New house

Been very busy last 10-15 days but the good news is I've shifted to my new house in Mira Road.
Traveling is a pain but otherwise I am really happy over there. The best thing about it is that I get a lake view from my windows and the whole place is surrounded with trees.

The other good news is my N95-8GB has arrived. Even upgraded to the new firmware (v11.0.026). The phone came with Spiderman 3 preloaded and I watched it twice on TV with the TV out cable as the cable guy of my new building was holidaying out of station.

8GB is good but its slow. I thought that from now on I would not need to carry my Transcend 2GB USB stick to carry files home, but copying on the N958GB is verrrrry slow.

Will blog regularly once broadband connection is installed at my new place.

QIK : Cant get it quick enough :(

I've been trying to get this app on my phone for 1/2 an hour now but in vain, the signup process sends an SMS to the phone which I have not got as yet :( . Have tried friends number too but :(

Its Live streaming your video and sharing it to the world, doesn't it sound nice.
No need to upload , and its fast. Thats what I've learnt from the Scobles blog.

Here's the website.

How google maps locates you without GPS?

This is a nice article by Maximiliano Firtman, talks about Location based services (LBS) and also how google maps shows you the current location without using GPS.

I have demonstrated GPS on my N95 to all my friends here and they really liked that feature. Most of them have GPRS subscriptions but no GPS enabled phones. But now they come to me and show me their java phones doing the same stuff that too indoors ;)

Check it out here.

Mobiles help to flirt

It had to be on mobiles, social networking. This is one such service which allows you to flirt using your mobile phone.
Its called Lime Juice.
Check out more about it here.

OpenC Challenge winners announced

Nokia World 2007 has kicked off in Amsterdam and the winners of the OpenC challenge have been announced.

Read more here.

5310 : Amazingly slim

My friend, Chinmay, bought a 5310 XpressMusic phone for 10.5K . I'd seen the phone in ad's and sites but was really impressed to see this phone in real. The phone is extremely slim and sexy. The music quality was great its got a 2MP camera too.
I know its not on Symbian but now for those who always ask me recommendations on phone with a 10K budget, I would surely suggest this one. May be in a couple of months the price would be within 10K.
Chinmay is a music lover and is quiet satisfied with the phones battery, he's even bought a 2GB stick for it.

I've had problems with my headset that I got with my N95 (AD-43), i.e. all of a sudden while listening to the radio the left or right ear piece would stop working. A restart would fix. I've started using any simple ear phone where I have to actually use the phones button to change the radio channel.
The 5310's AD-57 seems to be a better option as it's working perfectly with the N95 ;)

OnMobile ICON

I work for OnMobile Global Ltd.
Yesterday I was awarded OnMobile ICON award :D

Cheers again. Feels gr8.

Post upgrade : v20.0.015

My N95 rebooted twice after upgrading v20.0.15.
Cause 1: I just unplugged my headphone while listening to radio and tada reboot.
Cause 2: Was trying if the headset for 5310 works for the N95 , wanted to check if I can change radio with that button. I put the headphone jack and tada reboot.

Tried several times to reproduce the thing but worked fine then.

Anyone faced the same issue?

But indeed the bootup is zappy, stability improved, keypress bug not encountered yet, snapping photos is faster, n-gage looks good, moving around in gallery is faster, camera application starts faster, button for last snap taken (next to cam) opens up the gallery faster, search is on the active screen now but don't know if I will ever use it.

I was outside Mumbai and GPRS wasn't working, I started the Maps application for the first time after upgrade. Trying to exit the app just hung the phone. Needed to restart. This happened twice. Back to Mumbai and with GPRS works fine.

Touched 200

I just realized I've touched the 200 mark of my postings.



Cheers.

On v20.0.015 now :)

Will post more about it later.

Some insight on mobile platforms

Generally I dont read articles which span more than 15-20 lines but I found this 3 page article rather interesting.It covers various mobile platforms like Symbian,Windows and even Android.
Also talks about technologies like Blue-Ray disk, gps and Flash.

Check it out here.

New N95 firmware : Coming Soon

Finally this post on Symbian-Freak shows that a new firmware for the N95 is on its way. I straight away went to the RDA site to reserve my time for that particular N95 (pic alongside). But will have to wait as my reservation is after 6 hrs from now :(

So good news for all N95 owners. Vaibhav Sharma and Steve, this upgrade is really worth waiting for with all your features like demand paging and RAM optimization seem to be taken care of :D
Its time to plug the N95 everyday to the NokiaSw Updater for a check.

Made a difference at workplace?

Have you made a difference at your workplace with some witty activity. Then post your story here and stand a chance to win the latest E51.

(only for APAC that too only Australia,Thailand and Singapore listed as entrants)

E50 : What a catalog

I've been using the E50 for a couple of days and must say that the 'Catalogs' application seemed to be really impressing. Never saw so many applications for download on the N95 catalog. Here's what the catalog tree on the E50 looks like:



Nokia Extras:
Complementary Applications
--Golf pro Contest
--Mobile Magnifier lite
--WorldMate
--Reuters

Email
--Blackberry Connect 2.1
--Mail for Exchange

Internet
--Mobile Search
--Widsets

Office tools
--Active Notes

Trial Applications
--Wayfinder Navigator 6
--Digitizer
--F-Secure Mobile Security
--Handy Expense
--Mobipocket Reader Pro
--Wireless Presenter

Themes
--Dark Stripes
--Steel

Updates and links
--SMS Accelerator
--Nokia.com Mobile Site

OSO:
Om Shanti Om wallpapers,videos etc...

Smarter S60 Applications (Really cool & free):
-Work smarter
--Oxford Dictionary
--Font Magnifier
--Worldmate
--Phone screen

-Live Smarter
--S60 Themes
--Smart guard
--Mobile search
--SMS Spam manager

-Connect Smarter
--Reuters

-Playsmarter
--Motion Dice box
--Cricket
--Golf Pro Contest
--Sudoku

Indiagames
Mostly J2ME games here

Mauj
Ringtones , wallpapers etc.. (all mobile content)

Hungama mobile
Again Mobile content

CNBC
Business news/Market etc...

