    So the potential is there to create a clone of a GBA (but without carts).

    This would see you download your game to phone so you could have a library of games that you have paid for and when you want a new one you pay for it and it becomes part of your library (reducing the number of games that can be stored to1 save the amount of flash and so how expensive the end unit is ).

    The technically this is easy legally this is easy since nitendo just licensed the ARM ISA (the publishers would have to publish through a new medium but that's simple enough)
    the problem is the screen

    Battery life on phones has to be quite long
    LCD are the single greatest drain on a battery to put in a screen of the GBA's resolution would mean the battery life of in use would decrease considerably

    sad really

    regards

    john jones

    p.s. how long to EPOC GBA emulator is seen I wonder (-;

    1. Re:GBA and screen by hattig · · Score: 1

      The GBA gets all of its graphical power from a custom graphics unit in the GBA. The ARM just does calculations and stuff. The graphical chip does stuff like scrolling, tile and graphical modes, the 3D mode, sprites, etc. i.e., not a typical integrated LCD driver chip that you find in phones. And very proprietary.

      Also a Z80 would be required for audio and GB compatibility. Timing would be a mess. The LCD panel is the least of your problems.

      Maybe if Nokia worked together with Nintendo? This is the only way this will happen. Nintendo do not like to licence their hardware though, so to be honest, there is no chance.

    2. Re:GBA and screen by johnjones · · Score: 2

      its all software its just a standard ARM7 no custom graphics chip

      you may use nintendo's custom bliting Libs but you dont have to

      there is NO custom chip just a bios that does the Z80 emulation

      timeing is just a matter of throttling the CPU speed to be the same as the GBA

      the LCD controller as far as I am aware is just stock ARM IP

      they did this because they had such a nightmare with the colour Game Boy and such
      lesson : do things in software and keep the hardware standard

      yes you might have to change things in a game to use non nintendo stuff but its not all that hard

      regards

      john jones

    3. Re:GBA and screen by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      what a pile of bollocks.

      read up on the custom ASIC inside the GBA. It contains an ARM core (16MHz), a Z80 variant that controls audio in GBA mode, and software in GB[C] mode. The graphics solution is also custom, and provides tiled modes, etc.

  45. No big deal by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Sure it's great, I disagree with those saying that you should have devices that do only one thing... Yeah, a cell phone, laptop, palmtop, cdplayer, mp3 player and a radio... sounds heavy, cumbersome.... I'd rather have everything in one small device.

    However... it's not that much compared to what's available from DoCoMo: color screens, smaller phones, music playing (including mp3) with even speical headphone with a small remote on the cord (a but like the one for the sony CD walkmans). I think we should start asking more from north american phone companies... if they can't offer similar offerings, they shjould just shift their network to fit the foreigh ones... because right now north american wireless service sucks!

    It's better even in africa!!

    So asking for better service here really is not asking too much!

  46. Full keyboard, WAP but NO E-Mail Functionality??? by germanbirdman · · Score: 1, Interesting


    As far as I can see, this thing has no email client.

    If it had one, I would have been interested.

    But this one is for SMS senders only (ie Kids).

    I personally don't see the point in SMS. I pay 10-15Pf (less than 5-7 cents) a minute for a nationwide one minute call on my calling plan. An SMS (160 characters) costs 3 times as much.

    My ideal phone (not yet invented)

    - supports compact flash cards for MP3s (not MMC like all MP3 capable GSM phone use)
    - triband
    - HSCSD (GPRS is too damn expensive)
    - IRDA
    - E-Mail client
    - Full keyboard

    Ericsson has a phone that comes pretty close,
    but lacks MP3 and full keyboard.

  47. Re:OT: Re:3 in a row!!! by orv · · Score: 1

    from "CmdrTaco" might count but from "CmdrTaco on" probably doesn't. :-)

  48. Re:I think this fails one of my phone choosing rul by Troed · · Score: 1
    Enlarge your penis and get a 9290?

  49. Nokia's authentication initiative more interesting by nebri8 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    An alternative to passport? I found this more interesting than a new phone.
    "Microsoft is attempting something like this with its Passport effort which is tied into .NET as a proprietary solution, but now Nokia is making a shot too, and their effort aims for an open and standards-based solution."

