In a website reminiscent to that of Vertu (luxury phone = website with black background) Bonac Innovation Corp (which was "founded in 2004 for the single purpose of designing and developing the finest, most technologically advanced mobile phones") has released the mobiado. This is basically a Nokia 6230, incorporating familiar Series 40 features such as a Pop-Port.
Ever since the now ancient Nokia 8910i, Nokia has not released a single 8000 series phone; but there has been one option for those who wanted something special: The Vertu line. However, these have always been technologically rather behind, their attaction lying instead in their exclusivity.
Read more to see if this is the Nokia 8920...
[via Engadget]
In a website reminiscent to that of Vertu (luxury phone = website with black background) Bonac Innovation Corp (which was "founded in 2004 for the single purpose of designing and developing the finest, most technologically advanced mobile phones") has released the mobiado. This is basically a Nokia 6230, incorporating familiar Series 40 features such as a Pop-Port.
Ever since the now ancient Nokia 8910i, Nokia has not released a single 8000 series phone; but there has been one option for those who wanted something special: The Vertu line. However, these have always been technologically rather behind, their attaction lying instead in their exclusivity.
There are many reasons for suggesting that this is the Nokia 8920. Rumours about that phone (and the Nokia 8650) first started brewing around October of this month, most notably on the mobile-review forums. While these forums do not enjoy the best reputation for substantiated rumours, the post by gaurav311 is interesting. I quote: "8910 successor, which is a slim metallic 6230, with very unique adapted menus this time, using grey and black undertones. Both are expected to launch within months."
Lets look at the mobiado:
ooh. It's got grey and black undertones! and is a metallic 6230 ! (compare the 6230 specifications with those of the mobiado)
The "metallic" descriptor makes this even more likely, because the metal used in this phone is not titanium, as in the Nokia 8910 and Nokia 8910i. Rather, it is constructued of aircraft aluminium. Also, while it lacks a cover, which every Nokia 88** phone has had, it does maintain one spring loaded cover, for battery storage.
However, there are problems with this analysis. First, Bonac Innovation Corp. is behind at least one other product; the GTMount, a professional car camera mount. The only similarity seems to be that the camera mount is also CNC machined, and the existence of this product makes one wonder why Bonac claimed to have been founded to create mobile phones. (Probably just a puff.) Second, why would Nokia not want to use it's own brand for the phone? While Vertu seems to have been something of a success, surely creating a mid-luxury line is pretty pointless, especially since this phone could easily have become the 8920 (which, by the way, every phone company claims it will have "soon" - Google). Third, releasing it this way almost ensures that distribution will be limited. This increases exclusivity; but could this not be a high-volume high-profit part?
The answer might be that Nokia wants to make only smartphones, and to leave the older Series 40 platform to be licensed and for only mid-range phones. This is already quite true in the high-end: The last higher numbered (excluding the 9*** communicator range) Nokia phones were the Nokia 7710 and the Nokia 7610. I still don't see the logic, but there must be money to be made somewhere.
In any case, enjoy! There is finally an option for users who want Nokia, but dislike plastic construction and require more advanced technology than that present in Vertu (bluetooth, mp3 playback) The cost is US$1200; only paypal accepted at the moment. As a bonus, the mobiado should take better pictures than the Nokia 6230, with it's two integral 3mm LEDs to illuminate photographs and act as a psuedo flash.
