S60 Blogger

Pre Order Your N97 on Vodafone Now!

2009-06-18T12:26:00.002+01:00

The time is here folks.

The N97 officially starts shipping tomorrow in the UK.

Judging by the text I've just received from Vodafone, they are going to soon be stocking the device.

Checking out the Vodafone online shop, it indicates that the N97 will be available from 26th June, thats just 12 days away! However, it will only be free for those of you willing to sign up for a £40 a month tariff over a whooping 2 years!

Unfortunately for some of us current Vodafone customers, we are not allowed to upgrade until our current contracts are up. Obviously if I were an iPhone fanboy I would be disgusted at this kind of treatment from my operator.

So there we have it. I'm expecting my account to be eligible for an upgrade in September, so hopefully the price plans will be a little more realistic by then.

The list of Vodafone high street stores that will have an N97 in for you to play with from 19th June is as follows:

Basingstoke, Festival Place
Birmingham, Bull Ring
Kent, Bluewater Experience
Brighton, East Mall
Bristol
Cardiff
Cheltenham, High Street
Edinburgh, Princess Street
Exeter, High Street
Glasgow Guildford, 66 High Street
Liverpool
London, 127 Oxford Street
London, 341-349 Oxford Street
London, 474 Oxford Street
Manchester
Manchester, Trafford
Tyne Tees, Metro Centre
Milton Keynes
Newbury Norwich, 47 Castle Mall
Norwich, Merchants Hall
Oxford, Cornmarket
Reading, The Oracle
Sheffield, Meadowhall
Southampton, Above Bar
Swindon, The Lock
Thurrock, Lakeside
Watford
White City

N86? No Thanks!

2009-06-17T16:17:00.002+01:00

I am quite sure that the new Nokia N86 which is imminently due for release will be a very good phone. I am sure it will be brilliant in almost every way. I am certainly sure that most who buy one will love it as they would a new puppy.

However, I won't be buying one, and here's why.

It's not different enough.

Peel back the fancy bevelled exterior, and all you have is an N95 with a few small improvements here and there.

The trouble is, is that because the N95 was so good, and relatively speaking so far ahead of the competition when it was released, is that Nokia actually shot themselves in the foot but having to then design a device to better it, next time around.

They tried with the N96, and failed. Spectacularly.

And now they are going to try with the N86. I don't think the N86 will fail like the N96 did, but I reckon all those who upgrade from devices such as the N82 and the N95 will secretly be a little bit disappointed with the N86.

A new device has to capture your heart. Capture your imagination. You need to be addicted to it 24 hours a day for at least the first month for you to be determined as a geek, and for the device to be determined as one of the greats.

I just don't think the N86 will deliver on this level. We have seen it all before. 2 years ago!

I certainly do not see anything to get the geek in me excited. FP2? Come on. FP2 is just FP1 with the ability to sort it's own internet connection out. 8MP camera? 5MP is enough for the majority.

Yes, I know some of you will bleat that the N86 was never conceived as a N95 upgrade, but to Joe Public, it is.

The N97? Oh, that's different. On so many levels.

The N97 is definitely getting the geek in me excited.

Crap App of the Week - BBC iPlayer

2009-06-11T14:36:00.002+01:00

So, the 'Crap App of the Week' feature is making a comeback for the second week in a row.

Ok, ok, keep it down at the back.

This week the award goes to BBC iPlayer, and here's why.

BBC iPlayer application for S60 is a prick tease. A prick tease of the highest magnitude.

First thing this morning I spotted this post from Gerrymoth. Now, I realise that post has since been edited, but the fact that I can install iPlayer onto my N82, only for it to tell me that my phone is not supported is the utmost of irritations.

What the hell is taking the Beeb so long? I can realise that they initially put all their efforts into sorting it out for the iPhone so that they could steal the headlines, but that was MONTHS ago. What have they been doing since?

Whilst the rest of the world seemingly seems to be caught up in iPhone fever, I would have at least thought the mighty BBC would have seen right through this. Err, HELLO, some of us have had phones capable of streaming video for quite some time!

I mean, it's not like they haven't made the iPlayer available to S60 already, sure they have with the N96, the 5800 and now the N95 and E71 join that invite only club.

