What the Nokia smartphone cannot do!

Today is Holi, The festival of colours! It is also the day when your precious S60 phone goes inside the cupboard or somwhere safe.

I am sure a lot of you do that. After all who is going to risk the loss of a precious phone. yet, we can’t keep it away also, because you don’t know when you might need it.

I know this feeling, I suffer from it too. Today I am using three phones (3 nos. too) and only of them is a smartphone. You must wonder why aren’t all of them ’smartphones’. Well the reason is quite simple, I can’t afford 3 smartphones. Today though I found out another reason why I should not upgrade to a smartphone.

My weapon of choice is the black N82. This is the phone which has everything I need on it. But there is one big problem, It’s not water proof.

My other phone is a humble 1200 (great phone) and the simple 3110 Classic. The 1200 is your average basic phone which has a dust proof keypad and has a great battery life. The 3110 classic is your average budget phone with music and camera and all those features. It is also thinner compared to the N82.

So how are they better than the smartphone, you ask? Read on!

Well the 1200 with it’s one piece rubber keypad ensured that no water got into the phone, it was able to take a few splashes of water even though it was wrapped in a plastic bag. An ordinary smartphone would have gone kaput probably.

The 3110 classic is pretty similar to your average smartphone, in the sense it has the similar set of concerns as the smartphone has. but there was one great thing about it, the keypad. With a HUGE keypad, I was able to easily dial numbers and send an occasssional SMS to someone. All this while it too was wrapped in plastic. Mind you the phone did manage to get wet a bit.

Now if this would have been a smartphone and suppose it would have gotten spoilt then it would have been a big problem. I wanted to capture some moments on my trusty N82 but I refrained from carrying it, lest something happen.

Now this fear, prevented me from capturing some really great moments. What a loss for you Nokia.

Now had there been a ruggedized s60 phone from you, This would not have happened. I think there is a niche which exists in India, where such a product or accessory would do great. Imagine a s60 phone which you could tke to Holi without worrying about water and colour issues.

It could be a simple S60 phone, no WiFi, maybe a 2.2″ screen, 3.2MP camera with 1 LED flash, big keypad ala 3110 classic and a memory card and decent battery life.

I most definitely buy it. If not this an accessory which would protect our precious phones from water.  Imagine how many people would buy it. Think how much the device would integrate into our lives, how many unique moments we could capture and upload on Ovi. Nokia is missing a huge opportunity here!

What do you think about this idea? Do you have similar ideas or concepts, Tell us! Leave a comment below…

N82 gets an update

I had told you that I have exams and I won’t be posting till the 31st of January, but I couldn’t help it. This is big news for ya’ll N82 owners.

Nokia N82 has just received an update. The firmware of the N82 which was V30.0.019 till a while ago is now V31.0.016. There is still no idea about the changelog. So I have no idea what has changed in the N82’s new firmware.

If you want to upgrade to the new firmware, start the NSU (Nokia Software Updater) and connect your N82 to the PC. Follow the onscreen instructions properly, because you don’t want your precious N82 getting bricked. The N82 supports User Data Prevention (UDP) so nothing to worry about.

Note of Caution:

Please take a backup of your phone even though there is UDP. It always pays to be safe. You can take a back up of the N82’s data (phone memory) by backing it up on the memory card inside the phone. I always remove the memory card when the phone is being updated, maybe you would like to do it too. The other way to take a backup of the data on the phone (phone memory and memory card) is to fire up Nokia PC Suite and use the Backup utility. The same can be used to restore the data in case there is some corruption of data.

Steve at allaboutsymbian.com, reports that there have been some problems with “Maps” application on the N82.  He has had the application freeze up on him many times, so do proceed with caution. Mobitubia is also not working properly accroding to him.

UPDATE: Symbian-Freak forum member, “karanpawar” has reported that the new firmware is hackable. You can see the thread here. The method to hack the firmware is given here.

A raw changelog is also there for people to see.

Caution: www.adityasphones.wordpress.com would like to caution you that it is not responsible for any warranty loss and damage to the phone due to these hacks.

Nokia N82 takes brilliant photos in the night

We all know of the capabilities of the Nokia N82’s camera. It is the imaging king when it comes to mobile phones. The xenon flash makes it a real capable substitute for a ‘point and shoot’ camera when you need one. Let’s face it Nokia, this by far the best camera module you have had since the N73 and the N93. The Xenon flash makes it an even more potent.

