We never thought we’d see the day when a brand new traditional Blackberry device would cost less than N60,000. But that day is here. At last, RIM has attempted to break into the mid-range market, and about time too.

The Blackberry 8520 is the device through which this transition is taking place, and it has been aptly named Blackberry Lite in certain quarters.

To achieve this low-cost solution, RIM has skimped on features, and you need to be aware before you splurge on the 8520. Here goes:

1. the 8520 lacks 3G, so you are left with GPRS and EDGE for data
2. the camera is only 2 mega-pixel, so don’t nexpect to be able to take pictures you canput to any serious use
3. there’s also no GPS

The QWERTY keyboard is traditional Blackberry and users shouldn’t expect any problems from that direction.

Of course, if you are after much more functionality and value, you can spend about the same to get a Nokia E71, Nokia E75, Samsung Jet, and get 3G, HSDPA, Wi-fi, GPS, much better camera, etc.

But, if your primary needs are corporate PUSH email and image (yes; that’s what most Nigerian BB owners get their devices for) and you don’t want to spend too much, the BB 8520 beckons for you.

But for those who have been craving to join the Blackberry club you can now do so without breaking the bank.

Research firms Strategy Analytics and IDC released separate, detailed looks at global mobile phone market share, shipment and growth information covering the third quarter of 2009

According to the reports, market leader Nokia lost a small margin of marketshare (from 38.6% marketshare in Q3 2008 to 37.8% in Q3 2009), while Samsung increased by as much as 4% (from 17.1% in Q3 2008 to 21.0% in Q3 2009). LG also made a strong showing growing its sales from 7.5% in Q3 to 11.0% in Q3 2009.

Motorola and Sony Ericsson are both still on a downward slide, and we are hoping here at MobilityNigeria that 2010 will bring them better fortunes.

In the meantime, as someone has said, the Koreans are coming!

Source

Dear friends, we have just revamped the MobilityNigeria Forums and are setting it up to be mobile-friendly. As you know, there are a wide range of mobile devices out there, and we need to be sure that the forums mobile access work on as many as possible.

As such, we need you to help us text this feature. Here is what you do for us:

1. load www.mobilitynigeria.com/forums/ on your mobile browser to see if a mobile version is presented to you
2. if the desktop version is what loads on your phone browser, please load this browser detection page on your phone’s built-in browser to check the browser user-agent, then post the info in the comments section below, so we can fine-tune things for your phone browser
3. tell us anything else you observe

We will make adjustments till we have as many devices/browsers covered.

We appreciate the time that you put into this, as well as other resources that this test may cost you. If you are reading this on your mobile device, you are just ready to go, simply click to go to the forums.

When looking at mobility, the default point of focus is the mobile phone, be it a featurephone or smartphone. Yet, in the last few years mobility has gradually assimilated netbooks, mini notebooks and tablet PCs. As a matter of fact, some of these new mobile devices now have wireless radios and modems built-in.

At Mobility Nigeria (and our sister company, Alireta), we are of the opinion that it is time we expand the scope of this website to cover these devices. For example, here at the office, we use an Acer AspireOne netbook that is the size of a small hard-cover notebook – smaller than the typical desk diary and very mobile. Some netbooks come smaller than that.

Nokia’s new netbook (the 3G Booklet) has further narrowed down the gap between computers and smartphones. More manufacturers are pitching in this direction as well. It is just a matter of time before they become more mainstream mobile devices.

We have created a section for netbooks, mini notebooks, and tablet PCs in the MobilityNigeria Forums. Users and visitors can post news items and discuss these devices, as well as find help with issues they may face with them.

Do you have a netbook or tablet PC? Have you played around with one? What is your take on their place in mobility?

Earlier today, in the course of exchanging a couple of SMSes with brym, one of our official contributors on MobilityNigeria, I mentioned that I am looking to keep the Samsung S8003 Jet that the Mobility Nigeria team has been reviewing of recent. This obviously came as a surprise to him, because he responded: “You want to use the Jet without a physical keyboard?”

brym clearly knows me: I am all QWERTY – for so many years till now, it has been physical QWERTY or bust.

