TNS says Nokia still No. 1 in the Philippines

A recent study by TNS Philippines showed that Nokia still ranks as the top choice of mobile phone users in the Philippines with 7 out of 10 users owning a Nokia phone. The same study showed Sony-Ericsson and Samsung also posted huge gains over the last 12 months (thanks to Android?).

The TNS study was limited to Metro Manila users with a sample size of only 500.

TNS, the world’s largest custom research company, recently launched results of its study dubbed “Mobile Life 2011,” the largest ever global research study into today’s mobile consumer. Now on its sixth year, Mobile Life 2011 is the result of more than 25,000 hours of interviews with over 34,000 respondents in 43 countries, including the Philippines. It provides a complete understanding of consumer experiences with mobility today and insights into how this will change tomorrow.

Here’s a copy of their presentation during the media briefing yesterday. Look out for more interesting bits of information.

Mobile Usage Behavior Study of Metro Manila

If you looked closely on the 2010 results and the 2011 results, Nokia’s share also dropped from 80% to 70%.

Microsoft To Buy Nokia’s Mobile Division? (Rumor)

Hot on the heels of their acquisition of Skype for $8.5 Billion, rumors now suggests that Microsoft is close to having a big deal of buying out Nokia’s mobile division.

The rumor comes from none other than the well known and respected Russian based technology analyst Eldar Murtazin, who believes that Microsoft and Nokia will announce the said deal deal as soon as next week.

With Nokia still struggling to match both Apple’s iPhone and Android devices in smartphone space, is to drop the name Ovi and sell apps under the Nokia brand in future, and likewise Microsoft still having not-so-good-looking sales figures for its WindowsPhone 7 based devices, the deal probably will bring hope of improving ailing fortunes of both the companies.

Could this be the end of Nokia as we know it? We cant be sure at the moment of course. But if sources of Murtazin are to believed, it could well possibly be it. It is also important to note here that Microsoft and Nokia have already announced a strategic partnership earlier this year according to which Nokia will be dumping Symbian and MeeGo in favor of Windows Phone 7 as the primary smartphone platform for its handsets.

Why Nokia chose WP7 over Android?

While some people are excited about the adoption of Windows Phone 7 into the Nokia family, others are also disappointed why Android wasn’t picked by the Finnish company.

Android is obviously the more mature mobile platform compared to Windows Phone and the number of apps available in the Android Market are also miles away compared to the Zune Store.

So the questions remains, why WP7 and not Android? Here are some of my thoughts.

Elop’s career background played a huge role with the decision to go WP7 – he used to be a top Microsoft guy and may still have a lot of allies and friends inside the Redmond complex (including Steve Ballmer himself). His bias towards Windows Phone 7 is expected and being the new gung-ho CEO of Nokia hasn’t diminished that.

Second, the shift in direction isn’t solely leveraged on WP7 alone. Nokia will still make Symbian phones in their entry-level to mid-range handsets while WP7 will be installed on flagship and high-end phones (partly due to the high hardware requirements).

With Microsoft, Nokia has very little to no significant conflicts of interest and products unlike Google. Had Nokia chosen Android, Ovi Maps will be replaced by Google Maps and the Ovi Store will be totally scrapped in favor of the Android Market. These are huge investments that Nokia made recently and won’t still be willing to let go just to embrace Android.

The Nokia and Microsoft partnership looks like an equitable (dare I say win-win) arrangement — neither one of the parties is too dominant over the other. Microsoft has a little bit of edge in terms of how far its WP7 platform will move forward while Nokia will benefit a lot from all the marketing budget that Microsoft will infuse into the pool as well as support for enterprise clients (MS Exchange, Outlook and Bing).

Let’s not also discount the fact that Android has a lot of patent problems plaguing it (primarily from Apple) and that might be something Nokia does not want to inherit.

Nokia will not be getting any premium or special treatment from Google unlike what it’s getting from Microsoft. Nokia already got the nod of MS to customize the UI of WP7, a feature Microsoft did not extend to other previous handset manufacturers. Speaks “volumes” of favoritism.

-Yuga

Nokia N900 gets official

The Nokia N97 gets a big brother. Nokia confirms the new N900, a large-sized smartphone (internet tablet) packed with features and looking even better than previous models in the same line (such as the Nokia N850).

