Nokiainside - QuickIM

If you have a Series60 or Series 80 or Series 90 or Java MIDP 2.0 device (Nokia 6670, Nokia 9300, Nokia 9500, Nokia 7710, Motorola, Siemens, Samsung, SonyEricsson...), you can download QuickIM Symbian Universal edition for Java phones from here, technical support is available from QuickIM mobile messenger support forum

Nokia 770

Nokia 770 = Love

The Linux enthusiasts out there may remember a few years ago that Nokia released an Internet Tablet called the 770. It isn’t quite a cell phone, and isn’t quite a laptop, but something in the middle. The big knock against it at the time was the price tag, often somewhere in the $350-400 range. For a device that isn’t quite anything, that is a decent amount of bank.

Well, times have changed.

Nokia released the followup device, the N800, earlier this year and as a result many internet retailers have been flooded with 770s. They can now be had for as little as $130.

So I bought one, and I have to say that I love it. As a longtime Linux enthusiast I am probably a little biased; I routinely spend entire weekends trying to get servers up and running, so the ability to hack a device that fits in my pocket is a long-awaited delight. It has a beautiful 4` screen with a semiludicrous 800 by 480 widescreen resolution. It connects flawlessly to WiFi and many bluetooth cellphones. It runs a Debian variant and can be updated via apt-get. What more can you really ask for?

I have even found some uses for the thing!

I installed a streaming media server called SlimServer on one of my Linux boxen and can now use its web interface to stream music to the Nokia’s media player. It’s like a radio where I can pick the music! There is a version of mplayer available that lets users watch movies and TV shows on the device, and a handy desktop application that helps encode your movies for optimal performance. The web browser is AJAX-capable, and I am using it right now to edit this blog article in Wordpress. The Bluetooth keyboard compatibility makes it much more palatable to use the Nokia as a laptop replacement since it gets around the one-finger, hunt-and-peck onscreen keyboard. Did I mention it has a terminal with most Unix utilities built-in? I installed subversion and the vim text editor for some of my light development work. I am also pretty sure that ssh is available for server management tasks. Also, it has a VNC client and server. I can connect to my Macbook and click around OS X pretty seemlessly. Depending on your resolution the amount of scrolling can be awkward, though, so your mileage may vary.

Despite all of these positives, it isn’t really for everyone. I bought one for my girlfriend in the hope she could use it as a web browser, pocket word processor, and ebook reader. She was frustrated by the flakiness of the oldish Opera browser which randomly crashes on sites she happens to frequent. She found text input to be a chore with the tiny onscreen keyboard and stylus. The default Acrobat reader doesn’t allow for vertical orientation, forcing the user to scroll more often then she would like. Finally, the software available for the device is difficult to install for the uninitiated. Unlike Palm, with a huge installed base of regular users, the Nokia community seems to be largely computer geeks like myself who think nothing of setting up apt sources and manually tweaking text files until everything works right. The main website to get software (maemo.org) contains a handful of one-click install applications, but most require you to set up repositories in the package manager for almost each and every app you want to install. This is a dealbreaker for the casual point-and-click user.

The Nokia 770 is difficult to pin down. The included software is generally solid while not being robust enough (in my opinion) for casual users. It shows some signs of being a version 1.0 product. For me, this is offset by the fact that there is really nothing else like it out there. I have had a fair amount of experience trying to use a smartphone for web browsing and the Nokia redefines what the portable web can be. It’s an inch or so longer than my Blackberry and has about three times the pixels to work with, letting me see the pages as they were meant to be seen. Given a good portable keyboard, the device can be a serviceable laptop replacement; it can use Abiword for word processing and GNumeric for spreadsheets, and has plenty of Unix development tools. While no PIM software is included, it is easy enough to download. And it still fits in your back pocket.

If you have some time and a spare $140, you just may fall in love.

Til next time.

Nokia N81 - Review

Nokia N81 - Review

Fitting in snugly behind the now revamped N95, the Nokia N81 is the company's latest Series 60 model that comes packed with a stack of new features including music imaging and gaming credentials.

