For the last two years, the world (?) has been going on about how the Symbian UI is old, clunky and must go. It must be written again from ground up if Symbian has to have any chance. At any rate, these rants have managed to dent Symbian’s brand name by a huge margin and affect Nokia’s fortunes adversely.

So much so that even supporters of the OS, were taken in by the storm and only a very few loyalists remain. The good thing is that even the loyalists are not fanboys per-se, but people who would like to see the OS improve and mature into a world class OS that it is. Anyway, that’s not why I am writing this post.

Yesterday, I was out with friends and since they know I would probably be rocking the latest and greatest device of the time, my phone is generally passed around and comments made on it. I happened to be using the Samsung Galaxy S, a phone that I really like, I might add. I was sure they would be taken in by the huge gorgeous screen, ‘modern’ UI, the amazing size and weight and would come out impressed.

So on being asked, I immediately whipped out the Galaxy S, unlocked it and handed it over. It was back in my hands in a hardly a minute. Why you ask?

The reason was simple, he fiddled with the homescreen a little bit, tried to go into the apps and was probably thrown back by the sheer number of them I had. Ten seconds of poking here and there and his decision was made. The Galaxy S was not for him, it was simply too complicated.

For the vast majority of The Handheld Blog readers, that’s unfathomable. How could he not wrap his mind around something so easy and natural? But for a large chunk of the population that IS the case. For them the mobile is not nearly as important as it is for some of us. Its not as if they do not want Facebook, Email and apps in general, they really do, but they couldn’t be bothered spending time and energy fussing over these things. Whether we admit it or not, we’ve all seen it with friends and family.

This brings me to the debate, Symbian ^3 looks just like the old Symbian experience, but is that a bad thing after all? Lets look at it from my friend’s example. He’s looking to update from his N95 8GB which has served him well. Despite Symbian’s hidden shortcuts and folders, even he probably knows them inside out by now. The N8 comes along and he’s still at home with the UI and thus the phone. Isn’t that a win for Nokia?

Thoughts?

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I have just come across five very different ads for the Nokia N8. Not only are they in Chinese, buy the way they are done is very far drawn from what you expect from usual advertisements. I haven’t seen many Chinese ads, so may be this form of marketing is what works there.

The first one is perhaps the most entertaining for non Chinese speaking people and has a ton of effects that make the N8 look incredibly cool.

What sort of marketing campaign are you expecting from Nokia for the N8 in your region? The usual highlight the features and be done with it or focus on an activity/emotion and keep the N8 in the background sort of ads?

Hat tip to Chris for the find!

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The Samsung App Store on the Galaxy S line of Android devices packs less than 10 applications and is usually not the place where you would go for all the cool Android apps. Although it does have Asphalt 5, Vlingo and a free fun utility apps like road SMS, but that’s about the extent of it.

Today I was surprised to find a pretty cool addition to the store in the form of Facebook For Samsung or Facebook S! Apparently Samsung’s isn’t too happy with the current iteration of ‘Facebook for Android’ and decided to offer something better for its users. I found the app on the Galaxy S and am not sure if Samsung’s other Android devices have also been blessed with this update.

I already have Facebook for Android installed and did not have to sign into the Facebook S! app after I downloaded and installed it. The major draw of the application is Samsung’s location integration which lets you tag your status with your location either using GPS or by picking a location on a map.

• The application is a light download, under 1.5 MB in size.

• You can click on a geo-tagged status to see it on a map.

• Tap the ‘add location’ button to pick a spot on the map or use the phone’s GPS. I was unable to use the GPS mode indoors, its almost as if the phone gives up too soon. May be an update will improve this feature. On the computer, the link to your location opens up in Google Maps.

• There are also options to upload pictures and videos directly from the camera or the gallery.

• The photo viewing mode is not too great as you cannot swipe across images and will have to use the back key to move to a new photo. A double tap will zoom the image and turning the phone will make the app switch to landscape.

• One thing I liked was the ability to sort your Facebook news feed by the category you want, really helps cut the clutter out.