3.5 inch display (800×480 pixels) with resistive touchscreen
up to 1GB of application memory (256 MB RAM, 768 MB virtual memory)
32 GB storage
up to 16GB via microSD
HSDPA, 10Mbps, HSUPA, 2Mbps
WiFi 802.11 b/g
DLNA
Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP
5MP camera @ 2592×1944 pixels, Carl Zeiss optics, AF,
Dual LED flash with video light
ARM Cortex A8 600 MHz with PowerVR SGX graphics
Stereo FM radio and FM transmitter
GPS with A-GPS support
Digital Compass
TV-out

The 1320mAh Li-Ion battery does seem a little low for a smartphone like this considering the earlier E71/E63/E72 already have 1500mAh. Would be pretty interesting how the Linux-based Maemo 5 OS will perform. Will be available later this year with a suggested retail price north of Php35,000.

New releases from Nokia X3 and X6

At Nokia World 2009 were presented two new phone line with the index X (short XpressMusic) - touchscreen smartphone X6 and a slider with an index of X3. Both of them should appear on sale later this year. Nokia X3 main features of the slider - working with the radio without a wired headset, 2.2 inch display with 320x240 resolution, 3-megapixel camera, memory card support up to 16 gigabytes, the possibility of charging from USB (there is a standard 2-mm charger connector) and integration with web services OVI. Expected price is at level 540 (!) And 140 euros for, respectively, the model X6 and X3. Frankly, the price for the X6 looks quite pessimistic, despite its built 32 gigabytes of memory.

Nokia N86 8MP Slider Phone

The new Nokia N86 8MP has just been officially unveiled. This landmark Nseries is the first Nokia phone to break the 8 megapixel camera mark. But the N86 8MP is by no means playing simple megapixel war games - this serious point ‘n’ shoot camera phone launches laden with top performance photography credentials such as a Carl Zeiss Tessar optics and a host of smart photo sharing talents.

Read on for full details of the new Nokia N86 8MP, and get clicking through our close-up photo gallery of Nokia’s first 8 megapixel camera.

Alongside its talent for capturing ultra high-resolution shots at up to 8 megapixels, the Nokia N86 8MP comes loaded with 8GB of internal flash memory, enabling it to stomach around 4,000 snaps. Built with Carl Zeiss Tessar optics at its core, the N86 8MP features a lens that’s in the same league as the sort of wide angle 35mm lens you’d find on an SLR camera. Likewise, the lens has been engineered to offer sharper image contrast and better colour representation.

The Nokia N86 8MP features a super vibrant OLED QVGA screen that measures in at 2.6-inches, making it an ideal window for showcasing your shots. However, this 8 megapixel S60-powered Nseries is more keenly focussed on enabling you to share you photos further afield via services such as Share on Ovi and Flickr. Plus, it comes with onboard Assisted GPS, geared towards letting you geo-tag your photographs with location info before you share them. Its GPS talents are also exploited for satnav action and location-based services such as Nokia Maps 3.0 which comes pre-installed on the device.

N-Gage ready, the N86 8MP doubles as a full-blown entertainment handset. As well as being a premium pocket games machine, it’s a music player with a standard 3.5mm headphone socket and FM transmitter for sending songs wirelessly to your in-car stereo. It’s OLED screen is also perfectly suited for video playback (up to 7 hours), and like the N96 has a handy kickstand.

Click through our gallery of photos of the Nokia N86 8MP, to get a close-up look at Nokia’s first 8 megapixel handset. And let us know what you think about it in the comments section further down.

sources: nokiaconversation

Nokia sells 1 million 5800 XpressMusic phones

Over the weekend, Nokia announced that they have just shipped the 1 million Nokia 5800 XpressMusic phones making it one of their more successful phones to date.

Even though it hasn’t been released all over the globe, impressive sales in particular regions like Hong Kong, Moscow and no doubt, the Philippines as well has helped the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic attain this feat at such a short amount of time. This, in turn, will no doubt raise even more comparison to Apple’s equally successful mobile phone, the iPhone. So, is the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic phone the real iPhone-killer?

Nokia 8800 Gold Arte for the Opulent Crowd

Nokia’s got a new 8800 iteration on their hands, and this time, it’s clad in 18-carat gold and white leather.

Dubbed the Nokia 8800 Gold Arte, this fine-looking piece of mobile telecommunications equipment comes with brilliant 2-inch OLED display (think N85), 3.2-megapixel camera, Bluetooth 2.0, tri-band GSM (900/1800/1900MHz), WCDMA 2100MHz, 4GB internal memory, and runs on the S40 5th edition FP 1 platform.

