AfterDawn: News

Nokia introduces 6630 Music Edition phone - delays N91

Finnish mobile phone giant Nokia has unveiled yet another mobile phone/music player. The Nokia 6630 Music Edition phone is a special music version of the iconic 3G smartphone. It supports playback of the MP3, AAC and WMA audio formats and comes bundled with a 256MB memory card to store the tracks. You can transfer music to the Nokia 6630 Music Edition quickly and easily, with the included Nokia PC Suite software or with the bundled Nokia USB MMC/SD reader.

Connecting your favourite headphones is a snap with the Nokia Audio Adapter and its 3.5 mm stereo jack. Nokia also launched the Nokia Music Pack, a bundled package of enhancements that makes it easy to enjoy your music collection on your mobile device. The package includes the Nokia Audio Adapter, the Nokia 256 MB MMC Card, the Nokia USB MMC/SD reader and Nokia Stereo Audio Cable.





Of course along with its audio capabilities, it also has all the other features you would expect from a Smartphone including a 1.3 megapixel camera, mobile broadband access with WCDMA networks, mobile email, streaming video and much more. The phone is available in either Rustic Red or Aluminium Grey. It will ship later this month and is available for European, Middle Eastern and African markets.

N91 Delay

While the Nokia 6630 Music Edition phone looks sweet and would be a nice gadget to own, many a geek has already felt the need to get their hands on the Nokia N91 phone that was announced in April this year. The 4GB storage capacity is a major selling point of the phone. It could store a lot more tracks than the Motorola ROKR phone (iTunes phone) which is advertised as being able to store about 100 tracks.

The bad news however is that the N91 phone has been delayed until 2006 after it was originally aimed for a late 2005 release. N91's audio player supports MP3, M4A, AAC and WMA formats, features a 4GB harddrive and a standard stereo headset jack. Additionally the phone includes an integrated wireless LAN adapter, which allows the phone to access Internet via WLAN networks, and allows easy-to-use wireless transfer of audio tracks from desktop computers. The phone can be also synchronized by connecting it to a regular USB 2.0 port.


The N91 phone should be become available during the first quarter of 2006. The company wants the phone to be compatible with as many music providers as possible. The company told Reuters that ensuring a solid implementation of Microsoft's DRM was a primary reason for the delay.



Sources:
Nokia (Press Release)
Betanews
Nokia 6630 Pictures

Written by: James Delahunty @ 20 Sep 2005 21:07

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• 9 comments

• borhan9

  Quote:The N91 phone should be become available during the first quarter of 2006. The company wants the phone to be compatible with as many music providers as possible. The company told Reuters that ensuring a solid implementation of Microsoft's DRM was a primary reason for the delay.After what they said here i am willing to wait for the new and updated phone....
  
  But the other phone is pretty kewl too i think they brought this one out cause it may be the cheaper budget phone for the users that dont wanna spend that much at the start of the new technology....
  
  Personally i wouldnt mind the nokia 6630... Beats by 6220 anyday at the moment :)

  22.9.2005 01:04 #1

• Ryanm1311

  That sounds wicked, but i dont know how they can say that it will be availalble on the African networks, when the stuff thats already there battles as is!! gonna be interesting to see whether it actually works or not, well the addiotnal features of the phone that is, never minding the exaggerated expense of spending just a few min on the net with your phone!!!
  You may just need to be a millionaire to have that!!

  22.9.2005 06:24 #2

• BigPantz

  does anyone know if Nokia are releasing the extra's to upgrade my bog-standard 6630 to the music edition?
  I wont bother getting an mp3 player/ipod or whatever if they do.
  
  then when the N91 finally comes out, i should be due for an upgrade, hehehehe.. :)

  22.9.2005 09:17 #3

• spooky2k

  bigpantz: in a perfect world, that would happen. but as it is.....no, i dont think they will.

  23.9.2005 02:21 #4

• A_Klingon

  I really hate mobile phones. I never used to hate them. A mobile phone - in and of itself - is 'ok', but today's mobile phone is not just a phone. Oh no, that would be too easy.
  
  It's now a mobile phone + a text-mail/email receiver + mp3 player + back-scratcher + shoe polisher + mini-vacuumn cleaner + game console + internet browser + nail-clipper + swiss army knife + movie viewer + ...... holee-s--t! !!!
  
  And of course, they all come with a 3-year, carved-in-stone contract charged monthly to your credit card. Oh my, YES! TES! BE THE FIRST ON YOUR BLOCK TO "EXPERIENCE" THE NEWEST, LATEST-GREATEST DRM INTIATIVES FROM YOUR GOOD PALS AT MICROSUCK!
  
  Oh Yummy! More stuff to go wrong. More innovations to become obsolete. More useless add-ons and "bonus" (bogus?) features that nobody will ever use, but still pay for. Read the fine print. Sign the contract at your own risk.
  
  I see a whole new society weaned on these high, ultra-tech wave-of-futuristic contraptions being religiously used by a nation of controlled zombies. I see them on the bus every day. (The phone-zombies). Trouble is, they don't even know what _day_ it is. (They would have to actually think a bit to figure that one out, and that's too much work). Of course, they could always get the "phone" to tell them what day of the week it is, since these electronic abominations allow them the luxury of not having to think too much about anything.
  
  I think that, at birth, all children should have a USB port surgically implanted into the back of their heads. That way they could just plug these new controllers directly into their brains.
  
