A lot of visitors to GizmoHeaven have been searching for info on the Android powered Agora. I was about to write a pre-release review when the bombshell was dropped two days ago by Kogan head honcho Ruslan Kogan on his company website;
“I’m disappointed to have to tell you that the Kogan Agora has to be delayed indefinitely.
This delay comes due to potential future interoperability issues.
The Agora did reach a very late stage of development. Manufacturing had commenced and it was a matter of days from being shipped to … ”

Due to be released at the end of this month, and after several long delays, it seems the plug has been permanently pulled from this much anticipated android powered gadget.

Originally to be an iPhone like device complete with touch screen at a much cheaper price, the Agora was to be the first android based phone to be released in Australia. Kogan also promised the Agora would be in the $199 price range.

The Kogan Agora

As it turned out the Kogan is a BlackBerry copy, with a lower resolution screen (320 x 240), and costing $299 for the standard Agora,or $399 for the Agora Pro which includes WiFi, GPS and a 2 megapixel camera.
And therein lies the reason given for the latest delay. Kagan says; “I now believe that in order to access all the Android platform has to offer, the Agora must be redesigned.”
The screen resolution would have been substandard for Googles Android applications, and the Agora would have come face to face with the real deal when the G1 gets released in Australia through Optus shortly.

At the original price range, and the promise of being able to purchase the Agora free of any lock in contract created a buzz, and put the Agora on a lot of wish lists. Many had already pre-ordered through the Kogan website.

As Kogan’s mantra is cutting out the middle man by manufacturing, importing and retailing straight to the customer, he has delivered in the past and has built a good following in the tech community and simple consumers alike. So there was no reason to doubt Kogan would deliver on his Agora dream.

So for now the Agora saga continues…..

At first glance you might think you’ve seen this phone before, it looks a little similar to the HTC Touch? Well it’s even manufactured by the Taiwanese HTC…….. although Sony Ericsson go to great pains to let it be known that the Xperia was developed without HTC’s input.
The Sony Ericsson Xperia seems a little long and cluncky (weighing in at 145grams), but it feels solid in your hand and build quality is great with full metal body.
The X1 smartphone kicks off a new sub brand for Sony Ericsson, and contains many features not seen in earlier Sony Ericssons. While earlier attempts have been a little half-hearted, the X1 shows SE are serious contenders in the smartphone arena. The X1 runs on Windows Mobile 6.1, and is jam-packed with everything you could ever need in a smart gadget.

The X1 features a sideways slide design, sliding out to expose a full QWERTY keyboard. Button are slightly raised, and spacing is excellent ensuring no miss-hits when typing.
At 800x 480 pixels the 3 inch VGA touch screen gives a crisp clear display, and displays DVD quality video, handling a higher than usual frame rate (30 fps). Although the screen is 3 inch, it is little too narrow for my liking, and icons a too small for your finger, so using one of the two included stylus pens is advisable. As mentioned the X1 is touch screen, but you also have a central navigation ‘touchpad’.
The X1 has a 3.2 megapixel camera, and the Cybershot line of camera’s are known for their quality pic’s, however being based on Windows Mobile, camera quality is not what we’ve come accustomed to. Pictures taken in low light are a little dodgy.
The Xperia only has 400MB internal memory!, but luckily that is expandable to 32Gig via microSD memory card. Battery life is impressive, the 1500mA LiPo battery delivers approx 800 hours standby, and 10 hours talk time.

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Nokia’s new N series seem to aiming way beyond the smartphone, and creating a mobile phone/ laptop hybrid. With a reported 32 Gig onboard storage, and another 16 Gig via microSD, Nokia have dubbed this “world’s most advanced mobile computer”.

N97

The N97 combines a large 3.5in touch-screen, similar to that found on the Apple iPhone, with a slide-out Qwerty keyboard reminiscent of the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 and the Google G1. Unlike the Apple iPhone, the N97 will be able to play the Flash videos used on many websites. It also supports instant-messaging and email on the go, boasts a five-megapixel camera, and a huge 48GB of memory, capable of storing thousands more songs than the Apple iPhone and many other leading devices.
Nokia has put high-speed web access at the heart of its new device, along with one-button, ‘always-on’ access to social-networking sites such as Facebook. The phone also uses its built-in GPS technology to provide location-specific information. Nokia, which calls the service ‘social location’, said that it will enable N97 users to update their social-networking profiles with precise details about their location and find nearby friends.
Nokia has also promised that it will follow the lead of Apple, Google and Research in Motion, makers of the BlackBerry, by making it easier for third-party developers to write additonal software and programs for Nokia handsets. Owners of the N97, which runs the Symbian operating system, can already download thousands of applications to their phone, and Nokia said it is creating “new opportunities” for third parties to develop innovative widgets and internet service applications for Nokia devices.

