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Posts tagged Nokia N97
Browser inside Evernote app
Mar 14th
Evernote is a popular note taking service and it has a symbian client which unfortunately has been in beta for months.
It works just ok, some of the features are missing but the basic stuff is there – you can make a new note, tag them, edit them, sync them etc.
Yesterday I clipped a webpage to read it later, and while I was reading it on evernote app, I clicked on one of the link and was surprised when it displayed the website right inside the app.
I was able to click on the links and go to other sites and even comment on blog posts. There is no address bar so you cannot go to website of your choice or go back or download stuff etc.
But the fact that you can surf a full blown website right inside the app is pretty impressive.
E72 : A peek into the box and the hardware
Mar 7th
I received Nokia E72 three days ago, thanks to WOMWorld Nokia. This is my first E series device so I’m very excited about using it. The first thing that stuck me was it’s very slim and sexy and it’s gonna turn heads. The cold metal back feels great in my hand. The light sensor in the front panel is very powerful and detects slight change in light and adjusts the screen brightness and QWERTY keypad backlighting.
The volume rockers and dedicated voice command key on right works very well. Voice command key is sunk lower than the volume controls so you are not going to press it accidental. MicroSD card slot and microUSB port are on the left side. On the top we have, as usual, power button and 3.5 mm audio jack. Power jack is at bottom left.
On back there are the speakers (very loud and clear), 5 Mpix camera – There is no cover for camera lens but it’s a tiny bit recessed so it won’t scratch easily. The camera works good according to my initial tests, more on this later. (and) steel battery cover which can also act as mirror. Although it is supposed to be fingerprint resistant mine was picking up fingerprints and smudges but they can be easily cleaned with a cloth. The 1500mAh BP-4L Li-Ion battery is a great performer, N97 also has the same battery and I can safely say that E72 will last for many days with a single charge.
The screen – Landscape 2.36" 16M-color display of QVGA resolution – is crisp and clear but a little small for surfing full blown desktop websites. A higher resolution would have been better. Anyway it has excellent sunlight legibility.
Keypad – This is the first time I’m using a QWERTY keypad and I love it. I’ve been replying to emails, tweeting, and chatting with my Gtalk buddies with absolute ease. One-touch keys makes everything faster, long pressing the one-touch key brings extra functions (I discovered it by accident ;p ) The breathing light looks very good and notifies missed calls and new messages. I am not very satisfied with the Navi key, it’s a little hard to use even in High sensitivity setting. But it works well while using camera. E72 doesn’t have a dedicated camera button, touching the Navi key activates the auto-focus and locks it and a full press captures the image.
In the Box – I know I should have written about the stuff in the box first but I was so excited at receiving the E72, I just played with the handset for few hours before looking into the box.
Let’s start with the box, the box is small and eco friendly, it has the standard charger, a leather case to protect your precious device, a cleaning cloth to wipe that smudges and fingerprints off the steel back, leaflets and manuals, leather lanyard, a good quality earphones and data cable.
I did not understand why data cable was this short, it is ok if I’m going to connect E72 with my laptop but what about when I connect it with my desktop? it’s going to hang like this.
For now I’m using my N97’s data cable to connect E72 to my desktop.
This was part one of my two part review of Nokia E72. In the next part I’ll review the software side of E72 and try to reach at a conclusion.
P.S. Watch out for the N97 vs E72 camera test.
Features/Changes we want to see in N97 V30
Mar 4th
Yesterday there was a post in the Nokia Facebook page about firmware V30 for N97. At present there is no information but according to them V30 is going to rock, and it’ll be released this summer.
It’s true that V21 solved most of the problems N97 users were facing and V30 could really improve the performance and user experience.
I’ve got a list of changes and features I want to see in V30 –
- Include the latest version of Quickoffice in the firmware itself.
- Make Adobe Reader free. (I’ve already bought it, so it doesn’t matter much)
- Integrate Maps into the firmware.
- Integrate Nokia Messaging into the firmware as in E72 and improve it’s performance.
- Remove Download and Boingo. (I’m using Joikuspot and Qik, so they can stay)
- Fix the ‘back’ button problem in music player and please include some visualizations.
- Throw in some glitz, transition effects and it should not affect the performance.
- Make gallery a little faster, especially the ‘Tags’ section.
- Xvid, Divx support?
- Internet radio.
- Latest version of Ovi Store in firmware itself. (and finally, the most important)
- Please increase the C drive memory.
Did I miss anything? Can you think of something else that needs to be added to this list?
Things I love about N97
Mar 4th
…….. And the things I hate about it.
1. Form factor – I congratulate the guys who came up with this form factor. It looks really good, it has a stylish finishing. People don’t realise that it has a full QWERTY keypad and when I slide it out, they go WoW. The tilt makes surfing the web and watching movies better.
2. 32 gigs of memory -Before N97 I used N70 with 2 GB memory and that was OK for me but now that I have grown used to 32 GB memory, I won’t be satisfied with anything less. I’ve got a large music collection, thousands of photos, a dozen movies (uncompressed avi format) and 60-70 music videos (compressed but high quality) in my N97. I’m using a 8 GB card in addition to 32 GB mass memory. N97 has expandable memory, so if I need more space (highly unlikely) I can expand memory up to 32 GB… that’s a total of 64 GB!
3. 3.5 inch nHD screen – Gorgeous trans-reflective display, visible even in sunlight. The 360×640 resolution screen makes watching movies pure pleasure. Surfing the web is also easy because of the huge screen. And so is playing games.
4. Keypad – I don’t care what people say, the QWERTY keypad works for me. i even find the space bar very comfortable to use. It is very good for the frequent tweet and for the not-so-frequent lengthy emails.
5. 5 Mega-pixel Camera – I love taking pictures and the N97 does a very good job. I also use it to take pictures of notes and labels and email it to Evernote.
Things I hate about N97-
1. Tiny C memory – After installing Quickoffice, Spotify, Nokia messaging and Ovi maps. I have only 12 MB of space left. Add a theme and I’m down to 7 MB. Horrible.
2. Symbian – Although very functional. It lacks the looks. In E72 there are some great transition effects, even the 5800 Xpress Music has great transition effects but N97 mysteriously lacks them.
3. Developers – This is not only an N97 thing, it concerns every symbian smartphone. Developers are concentrating on iPhone and Android only and are ignoring Symbian. More on this here.
4. Processor – After using E72 which has a 600 MHz processor, N97 feels a little slow to me. Why didn’t Nokia put a 600 MHz processor in N97?
hmm…. that’s about it. The worst problem among them is the lack of memory in C drive… I hope Nokia does something to fix it.
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This post is a result of discussion between me and @breathlesstao about switching to android specifically nexus one. I still love N97 and am not ready to switch yet.
Testing WordPres App – 2
Feb 13th
In my first attempt the images were not inline as they should’ve been but I think saving a draft after every image could work. trying this out now –
The inline picture should be above. I still haven’t found a way to insert links… memory consumption is high…. should be lowered.
but still the main problem (faced by N97 users) is the lack of memory in C after installation of QT.







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