  50. Wrong! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    From the FAQ:"All music downloads to the Nokia 5510 must be made via the Nokia Audio Manager installed on a compatible PC."

    - You can ONLY upload music to the phone with the Nokia Audio Manager software.


    From the FAQ:"Can I play downloaded MP3 files on the Nokia 5510?
    Yes, the Nokia 5510 can play MP3 files in protected format. Copies of the downloaded music files are added to the Nokia Audio Manager database. Nokia Audio Manager encrypts the music files and downloads the protected MP3 format to the memory of the Nokia 5510."


    - The Nokia Audio Manager PC software converts your MP3s to AAC and only THEN are you able to play them on your Nokia. I think the FAQ contradicts itself in a way and Nokia is misleading the website readers, Nokia 5510 only plays/records in AAC and MP3 files stop where the Nokia Audio Manager PC software begins. The Nokia Audio Manager PC software only converts FROM MP3 and not back INTO MP3 so it's an MP3 black hole.

  51. two selling points by nutty · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Alright, in europe, every youth carries a cell phone, its a requirement...well at least in sweden and finland. So, if they can get music out of it also, then thats wonderful. That means not having to carry a minidisc along with the cell phone, and with tight pants all the craze, there isn't much room for a plethora of devices.

    Two, there is a massive element of irony that this phone, with its full keyboard, will sell beautifully on the deaf market. (The irony being that it plays music)...SMS is a HUGE thing for deaf people, who can use their cellphones to communicate to full potential, and a full keyboard is a godsend for them.

    Its a grand product.

    1. Re:two selling points by johnjones · · Score: 2

      yes SMS is cool but ~I dont like the screen res

      but the big selling point is the FM stereo
      combined with MP3 and WMA playback that rocks

      think about how many people walk arond with discmans or mindisc or walkman AND a mobile

      convergance

      pitty that its in such an ugly case with all those buttons
      put that in a regular sized nokia with EPOC and I will PAY for it

      regards

      john jones

    2. Re:two selling points by nchip · · Score: 2

      put that in a regular sized nokia with EPOC and I will PAY for it

      Nokia might have a surprise for you... The don't put New phone out that has all the features people
      want, they add features one by one, so that you have to buy a new phone every eyear.

      But a rebular nokia sized epoc-phone is coming out, probably in their next announcment, and it seems like a real killer.

      --
      signatures pending - ansa@kos.to - (dont mail there)
  52. SMS for kids? by ericvids · · Score: 4, Informative
    But this one is for SMS senders only (ie Kids).
    I beg to disagree with your kids-only viewpoint. =) I don't mean to troll, but SMS is basically in full swing here in the Philippines and in other parts of the world (Finland would instantly come into mind.)

    Heck, even fishball vendors (the ones who sell food-on-sticks on the sidewalks in urban places) and jeepney drivers (i.e. public transportation guys) actually own cellphones here, and they use it mainly for SMS messages (frequently pronounced by Filipinos as just "texts")

    It's the simplest way to keep connected in this side of the world. Then again, SMS is pretty cheap here at PhP1.00 (around US$0.02) compared to a cellphone call at PhP6.00/minute. You also get hundreds of free messages per month, too.

    --
    Pet peeve: Profane people propagating perfunctory pedantry.
  53. What I want for Xmas... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    is being able to swap MP3 on this phone.

  54. Re: conflict with third panel... by stoney27 · · Score: 1

    Not really. It does not say that you can't copy the music from other phones. You might but then it would only be in the Nokia format. And could only be played on Nokia stuff. So it might not conflict.

    How every it would be nice if the all the music was in an open format like MP3. But of course that would give the consumer too much power over the music they listen to.

    -Scott

    --

    It is said that a child learns wisdom from the parent,
    but the truly wise parent learns joy from the child
  55. regular keypad? by sootman · · Score: 1

    just saw some of the pics... does it have a regular 123/456/789/*0# keypad? if not...

