The Nokia Guide

Add Sync ‘n charge via USB to your N95 8GB: Proporta USB Sync-Charge Cradle

It’s no secret that Nseries device have an obvious limitation: No re-charging via the now universal micro- and miniUSB connections. This problems also ties in with the need to include a desk holder in the Nseries packages that’s also able to charge the device and perform the usual data transfer and sync duties via PC Suite or your Media Player. Nokia does offer the universal Desk Stand DT-13, up till now only the N91 has been blessed with the included DT-10 desk stand and before we forget the Nokia Phone Holder NK007044. As for USB charging, Nokia does offer the Charger via USB port CA-100, but again this solution only offers charging via USB , but no data transfer and sync. Until Nokia offers such a solution and includes it in the package, Proporta comes to the rescue with their dynamic duo...

CNET reviews the Nokia MD-7

CNET takes a look at Nokia’s Bluetooth Stereo Speakers the MD-7 and informs that they are easy to use and that they offer quality audio performance. On the other side they think that the MD-7 speakers are expensive and their design is somewhat unstable.  In the mean time I’m working on a review for much much larger speakers that will REALY fill a room with sound and bass (Think 8” Subwoofer), so stay tuned….

First Impression of the N82 Black

It’s no secret that I really like the Nokia N82 and while it has a few shortcomings, it is currently what I believe the closest thing to perfection available on the market today, beating even the mighty N95 and N95 8GB. Not bad neither that it is one of the best, if not the best mobile imaging device, all in a unpretentious compact package in the traditional “can’t-go-wrong” silver.

Giving the N82 a jet-black look just seemed logical and well they did, joining the current white and “warm titanium” (silver for the rest of us) colors. Worth noting however is that with both of these colors, it’s only the back that changes, while the front is exactly the same silver, whereas on the black version the phone is finally completely black. There’s something about the black color on mobile device: so elegant and mysterious at the same time, that makes people that just to go crazy about them and the N82 is no exception. It’s no coincidence that when Nokia set out to create an updated N95 in the form of the N95 8GB they made it completely black. Remember what color they released the music editons of the N70, N73 and the N91 8GB? Or how about N81? For this reason I think Nokia should make it a habit of releasing a black version of their device at launch. They can get as creative as they want with the colors (remember the purple back on the N95?) but not releasing a full black version should almost be made illegal.

When it comes to changes to the software there’s absolutley nothing new except for the fact that it comes right out of the box with firmware v20.0.062.

On the hardware side, it was obvioulsy given the black color, but overall the same shade of black is not used: the front and back use the darkest shade of black, while the sides, call and end buttons use a lighter, almost dark grey color, but this difference can only be spotted in day light. The material with the lighter shade of black has this matte grippy feel to, something similar to the back of the N95 8GB.  This makes the black N82 a lot less slippery when compared to the other colors and adds a suprising amount of extra grip. The front uses a piano-like finish, whereas the back has a different looking anf feeling glossy effect that seems to have been created by putting a clear coating on top.

 

A noticeable imprvement comes from the keypad buttons and the D-pad itself. The silver N82 had a very wobbly D-pad, now it seems that it has been improved on the black version as it feels a lot more solid. The keys themselves feel positively different: they seem a lot more solid and have much improved audible and tactile feel to them.

The black N82 is not all perfect: One dissapointment comes from the back-lit keypad that has the same strange light-yellowish color to it that doesn’t do jutice to the black the look. Comparing it to the N95 8GB, it shows that the latter uses more of pure-white back-lit keys that looks a lot better. Another missed opportunity comes from the fact that they could have added a light to the D-pad like on the N81. And lastly comparing the black N82 to the N95 8GB reveals that screen auto-rotation reacts way too slow on the N82, while it on the N95 8GB it works just fine. And why doesn’t the black N82’s screen auto-rotation work on the stand-by screen? It does it on the N95 8GB, so the same should be done with the black N82.

