In case you missed what we did to it, we whacked it with a golf club, booted it like a rugby ball, took a swim with it, dropped it off a very big ladder, dropped it in a pint of beer, shot at it with a paintball gun and drowned it in jelly.

Click through to see each of the videos, pick your favourite and get your vote counted.

As for the stuff we’ve already got in the pipeline for the coming months, the devices include the Nokia N95 8GB, N82, N85, 3310, 7650, 6310, 2210 and 1100. Services wise, Nokia Life Tools is the only one inked into our plan.

Rather than run a poll where the options are dictated, we thought this might be a good place for you to post your suggestions below by listing the devices and services you’d like to see appear in the Almanac along with reasons as to why you think they should be included.

We’re keen to get all your thoughts and suggestions, so please use this as the place to voice all your Almanac wishes. We’ll be checking it frequently and pulling together the best suggestions from now on, so get stuck in and start hitting us with what you’d like to see.

Read on to find out more about how he got on, and voice your opinions on the science of QWERTY keyboards right here.

Steve’s criteria in his search for the finest and noblest of QWERTY keyboards was simply as follows:

“I wanted to get to the bottom of which smartphone keyboard, in the Symbian world, at least, was the best, in terms of size, feel, functionality and efficiency. Oh, and I wasn’t allowed to include any obsolete models”

I agree, a decent set of real-world measuring sticks. And in Steve’s dissection of a number of QWERTY handsets including, among ‘others’, the E90, E75, E61i, E71 and N97, is indeed thorough from a numbers perspective - he highlights some interesting (if rather unusual) figures, such as “Distance from centre of ‘Q’ key to centre of ‘P’ key (mm)” and “Key travel (approx, mm, +/- 0.2mm)”, which then are thrown into a rather strange formula to determine its overall score. Now, hats off to Steve for having a stab at creating a set of rules to determine how good a QWERTY keyboard is, and his findings are again interesting - he highlights six devices (five of which are Nokias) with the E90 coming up top, followed by the E75, then the E61i, and the E71 in 5th, followed by N97. What do you reckon?

But can a great QWERTY keyboard really be assessed and measured as successful (or not) by a formula? For example, how do you measure how tactile a QWERTY keyboard is? Or the curve of each key? What do you think? As always, share your opinions below.

You can pick up the script from Didier’s blog, but be warned that you should only use it if you know exactly what you’re doing. We (on Conversations) don’t, so until someone turns this into an app and makes it available on Ovi Store, we’ll be time lapse free for now. Let us know in the comments below if you’ve come across any other unusual uses for Nokia devices.

With the album complete, the group toured Senegal and performed live concerts, helping to get the message of child rights out there beyond those who were already involved. Plenty of challenges were faced along the way, particularly when many of the kids couldn’t actually read or write, and some couldn’t speak the national language. The group overcame those though and now those talented enough to make it through the audition process, not only helped to spread an important message, but also got the chance to help them out of the situation they were in.

If you haven’t already, take a few minutes to watch the video. It’s in equal measure heart warming and distressing.

The poll showed that 59% of you had already begun downloading content from the Ovi Store, with 31% having downloaded between 2-5 bite-size bits of software and 6% having downloaded 10+ pieces of content. On other side of the fence 36% of you hadn’t downloaded any content yet. If you were one of the 5% who didn’t know what the Ovi Store is, click here to read all about it in our new Almanac section.

At less than a month old Ovi Store is still in its infant stage and promises to mature rapidly over the coming months with even more content, but your reaction certainly shows that there’s an active interest in Nokia’s mobile content mall and that it’s a destination that will evolve and improve to help you get the most from your handset with no hassle. What do you think? As ever, please leave your thoughts and opinions in the comments section below.

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How to get Ovi store on your Nokia phone today
You can download the Ovi Store mobile app by simply selecting the Ovi Store icon in the Download folder on your device. Or you can get to the Ovi Store by simply visiting store.ovi.com on your phone.
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With 47 million sold, the 6300 was a brilliant success. Mark puts much of this down to everything about the device being in the right place at the right time. He describes the device as a classic Nokia, with the right design, the right materials and the right technology. Building from that with the 6700 the team set out to create a device that has restraint, elegance, is timeless with a formal design language, resulting in a classic device. He rather touchingly describes it as “the little black dress of phones”. Never in fashion, never out of fashion - it’s just perfect.

Watch more of what Mark has to say in the video below, and let us know what you think afterwards.

Here are some of the reactions I came across this afternoon, but please feel free to highlight any others in the comments section below that you might have come across (the good, the bad and the down right barmy). And don’t be shy to leave your thoughts on the new 5530 XpressMusic inside.

Rafe Blandford over at All About Symbian touched on the significance of the low cost of the device in this short snippet:

“It will be one of the cheapest touch smartphone of the market when it launches later this year and uses the S60 platform to deliver key music software and services.”