Those interested in getting this luxurious phone will have to wait a little longer, though, as price and availability info is yet to be announced.

Nokia 6260 slide: First S40-based Phone with GPS

If you’re looking for a little something more powerful than the budget-friendly phones we previewed last week, the recently launched Nokia 6260 slide might just be the phone for you.

It’s set to debut in early 2009 and while it may not be an Nseries phone, it comes with a bunch of features that are commonly associated with multimedia line of Nokia. The Nokia 6260 slide comes with a 5-megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss lens and LED flash, WiFi, 3G/HSDPA connectivity up to 10.2 Mbps, and Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP. It also comes with GPS with A-GPS making the 6260 slide the first S40-based phone to come with such a feature. Likewise, it has TV-out functionality, stereo speakers and comes with 200MB internal memory and supports microSD card technology for additional storage. Despite its lowly S40 software, the Nokia 6260 is nonetheless a truly full-featured slider that can definitely match up with its heftier Nseries siblings.

It’s expected to cost €299 or close to P19K (converted using the current exchange rate) before taxes and subsidies. It seems a bit expensive for an S40 device, but considering the features it comes with, it might just be worth considering.

UPDATE: Sad news guys as this one won’t be relased by Nokia Philippines. Hopefully, something that’s equally delightful (and full-featured) will replace it as part of the 2009 line-up of Nokia phones in the country.

Mobile Internet Browser Face-Off

With most mobile phones featuring internet browsing capabilities, choosing which phone offers the best mobile internet experience is a pretty daunting task. It’s a good thing though that Gizmodo has come out with a very juicy comparison to help us out. It may be a very limited comparison leaving out the likes of the HTC Touch Pro and XPERIA X1 out of the picture, but it is, nevertheless very informative.

As you can see with their scores, the iPhone is still the best among the rest despite lacking Flash support. Garnering a B+ score is the HTC G1 with the Android OS while both the BlackBerry Bold and Nokia E71 got a B-.

The table below shows how all the phones fared using a 3G connection. Page rendering is denoted by a Poor to Excellent rating while the color (green is good; red is poor) takes into account both speed and page rendering accuracy.

This second table show how each phone performs under a WiFi connection.

All-in-all, it was a pretty interesting showdown. Some lived up to their expectation while some failed miserably. Safe to say, if mobile internet browsing is your kind of thing, then it seems that it’s best to go with the iPhone albeit lacking support for flash. For more details about the results and how they conducted the test, you can check out Gizmodo.

How about you guys? Which mobile phone do you think provides the best mobile internet experience?

Budget-friendly Nokia phones to usher in the New Year

With the slow down of the global economy affecting almost everyone, the new year might not be the best year for high-priced gadgetry. So, in response to the challenges of the present time, Nokia has just announced a new batch phones that will offer great value for your hard-earned money. Included in this fresh new line-up are the Nokia 7100 Supernova, Nokia 5130 XpressMusic, Nokia 2323 Classic, Nokia 2330 Classic, Nokia 1202 and Nokia 1661.

The Nokia 7100 Supernova is designed for those who put a premium on style and entertainment. This new slider comes with a high resolution color display, a 1.3 megapixel camera, FM radio, support for Share on Ovi - Nokia’s online photo sharing service, Mail on Ovi, as well as an internet browser. The Nokia 7100 Supernova is expected to begin shipping in the last quarter of 2008.

Meanwhile, the Nokia 5130 continues the XpressMusic line from Nokia and features the now familiar dedicated music keys. It comes with a 2 megapixel camera , FM radio, 3.5 mm headphone jack, support for Share on Ovi, Mail on Ovi, and is being touted as Nokia’s most affordable music phone to date. The Nokia 5130 XpressMusic is expected to become available in the first quarter of 2009.

The Nokia 2323 classic and Nokia 2330 classic, on the other hand, offer timeless design with a decent feature set. They both come with an FM radio with recording capabilities, an Internet browser, support Mail on Ovi and Nokia Life Tools. As opposed to the Nokia 2323, the Nokia 2330 classic is equipped with an integrated camera. Both phone models are scheduled to debut in the second quarter of 2009.

