Archive for the ‘Reviews’ Category
I can not say enough about this case guys, if I had to describe it with a few words, those words would be Simply Awesome. Now why is that you may ask yourselves, well let me explain with a video and a text review as well.
Well here we are again, decisions, decisions. Like I mentioned in my previous post in reference to the Nokia Messaging hiccups I was extremely saddened by it failing but I must give credit to the folks that run Nokia Messaging as they promptly contacted me and are checking the matter and taking the necessary steps to ensure a smooth transition back to a functioning email client. But now I’m at a cross road, do I continue with another Nokia device or simply continue using my current device for a solid email experience, hmm, well guess what, let me explain. Read more
Hello, hello, folks, its been a while since I’ve written. First off, happy new year and thank you for your continued support. I want to thank some of my fellow bloggers for keeping it real and showing their support during this time of personal reflection I’ve been going through during last few months as some of you may know a divorce is not an easy situation regardless of the circumstances, also a very special thanks to all my twitter followers who kept the flame alive and all those great wishes that were sent to me via DM, you guys are great.
Back to Nokia now. Recently I acquired a Blackberry Bold 9700 for personal use after being disappointed with some the Symbian solutions out there, you all know what applications I’m talking about, native apps hmm, anyway having said that, we all know the BB’s are renowned for their messaging capabilities and despite an outage here and there they are flawless.
By now, many of you have already read plenty of reviews of the Nokia N97…there is a lot of bashing and praising of this device all over the internet. Hopefully this review will bring something fresh to the table for you. If you’re anything like me, you’re a gadget geek–you like your new toys, and are almost always on the search for the next. Read more
Let me start off by saying that I’ve been a full QWERTY phone user for the past several years. Started with Blackberry about 3-4 years ago and have gone through about 6 different devices over the years. Then, I decided to try Nokia, and got myself an E71. At the same time, I also decided to try the N95 8GB. I loved the E71, but also loved the N95 8GB for its excellent media features, but just couldn’t convince myself to give up the full QWERTY device and switch fully to the N95. Read more
S60 file explorers and to some extent task managers are available dime and a dozen these days however one software which has endured right from the early roots of Symbian is SBSH FExplorer Pro. The most famous file explorer has now been completely re written for S60 v3 and v5 and it surely does impress.
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This past month I’ve showcased some of the blog posts by one of favorite blogs Trent Sense by Trenton Smith and I just discovered via my RSS feed he had posted his first impressions on the Nokia N97 and I wanted to share it with you all, folks, this is must read, here Trent gives his unadulterated hardcore inspection of the N97. So hold on to your seat, make some popcorn and be your own judge. 
Here it is people my Nokia E75 unboxing first impressions Read more
Hey there ladies and gents. It has been seven days since I first got my grubby paws on the Alpha pre-release of Nokia’s much awaited Messaging app for S60v5. Before that, my mailing needs were served by a combination of the built in mail app (which was inadequate, but was my only choice at the time for reliable Gmail retrieval) and Mail for Exchange (for fast push Email). I also tried Seven push mail (which was okay, but not without its problems) before settling into this combo.
Even though it’s branded with Carl Zeiss optics, the camera module equipped on the 5800 is slightly above average at best. It takes great pictures in adequate sunlight but fails miserably in low light conditions. The lack of a proper xenon flash makes things worse (the dual LED light included isn’t much help, really). Pictures are washed out and extremely noisy on the default automatic settings in low light (blame the tiny sensor), and the auto White Balance is a little off most of the time even with sufficient light.
As Nokia’s first mainstream, mid-tier fully Touchscreen mobile, Nokia has a lot riding on the 5800. And taking it as it is (a mid-tier mobile rather than the iPhone killer it was billed to be), the 5800 succeeds brilliantly, cramming as much features into its tubby – yet extremely handy – body as it could.
True, taken one at a time and broken down objectively, the separate functions of the 5800 is not really that awe-inspiring, to say the least. But taken as a entire, intergrated package, the 5800 is a thing of beauty.
True, the 5800 is not without its quirks, but for its price I would easily say that it is the first truly “complete” (in terms of features) fully touch mobile for the masses. As such, I personally hope that they would continue on to support and make the 5800 better, as I feel the phone that started the Mid-Tier Touch Revolution deserves at least that.
So, ladies and gents, sound off in the comments section and share with us what you think about the 5800!
On the telephony front, with access to all major GSM and UMTS bands, the 5800 performs well. It delivers exceptional voice call quality and acceptable 3G video calling performance, which is probably expected from all major brand mobiles at this point in time.
Although the first batch of 5800 suffered from a major blow to this front in the form of the infamous Earpiece Problem, as had been illustrated in the first part of the review. But Nokia must be credited for acknowledging this problem and rectifying it in later batches.
In terms of data connectivity, for local data transfers, you have Bluetooth and a speedy USB connection that makes full use of that Class-6 microSD card. On the Computer side, Nokia’s ubiquitous PC Suite and the newer Ovi Suite take care of most of the things you would like to do with your 5800, although for media transfers I usually just use Mass Storage mode to dump media files into the microSD.
For wireless data, there’s a whole boatload of choices on the 5800; with WIFI, GPRS, HSUPA, EDGE, 3G/UMTS, 3.5G/HSPDA – I doubt anyone would have trouble finding a way to suck data off the Interwebs. And what a wonderful experience that turns out to be, as the included Web browser coupled with the relatively huge, razor sharp screen means that the Internet is joy to see. The 5800 web browser’s main trump card is full Flash Lite support, which means that you can finally experience YouTube in its entire web streaming glory (if not in a slightly blockier mobile streaming form).
In general web browsing terms, however, it still pales in comparison to the general web experience that the iPhone offers (even if both browsers are based on Webkit), if not mainly due to the lack of both kinetic scrolling and a properly thought out full-screen mode.
But Symbian being Symbian (and Nokia being Nokia), it would only be a matter of time before someone comes up with a killer third party browser to trump everything else on the market (yes, Opera, I’m talking about you). Until then, my web needs will have to be fulfilled with Opera Mini (a version of which can be seen up top).
And again, with it running Symbian, great third party applications continue to fill up many gaps in web connectivity, with a honourable mention going out to the AWESOME looking Gravity twitter client (see shameless ad below), Joikuspot ad-hoc Internet sharing app and the Symtorrent torrent app; all of which work marvellously on the 5800 (and without any of which I would be much less happier).
Finally, a mention must be given on the GPS module on the 5800, which works well given that it’s simply an intergrated chip. The bundled Nokia Maps are all good and all, but it takes a third party GPS solution such as Garmin XT (which has been updated recently to fully support the 5800) or Sygic’s McGuider to make full use of the GPS.
Any downsides to all this connectivity and the before mentioned media options?
Yes, of course, the battery life. With the 1350mAh BL-5C provided, the 5800 would only last around 1 and a half day tops with my brand of hard use (heavy use of music player and SMS; some calls and E-mails, plus sporadic web surfing and Gravity twitting on EDGE/GPRS). Exclusive use of 3G would shorten that even more. Video playback will generally bring the battery to its knees from fully charged in around 4 hours.
Excellent, no, but it’s more than acceptable for a mobile in this price bracket.
THREE MONTHS LATER: Enjoying the mobile Internet, and is finding out that I’m relying more on packet data then WIFI over here where I am. Heavy use of packet data (especially 3G) puts a drain on the batteries, which is compensated by the use of a external USB battery pack (will blog more about this later). Gravity is FINALLY out by now, and I’m using it on a regular basis: trust me when I say it is even MORE awesome then it looks.
NEXT: Conclusions and more ranting!