Software
This is all paid stuff but nice applications - VnC+ Virtual Network Computing for Mobiles , OfficeSite S60 4 3rd Ed, Expenses 1.1 , Papyrus , Animated SMS , ZOOM+ , DIY Photo Themes, etc....

This is the first catalog I've really liked.
Although I always go for free stuff, something like iRemote is worth buying. I am now using iRemote to control my TV, its a trial version now but I think I will buy it. I impressed my in-laws yesterday when their car's audio players remote wasn't working and the iRemote came in handy ;). I've spent a lot buying a new TV remote every 6-9 months, dunno why I always drop my remote and never my mobile.

Psiloc iRemote on my E50

During my 2nd Edition days with the 6630, I always wanted to use the iRemote with my TV. But 6630 doesn't have an infrared port :(
I tested the iRemote for the 3rd Edition on the E50 , and it works just fine.
The setup is pretty simple check it out here , download it here.

Amazzing Accelerometer

Nokmote
Uploaded by soueldi

Are you a real Technoholic : Take the Challenge

This is some challenge Nokia has put together for all the technology freaks out there in India.

Its a reality challenge where 4 shortlisted people will be monitored by cameras in a room for 3 days.
One who doesn't get eliminated gets a grand prize and the title Nations resident Technoholic and the 4 shortlisted get an N81 each.

Check it out here.

2 new apps : Earthcomber and Slifter

'Download' now includes two applications Earthcomber and Slifter, both targeted for the US market.













More screenshots here.

N95-1 users , guinea pigs?

There's an interesting post on ForumNokia, it says that N95-1 users have been used as guinea pigs and after they reported all the features needed in this phone in which hey have put their hard earned salaries Nokia came out with N95-2.
Checked out the petition url and was surprised to see 200+ people already signed it. But it seems that the guy is right in a way, N95 does come close to what low-end laptops come now a days. There are people who would just buy another phone and there are people who must have waited and saved their salaries to get their dream phone, the N95.
I am one of the earlier people who got the N95 , I am with version 12 now and I surely know that with v13 the keypress bug will be gone and there will be lots of improvements. But what about that wobbly slider. A friend of mine who just bought the N95 does not have it, in fact he bought it even cheaper. I really hate the wobbly slider, if I would've dropped my phone and had the slider gone wobbly I wouldn't have minded it much. But it came that way. I really really hate it. I also wish the battery was better.
I think I should sign the petition too.

Here's the link.

Nokia India site gets a new look

Finally the Nokia India site looks similar to the europe and other regional sites. Check out the flash which allows to compare upto 4 phones side by side, easy to use Store locater and all.

Check it out here.

E90 production stopped

First I thought its just a rumor. Today got some time to google about it and indeed I saw that the E90 is not in production for some time. It is now not available anywhere in India.
Its got some hardware issues with some components. No need to worry, from what I've heard It will be available very soon may be end of October :)

Check out this link related to all the production issue stuff.

Even got some time to fiddle with the beast today ,










Just noticed how dirty the inner screen gets with all the button impressions :(
More pics here.

BT WiFi Challenge : Symbian C++

One more developer challenge is on its way on BT.
Its about developing applications which utilize WiFi in the best possible way.

"Entries to the challenge must be applications created for Wi-Fi enabled Symbian OS-based devices. Entries must utilise the Wi-Fi connection of the device for some of their operation (though they may also operate over the GPRS/3G connection or in an offline mode). Entries should be native Symbian applications (J2ME MIDP applications are not eligible) and provided in a .sis install file."

Check out the prize:
"The winners of the competition will be announced at the Mobile World Congress in February 2008. The prizes on offer to the winning developers are:

• First Prize - £1000

• Second and Third prize - £250

• Ten runners up - a Symbian press book"

More info here.

Finally a little hands on with the iPhone

More pics

The Nokia C++ MOSHup Challenge

Develop an S60 C++ application and upload it to your MOSH account. Register yourself on Forum Nokia India page and stand a chance to win one of the 3 N95's if the application is collected the most.

Nokia - India market share 53%

The battery fiasco has not affected sales in India, check out this report.

"Kishore told the agency Nokia, the world's top cellphone maker, continued to have a 53 percent market share in the country. Nokia's global market share is slightly below 40 percent."

Gmail mobile app : Err

Getting a lot of this on the Gmail mobile app

Mobile programming : Where to start?

Stumbled upon this very interesting post by Vivek Jishtu, he's put down his insights on various mobile programming platforms like Symbian, Windows Mobile, Brew, Linux etc...
Like many other developers he too points out what a pain Symbian Signing is, especially to the newbies. Prior to this signing stuff a newbie Symbian developer would just compile a HelloWorld application for the ARM target and transfer the sis file on the phone, but now there are more steps to see that simple HelloWorld on the phone.
So what does a newbie go through to get a HelloWorld on the phone?
First of all get the all the installations correct, which include Activeperl, Java Runtime, the SDK and an IDE (Visual Studio or Carbide). These were all that was required prior to 3rd edition.
Now once you have compiled the application on 3rd ed the following steps are required. Generate a certificate request file using this tool. Submit it to SymbianSigned to get a developer certificate (need to be registered on SymbianSigned first). Sign the sis file and then put it on the phone.
This installable file is tied to only one IMEI, so it wont work on any other phone :(. For the sis file to work on more handsets you need to purchase some certificate.
That is indeed too much of pain for a newbie and anyone who wants to make a freeware application.
One accomplished developer known to many Symbian developers is Antony Pranata, all the screen shots on my blog are because of his application. He could only come out with the newer version of the application when Epocware took on the expenses. Here's his post about the signing controversy.

