MobileDan’s Weblog

Ok, A lot has happened in the… 7 and a half months since my last post!

A few things I would like to talk about…

The Nokia N97 Mini, tried and true, been through a lot with this device, Putting it simply, it ROCKS!

Ovi Maps!  Free, and AMAZING!

Apps I’ve been using and cannot live without!

So, I purchased an N97 Mini for my brother, to replace his worn out N78…

I couldn’t afford it, but he was paying me back… He changed his mind… Leaving me stuck with it… I had a phone, and like I said, couldn’t afford a new device… I tried to sell it on facebook and through twitter, but no luck…

The night before my Gf and I were flying to Wales for 12 days… I needed this phone… so, I cracked…

First thing, the camera was my main reason for needing it… the second, Ovi maps is just amazing on it!

I went over to Wales in January with my Gf, and used another N97 and swear, I would have been lost without it.

Again, her father put me on the car insurance, and all was great, aside from getting used to driving on the wrong side of the road (we in the states, and elsewhere in Europe drive on the right… the other side being the wrong… ) Took no time at all, I LOVE the roundabouts!  So much better!

I put about 300 miles on the first trip, and i would have to say about 800 miles this second trip.

Each time I would set up the address and let it do it’s thing… I kinda liked the surfer dude voice, but it started to get on me.

Important things for an American driver to know, driving in the UK; Speed cameras!  Ovi maps helped me to know where they were, what the speed limit was wherever I was, and when I was speeding (which was pretty frequent…)

Then, Ovi released Own Voice, which I haven’t used yet, but would let all of the 54 voice memos (turn left, turn right… etc… ) be in a voice that you record…

I really would have been lost without Ovi Maps… literally! I used to use Google maps for everything, but it didn’t have turn by turn… I just set the location, put it on the dashboard and drive!

If you haven’t tried this FREE app yet, What are you waiting for???

WomworldNokia just completed a really cool campaign for #NokiaNav Check out some highlights here!

Apps:

These are some of the main “cannot live without apps” I have been using…

Gravity

I purchased Gravity for this device, I loved gravity before, but now… I can check in to foursquare, facebook AND keep up with Twitter!  Amazing job on this need to have app!  I NEVER purchase apps, this is the exception! Do yourself a favor, GET THIS APP!

IM and Skype

Palringo is on the phone, but has been phased out by Nimbuzz… mostly for the twitter functionality…

Joikuspot I used so that I could be a WiFi hotspot for my Gf who was roaming with her iPhone.

The new Sportstracker app is much nicer to look at, and seems to run a lot smoother!

Nokia Bots has been an interesting app as well, I suggest you check that one out!

I will be returing to blogging as much as I can, and would love to hear your imput!

I am also debating getting an android phone, thinking the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10… any thoughts on that as well?

Ttfn,

MD

It’s been a bit since my last post…

I’ve been slacking…

Sorry!

Ok, in a nutshell…  in about May I received a Nokia 5800 Xpress Music… I’ve already posted about that here, but in the following months (it’s all actually been a blur) I received a N79… it was pretty nice, but like i said in my last post, I cannot go back to buttons… Maybe I am broken?

It’s actually a shame, because I really wanted to like that phone, but have found that I am completely touch screen from here on out…

Unless the N86 can win me over…

Enter the N97!

I was asked to go with the Wom World / Nokia 24/7 tour with such bloggers as

Matthew Bennett

Jonny Bruha

George Kelly

Andrew Currie

What an experience!  the task was to pretty much go 24/7 using nothing BUT the N97, its GPS, the amazing 5mp Carl Zeiss optics camera, the comfortable slide out (or pop out whichever you prefer calling it) keyboard. 32GIG! of installed memory with the option to upgrade another 16 gig Micro SD card, the home screen with the widgets which made using the phone’s features that much easier because they were all accessable from the home screen… ie. the facebook app, the weather app, up to 8 contacts on shortcut, up to 8 apps on shortcut…  all around, I fell in love with the device…

But, what was more exciting than that…

I was tasked to be the ‘wrangler’ of the above mentioned bloggers, or “voices” as they put their devices through rough and tough trials!

For those readers who didn’t happen to follow the Nokia N97 24/7 campaign, we all met in LA, traveled to SF then off to Chicago and finally ending in NYC! They were tasked to push the device to it’s fullest, we used public transportation, hiked around town, and to most of the touristy places, seeing and doing as much as we could do… all said and done, the 5 of us generated about 20 Gigabites of content!

