NokiaDNA has moved servers. The new site can be found here http://project-dna.org Read the rest of this entry »

 

As a child you will have heard very many Bedtime Stories, some of those are very gentle, sweet and entertaining and some may have been that little bit scary but, every Bedtime Story has a happy ending. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Meego, NOKIA

If you have yet to try out the new operating system that is Windows Phone 7.5, then now is your chance to do so. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Android, iOS, Windows Phone

Proporta.com kindly sent me this TurboCharger Back Pack for review several weeks ago, and during that time I have been testing it out in various conditions during my travels. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: apple, iPhone, iTunes, not at nokia, Reviews

Here’s an interesting Official Nokia Press Release that hit my inbox this morning, and thought it worth sharing with you all today!  Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Platform / OS

What can I say, for a small start up firm that was founded when I was just 6 years old, 1st April 1976, Apple has indeed pushed the boundaries of not just technology, but changed the ways people use portable devices today. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Platform / OS

So I finally finished my conversion and following a few questions as to where I got my parts, namely the headphone jack, and dock connector, here goes. I got my white headphone jack from here..

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/iPhone-4-Earphone-Jack-Power-Volume-Switch-Flex-Cable-/400180954339?pt=UK_Mobiles_Accessories_RL&hash=item5d2ca4c4e3

And my white dock connector from here..

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230534490826

My conversion has now been completed.

Everything is working 100% as it should, and the fit is perfect. The screen is NOT offset, but perfectly aligned too. Proximity sensor works correctly, so too does the ambient light sensor, vibrate, everything, even the camera works great with the flash, no leakage due to me shielding the back with pvc tape..

Here’s a few photos.

White headphone jack…

White dock connector…

I purchased the front and back glass from www.iphonefixed.co.uk who are based in Wales, and they offer superb quality parts, and customer service, and best of all, if you don’t wish to convert yourself, they offer a conversion service for you too.

Tags: apple, iPhone, iTunes, not at nokia, Platform / OS

I have now owned my new iPhone 4 for a few weeks, and it still today, impresses me, but what I wish to focus on in this particular part in my ongoing series are the photo, and video capabilities, but first would like to remind you all as to why I am publishing iPhone content on my Nokia blog following the many questions I have received asking me this.

The answer is simple. I’m a long time Nokia user, and enthusiast, and have always owned Nokia devices, but with Nokia’s current high end device shortages, or lack of competing devices in the high end,  I thought it high time I started learning about other brands, and OS’s, which in turn I’m very keen on learning from Nokia’s competition, and adding the experiences to my portfolio.

Not just these reasons though, I know for a fact many people are very interested in hearing what I have to say on my transition, not just by the many questions, and comments I receive each and every day on twitter, or email, but also looking at my blogs stats, as  since posting my iPhone series, I have seen a significant increase in my sites traffic. Obviously makes interesting reading for many for sure.

Now back to this posts purpose, iPhone 4 Photo, and Video experiences, and later iOS 4.2

I have already covered my experiences with FaceTime Video calling, which can be found in Part 2 here.

Having been out and about in the real world putting the iPhone 4 camera to the test in a range of environments, although very easy to use, with smooth UI, and Transitions, my initial impressions were quite good, with fast start up times, launching, point and shoot times, however this somewhat changed once I have got back home, and transferred my photos to my MacBook Pro.

Here are two examples below, can you tell which was taken with the iphone 4, and which one was taken by the N97? (Yes, we have our Christmas tree up already, mainly for our daughter, but you probably know all us parents say that lol).

Yes, the camera on the iPhone 4 is pretty good don’t get me wrong, but its when you start inspecting the ‘quality’ of any taken photos, its then you realize that the iPhone 4 cannot rival Nokia’s Optics I have come to know and love over the years, in any device, from N95, N82, and N97, all of which also have a 5MP Camera, MP for MP.

I took many photos with the iPhone 4, but each and every one simply could not match Nokia’s 5MP Quality Optics.  Did this come as a surprise to me?  No, not at all, I have always known Nokia’s Carl Zeiss Optics were unrivaled, and still remain so today.