Building on the good looks and functions of last years E61, Nokia has added a little more fire power to their E71 in the battle of the smartphones.

What you’ll notice first is the supper slim, solid design with elegant metallic finish. Weighing in at 127 grams Nokia have trimmed a little fat to make the E71 a 10mm thin pocket friendly unit. As well as looking good the metal finish avoids those nasty finger prints that other black finish phones attract.

Having a full QWERTY keyboard on a slim portable smartphone is like walking a tightrope. How small do you make the buttons without upsetting those with slightly pudgy fingers? Nokia have almost got it right, the 37 buttons on the keyboard are just big enough, and are dome shaped to distinguish each from the next. Mistakes and mishits are common at first, but you do get used to the key spacing. Having fingernails helps greatly!!

The center menu navigation button on the other hand needs to be worked on. Maybe raising it slightly from the key-pad would prevent accidental pressing and opening of the application buttons on either side….

The screen resolution is a ho-hum 320 x 240 pixels 2.36 inch, compared to the Blackberry Bold’s dazzling 480 x 320 2.6 inch display. While the screen shines brightly, the dull colors and bland icons are a little spartan, simple and unsophisticated. This was a calculated move and contributes to E71′s excellent speedy performance. But of course you can download more exiting themes and icons to brighten your phone up.

Housing a 3.2 mega-pixel camera with auto focus and LED flash, the E71 takes great pic’s in daylight but is lacking when lighting is low. Those that like to be quick off the draw when a good photo opportunity comes up will be peeved. The omission of a dedicated camera button requires the user to return to the menu and press a soft key. The lack of a camera button also means the auto focus is achieved by pressing one button, and then the actual photo is taken by pressing a second button.

Battery life is superb with 410 hours standby and 10 hours talk time.

	Nokia E71 - Black (Orange) Smartphone - Grade B

	
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	Genuine Nokia E71 QWERTY Smartphone 3G Wifi VOIP Mobile Phone Unlocked

	
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	NOKIA E71 SMARTPHONE WHITE STEEL UNLOCKED IN NEW CONDITION

	
£109.99
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	Nokia E71 - Steel grey (Unlocked) Smartphone

	
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	24ct GOLD PLATED  Nokia E71 UNLOCKED WORLDWIDE

	
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	Genuine Nokia E71 QWERTY Smartphone 3G Wifi VOIP Mobile Phone Orange network

	
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	NOKIA E71 Classic Mobile Phone in Grey Steel - Brand New - Unlocked

	
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	Nokia  E71 White Unlocked

	
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	NOKIA E71 - NEW CONDITION - UNLOCKED/ UNBRANDED - FREE 2GB CARD - 3.2MP CAM - 3G

	
£119.99
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	Nokia E71 - Steel grey (Unlocked) Smartphone

	
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The Samsung OMNIA is something to hehold.

The elegant looking Omnia is a feature packed and functional phone. Weighing in at 122 grams, this light weight beauty crams in many features not found on other contenders. From the built in flashlight to the ability to create slide-shows from music and pic’s stored on the phone.

A big drawcard is the ability to customize  the user interface by installing Windows-like widgets onto the desktop. Inputting data can be done by either handwritting using the included stylus, or punching out the words on the virtual keyboard. Oh you can also activate a mouse cursor….

omnia virtual keyboard

With a reported 500hours of battery life (expect less in real life use) power is adequate, but being a Windows Mobile platform it does perform a little sluggish, especially with graphics rich features.

8Gb of internal memory comes in handy with the fantastic 5 megapixel camera, expandable with a microSD card. The camera itself is feature packed; auto focus, smile shot, auto panorama lets you stitch together 8 pic’s, wide dynamic range, and an image stabilizer.

You can adjust the sensitivity of the phones accelerometer, allowing the unit to detect a change in orientation and adjusting the phones display accordingly form portrait to landscape.
Perhaps best of all is Samsungs innovative etiquette mode. When etiquette mode is switched on you can silence a ringing phone by turning the phone face down, it won’t even vibrate, very handy when in a meeting and you have forgotten to switch to silent mode.