How long do us other, inferior S60 owners have to wait now? Another 6 months? Just for you to tweak iPlayer somehow so that it now works on the N82/N93/E51/E61i?

You have working S60 code for both 3rd Edition and 5th Edition, please just let the rest of us enjoy some of the content we are paying for. How hard can it be?

Tough Test for the N82

2009-06-05T10:13:00.002+01:00

Yesterday was a day of reckoning for my N82.

Rarely do I put my phone under quite so much duress, and sometimes it is a bit worrying as to wether it will raise it's game and live up to the task.

Over the winter I have done almost no exercise whatsoever. The weather, and my canny knack of procrastinating at any given moment make sure that more than one hole on my belt gets used quite often.

So, the weather has picked up, and it was time to do something BIG.

Something to kick start my summer.

Something to make me realise that I am horrendously unfit.

Something to give me right old kick up the harris.

Mountain biking round the legendary Twrch Trail was my chosen opponent, and boy is she BIG! Climbing more than 1000ft straight from the start is an absolutle killer on the legs and mind. The resulting 1000ft of downhill singletrack over a fairly short 3.5 miles is a real test of stamina, bravery all mixed in with some stupidry, and screaming like a girl.

Anyway, onto what my N82 was up to.

First off, navigation from my house to Cwmcarn in Wales. A distance of 112 miles, and it took around 2 hours to get there. Nokia Maps is not the most perfet GPS solution, but for the few times a year I need navigation, it does a pretty good job.

Next up was Nokia Sports Tracker. Now this is yet more GPS enabled wizardry, and tracked my route all the way round. It took 2 hours and 20 minutes to complete the course (which you can view here), and I even took a few photo's on my way round.

Once back at the visitor centre, I made some phonecalls to let people know that we were still alive, I checked my emails, browsed the web, and even uploaded my photo's.

By this time, I was still at 5 bars of battery, and the N82 had not burped, hiccuped, or farted and was still going strong.

Now for the journey home. Yes, Nokia Maps was loaded up once again. Although this time not for the navigation aspect, but mainly to tell me how far it was to get home. My fuel gauge was just above the red, but I was determined not to refuel until I got home. Some fairly chilled out driving ensued.

It was rush hour, so the journey home up the M5 and round onto the M42 took around 2.5 hours, but still the N82 soldiered on.

I didn't think the battery would last until I got home, but miraculously, it did!

Not just that, it also stayed on 2 bars right through the evening, and was still on when I woke up this morning! It had to let go eventually, and when checking my emails this morning, it finally coughed it's last 'Battery Empty', almost 24 hours since it had last been plugged in.

Almost 7 hours of GPS, and then general web browsing and phonecalls is really quite impressive in my mind. There is not a hope in hell of my old N95 even making it through the first 2 hours.

Everyday my N82 does something to impress me.

Everyday I grow a little bit fonder.

Everyday I wonder if my next phone, the N97, will be able to keep up with the expectations I now demand from a phone.

All because of this marvellous piece of engineering which is the N82. Some berated it when it was released. Even I wasn't particularly keen. But it has stood the test of time, and now, almost 2 years old, it just keeps getting better and better.

Caveat to Shozu

2009-06-05T08:38:00.002+01:00

The other day, I ranted about Share Online, and recommended Shozu.

However, just 2 days ago, Shozu announced (thanks to James Whatley) that it was going to jump on the App Store band wagon, and start charging people a fee to download it.

Now, I would just like to make it clear that my recommendation for Shozu was based around the fact that it is free. The main point in fact is that Shozu has it's problems and irritations, but I was willing to overlook those because of the defining point that I didn't have to pay for it.

If it is now a 'paid for' application, it needs to work, and work properly. Almost every time I have installed Shozu, it has always been a right royal pain in the ass.

Most normal applications require you to download a small .sis or .sisx file to your phone. It installs, asks you to log in, and you're away.

Not Shozu.

You first of all have to aimlessly wander your way around the mobile site, looking for the download link, which, from what I can remember doesn't exist. Logging into my Shozu account doesn't make any difference. Ok, I'll turn my PC on, wait for it to boot up, and then have a look at the normal website. Still no obviously placed download button. I think I did find it once, after much hunting. Instead you need to get it to send a text message with the download link to your phone. How very irritating. How very 2003. Just put the link on the flipping mobile website please.