So would it be fair to compare the iPhone 4, 5 MP Camera to the Nokia C7 8MP Full Focus Camera? Maybe, maybe not, even though there is a difference in pixel count, in my experience the quality produced from both cameras are pretty close when compared side by side, with identical settings set, and is quite an interesting point to be honest. The samples from each below are not the best example of this, as the iPhone 4 zoom reaches further, thus washing out the shot when compared to the C7, which zoom is not as far into the depth of field. Also the weather played a major part in the photos below.

You can check all my photos, all of which were pretty much taken in the same areas, in a range of outdoor conditions, here for C7 shots, and here for iPhone 4 shots.

iPhone 4 full zoom

Nokia C7 full zoom

The one thing I really do like however with the iPhone 4 camera is the ability of touch and focus on a specific item within the depth of field of the viewfinder. For example, placing a few different items on a desk, each placed a different distances from the iPhone 4, you can touch each item in turn on the screen to focus the camera on said object.  This also extends to video recording, which is a great feature of simplifying focusing via touch.

Another aspect that the iPhone does well with your photos is presenting them to you in a very smooth gallery viewer, which I have not experienced any lag, or delays when launching, and browsing through my taken photos, and video.  This also allows you to pinch and zoom your photos, (not videos) which actually look better quality on the iPhones Retina screen that on a PC.

My experiences with HDR within the camera application being switched on were a bit hit and miss, by that I mean, I couldn’t really find an example photo which benefited from HDR. To me, HDR simply adjusts the white levels in the photos, but from the various photos I took in snow covered conditions, proved somewhat a gimmick, and nothing special. Maybe I’m missing something here, so if you know, please let me know in the comments below, thanks!

Now to underline the iPhone 4′s video capabilities, my experiences were much better than my iPhone 4 photo experience, although you cannot zoom whist video recording, (not that I have found anyway) and there is no red led for low light videoing, thus the iPhone 4 video recording is still nowhere near as good as an Nokia device with Carl Zeiss Optics, but still impressive though, given these restrictions, limitations, and considering the actual size of the optics used in the iPhone 4. It can easily record Macro video though which impressed me, check out my very simple video demos below.

Both videos above were uploaded direct from the iPhone 4 to Youtube, and took less than a minute each.

Walled Garden

Apple’s iOS, as many of you already know, is quite restricted, and this is much more apparent within the iPhone 4 camera software. For example, there is no way any third party developer, such as Pixelpipe, can add a one touch upload option due to the iOS restrictions, this is quite lame in my experience, and something Apple should think twice about in improving iPhone owners photography experiences on their devices.

There is of course the Jailbreak route, but this is not an avenue I wish to venture just yet.

The only current share/options you do have after you have taken a photo are, to send photo via email, which I must add is very easy to use, and very quick, and offers you various sizes of a photo to email. Assign to Contact, Use as Wallpaper, or Print to a wireless printer.  Now while these options are indeed welcomed, its the sharing to ones online space that is missing.

To actually upload, and share a photo with friends, and family to the web, to the likes of Facebook, flickr, and twitter you need to launch a third party app such as Pixelpipe, then choose which photos you wish to upload, and your away.

I have found Pixelpipe’s iPhone app to be one of the best for simply uploading to my various online sites, as when launched it loads up your camera roll, and you choose your photos straight from there, and hit upload. There are more comprehensive options available, at a price, and I will cover these in part 4 of my series, which will cover my experiences with purchasing applications, and games from the iTunes App Store.

On a more positive note regarding the iPhone 4′s photography aspects are that after recording a video, you can simply upload to Youtube, and in my experience with this, found it very quick, and simply a joy to use, no mess, no fuss, it just works, simple. You are presented with several setting options for your video upload, including tags, privacy settings, title, description, and of course, quality of video (depending on what settings you recorded with).

