Hello guys, its been a little while and as you may know I’ve been a little bit busy publishing at my other blogs(here, here, and here). Folks, let me introduce an idea I’ve had for quite a while, actually about 2 years ago. Back when I got into smartphones(which seems like a long time now but its only been 4 years) I’ve wanted to have a blog where I can put some of my favorite pictures for all to see.

The blog is titled Nokia | 365 Days, the goal of the blog is to publish a picture everyday of the year. So consider yourself invited to the party via this post. With thousands of Nokia(and other smartphones as well) users and the power of the Carl Zeiss lens behind their hardware, if you spread the news, the photoblog should grow and lots of folks can admire what Nokia photography is capable of doing. If submission accumulate in the queue then I’ll publish two pictures a day.

Important
At certain times throughout the year, we’ll be hosting photography contests and the prizes will be non other than, yes say it out loud, a Nokia device(details will be revealed during the contest time). Now I got your attention right, lol, I knew I would. Other prizes can be gift certificates via “Paypal” as well which can be used to purchase apps or just about anything your heart desires.

Here’s the url for the Nokia | 365 Days Photoblog and here’s the url for you to submit your pictures ➔ here. I hope to share you mobile mona lisa soon, see you there and as usual you can follow me on twitter to stay upto date on all my sites ➔ follow me here.

With the large array of mobile phones now available on the market today, is it really worth forking out for an iPhone 4? The iPhone has taken the world by storm and has far outsold any other mobile phone available, but it does have its problems and they have been widely reported. The recent appearance of Android phones has certainly set a challenge for the iPhone 4, they have more features, are just as easy to use and look just as stylish.

Here is our 5 reasons NOT to buy the iPhone 4:

Signal Problems

We have all heard about the signal problems that the iPhone 4 has been having. There have been widespread reports that holding the phone in a certain position will greatly reduce the signal strength and sometimes cut you off in the middle of a call.

Faulty Software
Apple have claimed that part of the signal issues that the iPhone 4 has been having is due to a Software fault causing an “Optical Illusion”, that makes the signal strength look as though it has dropped.

Yellow Patches on Screen

Many people have reported that their iPhone 4 has been showing yellow ´blotches´ on the screen. This has been identified as a problem with the laminating process during the screens creation.

iPhone 4 Uses Micro SIM

Although the iPhone 4 is available in an unlocked state, it uses a Micro SIM card. This is all good, but it means that you can´t just pop in your old SIM card. It´s another way that Apple are preventing you from using other products.

You are Tied to Apple

The Apple iPhone 4 will still not display Flash websites, because Apple doesn’t like Flash. It also means that, like in other versions of the iPhone, the iPhone 4 will only use Apple applications making it difficult to have the freedom that you would with an Android phone.

The Apple iPhone 4 has definitely made an impact on the mobile phone market, but there are better phones and deals out there. Apple still put their extra percentage on each iPhone 4 contract and a massive mark-up on their phones, and with all of the reported problems, is it really worth buying over an Android phone? We think not. To read more on this visit mobile phone reviews blog

guest post

Apparently lots of trees need to be shaken down in the Nokia hierarchy of
power according to Juhani Risku who is a Nokia insider. Mr. Risku has held
various prominent positions with with our beloved Nokia

• Head of Symbian user experience design

• Head of Forum Nokia

• Head of Nokia Showroom

And is well known around those Finnish circles. The Register from the UK
just published this great introspective view of Mr. Riskus assessment and
views on what it takes to restructure Nokias power stratosphere in order to
excel in this mobile world.

I would say that the highest abstraction level of the problem is  that
there are incompetent people managing, ordering or directing  things.

When incompetent people are managing the chain, they have the mandate  but
dont have that courage. Even when we bring something to market,  were
always developing versions from 1.0 to 1.2, but not to version 3  or 4.

This comment was particularly interesting to me because it dealt with my beloved Nokia E71

I have an E71 business phone, and I noticed that when the phone was
locked it popped up a dialog that obscured the notifications. I asked,
‘Can you make it 5mm smaller, please?’. They investigated the code in  the
phone and said ‘We can’t find the piece of code that could shift it  up
5mm.’ They said, ‘There’s 20 million lines of code in the phone –  it’s
impossible.