All in the course of 2 weeks…

We drove up the Pacific Highway and had amazing conversations, we attended BarCamps in all of the cities we visited. and discussed amongst other things, where we see the future of mobile technology (usually at the expense of me being called a mobile addict, always having my eyes on my phone… (i’ve gotten better about texting and surffing while I drive guys! Which is a serious safety concern throught the world, and really isn’t worth the risks taken!)  )

It was a great experience, and I look forward to many more!  Please take the time to visit the above bloggers’ websites as well as My new employer’s website, 1000heads / WomWorld/Nokia

That’s right!  Welcomed to the UK by 1000Heads, who run WomWorld/Nokia, I am the new Voices Executive for the US!

I am writing this post, from a bus (with Wi-Fi!) from Oxford UK to Heathrow Airport, returning from my 1 week of training here at both the Milton & London offices!

I am excited to see that there are going to be exciting changes and improvements in the US market for WOM World/ Nokia and that I can be a part of it!

Expect a lot of more postings regarding this, although I am wondering if I should post this to my personal site instead… and keep the format and information found on mobiledan as it was… (with more updates of course )

With that, I end this posting, but look forward to hearing your thoughts and ideas!

Daniel Silvers

MobileDan

dandandan

As a part of my trial of the N96, I was trialing  NokiaviNe, I was also asked to do a mobi-documentary… a sort of “Day in the life of”

I have seen some other documentaries and chose to do mine a bit different.  I’m not up for video editing just yet… so bear with me

Using the N96 for music and as a camera, NokiaviNe for tracking and choosing one not so crazy day to track, I set out to document a part of my day.  Due to the nature of my current work, I cannot film inside clients houses’ so I more or less did updates to and from the job.

One of the things I like about “viNe” is that you can see the icon for music, photos and/or video and then click on that icon to see it via your browser.

As of now, I cannot search for my “viNes” or myself by username, so I have to zoom in on my area and find the specific “viNe’s” that I want to show for this post…NokiaviNe is still working on ways to be able to link to “viNes” so I am going to include screenshots of the NokiaviNe website.

Back to the task at hand, “A day in the life… Gosh I get sidetracked easily!

Zooming in on the Westchester County New York area I can see that I’ve posted a bunch! And that there are others around me also posting a lot as well!.

My day in my life viNe

Zooming in further I can pick out some of the videos that I posted, and can even view them on the page!

This video shows how I take the above picture…

Here are the rest of the videos I posted…eNjoy!

Driving though Westchester in morning traffic…

Finally with my boss, letting him do the driving…

Entering the city, Harlem River Drive, driving under I95 and the extention for the George Washington Bridge…

CrAzY  cAbBiEs!

Going to get eqiptment from the truck, and a blended video,

The last video kind of bleneded together, weird, I didn’t edit them, it just kind of worked out that way…

Hope you enjoyed this, I will next try to learn video editing whenever I get a chance!

Take care, and thanks for visiting!

So, I’ve been playing with the new N96-3 NAM for a little over 2 weeks now, and I have been noticing a lot of things that I really like.

First off, the shell is beautiful, an improvement on the N95-2/4 which I don’t think was so necessary, but is still very nice… rounded and less clunky.

The TV out is beautiful, not only have I used it on a huge 60″ TV but, also as a passenger in my boss’ car. My job in the mornings is to navigate traffic, so on our way into the city, I use the video input on his 6″ touch screen car stereo, this lets us both see live traffic (or as live as Google maps updates…) so that we can take the appropriate actions for other routes to clients’ houses.

Another improvement is storage, 16gig is a definite improvement from 8gig any day of the week, but with the option to utilize the expandable SD Micro card slot, that brings the total to a whooping 24gig! Way to go guys!

The screen seems clear as day, I really liked viewing videos and such, even with “power saving mode” activated which tended to dim things.

The camera takes amazing photos, but I cannot readily compare them to any of the other 5MP Carl Zeiss camera photos I’ve shot, but they still look great.

