Nitish Kumar's Blog

It rarely happens that I write a Layman’s Take on a Symbian App, barring Gravity posts, but when I was checking out the latest fMobi version 2.5, then it certainly felt worth mentioning and we are here, reviewing fMobi 2.5 that is being called as the best Facebook client out there for Symbian.

While Official Nokia Social app been already a pain for Symbian users, more tragic was the absence of official apps from Twitter/Facebook like popular social services. Adding more insult to injury was the web browser part that never got a preferred treatment from these services despite of having Symbian in market leading position for a time. Part of the blame goes to tedious development with conventional C++ that was always a tough job for developers due to rapid changes across interfaces\features of social sites. With Qt though, Symbian got a sigh  of relief and out of many apps getting benefitted from it, one was our fMobi.

fMobi: First released on 05 July, 2011 (not sure of exact date), the Qt-Based Facebook client fMobi kept on growing its fan-base by each passing day due to plenty of features combined at one place with a smooth working UI (Thanks to Qt). You can understand the level of popularity by the fact that It didn’t took even three months, when it got acclaimed as best Facebook Client for Symbian by Nokia itself.

Its not that I didn’t noticed it then, but somehow it was features like shaky split screen input etc (not a fault of app itself but Qt version issues) that kept me away from embracing it fully rather than relying on some other apps, but this fighter app didn’t gave up and kept on luring me time to time with each update. And when I checked out the latest version 2.5, then I was like.. this is the right time, when the app deserves a mention like a Layman’s Take on fMobi.

What makes fMobi special and superior over other clients out there?

The keywords are innovation and consistency which makes fMobi always one step up ahead of the competition. fMobi chooses a different UI and mannerism than the official apps and yet delivers an experience that brings you best of Facebook activities. Being in latest Qt, its smoothness/animations in various actions, native split screen integration and its own way to notification will sure please any Symbian user.

it might not be free like some of the Facebook clients out there, but the way, this is being developed and being enhanced in each iteration, I couldn’t even compare it with any of the existing clients out there (when there is no real official Facebook client there and Nokia Social is kind of no challenge since always). A few things certainly worth the price (Just Rs. 50/-).

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Last November been a really eventful month for me (though apparently less eventful for my blog posts themselves) as after BlackBerry Touch 9860 and Nokia N9, Nokia Lumia 800 also joined in the list of review devices to me. But then Its not been only tough schedules but also the entirely new product experience that made me delay in posting my first impressions (though I always been vocal on my twitter account @nkumar_ in this while) like I did in case of big devices like Samsung Galaxy S or Nokia N9 in past.

It was necessary to get over with the excitements/ pre-judgments first before writing a Layman’s Take about it. So,… here I am. Back again after the longest period taken with any of other review device to me in past.

Since we heard of leaks about Nokia SeaRay, this handset (now known as Nokia Lumia 800) always been overshadowed by the adjective Nokia N9 look-a-like and that really been a lot injustice to this brilliant piece of design. Think if there was no Nokia N9 and Nokia would have came out with this iconic design as their first Windows Phone? Shouldn’t we judge this device in that way only?

Nokia: Symbian –> Windows phone

Since the Burning Platform Memo, there been a lot of debate around Nokia’s shift to Windows Phone. Like any heated discussion, there will always be some pros and cons of any move on such a big scale, but the thing is, we should accept the reality now that Nokia is a business company and they are here for business. When a new CEO got hired and was expected to do a turn-around (with probably not that many easy options around as many of us might have thought in early emotions of #Feb11), then considering the reputation of in-house software in eyes of major operators, we can see a point here in choosing Windows Phone as viable alternative.

Many called Stephen Elop a Trojan Horse since his joining as Nokia CEO in October 2010 and speculations around his shares in Microsoft kept on fueling the doubts until he sold those shares and bought Nokia’s shares. But in all those speculations, people missed one thing to notice. Even if he would have been a Trojan, even if he had plans of a Nokia-Microsoft deal since the beginning, was this really that easy to convince whole Nokia to go Microsoft way from day one? Making a Windows Phone from day one? Think practical. How much time Nokia Lumia 800 got in R&D labs? Not even an year.

