N97 Blogger Meet up

In my last post I had asked you to send me your questions regarding the N97 so I could put them across to Axel Meyer and get a response from him.

I wasn’t able to make it to the Bangalore leg of the event, but I did manage to go to the Delhi leg which took place on the 10th of June. Before I get into it, let me firstly place on record my thanks to the people at Bloggers’ Mind – Prerna Bhagra, Songita B. Verma and last but not least Andrew Clarance. If it were not for them, this would not have been possible. I would also like to thank the people at Nokia who worked in conjunction with them to make this possible (I don’t know if I can mention the names, let me know if I can!) and also Thrifty for their cab service and of course Trident, Gurgaon.

Secondly, A big congratulations to Nokia – India for starting off something like this. I sincerely wish you all the best in this endeavor, this is a step in the right direction. I wish I am able to be a part of such events in the future as well.

Now going back to the event. The event began with a presentation by Axel Meyer on how the N97 came to be. FYI, the conceptualization of this device began way back in 2006. So for all we know a N99 and a N98 are already in the works. Axel Meyer talked about what made the N97 what it is today.

In that duration Vaibhav (of The Symbian Blog fame) and me got a chance to check out the N97 – black. We got to play a lot with it, and in the process got a lot of snaps. For more info on what Axel talked about, I suggest you head on over to Symbian-Life Blog where you will find in a lot of detail what Axel spoke of. You will find a lot of info on the basis of the design and what makes the N97 different.

Now moving onto the phone, the N97 is snappy, it’s fast and by no means clumsy. It is not at all that big, It only appears so in the pictures. The slider action which people were worrying about, well let me tell you that it’s absolutely crisp, the sound is reassuring… In fact Axel even challenged us to find him a better slider than the N97. The interface is definitely better on the N97, looks like they learnt from the 5800 very quickly. The camera functions pretty well and the dual LED setup here is better than on previous Nseries phones. The camera application starts almost instantaneously on the N97. Overall I found nothing wrong in the build, working or any other part of the phone. The keypad which is different from a regular QWERTY requires getting used to. Nothing too difficult in mastering the design.

Moving onto the colour, Axel had in his hand the white N97, but if you ask me, the black is every bit the show stopper. Imagine watching a movie and seeing white colour on the outside? It will distract you. Black completely makes the N97 ‘regal’.

There was a Q&A round as well where people got to ask questions to Axel about the device, questions that covered the N-Gage and gaming aspect, hardware aspect, colours, competitors and mistakes learnt from past devices. Axel was very involved in answering our questions. Even though he looked tired, his voice and eyes conveyed a lot of passion and excitement for the new device.

So if you are planning a purchase of this device, I suggest you buy it. I am definitely looking at the black coloured N97 as my next acquisition. So don’t waste time pre-order your N97 today!

Here is a gallery of N97 images for you to drool over…

View Full Album

And a bonus treat is a picture clicked from the N97 itself.

N85 Review Part-4: Camera & Accessories

This is the fourth part of the N85 review, where we look at the camera and the accessories that come along with the phone. The previous parts we have looked at the design, lighting, software, music, battery and screen aspect.

Camera:

The N85 employs a 5 megapixel camera sensor with a Carl Zeiss lens. This 5MP camera as we know does not have xenon flash but the same dual LED setup that Nokia claims is very good for recording video in darkness.

The camera performed adequately. The pictures in daytime were really good. The camera clicked some really nice looking photos and when you look at it on the AM-OLED screen, they look even more ‘dynamic’. The portraits mode in daytime was great! The N85 focused very quickly on objects in daytime, but under artificial lights, it seemed to take longer.In portrait mode (daytime) too, it took a little time but the results were great.

Now another  one of my own tests is to click a TV screen when it is switched on. This will show you how good the camera is at capturing detail. Now The N96 really failed miserably at that, but overall was pretty ‘good’. The N85 clicked the TV screen really nicely and you could can clearly see the program being broadcast.