Nokia Bluetooth GPS Module LD-4W review Part 2: Added Benefits

From the review of Nokia’s LD-4W Bluetooth GPS Module I posted a few days ago it was clear that it’s a superior solution when compared to Nokia’s built-in offerings on the Nseries. The external unit manages to gets a GPS lock in dramatically less time and when it comes to accuracy it again beats the built-in solutions hand down. When the Built-in solution had an accuracy of 27-30m, the LD-4W managed to get numbers in the range of 5-8m. After doing some additional testing it appears that external GPS units like Nokia’s LD-4W have some added benefits.

To test this out I did a fairly simple test: I used my trusty N95 8GB with Nokia’s Sports Tracker in combination with the LD-4W and in the other case I used the built-in GPS receiver. In both cases the phone was fully charged and was not used for anything else but GPS, basically I went out and about and took my N95 8GB with Sports Tracker running in the background. The idea was to see how long it would take before the phone would shut down due to an empty battery. As you may or may not own, Sports Tracker keeps track of the duration of the trip/exercise and has the ability to recover a session from an accidental shutdown. In essence it could show me how long the phone On before it shutdown by itself. To put some extra stress on the device I decided to turn on the always-on option for the display light.

                                                                      

The results I think speak for themselves and make a very strong statement:  Using the N95 8GB with its internal GPS (and the screen light set to always on) the phone managed to stay on fo about 4 hours and 15 seconds before it shutdown. Repeating the same thing, but this time using the LD-4W connected to the N95 8GB via Bluetooth, the phone stayed on for about 6 hours and 30 minutes! In that case the GPS unit still had some juice left to keep on going. Another plus comes from the fact that LD-4W is connected to the phone via Bluetooth, this means that you can put the phone out of harm’s way like in your purse or pocket. In the case of an internal GPS, the phone is the GPS unit and has be positioned in a specific way to get a signal, not to mention the fact that the keypad has to be open. Chances are the phone’s battery will die before the GPS unit, meaning that you could also use it with another phone that may have with you.

Conclusion

Despite the fact that internal GPS units are all the rage these days, where I suspect that convenience plays a big role, external units are still superior, not only for the faster lock on times and higher accuracy, but as I learned they help conserving the internal battery giving you a longer battery life. Having an all-in-one solution like the N95 8GB is definitely convenient, but external units don’t get left far beyond in this regard: they keep your phone out of harm’s way and can be used with other devices like other phones or your laptop. Important benefits indeed if you ask me. What do you prefer internal GPS unit and why?

Nokia Bluetooth GPS Module LD-4W review

The launch of the N95 signaled a new trend in Nokia’s portfolio of mobile devices: integrated GPS.  Since the launch of the N95 I can count no less than 13 devices with integrated GPS: N95-1 Classic, N95-3 NAM, N95 8GB (N95-2), N95 8GB NAM (N95-4), E90, N810, 6110 Navigator, N82, 6210 Navigator, 6220 Classic, N78, N96 and N830. As GPS slowly turns into a mainstream feature it also slowly becomes available in an ever growing amount of devices. And with Geotagging, Nokia Maps 2.0, Location Tagger, Sports Tracker and even events like the Nseries Urbanista Diaries and Stavro’s Position Art you can clearly see that Nokia firmly believes in GPS and that GPS is here to stay. 

When they send me Nokia’s latest LD-4W Bluetooth GPS receiver I honestly had to stop for a moment, scratch my head thinking how I was going to handle this one. I was so accustomed to devices having the GPS module built-in, that my mind kind of neglected the concept of having an external GPS receiver.  After this the questions started pouring in: “If I had a N95 8GB why would I need this?” “Aren’t all the newest Nseries devices coming equipped with GPS built-in?”   I thought about using it with the N800, which of course would be perfect but then I thought: Won’t potential buyers interested in a tablet go for the N810 or N830, devices already equipped with an internal GPS?”  Then I finally thought: “Aren’t these external units supposed to be more sensitive and faster?” It was this last question that would form the basis for my review. I knew that external units could be handy as they could add the functionality to non-GPS devices, but how would an external one like the LD-4W perform against a built-in solution? It is for this reason that this review will concentrate on how much better or not the LD-4W is compared to my test unit: the N95 8GB.

