Hello Boys and Girls, 2010 is almost at it’s end so before it is i’m going to be counting down what I think are the top five nokia smart phones of  the year.

Number five – Nokia c6

Much like the nokia n97 and the n97 mini without the rise screen the c7 is a good looking side slide device with a QWERTY keyboard and a 3.2 inch touchscreen, it also has a nice 5MP camera and runs on Symbian s60v5, its cheaper than the n97 mini but it feels cheaper too.

Number four – Nokia c3

More or less the little brother of the e72 with i am a big fan of, the c3 is a non-touch messaging phone with a  full QWERTY keypad and a 2.4 inch display, it also has a 3.5 mm audio jack and a 2MP camera. I have never owned or used one so i’m not sure what version of Symbian it runs on or how good the device works but it is very popular here in Trinidad and Tobago right now so there must be some good to it.

Number three – Nokia n8

I can hear the “whats” and “whys” now, the n8 maybe nokia’s flagship devices  but it’s not mine and the only reason being was the hard time i had getting everything to work correctly when i first got the phone, but after days of fighting and i got everything working, the n8 was a really great device to have, from the sexy 3.5 inch AMOLED capacitive touchscreen to that awesome 12MP camera and the much improved Symbian^3 it’s hard to go wrong with the n8.

Number two – Nokia c7

The definition of sexy! The nokia c7 is my favorite device currently with it’s 3.5 inch clear black AMOLED display that makes images and videos pop right out of the screen and that slim tank like feel you get when you pick it up along with a very fast Symbian^3 the c7 is hard to put down once you pick it up, the only down sides to the device are the 8MP camera and the lack of a real QWERTY which is canceled out by the swype app. The c7 is a must have if you’re a nokia fan!

Number one – Nokia E7

Slim,sexy,fast,powerful words that only come together when talking about the E7, a huge 4.0 inch clear black AMOLED touchscreen display with scratch resistant gorilla glass and a full slide out QWERTY keyboard along with Symbian^3, a dedicated mic for active noise cancellation, Dolby Digital Plus and a document editor for Word, Excel, PowerPoint and PDF files. The Nokia e7 is by far the best nokia smartphone of 2010 with the one letdown being the same 8MP camera from the c7, the e7 is a must have not if you’re just a nokia fan but a must have if you are a tech fan on the hold.

Nokia’s newest smart phone not only has the latest feature that comes with the new Symbian^3 Os but it’s also rapped it a very sexy! slim aluminum body, some including my self would say that it is the best looking nokia device on the market (aside from the very new very sexy C7) so on with the pictures.

• full size versions of these photos and others can be viewed here and read up other n8 posts here

Today Nokia conversations revealed three sketches of their design By community device which readers come vote on and the winning sketch will be transformed into a 3D render and then maybe a real devices The specs of  nokia’s concept are listed below alongside the 3 sketches.

Display and UI: 4-inch capacitive 16:9. Power button, camera, zoom and volume button controls
Shape: Monoblock
Dimensions: 60 x 110 x 6-10mm
Extras: Auto lens cover
Material: Aluminium
Finish: Soft touch
Colour: Single colour
Durability: Super strength
OS: Open source operating system with unlimited multitasking
Connectivity: Support for 802.11 n/b/g wireless standards, USB 3 connectivity, HDMI connectivity, cable charger and Dolby Surround Sound
Camera: 8-megapixel, 4X optical zoom, Dual LED and Xenon flash, HD video capture and instant image capture
Enhancements: Kinetic power booster, multiple OS support, surround sound speakers, upgradable Flash memory, upgradable image sensor

I really like sketch#3 and its looks like a touch screen version of the nokia e72 (which i loved). Voting polls are only up for a week so you jump over to NC and vote now!

Today we have A video of the Nokia n8 testing out one of the coolest features on the device, the USB On-The-go (OTG) feature. In the video the nokia n8 is connected over USB OTG to a number of devices like the Samsung HD 1.5 TB, A USB Hard Drive (Standard Case – 16 GB SSD inside), USB Stick, Nokia E72 and the Nokia N900.

now i have to admit that the USB On-The-go feature on the N8 is really cool what do you think of the nokia n8? and the USB On-The-Go feature?

(video)

Remember a few weeks ago when posted a post talking about the Nokia E72 Responsiveness Challenge #2 where we had to come up with a video reply to this video, well my team and i are finally done with ours and here it is…Enjoy!