The dual LED in the night time or in dark areas is strictly ‘ok’. It’s seems to be better than the N96 in results, but this is more an estimation. The processing of the pictures is definitely a bit better on the N85. The processing done is of much better quality on the N85 than on the N96. While the N96 suffered with a horrible blue hue with the flash being used, the N85 suffers with a similar fate only the colour is yellow this time. I don’t know but, whenever I used the LED flash, I got a lot of ‘yellow’ colour in the pictures. But I can live with a yellow hue. It’s way better than the blue hue. The settings on the camera are the same that you will find on any standard S60 solution by Nokia.  here is a quick list:

1. Switch to camera/video mode.
2. Scene Modes> Auto, User Defined, Close-up mode, Portrait, Landscape, Night, Night portrait.
3. Flash Mode> Automatic, On, Red-eye, Off.
4. Self Timer> Off, 2 seconds, 10 seconds, 20 seconds.
5. Switch to Sequence mode
6. Go to Photos (takes you to the gallery! sweet!)
7. Colour Tone> Normal, Sepia, Black & white, Vivid, Negative.
8. Switch to view-finder grid.
9. White Balance> Automatic, Sunny, Incandescent, Fluorescent.
10. Exposure Compensation> every 3 notches from -2 to 2
11. Sharpness>Hard, Normal, Soft
12. Contrast> 20 notches (both directions)
13. brightness> 20 notches (both directions)
14. Light Sensitivity> Auto, Low, Medium, High.
15. Customize Toolbar.

As you can see there are two additions to this, item no.6 and item no.15 on the list are unique to this phone, as the N96 does not have it. The N79 may  have these features but I do not know at this time. Once a photo is clicked the sidebar allows you to tag a photo, so you find it easily.

Geo-tagging is also there on this phone and the GPS lock was pretty fast!

The macro mode on this is really good, the focusing on objects was lightning sharp just like the N96 in this mode. Overall the N85 performs better than the N96 in the camera department but only marginally. There was one thing I did notice in the image was it’s size. There were hardly a few images that went above or close to the 1MB mark.  I don’t think that’s a good thing, since it clearly tells you of how good the photo is likely to be.

The N82 in my opinion is still the imaging king. The N82 takes a bit longer to focus but gives excellent results.

Overall the N85 gets a good 8.2/10 in this area. The N96 certainly has competition!

On the video front, the N85’s dual LED setup worked better then the N96’s setup. But there was one big problem in the recording quality. The N85 I had for review had problems with recording itself. There were times when the video would record with a lot of lag and you could clearly see it in the final result. The N85’s video capabilities were thus severely handicapped and put me off completely. Atleast the N96 could record video smoothly. very bad Nokia!

I would give the N85 a 3/10 in this area. A complete letdown for me.

Accessories:

the N85 is a different phone. It is one of the first to have USB charging of the battery. What this means is that the charger you have for the Nokia N85 is completely different from the standard 2mm pin chargers.  So here is the complete list of what’s in the box.

1. AD-54 adapter with a pair of earphones.
2. Nokia AC-10E wall charger.
3. Nokia Micro USB cable CA-101
4. Nokia TV-Out CA-75U
5. The manuals and other related reading material
6. the PC Suite DVD.

Well first of all, the standard headset that comes with the N85 is pathetic. I tried it on the N85 and its absolutely not worth keeping. I suggest you lose the earphones part of the headset and buy a better pair of earphones/headphones.

The AC-10E charger is huge, reminiscent of the chargers that shipped with Nokia devices in early 2000-01. But it’s different from the regular chargers since it has a Micro USB slot and not a 2mm pin. This means that the chargers connects to the Micro USB slot in the N85 for charging. Now you must be wondering whether the data cable can also do the same or no? well the answer is yes. You can charge the N85 through the data cable when you connect it to a PC.

I loved the fact that I could use my data cable to charge my phone when I had it connected to my PC.

Overall the N85 gets a good 8/10. I have deducted a point simply because of the headset quality.

Gallery:

N79 vs. N85 – and the winner is?…

The Nokia N79 and N85 devices are basically identical, because both bring S60 (3rd Edition FP2), 5 mp cameras, between other features, but there are still some differences between both.

The N85 is a solid phone, with an OLED display, but as far as “The Guru” says at Symbian-Guru.com, the Euro variant started showing some build quality issues within about 2 weeks of use. Nokia sent him an N85 NAM to play with. On that NAM unit he was sent, which was factory-sealed, the build quality was much better. So it would appear that the Nokia N85 NAM has a better built quality than the Euro variant.

“TheGuru” have tried both and he says that he drawn back to the N79 continually. A solid phone and every buttons easy to press are some of the reasons he finds the N79 the best of the two. He also says that the “standard” 2mm Nokia charging port is a must, while the N85 becomes frustrating. The N85 navigation keys are very stiff, while the N79 is much softer when you get used to the raised softkeys and end/send buttons.

