After a long morning at Cupertino on Tuesday, I spent much of the afternoon taping The GigaOM Show for this week. We invited Blake Krikorian, CEO and co-founder of Sling Media, to come on and talk about all things newteevee.
The conversation was lively, but what was most interesting was that Blake walked in with a Nokia N95 and started showing off the streams off his cable box. I was surprised because my N95 can barely stream audio on the herky-jerky EDGE. And here I was watching smooth video with perfect audio.
It was an early trial unit with the ability to support the U.S. flavor of 3G (HSPDA-High-Speed Downlink Packet Access), according to Blake. A few calls to well-placed sources after the taping confirmed that Nokia (NOK) has plans to release the U.S.-optimized N95 this September. That would be a good catalyst for U.S. sales for N95, because this is a device that shines on 3G networks. I took it along on a trip recently and found it quite useful.
N95 has been a monster seller for Nokia. Nokia’s chief strategist and chief technology officer, Tero Ojanperä, told me that it was one of the top sellers in the UK even with a $750 price tag.
As for the show, you’ll have to wait ’til Thursday. As per your suggestions, the show is available via iTunes in both small and large screen formats.
* Previous Sling Media Stories on GigaOM
* Previous stories on Nokia N95 and my review of N95.
27 comments so far
12:55 AM PT
[...] to the post at GigaOm, the Nokia N95 with U.S. flavor of 3G is coming soon! Blake Krikorian, CEO and co-founder of Sling [...]
4:46 AM PT
Interesting to see Nokia n95 competing with iPhone. See the comparison chart of these phones here Compare iPhone vs Nokia N95
4:53 AM PT
GigaOm On the Next Generation of N95’s in The USA
GigaOm has a scoop about what may be new in the N95 with HSDPA added….
7:38 AM PT
um. yeah baby! I need to get me some of that! I like my N95, but would throw it out to get US 3G on a new one…
7:43 AM PT
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7:49 AM PT
Dang, if they fixed battery issues and 8GB or higher micoSD cards can be had at a good price, this will be my new phone.
7:59 AM PT
Awesome!
(and there’s a typo: HSPDA->HSDPA at least you got the acronym expansion right)
8:04 AM PT
[...] to Om Malik, there is already someone out there with a Nokia N95 with US 3G. In simpler words, the new Nokia N95 will now have even faster data connection in the United [...]
8:10 AM PT
Who cares, it still baffles me why no carrier will pickup this phone in the US.
8:45 AM PT
Definitely would be popular with the anti-iPhone crowd. And it would be only the third GSM handset with GPS offered by a U.S. carrier:
http://www.thegpsinsider.com/2007/08/09/coming-to-america-nokia-n95-with-3g/
8:50 AM PT
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9:01 AM PT
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9:43 AM PT
Coming To America: Nokia N95 With 3G?
Most folks in the U.S. who have shelled out $750 for an unlocked N95 have been disappointed by the slow EDGE data speeds. But according to a rumor from GigaOM it looks like Nokia is prepping a version with HSDPA, the American flavor of 3G. The updat…
10:56 AM PT
Got the full sales flyer, showing the killer new battery and redesigned backplate, as well.
http://symbianguru.typepad.com/welcome/2007/08/us-3g-nokia-n-1.html
10:57 AM PT
Well my buddy thefloyd wrote a nice piece for me today - Why you should save your money and NOT buy an iPhone - which one reason of course is the 3G support (his #1 reason). The phone he is currently playing with (HTC Cavalier) seems really nice. N95 would be great here, but still a bit pricey.
http://rexduffdixon.com/?p=3003 - to read thefloyd’s breakdown/rant on the iPhone.
Rex
11:04 AM PT
so can the ability to use 3G be enabled with a firmware update or do i have to buy a new n95?
12:52 PM PT
[...] Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life! [...]
3:16 PM PT
[...] One of our big knocks against this beast of a phone was the lack of 3G Stateside, so it’s nice to see them take care of that more-than-niggling issue. If they could do something about the $750 pricetag while they’re at it (possible, if they have a carrier on board), then they might see sales really pop. [GigaOM] [...]
7:25 PM PT
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11:33 PM PT
I dont understand. I am in australia and my N95 uses HSDPA just fine. Does USA use diff 3G frequencies?
3:07 PM PT
Matt, yes the US does use different frequencies than much of the rest of the world. Over the years GSM radios have advanced to support a very wide range of frequencies, so the same part can be used in phones regardless of market. This is not yet the case for UMTS radios.
2:01 PM PT
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10:32 PM PT
[...] 3G Nokia N95 coming? [...]
1:47 AM PT
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3:09 AM PT
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7:34 AM PT
[...] and functionality that no other device has and it is soon to get even better! Om Malik from GigaOM had a piece up on the Nokia N95 will be getting US 3G Support. He had a [...]
2:35 PM PT
[...] Haz, 2008 Nokia GigaOm has a scoop about what may be new in the N95 with HSPDA [...]
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