    --
    Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
  56. Nokia 6310 by enemenemuh · · Score: 1

    For those living in Europe or Asia, who look out for a cool phone which has not that kid stuff (Games, Mp3 Player, SMS functions) but GPRS, HSCSD, Bluetooth and WAP integrated: Check out the new Nokia 6310! This looks more like a phone that I (personally) would need. Greetings

  57. Re:I think this fails one of my phone choosing rul by Rovaani · · Score: 1

    9210 passes the "smaller than my penis" test.

    --
    Karma: Good! Napster: Baad!
  58. Hi-Res? by iso · · Score: 2

    Here are some hi-res photos

    Since whend did "hi-res" mean "larger than a postage stamp? High-resolution is more like a 300dpi photo, not this slightly larger picture.

    - j

    1. Re:Hi-Res? by SoupIsGoodFood_42 · · Score: 1
      "Since whend did "hi-res" mean "larger than a postage stamp? High-resolution is more like a 300dpi photo, not this slightly larger picture."

      Off topic. But just becasue a photo is 300dpi. It dosn't make it big. The even smaller ones on the Nokia site could have been 6000dpi if they had wanted it. And it still would have been the same physical size.

      DPI means nothing unless it is accomanied by physical dimentions, like inches/cm/mm.

      Better yet. A dimention in pixels is always the clearist.

      So yeah.. some nice ~1500x1000 photos would probably be in the hi-res catagory, not those ~400x400 pics they had.

    2. Re:Hi-Res? by EGNi · · Score: 1

      You can get hi-res photos here,
      Or you can download a zipped tiff here.

  59. So I Can Actually Make a Decent Phone Call Now? by e2d2 · · Score: 1

    In the race to provide the ultimate device:
    phone/mp3 player/radio/tv/video/network computer/girlfriend manufacturers are forgetting one thing - I would like to actually make a phone call. Any time, any place. When I pick up my phone at home, surprise! I get a dial tone. I dial the number, then converse. When i turn on my cell phone I get "He'' Wahha.. Muhaa.. Who? So what do you... who? .. hello hello hello?"

    f the mp3s, gadgets, good gear. Give us a phone that works and everyone will have one.

  60. Any idea of the price ? by clarkie.mg · · Score: 1

    A quick search on the net gave me no result on the price, probably this phone is too new.

    The problem with that kind of mobile phones is the high price at which they are sold. The siemens SL45 for example is 630 euros and the sony Z5 is more than 1000 euros. It is more expensive than a good mobile phone and a little mp3 player !

    As the nokia 5510 is targeted to teens and young adults, I do not see them (us) pay such a kind of price. Better stick with the good standard mobile phone and minidisc.

    More than 400 euros and no one will buy it.

    Mich.

    --
    Men are born ignorant, not stupid; they are made stupid by education. Bertrand Russel
    1. Re:Any idea of the price ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      from http://www.nokia.com/phones/5510/faq_general.html
      What is the expected price of the Nokia 5510?
      The estimated price is 399 euros. Prices may vary from country to country.

  61. A shame? by SilentChris · · Score: 2
    Per the update: "According to the FAQ, the phone is crippled - only stores crippled AAC files, not unencumbered mp3's. A shame."

    A shame? If I'm playing MP3's on my cell phone in general, chances are that I'm going to be using some kind of proprietary interface to get the tracks onto the phone to begin with. I have no intention of playing P2P with this thing (and I don't know if it's even feasible).

    That said, the average music lover would probably toss a few CD's into their CD-ROM drives, copy the songs to this AAC format on the phone, and be done with it. If I have no purpose to transfer these AAC files anywhere else, why should I care if they are quote-unquote "cripped"?

  62. Great, great UI Design - totally usable by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    This is one cool piece of gadgetry.

    Not because of its feature overload, but because of its innovative (we can't say that much nowadays for most phones) User Interface Design, as well as its industrial design.

    Real improvements in mobile phone UI design started last year with Kyocera's Palm-phone. Now we have something even better.

    The split keyboard is extremely well thought-out, and tackles the input bottleneck for WAP/mobile devices. Heck, not only does it have a full QWERTY keyboard, it is optimized for 2-HANDED USE. Very ingenious. This thing looks very, very usable to me. Before, a user needed one hand to hold the thing, and another to type with. Now, you can hold AND type at the same time.