There is no widget, but the application does have a nice and simple UI, and a few features that seem to work better than the stock Facebook application for Android. Give it a go and let us know what you think.

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Samsung today made its 7″ Android 2.2 powered tablet official at IFA 2010 and marked the arrival of the first real iPad rival. The Galaxy Tab has a lot going for it, the flexibility of Android, a powerful Cortex A8 1.0GHz processor, dual cameras, video calls and the ability to be used as a phone.

At 7″ it threatens to be pocket-able but falls slightly short, although you could easily slip it into a coat pocket. With 3G HSPA connectivity, 802.11n Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth 3.0 the Galaxy Tab becomes the best connected tablet on the market and the ability to use a SIM card for data and calls is a huge plus. The screen is a 1024×600 WSVGA TFT display and personally that’s a disappointment because I wanted to see Samsung’s superb Super AMOLED display that powers its Galaxy S lineup of phone inside.

My use case for a tablet is very simple. Video playback and Web browsing are a priority while apps and games come a close second. The reason the iPad was not for me is because of a clear lack of multitasking, but more importantly the inability to play a host of popular video codecs. The Galaxy Tab on the other hand plays DivX, XviD, MPEG4, H.263, H.264 and more out of the box and this means I can throw virtually anything at it and it will play just fine, even if it is 1080P HD content.

The Galaxy Tab also packs a very capable browser with support for Flash 10.1. Two clear wins over the iPad. So does the Galaxy Tab have it in it to succeed? It is after all just an larger version of the Galaxy S phone with a 3″ jump in screen size and a 4000 mAh battery.

It will come down to the price Samsung can retail it at in addition to the the time to market. It is slated to go on sale in Europe this month while it will hit the US and Asia sometime next month, India might see it late September itself. The iPad is not available in a lot of countries till date and if Samsung can push the Galaxy Tab to those countries first, it might just gain a distinct advantage. The i9000 Galaxy S smartphone retails for about 28000 INR (600$), and if the Galaxy Tab crosses the 30,000 INR (640$) mark I don’t see many people picking one up as the iPad then becomes a cheaper option.

But if priced reasonably, we might just have a device that is compact, powerful and much more usable in bed or on the go. 380 grams in light.

The official Galaxy Tab site – http://galaxytab.samsungmobile.com/

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Swype is an alternate text entry system that makes makes entering words on a touch based device ridiculously easy. You no longer need to be accurate when you hit the screen and all you do is ‘swype’ across the on-screen keyboard with one continuous finger or stylus motion and the software accurately guesses the word you were wanting to enter. I have been using Swype on the Galaxy S, for over a month now and I am incredibly glad to see this application come to Symbian.

The best part about Swype is that it learns new words very easily, automatically picks up names from your phonebook and also remembers the words that you have typed manually so that you can just Swype them next time. For times when you do not want to Sywpe, you can use the very same keyboard as a regular QWERTY keyboard. The following video from the Nokia Beta labs team should help explain Swype even more.

Swype is currently available on the Nokia N97, N97mini, X6, 5800, and 5230 with support for more devices expected soon. Do keep in mind that there is a very brief learning curve when you first start Swyping, so persist before you give up. This bunch of support videos should also help you get started.

Key features

• Standard QWERTY keyboard layout makes Swype easy to learn
• Use a stylus or finger – Swype’s amazing input path analyzer allows you to go fast and sloppy. Just make a reasonable effort to trace through the word and Swype will do the rest
• Double Tap Editing – Make a mistake? Double tap on a word to bring up a list of other possible matches.
• Auto-Spacing
• Auto-Capitalization
• Auto Spelling Correction
• Automatic Help – Swype detects when you may be having trouble or might benefit from a particular feature and prompts you with helpful tips and instructions
• Instant access to Symbols, Numbers and Editing functions
• 65,000-word Learning Dictionary – Chances are the word you are typing is already in the Swype dictionary. If it isn’t, just tap it out once followed by a space and Swype will remember it for future use.

Download Swype for Symbian from Nokia’s Beta Labs.