Music player / media button. while I really liked the placement of the old media key, I think that it’s proper placement on the front is really smart, but I fear that people with bigger fingers would have a bit of a problem, this was not the case for me though, even while driving…

Speakers, even with the 3.5mm out, on the top which let me use it easier while driving, the speakers by themselves sounded crisp and clear with most of my music, I did however have to tweak the audio and Eq for loudness and such.

All in all I think the hardware for the N96 is spectacular, I liked it a lot…

But remember, there are a lot of negatives and most of them revolve around the Firmware…

First off was the noticeable battery. the N96 comes with the BL-5F battery which is a 950mAh battery while the N78 that I have been borrowing from Jonathan Greene comes with the BL-6F battery which is a 1200mAh battery.  That left a big humph as I sighed and placed it in the device…  The usage out of the smaller battery was noticeable, especially when trying to power this much bigger device.  When I used the BL-6F battery, which I read about on The Symbian Blog I managed to get a bit more out of it, but, as I’m always out and about, I’m using either Sports Tracker and or NokiaviNe which is constantly using both the Internet and the GPS.  I am also using Fring for instant messaging and Jaiku as well as running Nokia Email.  I think that with everything that I am running, and others might be running more or less, a decision to keep the battery smaller is unacceptable, I wouldn’t dare leave the house without my AC-5U travel charger.  = FAIL

Creaky keys… I get a lot of creaky noises, while I wouldn’t award this a FAIL it’s kinda loud when I’m trying to type on it and someone else is trying to watch TV or something…

Freezing…  This is the bane of my frustration… I have been using this phone for 18 days, for a total of data sent and received being 130MB and total talk time of over 12 hours… I don’t know if this constitutes “power user” but I think i expect more out of my devices then most others!  I use different apps at different times, and I have a few that I like to run all the time… take Jaiku, Fring, and Nokia Email for instance… they are running all day long… There was a noticeable “lag” from hitting keys to getting a response, but I dealt with it… Once I decide to  open something like SportsTracker, I open the program, start tracking my trip and I go to look at the phone, and it’s restarted… so, my whole “workout” or “vine” when I’m using NokiaviNe is lost, ruined, and thus, not complete!  ARGH!!!  FAIL FAIL FAIL

“Activate Power Saving”? WTF?  This is a no no… does anyone pick up their phone in the morning and say, gosh, i want it to run full power and be dead in no time? FAIL!  It should be able to handle anything that users throw at it, with whatever power source it was designed to carry… and it should of course be able to at least last more then half the day…

Buttons 1, 2 and 3 please stand up… You’re fired!  Why do you think that hiding up so damn far is a good idea? I’m not a big guy, by any stretch of the imagination.  My hands aren’t huge and neither are my thumbs, but i still have problems with those damn keys… who texts with their pinkies? FAIL!

Battery cover, you FAIL… You can’t take a slip from my ottoman, 8″ up without losing your insides? Humpty Dumpty looks like a rubber ball compared to you!

Did I mention the s….l…o…w…  L…a…g…? FAIL!

I want to love this phone, I really do, but for now I’d advice people that get frustrated easily to go and purchase an N95-4 NAM

I think that most of the problems can and will be addressed in upcoming FW updates, I was using 11.018 for the N96-3 NAM

Freezing and lag time, one would hope would be addressed in newer firmware updates… As well as the power saving… make that in a FW that it’s ALWAYS in Power Saving Mode… don’t give the option as power saving, default to regular and offer something like battery waste mode as an option, but don’t default to power hog!

How I would suggest fixing some of the non FW issues would be recalling the BA-5F battery or, offer a coupon for users to upgrade to the BL-6F AND Make a back plate that can accommodate it, without falling off as easily as it does with the proper battery in it!

Creaky keys, we have to live with it, but it should be addressed… as well as 1, 2 and 3…

I think as a flagship, it would be nice for the Xenon flash,  but just typing that out made the back of my neck tighten thinking of the battery issue…

I know that this device will get better, it will take a little bit of time, but once it does it’ll be nice to see this phone in all it’s glory… but oh, wait… there is already going to be a lot of hoopla about the N-97 I just hope it doesn’t get thrown by the wayside… Nokia needs to stay strong with NON TOUCH SCREENS as well!

