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What I liked in Nokia N900/Maemo

Prashanth on July 14th, 2010
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It’s been more than a week since I started using Nokia N900 smart phone. At the same time an android phone visited me (Samsung Galaxy S) which failed to impress! I continued using N900 & handed that device over to Santosh to write a guest review on Tech Bangalore. Since it’s too late to write a detailed review of N900, I’m just pointing out what all features I liked on this phone.

Build:

Many said it’s bulky/heavy, but I personally like the way it is built. It perfectly sits in my hands & makes it totally comfortable to use QWERTY keyboard. You will feel it’s bulkiness when you keep it in pocket, you cannot keep anything other than the N900 in your pocket!

Browser:


Almost all N900 reviews talk more about browser! Though I had an option of using Firefox (AFAIK only smart phone which runs Firefox), I liked using the default browser. Default browser is powered by mozilla technology & gives desktop browsing experience. I was really impressed by capabilities of this browser. For ex: Few days ago I wrote a simple location aware foursquare app using Geo APIs supported by Firefox. Out of curiosity I tried accessing this app from N900 & voila, N900 gave my application GPS location & my app worked perfectly fine. I had actually written the code without any intentions of accessing GPS location, all done by the browser.

Angry Birds!

Killing time in power cuts is not that easy. Angry Birds make me feel like Power, don’t come for another hour please!. Angry Birds is a simple yet very addictive game which first came on Maemo & then launched for iPhone too. It’s one of the most selling games on iPhone app store. Game is simple, just throw birds at pigs and kill them!

Vagalume:


I hugely rely on last.fm (I don’t know how many times I said that!) for music. I wouldn’t buy a phone if it can’t play last.fm radio, it is so important for me. Vagalume is a last.fm client for Maemo platform which can play last.fm radios. Unlike other last.fm clients I have seen, vagalume automatically downloads free tracks on last.fm while playing a radio. That means, it plays that track locally instead of streaming it again. One more unique feature I liked on Vagalume is that, you can enter a last.fm url & play that radio. It can be friend’s library, friend’s loved track, similar artists page…anything.

Joikuspot:


The application which enables you to carry wifi hotspot wherever you go, Joikuspot is my favorite right from the day they launched it for Symbian. Thanks to MyNokiaWorld which gave away a premium license of Joikuspot to me. If you aren’t already aware of, Joikuspot uses your GPRS/EDGE/3G connection & converts your phone into a wifi hotspot. Other devices like laptops, iPod touch, tablets can connect to this hotspot & access internet.

Android 2.2 (Froyo) has this feature inbuilt, you don’t have to install/buy any application to do it.

Tunewiki Widget:


Tunewiki widget automatically fetches lyrics of the song you are currently playing on N900′s music player. Tunewiki syncs the lyrics with the playback which enables you to sing with your favorite track. This can be ultimate karaoke machine!!

I wrote about only these many features to just to maintain uniqueness of my writeup. There are lot other things which I like on N900 like unified conversations, unified contacts, camera, email client, customizable multiple desktops, community support….and lot others.

As a special offer to Tech Bangalore readers, you will get a stereo bluetooth  headset free with the purchase of N900 worth Rs.4000. Store price of the handset is around Rs.24k. Leave a comment below to know how to avail this exclusive offer.

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[Finally] Nokia N900 coming to India!

Prashanth on June 6th, 2010
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The most waited device by techies, Linux based Nokia N900 is finally coming to India. Device will be available at Nokia stores starting 9th June. Though the device came out around 8-9 months ago, it wasn’t available in India due to some regulations & few other reasons. Nokia N900 sports ARM Cortex-A8 600MHz processor, 1gb of RAM (256MB + 750 MB Virtual), 3G, Wifi, 5 MP Camera with Carl Zeus lens, 3.5” resistive touch screen, 32gb of internal memory & external memory expandable upto 16gb with micro SD card.

That’s all about hardware, N900 runs on Maemo 5, a Linux based OS. Maemo is open source & has a great community support & hence there are tons of applications built for N900. N900 bundles full fledged mozilla based web browser with flash 9.4 & AJAX support. So, you no longer have to visit mobile version of websites, N900 is capable of loading the full web site. User can also install Firefox on the device which enables tabbed browsing. I can say N900 is a true internet device with tight integration of social network contacts with your phonebook. I liked the concept of having unified contacts & conversations.

This device wins my heart by all it’s offerings, but priced at Rs.30639. A little disappointing point for me since there are Android based smart phones at around same price tag. But, it’s MRP, store price will be definitely less than that.

