Nandoo Blogs

Introducing The Technorush Blog!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 07 May 2014 08:16:00 +0000

Nandoo Blogs has become the best blog I've ever made, but this blog is no longer active because of the information from Symbian and other Nokia's news is decreased over time, so we like to introduce to you our new Blog with wider coverage on Technology News, THE TECHNORUSH!

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#WPEmu Is Reviewed By #MyNokiaBlog !

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 15:15:00 +0000

Just release it less than 1 month ago but #WPEmu has got so many feedback, whether it's negative or positive...

One of the biggest review that this app ever got is the review by @AliQudsi, one of the author of MyNokiaBlog... So just watch this video guys :D

Review from @AliQudsi :

Some points about the app (in case you skipped the video- Shame on you)- My main issue with apps like these (SPB shell included) is that in the end they’re still apps; they are not true skins that run over the default OS; bearing that in mind it’s a pretty good one.

Some of the ‘Tiles” are actually shortcuts to lists of the more popular Symbian apps (People gives you Fmobi, Gravity, Whatsapp as well as tour contacts of course)

Haptic Feedback is constantly on while sliding through the scree; which is annoying and a battery killer.

Via MyNokiaBlog

WPEmu For Symbian V2.1.4 - Major Update

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 08:45:00 +0000

After a long time we wait for my app to published at Nokia Store, Finally it's published. This new version of WPEmu for Symbian brings a lot of improvements and new look & fell. Try it now !

New Release Note v2.1.4 :

All Hub now with panoramic view
Swipe to switch to home and menu
New calendar icon
New people icon
Smoother
New Animations
New Menu
Size reduced up to 60%
Better RAM Management
New Icon

MetroCalculator v1.0.0 - Calculator with Metro Style

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 11:46:00 +0000

This application is developed to give you Metro Style look and feel whenyou use the calculator.

Here some features offered by MetroCalculator application :

Metro style (Clean UI)
Basic Calculator function (in Portrait)
Scientific Calculator (in Landscape)

Supported Devices :

Symbian S60 5th Edition
Symbian Anna/Belle

Gravity 2.50 (7029) Retail Version - Symbian Apps - Full Version

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 11:17:00 +0000

Gravity is the first fully-featured and native Twitter client for the S60 platform. It supports multiple accounts, Twitter Search, Laconica, Ping.fm, posting of pictures via MobyPicture and TwitPic and wraps everything into a gorgeous looking interface.

What's New in Gravity 2.50?

Images in Google Reader
Local Twitter trends
Saving image from twitter
Symbian Belle icons
New twitter conversations view

Changelog Gravity 2.50 (7029) :

(Fixed) Memory Leak in Foursquare
(Fixed) Memory Leak in Image Preview
(Fixed) Crashing bug in the Gravity Keyboard
(Hot-Fix) Hardware Keyboard for N97, N97 Mini, and E6

NOTE :

YOUR PHONE MUST BE HACKED FIRST!!

For Hacking tutorial go to :

For Symbian S60 5th and S60 3rd Edition Hacked :

Uninstal previous version (if the previous version are demo, trial or cracked)
Install Gravity 1.32 Retail Version first
Install Gravity 2.50 (7029)
Open Gravity 1.32 Retail Version, Go Online ! , open "info and updates", you can see "You're using the registered copy of gravity"
Do the step 4 on Gravity 2.50 (7029)
Uninstall Gravity 1.32 Retail Version
Open Gravity 2.50 (7029) and enjoyed the full version without expired and crack

For Symbian^3/Anna/Belle Hacked :

Uninstal previous version (if the previous version are demo, trial or cracked)
Install Gravity 1.32 Retail Version first
Install Gravity 2.50 (7029)
Open Gravity 1.32 Retail Version, Go Online ! , open "info and updates", you can see "You're using the registered copy of gravity"
Do the step 4 on Gravity 2.50 (7029)
Uninstall Gravity 1.32 Retail Version
Open Gravity 2.50 (7029) and enjoyed the full version without expired and crack

What are the benefits use this Retail Version Method??

You can update your gravity directly from Info And Updates in gravity
No need to cracked version to install updates the gravity in the future, just replace this with new one

Gravity 1.32 Retail Version

Gravity 2.50 (7029)

Nokia Lumia 800 will come with White Color

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 15:14:00 +0000

After N9 comes with glossy white, now Lumia 800 will get it too. See How beautiful it is !

Source : SlashGear

Windows Phone Emulator (WPEmu) v1.0.2 Now Available at Nokia Store

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 10:37:00 +0000

I've promised that i will give update for WPEmu application. Now WPEmu application is updated to v1.0.2 and available at Nokia Store with 1 Euro only. Enjoy!

New Release Note v1.0.2 :

"About" now with panoramic view
Higher fps
New Splashscreen
New look tiles
Hidden-able batt and signal indicator
Some minor changes

Here some features offered by WPEmu application :

Tiles UI
Scrollable homescreen
Battery and Signals indicators
Dialer

Application Limitation :

Since this app still in beta version and I don't have Symbian^3 device for testing, so maybe some of application won't be launch at Symbian^3 devices. Because of this, I need feedback from Symbian^3 users to tell me what application which don't launch on Symbian^3 devices.