So in a way I do agree with Vivek's thoughts about why he has preferred Windows Mobile and J2ME to Symbian. But I can just say one thing once you dive into Symbian programming and start to get a hang of thing's you will not switch to anything else. Nokia + Symbian is the best combination for mobile phones, and looking at Nokia's popularity around the world its seems like Symbian is here to stay.

Zingku : One more google takeover

Zingku is one more google takeover , interesting is that this company is into mobile txting and picture msging.

"Zingku's mission is to enable individuals and businesses to "mobilize their passion" by leveraging their personal network."

Check it out.

Power management

This is sort of techie, but may be useful to many.

ForumNokia just put together a lot of tips, tools and other material for developers , operators and administrators regarding how to save/optimize battery on devices.

Link here.

Lucky Draw : E65

Its only for Australia, Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand users. Enter this lucky draw and WIN a cool E65.

"Nokia Catalogs is always looking for ways to reward you. Now, not only do you get to load up your mobile device with funky stuff that will make you mobile life absolutely attractive. When you sign up for regular updates on new contents from ‘Try for Free’ catalog and name one ‘Try for Free’ application correctly, you automatically qualify for the Lucky Draw to win the latest Nokia E65 which boasts a myriad of unique functions.

Simply click on the country links below, follow the instructions to sign up and download as many applications as possible. The more your purchase the higher your chances of winning. So start clicking and get on the winning path now!

The contest is open to users from Australia, Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand."

Link here.

Gmail mobile site got a new look

N800 : Not for me :(

The WOM World N800 lay in my table drawer for couple of months and yesterday I sent it back. The beautiful device never enticed me to get my hands over it at all. I do accept that I was really busy for a couple of months because of my house hunt and my office work, but that never kept me from fiddling with my N95. Why? Because the N95 was always with me and I was always connected with GPRS. Carrying the N800 would mean that I either wear a six-pocket pants or some shirt with a pocket as big as the N800.
First of all N800 is not a phone, I was tired of telling this to every one who saw it. It's an internet tablet. It needs WiFi or a bluetooth GPRS/3G phone nearby to connect. If not connected then you can just play the stored media files , read documents and pdf's , make some sketches (paint) or play a few games. I dont have WiFi at home. Taking it to the office was a distraction to my colleagues and my work. The only thing I did on it connected was a little chat on google talk with a friend. Thats it. I've seen many sites and posts with people doing a lot of things with the N800 but even that never egg me to go home and take it out of my drawer. If I had it when I was actually reading the posts I would have done something with it, but its too big to carry and I could not risk travelling in the crowded Mumbai trains and buses with it. So it feels like N800 was not my cup of tea after all.

No more Hutch

The Pug has finally gone , but we all surely enjoyed it. "You and I , in this beautiful world..."

Its been quiet some time Hutch was taken over. Finally the commercials and the hoardings are up. Vodafone is a big operator globally, so what does it mean to us?
As the tradition goes, one operator comes up with a service the others follow. Being a big player I expect that the GSM space will see some new services and tariffs. Even heard of Idea cellular coming to Mumbai. Lets see what happens.

Me : Forum Nokia Champion

Got a mail today from Forum Nokia, I've been selected as the Forum Nokia Champion. So I can carry the tag "Forum Nokia Champion" for a year now :D

Very happy about it. From the day I was chosen as the Wiki Contributor of the month , I had an eye on this title. Finally got it.

Thanks ForumNokia, I am a Nokia fanboy and will always be.

Nokia, Sony Ericsson and Samsung to create new memory card format

Having multiple phones, digital cameras, card readers? If yes i am sure you always wished you had one memory card format that fits all you mobile devices, mp3players, digital cameras etc.
Seems like the wish is about to be fulfilled (but not so soon).

"Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericsson and three other technology companies have announced that they will join forces to create a unified memory card for electronic devices by 2009.
The new specification, dubbed Universal Flash Storage (UFS) will "reflect the industry's need for a universal memory solution that removes the need for adaptors to accommodate different removable memory card sizes."
The companies also hope that working together will help improve speed and performance enabling high-speed access to large multimedia files, while reducing power-consumption in consumer electronic devices.
The manufacturers say that mobile handsets and digital cameras will be the first to benefit from the universal open standard."

Read the article here

Google Maps on the N95 (J2ME)

Mobile Tracker with BPL

BPL Mobile will be offering Mobile Tracker solution soon.
Will work on all Symbian phones. Basically the background application sends SMS on SIM change , something like that.

Found the article on Tech2.

Link on BPL Mobile.

N95 doing a Win98

Got this on starting the camera. Didn't restart the phone, just restarted the camera and it worked fine. The error message reminds me of Windows 98, don't see it much on XP now.

Dumb polls

I've been running really dumb polls , I realized. A symbian/nokia specific blog is obviously going to get more of symbian/nokia centric guys. My page stats show that most of the searches that reach to my blog are symbian and nokia based.
My two polls "Your dream phone?" and "Will WindowsMobile kick Symbians butt?" are really dumb. The clear winner in the previous poll was N95 and the iPhone lost like anything. And the current poll, obviously Symbian is going to be the winner.

Cant come up with some good poll right now, but will surely be removing the current poll.

Raspberry , thats Nokia

Good article.

"From Nokia's perspective, things had to change. Apple recently marched onto its turf by introducing its vaunted iPhone, so it was only a matter of time before Nokia attempted to move on Apple's iTunes dominance in music downloading."

Nokia has stirred up a lot of discussions since its OVI announcement.

Nokias 7th flagship store will be in MUMBAI

Intomobile confirms that the 7th flagship store will be in MUMBAI, just what I wanted :D
The post also says "Nokia is also going to locate the headquarters of NSN in India." Dunno what's NSN. Also read the article on "Nokias big plans for India" (link can be found in Intomobiles post).

