N86 = N85 8MP

We all know N86 is just a successor of the N85, but as always pictures say more than words.

(click image to zoom)

As can be seen the print on top of the screen says it all.

More of these pictures here.

Forward/Rewind on Symbian Realplayer

I never read it anywhere nor there's any option/menu in RealPlayer about doing a forward or rewind of a playing video. For more than 2 years I thought only third party media players like SmartMovie can seek video position, until yesterday my 18 month old niece pressed and held the navigation key while her video was playing.

That's right press and hold the navigation keys to turn up/down the volume and left/right to seek forward or reverse a playing video (or vice-verca depending on the screen orientation). I googled a bit to find that this is mentioned only on a few forums. Maybe this will be helpful to someone out there.

Cheers Kiara.

BTW , some more shortcuts
Me,Message Reader
Darla
E-Series.org
Gallery shortcuts

Vodafone India plays bully, blocks MyToday

This is really unfair. Vodafone India has now blocked opt-in SMS services from MyToday. I've been using MyToday for more than a year now. Its simple you ask for SMS's and you get them for free. There are a lot of choices like cricket/word/horoscope/stock/bible etc... See the full list here. The best part is you can stop the SMS's whenever you wish by just sending STOP .

It's anytime better than paying 50 Rs a month per service to the operator. I've subscribed for Cricket/Word and News. I get one SMS for each of the latter two. For cricket may be around 10 I think.  I dont mind the ads shown at the end of the messages. Infact sometimes the ads are useful. MyToday has around 3.8 million subscribers and Vodafone clearly knows that this is a straight competition to their services. Earlier MyToday had the same issue with Airtel, don't know its status now. Vodafone goes even further and has blocked mobile portal http://mytoday.com 

Check out Rajesh's blog more on this.

In search of a new N95 body - Part I

My wife's N95 is in really bad shape now.










We've inquired at about 4-5 places about replacing the cover/body and got different prices from all of them. I've still not approached 'Nokia Care' because I think they would give me a token number and ask me to be back in a few days. I would like to get it changed in an hour or so and maybe in front of my eyes. All of the shops I've gone into sell Nokia's and I repeatedly asked that I want an original cover/body only. None of the shops had the body at the very moment and said they would get it for me in a few days. I agreed for this at a shop and went there the other day only to find that the cover was still not available. They've taken my number to inform me about its availability.


I started googling to find out if I can get the price of the cover. I used keywords like 'body' & 'cover' but no good results. The actual keyword to search for is 'fascia'.Google define - A fascia is the name given to the removable housing of a mobile telephone. I came across this word when I was searching for a cover for my 6630 around a year ago when the rubber surrounding the phones camera went missing.


Finally I found what I was looking for, a plum fascia (here). I doubt if its original but, I just wanted to know the price. Its approximately 1000 INR. The prices I got from the shops I inquired are way too much as compared to this.I think the only option left with me is to take the phone to Nokia Care. I just hope they give me the right price and if possible replace the thing on the same day. Actually I dont want anyone to go into the phones gallery or Inbox. Maybe I'll backup everything, format and then give my phone. Damn I miss those XpressON's.

Will post an update once I have the new fascia.

The N85 fails to impress

I've been trailing the N85 for about a month now but haven't found anything good to write about it. Its an expensive feature packed phone but I would never buy it. 

• The phone looks sleek , slimmer than many other phones , but its heavy. 
• The much talked about OLED display looks great indoors, but in bright daylight its hardly viewable.
• The USB charging is a welcome feature, but dont forget to carry the USB cable/charger when going out somewhere. I made a mistake, not carrying the charger to my trip to Bhandardara and was left with a dead N85. I could have got any other Nokia charger from friends/hotel staff.

• Picture/Video quality not as good as the N95 or the N82. Even the videos I was able to take at Bhandardara were jerky. Upgrading to firmware 11.047 didn't make any difference either. The camera lens cover is not that easy to slide unless the phone is held in a particular position(not ergonomic I must say).  The N95's cover is much better or better still don't provide a cover like the N958G.

• The numeric keypad felt OK , but the softkeys/menu key/'C' key and the navigation keys suck. They are very hard and the softkeys even make a sound when pressed. The 6210 Navigator , which I trailed just before the N85, had one of the best keypads I've used.
• The keypad sliding is smooth but the multimedia/ngage key slide is just the opposite.
• There's this small keypad lock toggle switch , but I've hardly used it.

Like I said , I've got really no nice words to say about the Nokia N85.