A Tour Of London

Recently I attended the WomWorld Nokia Meetup or #wwnmeet on Twitter to be exact and met up with some great people which is always guaranteed when you attend a WomWorld get together. It was also the first time I got to meet back with Michael Hell from ‘The Thoughts From Hell’ who I met exactly 3 years ago at another WomWorld event for CES in Las Vegas.

So when I heard who was going I had to make a long weekend of it and go sightseeing with Michael who had only ever been to London once before.  The team over at WomWorld were kind enough to loan me a Nokia N86 to use on the bus tour and the trip to Madame Tussauds so below is a gallery of photos I took.  None are edited in any way and I have to say some of the ones on the bus have a reflection because we went under cover mid way through the tour as it was around -4c and did start to snow too but there are some great shots in madame tussauds and from the Wom event.

I will be doing a full write up of the whole Wom event as well as details of what went on with #Hellinlondon

Where Next For Nokia??

So we are now officially in 2010 and many of us have taken a look back at the last 10 years and been amazed at what has happened in the mobile phone market.

Many of us especially in the UK think of 3G as the normal now with even 1.8mb/s HSDPA being not as fast as we expect now when in fact 10 years ago when the clocks hit 00:00 in 2000, 3G or HSDPA was just a plan for the future.

Nokia had a very bumpy 2009 with profits dropping by massive amounts, handsets being delayed over and over again, and even some of Nokia’s biggest fans starting to question just what has happened to the once nearly invincible company.

Highlights in 2009 were very few between with the Nokia N900 getting some of the credit back for the company but that was only towards the very end of the year and only a miracle could have got Nokia way from the online beatings it had been given for the N96 and N97 disaster.

The N86 was ’sort of’ announced but this more or less slipped through the press release with many people not even realising the N86 existed until a day or so after Mobile World Congress and as Rita aka Dotsisx from Symbian Guru said recently ‘N86 8MP has been treated this whole year as the forgotten bastard child of the Nseries family’

Comes With Music has been a disaster signing up very few customers due to over priced handsets or a very limited range on offer, only now improving with the Nokia X6 which could help turn things around.  The problem with Comes With Music is customers just dont get/understand the idea and even if they do it is far too much hassle to go out and use the service.  Those of us with Apple Mac computers are left out in the cold with no access via computer to Nokia Music so we have to download all the tracks OTA which at first sounds great but after say 20 tracks the fun stops and at times you just cannot be bothered to download over a mobile network, especially when you look how easy iTunes is for Apple users.

N-Gage although in theory a great idea was under used, under advertised and as such will come to an end in September 2010 after heavy investment in 2008 and 2009…… and now onto the real killer…. OVI!.

Even from the start OVI has been a nightmare for Nokia (even getting people to say the name right is hard enough).  The whole OVI Rebrand has fallen flat on it’s face with Nokia Maps being changed to OVI Maps, Share On OVI becoming OVI Share and so on.  Then comes the biggest headache for many Nokia fans this year… OVI STORE!.

At launch this video made every Nokia fan cry with laughter and every Nokia employee cry in pain because it was spot on (and every funny).  OVI Store has improved recently as demand has died down but has now had a complete re-launch penciled in for March 2010 when hopefully the problems will be resolved.

So yes, 2009 was a bad year for Nokia but this is 2010, a new year and a new decade for them to put a big stamp on.  Symbian Foundation is really picking up momentum and Nokia have already announced some of their early phones using touch screens this year will have Symbian 3 on them offering a better UI experience and faster more smoother actions.

There will be another Nokia Booklet this year with higher specifications, at least 1 or 2 new Maemo devices and Maemo 6 has already been refered too by many Nokia fans on Twitter and the internet.

As a big Nokia fan I really hope 2010 is the turning point for the company before they go down the road that Sony Ericsson and Motorola have been for the last few years and are trying to hard to get out from.

If I can offer any advise to Nokia for 2010 it would be to listen to your customers.  If we are asking for you a 12 megapixel camera phone for Xenon flash to replace a normal camera it’s because we want a 12 megapixel camera phone with Xenon flash!.  We don’t want another 5 megapixel camera with LED light because ‘it saves space and power’, especially as the Nokia N900 is already a larger than normal device.