In my N8 preview, I said ‘At the current stage I will have to give the N8 a 8/10 but if the browser gets updated and we get Swype for text entry, that score will easily rise to 9.5/10 for me’.

I assume Swype for N8 will be out when it ships and all indications do point to a new browser as well. Needless to say, the N8 just became even better in my eyes.

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While reviewing the Mobile Fun Desk Genie, I happened to catch this Mobile Phone Tripod in their catalogue and because these things are pretty hard to find, I requested a review unit to see if this one was any good. With camera quality improving all the time and HD video capture coming to a more and more phones each day, it makes a lot of sense to have a one lying around.

So lets cut to the chase right at the start and I will give you the bottomline upfront. The Tripod is plastic, but the build quality is good and gives you absolutely no reason to complain, given its price. Does its job perfectly. Now lets get on with the review in detail.

The tripod has two major parts, the legs of course and the mobile phone grip which is screwed onto them. The grip can be adjusted to the desired length depending on the phone you want to mount and the holder can be stretched to accommodate phones of various sizes. I tried it with the N900, the N97, the E52, the Samsung Galaxy S and a bunch of other phones and had no problems. Depending on the phone the volume rocker can sometimes get in the way, but with a little bit of adjustment you should be able to setup most phones just fine.

The mobile phone holder stretches to accommodate the phone and snaps back to a tight fit and the phone is never at the risk of slipping. The problem with however is that placing the phone inside can become a little tricky, but nothing a little practice won’t fix. Another thing that I liked about the holder was the fact that there are foam pads inside it so that the devices do not get scratched when you put them in. Taking them out is a bit of a hassle because of the tight grip, but its nothing that would stop me from using the tripod and infact is sometimes comforting to know that the phone is secure when you want the phone to be held at an angle.

The ball head ensures that you can use the phone at different angles and takes a second to adjust. The mobile phone holder can also be completely unscrewed off the legs and used with another tripod. This great when you want to use your phone on a full size tripod for panning shots or video capture.

Likewise, the legs can accommodate different point and shoot cameras so your are not restricted to your phone with this tripod and can simply unscrew the mobile holder and screw the camera on in its place. The legs can also be extended by pulling out the extensions, handy if you need additional height.

All in all its a lightweight tripod that’s easy to carry, has great value for money and is a must have if you own a good camera phone. You can get it at Mobile Fun for about 18 Euros/23$/1100 INR currently and they ship worldwide.

Final Score: 9/10

Available At: Mobile Fun

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The Nokia N8 features a 3.5″ capacitive multitouch display, but till the last time I say it, only a few apps such as the browser, photos and the email client were able to use the multitouch capabilities. One place that I would have loved to see multitouch work was Ovi Maps but it didn’t support it at that time. However courtesy @Camb078 I have just stumbled on the following video that shows pinch to zoom working inside Ovi Maps on the Nokia N8.

I personally love Ovi Maps and this make the whole experience much better. Skip to the last one minute of the video to see pinch to zoom in action.

Nokia is really working on making the whole N8 experience amazing and I will be happy to wait for a perfect device than see a rushed firmware. Multitouch on the keyboard next?

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I was in the market for a deskstand and when the folks at Mobile Fun suggested that I review their Desk Genie, I agreed and kept my expectations low. However, Mobile Fun’s Desk Genie is one of the most flexible and multipurpose desk stands that I have come across and if you are looking to get a desk stand for your phone, you search might just have ended. It is not perfect but comes very close to it considering the price you pay for this incredibly useful desk accessory that does a ton of things in a pretty compact design.

Lets go over a few of the things it does:

• Mobile Phone Stand: A mobile phone stand that features a non-slip surface on which you can simply place your phone. It is at an incline so keeping the phone and picking it up is easy. The surface leaves no residue on the back of the phone and since there is no contact on the sides, there is no question of the phone getting scratched. Lastly, since its just a large non slip surface you can place any device on it and it serves as a universal holder.