Jump here to the read the whole post over at The Register.

credits: The Register

The Battle stage is set for another competition between two of the most talked about mobile phones in the present time. The devices we are talking about are the Nokia N8 and the Apple iPhone 4, both of these devices have made a great impression in the minds of the mobile phone enthusiasts. Here, we will compare some vital features of both these highly anticipated mobile phones.

Lets begin with the connectivity feature. Both the N8 and iPhone 4 wins same score for the connectivity features. Almost all the standard connectivity options are featured in these two mobile phone devices, except the Micro SIM (replacing the standard SIM) in the iPhone 4 and the HDMI port featured on the N8. The technology of ‘Micro SIM’ is used in the new Apple iPad and it helps in increasing the security and control features. HDMI port is still not present in any of the Apple devices and Nokia has definitely an edge in this aspect.

The latest Apple iPhone 4 and Nokia N8 are going to support A-GPS (Assisted GPS). We have seen the Digital Compass capability on the 3G version of the iPhone, and it’s certain that the iPhone 4 will continue with the good work. The Nokia N8 includes the Digital Compass feature and free Ovi maps in car and on foot application, using voice directions.

The music lovers will love the quality of sound in these devices. Apple has always been popular for providing top-notch sound. Now the N8 brings in Dolby surround sound along with the noise cancellation feature with second microphone. It is going to provide immaculate music experience to the listeners.

The display of new iPhone 4 and N8 appear to be very good. The iPhone 4 provides a 3.5 inches TFT capacitive touch screen with high resolution of 340 x 960 pixels. The other major highlights of the display include multi touch input method, scratch resistant surface, accelerometer sensor for auto rotate, proximity sensor for auto turn off and three-axis gyro sensor. The display of N8 also includes scratch resistance, proximity sensor, accelerometer sensor and multi touch input and the screen size is also same at 3.5 inches. The resolution is less at 360 x 640 pixels, but it boasts an AMOLED capacity touch screen.

In terms of the camera, Apple iPhone 4 is no way near to the N8s snapper. Well, the former one is coming with a 5 mega pixel camera, which is not bad for a smart phone, but the N8 is simply out of reach. The Nokia N8 features a 12 mega pixel camera with Carl Zeiss lens and Xenon Flash not to mention the HD video recorder.

Overall we think both of these great new mobile phones have some fantastic qualities but we feel that the Nokia N8 has the edge over the new Apple iPhone 4. This mainly due to the fact that Apple don’t appear to have added any outstanding features that Nokia have so cleverly given to the N8. But in the end the public and their wallets will decide. I sincerely hope the N8 brings back some of the glory Nokia once had, if not, then the tides will continue to turn and runs its natural direction.

I still remember the day I received my E71 from Dell. The built quality was simply outstanding and having come from the Blackberry and WinMo world it was a refreshing breath on my mobile lifestyle. I quickly discovered how awesome it handled the native Google apps like Gmail, Google Maps, and Youtube which were and still are one of my favorite set of apps in any mobile platform.

I had never had a metal phone before and people would look at me and just kind off stare at me saying probably, “what kind off phone is that, wow it looks cool,” and deep down I always had a smirk on my face. As I got more into blogging I also discovered Python and WordMobi which always worked flawlessly, I must say that Marcelo, Wordmobi’s dev, was always very receptive to my various inputs i.e.. saving html code for post . Then I remember just churning blog post left and right all from my E71 quietly and unassumingly capable as can be. Those were the days, I still remember my enthusiasm for the E72, which I later received, and was generally happy but the bug ridden OS FP2, at least on the E72, left much to be desired, it took great pictures though with its 5MP and ran generally fast when it was crashing running various apps. But back on the E71 and its glorious BP-4L, this phone and this battery were and still is a match made in heaven. The phone lasted for hours even after heavy use and that’s when I discovered Muggen Power and thankfully they sent me several OEM batteries with 1800maH, holy cow guys, if you have an E71 and are happy with it, then do yourself a favor, get a Muggen Power battery for your E71, it will certainly bring back a breath of fresh air to an already legendary device that will surely be in the mobile phone hall of fame.