Supported Devices :

Symbian S60 5th Edition
Symbian Anna/Belle

WPEmu for Symbian by Nando Sang Putra is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Based on a work at nandooblogs.blogspot.com.

Windows Phone Emulator - Feel Windows Phone Experience on Your Symbian Smartphone

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 11:40:00 +0000

This is the first app that I've ever made. This application is still in beta version so I need your feedback to make this app better. Windows Phone Emulator is emulator for Symbian smartphones to feel windows phone amazing tile UI to symbian. This apps inspired from Windows Phone UI on Nokia Lumia Smartphones. Try now and give feedback !

Features :

Tiles UI
Scrollable homescreen
Battery and Signals indicators
Dialer

Limitation :

Since this app still in beta version and I don't have Symbian^3 device for testing, so maybe some of application won't be launch at Symbian^3 devices. Because of this, I need feedback from Symbian^3 users to tell me what application which don't launch on Symbian^3 devices.

WPEmu for Symbian by Nando Sang Putra is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Based on a work at nandooblogs.blogspot.com.

Supported Devices :

Symbian S60 5th Edition
Symbian Anna/Belle

NEW UPDATE V1.0.2 AVAILABLEDOWNLOAD NOW

Lumiappaday #13 : Toggle demoed on Nokia Lumia 800

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 12:25:00 +0000

This is an app I think most would want on their homescreen given that variants of it on other platforms are quite popular.

Price : Free

Developer Blurb :

With Toggle, you can pin Wi-Fi, 3G, Bluetooth and Airplane mode shortcuts to your start screen for direct access to them and more.
If you have used ConnectivityShortcuts, Network Dashboard or Connection Tiles, give Toggle a try for the complete package…

This lets you have quick access to WiFi settings, Bluetooth, Airplane mode and network settings.

Rating : 8.75

Design : 8

The app appears as a set of 8 tiles, 4 of which you can pin on the homescreen .

The other 4 which I didn’t get to show are settings, share, about and Review. Before I go to the toggle tiles, the Reminder option that I didn’t get around to on video allows you to set yourself a reminded when to turn on/off certain radios. When that appears just tap to activate.

The tile colours are in line with your theme as is the iconography. That’s ok but I’d prefer to customise them with something else as I prefer to fill my homescreen with different colourful tiles, not just the default theme colours.

Tiles flip occasionally though all that happens is the title moves from the top to the bottom. (You may have to use additional settings to get more info)

Usability : 8

You can quickly access settings from the tiles from toggle itself. This means you only have one occupied tile for these radio settings.

However, you can also set the top 4 as homescreen tiles themselves. e.g. WiFi tile opens up WiFi settings.

Perhaps it would be nice to have a switch to turn it on and off from the tile. From my particular usage, I always have to search for a network anyway to connect to when at Uni so I’d be opening up the main settings anyway.

It’s useful if you turn these radios on and off and currently for me the best thing we can get short of having quick settings in pull down (or possibly enhance the volume buttons where you can contextually have information on media player controls as well as volume and profile)

The tiles do though indicate whether you are using them, and the WiFi one indicates how long it’s been on for.

There are additional settings to :

Enable background task to update app tiles with connection status

Enable status updates on main tile app

These are said to run every 30-40 minutes. I haven’t switched either of those on.

Performance : 9

Yeah it works. They’re pretty much just shortcuts to those particular radio settings, but they make it easy to switch these on and off if you’re so inclined to do that (and not want to go through a settings tile instead).

The main Toggle tile opens quickly but I use the individual tiles themselves.

The only performance thing might be the apparently delay when the phone switches flight mode on/off. That’s got nothing to do with the app itself though and you can just ignore this and go do something else. (Took about 6 seconds to turn flight mode on, 4 to turn off. I think it might be establishing WiFi connections)

Price : 10

It’s free

Conclusion :

For quick tile access to WiFi/Bluetooth/Airplane mode/Data try out toggle.

Supported Devices :

Windows Phone

Source : MyNokiaBlog

Symbian Belle for Nokia N8 appears on Navifirm !!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 12:21:00 +0000

Finally, Symbian Belle v111.030.0607 , the latest version of Symbian^3 updates is available on Navifirm

Source : zomgitscj

Lumiappaday #10: Super Mario Ringtones demoed on the Nokia Lumia 800

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 11:23:00 +0000

Price : Free

Developer Blurb :

With now over 70 Ringtones to choose and save to your phone, this collection of music is a must have for any Mario fan.

Choose from 8 great Mario games including :
Super Mario Brothers 1

Super Mario Brothers 2

Super Mario Brothers 3

Super Mario Kart

Super Mario World

Super Mario RPG

Mario 64

Mario Tennis 64

As the app grows in popularity, more music will be added! It will remain entirely free too, so please support this polished app anyway possible!

