4 posts tagged “phone”

Where did they go?

Jan 27, 2007
2 comments

I was walking past a mobile phone shop today when I saw this giant poster of Nokia N72 N91 N80 and N93... And I started wondering: where did the N71 and the N92 go? I mean both of them haven't had a publicity here in Lebanon and you can't say someone over the net opened a blog about them or even mentions them now...

Why were these two models forgotten so fast, and why did the marketing dep at Nokia not bother do the least thing to raise their popularity? I wonder...

So if these models were so screwed up, what do u think Nokia should do in order to prevent such failures in the future? And if they weren't screwed up but were quickly erased by their follow-ups, don't you think Nokia should slow phone releases, and maybe do a very strong preselection of items before releasing?

I just don't get it!

Jan 23, 2007
2 comments

My friend was asking me whether i would recommend buying the nokia 5300 so i went to the nokia site to check the O.S, didn't find it (which is really weird) so I ended up in forum nokia where I usually go for categorised concise info about each product. And being there I don't know how I ended up making a size comparison between some phones. Before I bought my 3250, I was so worried it would be too big, but comparing it to my friend's 6630, I found it really tiny. Anyway, I'll sum up here the numbers I found:

Phone Model Height Width Thickness Weight

3250 103.8 50 19.8 130

N80 96 50 26 134

N73 110 49 19 116

N95 99 53 21 120

N76 106.5 52 13.7 115

You'll notice that all phones have basically the same width, which is very obvious since they all have the same screen size (duh!) but what I noticed is that:

the newest Nseries weigh a little less than the N80 and the 3250, which is a good point for Nokia

beyond being the slimest phone without a doubt, the N76 is by far longer than the N95 and weighs approximatively the same. Which proves that Nokia compacted the size but didn't really make it lighter... such a shame! So I wonder why would people favor the N76? Of course, there's the silly concept of it being a slim phone, which gets lost in the "slim trend contest" but does that really count? I mean beyond the *ehm* fashion victims who don't use their heads much before buying, who would actually get the N76 only because of this? Come to think about it, the N76 is basically 20cm long when it's opened!!!!! Users nowadays look for software/features, which the N76 has, no doubt. But why, oh why, did Nokia have to get caught up in that slim fashion? I've always laughed at my friends who owned a RAZR. I used to tell them that their phones arrived 5 minutes before they did!

but the real big thing I noticed is that the slider/folding phones aren't significantly shorter than block phones. I mean the N76 is basically longer than the 3250, still it's a fold phone and need to be opened up! Plus if you compare the N95 or the N80 to the 3250, you'll see a mere difference of 5 or 8mm. Is that what you really expect when you buy a slider/fold phone? I don't think so. I believe, in a logical mathematical way, that the slider/folded concept was created to make mobile phones shorter when not in use, hence smaller. Now in order to do that and keep all features, the phone had to be thicker, that I understand. But surprisingly, you see that the phone is waaaaaaaay thicker (N80) but not that shorter. Logically, when I say slider/folded phone, I would at least expect a 20mm difference in height, which can't be found here.

then I thought that I was comparing the 3250 (non Nseries) with Nseries which is unfair, coz Nseries have a lot of additionnal features (wifi, 3G, camera flash,... that needed hardware and hence occupied space in the phone) so I decided to compare the N73 with the N95 (and not the N80 because N80 equalizes by being thicker) and there I noticed that the N95 was 11mm shorter but 4mm wider and 2mm thicker than the N73.

And here I ask, why would someone prefer the sliding/folded phones? I JUST DON'T GET IT! I mean it's basically a little bit shorter but when you unfold/slide open, it get's at least 20mm (for sliders) and 80mm (for folded) longer than before. Plus everytime you need to type something for a phone call, an sms, ... , you have to open the phone.

So please can anyone who owns a slider/folded mobile and love the concept please tell me why the 'eck they like it?

Personally I don't think I'll ever understand the concept, unless Nokia unleashes a device with real significant, eye noticeable size differences. Until then I don't get how someone would prefer an N80 over an N73!