Me and you may not understand that how hard it might have been, but ask the manufacturers and experts that how hard it is to actually deliver a product in market in this short span of time? Even if you write off the design as that of Nokia N9 plainly, it’s a totally different OS and related interfaces beneath and testing of components follow a standard process that is sure a time taking one.

You have to admit the remarkable work that is personified as Nokia Lumia 800 today, one totally distinct design standing apart from whole world of suing and counter-suing. When you think of situations around it then Its just not a design or just another phone, but its something even bigger than that.

Windows Phone and me

Believe it or not, its been the first ever Windows phone for me as I never had a brief hands on over Windows phone in past. So, what I am gonna write here, will be raw impressions for a first timer. I would be someone who is coming from a Nokia device background and being a Samsung Galaxy S owner, can weigh its pros & cons in comparison to other available alternative that is Android.

Its not only interesting for you, but its been interesting for me as well and so I decided to give it enough time before writing something about  it (After all, I been given a generous two months review period for the device). And now it would be one of the biggest text based walkthrough of Windows Phone Software till date.

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Update: The review unit is from @nokia_connects. There was some confusion as came via Nokia India

While many of the readers are yet to finish the giant Nokia N9 review that I posted few hours back, here comes the another big news. Nokia Lumia 800 has just been delivered at Layman’s Take.

While you might be wondering about the first Bluedart bag in place of usual DHL package then let me give you another surprise. This is the first review unit to me from Nokia India itself (in co-ordination with Nokia Connects obviously) and to add into the excitement of the latest device, let me tell you that it will remain with me for next two months.

Not to forget, as per my wish, Nokia decided to treat me with the Black Model. So… now its time to shot a big YAHOOOOOO … oops! big BINGGGG as @modibimal says

Its been enough long since I didn’t came back  about the much awaited Nokia N9 post, the Layman’s Take on Nokia N9, but I wanted to assure you that I wasn’t lost and was exploring the beauty from the most critical angles, so that you can get a view beyond the praises, beyond the technicalities… beyond the background stories … beyond Meego’s Future etc.. just a practical and real life plain view about the device and here I am .. back again..

What will you do if …

• You know that you are among least wanted out there …
• You know that nothing matters now, no matter how hard you try …
• You know that this is actually the last life you are going to live out there …
• If you have to face the world out there alone as even your own people will back off from you …

Yes! this been exactly the thing with Nokia N9, when it was waiting for its turn to come out in lights.

Odds from whole universe been tiding their hands against this lonely warrior. Big tech blogs were habitual of discarding anything from praises, if a name Nokia attached with it. Think of the adrenal in your veins when you know that people are ready to discard you even before giving you a tiny chance, leave the talk of a fair chance, think of the thoughts going on inside, when you know that even your company don’t want to launch you all over the world and just want to pass it on?

Do you know, what Nokia N9 did?

It did something that only heros do, like Beethoven did, with composing legendary music even when he went medically deaf. Nokia N9 stood tall in front of all the odds and turned around the things single handedly.

Its been long since when we heard literally hundred percent reviews about a Nokia filled with adjectives only and when it happens then if it tempting you to know about it “more and more” then you are perfectly sane. After all, when people like Gizmodo, who even refused to review Nokia N8 (still the best Nokia phone for me till date), feel tempted about it, then why should you hide your lust for it?

I had every reason to  literally beg for this gadget pornography and thank to kind people at Nokia, I wasn’t denied like always.

But who was I?

The one who started his mobile blogging with almighty Nokia N900 and still dreams about that “old” resistive device only, I was obviously not surprised by the praises coming in the way of Nokia N9, knowing that it was successor to Nokia N900 itself with removal of most of its shortcomings (not all).

I was obviously not starting afresh here. I had my own expectations, coming from Nokia N900 and Nokia N8 combined, let’s see what I felt about the device, but I should warn you that once you click the Read More link, you are into a post that is as big as around 11000+ words, more than double larger that any other review I posted till date..