Last, but not the least, the Nokia 1202 and Nokia 1661 pair provide great value at a very reasonable price. The Nokia 1202 is expected to be the company’s lowest priced mobile phone to date. The Nokia 1202 features a flashlight, extended battery life, loud ringtones and a phone book for up to five users. The Nokia 1661, meanwhile, is Nokia’s lowest priced color phone. It comes with an FM radio, a large color screen, loud ringtones, a flashlight and multiple phonebooks as well. Both the Nokia 1202 and 1661 are expected to ship in the first quarter of 2009.

No 3G, Wifi or huge megapixel cameras on these new phones, but you do get the basic and most essential features you’ll need on a mobile phone. So if you’re on a strict budget and looking into getting a phone that will mostly be used for calls and SMS, then you might want to check these new Nokia phones out once they hit the local market in 2009.

Nokia E63: The E71 made Affordable

The Nokia E71 has been touted as one of the best E-series phones to come from the Finnish company, but it’s relatively expensive when compared to the other previous models Nokia has released in the past couple of months. So as to offer everyone in the market a chance to own and enjoy the benefits of the E71’s great form factor as well as some of its stellar features, Nokia has announced the E63.

It looks almost like an identical twin of the E71 albeit lacking the sopshitication as it trades in the steel accents for ordinary plastic. Aside from the external changes, it likewise dumps the 3.2-megapixel camera with autofocus, GPS and HSDPA 3.6Mbps connectivity for a more modest 2-megapixel camera and GPRS/EDGE connectivity feature set. Sure, the lack of HSDPA connectivity might be a bummer but at least it still comes with WiFi, Bluetooth, and the same reliable battery to make it a decent buy at its more affordable price of $255 which is roughly just P12K++ as opposed to the P23K SRP of the E71. This is, of course, just my assumption of how much it would probably cost, but let me just stress how its price will play a key role if the E63 has any chance at all in succeeding the local market.

No word though on when it will become available in the Philippines, but I’m betting it might make a debut just in time for a post-holiday shopping spree. So if I were you, I’d go easy on the expenses this holiday season because you never really know what goodies lie in store when 2009 finally arrives.

Nokia N85 outshines N96

While the Nokia N96 holds a better ranking in the Nseries hierarchy as opposed to the yet-to-be-released N85, a review has confirmed our earlier suspicon that the N85 is better than the N96.

True, the N96 migh have DVB-H and a larger 8GB internal memory, but these two features aren’t necessarily deal breakers in the greater context of things. DVB-H usage, particulary, is limited to a particular network locally and has very little application internationally. The 16GB capacity, on the other hand, can be addressed by available memory cards in the market. Meanwhile, the N85 does have something that everyone will immediately appreciate and the N96 sorely misses; a brilliant OLED display. Apart from that, they more or less are the same in terms of deisgn and features which makes the N85 seem like a better choice.

However, since the N85 is yet to become available locally, the N96 is still currently the best option as far as Nseries phones go. Nevertheless, if you can muster up enough patience, it would be advisable to wait for the N85’s debut before making any impulse buys at the moment. Provided, of course, that the N85 won’t be more expensive than the N96 when it does go on sale, then it would be definitely be a more suitable alternative to the hyped N96.

Nokia E71, E66 now comes with free WiFi

Nokia Philippines is giving you more reasons to get their latest Eseries phones. Aside from featuring all the modern connectivity features and a bundle of productivity tools housed in a very compact and elegantly designed body, buying either a Nokia E71 or E66 phone will entitle you to two months free WiFi usage in Airborne Access hotspots.

Not good enough for you? Well, there’s more. Users with the most number of login times for the week will win an additional 6 months of free WiFi access. Now if that doesn’t win you over, I don’t know what will. For more details, check out Nokia Philippines’ website.

Both the Nokia E71 and E66 are available now with a suggested retail price of P23,690 and P22,890 respectively. This is one offer that will surely bring out the best in these new Eseries phone at no added cost.

Nokia 5800 XpressMusic touchscreen phone launched

Nokia officially joins the likes of Apple, Samsung, HTC and LG in the touchscreen mobile phone biz when they finally unveiled the much-talked-about Nokia 5800 XpressMusic phone.

It was previously referred to as the Tube, but I guess the XpressMusic name is more apt to its features. So, aside from its moderately-sized 3.2-inch display, what else can we find on the 5800? Well, there’s a 3.2-megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss lens and LED flash, stylus input support, WiFi, 3G/HSDPA, GPS, 8GB of internal memory and microSD card support up to 16GB. It’s expected to cost 279 Euros or $392 when it hits select markets before the year ends.