Also dunno flagship store ka funda but this is what I expect of the flagship store:
- Best deal prices.
- All accessories under one roof.
- Get some hands on with new devices that launch.
- Good buy back price of old Nokia's.

20-20 : Catch the match

Nokia-India has this contest going on called "Catch the match".
Buy selected phones , SMS the IMEI number of the phone to 5555 and 100 lucky winners go to South Africa for Twenty20 cricket world cup.

Contest home page here.

Nokia 7th flagship store: Mumbai or Delhi

COOL. I just hope its in MUMBAI.

"Nokia will open a flagship store in either Mumbai or Delhi — it’s seventh in the world after Helsinki, New York, Chicago, Moscow, Hong Kong and Mexico City."

"Nokia is battling counterfeit and grey market operators and serious rivals such as Motorola to keep its grip on one of the fastest growing markets in the world.The concept of the flagship store is one of the initiatives Nokia has taken to meet the challenge. It plans to establish another 18 such stores worldwide. At present, the company reaches out to its customers through a network of franchisee-run Nokia Priority stores."

Full article here.

iPhone competitive data

iPhone clearly knows that N95 is its biggest competitor ;)

Check out their comparison chart here.

I think they should now come out with a new chart with the new N95 with (BL-6F) 1200mAH. I think everyone will be interested to know about that.

JBL On Call 5310 speaker dock

JBL dock for the 5310 XpressMusic, nice. Whats not nice is the article stating that Nokia speaker quality is pathetic. Its not, may be it was bad earlier but now its great. There was a time when I used to say that sound quality with speakers on Sony Ericssons rules but gone are those days.

"According to the press materials, the JBL On Call 5310 "serves as a customized docking station for the Nokia 5310 (and simultaneously charges the phone battery during music playback." Those loud speakers look pretty impressive too. On a side note, the dock will work with other devices as well through its standard 3.5mm mini jack."

Full article with pics here.

September poll

There is quiet some stuff on this blog about Windows mobile Vs Symbian. So what do you think about the big fight. Take the poll.

Q&A : Mary McDowell

Mary McDowell, executive vice-president and general manager (enterprise solutions), Nokia, talks about India-centric strategies that Nokia plans in the next quarter.

Interesting is their loyalty with Symban :
"We have sold close to five million E-series phones globally, and we feel that Nokia’s commitment to the Symbian operating system is the key to its success. Microsoft’s Windows Mobile is a competition for us in the smartphone segment but it is still a far threat for the Symbian OS. There is no reason why we should migrate to Windows Mobile."

Read more here.

New poll

Its just 5hrs now for the current poll "Your dream phone?" to end , and clearly N95 seems to be the winner. "Other" got 10 votes but got no mail or comment about their likes. Surprisingly iPhone got the least votes, I thought it would be 2nd to N95 and then E90. All that iPhone hype is gone after it launched, I dont even see anyone posting much about it now.

Its time for a new poll, comment if you've got a nice question in mind.

Nokia updates

Still busy chasing deadlines ,my post rate has decreased :(

Some details from the newsletters this week:

"N-Gage is back and better!


Come experience the next generation of mobile gaming at Games Convention Asia 2007, Singapore. See the Nokia N81 8GB and microSD versions, plus the Nokia N95 8GB in action with top N-Gage titles. The all-new N-Gage mobile gaming platform will inspire and excite you.


Date: 6 – 9 Sept 2007
Time: 9.30am – 6.30pm
Venue: SUNTEC Singapore International Convention & Exhibition Centre.

Visit www.gc-asia.sg for more details"

Availability (APAC):
Nokia N95 8GB
Nokia N81 8GB

More XpressMusic but this time no twists :)
Nokia 5310 XpressMusic
Nokia 5610 XpressMusic

OVI Launched
www.ovi.com

MOSH available to all (access key removed).
I've downloaded lots of themes and games directly on device. Been moshing a lot in commuting time.

Small and slim : 6120 classic

Got enough time to take a few snaps of the 6120 classic. Nice phone really small and slim.

More pics here.

Indian leopards,mobile phones: Any connection?

Indian Leopards fall for mobile phone ringtones

"The wildlife officials recently found that the leopards can be lured out of the village more effectively and humanely with animal sound ringtones- as opposed to real animals."

Ha haa, ain't we really technology-centric. Read full story here.

MoMo Mumbai : August event

The August event of Mobile Monday Mumbai is on the topic “Location Based Services” and will be held on 27th August.

Thanks to Qualcomm for sponsoring the event and supporting the community.

Topic:
Location Based Services

• What are the trends in Location Based Services globally?
• Relevance of Location Based Services for India
• Location Based Services and mobile advertising

Read more here.

India on top

I am really busy with a lot of work these days but there is always time for me to go through google reader on mobile (http://www.google.com/reader/m) whenever I travel or use the loo :D

This is one good news I read on AAS , India overtakes USA as Nokia's second largest market.

Thats impressive, even commented on that post. Not only GSM but I think Nokia CDMA sell good as well. Seen a lot of Reliance users with Nokias ever since they introduced FM Nokias in their line up. Nokias get us good resale value, they look good and they are quiet durable. I've dropped my phone so many times, worst case the phone can be seen in three parts - the front panel , the back lid and the battery all go in different directions. But all I need to do is put them together and it starts working again. May be the phone gets a few scratches but it works. Nokias come at every price range , shapes , form factors and colors. Most of us are not locked to any operator so we can change our phones whenever we want. So just head to the nearest market and get the phone exchanged for a new Nokia. What more does one want :D

Battery fiasco : Aftermath

It happens only in India, literally. After going through most of the news and blogs on the net I found that India is one country that has reacted the most to the issue. I blame it to news channels for this, the way they went on about it the whole day when Nokia made the battery announcement. And there was no need to show that exploding cell phone visual.

