That’s right folks.

Yet another firmware update for the venerable old original N95.

This time moving forward to Version 30, although not the major step forward in terms of changes, that maybe some were hoping for.

We have a slightly redesigned homescreen, with the search functionality now, rather annoyingly, taking up two lines of text.  Also a new Share Online plugin makes it onto the lower end of the homescreen.

Delving a little deeper, and we find the full version of the N-Gage application, some MOSH and Ovi bookmarks implanted into the browser, and I think, although not confirmed just yet, auto screen rotation.

Oh, and there is a Google plugin for the Search client.  Which I’ve personally never used, because I think it’s a pile of old pants.

Nevertheless, it’s good too see Nokia still paying some attention to the old war horse, but it would have been nice to get in on the User Data Prevention band wagon, but alas, not so.

Maybe we need to wait for V31…….

What on earth is wrong with my N82?

It keeps coming up with this error whenever I try to turn the bluetooth on…. Unable to perform bluetooth operation.

Marvelous.

Lets try a hard reset, *#7370# stylee.

Nope.

How about a re-install of firmware…. Still not fixed.

Great!

Any ideas whats wrong?

Looks like I’m going to have to make a trip to the service centre.

This is very frustrating.

Back to the N95 it may have to be.  That is feeling poorly too.

Not my day.

I’ve done it!

I have finally managed to convert my girlfriend to S60.

Her S60 weapon of choice?

The (relatively) new 6210 Navigator.

Now, it wasn’t the easiest of conversions.  In no small part, down to the product’s marketing.

Here’s why I say that……..

Upon walking into the Vodafone store, Laura immediately made a bee-line for the best of the Sony Ericsson range, the C902 I think it was.  Having been a SE owner for the last couple of years, it made obvious sense (to her) to upgrade to the latest model.

I, on the other hand, had other idea’s.

“How about the Nokia N78?”  Said I.

“Eww, look at them funny buttons”  Said she.

“Ok, how about the 6210 Navigator?”

“I don’t need sat-nav” came the reply.

There is my case in point.  All the marketing for the 6210 is solely focussed on the fact that it has ’sat-nav’ built in.

She had instantly dismissed the 6210 because, by looking at all the advertising surrounding it, the device was a sat-nav first, mobile phone second.

This just seems all wrong to me.  About the only difference in the GPS functionality of my N82 and the 6120 Navigator is the fact that the N82 comes with 3 months free voice guided navigation, compared to the 6210’s 6 months.

I just think Nokia are trying to steer the 6210 into a niche market which doesn’t really exist.  Potentially alienating potential customers that may have bought the 6210, if it had been advertised as a ‘phone’ first, navigator second.

So after I showed Laura that the 6210 was indeed a very well specced ‘phone’ she started to warm to it.

She likes sliders, but thought the N95 8GB was a tad large, so the 6210 seemed to fit the bill.

So the 6210 was plumped for, and whilst we wait for the new contract to activate, I managed to get a couple of hours ‘playtime’ with the new device, and these are my initial impressions.

The build quality is just fantastic.  A lot of thought, and time has been put into it, and believe me, it has paid off.  Open the memory card cover on an N82, and then open it on the 6210 and you will instantly know what I mean.  Quality exudes all over the place.

The slider is smooth, and wonderfully weighted.  With a nice spring to it, and satisfying clunk/thud when you close it.  Satisfying, like a soft-close door on the latest kitchen units from Ikea.

The screen is almost unbelieveably bright and clear.  Almost too bright in fact.  Open the phone at night, to check the time, and you might think you are under the interrogation lamp at MI5.

The rear battery cover is laden with a lovely textured, sort of velvety paint, a little bit rougher thatn the N95, but still damn nice, and gives an extra bit of grip in the hand, to hopefully stop the 6210 from having a messy meeting with the pavement.

Unfortunately, there has to be a couple of negatives, but thankfully nothing major…. not yet, anyway.

2.5mm headphone jack.  Nokia, what is that all about?  Get with the program, please.

The camera seems to take forever to focus.  Like 2 or 3 seconds, forever.

That’s all for the moment.  Shockingly as it may be, that I have only managed to find two negative points with the 6210, should prove testament to just how good this phone is.

You should know me by now, that if I don’t like something, I’ll say it.

Did I mention the piss poor marketing?………..

Jaiku is alive!

Yes, we all thought the micro-blogging site had vanished into the Google ether, never to see the light of day ever again, but we were wrong.