I don’t need to tell you about the quality of photos the n82 clicks in pitch dark, there are many website flush with photos of N82’s imaging capabilities in the dark. What I will show you though is the quality of photos it clicks when a few settings are changed here and there. The pictures clicked were taken from a rooftop restaurant called “The O” which is situated in Koregaon Park, Pune, India. These photographs were clicked in the night where there was very very dim lighting.

It seems hard to believe that the N82 clicked these photographs. The night landscape has been captured really well by this mobile phone. This just proves that the N82 is really an imaging king. Not only does it capture good detail in a dark room, it also captures good detail in the night!

Now let me tell you the changes I made in the settings to effect such images. I am sure some of you could get even better images by tweaking the settings a little bit more.

Scene Mode –> Night
Flash Mode –> (automatically goes off in Night mode)
Colour Tone –> Vivid
Viewfinder Grid –> (this really helped for me)
Exposure Compensation –> 1
Sharpness –> Soft
Contrast –> One notch down

The images are resized version of the original photographs. To see the original ones please click here.
Have you been able to click similar or even better quality images? Leave your comments below and let everybody know.

Phones for the visually impaired

We have come a long way when it comes to phones. From simple communication devices, to complex do-it-all ones! Today we can surf the internet, click photos, shoot videos, watch movies and what not.
There are however, still a portion of people who simply cannot enjoy any of these things on a phone. Infact for some people a cellular phone of the most basic kind is also not usable. I am talking of the visually impaired people. As phones have become sophisticated, we have forgotten that these people also would like to use a mobile phone. They would also like to be accessible to people whenever wherever, the same way we are.

To address these issues Spice (An Indian manufacturer) had launched a Braille phone specially for the visually impaired people. It is a simple candybar phone. Instead of a screen, the phone has, what appears to be a speaker. IT has larger than normal buttons with the number not only printed but also engraved in braille. This enable a person who cannot see, to dial a number by feeling the numberpad. The phone also voices out each number once it is pressed, and speaks out the entire number before a call is made. Speed dialling is also supported in this device. Now, probably the best part about this is the fact it costs only Rs 980 (USD $20).

Nokia too, has in its own way tied to address this segment, by providing software based solutions. It had, on the 6682, provided an application called ‘TALKS’. This software converts all data on the handset to speech in various language, including emails, text messages, menus etc.

But it seems Nokia has not stopped there, Tech2’s recent article tells us about an initiative by KNFB Reading Technologies and Nokia, where a software developed by the former allows the user to hold the phone in front of the sign or a menu and click a photograph. Once a photo has been clicked, the software reads out what has been written using text-to-speech synthesis to allow the user to understand the content. Tech2 says that “essentially, it’s an OCR system tied to a text-to-speech synthesizer. It’s designed to allow the blind to operate without the need of assistance from a sighted person, in a world that doesn’t always provide Braille.” This software works only on a N82!

I went to the website of KNFB Reading Technologies and I was impressed by what the software could do.

It is indeed praiseworthy what mobile phone manufacturers have done for the visually impaired people. Though a lot more needs to be done still. Alteast a good start has been made. What do you think? Are there any other softwares that allow similar functionality to the visually impaired people?
Leave your views and comments below and let me know.

Why does Nokia have non Nseries/Eseries S60 phones?

How many of you readers have a 5700, 6220, etc? and how many of you have a Nseries or Eseries device?

I just was wondering what is the use of having non Nseries/Eseries phones in Nokia’s product portfolio. Everyone knows the Nseries is all about the camera, gaming, internet and music; The Eseries is all about mails, internet and security. Both of them meant for a distinct set of users. So where do the 5700, 5800, 6220 fit in? How does the Xpressmusic line differentiate itself from the Nseries or an Eseries?

When the Nseries offers superior camera & audio experience, why does Nokia need a S60 device in the 5 and 6 series? The S60 enabled Xpressmusic phones are supposed to be a bit cheaper than the Nseries. But with the differentiation between them blurring, its hard to understand why one should not buy a Nseries and buy 5 or 6 series phone instead. The 6220 comes with a 5 megapixel camera and Xenon flash, just like the N82. The audio experience on a S60 enabled Xpressmusic phone is almost the same as one finds on a N81.

With the 5800, Nokia has introduced a touchscreen based S60. Nokia’s Nseries hasn’t got the first touch S60 device! it is the Xpressmusic. Why? I have no answer to that! I’m not complaining here. All I am doing is ask a few questions. Could these series not be converted to S40 devices only?

What do you think is the logic behind having non Nseries and Eseries phones? Leave your comments and start a conversation!