Once you actually get Shozu installed, it works really well. Aside from the occasional crashes.

I recommended it purely for the two reasons that it was a: Free, and b: Works really well (once you have got it installed).

Now it has turned to payware, I don't think I will be able to continue my recommendation. Unless they pull all the stops out of the bag, and not cause people a headache just trying to set the damn thing up.

What do you use instead? Pixelpipe? Any other suggestions?

Nokia Sports Tracker Improvements

2009-06-03T19:22:00.004+01:00

The last time I used Nokia Sports Tracker, it was good, but a smidgen rough around the edges. The initial glee that was felt when I realised I could track myself using my phone, and then share said plots with other people was quickly overshadowed by the 'quirks'.

However, the big downside was that I used to use it on my N95. What was the achilles heal of the old N95? Yes, the battery. We all know that the battery was hardly up to the job of making calls, let alone doing really geeky stuff like finding satellites in space.

So Sport Tracker became one of those applications that I always had installed, but rarely used. If I'm honest I'm much better at procrastinating than I am running up a hill, so this possibly also doesn't help it's plight.

Anyway. Summer is here, and summer means two or three days of sunny skies for us in the UK, so I thought I'd best dust off my bike, give the chail a bit of oil, and download the latest version of the application. The big difference this summer is that my N95 is no more, relegated to HSDPA modem duties. My trusty steed now is the venerable N82. For those of you who don't know, the N82 can last more than 10 minutes with the GPS on, so should be ideal for tacking my sports.

So today I fired up Sports Tracker and headed off on the Norco Bigfoot for a shakedown. My bike had been in storage for the last 3 years, so this was my chance to iron out any glitches before hitting the Twrch Trail tomorrow.

The application is very similar to the one that was initially realeased, and works well, without the annoying bugs. You just chose your particular sport, wait for the GPS to lock up, click start and away you go. It really is as simply as that.

I just pop my N82 into my shorts pocket, and start making tracks.

Stopping on the way and taking some photo's on the way is no bother. When you have completed your exercise, the application will search your photo's and ask if you would like to add them to your route.

The biggest improvements though are on the Sports Tracker website. You can create an account (for free) and then you can upload your routes, and share them with whoever you so chose. It will also upload items such as your top speed, height, and even the photo's that you took on the way round!

You can check out the route I took on my shakedown today, and you can download the application HERE.

So what are you waiting for?

Nokia 6730 Sneeks in Under the Radar

2009-06-03T08:35:00.002+01:00

With all the hype and excitement surrounding the launch of the big fish N97, and much smaller one managed to sneek through the keep net.

It comes in the form of the 6730, and is going to be a Vodafone only exclusive handset.

Details are very thin on the ground just now, but it is confirmed as running the S60 operating system, which is brilliant news, and it will be available in either black or white.

Almost no details on specifications just yet, but a run of the mill 3.2 megapixel camera looks to be onboard. As is support for Vodafone's content such as the Vodafone music service, and other such horrors.

There is also some mention of navigation support, but whether this means GPS is included remains to be confirmed.

What do you think? I think this will be a great upgrade for handsets such as the venerable 6300, and as long as Vodafone price it correctly will bring S60 into the clutches of what would typically be S40 hunting ground.

Crap App of the Week

2009-06-02T16:41:00.002+01:00

Maybe I'll start running this as a kind of weekly feature. Maybe not.

Anyhow, this weeks "Crap App of the Week" goes to Nokia's very own Share Online application.

This application allows you to upload the photo's from your phone to the website of your choice. Only so long as it is either Ovi, Flickr or Vox. Whilst the choice of web destinations is frustratingly small, that is not why I think Share Online is shit.

It's shit because it makes random people's photo's appear in MY feed.

For example, if I choose the 'Your Recent Photos' option, I am not presented with my photo's, but instead with some random other persons lifelong memories.

How very irritating.

I could maybe understand if they had just got my contacts photo's muddled up with mine, but no. Do I really want to see some random new born baby pictures? No thanks.

Oh, and whilst I'm at it, Share Online also had a plugin on your homescreen. This also displays some rather random information. I think it is trying to tell your how many new photo's and comments there are. In relation to what, I don't know.