Following on from our First Look review, we've sat down with the new handset for the last week, so are are first impressions bang on the money, or have, having had time for a longer play we changed our mind? We get dialing to find out.

With 8GB on-board memory the first thing you'll want to do is fill it with music. Using 48Kbps encoding, Nokia say you can get up to 6000 songs on your N81, equaling that of the W910 from Sony Walkman and the iPhone from Apple.

With major song support, stereo Bluetooth, a 3.5mm headphones jack and the ability to access the newly launched Nokia Music Store via the Ovi internet interface Nokia means business, and for the most part delivers.

The key selling point of the phone is promise of a couple of button presses and you're able to buy tracks from the newly launched Nokia Music Store.

In practice it is easy, but not that easy, as the system expects you to connect in, surf the pages you want and then download the tracks from there. Those familiar with the one track purchase of the iTunes store will be disappointed.

Luckily songs aren't priced at a premium for accessing them on the go and are automatically sync'ed with your PC account, however users will have to be using Windows XP or Windows Vista to use the service.

Get past the music functionality and it is business as usual with this Series 60 handset.

On the imaging side, Nokia has disappointingly settled for a 2 megapixel camera rather than 3 megapixels as found in the 5610 XpressMusic or 5 megapixels as found in the N95, although has included a Xenon flash to boost performance.

Gaming wise, the phone is able to use the new N-Gage offering from Nokia as part of its Ovi internet offering. Games can be played either vertical or in landscape mode, allowing users to benefit from the 2.4-inch screen, which as per our first look, is bright and crisp with plenty of detail. Text is easy to read as are the menus.

Elsewhere and features include built-in wireless b and g connectivity alongside 3G for surfing on the go away from hotspots.

As for the design, the gloss back finish looks smart and the keypad easy to use and clearly labelled. What isn't clearly labelled, however, are the plethora of buttons on the top half of the slider. With music shortcut keys, menu shortcut keys and other buttons that appear in certain modes, newcomers are like to find it difficult to navigate their way around - we certainly did even after closer inspection.

What makes it more confusing is the introduction of a new secondary menu system in addition to the current Series 60 menu system. While it does give people the choice and a more interactive feel (think CoverFlow), we found ourselves not sure which one we should be using and therefore as the button isn't even labelled ignoring it completely. What Nokia should have done is made its mind up over which was the better interface and gone with it.

VERDICT
The N81 will still be seen as the Nokia N95's cheaper brother and with that in mind will always be fighting to prove its worth, especially when you see both in the store for free come its launch at Christmas - if you sign a big enough contract.

As a music phone against the equivalent offering from Sony Ericsson, Samsung and Apple, the Nokia beats the Samsung offerings but neither the Sony Ericsson W910 or the Apple iPhone.

Sony Ericsson's implementation of software for us is better executed with its array of apps like SensMe, TrackID and ShakeIt, however where the Nokia N81 wins out is the addition of the Nokia Music Store.

That said, the Nokia Music Store's implementation against the iTunes Wi-Fi store from Apple on its iPhone just doesn't compete.

As a phone, the N81 does pack the 3G connectivity and better phone functionality, but if it's purely the music you are after, the iPhone is still the one to go for.

Nokia E90 - Review

Nokia E90 - Review






This review isn’t going to include a series of test photographs comparing this phone’s camera to that of a Samsung or even to that of a sibling ‘N series’ device. This isn’t that kind of phone. This is a ‘business phone’.

This phone is about getting business done. It is about not only projecting the image that you’re all ‘business’ but also about being able to whip out your phone, download the latest version of your M&A spreadsheet and do a vlookup while holding a speakerphone call at the same time. Yes. That is what this phone is about. It is about showing the world how big you are, and how big your phone is to prove it. So it would seem normal then, and right in line with your expectations, that 100% of the comments you will get are:

“Wow, that’s a big phone.”
“What time are you in, the 1980’s?”
“Does that thing do your laundry?”