First and foremost, you might think – how are ringtones apps now? Remember back in June when custom ringtone would was detailed amongst the features in WP? I also noted than unlike just being a possibility where you put your custom MP3, there is doing something more with this new feature.

Of course we can already download ringtones from Nokia Store and set them as ringtones. In this example (and there are many creative ways to go about making ringtones, e.g. Nokia loop) a developer has put together Super Mario songs for Ringtones. Possibly every memorable tune from nearly every memorable Mario game. From here, it makes it easy to select the particular type of tunes you want. No searching the web for it, no downloading and searching for that tune. Start the app, select the song, set as ringtone.

Rating : 9.25

Design : 9

With Metro comes consistency. Some have commented it might make apps too similar. However, there are so many apps (and so don’t base it just on what I’ve shown) that use the panoramic nature of Metro but do something different with it.
Here, you can see intead of big words as titles at the top, you have the image of the game.
Below it are a list of possible tones including the size, and play time. The background is an image from that game.Another nice touch was the load page that started the Mario experience from the get go.
The buttons on the bottom are a little too small I think. They’re still clearly usable but perhaps make them a little bigger?
Oh when you select a song, a mushroom appears next to it.

Usability : 9

The panoramic nature makes it very easy to organize the tones into the Mario games they come from, move in between the different Mario game songs and hence making it easier to possibly search for a particular track.
The buttons as mentioned are a little too small but don’t actually make it difficult to use. It’s more an aesthetic thing. There is space though utilized by an ad banner.
Tap on the tone you want. You can press play to preview it and/or the save button to save that to your ringtone list which you can set later, or if you want, set it as a ringtone there and then.

Performance : 9

Yup, it’s fast, stable and easy to work. (Note, not all apps we want to show are stable. Some have bugs, just most we’ve shown so far haven’t).
Start up takes about 5-6 seconds though, longer than usual but you are treated to a Mario load page where the progress bar are Mario icons as well as having a Mario sound. As an app that you’d only open occasionally (unless you change your ringtone daily) I think that’s fine.

Price : 10

Free with advertising banner

Conclusion :

If you’re a fan of Mario and want some easily accessible Mario ringtones, you’ve got to try it out.

Supported Devices :

Windows Phone

Source : MyNokiaBlog

IM+ Pro - Windows Phone Apps - Paid Version

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 03:00:00 +0000

Chat in Skype, Facebook, Google Talk, AIM, Yahoo!, ICQ, Jabber, VKontakte, Yandex IM, Mail.ru Agent and MySpace. Stay connected with your friends, family and business contacts anytime and anywhere.

IM+ key benefits :

'Always-on' communication across most of public messaging systems. Supports Skype chat, Facebook chat, Google Talk, AIM/AOL/iChat, Yahoo!, ICQ, Jabber, VKontakte, Yandex IM and MySpace. All-in-one chat app at your fingertips!
Skype / AOL / ICQ / AIM / iChat group chats: invite your friends and enjoy group chat conversations.
Send pictures on the go with photo sending option
Save battery life. Take advantage of Tile and Toast notifications without running IM+ in background.
Push-to-Email option allows incoming messages to be forwarded to your email
Multiple accounts for all networks including Skype and Facebook Chat.
Interface in English, Spanish, German and French languages.
One-tap access to phone dialing and email composing right from IM conversations. Simply tap on phone number or email to contact your buddy outside of IM+.

In 1.9 version we made IM+ even better :

Mail.Ru Agent instant messaging service.
Option to select font size in conversation window.
Support for Facebook contacts in ICQ and AIM contact lists.
Typing motifications.
Added "Slide-to-dismiss" option for Toast notifications.
Options to block authorization requests and do not receive messages from contacts not on your contact list.
Russian localization.
Major performance boost and bug fixes.

Supported Devices :

Windows Phone

Marketplace Miner v2.0 - Windows Phone Apps - Free Version

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 01:00:00 +0000

If you like looking for new apps on the marketplace, you know the limitations of the built in marketplace app – it does not let you filter out categories and it does not allow you to filter out spammy publishers. This is where Marketplace Market comes in! With it, you are sure to have a much easier time in finding new apps that would interest you. Download it now!

A little indicator on each app will tell you if the publisher is suspect (for example, if it has published a lot of apps recently) – tapping the indicator will allow you to ignore that publisher, so you never have to see apps from them again.

You can also trust publishers which will make sure we never hide them from you (and you can also see what new apps just those publishers have).

On top of that, you can also see what apps are “hot” and viewed by a lot of users.

With 2.0, Marketplace Miner is now a Windows Phone 7.5 app. The biggest change you will see here is that it’s darn fast now! Previous versions had performance problems when scrolling fast. These problems are gone and the app has pretty good performance now.

Supported Devices :

Windows Phone

Source : WMPowerUser

SurvivalCraft - Windows Phone Games - Paid Version

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 10:34:00 +0000

WP-games.pl has a fascinating interview with the developer of SurvivalCraft, the Minecraft clone that burst on the scene a few weeks ago.