I can't seem to clear the numbers down to zero either.

Do yourself a favour. Don't install this crap.

Install Shozu instead. Whilst not without it's own faults, Shozu does a much better job, and will cause you to mutter less obsenities at the screen of your mobile phone. This can only be a good thing.

My Favourite S60 Theme

2009-06-02T15:53:00.004+01:00

It had been a while since I last changed my theme. In fact, I can't remember the last time I installed a theme that worked flawlessly.

The problem with most of them is that they all have an annoying little bug, and usually so annoying I foxtrot oscar it within about 3 seconds of discovering said bug.

I know, I know, I can hear you all hurumpfing, and telling me I should report the bug to the developer, which I never do. Sorry.

Anyway. Every once in a while, I come across a theme that is perfect. Easy on the eye, classy, clear, and best of all bug-less.

That theme, as you can see above is Touch Vista by Tehk7.

It works perfectly on my old N82 warhorse, and it also comes with Feature Pack 2 support as well.

Tehk also has a few other great theme's on his site, so be sure to check them out.

New Flagship on the Horizon

2009-06-02T15:18:00.002+01:00

After the complete debarcle that was the N96, Nokia had to come up with something a bit more palatable as their next flagship model.

Luckily for all of us, Nokia has pulled a good one out of the bag this time, and the future is already looking bright for the new N97.

A press release by Nokia today tells us that the new king of the hill N97 is going to start shipping this month!

The N97 is the first N-Series device running the 5th Edition version of the popular S60 operating system. It's also the first N-Series device to feature a Qwerty keypad, which in my opinion is one of the best decisions they could have ever made.

Vodafone is confirmed as a UK stockist of the latest device, abliet it arriving on their network in July, presumably so they can stamp some kind of branding all over the firmware.

Rumours are also rife that 3UK is going to be putting the N97 on their shelves as well, although nothing 100% official by the looks of it just yet. However, I would proceed with caution before signing into a long contract with that operator.

You can check out some awesome photo's of an N97 vs an E71 here, and you can also check the support pages and user manual.

If that wasn't enough, you can also check out a quick video walkaround of the N97 actually being built in the factory here.

White for me please. Which colour do you prefer?

Making a Comeback?

2009-06-02T14:53:00.002+01:00

Maybe I should resurrect this blog from the depths of time, and give my views on the mobile world once again.

Crazy?

Let me know if you want me to start up again, and I may think about it.

This Blog Has Now Moved

2008-01-22T09:33:00.000Z

Yes thats right everyone. It's been a difficult 24 hours getting my own domain and hosting setup, and then moving all the posts and comments over, but at last I think we are there.

Blogspot is good for a basic blog, but to move things forward realistically we needed to move to a better blogging service.

Please head on over, and check out the new blog now at http://s60blogger.com/

Lots of changes will be happening over there in the next few days, so please bear with me whilst I get it sorted.

Steve

PS, don't worry about the competition, I managed to move all your comments over to the new site, so you haven't missed out.

Nokia - Look Back at 2007 and Forward to 2008 and Beyond

2008-01-21T18:40:00.000Z

Stefan over at Intomobile.com has just written a brilliant piece looking back at the what Nokia did in 2007. His insight, doesn't just concern the handsets which Nokia released, but also companies that they took over, and also events which they held.

Later on in his write up, Stefan also looks forward to what he predicts Nokia will have up their sleeve for 2008 and even into 2009. Lets just hope some of these predictions become reality.

Stefan even awards his 'favourite phone of 2007', it's sure to be controversial (can you get what it is yet) but I must say, I think I agree with him.

This is a definate highly recommended read, so if you have a spare 15 minutes head on over and take a look. CLICK HERE

N95 Attached to an RC Helicopter

2008-01-21T12:29:00.000Z

Whilst just randomly browsing Qik.com this morning I came across this video that you should hopefully be able to view above. Quik user Cybercesar has mounted a Nokia N95 to the belly of a radio controlled helicopter, turned the live streaming to Qik on, then taken it for a spin around the street.

Pretty cool if you ask me. All thats needed now is some water bombs, or a spud gun attachment!

