I recently read a blog entry at WOM World about making an external monitor out of your N810. Honestly I'm not sure why you would really want to do this. However it is something to do if your extremely bored. Well now that you are just itching to do this here is the link enjoy.
--SB
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
They learn so fast..
My children ages 2 and 1 are able to now use my gadgets with ease. I'm not 100% sure this is a good thing but just shows how times are changing. I still remember when cell phones came out that had a 2 line LED screen. Man that was amazing. You could see the entire number that was calling as well as the Caller's name, if you paid for that feature of course.
My son in this picture is playing with Mommy's Nokia N95 8GB and enjoying the DVD quality videos of himself. Every-time something beeps in our house he lifts his hand to his ear and says bellum, his version of hello. The point being technology does change our lives. For better or worse its here to stay and I'm happy to be part of it.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Why oh why do you hate me Mr. N96
I have been using the N96 for a couple of weeks now and I am getting more frustrated every day. The firmware release that I am currently stuck with, 11.018, is driving me mad. It seems to crash at least once daily and I have to yank the back off pull the battery to get it back up again. This is not something I would ever expect from a high end Nokia N-series device. Frankly I cannot believe they ever put a software version out this bad.
My previous phone was a N95-3 which I loved in every way. I then moved up to a N95-4 (8GB) which was even better. You would think the next logical step for a media junkie like myself would be the N96 right? Wrong! This smartphone has the potential however its problems out weigh all of the positive things it brings to the table. I send a lot of text messages and sending on this revision of firmware is painful sometimes. I select a contact select create message and wait and wait. Even the things you would think it would excel at such as viewing photos, lags like a low end device. When you are moving through the photos it takes 1 to 2 seconds for the image to properly render. On either N95 this would be a second max with thousands of photos on the phones memory card.
While these things are annoying I could live with them knowing they would be fixed whenever they actually release the firmware update to us NAM N96 users. One thing I cannot live with is the huge problems with 3g and wifi connectivity. At times it takes 3 times or more to get the connection to work to check email or surf the web. Wifi umm yea right, your lucky if you can get it to work at all. I have almost given up trying to use wifi to download my podcast and watch videos.
As most of you know I'm a huge S60 advocate so this is painful to write but paying almost $700.00 for a phone and getting this is a real disappointment. I am going to continue to hold out for a couple more weeks if I can. I want to see if the firmware makes it out to us NAM users. Beyond that I'm giving up. Come on Nokia help me out here please.
My previous phone was a N95-3 which I loved in every way. I then moved up to a N95-4 (8GB) which was even better. You would think the next logical step for a media junkie like myself would be the N96 right? Wrong! This smartphone has the potential however its problems out weigh all of the positive things it brings to the table. I send a lot of text messages and sending on this revision of firmware is painful sometimes. I select a contact select create message and wait and wait. Even the things you would think it would excel at such as viewing photos, lags like a low end device. When you are moving through the photos it takes 1 to 2 seconds for the image to properly render. On either N95 this would be a second max with thousands of photos on the phones memory card.
While these things are annoying I could live with them knowing they would be fixed whenever they actually release the firmware update to us NAM N96 users. One thing I cannot live with is the huge problems with 3g and wifi connectivity. At times it takes 3 times or more to get the connection to work to check email or surf the web. Wifi umm yea right, your lucky if you can get it to work at all. I have almost given up trying to use wifi to download my podcast and watch videos.
As most of you know I'm a huge S60 advocate so this is painful to write but paying almost $700.00 for a phone and getting this is a real disappointment. I am going to continue to hold out for a couple more weeks if I can. I want to see if the firmware makes it out to us NAM users. Beyond that I'm giving up. Come on Nokia help me out here please.
Friday, December 19, 2008
The Goods of a Recession
All I hear around me is how bad things are with the economy. With all of the unemployment and families losing their homes. In these times you may be asking why I would write about the goods of a recession. To answer that question I would like you to dig deep and tell me how you actually feel during these times.
Today my employer gave me a gift that made me realize how important the little things are. This gift was a coffee mug with a pack of hot cocoa and a candy cane. This gift made me realize that the little things in life are what matter. I will take this home and my children will greet me and be so very excited that daddy has a candy cane. That very smile and instant of joy is what matters. Not my net worth, the car I drive, or the gadgets I have. All of these things are worthless.
This recession has made me want to help others in need more than ever. Do I have much to give monetarily, of course not. But what if I gave a candy cane to others and they took it home to watch their children smile. That smile would spread to every family in need. Let us all take this time to sit back and realize that the important things in life are not what money can buy. Reach out and share kindness to those in need. You can't buy that.
Merry Christmas All,
--Sloan
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Why the N96 went back into the box..