The interview gives an interesting insight into the trails and tribulations on developing on Windows Phone 7 for game developers, with the paragraph below being a good example :

I don’t remember when I found out that there isn’t a Minecraft clone for Windows Phone. It must have been quite early in the development. I recall googling it and finding only the „recipe” apps. Suddenly I had a goal. At that time I was quite sure that it will not work – slow CPU, managed code (Microsoft does not let developers run native code on the phone), abysmal GPU. I was sure other people must have tried it before me and failed. And I was certain that I will get a couple of frames per second, maximum.
Then I learned that Windows Phone does not support shaders. This was the low point. I almost abandoned it. I didn’t have the actual device to test it on back then. Without shaders the code had to be even slower and more memory consuming than it already was. Indeed, some weeks later, when I tried it on the phone Survivalcraft was humming at a steady 4.5 FPS
I spent a lot of time optimizing the hell out of it, and somehow got it to playable framerates. Lack of shaders is a pain. I think this is one single area where Microsoft needs to improve.
Why not the other platforms? There are Minecraft clones for these already, even official Minecraft apps. Plus I had a lot of pre-existing C#/XNA code from my old project. A lucky coincidence I guess.

Survivalcraft is $1.99 with a free trial. In the interview the developer warns that as features are added the price will be increased, so it may be a good idea to get in early on the ground floor, so to speak.

Supported Devices :

Windows Phone

Source : WMPowerUser

Roboto - MeeGo Games - Paid Version

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 10:18:00 +0000

A speedy platformer with style, Roboto puts you in control of a daredevil teen robot equipped with a hoverboard, an arsenal of unique weapons, and a crush for the robot girl of his dreams!

Supported Devices :

MeeGo

Nimbuzz for Symbian v3.3 - Symbian Apps - Full Version

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 10:07:00 +0000

Nimbuzz Quote :

We are really proud to present the brand new Nimbuzz for Nokia Symbian. You can get your hands on this awesome version right now. (Auto update will be turned on early next week )
One of the first things I’m sure you will notice is the beautifully redesigned Home Screen. We made the icons bigger and rearranged them in grid view so you can access the most important functions with a single touch. Even more exciting is that we added three new icons to the list: Recent Chats, N-World and Groupchat .

Change Log :

Redesigned Home Screen for fast access to your favorite features
Three new icons added: Recent Chats, N-World and Groupchat
Block contacts that annoy you
New “Notifiable” icon – the green half moon
Change your password from the inside the app
30% faster login

The icon with a half green moon stands for Notifiable and it will appear only next to your Nimbuzz contacts that closed the Nimbuzz app but can still receive push (on the iPhone and Android) or Ping notifications (on the Java and Symbian phones).

So when you see this icon remember that we will push your messages to your friend but it might take a while for them to see it since their app is closed.

Supported Devices :

Symbian S60 3rd Edition
Symbian S60 5th Edition
Symbian Anna/Belle

Source : Nimbuzz Blog

Lumiappaday #11 : Penguin demoed on the Nokia Lumia 800

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 09:59:00 +0000

Sunday’s Lumiappaday is an game called Penguin. It’s really simple but it’s really addictive. I’ve you’ve ever played Tiny Wings, the game play is pretty much like that. Press down to dive and release to flap the penguin’s wings. Time it just right so that you dive on a downward slope that helps gain momentum and speed as you launch your penguin back up.

Price : Free

Developer blurb :

Who says penguins can’t fly? With your help, this Penguin can and does fly through a colorful, fun landscape. Easy to start with simple, one-touch controls to dive or fly. Keep practicing your timing to build momentum, taking Penguin to new heights and lands.

Rating : 9.00

Design : 7

The premise of this game is to make a flightless bird, fly. Here we have a penguin and it is in expected chilly, icy surroundings. When the penguin is flying, you can see him flap his wings. The faster he goes, the game zooms out slightly so you can see more of the surroundings. The hills change colour with different levels.
It’s not pushing the graphics, but it still looks great though having seen Tiny Wings, my expectations are slightly raised. You’ve got music playing in the background and sound effects when your penguin crashes or picks up fish.
The ads are intermittent, although they do sometimes detract. Hey, it makes the game free.
It could push itself a little further in terms of animations, perhaps with a video intro, improve backgrounds.

Usability : 9

I couldn’t understand how to work this the very first time I played it. But once I did it got really addictive. It’s simple – just press the screen to dive and release to let your penguin flap its wings. It’s just a case then of coordinating when to dive so that you slide down the slope and not crash on an upward one.
It helps if you’re having problems by having green highlighted on the downward slope and red on the upward ones. These disappear when you’re moving quite well, and the game assumes you’ve understood the controls.

Performance : 10

Much better than before (on my Omnia7). As I’ve mentioned in other reviews, these developers are constantly updating their apps. Fast start, stable, resumes instantly (though you just have to press resume afterwards and continue precisely where you left off). It’s instances like that where you’d prefer the game not to run in the background when multitasking.
The visuals are fast and fluid.