My first ever attempt at using an onscreen QWERTY keyboard failed in approximately fifteen (15) minutes of picking up the device. That was the Samsung i900 Omnia. I also gave the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic a try. While it was a far better experience than the Omnia, it still was not up to scratch.

With a history of smartphones like Nokia 9210, Nokia 9500, Nokia E61, Palm Treo 700P, Nokia E90 and Sony Ericsson X1, among others, what is it that is drawing me out of my comfort zone into the world of a non-smartphone and an onscreen QWERTY keyboard?

In one sentence:

The Samsung Jet is the only non-smartphone I have ever used without missing smartphone features, it has one of the most gorgeous, most sensitive displays on mobiles (unless you are told, you won’t know that the display is not capacitive), and is the only touchscreen device with an onscreen QWERTY keyboard that has worked for me till date.

That’s a mouthful, but I’ll break it down as much as possible.

1. The display is gorgeous. At 480×800 pixels, the stunning AMOLED display has the best resolution out there. Just to demonstrate that its not just me, everyone who has taken any amount of time to examine the phone has commented on the display even though they are not aware of its technical specifications.

I haven’t done any comparison with the displays of the iPhone or Nokia N97, but Eldar Mutazin claims that the Samsung Jet’s display “wins head-to-head comparisons with the Nokia N97 and Apple iPhone hands down”.

2. The display is responsive. It is as responsive as a capacitive screen, with the added benefit that the user can use anything to interact with it – bare finger, stylus, pencil, gloved finger or a hard object. Capacitive displays suffer from not being usable with anything but the bare finger (and God help you if your fingers are dry!).

3. The onscreen QWERTY keyboard is top-notch. It is the only virtual QWERTY keyboard that I have been able to type on with minimal issues. Inspite of my big fingers, I find that I am able to type fairly long text (emails and blog comments) on the keyboard. The well-implemented haptic-feedback also helps make the typing experience a good one.

Of course, I mis-type a bit every now and then, as I did too on every hardware keyboard I have ever used. But the error margin is so low that I consider the Jet’s virtual keyboard a pleasant surprise.

4. Email. There is a built-in mail client and an Exchange ActiveSync application. Between these two, email management is good and PUSH email (as well as contacts and calendar synchronisation) available

5. Excellent Web Browser. Samsung’s Dolphin web browser is very good – as good as Nokia’s S60 Web browser, and better in some respects. It has the added bonus of not being as sluggish as S60′s Web. There’s full flash and javascript support, multiple pages (up to 5), one-finger zooming, and an ad-blocking feature.

Samsung’s Dolphin browser is better than the built-in Android browser, better than Netfront, and almost as good as Opera Mobile (beats Opera Mobile in flash support) and the iPhone’s Safari.

Dolphin also lets you save images, send current URL as SMS or email, has a built-in RSS reader, supports file uploads, and secure browsing. I can call up a menu to open new windows by simply tapping a button.

6. Muli-tasking. This factor is strong in making this a smartphone replacement for me. Even java applications multi-task. However, Samsung has made it impossible to run both the web browser and camera at the same time. Search me.

7. Comprehensive set of features. The Jet has a very comprehensive set of features (most of which work so well that the need for 3rd party applications is minimised). The feature set on the Jet reminds me of what Ericsson phones used to be like -incredible value for money.

In addition to the extra functionality are little touches here and there that enhance utility and usability (Symbian and company can learn a thing or two from Samsung and Apple about user interface).

Here is a quick rundown of some features that may not have been mentioned in the previous reviews on this site:

The user interface is consistent and has beautiful transition effects (which you can turn off if you wish). All menus are finger-friendly, though you can pretty much use a stylus as well, or anything you wish.

