Google Maps for Mobile goes 2.0

Google has released an update of its popular maps application for mobile phones ..and here's the best part. Now even NON GPS phones can find their approximate location based on the information provided by the cellular towers (cell-ID). This is a really cool feature ..although i bet it must have taken a lot of coaxing on google's part to allow the cellular companies to part with the locations of their towers. This is a great new feature where your approximate location is displayed as a light blue circle i.e the range of the cellular tower nearest to you.This is a real boon for all the non gps equipped phones out there. Kudos to google for making the maps application even more versatile.I'm sure Nokia will follow suit too. To see a demo ..watch the video below.



You can download the latest google maps for mobile from the link below :

http://www.google.com/gmm

Nokia N95-1 Firmware update v20.0.015 out !!

Nokia N95 Software version 20.0.015 released - 26 November 2007

This software version includes battery, stability & performance improvements enabling you to run faster and longer - giving you up to three more hours of music (up to 30% increase, from 9h to 12h of music playback). This release also includes a new version of Nokia Maps which provides faster positioning, faster Map Loader, and free 3-day navigation. Free N-Gage demo games are included and other games are available via Download! With the Nokia Music Store now live in the United Kingdom, users can enjoy the convenience of instant over-the-air downloads, regardless of where they are.

After updating your device software to 20.0.015, and restoring your personal data, you can optimise the menu layout by installing the New_Menu_Structure.SIS file. Download and install this file to rearrange your menu layout specifically for SW 20.0.015. Reboot your device to see the menu changes.

Grab it while its hot !!

http://europe.nokia.com/A4577225

Nokia Sports Tracker Updated to v1.62

Nokia has finally launched a web interface for its sports tracker app and has also updated the app to v1.62. The new updated application lets you upload your workouts and trips directly to the nokia sportstracker website where you can share them with other users ...much like the nike shoes+ ipod kit thats selling out there .




To download the updated app...head over to http://sportstracker.nokia.com and register yourself on the site. Then you will be able to download the application and upload your stats. You can even do this by downloading the updated app and then registering from the phone itself.



Go ahead and share !! :)

Nokia N95 Classic firmware v21 on its way...

Stumbled across this video of a symbian freak.com member demoing the yet to be released Nokia N95 classic firmware v21 (yes..thats a big leap from v12) via remote device access.As expected ...Nokia has implemented the demand paging feature and as you can see in the video ..there's still plenty of ram available even after opening 5-6 applications. There's also the inclusion of the search tool in the active standby screen and the new n-gage platform software. The inclusion of demand paging would also mean that you can squeeze more life out of your battery.I just cant wait to get my hands on this update !!

Please Help Me !!

I have entered the Nokia Nseries Digital Playground contest and would love it if you guys could take some time out to click on the link below and vote for me as one of the finalists. So if you like this blog and my technical knowledge about symbian and nokia phones then you can rate me on a scale of 1 to 10 ( 10 being the max) . So go ahead ..and shower me with some of your generosity by clicking on the link below ... :)

http://digitalplayzone.nseries.com/in/index.html?proID=694

Nokia N77 unboxing pics

Well...the great guys over at WOM world sent me the N77 to review. Here are some initial unboxing pics. And make no mistake ..this phone is built specifically for one purpose ..and one purpose only... and that is to enable you to watch the mobile tv broadcasts on your mobile phone . Unfortunately ...India as of now does not have any mobile tv broadcasts (expect for in the capital city ..delhi) so i couldn't really test out this feature of the cellphone. And the reason i stressed on this feature is because this is probably what this device does best as i found it to be pretty lacking in all the other departments.

The camera is a 2megapixel camera (NO carl Zeiss optics) so its pretty mediocre. another thing that bugged me was the keypad...Its almost like a smooth slate with no indication as to when one key ends and another begins. After using my N95 for so long ..it was pretty difficult to type out an sms on this keypad and i found myself making a lot of mistakes.

Fortunately the battery life is the saving grace and the BP-6m battery seems to be quite the powerhouse.(wonder why nokia engineers didnt use this battery in the N95).
Build wise the phone pretty much resembles the N73 and could almost be called a N73 clone in some angles.

I will be posting a camera review soon ..so stay tuned.

N95 light sabre

After the discovery of the N95's hidden accelerometer the apps just keep pouring in. The latest from the scene is the Light sabre app ..which does exactly what the name says. If you want to install the app ...you will first have to install the plugin for the accelerometer (if you dont already have it ) from :
here

And Download the light sabre app from :
here

There's also a video of symbian guru Ricky cadden dishing out some Jedi justice.



The force is strong with this one !! :)

The S.E shake-&-change-your-song feature comes to the Nokia N95

The recently discovered accelerometer hack has spurred a lot of developers into developing apps that utilize this feature of the nokia N95. My only question is ..why did nokia take so long to tell us about the accelerometer hidden inside the nokia N95..Or more interestingly ..why havnt they developed any apps that actually put it to good use ? Anyways ...some enterprising hackers have managed to fin a way to replicate SE's shake and change the music track feature on the Nokia N95. Its so cool to look at. I cant wait for this app to be released in public. Check out the video below.

Nokia MOSH client is out !!

Nokia has released a mosh client for its moshing network. Those who want to download the client can head over to : http://www.nokia.com/betalabs/mosh
and download the suitable client for your device.



But be warned ...This client is pretty useless and all it does is function as a shortcut that opens the link to the respective mosh pages in the native browser. I wish it was much more than just shortcuts. I wish it had the ability to browse files and upload files without having to open the web browser ... Which is something that apps like Peerbox and the likes have been doing for a long time. Nokia ...why dont you learn something from these people ?

N95 Accelerometer in action...

Soon after the news of the new rotate me application that uses the built in level sensor...



This is awesome. I searched for videos of this on the net and couldnt find any ..so i had to post one of my own. I wonder why nokia has not developed any applications that use this yet ? It would unleash the true potential of the N95.For those of you interested in Downloading the app..you can find it here :

http://research.nokia.com/projects/activity_monitor

1.Install the N95 RD Accelerometer Plug-in package (there is a sis file inside the .zip file...thats all you need)

2.Install the MovingBall_Example.sisx to your phone.

3.Enjoy killing time with this awesome app !! :)

Expect to see more apps using this awesome functionality to be released soon...
This is sooooooo coool !!