It back up, on the new fancy Google server, and it all looks lovely.

However, because they have changed servers, some people may not be able to get back into Jaiku just now, basically because your computer browser is still pointing to the old Jaiku server.

Here’s what you need to do…….

Flush your DNS Cache.

If you don’t know how to do it, look here.  It will take you all of 10 seconds, I promise.

After that, your computer will go and sniff out the new Jaiku server.

Lovely.

(If this doesnt work, it probably means your ISP DNS is on a go slow, so you will just have to sit it out, until it updates itself.  Should be in a few hours or so….)

Well this has obviously long since been and gone, and still no SIM Free definitive date seems to be known.

Well Play.com have since revised their planned release date to 30th September 2008.

Will this date come and go, just like the last one?

Quite probably possible.

If I’m honest, I’m not that bothered.  I’m not buying one. It’s almost 600 gold nuggets!

I’m alright Jack.

I mean it.  I really do.

It’s like a breath of fresh air is the video podcast arena, and this one breaks the trend by not being filmed in someone’s back bedroom.

James, Dan, Ben and Ewan take to the streets of London to get amongst the drones of NorMobs, and occasionally even speak to them…..!

Stop reading this post.  Just go and watch.

Well apparently so.

Jaiku was bought by Google, what seems like ages ago, and since then not a lot seems to have happened.

However, finally this weekend, it seems to have finally been taken under the big Google wing.

What this means is that Jaiku will now be running on something called the Google App Engine, and on Google servers.

To read the latest on what is happening with this please see the JaikuInvites.com Blog.

I hope this means the future of Jaiku is secured.

[Via: NokiaAddict.com]

Sorry I’ve been away for quite some time.  Well almost 3 months actually!

Truth is, I needed some time away.

I’ve had a few major life changing things happen in my life just recently, and getting all those sorted out and settled down was obviously very important.  I won’t bore you all with the details, so don’t worry about that.

Now for confession time….

I’ve not just been having time off from blogging, I’ve also had some time away from S60.

I changed my mobile provider from 3UK, to Vodafone, and in that contract I got given the obligatory ‘free’ phone.  I could have picked up an N95 8GB…. I could have even tried the E51…. or the E90, but no.

Time for a breath of fresh air.

Time to try something completely new.

Time to see what the competition is up to, and if there is something that Nokia has missed in it’s roadmap to greater things.

So what did I choose?  Sony Ericsson? Nope. A RAZR? Ugh….  The iBone? Nada.

I plumped for a Blackberry.  The 8310 Curve.

Truth is, it was a bit of a spontaneous decision.  I’d never even touched one before, let alone used one.

So how did I get on?  Am I still using it?  Have I ditched S60 for good?

Well you will have to wait an find out, whilst I document my experience over the course of the next week or so.

I’ve learnt a lot.  Not just about a whole new alien OS, but also about what I love and hate the most about S60.

So stay tuned.

If you want, like….

The really handy Google Maps application gets an update for S60 to version 2.1.0.12.

No major changes to report by the looks of it, but the addition of a ‘Favourites’ functionality seems to be a nice touch, and definitely benefits the user experience.

Upon using the Favourites option, it seems to have imported the locations I had saved in Nokia Maps v2.0! Nice.

I personally really like Google Maps, and have found it to be invaluable in the past, when Nokia Maps v1 was having one of it’s ‘off’ days.

However, since the improvements that Nokia have made the their Maps application with the advent of v2.0 which was recently released from BETA, I have found little use for Google Maps.

Does that mean I’ll be uninstalling Google Maps? Not a chance! It’s saved my bacon once too many times to be discarded completely.

Google Maps is also useful if you don’t have a GPS enabled S60 device, as it uses a triangulation process of the nearest phone masts to give you a rough guesstimate of your location. It’s usually surprisingly accurate!

To get Google Maps head on over to www.google.com/gmm on your S60 browser, and go from there.

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Why they insist on that many decimals is beyond my small brain’s comprehension, but there we go.

News of this update surfaced on HoFo earlier on this afternoon.

Currently there is no official announcement of this, nor does there seem to be a changelog kicking about anywhere.

It does however, look like it’s only for some product codes, so if yours isn’t showing an update is needed just yet, please be patient.  I’m sure they will get round to you soon enough.

If you have updated your E61i, and notice any changes, please leave a comment and let us know what you think.

[Via Symbian-Guru]

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