Competition Time - Win an Energizer Energi to Go For Your Nokia Phone

2008-01-21T10:44:00.000Z

EDIT - As this blog has now moved, please CLICK HERE to now enter the competition. Don't worry if you have already entered on this blog as your details will still make it into the hat!

So it's a first for s60blogger.com and yes the competiton is completely free to enter, and the winner will be picked out of a hat (or other suitable recepticle) next monday (28th Jan).

The competition is to win an Energizer Energi to Go, which is a portable charging device that runs off 2 AA batteries (also included) and is designed for Nokia phones. It should be compatible with most models, and includes both the older style (thicker) charging pin, and also the new style (thinner) one.

I reviewed my Energi to Go a few weeks ago CLICKY HERE and found it to be a very useful device, especially if you own a power hungry device such as the N95.

So to enter the competition all you need to do is post a comment to this blog post with your name, what phone you have, and where you are from. Alternatively, of you dont want to post a comment, just shoot me an email with the same details on, to steve@s60blogger.com

Thats it folks, good luck, and if you have any questions just send me an email.

iGo Bluetooth Keyboard Unboxing

2008-01-17T11:58:00.000Z

Click To Play

I've just got my iGo BT keyboard through this morning for the bargin price of £17.99 from mymemory.co.uk. Now unfortunately, I think they have gone back up in price, but it is still a worthwhile purchase.

It has a few little niggles, which will be coming up in my review, which I will put up on here maybe over the weekend, but until now you will just have to make do with the unboxing video.

Differences Between the N95 Variants

2008-01-16T14:43:00.000Z

No doubt you will have already seen that there is (at the time writing at least) three different Nokia N95 variants on the market, with another one about to go on sale. To the average consumer, buying online for instance this can be quite confusing, especially as some places do not advertise which model it is too well.

JonnyBruha over at HowardForums.com has put together a really good factsheet, including photo's to help you sort out which is which.

Thanks Jonny.

Convergance - What Is It, & Have I Got It In My N95?

2008-01-15T15:11:00.000Z

I've seen the word 'convergence' banded about the blogosphere for quite some time now, and although I know what they are getting at, I have never really known the exact meaning of the word, so I thought I would do some digging. Not only to find out what the word is, but also to find out if my N95 has some of these 'convergences' built into it, next to the WiFi antenna, but behind the battery.

A quick flash across the keyboard to the behemoth that is Google, and we get to the Wikipedia page dedicated to our destination text.

Wikipedia states that convergence "denotes the approach toward a definite value, as time goes on; or to a definite point, a common view or opinion, or toward a fixed or equilibrium state".

Fair enough.

It also says that to be more specific it needs to have a context behind it. For this we need to look to 'technological convergence', and then it all starts to make sense....... refers to a trend where some technologies having distinct functionalities evolve to technologies that overlap, i.e. multiple products come together to form one product, with the advantages of each initial component.

So there we have it. In laymans terms, it means how many goodies can we fit under the hood of the N95, and work just as well as they would as individual goodies.

As time has evolved in the mobile phone industry, I think I had not realised how much I rely on my phone (I can't really call the N95 just a phone, but we will do for now) for more an more tasks. I was brought down to earth with a bump a couple of weeks ago, when during a firmware update my N95 decided to lose the will to live, and died in my arms. That meant a full 24 hours without my precious soul-mate. I only happened to have 2 phones lying around to stand-in, one was an iPhone, and the other was an old 6230 (which in mobile life terms, was from the stone-age!). So I swapped over to the iPhone, yes? Nope! The iPhone just plain irritates me, and everyone always wants to 'have a look' at it.

So, the 6230 gets plugged in to 'juice up' and we are on our way. Sure, the 6230 calls and texts people just as well as the N95, although that is where the similarities just about end.

I only have a 2Gb memory card in my N95, but it has all my favourite music on at any particular point in time, and it is always my main source of entertainment when either at the gym, or going out for a run. I used to use my 2nd generation iPod all the time, but now I have an N95, it never sees the light of day. So here we have my first case of convergence. My N95, have made my iPod redundant.

That was an easy clear cut case of convergence. I have jotted down a list of the main things I use my phone for, and looking at them, the rest are not quite so clear cut.