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Apple iPhone (8Gb/16Gb)

Now replaced by the iPhone 3G, you can only one of these second hand. There are plenty of faults- from the poor camera, difficult text input, to web surfing at GPRS speed. It’s stylish appearance will dazzle those around you, but is it a case of style over substance? For all its faults you’d struggle to find a better phone with music and video playback, wireless surfing and features like Google Maps.
You will still be the envy of your friends, but the newer 3G version not only gets more speed but GPS Nav as well. Only buy this model if at a really good price…..
3 Stars

Apple iPhone 3G (8Gb/16Gb)

The arrival of the 3G version adds a little something to the first class user interface of the 2G model. The GPS receiver gets a fix in seconds. The user interface is still amazing, but the biggest improvement is the App Store, allowing you to greatly expand the usefulness of the iPhone.
Battery life was still a concern, but firmware updates have gone some way to rectifying this. Stated battery life is 300 hrs standby?
Don’t expect great photos, and disappointingly no MMS.
5 Stars

Nokia N95

On paper the original N95 looked like the ultimate phone, but it did have some flaws this 8Gb update addresses. It retains the great 5 mega-pixel camera and a media player that plays music and video through stereo speakers or headphones. Can connect to your TV, and connects to wireless networks with high speed data transfer.
The GPS gets a satellite fix quicker than the original, and build quality has been improved. But the big deal is the improved battery life, making the N95 one of the best smart phones on the market at the moment.
5 Stars

Nokia N96

It’s a case of when you’re on a good thing…..
This little beauty has the same spec’s as the N95, keeping the same winning formula.
The main improvement is the large 16 Gb internal memory, and the option of adding more with a microSD. It also has a neat little kick-stand to prop up the phone when watching video. The DVB-H receiver means you’ll be watching digital television as well. All this with a more refined piano finish exterior!!!
5 Stars

BlackBerry 8300 Curve

Though not as small as the Pearl, the Curve still has a sleekness about it, and a 2 mega-pixel camera to boot. Don’t worry about the hassle of the SureType keyboard because the Curve has a QWERTY keyboard. The web browser is improved and now has a ‘desktop’ view – the trackball allowing you to move a mouse pointer to navigate around a website.
The only letdown is the lack of WI-FI or 3G to make browsing even more enjoyable. At 408hrs standby, battery life is sufficient for most BlackBerry users.
5 Stars

BlackBerry 8820

This is the upgrade to the BlackBerry 8800, with the welcome inclusion of WI-FI.
The buttons on the QWERTY keyboard are on the small side, though still tactile and easy to press. Though lacking 3G, wireless WI-FI browsing is satisfactory. Also lacking a camera, the 8820 is for business users who will be more than happy with a unit providing quick and easy instant email service. Battery life 529 hrs standby.
4 Stars

HTC Touch Diamond

Sure its got a touch screen and slick user interface, but is it an iPhone contender or pretender? Well considering you need to use a stylus to navigate it isn’t going to have Apple too worried. But, that doesn’t stop this being a damn good phone anyway especially if Windows Mobile is your preferred operating system. The TouchFlo 3D user interface is amazing, the latest Opera browser, and the 3.2 mega-pixel camera is sweet too. The slick black finish will have those around you taking second looks.
Stated battery life 285 hrs standby.
4 Stars

HTC Touch Cruise

The HTC Touch Cruise is the third handset in the series, and is a neat package. It features HTC’s TouchFlo interface (although not the 3D version) , and also gets GPS and HSDPA. The GPS receiver gets a fast fix using network data, and features TomTom Navigator software to get you from A to B. It features a 3.2 mega-pixel camera, and Windows Mobile applications. Not as slick as the Touch Diamond, but with 450 hrs battery standby, this phone is hard to pass up.
3 Stars

HTC Touch Dual

The Dual is the top option for those looking for a touch screen device with a keyboard that is user friendly. Although you still need a stylus for most functions, like browsing the menu, the slide out keyboard makes any kind of messaging a breeze. Seamless navigation with the TouchFlo interface, and Windows Mobile make this phone a suitable for business or pleasure. Featuring a 2 mega pixel camera and 250 hrs standby battery.
4 Stars