Price : 10

It’s free, add supported. The ads appear in game though so you do have something blocking the game screen. It intermittently disappears but it’s there more times than it’s not.

Conclusion :

Great, simple addictive free game. Perfect casual game to pick up anywhere and kill some time.

P.S.

I’ve got some more visually appealing games to show, but it’s just a case of finding the time next week to record them. I think that whilst I have too many apps to show to limit to just one app a day, I think I’m going to have to based on the demands of Uni Work. These videos are a little more time consuming than I expected them to be what with filming and editing and processing then working out the screenshots and then the written review. I love doing them though. It makes a great contrast to everything else that I’m doing but I just have to limit the time I spend to make sure none of the other stuff (esp Uni) suffers. Hope there are people out there finding Lumiappaday useful. The apps themselves might not be to everyone’s taste but hopefully you can see there’s always new content to put on your Lumias.

Supported Devices :

Windows Phone

Source : MyNokiaBlog

Lumiappaday #9 : Fireworks demoed on the Nokia Lumia 800

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 09:51:00 +0000

I said at the start I had a few similar apps to show you and this is the last of these particle style apps I’m going to be sharing for a while :p. Thanks for sticking by. This is called Fireworks. I can’t be the only one liking this app as it has tons of positive feedback on marketplace (and those guys are pretty harsh critics over there).

Price : Free

Developer blurb :

Fireworks is one of the most fun-filled apps on Windows Phone, and a showcase app for multi-touch and graphics. Tap or drag to create brilliant displays of light and sound. Compete or relax in one of several all new game modes. Experience your music, photos, and text in a brand new way. Paint layered art with firework shapes and save or share your work. Or just watch a generated show. How you play is up to you, so get creative.

Rating : 8.25

Design : 8

This app replicates fireworks which will appear on their own or you can initiate by touching and dragging the screen, producing colourful fireworks with firework sounds. Even the settings is filled with fireworks.

The only thing I don’t like is the papyrus font.

Usability : 8

This app oddly ends up in Xbox Live app where games belong. I wouldn’t class this as a game so you might find problems finding where the app is if you didn’t pay attention during the install where it ends up (you can see in the video marketplace automatically showing you xbox live). You can of course initiate this with voice control.

Performance : 7

Very responsive touch. The fireworks also fall in the direction of the floor (as determined by accelerometer).

It works in landscape or portrait which you may find useful for when you set your own backgrounds that might be in landscape.

Landscape rotate was a little too sudden

I didn’t like how selecting images from albums ended up with just the square thumbnails and not the full sized pictures.

However, setting background as random will pick fullscreen pictures MOSTLY unless they’re in the wrong orientation.

These will be faded and darkened so you can still see the fireworks show.

Does not seem to multitask. It reloads the app (though quick in under a second, is still reloading)

Price : 10

Free, ads supported. You only see ads however in the menu. When playing fireworks, you get the fullscreen experience.

Conclusion :

These last three apps, 7, 8 and 9 are just for fun. There might not be an immediate use to them but they still contribute to the app market. Not everyone has the same mindset to be productive all the time. Some want these phones just for the fun of it. Fireworks does that. It works pretty well. If you’re not anywhere near fireworks on new year, you might wanna fire this up :p.

Supported Devices :

Windows Phone

Source : MyNokiaBlog

Lumiappaday #8 : Relaxify demoed on the Nokia Lumia 800

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 06:00:00 +0000

From the last particle based app, Fluid, I thought I might as well get similar apps over with do you’ll see two more today in #8 and #9. We’ll move onto to something else tomorrow and other very different apps/games for the week.

Price : Free

We are reviewing the original Relaxify (not the sequel). Here’s the developer blurb :

Relaxify is a simple to use particle simulator that will mesmerize you for ages. It supports 4 finger multi-touch and multi-tap. The screenshots really don’t do it justice, so give it a try – it’s free and has no ad’s.

Rating : 9.75

Design : 10

You have various coloured particles that move along slowly in space with the accelerometer. The colours are spaced as such so that they appear to give depth. This is especially apparent when you touch the screen. The particles run towards that point very quickly and when you let go, they sort of explode and whirl in what looks like a 3D environment, i.e.you can sort of appreciate particles going behind and in front of the other. You can drag your finger and the particles bunch together and try to chase your finger.
All in all, the particles are very beautiful and mesmerising – the unique patterns they form in all the various colours. It’s a shame I wasn’t able to get screenshots of this as I’d need someone to be snapping photos whilst the explosions and the whirling of these particles. It somewhat looks like paint sploshing about the screen, especially if you drag the particles towards the ‘wall’ and see it bounce off them like how paint might splash.
It’s also pretty cool that once you remove your finger, the particles slow down and move in slow motion again. It’s kinda like it’s your finger that provides them the energy.
The app looks simple but I’m guessing there’s more to it than that. The speed of the explosion all depends on the incoming speed of the particles. If you gather them for quite a while, they’ll ‘lose’ that energy and explode slowly, whilst if you just gather them and let go, they explode quite quickly. If you use two fingers they will fight for both spots and produce really stunning spinning colours.
I wish I recorded this after or noted down my first experience of the cool stuff this did when I downloaded this several months ago (when you use it a lot, you just forget the simple touches you take for granted).