Battery fiasco may cost Nokia India Rs 8 crore & buyers' faith
Nokia's brand image in India might be in shambles, CEO to visit next week
Airtel, Hutch come in support of Nokia in hour of crisis
Spooked customers turn heat on battered Nokia
Battery and assault: Mayhem at Nokia centres

Nokia 5700 MusicXpress fails to rock the floor

Thats what Indiatimes Infotech reports, and I quiet agree with it. I posted(Twisty Issues) months ago. Now I understand why the prices went from 18k->15K->12K :(.

A little from the article:
"Youngsters, for whom this phone is designed, dumped the Nokia 5700 straightaway. Why? For two reasons. The design is ugly. And second, it’s feminine. I don’t understand one thing here -- any mobile phone which is not black or coffee, is termed feminine."

" The 5700 is not even priced attractively. The retail kit costs Rs 14,399 (inclusive of taxes) bundled with a decent set of earphones, 1GB of micro SD card and USB cable apart from the standard apparatus. No doubt the pricing is aggressive.
Our value for money meter points the Nokia 5700 to 40 per cent. Maybe the pricing is on account of the 16 million colour display and the bundled 1GB micro SD card. "

Read on here.

New version of Jaiku for S60 is out

Got jaiku'ed yesterday that the new Jaiku for S60 is out for download, some features mentioned on the Jaikido Blog are

Other new features include:

• The choice between longer battery life or more up-to-date presence (a much requested feature).
• Reading and writing comments from and to your contacts.
• Go back in time! Using the ’stream view’ for your contacts, you can see what they were doing and saying in the past, not just their most recent post.
• More than just Jaikus! You can also see when your contacts have posted to flickr.
• Improved presence view, to make the most of your screen real-estate.
• A whole raft of usability improvements, based on what our users have been telling us they need, including an even easier to use interface, and a progress meter, so you can see what’s happening.
• More optimal data transfer and connection maintenance, giving you more bang for your wireless data dollar.
• …and all the essential (but not that interesting) stuff like bug fixes, speed improvements, that sort of thing.
• Oh, and let’s not forget - a spiffy new manual for this client.

Diva update

If you've not been following Darla on Jaiku, do it now. She had landed in Helsinki and we all look forward to have many pics and Espoo experiences from her. Its a place where all Nokia enthusiasts wanna be at least once ;)

BTW, do read Stefan Constantinescu's "My afternoon at Nokia Headquarters in Espoo, Finland" and get jealous.

Sideloading

Sideloading is a very much mobilecentirc word:

"Sideloading involves users downloading mobile content (ringtones, wallpapers, music, games) onto the PC and transferring it to the mobile. Since the content does not pass through the mobile operator’s network, it cannot be charged for and there is a revenue loss to the operator."

Mobile Pundit has put together how sideloading is a pain to the operators and what the Indian biggies have said about here.

Nokia says sideloading is a key feature for iPhone & smartphones , read here.

Other links:
Gizmodo
M-Trends
Wirelessweek

POLL : Which is your dream phone?

I always wanted to put some POLL on the blog and now that blogger has released this widget I would like to know which is your dream phone. Do take the poll (on right side) and if there is some other phone you dream of do mail me at mobilecentric at gmail dot com. Although the results are available any time , I would also display other phones which people like at the end of this month.

Will try to have a poll every month, do suggest some questions.

Dont panic, its just that battery and it wont blow up

YOUR NOKIA PHONE WON'T EXPLODE.

I am ,like most Indians, a big Nokia fan. This post is just to tell all that there is no problem with the Nokia phones, its only a defective battery. I was really annoyed with a news channel showing a graphic of Nokia 6600 bursting into flames. These kind of visuals do have an effect on a lot of people. Just checked out this post on Tech2.com. Please read it and spread the word.

आपका फ़ोन फटने वाला नही है। T.V. वाले आज कल कोई भी खबर को सनसनीखेज बाना कर दीखा देते है।

Visit the official Nokia battery replacement announcement on my post here.

S60.com : Music Box

Music Box is this months exclusive download on S60.com

"Tired of the standard ring tones available on your phone? Got a creative streak? This month’s exclusive download is Music Box, a simple, fun way to create your own ring tones."

So log on to S60.com and get it.

Nokia Battery replacement

This Nokia battery replacement announcement has spread like wild fire. I first read it on AAS , then got it from friends on IM , got Jaiku'ed about it and got a couple of mails from friends.


If you've got a nokia phone in the period Dec 2005 and Nov 2006 do check out this link. You may get your battery replaced.


P.S.
Indian residents can find out their battery info by sending sms, see the image below, its form the Nokia India site. The 26 character battery id no. can be found on the back of the battery.

YOUR NOKIA PHONE WON'T EXPLODE.

N95 : Radio works without antenna

This is what I always wanted. Play radio on phone by plugging any headset/headphone and NO ANTENNA. I connected my computer speakers directly to the N95 headset jack to listen to some MP3's on the card. I just turned Visual Radio on and to my surprise the FM worked loud and clear. This is something I have never come across earlier. Does N95 have an in-built FM receiver/antenna? I thought its necessary to plug the headset(AD-43) first which came with the N95.

Whatever, I am enjoying it at the moment :D

I posted the same on AAS forum and got a reply that
"Anything you connect will act as an antenna."

Well I didn't know that and I am sure many others also were not aware of it.

