Today, Nokia announced that the ever-efficient Swype keyboard will be coming to Symbian S60 5th edition devices. The software keyboard, which is currently being launched as a limited beta, supports the N97, N97 mini, X6, 5800, and 5230 Nokia handsets. As Nokia explains: “Swype and Nokia have been hard at work to deliver a limited beta release to Nokia S60 5th edition device owners. Your feedback will be valuable to us in the coming weeks, and we are especially interested in how well Swype interfaces with the many types of applications you use every day.” If you are interested in getting Swype on your S60 device, hit the jump to see a quick video followed by the download link.

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It looks like Nokia has a few tricks up its sleeve in the near future as a blurry photo reveals a number of unreleased and unannounced handsets. First is the N97 mini, which is easily distinguished from the full-sized N97 due to its lack of a d-pad on the keyboard. Next is a device that looks much like the 5800 XpressMusic, except the one pictured above (to the right of the N97 and N97 mini) has a chrome bezel. Could it be the rumored 5900XM? The white slider below the N97 mini has us baffled and yet completely uninterested. We’re also guessing that the black slider pictured to the next to the 5900XM is the same handset as the white slider, though the blur-factor makes it a bit tough to tell. Bottom line: 1) Expect a few new devices next month from Nokia World and 2) Nokia has a thing for chrome.

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As Apple’s effort to launch the iPhone in China continues, it looks like Nokia’s ever popular 5800 XpressMusic may find its way there first. This new version of the handset, dubbed 5800i, has just cleared the FCC with specs that are nearly identical to the 5800, at least from what we can tell. The 5800i rocks WCDMA 900/2100MHz alongside quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE, which lines up nicely with China Unicom. Oh, and then there’s the fact that the label is in Chinese. As for the rest of the specs, we’ll have to wait and see — though the 5800i is lacking Wi-Fi, like the China-bound iPhone. It would be interesting however, if this turned out to be the capacitive screen-rocking 5800 refresh that rattled around the rumor mill a few months ago. Unlikely, yes, but interesting. Hit the jump for more shots.

Thanks, D!

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We have to be perfectly honest with you — it’s been a long time since any of us bothered to play with our Nokia 5800 XpressMusic. A really long time. The handset was a bit dated before it even came to market and it has been a tiny bit difficult to keep caring about it. It’s definitely a milestone device though — Nokia’s first S60 5th Edition phone and a sign that that company is in fact trying to keep up with the times, to some extent — so we feel obligated to cover it once in a while. Like now: Nokia Malaysia reportedly held a meet and greet recently at which several tasty tidbits regarding the 5800 XM were revealed. Long story short, a bunch of the neat little features found in the 5530 XM are supposedly headed to the 5800 XM in a new firmware update due out some time in the future. Notables:

• Kinetic scrolling
• Improved camera performance
• Enhanced home screen (like the N97)
• Improved response time

So if you’re still enjoying your 5800 XM but you’ve been waiting for these improvements to make your life whole again, hopefully this rumor will pan out sooner rather than later.

[Via Cell Addict]

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Apparently Nokia’s online sale last week was pretty effective because the Finnish manufacturer has decided to give it another go. This time around the sale is good at both Nokia Flagship Stores — in New York and Chicago — and online as well for those who don’t live near a shop. Here’s how this one shapes up:

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

Not bad at all, Nokia. As you can see, some of the prices are even better than last week’s deal and all fall into range off the 30-50 percent off. So when can you get your Symbian fix on the cheap? Thursday, June 25th in New York City from 11am-4pm local time (Eastern) and in Chicago from 10am-3pm local time (Central). The sale will also be going down in the same time slot on nokiausa.com. Anyone eyeing some new kit?

If you’re a Nokia fan who lives in Canada and just so happens to have $199.99 burning a hole in your pocket, it might interest you to know Rogers has released the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic. Available nation-wide as of today, the 5800 XpressMusic is a multimedia-centric S60 5th Edition smartphone with specs that include a 3.2-inch 640×360 resistive touchscreen display, 3.2 megapixel camera with a Carl Zeiss lens, auto-focus and dual-LED flash, 3.6Mbps HSDPA connectivity, Wi-Fi and aGPS. An 8GB microSD card also comes in the box to help pique your interest, though after playing around with one ourselves we’re not exactly convinced many Canadians are going to be picking up this device considering how many other awesome options there are in the same price range.