Panoman 3 Review: higher resolutions supported

Recently I talked about the newly released Panoman 3, an update to Panoman 2 which you might be familiar with as it was included with the APAC version of the N82. Panoman allows you to take a series of pictures and it automatically stitches them together creating a single panoramic image. Panoman 3 brings a host of new features, but most importantly it addresses one of the most commonly asked for feature: support for higher resolutions! 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 exposure, but this feature can turned off
- 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

Mini review: Nokia Mini Speakers MD-6

A quick look at the little MD-6 reveals its intentions in a hard beat: designed to be small, light and equally as portable as your Nseries device. The lack of many buttons also reveals that our subject was designed with simplicity in mind and the red, well yes the red! The red also tells us that our little mobile speakers want to give the impression of having a fun side, a little youth oriented perhaps? When it comes to mobile speakers it’s pretty simple really: it needs to be compact so that it’s easy to carry around, but it’s also needs be sturdy and durable so that it can withstand the abuse that us humans often call “daily usage.” An almost key part of the magic is that a portable speaker should at least sound good to decent, enough to get your friends and family to exaggerate and say something that almost sounds like it came from a Bose commercial, something in the trend of: “OMG they sound bigger than they really are.” A portable speaker should also be well, rechargeable. Who wants the wonderful task of having to constantly buy batteries during the life of the product? So how many of these points did the MD-6 get right?

Mobile Device Charger Micro: Smaller, better design and less power

It wasn’t too long ago that I reviewed Proporta’s USB Mobile Device Charger and believe me I was impressed: not only with the sheer simplicity of using this mobile accessory, but also the value of being able to charge your device several times, yet it comes in at about the price of a single battery. I also loved the durable and simple design and I must admit that it came darn close to perfect, but due to the slow recharging of the unit itself and the wobbly hook it got a score just shy of a perfect 10. I also suggested that the next version should be black and that the unit should have a LED system that’s a bit more informative and accurate as to how much juice is left. Little did I know that Proporta was working behind the scenes, putting almost exactly these requested features in a new device. But to my surprise it wasn’t the follow-up to the Mobile Charger, but rather a smaller version in the form of the Mobile Device Charger “Micro.” A charger designed not to replace, but rather be an alternative to its bigger brother, for those that require less power and smaller size. The Micro brings a few enhancements not seen on its bigger sibling. But is this Micro really worth it or are you better of with the bigger model? Let’s have a look at the micro.

A travelers review of the Nokia SU-8W and BH-803

As a participant of the Urbanista Diarist WOM World didn’t just send me around the world with only the Nokia N82, although as multimedia computer I pretty much would have been covered with only using Nokia’s latest and greatest, but to facilitate the journey they hooked me up with the Nokia SU-8W Bluetooth keyboard and the stylish BH-803 Bluetooth headset. This is not going to be one of my usual reviews, but I’m rather going to judge these products as seen through the eyes of a world traveler who isn’t necessarily as tech-savvy.  The reason why I point this is out is because a world traveler in many cases would have different criteria from your typical tech-savvy S60 Nokia users. In some cases the user is both, but in this review we’ll assume that it’s not the case. I chose this approach because obviously

I’ve had the chance to travel the world over using these two accessories, but as I found out the qualities I look for in a product changed during this trip to those sought by a traveler. How would the two fair if they were reviewed by a traveler? Based on the criteria that I think a explorer would look for I decided to see how the two would stack up. Let the journey begin.

Ultimate Power Accessory? Proporta USB Mobile Device Charger review

Current mobile devices are technological wonders being able to do anything and everything, but when it comes to power, the situation hasn’t improved as much as I would like and in some cases it seems to have gotten worse. Remember those mobile phones with the black and white screen that could only send text messages? Those things could go days without charging and the talk time was impressive to say the least. Those basic phones have made way for devices that are in fact tiny computers with a phone slapped on the back, but sadly most of these devices cannot go an entire day without charging and for us power users it’s even worse, sometimes requiring several charges a day! So when I found out about the Proporta USB Mobile Device Charger I was eager to give it try as it seemed to be the solution to my charging problems, but how does this compare to just buying a car charger or a second battery? While the Proporta Charger was one of the first mobile chargers many alternatives have followed, how does it compare to these. How many charges could it hold? How practical is it? I’ve used the device for a few months and here are my findings…