    The centered-screen is also a very cool innovation, as it is something not even the suits of Motorola/Ericsson have even tried. In fact, you should expect copycats to this from now on. I think the people who would benefit AND embrace this design the most are Japanese i-Mode users, who use WAP extensively. It gives a new center of focus on the phone (middle instead of top), and makes great use of existing device real estate.

    I gotta give Nokia a big hand for this one. =)

    Makes me scream the old adage, "Why didn't *I* think of that?!?"
    -----------
    Silicon Ghetto - 26th & Pulaski, Chicago, IL 60623

  63. FrogPad DOESNT rock by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Input will still be a bottleneck, if not a bigger one, with the Frogpad. You have to learn a compleetely new way of typing, whcih is extremely inefficient. I will stick with the small QWERTY board on the Nokia anyday over the propriatary FrogPad's.

    1. Re:FrogPad DOESNT rock by Tha_Zanthrax · · Score: 1

      Hey, it's just an opinion. I think all of those gizmos trying to replace a standard keyboard fail. But for a portable device a full size keyboard is to clumsy and the frogpad (maybe in a changed setup) could do fine. Again that's just my opinion. I've noticed that i am the only /. reader how also thinks Palm's graffiti-pad is a great solution.

    2. Re:FrogPad DOESNT rock by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, you are not the only one. Check out Kyocera's Smartphone for a great example of Palm OS/cell phone integration.

    3. Re:FrogPad DOESNT rock by vsync64 · · Score: 1

      I work at Office Depot, and we just clearanced out our last Kyoceras, and our Sprint PCS rep tells us there aren't any more coming. However, there is a similar phone on the way from Sanyo, which will feature a color screen and lack the Kyocera's flip-cover.

      --
      TO BUY A NEW CAR WOULD MAKE YOU SEXUALLY ATTRACTIVE.
  64. Stop whining, old man... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...because you will soon be amongst the 'mobile phone elite' and jabbering away after work.

    I'm sure the 'kids' who you seem to worry about so much had 'legitimate' intentions for their phones, just as you do.

  65. Party like it's 1999! by ct · · Score: 3, Funny

    It may be a neat gadget, but this lady on their page is having way too much fun with it.

    If I ever reach a point where this phone can give me that much joy, I'll have bigger issues to address in my life.

    //ct

    1. Re:Party like it's 1999! by Pellelelle · · Score: 1

      Haha!

      Your comment really made me laugh! Thanks :)

  66. Analog recording is an RIAA headache inducer? by morgue-ann · · Score: 1

    I recall that when the RIAA lost their suit to keep the original Diamond mp3 portable player off the market, there was a voluntary agreement among some player mfg.s to include only voice-quality recording on the devices. It wasn't part of any settlement, law or contract but seemed to be self-regulation.

    There are now high fidelity mp3 recorders. The Archos Jukebox Recorder is one that records to hard drive so you can fit entire concerts on it without having to change a DAT or MiniDisc.

    I've always wondered what the beef with hi-fi analog-in mp3 recorders would be in the first place. Digital recorders have been around for a while and the only objection has been on their digital inputs. Faster-than-realtime access to the music (not possible with DAT/DCC/MiniDisc) makes swapping the music easier, but hard disc recorders (including ultraportable laptops with hi-fi audio i/o) have been around for a while, also without objection.

    While I've only seen the record-feature-missing Archos Jukebox with my own eyes, Archos does make the Recorder version available on their website, seemingly without complaint or objection from the RIAA.

    -M

  67. To bad its not coming to the United States... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    the nokia phone looks and sounds great. Unfortunately it is not expected to be released in the USA. America always has the worst cellular technology. You can thank the military for that, since they own the frequencies that are needed for faster cellular bandwidth :(

  68. You'd be surprised what you don't need by Weasel+Boy · · Score: 1

    I don't have a cell phone. I've been tempted on a number of occasions, but haven't succumbed yet. :-) What does a cell phone do that nothing else does? Only one thing, really: It lets other people contact you immediately when you are away from your habitual locations. All other telecommunication needs can be met by using email/IM, answering machines, telephones, pay phones, etc. In the end, it boils down to a question of how often you want to be contacted when you're away from your fixed bases, and how much you're willing to pay for the convenience of not using a pay phone or borrowing someone else's phone. In my case, not often and not $300/year.