What is the best mobile phone that you have used? if you had asked me that questions a month ago i would have quickly answered ” the E75 ” but  now i would have to say it is the e72, with a Nice form factor, Great battery life, Comfortable  and easy to use QWERTY keyboard,  A very good 5 Megapixel with autofocus and LED flash, Built-in GPS receiver and digital compass, 3.5mm audio jack, a very fast ARM 11 600 MHz processor and a Web browser with Full Flash support, what’s not to like?

when its come to business features the e72 disappoint, with apps like font magnifier,multi-scanner, Wireless presenter pre-installed  along side a full version of Quick-office and the ever impressive nokia email app makes this phone one of the most feature picked business device on the market

Being a big fan of nokia’s Eseries line of phones, i know the good, the bad,  the advantages & the disadvantages of  having an Eseries device, my self and any other Eseries fan would tell you that opening the  media folder is never a happy time, mostly because of the lack of media features but just like barack obama the e72 promises change.

The first big improvement that i found was to Image gallery, its the same as the one found in Nseries phones with the same horseshoe shape and it looks just as great,in the Image gallery is also one of the few places that  the optical trackpad is put to good use,  sweeping to the  left or to the right to get to the next image, makes photo browsing almost effortless, picture tagging and a nice slide show feature with some nice effects are also worth noting.

The Music player is nothing special and has nothing new to offer, still we are happy to see the same decent Music player that was found on the e75 and the other N-series devices. I was a little let down by the video player when i tried to playback video that played on my 5800 as  smooth  as day but had really bad slowdowns and lagging problems on the e72, still videos don’t look bad, actually when there isn’t any lagging videos look pretty good.

The camera is by far one of the best things on the e72 and im very happy to see an eseries device with a great camera and with 5MP of image snapping and video recording goodness who would’t be happy,the camera has the same tabbed interface as seen on the N-series phone and its very much welcomed, in genially the camera works well, and  pictures taken with it look pretty damn nice

but that’s if you actually get to take the picture the lack of a dedicated shutter key means that you have to use optical trackpad,  just touching it works as a half-press and pressing it all the way takes the picture, its sounds easy and it is easy but there is nothing on the phone or in the manual telling you how to do that,  with in 15 minutes after i getting the phone, i had put it down and go on internet to figure out how the optical trackpad & autofocus worked, ( that’s not cool in my book ) after i found out how it worked it was all smooth sailing from there.

video capture is limited to VGA videos at 15 fps but its still does a good job  if you ask me.

The Web browser is top-notch with fast page load times and a desktop like experience on most pages, the optical trackpad isn’t of much use here because its much smoother just use the D-Pad, the mini-map and toolbar also  work well, better then they did in past nokia devices if you ask me, the browser as has full flash support, so youtube is a most, will videos playback just like your desktop.

When all is said and done, the e72 is the best nokia device that i have ever used (maybe that will change when i get my hands on the n900 or the n97 mini), its everything that  you could want in and from a phone and much much more, i know everyone is not gong like it as much as i do but i give it a 5 out 5

look out for the video review that will be posted at a later date Big Thanks to WomWorld Nokia

Today i got an email from our friends at WomWorld Nokia, explaining the next challenge in the Nokia E72 Responsiveness Challenge series, if you remember my team  and i passed the first Challenge with flying colors and as we speak , the team and i are hard at work trying to figure out how to respond to  this Challenge.

This is what the email said

“Hi Carlton

?How you respond is who you are?, so we?ve come up with a few tasks for everyone that will test your responses (collectively and individually). We?re looking for imagination and innovation, with the possibility of an extra bonus to those who excel themselves! Here is the first task:

1. Robert Hall
2. you!
3. Edward Umana
4. Michael Sherlock

Tom and the WOMWorld/Nokia Team“

Watch the video – Here

so if you guys have any ideas on how to respond, please comment below…… Thanks!

Continuing with our coverage  of the Nokia E72 here are Pictures and Videos from the e72′s 5MP camera. Enjoy

Video Test

Picture Test

Full size version of the pics seen in this post can be found here

About one week ago i got an email from our friends at WomWorld Nokia asking me to take part in an upcoming project called “Unboxing Challenge”  and like an good crazed nokia fan boy would i said yes, I was grouped with Robert Hall, Edward Umana and Michael Sherlock we all got looked box with cryptic clues which we had to put together and try to figure out how to get into the number looked box. being the super phone geniuses that we are, we figured out the code in no time and now here is my unboxing video and a small picture gallery of the nokia e72 . Enjoy!

Video Unboxing

Picture Unboxing

Picture gallery

White Background

Full size version of the pics see here can be found here

The allmighty N97 was released to serve as the Nokia flagship after two years with only one king: the N95 with all its variations from N95-1 to N95-6, but does it really deserve the title, or should be called N95-7 (along with the N96 and some other few phones)? Let’s review the reasons to get it, and reasons to avoid it.

Reasons to give some love to the N97.

