About Electronics

Stuff.tv: Mobile phones packing TV tuners are still rarer than hens’ teeth in the UK – we can think of the Nokia N96 and, er, that’s it – but LG has just unleashed a new model in Europe.

The KB770 sports a big 3in touchscreen and a DVB-T digital tuner for accessing live TV broadcasts.

Also on board are HSDPA for speedy downloads, a 3MP camera with auto focus, Bluetooth and a microSD slot. There’s no Wi-Fi or GPS.

The phone is only launching in Germany at the moment, priced at €449.

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IntoMobile: Nokia has released the new firmware for its N96 smartphone. Kinda strange when you consider that the device has started selling just recently…

Anyway, the Nokia N96 firmware version 11.018 is only available for the generic European product codes at the moment, but it’s fair to argue that rest of the world will follow in the near future.

Aside from fixing some of the known bugs and issues, the new firmware doesn’t bring much on the table. There are some new features and stability improvements here and there, but nothing radically new has been added.

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All About Symbian: Several sites are reporting that a BBC iPlayer application will soon be available for the Nokia N96. Some N96′s will ship with the application preloaded, but it will also be available for download from the BBC website. The application will support both the downloading and streaming of BBC TV and radio programmes. Read on for more.

Although other phones are not mentioned in the press release it seems likely the application will be compatible with other recent S60 devices. After all the BBC is looking to make as many devices as possible compatible with the iPlayer service.

The likely techncial requirement for streaming is the ability to play videos encoded in the H.264 format – something that all S60 3.1 phones are able to do.

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Vnunet.com: Nokia has set 1 October as the UK release date for the successor to its hugely popular N95 mobile phone.

The slimmer N96 will have a slightly larger 2.8in QVGA screen, along with GPS and a 5-megapixel camera.

The N96 also doubles the storage of the N95 to 16GB, and has space for a memory stick to increase the storage even more.

Nokia confirmed that the handset will also have an integrated DVB-H receiver, and a small pull-out stand allowing owners to watch Freeview TV channels on the go.

The new multimedia device will be sold via mobile operators 3, Orange, T-Mobile and Vodafone.

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The Inquirer: Hot on the release of the iPhone 3G comes a sequel to Nokia’s reigning king.

The successor to the N95, the N96, will be released in September, on UK mobile network 3, according to T3.

In comparison to its predecessor, the N96 will come with double the maximum storage – 16GB, comparable to the top-spec’d 3G Iphone.

Although the device isn’t touch-screen based, it does sport a 5-megapixel Carl Zeiss camera, with dual LED flash, and comes with instant upload tools for Flickr, Vox, Yahoo! and Google.

It also comes with an expendable memory slot, using MicroSD.

It’ll come coupled with HSDPA (3.5G data rates) and contain an on-board radio.

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The Register: Nokia’s upcoming flagship handset, the 16GB N96, will arrive in the UK in August, according to retailer Carphone Warehouse.

Carphone Warehouse’s website has been updated to reveal that the successor to the popular N95 will arrive in the summer. Until now, Nokia fans had been waiting with baited breath because only a vague, sometime-in-Q3 shipping date had been mentioned by the Finnish handset giant.

Unfortunately, the retailer’s website doesn’t treat us to any other nuggets of N96 news, such as an estimated UK price.

Tech specs for the phone were mistakenly leaked on Nokia’s German website last month, but the handset giant has since confirmed that it’ll sport a 2.8in display, a five-megapixel camera and 16GB of on-board memory.

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FOX Business: Nokia and Google yesterday announced that Google’s popular search engine will be integrated with the Nokia Search application. The integration will begin in select markets with the Nokia N96, Nokia N78, Nokia 6210 Navigator and Nokia 6220 classic. Google search will be extended to additional Nokia handset models in the future. Ultimately, Nokia will make Google search available to its customers in over 100 countries around the world, serving mobile owners speaking more than 40 languages.

Nokia Search, now with Google, offers fast and easy access to web information from the handset. In addition, Nokia Search also makes it possible for users to search content on their device and use local search engines for a complete search experience. Nokia Search is available on many devices and provides direct access with one click from the active standby screen, saving users time and steps in their searching. Once users have found the information they are seeking, Nokia Search enables users to act on that information by engaging device assets such as maps, messaging or the browser with just one click.

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The Register: Nokia is rumoured to be on the verge of announcing the successor to the popular N95, following the discovery of tech specs on the mobile giant’s German website.

The Finnish phone giant has since closed the page, but not before a selection of sites managed to scrawl down the handset’s tech specs, which have caused many to dub the upcoming handset the N96.

According to one transcription of the Nokia website specs, the N96 is a quad-band GSM/GPRS/Edge handset with 3G HSDPA connectivity over the 850MHz and 2100MHz bands. It also has DVB-H reception, the European standard for digital TV signals being sent to mobile phones, on board.

To refresh your memory, both the original and 8GB offering of the N95 are quad-band GSM/GPRS/Edge handsets, supporting 3G HSDPA connections. However, they don’t include DVB-H.

Like the earlier model, the N96 will offer 802.11 b/g Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and Assisted GPS technology too.

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