Social Media is going to be even bigger in 2010 with Word of Mouth advertising becoming more and more valuable around the world.  If something is poor then everyone will comment on it and let you know just WHAT is wrong with it, use this advise wisely and maybe, just maybe Nokia will have a great 2010 in both devices and services.

If Nokia do not improve things in 2010 Apple, Android and RIM will be right on their tail more than willing to take customers off their hands.

N900 vs N810 comparison pictures

Well I got the N900 in yesterday and Im already in love with it. Its without a doubt the best handset that Nokia Nseries have made, and it truly is fantastic. Here is a few comparison pictures ive taken against my N810. Note the N900s much smaller screen. Take a look. Review coming very soon! Any picture request comment below and let me know and I will do my best to update the post

Nokia N86 8MP camera test – Is it pulling its weight?

The Nokia N86 has been Nokias flagship camera device for a while now, and ive had my hands on it for a few days thanks to WOM World. Ive been waiting a while to see what one of these is like. Im a huge fan of my Nokia N82, and still now I firmly believe that its one of the Nseries devices where they have managed to get almost everything spot on with it. Being a few years old doesnt matter, it has one of the, if not the best cameras ive ever come across on a phone. It really is good. The reason I was so exited about getting my hands on a N86 was because of my love for my N82.

First impressions of the N86 is great. Nice solid weighty device. AS soon as you see the screen light up, its great. Brightest screen ive ever seen on a Nokia phone, but thats expected with its AMOLED screen. Its fast and snappy and the keys have a really nice feel to them. However, I didnt loan one to look at the hardware, it was the camera I was interested in, so lets get down to business!

These few pictures are so comparisons between the N82 and the N86. The N82 ones are on the top and the N86 are below. Take a look at a few comparison shots. The first 2 shots were taken in pitch black, and then the other ones were taken in in middle of the day in light.

N82 (Fan on medium speed)

N86 (Fan on Medium speed)

N82 (Fan on full speed)

N86 (Fan on full speed)

N82

N86

N82

N86

N82

N86

Now i’ll let you make your mind up on these pictures, but bear in mind the N82 isn’t exactly a brand new phone, and its been on the market for quite some time. In my personal opinion the fan pictures sway it for me. I have yet to see a cameraphone work so brilliantly in pitch black conditions and manage to capture the detail in such quality. I also feel that the colours are a lot more “real” in the pictures, and I feel it handles brightness a lot nicer. Its such a shame that Nokia can move a step back like this in terms of cameras on the devices. I mean if your going to release a flagship camera device, you would surely want it to be on par with the previous, if not better? In my opinion, the N82 camera is far superior to the N86s, double the age, and half the price.

When you buy an N86, your buying a premium all round device. Great screen, great build, nice keys, fast. But when you buy the N86 8MP you want it to take great quality pictures, and don’t get my wrong, it does, but when you compare it to the N82, you will feel a little disheartened and a little let down by the 8MP beast. If its a great camera your looking for, stick with the N82, you cant go wrong. If you want an all round premium device, then go with the N86, but please don’t think that just because it has an 8MP camera your going to get flawless pictures, because you wont. I have said it before and I will say it again, please Nokia, please bring Xenon back to your phones! If you do that, you will truly ill have a cameraphone to be proud of!

Nokia N900 In The House!

The kind people of WOM World/Nokia have sent me a Nokia N900 to trial for a short time and I have been bust putting through it’s paces for a few days now.

Here are a few photos on the day it arrived (a very exciting day for me!) and a quick unboxing video.

Expect to see a full review with many more photos/videos and my thoughts on this the first Maemo phone of hopefully many

Nokia N86: The Ultimate Cameraphone

Recently I was present at my brothers wedding in Chelmsford and WOM World were kind enough to loan me a Nokia N86 to take along for the ride.  Now although I did have a HD camcorder with me because of needing to capture HD video content I did take some snaps with the N86 and here they are.

More will be posted so expect too see this article updated with more content soon

Looking Back At Nokia World

First of all apologies for the lack of updates live from the event as promised. Turns out when you have around 2000 people all trying to access WiFi at the same time technology goes into a hissy fit and shuts down.

