For All The Uber-Dorks Out There... !!

Just stumbled across this 6x optical extension for the nokia N95 over at the Nokia N95 Blog.









Okay...so now we have a quad band phone ...a large 2.6 inch screen..with AGPS...and a 5 mpx camera with 6x optical zoom. Hmmmm....Now if only I had some luck with the "bond girls"...all my spy fantasies would be fulfilled !! Any women interested ... ??

Real Streaming Music , Videos Using ORB

One of the best services I've been using on my N95 is ORB. In fact ..this software service works on any phone that has the ability to play streaming media ... Be it real media streams (usually supported by symbian handsets) or wmv streams (usually supported by the windows mobile range).And best of all....Its Frigging FREE !!
Although you will need a broadband connection on your pc (or media server)and an unlimited (and fast enough) GPRS connection on your handset to make this work.

To use this awesome app ..you first have to download the orb installer from the website www.orb.com
Once you are through with the installation you can configure it as per your preferences. You can set the directories you have stored your respective media you want to stream or share.



If you have a router or are behind a firewall , do remember to unblock or port-forward the ports you are using for streaming real , 3gp or wmv streams.

After you have done this , you can head over to http://mycast.orb.com
This page will be your media interface to the web. All your shared media will be displayed here and you can decide if you want make your movies , mp3's public ..or just leave them as private so only you can access them. You can also add feeds from other sites such as youtube and dailymotion etc.

To access your media from your smartphone you have to key in the same url http://mycast.orb.com from your phone's browser. Once you log in...a much simplified and neater version of the mycast webpage will be displayed which is optimized for your device.



There are 8 menu tabs ... TV, AUDIO , VIDEO , PHOTO , DOCS , FILE , BROWSER ,and FEEDS.

Each one of them have their respective submenus and even the option to watch internet videos and listen to internet radio.



The File browser tab acts just like windows explorer and you can actually explore the entire contents of your hard disk.



Another great ability is to add feeds via the mycast webpage on your pc. You can then access those feeds via your phones browser. You can add feeds on the weather , your flickr photo stream ..or any other rss or atom feed you like.



One of the best things about the orb page is the ability to set your streaming bandwidth ..or there even is the option to let the app detect it for you. You can even remotely restart the orb application which is running on your pc.



Another cool feature is that it even gets the album art embedded in mp3 files and generates thumbnails for video files too. This is truly a couch potato's dream ...and i'm really enjoying the experience of listening to streaming music ..and watching my movie collection on my huge nokia N95 screen from the comfort of my bed.



This app is the closest you can get to real streaming on your N95 using your local router ..or through your GPRS connection.Do try it out and let me know what you think of it .

Aaaaaaaah....The good life !! :)

Nokia N95 v12 Firmware Rants...

Whoooooooo Hooooooo !!

V12 firmware for the nokia N95 is finally here. I just upgraded my phone last night.Went through the usual half an hour of "waiting" for the 113 MB rom to download ..and the five minutes of "heart attacks" when the actual flashing takes place.But in the end...its really worth it !! And the new firmware is swwwwwwweeeeeeet !!



Okay...One thing that nokia has to figure out is the re-installation mechanism. After you reset your phone or flash it to a new firmware ..all the registry entries in the c: drive of your phone get erased. so when you put in your memory card ..the applications try to re register themselves on the phone boot up ..and the "installer" starts running. Somehow ..this installer has never really worked its magic for me . It either hangs ..or i have to terminate it using swiss knife utilities...but the next time i reboot the phone ...it starts running all over again. I even tried going to the app manager and manually installing the apps (which appear as some combination of hex numbers..and you really don't know what is what until you install them)...but considering my phone is always full with about 50-60 apps/games at any give time...this is gonna be quite a task. So the only quick solution i see would be to backup my contacts , images and videos ..and format the memory card . :( Sad ..i know...but at least it gives me a clean slate ..and i can start anew all over again.




Regarding the new firmware ....I was disappointed NOT to see the latest version of Nokia Maps bundled with this firmware upgrade. The AGPS really doesn't work out well for me . I have a gprs plan and all the settings are right ...data is getting transferred when i use the maps application ...but I didn't notice any improvement in the lock time.(its still a pathetic 2-5 minutes for me ) ..and i wonder if this AGPS support is only country specific. Anyone knows anything more about this ?? Another thing that pisses me off is the lack of Maps for India in the Nokia map loader ?? What gives ?? They were there in the older version ..so why aren't they there in the new one ? Hello Nokia...are you listening ??