There’s kinetic scrolling in the phonebook, web browser, email, SMS, menus, et al. Volume keys functionality is adapted to whatever menu or application you are in, such that the keys are used to scroll in menus, browser, contacts; and they are also used to adjust sound levels in music player and other menus.

Music player syncs automatically with Windows Media Player once the phone is connected to your PC, and album art and file info are copied accurately as well. Files can be synced to the internal or removable memories.

The Jet has flash drive functionality too – and both the in-built 2GB disk and memory card are recognized by the PC and can be used for file storage. Bluetooth file transfer lets me save incoming files to either the internal or removable memory.

It also sports USB charging, 3.5mm audio jack, TV-out functionality, A2DP Bluetooth, and a built-in call-blocking facility that lets me put numbers on a reject call list.

When the display is locked, using the Gesture Unlock feature I am able to launch applications, as well as call preset numbers from standby mode by scribbling an assigned alphabet on the screen with my finger.

Call quality is good, and the Samsung Jet holds on to weak signals well, especially areas of weak 3G signal. Surprisingly, I haven’t had to worry about battery life either, considering the 800 Mhz processor, the vibrant 3.1-inch display, and always-active 3G connection.

There’s also a fake call function for those times when that pesky neighbour or colleague won’t take a hint and go away. If I want, I can even record my mother’s voice to be played back when the fake call comes in, so my fake conversation sounds more convincing.

The Jet’s speakerphone is automatically turned on when moved away from the head and placed on a flat platform during a call. If a call comes in at a bad moment, I simply turn the phone down on its face to mute the ringer.

The loudspeaker is better than what you find on many media-centric devices, including the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic and the iPhone 3GS, and as good as what obtains on the Nokia N95.

The menu is customisable: items can be moved around and arranged for the user’s convenience: simply tap the orange icon in top-right corner of the menu and re-arrange, then tap it again and you are done.

Need GPS? The Jet adds A-GPS, which works with the pre-installed Google Maps, though I do consider Google Maps limited here in Nigeria. Garmap and Ovi Maps are more detailed far by. The built-in GPS also works with the pre-installed Route66 navigation application (which is quite useless in the Nigerian environment).

This article isn’t a comprehensive review, so I haven’t detailed every feature available on the phone here, but if the Samsung Jet is any indication of the direction that Samsung’s Bada mobile OS is going, Bada devices are going to be a hit.

Also, note that the Jet has its limitations, as has been detailed in previous reviews by our team, but the value it delivers so outweighs those negatives for me that there is no struggle here in declaring it an outstanding device.

Simply put, the Jet is feature-packed and a joy to use. At the end of the day, that’s what sealed the deal for me. I am certainly going to keep the Samsung S8003 Jet. Sale’s closed.

The popular free mobile synchronisation and backup service, ZYB, has been acquired by Vodafone and re-branded as Vodafone360.

In November last year, ZYB was replaced by a new and improved service called Vodafone 360. From that time, the ZYB website was closed for new registrations, and new signups are being directed to register with Vodafone 360 instead.

Last year, we reported that ZYB had suddenly cut off certain users without notification.

Vodafone360 claims to work “on 247 mobile networks globally and more than 400 mobile phones” and that “it’s available to everyone for free“, Nigeria is not on the list of supported countries. Actually, that shouldn’t be stranmge, as Vodafone does not have a presence in Nigeria anyway.

Again, a member of our team who had a ZYB account attempted to login but got an error that the username and email address do not exist in the database. Apparently, the account has been deleted.

Adieu, ZYB.

Freewarepocketpc.net is a website that has been providing freeware for Windows Mobile devices for years. Now, the people behind that site have developed an alternative app store to Microsoft’s own Marketplace for Mobile on Windowsphones.

From the Freewarepocketpc.net site:

OpnMarket is compatible with most of the Windows Mobile Professional devices with touch-screens, once installed it lets you browse, download and install FREE applications directly on your device. OpnMarket will use you mobile network connection or a WiFi connection to download softwares to your phone. It’s simple, instant and FREE!