So, the real question then is, does this phone live up to its expectations? Well, unfortunately, not entirely.

This review is broken up into two parts. This part will deal with the hardware ’stuff’ and the next one will deal with the software ’stuff’. Thus, in this part I will cover construction, display impressions, keyboard impressions, GPS/WiFi/3G connectivity, reception, and battery life.

Let’s start with the construction. This phone feel relatively solid overall. However it also feels like a typical rental car. Looks new and clean, but after a few day’s rental you start realizing that random hidden things are broken or squeak. Most of the problems with the E90 surface from the back side. The battery door moves around a bit, and the panel around the battery squeak whenever you squeeze it, which is mostly during typing. The hinges of the door, though feel pretty solid, but when the phone is closed, they allow some backwards forwards play of the screen on top of the keyboard, which if you did it enough, would presumably scratch the screen. To confirm some weird thing going on between the keyboard and the inside screen, you will typically get marks on the inside screen from the keyboard. So far these key-like marks haven’t been permanent, but only time will tell. I give the construction an 8/10.

One of the key selling points of the E90 is the Dual Display action. You get a small screen on the outside which lets you deal with things that don’t merit a full screen (such as initiating a call, or looking up a bit of information quickly), and inside you get a nice wide screen to deal with things such as web pages and spreadsheets. There isn’t much to say about these screens other than they are beautiful and well executed. 10/10.

However, as we all know, big, bright, and pretty displays = battery hogs. The E90’s battery life is an odd duck. It is supposed to be an enterprise device which will allow business people to hold conference calls, browse the web, modify documents, and do other ‘business stuff’. However, the E90’s power drain prevents you from doing this for more than a day, unlike my favorite power-efficient smart phone, the E61. In order to get this day, you need to be conscientious of how much you use the larger display. I only use it for the bare minimum of things, and rely on the smaller external screen with T9, for example, for simple SMS. This is not to say this phone is unusable like the N95, whose battery life I found unacceptable, but rather, just enough power to get you through the day, and no more. One thing I found helpful was to take the phone’s radio off of dual-mode and placing it either only on UMTS or GSM. UMTS-only isn’t that bad actually, and can get you through the day while enjoying the benefits of 3G. Battery life = 7/10.

Which brings me on to connectivity services, mainly stuff like GPS, HSDPA/3G, and WiFi. I have tested the E90 on T-Mobile UK’s HSDPA network, and when it can get a lock on a HSDPA slot, the 3G icon adds a little .5 to it, and off you go at what I have clocked at around 400 kbps or thereabouts to the phone’s browser. You can take advantage of this as well by hooking up your laptop via Bluetooth to take advantage of the HSDPA connection, a nice plus. As for voice calls, the sound quality incoming and outgoing is good, but the speakerphone volume is a bit weak for my taste considering the size of the phone (and presumably speaker).

WiFi connectivity works much like that of any other Nokia phone. Its reception isn’t stellar, but it works fine so long as you don’t stray too far from the Access Point. Lastly, GPS is a joke. I think I’ve only got a satellite lock once and it was by leaving the phone by my window unattended for a period longer than my short term memory can recall (and yes, this is with A-GPS). Thus, I largely rely on my recent Google Maps install which will give you a rough estimate faster than relying exclusively on GPS via other apps. I’m sure that if I were outside hiking the E90 would come in nicely in a pinch, but for driving, I may very well rely on my external Bluetooth GPS device for a link up. 8/10 overall for all the connectivity options.

So what about phone reception in general? Well, as with most Nokia phones, reception is pretty darned good. EXCEPT, and this is a HUGE thing, which is why I’m writing in CAPS; HUGE. When the phone is open in ‘laptop-mode’, and you are using both hands to type (you need to), your right hand will SEVERELY impact the reception of the phone whilst on 3G. I can actively decrease the imprecise ‘bars’ of reception by 3 just by placing my hand in writing position. What this means to you is that if you are in an area of mediocre reception, you need to type, and then remove your hand in order not to kill your reception. Big MINUS. I have come up with a little dance which involves typing quickly, and then placing the phone vertically half-open, while it downloads things in order to get the best reception. Very annoying. 7/10.