I must confess though, having said and done all of the above, I’m still finding myself choosing the iPhone 4 for my simple point and shoot photos, and videos, and this is mainly down to the simple, yet attractive interfaces, speed of opening/launching, and closing the camera application.

iOS 4.2

Yes, as many of you iPhone owners out know, the iPhone got an firmware update from iOS4.1 to iOS4.2.  This was my very first experience in updating an iPhones firmware, and found it very similar to the Nokia Software Updater route I have come to know so well, however, Nokia’s OTA (Over The Air) firmware updates are a different experience altogether, much safer, and quicker too from past experience.

White iPhone 4

For anyone who has been following my plans on converting my iPhone 4 to the white model, the model that Apple never released, my plans are still the same, I will be carrying out the conversion, however due to some reports on white replacement parts being ill fitting, I have chosen to buy a used iPhone 4 middle frame (Antenna bezel) to experiment on first to see if my white replacement glass mates up to it perfectly, it should do being OEM, but I would rather do this first that strip down my black iPhone 4, only to find the parts don’t fit flush.

There are also rumors about the web, that Foxconns backdoor outlet of white iPhone 4 parts was shuttered last week too, which will now result in anyone wishing to get white replacement parts even more harder to get their hands on. Yes, there are many fake white parts available, but its these parts which are not OEM, and are ill fitting.

Now before you post and say no, there are no OEM White iPhone 4 parts, I beg to differ.  Legal, yes. Its no surprise that there is/was a grey market for the white iphone 4 parts, and the latest complete white iPhone 4′s too, but just like many other grey markets for a wide range of devices, appliances, and even vehicles, these things will always be about, just like counterfeiting.

Having been researching the ass off the various worldwide distributing of these parts, comparing high res photos from many of the online sources, checking peoples experiences with various companies offering the conversion services, and companies selling the white parts, I have learned quite a lot of the past few months, and yes, that includes be raiding about the teenager who made $130k selling white parts. I had even communicated with this guy when he first set up his website whiteiphone4now.com

Next week, Part 4, iTunes App Purchases experiences

Anyhow, thanks for taking the time to read this post, my next post in this series, part 4, will be covering my experiences with iPhone iOS Applications, both free, and paid for, from iTunes App Store, comparing it to Nokia’s Ovi Store.

It should make interesting reading, as Nokia offer Service Operator Billing, whereas Apple’s iTunes requires a creditcard registered to your iTunes account, a ClickandBuy account, or if you cannot set these up, require you to buy iTune Gift Cards from the likes of eBay, which you can Redeem in your iTunes, which in turn credits your account to allow purchases.

Be sure to checkout Part 4 very soon.!

Tags: iPhone, Platform / OS

This is pretty much a simple test post due to me setting my Windows laptop up ready for Nokia World 2010 in London.  I have just installed the latest Windows Live Writer Beta, which appears to be somewhat more easier to use that its normal release, but the proof is in the pudding if it delivers.

Yesterday working on my old Acer Aspire laptop with Windows Vista business installed made me realise how much i have come to love my MacBook Pro, they really are worlds apart, both in build quality, and software.  This Acer feels like a Toby Toy, honestly.!

Anyway, as mentioned, this post is merely a test, and just finalising things ready for NW10.As to the Apple Store being down, one would assume something is certainly incoming, and the downtime of the Store is not simply a maintenance break as Apple usually do that kind of work on the Store on Sundays.

Whilst many of us (myself included) wish the White iPhone 4 will be released, I pretty much doubt this down time is because of that, but more over probably a new 27” LED, and iTV maybe? Time will tell.

Ok, back to my testing, lets see if a photo is added below…

So far so good, in my preview of the Beta release of Windows Live Writer, the all new image adding process is very simple to use, and integrates some nice smooth scrolling, and animation too which surprised me somewhat.

Tags: Platform / OS

Whilst I am forced by Apple to wait even longer than planned for my next mobile device, a White iPhone 4, this wait has still not deterred me from my choice, and whilst I wait, with many others, I thought I would share my thoughts on the Importance of the “User Interface” (UI) on a mobile device.