So Nokia World this year was different to previous events. First of all they announced 3 devices BEFORE the actual show and in my view this was to stop all the leaks completely ruining the show for everyone. The Booklet 3G, Nokia N900 and 5230 were all announced in the week leading up to Nokia World and this we have already covered,

At the event we found out much more information and this will be what I cover for a little while now.

Nokia N97 Mini

The N97 Mini was a device which was leaked before launch but no one really knew if it was coming now or if it was coming at MWC next year. Lucky for us it was announced at Nokia World and I managed to get some hands on time with the device.  The N97 Mini took the best things from the original N97 and fixed the things which were not up to standards such as the camera lens cover and build quality.  The N97 Mini has 8GB of internal memory and supports MicroSD cards if you wish to expand any further.

The screen is a little smaller but very usable and with the new software update which enables more widgets and kinetic scrolling using the screen is now far more easier than it was before.  The same 5 megapixel camera is there but this time with no camera lens cover which will be good for some people and not for others.  Personally I miss the lens cover as it made sure dust and dirt did not get onto the camera but with the reports of scratching on the N97 I can see why Nokia decided to leave this out.

The Nokia N97 Mini will go on sale next month (October) in most markets and we recently brought you the news Vodafone UK will be stocking this device also in October.

Nokia N900

The Nokia N900 was the main handset everyone wanted to get hands on time with at the event, and I can see why!.  The N900 is a stunning device with a large high res screen, 5 megapixel Carl Zeiss camera, HSDPA/HSUPA, 3.5mm headset jack, Slide out QWERTY keyboard and best of all it runs the Maemo operating system which is a first for Nokia in a mobile phone.

The screen although resistive was a real joy to use and the speed of the OS was simply amazing.  Nokia have managed to pack the N900 full of specs and features in a well sized shell which these days it hard to do!.  The new OS has some handy tools like SMS/IM showing in conversation form (yes like the iPhone) so that you can not only see the last message from someone but a whole conversation which S60 users have been asking for now for quite a while.  There are a range of home-screens which you can add widgets onto and these are always updating.  Something very handy is adding contacts to a screen with a photo ID so you can call/text someone you know from the main screen.

The N900 is a flagship phone without a flagship title and will be going on sale in October.  Network support might be limited due to having a different OS so networks wont be able to brand the device as much as a S60 devuce, but 3rd party stores should be selling the device and it will be available sim free for £499.99.

Nokia Booklet 3G

The Booklet was a device announced before the actual Nokia World event but was more of a teaser.  More information was announced at the event which included the price of €575 and the launch date which is Q4 2009 so expect it in time for christmas this year.

As a person who has used an Apple MacBook and a MacBook Air I know a thing or two about well made products with superior build quality and thankfully the Booklet falls into this category.  The small yet strong aluminum frame gives the Booklet a great feel yet also helps cut down on the weight which is also very light.  The Booklet features HDMI, USB and a built in HSDPA modem so all you have to do is put a SIM Card in the side and away you go.  This really is a dream machine for someone who travels a lot or someone like me who wants a small, light yet powerful machine to update things on the move.  The battery comes in at a very impressive 12hrs of life and when speaking to the product manager the evening before Nokia World he said there are times you will get less of course when you use a lot of connectivity or full brightness, but there are also times you get MORE than the 12hrs life which was pleasing to hear.

The Booklet 3G will also be sold on network contracts so you can expect to get a cheaper price if you sign up to a data contract and there will also be the chance to just buy the device outright.  I got hands on the Booklet the night before Nokia World and have to say I was really impressed with the overall package on offer, the new OS with Windows 7 was pleasing to the eye and the machine itself was a work of art.  Defiantly something to look out for once it hits the shops.

Nokia X6

The Nokia X6 was the surprise of the event.  With lots of rumors and information leaked about a possible 5900 this was the device that many people expected at Nokia World.  However not that long ago there were reports of a new brand ‘XSeries’ was reserved by Nokia and now we know why.  XpressMusic is to be re-branded as XSeries in future phones and the X6 is the first and the fact this phone was not leaked was a huge bonus for Nokia.