As you’ve read, I received a Nokia N96 from WOM World / Nokia, I’ve had it for 1 week so far, and am loving it.  I am part of a test group using Nokia’s new LBS (location based services) App, NokiaviNe which is in beta testing.  I was asked to contribute content and feedback on this new and exciting mobile app which uses the phones GPS to track your mobile entertainment content (photos, videos and music listened to), and where and when you make use of such material.  As my ongoing review of the N96 continues, I will bring you more details regarding the actual device… But for now, let me focus on the NokiaviNe application and it’s accompanying web site…

Due to embedding problems, please click the picture to be taken to the video by Nokia which will help to explain it.

As of now, the NokiaviNe Website is not functioning properly, I hope that this due to them adding new features, but we’ll see.  For now, peoples’ “vines” are being uploaded to the Nokia Sports Tracker website, and labeled “My viNe” with the corresponding date and time following that…

When I first heard of NokiaviNe, it reminded me a lot of Sports Tracker which is another LBS application and web site designed by Nokia Beta Labs to be used for tracking exercise and comparing your “stats” to your friends… They are both very similar, but make use of different tracking information.

Nokia Sports Tracker Website.

When I first tried Sports Tracker, I immediately loved it!  I drive frequently and wanted to use it to track my day.  It reminded me of the early works of Stavros’ “Position Art”

Just a snippit of one of his works, dedicated to his neighbor.

Eventually, the Sports Tracker application was upgraded and let the user upload photos to their “workout” as long as it was taken while “tracking” and was taken of course, taken on that mobile device .  I first noticed the addition of photos on my October 28th Workout I am still waiting for music that I listened to to appear on Sports Tracker.  As of now, music that I listen to, while “tracking”, shows up on the device, giving hope of seeing it implemented soon, but right now, is not synced to the Sports Tracker Server… This was something that when I first noticed brought to the device app, I didn’t think would take long to also bring into the web based form.  It seems that the Sports Tracker platform is nearing it’s end, as nothing new has been going on with it, but I can, and hope that I am wrong!

This brings me to actual screenshots of “My viNe” and My “Workout” both from the Sports Tracker website, both tracked at the same time… They both don’t show my music listened to, but the Mobile app below them both does… Funny isn’t it?  I think not…

One of my "workouts" from Sports Tracker.

One of "My viNe's" from Sports Tracker.

Screenshots of the N96, notice the last 2 on the bottom row...

Noticing the last 2 screenshots…  I’ll enlarge them… The left one is showing my music listened to on the device, also giving the location, and the right is an actual cropping of the above NokiaviNe / Sports Tracker map cropped to compare.  as you can see. music is not included… We’ll see once the NokiaviNe site comes back up…

Close up of the above...

I think and hope that maybe NokiaviNe is going to pick up where my use of Sports Tracker is leaving off… adding my user generated content (photos and videos) as well as tracking listening habits.  As of now though, the “vines” I have added do not share music listened to either. I wish that maybe Sports Tracker would keep the tracking function, and share all of the new and interesting things that NokiaviNe is adding, I’d much rather track my speed, and have the function of tracking my music listening secondary, but that might just me me.  There’s always last.fm and the S60 Mobbler… But some people couldn’t be bothered with all the information that Sports Tracker offers.

Going through my stats on my Sports Tracker profile, I see that as of this writing, I

I thoroughly enjoy Sports Tracker, but can see where NokiaviNe is headed, and how I can use it in my daily life.  We’ll see how it turns out.  The nice thing is that I can install them both…

What do you think?

Hello again, I’ve been keeping up with adding content to my site, and just in time!

The friendly gang at WOM World/Nokia have sent me yet another device to put through the paces…  It’s the New Nokia N96-3! for US3G!

It's a new N96!

Opening the box, I found, of course, a beautiful device, neatly framed in it’s all black package.

Would ya look at that!

Upon lifting the cover I read Nokia’s “we recycle” statement.

we:recycle

I never thought of it before, (I hope this doesn’t make me a bad person) but, acording to Nokia, Up to 80% of your old phone can have a second life… They go on to state that there are over 1 Billion Nokia users, and how we can all make a difference… Please check this Nokia website to locate a take back program in your country! Also, they urge the consumer to recycle the entire package as well! All of the plastic bags that I saw in the package wrapping the wires and whatnot all have the easily recognisable recycle triangles on them!

Please Recycle!

Peeling open the upper cover, I noticed the device flanked by a set of HS-45 ear buds on one side and the media controller on the other side… This is the layer of what you need on the go to listen to your tunes which can be stored in the 16 Gb of internal memory or or on your own Micro SD card, up to 8Gb!

