Symbian Stories

Exam time

noreply@blogger.com (Ravindra) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 01:11:00 +0000

Dear readers,
I wont be able to post anything on the blog until 13th of October as I'm having some exams these days.The rest of the N97 review will also be posted after my exams.

Via system seven

OVI mail setup for s60 walkthrough

noreply@blogger.com (Ravindra) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 04:49:00 +0000

Few days ago,Nokia Beta Labs released an s60 setup wizard to configure OVI mail on your device.Though not a big fan of OVI mail I decided to give it a try.Actually what it does is simply connect you directly to OVI mail login and then setup the mailbox configuration on the messaging menu.Yes it makes things much easier,but unlike setting up yahoo,OVI didn't create a mess for me.So you will do it even without it,but it's always better to try the easy way right.And for who havenn't tried it out yet,hope this walkthrough will give a sneak peak on the OVI setup.

Download : OVI mail setup for s60

N97 : Out of the Box Impressions-The Content

noreply@blogger.com (Ravindra) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 00:18:00 +0000

On my last N97 post,I wrote how indulging the N97's design is, and I totally forgot to express my out-of-the-box impressions on it.OK so here it comes,a mix of enthusiasm and critisism,So this isn't yet another unboxing photoshoot(you can find plenty on the web) but I'm trying express the true feelings of a fanatic.Complaints and appreciations do help improve,People at Nokia will listen,they do listen and they did listen.Remember the N95 8GB overhauling of the N95 Classic.So let me start,

The Box

The N97 box is the most simple yet elegant presentation I've ever had in my hand from Nokia.At a glance there is nothing at all,no more fruits and vegetable pics(I still remember the 6630 box which had an picture of oranges on it but not a trace of 6630 )it's just a black box,once you have a closer look you'll see the carved N97 on the top along with the silver "Nokia N Series" script,just the way it should be.They've made the ideal presentation for a flagship device right from the box.When I unwrapped the package the first thing that came onto my mind was "Wow isn't this a great gift for a loved one?",hmm just one of my friends had it as a gift,wonder if there's someone who can do the same for me.Mysteriously my phone wishes came true,in the past don't know how the luck turns around in the future,but for the moment atleast WOM world was kind enough to let me have one.

Wipe Cloth

OK,back from fascination to the in-box contents,let me start from a content that one wouldn't see as something so special,I was really excited to find out that this time they've included a wipe-cloth in the box.This is the first time I've got one,it wasn't there on either N95 8GB box nor in the N82.This little piece of cloth is not that a big deal for many of us,but it comes handy if you are in a dusty environment or having sweaty problems causing greasy hands.I've had and having both this problems and if you don't use a protective cover on your phone definitely the outcome won't be so pleasant,specially for an device involving heavy touch input it is essential to have some protection for the screen,and believe it or not using other ordinary cloths for this doesn't work at all.Instead of wiping out the dirt it will bring more damage and scratches,but a wipe cloth specially made for the phone you'll get rid of the dirt and finger prints with out any pain.

Pouch?

After the happy note,here comes a complain,a big issue really disappointing.OK I'm really angry over this,why at Nokia we get precious devices and not getting appropriate protection,shame of you.It's not fair that only E-series get the cool glamorous leather pouches,and N-series was left behind as they did for the past few years.They are slowly narrowing the gap between them at the build quality department,but why can't they include this simple thing in the retail package.Remember the leather pouch came with the E71 and E66?,aren't they gorgeous with the red velvet inner,and they do a perfect job for the protection of the device.And with a huge touch screen how can user afford to get dirt and scratches on their beloved device?Since the N97 came out as their flagship device,atleast to mark that they could have put an pouch in the box.Till now I've bought more than 6 of their devices and the only time I got a pouch was with the 5700XM,that I still use to carry my N82.So Nokia please listen, not only the big things matter,smaller,even the infinitesimal things do make difference.But when I did a google search I found out that APAC version of N97 comes with a handy black pouch,(If I'm in Sri Lanka I would probably get this)but why make regional differences in contents?

The Stylus

The Stylus,when I first saw this,it reminded me of a USB pen drive that one of my friends had,which had the code attached to the clip,instead of the drive.He used to put it around his neck and after few days the there was only the clip hanging around his neck,and he had no idea of where he dropped the pen drive.At a glance I thought why the Flagship would carry a silly design concept like that but then only I noticed that it has to be attached to the phone and that's why the stylus is not buried inside the device like it comes in the N900.But still I feel like it would have been better if they made it that way,it's good to have it fixed into the phone rather than hanging out of it.Also isn't is bit too flat,specially when it comes to handwriting,I tried using a more skinnier stylus and felt lot better than the flat one,but it all depends on user.

