Teach the Technophobe: Challenges – 3 and 4

The third challenge for the Teach the Technophobe was delivered to me a long time back, it was also completed on time. But since I have just moved to a new city, and I did not have an internet connection (broadband) to blog about it, the information of it was not put up here.

The third challenge required my technophobe to take a phot of himself and also send a position of himself, using the Maps application, to me via email. The distance meant that I had to email the instructions to my technophobe. I knew this would be difficult and I had my fingers crossed, I prayed for him to be able to complete it without any hiccups. My technophobe had not used Maps before and emailing me his exact position through the application itself was another level of toughness for him.

But all my fears were laid to rest when I recevied his email with his photo and a ‘.lmx’ file. the ‘.lmx’ file was basically a file, which when opened in Maps would tell me exactly where he was at that time.

My technophobe had been able to do what I thought was a tough task for him. I asked him later on if he found the task difficult or no, his response, only marginally, the instructions were clear and the UI and the phone made it much more simple. I was delighted, here was a person who was using  a 6681 in his daily course, telling me that something as ‘advanced’ as the E75 was easy to get used to and really nice to use.

Challenge #3 over.

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Challenge #4 was pretty easy, to say the least, but made difficult by my inability to access my blog due to an absence of an internet connection. Now I know that the phone has a woking internet connection,but 20-30Mb of video to be uploaded onto YouTube and then embedded into my blog would have taken close 3 hours, all thanks to an EDGE connection only that is prevalent in India. My problem was also compounded a bit by some ‘Tax Law’ issues that the state of UP has (I’m in NOIDA now…) this meant that my shipment had already reached New Delhi but due to some stupid paperwork it reached my hands only on the 10-11th August I think. So the delay in posting this challenge on my blog.

Below is not one but two videos of my technophobe, talking in brief about his experience of using the E75 and the email functionality.

Another one:

With this I can safely say that the challenges are all over!

Mission Accomplished!

I would like to thank Nokia, WOMWorld and their extremely warm and kind employees. The people at WOMWorld have been very helpful at every step and their professionalism is something that needs to be complimented. Kudos to WOMWorld! You are really great!

Teach the Technophobe: Challenge 2

Having received the second technophobe challenge, It was time to get into action. When one is about 1600kms away, it becomes difficult to teach a technophobe how to use the various features on the E75.

But I have full trust in my technophobe’s learning abilities. Anyways, I called my technophobe and gave him instructions over the phone on how to go about completing the challenge. And a couple of hours later, I got a mail from him also. He told me that it was really easy to attach an image and send it across. The challenge was to click an image from the E75 and send it as an attachment to me and I had to reply back.

The whole process took him hardly anytime he said, the only time it took him was when he had to find the image, that’s it!

Since my technophobe is busy conducting a workshop/management program for some people, the photo I got was of the room where he was conducting the workshop. Not exactly scenic, but the important thing is to be able to attach images, documents, etc and mail it across from the phone, something my technophobe has learnt very quickly.

I must also inform that my technophobe and me are experiencing some issues with the inbuilt Nokia Messaging (Nokia Email Service). It is behaving a bit erratically. There have been occasions when it has refused to download mail and the passwords seem to  have been deleted on its own. Overall, it the Nokia Messaging solution on our devices at least, is not stable enough. It works, but not without throwing tantrums.

To know more about Teach the Technophobe and see how others are faring. click here.

Teach the Technophobe: Challenge 1

As we all know that there is a ‘Teach the Technophobe‘ challenge going on involving 8 brave souls (me included!) where normal average people are taught by us how to use the new smartphones (read E75). This challenge revolves around the E75’s email capabilities.

Having received the E75 first amongst everyone, I had already configured the email capabilities on both the phones long back with a few hiccups. And since I have used this device for quite sometime, I’m aware of the quirks of this device by now.

Around this time I also moved to a new place, NOIDA for work and as a result there has been a lot of jumble in my life. Nokia Messaging is the one thing that has kept it going for me.

For this challenge, I gave my technophobe instructions on first re-setting the device(*#7370#) to it’s original settings after he took a back up of his important data. Starting afresh I had him configure his mailbox on the E75 and send me a WOM World a test mail. All this took about close to an hour. Setting up the Email and sending a test mail was easy and took only 15-20 minutes.

With this the first challenge is up. I don’t have photos of the same as I’m in NOIDA and my technophobe is back in Pune.

That’s the update from my end. I’m awaiting my next challenge!

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-1: Design

The N85, is the second Nseries phone being reviewed on this blog. Let me tell you a little about the N85. The N85 is supposed to be a successor to the N81, though some people believe it to be a successor to the N95.

The N85 stole the thunder from the N96, which is the flagship Nokia device currently, by providing similar and better features as the N96. The battle was now not with the Sony Ericssons and the Samgungs. It was with the N96 for the N85.

Let me tell you about the N85 as I see it, without getting into the history. But first, a big thanks to good people at WOM World, for making it available to me for review purposes.

Design:

The design of the N85 seems like an evolution of the N81’s design. The N85 is definitely better looking than the N81. It is definitely slimmer than the N95 and also more rounded too. I must be honest and tell you that I haven’t seen such a compact Nseries since the N76. When compared to the N96, the N85 is like a breath of fresh air. It’s that good!

The only thing that the recent Nseries have got a problem with is the glossy finish. It looks good, but the minute anyone holds it in the hand, its transformed into this fingerprint magnet. The mocha colour along with black front, gives a great refreshing look. It definitely looks ‘unique’.I’m dearly grateful to Nokia for having the keys or buttons at the sides in the same colour and not something else.

The keys below the slider (soft keys and menu and ‘C’ keys) are not visible when the phone is switched off or when it is not in use. Something that was first seen on the N78. I don’t whether I should like it or dislike it, because the keys or buttons are spaced out well, but despite that there seems to be a lot of space, which could have been used to make those keys a wee bit bigger.

I am grateful that Nokia did not put that music keys setup around the D-pad. I absolutely hated it on the N96. The N85 is an all plastic affair in terms of the body, but I must say that the quality of plastic is definitely good.

There were a few things that I did not like on the N85.

• Firstly, the slider function is not nearly as smooth as the N96’s slider action. The slider for the music keys is extremely hard for some reason as if there is no spring.
• Secondly, the music keys are too small, the keys could have been easily made bigger and thereby more friendly.
• Thirdly, the black portion, which houses the call and end keys along with the menu and ‘C’ keys, below the screen is already peeling off.
• And lastly, the camera key is spongy and a little too ‘fragile’, meaning that I could not figure out the difference between pressing the key half way for focusing and pressing it outright to click a snap. I have already mentioned the glossy finish above.

To round it off, I think the N85 is a distinct leap ahead from the N81, N95 and in in some ways even the N96. But overall, there is still some scope for improvement. I hope the newly announced N86 addresses them all.

Overall I think the N85 scores good by amassing a total of 8.2/10. In terms of design, the N85 is really a challenger to N96’s title. it just needs those last few things to be addressed quickly.