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Nokia 5233: Full touch music phone targeted at youth

Prashanth on February 24th, 2010

Here I come again with another mobile phone review. This time it’s not a phone which costs a bomb, which you can’t think of buying! It’s Nokia 5233, a full touch phone running on Symbian S60 5th edition.

Nokia 5233 sports 3.2 inch touch screen, 2MP camera, 3.5 mm audio jack, 70 mb internal memory & external (microSD) expandable upto 16GB. Touch is pretty good & responsive but better with stylus than fingers. I always ended up typing wrong words even after using the phone for a week full time! Anyway that also depends on personal choices, I don’t really like typing on a touch screen.

Home screen has contacts widget, music player controls & application shortcuts. Contacts widget is like a fast dial, u can add contacts which you keep calling again & again. Clicking on a contact here pops up recent activity done with that contact like messaging, call logs. You can also add an RSS feed to contact & track! (I used Friendfeed RSS feed of my friend). Application shortcuts can also be configured based on your requirement.

Though it has a 2MP camera, you can take descent pictures from it. Music quality is comparable to any other music phone in market. Since it supports upto 16GB of external memory, you can store hell lot of music in it. 3.5 mm audio jack gives you an opportunity of using ear phones of your choice.

Since the phone runs on Symbian S60 5th edition, almost all the symbian apps which are there in market will work. When it comes to phone, availability of apps is one the major considerations for me. All major symbian apps like Gravity, Fring, Nimbuzz, Google Maps…etc work on Nokia 5233.

What’s not there?

Well, it’s important to know what’s not there before going for a phone. Nokia 5233 doesn’t have 3G, GPS & Wireless. It is really impossible to put them all into such a low priced phone. Decision is yours, you know better what you need. If you really need those features, I suggest go for Nokia 5800. I heard 5800 is much better after recent firmware update.

How Much?

I have been to my cousin’s marriage last week & did a small research with the phone! I asked around 13-15 people “What could be the price of this phone?”. Most of them said it’s around 20k!! Yeah, it looks like that! But the MRP of the phone is Rs.7,999, should be less in showrooms.

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Bloggers who are in Nokia’s invite list for super secret announcement!

Prashanth on January 20th, 2010

Just inspected the source of the page http://events.nokia.com/countdown/ to get the entire list!! I’m listed too, but not yet contacted by Nokia! Nobody has any clue on what Nokia is going to announce!

I made the list just to reduce the pain of scrolling on the countdown page :D

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Nokia 5230 touch phone launched in Bangalore

Prashanth on January 3rd, 2010

Nokia has launched it’s new touch phone 5230 in Bangalore. This phone is mainly targeted at youth who love to listen to music. Nokia 5230 features 3.2 inch touch screen with dedicated music control buttons, 2MP camera, 70MB internal memory, microSD slot expandable upto 16GB. Nokia 5230 runs on Symbian S60 5th edition & that opens up doors to huge number of apps for the device. MRP of the phone is Rs.8,499, yeah I was shocked too! It’s pretty affordable & value for money I should say.

Check out the launch event video happened at Garuda mall, Bangalore:

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Nokia E72 camera test/review

Prashanth on December 19th, 2009

When it comes to E series phones everyone thinks about messaging, IM, office suite & other serious stuff! But E72 has a twist, it has got really good camera built into it, which previous E-series phones lacked. So, let me show how good E72′s 5 Mega Pixel camera is with photographs taken in different modes & lighting conditions.

Day to Day photography:

Found something interesting while traveling? Just take out your phone & click! No options, no modes selected. I saw a bus stop in the car mirror while commuting, just took out the phone & clicked!

17122009125

As you can see the image clarity & details are really good. No wonder if posts to my Posterous has increased these days!

Close Up:

08122009020

This scene mode is used to capture objects in 10 to 60 cms of distance. Collected those thumb drives in different Nokia events :)

Landscape:

Bangalore race course captured in landscape mode.

Night Landscape:

11122009057

As you can see, capturing night landscape isn’t that great from E72. The picture isn’t clear & blurry. N97′s camera performed really better in similar lighting conditions.

Night Photography (normal closer objects):

13122009073

Woke up of a bad dream in the mid night! Just to divert my mind, took the phone & blindly clicked this pic. There was absolutely no light in my room when I clicked this one. This also proves how brilliant the flash is on E72.

Backlight (Pointing at a light source):

08122009024

13122009082

First one, the sunset, though it looks brilliant, cam is unable to capture all the colors in it. Second pic looks really nice.

Video Recording:


Captured this video from the window of a fast moving bus covering Bangalore city corporation’s wall project initiative.

