The folks at InfosyncWorld just posted a hands-on review of the Nokia N90, and they seem to have enjoyed it quite a bit. The new N-series device is a tri-band phone sporting Bluetooth, GPRS and EDGE connectivity (!), but of course, the biggest draw is the 2.0 megapixel camera with its signature Carl Zeiss lens. As far as I can tell, this is the first time any camera phone has included a Zeiss lens; hopefully the sensor can make good use of it.
Now, the real reason why I’m writing about this (apart from the obvious geek-lust) is that I actually saw this device in the Greenhills FoneZone yesterday afternoon, while shopping with my girlfriend. Interestingly enough, it cost about PhP43,000, which is less than what it’s selling for in Europe (it reportedly costs 725 Euros). 43k is the kind of price that would be hard for me to justify unless the device in question was some kind of full-featured smartphone, so I don’t really see myself breaking my piggy bank to get this.
And speaking of FoneZone, I spent most of last night fantasizing about buying myself a second-hand XDA IIs (first-hand: 45k, second-hand: 30k), but the people I know who have actually put it through its paces have experienced a number of issues (battery failure, or incessant software problems), so it’s not the sort of machine that I’d be risking 30k to buy pre-owned. I also spotted an HP 6515 Mobile Messenger, which is my personal dream machine. It’s also worth over 40k, so I’ll have to figure out some way to jerk the Ayala guys around in to buying it for me (haha).