Stereo Headset

Nokia AD-54 stereo headset,hmm this headset is really good,I know it very well because I have three of them at home that I use for my phones.But my concern is, the users won't be any unhappy if they did a bit of tweaks in the design.Everybody love to see a new pack of accessories along with brand new design, so why spoil it with a small piece of old stuff.There would be much more glory if the headset follows the N97's physical design flow,(remember the AD-54 resembles N96 and N81)or someother totally new design.But in the other hand you can always get a handy headset from their range of funky headsets for some extra cash.

Finally the overall feeling of the N97's box contents isn't letting me down,but the good things always add more fascination, so giving a complete box of content with a device will really make a change .

OOps,nothing much on the device? it's over here.

Handy Shell with SkyeQuiKey/T9Nav : Can They Co-exist?

noreply@blogger.com (Ravindra) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 03:10:00 +0000

I hardly use the default standby screen,as it's been replaced by Handy Shell on both of my phones for almost a year.And I'm kind of addicted to it,so whenever I format the device,the very first thing I do is installing it back.Also I do know there are so many users who totally depend on this standby screen overhauling.But when you use it along with some other applications installed you might have come across some issues.As the Handy shell is not acting as a real overhauling or an integrated replacement for the the default standby screen,it is still treated as any other application installed on the phone.Thus it only runs on top of the standby screen making us totally unaware of it's 3rd party application nature and it's no wonder people to mistake it as the default standby screen.So if you are a person solely rely on it as your standby screen(like my self),you may have come across this issue.If you use Skyequikey or T9 Nav easy finding solutions along with the Handy shell(Obviously one might question,why need them when you have similar service built-in on the Shell it self?)have you ever noticed them stop working whenever after a Shell invoke?
OK now this gives rise to two questions,

1. why need them when you have similar service built-in on the Shell it self?
Personally I've been addicted to Skyequikey long before I turned up onto the Shell,nevertheless it still proven to be better for finding stuff easily than the shell's type-n-find system.the reason I use them both is,that then I'm given the option of type-n-find at any screen(Standby or shell).

2.Why does SkyeQuiKey or T9 Nav stops working after you invoke Handy Shell?
I've found users asking on this issue several times and I myself was troubled with it for a while.First I thought this was due to lack of free RAM,but when checked there is plenty left at most of the times(On N82 and N95 8GB-both have 128MB),but I wasn't able to figure it out properly until I accidentally changed the Key preferences on the Handy Shell settings.Once the Red key action was set to "Send to Background" from "close current app" SkyeQuiKey and Shell started to work together peacefully.The reason is,just like the Shell the SkyeQuiKey(or T9Nav)still act as a separate application rather than becoming system app or a integration.You will see them listed as running apps if you check on the Handy taskman.Before this setting was changed,whenever you type and find something on the default screen using SkyeQuiKey of T9 Nav and then close it using the red key,the application is not hidden(as it is supposed to be),instead it was forcefully closed and at the same time you are prompted to the shell screen and in the next time when you come back on to the default screen and type only the digits will appear.Have you ever suffered from this,if so no more worries, the solution is just one click away.

So at last they can co-exist on my phones and even you can, if you still wish to use them both simultaneously.

Pure Indulgence: N97 the Design

noreply@blogger.com (Ravindra) — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 05:45:00 +0000

After the break(it's a shame that I have to mention the word"break" again and again),if I were to write a post definitely it would have been a post on my fantasized thoughts on the N900,it was that irresistable on the videos that makes it justifiable to appear on a symbian blog.But when the courier guy knocked on my door with a package from WOM world,and within the next few minuts my mind changed and I'm back on the track.From the moment it came out of the wrapper,the box itself was showing-off the true grandure of what's lying inside.It's the N97 that I always wanted to have in my hands.If any one can remember,on 1st of December 2008, I wrote the following note on the Symbian-Life blog,

"Today is going to be a big day for Nokia and all their Fans around the world,after going through a period of record breaking amounts of product leaks Nokia has finally managed to keep something secret,Something remarkable,Something that will change your mobile life and Something that neither the bloggers nor the top contacts have atleast a single bit of clue except one thing,it’s going to be Something on the N-series.So perhaps we are about witness the ultimate Flagship for S60 5th edition based Nxx or Nxxx,which was rumored to be come out in the mid February 2009. Or this might be the very first legendary N-series(Nxx) QWERTY input device I was dreaming about for years,as the event banner says “Desktop,Laptop,Pocket” this could probably be the final successive rival of the Laptop invasion they launched initially with the N95 release campaign,remember the “Jelous Computers Viral campaign”? Let this be the day that dreams come true for most of the bloggers out there,wish it be the Ultimate N-E series hybrid device powered by the S60 5th edition"

Since then I always needed to experience this feature device.But unfortunately by the time it started to fall into the hands of trialists I had to stay away from blogging and following that,so many things were missed.Among those experiences I missed the s60 5th edition which was a big chapter that I couldn't reach,until now.Therefore whatever I write from now on,will totally be in a newbie's point of view.The s60 5th edition is truly a story telling evolution of their ultimate predecessor the OS 9.1/2/3 and the new visual overhauling they've implemented is definitely eye-catchying.But prior to going in-depth with the OS there is something quite provoking I developed with the splendid design of this tech chunk.OK let me start it from the "out of the Box" impressions.