A month with the N95

Its going to be a month now with the N95 and its been quiet an experience.
I got the phone with firmware v11 and at that time v12 was already out. But the net was full of posts talking about v12 bugs. So after 7 days of holding myself back I gave up and upgraded to v12. I was quiet happy with v11, there were no issues but then every one had upgraded (every one with N95 puts down their firmware version in their signature on most of the forums) so I couldn't have stayed with it. Yes the keypress bug is present but its not as annoying as many have said, even I am a fast texter and hardly encounter the bug. But the thing is that it (the bug) shouldn't be there and so I hope that its rectified in V12+.
Another thing that I would like in the upcoming firmware is the Active Standby Plugins feature. I've already posted about my slider issues , and I think I will be heading to the service center to find out if they can fix that gap on the right bottom side of the slider. I don't want that fragile N95 feeling whenever I press any right side key on the slider.
One more thing that needs to be fixed in the newer firmware is the radio volume when the speakers are on. My dad's Sony Ericsson J230 has much better loudspeaker output than the N95. I cant stand all those comments my dad passes when I use his phone to listen to the radio :( .
I never use the Multimedia keys. I hope they make it configurable or at least make it do something else like opening the most frequently programs or whatever.

The camera is one of the most impressive features the N95 has. I've taken say 300+ photos with it so far, with the maximum of them of my month old niece. I find the sports mode and the close up mode very useful at times. I've tried the Edit picture option and its quiet impressive too. I just don't understand the cartoonize feature in the in the Apply Effects options. I thought it was related to some cartoon stuff but it does some image color transformations. The camera captured the 3 blades of the fan in sports mode.
Check photos here.

So far the phone has hung just once. I was downloading a pic, it was just 54 kb. Just as the transfer reached 99% the phone restarted. Now that was bad. But as soon as the phone started I got a query box asking "There are incomplete downloads. Would you like to see them?" something like that, so it opened the browser. I went into options - downloads and saw the transfer was paused at 99%, all I had to do was resume the transfer. Now thats good :D .

A few days earlier my wife took the N95 and I carried my old 6630. I missed the N95 like anything. Just an hour with the 6630 and I could already feel the N95 side effects. The keypad lock/unlock which I was so used to with nokia phones (* + unlock), I forgot it. I kept pressing the two softkeys to unlock the phone. The screen felt so small , I just wanted the N95 back. I think I am so used to the bigger screens after E61 and N95 I would not go for a smaller one ever. It means that now I am not interested in 6120 classic :)

So overall the N95 is a wonderful device you wont part away once you have it, with a little issues that I hope will get better with the firmware upgrades.

Symbian developers Wiki competition

A competition has started on Symbian.com's developer network. Contribute to Symbian's Wiki and win cool prizes. The competition is dated from 8th to 26th August. So all developers show your expertize to win these cool prizes

• 2 - Sony Ericsson P1
• 1 - Nokia E90 Communicator
• 1 - Nokia N95
• 1 - Nokia 6110 Navigator to be won.

More info here.

N800 : Without connection

Just got a trial N800 from WOM world yesterday.Spent a couple of hours fiddling with it but was not able to do much as both the connectivity options were not available. I don't have WiFi at my home and because of some technical problems from the operators side my GPRS is not working for the past 4 days :( .

Its been quiet some time since I've got my hands on a device without S60 interface.This is my first hands-on with an Internet tablet. It was a surprise for my wife and dad that its not a phone because they think that if its Nokia then its got to be a phone. My dad is not at all "Mobilecentric" he calls my E61 a calculator and the N800 a transistor (old generation radios) :D.

N800 reminds me of the 7710 (S90) but this Maemo interface feels much zippier. At some point of time I've worked on Linux and thats why I kept searching for a command prompt thingi on the N800, but its not there. The media player is good, nice sound, the image viewer is nice with a fast zoom. Done most of what I can without any connection, but I've set it up with my gmail account. So today when I reach office I'll fire it up with WiFi and will be posting more of my N800 experience.

6110 Navigator finds way to India

The 6110 Navigator support page is up on Nokia-India site. So expect it soon in stores.
Its main feature: its a Navigator. Actually it comes with an internal GPS receiver and Map's application. So does the N95, but the maps software used in 6110 is not Nokia's own Maps software but its Route 66, which is a third party application. Which means that the phone will come with quiet a comprehensive map of India.

Actually India is not a Map country. We usually do not carry around maps like they do in the west, even when we are driving long distances. So having commercials out with people getting happy using the maps feature wont entice any one buying the 6110. They will really have to price it right as there are a lot of phones with the same specifications (except GPS).

OS wars : Should Symbian worry about Windows Mobile?

Every two weeks or so there has to be an article regarding Symbian vs Windows Mobile/iPhone/Linux/..

Heres the latest one on Techworld.com

"Symbian people don't like to hear this, but outside their world, it's very common to hear statements like 'I don't really like Windows Mobile, but I'm familiar with the interface and it synchs with all my desktop apps.' "
...
...
" There are more Symbian phones sold than iPods, so Symbian has no fear from the the iPhone, either. "

Full article here.

E90 : Communicator or not

Lots of people seem not so happy with the E90 according to this link.
Some say the price is not justified, some think whats the difference in features between a communicator and any other NSeries phone while some miss the S80 interface.
I think its one of the coolest device available with a different form factor, forget the E & N Series funda because even I dont understand Nokia's categorization , but yes its a little expensive.
Don't think they left behind anything that was there in 9500/9300, in fact I found the S60 interface much faster than the earlier S80. Its loaded with features and is indeed an eye candy.
No matter what others have to say its 10/10 from me to E90.

Definitely not a "New Coke moment".

I am Nokia NSeries

I see this ad a lot nowadays on TV, its called 'I am Nokia NSeries'. So just browsing and came across the same promotion on the Nokia APAC site. Nothing much just the same nseries flash site with 'I am Nokia NSeries' images added. Also a friendster link where you can comment which NSeries you are.

Check it out here.

Active Standby plugin : Good feature but missing

I never keep the 'WLAN scanning' option ON and I don't want the 'WLAN scanning off' displayed on my standby screen, that goes also for 'No calendar entries today'. If there are no entries don't show it. But there is no setting that would allow me to get them off the active standby. 'Active standby plugin' is one of the cool features that they have not included in the N95 and other phones. Its there in E65,E50 and may be some other phones as well. It's just a customization so why not include it in all phones. It would be great if this comes up in next firmware upgrade for other phones.