Eye candy, and smooth transitions are more than just a visual experience, they are a way of the device actually interacting with the user. These UI elements not only look great, but at the same time, show the user that the device is performing/executing a process rather than what Symbian does currently, IE> Black screen, or short freeze between menu, and application operations.

There’s nothing worse than having to wait for a process, not knowing it the device has indeed crashed during a process, or in actual fact is just slow to perform. A smooth User Interface, and eye candy rules this out by interacting with the user visually, so when a process is being carried out on a mobile device, the user can kind of see a UI progress situation.

The above two sentences were a reply of mine to a thread over at All About Symbian, titled, “A New UI is not needed for Symbian ^3, just make the existing one work“, posted by Steve Litchfield. Take a look, as its a good read, and holds some healthy discussion on the whole Symbian UI being outdated.

Now let me show you a reply to another post, this time, a post about the iPhone back in 2007…

It’s not just about the pretty colors and shapes, it’s about the interaction between the fingertip and the interface, as well as the physical interaction.i.e. the momentum in the flick of scrolled list, the tilt-sensitivity, the seamless flow from address-list to address-detail to call screen.

The iPhone is well worth stealing ideas from – but more than anything it is a call for better UI design thinking. There is a world beyond dialog boxes and status bars, but it takes courage to break out of the wizard-generated world of Visual Studio-generated interfaces.

The iPhone (like the iPod) is a triumph of focus on the user’s experience, and relentlessly refining and polishing that experience till no obstacles remain. We can only hope more companies are willing to invest the effort in designing and refining and polishing to the same degree.

The original post that the above reply was left to can be found here, originally talking about the Apple iPhone UI, and what WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation) can do.

Now lets not confuse the OS, (Operating System), with both UI (User Interface), and UE (User Experience). I can’t see if being impossible for Nokia to add eye candy/transitions to their upcoming Symbian^3, and Symbian^4 Operating Systems, not to mention MeeGo to boot.

After all, there are a handful of applications which currently do a better job than Nokia has done with the current S60 5th Edition OS. Gravity is one such example, anyone who has purchased, or used the free limited trial of Gravity from Mobileways.de will tell you, not only is the UI (User Interface) pleasing to the eye, but it actually helps the users Interaction with the device within the application itself. The word “Interaction” being a key word here.

Another application, also available for S60 5th Edition OS, is SPB Mobile Shell. Again, anyone who has tried this simply amazing application on their N97 for example will also tell you that this particular application not only transforms the N97′s S60 5th Edition UI, giving the otherwise poor flagship a new lease of life, but it also allows installation onto the N97 mass memory.

Many people who has used SPB Mobile Shell on their Nokia, have commented in various threads around the web, both in All About Symbian, and Nokiausers to name but a few, stating that SPB Mobile Shell, is in fact amazing, and people wondering why Nokia cannot include this kind of User Interface, Transitions, and eye candy into their own OS, and with SPB Shell being able to install on mass memory also brings up another old argument, “Why does Nokia insist on installing their own applications to phone memory, when its been proven time, and time again, that there is no performance loss whatsoever when an application is installed to mass memory?” SPB Mobile Shell, and Gravity have proved this! Gravity, for over a year now. Incidentally, Gravity won Best Application 2009 from Ovi.

The company behind SPB Mobile Shell recently joined the Symbian Foundation, so one can only hope that Nokia and SPB are indeed working together to bring an up-to-date, refreshed, and eye pleasing UI to future Nokia devices but lets not forget, these UI elements are not just transitions, but also extend to within applications. Just check out the iphone 4 demo videos on Youtube, and you will see what I mean.

Afterall, regarding Symbian, people are really getting tired of tasting the same taste from the same bottle, even though the label on the bottle is different. Come on Nokia, catch up already!

Let me know your thoughts on this whole UI, UE, OS, and Symbian topic, have you any experience with both iOS, and Symbian, how would you compare both UI’s, honesty?

Thanks for reading!

 

Tags: Platform / OS