It was my wife who played around the N97 at first,and she was the first to slide it open.As a person who always had wobble issues with sliders I was looking anxiously at the hinge supported slider works, and she looked at me and said "no you wont be bothered again,the wobble is gone".I was delighted to find out that at last they did it,after so much devices out with the wobble it was becoming horrible experience for Nokia fans.When my N95 8GB started to give this trouble I was wondering why such problems never occured on E65, a device released prior to that.This build quality problems kept on continuing to broaden the gap between majestic E-series and N-series till the release of this device and now I think they've realized the cost of it.Now we can feel it all in one piece,happy like never before.

The N97's design shows traces of design experiments the designers tried out in earlier devices,which gives a good clue on how long they've been working on it or how far it goes back in their imaginations.It inherits the new Nokia tag design frame from the N79 and the Camera cover mechanism from N85,also the compactness of the N810 while bringing back memories of N91's shiny multimedia key with the slightly slanted New Menu key.And don't you think that the Shiny frame was adapted from s40 devices? Anyhow Eguchi Shunjiro has put it all into one fine masterpiece that not only me but any Nokia fan would find it irresistable.

The one I received for trial is the white variant,which looks more appealing in reality than seen on the videos.The splendid flow of design with the shine and matt combination developes a true indulgence for its design in me.Never thought that, with only one physical key on the front can make it an icon of pure simplicity while still preservining the classy look.Perfect placing and Minimizing the number of buttons at the closed position really gives the N97 a unique touch of the compactness.

Being a person who haven't used the 5800XM, the huge touch screen was a whole new experience to my eyes giving freedom and space to wander around the UI.The two touch sensitive Call,call-End keys seemed bit closely placed and I felt like it would be better if there was more gap between them,anyway it doesn't make much difference once you get used to it.Going from the front to the back the simple plain back plate adds the rest for the completeness of a grand design.About what lies in between I'm gonna explore in another post,but just to mention on the design,it is not just an ordinay keypad we had in any other early device.Have you ever fell in love with a Mobile?if not, I'm sure this beauty would make you so.And all the credit goes to Eguchi Shunjiro and the team for bringing this beauty into life.

A Sneak Preview from PiZero

noreply@blogger.com (Ravindra) — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 00:13:00 +0000

Always been a fan of PiZero, I'm delighted to find out that there will be a new icon pack available from October for all his Premium Themes and some of the Free ones as well. The OVI icons were been there for a quite while now, it is always good have some change. And it is even better when it is announced by a great themer.Here you will see some of the icons from his "Zeta Icon Pack" that will include more than 500 icons, which means there will be plenty for third party applications.
Find out more at PiZero.net

Back THEN and NOW

noreply@blogger.com (Ravindra) — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 05:28:00 +0000

My dear readers, before starting to jot down anything I must apologise for being incognito without a proper notice. To be honest, nothing was in control other than going in for a low profile as I was going through a horrendous and challenging period of time that forced me to stay offline for almost six months. When I was checking my emails I saw some of the comments and requests made by my readers which were left un-answered and I'm very sorry for not been responsive. Also I wanna apologise from some developers and few companies that I didn't even get a chance to reply to their requests or even give a try to review the provided applications. OK, so let me brief out the things happened around me and the stuff I missed in the arena during this six months.

The Shift

The last post I made on this blog in February using an email, was published from Sri Lanka and now I'm posting this from Melbourne, Australia. On 11th of February I moved here to do my Masters in Information Systems Management, and will be staying here for some undecided time. Not being a pretty much of changing character it is kind of hard practice to leave the place where I really belong. I truly miss my life there spent with happiness and love with my family, friends and my beautiful country. Most of all a series of unexpected and unfortunate events occurred just before my departure made it even worse for me and my wife to bare the farewell. Those thing I don't want to remind, but for the note let me say it was a time filled with pain and sorrow. This helped me to understand the true nature of this unstable life, where I realized that there is nothing in this world that could be called “Unchangeable”.
Anyway about the life in Australia, it was tough at the beginning I could hardly found a time to come online and let my friends know of my whereabouts. Time was running and I was chasing without giving me a break to be who I was. While being a victim of pace, I never thought that anyone on the blogosphere would hardly have a trace of me in their memories. But it was a total surprise for me when i saw Mike Macias and Aditya Singhvi have searched me on communities and through mails. I want to give my heartfelt thanks to these two good friends, who eventually encouraged me to return back to blogging.

