Thursday, May 15, 2008
Thursday, April 24, 2008
What do I love most about the N95 8gb Part 2 - the accelerometer
It is sooooo wonderfully understated and Scandinavian to include an accelerometer in the flagship N95 and not make a fuss about it. Apple included exactly the same feature in the iPhone and made it one of the central parts of their advertising strategy:
"WOW... LOOK... A phone that knows when you are moving AND has internet browsing"
The Finns, in their understated way, just put it in there and didn't really do anything with it. Third Party developers (you don't get them with the iPhone) have gone wild with the device and you can now use the N95 for such varied tasks as... err... playing starwars, playing bouncy ball and.... umm... playing Space Invaders. Nokia's own Activity Monitor app is quite cool, although it won't do your battery life any favours.
Anyway, this is just another reason that I love the N95. Thanks Nokia!
(Sorry if this blog has got a bit boring of late... you know how people get when they are in love. Normal business will resume once a younger model comes along =)
Tuesday, April 08, 2008
Nokia Tube
Nokia has announced an iPhonealike preliminarily called the Nokia Tube.
Details are sketchy but it does look rather like the return of the mac, doesn't it?
This is Nokia's return to touchscreen technology after the unpopular 7710, which was painfully slow and generally a bit crap.
There are no more details available at the moment, but as a dedicated Nokia fan I am really looking forward to this one. The only question is...
will it Finnish the iPhone?
Monday, April 07, 2008
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Decision Time
With a little help from Vodafone, my next handset has been decided.
Ladies and gentlemen, the next phone to grace Cellfella's Levi's shall be...
The Nokia N95 8G.
No great surprises there, then.
To be honest, I was holding out for an N82 but there's every chance that this little beaut will never make it all the way to Vodafone. I can't change network either because Voda is the only one to cover both my office and flat.
Still, I didn't even bother asking for an upgrade, just went straight to the "You really want to leave Vodafone?" department and said I wanted to change networks. For some reason they are much more receptive to negotiation that way!
Why would I have preferred an N82? Well, look at it:
Some bloggers have been a bit critical of the design. James Burland's review on Youtube is very positive about the phone's features but quite negative about the design. I, however, am not a big fan of sliders and would much rather have an old school block in my pocket.
Having not played with one yet (O2 has bad reception in this part of the world, hence no N82s to investigate) I can't confirm or deny what the review says about the fiddly buttons.
Anyway, it's all water under the bridge now. I'm going slidey for the next twelve months.
Now I'm just waiting for Vodafone to deliver the thing...
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
Struggling to choose a new mobile phone
Well, I'm back from Argentina and faced with something of a dilema.
My trusty 6630 is really in it's dying days now. It still calls ok and sends text messages. The alarm still wakes me up bright and early in the morning for my work as an SEO copywriter. The screen still works and the ringtone still scares people. That, however, is about all.
The camera died a death before I left the country. The video camera passed away long before that. Since my return, the menu system also appears to have come unstuck. It is rather like driving through a large city in rush hour traffic.
The good news, however, is that I am now out of contract and free to hunt down the best contract and handset. Well, within limits... there is no reception in my flat for Orange and O2, leaving me the options of T-mobile and sticking with Vodafone.
Both of these present their own problems. Firstly T-mobile. Now, I'm not normally one to bear a grudge, but I have had some experince with T-mobile in the past and I'm afraid to say it wasn't good. My first ever mobile phone (a dearly departed Siemens which was so heavy that it has left me walking with a limp ever since) was registered with 0ne-2-one. The deal included free evening and weekend calls for two and sixpence monthly, which seemed like a clincher.
The problem, and my lasting resentment, stems from the fact that you had to stand on top of a towerblock in the middle of London to get one bar of reception. Honestly, it was like a bloody Rabbit phone. Even the one-2-one store in my native Watford didn't have reception, which struck me as enduringly crap.
My problem with Voda is that they won't offer me any decent handsets as an upgrade, depsite my having been a loyal customer for 5(ish) years and always paying my bills on time with minimal fuss.
All I want is an N82!!! Or even an N95. EVERYONE HAS AN N95. WHAT IS THE PROBLEM?!?
Anyway, I'm keeping my eyes open for good deals. Any advice please let me know. Anyone working for Voda want to explain why you're not nicer to loyal customers? Anyone from T-mobile got reception?
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Nokia Prism
Nokia is eschewing the curves which they arguably brought to mobile phones in the first place and going all angular.
The Nokia Prism was unveiled at a fashion show in China. Yes, a fashion show, not a technology conference as might be expected. To be honest, the technology under the surface of this handset really isn't anything to write home (or a blog entry) about: Bluetooth, USB 2.0 (I like), EDGE, GPRS and Tri-Band.
But the design is rather original, no? I love it when visions of the future from decades gone by actually come to be realised, rather like this lovely slab.
I do, however, have one concern about the angles and this is:
Every pair of jeans that I own has a white line around the lefthand pocket where my phone has sat. It makes me all nostalgic, looking at an old pair of 501s which no longer do up to see the outline of my first ever mobile - a Siemens S8 - which this page informs us has such groundbreaking features as a "large 4 line display" and "99 name phonebook".
Look at those sharp edges on the new Nokia! A recipe for denim disaster, no?
Some more about the Prism:
From the Mobile Gazette
From the Register
and finally, for those of you who dabble in Mandarin, from Nokia