Some improvements I've noticed are ..
1.The interface feels zipper on the whole.
2.Slightly more ram on boot up.
3.Gallery is much quicker ..and now pictures zoom in till 800%
4.The camera is much more responsive...Better focusing.


About the battery life...I'll have to wait and see if that has improved. Another thing I've noticed..is when the screen light times out ..the photo preview button momentarily comes on for a bit ..as if to signal that the screen is switching off.Don't know if this is a bug or they've just kept it that way.

Feel free to add any more bugs / improvements you've noticed . I'll be posting more of my findings here.

Nokia N95 v12.0 firmware coming soon....

Symbian Guru Rcadden has got his hands on the latest version (v12) firmware for the N95.
Key features in this upgrade are not clear yet ...but one major upgrade is in the form of a new nokia maps application and a much faster GPS lock on (due to Nokia using A-GPS technology by storing your nearest cell-id's in their centralized servers for a faster lock ).




I also hope nokia has optimized the ram and improved the response time of the camera. Also a bit of optimization on battery life wouldnt hurt either.. :)

To read more about the new firmware head on to..

http://symbianguru.typepad.com

UPDATE : V12 IS OFFICIALLY OUT. CHECK YOUR NOKIA SOFTWARE UPDATER !!

Hands on with opera mini 4

Opera has released a new beta version of its latest incarnation of the opera mini browser ..also known as "dimension". For all those who'd like to check it out ...you can surf to mini.opera.com from your handset .. But how does this latest incarnation of the worlds most used mobile browser match up to the Nokia browser present in the Nseries devices ? Lets find out ...




For starters ...Installation was pretty smooth ..It detected my device and the download was over in a couple of seconds. The only problem i noticed ...And i dont know if its Particular to me..is that if you choose a wi-fi access point as the access point during the first run when opera tries to determine the internet connectivity...it just fails !! I tried it about 5-6 times ....and then ..i finally used my GPRS access point and it completed successfully. But the funny bit is ..thereafter..i used my Wi-fi point for surfing ... and it works great !!




Coming to the usability bit ....opera mini 4 feels much smoother than the older version and has a more nokia browser feel to it ...You have options of actually fitting the page to the width of the screen ..or showing the full page in a minimized fashion.The page downloading is smooth and quick. And the interface is pretty zippy.




How does this compare to the nokia browser in the n series devices ?? Well..my verdict would be ...The nokia browser is much better...!! But then ..thats not what opera mini is aiming at. They're aiming at a much greater audience and want their browser to be the staple web browser for every handset..not just nokia.And keep in mind ...this is just a beta ...So features like RSS feeds are still to be incorporated.Another great feature ..and this has been opera mini's major selling point ...unlike the nokia browser which downloads the original page and then customizes it to fit your display ...in the opera mini browser pages are already stripped of incompatible objects and are streamlined by opera servers before getting downloaded to your device...So You save a lot on GPRS costs if you have a limited or pay as you go data plan.



Opera definitely has a winner with this one !! Agreed that most nokia users (like me ) will still prefer the default nokia browser in the Nseries devices , but those with non symbian handsets and pay as you go data plans will really find opera mini 4 to be a godsend.It will be interesting to see how this new version of the worlds favourite mobile browser develops. But for now ...I guess i'll stick to my Nokia Web browser.

New Nokia N95 GPS Maps ??

Apparently there's been much hullabaloo about a new version of the maps application on the nokia N95. I found an upgrade sis file of the same on some forum and installed it on my N95. But i really don't know if its been upgraded..as it seems just the same as the previous version...although the installation did complete successfully. I checked the about screen and it shows me v3.0 ...and i've seen screen shots of people claiming v1.0 is the latest. Hmmmm..maybe nokia makes a different version of the Maps application for the N95 coz its got inbuilt gps ?? Then again ..i Could be wrong ...what version does your N95 have ??
Attached a screen shot below...

Nokia finally makes a USB charger !!

Finally ...Nokia seems to be listening to what its customers have to say. The newly launched CA-100 charging accessory.Just plug it in the usb port on your laptop/pc and your power hungry N series device is all ready to get recharged.



No more hunting for charger points , and no more worries about the voltage settings !! Although I really wish nokia had included this facility with the mini usb cable they bundled with the N95. Well...at least something is better than nothing , and nokia seems to be going in the right direction with this. Hoping to see this accessory as a standard component in all the future phone packs.

To check out a list of all the compatible Nokia phones click here :
http://europe.nokia.com/accessorieslink?s=CA-100