Missed Events,Memories and Blogging

A Free Country

Though not related to Symbian or Nokia, this was the biggest event in my life that I missed, I wasn't there on my mother land on the day it became free from war. After 30 years of fighting on 18th of May 2009 the war against terrorism was officially declared as victoriously won by the Sri Lankan troops. The war that cost thousands of innocent lives, the war that spoiled the identity of a glorious land, the war that created an ugly impression is over. I'm not speaking as someone who belongs to a specific race but as a Sri Lankan, now we can breathe the free air that isn't blended with the smell of blood and horror. And I'm dying to be back there to experience the true freedom in reality. While concluding that " those who live by the sword, die by the sword" the end of war disclosed some sinister backstage stories of the high profile international medias, that the rest of world didn't know Anyway let me use this as a chance to Thank our President and Courageous Defence force for freeing our country.

Sweet Cuddly Memories

For my followers this photo isn't a strange one, I'm not gonna tell it all again this is just to let you know that this cute buddy and his sibling is not there anymore. Sadly they vanished into the wild, without leaving any clue but leaving behind the sweetest experiences of Mobile Nature Documenting of my life. All my life I had this passion to dive into the nature, then with the N-series cameras I was motivated to explore it in details. I wanted to combine the Nokia Camera's capabilities with the Nature, that I think, I made it into a reality. But today I'm far away from them, restricted with time and access. So for a while, you will not see this side of my life.

Back to Life as a Mobile Blogger

OK, thats back THEN and NOW of my life but in the World of Mobiles too staged some new dramas and make-overs during my silent days. There were so many, but some are significantly important and others irresistibly tempting. The Symbian foundation was formed and the s60.com was shut down,Some amazing new devices were revealed in the new episode of Nokia World and the evolution of XpressMusic generation. Also I didn't see something I expected, a cake which has been already baked?? Anyway I missed them all but I always tried to get atleast a sneak preview of whats going out there,when I had time. For this Gravity served me alot,another cool thing I missed at it's begining. While Tweeting I met some of my old fellow bloggers. And also when imported my bookmarks back to Firefox I notices that a considerable number of fellow bloggers have disappeared(Just like me ??). During these few days of tweeting my instincts grew back,I couldn't resist it anymore I wanted to come back.So I finally decided to relaunch on 2nd of September along with the Nokia world, but ironically my Mobile broadband cap was out of credit.So had to wait until today and after six months here I'm back. So my dear readers welcome back onboard with me to share your experiences of being mobilists.

A week of silence

noreply@blogger.com (Ravindra) — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 02:24:00 +0000

Dear readers,
I'm having a bit of tough time catching up with blogging.I'm not at home and it's hard to find enough time to blog on the move.So I wont be putting up anything until this saturday,and also I wont be able to reply to any of the comments or contact forms submitted.But I will do,as soon as I get some time.

--- Sent with System SEVEN - the new generation of mobile messaging

Week1:Best Of Mobile Photography

noreply@blogger.com (Ravindra) — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 01:39:00 +0000

A week has gone passed since I started this "Mobile Photography" section and by the end of the first week there were 19 submissions(not much).But the ones I received were amazing,among those 19 images there is enough evidence to prove that the Mega pixel count isn't all about photo quality.So here I've chosen the best ones according to my judgment,but got to admit that most of the others were also up to the top most level.

1.Alsay
Device:N82
See how vivid the colours have been captured,the composition is superb.The white mosque between blue sky and the red floor gives it a artistic effect.The whole image is made out of 3 main colour shades making it simple but expressive.

2.Aditya SinghviDevice:N70
It doesn't need a specific object to shoot at,even fallen petals on ground would create a perfect setup.See how elegant is this pattern looks blended with the shadows,even though it was shot on a relatively old device.

3.Denis Budag
Device:N95 8GB
Perfect timing,it ain't easy to be at the right place at the right moment,especially without disturbing these little guys.Animal photography with mobiles is always challenging.See how well even the tiniest detail has been captured.

I hope you readers will have new submissions ready for the next week..........

This weeks complete collection can be found over here.

Nokia Audio Smylies:The Fun Side Of The Beta Labs

noreply@blogger.com (Ravindra) — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 01:28:00 +0000

Beta labs guys were inventing top class productive and social communication applications,thats how they were doing it,but now a bit of funky stuff popping out from their labs calle Nokia Audio Labs.Check out this video where Ilkka Peltola introduces this sounding application,which triggers funny sounds when you press keys 1-9.If you want more info head over to the beta labs post.

Fight Against Theft:Hackable vs non-Hackable

noreply@blogger.com (Ravindra) — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 14:20:00 +0000

Nokia started taking extended measures over security issues after the introduction of the Symbian OS 9.1(Or Simply S60V3).The devices running OS 9.1 and upwards are bounded to the Symbian Signed platform security,that makes it a necessity for whatever application to be signed in order to install them.At the beginning the Symbian Signed made it flexible by allowing the users to request a developer certificate for their IMEI number so the users can sign the applications themselves. But this offering didn't last long as it became more and more popular,it appears to be outrun the security measures they took over the platform security and application protection.So they have introduced the following signing criteria for the S60 3rd edition(and Upwards) applications.