Usability : 10

This version of the app is just the application. There’s no menu at all, although as noted below in price, there’s a swipe down that directs you to the ‘sequel’ of this application. You won’t see this until you swipe down the screen. The controls are thus extremely usable in this app.
I think I like that there’s no controls to this app. It’s just Start>play>Relax to the mesmerising visuals

Performance : 9

Well it just works. It’s speedy, it’s stable, it’s quick to resume. I knocked a point off because when multitasking, it returns back to the beginning where the particles will the screen and are uniform. I guess it might have been designed that way but it would be nicer for me if it returned back to how the particles looked on the multitask thumbnail. I’m not sure if this should be a point knocked off in design or if it’s a performance thing. No wait, it is a performance thing because it has not yet been updated to Mango (the sequel has, I’ve not tried it yet though)

Price : 10

Free and no ads. A ‘feature’ I just noticed is that if you swipe down from the top, it pulls up the sequel, ‘Relaxify X’ that has more options like (#7) Fluid to control particle movement.

Conclusion :

I really recommend installing this to see this app in action. I did not do it justice in the video (more so as it was very quickly recorded in succession with other apps that day). This is free and it’s quality and it something that my friends really like too.

P.S.

It’s not a utility so hence you might not find it useful as I’ve noticed for complaints in another app. But then again, usefulness is highly subjective. There are so many categories where it would make it difficult to award points on usefulness. Does a game lose ratings because it’s not useful? How about if one person finds a utility useful and someone else doesn’t? I’ll leave it as a comment in the conclusion if it’s a must have. And there are – certain apps that you most likely will use quite frequently.
As for the ratings themselves, they’re mostly just there to provide some structure in how I will talk about an app. You can completely ignore this. If I knock off points that’s things where I feel it can improve (most of the time). Also if a lot of apps have good ratings, that’s because I’m showing apps I like. I think it might be a waste of your time for me to show apps I hated and disliked, though if there are a lot of suggestions to review an app, I can do that and the rating will come as is. I think you’ll see some lower ratings for certain apps that are downloaded a lot but could do with more work or certain apps that are great but are stupidly priced. etc.

Supported Devices :

Windows Phone

Source : MyNokiaBlog

Lumiappaday #7 : Fluid demoed on the Nokia Lumia 800

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 05:00:00 +0000

We’re going to be showing a few apps for your Nokia Lumia today – they aren’t exactly useful apps in terms of having an every day function to fill. They’re just there for fun. Chillax, it’s the weekend.

The first app I’m showing is Fluid. The developer’s blurb :

Fluid is the fastest and highest quality particle-based fluid simulator on the Windows Phone 7.
It supports multitouch (and multitap) interaction and also responds to the accelerometer.
You can adjust a number of fluid properties and get anything from a gas to a liquid to a solid.

Price : £0.79 ($0.99)

This is a very simple app that for some reason, my friends are finding impressive to play with. There’s no point to it other than just being sort of visually appealing. There was a similar app on Maemo 5 that I found just as mesmerising.

Rating : 8

Design : 8

It’s a simple design. Blue particles that change to white as they speed up. Particles work with the accelerometer as well as touch. All together the particles act as a fluid, with various options that allow you to change how each particle behaves.
The controls look somewhat too basic though design wise and I felt could look a little prettier. But the particles themselves are nice.

Usability : 7

The app is insanely fast. The particles move like as if you’ve got actual liquid in your phone and it also reacts just as quick to touch. The controls are however quite fiddly. Note that in the video eventually it gets easier sliding the different options, but it could be easier. Once you work out it’s just tap and glide on those bars, it’s very easy to control.
The top rows of options are somewhat obscured though by your thumb.
I am finding the fact that the main control bar appears each and every time you exit the app either from lock or multitasking.

Performance : 9

It’s fast, fluid, no hiccups. Annoying resume though with that notification page for controls appearing each time you resume.

Price : 8

It’s a well made app, and I think the developer’s pricing is quite apt for it. At 79p I think he’s done a good job, especially since it’s had a few updates already.

Conclusion :

Great particle based app, though there are other free ones that you might want to check out first.

Supported Devices :

Windows Phone

Source : MyNokiaBlog

Lumiappaday #6 : Stormy7 demoed on the Nokia Lumia 800

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 04:00:00 +0000

This is Lumiappaday #6 and it’s the first of the paid apps. Let’s get going!

Stormy7 is a fun little application that replicates steamed up glass windows extremely well.