With its reasonable price, one would easily wonder what the drawbacks are in this phone, and that’s what we’ll probably look for once it does become available to the public. For now, we can just add the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic phone to our growing list of devices we’re looking forward to in the months to come.

Nokia 5800 XpressMusic announced

Earlier dubbed as Nokia Tube, the just announced Nokia 5800 XpressMusicmay appeal to many Nokia fans with its touch screen interface that comes with a pen stylus.

Here’s what Nokia fans will get with the release of the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic:

3.2 inch touch screen display (640×360)
3G/HSDPA 3.6Mbps
GPS with Nokia Maps 2.0
WiFi 802.11 b/g
3.15MP autofocus camera with Carl Zeiss optics and dual flash (2048×1536 pixels)
secondary camera for video calls
Pre-loaded with an 8GB microSD card (max 16GB)
81MB internal memory
Proximity Sensor (auto turn-off)
Accelerometer sensor for auto-rotate
Handwriting recognition
Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP
Stereo FM radio with RDS
TV Out
3.5mm audio output jack

Surprisingly, the price $392 is pretty attractive (just around Php18,000) considering you also get the 8GB microSD card in it.

What’s more surprising is that Nokia is also introducing the “Comes with Music” in this handset — that’s 12 months of free unlimited subscription to the Nokia Music Store.

Not only is the Nokia 5800 a potential iPhone-killer, it’s more like an iTunes-killer too. See Nokia PR page.

Nokia 7210 Supernova, 2680 Slide: It’s who you are

Nokia Philippines has just recently launched two new handset models that will surely give you your money’s worth, the 7210 Supernova and the 2680 Slide

The 7210 Supernova is part of the Supernova collection which is likewise available locally. It features a 2-megapixel camera, 2-inch QCGA display, Bluetooth, FM radio, 30MB internal memory and microSD card support up to 2GB all housed in an ultra slim form factor measuring in just 10.6mm in thickness. Sure, it doesn’t have 3G or WiFi, but for a SRP of P7500, it’s a well featured mobile device that provides you with all of the basic functionality of a phone with a host of entertainment features on the side.

The 2680 slide, on the other hand, is another compact phone that proves that good quality products need not come with a hefty price tag. Priced at only P4990, this clamshell gives you Bluetooth capabilities, VGA camera, FM radio and GPRS connectivity. It cuts back on the camera, but it still provides you with all the essential functions you’ll ever need in a phone without putting too much strain on your wallet.

Both phones are already available in your local Nokia stores.

Smartphone Showdown: 3 QWERTYs and a Touchscreen

As a response to one of my readers’ request, I'm pitting the latest smartphones in the market against each other to see which one really stands out in this elite group. Actually, I'm also quite curious ourselves to find out which is the best among the bunch as each one has a unique feature to offer that the others don’t have.

As you can see in the table, there isn’t one phone that clearly dominated in all the categories. Take for example the Nokia E71. It does win in the camera, size and weight divisions, but it has the smallest display in the group with the best one goint to the 3G iPhone. While the iPhone may also be considered a winner in terms of internal memory, all the others support memory expansion which makes their total memory flexible although I doubt there’s an SD card available now that’ll match the iPhone’s 16GB capacity. On the user interface side, QWERTY is still the most efficient way of entering long messages and composing e-mail, which makes the iPhone the blacksheep of the group albeit its highly advanced touchscreen. However, the Palm Treo Pro manages to incorporate both a touch screen interface and a QWERTY keypad into its design offering users a taste of both worlds.

As far as the OS is concerned, that is a matter of preference. While the Mac OS X mobile version is relatively new in the market, it is fast gaining popularity and many developers are now releasing apps for the iPhone. Both Windows Mobile and S60 have been around for sometime now and they have their own respective community of developers. The Blackberry, on the other hand, also has its share of software developers though they’re quite limited and not so visible as opposed to the others. Nonetheless, all of their respective mobile OS are equally capable and can get the job done at hand. It all boils down to how much you would like to expand its capabilities through 3rd party applications and additional software.