With Ovi Maps 3.0 adding support to the E71 I can think of no reason not to want the extra juice this battery provides.

Moving On

Going back now to the first time I set my eyes on the classic Nokia N95 8GB it was love at first site, it really was ,the screen size, the texture of the great keypad, and even the click sound it makes when you snap it closed. Navigating with Google Maps on this screen was very comforting to say the least when compared to the E71 but I really missed the extra juice of the E71. Using it moderately, nothing crazy, it would last all day but my user experience was heavily curtailed, you know the usual snapping pictures, watching YouTube, Profimail running all day and the rest of the usual suspects, oops I almost forgot, my favorite Symbian app – Gravity. But I remember as Gravity became more like a Snaptu, you know offering multiple services such as Google Reader, Facebook, Four Square, Save to Delicious, Posterous integration, and of course Twitter, my N95 started lasting longer and longer because I was using less and less apps. Which is really a testament to Jan Ole Suhr programming skills and making Gravity the king of Symbian in my opinion. After having been through various mobile operating systems I can honestly say that Gravity is the best all around application **in my humble opinion** out there. I still turn on the N95 and snaps some pics and I’m still amazed at the clarity and the subtle tones. Wow, two classic Nokia which are still providing a nice user experience to thousands out there. Ah, the good ole days.

Current Nokia devices: Nokia E71, Nokia XM 5530, Nokia N95 8GB

Notable Apps worthy of checking out

• Mobbler, the popular Last.fm streaming app
• Gravity, all in one behemoth of the Symbian World
• Skyfire, one of the best browsers
• Opera Mini 5 browser
• Pixelpipe
• Joikuspot

Once upon a time a company called Nokia use to create the best smartphones that roamed the earth. We all remember the powerful N95 filled with great options and also a great super price. Folks were happy back then, in fact so happy that it all eventually ended with the Nokia N95 8GB(which I still own) a truly amazing smartphone that did it all with class, but soon after and for no apparent reason things started to change for the worst. I mean there were some great devices that just proved to be immensely popular and useful i.e.. Nokia E71 but soon then we saw new iterations of Nokia Nseries that like the N85, what the hell was that about, yeah I did buy it as well, as a Nokia fan should, key word fan. Then we saw the biggest hype in Nokia’s advertising campaign, the one phone to rule them all the Nokia N97. Wow, what a disappointment, screwed up memory problems, folks constantly reformatting the device left and right and all in all a piece of metal that is at best mediocre. Heck, I even interviewed the designer on a podcast across the globe via Skype and I actually bought the rhetoric, I guess I really wanted it to be the device but reality quickly set in.

I’m so sick of fan boys blogging about Nokia’s mobile prowess and check out Ovi Maps this, Point and freaking Share, c’mon Nokia gives us something worthy, have you not notice that all the major Nokia bloggers are tooling with Android and iPhone devices because s60v5 simply is a disgrace as a mobile OS. And then we hear about Symbian 3,4,5,6, whatever the numbers are and its the same monkey dress up and dolled up but wait, Mobile Jorge, what are you saying, the N8 is coming out with 12 mp,” and I say so freaking what. The N86 is more than enough for a mobile photographic enthusiasts, not to mention how “f” up is FP2 on this device, I mean FP1 was cool and very functional, just like what the E71 did for you guys, but nah let’s screw up a good thing give them crappier hardware but we’ll up the megapixels and they’ll be happy as can be here is the new and improved Nokia E Series E72 the ultimate business device, get the hell out here and stop insulting your customer base, who are we kidding here, oh wait I almost forgot this device was suppose to be The Blackberry Killer (lmao). The E72 could have been an amazing follow up to an already legendary device, E71, but nah, some hot shot in management decided to go cheap on the materials and give us this flimsy looking thing. My E71 even survived falling into the toilet for heaven sake and I’m sure my E72 would’ve not suffered the same fate and come out unscathed. Wow, I can go on and on but frankly I don’t care. So Nokia if you’re reading this, stand up run around the block a few times and stop smelling the roses, its time to fight back and bring back the good ole days but again I just don’t see it. Damn it pains me to write this, when I started blogging I thought Nokia was the best and they had things going but frankly I’m disillusioned. Ask a woman what’s the worst thing that can happen in any relationship with a man and they’ll you, losing faith on your man, well in this case I’ve simply lost all my faith and I know they won’t come back, how, really think about it, the iPhone 4 is almost out, yeah the iPhone 4, Nokia’s been just looking at this thing and saying wow, how can we beat that, they can’t its too late, you’ve been asleep far too long and even the giant can’t simply just get up and keep walking, its far to weak and their hibernation from the high end mobile world has finally caught up to them. Do you really think people will go and make lines for the N8 ala iPhone or anything Mac for that matter, I think not.

