We are a year old!

This post comes in a little later than it should have (ok a whole lot later!) but since I’ve been busy shifting my base it’s been a little hard to get some blogging done. I know I have the N97 and the E75 with me, but it’s more about finding time than anything else.

It was on the 7th of July, 2008 that I decided to start blogging about phones. A couple of days prior to this, my girlfriend had told me that she had begun blogging and that I should start too. it was her insistence which led me to start a blog. the question at that time was ‘What do I blog about?’ and as I said I thought about phones. I had been following them for a a couple of years and I thought that I had gathered enough knowledge about the industry to have my own view point.

So I began, with a humble post about my experience with mobile phones. I was a regular reader of Darla’s blog and Symbian-Guru amongst a whole lot many. Ricky Cadden a.k.a The Guru gave me a few tips (I’m sure he doesn’t even remember! lol!) about getting in touch with WOM World for trial devices. I contacted them and it wasn’t until a couple of months later that they mailed me asking if I would like to trial the E66. I was overjoyed!

It would be the first of many trial devices I would get from WOM World. My relationship with the warm people at WOM World(no pun intended here!) grew and they kept on sending me devices after devices against my requests (E66, E71, E63, N96, N85, E75). And today here I am, taking part in a global contest of ‘Teach the Technophobe’, You can read about it here.

Thank you so much WOM World and all the people I have interacted with, you guys are really great!

During this time I came across another person’s blog. He had used the N80 just like me and although he had upgraded faster than me, his story seemed similar to mine. This blogger was none other than Clinton Jeff of ZomgitsCj. Over the years I became a regular visitor to his blog and in time we became very good friends. In addition to the many blogs he wrote for, Cj would help me out by putting up blogposts on topics when I could not blog due to my rigorous MBA schedule. We would (we still do!) catch up online and have some of the most interesting and intellectually stimulating conversations about mobile phones and the internet. It was uncanny, how we would have almost identical view points.

Thank you Cj for all the help and support you have given to this blog and me. If it weren’t for your contributions (posts and chats), this blog would not be where it is today.

Another person I must thank is Ravindra Dissanayake. Ravindra till last year was writing for Symbian-Life Blog. I used to love his articles, always simple, lucid and packed with content. This prolific blogger (in my eyes at least) went on to create Symbian Stories, before he vanished to Australia for further studies (I hope you and your wife are doing alright mate!). Around then, Meraj of Phone Report V2.0 offered me a position at Phone Report V2.0 and I accepted. Ravi also requested me to take over the reins of Symbian-Life Blog, I would then start blogging on three different blogs. But I must admit, it is indeed difficult to fit into Ravi’s shoes.

Thank you Meraj and Ravi for giving me such wonderful opportunities and allowing me to become a bit wiser. Thank also for all the guidance and support you continue to give to me. I am indeed thankful to you guys for putting me on the path of growth.

Carlos, a regular visitor on both the blogs (this one and Symbian-Life Blog) also helped out in times of stress. He would write a few articles for me on this blog, when I was trying to set myself with all the blogs I was writing for. Thank you so much Carlos for helping me out in times of need. I hope you still visit this blog!

Mike Macias, I would like to thank you too for being a great person to look up to. Your N82 blog in many ways is like the Bible for N82 users. I have always received support from you, no matter how big or small the issue. Also if it weren’t for you, I would have never bought this great netbook I have now.

All of these people and many more have played a very important role in developing this blog in their own ways.my readers and all the people who have commented. All the websites and blogs that have linked to this blog and those who I have linked to.

The S60 Ambassadors Program also provided me a lot of opportunities to meet some great bloggers and hear their story and give me a wider perspective of the S60 platform. Various forums like Symbian-Freak forums, Howardforums, and many more provided loads of knowledge about S60, and it’s quirks.

The high point of this first year came when I was invited to the N97 Blogger Meet, in Gurgaon where I met Axel Meyer and got to play with the N97 way before it was launched. Along with this WOM World invited me to be a part of a global campaign ‘Teach the Technophobe’.

I also want to thank D3x, Rita El Khoury, Varun Krishnan, Vaibhav Sharma for everything. Listening to your rants and passion for phones has always been inspirational, I hope I can reach the same place where you are today.

This blog has also been instrumental in me getting a job at Spice Retail Ltd.

