About Communicators

Nokia communicators are series 80 Symbian powered devices. These devices are targeted at business users, offering a full suite of office applications for creating and editing documents, email, personal information management, PC synchronization, and web browsing. On February 23 2004, Nokia announced an updated version of Nokia communicator series i.e. nokia 9500 communicator.

Size and Weight

The new Communicator is both smaller (148 x 57 x 24 mm i.e. 10mm shorter, 4mm thinner) and lighter (222g i.e. 22g less) than the 9200. The 9500 looks much more modern than the 9200, mainly because of its slightly streamlined edges and 'facelifted' phone part. 9500 supports exchangeable phone covers.

External look

As opposed to the 9210, the external phone screen of the 9500 is now 16-bit color TFT matrix (128 x 128 pixels). It is of high quality and its white background makes it very clear even without backlight (which doesn't happen too often as the backlight turns on automatically on any key press). The internal screen is of the same 640x200 resolution, but now it is 16-bit (65,536 colors), too. The keys are also improved. It also comes up with a VGA and video camera which makes it a strong multimedia device.

Memory options

The 9500 will offer over 80 MB of internal storage space which is 5 times more than the 9210i. Forget about any storage restrictions of the previous models, especially that, unlike in 9200 Communicators, almost all system software is in ROM drive, which means that you don't have to install any system packages on the internal drive and you can keep it solely for your data and applications. RAM (operating memory) has been expanded to 32 megabytes, with over 20 MB available for applications. The CPU is now three times faster and it uses more advanced ARM core and chipset. This, along with much faster memory chips, makes the device really fast. Storage memory of the 9500 can be further expanded using MultiMediaCards (MMC).

Connectivity options

It supports GPRS, EGPRS (EDGE, up to 236.8 kbps), Wi-Fi (Wireless LAN, up to 11 MBit/s), Bluetooth and USB 2.0 connectivity. The communicator also has an HTML 4.01 browser based on Opera.

Security

Security is an important concern for many corporate users. To cater to this class of user, the 9500 features support for Virtual Private Networks (VPN), which allow you to access your corporate network securely. Additionally, Symantec plans to provide unique firewall and antivirus protection with advanced over-the-air update features.

Conclusion

The nokia 9500 communicator offers a full set of business-critical applications and versatile network connections - so you can keep in stride with your work on the go. It will be available in two separate tri-band versions: EGSM 900, GSM 1800/1900 for world-wide use and EGSM 850, GSM 1800/1900 for America. Planned availability of the communicator will be 4th quarter 2004.