More about Nokia N96

Undortunately I fucked up the photo transfer from memory card to laptop and lost 20 pics of the gadget. I will try to take time and snap some more photos so I can post a photo post around here.

More experiences with the phone:

- Flickr & OVI: It’s awesome to have ready interface for uploading media to these services. I have a button in camera to send MMS, email or for example to online services. Excellent!

- Camera: the possibility to have GPS info in the photo is nice. I haven’t checked it yet, but I heard that Flickr can automatically position the photo right in the Flickr map. The photo quality is great for a phone. It is good enoguh to get nice looking quick snaps here and there and especially I like the night program. The photos look like photos not like they were taken with old web-cam….

- Nokia Maps: why the hell this device has the older version of the NokiaMaps?! It is just the version that did not work in my E90 and is not working too well in my new N96.. For example I was out with the dogs for night’s walk and it could not connect to satellites during the walk. Ok, it was short walk, but I expect ANY GPS device to connect in 25min, in fact I expect the device to connect within times LESS than 5min no matter what. I was able to connect twice when I got the phone, but after that not.. I even tried around the same palce so the location is within 2km from the place I shut the program previously. Sucks. I was expecting N96 to have NokiaMaps 2.0 since I upgraded to it with my E90 a while (long while) ago. THere’s no software update aof any kind available for N96.

This GPS problem is really big disappointment since the phone came with 1yr free Scandinavia/Nordic navigating license. Not much use for that if the GPS is not working properly.. THing is that I MIGHT buy the license again after this trial expires if I had even decent experiences with it. I would not mind to have navigation software that’s not too accurate on car navigation but that would help me a bit when walking as a tourist in unfamiliar city.. I hope there’s update to NokiaMaps 2.0 available soon or I will probably forget the whole thing and go looking for a compact TomTom or Garmin unit.

Problems like these are not good for the felling and experience of the device. Otherwise (until now) I have been really happy with the phone, everything is working well and better than I expected. However because of  this GPS problem, since it’s the same with SECOND device in a row, I feel it’s only nice phone and not excellent even thought it should feel 100%…

 

Nokia N96: Initial thoughts

Ok, I finally got the thing out of the box and have been playing with it a while and been installing apps and fine tuning the phone to suit my preferences.

I think N96 is a decent piece of electronics. I have tried N95, but never owned so I cannot say which one you should get. There’s loads of good reviews around the web to find your answer and you can always go and see them live in your local dealer.

The phone itself is bit different to use than my previous phone, the E90, but it is obvious since they are designed with different goals in mind.

First observations:

- The music player seems decent. In fact with my Sennheiser “ear plugs” connected to the device I could not really hear difference between N96 and my (old) iPod Nano. The music player is easy to use with the remote thing (photoa coming later).

- The sound quality in calls are just fine, bit better than in my E90. With the Nokia headphones, and especially with the Sennheisers, the calls are sweeet to listen.

- The camera is better than I thought. It is not different than E90 camera, only couple extra icons available for uploading/sending the photos to online galleries etc. Video quality is good.

- The case, especially from of the phone, gets dirty in a heart beat and is mostlikely easy to scratch if you have anything else in the same pocket or throw you keys on the phone.. I will buy a scratch film for the phone asap.

- NokiaMaps does not look the same as NokiaMaps in my E90 after updating the software.. I am not sure what gives, it seems that N96 has the older version of the map software. Have to really look into it. I did launch the software, but did not use it at all (didn’t have the time nor the opportunity)

- The DVB-H TV works well, even in moving car. Only minor cuts in the voice when drove through a tunnel. I cannot say how the video did since I did listen to the election “talk-show” and the phone was in my pocket. I used the Nokia’s own headphones. I will try to watch it bit more soon when I have the opportunity to use train nd bus for bit longer journeys.

The phone came with the movie Transformers already laying in the video folder (I assume this is the only way to distribute the movie so it reaches the customers, I wonder how many really watch it..). I will watch it when I have the time, just to try the A/V cables provided in the box and to see if there’s anyway one could watch a movie with the little device without holding the screen 3″ from the face. Would look really dumb..

I will get back to you with more thoughts and some photos when I find the time. Right now I have the baby sleeping on my lap as I type this.

D-Ma

 

New gadgetry

It is yet again time to do some cleaning in my pockets and I am going to let my old (?) Nokia E90 retire. I already have had a Nokia N96 box lying around for a while, but haven’t got the time to get it out and start moving stuff from old phone to the new.. I assume the baby has something to do with this, prioritis have shifted.

I have been happy with the E90: fast enough in 3g network, good enoguh web browser, good enough camera and so on. But I became annoyed with the size of it. It’s too big to have around when you’re heading for the beach and the dosplay is just little too small for anything but quick emails or browsing.

I was fortunate enoguh to get my hands on N96 a while ago, around the time it was launched here in Finland and thought why not: the camera is good, better than I need when I need it and the specs fulfill my needs. Of course I could’ve gone for the N95, since it’s as good as a phone, but I thought I’d try if I had use for the DVB-H tv and if I would use it as a music player when I don’t have my iPod with me. I’ll have to wait and see..

I will be getting the N810 tablet to fulfill the need for a device for browsing web and going through my emails. I don’t have to have it with me all the time, but it’s still small enough to fit in a suit pocket or in laptop case. There are situations when getting the laptop out and waiting for the OS to load is way too long time, but you need to check your emails. No matter how small (I have currently 10-something” screen laptop) the computer, it is always too big to handle or you don’t want to look like a douchebag-techno-Elvis.

Anyways, I will let you know what I think about the gadget and will do a little review thingy like I did with the E90. I still remind that my needs for the devices will probably be different than yours as well as my taste will be different in other things.

K

 

Klementina

Klementina

Originally uploaded by D-Ma

Blending in….

 

Kainu

Kainu

Originally uploaded by D-Ma

Happy guy.

 

Where I’ve been?

Where I’ve been?

Originally uploaded by D-Ma

Here’s the reason why I have meen MIA lately.

 

Pitäjänmäki, Helsinki

Pitäjänmäki, Helsinki

Originally uploaded by D-Ma

Electrified brick shack.

 

Saturday Night Fever..

Saturday Night Fever..

Originally uploaded by D-Ma

..gone wrong?

And the question is: head trauma or stabbing? Nice scene when starting a long day at work..

 

Juhannus Gnome

Juhannus Gnome

Originally uploaded by D-Ma

 

Tribalwars.net

Tribalwars.net

Originally uploaded by D-Ma

You know you havew been playing almost too much TribalWars when you see the flowers as villages and the bees as troops farming them..

Have a happy summer! I will get back to you sometime soon.