Finally, the N79 seems to be the winner. A better built quality, an offer of more customization options, with it’s user-changeable XpressOn covers are the main reasons why we advice to choose this one if you can’t decide which one to choose.  The N85 (Euro variant) is also being reviewed here at adityasphones.wordpress.com.

Source: Symbian-Guru

Read this post in portuguese, press the link http://MaisonChaplinMobile.blogspot.com

N96 Review Part-4: Camera and Accessories

The fourth instalment in the N96 review, today we shall be looking at the camera and accessories supplied alongwith the device. Previously we have covered the following aspects in the review – design, lighting, software, music, battery and screen.

Without wasting further time, let’s get to what is one of the most important things for an Nseries phone – the camera.

Camera:

The N96 sports a 5 mega pixel auto focus camera with Carl Zeiss lens. The sensor is a little different from the one employed on the N82,N85 and other 5MP phones withing Nokia’s portfolio.

The N96 is also very different from its predecessor, the N95 8GB. The Nokia N96 has a dual LED flash as compared to a single LED flash found on the N95 8GB. While it is an improvements over the N95 8GB, when compared to a 6220 classic or even the venerable the N82, the device is not at all an improvement. The reason for this move is that the dual LEDs allow for video recording to be done in dim lit conditions as well. I wish that the N96 had xenon flash and a single LED or the dual LED setup for the video.

These are the range of options available in the N96’s camera.

1. Switch to camera/video mode.
2. Scene Modes> Auto, User Defined, Close-up mode, Portrait, Landscape, Night, Night portrait.
3. Flash Mode> Automatic, On, Red-eye, Off.
4. Self Timer> Off, 2 seconds, 10 seconds, 20 seconds.
5. Switch to Sequence mode
6. Colour Tone> Normal, Sepia, Black & white, Vivid, Negative.
7. Switch to view-finder grid.
8. White Balance> Automatic, Sunny, Incandescent, Fluorescent.
9. Exposure Compensation> every 3 notches from -2 to 2
10. Sharpness>Hard, Normal, Soft
11. Contrast> 9 notches
12. Light Sensitivity> Auto, Low, Low-Medium, Medium, Medium-High, High.

Now this is a rather extensive list. and as you can see there have been changes to the ‘Exposure Compensation’ and ‘Light Sensitivity’ settings, they are more customizable. The N82 does not have these many variations. This clearly shows that the N96’s camera software is a step ahead. So how does the N96 actually fare? Well for starters the dual LED is simply pathetic. There is a blue hue to everything when the LED flash is used in the dark environments. The temperature on the image is rather ‘cold’. I don’t know why the software does that.

The other thing about the N96 which I did not like was that sometimes the photos just don’t give the desired results. I had a couple of photos which were completely spoilt, and that was not the case when I clicked them, they looked perfect during the preview. I wonder what happened?

The N96’s camera also just can’t compare to the N82’s clarity. In fact the size of the N82’s photo is more compared to the N96’s photo on the same subject. But this does not mean that the N96 has a bad camera. It is quite good. There are some things in which the N96 excels. I am biased towards the N82, but even I am forced to admit that there are areas where the N96 excels.

The macro for example is where the N96 outdoes the N82, 3 times out of 5. There were a few times when the N82 came out with stunning results. But the N96 outdid the N82 more number of times. The focusing is also super fast! I was astounded with the speed taken by the N96 to focus. The thing is in a hurry to focus and gets it right 99% of the times. I haven’t seen anything focus so fast. The colour representation in the open, during the day was more true and in sync with the actual colours. Where the N96 suffers is the processing of the images, when a few settings were changed in the N96 the output was grainy (noise) and really not something one would expect from such a high end device. My N82 performed better with similar setting changes.

Coming back to the LED flash, the good thing about it is that when you click a macro photo and you need a just a little lighting, the LED flash is the best thing to have.

I tried to take a photo in darkness of a ceiling fan and it did not do a good job. The same photo on the N82 was fabulous. By changing it to sports mode, I tried to click the same photo expecting to be dismayed. But it did a better job than the N82.

Overall, I think the N96’s camera is good and there can be some tweaking to the software made, and it would improve the output even more. The inherent weakness of not having a xenon flash is very apparent.