    1. Re:You'd be surprised what you don't need by keytoe · · Score: 1

      It's not only the ability to be reached when away from your 'habitual locations' - but the ability to call out when away. I hated cell phones until I was forced to carry one and I had an emergency. For me, it's not being reachable, it's about reaching out.

      There are exactly four people who have my cell phone number - my mom, my girlfriend, my business partner and me. Combined with SMS messaging and an email alias on my mail server, I'm always reachable, but I have the choice to call back if it's important. No ringing for me - just beeping.

  69. Like Nokia's 9210? by Looke · · Score: 1

    Nokia already has PDA based models, first the 9110 Communicator, later the Symbian (Psion/EPOC) based 9210 Communicator. Nokia works closely with Symbian on creating this kind of mobile PDAs.

  70. Mongo? by frenetic_wimp · · Score: 2, Funny

    Strange thing. In Norway, Mongo is a rather rude term for a person with Down's Syndrome. OK, Norway is a small country, but about 95% of people aged 15-30 own a mobile phone, most of them Nokias, and after all, Finland (home of Nokia) is pretty close to here. Why choose "Retard" (actually, it's a lot worse :-) as their mascot name?

    Beats me.

    --
    get a Free BSD!
    1. Re:Mongo? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Same thing here in Finland and also in Sweden.

  71. Encrypted vs Crippled by HaveANiceDay · · Score: 2, Insightful

    According to the FAQ, the phone is crippled - only stores crippled AAC files...

    Since when does encrypted automatically mean the fortmat is crippled? Nowhere in the FAQ do I see the word "crippled." DVD's are not crippled, the encryption on the disk does not affect the quality of the picture or the sound. DVD's are encrypted, the content is scrambled, but not degraded. In the same regard, I'd assume the phone plays normal AAC files post-decrypting them. But hey, what would I know...

  72. not actually very new by dalinian · · Score: 1

    Portable MP3 recording is a new twist to an old technology, and not an entirely new feature. It's just digital voice recording.

    GPRS is something more genuinely new. A somewhat fast mobile connection, without the dialup pain.

  73. Yes but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Does it support Ogg Vorbis? Personally if it doesn't then I don't want it. Oh and by the way, I'm going to need to be able to install BSD on my phone. Especially since it's faster than Linux.

    1. Re:Yes but... by vsync64 · · Score: 1
      I just bought a HipZip[beware the popups], and it's a very neat little device. It uses those little 40MB Clik! disks, so it can't store a whole ton of music on 1 disk, but they're cheap enough that I don't mind having a few around to change in and out. As soon as I get my car (should be in the next few days) I'm buying the $99 accessory pack, which includes various car adapters and 4 more blank disks.

      Anyway, the main reason I moved to this device instead of my Rio500 (which I'm now looking to sell, along with the 64MB SmartMedia card I bought for it) is because it's going to play Ogg Vorbis as soon as the format reaches 1.0. Jack Moffit actually sent me a ROM which is supposed to play them now, but it won't play rc2 encoded tracks, so I don't know if I'll bother installing it.

      Anyway, especially with the latest firmware, the HipZip is a solidly put together device for a good price. I strongly recommend it.

      --
      TO BUY A NEW CAR WOULD MAKE YOU SEXUALLY ATTRACTIVE.
  74. This one? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This is a cool phone that propably suits my needs better than the nokia phone.

  75. Cool new site all about this kinda stuff by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Slashdot for the cell phone addict:

    http://www.electronpulse.com

  76. Can't... resist... urge... to... post... by keytoe · · Score: 1

    Using the 'smaller than my penis' test, I'm limited to about laptop sizes.

    Ducks and covers...

  77. Definately Not off topic .. But ?? are the images by Discoteck · · Score: 1


    Definately Not off topic .. But ?? are the images

    damn I just wrote a whole big thing .. previewed it .. and then hit back space
    cause the spacing on it sucked .. and lost the entire thing ..!!!!

    Rewrite that slashcode guys!!!


    :)


    Uh anyone who has the time. MAYBE THE AUTHOR... Be willing to post links to
    the actual location of the pictures of this device.. I couldn't find them with
    the hyperlink that the AUTHOR included in his post. This seems like just another
    article posted by someone whose only concern is to post as many articles as
    possible without taking the time to research the subject and his posting properly.