I can still remember, it was a cool night when I was sitting on my bed with my old and trusty laptop and I was reading a nokia forum where people were making a poll of what features would you like to see on your dream Nseries phone. People where asking for a qwerty, they were asking for a touchscreen, camera cover, they were asking for many other nonsense stuff. The perfect Nseries was on it’s way. The very day they announced the N97 I was so excited. I can remember it was a December night and I was at my bed watching the phone I had always been dreaming of.

The N97 has the perfect form factor. It has a big touchscreen which you can use it with your fingers, or the handwriting recognition with a stylus, or if you prefer the oldschool you can always use the hardware keypad and buttons. You can leave it at the table while watching a video on the screen and the screen will tilt at a very confortable angle.

Also the keypad is excellent; I have learned to write on it pretty fast. You can hear and feel the keys clicking under your fingers and I find it so satisfactory, and very joyful to use. Despite people saying that the Dpad should be on the right hand, I have found that it is perfectly placed for gaming. Remember the NES dpad? It was on your left hand. The other day I installed a NES emulator and hooked the N97 to the TV and played all the day. I went 20 years back in time.

Another thing that I enjoy with my N97 is the camera. Let’s forget a bit that the cover will actually harm it instead of protecting it (we will get there soon). It takes the most beautiful pictures I have seen on a Nseries (I haven’t tested the N86 . But really, it is a big improvement from the N95 and the N82. The dual led flash are really helpful on dark environments. Videos are crisp and clear. The only downfall here is that the videos have low volume when recorded, might be because the mic is under the keypad, so recording with the slider open might help.

The phone itself looks awesome. Mine is white, and it just looks very classy. The steel bezel delivers all that bling bling we all need. The big screen is just beautiful, and it is a pleasure to watch videos or pictures on it. Even watching the homescreen is a joy. I have caught myself many times unlocking the phone just to see that pretty screen.

Top Reasons the run and hide from the N97
The flagship is supposed to have the best of the best, the elite phone. Very exclusive and, for sure, very powerful. But as much as I try to get a reason to name it flagship I just can’t. The screen is big sure, the keyboard is handy and the form factor is something fresh, but I just can’t see a reason for such title and the heavy price tag. Almost every feature, every specification that the N97 has, has been used the two last years on different models.

Let’s name a few, dual led flash has been on the N96 since one year, the 5 MPX camera has been in the line since the Mr N95. The ARM11 processor is used by the 5800 and they are now clocked at the same speed. The GPS is also present from two years ago. The N97 has only 128 MB RAM. So I have to conclude that the qwerty, 3.5” touchscreen, compass and the 32GB of memory are the really expensive stuff here, because now I’m sure that Nokia had a drawer full of 128MB RAM chips and had to find a way to rid off them. With this amount of RAM is almost impossible to multitask properly. What were they thinking? Where they trying to copy the non multitasking fruit phone?

The N97 is overall a very solid phone, but has a really serious design defect. The camera cover has been reported to scratch the glass (mine does). So we have a device that will hurt itself just as a mental patient. These scratches will cause the flash to flood the pictures, so you will end with one side of the picture with a white cloud when using the flash. So if you are a big picture fan, this a good reason not to get the N97 right away, unless nokia fixes it.

Another thing that I would like to point out is that the N97 is not a phone, it’s a hive full of bugs. Some are annoying, like when I try to zoom in a picture at the gallery, the app will go to the background and take you to the homescreen. Some widgets would stop working just because. The transitions (theme effects) would turn off by themselves. And sometimes when receiving a call the phone would freeze, giving no option but remove the battery. Once I was watching my phone directly while it was sitting at the table, it was a touching moment between my little device and me, and then suddenly without me doing anything, the Nokia logo comes up, and the phone restarts itself, it was just awkward.

can you hear the bugs buzzing??

We all know that Nokia will release firmware updates very soon, ceasing the existence of such bugs. My inner nokia fanboy tells me that the N97 will be an awesome device in one or two months after some updates and that RAM shortage will be a past thing, Im sure Nokia will do wonders with 128MB in the future, I know we are before the next N95; but my common sense says that two months is an eternity in “gadgetical” years. Hell, nokia will surely release 4 new models in that time, 5530, N900, N97 mini and the E72 are on their way. That makes 4 devices born in the time they make one flagship show all what it can do. Dont get me wrong, the N97 is completely usable, but those random bugs are a big annoying issue.

Get or not?
So finally we can conclude that the N97 is a great device, it has everything you would need in a gadget. But I don’t think there is a good reason to rush out and buy it right away, at least not yet, unless you are digging the form factor which i awesome on its own.  It will be a month or so when they release a killing firmware that will make it work 100% flawlessly and deliver awesome features, by then the N97 price will drop and you will be able to get it cheaper than the actual hive nokia sells for a flagship. Just wait and see.

But if you ask me if I love my N97, I strangely would say YES!

David Castro

ps. many thanks to WOM World for taking me into account in the trial a nokia program! THANKS!