The X6 has 32GB of memory for saving thousans of songs and for your video files but it also has MicroSD for expandable memory if you feel you need to go over 32GB (yeah right as if!).  The X6 also as a capacitive screen which is a first for Nokia and this for some people is a BIG selling point as the screen seems to scroll smoother because of the way the screen works.  Now me personally I hardly found a difference and the fact the whole room of bloggers did not know when using the X6 what type of the screen was used until later in the day when we were officially told says to me that the whole Resistive VS Capacitive argument does not really matter as much as you would think.  The X6 also comes with a 5 megapixel camera which is great for snapping photos on the move and with the large memory you will never run out of space.

The X6 goes on sale in Q4 and for the first time for Nokia, this is only available as a Comes With Music device meaning you get 12 months of free music downloads either over the air on the X6 or via the Nokia Music Store on a PC.  So not only do you get a new screen, or a 5 megapixel camera, or 32GB or memory, but you also get as many music tracks as you like for a whole year!.

Nokia X3

The X3 is another new announcement and is aimed at the low spend market with a price of just €115.

This is your typical Nokia music device with slide out keyboard which you have seen before but this time under the new XSeries brand.  my honest opinion is the X3 won’t get much of a look in with the large range of other devices out there and a lot of them from Nokia.  They already have the 5800 under a range of brands giving you more choice, there is the 5530 which went on sale recently and also the 5230 which was announced just before Nokia World giving you another option.  The X3 runs S40 and also goes on sale in Q4

iPhone Is NOT A Smartphone!

Bit of a rant from me this morning and it is aimed at the Apple iPhone.

First of all how can anyone say that the iPhone is a ’smart-phone’ when apart from a few Apple only applications, the phone cannot multi-task?.  This was promised nearly a year ago in software updates and in every recent keynote presentation they have talked about this push notification system but still that is not fully rolled out.

The iPhone has only recently been able to send MMS which older phones have been able to do for years, It has only just been able to record video which other phones have done for years, STILL the Bluetooth is limited to headsets only so no file transfer.  The camera is only 3.2 mega pixels when new phones out now or are due this year have 8 or 12 mega pixels

Someone on Twitter said  recently that

Only Apple would make a whole advert on Cut & Paste

The problem does not just lie with the phone itself, but the craze it has caused with the ‘Fan boy’s’ around the world who seem to look past every little problem the iPhone has and try to put a positive spin on it

The iPhone only has a 3.2MP camera – It only needs that, its not aimed at camera use
There is no file transfer on Bluetooth – I never do that anyway
The battery is not removable so you can’t have a spare – Who uses a spare battery?
The browser still cant play flash content – Flash is not that importaint
Ringtones are limited to iTunes content – There are good tones on there already
The phone is locked to O2 with poor 3G coverage – O2 have good 2G coverage and WiFi

The list could go on and on with iPhone fans defending the product.

When a Nokia device is flawed, we know about it, we accept it, and at times when needed we rant and shout about it because how else are Nokia going to know what we want fixed if we just suck up to the brand.

Recently there has been a lot of people talking about Nokia loosing smart-phone market share and whilst this is true, I do agree that at times Nokia are not helping the situation by launching phones 6 months after announcing them STILL with software issues.

RIM will always have a big market share as they are used all around the world for email within businesses and when you think of Mobile Email you cant help but think BlackBerry.

Sony Ericsson really let themselves go over the last 2 years with a whole host of phones launched before they were ready, major software issues and the fact customers seemed to just get bored of them, but maybe with the new S60 powered Sony Ericsson Satio due out this October, and the rumored Android phone following next year maybe things will be improving for Sony Ericsson?.

Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t HATE the iPhone, it does some thing’s really well like the OS seems to be reliable, the screen is nice and video playback is top quality too.  Plus the App Store is the best out there, that no one can deny.

But classing the iPhone as a Smart-phone when it still has a long way to go before in many people’s eyes it could be is just wrong.

Am I a Nokia Fan boy?…. Well I would say at times yes, why else would I run a Nokia based website?.  At times no.  If you read the posts on this site you will have seen my rant at Nokia recently saying are they losing their grip and that I was looking to possibly get a Blackberry as my main device.