So now if you want to install an unsigned application you must choose one of the above methods. This is logical but time consuming and people really don't like to go through these steps,that's why a new era of hackers began to break into the S60 platform, as soon as this was introduced. The signing procedure was made useless as many hackers started to remove the security features by gaining access to the system files, which aren't accessible unless the phone is hacked. But Nokia wasn't ready to give up, they too began to fight with their utmost power to enhance their security against this breach.

Necessities for the platform Security and Benefits of Signing.

1. The main advantage for the consumers of Nokias advanced security measures is the virus proof software environment they enjoy. Yet there is no major(Virtually Zero) virus attacks on the S60 3rd edition devices, but if you can remember this threat was there for the 2nd edition devices. Since each and every commercial application runs on 3rd edition has to go through symbian Signed their safty is assured, same applies for the Open Signed files. So no viruses or harmful applications find their way on to the S60.

2. Applications come unspoiled and uncracked since the files have to be resigned in case of changing the built of the file, so once the application is cracked it has to be signed again, but Symbian Signed will not allow these to get passed. So this assures the developers to get their proper share and motivation to innovate, resulting the application richness to be preserved all the time, which is essential for the growth of the platform.

3. Can have up to date estimates of the application diversity, device information (IMEI) and easy to reach the developers since they become listed.

4. Company can guarantee a smooth bug free system environment, when everything gets pre-tested.

Why the S60 security needed to be breached?

1. Most of the Hackers come from Asia (I'm not insulting anyone). The reason is the difference created by the currency conversion results most of the productive S60 applications to position far beyond the budget of the average Mobile user. So hackers become more honorable to them than the real developers behind the scene,who deserves the credit.

2. People cannot get unlisted freewares signed from the Symbian Signed,this is a big letdown especially for bloggers.

3. Lack of OS customizations,by hacking the phones people can try out various system and UI tweaks in order to make their S60 match their needs.This is also personal and no harm to the general community.

So this is turning into a two sided story,where I cannot take either side or make you convince that it is a balanced scenario,but I see a potential solution within the manufacturer,which will ensure a fair answer for both parties.Since Nokia owns Symbian and it has big chunk of shares they can easily do this if they can come out with a customer friendly plan.So this is what I think they should do,

What Nokia Could do to achieve this Goal,

1. Improve the Platform more and more accordingly to the user feedback (They are already doing it). But still there are so many holes to fill.

2. Expand the Application Developer community networks,like Forum Nokia and try to bring all the commercial developers under one roof,I'm not telling about buying the companies but this is more like an Alliance.

3. A big complaint that always come from the S40 users migrating on to S60 is the lack of "out of the box applications".That's true on most of the devices there is the same set of basic applications come in default.Since the consumers pay lot of money for their devices they should get reasonable application bundle too.So if Nokia can offer sets of application packages freely upon the purchase or for a lesser price it will bring more value to the purchase.Or atleast they can make them available on the download folder.

4. Another thing is Nokia can purchase the applications and embed them into the OS making it more stable and less trouble(But this will work only for a limited range of consumers).

5. At last about the Bloggers,Nokia&Symbian should make a community for registered bloggers and offer them free developer Certificates so they can do much in contributing to the development by testing and reviewing.

If Nokia can offer atleast one or two of the above solutions it is fair enough for them to make their Firmwares Unhackable,Otherwise there will be a big "Question Mark" left and the Evolution of hackers will reach greater extends and one day they will pose a greater threat for sure.So Nokia it's up to you............

Megapixel Microscopy

noreply@blogger.com (Ravindra) — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 12:30:00 +0000

Steve Litchfield,now you don't need further introduction the top mobile phone camera experimenter over at All About Symbian has gone bit far in to the camera now,just have a look at these few photos and to for the explanation just head on to his site.I'm wordless and all I got to say is Superb and Fantastic........................

N82,N78 and N95 8GB Firmwares Updated

noreply@blogger.com (Ravindra) — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 02:58:00 +0000

During the past few days 3 of the Nxx devices received Firmware updates,
Over at Symbian Planet they reported an update for the N95 8GB
And
Vibav Sharma has the full change log of the N78 Firmware Update.

The N78 has just received a substantial firmware update in the form of version 20.149.051.1. The update brings a ton of bug fixes, an update to the preinstalled maps application along with UI speed and transition enhancements. Also included is a new theme called ‘Music’. Complete changelog below.

The new firmware is available over-the-air (OTA) by simply pressing *#0000# from the standby screen and checking for updates. (Detailed guide on how to update OTA here). The phone features user data preservation (UDP) so your data should be fine even after the update, however a backup never hurts.

