Nokia N95 and Samsung SGH-U700 win EISA awards

The European Imaging and Sound Association (EISA) annual award for best European Media Phone was given to Nokia N95 and European Mobile Phone award to Samsung SGH-U700

The EISA argument for awarding N95 the best Media Phone:
Within the Nokia N95's exceptionally ergonomic housing resides practically every feature one could imagine in a mobile device. The list includes GPS navigation system, Google Earth, 5 Megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss lens, MPEG4 video capture up to 30 fps, HSDPA data access up to 3.5 Mb/s, an advanced web browser, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, infrared, USB connections, microSD slot, audio reproduction of multiple audio formats (MP3/AAC/AAC+/eAAC+/WMA/M4A) and more. It's no mere mobile phone and no mere status symbol. Pick up a Nokia N95 and you hold in your hands a state-of-the-art communication tool – the ideal way to remain permanently in touch and on track with the world that surrounds you

The EISA argument for awarding U700 the best Mobile Phone:
It's not only the striking sleek design of Samsung's SGH-U700 slider handset that appeals to today's mobile phone user. Equally impressive is the ability to boost data transmission speeds up to ten times faster than normal UMTS through the use of HSDPA - an impressive performance. Of course today's mobile phones are not only for talking, and accordingly the '700' supports audio-compression technologies such as MP3, AAC and AAC+ with its integrated mobile audio player, and video-compression technologies such as MPEG4 with its video player. The built-in 3.2-megapixel camera, with 4x digital zoom, adds to its versatility. A handy 'U Go' feature automatically adapts the display as travellers change locales: there are day and night scenes for 64 countries, including Castle Neuschwanstein in Germany, the Sagrada Familia cathedral in Spain, and a traditional windmill in the Netherlands.

The jury in both categories consisted of these European magazines: Audio & Cinema - Portugal, Audio Review - Italy, Hifi Vidéo Home - France, HIGHfidelity - Denmark, Le Photographe - France, Ljud & Bild - Sweden, Media Totaal - Netherlands, Sound Vision - Greece, Stereo & Video -j Czech Republic and Sztereó Sound&Vision - Hungary.

It is not the first time Nokia receive an award from EISA. Nokika N93 won the Media Phone category last year and Nokia N90 won the same category in 2005/2006. The European Mobile Phone category was first awarded this year.

About EISA
EISA is the largest editorial multimedia organization in Europe, with a membership of 50 Audio, Mobile Electronics, Video and Photo magazines drawn from 20 European countries. At the end of June all EISA member magazines come together in an European city for the most important meeting in the year - the elections of the European Awards. From all products introduced during the preceding twelve months, each panel must choose the best equipment in each category. One strength of EISA's European Awards is their flexible approach. The Awards categories, for example, are not recreated automatically every year. If the jury decides that, during the previous 12 months, and within a certain category, there have been introduced no new products that really deserve an Award, which category can be cancelled temporarily. On the other hand our juries are aware of the need to follow market conditions, so every year there is the opportunity to introduce new categories.

In June each year, the editors-in-chief from all EISA member magazines meet to decide which of products analyzed in their publications during the past year deserve the coveted EISA Award. The six categories under consideration are: Audio, Video, Home Theater, Photography, Mobile Electronics and Convergence. There is no doubt that this EISA Award is the most prestigious honour for a consumer electronics manufacturer to receive in Europe and this year around 56 products were declared as "Best Product" in their category by the EISA judges for the period 2006-2007.