Some of the noticeable changes are inside the device. With the Nokia 5530 there is no HSDPA connectivity, no high speed downloads. More surprisingly, perhaps, is the complete lack of any 3G connectivity at all. I really think Nokia have made a mistake here, it really is inconceivable that a modern day mobile phone is produced without at least 3G as a minimum. There is some light, with regards to connectivity, in the form of WiFi included on the handset, but that isn’t an ideal alternative. I would much rather see 3G as minimum than have to rely on finding an open WiFi network for my music downloads on the device.

Another option that the Nokia 5530 lacks in comparison to the 5800 is no GPS. Nokia maps will still work on the device, but your position will be calculated by network triangulation, which isn’t as accurate. So, the 5530 is not another 5800, clearly. But it isn’t all bad with this new Xpress Music device; despite these shortcomings the handset offers a solid, if unspectacular package. Carrying the Xpress Music name the handset has a clear focus on media entertainment. Multiple digital music formats are supported, as well as the general MP3 the 5530 takes WAV, WMA, AAC and eAAC+ whilst video formats include MPEG4, 3gp and WMV. Available in five colour options, Red on black, Blue on white, Grey on black, Pink on white and Yellow on white, the 5530 is going to stand out. If your preference is conservative black, the 5530 may not be your thing.

A 3.2 megapixel camera is included on the phone, offering solid imaging capabilities, with autofocus and a Carl Zeiss lens, and an LED flash. Video capture is enabled, but the quality isn’t that great. TV OUT is enabled on this handset, but I wouldn’t use it for playing back any videos captured on the phone, the quality just isn’t there.

As the handset runs on S60, there are a few legacy features available from Nokia smartphones, that almost seem a little out of place. The excellent web browser is included, but running on GPRS it’s hardly worth anything. There is a document viewer included, for reading email attachments and other items, but it is hard to imagine the target market for this phone even considering messaging on the move over the standard SMS.

Sporting a nice, large screen, the Nokia 5530 Xpress Music is easy to interact with. Multiple entry methods are supported, from standard finger touch, to handwriting recognition and stylus operability. The handset weighs in at a very acceptable 107g, and is around 2mm thinner than the 5800, measuring in at 13mm. As on the 5800, you can have access to your favourite contacts on the main screen, and see a detailed history of your communication with them on screen, here the 5530 excels with a carousel option allowing you to smoothly scroll through up to 20 contacts, compared to the four available on the 5800.

Overall, the Nokia 5530 is a bit of a mixed bag. If music on a capable mobile device is your thing, and you like a ‘funky’ colour scheme, then the 5530 is your phone. I would imagine where this phone is going to do well is with first time mobile users who just want something which looks good, or those users whose preference is Prepay over contract. It’s hard to get excited about this phone; with a mismatch of features it just feels unbalanced. It will probably remain an anonymous device in the middle of an already crowded mid range of music phones from Nokia. Reports suggest a September 2009 release date.

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 A Hero is born this summer, check out the trailer below

The Hero will be the first HTC Handset to include the HTC Sense Interface

Hopefully that provides just a little taster of the Hero coming from HTC, we will be following up with preview, review and release dates shortly.

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Of the recent E Series phones, the one that has come to capture the attention of the corporate market like no other before it was the Nokia E71. Amazing high quality material build, solid performance and packed with features, with a battery life that topped all rivals, the E71 propelled the E Series to the fore of the corporate messaging market. Never one to rest on their laurels, Nokia have now come up with the E72, a nailed on successor to the E71. We’re going to take a closer look at this device and see if it has what it takes to be as popular as its predecessor.

When you see the E71 ‘in the flesh’, as it were, it is hard not to see why this device has such high appeal. Ultra slim at just 10mm, the quality material used in the build shows that this is a device to be taken seriously. One of the first, more noticeable differences to the E71 is the redesigned keyboard of the E72. The two menu soft option keys and send/end keys are now part of one piece, and is a much flatter style than the keys on the E71. The four shortcut keys are not so close to the main central navigation key, and the whole look gives the impression of more space and a less cramped design. On the bottom row of the QWERTY keypad, there are now 9 keys instead of 7. To accommodate this, the space key has been made smaller, although it is still the size of two standard letter keys. A lot more information is shown on the keys, too, indicating the double up functions available. For example the Symbol key also has the Bluetooth icon, showing that this key can be used as a shortcut to activating and de-activating Bluetooth on the phone. Now, anyone who has owned an E Series device in the past will know that Bluetooth can be activated by a long press of the # key and the E71 was no different. By including the Bluetooth icon, this is now demonstrated to those who may not have realised.

Aside from the keypad, there is little to tell the E71 and E72 apart. The other enhancements are internal, and the major one of these is the inclusion of a 5.0 megapixel camera, over the E71’s 3.2 megapixel camera. There are no other camera improvements, and although this is a much requested enhancement from the army of E71 users, I question the logic of upping the pixel count on the camera, without improving other areas relating to image capture. After all, pixel count isn’t the be all and end all of picture quality.

The other two noticeable improvements to the E72 are the option of using S60v3 FP2, which offers additional features in the operating system, such as being able to view all open applications from pretty much any where in the menu, and also the option of turning on transitions for animated icons in the menu, plus the E72 also includes a 3.5mm audio output jack instead of the 2.5mm option on the E71.

The main differences apart, the E72 shares much with the heritage of the E71. So we find the inclusion of such features as an internal GPS receiver, with aGPS support, and many high speed data connectivity options, including WiFi, HSDPA and HSUPA for quick document downloads and uploads on the move.

Internal memory storage on the E72 is a very impressive 250MB, with the option of increasing this with the support of Micro SD memory cards, up to 16GB. And thankfully, Nokia have included the same battery on this device as that found with the E71, which offers fantastic standby and talk times, just what the modern mobile professional on the move needs.

So, overall, the Nokia E72 gets a thumbs-up. Incorporating the same design and feature set that made the E71 such a firm favourite, it seems Nokia have listened to their customers and offered all the features that were requested from the previous model. With other E Series devices such as the E75, E55 and E52 currently available, never has such a choice of quality messaging focussed devices been available to choose from. Expected release date for the Nokia E72 Q3 2009.

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