    --
    /.................../ \\ /...................../
  78. Re:Definately Not off topic .. But ?? are the imag by Discoteck · · Score: 1

    uh .. i found some nevermind ... it looks cool!!

    --
    /.................../ \\ /...................../
  79. ROT iron? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's wrought (rôt) iron, you incontrovertible dweeb.

    1. Re:ROT iron? by ClubStew · · Score: 2

      Big words from an anonymous coward!

  80. Sony already sells a phone with realtime audio enc by HuangBaoLin · · Score: 1

    You should check out the Sony SO502iWM here.
    This cellphone sports an ACTUAL 8mm stereo line/optical combo input jack for realtime audio encoding to ATRAC3 (Minidisc recording format) on Memory Stick. (MS slot at bottom of phone) You can see how all the possible hookup options here. I've personally seen this phone and its very compact. Dimensions are 105mm × 50mm × 28mm, just a hair thicker and wider than a Nokia 8260 when folded. Plus it features a 160x120 full-color screen, full iMode functionality, 100 minute talk time and a wired LCD stick remote (displays song titles and phone numbers) for operating music playback and basic phone functions without taking the phone out of your pocket! Its been selling since the beginning of Summer 2001 in Japan.

  81. Atrac3 *cough* *cough* by M3wThr33 · · Score: 1

    My bet is that AAC is a cheap rehash of Mp3, just like Sony's ATRAC, to avoid the Mp3 licensing fees. So basically loading the mp3s converts them to AACs or maybe just changes the extension. ;-)

  82. "Mongo like beans!" by Moses+Lawn · · Score: 1

    Well, this finally explains *that*...

    --

    What if life is just a side effect of some other process and God has no idea we exist?

  83. Ooh. Wow. SO MANY MESSAGES. by Jonny+290 · · Score: 1

    500 million messages / 9 million customers - 55.5 messages per year per customer on average.

    Just over one message per week. Is it that much of a pain, once a week, to spend two minutes typing out an SMS instead of 45 seconds hunting and pecking on an array of Tic-Tacs glued onto a Gameboy Advance? Then comes the ridiculousness factor of talking into what seems to be a portable gaming system in a quasi-offensive "Extreme" primary color.

    Sigh. These things are silly.

    --
    Hey Taco! Looks like you're using the "infinite monkeys and typewriters" scheme to generate Ask Slashdots again...
  84. Re:I think this fails one of my phone choosing rul by sych · · Score: 1

    Shiny and small? This is my favorite: Nokia 8250
    Of course, not available in the USA ;)

  85. Re:Ooh. Wow. SO MANY MESSAGES. by ghazban · · Score: 2

    9 Million _people_. Does every single man, woman and child have a cellphone. Bwahah. As if.

    It's more like 1-2 million people sending 500 million messages per year. Which is a lot. Those who write a greater portion of that would find a keyboard quite useful.

  86. HULOO: It is designed to be a toy! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    > It seems more a gameboy than a business tool.

    The target group of this new model is teens (12-22). Hardly doing business they are.

    Heikki

  87. 160 is not the limit for SMS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    As you wound know If you would have read the device specs, 160 is not the limit. GSM SMS specs includes a functionality for concatenating multiple Short Messages. This means that you can send messages longer than 160 char. (You can also send pictures, business cards, calendar events etc).

    Heikki

  88. What about linux users and Nokia 5510 by iiro · · Score: 1

    Does anybody know if Nokia will provide also the linux users with a program for music/other file transfer between the 5510 and a computer?

    What about the other Nokia phones (especially Communicators (series 9000))? Does anybody use them with a linux computer as the desktop?

    I still use a Nokia 6110 while waiting for a good phone/PDA/MP3-player to replace it. My home computers are all 100% linux.

    It's odd that this question has not been posted by anybody else... I thought /. was a linux geek site.

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  89. IR...? by Kimbotha · · Score: 1

    I can't seem to see IR support in the specs... has this become a thing of the past with mobiles...? I would buy it at the drop of a hat if it were available here and had IR support...