1st trick: Switching apps

Jan 23, 2007
5 comments

Screenshot0009

This an old trick, but i found out there's more to it. First things first:

when you press the menu button for about 2 seconds, you get this window on top of screen (you can do it when you have an app running, and not when in idle mode)
as you see, I have Standby, Medical and Screenshot. These are the 3 applications running in my phone at that time. So you can switch between these apps. it's good when you're running an app, then get a phone call. Don't go through the menu an open it again! Just press menu for 2 secs (even less) and there it is.
one more thing is that you can exit any app here just by scrolling to it and hitting the "c" button on the phone. You get an exit confirmation question and there it is. You can kill any freezing app as easy as that. No need for an add-on to do that.
the other plus is the scrolling between apps and selecting in that little menu. Probably all of us use the joystick/5-way keypad to do it then select by pressing the central button. Nope nope. Another way: after that running apps menu shows on the left, keep your finger on the menu button, and now press it normally, you will scroll through all those apps like on that screen, if i push menu i will have scrnshot highlighted instead of medical, if i do it twice, i'll have standby... and so on. Now that you have the app you want highlighted, you need to select it. No need for central button. Just push the menu button for 2 seconds again, and you switch to your selected app. That's nice for lazy people like me :D

I don't know if that trick works on previous s60, but it sure does on s60 3rd. I usually use it when i'm reading a book on mobireader and need to check some definition in my oxford dict.

Gotta go now. I have some chicken to cook now... well during the exams period, i was so desperate i did all kinds of crazy things, like watch tv 10hrs/day, wake up at 9am (i'm a 6 oclock girl), watch a report about north korea, and, well, promise mom to cook!!!

3250: Hardware PROs & CONs

Jan 22, 2007
2 comments

I'll finish this first day of blogging with my first real symbian related post: a list of the good and bad things about the 3250. After having this phone in my hands for 7 months now, this is what I found (this will be long):

PROs

3250 twist

the twist: ok we're already bored with this but, come to think about it, this is the ONLY phone on the market that has this system. Plus it always makes me smile when someone (especially adults and old people) is posing for a picture and i take my phone and twist it. They get their eyes wide-open and then ask me what is it that i'm holding. When they know it's a phone they start saying "ah technology!" and that never bores me :) My friends also tell me they're always afraid it's gonna break which is funny coz
the twist is not fragile: the phone seems very solid in the hand and after twisting it i don't know how many times, it still works perfectly fine (a plus for Nokia) and loads the cam / music player as fast as the first time
before i bought the phone I read someone's review on how the cam would load if while twisting for the music, the phone got stuck in the 90degrees cam position for a little longer than usual: never had that problem, the cam never launches when I'm a little bit late on the twist, it only does when I really stay in that position for a while
the phone by itself is not fragile : I haven't counted how many times I have dropped my 3250 but it's sure more than 30. Still works ;)
the camera is on the side: this is a HUGE difference between this phone and all others, and basically its only real plus. You can take pictures in 4 different modes: left-sided (normal mode), ahead (camera mode), right sided (music mode: twist the phone to music mode, exit the music player and launch the camera) and self-portrait (self portrait mode). This means that you can take pics in the left and right sided, without people even noticing you. Good for snaping pics of someone you like but can't photograph openly, or for taking a pic of someone eating in a weird way in a restaurant, or for capturing my teacher's funniest positions. That's really something in comparison with the usual back-camera where everyone sees you when you try to take a pic.
the joystick: that used to be a CON before i bought the phone and it's just recently that I noticed that the joystick didn't nag me as much as I thought it would. I have used before the joystick of my aunt's SE K750i and that was a nagger! This one is softer, quicker, easier to handle. Plus the SE K750i sometimes now doesn't take the order for the up scrolling, I guess the joystick needs cleaning. But i would say here that i use my 3250 way more than my aunt uses her K750i and still never had that proble. The only time i feel I'm gonna hit the joystick is when i'm playing sudoku (can't change the controls)
the dedicated music keys: definitely a plus, but since most phones now have them, we can say it's a tie. But still the look of the phone when in music mode is quite classy. It's also funny when people see the back during the music mode, they see the keyboard and wonder where is the screen :D some witty ones think the mirror back is a cover for the screen :)
it was the first released s60 3rd: now people tend to forget that, with all the hustle about the N-series. Still, the 3250 lead the way ;)
the mirror back : this depends on whether you like a classy phone, which the mirror effects provides, or whether you like something that doesn't need to be wiped every 5 seconds to erase fingerprints, then it's a CON.
the battery life : that is basically AMAZING! I'm a heavy user, and usually the Oxford Medical dict is always opened on my phone, and since it's java (got it cracked, long story, another issue) it really uses the battery. I also play a lot of games and unlock the phone / lock it for no reason (i'm a kid and it's my toy) and I usually have 2 or 3 apps running at the same time. But with the 3250, I only need to recharge every 2 - 3 days (the battery level would be around 30%). Back at the time when there were no apps available, i would forget the phone without recharging for sometimes a week, then look at it and find it still running.
the unscratchable left and right sides : i have held an N72 and N80 and they both don't feature this carbonlike material that the 3250 has on the sides. It's unscratchable, and believe me, if it was I would've found out ;)
the spacious keys : no problem hitting the wrong key by accident. I can an send sms without looking, while driving and without using the T9, without any problem.