Opening the package...

On the lower level you find the CA 75U A/Vconnector, for connecting the N96 to a TV to take full ability of the 40 hours of movies and video you can store on the device!(or on your Micro SD card ) Also below is the CA-101 Micro USB connector used to connect the device to your computer to take advantage of the different suites Nokia has to offer, for backup and data transfering. 

Ummm... Cables...

Also in the bottom of the box is the paperwork.  While looking through the paperwork I noticed the all usual documentation, warantee information, the getting started introduction manual, a disk with information on the new device, and the user guide.

Included paperwork

I couldn’t help but be surprised at how much smaller the user guide was compared to any other previous device that I remember. It seemed to be shorter in it’s wording, more direct and to the point, saving words, saving paper saving trees… And, also saving the reader from boredom!  I even saw instructions on using widgets, tiny web based applications

N96 on the left, N73 on the right

Last but not least, included in the paperwork, there were 2 last items that really caught my attention… Well…  Actually there were three…

The first is a guide to Ovi.com, describing Maps, N-Gage, and Multimedia and how to access these features on the device.  I’ve recently started using Ovi.com as well as the Ovi suite instead of just using PC Suite by itself.  I have grown to like the way that it handles, and look forward to more features being rolled out

The second pampllet was a more straight forward instruction guide telling the reader to “Get Out And Play”. Explaining how to access N-Gage and start playing!

The third item hidden under the paperwork was a DC-4 mobile charger for the device.  

Mobile charger for MobileDan...

I’d like to think that this was something that they folks at WOM World put in there especially for me… You know, Cause I’m MobileDan and all… 

Expect more on my review of the N96-3 in the near future…

The ups AND the downs that I’ve experienced in the last 2 days…

It could be pretty, or it could get nasty…  So keep your eyes peeled here to find out!

So… I’ve managed to make it this far without ever using a Qwerty device… Sure I’ve held a blackberry and moved the Nav-Ball around, but nothing on the menu caught my attention…

So… the Nokia E-71 comes out in a European and a NAM edition… And everyone everywhere is talking about how wonderful this phone is…

Everyone seems to now own one, AND LOVE IT… Every other post on Jaiku has been E-71 this… or E-71 that…

I HAD TO GET ONE!

I had to at least try one…

The price seems too good to be true… Rumors going around on Jaiku of $399 on Buy.com

I’ve been going to NYC a bit lately, but mostly staying up north of Harlem, and getting a good parking spot on 57th for the Flagship Store is near impossible…

WOM World/Nokia to the rescue!

I am not going to bore you with crappy pictures or video taken with my N73, of me, unboxing anything if I can help it… You’ve seen the E71 online or in person… you’ve seen enough unboxings…

It’s a box…

It holds something,

usually what is depected on the outside of the box…

What you do next is up to you…

You come to a box, you open the box… There’s something inside, do you:

a. Close the box?

b. Drop the box?

c. Eat the contents?

d. Take the phone out and insert the battery and plug it into the wall.

Ok…

yada yada, sync from my phone… pause… switch sim’s… turn on and go…

go to google.com get mail, maps, and search…

(Search is another issue… every time I attempt to open search, i get a freeze, then a restart…I’ll talk more about that Later…)

palringo is necessary, as is jaiku… So I download both…

I am happy…

I tried out mobbler, just for a short bit… Seems cool… I’m happy!

i will play more when not so exhausted!

So my main concerns, getting used to the qwerty keyboard…

Seems ok thus far…I’ve got typing down…

Innitial thoughts on looks: Sexy, slim, like really really slim…makes the iPhone look fat!

nice sized screen, raised, rounded buttons, very easy to use D-Pad…

practicality: for me? none,

I am a T9 user… I like the qwerty, but I’m still T9, I just had to see what the fuss was… I can’t wait to show it off to my blackberry friends!

Headphone jack being 2.5mm… Not cool i don’t like using their headphones, but I’m forced to now… since the standard is 3.5mm

I don’t hate it, I’m just not converted on the first day… We’ll see…

but this is only day 1

I look forward to putting this phone through the paces… I’ve had one restart earlier when scrolling through my phone book, and 3after that trying to open Google Search… More to follow…