  Don't accidentally drop one of these "phones" on the floor. Poof! There goes a few $$$. Don't have one stolen on you. Poof! More $$$ gone. Don't inadvertantly forget that you left one on the seat beside you on that bus that just pulled away. Poof! More $$$ evaporated.
  
  No one stops to smell the roses anymore. Nobody bothers to appreciate a fresh spring breath-of-air on their cheek. No one takes a stroll in the Park. No one talks, in real time, to anybody anymore. Real people, talking to other real human beings is a fading art. Why bother to talk to anyone beside you when you can simply plug your head into one of these new over-glorified micro-chips? I see glassy-eyed kids everywhere (and adults too) walking around, completely oblivious to everything that is happening around them. A bomb could go off in their underpants and they'd never even notice. I'm surprised that more of them don't walk straight into brick walls. God! How the Mega-Corps. and Inc.'s of the world must must love you! You are ceasing to be an individual, free-thinking, reasoning, intelligent person, and metamorphing into yet another DRONE; your DNA is now programmed to the control of the Global Bee Hive Collective. You are becoming a hard-core Borg for "The low-low price of just $39.99 per month! (Plus applicable taxes)."
  
  Oh s--t yeah, I must get one of these things. Hell, maybe I'll get half-a-dozen of 'em.......
  
  Your PAL ...........
  

  23.9.2005 07:39 #5

• borhan9

  @A_Klingon
  
  I understand where your comming from... but u have to also understand that not everyone is like that... people that really know about phones upgrade not because of the fashion state the phone brings but there needs have changed and they need to upgrade for other reasons...
  
  The 2 big issues with the new phones are that the simple interfaces have gone out the window with the new phones and now when u buy a phone u have a learning curve before you can really understand what u really can do with this phone, computer etc.... thing you bought... Thats the 1st issue... The next is...
  
  When the advertise these over priced phones to the young people of the market like all those teen girl and guys that think because it can play music, games that u can get on ps2 and have a bigger screen and also wow the phone glows in the dark i have to get it... as u said fine print[/bold
  
  Eventually if people have more patientce there will b a phone that beats this one....
  
  I belive in upgrading only if ur needs change and or the signal changes the u need to change e.g. analog to digital....
  
  But all in all its just good to see how far tech can go....

  23.9.2005 11:54 #6

• A_Klingon

  Perhaps so, borhan9, but I hate to see kids - or anyone else become as addicted to these devices as a crack user is to his 'rock'. It's not healthy. Doesn't matter how much money one has...... to become totaly reliant on these mini-boxes is a mistake. Never mind the ability to call '911' for help - what would these people do in a real-life emergency?
  
  People are losing their ability to think for themselves - they are lazy - they want someone else to do their thinking for them. And the peer pressure among kids is just mind-boggling. If your new phone doesn't take digital pictures, you are an old-fashioned dinosaur in the eyes of your friends. Hell - if I want to take digital pictures, I'll buy a 'proper' camera outright!
  
  And it's just an ongoing, relentless cash-cow money grab for the people who invent the services that run these things.
  
  How many of the hopelessly-varied and ever-increasingly-abundant features of these phones do people actually USE? How many of them are even aware of all of the onboard features? How many do they need? How many are just bogus add-ons?
  
  I hate to see a society where Big Business controls the minds of the masses, where "solutions" to "problems" (which I didn't even know I had) are conveniently provided by greedy corps who have permanent in-house think-tanks whose sole purpose in life is to invent ever-more 'needs' to solve (and charge appropriately for). I prefer to think for myself - Sorry - that's just the way I am.
  
  Phone Zombies....... ahhrrgghhhhh!!!!!!!!! :-)
  

  24.9.2005 02:27 #7

• borhan9

  @A_Klingon
  
  I totally agree with u there mate... all i was stating was that not every1 is like that. I can just speak for myself and say. I will not buy somethin unless i have a need fullfilled, in sayin that if i can do ot in a cheapper or no cost form i will choose that over what seems to be kewl...
  
  And I also like to b able to think for myself... And some of the features u get on a phone u can get on a pc or like u said on a stand alone camera that does the job 100x better than a phone can...
  
  For me really if i have a need that i can not find a solution for i will change the phone, but when i choose a phone i go for simple phones as in new features but user friendly. :)
  
  All in all i agree with what u say...

  24.9.2005 13:07 #8

• A_Klingon

  It's kind of funny really .....
  
  I wonder how many buttons/functions they'll be able to cram into a 1 sq.-inch keypad? There'll probably be half-a-dozen functions for each key depending on what "mode" you are in. Pretty soon folks will need a toothpick and a magnifying lens to even see the keys - a human fingertip will be too large to press just one key.
  
  And of course, don't forget the proprietary, over-bloated prices of non-conformist rechargeable batteries (a-la i-Pod) that these things use, when 2 or 4 standard inexpensive throw-away AA penlight batteries would have done the trick nicely.
  
  In fact, there is a whole burgeoning aftermarket for these devices - an ancillary accessory market. Simply by choosing a non-standard size (say, for batteries like the new, flat 1.5 volt Ni-MH batteries for mp3 players, or a stupid non-standard size for a simple connector plug), companies can charge 10 times more than they are worth. (No exaggeration).
  
  (OK, my rant is over for now). :-)
  

  26.9.2005 07:50 #9