I mean you guys could have salvaged your reputation, embraced Android, gotten into bed with Google and churn out a freaking amazing device with great software and hardware, but nah we’ll keep our everlasting and reliable Symbian OS till it drowns us and look you at you know, shaking the management, scrambling like a bunch wussies, trying to salvage what’s already unsalvageable, when the hell out are you guys going to wake up, let me answer that, NEVER, are you guys on benzodiazipenes up there, seriously take some red bull, wake up, and start being innovative and not following the fruit or the little green guy.

Ok, how about this, why not come up with an Android device call it a concept experiment and see how it goes, its not like you have not lost millions and millions on the Symbian OS. And then we hear bloggers, raving about how Symbian is the shit and so good, so homey and all this stuff in their opinions, c’mon folks, its a dog, a dog with fleas ala Gordon Gekko( from the movie Wallstreet) and you can not possibly be so blind to the worldwide phenomenon that is Android and the Iphone and yes Blackberry as well, so stop chumping the Berry because its java based and all this other bunch of BS, the Blackberry works like a charm and it simply gets the job done. I mean I don’t see major worldwide publication making apps for Symbian and don’t get me started on Python. So as I said, its a dog with fleas and please just euthanize it already, its legal in Finland to do it to humans so its has to much easier on your soul to do it to a failing operating systems. Relegate it to S40 or make S60 the new S40 and do something new, do an Android device, do some fancy accounting manipulation and you’ll get tax credit for the next 15 years but please don’t make anymore crappy phones, don’t totally kill your aura as the giant, Nokia. You guys are like Coca Cola everybody and their mother recognizes your name but its already happening, soon people will think you guys are still on the rubber business and plus you would not want Knut Fredrik Idestam waking up from his grave and hunting down the entire management and saying, “what have you guys done” lol, ah I’m done.

Folks read this post below, I read it and I was embarrassed to say the least

In defense of the journalistic technique! from AAS http://bit.ly/b9oCC4

ps. if I made typos then forgive me, I was upset, but you get the message.

Since day 1 that I had this device that I thought: “Boy, I think I’m keeping this device for a loooong time”. And I wasn’t wrong at all! The things that changed were just the reasons to keep it. Want to know how the N95 keeps up against the N97 mini and N900? Well, read on!

When I got my trusty N95 8GB, I did so because of the huge screen (back then), nice keypad, the 5MP camera and the Wi-Fi capabilities. Boy, was I happy with it! I was playing with it all the time, installing all kinds of apps just because I could and hearing music using the still pretty darn good speakers! Well, time as moved on and new devices got released… Thanks to the fantastic guys and gals over at WOM World/Nokia I got the chance to trial 2 of the newest Nokia handsets. The “almost” flagship N97 mini and the Maemo beast N900. After trialing both and being back on my N95 I can only say: “Boy it’s good to be back!

Ok, let’s get to some comparing action!

1 – Texting

This is where most people would think that the N95 is out because of the lack of a QWERTY keyboard… Well, you are partially correct. I’ll explain:

The N900 has a fantastic texting app where it groups all your texts, IMs in a cool threaded view that is nothing short than amazing! And it has the QWERTY keyboard to back it up! The N97 mini has the same messaging app that you can see on the N95 8GB, but with the addiction of the QWERTY and the touchscreen. I wont lie, the QWERTY lives up to it’s name and is indeed a fantastic way of typing quickly, but let’s face it, both the N900 and N97 mini are pretty much stuck to two handed typing! The N900 only has support for landscape mode on the messaging app (or conversations as Nokia calls it) and the N97 mini in-screen alphanumeric keypad doesn’t work for me. I need to type without looking at the device and using only one hand. After saying this, I think that it’s pretty clear that the N95 8GB is my top pick! Don’t get me wrong, the N900 and the N97 mini are great for texting, but only at home where I can relax and text with time, but guess what? These are MOBILES and I don’t text only at home. In fact, I text more when I’m outside, and if we’re going to compare screen visibility in sunlight as well the N95 is the clear winner! Hardware wise, the N95 8GB isn’t the best in the spec-sheet, but it’s the best for my type of use! As for the the software vertent… I have to call the N900 a BIG winner here. The lack of a portrait mode is completely forgotten when you have all your SMS and IMs stores in the same app for your convenience! Genius! The N97 mini and the N95 are tied on this one as they’re messaging “apps” are VERY similar (bad sign that 2 years later, nothing changed, but that’s for another post!).

2 – E-mail
I was expecting that the N900 was the best in this one, but I was far from the truth. As for the built-in client on Symbian (both 3rd and 5th Edition) sucks big time for me! So I used the one Nokia suggests us to use: Nokia Messaging.

After using Nokia Messaging on both Symbian and Maemo, I have to say that the Maemo version is soooo bad! Any of you that have received an e-mail from Twitter would know that it comes in HTML with all that Twitter styling. Well, the N900 just doesn’t care about that… It shows text and images, but so much for HTML rendering! It isn’t there, period! Bad, really bad thing to do on an internet tablet. I was very glad that the N900 has such a powerful browser, because I really checked all my e-mail from the full Gmail website while I had the device.

Going back to the Symbian department I can only say that the N97 mini and the N95 8GB were veryyy close! Why? Well, Nokia Messaging worked flawlessly on both (although the N97 mini closed it for 2 or 3 times, but I think it’s more a problem with the device free RAM other than with the app itself), but the N97 mini better processor just made a difference! The e-mails opened way faster and everything was smoother, so the N95 8GB ranks 2nd here, but really close to the N97 mini!

3 – Multitasking

Oh yeah, here we go to the hard ones! The N900 has highly praised multitasking capabilities, but Symbian devices have been multitasking for the last 5 years (according to theyre own statement). It was suposed to be a clear win for the N900 with it’s 256MB of RAM… Not the case I am afraid… The N97 mini doesn’t have a chance on this one with it’s very limited RAM so it’s a “old vs. new” fight! The N95 8GB was praised back then for it’s improved 128 MB of RAM over the original N95 small 64MB. Let’s see if almost 3 years later, that is still enough! The N900 can indeed open all kinds of apps at the same time, but the usability decreased each time you open an app. Since the app is REALLY running on the background and not freezed the device processor has a LOT to work to keep everything running. For example, Skype call + Angry Birds + E-mail = laggy Angry Birds and that is just ridiculous! I can have a LOT of apps opened, but use a lot of them? Nah, not going to happen! The N95 8GB has the Symbian factor on it’s side! The device multitasks with ease and can easily be more functional and productive than the N900. I can open Opera Mobile + Google Maps + Gravity + Nimbuzz + Messaging + Nokia Messaging and do all of that at the same time with no lags on any of those apps. Why? Symbian freezes all the apps on the background and leaves the processor working only on the one that you are using. While that may sound bad to some, I  disagree. WHY do you need to waste processor power on apps that you are NOT using? I mean, come on… Symbian has the most efficient multitasking I have ever tried. So, sorry Nokia, but your powerhouse phone from 2007 still beats your most recent 2009 one .

4 – Browsing

That is the ONLY reason I ever though about upgrading my N95 8GB. I’ll have to be honest… 334MHz processor is not enough for me. Pages load awfully slow (it was rocket fast on 2007!), the lack of a touchscreen is a big pain and did I mention that it loads pages awfully slow???? So, long story short and since this isn’t a comparison between the N900 and the N97 mini, my N95 8GB just can’t keep up on the browsing department. BUT, how do I minimize this? For simple pages with only text and images I use the all-mighty Opera Mini 4.2! It’s blazing fast, loads everything perfectly rendered and it saves my data plan from disaster (yay!). For harder pages, the big brother steps up and Opera Mobile 10 beta 3 does the job. In case it isn’t working you have a lot more options! You can use Skyfire, UCWeb, just pick! The Symbian platform has loads of browsers for you to pick!