So as I celebrate the completion of one year of this blog I want to thank all the people who have contributed to the success of this blog. I want to thank all the software manufacturers for trusting me and giving me an opportunity to review your applications, also Nokia for having me review your devices. I also want to place on record my gratitude to all the readers, fellow bloggers, friends and my family for all your support. Thank you everyone!

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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:

N85 Review Part-3: Software, Music, Battery and Screen

Firstly I’m sorry for such a long sabbatical from blogging. I’ve been busy with a lot of things lately. A couple of days back I bought a new PC- a netbook actually. I bought the Asus EeePC 1000H at a really cool price (at least in India) and I’ve been busy getting it up to the condition I need. In fact this review has been written on it.

Well lets get back to what this blog and this post is about, phones and in particular the N85. Now I’m sure you have read about the first two parts of the N85’s review (click here for the first part and here for the second part).

For this post I shall concentrate on the factors that can make or break a device in an instant. First, it’s the Software.

Software:

Now the N85 has the famous S60 OS doing duty inside it. The S60 on  the N85 is quite different from the N96’s, though both were V3 with FP2. It seemed that the N85 seems to have a better rendition of the S60 within it compared to the flagship N96. I wonder why it is so? The transitions on it are reminiscent of the N78’s transition effects. I thought that this version of the S60 to be really good. It’s more fluid than the N96’s transition effects.

Tilt the screen and the screen adapts to the new dimensions almost instantaneously and it’s a pleasure watching the N85 transition from landscape to portrait.

If you have read my post on the N96’s software (click here to check it out), you will see how the S60 V3 with FP2 is different and definitely an evolution from the FP1. The N85 is very much the same. there is however but one difference, the Active Standby. The Active Standby on the N85 seems a step ahead and is a ‘real’ step forward. if you saw, the there were only 4 icons on the N96’s Active Standby. vis-a-vis the N85 which has a full complement of icons in the Active Standby, 7 to be precise. With these 7 (configurable) icons you can pretty much do everything you want on the phone. Wonder why the N96 could not have such an implementation.

I would give the N85 a very high 9.5/10 in this parameter.

Music:

Now music is one place where the N85 really disappointed me. With the memory of the N96 fresh in my mind (and ears too ), I was expecting something similar, but was letdowwn, the N85 performs nicely but it lack that ‘wow’ factor. Personally the N82 is much better here on both counts, viz. the speakers and the headphones.

The N85’s speakers aren’t made for listening to songs, and I thought that it could have been much better. It lacked any depth and every song sounded pretty much flat to me on the speakers. But when you connect the headphones, you realise a marked difference in the sound, though it’s still lacking that punch. I was left waiting for something like that to hit me.

What this means is that, if you are looking at using this as your MP3 player, you could probably use it, but it just can’t replace that 2GB sansa clip or iPod shuffle. Also since my N82 performed even better on both counts I was left wondering what went wrong with the N85 then?

A rather poor 6/10 for the N85’s music capabilities. Really thought a lot was lacking here.

Battery:

Battery is the one place where the N85 reclaimed itself. with a huge battery, I was expecting it to perform really well and it did not disappoint, I got close to 2.5 days on regular usage and even with heavy usage I was able to get 2 days worth of battery life (the screen brightness cranked to max.). The N85 has superior energy management systems in place. The addition of a ‘Power saving’ option allowed me to stretch the phone’s battery life to about 3 days.

I think this makes the N85 a worth buy. My N82 lasts me about 2 days with light usage and about a day if I used it heavily. I don’t one needs to even ask where the N96 falls. The N85 gets a very high 9.2/10 from me on this parameter. A good battery life means that it allows you to do more.

I won’t give you a list of what I did to get battery life like this, just go to the N96’s review on the same parameters and scroll down you will get an idea. The screen brightness on the N85 was max.

Screen:

The screen is another area which needs an extensive post, but I won’t do that, I’m sure you know how good AM-OLED is compared to the traditional TFT screens. in case you don’t a quick ‘Google’ will throw a lot of information towards you. the AM-OLED screen allows you to see more clearly with better contrast. In the sun however, you just cannot read anything on the screen. Tilt the phone and the screen’s orientation also changes quickly. The phone’s screen is definitely a must have for all phones. I love it, it makes my N82 look like an ancient baby. the N96’s 2.8″ screen in AM-OLED would have been very ‘revolutionary’ for the company. the N85’s screen is a comfortable 2.6″ screen and is capable of reproducing 16.7 million colours like all the other smartphones’ screen. I think the N85 deserves a 9.5/10. Simply marvelous.

