Layman’s Take on Nokia 500–Why to buy and why not to? The review

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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 …

Continue reading “Layman’s Take on Nokia 500–Why to buy and why not to? The review”

Layman’s Take on Gravity 2.0, the first preview–A new era begins

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This was something that we all been waiting since a while, the second inning of the superstar, who never ceases to amaze you. Yes! Gravity 2.0 first preview is finally open for public now.

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This time, I been a little late in grabbing the beta as must have been in the way back to home from office, but once grabbed it, it was not easy to sit and type a review that soon as I was used to do in past. Reason: the experience with this version was so mesmerizing to pull you into it that it was hard to keep yourself distracted into anything else. Specially the facebook section kept me into it for around an hour. Hats off @Janole … I was waiting for shout it again.. since long…

So, let’s see what’s changed with the new version (phew!! it’s a long list and many under the hood changes)

Continue reading “Layman’s Take on Gravity 2.0, the first preview–A new era begins”

Layman’s Take Unboxing 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.

Layman’s take on Nokia X7-00-Definitely fancy looks but …

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It should come as an odd to people who know me as the review coming a “little bit” late than usual. I am finishing off the post, when the review unit has gone back. But credit of the same goes to kind of maniac office life. I hope I will be forgiven for the same.

After Nokia E6, I was definitely looking for Nokia X7-00 desperately for the two reasons, first was obviously Symbian Anna on a full touch device and second was the 4" screen that I enjoyed a lot with Nokia E7-00 in a bit thicker format.. and finally Womworld guys heard me. Paul must have got bored reading thanks from my side to him, but I still wanna say… thanks … thanks again mate 😉

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So, How Nokia X7 is? Is it really worth it? Without wasting more time, let’s start the Layman’s take.

Continue reading “Layman’s take on Nokia X7-00-Definitely fancy looks but …”

Symbian Belle gets official, brings Nokia 600,700, 701 – Layman’s Take

Finally the day came, August 24, 2011.

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Nokia Facebook page was a hot topic among Nokia Fans and bloggers since some days due to a mysterious message on their page with a countdown heading towards today. It didn’t stayed long enough as a mystery among Nokia fans due to some goof-ups (?) from Nokia side itself, when they accidently leaked the name "Belle".

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Even though I am rarely blogging nowadays due to office things, but like always I been active on twitter @nkumar_ and like others I was also wondering about the message "This time it’s personal" and even sent a "funny" tweet as well. Though I am yet to figure about the exact motives behind the tagline, Google sent me to this link that was written by Chief Scientist, Accenture long back in 2009. Not sure, but was it first sign of Accenture’s involvement in Symbian?

Anyway, the news is bigger than these small speculations… it is about Announcement of three super cheap smartphones equipped with well awaited Symbian Belle (Yes! you are reading it right.. Symbian Belle, I know even Symbian Anna roll out not finished yet). So let’s talk about the new joinees first.

Continue reading “Symbian Belle gets official, brings Nokia 600,700, 701 – Layman’s Take”

Nokia N8\E7\C7\C6-01 finally got Symbian Anna, Next Monday will bring more for N8

Update: As many of you might be reading from comments and twitter, yes! Symbian Anna is now available via OTA, via Ovi Suit and via Nokia Software Updater and its available not only for Nokia N8 but for Nokia E7, Nokia C7 and Nokia C6-01 as well.

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In addition, @phoneDaz from Nokia has confirmed that Symbian Anna update on Nokia N8 will follow one more update within few days (upcoming monday, August 22, 2011) to bring Continuous Auto Focus and 30 fps video.

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So, you may be assured that Nokia is not only meant to keep Nokia N8 on top of imaging devices but also will to stay on it. Wait till Monday and keep an eye over Nokia Conversation blog.


It was April 12, 2011, when I wrote that Sorry Friends, I am not covering Symbian PR2.0 as of now, then it was a matter of laugh for some of the people as my blog was getting top attention about the PR2.0 as I was one of those first people who posted that its not coming before Summer.

But more than blog hits, it was an annoying experience for me as well and was useless to point the delay in every next post, so I decided to put a full stop over Symbian PR2.0 a.k.a. Symbian Anna now and today I am happy that I kept my promise.

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Yes! today, when I am here to write a post about Symbian Anna then it means that Symbian Anna is finally here for Nokia N8 and its NOT a leaked firmware only but an official one. I am still calling it an official one even if its not available via OTA or Ovi Suit which are official methods because it has arrived via Nokia Care Suit as well (Nokia Care Suit is the software that Nokia Care Center Guys use to flash Nokia Phones, an amazing piece of software).

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Though I could have used the Navifirm files as well (available for Indian Users as of now), but I preferred to go via Nokia Care Suit, only to find later on that it could have worked without downloading again, if I have placed the firmware files at %Program Files%\Common Files\Nokia\DataPackage\Products


Anyway, for the people, who are not aware about Nokia Care Suit and scared that it might brick their phone, I would like to say that its been a pretty stable method for me so far and reliable as it downloads official and final firmwares only rather the half baked or beta one.

Still it will be at your risk, if you wanna try it right now like me. Though I have already covered Symbian Anna in details with my Nokia Oro post, but will keep on updating this post, if I find some differences.

Till then, enjoy as the long long long wait is over.

Layman’s take on Nokia Oro-The royal wedding of Oro with Anna

It’s been long since I got the the almighty, Nokia Oro and I know all of you have been very patient and waiting for Layman’s Take on the Nokia Oro. It’s just been the life and health that kept me away from the blogging for a while, but I’m back to this world now.

July 01, 2011.. It was a crazy night for me! The same night, when I was going to my hometown in the train to spend some well earned holidays, the journey during which twitter was my only companion to entertain me, happened to be one of  the most memorable journeys so far.

First a tweet from Nokia caught me by full surprise and while I was already overwhelmed by the same, the next hour came up with something that I’d really never imagined.

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Thank God I was not a heart patient otherwise God knows what could have happened in that train. I mean, I might have been close to winning something in past, but never really made it for a phone and when the prize is a Nokia Oro ….. You can guess that what I would have said at that moment…

Sorry co-passengers, shut the fuck up, I won  a Nokia oro #18k

Though many of you might already be aware about the Nokia Oro, let me tell you that Oro means Gold in Italian and Spanish. And when we talk about Nokia Oro, then we are talking about the real 18 carat Gold.

Yes! Yes! Yes! The phone and the Bluetooth Nokia J headset, provided in the package are both made of real 18 carat gold plating. Not only that, but the back is smooth and made of the finest bridge of Weir leather and the home key is made of sapphire crystal. Both of the materials are timeless and very durable.

Continue reading “Layman’s take on Nokia Oro-The royal wedding of Oro with Anna”