5 – Social Networks

I am so mad with the N900 on this point that I’ll be fast: it hasn’t a decent Twitter client! I used dabr.co.uk while I had the device! HUGE fail! I’m done with the N900 in this point. The N97 mini and N95 8GB obviously step up with Gravity for your needs! It’s really cheap and you get the BEST Symbian app ever! The N97 mini failed here as well, for one simple reason: RAM! It just can’t keep up with Gravity + Nimbuzz + Opera Mobile. Gravity and Nimbuzz come crashing on you and you are let alone with Opera Mobile opened… The N95 8GB lacks the great QWERTY keyboard you can get on the N97 mini, but it has everything else! A fast 3.5G connection to use anywhere, a Wi-Fi antenna for your convenience and a powerful 5MP camera to take your pics and share them! And if you’re a fan of Geo-tagged tweets and pics you won’t be losing that here as well. It’s capable as well thanks to the A-GPS support . I only use Twitter on the go, but for you Facebook addicts, the N95 8GB isn’t the best option. Nokia Messaging for Social Networks is about the best Facebook client you can get for the N97 mini and it’s only available (for now) to S60 5th Edition handsets. As for the Maemo beast, the Facebook full website should be the best you can get. But for my use, the N95 8Gb climbs on top once again.

8 – Usability in general

One of the most important topics in my opinion. The N900 isn’t very usable as a phone… That is a secondary feature. It’s a landscape orientated device so the N900 get’s pretty much excluded here from an usability point of view. It’s a device that always needs both hands to be operated and that kills the usability in most of the situations I face everyday. The N97 mini has some things that were ported from the Symbian 3rd Edition without even thinking. The calendar for example. With the bigger screen you could think that the squares representing each day on the monthly view would be bigger, right? Well, think again. They are just as small as the ones on  Symbian 3rd Edition. That’s one of the reasons I think that the Symbian OS isn’t ready for capacitive screens, like the one you see on the X6. You need a stylus precision level on some situations.

That leaves me once again looking at my N95 8GB! Everything is so stable and just… works! And for those making fun of the “ugly” UI on Symbian and the slow processor on the N95 8GB, I have some news for you. If I press “Play” on the same exact music at the same time on the N900 and on the N95, the N95 starts playing first (about half a second first). I can also launch the music player faster than on the N900 .

As for other points that you can be wondering such as GPS and Camera I’ll give you an idea. The GPS takes awfully long to lock on the N95 8GB compared to other devices, but only on 1st time use. If it has been used recently on the same location it will lock in about 20 seconds and more importantly, it will keep a lock very well. As for the camera, I still think that it is better than the other two on low light conditions. I’ll rephrase that: The flash isn’t as powerful, but the colours get much more real. In fact, the N900 hasn’t a good camera software at all. It’s poor in features and the image quality isn’t what I was expecting at all! I shot the same subject with my N95 8GB, N97 mini and N900 and the results were very awkward, at least for me. The N900 all mighty Cortex A8 processor obviously isn’t doing it’s thing as far as imaging processing is concerned. It processes the images very fast, but the quality is awfull (on Nokia standards that is! Still better than a lot of other cameraphones from other manufacturers). The N97 mini has a much more powerfull flash and can bright up the scene a lot more, but the image processing makes the colours look washed out. The N95 8GB can’t bright up the scene that much, but when the flash is enough, the colours on the photo just looks crisp.

On good lighting conditions I’ll have to remake my speach partially. The N900 gets the last place when compared with the other two. The N95 8GB and the N97 mini get very close, but I’ll have to give a slight edge to the N97 mini.

9 – Conclusion

As you can see there are some points where newer phones from the Nokia portfolio beat the oldie but goldie N95 8GB. I never denied they were there, but the point isn’t that. The point is that those differences are so small, that giving out around 480€ (N97 mini) or 600€ (N900) for a new phone isn’t really worth it for those that have any kind of love for money. But to be honest, I’ll happyly hand out 200€ for a 2nd hand N86 for example. That would fill on some of the gaps I have on my N95 (*cof* slow-almost-stoped browser *cof*).

