Ewan continues his idiosyncratic look at Nokia's new OLED-screened Nseries for the masses, the N85. In this third part, he looks at multimedia, focussing(!) on the camera, multimedia playback and some interesting UI notes and toys along the way.
I just squeezed in a last programme of The Phones Show before Christmas. No 72 includes a video demo of YouTube in Web on the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, News, Conclusions from my AAS series on phone cameras, hands-on thoughts on the Samsung Omnia, plus a demo of installing an app from the Android Marketplace.
The N79, which Rafe and I have played with at length (though admittedly not day to day), has received a truly huge firmware update to v11.049, with hundreds (I kid you not) of tweaks and bug fixes. Kudos to S60 Inside for getting the first detailed changelog online. As usual, if this isn't on Nokia Software Update yet, it soon will be, for non-network-crippled N79s, at least.
I've never known Nokia's programmers to get so productive. In addition to the news items below, we also now have a brand new version of their threaded SMS Contacts add-on, Conversation, plus a big new version their exercise-tracking tool Step Counter and a new technology demo, Handwriting Calculator, which runs on (among other platforms) S60 5th Edition and demonstrates symbol recognition and interpretation (video embedded below). Follow the links for the explanatory Beta Labs changelogs.
Continuing Nokia Beta Labs current splurge, Nokia Audiobooks has today had a big update, with a simpler installation procedure, wider compatibility, UI improvements (including a clock), different time intervals in the sleep timer, plus a better audiobook manager with tighter integration with a PC, better audio book 'ripping', plus the usual bug fixes.
Vodafone has release their own Last.FM client (in conjunction with their Vodafone Music product no doubt). Available directly from Last.FM (and thanks to CJ for the heads-up), the application is geared towards the scrobbling side of Last.FM, ie letting the web server know what you are listening to, and to recommend other artists you might like. It doesn't have an option to stream music, perhaps that's coming in a later version.
In a splurge of activity over at Nokia Beta Labs in the last day or so, here's a roundup of news: Nokia Email has graduated from Beta Labs to become Nokia Messaging, though the full announced functionality (e.g. IM) still isn't in place. Nokia Communication Center 2.0 has graduated and is now part of the latest PC Suite (7.1.18). Finally, Enhanced Calculator has been 'archived' and will at some point be reworked and brought into devices - meanwhile you can still grab it as-is if you like.
Image Exchange is here! A new beta application from Nokia, promising to make browsing and sharing images easy and fun is available from the Beta Labs. Image Exchange is more than just an uploader to a service (such as Flickr or Ovi Share), but an experiment in tying the handset gallery and the on-line gallery much closer together. Think of it as one pool of pictures constantly synchronised between your mobile and the web server, reflecting changes and interactions instantly. More information and comment below.
In AAS's latest beginner's tutorial, I explain how to use Mobitubia, a popular third party video tool to archive your YouTube favourites for later offline viewing and as part of a long term archive. You'll never be bored on a train journey again...
Ewan's back from his travels and takes the time to get set up with third party email app ProfiMail, now into a push-email-like IMAP-ready version 3. With the very nature of email changing and with Nokia's Ovi Message about to hit, is version 3 of ProfiMail still worth stumping up for?
Epocware's Handy Safe is no longer the only secure database with a synced PC version - SBSH just announced SafeWallet Pro, which comes with a 'PC companion'. The launch information and a screenshot are below the break, but your comments welcome if you want to give this a try. Note that SafeWallet Pro is currently on special offer, at $15.
Now this is what you call a long term review. One year of hard use and over 3000 photos later, Eric's Corner presents a long, detailed look back at how the Nokia N82 has stood up to every day life. Along similar lines, did you know that since July 2006, I've taken over 1,300 videos with my Nokia N93 and since January 2005, I've (apparently) taken over 8,000 photos with the 6630, N70, N93 etc. Rafe calls me an 'edge case'. Hmmm....
Having heard many a user refer to 'upgrading' from (for example) a Nokia N95 8GB to an N85, I thought it worth examining an important way in which all is not necessarily positive when going from an older phone to a newer one. With SPMark benchmark figures to back up my arguments, I'm rather disturbed by the hardware inside Nokia's current and upcoming (announced) ranges.
Just in time for a last minute festive present, the Nokia N85 and N79 have commenced shipping in the US, and will be in various stores, including Amazon and Nokia's own flagship stores for around $550 and $400 respectively. Unlocked handsets can also be purchased online and direct via www.nokiausa.com.
Can you help me? I'm preparing a feature on graphics acceleration in S60 phones and am trying to build up a list of advantages and (specifically) software that only runs well (or at all) on devices with graphics acceleration. Read on if you can help...