Techami Mobile

Nokia announces SilverLight for mobiles, world groans

2008-03-04T15:59:00.004Z

Nokia has announced today that they will releasing Microsoft Silverlight software for their Series 60/40 mobile phones as well as their internet tablets. As if anyone cares, the company said they have been working with Microsoft to bring "rich, interactive applications that run on multiple platforms in a consistent and reliable way" to their devices. However, as Silverlight was created by Microsoft, one could be skeptical on the "reliable" claim.

If you don't know what Silverlight is, it's basically Microsoft's answer to Adobe Flash. It comes as a web plugin for your internet browser, but why anyone would want to install it is beyond me. However, I will be keeping an eye on this nonetheless, for ~~those morons~~ anyone that may be interested.

Source: Nokia Press Release

Feature: The N96

2008-03-02T15:24:00.008Z

So the so-called successor to the flagship Nokia N95 was finally revealed at the Mobile World Congress. Was it up to everyone's expectations?

It's not really surprising that Nokia chose to reveal their next mobile behemoth at the MWC, especially when it's been leaked out onto the 'net already. But the hype doesn't seem to be as big this time. This is most likely due to the fact that the phone is not as big a leap forwards as the N95 was, but it's an improvement over a great phone nonetheless in terms of features. The original N95 has only 160MB of internal memory, the N96 has a whopping 16GB! Twice the amount of N95 8GB obviously, which doesn't make the phone seem like a huge leap forwards, but actually it is. Sixteen Gigabytes! That's a lot of photos, videos and music.

So the memory has been expanded. Pfft, so what? Well, that's not the only thing Nokia has thrown into the cauldron. The Stereo FM Radio has RDS now, which tells you what radio station you're actually listening to, rather than you having to scan the airwaves and listen to a station for a while, waiting for the jingle with the station name to play. Okay, so Sony Ericsson phones have had that for a while, but it's nice to see it in a Nokia phone for a change.

Nokia have also gone down the mobile TV route with this one. The DVB-H signal receiver allows you to pick up mobile broadcast channels, so you can watch TV without streaming over the internet, which can be a costly business. It even as a fold-out stand at the back of the device so you can set it on a surface without having to hold it. DVB-H has been sparsely implemented so far though, and most of the countries it is in are only guinea pigs.

That's about it feature-wise though. As with many of their most recent phones, Nokia have slapped on a glossy-black design to the phone. It's also much rounder with the speakers on the top corners of the device, and now has media controls implemented on the main buttons on the front of the unit, which light up when you need them. Compared to the N95, it's a bit longer and wider by a few millimetres however it's 3mm thinner than the N95's 21mm bulge-in-your-pocket. The buttons on the sides of the devices have been moved around a bit, with the headphone jack at the top now. It still has that attention-seeking two-way slide that the N95 has been famous for, I have a feeling we could be seeing a lot more of it in future phones.

So that's all you really need to know if you're an N95 user, because other than that the features are pretty much the same; 5 Megapixel camera with autofocus, VGA video recording, 3G HSDPA internet access speeds (with secondary video-calling camera), built in GPS reciever (With the new version of the Nokia Maps application), 3.5mm audio jack (Standard format for most headphones out there), Wi-Fi and QVGA screen with 16M colours, and at 2.8" big it's slightly bigger than the N95's.

Well, there you have it. Hopefully I'll get to play with the device soon and tell you more about it, though we've got the hardware side pretty much covered. With the new Symbian S60 Feature Pack 2 operating system, there's plenty to discover on the software side. The Nokia N96 is expected to be released later this year, so all you feature-fanatic geeks out there better start saving!

-IchiroFoxx

The Nokia Morph: Who said using a mobile isn't flexible?

2008-02-25T17:27:00.009Z

Wow, to say Nokia have been creatively courageous recently is a huge understatement. The Nokia Research center and Cambridge University in England have devised a mobile device concept called "Morph" and it is a prediction of what future mobile devices will look like. According to them, devices will become flexible and allow the user to bend them into different shapes. How will they do this, you ask? It's all thanks to our best friend, Mr. Nanotechnology.
Apparently it might allow flexibile and strechable structures which can be bent into shape for different practical uses, maybe a candybar phone which can be bent into a wristwatch shape, for example. It might also allow for transparent electronics and self-cleaning surfaces on devices, too.
"Nanostructured surfaces, such as “Nanoflowers” naturally repel water, dirt, and even fingerprints utilizing effects also seen in natural systems."
Sounds great, but it's not going to come cheap to the average Joe, is it?.
But Nokia is actually swinging both ways on that point;
"Elements of Morph might be available to integrate into handheld devices within 7 years, though initially only at the high-end. However, nanotechnology may one day lead to low cost manufacturing solutions, and offers the possibility of integrating complex functionality at a low price."

So what sort of practical features of Morph could we be seeing, other than design?
"Nanotechnology holds out the possibility that the surface of a device will become a natural source of energy via a covering of “Nanograss” structures that harvest solar power. At the same time new high energy density storage materials allow batteries to become smaller and thinner, while also quicker to recharge and able to endure more charging cycles."

Translation: Smaller batteries, longer battery life, shorter charge time and OMG, SOLAR POWERED PHONES.

Seems a little farfetched to me expecially since Nokia have said they could implement this technology in 7 years time. That's quite a statement, but only time will tell, I suppose. The promotional concept video can be found at this link.

Source: Nokia Press Release

Nokia vs. Mobile Gaming, Round 2

2008-02-20T20:09:00.000Z

Nokia has directed alot of attention towards it's gaming division lately, with the introduction of the Yamake platform and showing of new hardware for 3D graphics acceleration. Convinced that there's still life left in the old N-gage just yet, it is relaunching the platform as software which will be available to download for many of Nokia's high end devices..

Releasing software that is not exlcusive to the N-Gage makes alot of sense, because while many say the N-Gage was a failure, Nokia is still one of the biggest mobile manufacturers in the world and this would be the only way to garner customers for it's gaming platform. In an interview with the BBC, David Harold of Imagination Technologies talked about new graphics technology being developed for mobile phones. Right now, they're pretty poor even compared to the Nintendo DS.

But don't worry! David says they're developing a chip to incorporate shader technology into 3D capabilities of mobile phones, which should bring them up to par with the PSP or PS2. Mr. Harold demonstrates a shooting game on a Nokia device (which appearss to be an E90) and shows a shooting game, which brings GTA and the like to mind. The only problem I have with this is; phones aren't big enough! If you really want a decent gaming experience you really need to have a proper control system and big screen. Otherwise it's just a watered-down PSP which is even harder to control. PSPphone, where art thou?

Sources: BBC, Nokia