Camera - Sure my N95 is damn good at taking photo's, but my Fujifilm S6500fd is better. However, the 6500fd is not with me all the time, so therefore also has it's drawbacks. In terms of convergence, we are some of the way there, but unlike the iPod, the 6500fd is not gathering dust just yet.

It is the same situation with many other things too. Internet - Sure I can get on the internet with my N95, but it does not deliver an, as rich, experience as my laptop. Calender - I put all my appointments in my N95, and it nags me when I forget about them, but I also keep a diary on my desk, as it is good to scribble notes in, and be able to see things at a glance. Video recording - good, but not able to replace a camcorder. The list goes on.

I think as a whole, we have made a good dent into the aim of producing a converged device. The N95 in particular, shows just how far we have come in terms of what is possible in an everyday phone, compared to one just a couple of years old. For the 24 hours I used the 6230, literally the only thing I could do was voice and SMS. Almost nothing else was possible.

Should we even call it a mobile phone in general conversation anymore? It's not just a phone, thats for sure. Multimedia computer? Handheld converged device? Can you imagine blurting that out down the pub?

Mobile phone it is.

For now.

European Summer Road Trip 2K8 - To The Alps!

2008-01-13T22:23:00.000Z

I am really excited about this just now. For many years I always wanted to drive around Europe. I was not really bothered where exactly the destination was, I just wanted to have the freedom to roam. Over the last couple of years it has become harder to justify spending hours sat in a car driving, and a fair wad of cash on fuel, with such cheap flights buzzing back and forth.

However, going on a plane is BORING, and I just wanted to do it the hard (and in this case expensive) way.

I'm not going to say when exactly we are going, as someone will probably burgle my house, but it is this summer. The reason why I am writing about it on here, is that I plan for firstly use my N95 (unless it's replacement gets released in the meantime) to document my trip, and hopefully also use my Nokia N800 Internet tablet, not only to update the world on our progress, but also rely on it to get us to our destination by using it with it's GPS software. The N95 will provide the GPS hardware via ExtGPS.

This promises to test the N95, and the N800 in quite a few areas. Firstly, communications, be it voice, sms or data. Mums will of course need to be kept informed by voice, but everyone else will suffice with an SMS or an email. The internet, on both devices will be important, for things such as weather forecasts, looking for localised information such as restaurants, shops, maybe (but hopefully not) car repair services (we are taking a Renault by the way, so it's always a thought on my mind) and the list goes on and on.

You can find our rough route here, so far we are planning on stopping in Cologne, The Black Forest, Munich, Oberammergau, Zurich, Dijon and Paris. The route is not fixed at the moment though, so is likely to change, with maybe an extra stop or two being added at some point.

The main things, technology wise, I am concerned about at the moment is the N95-1 battery life, and the GPS software for the N800. The battery life concern is nothing too serious, as we have a car charger, and also an Energi to Go, so I may just buy an extra battery just to put my mind at rest. It's just my luck for the battery in the N95 to pack up, just as we are navigating through Paris, and I have left the charger in the boot. Regarding the GPS software for the N800, I have activated the free 7 day navigation trial in the supplied Maps software. I have been testing it this week, and I must say that some of the routes it has tried to take me were just plain wrong! I have no doubt it will get me to the destination eventually, but probably adding a few hours onto our total travelling time during the road trip! Not good. I am welcome to any other suggestions that you may have, as to decent navigation software, preferably free, but I dont mind paying for it.

I am also planning to track our entire route using Nokia Sportstracker. Yes, I know it's not really designed for that purpose, but I think it will fit in quite nicely, and we will have an accurate record of exactly where we have been. Unless anyone can recommend something similar? I just have to check that it will run simultaneously with ExtGPS.

Another job for the N95 is going to be my camera. Although it will not be the main photographic equipment on this trip, I have my FujiFilm 6500fd for that, it will always be with me, unlike the 6500fd, so the N95 is just as important.

These are exciting times for me, and I just can't wait to get going. I did want to do a race to Oberammergau, by sending Laura on public transport, and me in the car, a la Top Gear style, but a stern, considerably unimpressed, look was all that suggestion got in return. Oh well, maybe next year!