N96 Review Part-5: Maps, Internet and N-Gage

This is the final part of the review of Nokia’s flagship device, the N96. Over the course of last few weeks, I have had a chance to play with this handset and get a feeling of what the N96 is all about. I have posted a look at the device from 4 angles.

1. Design
2. Lighting
3. Software, music, battery, screen orientation
4. Camera & accessories

Today I shall review the phone on the following parameters – Maps, Internet and N-Gage.

Maps:

I have found the Maps feature to be very helpful to me at many a times. On the N96, the screen’s size is one of its biggest assets. Also the GPS chip on the N96 is very quick to grab a fix on the location. I tried the Maps V2.0 and it performed really well. But by the time I could write something on it, Nokia Beta labs outed the Maps V3.0 beta. I downloaded it to see how much had changed in the new Maps. Well, a lot has changed. Maps V3.0 is definitely faster than the old one, the menu has changed a lot, there are quite a few interesting add ons to the the new Maps. I thought that the application was a little zippier compared to the older Maps. But going away from the software and taking a look at the hardware, The N96’s GPS hardware is definitely a generation ahead of the ones found on the N82 and N95. This thing gets a location fix faster, what that means is that now you can see where your on the map faster. I did not have to wait for 10-20 minutes to get a location fix on the N96.

Probably the only thing that really kind of upset me is that the software has no way to change the direction of the Map. Imagine if you were taking a left turn and the map on the phone showed you going in the exact opposite direction. Or if you were driving straight and the application was showing you to be driving reverse. It is extremely irritating to see that on the phone, I used to just switch of the Maps application at such points. I understand this happens because of a lack of a compass, but atleast allow the user to manually change the direction of the map on the screen. I’m sure that can be done.

Just for this irritating niggle, the N96 gets a 6/10. I knows that it’s abit harsh, but just think how irritating a dangerous it could be for a perso using it when he or she is driving?

Internet:

The internet, one of the most important  ‘things’ to have on the phone. Now there is little that I can say about the web browser as it is the same as one would expect to find on any S60 device, this one has one additional feature – the N96 allows you to change the font size. This is a nifty and good feature. The huge also screen plays a very important role in increasing the UI’s functionality. Let’s face it, a bigger screen is always going to make a person want to surf the internet than a small one.

The web browser is the same that has been on all the S60 devices I have reviewed so far, so othing new to tell you. It does not have tabbed browsing, which according to me is a very bad thing. I don’t know if other browsers and platforms have such a feature, but the need of the hour is tabbed browsing.

For everyday browsing and other things the browser is more than adept. I would give it a 8.9/10.

N-Gage:

The N-Gage application on the N96 is a second generation iteration of the N-Gage gaming platform developed by Nokia. Since this is not a review of the N-Gage, I will only be writing about my experience of the N-Gage application.

The N-Gage performs really well on the N96. The games have good graphics and seeing them being rendered on the N96’s huge screen really provides a good experience. The two gaming keys on music player keys are good, but could have been made more clearly identifiable. Another thing that is slightly weird is that the horizontal orientation for the N-Gage is such that one cannot use the stand. I know the stand is of no use, but why is the orientation so different for the N-Gage? One type of orientation would have been better, don’t you think Nokia? plus I don’t think one should burden the consumer by making remember the orientations for various applications on his device.

The N-Gage application is really looking good on the N96. A lot of people might complain that the 2.8″ screen is not a VGA screen, when it could have been. Well I agree that a VGA screen would have looked killer, but it would have also made things a lot smaller to read and see. The N-Gage games would have looked a little dull and I’m sure that rendering would have eaten up a lot of processing power and battery too.

On the whole I would give the N-Gage feature on the N96, a solid 9/10. A good platform that looks great on the N96 and that also has been executed well.

This brings us to an end with the N96. With all its shortcomings, the N96 still has a few good things about it. This device can no doubt be improved. What it needs is few software tweaks along with a hardware revision. A faster processor, more RAM, a dedicated graphics chip, xenon flash and a bigger battery.

The positives of the phone are the speakers that are absolutely loud!, the huge screen, the very good slider action and S60 FP2.

What do you like or dislike about the N96. do drop in a comment and let us at Adityasphones know.

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.