But in these 2 years and an half of owning a N95 8GB I can assure that on 98% of the situations, I’ve been proud of it and an happy Nokia costumer.

I’ll leave you with a couple of Nokia slogans that I think fit the N95 8GB like a glove.

Entertainment. The next episode.

It’s what computers have become.

See new. Hear new. Feel new

It’s not one thing. It’s many
(Click on each one of the slogans to open an ilucidative YouTube video)

Well I’ve had the Nokia E72 for six days already and so far so good. I won’t dwell into device specs but usability of the device is top notch. Are there things I don’t like, you bet.

Let’s start of by mentioning the device’s built quality, specifically in comparison to the Nokia E71. With a doubt the E71 has a stronger built, but what does that mean exactly, you may be asking yourselves. Well, if you’ve ever touched or handled an E71 then you would know that the E71 is an armored tank and while the E72 is not quite as armored, its still a heavy duty device.

Differences:

Well the E72 aluminum battery cover seems to be a thinner grade than on the E71 and the same goes for the aluminum part all around the device. Again let me reiterate, it does not feel cheap or plastic at all. The plastic components of the E72 also seem to be of a lower quality when compared to the E71 but again it does not feel cheap at all.

Hard Keys are well spaced and easy to use, they look very cool indeed. The keypad is simply phenomenal and amazing, its got to be one of the best all time qwerty keypad across any mobile os platform, I’ve tried WinMo, BB, Android, Maemo, and the E72 is simply the best in my opinion. Its a text messaging champion indeed.

Camera

In two words, “ it rocks” I don’t care what people say, you know the usual “ its not an nseries, I wish it would record at 30fps and bla bla bla, well it does not record at 30 fps but at 15 fps and for a business device its quite nice. The camera pictures are awesome and they have great color tones across the whole spectrum, I’m really enjoying this part of the device. Here are some sample shots displaying just how good the camera performs. For my needs, this is a perfect camera, do I wish it had more, well you know how it is, there is not a single device in any platform that satisfies all of ones needs but some do come close. Does the Nokia E72 come close, well that depends on what are you requirements.

In complete darkness

One thing I need to mention is the headset that came with the device is horrible, immediately purchase a better quality 3.5mm headphone set.

The case that it comes with the device is cool but I prefer the one that came with the E71, luckily that one fits perfectly on the E72 and that’s what I’m using now.

Overall I’m happy with the device itself, I’m just not happy about the Symbian’s PIM management and the lack of task categorization, folks this is driving me freaking crazy I tell you just because all major PIM software out there has the ability not to date tasks but in ah I’m rambling, anyway more to come soon, its only been 6 days.

photo credit: unwiredview.com

Recently I made the switch to the Nokia Eseries, the E71, what’s suppose to be a messaging device with all its glory. Oh boy was I excited, everyone on Twitter was happy that I had made my way back to Nokia after having spent sometime on the other berry side. I was looking forward to Share Online and its Pixelpipe integration, Free I-sms, Opera Mobile Beta 3, to make things short I was overwhelmed with joy and glad to be back. My media sharing experience had been curtailed heavily but that was a thing of the past the Nokia E71 was going to set me right with all my needs. Wrong. It failed miserably at one of the most important aspect of mobile communication – Email. But why I asked myself, I can’t believe this once again Nokia Messaging had let me down in a bad way and this situation is something I simply can not overlook in my smartphone usage (@nokiamessaging did contact me via twitter willing to help).

The application did not sync in 4 days and despite me manually syncing it still failed. Why is this happening, have you had a similar experience, let’s start a dialogue and start communicating on this important topic. This experience has once again dissuaded me from acquiring the Nokia E72, I was so pumped for this device but my fear of NM failing on it, is enough to hold me back from purchasing this device for now.

So for now again, two devices for me the BB for messaging and N86 for content creation, this does not make me happy, having to carry two devices is super tedious.

So please tell me your story.

The popular VOIP client Skype is now confirming that its ready for prime time. It now shows official support for the touch OS version s60v5. So make sure you head over to www.skype.com to download the app asap to start enjoying this jewel. Doesn’t the Mini look nice on this official screenshot. From your s60 mobile go to http://www.skype.com/m to download to your device.