• Charger: The Desk Genie can also act as a charger for your mobile phones and comes with a bunch of adapters (proprietary Nokia, Mini USB, microUSB, iPhone etc) so that you can use it with devices from different makers. It connects to your computer via USB and draws power from it, so don’t expect charging to be superfast, but that’s true for all desktop chargers.

• USB Ports: The Desk Genie also has two additional USB ports so you can plug in flash drives and other peripherals. Good to have if you own something like a Macbook which has just two USB ports.

• Card Reader: Next is a multi-format (8 formats according to the website) card reader that can take SD cards, microSD cards and a few other formats. Needless to say, a very welcome functionality indeed specially because you don’t need to find that microSD to SD converter anymore.

As you can see from the above list, the Desk Genie packs a number of features that none of the other regular desk stands come close to. More importantly it is something that keeps lying on your desk, ready to be called into action and when you need that extra USB port or your card reader, you do not need to go hunting for it.

The device is made of plastic and the finish is not the most wonderful that you will find but doesn’t give you a reason to complain either. The non slip surface loses its ability to keep phones secure over time as dust accumulates over it. Fortunately this has an easy fix, all you need to is wash it with a bit of water and the surface will once again become as good as new.

In the last few weeks that I have been using it I have found it to be a handy little accessory. I regularly use it as a card reader and as a desk stand for whatever phone I happen to be using and thoroughly enjoy this universal device compatibility. All in all it manages to remain compact despite packing so much functionality and is great value for money specially if you think some of the other functionality it packs can come in handy for you.

You can get one for yourself at MobileFun.co.uk, its about 20 Euros/26$/1200 INR currently and they ship worldwide. While you are there, you also might want to have a look at their other Nokia Accessories.

Basics:

• Dimensions: 59 x 102 x 106mm (approx)
• Weight: 95g

What’s in the box:

• 1 x Non-slip Holder 2 USB Ports
• 1 x 90cm Mini USB Cable
• 1 x Charger Output Cable
• 9 x Mobile Phone Connectors
• 1 x User Manual

Available At: Mobile Fun

Final Score: 9/10

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Post the PR 1.2 firmware for the Nokia N900, the kinetic scrolling inside the menu became painfully slow and coupled with the fact all apps are now displayed on one page, scrolling to the bottom has started taking multiple swipes. If you have a lot of apps installed, then situation is even worse.

But fortunately, as is with most N900 problems, the community in the form of MohammadAG has found a fix and if you are keen on getting the speed back, follow the instructions below.

• Install ‘wget’ and ‘rootsh’ via the Application Manager.

• Then open the ‘Terminal’ and run the following commands with the N900 connected to the internet:

root
wget http://mohammadag.xceleo.org/public/maemo/debfiles/hildon-desktop_kinetic_2.2.138-1+0m5_armel.deb
dpkg -i hildon-desktop_kinetic_2.2.138-1+0m5_armel.deb
killall hildon-desktop

• That’s it.

If for some reason this method doesn’t work for you or there is a problem with the automatic download, grab this file and copy it to the N900′s root directory (/home/user/MyDocs).

• Then open the ‘Terminal’ and run the following commands:

root
dpkg -i /home/user/MyDocs/hildon-desktop_kinetic_2.2.138-1+0m5_armel.deb
killall hildon-desktop

This method replaces the default ‘hildon-desktop package’ with a modified variant that also has fixes for PR 1.2 bugs like call UI glitches. After installing this, if you were to use an apt-get command to update, the N900 will reinstall the default version. To override this, enter the following commands in the terminal.

echo "Package: hildon-desktop
Pin: release a=unstable
Pin-Priority: 1001" >> /etc/apt/preferences

A huge hat tip to MohammadAG for this very welcome fix, if you want to know more, this is the thread to follow.

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Nokia has a lot riding on the N8, not only is its market share in jeopardy but perhaps more importantly its down in the mindshare and brand perception department. The idea that Nokia can no longer make a decent high-end smartphone, fuelled by the media is causing serious damage to its reputation. While this is not the case in countries like India, the fact that they were late to the dual SIM party has not helped things. Nokia hopes that the N8 will mark the start of that turn around, and in this post I examine if that is a relevant possibility.

