Diaries of a Nokia Fan Boy

Ok, so I don’t have that much time today so I apologize right away for any posts that seem to be poorly researched or don’t add much more to the existing information.
Nokia released new firmware for the N97, which makes the decision ever so much more difficult again: N97 original or N97 Mini? Of course, it is expected that Nokia continue to update firmware of its flagship devices (except for N95-4 apparently – I want my v31 damn it!), and with every update the device will gain new competitive edges. When I hacked Rogers-branded N95-4 and upgrade from v11 to v20 I gained a number of improvements, including surprising ones such as greatly improved battery life. But in the case of N97 vs. N97 Mini the firmware update brings joy to existing N97 owners, and headaches to those undecided between the two devices. Take a look at the video if you’re unsure whether to upgrade your existing device, or which device to get in the first place.

-Nokia FanBoy

via: Engadget (read)

Well while I’m not too sure as to which phone this is supposed to knock-off: the N97 or the E90, I must admit that is one good looking knock-off. In fact, I wouldn’t mind picking one up just to play around with it.

We already know that China is in the stages of “copy-catting”, so to speak, where the copy-cats look at what’s currently out there, what’s popular, and make it better. The perfect example would be the Meizu M8 which, unlike “The Engine That Could”, actually managed to fight of Apple’s lawyers and get publicly, officially released! But even better yet, they managed to have several improvements over the iPhone! Although I won’t get into that now.

At a somewhat different angle, the Nokla E97 makes a couple improvements over whatever cellphone it is that it’s trying to copy. For one, the design of the QWERTY keyboard looks exquisite – the piano black finish, the shiny bevel and the white D-pad all make the phone look expensive. The keyboard is also detachable, which is a nice addition since size does matter at times and carrying around a big heavy phone might not always be convenient; thus taking the keyboard off is really a logical solution! The phone also has handwriting recognition, presumably either on the screen or on the part of the keyboard that doesn’t have any keys (I don’t see what else it would be used for, if at all). And for those living in countries split over which carrier to use, or those traveling a lot or who need to have a work phone, the knock-off also supports dual SIM cards.

Of course, there are some downsides. For one, the screen is a puny 2.2″ and likely is a QVGA resolution. Second, and probably biggest issue, is the keyboard doesn’t look like its going to last a heck of a long time. But of course when the phone costs 800 Yuan (or about 130 CAD), we really can’t expect much more.

All in all I am quite impressed with this little knock-off and if I can find a way to import it for cheap, I might just pick it up to play around with it. Its certainly no smartphone, but it just might be the most intriguing knock-off I’ve ever seen.

-Nokia FanBoy

via: Engadget (read)
source: M8Cool (read) [warning: non-english]

Well here’s an interesting prospect. The phone that I was sure I was going to get for myself, despite its large size, is possibly going to come out in a smaller version. Of course the size difference isn’t large – maybe 3mm more narrow, 5mm shorter, and 1-2mm thinner (and presumably lighter?) – which gives it dimensions in the area of: 111 x 52 x 14 mm or 80.8cc. This means that it will be some 10% smaller than the larger version.

So what do we get with this reduction in size? Obviously the screen is smaller, although not by too much, the fold-out keyboard loses the D-pad, and the camera in the back loses the sliding cover. And all-in-all the phone seems to have a cheaper look to it.

Is it real?
Hard to say, this could be just a really good copy of the real thing. It does seem somewhat redundant to release the same phone with just a tiny bit smaller body, although the N97 is a little on the large side to begin with. Of course it could all be in the interest of pricing it lower than the actual N97, cutting out more features (the camera could be a 3.2MP), and releasing it to the mainstream public. Lets just hope that Nokia knows what they’re doing if that’s the case.

Update:

It seems as if Symbian-Freak came into possession of some confidential documents from Nokia: Europe & Eurasia Roadmap. And it would appear as if there is more truth to the rumor than originally anticipated. The roadmap clearly shows Nokia N97 Mini as an item under the Explore category. While I’m not sure what that means, at least its not an Entry model, which, in itself, is already good news! Finally, the roadmap seems to show a Gantt chart on the right, and while the time-frame isn’t visible, it would appear as if this model wasn’t planned to release for a while when the roadmap was made.

Decide for yourself: Is it real or just a really good fake?

-Nokia FanBoy

via: Engadget (read)
and: Symbian-Freak (read)

I was just reading Engadget’s rather unique Nokia N97 review. To be honest with you I think that it is the best review I have ever read as it provides a true representation of how one may feel about the phone, going past all the little details and referring to the entire package. I enjoyed the review’s two sides, one from long-time Symbian user, and another from a user who cares more about the elegance and overall usefulness of the phone.

There are a number of aspects of N97 and S60 5th that the review brings to light, however I must say that I disagree with one side of the review relating to the sameness of S60. The reviewer noted that Symbian and S60 have a solid following, numbering in the tens if not hundreds of millions, and abandoning that following by completely redesigning the software would be foolish. I am not sure whether I agree with that. I consider myself a die-hard Symbian follower, and even I would like to see something different. I would like to see a UI which implores gestures, a UI that is finger friendly, whether using a resistive or capacitive touch screen. And I strongly believe that S60 5th could have been a great opportunity for Nokia to completely redesign the UI. Symbian in and of itself is a solid operating system, needing little updating, it is the S60 shell that is build on top of that OS that I believe could use an upgrade.

But don’t take my word for it, go ahead and read the review, if nothing else it is entertaining to watch close friends squabble over something so insignificant.

Your’s truly and always,

-Nokia FanBoy

So many of you have probably already heard about this, but the new flagship model from Nokia, the much hyped N97, is only going to come with a single 434MHz ARM 11CPU. Now to me this seems like a huge downgrade, although there has been a lot of development on the Symbian platform and it is unknown whether it will be seen as underpowered or not.

We can compare this to the N95 and its dual 332MHz ARM11s and dedicated 3D chip. The phone is fast, although it does lag at times. This is because most programs are not written for multi-CPU machines, so one core remains idle. I think its quite possible that the slight increase in performance of a single CPU will be able to counteract the loss of a second CPU, however there is also the loss of the 3D chip to consider, the increased screen resolution (3x increse to be exact), and the introduction of that touch screen display and more complex visualizations. Will the imprevements in code efficiency be able to counteract all of that? I don’t know. But I do hope so.

One thing I do have to say in favour of the N97 is that the reduction of the number of components will increase battery life, and this is my one big gripe about the N95 8GB.

I have been comparing the two phones for a while and found some questions that I honestly can’t answer myself:

• what resolution is the TV out on the N97?
• where is the GPS antenna positioned? (for all those familiar with the N95 8GB, you have to keep the phone open in order to get the best reception)

Hopefully it will be available soon, some people will dissect it, review it, and I’ll be able to get my hands on a good deal

For now we can only wait and hope for the best

Posted by Wordmobi