Also over at Mikes N82 blog,he's gathering the feedback from people who updated their N82's before he goes for the update,

I surprisingly woke up this morning to find that a few of my favorite RSS feeds are informing me about a new firmware update to our precious N82 - version 31.0.016. I first read the news by Ani from S60 Blog, which referred me to the original source over at All About Symbian. Steve Litchfield seems to be having a few problems with this new firmware, specifically with Nokia Maps. He says,

In my case, after upgrading, I hit lots of hangs (all involving Nokia Maps), requiring battery-out-restarts, so I used *#7370# to wipe the internal disk back to 'factory' status and am now rebuilding by syncing data and installing third party apps. At least this way, I end up with a fully optimised phone, but it's taking a while..... [Later] Maps is still misbehaving, hanging after launching and answering the 'Go online' question. I'm not pleased.

So Now these devices have the following latest Firmwares,

N78-20.149.051.1
N95 8GB-31.0.015
N82-31.0.016

Also note that,all these New Firmwares make your phone un-Hackable.

Is The OVI Contacts Sync Server Down?

noreply@blogger.com (Ravindra) — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 01:48:00 +0000

I've been trying to Sync my device with OVI sync since last Friday,but I kept getting the error"Server not responding".So I tried by deleting the OVI sync configuration and resending the configuration trough text message,but after setting it up again the same error returns.This is not the first time I faced trouble with OVI sync profile,some time ago I was prompted the error"Invalid Host Address" while trying to Sync,but this can be overcome after several attempts so I got used to it.But now this new Server issue is there continuously for almost 3 days,no matter I retry it repeatedly.So does anybody out there encountered the same,or is it something effecting specifically me,due to a false setting?Or is the OVI Sync server down for all these three days?Please inform me if any one knows the solution or the reason.

Nokia Chat Becomes Contacts on OVI

noreply@blogger.com (Ravindra) — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 06:27:00 +0000

Nokia Chat has evolved into Contacts on OVI,and now carries the OVI brand with loads of improvements,mainly concerning visual upgrades.Now the Ugly old Chat icon is replaced with an OVI contacts icon and almost every part of the client has been retouched to look better and appealing to your eyes.
In the new chat client the key features will be,

Chat: Send instant messages and enrich them with smileys, voice and location messages.
Presence: At a glance you can see if your friends are available, busy or on the phone.
Enhanced presence: You can let your friends know what you are listening and broadcast your important scenes.

I just installed it on my N95 8GB,and will bring my full experience with the feedback in couple of days,Till then I hope this FAQ available on the Nokia Beta labs will be very useful for everyone who wishes to try out the new Chat Client.

Source:Nokia Beta Labs

Stay Connected With Your Phone Even If It's Away

noreply@blogger.com (Ravindra) — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 06:01:00 +0000

I was away from home last two days and today while checking on the blogroll for what I missed,I've stumbled upon this great finding from Rita over at Symbian-Guru.It's a mobile client called Synble that keeps you updated with your phone even if it is away.This is ideal for people who forget their phones all the time,like my mom(But sadly she will never learn how to handle this sort of thing).But with the Synmble running on your phone in the background you will never miss a SMS or your important calls.For more info please head over and read the full article.

Introducing:Mobile Photography Section(Updated)

noreply@blogger.com (Ravindra) — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 01:43:00 +0000

One of my main concerns over a mobile phone purchase is the photography performance of the device,I know different people may have different ideas, widespread with argumentative subjects.But personally I'm very satisfied with the camera performances of the S60 devices,we have to understand that we cannot compare them to be on par with SLR cameras but they do a decent job.I know that it isn't about the number of Mega Pixels that matters,but there should be a flavour of talent and artistic vision to produce a quality photograph,so this is true for Mobile Phone Photography too.That's why we cannot ignore the fact that even with your camera phone there can be photographs which are equal to the ones that taken with a professional camera and sometimes even better than those.And we all know there are so many talented mobile photographers on the blogosphere too.

So as I'm having the two top most imaging performers(N82 and N95 8GB) in hand I thought of starting this new section dedicated to mobile photographers.So in this I will post my own photos and the ones I receive from my readers,with few lines of description and explanation on any other photography techniques used.So if you think you have snapped something artistic make sure you send them on to this new "Best of Mobile Photography" section.So what you need to do is,

1.Fill up the Contact form with the Subject "Best of Mobile Photography"

2.Upload your photo to a image hosting site like OVI,Flickr or Picassa and include the image location URL in the Message field,followed by any other related description of the photograph.

I will Post all the photos I receive(If they are good enough) and on every Friday there will be a blog post with the best 3 photos.This is not a contest yet,but depending on the amount of feedback I get will consider on a competition too.So that's it for now and please leave your thoughts on improvements and additions for this,I will update this accordingly.

[Updated]

*For the Simplicity instead of using the Contact form,you can just add a comment below with the URL and the description.

*Also You can view the recent Photo submissions,on the "Mobile Photography" Widget in the right sidebar and by clicking on it or from the top tab you can access the page.

*For Flickr Photos Please remove image protection from the "Privacy and Permission" settings before you link the images.Otherwise it is impossible to put them up on the blog.