Price : 0.99USD or 0.79GBP, but there’s also a free version

Rating : 9.5

Design : 10

This is a gorgeous looking application. The steamed up display on the Nokia Lumia looks like some condensation really has gotten into the beautiful curvy display. Touching the display cleans up the steamy glass and you will also notice that it also replicates the formation of drops that follows the accelerometer, so if you turn the Lumia, the drops also run along.
Something else that’s really impressive is blowing on the screen (like when you breath on cold glass) restores the steaminess. As well as visuals, you also get some sounds, from rain, thunder and lighting sounds, hail, to the squeak of the screen.

Usability : 9

The controls are cleanly placed at the bottom, and you can even choose to set your own pictures as the background. Either take a photo or bring up your own albums effortlessly from the phone itself or from online albums, like facebook. You can set thunder and lightning and hail.
You can also take add texts and take screenshots that are saved to your saved pictures album which you can share later as well. Settings is neatly played out. The only thing I have an issue with is the switch that I thought I’d swipe but often goes to the next page. Just tap it instead.

Performance : 9

I had problems with this crashing the first time I installed this on my Omnia7 many months ago, but like tons of apps I’ve been using, the developers are CONSTANTLY providing updates, adding features, improving stability etc. On the Lumia 800 this app is very fast, very slick, no issues.
There is pretty much no delay in rubbing the fog off the screen, it’s very quick and just feels natural; the slight delay perceivable before that is now gone makes the experience so much better. Blowing on the display works immediately (you’re supposed to do it near the microphone but the app picks it up enough). Instead of blowing, you can also breath on it like you would a cold window. It’s pretty neat.
The drops follow the orientation of the Lumia 800 instantly, as well as the rain and hail. The only thing I didn’t like was the squeak sound on the screen but thankfully than can be disabled.

Price : 10

Whilst it is a paid app, you can get a free ad supported version. For 99 cents (thankfully this translates to 79pence in the UK and not £1 as Nokia Store would have done) this developer has made an app that is so worth it for me.
Conclusion :
It’s correctly priced for a really polished, fun experience so makes it very easy to recommend on a spur of the moment buy. it has no exact uses. It’s just for a bit of fun. My little cousins love this app.

P.S.

Oh and with paid apps, you don’t have to worry about redownload limits. Marketplace will say “buy” though it will tell you that you have already paid for it and can go ahead and download.

Supported Devices :

Windows Phone

Source : MyNokiaBlog

Paid Version
Free Version

Lumiappaday #5 : TuneIn Radio demoed on Nokia Lumia 800

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 03:00:00 +0000

Price : Free

TuneIn Radio is internet radio. You can listen to stations from across the world, in various languages in all types of genres such as Pop, Hip Hop, Classical and Comedy and just so much more.

Rating : 8.75

Design : 8

This is fully into the metro experience with panoramic spaces utilised to the full. Station pages are clean and beautiful really well with clear information on currently playing (with big thumbnails), related, as well as listing other upcoming line up and twitter comments about that station. The experience is integrated into the music player and you can see thumbnails of stations you’ve been playing in your recent music history. I would though like some bread crumb style tabs when I’m searching within categories so I can quickly jump to go back.

Usability : 8

Very simple to use and straight forward. Music discovery is easy, browsing by location, language and even option for podcasts (and more). You will need a mostly good 3G connection or WiFi to make this app work since it is streaming from the internet. Most stations load after a couple of seconds buffering though some (more due to the station as I have problems accessing them in desktop browser) might take longer or may not load. The music player is fully integrated with the music experience. As mentioned, it appears in the music player history. Also, when you press the volume control keys, you can access the music controls. You can even see these controls on the lock screen as well as station info, so no unlocking even needed. You can favourite stations, and pin stations to your start screen. FM Radio is good, but I also like being able to listen to those stations when I’m no where near that location (e.g. Wales/Philippine stations when I’m in Manchester)

Performance : 9

Very fast. In mango completely works simultaneously with any other app. You don’t even have to have TuneIn Radio completely open. If you have a station tile, that station will instantly open, exiting goes straight back to home.

Price : 10

Free Yay. No ads. Install.

Conclusion :

Add this app along side Nokia Music to pack your Lumia with more music on the go All these apps just look so much more stunning on the Lumia 800 than any other WP.

Supported Devices :

Windows Phone

Source : MyNokiaBlog

Lumiappaday #4 : Adobe Reader (for PDF) demoed on Nokia Lumia 800

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 02:00:00 +0000

We did a Lumiappaday. this morning already, but as I mentioned, we will be doing more than one on some days to get the whole collection of apps I’ve got so far (as well as the new ones).

This app we’re looking at should really be there by default but it’s not and saying it already that you should download it straight away for your Lumia if you haven’t already.

Price : Free

This app of course is for reading PDF files. You get a list of PDFs which are on your phone and they open up just like most PDFs. It’s simple and does the job.

Rating : 8.5

Design : 8

It’s clean, simple, not much to expect really. List view cannot be viewed in landscape, though of course, the documents themselves can.