Hs 20

1 comment
the sound quality : it's really louder than my aunt's k750i and very clear. My phone on 20% volume was louder than my aunt's on full volume... which leaves me perplex :s (same song, same download)
the hs20 has music control keys : that's really nice because i use my 3250 as a player in the car (i have the tape system) so i slide it in my back pocket, leave the hs20 control keys part next to me and shuffle through my music :D
the O.S (it's a hardware post, but I can not not mention this) : s60 3rd, the newest edition. That also was a CON back in june but now that 3rd-party apps flooded the market, it's a real PRO. I have basically everything on my phone: Office Suite, Oxford Medical-business-idioms-english-french-thesaurus, Mobireader with 3 major references for my studies, BestCalc, LivePVR, HandyZip... and many many many many many more.

But the 3250 isn't all sugary and sweet, got some defects that need to be highlighted

CONs

the screen resolution : nothing bad when u simply look at it but it's 176x208 so many of the new apps (esp games) don't work on my phone for resolution issues.
the camera lacks: doesn't have flash so picture is really blurry at night or in bad lightning conditions, doesn't have close-up mode so i couldn't get a visible picture of my toxicology grade (91/100 was really proud)
the camera sound: there's always a shutter sound when you take a picture and that's more than annoying when you need to snap a picture unnoticed.
the mirror back : because of the fingerprints as mentionned earlier. You can't be a cleaning maniac and own a 3250 :)
the microsd slot opens when in cam mode: this is something I have never read about, but still I have this problem although i only have one card so i don't open/close the slot often. That's really annoying when you're trying to take a pic and paffff the slot opens, the phone freezes to come back to the original theme. By then you have either missed your capture, either have to take it but it's saved on phone memory, so you have to copy it after you reinstall the card. Fortunately the card never falls down, which would've been a major problem with it's tiny size.
the joystick is hard to handle when in cam mode: that's a CON when you have to change the settings, or while in the cam mode of Zensis PhotoRite SP (for chosing frames for e.g)
it has no built-in 3.5mm : it comes with the HS20 but since i used it quite much, now the sound only comes to one ear so i have to change the whole thing although there's nothing wrong with the headphone part (it's the remote control part that has the prob)
it has no WiFi: this is not a major problem for me in lebanon but it may come as a CON for some people in WiFied up countries
you can't use the keypad when in music mode: now i know that sounds stupid to note, but in all new phones with music keys, you can still access the keypad while still playing music... that makes me sad.