Theme:Darkness by Babi

noreply@blogger.com (Ravindra) — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 00:29:00 +0000

Download:Darkness by Babi

Source:BabiNokia

Nokia Locate Sensor:More Info Revealed

noreply@blogger.com (Ravindra) — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 23:14:00 +0000

Over at Nokia conversations,a new video has been released showcasing the Nokia Indoor positioning System and Nokia Locate sensor.What is so exciting is that the application they used for it is demonstrated on a N95 8GB,indeed a good news for existing S60 users giving out the hint that this new technology will work on current devices too.Also their is sneak preview of Nokia's Indoor Positioning that works using existing Wi-Fi technology and wireless RFID tags, triangulating your position within indoor buildings such as shopping centers is also included in this video,that is already been tested in 40 buildings worldwide.

Nokia Locate Sensor Demonstration

Nokia Indoor Positioning Demonstration

Developers:It's Time For You To Show Off

noreply@blogger.com (Ravindra) — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 22:31:00 +0000

If you are a Symbian/Nokia developer, here’s an opportunity for you to showcase your mobile phone applications on the Symbian Foundation stand at the Mobile World Congress (Barcelona 16-19 Feb) courtesy of the Symbian Developer Network.

To take part, the application should be compelling, and built with S60 5.x. If you’re interested, download and complete the xls and it return to alice.kenny@symbian.com by 23 January 2009, for more visit this page.

Sucessful developers will also get two free exhibitor passes worth €599 each as well as 2 tickets to the Symbian Foundation party. So get coding!

Via:Symbian Blog

Themes:Blue Touch by Larsson

noreply@blogger.com (Ravindra) — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 11:58:00 +0000

Download:Blue Touch by Larsson

Via: Symbian Planet

Why I Went Back To The N82

noreply@blogger.com (Ravindra) — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 12:55:00 +0000

It was with an WOM World trial that I had my very first N82 experience,it was a big one truly a huge one,it ended up winning me a N95 8GB and a Mobile Film Making Kit.So that was the very beginning,since I received it immediately after the official release and now after a year I bought an N82.I wanted a replacement for my 5700 XpressMusic in the new year and on the 1st of January I stepped out from the house with 2 options in my mind.A N82 or an N85.

Since our country isn't properly mapped a GPS equipped device had no major role to play in my life but,as me and my wife are moving to Australia the main concern over the purchase turned out to be the GPS.
So these were my major concerns,

1. GPS with a fast locking software an d Hardware.
2. A Decent Camera,Because I have no ideas on buying a Normal Digi cam other than going for a professional SLR in the end of this year.So this device has to replace the Digicam requirements.
3. A Non-Wobbly Solid Device.
4. A Large Screen.
5. Sweat resistant surface.
6. A long lasting Battery.
7. Sufficient amount of RAM to stay away from Memory Full Errors.
8. Most of all it has to be a S60.

So I went to my dealer,with my conditions and there the 2 options I had turned into 3 as he offered me an N79.So I had to make a decision in between those 3 devices,N82,N85 and the N79.
I had to go through quick assessment of all 3 devices,briefing their performing capabilities.
Also I had to go bit further from the above guidelines,as there were more things came into my mind when I had them all together in my hand.
These are the comparative measurement I considered upon my final decision.

N85 VS N82

Physique-N82 is way beyond the N85,with its monoblock design,N85 being a dual slider still suffers from the wobbly issues and the front faceplate doesn't give you a good impression to live with its cheap quality.

Camera-Both have the same amount of mega pixels but the N82 leads the race with it's Xenon Flash when the N85 still inherit the Dual LED from the N96.I know the cons and pros of these two very well,so for me Xenon has much to do than the Dual LED.Apart from the Flash there is a significant difference in the Quality of the pictures taken with these two devices,again placing the N82 high in my selection.

Screen-N85's screen is little bit larger than that of N82,also it has OLED screen,where the N82 is lagging behind.

RAM-N82 has a Whopping 128MB of RAM whereas the N85 offers you a RAM around 85MB.For a hardcore application user this means alot,but I know the new OS will have better RAM usage than the older devices but still I believe in the N82's 128MB.

Battery-N82 is again falling behind with its 1050 mAh,in front of the N85's 1200mAh,this is truly a negative point and I still wonder why a device carrying Xenon flash doesn't sport a high capacity battery?

Price-N82=48000SLR, N85=65000SLR

N82 VS N79

Physique-Both are solid candybar devices,N79 is bit more fashionable than the N82 with it's sleek streamline design.

Camera-Same as for the above comparison and as I've read the N79 has bit of noise and grainy effect in its pictures due to the jpeg compression algorithm it uses.So again N79 is no near the N82.

Screen-Both are in same size.

RAM-Same as for the above comparison.

Battery-Same again.