First things first, my initial impressions are based on a proto N8 running the pre PR 1.0 v11.004 firmware so things might change (hopefully for the better) by the time it hits stores. As soon as you pickup the N8, you get a feel of premium. The build quality is nothing short of excellent and the whole metal finish really stands out. All the different N8 colours pop out and each has the power to attract a hoard of fans. As I saw for myself, the anodized aluminum construction is also highly scratch resistant, you can take a pen and scratch it without there being even a simple mark caused and if you like taking care of your phone, this is very heartening to see.

Our preview had started off with a demo of the Nokia N8 playing a 720P action clip, broadcast via HDMI with Dolby surround sound. Needless to say, its an incredible experience and you cannot help but marvel at how such a tiny thing could be powering such great entertainment. How often you use this functionality in real life is up for debate, but the day you do the N8 will feel worth it.

I was also very keen on seeing the N8’s USB on-the-go performance as this is something I have craved for a long time and it did not disappoint. Once connected, the flash drive/external hard drive/another phone behaves as if the data were residing inside the N8 and you can copy, send, playback everything without any fuss. Infact, our N8 video demo clip was probably being played off a USB stick which was connected to the Nokia N8.

Moving onto the N8’s OLED capacitive display. It is by far the best screen that Nokia’s shipped and coupled with the fact that it just need a finger touch for navigation, the whole Symbian ^3 experience becomes much better. Sunlight visibility is not a huge problem and you should be able to get along fine if you pump up the brightness.

Since the N8 also uses a faster processor and a dedicated GPU, application opening and performance is also much better than current Nokia devices and this is indeed very welcome. I wouldn’t say that everything was flying but it was much faster. (Please keep in mind that these impressions are based of a play with a proto, so things will probably get even better by the time the N8 ships).

Another thing that helps the N8 experience is the contextual menus that pop-up on a long press. This eliminates the need to go through menus and makes get navigation around the UI much faster and pleasing. The phone also features a new Nokia Messaging client which is a marked improvement over the current version. The N8 also packs a new social network client simply called ‘Social’ and it integrates both Facebook and Twitter, there is a homescreen widget too. The Ovi Store app has also been worked upon and ensures a much better experience.

The one thing that disappointed on the Nokia N8 was its Web Browser, it is 2010 and you still cannot open a new window manually. In this time and age, that’s just not on. The browser UI has been worked a little to allow for better utilisation of space but at the end of the day, even with work arounds it doesn’t match up to the competition; although it has its strengths in support for flash content and pinch to zoom. I was told that the Nokia N8 browser would be getting an upgrade later this year and I hope it brings the new Qt browser that Nokia is rumoured to be working upon rather than just more tweaks to the current version.

Coming to the N8’s mainstay, its 12 Megapixel Camera. The camera UI is new and the time from pressing the camera button to the N8 taking the shot is under 5 seconds. The time between shots is also barely a couple of seconds and this makes the camera experience very pleasing. You have already seen a bunch of Nokia N8 camera samples and it does not disappoint at all. The video capture is carried out at 25 frames a second and anything further than about 60 cm remains in focus using the N8’s new  hyper-focal distance system that Nokia has implemented. The feedback from the N8’s camera button is wonderful, it is perhaps the best physical button I have come across. I have no doubt that the N8 will be the best camera phone in the market by a wide margin once it goes on sale.

Coming to the N8’s loudspeaker. It’s a mono speaker located under the Xenon flash on the back and thus liable to be muffled when the phone is kept on its back. As far as its ‘loud’ quotient goes, it just about manages to come close to say the Nokia N900 or N97 but doesn’t quite match up to the 5800 Xpress Music. But since I was testing it in a noisy environment, I will reserve final judgment till I play with the final version.

I see a lot of good things in the N8, Divx playback, capacitive display, multitouch, the freshness of Symbian ^3, USB on-the-go, HDMI out, Dolby 5.1 and of course the camera. The N8 even with proto software seemed stable enough and if Nokia can release it with a rock stable firmware I can see the N8 flying of the shelves.