Links of what others have to say:
Nokia NSeries
Sumbian Guru

Fully open-source : Neo 1973 launched

A touch screen "Hackers dream box" is out :)

"Another fully open source-based phone has gone on sale, offering developers the chance to build their own mobile Linux applications."

Links:
NewLC
Link2
Link3

Nokia phone + commute time = Writer

This is interesting,

"An IT professional in Italy wrote a science fiction, "Compagni di Viaggo", using Nokia phone."
...
...
"The book, which is believed to be the first book ever written on a cell phone and published, took him 17 weeks to complete."

Thats called utilizing every bit of your time :)
Full story here.

Cool 3rd Edition theme

Check out this cool Vista theme here.
Handango link.

Nokia trends lab

Be a part of the Nokia's mobility experiments. Labs include Film Lab, Music Lab, Photography Lab and Design Lab. Check out the Paris experiment. Next experiment , Ireland on 1st Aug.

More info here.

All praise : iPhone software

I am always on a look out about whats been said in context to iPhone and Symbian, here's the something I found today-

"People talk about how Symbian phones have great software, but I don't think those people get the iPhone. The pocket-sized iPhone is a mini-Mac, and its software outclasses any other mobile operating system I've tried."
.....
.....
"And if the iPhone does take the world by storm, it will be because of that software. None of Apple's competitors in the phone industry – none besides Microsoft, anyway – have a track record of developing world-class operating systems and deploying them on millions of devices. The OSes that we've seen on phones up to this point, including Palm and Symbian, are little competition. Ever seen an animated weather widget on the Symbian OS?"

Full post here.

Symbain Symbian

Didn't quiet understand what went on here , do tell me if you understand it. Some sort of prank or something.

BPL Mobile - Get in the loop : Whats that?

Regarding the BPL Mobile's Ad in todays newspaper I kept thinking about what would it be "Get in the loop", is it a term they are using for CUG (closed user group) or some new SMS service or what. I usually try what ever new service they come up with (I am on BPL). So the first thing I did was went to their web site. Yeah it was there, Get in the loop nice flash which could change to whatever color we select. Thats it, no more information. So I turned to my best friend Google.
Its just,

"BPL Mobile, Mumbai's cellular service provider, has tried to rejuvenate its image through a brand refresh campaign titled 'get in the loop'."

This link tells it all.

Nokia Intrusion Prevention with Sourcefire : Win E61

"Nokia Intrusion Prevention with Sourcefire will provide enterprises with defense-in-depth by analyzing network traffic to discover risks, determine their business impact and take actions to defend the network. This complete network visibility allows companies not only to address existing threats, but to actually prevent some of the attacks that plague them."

This was from a press release dated Aug 29 2006. Now Nokia APAC is promoting IPS by giving away prizes , an E61 and 5 x 4GB pen drives to be precise. Just play the flash game where in you help the admin to install IPS solution to save the day.

Here's the link.

Post v12.0.013

• Interface feels zippier
• Boot up time has reduced.
• Got locked to GPS in my balcony within a minute, tried a lot earlier but never got a lock there.
• Can't say anything about the photo quality, they say its become sharper, but I cant figure much of a difference.
• Its said that camera starts faster now, I think it takes the same time as before.
• A few applications (which I had installed on v11) got installed automatically saving a bit of my time.
• Keypress bug: I think I encountered it or did I actually didn't type it. You see its rare till now , just once in the day (quiet ignorable).
• No applications terminating with an S60 kernel error.

Looks good till now :D

Whats up with Darla Mack

Ever since that 'Yoga for beginners' post (19/07/07) Darla hasn't posted anything. Seems like she's too busy doing yoga or as she feared, she's really stuck in one of the yoga positions :D. Just kiddin Darla. You just took a blog break,hope to read new posts from you soon.

Mobile Pundits humorous side

I never knew Veer sir posts jokes too. Check it out here.

Finally

N95 v12.0.013 upgrade: Odd lucky fellows

Every now and then I get tempted to go for a firmware upgrade from v11 to v12, but I just don't do it because of that annoying key press bug. But I've found that some lucky fellows have upgraded to v12 and have not experienced any bugs as yet. This makes me more tempted to go for that upgrade. The only thing I don't want is me upgrading to v12 and then Nokia coming out with a newer version with the bugs solved. If they come out with it after say a couple of months Its ok but if I upgrade and they come up in a week or so it would really be annoying. Just don't understand what to do :(
So may be in a couple of days I'll post "I've upgraded to v12" or may be not.

iPhone haters

I dont think my title holds good bacause no matter how much of a Symbian fan I am, there is no denying that iPhone is one of the most wanted phones at the moment.

But still iPhone haters will surely enjoy this video, actually it (the video) has been around for a long time but seeing that the N95 Vs iPhone debate is still a hot topic I am just posting the link.

Check it out here.

EXIF, Geotagging : Whats that?

The N95 technical specifications says:
Mobile Photography
* Image resolution: up to 5 megapixel: (2592 x 1944 pixels)
* Still image file format: JPEG/EXIF
* Auto focus
......
......

Whats that EXIF?

EXIF :
"EXIF stands for Exchangeable Image File Format, and is a standard for storing interchange information in image files, especially those using JPEG compression. Most digital cameras now use the EXIF format. The format is part of the DCF standard created by JEITA to encourage interoperability between imaging devices."

What I understood is that, it is some extra information which can be included with JPEG files. Location is one such information which can be added with the JPEG files and following the EXIF standard we are making it easy enough to be inter operable across wide range of devices.

Simply speaking Geotagging is adding location tags with the photos we click.

I was able to get a GPS lock when I was going to my relatives place from Bandra to Andheri. This was the first time I used GPS while travelling. It followed me all the way on Western Express Highway, though sometimes it strayed to some other places I was having fun wondering about, me connected to satellites :D . I've even taken some snapshots and uploaded using Shozu.