So please, leave a comment with any suggestions for software/hardware that we may find useful, and I'll also need to get my hands on car mounts for both the N95 and the N800. Also recommended places to visit that aren't too far off our route, will also be greatly appreciated. Or alternatively email me steverowlands@gmail.com

Yahoo! Go V3 For Symbian - Review

2008-01-12T08:41:00.000Z

So, with much fanfare at CES 2008, Yahoo released the latest version of their Yahoo Go application for S60 devices, taking it up to V3. There was much anticipation beforehand, with people hoping that Yahoo had seen the errors they made in V2 (namely it being a Java app), and gone 'back to basics' and developed a native S60 app (a la V1). So did they take heed with all the bad that was written about V2? Did they Horlicks! Here is a quote from their press release: "Thanks to the feedback from many of our Yahoo! Go 2.0 users, this new product is designed to deliver more of what consumers want". Now, I'm sorry, but at no point did I ever read, from anyone, their pleasure at using the fanatastically brilliant V2 Java app, so why go and develop another? Was it the usual case of senior management being told what they want to hear from those below them?

I think the writing was on the wall right from the start. I would have expected that when it was announced, it would at least be available to download, wouldn't you? Nope, it wasn't. All we were greeted by was a "Please come back later" type message. Do you see what I'm saying here? Not a good start. Oh, and whilst I'm at it, I'll also moan about the 'US Only' release. Why oh why, do we keep having these regionalised releases of various things. It sucks. It also antagonises consumers. Luckily, as it happens, their 'US only' stamp on the download page wasn't really worth it, as I was able to download it in the UK.

Yahoo!'s press release is chocked full of big selling lingo, such as "Sets new standard for the mobile internet", "solidifying Yahoo!s leadership", and my personal favourite, which I am going to pick apart here, "Get Exactly What You Want".

Taking this latter quote, and loading up Yahoo! Go, I browse the carousel to find one of the options says the following:

Wow! Yahoo! must be good! They somehow know what my favourite websites are, and claim that I can add widgets of them. Fantastic. If this works, I'll eat my hat. One of my favourite websites is Jaiku.com. So I do a search for a jaiku widget.... none. Righto. Ok, maybe that was a step too far. I'll try an easier, bigger player, website and this one will definately work. Facebook.... widget search.....nope! Err hang on a moment here. Yahoo! said that I could get exactly what I wanted, and add widgets from my favourite websites and they seem to be falling flat here.

I know, I know what you are going to say about these widgets need to be developed, so give it time, it's still in BETA etc etc. To bastardise the good old Top Gun quote "Your Press Room is writing cheques your app can't cash".

It's like being told in a car dealership that their new model can run on water straight from the tap. Great! Thinks you. Only to find out after you have test driven it, that it will be able to run on water one day, they just haven't built the engine to do so yet, so until then, you will need to run it on petrol.

Anyway, enough of that now, lets have a short look at the actual application. It takes around 10 seconds to load up. That precisely 8 seconds after I lost interest. It uses up 5mb of RAM on my N95. That may be fine for me running V20 firmware, but for the large percentage of users running branded firmware, they are going to be running into 'out of memory' errors very soon. The carousel looks very nice, but the labels above the icons take far too long to appear. It's got mail, and news blah blah blah, just like V2, but it also has a fantastic icon to hear the latest Hollywood Buzz. Ooo, how enthralling! For interest purposes, I delved into this, just to see what it was all about. Well, I did a lot of reading, but not a lot, in fact no hearing whatsoever.

I'm getting more irritated by the app everytime I try and use it, so I'm going to stop.

Please Yahoo!, make V4 native S60! Please! Will they listen? I'm not a betting man, but I think I'll have a punt on this one.

Nokia SportsTracker Now Works in Facebook

2008-01-08T13:15:00.000Z

The hard working souls at Nokia Beta Labs, have been busy again, and have brought us a facebook.com application that shares your latest energetic endeavours in real-time on your Facebook profile.

Now, I haven't tried it out yet, but if I get time later on this week (looking doubtful) then I will don my plimsoles, go and get sweaty, all in the name of research!

For information on how to add this application to your Facebook, check out the Beta Labs blog post.

Nokia N95 8GB US 3G Version Announced at CES 2008

2008-01-07T19:21:00.000Z

Yes, the news is finally made official by Nokia themselves at the CES 2008 event in Las Vegas that there will in fact be a FOURTH variant of the N95, in the form of a US 3G 8GB version.