An opinion echoed by Mikael Ricknäs, IDG News Service, writing for PC World - the piece goes on to highlight some interesting insights from Ben Wood, an analyst at CCS Insight:

“The phone is yet another example of how the line between smartphones and cheaper mid-tier phones is being blurred. “It’s definitely for people who can’t afford an iPhone, and that is not a negative thing by the way. There are people who want that experience, but can’t justify the expense of an iPhone,” said Wood.”"

Boy Genius wasn’t over the moon about the lack of 3G, yet acknowledged the value and low cost accessibility angle of the handset:

“Seriously, Nokia? You put out a phone capable of speeds over 10Mbps and you’re still making EDGE-only phones? Ok fine, this will help make the phone insanely accessible compared to the competition but sheesh, are 3G radios that expensive?”

Techgadgets.in had this to say:

“The 5530 incorporates superior media handling capacities in one small and sleek package”

Finally Zara Rabinowicz at ShinyShiny (a self-confessed lover of the 5800) unabashedly expressed a soft spot for the look of the new 5530:

“But what really attracts me to the phone shallow as I am, is the style.”

Agree or disagree with any of these? Want to add something to the mix? Please feel free to throw your thoughts into the pot in the comments section below, and highlight any other views that you might’ve come across.

The Open Translation project is being supported by sponsorship from Nokia, and is billed as one of the most comprehensive video translation projects ever undertaken. As a start, every TEDTalk will have English subtitles, which can be flicked on or off by the user (makes watching videos in the library or the office that bit easier). The number of additional translations is down to whether or not the talk will have been translated by a volunteer. It’s naturual, I believe, to expect more popular talks to have the widest range of languages available. That said, with the broad nature of topics available on TED, it’s likely that some more locally-relevant talks will also get the translation treatment.

To add a translatable twist, there’s an additional transcript feature. Firstly this enables you to track the talk and have the video start at a point you find interesting or want to return to. What’s more, you can combine the video, the subtitles and the transcript in any combination of languages. Fancy watching a video in English, with a transcript in Urdu and Korean subtitles? Clever, huh. This has clear benefits for those interested in technology, and learning another language.

The first 20 talks were actually translated professionally. The rest though have been done by volunteers, as that’s seen as the most scalable solution. Every translation is checked by a second volunteer translator and as it’s all credited, it should be done properly. This is clearly open source in action, I reckon.

Let us know what you think below.

Back in December I posed the question “N97. Will it change me?” sparking a heap of comments and debate from many of you on the topic of anticipation versus reality when it comes to new devices, and how we often think and hope that our mobile behavior might alter (for the better) with a new product. And how it often does change our behavior, but not necessarily how we think it might. Especially a flagship product of the stature and near unparalleled expectancy of the N97.

I was lucky enough to get hold of an early N97 last Friday, and in less than 72 hours my new device has indeed triggered a rapid metamorphosis in my mobile behavior. One I may not (and hope not) to recover from.

Now I’m aware I’m still enjoying the honeymoon period with the N97, nonetheless my mobile behavior is very different to that of how I used my N95 8GB or E71 which I’d been using only for a couple of months before making the switch to the new N97.

The biggest change I’ve undergone is my approach to messaging - I’m now doing copious amounts of it (SMS, MMS, Email, Twitter, and on, and on…), with the most significant being that I’m sending full-blown emails proactively (typically I would react to incoming mail and use my device to reply in a few short words “from my Nokia phone”). I’ve already composed more new emails on the N97 than I did on the E71 in two months. Or N95 8GB ever. Why? Well, from what I can tell, the combo of killer keyboard, large screen, fast set-up and great fast access over-the-air have been the main inspiration and encouragement. I’m typing faster and sending stuff with less hassle than I’ve experienced before, adding attachments with ease and ultimately not thinking about it or the hurdles I’d previously associated with email on the move. It certainly feels like progressions on a personal scale.

The next most noticeable change in my mobile behavior is that I’m using all of my favourite apps far more than before - I’m Twittering more regularly via Gravity, using Maps more casually and in more frequent proactive communication with my four most contacted friends sat in my custom Contact Bar. Again, I’ve asked myself why, and I’m convinced it’s the new homescreen (read our Stepping behind the Nokia homescreen story) - the combination of the fact that this is my first touchscreen phone, and that I’m able to rapidly dip in and out of each of the icons and widgets I’ve positioned on there has transformed me into a more proactive mobile user. Or at least that’s what I believe, and I think I’ll continue to be going forward. Time will tell once the honeymoon is over, but I’m really enjoying this new experience and can’t imagine wanting to go back.

There are other idiosyncratic alterations in my mobile behavior triggered by the N97, but I’ll save those for another time (and once our initial courtship and the fuzzy feeling has subsided).

In the meantime, let us know what you think to all this, and what you’re expectations are for the N97 and if you think they’ll be met. Do you think it’ll make you more proactive (or less)? As ever scribble down your thoughts and opinions in the comments section below.

Photo from Kevin Lawver