Price-N82=48000SLR, N79=53000SLR

After considering all the above facts(Red highlighted ones were the Positive points)my decision was inclined towards the N82,But unfortunately there wasn't any Black ones so I had to walkaway with a silver one.
With the N82 I got most of the things I needed,with almost 98% satisfactory.I will miss few things upon this purchase that I always loved to have like,the Naviwheel,FP2 and the FM transmitter(it's fun to have but honestly not using it at all)but I think this powerhouse will serve me enough to overcome all those things.

Video:Nokia At CES

noreply@blogger.com (Ravindra) — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 12:54:00 +0000

Nokia 5730 XpressMusic Previewed

noreply@blogger.com (Ravindra) — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 01:45:00 +0000

Eldar has done it again,revealing a set of unspoiled images,showing off a new cousin to the XpressMusic line up,the 5730XpressMusic.The new device is the 3rd Nokia device to feature a slide-out full QWERTY keypad and will be the very first non-N/E Series of its kind.But according to the device specs this will be another mid-ranged device with average features,it sounds a bit degraded.The intention of introducing a music centric QWERTY slide-out may be to ensure the market share to their other two QWERTY Slide-out rivals.So it is very clear that that Nokia is using the XpressMusic branding to pre-test the market share and to gain popularity,prior to a flagship release.This is what happened with the 5800XpressMusic's release before the N97,they wanted a device to spread the S60 5th edition before the real flagship comes to the market.

Anyway it's pretty interesting to see these kind of approaches,and leaking them to public before the official announcement is again proven to be a more efficient way of gaining popularity.So what are the specs crammed into this slide-out formfactor,

2-inch QVGA display (240x320 pixels, 31x42 mm)
S60 v3 FP2
3.2MP camera with Carl Zeiss and Autofocus,but this time single LED
Three dedicated Music Playback keys on the Edges
Cool Software tweaks,with some new active standby themes
GPS
1000 mAh Li-Ion battery (BL-4U)
Spacious Key arrangement with large keys in the Slide-out

For more info,head over to Mobile review.........

Will My Mom Buy an S60?

noreply@blogger.com (Ravindra) — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 01:30:00 +0000

If you ask my mom,How often you forget your phone?I don't know how she will answer,but one thing I know very clearly,that she's the going to be a proud owner of the Most "Lost and Found" phone.One day I found my dog kicking and playing with it,another day I found it lying on the kitchen floor,and sometimes it is left in the bathroom,drenched in water.
One such incident was truly surprising,as usual she was searching for her phone and I immediately took mine and tried to give a ring,but it seemed to be switched off.So I asked her what she was doing for the last time as she remember and she said she was in the kitchen preparing the rice to cook.So I searched everywhere but not even a sign of it.Then thanks to my curiosity I just checked inside the Rice Cooker and there it was,covered with water and rice.Luckily it was just switched on and the heat hasn't passed on to it,otherwise it would be the first cooked 1100 in the world.But the best part is that it still works smoothly.

It's not about the device's built quality or the durability that I'm gonna talk about right now,but a perfect solution that was recently announced from Nokia Research labs,which could finally make my mom go for a S60,If she doesn't like I might force her to buy one.That is the Nokia Locate Sensor,one of the coolest inventions that ever came up.This is a true applicable innovation that makes your smartphone truly a smart companion for you.Yet the real technology behind this isn't unveiled but according to what they've published in their latest research papers Nokia's NFC(Near Field Communication)and indoor positioning researches are linked to this.Anyway the interesting part of this technology isn't going to be limited to finding the Keys,Wallets and other valuables through the little sensor connected to your phone wirelessly,but you can do the same other way around.This is where my mom will start her love for the S60 devices.So I think I should pin up a little sensor to her necklace so she won't be troubled again in finding her phone back.Then at least she'll be able to find it right after the phone is misplaced,before it goes back in the cooker.As of the available details this tiny little sensor device will make a huge change in the way humans interact with, and depend on their mobile phones and I'm sure this a landmark in the way to the "Digitally Enriched Future".

Image Courtesy,ElectricPig

So as the Nokia Conversations site explains,
The sensor is a tiny device, no bigger than a small thumb. It attaches to whatever you'd like to attach it to and communicates with your phone wirelessly (though we're not totally certain how, just yet - there's no official release so we only know what's been reported so far). Drop whatever has the tag attached and your phone will alert you, via a software app that sits on your phone, and help you find the object, provided you're within 100 meters of it (probably not good for speed boat jaunts then). The system also works the other way around, so you could have the sensor on your person, and if you get separated from your device, an alarm will sound to let you know. Support for 100 individual sensors is provided by the app and each sensor has enough power to last 18 months before it runs out of juice.

Also the newest research papers reveal that,

Local positioning technology developed by Nokia makes mobile phones aware of
the direction of and distance to nearby wireless-enabled devices—including lowpower
RFID tags attached to eyeglasses, keys, and other easily misplaced objects.
With GPS, any spot on earth can be found. Soon our misplaced keys may be,
too, thanks to ubiquitous miniaturized receivers and compact direction-finding
antennas in our mobile phones.

Stay tuned,more info will follow...................