Conclusion:

Overall, camera of Nokia E72 is as good as an entry level digital camera. If you are a person who wants to capture those wonderful moments as it happens, this is just perfect for you. Inbuilt email client & share online features of the phone enables you to share those moments right-away with friends & family. I’m really loving it, god save my mobile internet bill!!!

You might be also interested in what all I liked about this phone.

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Why I’m in love with Nokia E72!

Prashanth on December 11th, 2009

I couldn’t wait too long to express my opinion about Nokia E72!! So, here is a quick post!

  • Powerful: With ARM 11 600 MHz processor, it is really powerful. It’s been two days of massive usage & it hasn’t hung or crashed a single time
  • Camera: E-Series phone with 5 MPix camera!!? Pics are brilliant & makes me think to start a new photo blog! Will post few pictures taken from it in a short while.
  • Smooth UI: Though it’s the same old Symbian S60 3rd edition OS, UI is very different from other E-series phones like E63, E66, E71. The new UI is very smooth & has got cool transition effects.
  • Form Factor: Ultra slim & metallic finish gives a very good feeling when I keep it in my hand, and makes it fully comfortable to type on QWERTY keyboard.
  • Runs for long!: It really has got a huge battery, it ran straight two days with ‘always online’ email, random music listening, many app downloads from OVI store & all!
  • Music: I can hear!! I can hear that difference in music when compared to my old E-series phone E66. And also E72 has 3.5 mm audio jack which lets you plug any earphone of your choice!
  • Optical Navi Key: Initially was making mistakes in menu selections because of Optical Navi key, after a day, I’m so much used to it. Turned the sensitivity of it to ‘High’!!
  • Blink!: A small thing, the blink from that d-pad makes me feel I have a living being in my hand. It blinks faster when there are unchecked SMSs or missed calls!!

That’s it for now! Let me know what you think about it in comment section.

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Meet Up at Nokia Store

Prashanth on December 11th, 2009

Nokia is doing an interesting consumer initiative in Bangalore wherein they are inviting consumers to their store. They will have some of the app developers giving a demo on apps like Newshunt , Touch games and they will also host a few fun quizzes/games. Anyone attending will win a Nokia Music voucher and there will be exciting prizes announced through a lucky dip at the store.

http://twtvite.com/jdwdfy
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?invites&eid=196879729307

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Nokia Digital Design – Inside Story

Prashanth on November 24th, 2009

Few weeks back I attended Nokia Degital Design event at Delhi. Nikki Barton (Head of Degital Design), Robert Williams (Design Manager), Juliana Ferreira (Design Manager) & Younghee Jung (Senior Design Specialist) from Nokia design team were present to give very insightful information about Nokia design. It was one of the best Nokia events I ever attended. I got to know how much research goes behind each design, each logo that Nokia designs.

You can hear it right from the Nokia design team themself rather than me typing everything here!! So here are the links to videos from Nokia Digital Design camp:

Nikki Barton – Talking about Vision od Nokia design team

Part 1 -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBPCXMPZwGo
Part 2 -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dp2b-9X4yY8
Part 3 -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xG4VHk1bcsY

Rob Williams – Talking about Iconography, how much effort goes behind each Icon Nokia designs!

Part 1 -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJUgjDkE1j8
Part 2 -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53aJJcktkRc

Juliana Ferreira – Talking about Personalized Home screen, home screen widgets.

Part 1 -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLnMhkwerOQ
Part 2 -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Efjb7nZjxU
Part 3 -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jk9fMjfz_P8

Younghee Jung – My favorite from Nokia design camp!! Younghee talking about Gesture!

Part 1 -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3f9psQBit8
Part 2 -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLoeHHsRySY
Part 3 -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQiC9W9_sfA
Part 4 -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDbnrtPJPzM

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Nokia N97 mini – mini in formfactor, BIG in price!

Prashanth on November 21st, 2009

107525_n97-mini

Nokia N97 mini will available in Indian market from 23rd November, which is just couple of days from today. I had my hands on the device few days back at a bloggers meet arranged by Nokia to showcase N97 mini.

First Impressions:

When I had the device in my hand, there was nothing new! Just that it’s a smaller variant of N97, running same Symbian S60 5th edition. The navi-pad which was present in N97 has been removed to make it look small. Other than form factor, there’s nothing much to talk about this device! Though Nokia is trying to say that N97 mini has a custom OVI store with lot of applications localized for Indians. Does it really make a big difference?

N97 mini is priced at MRP.30939 & expected to be around 28k Rs at mobile phone dealers. In my honest opinion, it’s really over priced. At the same price you can actually go for better alternatives like HTC Hero, Samsung Galaxy which runs on Google Android OS. So, I’m speculating N97 mini is going to be yet another #Fail from Nokia after N97.

What do you think?

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