After googling for applications that could geotag pics , Shozu was one of them. Since I already had it installed I didnt search for any other application. But what I found was that Shozu is not actually putting any location information in the JPEG files , instead it just sends the location as a tag. I am only 75% sure of it because I have still got to install some software that could actually read files with EXIF format. One more thing I found out was that Flickr offers Maps too. So you can view your geotagged pics on the Map. I Shozu-ed my geotagged pics to Flickr hoping that these will come up on the Map, but they didn't. Got to figure out why.

But sure EXIF , Geotagging , GPS pretty new things to me and fascinating too. Will find out all about it soon.

Nokia shortcuts

I wanted to send some 5 pics from my phone to my friends. It was pretty much annoying to go to Options->Mark/Unmark->Mark for each pic. Wish there was a shortcut key for mark/unmark. I know this is easy with any file explorer like YBrowser and FExplorer but then there are no thumbnails only filenames :(
I tried out all keys but nothing. Found out a few other things in the process. It was pretty surprising to see Darla Mack's post that many do not know that pressing zero thrice when editing takes you to a new line, so I'm just putting these shortcuts down in case it is still not known.

Call END (red) key: Earlier when in any application pressing this key would send the application to the background, now it simply exits/closes the application. The only way to send an application to background is to press the Menu key.

Call ACCEPT (green) key: Can also be used as the 'Send' key. When in messaging no need to go to options and then press send, just use the green key. When in gallery pressing this key pops up the Send dialog with via Bluetooth,via multimedia etc...

# : A long press on this key on the idle screen toggles between General/Silent.

A long press on any key from a to z will type the number on that key.

To switch from alpha mode to numeric in an editor long press #.

A long press on the multimedia key on N95 brings up Media player.

The button next to camera click button brings up the last clicked pic.

To bring up the number stored in the SIM at the nth position press n+#.

For a full stop just press 1.

Do comment if you know more shortcuts.

Widgetop : iN95

Just point your N95's browser to http://m.widgetop.com

Moto no no , Nokia yes yes

This is a nice article on BusinessWeek : Why Nokia Is Leaving Moto in the Dust

"Pop singer Alicia Keys and Ramkishen Pyarelal, proprieter of a Mumbai tea stall, may not have a lot in common. But they both carry Nokia mobile phones. If you want to know why Motorola (MOT) is in such trouble these days, the celebrity and the Indian street merchant provide a big part of the answer."
...
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"Maybe the iPhone will be very successful," says Martin Garner, director of wireless intelligence for London market researcher Ovum. "Does that knock Nokia off its perch? I don't think so."

Read this 2 page article here.

N95 : Finally the v12 changelog

Symbian-Freak has published this exhaustive v12.0.013 changelog

Check it out here.

I am still on V11 and have no intentions of upgrading to V12 even after going through that all good points changelog.
Will upgrade once that keypress bug is removed. Every site with a mention of the firmware upgrade have said that the keypress bug is the most annoying. Would have surely tried out V12 if NSU had a rollback option. Right now pretty happy with V11, would have been even happier if the battery could hold on longer. I usually dont carry the charger to my office and then I don't like asking everyone for the thin pin charger.

No results : 5700 XpressMusic contest

A month ago Nokia-Asia announced the 5700 XpressMusic contest. Here's my post about it. I did play that flash match-the-columns game a lot. It was a race against time game where you have to match some 10 keywords on the left hand side to the description on the RHS (drag and drop).
My friend has got a really good score in it around 2.xx seconds, impressive. Eight winners will be chosen with the least time. The winners were to be announced on 13th or 14th but still nothing from them. That contest url now is redirected to nokia-asia's site and was even down for some time, which made me feel that something must be going on.
Just found this thread. Many people waiting for the results :(.
I hope they declare the winners soon and my friend is one of them (he just dropped his 6630 in water and it doesn't work anymore )

N95/E90: GPS

"How to use GPS?"

I've asked this question on one of the forums and I know many who don't even have a GPS enabled phone (just for knowledge) may have this question in their mind. That is quiet a relevant question as not everyone has access to a GPS receiver. Its the same like once I used to think "How to use Bluetooth?" :). Of course not interested with the intricacy of the technology but just want to know what it does and what to do to make it work.

Other questions like "How much will I be charged if I use it?" , "Do I have to register at some place before using it?", "Is the operator involved in anyway?" were also on my mind.

I'll just tell how I used GPS on N95.
I found two GPS related applications on the phone "GPS data" and "Maps". There may be other application available but not searched as yet. As N95 has the GPS receiver and since this hardware can be accessed with Symbian's API's applications can be developed and the GPS data can be used as one wishes.

One does not get charged to use GPS. Your operator is no way involved when using GPS . If your application uses the operator services like sending sms , using gprs etc.. then you will be charged according to your plan.

"GPS data" application does not need any operator services (it does ask for the access point and transfers something for the first time but never saw it after that). When you start the application it tries connecting to satellites to get your exact location. You should be connected to least 3 satellites. It may take some time to get locked to the satellites. When the app starts a pop up comes saying "Searching for satellites" followed shortly by "Calculating GPS data". Then there's nothing until you are locked, which can take quiet some time. So mean while you can try the "Satellite status" option, which will show the strength of the satellites. The pic along side shows only one satellite as I am indoor right now. So when using GPS remember

• Like all satellite navigation devices, the Nokia N95 may take several minutes to gather the location from the GPS satellites the first time it is used.
• Make sure the Nokia N95 has a clear line of sight to the sky, and that the slider is open - the receiver is located under the keypad.

Once locked use other options like distance between two points etc...

On the other hand "Maps" uses the receiver as well as GPRS. It downloads map of your current location, thats where you get charged.

See its easy.

Check out more about N95 and GPS here.

Note: Using GPS does take a lot of battery :(