Touching briefly upon the keyboards, I find that the internal keyboard is excellent in terms of shortcut buttons, but slightly less excellent in the distance between hands, leading to a bit of a stretch to reach some of the keys in the middle. If your hands are larger, you may have a different experience than mine. Key travel gets better with age, and while at first it was tough to tell when you hit a key, I find that now it is better and has a more pronounced ‘down press’ feeling. As for the external keyboard, it’s acceptable. Not stellar in terms of feel since the travel is shorter than a typical phones (due to the display in the back most likely), but acceptable and solid feeling. However, one thing that struck me as odd about the keyboard is how poorly optimized it is. As you can see from the pictures below,

The E51 (on the left) has more dedicated external buttons such as address book and calendar. The E90, has a whole bunch of wasted space below the * 0 and hash keys. It’s like a there is a huge gap there! I don’t know why they didn’t use that space to move the keyboard down and add some dedicated keys to make up for the lack of shortcuts the external screen has compared to the internal screen.

So, as you can see, from a hardware perspective, the E90 doesn’t cruise in with a stellar performance. Sure, it has two beautiful screens, but at a price, both in terms of battery life and cost to your wallet, as this phone is sold in the UK for £624 or roughly $1200 US. So far, I’m not sold that this phone is truly worth that much money. Stay tuned for episode 2, where I’ll explore the software and see whether or not it truly adds value to this ‘mini computer’. Oh yes.. and if you’re still wondering how the camera performs… yeah, it’s decent. Slow, but good for a camera phone.

Nokia E90 - Repair Chinese Dictionary Bug on Nokia E90

Repair Chinese Dictionary Bug





Humvee from Jakarta reporting a bug in Nokia Chinese Dictionary for Nokia E90. If you upgraded old Firmware to the new one, or you hard reset your phone, you will lost word chinese dictionary database that installed in the phone memory. To solve this problem, here simple trick to do:

Download Database word chinese dictionary Here or Here
Then unzip the file and locate the "101f9cfe" file in Memory Card
Exp: E:/private/101f9cfe
The problem should be solved now. Enjoy it!

Thanks Humvee!

Nokia E90 - About E90

Nokia E90


Although I am happy with the Electronics/SW and speed of the E90 I am not very pleased with the mechanical build. I have been to Salo and my friends there confirm that I am not alone.

They now have a fix for new production, but that does not help those who have already paid close to 1000Euro.

The problem is a combination of new type of metal swivel hinges and a very tight/close tolerance between keyboard and internal display.

http://www.letsgomobile.org/images/news/nokia/nokia_e90_cell_phone.jpg

When you close the case the hinges do not always operate squarely, they twist, and the keys can touch the display, and as the hinges correct their non square/twisting movement, this can and does result in scratches to the screen.

The case must be firmily shut/registered with its magnetic clip, to permit the camera operation hence the close tight tolerance on the key board to display gap. You can see that my job is quality control.... Very Happy Very Happy

Other possible problems associated with a move from 9500 and 9300 to E90 is that the E90 uses the newer Symbian S60 V3 OS and older 9500/9300 uses S80. SW written for S80 does not work on S60 platforms. So David your Finnish dictionary cannot port to the E90.

Third problem which is causing lots of moans is that E90/3G does not support Fax ...Traditional big markets in Far/Mid East love faxes.. 9500 9300 had it E90 not. The Nokia BB is full of cries of dismay.

But these are the only -ve of E90..

Now Nokia have corrected the early build problem....and if you dont need fax...It is much quicker than 9300..E90 has a 350 Meg CPU
9500/9300 only has 50 megs..

Memory will never be a problem with E90 I have sucked off the internet just about every availble SW option, Inclúding a big FI racing game with incredible graphics.. and it has bearly made a splash at the bottom of my memory ..It also has a huge memory card but I have only used that for back up when I updated the firmware.