Well I was kindly sent a Blackberry from Vodafone to trial for a month and on and off I have been using it.  It does email very well indeed and the keyboard is very nice.  Apart from that the whole OS under the hood seems outdated with boring text on white background…… I thought S60 was a little dated now but the Blackberry OS is way more outdated.  Was I serious about moving to a Blackberry?.. You bet I was!.

However I kept going back to my Nokia devices in the N97 and even the 6120 Classic because it just did everything I wanted it too well, was not as outdated as the Blackberry OS and has better multimedia features.

Now this is an open challenge to Apple or O2.  If you are reading this and you wanted to try an change my mind on the iPhone I would be more than willing to give one a go if you were to loan me a device for a short time to put through it’s paces.  I promise to go into the trial with an open mind and will be as honest and open as I can about the phone whether that be good or bad points.

Apple…. it’s over to you

Teach a Technophobe Challenge 2 and 3

Sorry about the delay for the latest Teach a technophobe challenge. The original Technophobe had to leave the country at the last minute to sort some things out and he will be gone for a few weeks, so I had to find a new technopobe to take up the challenge.

Challenge 2

So here was challenge number 2. After changing my technophobe my new has really picked it up quickly. Before he owned a N95 8GB and has recently brought a new N97 after seeing mine that I won, but he rarely uses most of the features, especially the email side of things. Here is challenge number 2 I received.

So, I awaited the email from my friend. Here is what I go through:

To be honest, its what I least expected and certainly got an unexpected reaction! Turns out that he had been to London Zoo a couple of weeks ago and took a load of pictures. The text that went along side it said “Christian I saw your relative in the zoo so I thought I would snap a pic for you!”.

My Technophobe (and I to be honest) were both very surprised at how easy it is to attach a photo or image in an email and send it. Its something that I haven’t really tried out before or used very much, but its very fast and again, like I said in challenge 1, its a lot cheaper then texting or MMS, so if you want to send someone a picture but not have the silly charges the networks charge then its just as easy and quick, and cheaper! After having used it or a few weeks now, its hard to get used to a phone again which doesn’t have the QWERTY keypad. You grow so accustom to it, it’s hard to let it go!

Challenge 3

Here was challenge 3 I was sent.

Here was the picture I received.

Now to most people this picture wont mean anything, but to me, its priceless. The person in the picture is my technophobe, and its his favorite shop ever, Pepe Jeans. This picture was taken by one of my friends on one of our many trips up to London, one which I couldn’t make as I was working, and the shop that we have to visit at least 3 times every time we go! He would spend hours in there and we always have a good laugh about it, and he always comes out with the whole shop!

Again, he found it really easy to attach the picture and email it off. He’s starting to really use the benefits of the E75, but also now his N97. Before, he used the camera and the internet, and that was about it. Now he has all his emails on there, uses ovi maps and ovi share on there, and is really getting to grips with the “convergence” in the latest Nokia phones!

I am looking forward to getting the final challenge through, and will update you all when I get it!

N97 Tips & Tricks

Today I was contacted via email from someone I used to know many years back on another website.  Turns out he now works for a mobile network, came across World Of Nokia and has just bought a Nokia N97.

He kindly supplied a few tips and tricks so here they are shared with everyone.  If you have anything to add please comment and they will be added to the list below

Nokia N97: Tips, tricks and great apps

The N97 has had mixed reviews and i’m not going to bore you with another one. What I’d like to offer instead is a few helpful tricks, some neat features you may not know about and a couple of applications that enhance the device.

You can mark multiple items very quickly with the shift key. Hold the shift key and press an item on the touchscreen to mark it. Let go then hold again to select the next item you want to mark and so on. Alternatively, hold the shift key, select the first item, then with the shift key still held, select the last item and all the items between will also be marked. Backspace can be used to quickly delete an item (or all marked items).

Turn the phone over to snooze an alarm or silence a call. It always needs to be face down to work, so when your alarm goes off a second time you need to turn it face up then face down again to snooze a second time.

You can have a text message sent automatically to calls you reject. The default says “Sorry, I’ll call later” but there’s no reason you have to be so polite. To set this, go to Menu > Settings > Calling > Call. Set Reject call with message to Yes and set the message text in the setting directly below.

