The Nokia Guide

Black N82 is finally here, kind of.

A lot of potential buyers have been holding of getting a N82, waiting for the all-black version to arrive. Coupled with the best mobile camera around, small size and full smartphone functionality with GPS it’s clear that we got another winner here. These pictures come from Maevro from MobileCityonline where the black N82 is only being offered as a pre-order, with an expected release date of April the 2^nd. The black N82 costs $100 more than the Titanium silver version which to me sounds ridiculous if it doesn’t come with any extras. I can understand $50 more, but for $100 more there better be some cool extras like a bigger memory card. This all-black N82 sure looks good and maybe, just maybe might become a friends with my black N95 8GB :).

 

While we’re on the subject, remember that N95 8GB NAM version that we discovered on the Mobile Nseries page? Well that model is set to be released next week! Which one are you getting?

Nseries and memory cards Part 2: Smartphones vs Internet Tablets

Normally I try to start a post with some fancy schmancy intro, but this time I’ll go straight to the point. Previously I had done some benchmark testing on Nseries devices with built-in memory or others using memory cards. These test revealed that some improvements had be done when it comes to data transfer via USB. For example: the same 4GB Sandisk microUSB card scored: 0.8MB/s in the N76, while the card reader managed to squeeze almost 11MB/s out of the same card. No matter if the device is using internal memory (N81 8GB) or card slot (N76) they perform very similar. Equipped with the Nokia N800, a Sandisk 4GB and 8GB microSD cards using microSD-to-SD adapter I wanted to find out how fast Nokia’s Internet Tablet really is. And how do the Nseries tablets compare to Nseries phones?

Test were down with HDTach.

Location Tagger updated: improved tagging without a GPS lock

Location Tagger has been updated to version 1, Beta 2. Among the improvements we can find: support for more devices and the addition of the “Show on map” feature. This will allow you to select Options, Show on map menu from the Logs tab to show the location of the picture in Nokia Maps. This feature works only on S60 3rd FP1 devices with Nokia Maps installed, such as Nokia N95. They also fixed  a bug where in certain situations the device’s battery is drained pretty quickly. But the most notable improvement is how Location Tagger deals with losing or not getting a GPS lock.

If you take a picture and there’s no GPS signal, the picture will be tagged with the last known good position in the last 1 hour. The previous version used a pretty much useless 10 minutes setting.  If there isn’t a recorded GPS position within the last 1 hour the picture will be put in a queue until timeout. You can set the timeout value from the Settings menu. If your device is able to lock the position before timeout, all pictures in the queue will be tagged with this new position.

A few days ago I wrote this rant here, about my worries with the whole Geotagging thing and this is a very good step in the right direction. But I still see room for improvements. First of all, how about clearly indicating which pictures got tagged and which didn’t like in Gallery or Share Online.  And most importantly we need a backup for those cases where you can only dream of getting a GPS signal. Location Tagger’s way of dealing with the lack of a GPS signal is good and should be ported to the Sports Tracker, as Sports Tracker has a habit of not uploading the pictures that didn’t get tagged. Tagging pictures with the last GPS location could be a temporary relief. But I think Nokia should start looking into the ability to calculate your position based on cellular towers. This is something that Google Mobile Maps for S60 has been doing for some time now on these very same Nokia phones. For this reason I don’t see why Nokia could add this feature to Location Taggger, Sports Tracker and Nokia Maps. This would be perfect for those situation where you will never get a GPS signal yet you want to be able to geotag your images. A good example would be a party in a basement. What do you guys think?

Via: AllAboutSymbian

Here’s your chance to win a Sandisk 8GB microSD card!

The Nokia Guide is in for an update:  same content in a fresh new look! But to celebrate, I thought it would be fun to hold a small contest with a brand new Sandisk 8GB microSD card as the prize sponsored by Moby Memory. So what do you need to do exactly? Knowing that some of you are a very creative, I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to see what you guys could do with the Nokia Guide logo. Give it a fresh update or maybe try something totally new! The only requirements are that it has to have text: “The Nokia Guide.” If I like it and choose it as the winner you’ll get your 8GB microSD card and maybe I’ll use it on the updated site, it’s that easy. The contest oficially starts today, February the 26^th and ends on March the 11^th. All entries should be submitted to me via email and you can always enter as many times as you like. Good luck!

Panoman version 3 released

Panoman is not unkown to us here at the Nokia Guide as we covered it during the launch of the N82 back in Novemeber 2007 .  The guys behind Panoman have released an updated version 3 that’s compatible with basically every S60 3^RD edition equipped Nokia device. This should come as good news for all of you who emailed me about not getting this app included with your N82 and this should give you N95 users the chance to try this out. Panoman basically allows you to take a series of pictures and and automatically stitch them together creating a single panoramic image. Panoman 3 brings a host of new features, adressing one of the most commonly asked for feature: support for higher resolutions! With support for higher megapixels this could bring a twist to contenders for the Nokia Creative monthly awards of the great and beautiful images posted on the Flickr N95 User Group.

Panoman 3 has also improved stitching quality quite dramatically and exposure differences between adjacent frames are smoothly blended. Other new features include:

- Exposure correction: PanoMan can automatically correct
- White balance: you can alter the balancing according whether it is sunny or cloudy
- Sound: play a sound with every frame captured
- Storage: store images on the phone or memory card

If your a N82 user with Panoman 2 and would like to update to the new version, or maybe you’re a N95 owner and want to try it out? Head on to the Panoman page and get your copy. I’m getting my copy this week, so expect a review pretty soon.