Clearly, there’s no one way to call this competition and it will all rely on what you need. If it’s a simple internet mobile device, the 3G iPhone is what we would recommend simply because the mobile Safari is unmatched in terms of performance. If it’s a serious business phone you’re after, you can’t go wrong with the Blackberry Bold, but considering its limited availability worldwide, I’d say its better to get the Nokia E71 or Palm Treo Pro instead though the latter is yet to be released. If you want an all-around performing device, the Nokia E71 gets my vote. However, if availability is a major concern, you’ll narrow down the playing field to the iPhone and the Nokia E71 as both the BlackBerry Bold and Palm Treo Pro are not yet out in the local Philippine market.

But hey, this is just my opinion, how about you guys; which one’s the best smartphone among the group for you?

Mobile computing: N95 + 1 + 16GB + 5MP = N96

I (or most of us) want for this coming Christmas is a brand new... gadget!

A digital audio player? A laptop maybe? A new portable media player? Or a new digital camera?

What if you can get them all in just one device? You might be thinking "yeah, it’s gotta be the N95. And you can have it on the 8GB version if you want more storage space."

I'm suggesting this one - the N96.

At a glance...

"First impressions last" on N96. Compared to the N95, holding the N96 feels sturdier or tougher in terms of the materials used. It is a little heavier. The corners of the N96 are curved which is appealing in today’s trend. Its black motiff and metallic gray accent is a complementing combination. The battery cover has a wave-like imprint

As with the N95, the N96 comes in a two-way slider form factor. Its users will surely notice the phone has a seamless, glossy, black finish. Slide it up to reveal the alphanumeric keypad and you’ll notice that its already leveled flat, with only the "5" key having two small bumps. Slide it down and you see the multimedia buttons for use in playing music and videos.

The volume keys (also the zoom in and out in camera mode) and shutter button are still located on the right side. On the corners of this side is where the two stereo speakers are located. The left side is where the microSD card slot is placed, as well as a small hole for wrist strap at the lower corner. There is a keyguard switch on top that replaces the lock/unlock shortcut in the N95.

Turn it over and you will see the same 5-megapixel Carl Zeiss autofocus camera, but there are now two flash lamps(which I assume to be Xenon). Take notice of the small gap underneath the camera - it’s what Nokia calls a "kickstand" and it functions as a support when viewing the N96 in portrait mode (like a picture frame).

What’s inside...

Nokia NSeries users won‘t be alienated with the grid menu. The photos, music, and video center icons are out of the media sub-menu. This, along with the Web and games, is what an NSeries phone is all about.

Don’t fear that you will have to look for the other features because they are now in the Apps or Tools sub-menu. The new feature here is the MobileTV Xtra. The N96 has a DVB-H TV broadcast receiver feature allowing users to watch TV shows wirelessly (this is network-dependent).

You might have to get used to the keypad, when composing text messages, if youre fingers can’t feel the buttons immediately.

Using the camera might be a bit frustrating at first because the shutter button needs to be pressed deeper - either on the half-press to use the auto focus or the full press for the photo capture itself. A noticeable improvement here is that photos and videos are saved faster.

Going deeper...

Perhaps the most impressive internal part of the N96, for most consumers is the phones storage capacity. It has three separate drives - the phone memory, mass memory, and memory card. Approximately, the phone memory has about 256Mb while the mass memory at 16GB.

I’m pretty sure those who just bought an 8GB version of the N95 and N81 phones will be pretty upset when the N96 gets released in the local market. So far, this is what mobile computing has become...and what we would all love for the Yultide season.

Vertu's Signature S Design is real, hits FCC

Yes its the World Most Expensive Cellphone the Nokia Vertu

Tycoons of the world, get out your pocketbooks. Actually, wait, scratch that -- kick back, relax, and let your butler do it for you, because Vertu has a new multi-thousand dollar toy for your enjoyment. The FCC has revealed that Nokia's ultra-luxe division has finally updated its flagship Signature model to include 3G, and they've taken the opportunity to completely redesign it to make it slimmer, hotter, and presumably, pricier than ever before. The all-new Signature features quadband EDGE, HSDPA on the 850 and 2100MHz bands, and WiFi -- a Vertu first -- which means we should probably expect a fabulous browser to go with that generously-proportioned OLED display. Well, we can't, since we'll never get closer than a thick sheet of security glass to this thing -- but someone can.

Update: The phone's officially been unveiled on Vertu's site as the Signature S Design, hitting a boutique you can't get into unless you're dressed to impress near you come next month.