Introducing Nokia Oro

 

In selected markets, Nokia launching a new smartphone today – the Nokia Oro. It’s a premium brand product that incorporates 18-carat gold plating, a sapphire crystal and leather from one of Scotland’s finest Caledonian herds.

Inside, it reaches the same high grade as Nokia’s other recent smartphones. It’s Symbian-based, with the latest Symbian Anna update. There’s pentaband radio connectivity, up-to HSDPA 3G and WiFi. There’s a 3.5-inch AMOLED display, an 8-megapixel camera with 720p video recording and all the rest. Functionally, it’s not so different from other recent smartphones from Nokia. But that’s quite a rarity in the “premium phone” business. Normally, you’d have to choose between something that looked posh or offered the latest specs: Nokia Oro offers both.

But clearly, someone who chooses the Nokia Oro won’t be making a hard spec vs. price comparison. They’ll be more concerned about the build quality and materials.
The Nokia Oro is a device that’s clearly intended for someone who doesn’t want their mobile device to look the same as other people’s. The main markets for this sort of device are the Middle East and Russia, where they have been best-sellers for some time. Nokia’s General Manager for Russia, Gabriel Speratti, told us that, “premium products like Nokia Oro have always been best sellers in Russia. We have a large number of users who are looking for products with a build quality and superior materials that attest to their success and social standing. In some areas, possession of such premium products is the passport to being taken seriously.”

Materials Designer Robert Lihou told us:
“Our aim was to use the best materials for the purpose. It’s coated with 18-carat gold which has been made scratch-resistant. The leather is from premium Scottish stock. That’s a real sapphire crystal in the home key, which makes it eight times sturdier than glass.”
Nokia Oro will start selling in selected countries across the Europe, Eastern Europe, China and the Middle East in Q3 2011. Before local taxes and operator subsidies (neither of which you’re likely to be too concerned about if you’re a customer for this device), it will cost upwards of EUR 800.

2GHz Dual Core Smartphone

Samsung Electronics, South Korea's largest electronics manufacturer, will be releasing a smartphone that boasts performance levels matching desktop PCs. This phone will feature a two gigahertz (Ghz) dual core CPU (core processing unit), which will give it data processing capacities of 4Ghz. Samsung is also considering selling the CPU units separately.
 
Isn't smartphone evolution just wonderful? We've only just arrived at the dual-core stages of the mobile evolution and we are just about to witness another huge leap forward. Samsung has just revealed what their plans for the future hold and there's plenty to get excited about.

A high-ranking Samsung official, who has unfortunately remained unnamed, went on record saying that his company is planning to release a 2GHz dual core CPU-equipped smartphone by next year.
Said official then mentioned that it would have been easier for the company to manufacture a 4GHz single-core CPU than a dual-core one of half the frequency, but given the battery life limitations they found multi-core CPUs to be the better option.
Samsung is also considering selling those CPUs to other manufacturers under their own Exynos-brand. Considering the performance of that first Exynos chip there might just be quite a lot of interest. Whether it'll be worth threatening the sales of their own smartphones is a whole other story of course, but it will be told another day.

One thing's for sure - these are some exciting times for smartphone lovers to live in. A dual core CPU features two CPU units packed into one component, which allows twice the processing speed. It is easier to manufacture a single 4Ghz CPU unit instead of a dual core 2Ghz CPU unit, but Samsung is opting for the dual core as it is better optimized for smartphone products. Dual core facilitates multitasking using smartphones by allotting the workload on two separate cores. A smartphone equipped with 2Ghz dual core CPUs will match the performance level of desktop PCs. Most PCs used these days have 3~4 Ghz CPUs. Samsung is also said to be considering separate sales of the CPU units for other smart phone makers. Samsung has been mainly manufacturing mobile CPU for its own product lines, but is planning to expand into mobile processor sales under its new brand.