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Do you have a burning desire for a new Symbian smartphone but an even deeper burning desire to save money? How does 15 – 50 percent off select shiny new Nokia handsets sound? For only three hours starting at 9pm Central/10pm Eastern, here’s what you’re looking at:

• N97 – $594
• E75 – $265
• E71 – $295
• 5800 XpressMusic – $299
• N85 – $320
• N95 8GB – $378
• E63 – $167
• E66 – $245
• N79 – $279

While a few of those price points might still be a bit steep, we’re generally looking at some solid deals on these brand new, unlocked, warrantied handsets. Anyone eying one of these bad boys and planning to pounce tonight?

Thanks to everyone who sent this in!

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Well hello there, mister Blurrycam. It seems that lately, Rogers is all about firsts. Yesterday, Rogers released the world’s first two Android handsets north of the border. Hell, even Joshua Jackson came out to celebrate. Next up for the carrier — Nokia’s first S60 5th Edition handset, the 5800 XpressMusic. According to promotional signage found in various The Source locations, the 5800 is well on its way to joining the Motorola ROKR E8 and the upcoming Sony Ericsson W705 to form a solid music phone lineup. No pricing yet unfortunately and as for release timing, we have word that not all Rogers employees have received training on the device so it could be a while. Apparently The Source got a little excited. So… If Pacey was on hand for the Magic and Dream launch, do you think Rogers will be able to break Joey out of whatever cage Tom Cruise is keeping her in for the 5800 launch?

Thanks, Hassan!

You know that really fun game you play, Nokia smartphone owners, where a firmware update is released in one region and you get to sit there all angry until your product code is finally recognized and NSU allows you to update? Well apparently Adobe is familiar with that game as well because an updated version of Flash Lite for the 5800 XpressMusic has just been released. Rather than force users to wait for Nokia to finally get around to issuing a firmware update, the new Flash Lite build is available as a stand alone update. Woo! Here’s the change log according to Adobe:

• Improved Web Browsing, 91% of top 500 internet sites
• Flash 9 (AS2 only) support
• Local Connection / HTML Text / GetURL_target / CSS support / WMode
• H.264 support / Improved video support (smoothing, seek)
• Improved memory handling for images
• MP3 Streaming support
• Support for hardware acceleration – Flash Lite 3.1 supports OpenVG 1.1 to improve flash rendering performance on capable devices
• Linux Reference port

Now it’s true that the update might not be available for all regions just yet, but at least we can anticipate a shorter wait than if we were waiting for new firmware. Users who can access the update are reporting much smoother in-broswer video playback so it should be worth the [hopefully brief] wait. To see if the update is available in your region, check the App Update app on your 5800.

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Nokia’s 5800 XpressMusic might have first appeared in The Dark Knight but as much as our Finnish friends love product placement, it looks like its first S60 5th Edition phone might be making another cameo on the big screen. Nokia has just revealed it will be releasing a special Star Trek edition of the popular touchscreen phone — which will be free on contract with Vodafone, Orange, T-Mobile and O2 — featuring special Star Trek animated screen savers, three Star Trek wallpapers and eight exclusive Trek-themed ringtones. It also packs an exclusive phaser application but sadly, no teleporting capabilities. The 5800 Star Trek edition might not be able to beam you anywhere but all your Trekkie pals will surely be envious when you brandish it at the next Star Trek convention. Just make sure you sneak away to a corner when you use it to call your mom for a ride home.

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When it was announced in early October, we were pretty underwhelmed by the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic although we did walked away with relatively positive thoughts after playing with the NAM version in February. It seems like those Nokia-crazed Europeans and Asians like it a lot more than anyone could have predicted however, as Nokia has reportedly now shipped a staggering 13 million units. To underscore just how much sales of the 5800 XM have picked up in the past two and a half months, it was only late January when Nokia shipped its millionth handset roughly two months after its initial release. It looks as though early sales were heavily impacted by a horrible pricing decision in which early adopters were forced to purchase a €100 Nokia Music Store voucher and €50 three-month subscription to Nokia Maps. Just how high the sales figures will climb in the coming months is anyone’s guess, but we’re going to guess that sales will increase with diminishing returns.

