Archive for category Random

Nokia at CES Roundup and Look Forward to MWC

Jan 11

Posted by steverowlands in Events, Handsets, Industry, Maemo, Random, Symbian | View Comments



So the great CES 2010 in Las Vegas is officially over.  So how did Nokia get on?  Well they had a keynote, and wheeled out the big guns like OPK onto the stage, but general opinion has been downbeat.

Right off the bat, no new handsets were announced.  This is always a disappointment when a massive company, such as Nokia, has literally nothing new to show off.

However, as Nokia are now trying to re-gig themselves into a services company, surely they had some new stuff to brag about in this arena?  Err, nope.

So what was their keynote about?

Well, it would seem that the keynote was about two things.  Firstly, how many Nokia devices they have shipped.  Nokia love bragging about this, because they are number one.  No other company in the world ships anyway near as many devices as them, and they love that fact.  Kudos to them, they deserve it.  I would say that self gratification is not, in my opinion, particularly interesting.  Just because Apple does it, doesn’t mean everyone should follow suit.

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2009 Ovi App Of The Year Awards

Jan 7

Posted by steverowlands in Applications, Random | View Comments



Ovi has just released it “Must have app of the year awards” results, broken down into 9 categories, as submitted by Forum Nokia.  Users have been voting on their chosen winner for the last couple of weeks, and now the winners are being announced.

Ovi have put up a great looking web page to announce the winners, and for them to bask in a little bit of pseudo red carpet treatment.

Head over to the Ovi site to check out the winners for yourself, or just click through here to find out instead….

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Unbranded Batteries for Your Nokia – Friend or Foe?

Jan 7

Posted by steverowlands in Random | View Comments



Buying an unbranded battery is more often than not viewed upon as a social misdemeanor.  Ranking up there with walking around town with your zipper undone.  Kids will point and laugh, mothers will usher their cherubs away, and give you a curse stare, maybe branding your a disgrace to society.

You will hear stories of exploding batteries trying to kill you, and demolish your house.  Whilst some of these may well be true, and we all know some of the big electronics companies such as Dell and Sony to name but a few, have had to spend huge sums of money issuing recalls for potential death trap batteries.

One of the main reasons why buying unbranded batteries is so popular, is the price premium that you are required to stump up for if you want to buy an OEM version.  Take for instance my Dell laptop.  A replacement 9 cell battery from Dell would have cost me almost £100, whereas I got a high quality unbranded version for around 50% of the cost.  It has performed just as I expected, and hasn’t exploded once!

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Phones Show 99 Is Out Now

Jan 6

Posted by steverowlands in Random | View Comments



A regular must watch video for me is the Phones Show by Steve Litchfield of AllAboutSymbian fame.

Whilst not a specifically Nokia based production, the Phones Show gives broad appeal, and anyone with an interest in mobile devices should find it of use, and entertaining.

In this episode Steve tries to break down the mobile users into different categories, and recommend a smartphone based on those pre-conceived parameters.

There is also an accompanying audio podcast which supplement the show, which is also a highly recommended listen, and you can find it HERE.

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Nokia Network Is 1 Month Old – Any Feedback?

Dec 21

Posted by steverowlands in Random | View Comments



That’s right folks, we are just over 1 month old already, and what a month it has been in the mobile arena.

I just wanted to say thanks to every reader, commenter and supporter that has visited the site, I really didn’t think we would get anywhere near the level of success that we have had in such a small amount of time.

I checked out Google Analytics earlier today, and the results were quite frankly amazing to me.  Now I realise that  these numbers will be little fish to any blogging heavyweight out there, but to me, they are very special.

In the first month, we received 2963 individual visitors, going on to make 4540 pageviews.  Of which, almost 90% were new visitors.

By far, the most popular post was when I noticed Vodafone UK had stopped selling the N97 completely, and moved over to the N97 Mini.  This was fairly big news, as it was the first time an operator had withdrawn the N97 from sale, more than likely due to the problems their customers were having with the device.  Of course, Vodafone would never admit this, and purely said they were aligning their sales stock, or words to that effect.

This first month has blown away any expectations I had when I started, so I must be doing something right.

If you have any feedback whatsoever, good or bad, what you would like to see in the future, the styling of the website, a podcast maybe, then I would love to hear it.  Shoot me an email to steve@thenokianetwork.com or leave a comment below.

