In Mobile World Congress held in Bacelona, Nokia did not announce new devices as other competitors did. Meego and Symbian^ 3 were the recent buzz from Nokia. Nokia stayed quiet in the device front. Nokia C5 is the first new device in 2010, carrying the clear direction where Nokia is heading to.
The discussion in internet forums has been focused on devices itself. People has been comparing this phone with Sony Ericsson C510, Nokia 6700, Nokia 5300xm. What people has noticed are: owesome CPU speed 600MHz, Video capability @ VGA 15fps, music and other hardware specifications. Clearly, Price at 135Euros before applicable taxes and subsidy is very attractive too.
However, the No. 1 open secret, people has not mentioned or noticed is that C5 comes with Ovi maps 3.0, offering free walk and drive navigation. If you spend 135Euros, you could probably buy a dedicated GPS navigator but maps upgrade will cost you later. Instead, with that price, you can get a sat nav and a decent phone at the same time.
The No.2 open secret is that C5 has Ovi store built-in. The free applications in Ovi maps shall greatly extend the usage, for example: BBC iPlayer, Skype for S60, etc.
The No.3 is that C5 has E72 alike mail application that allows you to set multiple mail boxes at ease. What amazing is that user can set up his own Mail For Exchange account too. He/she can accept meeting requests on the run.
The No.4 is that C5 has full social networking support: Face book, Twitter, Youtube, IM support for Google Talk, Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo! and Ovi Chat. You can even import your contacts from Facebook to your own contacts in C5. Can SE C510 do it? No offence to SE lovers.
The No.5 is that user can have 3 of his/her important/closest friends in the home screen. It brings concept of people up front.
With those open secrects, wouldn't it be more exciting to go through these enabling hardware features: GPRS class 32, Edge class 32, HSPDA 10.2 Mbps, HSUPA 2Mbps, 16M color TFT, 6000MHz CPU, 128RAM, microSD upto 16GB. What a wonderful non-touch S60 product from Nokia!
Finally, let's read out the direction Nokia is going: first of all, it's location. Nokia's offer of free maps totally changed the game in sat nav market, as the other companies must look for innovative services beyond basic navigation and maps data upgrade. Second, it's people. Some vendors put people as an icon on its phone, while Nokia compiled all people related application into the actual phone: facebook, twitter, IM. Facebook contacts can be imported to Nokia's conventional phone book directly. Even Ovi maps allows user to easily share his location on facebook via Ovi maps life caster. Third, it's all about services. Value added services make the product truly great. Nokia offers music service, Ovi store, maps service, online sharing, social networking, e-mail services, games. Therefore, compared with Nokia C5, the other mobile devices without offers of extensive service may find its way out in the competition.