Neat features

I downloaded a few podcasts, The Geoff Show from Absolute Radio and some old downloads of Russell Brand’s podcast from BBC 6 Music in 2006. I copied these to a directory I created on the 32gb memory called “podcasts”, then refreshed the music library. I was really impressed to find they were automatically put in my library under the “podcast library”. I thought they perhaps had “podcast” in their genre, but the Geoff Show had a genre of Blues for some reason. It may have determined they were podcasts just based on their length. Either way, very clever.

You can set a profile to be “timed”. Go to menu > settings > profiles. Highlight the profile you want to activate and select options. Select “timed” and enter the time you want the profile to expire. This is obviously handy for things like if you know you’re going to be in a meeting for an hour and just want your phone to be silent for the meeting. I’m always forgetting to take my phone back off silent, particularly after I’ve been to the cinema because I’m too busy afterwards dissecting every detail of the film. On the home screen the profile appears with a little clock symbol next to it to show you that it’s timed.

Lost your phone? Think it’s been stolen? You can remotely lock it with a text message. To enable this feature, go to menu > settings > phone > phone mgmt. > security settings > phone and sim card > remote phone locking. Enable it and choose a “remote locking message” of at least 5 characters. Then a pin code to unlock the phone. To use it, grab a mates phone and text your locking message to your phone. Better still, find out what a friend’s locking message is and randomly send it to them to annoy them. Note when i tested this the remote locking message was case sensitive. What was great was I got an automated reply from my phone telling me it had been locked. The memory card is apparently also locked using the remote locking message.

Great apps

The built-in search application is really good, but for some reason Nokia bury it under the “applications” menu and half way down the list by default. I recommend you move it to the front menu. Simply open it up and then enter your search. It will start searching as soon as you type and it returns results from your messages, calendar, music, applications basically everything. It can also be configured to search either Google or Live.

Download photo browser from the Nokia Beta Labs. http://betalabs.nokia.com/betas/view/nokia-photo-browser. With it you can quickly browse through thumbnails of your pictures by flicking your finger across the screen. It rotates all the thumbnails automatically when you tilt the screen. Open a picture with it and double tap to zoom in. Then click and drag to look around the picture. Double tap to zoom back out. press and hold gives you a fish-eye zoom that you can then move around with your finger. And of course flick left or right to move back and forth around your pictures. Press once to return to the thumbnails. It’s a really fun app and much cooler than the standard photo app. However the standard photo app does have more functionality for categorising your photos (it groups them by month by default for example). You can of course have both apps. The photo browser app will take a little while to generate thumbnails of your images on first use (depending on how many you have)

Download the Google Maps app http://www.google.com/gmm/GoogleMaps.sisx. You can also get it through the web browser of your phone by going to m.google.co.uk. It’s better than the built-in maps application as it features Google’s great map search for finding locations and destinations. It does however have to be connected to work (it won’t close if you lose data connectivity but it will complain a lot). I believe the data usage is pretty low though. It does directions, but it doesn’t have turn-by-turn voice. You’ll need the Nokia Maps app and the paid subscription for that (you get 3 months free with the phone).

Teach a Technophobe: Challenge One

About a week ago I posted a story about the Teach a Technophobe challenge with WOM World. A few days ago I received my first challenge. Here is a picture of what I was sent:

My Technophobe picked it up pretty quickly. Within a few minutes he had set his gmail account and his hotmail account up on the phone and started receiving emails. I have to say, and my technophobe agrees (From what he has used) that in terms of emailing, the E75 (or Nokia Email in general) is probably the closest things that you will get to a blackberry. Its very fast, opens the emails almost instantly, forwards the emails almost instantly and makes writing emails very fast with the QWERTY. The battery is also very impressive considering its always connected, getting 3 days or so out of it before needing a recharge.

My Technophobe sent my a test message on my phone which I promptly received. Once I received the email, he was off. I now regularly email him rather then text him or ring him, seeing as its free and its cheap. The only problem is is that not many people have discovered email on their phone, and not many people realise that it can work out ALOT cheaper then texting and calling which we are both finding out very quickly.

Check back in the next couple of days for the next challenge!

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