The number one reason people are doubting their N8 purchase is because they are not sure if it will get Symbian ^4, my personal belief is that it won’t. However, if Nokia can make a public announcement promising an update to the browser and pledging to support the OS, it will greatly help the market sentiment. The perception that Symbian ^3 is a transitory and will become irrelevant, must go.

The Nokia N8 is well and truly shaping up to be a long awaited success for Nokia, time and again they have resisted from calling it a high-end flagship and if they can stick to the price that it was announced at, we might truly have a winner in our hands. At the current stage I will have to give the N8 a 8/10 but if the browser gets updated and we get Swype for text entry, that score will easily rise to 9.5/10 for me.

If you are looking for more N8 coverage, we have already brought you unboxing pictures, a large gallery of the different colours of the Nokia N8 along with comparison shots with different devices. There are two 10 minute videos of a hands on play with the N8 as well, part one and part two.

Have any questions, please let me know in the comments section below.

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The FM transmitter on the Nokia N900 is one of my favourite features. The N900 was not the first Nokia to have it but the first to actually have a usable one. This was because you could boost the FM transmitter output and thus get clear sound even in slightly congested airwaves.

But in a city like Dubai or LA, its virtually impossible to get a station where there is no interference from other air waves and this makes the FM transmitter much less useful. But as with most of the N900′s other features, there’s a mod to make it even better and a simple hack can make the N900′s FM transmitter broadcast at anything between the 76.0Mhz – 107.9Mhz range. This means that you can go below the N900′s default 88 Mhz and easily find a clear station as there are no FM stations broadcasting at under 88 Mhz due to government regulations and other reasons. All you need is a FM tuner that supports these frequencies.

Here is how to perform the mod:

• The first thing you need to do is uninstall the FM Boost and FM Transmitter Widget if you have them installed. Also install any other app/widget that interacts with the FM transmitter. The reason I recommend doing it is because from what I have read, some users have had problems. For the majority it shouldn’t matter.

• Next, download this file, unzip it and transfer it to the N900. Make sure you keep in on the N900′s internal storage and not inside any folder.

• Open the Terminal and enter ‘sudo gainroot‘ without the quotes. If you do not have ‘rootsh’ installed, install it from the Application Manager before you enter this command.

• Next enter ‘cd /home/user/MyDocs/‘.

• Now enter ‘mv fmtxd /usr/sbin/‘. If you want to backup your default files first, use ‘mv /usr/sbin/fmtxd /usr/sbin/fmtxd_old‘.

• Followed by ‘cd /usr/sbin/‘.

• Then ‘chmod +x fmtxd‘.

• Finally ‘fmtxd -d‘.

• Now close the terminal.

• Now open the Application Manger and install an app called ‘FMTX Faker’.

• You will find it in the ‘Settings’ menu. Open it and confirm.

That’s it, the FM transmitter on your N900 can now broadcast at anything between 76.0Mhz – 107.9Mhz and the power is also boosted to 120 so you will not need the FM Boost application anymore. The N900 just became more awesome. Follow this TMO thread for more. Original hack by Jacek Milewicz.

PS: Please undertake the above at your own risk. It may also be illegal to use the above frequencies in your country. You have been warned.

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Divx yesterday release a 1.0 version of the Divx Mobile player for Symbian 3rd Edition and 5th Edition devices and if you, like me, have been waiting for Core Player to get their act together and have been disappointed thus far, this could come as a pleasant surprise.

The playback quality for higher resolution clips may stutter, but the audio quality is good. So if have been wanting to play Divx videos on your phone without having to convert them first, now may be the time to get started. Don’t get your hopes too high though. Download links below:

• Symbian OS 9 S60 3rd Edition
• Symbian OS 9 S60 5th Edition

If anyone of uoi has a i8910 to test this app on higher spec hardware, you’re comments are more than welcome.

[via: Symbian World & Blog-N97.fr]

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Just a quick post to let you know that part two of our Nokia N8 hands on video is now online. We look at the new Social App, the web browser and a few others things around the new Symbian ^3 OS.