The specs are the same as the current european N95 8GB, apart from the 850/1900 MHz HSDPA frequencies needed in the US.

According to the official Nokia Press Release, the N95 8GB NAM (North American) will be on sale in Q1 2008, priced at around $749 from either the Nokia flagship stores, or from online retailers.

Nokia E71 Photo Leaked & E66 Info - Weekend Round Up

2008-01-07T09:14:00.000Z

So here is the first photo of the E61/i successor, thought to be given the title of E71. It has been a frantic weekend for leaked information on both this, and the E66 which is said to be replacing the E65. I wanted to wait until all the dust had calmed until I posted this, so we could see where we were at.

First news of the E71 photo first surfaced over at mobile-review.com and after much talk on the forums about this photo being a fake, I think we know just by looking at it, that is untrue. Also, the member who managed to get hold of the photo, has a good track record in the 'leaks' department, so there is no grounds to presume that this will be any different.

As for the specs of the E71, rumour has it that it will boast GPS, WiFi, HSDPA, 3.2 camera, weigh 120 grams, and have dimensions of 57 x 112 x 10mm. If these figures are correct, that makes it substantially more pocketable than the E61/i, which came in at 70mm wide.

Also this weekend, the RSS reader went wild with info on the E66 which is billed to be the replacement to the E65. However, the information on this is slightly less clear, by way of a leaked Vodafone presentation. The photo's sre not really worth putting up just yet, but it apparently has very similar specs to the E71, but in a non-qwerty, slider form factor, so therefore being quite a bit slimmer.

This week is a big one on the technology front with CES 2008 taking place in Las Vegas. I guessing here, but don't expect too much in the way of announcements from Nokia regarding new devices, I think they will leave that until later in the year. However, I could well be wrong, so will bring you any juicy news that I think may interest you as and when it happens.

V21 Firmware for the N95-1 Makes an Appearance on the Internet

2008-01-05T10:08:00.000Z

The folks over at www.symbian-freak.com have got their hands on V21 firmware for the N95-1. This is not on public release yet, and there is no guarantee that it will ever actually be released, but judging from their preview, it would seem that V21 is a fairly worthwhile upgrade.

Among other things it includes Web Run-Time, and Flash Lite support for the S60 browser, which is much in keeping with the recent firmware update for the N95-8GB.

I for one look forward to seeing more information regarding this (which may be the last for the N95-1) update, and will of course keep you informed as and when I find out.

Get Fit With Nokia SportsTracker

2008-01-04T14:15:00.000Z

The time has come for me a re-start my struggle to get myself fit. Last year I spent many an hour down at the local gym, on the equipment watching whatever rubbish was on the overhead TV's and never really made a headway into it. This time I have decided to go about it in a slightly different way.

Running on a treadmill, in a gym, is a notoriously boring and life-sapping activity, so, I am going to do all my running outside in the fresh (read f-f-f-freezing) air, and just do my weight training in the gym.

My running (with a little bit of walking some of the way) will be tracked using the GPS in my Nokia N95, recorded using the new Nokia Sportstracker application, motivated using the built in N95 music player, and then finally uploaded to the Nokia Sportstracker website for the whole world to inspect.

The N95 actually proves to be a very versatile device for doing this kind of thing. Not once in the process do I have to plug a cable into my N95. It has built-in GPS functionality, and then it uploads the completed training session data direct to the web via WLAN connectivity. Which you guessed it, is built-in too.

I went for my first run last night, just around the block, and it was only just over a mile. I know this is a fairly pitiful distance, but this will hopefully grow over the coming weeks/months to a more respectable denomination. HERE is the link to the data from last nights exercise, and as you can see, it even traces the route onto a map automatically.

I ran on the roads all the way around, so you can see that it is not the most accurate of traces, but it is close enough for you to be able to tell where I have been, and how far. It also gives speed and height measurements, although I think something had a slight error as I dont remember running at over 34km/h! I wish!

I really hope I keep motivated with this, as it is a great and very easy way to track any improvements over the course of time. Please feel free to nag me in the comments section if I fail, or you could even perhaps leave me with some motivational tips!