I downloaded it and working well on my i-mate 8502. OpnMarket is available for download from the Freewarepocketpc.net website.

More and more, the mobile web is catching on and website owners are developing mobile-friendly versions of their websites. While this trend has not quite caught up in Nigeria, a number of Nigerian websites are already either mobile-friendly or have mobile versions of their websites. The list includes:

• The Punch
  Web: punchng.com
  Mobile: mobile.punchng.com
• MobilityNigeria
  Web & Mobile: mobilitynigeria.com
• NgBot
  Web: ngbot.com
  Mobile: mobile.ngbot.com/m/
• Alireta
  Web: alireta.com
  Mobile: alireta.mobi

Mobile websites tend to be lean and use up less bandwidth than full desktop websites, so they are useful for people with low bandwidth or narrowband access. As such, they can help keep browsing costs down. Mobile websites also load faster than their full web versions.

Analytics software for this website shows that 18% of MobilityNigeria traffic is currently from mobile users.

A great resource for finding all kinds of websites with mobile versions is WapReview. It has both a desktop version (wapreview.com) and a mobile version (wapreview.mobi). It also has a directory of mobile websites from around the world, Nigeria inclusive, so you should bookmark that site.

When browsing on your mobile device, do you find mobile versions of websites useful in anyway? If yes; which mobile websites do frequent? If no, what are your reasons for prefering full web versions?

This bears repeating: the Samsung S8003 Jet is one of the most complete, full-featured non-smartphones in the market. It has impressed us way beyond anything we expected. Plus, don’t be too quick to laugh if we told you that the Jet is smarter than some smartphones in some ways.

But the Jet has its shortcomings, and we are glad to point those out too. So, here are the things that have us grouchy about the Jet.

1. While the Jet multitasks and does it well, if you run a couple of heavy applications, you will get a “Not enough memory. Please close some applications” message. The nice thing is that the Jet immediately opens the task manager and allows you to choose which running applications you prefer to close. That’s smart, unlike some smartphones that simply close whatever catches their fancy. Still, we wish the Jet had more RAM.
2. Still on multi-tasking, you cannot run the browser and the camera at the same time. If you want to take pictures, ensure that the browser is shut down or else the camera will not launch – and vice versa
3. We wish that the Jet was equipped with a documents editor and not just viewer. The viewer workss well though, allowing you to read Office and PDF documents
4. Once the Jet is connected to the Samsung PC Suite (via USB cable), you cannot access other applications on the phone. Similarly, when using the Jet as a modem, all phone-based internet connections are suspended
5. The Jet supports music playback over Bluetooth A2DP. It is good quality music too, but there is no option to adjust the volume of music once the Bluetooth headset is connected
6. Lack of support for Gmail IMAP in standard email client
7. There is no functionality to highlight, copy and paste text! We searched and searched, to no avail. No!!
8. Samsung PC Suite gives us the impression of an unfinished product. We have installed over three different versions, and not one of them features an internet connection menu (though the manual says it should have). The Jet works as a modem though, if you know how to create a connection manually. But that is just bad for usability for the average Joe. We retract this point. Please see update and screenshot below.

Yes; we didn’t quite get to ten. Just eight seven.

We will also mention that there have been a few times that the Jet restarted spontaneously whenever we carried out an operation in Exchange ActiveSync. We have not found any reports on the internet concerning this, so it may just be our own unit. This hasn’t happened frequently, so it isn’t a big issue. We simply think it should be mentioned anyway.

Update: 23rd January 2010

The Samsung PC Studio actually has internet connection functionality, so our eight gripes are now cut down to just seven. The internet connection feature is hidden in the “Widgets” menu. See screenshot below. In addition, there are widgets for several other applications, including a Video Converter, Disk Ripper and Disk Burner. Apparently, PC Studio is quite comprehensive; just different from what we are used to.