In the days to come you can expect even more Nokia N8 content

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One of the things that will be completely different on the N8 will be its inbuilt email client, which comes with support for Nokia Messaging, Mail for Exchange and Lotus Notes Traveler. There’s also HTML viewing of email by default, pinch to zoom inside the email, quick switching between upto 10 accounts and a bunch of other neat changes.

So if you were wondering what sort of email experience awaits you on the Nokia N8, wait no more.

One of the things that I have wanted Nokia Messaging to improve on has been the speed of the client, the loading times are masked by the transitions in some of the older devices and with the N8 I wanted everything to be blazing fast. The does show a marked improvement, but I will pass final judgement once I have the N8 with me.

What do you think of the new client?

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In the limited time at the Nokia N8 preview in Delhi, one of the things I wanted to do with the N8 was shoot a hands on video documenting my experience playing with the device for the first time. The idea behind this was to give you an idea of how the device will feel to you when you get it.

But to make things even better and add a whole lot of perspective I and ‘teh’ Clinton Jeff from ZOMGitscj teamed up to not only bring you our initial reactions but also chit chat along the way. The video was incredible fun to shoot and we shot over 25 minutes without realizing it and had to virtually asked to stop. Today I give you part one of our joint hands on.

Have fun and make sure you let us know what you thought of the video. Part 2 will be online soon, so make sure you have subscribed and are following us on Twitter. Here is more of our Nokia N8 coverage.

Major props to Nokia India for organizing this N8 preview.

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In what comes as great news for all of us looking to make multiple accounts across multiple services on a Android powered device, TweetDeck for Android should be out this week as a public beta. That’s not all, the Android version has been built from the ground up and represents the future of TweetDeck’s future iPhone and iPad applications.

The focus with this upcoming release is on showing you all your friends’ cross-service activity in one app. ‘Multi-column is still the order of the day but now columns are blended based on the type of activity rather than the service. And all this whilst retaining the most powerful functionality from each included service’.

We also have this short video demo, that’s more of a tease than an actual look into the application. I personally can’t wait to download this one on my Galaxy S.

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When it comes to sheer specifications, the Samsung Galaxy S is virtually the king of the pack in the world of smartphones. In this review we will be looking at its hardware prowess, including aspects like the processor and RAM, display, camera, battery life and the device in general.

RAW POWER

The Galaxy S packs a 1 Ghz Hummingbird Processor, a whopping 512 MB of RAM. Infact with a bit of potentially warranty voiding tweaking, the Galaxy S (running Android 2.1) even shames the Nexus One running on Android 2.2 (Froyo).

It packs the fastest GPU of the current lot of Android devices and with a Froyo release for the Galaxy S expected in September, the phone promises to become even faster than it currently is.

DISPLAY

Next let us have a look at its display. It packs a 4″ Super AMOLED display that is sheer class, infact it is virtually the best display I have seen on a smartphone. Some people would argue that the iPhone 4′s retina display is better and to an extent it is, because if you look carefully you can still make out pixels on the Galaxy S’s 800 x 480 resolution display. However, because of the .5″ advantage in size (4″ v/s 3.5″) the Galaxy S wins it for me.

The blacks are amazing, the contrast is superb and things look way more pretty on the Galaxy S than on any other display. Infact on a black background text stands out as if you had placed a cutout on the screen rather than the screen itself displaying it. Pictures look great and the whole Movie watching experience is nothing short of incredible. The Galaxy S also supports Divx playback in addition to a bunch of other codecs and will play virtually anything you throw at it. When paired with the 5.1 sound via headphones you know where things are headed.

BATTERY

All of these things are very power intensive and this bring me to the subject of its battery. Despite its Super AMOLED display being pretty power efficient, its 1500 mAh battery really gets stretched when it needs to power the 4″ screen throughout the day performing tasks like video playback and web browsing.

Couple that with the always online mode in which the device is checking for Twitter and Facebook updates, emails, calendar syncs and so on and the battery can quickly go down.

