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Nokia helped reinvigorate its image by introducing a new line of cutting-edge smartphones, the Nseries, last spring. One model, the N90, was the first camera phone equipped with Carl Zeiss optics.

This week, the world's top mobile phone vendor extended the Nseries with three additional multimedia handsets - the N92, N80 and N71 - all of which run on the latest Symbian OS, version 9, and the Nokia S60 3rd Edition smartphone platform. Nokia announced the shortening of the name Series 60 to S60 at its annual Mobility Conference in Barcelona Spain yesterday.

N92
The Nokia N92 integrates a DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcasting - Handheld) receiver to let users watch broadcast television programs on its small screen. DVB-H bypasses a carrier's cellular network to deliver TV signals directly to phones. It frees up 3G bandwidth for other mobile operator content and promises excellent quality video.

With the N92, users can set reminders to watch their favorite TV programs, create personal channel lists and subscribe to TV channel packages. The smartphone has a 2.8-inch anti-glare QVGA (320 x 240 pixel) resolution screen with 16 million colors and dedicated media keys.

It supports the new Nokia Web Browser with Mini Map, which provides a semi-transparent zoomed-out view of a web page that enables users to quickly orient themselves on a small screen.

An expansion slot handles up to a 2 GB memory card for around 1500 songs delivered through the built-in stereo speakers or a stereo headset. There's also an FM radio. Additional features include a 2-megapixel camera and e-mail attachment support. Connectivity options include Wi-Fi (802.11g), infrared, Bluetooth wireless technology as well as USB 2.0.

Nokia plans to ship the N92 by mid 2006 in Europe, Africa and Asia for 600 euros, currently about $717. (For more on how cellular operators and manufacturers are bringing television to handsets, see Mobile Phone TV: Part 3 – The Broadcasters.)

N80
Nokia targets the digital home with the N80, a smartphone that supports the UPnP (Universal Plug and Play) protocol to more easily connect to compatible TVs, audio systems and PCs. (UPnP works with wired or wireless networks and can be supported on any operating system. It boasts device-driver independence and zero-configuration networking. )

The N80 can be used to tap into a digital home network, acting almost as a remote control. Also, images and video stored on the N80 or a PC can be viewed wirelessly on the living room TV, while listening to music stored on the device through a stereo. Printing is now faster too, as Nokia N80 users can print wirelessly to any compatible UPnP-enabled home printer or printing kiosk.

It is also the first GSM quad-band (850/900/1800/1900) handset designed to work on 3G (WCDMA 1900 or 2100), WLAN (802.11g) and EDGE networks. As with the N92, the N80 sports the new Nokia Web Browser with Mini Map. It has a high resolution 352 x 416 pixel 262,144 color display and incorporates MPEG4 AVC decoding support for video streaming.

The smartphone has a 3-megapixel camera with capture key for still pictures and CIF video capture with inbuilt stabilization for video. There's 40 MB of memory and a miniSD card for up 2 GB additional storage. The Nokia N80 boasts a digital music player as well as stereo FM radio. And users can transfer data via USB 2.0 by dragging and dropping from a compatible PC onto the device.

The N80 should ship during the first quarter of next year in Europe for about 500 euros, which is today about $598.

N71
The focus of the Nokia N71 is on multimedia and browsing as well. But to compare it to the simultaneously announced N92 and N80 wouldn't be fair. Those two devices are far more ambitious in what they bring to the table.

The N71 is Nokia's latest clamshell smartphone. It has a 2.4-inch QVGA (262,144 color) display and supports the same new Web browser introduced yesterday as the other two latest Nseries models. As we mentioned in our earlier story on the open source Apple-based browser, it streams RSS feeds to the Nokia smartphones in addition to improving browsing.

Nokia calls the N71 a pocketable entertainment system. With it, you can play digital music, videos and stereo FM radio. There's also a 5-band equalizer and a 2-megapixel camera for picture and video.

The smartphone inexplicably has a mere 10 MB of memory. There's a miniSD card slot for up to 2 GB of additional storage, however. The N92 has a lot more memory, as does other music-handsets, like Sony Ericsson’s Walkman phone and Nokia's own N91—both of which have multi-gigabyte hard disk drives.

The tri-band GSM phone is EDGE capable and includes Infrared, Bluetooth and USB 2.0 connectivity. It should ship in Europe early next year for 400 euros, about $478.