Other Parts in our Series on the Samsung Jet

• Pictoral Review of the Samsung S8003 Jet
• Email and Exchange ActiveSync on the Samsung Jet
• Samsung Jet: Flashback Samsung i900 Omnia
• Samsung S8003 Jet First Impressions

Browsing through the Monday January 18, 2010 issue of The Punch, I came across this promo advert for the Samsung OMNIAlite B7300 and Samsung OMNIApro B7320.

Samsung Introducing enLITEn: A unique handset internet bundle service in Nigeria

Buy the Samsung OMNIAlite B7300 or Samsung OMNIApro B7320 and get FREE 12 months internet access on the Zain Lite Plan featuring 1.2GB Data Allowance and 360 days validity.

Get the Samsung OMNIApro B7320 (shown below) for N49,999.00

Or get the Samsung OMNIAlite B7300 (shown below) for N59,999.00.

This offer is available at all Zain shops and selected Samsung Distributor Shops nationwide.

My View of the Promo
I have never been a fan of buying mobile phones that are linked to mobile operators. My last experience at the CarPhoneWareHouse in September 2007 left me with a phone that was locked to the network, had a few accessories missing from the package (cost-cutting tactics, I was later on told) and had to replace it once because it was faulty and thereafter the phone decided to give me problems with Nigerian networks despite having the same frequency.

As a cheap skate and one who is always paranoid of being ripped off, I have to say that this promo is a JOKE because getting the Samsung OMNIApro B7320 from a trusted Samsung dealer will set you back N36, 500 which is clearly N13,500 less than Zain’s offer price!

This past post shows evidence of that: Samsung B7320 smartphone for sale.

It is like paying N13,500 for internet service of 1.2GB Data Allowance and 360 days validity which has been proven to be unreliable in most quarters.

Just my two cents anyway. For all interested parties, simply visit your nearest Zain shops. As always GSM Arena has got the full specs for the Samsung OMNIAlite B7300 and Samsung OMNIApro B7320.

You can also read a MobilityNigeria review of one of these phones Samsung B7320 OmniaPRO review – Efficient Workhorse.

Thanks to a tip-off from Azeez Saheed, we announce that Nokia’s Ovi Maps is nowavailable for free for all users. We went news-hunting and found this announcement from Nokia:

Until today, Navigation has been kept in the hands of the few. Today that changes. We realised that billions of people around the world already have mobile phones that are perfectly suited to delivering Navigation. So we’re going to let them do that. From this day on, Navigation on your Nokia, with Ovi Maps, will be free for everyone, everywhere, to get people to the places they love. Now, and forever.

Nokia further provides the following details:

• Free Drive navigation
• Free Walk navigation
• Free maps and map updates
• Free Events guides
• Free Lonely Planet guides
• Free Michelin guides

The first batch of devices for which the new free application is available for are:
Compatible devices:

1. X6
2. N97 mini
3. E72
4. E55
5. E52
6. 6730 classic
7. 6710 Navigator
8. 5800 Xpressmusic
9. 5800 Navigation Edition
10. 5230

The free application will be available for more devices over time. Visit the Nokia Maps page to download your free upgrade.

This move by Nokia is quite strategic, as it enhances the value of their devices. What do you think? Does this move increase your attraction to Nokia smartphones and handsets?

A member of the team was at one of the outlets of one of our GSM network operators (this is so embarassing that we are withholding the name) to have her line activated for mobile internet service.

Here is what the representative who handled her issue said to her:

Don’t use your phone as a modem. It will spoil it.

There. That’s official from one of our GSM networks. Using this built-in functionality on your mobile phone will destroy it. Any representatives from Nokia, Samsung, LG, Sony Ericsson, HTC or Motorola want to chip in on this?

Somehow, something must be wrong with the phones we have been using since GSM arrived on these shores – we have used almost every single one of them as modems extensively (sometimes for over a year each), and not one of them ever got destroyed.

We want to ask, What are these guys smoking? But we understand that what the representative didn’t say was that they would prefer if she purchased one of their own USB modems for use instead.

Did we hit the nail on the head or not?