Infact, I have managed to kill the battery within about 8 hours with all the above heavily in place. But on a normal day with the sync’s set to every half hour and not much web browsing or ebook reading, the Galaxy S lasts through the day and you can be confident of getting home in the evening with some juice left.

DESIGN

The design of the Galaxy S is not very imaginative and to a lot of people it looks like an iPhone, but then to those people almost anything with a touch display looks like an iPhone. It is very slim, infact so slim that there are times when you feel that it might just slip out of your hands.

The front is all glass with two touch sensitive buttons on the bottom, along with a physical home button. The sides have a nice metallic feel to them and pack the volume rocker on the left and the power button on the right, sadly absent is the camera button. The bottom unfortunately is glossy plastic which equates to being a fingerprint magnet. On the whole however the phone does manage to look pretty impressive. We have a huge photo gallery here.

GENERAL ASPECTS

As a phone the Galaxy S performs well, it has good reception and I’ve not dropped calls because of it. The in call volume is ample and the clarity is what you would expect from a phone. The loudspeaker on the back is powerful enough to notify you of calls or messages, but isn’t really sufficient if you wanted to catch a podcast or a movie.

Since it is also placed on the back, the sound gets muffled when it is lying flat and on a soft surface you can expect to miss calls because of this. Be careful to place it upside down when you set alarms or you wouldn’t be getting up any time soon. The Galaxy S case however has a nice cutout to allow sound to escape.

CONCLUSION

Inspite of the issues like the lack of a dedicated camera button or a flash, it is very difficult not to like the Galaxy S. The raw power and the gorgeous screen are very difficult to resist. One look at the Galaxy S tells you that this device will be great for content consumption and once you buy it with this frame of mind, there isn’t much you will not like about the phone.

Movies, Pictures, Ebooks and a ton of other things look great and sometimes you will get so caught up in them that your productivity will be affected, that’s how nice it is. For our final rating, watch the video below. Hint: We like it!

Head over to YouTube to watch the video in HD.

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The Symbian OS has not been blessed with an official Foursquare client and there aren’t many third party apps that allow full featured access to the service. There is Gravity with some basic support for Foursquare but it does not quite match up to the versions available for Android and the iPhone.

Enter Sym4square by ThinkChange, a dedicated Foursquare app that looks just like the official Android application is available for a grand price of free. It works using the Foursquare API’s and supports the 5230, 5233, 5235, 5530, 5800, C6, N97, N97 Mini, X6 among other Symbian touch from Samsung and Sony Erricson. If you have a S60 3rd Edition device, then you are out of luck.

The Sym4square app is available as a unsigned download, so you will need to sign it for your device before you can use it. Here a tutorial that will help you sign it on the phone itself.

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As you may be aware, this year’s Nokia World is happening in London in conjunction with the Nokia Developer Summit which makes September 14 and 15 two very exciting days to look forward to. Nokia World is the time Nokia announces its flagship devices and lays down its strategy for the year to come, it is always an exciting event and its 2010 variant promises to be bigger and better.

The 9 am keynote on day one is generally when the device announcements take place and sure enough, Nokia’s CEO OPK is slated to kick things off.

What is interesting to note is that Anssi Vanjoki, EVP, Mobile Solutions, has his keynote on day two and I will not be surprised if we see some action there as well. For more specific information, jump over to this page and if you are after general Nokia World info then this is the page to look up.

Oh and if you would like to win a trip to Nokia World, the Ovi Blog might be the place to check out.

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We promised you an awesome N8 gallery and it is now time to deliver. Here is the Nokia N8 captured from every conceivable angle in all its different colours. There are also comparison shots with its predecessor in spirit the Nokia N82 and the current Nokia flagship, the N900.

To make the mix even more interesting we also threw in the Samsung Galaxy S, one of the most powerful Android devices. Before looking at each of the N8′s colours, I was sure I wanted silver but after laying my eyes on the brushed black, I am sold on it. The devices look really premium in real life and are a pleasure to hold.

Without further adieu, here is our Nokia N8 Gallery.

So what do you think, which colour are you getting?

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