While taking a video, to see how much the dual LED made a difference, I thought it did not make any substantial difference. It was effective only when you came close to the subject, but that would really hurt a person’s eye as the light is really bright, but the throw is not that much.

The N96 has done a good job in this department and deserves a 7.5/10. I think it is a good camera, but not a replacement for the N82. The N82 is still the king in this department.

Accessories:

The next most important thing in the package. The N96 comes with a huge list of accessories.

Let me list them down for you.

1. AD-54 adapter with a pair of earphones.
2. Nokia AC-5E wall charger.
3. Nokia Micro USB cable CA-101
4. Nokia TV-Out CA-75U
5. Nokia Car Charger DC-4
6. The manuals and other related reading material
7. the PC Suite DVD.

This is a rather huge list and I guess the only thing missing in this list is a pouch to keep the phone when not in use. The headphones were a big disappointment. I was really disappointed by the output of the earphones. Never did I think that they would be  so bad. The earphones are strictly for calls. The N82’s headset performed better. What is really surprising is that the standard iPod earphones are way better. I used them on the N96 and boy what a difference! A capable music device as this deserved better.

The AC-5E charger, what do I say, I simply am in love with the size and capabilities of this eco-freindly charger. I am tempted to switch it with the big Nokia chargers that are sold here.

The TV-Out cable does its job very well. I think the inclusion of a TV-Out is very good move for Nseries phones. The car charger is one thing that I was surprised to see. I nver expected the N96 to come with one. I guess Nokia knew how badly the battery performs and so slipped one in the retail package. The Micro USB cable is the same that dos duty on the N82. No complaints there. It works like it should. I found it good for transfers. Huge transfers tend to be faster if done in “mass storage” mode.

The phone does not come with a Micro SD card as it has an inbuilt memory of 16GB and an additional 60 odd MB of usable phone memory. There is a slot for adding more storage to the Nokia N96. It is easily able to support a 16GB Micro SDHC card.

The accessories with the N96 scored 8/10. The inclusion of a car charger and AC-5E charger helping it. The headset could have been much better.

An advice to Nokia, please provide iPod quality earphones with such devices. An entertainment device is useless without one.

The photos taken from the N96 can be viewed here. This link will take you to my Ovi page and the specific channel. Do not worry the link will open in another window or tab as the case may be.

12.25 MP camera in your phone anyone?

The new Exmor camera sensors for mobile phones.

A few days ago, Sony announced the first commercial 12 megapixel camera sensor for mobile phones. Sony says that “IMX060PQ” sensor is for meeting the advanced image quality needs of cellular phones with cameras. The range has been named ‘Exmor’. Along with the 12.25 effective megapixel CMOS sensor, they also chowcased a 8.11 megapixel CMOS sensor(“IMX046PQ”) along with a 5.15 megapixel version (“IMX045PQ”).

Not only that, Sony will also be commercializing a new series of lenses “IU060F” and “IU046F” which is a 1/3.2 lens module with autofocus functions. The good news does not end there, there’s more.

The new CMOS camera sensors will allow future users to record in HD quality (1080p @ 27fps, and 720p @ 30fps). There also a few more technical enhancements. This one though, is most important.

THe development is nice, finally phones will be able to record HD quality video. But wait a minute, this opens up a new set of problems. let me list them below -
1. The mobile phones will become thicker for sure.
2. The current architecture (processor, RAM) might not be enough for HD quality videos and photos.
3. Battery life, what about that?

Unless these things are taken care of, it makes no sense to have 12 megapixel cameras in a phones. Also if you do not give the phones optical zoom, face recognition, image stabilizers and what have you, to these phones a la ‘point and shoot’ cameras, what good are they? Its high time consumers and manufacturers realized that this half convergence of the camera with the phone cannot continue. Either take a step forward or stop until you find a way to move ahead!

To me this megapixel race seems like a scam! My current phone, the N82 is a 5 megapixel phone. I bought it for the Xenon flash. I still wish that the phone had optical zoom and a few more digital camera features. It makes for a good camera, when you don’t have one and need to click a picture. But the fact that my ancient 4 megapixel Nikon (E4600) captures better quality images should make you, the reader realize, how futile this megapixel race is in the mobile phone industry.

The level of detail the 12MP sensor will be capable of capturing

Click here to read the Sony press release on the new camera sensors.