Even as it celebrates its one-year anniversary in public circulation, Nokia's N80 keeps on scrapping with the best smartphones the world has to offer. After all, S60 3rd Edition is still fresher than anything Microsoft or ACCESS has to offer, the 3 megapixel camera is well above and beyond the standard fare, and the 416 x 352 display simply blows lesser QVGA screens out of the water. It makes sense, then, that while we all wait for the next-gen Nseries devices, Nokia would be looking to extend the useful shelf lives of the elder statesmen in their lineup by tweaking, bundling, and renaming. Among the devices to get a makeover is the N80, becoming the recently-released N80 Internet Edition with a slightly revised software bundle and two fantabulous color choices: black and bronze. Since the hardware is identical to the original N80, we'll concentrate on a couple of the Internet Edition's software goodies -- and don't worry, original N80 owners, most or all of it comes with yours, too, or can be downloaded free of charge.

Nokia looks set to be the first to offer integrated Orb MyCasting service on its phones, announcing that its N80 "Internet Edition" handset will ship with the media sharing service pre-loaded this November. Orb itself has, of course, been available for some time now, letting you remotely access media stored on your home PC from your cellphone or other mobile device, as well as control DVR functions on your computer and playback stored content. Orb's also only the latest bit of software to be announced for inclusion on the "Internet Edition" variation of the Nokia's N80 handset, with tools for Flickr and Amazon, as well as Yahoo Go For Mobile, an enhanced Nokia web browser, and SIP-compliant VoIP already filling up the internal memory. Like some of those other services, you'll most definitely want an unlimited data plan if you intend on doing any more than a test drive with Orb, 'cause those kilobytes are gonna add up fast once they start flying.

[Thanks, Mo C]

It appears that another carrier has decided to give VoIP its warm, loving embrace. Nokia will be supplying Singapore's SingTel with its E60, E61, and N80 Internet Edition handsets, all of which support both GSM and WiFi; add some SIP-compliant VoIP into the mix, and you have yourself a nice little dual-mode solution. SingTel hasn't announced pricing, but plans on offering a flat-rate service enabling its customers to hop on the VoIP bit from any hotspot, including SingTel's own Wireless Surf Zones. There's no mention of handoff capability between networks, but if the price is right, we'll let it slide -- just don't go wandering off while you're hitting up the WiFi.

[Via Slashphone]