The Nokia N93i

MYANMAR’S high-end mobile phone market has taken another step up the technological ladder with the arrival of the Nokia N93i handset, which is as much about play as it is practicality.

The phone, which was released internationally in the first quarter of 2007 and launched in Yangon on May 25, retails for a cool K1 million but packs a lot into its 108x58x25-millimetre frame.

The N93i includes a 3.2 megapixel camera with 3x optical zoom, using a Swiss Carl Zeiss lens. This largely eliminates the need to carry around a separate camera for casual photography. The definition is also well beyond the 1.3 megapixels other top-range camera-phones in Myanmar have previously offered.

U Tin Win Hlaing, general manager of GSM Care, which brought the phone to Myanmar, said the N93i replaces Nokia’s N91 smartphone as the most sophisticated mobile on the local market. The N91, which retails for about K750,000, is followed by Sony’s W880I at a little over K600,000, he said.

The N93i comes fully-loaded with a built-in music player, FM tuner, TV-out port, 50MB internal memory, SD card slot, integrated Wi-Fi (802.11b/g), Bluetooth 2.0, and other goodies like speaker phone and voice dialling.

Another nice feature is its 2.4-inch screen, which can swivel around on itself into a laptop-type position for easy viewing and game playing.

The phone, weighing in at 163 grams, is officially being sold by GSM Care at its outlets in Yangon and Mandalay. But U Tin Win Hlaing said illegal imports have already hit the streets.

“The same model of Chinese-made N93i smartphones, which are imported illegally, can be found at Yangon’s handset dealers for K200,000 less than the registered selling price,” he said.

U Tin Win Hlaing admitted that such high-end phones had a limited market in Myanmar, where most buyers forgo high-tech features for cheaper, more durable handsets.

The most popular handsets currently on the market here are Nokia’s N6030 and N2626 models, which sell for around K120,000 each, he said.