    Kim

  90. Re:Ooh. Wow. SO MANY MESSAGES. by 2flo · · Score: 1

    > find a keyboard quite useful

    keyboard?
    oh yeah it's qwerty - but u can't user 10 fingers!

  91. From the FAQ by semaj · · Score: 1

    FAQ

    Can I play downloaded MP3 files on the Nokia 5510?

    Yes, the Nokia 5510 can play MP3 files in protected format. Copies of the downloaded music files are added to the Nokia Audio Manager database. Nokia Audio Manager encrypts the music files and downloads the protected MP3 format to the memory of the Nokia 5510.

    MP3 files can be transferred to the phone fine, but getting them off again might be more tricky... the phone might not even be capable of playing MP3 files and rely on them being preconverted by the music manager.
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    Meep meep
  92. Off-topic, somalia rant response to sig by LinuxParanoid · · Score: 1

    The USA killed ~7000 innocent Somalian civilians in -93 while failing to kill one single warlord.

    Stop showing your ignorance. You may not have liked the Somalian mission, but lets be honest about what the mission was. Killing Somalian warlords was *not* the mission.

    Originally the mission was humanitarian, under Bush the elder- "open supply routes, get food moving, prepare the way for a UN peacekeeping force."
    Under Clinton, in part due to the deliberate killing of 24 UN peacekeepers, the mission changed somewhat to capturing (that's right, *capturing*, not killing) one warlord, Gen. Mohamed Farrah Aidid, as well as commanders under him. If you find the deaths of 7,000 civilians deeply troubling, as I do, you might try reading BlackHawk Down to get some perspective on how such things occur.

    You might pause to consider how (and if, of course) the USA should use its power when attempting to prevent a million starving people from dying due to the fact that food supplies can't get into a country during yet another civil war. Keep in perspective that while the US did sacrifice 34 of its own lives (and a billion or so in cash) and 7000 Somalis died, we were trying to prevent the starvation deaths which had already killed 300,000 Somalis, with the International Red Cross warning at the time of a potential 1.5 million deaths without greater food distribution. (I don't hear you trying to hold any warlords responsible for those 300,000 deaths now, do I? Why didn't the person who handed you that one-liner set of facts bother to mention them?)

    Being concerned about the safety of food distribution (having watched rival Somali clans attempt to use food as a weapon by stealing, hoarding, and denying it to particular people), the UN first sent 50 unarmed monitors, then 500 security guards, then 5000, then ultimately 25000 US troops to insure that food aid could get through without being intercepted by warring local warlords. Yeah, USA- those bastards!

    After it was clear to the US that its presence wasn't being effective (and the conflict was getting personal), it left, arranged for 25,000 UN troops from scattered countries to replace it, and after 8 more years, the UN has finally helped install Somalia's first government in a decade, the Transitional National Government (interview here). Meanwhile US food aid continues to stream into the country. Man, the USA really sucks, doesn't it!

    --LP

  93. What - no flashlight? by daveking · · Score: 1

    When are they going to figure out that phones need a nice bright LED to use as a flashlight? The backlight just doesn't cut it.

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  94. Re:Ooh. Wow. SO MANY MESSAGES. by Cato · · Score: 2

    Roughly 80 per cent of the Swedish population has a mobile phone (not sure if that includes children, but in the UK many teenagers have mobile phones and I'm sure Sweden is even more mobile mad). Source: http://www.line56.com/articles/default.asp?NewsID= 2924

    In almost every developed country other than the US, mobile phones are used by the majority of the population. Outside the US, the calling party pays extra for calls to a mobile (rather than the called person), which means that people are more likely to give out their mobile numbers, generating more traffic and making mobiles more popular. That's one reason why the US lags greatly in the use of mobiles, along with the lack of unified standards (CDMA, GSM and TDMA, and still lots of analogue).

  95. TRS-80 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It reminds me of the Trash 80.

    It also looks like the ugliest phone I'll ever talk on.

  96. Re:Ooh. Wow. SO MANY MESSAGES. by Jonny+290 · · Score: 1

    I misread the original post. You're right. I apologize.

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    Hey Taco! Looks like you're using the "infinite monkeys and typewriters" scheme to generate Ask Slashdots again...