If there's such a thing as a popular whipping bag in the mobile world, the Nokia N97 surely has to be it. The original S60 5th Edition flagship has undergone so many troubles and humiliations in the last 12 months that it should surely be six feet under by now. And yet, despite having ready access to any phone in the world, my main SIM card is currently in... the Nokia N97. Here's why it sucks... and why it still rules. In an understated, misunderstood, jack of all trades way....
The N8's launch hullabaloo is subsiding and I was pleased to note that Nokia's own social media team picked out its upgraded camera as the centre of the N8's being, if such can be said to exist. Certainly in terms of physical presence, the camera/camcorder is one of the most obvious features. In yesterday's editorial, I looked at the N8's photography heritage, stretching right back to the N90 in 2005; in this article, I want to break down some of the design decisions arrived at by the N8 design team - how can it be as good as it claims it is?
Nokia's own Internet Radio application - or rather its absence on its S60 5th Edition phones - left a pretty big hole in the power user's software catalogue. In this feature, Ewan investigates a number of (mostly free) alternatives - can you still stream radio to your smartphone in 2010?
Part of All About Symbian's tutorial series for absolute beginners to Symbian-powered smartphones, here are the things a newcomer to the Nokia 5530 really needs to know. If this is you, then read on. If you have a friend with a 5530 then do them a favour and print off this article on their behalf!
With the arrival chez-Phones-Show, Spring 2010, of the Sony Ericsson X10, the very latest from the world of Android smartphones, I wanted to pitch it head to head against the current flagship in the Symbian world, the Samung i8910 HD. On paper, there's a good match here... Smartphones to your corners: Fight!
No, not a cheap attempt at Google search traffic on male enhancements, but another serious look at the ever changing, ever growing statistic that is phone screen size. Steve Litchfield looks at devices and use cases past and present, from Psion Series 5 to Apple Newton to Dell Axim X51V to Nokia 7710 and through to the Samsung i8910 HD in the current day. Initially cautious over whether phones might get too big, Steve points out that a 4" display is more a 1995 phenomenon than a 2010 one....
In a late-breaking(!) addition to his extended Camera Nitty Gritty series, Steve Litchfield looks at the EDoF cameras in some of Nokia's S60 smartphones and compares performance to traditional focussing units. EDoF: a step forwards for convenience? Or a step backwards in terms of flexibility?
David Gilson looks at Nokia's new C6 and E5 smartphones in the light of the models they either replace or will be compared to. What's outstanding is, naturally enough, the prices, though David goes into significant technical detail in justifying the comparisons and conclusions.
Part of All About Symbian's tutorial series for absolute beginners to Symbian-powered smartphones, here are the things a newcomer to the Nokia 5230 really needs to know. If this is you, then read on. If you have a friend with a 5230 then do them a favour and print off this article on their behalf!
Last week saw my departure from safe waters into the world of hardware modding, in an attempt to get round the problems in Samsung's latest firmware for its i8910 HD flagship, ending with me installing firmware 3.17. In this followup article, I talk about what came next, some of the issues I faced, how I tried to overcome them and what I've had to learn to live without.