UPDATE: Oops. Looks like this story is based on a quote from a Nokia exec who got a little excited and mistakenly stated 13 million 5800s shipped instead of 13 million 5310s shipped. Slightly different handsets indeed. Thanks, Symbian-Guru.

[Via S-F]

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We have to file this one under super-duper-rumor for the time being as zero evidence was provided, but according to Daily Mobile (a blog with a good track record) we may now have some preliminary details on one of Nokia’s upcoming fall handset launches. The Nokia 5530 XpressMusic will supposedly join the 5800 XpressMusic in Nokia’s lineup of music-oriented touchscreen handsets. As far as reported specs go, you’re looking at a 2.9-inch touchscreen display, 3.2 megapixel camera, 3.5mm headphone jack, Wi-Fi, FM Radio and will be powered by Symbian S60 5th Edition. This latest rumored offering is said to be debuting in September 2009, falling nicely in line with the trio of touchscreen handsets that are supposed to be launching this fall.

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The Nokia 5800 XpressMusic NAM had a bumpy launch last month with 3G connectivity issues forcing Nokia to halt sales. The music handset is reportedly now back on the shelves at Nokia Flagship stores however, and pre-orders will be shipped from Nokia’s fulfillment center within the next 1-2 weeks. All new handsets have been updated to firmware v20 which supposedly fixes the connectivity issues that had plagued the phone. No word on when current 5800 owners can obtain this latest firmware update so you all will have to sit tight until Nokia is ready to roll it out to the masses. In the mean time, cross your fingers and hope your speaker doesn’t blow .

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After one of the rockiest launches Nokia has ever seen, it looks like the 5800 XpressMusic NAM is almost set to put this whole mess behind it. Sheesh. For those who missed, here’s a quick timeline: Nokia was ready to begin selling the handsets a day early on the 25th. Nokia’s inventory system however, was not ready. Finally, late in the evening on the 26th, the 5800 got the green light. Then we found out the speakers would probably die somewhere down the line, and 3G wouldn’t connect in some regions which caused many to return their purchases. As a result, Nokia pulled the 5800 from shelves. Did you get all that? Luckily for Nokia it looks as though the connectivity issue was software-related and a new firmware updates renders the 5800 3G-friendly once again. We don’t have exact timing but we expect Nokia to resume sales very soon — as for whether or not the speakers will go kaput in the next few months and start this mess all over again, that remains to be seen.

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Nokia has reportedly confirmed that some if its North American 5800 XpressMusic handsets are having 3G connectivity issues. The information, said to have been provided by an unnamed Nokia rep, suggests that only customers in Chicago and New York are experiencing difficulties while handsets in Dallas and Miami are working without issue. Nokia claims to be investigating both the device and the networks used in order to determine the source of the problem. Here’s the PR blurb:

We have learned that some Nokia 5800 XpressMusic devices are having issues with 3G performance. This is a very isolated problem concerning only the North American market* and is not specific to any other region or country. We are currently investigating the matter further to find a quick remedy to the situation. Customer satisfaction and product quality are very important to Nokia and we take all quality and customer satisfaction-related issues seriously. Nokia is investigating the issue. Existing customers of the 5800 XpressMusic who experience 3G signal issue with the device are advised to contact Nokia Customer Care.

*only NY and Chicago affected, in Dallas and Miami the devices are working OK. The investigation is ongoing on the device itself and the network used in these cases.

No word on how this will effect the general availability of the device but regardless of the outcome, such a problematic launch of Nokia’s first S60 5th Edition in the US does not bode well. On the other hand, here’s our theory: 3G handsets are developing AI and refuse to be crippled any longer by AT&T’s sorry excuse for a high-speed data network as it continues to reach new lows in several big cities around the country.

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