I have been using the N96 for a couple of days now determining if this is the right phone for me. At first I didn't like it all. I have been so used to the N95 form factor that something thinner felt kinda funny in my hands. After playing with it for a while though I did grow to appreciate not having a huge block in my pocket. Form factor aside the S60 feature pack on this phone was pretty impressive. They have added a lot of eye candy and everything seemed to work okay.
It sounds like a win win right? Well yes and no. I'm a pretty heavy user of Nokia Chat so of course I attempted to install this. Guess what? You got it, the N96 is not supported. Okay huge strike in my book but lets move on. My next step is to install Nokia Messaging (Email). I start through the guided installation process on the website. I select my phone and it ask me this funny question. Is your firmware version 12.0.0.0 or above? Well of course its not. I have been trying to install the latest firmware on my phone from the first minute I booted it up with no such luck. For some reason my phone, unlocked/unbranded, is not able to find the firmware upgrade that I've been yearning for. This was my last straw. I got the N95 back out and it has become my primary smartphone for the time being.
Has anybody been able to pull the firmware for their N96 (NAM) yet? If so how in the world did you get it?
It sounds like a win win right? Well yes and no. I'm a pretty heavy user of Nokia Chat so of course I attempted to install this. Guess what? You got it, the N96 is not supported. Okay huge strike in my book but lets move on. My next step is to install Nokia Messaging (Email). I start through the guided installation process on the website. I select my phone and it ask me this funny question. Is your firmware version 12.0.0.0 or above? Well of course its not. I have been trying to install the latest firmware on my phone from the first minute I booted it up with no such luck. For some reason my phone, unlocked/unbranded, is not able to find the firmware upgrade that I've been yearning for. This was my last straw. I got the N95 back out and it has become my primary smartphone for the time being.
Has anybody been able to pull the firmware for their N96 (NAM) yet? If so how in the world did you get it?
Monday, December 15, 2008
Amazon Video on the N96
I recently transferred my first Amazon mobile video to the N96 to see how it performs. My first impressions were actually not that great. I kept having a problem with the decoding of the video. The screen would turn into a green blob of blocks and then recover on random scenes. I know it wasn't a problem with the video because I can watch it outside of the N96 and all is well. Overall the quality if great if they can work out these kinks.
I have only tested one video, "The Dark Knight", however I would guess that the overall experience will be the same for all videos. I have not tried to rip anything and move it over yet but I'm guessing it will all work like a champ just like the N95-3. The question is, does the Amazon VOD (and mobile download) have a viable solution for movies on the go for us Nokia owners? Anybody else out there trying this?
I have only tested one video, "The Dark Knight", however I would guess that the overall experience will be the same for all videos. I have not tried to rip anything and move it over yet but I'm guessing it will all work like a champ just like the N95-3. The question is, does the Amazon VOD (and mobile download) have a viable solution for movies on the go for us Nokia owners? Anybody else out there trying this?
Monday, December 8, 2008
First days with the Peek.
Last Friday I went to pick up a Peek to check it out personally, as well as evaluate its potential as a Christmas gift. I have been playing with it for a couple of days now and wanted to post my likes and dislikes of the device.
With the price tag at or around $99 you shouldn't expect a top of the line piece of hardware. On the other hand you should expect something that is going to last the abuse most mobile devices face throughout their life. Overall the Peek seems to be pretty well built for its price range but I do want to point out some possible issues a user may face.
The biggest concern is the rubber on the front of the Peek. The corners feel as if they could easily start to come up and eventually get caught in your pocket and rip off. This may take some time to do but I can almost guarantee you it will happen down the road. I'm not sure why they chose to go with the rubber front. I could understand possibly just the keyboard section but not the entire front.
The feel of the device is slim and comfortable to use. If you have ever used an older Blackberry you will easily be able to move around on the Peek. The scroll is a bit slow but very usable. To select items you need to press the scroll in which is a bit hard to push. I'm hoping that by using the device daily the click will become much softer feeling. In its current state it actually leaves imprints of the wheel on your finger tip.
The selling point of almost any full QWERTY device is the keyboard. I'm sad to say that this is not one of the better keyboards I have worked with. To test the keyboard I sent 10 emails, 4 sentences or longer, along with a couple of text messages (more on this in a bit). If I had to use one word to describe the keyboard that word would be tiring. After typing those emails I found my fingers very tired. This is mainly because you have to press too hard on these rubber keys to get feedback. The worst key out of all of them is the space bar. It feels as if it is actually two buttons wrapped in one piece of rubber emulating a single wider button. If you press in the middle of this wider button more often than not you will get no response. If you are a quick typist on mobile devices with full QWERTY I think you will find your speed drastically slower on this device. For their market I don't think this will be huge problem. For people that are spoiled and used to Blackberry and possible the N810 you will find typing on this device very tedious.