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Finally it is the time to end the suspense and to reveal what I been holding since last few days. Yes! The One is here. The one you waited to hear about from me, the one, over which I was dying to get my hands on. And finally thanks to Tom and Paul, it is here. King of kings, Nokia N9.

Its been 323 days back from here, when I requested the Santa to bring a Nokia N900 for me and while I thought he missed my plea back then in flood of pleas from others, I can hear that he didn’t missed me, but thought to greet me with something even bigger than that. Something that might have removed all the shortcomings of Nokia N900 I once cribbed about and bring this much more than for counting even my fingers could fell short.

It is a dream come true.

I know you wanna hear all about it, I know you wanna see all what you haven’t seen.. in next coming days, I will try that I wont disappoint you all. Now let me go back to the dreamland again.

So, while you have seen that how Nokia 500 looks like and what’s the content inside via the unboxing video, its time to do a recap and then back to usual Layman’s take.

Like I said in last post, low price phones like Nokia C5, Nokia E5, Nokia 5800, Nokia 5233, Nokia 7230 etc always had a special place for me and I gave them a due whenever got a chance, so when you hear about a phone with 1GHz processor under 10k, then its kind of natural to get excited about it. Nokia 500 been the first of 1GHz Symbian Smartphone lineup from Nokia and while its obviously not going to be make big buzz on big tech sites you read, this is sure something that mean business in Asian countries.

Nokia 500: The naming scheme

It’s been a lot of confusing lately with names like C6-00, C6-01, X2-00, X2-03 etc… but finally Nokia taken the suggestions and went back to the old naming conventions like we knew Nokia sometimes back in era or Nokia 1100, 6600 etc…

Pure numeric names for the consumer models and special names for the flagships.

Sure the convention here actually has some different meaning than this, but that’s the way normal consumer may understand it better. So, a good news to see the names like Nokia 500, 600, 700, 701 etc.

I am not sure that many would remember that this is not the first Nokia 500 model. Yeah! it might come as a surprise to you that there was already a product named Nokia 500 Auto Navigation , which was a car navigation device with a 4.3” resistive touch screen with 480×272 pixels resolution supporting 65k colors. More interestingly, this device from 2008 had Samsung’s 400 Mhz CPU. Did you knew it?

While no reviewers seem to be pointing over this, but I find it a bit strange that why Nokia thought to make use of this name? Anyway, as that TomTom competitor is ancient now, so I don’t think anyone will bother when the name Nokia 500 sits tight with the names of other devices in the same range (Nokia 600, Nokia 700, Nokia 701).

Though still we heard of two more product in the old confusing naming, but we should say kudos to Nokia for listening their community and changing the naming scheme finally.

Let’s see what I seen and thought of Nokia 500 …

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It might feel odd for a few, but low price phones like Nokia C5, Nokia E5, Nokia 5800, Nokia 5233, Nokia 7230 etc always had a special place for me and I given them a due whenever got a chance. In past, there been many of the readers mails been of similar kind of questions that “what to choose if want to buy a phone under 10k-15k?”. So, it was obvious to be excited when I heard about a Nokia phone coming at a price less than 10k with 1GHz processor, 256 mb RAM and most importantly a capacitive screen. May be the same was the reason that Paul @WomworldNokia decided to give me one of the units for reviewing it and here it goes the unboxing video of the same..

I must admit that for many like me, Nokia 500 is an odd man out there due to no 3D Acceleration support and only Symbian Anna as an OS on it, but still if you think reasonably and think of the fact that what options were out there for people under 10k range and compare this 1GHz capacitive phone with earlier Nokia 5800, Nokia 5233, Nokia C6-00 etc, then you will know that why this is a welcome step.

Sure, one can’t help but get impressed that how Nokia managed to keep the premium feel in such a low price device as well. Remember the designs of Nokia 5800/5233 and just look at this… lovely for its price, isn’t it?

If you think that its just another Nokia/Symbian, about which we are hearing a lot of negative buzz in recent, then watch the video given below and think again, if you have seen it anywhere else and then remind yourself that it’s just a <10k device…

What you say?? Tell me on @nkumar_ or at nitish@nitishkumar.net that what more you wanna know about this.