Archive for April, 2008
N95 8GB NAM Has Arrived
Short and sweet: My N95 8GB NAM (N95-4) arrived two days ago, about two weeks ahead of the ship date that Dell gave me over the phone. Although I’ve played with it several times before, it still blew me away from the second I pulled it out of the box. This… is the handset I wanted to see when the N95 was first announced over a year ago. As much functionality as you can possibly squeeze out of S60 (for the time being) with a sexy and well-manufactured case to match. Stunning. The bigger screen is great, there are no wobbles or wiggles and it just feels fantastic. Worlds above my N95-3.
I’ll try to follow up with some additional thoughts soon, and maybe some live pics as well - as if you haven’t already seen thousands. I’m still in the process of moving all of my apps and data over, and what a painful process it is. To cripple this device by not including USB 2.0 support is crazy but that’s another post for another time. Seeing as the Euro 8GB just received a firmware update I imagine that one will be released for the NAM version right around the time I finish moving everything over…
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NFC Becomes a Reality
Nokia’s upcoming 6212 Classic handset was press-released yesterday and while the overall specs might not knock you out of your seat, the presence of Near Field Communication (NFC) couldn’t be more exciting. With a Q3 release, the 6212 won’t be the first NFC-equipped device but it will likely be the first to be widely marketed by a top company. What is NFC? The press release illustrates usage cases well:
Near Field Communication is designed for intuitive, simple and safe interaction between electronic devices. By tapping an NFC-enabled tag, consumers can receive new content such as weblinks, audio files or contact data directly to their phone. They can activate a profile in their handset or open applications such as FM radio or web browser. Photos and videos can be easily shared by tapping another NFC-capable phone and pairing with a Bluetooth NFC-enabled device, like the new NFC variant of the Nokia BH-210 headset, happens with just one touch.
Scrobble to Last.FM Using MobblerBeta
We mentioned Aspyplayer, the first S60 application to enable scrobbling to last.fm, although it was a very good application and is the instigator for MobblerBeta, it was created using Python, which isn’t ideal as it’s not the easiest application to install (or code for that matter) and personally it needed to be simpler.
Mobbler is a more accomplished application, it includes an easier to use UI and a very simple operational advantage of just sitting in the background doing it’s own stuff. A definite positive for me. I’ve been using it for a few hours now and can say it simply does what it says on the tin, nice! There are a few simple operational instructions which shouldn’t be too hard figure out anyway. For those looking to know more in depth of how it works and the functions of it all can visit the OtherInfo section to see how it scrobbles etc.
The application is Freeware and is compatible with all S60 3rd Edition handsets and can be downloaded from the Mobbler Page on Google Code. It is self signed so you can just install it if you disable the certificate checking on your handset. Obviously as this is a bet, your feedback is appreciated on any bugs you may encounter. Kindly post them in the Issues section. Enjoy scrobbling your music.
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Coming Soon: Nokia Conversations
I could not be more happy about this. A few weeks ago, a friend of mine told me about a project currently underway behind the scenes at Nokia that really sounded exciting. “We all know and love S60’s blogs,” he said. “What if Nokia had a similar site that touched upon all of the major areas relating to Nokia?”
Our conversation ended and since then I’ve heard nothing about the project - until last night. An email found its way into my inbox containing access information for a special preview of Nokia’s upcoming site: Nokia Conversations (link not yet live). I finally had some time to browse through it a few moments ago and thus far I’m very, very happy. Despite the fact that SiMo isn’t one of the blogs they follow (nor is maramine of course, it just launched!), the team behind Nokia Conversations has done a fantastic job putting this site together. Headed by the ever-popular Charlie Schick, Conversations is just what my friend said it would be; the S60 blogs of Nokia.
(Note: The “Continue Reading” format is something I will do for a short while as I better-determine where content separation should be between blogs. I will likely try to keep SiMo as focused as possible on Symbian (”Symbian in Motion”) and posts such as this will end up exclusively on maramine. Note that comments will be closed for these posts.)
A New Blog, an Overdue Link and Some Insight
Catching up, catching up… I’ve been oh so very busy lately as has Abul but we’re doing our very best to keep some good information flowing through SiMo. Of course SiMo is hardly the only thing that each of us works on these days. To say our schedules are full is an understatement.
On my end of things, I’ve been swamped. I won’t bore you with the details, but I will mention one thing: I’ve launched a new blog! What? Huh? He’s already down to three hours of sleep each night and he launched another blog? Ok, simmer down now - it’s just a tumblr blog. ;) My new blog will by personal sketch pad. It will reach well outside of SiMo and BGR into various areas and it will of course concentrate on technology, the internet and all that is mobile (I’m sure you’ll find Symbian / Nokia-related topics on there quite frequently). You’ll also find some fun stuff come through in my Qik feeds, etc. I’m unsure how often it will be updated but I’m hoping for at least a few times per week. Tumblr is a great platform for a personal blog like this as it is quite flexible for a free platform. So please, check it out and feel free to subscribe:
You’ll also find a new link to maramine in the sidebar just under the search box. The old link was to BGR but I think everyone knows I write there by now. Beneath the maramine link you’ll find another new link that should have gone up a loooooong time ago. Abul’s blog, Adonis Mobile, has been up for quite some time and covers a variety of content surrounding the mobile world. Adonis Mobile is quite popular in fact and if the feed is not currently in your reader of choice, I highly recommend that you add it.
Beyond everything else, Abul and I are both gearing up for a refresh at Mobile9. Currently ranked 254 by Alexa, Mobile9 sees over 29 million unique users per month who view an astounding 250 million pages per month. Needless to say there is tremendous amount of potential for this already successful site and as we continue to mold and refine our offering and focus, we couldn’t be more excited about the future.
So there you have it. Getting back on topic, 2008 is going to be a fantastic year to be a Nokia fan. Plenty of exciting things will be coming out of Finland this year; some we know about already and some we don’t. Here at SiMo, we’re going to do our best to keep up and bring you all of the information we can as soon as it becomes available to us. Stay tuned!
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