Usability : 7

It’s all just very simple to use. Just tap, open, swipe to next pages, pinch zoom or double tap to zoom in and out. I like how I can zoom in on pages very closely which helps when I have slide hand outs. I can’t do that on my touchpad. The 800X480 display (like on the internet tablets of old Nokias and N900) really make it more pleasant to view the smaller text. You can of course smoothly pinch and zoom the text. The whole document can be viewed in full screen in landscape or portrait.
My main gripe is that there’s no function to go to a particular page. That’s a problem I have also on my touchpad. This is an issue for me since I have some textbooks in PDF format. 1000 page+. I am not swiping to page 800. I think my N8 had this function but it was difficult to read and was a touch slow. I’m going to assume that most folk will be using smaller sized PDFs? It also doesn’t do search for words. Perhaps it would be nice to do more than delete the PDF’s? Maybe send them?
I like that downloading PDFs online opens up Adrobe Reader automatically and saves it automatically for later viewing. I don’t like however that it’s rather difficult to transfer over files on my PC. Emailed PDFs are great, and as you can see in the video I used Box.net (I also have dropbox) to sync files over anyway. Actually that’s how I’ve been transferring documents from my PC to my mac as it was just convenient having this one place to access all my files from.

Performance : 9

Yeah it works well. It is fast, smooth, slick. It can actually handle large PDFs fine. I was surprised how quickly it refreshed pages once I got to that page. It was significantly faster than my Touchpad and I think, my friend’s iPad 2 (I only remember this because I found it odd my touchpad loaded quicker than his iPad 2). Would be nice to go to a page by either scroll or number setting. Scrolling is buttery, as in pinch and zoom and tap to zoom. Rotation is also very smooth and has no issue with multitasking

Price : 10

Free. No ads. Yay We will be covering paid apps. Don’t worry, not everything will get 10. (And not all free apps immediately get 10. It’s whether it was a worth download, whether the ads were intrusive and affected the app in anyway, and if a paid app was very well priced, it could get 10 too).

Conclusion :

It’s a must install. It should be preinstalled.

Supported Devices :

Windows Phone

Source : MyNokiaBlog

Lumiappaday #3 : BBC News Mobile demoed on the Nokia Lumia 800

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 01:00:00 +0000

We are now on our third Lumiappaday. As I mentioned in the beginning, whilst we are doing at least one Lumia App a day, we might do more than one. Today, hopefully we should have a couple of other apps on show, and same again tomorrow. Otherwise, it’ll take forever to show you the apps I’ve collected up, let alone new ones I’m finding.

Price : Free

This is a dedicated BBC News browsing app.

It ties in with the metro panoramic UI and has some tiles for the popular stories as well as feeds that you can personalise (Depending on what type of news you’re interested in) and pin to your homescreen.
Stories appear first in a brief summary with a thumbnail image and then swiping over reveals the full text.
These stories can then be shared in the usual methods.

You can set a live tile to show the latest news as well as activating push notifications that appear at the top whenever there’s a breaking story. This isn’t the official BBC app, but it is very well made.

Rating : 9.5

Design : 10

Very slick looking app, in keeping with the clean metro design. The feeds and most read tiles are quite attractive.

Usability : 9

Very simple to use, straight forward. Stories can be viewed in landscape and if you want, there’s a link that takes you straight to the browser version. Adjustable font size might be welcome. Not a problem for me though and you could pinch zoom the story in the browser later.

Performance : 9

Fast, reliable, no hiccups. Pulls stories quickly. The only possible niggle might be the slight blink when resuming after multitask but that’s not really an issue. Resuming from lock screen does take half a second or so.

Price : 10

It’s free, and no adverts.

Conclusion :

Great news app. If you like BBC, it’s a must have download.

Supported Devices :

Windows Phone

Source : MyNokiaBlog

SurfCube 3D Browser - Windows Phone Apps - Paid Version

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 17:00:00 +0000

SurfCube has an award winning 3D interface that is a joy to use - but it is not just about the looks, it is also a feature rich browser

Features :

The best tab support on WP7
Portal reading mode: any page can be set to open links in new or background tabs by default
Full HTML5 compatibility
Share a page via email, Twitter, Facebook, Windows Live and LinkedIn
Supports landscape and portrait orientation
Orientation lock
Pin pages to start menu
Desktop Mode
Search
Private mode for when you want to buy gifts for your spouse
Can run under the lock screen so returning after being powered off is instantaneous
History and favorites to help finding that website again
Bandwidth saver mode for sites that don't have a mobile mode. Even images can be turned off for a truly fast and low cost browsing!
Save Images to your phone
YouTube video playback (to remove ad, buy the full version)
Pin sites to start menu
Many more features are coming soon!

Change Log V4.0 :

New bottom menu
Portal reading mode
Enhanced video player
Full HTML5 compatibility
Pin multiple sites to the start screen
Supports Mango’s Fast App Switching
Clock and connection status is now visible on the top face
Share a page via Twitter, Facebook, Windows Live and LinkedIn
Enhanced landscape support
Faster app launch
Tons of tweaks and performance improvements

Supported Devices :

Windows Phone