What’s wrong with these two scenenarios?

What I’ve got here is the Nokia N95 8GB with the latest version 15.0.015, it’s fast, there’s plenty of RAM and hey it even has Flas Lite 3 support to view Youtube sites. “So what’s problem?” is something that you’re probably asking yourself right now. Have a  look at this short video clip and you’ll quickly see what I’m talking about.

As you can see the Gallery takes no less than 18 seconds to open up after a fresh boot. You would expect that opening and than closing the app would have some implications as to how fast it will open up the next time, but closing the app and opening it again takes the same 18 seconds. This is a bit sad considering that the N95 8GB takes  the same amount of time to boot up, as shown here in this video clip! An app that takes as time much to open up as the device takes to bootup? Looking at a similar device with similar specs like the N82 shows that it opens up the gallery a lot faster, how come? Imaging is an important part of the N95 8 Gigger and it’s for this reason it’s easy to see that the Gallery is going to be accessed a lot, so I’m hoping this issue gets  the necessary attention and is fixed in the next firmware update.

Could the Nokia N95 8GB be gadget or smartphone of 2007? Or how about S60 Touch devices being the most anticipated gadget of 2008?

These are the questions being asked at Engadget for their 2007 Engadget awards. Based on reader nominations and a couple of their own, they’ve compiled a list of over 150 gadgets and technologies that made a big splash in 2007. As expected the Nokia N95 8GB is nominated in both the gadget or smartphone of 2007, while S60 touch devices are nominated in the most anticipated of 2008 category. Another interesting category is “handheld of 2007”,whatever that may be, where the Nokia N810 is mentioned. And lastly the Nokia 6110 is nominated as GPS of the year.

Now I’m not going to tell you guy what to vote for, but here at the Nokia guide I sure know what I will vote. (Vote for the N95 8GB!). As I was saying, head on to the 2007 Engadget awards page and vote for your favorite devices (Vote for the N95 8GB!). Spread the word around (especially the bloggers) to get as much votes as possible for your favorite device, whatever that might be : )

You have until Saturday, March 1^st to vote.

My Problem with Geotagging

GPS used to be this exclusive feature reserved for very expensive devices, but now it can be found in many mainstream ones like the N78 and with falling prices of the N95 it’s quickly becoming the standard in almost any device from smartphones, cars or even digital cameras. Add the fact that geotagging images with apps like Shozu and Nokia Location Tagger is just a matter of getting a GPS signal and pressing the shutter release button and you’ll quickly see that Geotagging is going to be big! At first I see that it will start with images, followed by video and later on probably every content created can and will be geotagged. But there’s a problem. Well this problem exists at least with current technology: GPS needs a signal to work and without it there would not be any data to tag your pictures. And this is exactly where the problems sits. If I’m out in some field, at the beach or kayaking I would probably have a clear view of the sky and the GPS would probably work just fine. But people don’t just take pictures outside; a great deal of pictures is taken indoors where GPS doesn’t work, especially with the low-powered GPS units embedded in current mobile devices. Take for example the Punk Rock Bowling event I attended in Las Vegas. The bowling alley is located in the basement of the hotel where even the most sensitive of GPS units would not work, so no geotagged images. If geotagging is going to be big it will need to work everywhere, even in the basement.

The N82 captures the vibrant colors of the 2008 Carnival

I’m a bit late with this one, but a few weeks ago Curacao celebrated its 2008 edition of Carnival, one of our main National celebrations. Basically the month of January and a part of February is dedicated to various Carnival parties called: “Jump-ins” and “Jump-ups” where the main difference is that one is held indoors while the other is done marching along the streets of Curacao. During this season of festivities specially created song festival are held to crown the best singer with his or her song as the “Tumba King or Queen” that will accompany the main parade. This is followed by the Children’s Carnival and the Teener  Parade. The carnival festivities will reach its height with the Grand Carnival parade. People take this so serious that they build sometimes elaborate and nicely decorated sitting areas alongside the route called “stands” so that they can sit, dance, eat and drink in the comfort of their stands and enjoy the Carnival, while others are happy with just a few chairs and umbrella.

CNET’s Buzz Out Loud comments on Nokia’s recent launches

Yes I know, CNET’s isn’t the best place when it comes to reliable reviews, but ironically they happen to have one of my favorite podcasts: Buzz Out Loud (BOL).  In episode 658 the guys comment on recent Nokia news from the Mobile World Congress 2008 (former 3GSM) like OVI, Twango and of course the N96. While CNET seemed to prefer the IPhone in earlier reviews, later on they finally came to their senses and really started giving the N95 some great review quickly making it one of their favorite devices.  For that reason they are giving the N96 a lot of attention in this episode. It’s always interesting to see other people’s reaction and comments outside of the S60 community and despite being my favorite podcast they sure made a lot of mistakes. First of all they are pronouncing the “OVI” name totally wrong. They go on dedicating a good bit of the podcast on Nokia’s latest and greatest and accurately point out that the N96 has the same camera specs as the N95, but fail to notice the dual LED flash. They are unsure if the N96 has a touch screen and wonder if the N95 had this “new” portrait-to-landscape mode. Investigating the N96 feature list they finally wonder if it has a QWERTY keyboard, but in the end are disappointed that it doesn’t. They do call the N96 hot and find it “outrageous what this phone can do, except for the interface”. In the end they call it as good as the N95, slightly better. Have a listen and let me know what you think.

If you’re interest in hearing the totally episode, head on to CNET’s Buzz out Loud page.