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Nokia Booklet 3G vs Porsche Cayenne Turbo

Dec 21

Posted by steverowlands in Industry, Random | View Comments



The Nokia Booklet 3G hasn’t been mentioned around this blog too much recently, and that is mainly due to the fact that Nokia don’t seem to be selling it in the UK yet.  It has been available in the US on the AT&T network through Best Buy Stores, for quite a while though.

However, a couple of days ago the Booklet 3G was made available for pre-order from the Nokia UK online store.  If you are of a nervous disposition, don’t look though because you will pass out at the amount of money Nokia want for this glorified netbook.  A whopping £649!

Yes, you read that correctly £649.

If the Nokia Booklet 3G is new to you, let me give a brief overview.  Nokia has continued headfirst down it’s blinkered business model transformation from mobile phone yardstick by which all other devices are measured, to jack of all trades, master of none.  That story, my friend, is for another day.  Nokia has decided to diversify, and make a move into the very crowded netbook market.  Well, in actual fact, it’s not a netbook according to Nokia, but we all know it is really.

I have read a few reviews from around the internet of the device now, and the two best ones I found were Ricky Cadden’s two part LOVE and HATE series, and then Rafe Blandford’s TWO PART review over on AllAboutSymbian.

Both the reviews come to a similar conclusion of nice device, but woeful performance.  Sort of the anti-phase device to the Porsche Cayenne Turbo, which has a face like a badgers arse, but stunning performance.

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My Three Favourite Nokia Handsets. Ever.

Nov 27

Posted by steverowlands in Handsets, Random | View Comments


I have owned many Nokia devices over the years, and taking this blog post on Nokia Conversations as inspiration, I thought I would share with you my three favourite devices.

It could have quite easily been my ten favourite, but you would have fallen asleep reading if I would have done that many!  It has actually been harder than I expected, trying to whittle it down to just three, but here we go.

Nokia 6130 / Orange NK702:

nokiank702

This was my first proper contract phone, back in 1998.  I had previously had rubbish PAYG phones, but this Nokia device still sticks in my mind.  I got the phone on a one year contract from Orange.

The 6130 was actually just a dual-band version of the Nokia 6110, with a couple of design tweaks.  The Orange version being labelled the NK702.  It was the same phone, just with an Orange logo on it.

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Vodafone N97 V20 Firmware Available Now via NSU

Nov 26

Posted by steverowlands in Random | View Comments

n97

Following on from our post the other day about Vodafone finally doing the right thing for their N97 customers and approving the V20 firmware release, it would seem that Christmas has come early!

If you plug your N97 into your PC and check for new firmware using the Nokia Software Updater software, you should find V20 waiting for you ready to download.  I doubt that V20 will show up as available using the OTA software updater built into your phone.

As always, remember a backup of all your data is strongly recommended beforehand, and I actually found that my N97 ran MUCH better doing a full clean install of V20, and then restoring your data from the backup.

What are you waiting for?  Go get it!

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Vodafone Announce Imminent Release of V20 Firmware for Nokia N97

Nov 24

Posted by steverowlands in Random | View Comments

v20

Following on from our post last week that Vodafone have stopped selling the N97, and have instead moved to the N97 Mini, it would seem that Vodafone haven’t entirely given up on supporting it’s original N97 customers by announcing their approval of the V20 firmware update.

Whilst not in the form of an official press release, their eForum ‘Moderator’ has rather abruptly issued the following statement:

“Good morning,

We have tested and approved V20 firmware for the Nokia N97 – it is back with Nokia pending release via NSU over the coming weeks

Moderator
Vodafone eForum”

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Recommended Podcast Listening

Nov 18

Posted by steverowlands in Applications, Random, Symbian | View Comments

Podcast

Granted, they are not everyone’s cup of tea, but I am a great fan of podcasts.

I have a 2 hour commute to work a few times a week, so I get plenty of time to listen to them rather than the irritating Jo Whiney (or similar) on Radio 1.

I use the built in S60 Podcasting application on my N86, then use the FM transmitter to listen to them through my car speakers.  It works well, and is a nice set up.

So here is my, not too long, recommended list of podcasts for the discerning gadget fan.

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