To prove my point I handed the Peek to my wife whom could care less about mobile devices. I asked her to type up an email and send it. After a couple of minutes I asked her how she liked the feel of the device. Her first words were, "It was hard to press the keys". I think this says it all about the keyboard.
If you can get over the flaws with the keyboard the user interface is actually pretty good. You may find yourself asking can it do this and can it do that? More than likely the answer will always be no. The point being this device does exactly what it says it does. It sends and receives email in a timely manner. If you are a person that must know the instant an email touches your server then this device is not for you. For those of you, like me, that have learned you don't have to answer emails the second they come in it works perfectly. I was able to send and receive emails with ease after a painless setup. If you have your own domain hosted you will have to give the friendly folks at Peek a call. My experience with support was outstanding. That alone is worth staying with this startup in this day and age. Has anybody ever tried to resolve something with Sprint? Wow.
Let us move on to text messages. This is an area that I felt was a bit cumbersome and barely works. I was able to send and receive txt messages from my peek to my cell phone but actually using the feature was a pain. How many of you actually type in the full phone number of everybody you are texting each time? The trick is to send the text and then modify the contact that is automatically added to your contacts. Change the email address as the fully qualified messaging service. For example 15555555@txt.att.net. Either way it’s too difficult for something this easy.
Regardless of what seems like a pretty harsh review of the Peek I would recommend it to a friend that needs a very simple device to send and receive emails. While the texting needs a lot of work I feel that this will come as the device matures. The biggest thing is the keyboard. Please oh please upgrade the keyboard on these devices.
Pics and video will come soon.
With the price tag at or around $99 you shouldn't expect a top of the line piece of hardware. On the other hand you should expect something that is going to last the abuse most mobile devices face throughout their life. Overall the Peek seems to be pretty well built for its price range but I do want to point out some possible issues a user may face.
The biggest concern is the rubber on the front of the Peek. The corners feel as if they could easily start to come up and eventually get caught in your pocket and rip off. This may take some time to do but I can almost guarantee you it will happen down the road. I'm not sure why they chose to go with the rubber front. I could understand possibly just the keyboard section but not the entire front.
The feel of the device is slim and comfortable to use. If you have ever used an older Blackberry you will easily be able to move around on the Peek. The scroll is a bit slow but very usable. To select items you need to press the scroll in which is a bit hard to push. I'm hoping that by using the device daily the click will become much softer feeling. In its current state it actually leaves imprints of the wheel on your finger tip.
The selling point of almost any full QWERTY device is the keyboard. I'm sad to say that this is not one of the better keyboards I have worked with. To test the keyboard I sent 10 emails, 4 sentences or longer, along with a couple of text messages (more on this in a bit). If I had to use one word to describe the keyboard that word would be tiring. After typing those emails I found my fingers very tired. This is mainly because you have to press too hard on these rubber keys to get feedback. The worst key out of all of them is the space bar. It feels as if it is actually two buttons wrapped in one piece of rubber emulating a single wider button. If you press in the middle of this wider button more often than not you will get no response. If you are a quick typist on mobile devices with full QWERTY I think you will find your speed drastically slower on this device. For their market I don't think this will be huge problem. For people that are spoiled and used to Blackberry and possible the N810 you will find typing on this device very tedious.
To prove my point I handed the Peek to my wife whom could care less about mobile devices. I asked her to type up an email and send it. After a couple of minutes I asked her how she liked the feel of the device. Her first words were, "It was hard to press the keys". I think this says it all about the keyboard.
If you can get over the flaws with the keyboard the user interface is actually pretty good. You may find yourself asking can it do this and can it do that? More than likely the answer will always be no. The point being this device does exactly what it says it does. It sends and receives email in a timely manner. If you are a person that must know the instant an email touches your server then this device is not for you. For those of you, like me, that have learned you don't have to answer emails the second they come in it works perfectly. I was able to send and receive emails with ease after a painless setup. If you have your own domain hosted you will have to give the friendly folks at Peek a call. My experience with support was outstanding. That alone is worth staying with this startup in this day and age. Has anybody ever tried to resolve something with Sprint? Wow.
Let us move on to text messages. This is an area that I felt was a bit cumbersome and barely works. I was able to send and receive txt messages from my peek to my cell phone but actually using the feature was a pain. How many of you actually type in the full phone number of everybody you are texting each time? The trick is to send the text and then modify the contact that is automatically added to your contacts. Change the email address as the fully qualified messaging service. For example 15555555@txt.att.net. Either way it’s too difficult for something this easy.
Regardless of what seems like a pretty harsh review of the Peek I would recommend it to a friend that needs a very simple device to send and receive emails. While the texting needs a lot of work I feel that this will come as the device matures. The biggest thing is the keyboard. Please oh please upgrade the keyboard on these devices.
Pics and video will come soon.
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