Tag: Nokia

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 …” →

Layman’s take on Symbian Belle-A big walkthrough

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Once I got hold on Symbian Belle on my Nokia N8 then it was kind of due to bring a Layman’s Take style big walkthrough of Symbian Belle. Though still one needs to understand that the firmware, I am using on my phone is a leaked and half baked one, so there might be major changes afterwards.

What is Symbian Belle?

The latest firmware update to Symbian^3 devices, Symbian Belle, is what Symbian^3 PR3.0 was supposed to be. A kind of rename for understanding of n00bs rather than confusing them with various version numbers. Its something that seems to be influenced from Android itself (Eclair, Froyo, Gingerbread, IceCream Sandwitch, Honeycomb ….).

Symbian Belle is the first Symbian^3 update that is supposed to bring major UI changes throughout the Symbian^3 lineup. It will change many Symbian UI paradigms and also the way, we know Symbian till now. A true modernization of Symbian without alienating existing user habits.

Is Symbian Belle the last stop for Symbian^3?

While developers and insiders were already aware of it, Nokia has confirmed officially that despite of the fact that Company is moving toward Windows Phones, Symbian Belle will not be the last update to Symbian platform.

We already seen glimpses of Symbian^4 back in Feb 2010, which though definitely feels outdated now, but still there been lots of references to Symbian^4 in Symbian bugzilla since then and so hard to deny the fact that Symbian^4 will be the next step.

Sure, it will have a new name like Anna or Belle and also there are no exact ideas that what features it’ll bring on board as many of the Symbian^4 changes are already being incorporated into Symbian Belle itself. But there is a big hope.

Now, let’s go through new features of Symbian Belle …

1. New Lock screen

We have seen some changes in the Lock Screen with Symbian Anna itself, when we got notifications on lock screen, but Symbian Belle takes it a step further. Not only there are cosmetic changes in Clock, which feels like 3D now, you see a glossy and colorful lock screen rather than old black one.

Scr000127Scr000116 Scr000119 Scr000126 

Yes! the standby screen will still stay black (first screenshot) without any mention of signals, battery, bluetooth, data connection etc, but that is totally understandable as queries all those values takes precious battery life that sure would have been unnecessary in standby.

Continue reading “Layman’s take on Symbian Belle-A big walkthrough” →

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

Finally the day came, August 24, 2011.

wall

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".

7pm

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” →

Promise delivered, Nokia N8 gets CAF\30 FPS and much more via Betalabs Update

As I wrote in last post that Monday will see one more update specifically for Nokia N8 Camera, the good news just got in. You can download the update from Nokia BetaLabs right now via the following link

http://betalabs.nokia.com/apps/camera-update

Beta Labs Update Still Capture Viewfinder Beta Labs Update Video Capture Viewfinder

But its just not the Continuous Auto-Focus (CAF) and 30 fps recording than earlier 25fps, but Damian and team have aimed for many other request and delivered about each. Like some of the highly requested features were as follows:

  • Ability to record video at closer distances (Macro Video Recording)
  • Smoother video of moving subjects or when panning
  • Faster access to scene modes, especially close-up mode
  • Exposure control in video
  • Viewfinder grid not effected by scene modes, camera exit/reopening
  • Smoother zoom
  • Settings accessed through one control point
  • Red-eye reduction performance improvements

And its good to hear that all of the requests are fulfilled and delivered by a new Camera App via Betalabs (1.64mb in size). You can find the details at the official blog post.

Beta Labs Update Still Capture Flash SettingsBeta Labs Update Video Capture Scenes

Beta Labs Update Video Capture with Grid ViewfinderBeta Labs Update Video Capture Settings    

Cheers.. and big thanks to @phonedaz

Note: Its applicable only after Symbian Anna update

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.

Nokiadeveloper

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” →

Thanks @Nokia, never imagined that I would be part of world’s biggest #FF ever

In last few years, we seen the internet world moving from IM/Chat rooms to blogs, then to social networks and finally micro-blogging world like twitter. We seen the rise and fall of many brands and also the growing fanboyism from loyalists toward them. We seen brands going for their audiences via print media, TV media, digital media and via words of mouth.

Lots of things got changed in these years and we seen lots of changes in the way, brands interact with their loyalists. But last Friday, July 01, 2011, something happened, something such big that no one would have ever imagined. At least, I never imagined anything like that will ever happen to me.

FF

Continue reading “Thanks @Nokia, never imagined that I would be part of world’s biggest #FF ever” →